The elemental inched closer and closer. The multi-faceted faces of its crystalline body shimmered when the light from the walls struck it, like a walking prism.

As it drew closer, Dalton noticed something. Dried blood coated the tips of its arms, which were also pointed like its legs. This thing had killed, and recently too.

But it seemed like being in Waveform didn’t just change Dalton’s physical body; it changed his mind too. He felt like he should have been more freaked out by the fact that the mob in front of him had likely killed one of his school mates, maybe even Kelsey herself.

Instead, he just felt focused.

“Dalton,” Jackson said, his voice tight. “You see the blood on it?”

“Yeah. We need to kill it quickly and see if whoever’s down that path is still alive.”

Jackson nodded and hefted his shield. “Got it. Why is it’s name yellow?”

“If the System acts like a game, then that means this is a monster that may be difficult for us to handle right now. Green is easy, yellow is challenging, red is we’re dead.”

The elemental paused for a moment, cocking its sharp head. Dalton took the opportunity to quickly survey the area; the chamber they were in was large, the size of a classroom, so he could swing the glaive around freely, but if he got pushed closer to the walls he would lose a lot of movement. He needed to stay closer—

The elemental lunged forward blindingly fast, aiming its pointed arm right at Dalton’s chest.

And he immediately reacted, Waveform guiding his movement. He was too slow to deflect the attack with the blade of his glaive, so he instead smoothly stepped to the side and countered with a flowing strike right on the elemental’s back.

The sound of metal striking crystal resonated in the air like a ringing bell. Water splashed outward, spraying Dalton’s face with droplets. He marveled at how much more physically capable he felt than in his fight with the stone statues. This is the benefit of higher stats and skills!

“Are you okay?!” Jackson shouted in alarm.

“I’m good!” he replied, keeping his focus on the elemental, who now stood where he was.

The blow on its back did no damage. It didn’t even leave a mark. Dalton cursed; Waveform was primarily a defensive stance, so it wasn’t too surprising, but he thought with his increased Strength stat it would have done at least something.

Standing between him and Jackson, the elemental raised both its arms on either side and launched them like a cannon.

You won’t catch me off guard again! Dalton thought. He swung out with the glaive, the flowing principles of Waveform guiding him along, and used his blade to direct the crystal arm down and away from him; a move that he never would’ve been able to do before. On the other side, Jackson took the arm directly on with his shield, skidding back from the force.

Waveform pushing him forward, Dalton flowed like the current. He took two seamless steps towards the armless elemental and on the third he tried to switch to Flameform for the strike.

But he failed. Midway through the strike, the loop of waters spiraling around the glaive’s blade briefly turned into flame before sputtering back into water. He struck the elemental cleanly on the side, water splashing outwards, but again it did no damage.

“Behind you!” Jackson shouted, dashing towards him. The arm Jackson had blocked was now flying back to the elemental.

The other arm! Dalton thought, panic breaking the focus of Waveform.

He tried to step out of the way, but suddenly an awful squeezing sensation gripped his lungs. Exhaustion flooded his muscles, making him weak, and the loops of water at the end of the glaive vanished into air.

Greatly drains your stamina…

He was dead. He could almost feel the arm piercing him from behind. He was dead. He was dead. He was—

With a roar, Jackson whipped his shield like a frisbee. A one in a million shot, the shield struck the arm and diverted it just enough. Instead of ripping straight through Dalton’s chest, the crystal arm sliced his ribs as it flew past and re-attached on the elemental.

Forcing himself to move, Dalton awkwardly stumbled backwards, cold sweat beading on his forehead. Pain flared on his side, making his eyes water.

Then, the mark on the back of his hand glowed. So did the one on Jackson’s. And suddenly the pain in his side lessened, just enough for him to notice.

Jackson briefly stared in awe at the shot he had just made before running over to Dalton’s side.

“You okay bud?” the big guy said, dragging Dalton back further away from the elemental, who stood with its head cocked.

“Never felt… better,” Dalton lied between gasping breaths. He felt like he had just sprinted all out. The drain on his body was substantial… he hadn’t realized it would be so intense. His higher Strength stat meant he was more physically capable, but his Strength was still only 9. “Might need… a minute… or three…”

“No problemo,” Jackson said, grinning. He stood in front of Dalton and the elemental. “Leave the rest to me. When I tell you to, toss the spear thing to me, k?”

“My glaive…? Wait, the Bond… Jackson, are you okay?”

Jackson gave a thumbs up over his shoulder. A strange, golden aura rose like steam from his broad back. “Never felt better.” And without another word he dashed forward, making a beeline for his shield laying on the ground by the elemental.

Dalton could only watch, gathering his energy, as the elemental lunged directly at Jackson.

The crazy bastard didn’t even bother to dodge; he just took the attack head on.

If that had been Dalton, the elemental would’ve torn through his stomach like paper. He knew this without a doubt.

But Jackson simply grunted as the tip of the elemental’s arm only lightly pierced his skin. The elemental almost seemed confused as Jackson gripped its arms with both hands and, with a mighty roar, slammed it against the wall. He took the brief opportunity to lunge forward, pick up his shield and strap it on his left arm again.

The elemental stood up, none worse for the wear, and launched both of its arms directly at Jackson, one from the left and the other from the right.

Using his shield, he blocked one of the arms, letting the other stab into his upper bicep. It didn’t go deep, however; it was like Jackson’s skin was made of metal.

Still… why wasn’t he dodging? Dalton cursed himself; he should've found out what Jackson’s skills and stats were to better judge his capability.

But for now, he watched impotently as Jackson and the elemental engaged in a flurry of blows, neither doing much damage to each other. Occasionally the elemental would try to launch an arm at Dalton, forcing him to move aside, but Jackson kept its attention focused solely on him.

As the fight progressed, more and more wounds began to accumulate on Jackson, and blood began to run freely from a number of sources.

Dalton wasn’t sure, but it seemed like Jackson wanted to get hit. He didn’t block in moments when he could have, and sometimes he opened himself up to get hit.

The golden aura that rose from Jackson’s body slowly began to be suffused with red.

“Dalton!” he shouted, slamming his shield into the elemental’s face. “Get ready!”

The elemental reared back, then cocked forward and launched both of its arms directly at Jackson’s chest.

And he dropped his shield, letting both arms pierce him directly on the chest. He stumbled back, roaring with pain, then yelled, “Now!”

Dalton sucked in a massive breath and entered Boltform. Crackling energy rippled through him as lightning arced from the tip of the glaive. Taking a running start, Dalton slammed his right foot on the ground and launched the glaive with all his force right at the elemental.

Dalton dropped to the ground, his muscles abruptly giving out on him.

The glaive slammed into the elemental’s torso and lodged itself there, crystalline chunks flying; the elemental screeched, an awful noise like nails scratching on a blackboard.

Jackson ripped its arms out of his chest and grabbed the haft of the glaive with both hands. He tore it out, leaving a sizable chunk in the elemental’s body.

The red mist emanating from his body surrounded the glaive. With blood running all over his body, Jackson bellowed and slammed the glaive directly onto the elemental’s wound.

Red light flared, briefly blinding Dalton.

And when it cleared, all that was left of the elemental was a pile of crystals.

*Ding* You have defeated the crystal elemental. 1000 exp gained.

*Ding* You have leveled up!

*Ding* You have leveled up!

*Ding* Items acquired: Crystalline Glaive (Item Rank: E) + Crystalline Shield (Item Rank: E)