The axe had no business being that damn heavy. I lugged it along as if it weighed as light as a feather but in truth, my arm was already beginning to ache. It wasn’t anything like the deadlift I’d try to do before I’d died, but it felt as bad.

Our feet crunched along the sand and the sound of the ocean waves was calming. I tried to focus on those instead of the intense burning in my bicep.

“Um. Matt? Are you okay?” Cannoli asked with a tap on my shoulder.

“Yeah. I’m good.” I rolled my shoulders. “Where are we going?”

“Well, you wanted to try your Class out. So we need to find a roach.” Keke looked over her shoulder with a wicked grin.

I swallowed hard. “Roach? Like, cockroach?”

Her smile melted into a look of confusion. “No. Why would we look for cockroaches?”

Cannoli cleared her throat. “She means Encroachers. They’re beasties that inhabit all of the islands and Nyarlothep.”

“Right. Roaches. Of course.” Was ‘Monsters’ just too difficult? I shook my head. “Appear, iPaw,” I called. The device appeared in my palm and enlarged. “Alright, let’s see here.”

“Whatcha looking at?” Keke asked.

“I figured I should check my Stats first,” I replied, selecting [Stats] from the menu. It was going to take a while to get used to the brackets. My portrait appeared next to Keke and Cannoli’s so I selected mine.

Matt

Combat Stats:

Base Level 1

Warrior Class Level 1

Health Points: 13/13

Myana Points: 3/3

Energy: 10/10

Strength: 1 + 1 [Warrior Bonus]

Magic: 1

Vitality: 1 + 1 [Warrior Bonus]

Dexterity: 1

Agility: 1

Resistance: 1

Life Stats:

Kindness: 1

Charisma: 2

Knowledge: 1

Valor: 1

I scratched my chin before immediately dropping my arm to let it once again dangle at my side with the axe. Two Strength? This place wasn’t messing around. I was at rock bottom.

“What’s wrong?” Keke had found her way beside me, glancing between the iPaw and my face.

Oh well. Nowhere to go but up. “Nothing. Everything’s great. Where are these roaches?”

Keke smiled. “Just a little further.”

I pocketed the iPaw. I could look at the girls’ stats later—I had roaches to exterminate.

“Oh! We should go into [Combat Mode]!” Cannoli announced.

I hadn’t thought they’d be fighting with me. “Will it really take all three of us?”

She danced from one foot to the other, holding her hands to her mouth. “I-it’s just a suggestion. You know, just in case?” The blush in her cheeks deepened. “I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

My heart pounded against my chest.

Keke stepped between us. “You’re right. That’s a great idea. Let’s do it.”

“Okay! Yay!” Cannoli raised her hand in the air and looked to the glittering night sky. “Magical Star Power!”

“What the hell?” I murmured.

It seemed like the stars themselves descended over her lifted arm, swirling around her skin in brilliant spirals. Long sleeves encompassed her arms, and a form-fitting dress gradually replaced the one she currently wore. Ribbons tied into neat bows appeared at her ears and a tall scepter formed in one hand. The dress’ hem fell to her ankles but cut on either side of her thighs to flaunt lacy white thigh-highs beneath.

This was some Grade-A Magical Girl shit.

Cannoli posed with her hands in prayer and the scepter clutched between them. When she opened her eyes, our gazes locked and she buried her face behind her hands. “Oh no. Oh goodness. You watched the whole thing.”

“Yeup,” I replied slowly.

Keke sighed and stepped aside. She reached in front of her and grasped something unseen. Seemingly from nothing, she pulled the grip of a longbow into being. Flashes of white light raced across her limbs and body, exchanging her dress for a tight pair of black pants and a top flecked with green. Two hairpins pulled her bangs away from her face, revealing both shining eyes. She struck a short, strong pose.

Am I supposed to come up with a pose? I’d never really thought about this before.

“Let’s go,” Keke said without missing a beat.

Autobots, roll out! I thought and smirked.

“Don’t laugh! Please don’t laugh!” Cannoli begged. “I’m sorry. I can change behind a tree or something next time.”

“No, it’s not that. You’re fine. Really.”

She squeaked an incoherent reply.

“There’s a roach. Right there,” Keke announced, pointing in front of her.

I looked in the direction of her hand. Even with the full moon and starlight, I couldn’t see much of anything more than ten paces in front of me. “Do all catgirls have amazing night vision?”

She looked at me with narrowed eyes. “[Scout] Classes have bonuses.”

“I see.” Or, well, I didn’t. But that was beside the point.

“Oh! Here! [Illuminate]!” Cannoli held her scepter before her and chanted the spell. The orb at the top emitted a soft white glow, offering a circle of light around us like a torch.

“That’s better. Thanks.” I blinked to adjust my eyes to the light and that’s when I saw it.

A round, grunting form that was no taller than my shin scurried across the sand on four short legs. Glowing, yellow eyes bubbled from a head that was woefully missing a neck. A suggestion of a tail—or maybe a horn, it was impossible to tell—protruded from the opposite end of its body and swayed with its movements. Its skin was a leathery grey that hinted at scales or gills. It could have rolled into the ocean or scurried back to the forest, neither would have surprised me.

