“I still don’t understand how there’s just a river here now. How didn’t we feel any kind of earthquake or anything like that when the world was ripped apart?” Ash asked as we neared the bank.

  “If we had been in one of the houses torn apart, trust me, we’d have noticed. But part of what the System did when it announced the merger was to instantaneously merge some number of worlds and species together, until it felt the planet was up to a standard it considered possible to survive the integration. It did that instantly, using whatever magic is inherent to itself in a way that didn’t destroy the world. I can’t explain it beyond that,” I said.

  It wasn’t much of an explanation, but when you got into system-level functions on that scale, no one actually knew the answer. There were theories, of course, but there were also religions that just took it all on faith. The System was, for the most part, unknowable, at least to the vast majority of people under its power.

  “So this is all from another world, then? The mountains and the forest, too?”

  “Possibly. Some of them may be from Earth and rearranged. It’s hard to say. Eventually, we might be able to map it, but that won’t be for awhile,” I replied.

  Walking closer to the river’s edge, I took a look down into it. It was even deeper than I had thought earlier. And there didn’t look to be much of a shore either. It would be nearly a straight drop once I jumped in. To make it worse, with a sword this size, it wasn’t like I could fight with it underwater.

  “I’ve got no idea what’s down there, but I’m going to leave the sword here. If anything happens to me, I want you to take it with you. It will take some time, but since you’re my daughter, it will eventually attune itself to you,” I said, looking at Ash with a serious dad look.

  “No, don’t talk like that. You aren’t allowed to leave me. I can’t do this without you,” she said, her voice catching in her throat toward the end.

  “I don’t think anything is going to be strong enough to kill me in there, but I’m warning you just in case. It’s important we have backup plans, and we’re going to discuss even more of those tonight,” I said before pulling off the remains of my shirt and leaping in.

  Plunging below the surface, the water became far colder than I had expected. The first foot or so had been normal, but everything below that felt like I had fallen through ice. Why the hell was it so cold? There were a few reasons I could think of. Every one of them beyond the river having been in an arctic region before the merger wasn’t good.

  I didn’t need to fight something that was capable of altering a body of water of this size already. I especially didn’t need to do it while swimming in said water.

  The dip itself would have to do the cleaning. Whatever I was attracting worried me more than the filth.I felt the force of its aura before I saw the shadow deep below me. A monster with an aura already was bad enough, but by the feel of it, I even knew what it was. It had to be young. There was no possible way this river was big enough underground to support it otherwise.

  “Ash, get away from the shore, quick!” I called back as I swam to the edge and pulled myself out. The shadow was moving closer.

  It was probably having similar thoughts about me that I was having about it. This world shouldn’t be able to support someone like me yet either, given my sword. So why were we both here? But much more importantly, at least for me, where was the mom?

  There was no way an Arctic Leviathan of that size could survive on its own yet, which was the only reason we had a chance of making it out of this alive.

  Not that it still wasn’t about to try to eat us alive. Right now, that was likely all it cared about: eating as much as it could to hit its next stage of growth.

  Just as my feet touched dry land, its head broke above the crest of a wave, a wave that had been created by the force of its own body torpedoing upward after me. Two smaller tentacles whipped across the surface toward me.

  Diving into a roll, I just barely managed to get away from both of them. More importantly, I had aimed for the sword with the movement, and as I came back to my feet, I swung out hard, slicing off the tip of one of the tentacles as it slapped against my leg.

  Ice formed on my flesh where it had made contact, sending pain and numbness through it. But that wasn’t anywhere near enough to stop me. I swung out twice more, taking two more sections of the appendages mid-attack before they could touch me.

  It roared in pain as its eyes found my own.

  “One day, you and I are going to have a real battle. Today is not that day for either of us!” I yelled, holding eye contact.

  I knew what was going on in its brain. It wasn’t a stupid monster, but I doubt it could understand me yet. Still, the message had been clear enough, and it was debating three choices, one of which I hoped it didn’t decide on.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  It could fight, it could run, or it could try to get mom to help. I didn’t think she could manage to get far enough into the river to make that last one possible, but that didn’t mean she had to.

  If she were old enough, there wasn’t much that could stop her, myself included. Even at my most powerful, that kind of battle would have been the thing people wrote songs about. Today? I wouldn’t be much more than a bit of heartburn, if I was lucky, to an elder leviathan.

  I gritted my teeth as the stare-off continued. Come on, kid, just don’t call mom. Pick one of the other two options, and do it already. I was tired of waiting.

