“Here’s the plan this time…” he trailed off as the Lord of Beasts once more pointed one of its fingers at the human lines. A snarl of rage was spread across its all too human features as a spark of red energy appeared in front of its fingers. It nearly fizzled out immediately, and the creature scowled. It held its hands, palms together, and a speck of red light appeared there. It slowly grew as all the humans who saw it began to panic.

Octavius studied it. That’s clearly the same spell it first used, he decided, but it seems to be taking much more effort this time. Maybe it’s low on mana? Or is it the injuries? It seems almost like it’s creating fire and compressing it with pure mana...

He froze. His eyes went to his spear, and he used identify on it.

Soulsilver Spear (Rare) - A spear of Soulsilver. An expertly crafted weapon once wielded by a Great Lord of the Dwarves. The spear has an enchantment laid upon it that allows it to split into two parts. It can be infused with the mana of the wielder, making it one of the only known physical weapons that can harm beings of pure mana. Cost(10 mana/minute)

It can harm beings of pure mana. I wonder…

Octavius drew his dagger from his belt and allowed mana to flow into it. He knew that it was glowing a soft, milky white, even if it was drowned out by the sun’s radiance. Instead of using his mana manipulation skill to cut off its supply of mana, like he had been doing, he fed more and more into it. The members of his party looked on, confused, and then surprised as the dagger’s glow became noticeable.

“What the…” Toby muttered.

Octavius ignored him and cut off the flow of mana. The glow quickly faded, but over seconds rather than the instant it normally took. He looked at his mana counter: 479/520.

Just overcharging it for a few seconds used over thirty mana, but it did work.

Allowing its normal flow of mana to resume, he glanced at the serpentine monstrosity. The ball of red energy was lined with a darker color now and stretched an inch or so across.

“Caster! Fire a Windblade at my dagger!” he said, hold the dagger to the side.

“What?”

“Quickly!”

Caster looked desperately confused but did as he was told. A few seconds later, a crescent of air impacted his dagger, nearly yanking it from his grip. He frowned slightly. That was the spell’s normal impact; the mana in his dagger didn’t seem to do anything.

“Start casting one again, this time as slow as possible,” he ordered, and Caster obeyed without delay this time.

Octavius thrust the Soulsilver dagger into the swirling wind between Caster’s hands, and they were both blown a step backward by the small explosion of wind.

Looking at the slowly growing ball of red energy between the Lord of Beasts’s hands, a grin slowly grew across his face. Immediately, he discarded his original idea.

“Ok!” he said, “Here’s the plan: Caster, you fire Windblades at its head; keep it distracted. The rest of you, help me clear a way close enough to do the same thing to it that I did to Caster’s spell.”

The demoralized party of only moments before seemed to disappear as almost eager expressions spread across most of their faces.

The previous time that the monster used the spell, it took only thirty seconds. This time it had already been fifteen, and it looked far from complete.

Octavius gripped his spear in his right hand and his dagger in his left as he led the charge toward the monster. The melee fighters in his group formed a wedge around him as they pushed their way through the irregular ranks of the guards and onto the front lines. They had skill and coordination on the mid-tier beasts around them and were able to cut a swath through them with an efficiency that the other guards couldn’t keep up with.

The party cut down beast after beast as they pushed forward through the no man’s land. The red and black ball of energy was now four inches across, and they redoubled their efforts. The four of them sliced through the beasts with an ease that was only possible due to the low density of their opponents. The no man’s land was the area with the least amount of combatants from either side, and Octavius was taking full advantage of that.

Ten seconds later, he was within fifty feet of the gargantuan beast.

“Ok!” he shouted over the sounds of battle, “Cover me for a few seconds.”

The three of them fell in around him, and he closed his eyes. He concentrated on pouring as much mana as he could into his dagger. The ball of energy in his chest shrunk quickly as he willed every bit of it into the dagger. After three seconds, he opened his eyes.

The ball of energy held by Mikrós was quickly approaching the size it was the last time the monster completed the spell. A Windblade wooshed past its head, the distance throwing off Caster's aim. Octavius lifted his right arm, dagger in hand, and threw it in a smooth motion.

