A sheet of water whipped forward, mutating mid-flight, and wrapping around an invisible target. A rectangular cage of water sprouted and pressurized, crushing the inhabitants back to their world. The water mutated again, firing out and making use of the condensed formation. The second Stalker was sheared in half. An orb of water spun around Max, blasting a bar of liquid with great speed. A third Stalker was splintered as if a sword sliced into its chitin.

A fourth Stalker lunged, and for just a moment, the alien monster materialized. It was an impossibly long centipede with thick pinchers with even thicker grainy legs. A wall of water extended from the ground just in time for the Stalker to slam into. Emi transformed the wall into a frozen Ice Lance which then dissected the spine of the enemy.

“I guess that proves it,” Max said in between setting his orbs on new targets. “It looks like they can attack us.”

The duo had found a ‘nest’ while making their way to the leadership buildings of Lesterwood. They had just finished explaining the situation to the western guard barracks’ captain when Max felt movement. A multitude of Stalkers seemed to gather in one particular area. They couldn’t tell a reason for such location other than it was by the barracks. Maybe the Stalkers are expecting wounded to be brought back to headquarters where they would then die? Maybe it was just coincidence, Max didn’t know.

The two continued to fight through the invisible beings, making use of Max’s racial and the bonded connection the duo shared. He would constantly update her on what he felt and where he felt it. It took a bit of concentration on Max’s part, but after the first few minutes he found a groove. In reality, he only needed to send updated information every few seconds or so or if a particular Stalker moved.

Eventually, after just over a dozen centipedes, they found the reason for the nest. A dead cat laid propped up against a wooden pallet. It must have just died, and the Stalkers were convening on the free meal its soul would make.

Congratulations, you have killed 7 level 31-36 Elemental Stalkers and assisted on 8 level 29-36 Elemental Stalkers.

You have gained 243,167 Experience!

Rather negligible gains. Max spoke through the bond as he and Emi teleported around the city.

Rather weak. Emi added.

Leveling had turned slow. Fifty-two million experience needed for one level? The last five levels for a class were absolutely brutal. There was a reason most never evolved a class, and those that did were more than likely a combat-oriented one. But, as Max understood, the experience needed would reset back to the double digits.

We need to find higher level enemies.

Emi agreed, We need to go back to the chasm.

The pair teleported directly in front of the Mage Guild, surprising a few nearby patrons. The general atmosphere of the building was… Odd. There was a quiet panic going on in the main lobby. [Receptionists] rushed around, bringing notes and paper to tables full of mages. [Scholars] argued about the bases of the dome of light, along with the illusionary words that hung overhead. A few were gathering their equipment or stocking on potions, hopefully gearing up to help with the wall protection effort. Max and Emi went straight to the front desk, where an over worked Human man shuffled papers.

“Excuse me? I need you to spread a mess-“

“All Guild amenities, including Mana Messages, are suspended for the time being.” He spoke in a rushed voice, not even bothering to look up.

Max firmly put his hand on the stack of paper’s the man was moving, pinning it in place. “Look at me. My name is Lord Max Fowler, member of the Humble Titans. Here is my black plate.” The familiar scrap of metal appeared out of thin air. “A den of Brown Colossal Bears is on their way. We need to prepare. Can you spread the word, or do I have to find someone who can?”

The Guild was stunned silent. In Max’s haste to try and get the man to listen to him, he may have said his message slightly too loud. “If there was, a [Seer] they would have spotted such large monsters.” A woman from the side shouted.

“It’s too far away. We have to act fast, otherwise we won’t have enough time to prepare.” Max retorted.

A low grumble sounded from the room. Max didn’t have time for this. “The bears are coming, please get to the walls to help.” To solidify his statement and urgency, he teleported away.

