Short summary of the last chapter:

Spoiler :

The demon’s army made it to River’s Cross at the same time that Voice made it to the mountain. The demon spent several days watching the city, to find out how to best get the info he needed. Voice adopted a kid named Lily. She plans to try to kill him at some point. He trained her to be able to kill wolves without crying so much.

Also, let me know if anything is wrong with the chapter! Be sure to comment!

I put in a few fight scene like things in this chapter. I know they are my weak point, so I am trying to fix them. Helpful criticism is welcome! No, it is needed! PLEASE! I really do want to get better, so if anyone has good suggestions let me know. I will gladly look them over. I hope to be able to write compelling fight scenes soon, as they will be a bigger part of the overall story in the future.

I also know the second fight scene could be made better. I was trying to figure out how to write a scene against enemies that didn’t conform to ‘humanoid’.

It was finally the day to attack the hunters. The demon’s camp had come down with some strange cold-like disease. It wasn’t enough to hinder them, but it did make them uncomfortable. It had to be a powerful disease or curse in order to effect the dark army.

The demon was confident of it being nature. He had no doubt that his men were above such things as curses. After all, they had been infused with dark magic for a very long time.

The demon sent out one of his men to take care of the hunters. Although the hunters were armed and wore armor, the demon saw no reason to send more.

The people of River’s Cross were pathetically attired. The armor might have been good for its level, but everyone in the army had armor that was better than all of the leather in the city combined. The weapons were a joke. The man he sent was a half-human half-demon hybrid. His skin was dark, not black but dark, and he had red irises on his otherwise normal eyes. The only other noticeable defiance between him and a human was his famed pointed ears. His ears gave him a distinct advantage in blind combat. He could hear several times better than a normal human, and better by half than a demon. It was actually incredible the level of his sense.

His man was to return that night. The group kept vigilante watch that day. The hunters returned to the city unscathed during that day.

His man did come back that night. He did, but he had cuts all over his face and neck, and his right leg had an obvious hole through it. His helmet was completely missing, and he had two curse marks over his eyes. His once glorious blood red plate armor was gone, and his sword of darkness was missing. The man was only had a wooden spear, and his basic leather under armor. The demon gaped at the man.

When the man came close enough, the demon grabbed him by the throat. The demon’s voice was as sinister as it could be, with a dark hatred rooted in it.

“Tell me now why I should let you live.” The man was gasping for air as the demon held him. The demon threw him to the ground and glared at him. “NOW!”

The man started to shiver. “Puh-please!” The man was visibly shaking. The demon was impatient. He started using a dark spell to decapitate the man. “I was attacked!” The demon halted the spell. Seeing this the man hurried to continue his story.

The man had set out when the demon gave his order. He waited in ambush for the hunting party. They always seemed to come through this particular part of the forest, so he could easily catch them off guard. His mode of travel entailed silently jumping from tree to tree. Despite his heavy plate armor, he was quite stealthy.

He was hiding in a tree when he heard a noise above him. He quickly scanned the area to silence the noise. What he saw disturbed him. A skeletal raven! Ravens were the messengers to Davros, if someone summoned an undead raven, that could only mean one of two things. Someone in his group was trying to help him, or a villager knew he was here.

He discounted the idea of it being a villager, so he let the raven come close to him. The raven landed on him and sat there, perched on his shoulder. When he heard the hunters approach he got ready to jump down. Suddenly the raven pecked him! It pecked him in a small alcove that his armor didn’t cover in this position. Even plate armor had some flaws.

A mark grew where the raven pecked, he knew a curse mark when he saw one. Slowly his vision began to blur, then fade to black completely. After the fact he knew what had happened. The raven had a sealed curse placed on it. The curse was of intermediate level, so needed to be in close proximity to the target as it adjusted itself to its prey. The fact that he let the bird perch on him was the first mistake he made. If he had made the bird fly away at any time it the curse would have failed.

Still, he wasn’t one of the demon’s best men for nothing. He used his excellent hearing to detect where the enemies were. He jumped down, ignoring the pecking from the raven. The raven couldn’t deal damage to him as long as he kept his attention from wavering. His Blood Armor had that effect. As long as he thought about deflecting the attack, it was deflected; however, if he stopped paying attention then the armor would be as strong as regular steel plate.

