Kara flew by weightlessly, rolling across the ground and throwing herself to her feet. She clenched her fists, cursing. She was left standing in the field alone, surrounded by hundreds of backpacks. A couple hundred white rays entered the gate. It closed quickly after, its color turning into a faded gray.

He escaped--again.

But not for long, you scoundrel. Her 5th rank Life Force Signal reached in time--it would last a good hour, relaying the location he was in.

Kara ignored the shouting of the soldiers behind her. Really, what did Olivia think would happen? Forcing large groups of crossed low-levels into clearing a Dungeon is just asking for The Game to screw them over. Either she was far dumber than Kara expected her to be, or this part of her plan.

There was no helping the fools around her—she had more important matters to get to. She needed a quiet spot to plant herself in. It was time to test the limits of the Life Siren profession. If her guess was right, it should work.

If she was wrong?

Well, Kara never liked to thing about these negative sort of things.

***

Nilbog’s feet touched the ground a second later. Dead leaves cracked like glass under him. The rest of his party materialized at the same time, falling to the floor with their swords, shields, and spears falling on top of them.

Nilbog wasn’t completely unscathed. He felt something in his heart buckle but hold. He bought his head up, surveying the area.

The sun hid behind the clouds as usual. Trees stood tall and crooked all around them, their branches full of stiff leaves. The strange stone-like leaves were sharp and firm, but they weren't sharp enough to pierce his boots as he walked on them. Thick bushes stuck themselves under each tree, providing complete coverage. It wasn’t lush as much as it was crowded with long grass growing over each other.

He glanced at his teammates slithering about the floor, moaning and pressing their hands against their heads. Some of them got cuts from the leaves, though the pain in their heads seemed to be worst. Nilbog didn’t share their sentiment. His body felt smooth and firm, the daggers in his hands fitting perfectly. His senses were on point. He could hear each leaf clicking against each other with the soft breeze. Three squirrels ran overhead, and a raven croaked above as it stared directly at them.

“Why the fuck are you not shitting your pants?” Moon said, raising up. He took two threatening steps towards Nilbog until he fell.

How slow. Nilbog glanced to the side, to his feet, and then back up.

Moon was still falling, just a hand’s reach away. He could have stopped Moon’s descent with one hand; he felt it in him, but he didn’t. He stepped to the side, and watched Moon had one hand out blindly in front of him, searching for the floor as his face crumpled hideously.

It was the Sentient Killer skill, he realized. The difference in Danger Ranks between him and her gave him 75% Soul Defense, 37.5% increased parameters, and 30% reduced damage. Short-Breath also remained active. His vastly increased Soul Defense might have protected him against the harmful effects of teleportation.

The way percentages worked was something Nilbog still did not get. Would a 75% Soul Defense reduce the harmful effects by 75%, or would it just increase his Soul Defense by 75%?

This was the first time he had the time to feel Sentient Killer's effects--most of the time he was too busy running for his life to savor the power coursing through. Even though Kara The Defier was gone, the buffs remained for a duration. Something felt auspicious—it must have been a Tracking skill. If his body was still fighting against it, then it would make sense why Sentient Killer’s effects remained active.

Moon hit the floor with an oof, sending leaf flying all over the place. Before Nilbog could laugh, he crumbled to the floor, his brain feeling like squished mush. He sucked a sharp breath and then quickly coughed it out, realizing it was frigid and full of dust.

His defenses failed. The Game would have informed him if he resisted anything. All his parameters went down to normal.

“Fucking idiot, so slow that even nausea takes time to hit you,” Moon said, grabbing a leaf and throwing it at him. It bounced off Nilbog’s shoulder as he joined the rest of his party members in their agony. They groaned and moaned, kicked and whimpered in unity. Each took a different corner to empty their stomachs at.

His Shapeshifter skill negated organ damage, so it mustn’t have been a physical effect. Teleportation must have impacted the Soul rather than the body. It caused his insides to revolt against him.

“At least...we’re building a bond,” Lan said through wet eyes. “That’s worth something, ain’t it?”

“Put a cock on your bond building,” Moon replied.

It took a long while for everyone to fetch their bodies into a coherent function. They sat with their backs against the trees, their arms wrapped around them.

