A bright flash from behind and John knew that the twins had completed their ritual, a moment later he felt that familiar tingle cross his skin as the orb of chromatic lightning passed over him.

He had originally been sceptical when he had found out what class those two had picked, especially when he had discovered the reason why they had picked it, but their ability to unite their powers had already saved him and the rest more times than he could count. Still, raising the shield took time, time that the freaks of this world rarely gave them, hence the need for him, Bret, and Mike to act like meat shields to buy time for the brother and sister duo to do what they needed to. He was not averse to getting into the heat of things, but some of the creatures that they had to fight were outright monsters and, despite the cliché of the dumb jock, he was not an idiot, which was why he had chosen a magic class.

When he had first arrived in the world, after his and everyone’s initial freak-out, he had known enough about games to know that wizards were the bosses in places like this, so the first thing he did was to obviously look for which of the classes was the top of the tops, but while many could lay claim to being the best, what he found was that the [ELEMENTALIST]class was the one to cover most of the basics. It was a class that could manipulate air, earth, fire, and water, the building blocks of the world, the ability to manipulate said blocks giving any who chose the class to be able to attack, defend, and more importantly, shape the battlefield in any way the caster pleased. But even more than that, the class was not restricted to fighting alone, it allowed the wielder to become a one-man construction crew, even more so now that he had specialised in the earth branch of the [ELEMENTALIST] class.

That specialisation prevented him from using all but the lowest tier abilities of the other elements, but that was all he really needed, a little bit of fire to start a fire, the ability to summon just enough water from the air for him to drink, and the ability to use the air to blow things away or towards him, that particular ability not being as Good as Robert’s telekinesis, but it was enough to have helped him and the others on more than one occasion. But what he got in return for that sacrifice was a major boost to his earth-based abilities and a new selection of skills that would turn him into a powerhouse in multiple fields in and outside of combat.

Though he had yet to reach the required level to choose any of those skills, once he did, the skill he had his eyes on would make him able to fashion himself an armour made of living earth, [CRAFT LIVING ELEMENT: EARTH] being a prerequisite ability to being able to learn how to craft golems, which was important, apparently. He knew that golems were a Jewish thing, but little beyond that. Still, every [ELEMENTALIST] that he had spoken to had gone on and on about it, that it was the ultimate goal of every [ELEMENTALIST] no matter their alignment. Whether it be of fire, earth, air, or water, everyone wanted their own personal magic robot.

It had made little sense to him as there were plenty of summoning classes that they could have picked instead if they wanted a bodyguard or servant or whatever. Regardless, the living earth would allow him to encase himself in an armour that would not only defend him, but reshape itself to his will. Softening itself to move, hardening itself to protect, with the ability to form any weapon he could desire. Only melee weapons, unfortunately, but with enough mud he could also fashion entire building with thought alone.

His head positively whirled with all the possible ways that he could use such an ability, all the things that he could build with it. Not just items, no, no, actual buildings.

People always needed things built…or torn down, and that was where the money was. At least, that was what his dad said, but he may have been biased what with him being in construction and all.

John bit his lip as the reminder of his dad caused his heart to ache, the knowledge that he would never get to see him again forcing him to stiffen the muscles in his face as he tried to hold back the emotion.

He was far from the best dad in the world, but John still loved him.

The others were not all of the same opinion of their parents as he was, but he knew that each and every one of them felt the same ache as him to varying degrees. They had been in this world for just over five months, three months out of that depressing ‘arrival integration program’ the city they had all arrived in had kept them until they ‘integrated’, whatever the hell that meant, but none of them had gotten over the shock of being ripped away from their lives and not a night passed without someone seeing, hearing, or even smelling something that reminded them of home and being reduced to tears over it. Each outburst burning through their already low morale, and often threatening to trigger the others in the group into joining them, he included.

And here he was, the leader of this unmerry band.

He did not want the position, but as much as people liked to put down people like him for being toxic bullies and mansplaining and all that; when shit hit the fan, they all want the dumb jock to take the lead, to tell them what to do and that everything was going to be alright, and to take the blows, oh yes, to dive into the heart of battle and kill the enemy or selflessly sacrifice himself to ensure that everyone else got away.