This armor was perfect for taking on small groups or individuals. That’s why he was chosen. His concentration ability was high. That coupled with his armor, made him unstoppable against low count enemies.

He jumped down from the tree he was hiding in, after the group had passed. That was his second mistake. You see, the ‘people’ that had crossed under him were not the hunters. They were the undead, recently given life by Kretchof. There was four of them. He could hear the familiar sound of wind going through bones.

He could hear the wind whistle as they swung their weapons in anticipation. They only had the wooden spears! HA! He concentrated on that sound to be able to block the attacks with a thought. All four enemies came at him at once. The boxed him in, and attacked in patterns.

One would attack, and the ones on its left and right would defend it from the man. The one in front of him slashed. He easily blocked the attack with a thought, and returned it with his sword of darkness. His sword had been enchanted by a corrupted druid. It had the ability to decay anything it sliced. Including wooden spears. It was going to be a bit of a difficult battle though. Without being able to corrupt them he would have to actually kill them. Killing undead was a pain. Especially the higher level ones. He didn’t know how high-level these were, but they should have been at least on par with the raven ability.

To kill undead one had to either crush them into dust, bind them with holy magic, or cut them up enough that the summoner didn’t want to pour in mana to reform them.

The front skeleton stabbed again. This time the man parried the staff. A satisfied grin answered the decay of the spear. It was only the tip of the spear, but now it couldn’t pierce him. He no longer needed to worry about that one. One down three to go.

The next three were a bit harder. They made sure to avoid the sword at all costs. Even if that meant getting hit themselves. The man tried to attack several times, but would be hit from three other angles each time he did. The only behind him attacked at all times. It cost a bit of concentration, but he stopped the damage each time.

The skeletons were all aiming for his lower stomach and legs with each hit. He knew not to fall into the trap of leaving his top half undefended though. He faced the skeleton to his right. Now the skeleton with a broken spear was to his left. He was stabbed at a few times by the skeleton in front of him, but his armor managed all of the damage. He heard the skeleton aim a bit higher than usual, and try to stop itself. He capitalized on that. He swung his sword at the spear. The two skeletons beside him tried to block his attack, but he jumped in the air and used dark blast. It was just a blast of concentrated dark tendrils. The mana cost was excessively high though, and the Cooldown was several minutes.

The tendrils hit the skeletons, but he felt his helmet being lifted as well. He went to grab it, but the corpses suddenly exploded around him. He had to concentrate his entire mind to stop the four blasts of dark energy from hitting him. In doing so he lost the chance to save his helmet.

He heard the raven from earlier screech as it took its prize. The man cursed as the beast flew off with a piece of his enchanted gear. He didn’t have the luxury of reducing his attention to the surrounding skeletons.

Without the entire set, the armor was not nearly as powerful. It only blocked for the parts covering it. He had to pull his arms over his head, and duck his head into his chest piece to negate the damage. The explosion was over a second later. Damn corpse explosion! Corpse explosion would deal massive damage to anyone it hit, and he almost got his by four of them.

After making sure no one was following him anymore, he went in search of the hunting party. He might have lost some of his armor, but if he came back empty handed then the demon would skin him alive. He would much rather take a bit of extra time, and come back with results than come back on time.

He found the party hunting a small group of wolves. He watched their movements. They were very adept at their roles within the party. Fighting them wouldn’t be as easy as he first though, especially without hit helmet protecting his head.

The blinding effect was still activated, so he took quite a bit of time to actually find them. He had to rely on the sounds they made. He listened for the sound of wind rustling over the signature leather armor of the group.

He had trouble finding the group, because the entire forest started to smell of undead. He had to avoid several more skeletons in order to find the group. It took him another hour before he finally found them.

The group smelled of horrid undead. No doubt they had to fight through the skeletons as well. It did smell as if they had rubbed some sort of fragrant plant on themselves to nullify some of the smell.

