Mana flowed from me and into the ground around me. A moment later, a spike of earth speared through one of the creatures, killing it instantly. Seeing the spike successfully kill my target, I fired two more, killing the last two creatures circling me.
Too bad the spikes wouldn’t work for the two that were lying on top of me. Well, that and the drag of mana for the spells was higher than the one for a fireball. Enough that I could feel my mana drop with every spell. It worried me enough that it had me glancing up at the mana bar to see just how much mana I had used.
While it had dropped to just over half, the thing was visibly filling. The reason for this eluded me for a second. The amount of mana around me, filling the ground, creatures, and even the air, was enough to increase the rate at which mana regenerated. I blamed my headache for not seeing this and forgetting to watch for such changes in the environment. After all, I had been trained to deal with, anticipate, and take advantage of such environments. Meaning, that as long as I kept my mana from falling too far too fast, I could go all out.
Mana poured into my body, strengthening me enough that I had no issue pushing the creatures off. Too bad the extra power did nothing for my coordination. Hell, judging by how hard it was to stand, it made it harder.
Finally, though, I managed to stand. While I didn’t expect much, I had expected at least one of the creatures to do the same but none of them even so much as twitched, let alone making a move to stand.
Still, I didn’t give either of them a chance to spring some sort of trap. My blade cut through their necks before I packed the entire group into my inventory. A roar was all the warning I got before something crashed into my back. The force of it sent me flying a dozen feet before finally landing, and subsequently sliding, face-first in the mud.
I barely had a moment to think, let alone react, before whatever had attacked me was on me once again. A large sticky hand grabbed onto my leg. Pulling and throwing me back the way I came. There was enough force in the throw to cause my body to skip across the muddy hole I had fallen into earlier.
This time, I managed to stand up and get a look at whatever was attacking me. Something I wouldn’t have been able to do if not for the pit. It was another frog, though it wasn’t one that would be using any sort of weapon. It didn’t need them, not with the amount of muscles on full display. Fuck, even its muscles had muscles.
If I had to describe it, I would have had to draw a comparison to a football linebacker. I mean, it had enough muscles to compete with any weightlifting champion, but something about the muscle placement screamed linebacker. Add to that the blood-red eyes that were locked on me, I was fairly sure I was looking at a Mud Gobbler Berserker. Which was something I wished I didn’t have to fight. Then again, we all know what people say about wishes and horses.
The beast didn’t even look at the hole as it followed the edge. Almost acting as if it knew where the edge was without having to do so. Hell, it probably did. Not like it mattered now. Not with it now having a straight shot to my squishy body. A squishy body that had lost over a quarter of its health in the last two attacks.
It quickly gained speed as it charged toward me. Body lowered and hands to either side. If not for the nearly visible waves of anger and hate radiating off of it, I would have sworn the creature was trying to simply tackle me to the ground. Not like I would have let it in either case. I had had enough of such tackles in high school. I didn’t need the help of a creature to recall some of the more brutal football games I had participated in.
Instead, I flung a fireball at the wet ground. The resulting steam explosion flung bits of mud and dirt out but otherwise did no damage. Instead, the cloud of steam provided me with some cover to dodge the things charge. As I slid to the side, I performed a horizontal strike in line with the creature’s head.
My timing, while off, was close enough. The tip of my blade sliced across the side of its skull, killing the creature as a portion of its brain found an exit. Breathing a sigh of relief, I collected the corpse while keeping an eye out for yet more targets. My short stint as a skipping rock brought me close to an intersection between hills. Standing there, watching me, was a small army of the creatures.
The group was mostly made up of those with stone and wooden clubs. There were also three with metal swords and two berserkers. But those were not the ones that caught my attention. The one that did that wore something that looked like a robe. Albeit one that was heavily stained and looked to have a few mushrooms growing in spots. Something about the creature told me I couldn’t let it out of my sight.
A moment later, I found out why. The creature gestured and a barrage of dirt spikes the size of needles shot toward me. As if it had been a starting cannon, all of the creatures, save the berserkers, charged at me.
I had no chance of fighting against these things on my own. Not with just a sword. I had no choice but to use magic to take them all down. My mind rushed through options before I finally said fuck it. While I might have had time to explore options in various competitions and fights, this wasn’t one of them. Not with the small army closing in on me.
My will and mana went forth. Shaping rune after rune as I slapped a spell together. Though it lacked the dark element, the rest of the spell was similar to the one I had used in the tournament. The reason I didn’t use the extra element was that it wasn’t needed. Most of the spell was made of fire and water, both of which were separated by a razor-thin slice of stone.