“Oi, look at that,” Lan said, wiping off his mouth. Above them, through the narrow openings in the trees spread a large pile of dark clouds. It spat lightning, fire, and blue beams. “It’s...moving towards us.”

“Let’s move away, then?” Cijo said, shrugging. “That much is obvious."

“No,” Lan replied. “We have time. We need to know what we’re doing first.”

“Surviving,” Cijo said.

“We need to play it smart. We need a game plan,” Lan said with a smirk.

“How very, very clever,” Moon said. “Me and Cijo will frontline. You’ll stay behind us, stabbing with the pointy end of your stick, and give orders. The brat and fat-man will annoy them from the sides.”

“You’re...willing to listen to me? I find that hard to believe,” Lan said, his eyebrows connecting together.

“Sure,” Moon said, with a shrug and an entirely unconvincing grin.

“Well, let me just say that I won’t expect it when you don’t follow orders and fuck things up for us. Anyway, I doubt we’ll be able to fight against other groups. Hunting the monsters will get us most points.”

“We’re a man down, too," Moon added.

“Huh?” Lan said, turning to face him. “Actually, don’t fini—”

“We got three men, and one brat and one-half woman. The last two count as a half, if we’re feeling generous.”

“I’ll take care of myself,“ Gale said, turning towards Nilbog. “Mind explaining why you can’t use any Source?”

“Yes.” Nilbog didn’t mind the silence that followed his answer.

“Let’s move out,” Lan said after a while. He picked up his spear. “Gale, can you go ahead of us? We’ll move in a circular manner, instead of going straight. The storm isn’t too far behind us, we got ten minutes or so, but only if it stays to its current pace.”

“What we hunting for?” Cijo asked, putting his heater shield on.

“Monsters, animals. They’ll be easier. We need practice before meeting another group that’s out for murder.”

The bush ahead moved. Gale came out of it, his nose wet with snot. His eyes were half-open and disinterested. He walked towards the group, wiping his nose on his sleeve, and sat behind.

“What you back so early for?”

“Ghouls.”

“What about them?” Lan asked.

“They’re coming,” he said, sneezing.

“The Ghouls? Where? How fa-”

Two purple lumps jumped out from the bushes. One fell while the other ran on top of it, charging straight at them. Both were six feet tall with sharp claws and a large mouth with mismatched teeth. One was level 32 and the other 39, but neither had the yellow aura of Life Armor.

“Battle positions!” Moon bellowed, stepping in front of it of the group.

The Ghoul charged straight at him and then jumped up into the air, attempting to arch its claws over the shield.

Moon to the left, ducked slightly, and swung his shield arm to the right. The Ghoul smashed against his shield and flew towards Cijo, who nearly fumbled the handle as the Ghoul impaled itself on his blade. With the same motion Moon used to defend he attacked, sticking his sword out. It pierced the following ghoul straight through the head and exploded, decapitating it. A Life Force Thrust extended from his blade, striking the Ghouls behind it.

The Ghoul that Cijo had pierced struggled forward even with the sword through it. It swiped at him, catching his face before he could duck. Sparks flew as it pierced through Cijo’s Life Armor. Instead of taking his face off it only left two small cuts. Before it swiped again Cijo’s shield smashed into it from the side, leaving a noticeable dent in its body, and then headbutted the monster, denting its head the other way.

Defensive Maneuvers

Buff Type: Maneuvers

Duration: 30 seconds.

Increase Agility, Armor, and HP regeneration by 10%.

Increase Block and Parry effectiveness by 20%.

Reduce the effects of debuffs by 20%.

Having an ally on each side will improve the effects of Defensive Maneuvers

by 50% and adds a 20% STM reduction.

Cijo kicked off the corpse body of his blade, sending it tumbling towards the next group of Ghouls. It made the first one trip and the one after it to crash into a heap of lost limbs, but the next Ghoul used it to hop over the front line. Moon swung his sword upward, taking off one foot, and then brought the blade down towards the Ghoul that ran under it.

The Ghoul that went over was impaled itself on Lan’s spear. Its momentum drag him backward. He fell on his back, flinging the Ghoul over him. The spear slide out of its chest as it crashed into the welcoming daggers of Nilbog and Gale. Four more Ghouls crashed into Moon and Cijo. More followed behind.