He licked his lips when he finally found them. He decided to ‘accidently’ attack with too much strength, and kill at least one. He stood up on the branch he was on. He aimed his sword for just ahead of where he heard the last foot step.

He plunged downwards, slashing with his beloved blade. The blade caused ripples of darkness to approach his target. The dark blade’s special ability was that it could shear through any armor with the dark ripples it created. The attack wouldn’t deal much damage, but it did reduce non-magical armor to nothingness fairly quickly.

The ripple connected with his target, causing a small backlash of wind. He frowned, the person had not yelled in surprise. They were either already ready, or something was wrong. He was already in a defensive pose as he landed on the ground. A sword slashed to his left, he parried it. The smell on the people was nauseating, he had to hold himself back from gaging.

He heard an arrow fly towards his head. He dodged out of the way, but was hit by an arrow coming from the other side. His left cheek sprayed a small amount of blood outwards. He gritted his teeth. This much pain was nothing.

More arrows flew towards him. He sprung out of the way, only to jump into a hunter that he didn’t realize was there. As he fell into the soft rotting flesh he realized something. FUCKING UNDEAD! A roar tore through his lips. He slashed at the zombie scum. The rotting flesh released a small explosion of fetid smelling meat as the sword easily tore through the wolf skin armor. With a flick of his wrist he decapitated the thing. The once revived body fell to the ground.

As his nose was assaulted by the foul smelling thing, the zombie behind him haphazardly swung down an iron sword. Not only had the type of undead changed, they even got a weapon upgrade! The back of his neck experienced a piercing pain, as an arrow lodged itself into it. He almost let a scream pass, but held it in. Anger flooded his mind. He attacked the swordsman behind him. He ignored the ever increasing amounts of arrows shot at him.

The arrows continued to bounce off his armor, only occasionally would he have to dodge one aimed at his head. Like this he engaged the remaining swordsman. If he could see he would have been able to deal with this pile of discarded meat easily, as it was he had trouble.

The zombie was the first to attack. The zombie slashed downwards in an ungraceful arc. The man didn’t even block it. He let it hit his armor, and returned the strike with one of his own. His horizontal slash met its mark. The zombie was cut in two at the waist. He suddenly felt something pierce his right leg. He turned around while enduring the pain. It was the zombie he decapitated! Damn! High level zombies!? The zombie had managed to stab into the small gap the armor didn’t protect, right below the knee.

He yanked the sword out of his leg, and threw it in front of him. The other zombie was literally pulling itself together, only to be interrupted by a sword to the gut. The now weaponless zombie behind him attacked by clawing at his head.

He sliced the thing’s hands off. Another arrow skimmed inches in front of his face. He rolled away, getting into a battle stance. He could hear the two swordzombies getting their weapons and putting themselves back together. He cursed. This was getting to be a pain. He was level sixty for fucks sake! These zombies couldn’t be more than level twenty to thirty at most!

Summoning higher level zombies required a lot of mana. Unless the necromancer had some sort of monstrous mana stockpile, or was a Higher Lich, then these zombies would be about all it could handle at once.

The man knew how to kill them, but with four armed zombies, it was going to be hard. The two swordzombies approached him. He heard the one on the left slash at his right leg, the one that now bore a hole.

He easily parried it, while kicking the other zombie. The arrows had started to die down, so it was easier to maneuver. His kick propelled the zombie several feet into the air, and pushed it many yards back. It hit a tree and went limp. At least for now. The other zombie had again struck at the wounded leg.

The mana stepped back, and put all of his weight behind a strike to the skull. With a splat, he crushed the zombies brain. One down, three to go. An arrow whizzed past his left shoulder. The other zombie was already rushing towards him. Well, it was going as fast as a zombie could. Zombie could go about 80% as fast as a human, unless they had leg problems in their life or during the summoning.

The man simply prepared his next attack. Something started to smell. Not rotting flesh smell, more like dark miasma. The man noticed his ability to hear was slowly being impaired.

Skeletons could be detonated by Corpse Explosion. Zombies could be made into Miasma Bombs. The type of miasma depended on the quality of the zombie, as well as where it was found. The other zombie seemed to be moving at an average pace now.