As soon as the spell was completed, the opposing mage completed his spell. Mine reached the charging creatures first, slicing deep furrows into their flesh. Wounding every creature charging me, but killing none of them. While my spell had an instantly noticeable effect, the creature’s spell turned into mist and coated the army''s bodies before vanishing.
Moments later, the creatures reached my position. My sword cut through two before my blade was deflected by a metal blade. The unexpected deflection caused me to lose my balance. Something that saved my life given the finger-sized spike that flew a hair''s breadth from my nose.
Seeing this, I made sure to keep at least one of the creatures between me and their mage. What followed was a flurry of weapon strikes. Some managed to hit me, others managed to hit them, but mostly I managed to hold my spot. My positioning and focus on the creatures eventually revealed what it was the mage had cast upon his minions. All of the wounds my spell had dealt to the creatures were almost all healed.
This wasn’t as big a deal as it could have been. Not when one of my strikes could kill the creatures. If anything, the accelerated healing was more of an annoyance. Judging by the screaming and rapid calls coming from the mage, I wasn’t the only one getting annoyed at something. Unlike me, however, he hit his limit as I felled another three of his minions.
My Mana Sense gave me just enough of a warning to dodge most of the spell. The creatures around me were not so lucky. Hundreds of spikes were lodged deep enough into the bodies that their tips poked out the other side. Between one moment and the next, the number of opponents went from just over twenty to five. Two of which were heavily wounded. His one attack had been more devastating to his side than I had been.
I took a moment to take out the two. Preventing them from healing up and attacking me from behind. With that done, I charged at the three. Firing fireball after fireball at the mage in the vein hope of distracting him long enough for me to take out his protectors.
Sure enough, he deflected or dodged my attacks. Or at least he did until one lucky shot hit the spot he was shifting toward. The hole it dug was filled up with mud in moments, but it was long enough for its foot to get temporarily stuck. Suddenly unable to dodge my spells, the creature started to take damage. And I mean it took a ton of damage. The thing was falling to the ground, dead, before the third spell hit him.
Which was a relief because I was nearly out of mana. I didn’t know what I would have done to distract him while fighting the two berserkers. Speaking of which, they looked even more pissed than the first one had. Red overtook the green of their skin until there was none left.
As one, the two roared into the air. It was loud enough to send ripples along the surface of the mud-covered ground. I didn’t hesitate. I poured what little mana I could spare, without dipping past the point where there would be consequences, into my body-strengthening spell.
My body flashed across the last dozen yards between me and my targets. The one on my right didn’t even know it was dead until I was passed and it tried to turn to look at me. Its body collapsed to the ground. This was quickly followed by the other as the creature died from blood loss.
Its partner, however, in a wreckless move, charged at my back. The mud, being nice and slick, provided little enough resistance for my pivoting strike. As I came to a stop, the top and bottom half of the creature slid past. With every creature near me dead, I relaxed. Taking a moment to simply breathe and nothing else.
I allowed myself to take enough time for my breathing to go from ragged and fast-paced to something slower and deeper before I moved on to the task of collecting the bodies. It was just as was bending over to pick up the second berserker that my senses screamed at me to dodge. Half hunched as I was, I let gravity pull me the rest of the way while dodging to the side.
My body slid along the muddy ground for a few feet before I managed to stop and look over at where I had been standing. A mottled and emaciated frog stood over where I had just been. Given the fact I had not sensed the creature coming and the wisps of black smoke wrapping around the creature in a loose cloak, I was fairly sure this creature was an assassin.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
It probably helped that it held a foot-long knife. Likely aimed at the spot my heart had just been occupying. The creature’s face turned enough to look at me. For some reason, I found my eyes locking with the creatures. What I found had me practically shivering in fright.
There is a saying that the eyes are doorways to the soul. It is something I had never once believed in. Well, now I can say I was a devout believer. The creature wasn’t here to simply kill me. It was here to end me. I didn’t know how it would do it, but I was sure that I would not want to find out.
Without a signal or sign, it charged toward me. The charge was as creepy as it was silent. Even the mud it stepped on refused to make a sound. I managed to get my sword up just in time to catch the attack.
As I held its attack off, the creature reached under its cloak with its free hand, pulling out a second dagger. One that shimmered unnaturally in the sunlight. The mana around us fled. Acting almost as if they were alive as they ran from whatever was on that dagger. Even my Mana Sense collapsed as my external mana was yanked out of my control.
The suddenness of the loss of control nearly cost me my life as the assassin struck. The blade whiffed past as I used the point where our blades met to shove it to the side. Scrambling up, I increased the distance between us. The creature turned to face me, its face twisting into a smile that would give anyone nightmares before the creature simply vanished.