  Its mouth opened, and it spat out two icy blue stones just before vanishing back below the water. That I hadn’t expected. A combination of the first two choices, huh? I could live with that.

  Both of the stones hovered slowly over the water toward me, a faint glow of red in the center of each. Was this some kind of drone attack? I had never seen a leviathan do anything like that, but plenty of monsters could create spawn, and I didn’t see what else these could be.

  While Ash had run far enough away that I wasn’t worried about her, Floof had not. The dog was standing almost side by side with me, letting out an angry growl. It seemed he was tired of running. I didn’t like the idea of letting him fight, but it was the best way for him to learn. And I knew that dog would be determined to protect Ash.

  “Just stay by me, and be careful as you attack. I think they’re made out of ice, so try not to hurt your teeth,” I whispered, knowing he wouldn’t understand all of it, but as his levels increased, so would his understanding, and it was best to start working on that as soon as possible.

  Darting quickly between the two as they came near, I slammed the flat of the blade into one of them, knocking it away so we could handle the other. Floof leapt straight at it, raking his claws down through the ice and pulling it down to the ground with him.

  Turning, I brought the sword down hard on the icy ball just as Floof jumped backward, barely dodging a bright blue blast of something from it. The line of energy hit the grass nearby, freezing it solid, and the thing that shot it cracked loudly as it was hit by my attack.

  It floated back into the air, still able to fight despite the new jagged lines running through it. In the distance, I could see the other one lining up something toward me, and this time, a fiery red line shot from it.

  Dropping the sword, I grabbed the cracked orb. Its surface was cold enough that my hands felt like they were on fire. I quickly spun, using the momentum of my body to chuck the thing as hard as I could into the path of the red line.

  It absorbed the attack with a loud crackling sound as it shattered. Broken shards rained down over the ground, melting away as they fell.

  One down.

  The glow in the center of the other one had drastically faded after the attack. It looked like it needed time to recharge before it could do it again. I wasn’t about to give it that time.

  Quickly grabbing every rock I could from the ground, I started pelting it as hard as I could, over and over. Each hit chipped off a bit of ice, and seemed to weaken it as well. With every pit into its exterior, it dropped a little lower in the sky.

  Before it came even low enough for either Floof or me to hit it with anything stronger, the red glow went out entirely, and the now lifeless ball of ice crashed the rest of the way into the ground, shattering on impact.

  I grabbed the cart and ran for Ash as the System notifications popped up. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the river in case Mom came looking.

  __________

  Enemies Defeated

  Minor Deep Glacial Leviathan Ice Drudge [100 Experience]

  The Minor Deep Glacial Leviathan Ice Drudge is one of the many types of internal defensive structures that Glacial Leviathans develop as they mature. The minor ones are the weakest, first developing in the third stage of a Glacial Leviathan’s life. Their powerful ice magic is able to freeze anything in the path of the attack, but as their internal manafires are still weak, they cannot sustain their assaults for long. A secondary effect of their attacks hardens their external ice shell.

  Further Information Locked.

  Minor Deep Glacial Leviathan Fire Drudge [100 Experience]

  The Minor Deep Glacial Leviathan Fire Drudge is one of the many types of internal defensive structures that Glacial Leviathans develop as they mature. The minor ones are the weakest, first developing in the third stage of a Glacial Leviathan’s life. Fire Drudges are the most potent magic-wise of the Glacial Leviathan’s standard Drudges. They are able to melt through most basic materials in their paths, but as their internal manafires are still weak, they cannot sustain their assaults for long. Worst still, with their powerful fire magic comes the incompatibility with their ice shell. Each attack also weakens their defenses.

  Further Information Locked.

  __________

  “Alecks are you okay?” Adam yelled as he stabbed forward again, desperately holding his own somehow against the giant frog. When no reply came from his brother, his resolve hardened again.

  “Work, damn you!” he yelled, this time the message was directed at the class he didn’t understand. Why would the strange voice and messages give him something to fight frogs if it wouldn’t work at the most important time?

  Adam tried focusing again as hard as he could on Anura Hunter as he stabbed the small blade as hard as he could toward the creature’s tongue. Something flared to life inside of him. A strange burning power coursed through his body and into the sword just as it found its home.

  A horrible squelching sound came from the frog as the pain of Adam’s attack fully registered. The blade was glowing red, having gone straight through its tongue and pinning it to the wooden beam nearby. Horrible-smelling smoke came from its flesh as the sounds it emitted became desperate.

  By the time Alecks had rejoined his brother in the fight, there wasn’t enough fight left in the frog to escape if it could.

  —Memories of Adam Miller before he found Earth