It caught up to him quickly. It raised its sword. The man had to force his speed up to block it. The zombie was already moving into the next strike as their swords met. The zombie’s sword slid down the man’s, and angled towards his good leg.

He wanted to let the armor block it, but couldn’t concentrate enough to do it. He swung his sword in an arc, and managed to deflect the blow. An arrow cut across the top of his head. His eyes tightened when he felt it. It seemed like the arrow slashed for several seconds.

The zombie started to pick up speed. Its slashes and thrust now on par with master swordsmen. The man had trouble blocking them. He was having so much trouble he could not even counter or initiate an attack of his own.

The zombie slashed, and arrows cut. The zombie finally made a mistake. It over extended itself on a strike. He took the opportunity to smash its skull with the back of the blade. The zombie managed to just barely deflect the blow. The man was hit by an arrow in response.

The man had just about given up hope, when the zombie made another mistake. It attacked the man’s chest. The man let it hit him. Through the pain he sent another attack at the zombie. He felt two arrows cutting his face, but it was now or never.

He felt the blade sink down into the skull. As it did the man smelled a new smell. It wasn’t the smell of decay one would expect. The man smelled a new type of miasma spewing from the zombie. The miasma seemed to wrap his body in sleep. He didn’t even have the strength to curse his luck.

When he awoke he had only his leather armor and only a broken wooden spear lying beside him. He decided it best to head back and report the high level undead in the forest.

Kretchof’s POV

Early in the morning, my skeletal scouts said they saw one of the army brake away from the rest. They lost track of his location almost immediately. I sent the skeletons I had out to search for it. After many minutes of fruitless searching, I created a raven to expedite things. I enhanced the raven’s flying ability, and gave it a sealed curse. In all likelihood the man would assume any undead came from one of his comrades in the dark army. He did. The raven found his within only a minute. I would have created the raven earlier, but creating beasts that can fly costs a lot of spots that could be used for regular foot soldiers.

He allowed the raven to perch on him. I instructed the raven to activate the curse. If the man forced the raven off him, it would be a waste, but I didn’t think that would happen. The raven completed the curse, and signaled the nearby skeletons. I could tell right away that they were not going to be enough to hinder the man for long. Master told me to slowly eliminate the army, so I needed to weaken them first. I sent many of my skeletons to rest, so that I could summon zombies instead. The zombies took up even more slots than the raven. I could only have four summoned if I laid all skeletal warriors to rest.

I could still have a single group, or keep the raven. I chose the latter. The raven brought me the man’s helmet as I started creating the zombies. Master would be pleased with the armor. He himself tended to wear heavy armor. I sent the raven out to keep watch on the blinded man. Even without the use of his eyes he was a formidable opponent for the skeletons. He almost instantly destroyed them. The raven sent word of the hunters. I had an idea I put into practice when I heard that.

I sent one zombie to the group. I ordered it to not attack. I had it get killed by the group. When they killed it I activated the Miasma Bomb. It put the entire group to sleep within seconds. I had the other four zombies get their gear, and wear it. The obtained two iron swords, and two bows and quivers. Since the man seemed to be able to sense enemies without sight, I had them disguise their smell as much as possible. I then gave them instructions to hunt wolves. Master wanted me to protect this river village, so starving them was not an option.

The group hunted many wolves, and placed the bodies near the hunters. When they were attacking one set, the man came. He put up a good fight, but since he was being targeted by two long range, and two short range groups, he did not win. I had to use Miasma Bomb twice though. The zombies using swords did not seem capable of bringing him down otherwise. After the first bomb went off, his movements slowed significantly. They also got noticeably sloppier.

He still managed to kill the other sword wielding zombie, so I used another Miasma Bomb to put it to sleep. He lasted for several minutes under the effect of one bomb, but two proved to be too high of a hurdle. After he fell unconscious, I had my archer zombies to strip him of his armor and weapon. I left him with his leather under armor, and a broken wooden staff. I had the remaining zombies return the weapons and armor they took from the hunters back to them.

Voice’s POV

I had EDI and Heather search for the entrance of the dungeon, while I looked for any earth mana that was distorted into something that might be a door. I made a small cave for Lily to stay in. We were going to go investigate the dungeon before letting her come in.