It was a move that reminded me of the shadow teleportation skill Patric used. The fact that I recognized it was the only reason I dodged its first strike. My body twisted to the side just as a blade stabbed out of a shadow. I moved as randomly as I could while my mind worked as fast as it could to figure out where the creature would attack from next. The issue I kept stumbling into was sensing where it was. Even if I had access to my Mana Sense, it didn’t seem to work against Patric when we faced off.
With my mind distracted, I didn’t realize until too late that the creature had stopped attacking me from nearby shadows. In fact, by the time I noticed its new vector of attack, its metal blade was buried deep into my right shoulder. My left hand reached up, yanking the thing out and tossing it to the side.
Normally this would be the dumbest thing to do. The blood loss alone would lead to one’s death. But the typical rules went out the window when it came to assassins. No one but them knew what they had on their blades. The sooner you got the things out, the less risk there was. And if something did get in, the stream of blood would likely flush it out. Or at least, that was my hope.
The creature chose that moment to charge me. Our weapons clashing sent my weapon flying as something in my shoulder snapped. The feeling of which reminded me of a rubber band. Only, when it snapped, my arm went limp. Pain exploded across my chest as the creature punched me, hard.
I flew a few feet back, landing on my back. My mind blanked for a good ten seconds. While this might seem like nothing, in a fight, it was an eternity. In this fight, it was long enough for the assassin to retrieve his other knife and walk towards me. As my mind started to reboot, I saw the metal blade stab into the fleshy part of my leg, pinning it to the ground.
My health instantly dropped to a quarter full. It didn’t stop there either. It kept dropping. Either that was because of the knife stuck inside me, or because my shoulder was still oozing blood. Then again, did it matter? Not really. Especially when the creature started to lift the other blade up and started to chant.
Something about the chant sent the primate side of my brain into a frenzy. My body jerking and tugging every which way as it attempted to get me away from that blade. Unfortunately, something about the knife in my leg was causing it to act like it was anchored to the ground.
On top of all this, the mana inside of my body seemed to grow agitated. Almost as if it was reacting to my emotions. It seemed to beg to be let free. As the frantic tugging was getting me nowhere, I found myself debating it. While I didn’t know what would happen if my mana was released without instructions or control, did I have a choice? Not really.
The moment I agreed to free it, the little bit of mana inside of me flared out. It felt as though I was on fire as the mana flowed through me. The fire traveled up and down my body, stopping and collecting at both of my wounds. Not even a second later, the pooled blood started to burn.
The fire was a light blue, nearly sky-blue, in color. Leaping and moving as if it were a living thing. As one, the fiery blood lept onto the assassin. The creature''s shrill scream pierced deep into my psyche as it burned to death. While this seemed to go on forever, it only lasted a fraction of a second. The creature stood there, ready to strike one second, only to turn to dust in the next.
As soon as I saw this, I relaxed. While I wouldn’t die to whatever spell the assassin was working up, my flashing health bar told me I would be dead soon enough. I just hoped that my death wouldn’t cost too much time, money, experience, or whatever this world charged for respawning. I stared up into the sky, marveling at how clear it was today. The breeze felt nice while the few clouds high above wandered by.
“Hey,” An excited teen called from somewhere nearby. “Someone left their kills!”
“Jackpot!” Another teen joined in.
“Don’t be stupid.” While both of the voices had been male, this one was a distinctly feminine voice and it was filled with disbelief as she chided the two of them. “It’s probably another trap or something.”
“What,” the second guy’s disbelief was clear as he spoke. “Do you really think that there is a second matriarch? Because I doubt it.”
“No,” Their voices grew louder as they got closer to where I was lying down. “You’re right. I doubt that there would be a second one. But you have to admit, this is rather odd. Who would leave their kills for anyone to claim?”
Out of the corner of my eyes, I caught sight of flame-red hair. It was long enough to reach the person''s shoulder which was probably why it took me a second to realize that it belonged to one of the guys. He must have noticed my eyes moving as he called out. “Hey, we got a survivor.”
“So kill it and move on.” His buddy called back from somewhere out of sight.
The guy whirled around. “I don’t mean a Murloc wannabee. I mean a goddamn person and she doesn''t look so good.” I heard him calling me a girl and found that, for the first time in my life, I didn’t care. Then again, at this point, in this situation, why would I? It wasn’t like it would change my fate. I was dying and there was nothing I could do about it.
My mana was depleted beyond the point of being useful. I didn’t even have enough to enhance a single portion of my body, let alone heal my shoulder. And, even if I did manage to stop the flow of blood, the water was sucking the heat out of my body. I ignored the squishing sound of people running through mud as I closed my eyes.
