As far as the world was concerned, cracklings were the equivalent of tooth decay. The stronger they became, the more the realm they were a part of decayed in the real world. If nothing was done, they would eventually become strong enough to overpower the guardian of the realm. When that happened, there was no leveling up. Instead, the item itself would die along with its guardian, leaving the cracklings to reign in the pieces or fizzle out into nothingness. The last remained unclear, or as Nil used to say “scholars were still having arguments on the topic.” That explained why the guardian of the well was hiding. Unable to fight the creatures, all the guardian could do was seek shelter, hoping that would slow the cracks’ progress enough for an awakened to appear and cleanse the realm of their presence.

Having a carckling familiar, though, was something else. Nox had helped Dallion a number of times, not to mention he was instrumental in unsealing the awakened powers of his mother. And that was before Dallion had made him a guardian. Now the puma was able to help him in the real world, causing cracks in any surface the tip of his dagger came into contact with. Dallion had tested it out and on a few items, always careful not to break them completely—and mending them afterwards, of course. However, it felt reassuring knowing that if push came to shove, he had that power at his disposal. For the current situation, Nox had another quality that made him far more useful—his ability to find other cracks.

“This isn’t a joke, right?” Veil asked from the top of a stone pillar.

“They’ll get here,” Dallion replied, sitting on the ground below. “Trust me.”

“I really have no idea what you’re trying to do,” Gloria whispered. “But as long as it pisses off my brother I’m willing to help.”

“Wow. I don’t remember you two being like this before.”

“We weren’t.” Gloria looked at the horizon. “Growing up under grandpa wasn’t the easiest experience. Everyone knew what they needed to do and just waited for the right time so they could do it. Everyone’s life was carefully planned and all I could hope for was to hope to slightly change the direction in which it would continue. We never were a family. In a way, we still aren’t.”

Dallion remained silent. The fall of the village chief had caused a lot of changes, and while most were for the better, some weren’t.

“At least here we’re two ordinary people in the big city. Here we can be siblings again.”

“I wouldn’t call you ordinary.” Dallion smiled. “And as the tips have shown, neither do most in Nerosal. See anything yet?” he shouted at Veil.

“Another plume of smoke has vanished.”

That made three. Admittedly, it was taking Nox longer than Dallion would have hoped, but given the size of this realm, he was doing quite well. And unlike Gloria, the crackling had no intention of complaining. Getting the chance to run about in the open and claw on things freely was more than enough to make him feel happy. The only fly in the ointment was Lux. The firebird was vital for Dallion’s play, very much to Nox’s displeasure. Despite everything, the puma cub still viewed Lux as an annoying little brother he was stuck with. In this case, though, there was no alternative.

“Even if you get all the gremlins here, that won’t change much,” Gloria said. “There’s still days of walking to their camps, and if we don’t destroy those by morning—”

“Don’t worry about that. My plan is to make their settlements come to us as well.”

“If you say so.” Gloria shrugged.

It wouldn’t hurt you to explain things from time to time, dear boy, Nil said.

It’s better this way.

If you say so. Personally, I am not amused having a firebird sleep in the alchemy section of the library, even if its flames are harmless.

Dallion decided not to ask. Taking care of Lux was going to be a whole thing on its own. On that note, he was going to start saving up to buy a spheric trinket at one of the guild auctions. A ring would be the ideal choice, although Dallion had no intention of being picky. Any item that he could carry around in the real world would suffice. That way, he would worry less if he happened to have another visit from the fury thief or another member of the mirror pool.

“One more down,” Veil shouted. “You got to tell me how you’re doing that!”

“Patience. You’ll know once you’re a double digit,” Dallion lied. He wasn’t sure whether people could see Nox or not, but at this stage he preferred if fewer people were aware of his existence. “You can come down, by the way. We’ll be able to see them as they get nearer.”

After another few minutes Veil did just that. Still skeptical, he joined the other two on the ground as they waited. And while they did so, Dallion kept on following the progress of his minion. While being linked to a familiar didn’t let him see things from Nox’s eye, the cracking gave him a pretty good account of what was going on.

As instructed, Nox had started by rounding up the small groups of gremlins. Finding them proved easy enough, and thanks to the fire-propelled speed that Lux provided, they could be reached in a matter of minutes. From then on, things became banally simple: Nox would attack the flame—causing all instances of cracklings to merge into one entity—then dash to the next group and repeat.

Dallion still had a lot to learn about the nature of cracks and cracklings, but there were a few things he knew from personal experience: they were territorial, loathed being disturbed, and when threatened always merged together. Each plume of smoke disappearing indicated another group merging together to deal with the guardian attacking them. From here on, it was only a matter of time before a single entity came this way… a very large entity.

It seems that your absurd idea is about to work, Nil commented. Finally, you’re starting to surprise me, dear boy. Here’s one book for me to add in the library.

As much as Dallion was pleased with the results, the idea wasn’t his. What mattered, though, was that it seemed to be working.