EDI and Heather were examining a good distance away from me. They were to my left. Heather was about a few hundred yards away, and EDI was a few yards away. They searched in a way that brought them closer together over time. They would meet somewhere in the middle.

I was going to the right, searching for any oddity in the earth mana. I found a few, but they turned out to be metal after I checked. I made a mental note to check up on the mining skill when I got a chance.

Heather darted towards me after an hour of searching. I saw her coming on my minimap, so I sent a gust of air towards her. She jumped at me a split second before it hit her. She didn’t realize I knew she was there, and was blown off into the distance.

She flew in the air for a few seconds, before landing hard on the ground. She slowly crept up to me. She tried to pounce on me, but I created a hemisphere of earth around her.

Without looking I asked, “Did you find it?” I had a bit more abrasiveness in my tone than I would have liked. It had been a long trek here, and she was just playing around. It bothered me.

She nodded her little blood-red head. “Yeah.” She said in a sad tone. “EDI is waiting by it.” I released the mana imprisoning her, only to have her leap at me again. I cast her aside with another gust of wind.

I arrived at the hidden entrance to the cave system. It was covered by many vines, and thick bushes. We moved them aside to gain entrance.

We walked inside the cave entrance.

You have discovered: Dwarven Hall. For being the first player to ever step foot in this area you are granted 125 fame.

For being the first player party to discover this place you gain 100% experience boost while in this dungeon. The boost will last for one week. The boost effects player, pet, npc levels, as well as skill levels. For being the leader of the first player party to discover this place you gain a unique item. The first monster you kill will drop a rare item.

You have gained the item: Ysga’s Ring. This ring will allow you to mine and tunnel at enhanced speeds. The percentage of the speed increase is equal to your earth affinity.

Too bad I can’t mine or tunnel thought. I don’t have a fucking pick axe. Maybe I could sell this thing for some gold?

I always think of rare items as nice, but if you can’t use them they were useless! Still, I could eventually make use of it. I might sell it off, but I decided to keep it for the time being.

The dungeon had a low ceiling, only about seven feet. I felt like I was going to hit my head while I walked through it. The hallways were wide. It was obviously constructed to accommodate a large group of short creatures.

The tunnel, for it couldn’t really be called a passage way, was dark and dank. I summoned Sol to give us a bit of extra light. The stone the tunnel was made of was completely smooth, only worn in a few areas. We walked for what seemed like miles. Sol kept up a consistent amount of chatter.

“Master. I’m so happy! I am happy I could be of use to you! I am happy I could provide light for you! I am happy to be able to heal you in your journey! Oh! What is this? This tunnel seems to go on forever! I wonder where it goes! Where’s Tear? Did you not need a water fairy this time? Does that mean I am useful!?”

I had perfected the art of ignoring Sol. It was a hard-won ability, but it had great rewards. I concentrated on sensing the mana around us. The group had stopped. I turned back after realizing I had walked a few steps without them. I listened to what Sol was saying.

“I guess master doesn’t care for this treasure. I bet he wants to leave it to others! He is such a nice master! Always thinking of others before himself! The church even told me of some of his donations! He donated SOOOO much!”

I walked over to where they were. In sensing the mana, I had completely forgotten to watch for traps or anything else! I chided myself for my folly.

I went to the treasure box, and then opened it. There was an iron pickaxe, a note, and a set of miner’s clothes. The note read:

To whom it may concern,

This is my last will and testament. I have tried for many years to find the hidden treasure put here by our god Gnome. I have failed for many years. There is only one place left to look. It seems as though worms have taken up residence in the tunnels. I go to find the treasure, but wish to be rid of these worms. Worms destabilize our loyal tunnels. If you find a worm in the tunnels, please kill it.

Sincerely, Ysga.

You have been given the quest ‘Worm Extermination’. Do you accept?

If you accept this quest you must kill at least 99 worms, and 1 Alpha Worm.

“Sure.” The hardest part of killing that many worms was finding them.

You have accepted this quest.

Success: Killing at least 100 worms, and 1 Alpha Worm.

