“Illuminate,” she spoke quickly, summoning the orb of light once more. Just do the same thing as last time. Make an opening and then blind it with the orb. You can do this K.

Crypt Guardian

Level Unknown

Health Unknown

Weaknesses: Unknown

Abilities: Unknown

Undead.

Kass backed away from her new opponent just like the last time, buying time for her regen to make a difference. The hammer guardian didn’t seem to care and continued to follow after her at the same steady pace. It still held its weapon to its chest, and to Kass, the thing looked as though it were marching, which was definitely an odd sight considering it was going to try and kill her at any moment.

She knew her time was up as soon as the monster lowered the hammer, readying itself to charge. With one final deep breath she steeled herself and fell into a defensive stance. The guardian’s powerful legs pushed off the ground and it closed the distance between them.

As soon as the creature neared Kass, it lifted the hammer over its head and hurled it straight at her. Taken completely by surprise she managed to get her body mostly out of the way of the giant weapon, but it still clipped her leg that she hadn’t managed to get out of the way. The force of the blow popped her barrier and sent her spinning backwards, rolling on the ground. Other than a slightly sore leg, however, she seemed to be okay. Got lucky...

She caught herself after a second and used the momentum to push herself back to her feet, still sliding as she stood. A split second later the undead was upon her, punching and kicking. She managed to avoid the first series of attacks, getting a strike of her own in each time the monster overextended.

It didn’t slow, raining punch after punch, kick after kick, down upon her. A full twenty seconds passed as Kass frantically stayed out of the way, using more energy than she had wanted to without being able to get her own attacks in.

She didn’t have time to focus on commanding her orb of light either, fearing that a lapse in her reaction time would end up killing her. She felt especially vulnerable without her barrier active, but without the mana to cast it again there was nothing she could do.

Kass sidestepped a left jab and ducked under the subsequent right hook that threatened to take her head, and then jumped back, expecting another kick, but it didn’t come. Instead the monster had finally stopped its onslaught and stood with its arm outstretched. Before she could question what it was doing, let alone move forward on the offensive, its hammer slammed back into its hand with an audible ‘thunk’.

Thinking just how unfair that was, Kass jumped to the side as the hammer came down, only a foot to the left. She lashed out at the limbs of the guardian as it lifted the hammer again, but found little purchase, only cutting slightly into its armor.

The hammer smashed down again, barely missing the girl who dove away. This time Kass had enough time to command the orb to move, directing it towards the gap in the visor of the undead’s helmet. It connected, and a split second later a bright light erupted from the armor that looked like a focused beam of energy as it shot out, blinding the creature.

Kass waded in as the guardian screeched and hissed, stepping backwards heavily. Unable to reach its head, she slashed at its legs, hoping to topple it like she had the flail guardian. She got in three quick swipes before the creature swung an arm her way, but each one barely penetrated the rusty armor.

What is this thing made of? Kass circled around and kept up her attacks, slowly whittling away at the monster as she tried to find a weak spot in its armor. She soon ran out of time as the monster recovered, however, focusing its eyes back on her.

Kass disengaged, not wanting to be anywhere near the hammer, and cast illuminate for a third time. The light blinked into existence just as the guardian brought its hammer back for another throw. More prepared for it this time Kass was able to dodge the flying hammer completely and re enter a defensive stance before it began its fury of blows all over again.

Left jab. Dodge. Right jab. Dodge. Left hook. Duck. Kick. Sidestep. Counterattack. Repeat.

Kass fell into the rhythm of the fight, fully focused on the attack sequences of the guardian and occasionally scoring her own hits. She noticed her strikes were digging deeper than they had before, and this puzzled her. I’m not doing anything different…

The undead recalled its hammer once more, and the fight changed tempo. Kass was able to get more hits in since the guardian moved a bit slower, but again, she could barely penetrate through its armor. It must gain some sort of defense when it has its hammer, that’s the only thing that makes sense.

She confirmed her suspicion by repeating a strike she had made earlier against the unarmed guardian, slicing hard at its thigh. Whisper cut through the metal, but only just. Last time she had managed to hit flesh, causing the monster to hiss in pain.

Better understanding what she was up against, Kass prepared for another attempt at blinding the guardian. Just have to get it to throw this damn hammer… She rolled to the left just as the hammer crunched into the ground, cracking it.

Instead of advancing on the offensive while the guardian reset, she instead ran away from it, hoping she could get it to throw its weapon again. The ruse worked, and she watched as it drew the hammer back and then whipped it forward rapidly. The hammer flew true, and if she hadn’t been expecting it she was sure she would have been flattened by the throw.

She rolled out of the way and came up quickly as the hammer skipped past and embedded itself in the wall. She was just in time to bat a fist away and dodge another, rolling again to avoid a vicious kick. Kass only waited for one rotation before she commanded the orb to descend once more, ready for this fight to be over.

The orb rushed down without hesitation, heading straight at the guardian. Instead of continuing its attack like it had before, the creature noticed the ball of light and stopped attacking Kass in order to swat at the flying thing.

Unlike the orb, Kass hesitated, not expecting this turn of events. But then she shook her head and charged in, trying her best to control the orb and run at the same time. She commanded it to fly in random directions above the creature’s head and then quickly got to work attacking the distracted opponent.