Normally, Max and Emi wouldn’t have been too worried about a pack of monsters. Between the guards who weren’t fighting in the raid, the walls, and Icarus’s dome, they figured the city had enough protection against some large bears. But, after explaining the situation to the guard captain, their worries deepened. At the first mention of the bears, the captain had fallen to his knees in prayer. Apparently, Brown Colossal Bears could destroy a city.

But, as they are massive beasts that spend most of the year hibernating in hopes to retain the nutrients required for their size, their attacks were rare. In fact, they only attacked if they were starving or dying. Usually this would only happen after a plague wiped out the wide life population or an invasive species was added to the ecosystem. The captain was praying for the bears to fall asleep before they arrived to Lesterwood, hoping that the energy required for traveling such distances to be too much.

Max and Emi arrived in a nearly empty building. The Adventure Guild was only populated with sparse attendants and even less patrons. Their arrival, however, still made quite the scene. “Max, Emi? What-“

“Good, Iris, telling you this is going to make it easier.”

“Wh-“

“Listen, a den of Brown Colossal Bears is headed this way. They are too far away for the [Seers], but they are coming. Can you spread the word?”

Iris’s blond hair shimmered slightly in the light, mirroring the slight tremble in her body. “That’s… Colossal…”

“Focus, Iris. Can you help or not? All you need to do is let adventurers who come in know.”

She held up her trembling hand, watching it shake as her eyes blurred. She used to be a veteran adventurer, one that others would look up too. “I can do better. I’ll go get my bow.”

Max smiled, “Good, make sure you delegate someone to tell the others, see you on the wall!” He and Emi disappeared before anyone else could speak.

Moments later, they found Mayor Silverjewl in the protected war room in city hall. The room was small, only enough for a dozen or so to fit, but its defenses were top notch. Runes, wards, enchantments, plated steal, the structure could survive most anything. Only six occupied the room, most of whom Max didn’t recognize. Icarus, however, was a part of the attendance.

“-are you sure the dome can survive that long? How do-“A woman cut herself off, noticing the two uninvited guests.

“Sorry to interrupt.” Max said quickly, “We spotted a den of Brown Colossal Bears. They are too far for the [Seers] to see right now.”

Icarus’s eyes went hollow as the other occupants bombarded questions. Max had a hard time following the crash of questions. He tried to answer what he could, but most were above his knowledge base.

“Mayor,” Icarus spoke after a few moments. “If the bears make it to the dome, we are going to have to think about evacuation. I’ll pour all of my mana into keeping the shield up, but it’s not going to last long against the bears.”

Silverjewl sat down, his legs wobbly. “Any news from the raid team?”

“No, sir,” Someone said, “And without them, our fire power is severely lacking.”

“I could focus on offence, but that would limit the city’s defenses.” Icarus said.

“No, we would be overwhelmed by the rest of the horde. What about the [Druids]?”

“No contact. We haven’t been able to locate Dreamstem.” Someone said.

“Send a message through the trees. Maybe a branch will come to our aid. Have a [Seer] be on the lookout for the raid members. They are going to need help getting back inside the walls when they get here.”

Silverjewl turned to Max ready to issue orders but stopped himself. The Lost Lord had already disappeared.

All along the northern wall, sentries of guards stood taking aim. In front of them, a golden dome crashed softly into the frozen grass a few meters past the stone structure. Beyond the dome, thousands of monsters clawed and scratched at the protection magic. Where the grass ended, torn dirt extended like the bases of a housing district.

The wall was nearly silent, the looming threat of disaster being far too much. Inside, nearby homes and businesses were being evacuated. If the wall fell, those buildings would be the first to be destroyed. The city had a few contingencies in place, some of which would be effective against monsters. A cart being pulled by three men were one such contingency.

They drove wooden stakes into the frozen ground in intermediate lengths. They worked between the wall and the dome, something only the brave could do. As they moved, one wove black thread between each stake. The thread was magical in nature, and especially expensive. Six other carts of three workers each rotated around the circumference of the city. By the end of the hour, the city would be surrounded by the black thread.