A shit gig no matter how you looked at it.

Speaking of enemies, the field finally reached the monstrous rabbits.

Any normal animal would have backed off from the approaching hazard, but the things down in these tunnels were far from normal and they ran right into the storm of coloured lights, the bolts dancing along the surface of the bubble shooting towards the rabbits as they come in contact with it, frying the beasts like Mr. Hamilton when he tried to take his Christmas lights down last year.

The beasts were normally quiet, unnaturally so, but this time they let out an almost feminine shriek as they were electrocuted. What was even weirder about it was that it sounded as if it had come from behind him.

John snorted as he entertained the thought of ventriloquist rabbits, smirking at the absurdity.

Less funny, however, was the smell of burnt hair that began filling the tunnels already stale air, a foul odour that was strong enough to cause his eyes to start watering. The freaky rabbit-things that had been trying to kill him ever since he set foot in this shit hole had few hairs on their bodies, tiny tufts of wiry like follicles that stuck out of their skin like a porcupine’s quills, but fortunately for him and his crew, the hairs had the equivalent tensile strength of…well…hair.

Hair which, to be accurate, smelt like a cross between a burning pile of crap and battery acid. Even now, he was doing his best to resist the urge to sneeze, the foul odour irritating the inside of his nostrils, with its acrid stench.

He had some time to rest and catch his breath, not that he wanted to with that stench in the air, so he turned to see how the rest had faired

See Goodie on his knees clawing at the ground, one hand clutching his head in obvious pain.

“Aw, what the hell happened, now?” John asked, exasperated. It had been one thing after another ever since Jennifer had convinced them all to go on the adventure and for all it had cost them, they had yet to see any profit.

He knew that it had been a stupid mistake to force the kid to come with them and not just in hindsight, but when Jennifer had told everyone her plan, it just sounded so reasonable when she had explained it to them.

He briefly wondered if a skill might have been at work, but he knew her class and bonus ability, so blaming her for their stupidity would have only been a poor effort to pass the buck.

More likely, everyone was just thinking with their dicks. Even some of the girls. She just had that effect on people.

“Serves the stupid fucker right,” Bret cursed as he stepped up next to him.

“Bit harsh,” John commented.

“No it ain’t,” Bret spat out, ”if it wasn’t for that freak and his bloody snake, we wouldn’t have that lot on our asses,” he said while throwing a thumb back at the menagerie that had gathered just outside the bubble, completely fobbing off any responsibility on his part onto others as usual.

“I’m pretty sure you yelling at him was what brought them here,” John responded, instantly regretted the words as he knew that what he said would only set Bret off.

And so, they did.

Bret looked like he was about to explode with rage. He would not, of course, at least, not to him. Bret was ultimately a coward who would only confront someone whom he knew had no chance of pushing back, people who were not like John. So, the guy just sputtered, momentarily sending spit flying everywhere before trying to change mental lanes.

“Yeah, well, they shouldn’t have even been able to hear me if that girl had done what she was supposed to!” Bret yelled, pointing at said girl.

The girl in question was a scrawny little thing that went by the name of Tine Love, a name straight out of one of the cheesy detective comics he used to read as a kid. Her chosen class was [Illusionist], a class that allowed her to manipulate the senses, sight, sound, so on…but her main job within the group, what ‘she was supposed to do’ as according to Bret, was surround the group with a sound-dampening field so as that they could avoid alerting every monster within hearing distance whenever they battled and getting Zerg-rushed because of it.

But while the spell was not a high-levelled ability, it still drained a large part of her mana reserves keeping it going, so, under his orders, whenever the group stopped, she had to cancel the field and rest to refill her mana bar. A fact which Bret had conveniently forgotten.

Bret began stomping towards the waif, self-righteous anger in each step.

John made to fallow while sighing, he would have to apologise to her later. Just another burden of being in charge.

He could have put a stop to it, but Bret needed to let off some steam or sooner or later he was likely to blow-up, which was something they did not need right now, not with the herd of unfluffy rabbits waiting outside their temporary haven. The shield had already dealt with more half of the things, but who knew how many others had been attracted to the fighting?