Nilbog ran by the sides. When he noticed that the attention of the two last Ghouls changed towards him, Nilbog did what rogues did best--he turned and ran the other way, using the trees and bushes to outmaneuver the Ghouls.

Though they were quick, they weren’t too bright. Nilbog ran straight towards a tree, the two Ghouls following his heel. Then, just before he crashed it, he lunged to the side. The Ghoul closest to Nilbog, crashed into the tree, taking 7 damage. They were just as fragile to blunt as slashing damage.

The other level 38 Ghoul reacted in time, dodging the tree. He attempted the same trick again, but at this level the Ghouls had the capacity to learn from their mistakes. Their Agility was also getting dangerously high—a few more levels and he won’t be even able to run away. Not wanting to agro another mob, Nilbog took it around in a circle before realizing the other Ghoul had broken agro and was running back towards his group.

Nilbog made a quick turn, ducking under the Ghoul’s swipe with the help of his Dodge skill, and dashed towards the other one. His party were doing well on their own, but one flank could break the line. They were fragile monsters but their claws proved to be high penetrating—even without depleting all their target’s Life Armor, they could still deal a high amount of bleed damage with a penetrating hit.

Nilbog kept his body low and behind the cover of the trees, hiding from its sight as he sprinted for all his worth.

Just as the Ghoul lunged forward on Moon’s flank, Nilbog sprung from behind cover. He stuck his left dagger right above its collarbone, avoiding the bones. As the dull blade jammed in, Nilbog used it to swing the rest of his body behind it, allowing his second dagger to come around, piercing the other side of its neck.

Complete Penetration!

You have dealt 41 damage!

You have dealt Devastating Bleed damage!

Penetration!

You have dealt 25 damage!

You have dealt Moderate Bleed damage!

Nilbog jerked his weapons free before he struck the ground, separating from the Ghoul. Lane stepped in to help as Nilbog tumbled up to Moon’s feet.

Nilbog got one tiny breath before realizing he was in the middle of everything. There were Ghouls to his front, back, right, and Moon’s fully lit blade coming towards him from the left. With a yelp Nilbog ducked, letting the blade go over his head.

A Life Force Slash whizzed right above his head. It struck two Ghouls that were standing side to side, digging into their skin a good couple inches before exploding. It knocked them into the Ghouls behind them and Nilbog towards the ground. Sentient Killer activated, upping his damage reduction by 20%. He took four points of Life Force Damage.

By the time Nilbog was able to find his bearings again the rest of the Ghouls were finished off. He stood up in time to share a seething glare with his party mates.

Gale, in return, stuck his finger into his hooked nose even further.

“Care to explain, good sir?” Moon said, tapping his sword against his shield. “Or would you rather have me open the ball of your stomach and see what’s inside?”

“What he said, but without the stomach part,” Lan said.

“What you want me to explain?” Gale said, burping.

“I’m going to strangle this litt-”

“Why did you not warn us?” Cijo said.

“Oh,” he said, and then scratched his other breast. “If you can’t kill a couple Ghouls when you’re surprised, then I would have just left you guys.”

A moment of quiet settled on the group. Moon turned towards Lan. “Can I strangle the bitch now?”

Lan shook his head. “We killed a total of seven Ghouls. Five adults and two larger variants. If they didn’t rush us sporadically then we would have probably lo-”

“The hell does spordikaly mean?” Moon asked, spitting to the side.

“In interv-”

“What does intervals mean?” Moon asked, a bored look on his face.

“Argh, that’s hard to explain. It means to--wait. You knew the word I was gonna say!” Lan said, the pitch of his voice rising.

“Oh, did I?” he said with a smirk. “Please do go on then,” he said.

“What a jerk,” Lan said, under his breath.

“I’m guessing there are mini-bosses as well,” Cijo said. “We can’t just be marching around. The bushes and trees are separating the areas.”

“Anyone took a lot of damage? Not too much? Good. Gale, can you warn us next time? I think we’ve been tested enough."

Gale shrugged and went further ahead.

Lan attempted to get some conversation going, but it usually bounced off from Cijo and came back to him, if it did not fall flat through Moon’s efforts.

Nilbog did not like the look of this. Lan did not inspire confidence in him, and Moon was even less trustworthy.

Keep your guard up, Nil. These Sentients were as potentially harmful as the monsters themselves