His arm hurtled forward and extended. Every single stat point of strength and dexterity went into the motion. He almost gently flicked his wrist at the end of the movement and watched the silver flash of metal fly like a bolt of lightning. It rotated end over end in a graceful arc and slammed home into the pulsing ball of red energy.

The eerie stillness seemed to come over the battlefield once more before the ball exploded. Where Caster’s Windblade had exploded with a breeze strong enough to push them back, the ball of red mana was much more violent.

It exploded outward, directly into Mikrós’s face. The same red fires that it so easily ignored before now enveloped it. It toppled backward with an ear-rending screech of pain. It impacted the dirt, and the ground shook from the force.

The moment it touched the ground, spikes of stone shot upward like before. Only, this time, they shot upward directly into its body. The screeching went suddenly silently as its serpentine tail twitched and spasmed against the ground.

Your party has slain Mikrós, Lord of Beasts - (Son of Typhon) (E) (Lvl 35) and you have gained 24150 EXP (1)(35)(2)(3)(1.25)(100)(.92)

The battlefield seemed to go silent as the guards waited for the beasts to lose their rabid ferocity, for them to melt back into the forest. Only they didn’t. Alas, even though their lord was dead, the Emergence still had a few hours left on the clock.

Octavius and his party retreated to the relative safety of the human lines as three loud metallic crashes rang out. Octavius knew that signal. It was the order for the two groups of a hundred guards each to emerge from their hiding spots in the trees and attack the beasts from behind.

He guessed that Robert was holding off on signaling the counterattack due to the Lord of Beasts. After all, a single one of its spells would likely wipe them out. But now that it was dead, the time had come for the humans to take the fight to the beasts.

Octavius stood side by side with his party and the guards of the Sanctuary, his spear flashing in and out as he cut down the frenzied beasts. The odds of them surviving were looking more and more in their favor.

Octavius could practically feel his spear work improving as he cut down beast after beast. Every time he noticed something, some little detail, that would improve his skill, he would incorporate it. From small adjustments of footwork to a minuscule shift of his grip on the spear.

He felt a fatigued status effect take hold of him and drank a stamina potion. In moments he was back on the front lines. Even with their lord dead, it seemed that the beasts remained just as rabid as before. Man and beast clashed over and over to the sounds of screaming and death. Experience points streamed into him as he slew the foes of humanity.

The army of beasts diminished slowly over the two hours since the death of Mikrós. Finally, the clock denoting the time remaining in the Emergence ticked down to ten seconds.

10…

9…

Octavius spun and thrust his spear straight through the neck of a small mammal.

8…

7…

He sidestepped the snapping maw of a raptor and slammed the haft of his spear into its thin neck.

6…

5…

His spear caught the descending claws of a badger before they were able to cleave into a wounded man.

4…

3…

He pulled the spear upward and thrust it forward into the center mass of the badger.

2..

1..

Suddenly every rabid beast on the battlefield seemed to freeze in place for a moment. The insanity that filled their eyes vanished, and along with it, their will to fight. The rear ranks of beasts turned and fled into the woods.

The beasts were like a wave as they receded back into the trees. Even the most violent of predators fled the blood and screams of the battlefield. After thirty seconds, the only beasts left on the field of battle were the severely wounded. The ones who had only been able to remain moving due to their frenzied state merely fell where they stood.

The battlefield was enveloped by a strange calmness as the defenders watched the beasts retreat. The deafening sounds of battle turned into the screams and whimpers of the wounded, along with the whining growls of the wounded beasts.

Octavius slumped forward, leaning against his spear. Three hours of constant melee combat was quite possibly one of the most physically difficult things he’d ever done. Looking up, he tiredly read through the bright blue box that filled his vision.

Congratulations! You have survived the Emergence (Nightmare).

Different amounts of points were awarded for each kill based on the level and rarity of each beast slain.

The beings that have received the greatest amount of points are as follows:

Kzedr Octavius Klidg Xsrek Lmizk Andrei Psiz Caster Solomon Lkaj

The rewards are:

1st Place - 5 Lvls

2nd Place - 4 Lvls

3rd Place - 3 Lvls

4th Place - 2 Lvls

5th Place - 1 Lvl

6th Place - 50,000 EXP

7th Place - 50,000 EXP

8th Place - 50,000 EXP

9th Place - 50,000 EXP

10th Place - 50,000 EXP

For surviving the Emergence (Nightmare), all beings have been awarded 10,000 EXP.