It buried its snout into the sand and came up chewing. I grimaced. “That’s it?”

“Do not let their appearance fool you. They’re fast and vicious,” Keke warned.

“Yeah. Okay.”

“Listen to her, Matt. Please. She still has a scar from one.” Cannoli frowned. “They’re really mean.”

“Uh-huh.” One swing of my axe and I’d have that fat lizard in twain. Protecting the girls would be way easier than I imagined. Maybe they’d even kiss me. I grinned at the thought.

The Encroacher spotted our light and scuttled toward it. Pausing at my foot, he sniffed at my leg and looked up into my face.

“I feel kind of bad if I’m being honest,” I admitted.

“Matt,” Cannoli squealed.

“Yeah, yeah.” I sighed and lifted my axe.

As I let gravity do the work, the lizard’s eyes flashed to the incoming attack. It snarled and dove to the inside of my unprepared stance, snapping its sizeable jaws around my unarmored leg. Razor-sharp teeth sunk into my flesh.

“Shit!” I screamed. “Get off me! Holy shit!”

The jaw tightened like a vice. I let the axe swing back from behind me, aiming for between my legs. The roach repositioned its body in front of my shin and the axe narrowly missed.

“Oh my goodness. What do we do?” Cannoli cried.

Keke sighed. “I tried to warn you.”

“A little help would be great!” I shouted through gritted teeth. Warm blood dripped down my thigh and into the sand. My leg was going numb and I didn’t know how much longer I’d be able to stand. I shook my leg in an effort to make the little shit loosen his hold, but it seemed only to embolden him. Not to mention splash more blood in the sand. “Take your time, though.”

“Stay still.” Keke pulled a long arrow from the quiver on her back and nocked it against her bow. She took a deep breath as she drew it back, aiming at the roach.

That was easier said than done. I quivered in pain while the lizard slobbered all over me, chewing at the muscle like filet mignon. I held my leg forward and readied my axe again, hoping to keep its attention on me.

Keke loosed the arrow and it soared true, piercing the roach in the side. A guttural shriek escaped its mouth as it released my leg and I swung my axe down before it could register what was happening. The iron blade hacked into its back, splitting the leathery skin and separating the muscle beneath. But it didn’t cleave in half as I’d hoped. No, it had sunk in by—maybe—a few inches. The beast snarled and snapped at my arm.

“[Blessed Light]!” Cannoli shouted. A brilliant flash of white temporarily blinded the lizard. Along with the rest of us.

“A little warning would have been nice!” I cried.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry!” Cannoli said. “I didn’t think— I thought—”

“It’s fine!” I blinked furiously and wiped at my eyes, praying that the roach didn’t have eyelids to do the same. When my vision finally cleared enough to make out the outline of my target, it was still shuffling around in a daze.

I wrenched the axe free from its back, lizard blood dripping from the edge of the blade, before swinging it down once again in the already open wound. Its cries were losing intensity. Yeah, that should have hit something vital. Another arrow punctured its stomach. I was able to land one more half-hearted strike before the thing went still.

I collapsed to my side. My toes were numb.

“Hey uh… heals, please?” I mumbled.

Cannoli rushed over and knelt beside me, gently dabbing at the deep puncture wounds on my leg. “Yes! Of course! Okay!” She chewed her lower lip as she studied the array of mangled flesh. Clasping her hands together, she closed her eyes and chanted a single word. “[Stabilize]!”

The wounds slowly patched themselves over with thin membranes of new skin. It was eerie to watch. “That’s nice. But I don’t feel any better.”

“Well. Um. [Stabilize] will stop your bleeding and make sure you don’t die. But it doesn’t restore [Health Points] yet.” She touched one of the ribbons at her ear. “And I don’t learn [Heal] until later on.”

“Oh.” I was too tired to be upset.

Keke kicked the roach aside with her boot, then knelt over it with what looked like a carving knife.

“Whatcha doing?” I asked. I was starting to feel delirious. Actually, the more I thought about it, this looked like a very good spot to rest for the night.

“Carving what’s left for us to sell. [Scout] tells me which parts we can use.” She cut into it with impressive dexterity. “The teeth alone will net us a handful of Bells.”

“Right.” I slipped the iPaw from my pocket.

New Notifications!

“Matt? You look really pale. We should go back,” Cannoli said timidly.

“Sure. Just a second.” I opened the notifications.

New Quest!

[Roast the Roaches]

Now that you’ve selected a class, gain experience by hunting and dispatching 5 Encroached!

Rewards:

100 XP +1 [Energy Point] 50 Bells

“Five?” I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Just that one had nearly killed me. How the hell was I supposed to kill five?

“Keke, really. I think we should get him back.” Cannoli was holding me up from behind.

“I know. Just another minute. I want to finish this before the roach disappears,” Keke replied.

Darkness shrouded my vision and I looked up. “Hey. The stars are really pretty.”

“Matt!”

. . . .