Difficulty: Moderate

Failure: Leaving the dungeon before completion of the quest.

Reward: Found in the Alpha’s Lair.

Failure results in overpopulation of worms.

Oh no! Not an infestation of worms! Out flower beds will have too much fertilizer!

I scoffed. I handed the note to EDI. She also accepted the quest. I wanted to see how much I could rake out of this.

“Heather, Sol, I want you two to try accepting this quest.” Sol took the note, and held it. It was no surprise when Sol failed to accept it. Heather also tried to accept. I had a lot of hope for this one. She held it, AND ACCEPTED! HOLY MOTHER OF DEVELOPER OVERSIGHT RATMAN!

If my eyes showed what I was thinking, they would be money sings. Think about it. If you accept a really cool quest, and complete it, you get a reward. In a party, this kind of quest was a god send. If one member killed the monster, the entire party got credit. We would only have to take out about 30 each.

Doubling the rewards for me was amazing. Obviously I’d ‘convince’ Heather to give me whatever she gained. I turned to the tunnel. It was time to find some worms. I started by simulating rain on the ground. I made little ripples in the earth mana. Worms are attracted to the sound of rain for some reason. They always come to the surface during light to mid-intensity of rain.

EDI and Heather soon adopted poses similar to mine. They began beating on the ground as well. Suddenly the tunnel started shaking. Fuck! I guess our worm gathering will have to wait! I got my staff ready to attack. “Guys something big is coming from that direction!” I pointed towards the way we were moving.

From inside the tunnel large gusts of wind were being formed. Most likely something large was traveling towards our position. As it got closer I cursed. Things never go my way do they?

The sound had actually attracted worms. Three of them to be exact. Each one was identical to the other two. Each one could easily eat a person whole. The damn things were as big as busses!

Giant Worm Level 38Health: 800/800Stamina:100/110

“*Sigh* Let’s get going then.” I shook my head as I prepared my attack. I gather a quarter of my mana in my hand. Half of it became a guiding wind spell, the other half a raging inferno. I shot the fireball that was guided by the wind trail at one of the worms. The worm sizzled in that spot. It was a spot no bigger than my fist. The charred part of the worm fell off as soon as the burning stopped. The charred part actually became a smaller worm! It was still dead though. The actual worm seemed completely unaffected by my attack, except now it deemed us a nuisance. It rushed ahead of its companions to attack.

It rammed into my at full force. I groaned as the pure force of it threw me down the tunnel. I bounced off the top of the tunnel, and came to a skidding stop. I had lost 30 health in one attack! I winced as I forced myself up. The worm was already heading towards me.

I quickly created earth spikes to slow it down. It was impaled by each one, but seemed to shrug off the damage.

Giant Worm Level 38Health: 795/800Stamina:100/110

That attack could one shot level twenty eights! Ten levels can’t make that much of a difference!

Despite the low amount damage it took, it was bleeding some sort of green ooze. The smell was nauseating. The worm continued its rush toward me. I created four earth walls to stop it. The damn thing ATE through them! The marks left on the walls left no room for doubt in that.

The worm wasn’t fast, but it was constant. I made spikes for a circle pointing to the worm. Sort of like a pyramid of spikes.

The worm plowed through them. It finally took damage though.

Giant Worm Level 38Health: 742/800Stamina:100/110

The shredded bits of worm started forming tiny worms. All of the worms came towards me. Are you kidding me!? What the fuck are EDI and Heather doing!?

I spared a glance at them. They were handling their respective worms, but slowly. They were crushing the tiny worms, but that only made even smaller ones. It was like a messed up version of a hydra. The worms started multiplying at an alarming rate.

The smaller worms approached faster than the large one. One of the smallest worms shot itself at me. When it was four feet from my face I activated my spear. I stabbed the worm right in the center of its mouth. The worm split in two. Both parts of the worm flew past me. Something attached to my right cheek.

Pain seared through the place it attached. It was the worm! One part of the worm I attacked had reformed and bit me! My anger flared. I used my Phoenix Fire. The worm ‘screamed’ a high pitch noise escaped its body. The charred remains instantly fell to the floor.