You have come in 2nd Place in points awarded during the Emergence within Tutorial Instance 7eG659hj.

You have been awarded 4 Lvls and 10,000 EXP.

Too exhausted to even react to the fact that he’d gained at least four levels, he opened the other windows that had been at the corner of his vision for the past few hours.

Your party has killed Common Raccoon (Lvl 13) and you have gained 406 EXP (1/4)(13)(1)(1)(1.25)(100)(1.00)

Your party has killed Common Rattlesnake (Lvl 15) and you have gained 0 EXP (1/4)(15)(1)(1)(1.25)(100)(0.00)

…

Your party has killed Common Badger (Lvl 17) and you have gained 531 EXP (1/4)(17)(1)(1)(1.25)(100)(1.00)

He immediately dismissed the barrage of messages, willing only the level-up notifications to appear.

You gained a level!

You are now Lvl 14, 19237/100000 EXP to Lvl 15

+5 Free Stat Points

You gained a level!

You are now Lvl 15, 1742/105000 EXP to Lvl 16

+5 Free Stat Points

…

You gained a level!

You are now Lvl 20, 158/130000 EXP to Lvl 21

+5 Free Stat Points

His jaw opened slightly as he looked uncomprehendingly at the number. It took multiple seconds for his exhausted brain to catch up. Holy shit! He internally exclaimed, Level 20! I’ve leveled up more times today than in the past month!

He also had various notifications telling him of his skills leveling up, but he decided to look through them later when he was assigning his new stat points. The thirty seconds he had given himself to relax was enough. He couldn’t just slack off now that the fighting was over for a moment.

Surveying the battlefield, his eyes fell on the destruction. The ground was piled high with the corpses of humans and beasts alike. Red blood mixed with the green blood from the Lord of Beasts and seeped into the group. He could already see groups of healthy fighters moving around the battlefield and slaughtering the various wounded beasts, no doubt for the free EXP.

He was tempted to go searching for his dagger but knew it would be futile. The force of the explosion was large enough to launch it thousands of feet into the air if it even survived. If someone found it and returned it, he’d be happy, but he’d already written it off in his mind.

He stepped over the body of a guard and walked toward the Sanctuary itself. The abundant health potions had kept fatalities much lower than they had any right to be. As he walked among the stone spires of the no man’s land that the Lord of Beast’s spell had created, he saw far too many bodies.

His team members were his current priority. They had all been separated in the desperate melee that was the battle. He had seen each of them again once or twice, but never for long. Their statuses at the edge of his vision confirmed their survival, so he walked towards the platform they had started the battle on.

At its base, he found an awakened Finn speaking to Caster. Jean and Toby were both with them. He looked around and found a weary Raj approaching from the battlefield. The short young man looked exhausted. In fact, they all did. Even Caster, who was still close to full stamina, was exhausted from using so much mana.

Octavius gave them a slightly forced grin. “Nice work out there. All of you. Go grab something to eat. We’ll meet at the kitchens for dinner?”

Nods and a few quiet affirmative responses signaled their agreement.

Finn sighed theatrically, "I almost had it!"

Octavius stared at the younger man, confused, "Had what?"

"My guess!" he exclaimed, "I got the continent right, but not the animal. I should've known it was a giant snake instead of a kangaroo!"

Octavius didn't even have time to reply before the three other guys in the group started cracking up. Jean just rolled her eyes at him.

Octavius smiled slightly as the group devolved into friendly banter. While they talked, he walked toward the command platform that had been constructed. It was raised six feet above the ground to give the commanders of the army a good vantage point.

When he reached its base, he bent his knees and leapt up to it. The sound of his boots impacting the wooden floor drew the attention of David, who was looking over the battlefield.

“Hey, Oct,” David said, his usual cheer entirely absent. The reason why was obvious enough. The old man’s right arm was severed just below the elbow. A perfectly healed stump was all that remained.