Again, she started with the legs, trying to bring the creature down. With a wicked two handed strike, Whisper bit deep into its hamstring. It screeched in pain and swiped at Kass with an arm while the other still tried to destroy the orb. Content to continue, she slashed again and again at both hamstrings, cutting in deeper and deeper with each attack.

Finally, the guardian gave up trying to smack the orb and instead reached out to call for its hammer, still punching out at Kass to keep her at bay.

“Oh no you don’t!” she yelled, sending the orb diving down at its max speed. It bypassed the guardian’s sweeping hand and smacked into an eye beneath the helmet. The expected explosion of light that followed set the monster on its heels as it clawed at its helmet, unable to see.

What Kass didn’t expect was the hammer that flew past her, narrowly missing her head, only to smack directly into the guardian’s face. The blow lifted the creature off its feet and knocked it flat on its back, the hammer falling to the side.

Kass dashed in, seizing the opportunity that arose, and skewered the monster through the visor of the helmet. She felt the blade punch through bone, and with a wet and final screech, the guardian died.

Kass was instantly lifted into the air as golden light enveloped her body. She felt the familiar soothing touch and healing properties of the light, and sighed as all the pain she had been suffering washed away like dirt in a hot shower. Each of her resources returned to maximum and even the grime on her hands vanished, revealing once more the pale skin beneath.

I’m never going to stop leveling uppppp….. This feels amazing! The light slowly faded and Kass floated down to stand upon the ground once more. Her eyes suddenly shot open as she remembered where she was, no longer distracted by the sensation of ecstasy. She quickly looked towards the center of the room and was relieved when she didn’t see another guardian.

Even the braziers had died down, each giving off a small amount of light that dimly illuminated the room. Feeling more comfortable with her own light at the ready she cast illuminate for a fourth time. “That thing sure came in handy even though I’m pretty sure it was never meant to be used like that. I’m totally adding that to my list of possible attacks.”

“There are no rules for spells. They can be used in every possible way to aide the caster.”

“Way to make it sound obvious... Either way it was a good idea. There’s no way I could have defeated that double sword guardian.”

“The dual wielding guardian. Yes, I agree. The defense of the third guardian was also impressive.”

“Yeah...that had me worried. You’ve never had a problem cutting into anything.”

“Indeed,” replied the blade.

“We should probably go back out before checking my status, just in case another guardian decides it wants to kill us.”

Kass lifted Whisper over her head and then slid him back into the sheath at her back. I’m getting better at that too. She smiled, proud of herself that she had survived in this messed up world. Just a little more and maybe I’ll be able to get back home. Just a little more.

She walked to the small door that blocked the entrance she had come through and tried to open it. It didn’t budge. She pulled again, harder. Still nothing. She pushed and pulled but try as she might the door wouldn’t open.

“Well that could be a problem…”

“It seems we are not yet finished here.”

“Alright, guess I’ll just have to level up now. Warn me if you sense anything, okay?”

Kass summoned her status book and flipped it open to the log.

*You have successfully identified Crypt Guardian.

*You have defeated Crypt Guardian level 90. Extra experience awarded.

*You have reached level 70. 5 stat points have been awarded.

*You have successfully identified Crypt Guardian

*You have defeated Crypt Guardian level 90. Extra experience awarded.

*You have reached level 74. 4 stat points have been awarded.

*Barrier has reached level 2.

*Vagabond has reached level 3. 1 Class point has been awarded.

*You have successfully identified Crypt Guardian.

*You have defeated Crypt Guardian level 90. Extra experience awarded.

*You have reached level 77. 3 stat points have been awarded.

*Level Milestone Achieved. Resources fully restored.

*New Skill now available.

*Illuminate has reached level 3.

I gained a lot from fighting those things. Definitely worth it. She flipped over to look at her stats and was tempted to dump her twelve points into intelligence again for more mana, but she didn’t. Barrier saved my life, I’m sure of it, but so did my ability to avoid all of those attacks. Dexterity is a must.

My stamina was low by the end of all that but I think my endurance is pretty good for now… Same with strength, I think speed is more important than more strength right now, especially with how I’m fighting. I could always use more health...but I think having barrier up more often is more important right now.

She decided on putting half into dexterity and the other half into intelligence. Kass put the points in and confirmed.

Name

Kassandra Johnson

Age

21

Eyes

Brown

Natural Hair

Brown

Health

330/330

Stamina

420/420

Mana

489/490

General Level: 77

Class: Vagabond Level 3

Subclass: None

Tertiary Ability: None

Strength

36

Dexterity

47

Endurance

42

Fortitude

33

Intelligence

49

Coronation Tier

-4

Unused Stat Points

0

Skills

Illuminate

Level 3

Common

Active - 2 mana per minute

Range: 30 yards

Create a small sphere of light.

Identify

Level 1

Rare

Active - No cost

Allows you to gain more information about identifiable objects.

Dash

Level 2

Uncommon

Active - 50 Mana per use

Range: 6 yards

When used, allows you to move quickly to a desired location.

Barrier

Level 2

Uncommon

Active - 100 mana per use

Range: Self

Creates an ablative shield that envelopes your body, protecting you from physical damage.

Heightened Senses

Level 2

Uncommon

Passive - No cost

Increases awareness and reaction time.

Skill Available

Class Point Available

Another skill and another class point. I wonder what I’ll get this time...