Bret was partially right in that Tina should have reactivated her ability as soon as the fighting started, she and the others still lacking the confidence to act on their own. But that lack of confidence was what also allowed him and Jennifer to lead without question, so it was a bit hard to completely lay blame on any of them.

John returned his attention back to Tina, who had been busy trying to help Goodie up off the ground after his…whatever had happened to him, which, unfortunately for Goodie, placed him directly between her and Bret.

Now, normally, seeing that they were not the target, most people would have moved out of the way, but Goodie just stood there. Maybe the pain from earlier made him slow to pick up on the current situation? Whatever it was, he stood there, Bret stomping towards him, and the kid still refrained from moving an inch in any direction. His face showing no sign of emotion. Not fear or anger, certainly not some misguided attempt at bravery, absolutely nothing as far as John could tell.

Not for the first time, John could not help but be creeped out by the guy.

As the distance between the two boys closed, less than a metre between them now, Bret straightened his back, a stupid intimidation tactic where he tried to appear taller, but before he could even open his mouth, however, he was brought to stop as the kid raised a hand in front of Bret’s face. At first, John assumed that Goodie had meant it as a sign for Bret to stop, a silly gesture as it would have only transferred Bret’s focus fully on to him instead of the girl, but the spray of dark, greyish-black matter that sprung from the palm of said hand sent Bret to the floor screaming.

John freaked, not knowing what had happened, he and Michael raised their weapons while Robert prepared a spell, they did not exactly know what they were going to do next, however, as none of them had ever had to attack another human being before. Goodie might have not been a fighter, but he had already disabled Bret in one shot and if the kid had any other tricks up his sleeve and they hesitated to react, one of them end up seriously hurt. Their supplies were already low on potions and having to treat anything more than a minor cut would leave them with next to nothing to treat anyone else later on.

Thankfully, after seeing that Goodie’s attack had yet to cause Bret to melt or any other stupid fantasy trope, John unclenched from what was undoubtedly a lifetime’s worth of stress.

He could deal with this without violence.

Okay, Bret would not be on the ground screaming if he was not in a lot of pain, so there would, undoubtedly, be some sort of retaliation later, more bullshit for him to clean up, but that and this situation could be handled with diplomacy.

John walked forward, slowly as not to frighten him into doing anything extreme.

The kid, Goodie, just stood there, looking down at Bret, who was thrashing back and forth as he tried to claw the ink-like substance off his face, just watching on in silence.

Creepy, John thought, just so goddamned creepy.

John was denied any further musings as he jumped in fright at the sound of an electric zap from behind him. After stopping for a moment after Bret’s attack, the rabbits resumed their assault on the energy barrier separating them from the adventurers within, flinging their bodies into the field of lightning with no care for their well-being, the air once again filling with the smell of burning crap.

After a few choice words that his mother would slap him for, he resumed walking.

John slowly approached the two, not wanting to scare Goodie into doing else, especially, anything else to him. He could take the kid easily, but infighting was not going to help anyone at this point and would have just serve bottom out their already low morale.

After a moment’s hesitation, John spoke, “Look, dude, Goodie, I know things are tough, but doing things like this isn’t going to help anyone, Okay? I know Bret gets intense at times, and maybe he had this coming, but c’mon now?”

Goodie just stared at him.

John did not really know what to say next, so he tried to diverting Goodie’s attention.

“Maybe…uh, maybe you should scout ahead…?”

Still just that vacant stare.

“To see if all the noise has attracted anyone else to our location,” he said, trying to reinforce his suggestion with sound reasoning. A negotiation trick his father had taught him.

“And how, exactly, do I do that?” Goodie enquired with a monotone voice.

“With your snake? …oh, the rabbits would be in the way, so…maybe, you could send her around?

“She’s gone.”

“What? Oh, your snake, well bring her back then.”

“That storm bubble went up, it hit her, and now she’s gone,” Goodie explained as he wiped the dirt off his hands, the kid’s face about as emotionless as the dead.

It took a moment for John to figure out what Goodie was trying to tell, eventually replying with, “Oh…well,” John started, “shit.”