Octavius didn’t mention it when he spoke. He guessed that David didn’t need his thoughts focused on it. “How many did we lose?” he asked.

David shook his head, “When we started, we had maybe a thousand good fighters. About one for every two civilians here. Now? I’d guess half that, and a good portion of those are crippled.”

The older man flicked his eyes over the stump that marked the end of his arm before looking fixedly into the distance. Octavius sighed; he might not have known David very long, but he knew the old man well. As much as he wanted to stay with David and support him, Octavius had other things to do.

When he heard the sound of Robert approaching up the ladder, he turned to face the blonde man. “Robert,” he acknowledged, “Are there any more beast attacks? Or is it really over?”

Robert let a small contented smile form on his face, “It’s over.”

Octavius nodded. “Good,” he said, “Because I doubt we have much time to deal with the thralls before they make their move.”

Robert blinked as he remembered but shook his head, “We are all too tired to even think effectively; we can go over your mission tonight or tomorrow. We just survived the Emergence, go celebrate.”

Frowning, Octavius had to remind himself that most people didn’t have experience in pushing themselves to complete something no matter what. Even if Robert had an incredible work ethic, this had probably already been the longest day of his life.

Octavius sighed. If the guard captain was too tired to be effective, he would speak with the man later. He had some ideas, but needed to hammer out a plan to deal with the thralls. Judging by the Emergence’s rewards, many of the thralls had just become even stronger.

Octavius was walking down one of the main paths of the Sanctuary toward the stream. He was covered in gore and needed to get clean. The Sanctuary around him was jubilant. The brave guards had saved the Sanctuary. Civilians saw his armor and bloodied appearance and called out to him. They didn’t know who he was under all the grime, but they knew he’d fought.

The streets were lined with the eighteen-hundred civilian survivors. The tension that covered the Sanctuary had been lifted, and people celebrated. None of them knew of the thralls. Octavius watched a six-year-old girl run through the crowd of people and stop before him. She pulled a handmade wreath of golden flowers from behind her back and thrust it into his rough, bloody hands. Giggling, she turned and ran away.

Octavius blinked and looked down at the wreath. The yellow petals of the flowers had red fingerprints were he held them. He felt something inside of him shake, and his jaw clenched. While he didn’t know what the thralls wanted in the tutorial, he sure as hell wasn’t going to let them get it.

In all his time in the army, people respected him. They said, “Thank you for your service.” But none of them greeted him with the pure and desperate thanks of these people. He supposed that in the modern-day, the Middle East didn’t seem like a large threat to the average American. It was different here, and looking at these celebrating people, he felt proud in a way he never had before.

He stepped out of the crowd and looked over the sparkling river. It was stained red with the blood of those already washing. Even through their exhaustion, many guards decided to wash off before they ate or slept. There would be a ceremony to honor the fallen that night, and they would almost all have to be ready before that.

After he washed off, he stood bare-chested on the riverbank. He started to walk toward his lodgings, where he could think in peace. The problem of the thralls wasn’t going to fix itself, and if Robert wasn’t going to jump on it right away, he would.

As he approached the clearing that he slept in, a voice called out from behind him.

“Captain! Captain!!” he spun to find a distressed-looking Caster.

Instantly alert, his hand tightened around his spear. “What is it?” he asked.

“I left the spellbook in my clearing during the battle, but I figured someone might’ve tried to take it,” the young mage explained in a single breath, “So I asked someone to watch it for me. When I went back to sleep just now, everything was a mess. It looked like there was a massive struggle, and now the book and the person who was watching it are missing!”

Octavius frowned deeply. This would not only be a blow toward the Sanctuary but would leave his attempts at magic the pitiful failures they were.

“Ok,” he asked, “The obvious guess is that whoever you left to guard it stole it. Do you trust him?”

Caster nodded, “Yeah! You wouldn’t know him, but I asked the old Captain of the Guard for the eastern section of Sanctuary to watch it. He was crippled before the Emergence, but before that was the highest level person around. He was a police officer before the Emergence too.”

Octavius suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach. “What was his name?” he asked.

“Oh, it’s James Robinson.”