I mentally smacked myself. I had even compared this thing to a hydra earlier. The smaller worms started to get much closer to me. I collected the fire mana in the area and released it when there were half a dozen around me.

The small wave of fire cackled as it greedily consumed the flesh of the worms. The worms shriveled and died. I smiled, I might not have enough mana to roast the big one all at once, but.

I unclasped my two swords. “BRING IT BITCH!” I ran towards the giant worm. I continued to send ripples of my fire mana out. I ran towards the giant worm, swords trialing behind me. The worm opened its mouth to devour me. I threw myself against the wall with my wind mana.

The worm crashed down where I had been in the moment before. I pushed off the wall as I approached it. I continued to run past the worm, and into the battles of Heather and EDI.

Heather was draining the blood of all of the worms she killed, but that only incapacitated them for a short while. EDI was destroying her batch, but they made ever smaller worms that attacked her. She was at a point where she had to mostly defend.

I went over to Heather first. Every time EDI hit a worm, she gained a bit of hp, so she could last a while. I burned the bloodless husks of the worms Heather had drained of blood. The biggest worm she had left was only about six feet long.

I blasted the area with as much fire mana as I could muster. Burning many of the worms near me completely.

“HEATHER! ATTACK THE WORM COMING!” I managed to get out as I blocked several small worms from attacking me. She jumped at the incoming worm and bit in to, tearing its flesh off as she drank its blood. The flesh congealed into a small worm.

I continued burning the surrounding area as I watched EDI and Heather fight. Heather would attack by biting. Since she was the size of my outstretched hands, her bites were not that big. Even with the small size of the bites, she was still dealing damage. Every bite would tear away more skin from the worm, and every bite would infuse her with more blood. She gained unparalleled healing abilities as she drank it. Even the largest wound healed itself in a matter of seconds.

Meanwhile EDI was getting damaged slowly. Sol would instantly heal her, and her Sai would absorb the life of the worms she attacked, but the sheer number of attacking worms prevented her from doing much.

I called Tear out. I had an epiphany. Tear came out obediently. I thought, “Tear, you can control water mana right?” Affirmative emotion. “Good take as much water mana from around the worms as you can. Don’t worry about EDI and me, just take it all! I want you to start gathering it so you can put a sphere of water around all three of us.” Another affirmative emotion flowed into me from Tear.

The air started drying. I swept aside the worms as I made my way to EDI. I created a path by using a bit of earth mana. I made a triangle of earth in front of me. The triangle pushed the worms to either side. I made it to her with almost no mana. I dropped the earth plow when I was back to back with her. Tear was surrounded by a ball of what seemed to be super dense water.

The air was dry, dry and hot. I started pouring my fire mana into the air as soon as I dropped the earth plow. When Tear was fully saturated with water, i gave the signal. Tear covered EDI and me in in a large ball of water, even as I created a spark to ignite the tunnels. The air cackled with glee. The all devouring maw of flame shot out in every direction. The worms not encompassed in the water were soon roasted alive.

My lips twitched upwards. Even the large worms didn’t hold up well against the fire. The smallest of the worms were instantly killed, while the larger ones were cooked inside their own skin. First the skin turned black, then it shed. The new skin quickly charred as the fire continued. I meditated in between bouts of pouring fire mana into the air.

The largest worms shrunk in size as their layers fell to the ground. When I ran out of mana to maintain the spell I took stock of our surroundings. Almost all of the worms had been completely destroyed. Their burnt corpses scattered around the floor.

The only worms left were the three large worms. The ‘large’ worms were now only a quarter of their original size. I didn’t pay attention to Heather, with her insane regen speed at the moment she should have been able to handle it. I told Tear to release the water bubble

“EDI I want you to defend me at all costs!” EDI nodded to my command.

“HEATHER! GET OVER HERE!” A limping tuft of red fur made its way over to me. She looked at me. I sent a thought for Sol to heal her. My bandages had been completely exhausted when we first encountered these worms.

After getting healed she turned around, ready for her orders. The three giant worms were surrounding us. “Heather, attack them as much as possible! I want to see their skin on the ground before they grow it back!”