A burley mountain of a man stood overseeing the northern wall’s vantage. He was a guard captain, one who usually oversaw the training of recruits. His presence was more than enough to give flashback of basic training to the city’s protectors. As the captain walked along the wall, soldiers snapped to attention, stowed their weapons, and presented themselves in an affirmed manor.

As the captain moved down the row of men, he stopped at a particular pair. One he recognized and even helped train. Reep, the electrified [Archer], stood with her eyes closed. She held her palms out and up, allowing arcs of orange lightning to jump between her bare skin. The captain knew of her past, and only could bow his head in shame. How could he have let something so vile happen under his watch? The captain had always strived for the betterment of the city, something he had obviously failed in this case.

The other of the pair was an Elven young woman. She had natural shoulder length autumn hair, the kind that curled slightly towards the edges. Her nails were clean and trimmed and was shuffling through a small sack. She stood barefooted with a large sack of soil besides her. The captain did not know this woman, but from her look he was able to guess she was a [Druid] of some kind. Maybe a [Plant Mage], as her age was on the lower side.

“Cadet Reep.” The mountainous captain boomed.

Reep’s eyes split open, she turned, planted her feet, and saluted. A perfect salute. “Captain Mud, sir!”

The captain’s true name was Null Mullmud, of the Mullmud tribe to the eastern coast of Salarin. He preferred ‘Mud’, however. As the tribe’s name suggests, the Mullmud’s are famous for their claim over the mud in which they lived. They could move through the barren swamps of their home as if walking through the clouds, at least if the stories were to be believed.

Mud’s eyes twisted to Celenia, “Identify yourself, Elf.”

“Celenia…Sir?” She shifted unevenly; the man’s stare was quite harsh.

“Well, Celenia, what are you doing up here? This wall is for fighters, are you a fighter?”

“Not yet, sir, but I can made walls and-“

“That’s enough, Celenia, you may stay.” Mud spun on his heels, glanced at Reep, and continued his inspection walk. He stopped a few paces down and screeched at a woman who had dropped her bow over the edge of the wall.

“That was… Odd?” Celenia said in a whisper.

Reep nodded, “He means well. He wouldn’t admit it, but he is afraid of losing men. That’s why he works as a [Trainer].”

“And I got his approval?”

“Anyone who can stand before him, not cry, and has a way to protect others, will be useful here. The real question is, can you live up to his expectations?”

“I hope so, I feel like he would yell at my grave if I died here.”

Reep laughed. She gestured out past the dome. “Could you have dreamed about being here? Protecting a city from destruction, being strong enough to stand alongside one-another, and free?”

Celenia didn’t know Reep before she was rescued by the Humble Titans, she often forgot about Reep’s past as a slave. From bit and pieces, she’d picked up along the way, Celenia could tell Reep’s life was hell compared to hers. It was a hard thought. In a different life, Celenia could very well have been in a similar or worse situation. Her mind often flickered back to the man who bid on her against her master. She remembered his slimy eyes, one of the few things she truly remembered from that time. Reep hid it well, however, between covering scars and housing emotions, the girl was a figure to look up to, at least for Celenia.

“I used to dream, sure. But never did I actually believe it could happen.”

Reep shook her head. “I never used to dream. I contended my life was over, it would just take Denny and one crooked night to end it.”

Celenia shuttered, “But now you are alive, right? You have Max and Clammy, teammates who you can stand beside?”

Reep didn’t respond right away. Instead, she thought, something she had been doing a lot lately. Her mind healer spoke to her about stray thoughts. She couldn’t let her mind become clouded with useless mechanical ideas. One… Two… Three… She counted silently. He would remind her to live now, that her mind was trying to live in the past and that it would only bring ruin upon her.

Reep’s gaze was captured by a flicker of movement. Beyond the dome, a figure stood seemingly on air. Without using her eyesight ability, she recognized the figure right away. Max and Emi. Max seemed to toss a ball down at the horde of monsters below. Emi focused on creating the balls, handing them off through use of magical means. The ball collided with the ground and exploded. The force was rather small, but the destruction dampened the reserves of the monsters. Reep counted no less than eight dead. He threw another, and another.