“I think we should get ready,” Dallion said, as only one plume of smoke remained visible. Once that was gone, Nox was going to make his way towards the group, bringing a wave of cracklings behind him.

Remember to return to my realm before they see you, Dallion reminded. A meow and a chirp confirmed his order.

“Gloria, you should go up there,” he said.

“What about you?” the girl asked. “You’re the one with the magic harp.”

“I won’t be using it to play music.”

Nox came as predicted, venturing out of the garden realm as soon as it got within sight of Dallion. Given that Dallion’s perception was fifty percent higher than that of the rest, there was a good chance that the crackling—and firebird engine—remained unnoticed.

“Get ready.” Dallion held up his harpsisword.

“I don’t see anything,” Veil said.

Within moments that changed as a wave of blackness flowed towards them as a title wave. However, it did not splash over then. Instead, a creature began to emerge, slowly taking form as the black substance rose up.

Facing all sorts of enemies in the sphere items, Dallion thought he had an idea how large merged beings could be. The truth was that he didn’t. The gremlin before them was larger than the stone pillars that filled the realm. Compared to it, Veil and Dallion were little more than gerbils.

“So, this is how they take down a guardian,” Dallion said. “Fought anything this big before?”

“Pretty much. You?”

“Once.” The fifth level guardian in the Dherma awakening shrine was even larger than this. However, the method Dallion had used to win back then wasn’t something he could repeat. “There can’t be more than a few thousand of them, right?”

With a laugh, Veil dashed forward. Moments later, Dallion did the same.

COMBAT INITIATED

Bolts split the air above them, dealing the obligatory two damage per second to the massive creature. On its part, the creature responded. A giant fist moved towards Veil at the speed a normal gremlin would attack. This remained one of the things Dallion couldn’t get used to—the relation between size and speed in this world went against expectations he had built for decades back on Earth.

Instinctively, Dallion played a chord, if only to slow the monster’s attack. The action worked, delaying the attack by half a second—enough for Veil to evade getting splatted on the ground. What was more, the blonde managed to inflict a few wounds on the gremlin’s hand. It was interesting to note that his attack style changed completely. Veil was no longer aiming for long slashes, preferring to go for more strikes of lower intensity.

Every hit counts, Dallion told himself. That meant that as long as he could get into a blind spot, he could deal with the equivalent of fifty damage or more. And as every person knew, there was no better blind spot than behind the ankle.

“This sword is something else!” Veil shouted, cutting off the gremlin’s thumb. The black substance quickly restored the loss, though that did little to stop the blond from hacking on.

Taking advantage of the situation, Dallion ran to the gremlin’s foot, heading towards the ankle. They had been doing pretty well against a monster this size. Then again, one good hit on the creature’s part was all it took to cast them out.

“Time for our part,” Dallion said, then drove the harpsisword halfway in.

Before the gremlin could react, Dallion played a chord. Pain and damage usually went hand in hand, causing smaller enemies to give up. In this case, Dallion wasn’t using pain, he was using destruction.

A roar filled the air as the monster turned around to find the new source of pain. Dallion let go of the harpsisword and dashed back. Given the effects she had on the scylla it was likely she would keep continuously draining life from the monster until it became an easy target to kill.

Suddenly a sharp note of pain resonated in Dallion’s awakening realm. It belonged to the harpsisword. At that moment, Dallion summoned the sword back to him. Then he saw it. A small hairline crack had formed on the blade. Made visible thanks to Dallion’s forging skills, it was like a blister on the otherwise flawless surface.

“Harp?” Dallion turned a shade paler. Crap! What have I done?

Up to now, all the enemies that Dallion had fought had targeted him, making him forget that weapons suffered damage as well. The make and level of the harpsisword had made him forget that up till now, but clearly his gear wasn’t invulnerable.

Lux, heal her!

As much as Dallion would have liked to follow up on the results of that, the battle was still raging. Annoyed by the pain in its ankle. Tendrils shot out from its entire body, aiming towards both sources of annoyance.

“Shield!” Dallion shouted, holding the armadil forward.

The shield extended, creating a protective semi-sphere moments before the tendrils reached Dallion. A series of strikes pushed him back several steps, though thankfully didn’t cause any damage. A distance away, Veil had also been the subject to such treatment. He, however, dealt with it in an entirely different manner. Taking a medium wound, not only did he keep slashing, but charged closer to the monster so as to double his effectiveness.

Nil, how much damage have we dealt? Dallion asked, slashing a few of the attacking tendrils from behind the safety of his shield.

From what I’m seeing, I would estimate somewhere between a tenth and a fifth. It’s difficult to tell due to that last attack.

Lux, when you’re done healing Harp, go out there and heal Veil. Dallion ordered. And be careful! At the first sign of danger, you go back to my realm!

A loud chirp suggested that the order was understood.

Nox, you keep an eye on him, okay? Dallion said, just to be sure. This might be a long fight.