The team went to work. Heather jumped at the largest worm, sucking its blood when she landed. The worm tried to buck her off, but she would not be denied. Despite the vast size difference, she was in the lead. She tore off dozens of patches of worm skin before it finally managed to dislodge her.

EDI was defending against two worms as the same time as Heather was attacking. Of course Tear was helping her by causing large waves of water to push one worm back at a time. Any time a worm got too close, EDI would shred it and Tear would push it back.

Many smaller worms were accumulating. The burned remains of the smaller worms were disappearing, but the fresh bodies started littering the floor. I had to keep the small worms off of EDI and me. I sent out small bursts of fire mana to burn any that got too close. It took an eternity before Heather had dealt enough damage to the worm to kill it.

Heather had tore off enough skin for the worm she was facing to decrease by 50% of its remaining size. It was now only an eighth of its original size. I focused all of the fire mana I could on it. The area immediately around it burst into flame. All of the smaller worms were covered with my divine judgement.

The 1/8 worm shed any part of it that was burnt. It continued to shed it until it was no bigger than a fist. At that point, it curled up and died like the good little bitch that it was. I blasted the area around us with fire mana, clearing out the accumulated filth.

The next two were surprisingly easy to deal with. With EDI and Tear only focusing on one, they easily repelled it. It didn’t even shed more than two or three times. Heather and I concentrated on the other worm. As she tore off its flesh, I burnt it to a crisp. In only a few minutes the next worm was down. Everyone then focused their firepower on the last one. EDI and Heather would throw the bits of worm to me, and I would burn them.

The worms would occasionally pile up, but that was due to my low mana regen. We beat it after only two minutes.

When we finally killed off the last of the small worms a flash blinded the group. A small green vial appeared where the last worm was.

I inspected it, even as Heather ran to get it for me.

Giant Demon Worm BloodMaterial QualityUniqueThis blood increases the health regen of the drinker by 200%. Any future gains to health regen are increased by 200%

I stared at it. Finally! Something that could overcome my class restriction of 1 hp/second! Heather grabbed it to bring it to me. She grabbed it with her mouth. That was the obvious choice since she didn’t have opposable thumbs to hold it. She tilted the drink at an odd angle.

If you do that it might spill into your mouth! I got worried, but calmed myself. There was no way my obedient little slave would do something as stupid as drink it, right?

Wrong. The potion disappeared into her throat. I bit my lower lip as I saw it go. A single tear rolled down my cheek. It took nearly half the battle for me to just heal 30 points! Now I would never get the chance to increase my hp regen! UGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! Why do all bad things happen to me!?

Spoiler :

Stats WindowNameVoice0fReasonClassMana MageLevel 33Health: 100Mana: 1370Stamina: 350Current Title: Demon Wolves’ BaneHealth Regen: 1/sMana Regen: 20.4(15.4)/sStamina Regen: 5.1/sStrength41Agility34Wisdom204Intelligence137Endurance51Dexterity44Luck0Vitality35Charisma35Compassion95Leadership66Logic22Piety89Unused Stat Points0Fame800

Skills WindowAutomated Novice Level 9 Exp 25.00%

Speed Reading Novice Level 9 Exp 00.00%

Auto Read Novice Level 20 Exp 50.00%Group Skill: Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy Novice Level 24 Exp 10.46%

Group Skill: Inspect Apprentice Level 44 Exp 64.00%

Group Skill: Automatic Nursing Novice Level 12 Exp 50.00%

Group Skill: Con Artist Novice Level 17 Exp 70.16%

Group Skill: Magical Mastery Apprentice Level 32 Exp 6.30%

Group Skill: Skill Mastery Adept Level 50 Exp 21.23%

Group Skill: Survival Apprentice Level 28 Exp 99.99%

Group Skill: Combat Learning Apprentice Level 25 Exp 00.00%

Group Skill: Breakdown Novice Level 12 Exp 20%

Group Skill: Harvesting Mastery Novice Level 3 Exp 11.11%

Group Skill: Crafting Mastery Novice Level 4 Exp 60%

Affinities WindowLight70Water60Wind25Nature55Metal25Earth30Fire25Darkness100