“Yeah, I do.” Reep finally said. She turned to Celenia. “Your mother said Max can teleport others now… What do you say we help them thin out the swarm?”

“How do we get his attention?”

“Let me show you…” Reep created a bow of lighting.

Steam Bombs were slowly becoming Max’s favorite spell. He hadn’t really expected them to become one of his main attacks. But between exploding with the force to kill multiple full-sized horses and the speed in which they could be created, the spell was quite versatile. The explosion radius left room to be desired but that could be amended by simply making the glob of water bigger.

The bonded pair still had to watch for ranged attacks, however. It was a pipe dream to think they could just stand in the air bombarding the monsters until they all died, an idea Emi came up with. But the prospect had promise, as only a few monsters could repeatedly attack that high into the air. A few Ice lances had to be fired out before a cluster of toads could fire cyan beams of magic into the air.

Dream Toad:

level 29

Max remembered reading about Dream Toads. Their bodies were partially made of Dream mana, one of the more whimsical affinities of magic. While their blood and skin can be used for many uses ranging from runic ink to psychedelic drugs, it was their attacks that embodied their danger. On glance from their ‘Dream Beam’ could cause hallucinations for hours, where, in that time, the toads would regurgitate stomach acid, softening prey to be eaten. Max had to grab Emi and teleport away to dodge the attack. Together, they bombarded the cluster of toads like a miniature blizzard… Blizzard…

Max and Emi looked at each other, both hoping the other would speak first. They felt like idiots. The answer to their problem was right in front of them. A blizzard!

“We are not speaking of this to Vel. I do not want to hear her ‘why didn’t you think of that earlier?’, speech.” Max said, throwing another Steam Bomb.

“Agree-“ A flare cut Emi off. The light was brief and muted through the dome, but the pair had both saw it. They teleported to the sender.

“Reep, Celenia, good you both are here. I think we have a plan to kill a bunch of these monsters, want to help?” Max said, stepping around a startled guard. His movement almost seemed practiced, as if the teleport was just another step.

“W-we were going to ask you to teleport us on the other side of the dome. We could attack from there…” Celenia almost seemed heartbroken.

“Great! We tried earlier to cast spells from inside the dome to the outside, and it didn’t work.” Max slit space besides himself, a purple ripple formed. “We are going to need some time to get the spell started, you two can be our guard.”

“Dream Toads are no joke.” Emi spoke.

The purple ripple shimmered against the sunlight, moving fluidly as if it was oil in water. Both Reep and Celenia could feel something wrong with the space before them. Their mana systems seemed to be drawn to the curl in space. It was concerning.

“Max… What is that?” Reep pointed to the ripple.

“Just a really big Pocket Dimension.”

“Why does it feel… Wrong?”

Max looked at her strangely. He felt nothing off about the pocket. But maybe that was his problem. He and Emi felt out. The ripple seemed like any other entrance, just a big hole in space. It drew the air in like he designed it to, same with light, mana travel in it normally-

“Oh. Does it feel like mana is just disappearing?” Max asked, which caused Emi to nod along, having also seen the problem.

“It feels like a whirlpool, and everything is being pulled in.” Celenia said.

“It should. Think about it like this; there is a massive hole in space here. It is quite literally pulling everything into it. Air, light, mana.”

“But… You don’t feel it?”

“We do, but you have to remember, we can feel into hole itself. So, it’s almost as if nothing is abnormal.”

“Is it safe?”

Emi rolled her eyes, “Ask the villagers in the mansion.”

“R-right. Do we just walk in?” Max nodded. The hesitant duo walked in a moment later and when they resurfaced, they were high in the air.

“Alright,” Max said, ignoring Reep and Celenia’s shocked expressions. “Here’s the plan.”