A soft tingling sensation suddenly washed over me at nearly the same moment that someone''s hand pressed into my chest.
A man spoke from somewhere above my head. “Damn, how did she manage to survive fighting this many creatures on her own?”
“I don’t know but she only has a minute or so left and that is with me helping to stabilize her.” one of them said from right next to me. Likely the one responsible for whatever spell was currently running through my body. He then yelled loud enough to cause me to wince. “Brenda!”
Another rapid set of squelching footsteps announced a third person joining our little group. She must have seen the wounds as she cursed. “God fucking damn it. Why does everyone have to nearly get themselves killed before calling for help? Would it kill anyone to call for healing before it got to this point?” The hands and tingling vanished momentarily before they were replaced by someone on the other side.
To me though, none of this mattered. At this point, nothing mattered. From my point of view, the darkness at the edge of everything was starting to encroach. Where it touched, coldness and the stillness of death replaced heat and life. With each heartbeat, the darkness grew ever closer.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, warmth filled my chest. It flared out, beating the darkness back as it restored everything that had been lost. “Oh thank the gods above that worked!” The girl’s exclamation was the first thing I could make out as whatever she was doing stopped. Whatever she had done must have worked because I no longer felt pain. Well, that and my health bar was full.
Opening my eyes, I found that there were five teens surrounding me, not three as I had initially assumed. While the fact that they were wearing matching leather armor was interesting, it was the hair colors that caught my attention. They ranged from flame-red to a neon pink that nearly had me hissing in pain.
“Welcome back,” the girl kneeling next to me spoke softly. “That was a bit close, don’t you think?”
I nodded but one of the guys standing near the back scoffed. His deep voice boomed over the group. “Damn stupid if you ask me.”
The guy on my other side helped me stand while one of his buddies passed my Chisa Katana back. “I think you dropped this.” His face subtly relaxed a fraction as I took the weapon from him. The visible reminder of what Ginny had told me about soulbound weapons had me stopping to thank him before turning to respond to give the larger guy a verbal smack. I mean, come on, it wasn’t my fault that thing decided to target me.
However, just before I spoke, a loud gong-like sound filled the air. Everyone around me smiled. The other girl sighed, “About time these monsters were culled enough for the system. I have mud in places mud should never go.”
“And here I was hoping to kill a few more.” The guy next to me complained. “I am just about to hit level twenty.”
The larger of the group spoke, “There is always tomorrow. Let''s get back to town, turn in the bodies, and get some beers.”
While the two other guys cheered, the two girls sighed. I stood there, frozen, unsure of what I should do. Could I join in on the banter? I mean, I could but should I? As if she could tell that I was having issues deciding what I could and could not do, one of the girls grabbed my hand. “You are welcome to join us. It would be nice to have another girl in the group.”
I didn’t feel my normal need to cringe, but I also didn’t feel like deceiving them. “I am actually a guy.”
Both of their eyes did a quick once over. One of them whistled while the other said, “Damn. And here I am jealous of your legs and looks.” Her friend nodded in agreement.
Shaking my head, I disagreed. “Don’t be. I am sure that you will look much better than me given a few more years to grow up.”
Her laugh caught me off guard, but it stopped when her eyes met mine. “Wait, you’re serious.” When she grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eye, I realized that she was slightly taller than me. “You actually think that.”
“I don’t think that,” I said as I took a step back. She let her hands drop. I pointedly looked behind her and toward the guys. “But shouldn’t you catch up with the rest of your group?”
She glanced at their retreating forms. “Yes, but you should join us.”
Sighing, I gestured at the corpses, “I need to collect everything here.” It was an excuse and we both knew it.
Still, she let me get away with it. Her hand flew through the air as she spoke. “Fine, but promise me to join us for dinner or something sometime.” A window popped up in front of me.
Jasmine Zavier wishes to become your friend.
Something told me she wouldn’t leave me alone unless I agreed, so I agreed. Jasmine smiled before engulfing me in a hug. It lasted an eternity and mere moments before she released me to chase after her friends. I stood there, stunned. My brain short-circuiting as I tried to figure out why she had just done that. Shaking my head, I gave up.
As I collected the bodies scattered around, I took a look at my stats. Unsurprisingly enough, the creatures gave me quite a bit of experience. Enough to push me to the next level. Which, in turn, meant every stat increased by at least one. Coupled with the extra points I gained from pushing my body, this little quest outside the walls was well worth my time. Though, maybe not my near death.
Turning, I walked towards the city. I had bodies to turn in and training to do.