Little surprise there. Waking up to that monster destroying the village couldn’t have been a pleasant surprise.
“What’s happening with Harriet?”
I was watching my MP bar creeping its way up ever so fucking slowly. 24%. I was down to just that much regeneration from my usual, and it felt like far less. Maybe it wasn’t just the purge that debuffed me?
“Eternity, which stat improves my MP regen?” I asked, impatience making me irritable and jumpy.
“Intelligence. You should have more information available now,” Eternity provided.
“Lovely. Like I’ve had the time to read.” I resisted the urge to open my interface and check.
Besides, I wasn’t going to be adding anything in that stat until I saw what my Constitution got me at level 15. And right now, my stats were the last possible things on my mind.
“I want Crystal to make Tusk big,” I said, pacing around the little area I hid in. Some shop of some kind. It smelled of mildew that needed airing, like the rest of the village. “Get him to attack Harriet and get her to chase him. Warn them of this bitch’s psionic attack.”
Was that even the right word? I shook my head and refocused on the task, desperate to ignore the distant crashing in the distance.
Crystal was going to do her buff thing on Tusk.
Tusk was going to have Harriet chase him.
….And then what? Where would he go? I bit on a knuckle as I thought.
“And then what, precisely?” Eternity asked. “I believe she can outlast you in a straight chase. And you are not even close to being at your best right now.”
I scowled at where the dragon roosted beneath the building’s eaves, settled in the shrivelled up remains of a potted plant. “I have a couple skill points to use. And I have an idea.”
It was barely an outline of an idea, and already it was terrible. And stupid. And so damn dangerous.
Do it on paper first. Test safely. We’ll get ourselves killed if we fuck this up.
Fuck safety!
“That face you’re making is not reassuring me, Klaus.” Eternity took off and drifted down to my shoulder. “Crystal wants to know what ‘crazy human want’.”
This was such a terrible idea. But you did learn the most by doing. At some point I’d need to run this test. Now was as good as ever.
And it was dark, getting darker by the moment, Harriet’s destruction growing worse while I hesitated.
“Fuck it. I’ll do it live.”
I’d either save everyone and solve this ridiculous chaos, or I cratered the place. Either option was decent enough for me, as long as this day could finally reach its end.
“Klaus?”
“I am going to stick that bitch to the ground, and she’s going to stay where I stick her until she calms the fuck down,” I said, straining to form the words through my grin. My hands shook with adrenaline and excitement and dread, all mixed into a heady cocktail of chaos in my veins.
“Have Crystal be ready on my command. Then Tusk has to get Harriet outside town, through the gate we used. Are they safe until then?”
“Methol’s barrier is quite sturdy and Harriet seems hesitant to approach through all the furnars still lying there.” Eternity stared off for a moment. “Ever describes sparks washing over the barrier while Harriet prowls around the edges. She’s demolished several buildings and doesn’t seem to care.”
I moved. First at a jog, then a full run, a marker set on my map before I could change my mind. I was going to do this and I was going to do it right the first time around, because otherwise this day would never end and I would be in Hell forever and ever and ever.
“What are you planning, Klaus?” Eternity glided alongside me, lighting my path. “You are not fit to—”
“How much MP do I need to activate a rune? One that has a single effect?”
My mind worked as I tried to do three things at once. On one side of my interface I had the map and the route out of the village, to the dead fields outside. On the other side I had Melenith’s notes and her explanations, re-reading them as fast as I could to prepare for what I was about to do.
And in the centre, I had my skill list opened, scrolling through the rune skills for something useful that I could use in the next ten minutes. Nothing jumped at me right then and there, but I did select two that seemed reasonable for later.
“Crystal confirms she’s ready,” Eternity said. “Says you owe her more of your verdant heart. Are you sure of what you’re doing?”
“Am I ever?”
“You said you’d be more careful.” Eternity breathed out a plume of black smoke. “This isn’t being careful.”
“I’m fucking tired,” I protested with as much vinegar as I could manage. I almost ran into a kind of street sign, before turning down a narrow alley and rushing towards the gate. “If you have a better idea, I’m all for it.”
“You could just hide out and let her destroy the village.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“Not funny,” I growled.
“I was not attempting to be amusing. It is not your responsibility. You got what you came to get. Why are you doing this?”
I skidded to a halt, slipping on smooth, cold cobbles. My breath came in rasping bellows and it was an effort to talk. But I had to convince myself as well as Eternity, so I took a breath to form the words, “She might kill someone. And she didn’t ask for whatever happened here. Neither did her people. If I can keep her from doing something she’d regret, I will.”
“Why?”
“Because fuck you, that’s why.” I let out a long, hissing breath. “Now, tell me how much MP I need for a rune effect. I didn’t ask Melenith. Didn’t cross my mind.”
“What do you want to achieve?” Eternity asked after just a short hesitation.
“Look at this note.” I highlighted the one where I’d transcribed the sword rune. “It sticks two things together, right?”
“Yes, that is the general function of that sword’s enchantment.”
“Can I scale this up? How much MP will it cost?”
To be fair, I probably should’ve asked this before putting everything in motion. It wasn’t yet too late to stop, but the idea had gone into my head and it wouldn’t leave without a cleaver to the skull.
Eternity thought things over for a moment. “Yes, you technically can scale it up. The effect will technically cover the surface area the rune covers.”
“And how much MP will it cost?”
“Almost none. It is a very efficient formula.”
That sent my mind racing again. “Does that mean that I can just stick anything to anything at any time? Forever?”
“No. The longer the enchantment is active, and the more it is stressed, the more energy it requires. It normally draws from the environment, but the siphon conversion is not spectacular. Good for low-scale use, not so much for large-scale.”
“Could it hold Harriet for a few hours? Until we can get some of her people to wake up?”
“Not in your current state, no. With the core purge on-going, there is just not enough mana flow through this area to hold something as large as she is, and you don’t have anywhere close to the reserves for it. An archmage could probably do it, but we’ve none.”
I hated to do this. I really, really hated that I was considering it, and even more so that I reached into my pouch and drew out the mana shard.
“Will this do it?”
Eternity dropped from the air, almost as if struck by lightning, wings rigid, mouth agape. It caught itself before it hit the ground.
“It’s stable. Methol said it’s stable,” I said hurriedly. “We’re not going to explode.”
“Klaus—”
“Yes, yes, careless, brainless, and so on.” I shoved the mana shard towards the dragon. “Will this work?”
“Y-yes.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard Eternity stumbling over words. “Yes, you can set it up as the rune’s energy draw. A shard like that would be sufficient to hold the furnar queen for several days.”
“Capital.”
I got the feeling that Eternity still wanted to object to the idea, but ultimately didn’t. It floated by my head, lighting the way while I finished my skill selections. I’d been lucky once with a random pick, but wasn’t going to chance it again.
Behind us, Harriet’s bellows of anger filled the night.
“The queen has moved some of the furnars,” Eternity relayed what Ever was saying. “She’s now trying to break through the barrier. Crystal and Tusk are ready to do what you demand.”
I hurried, the gate now in view. This village hadn’t seemed so large when I got here.
“Give them directions where to come. And light up the field.”
I stepped onto that desolate patch of land that separated the village’s walls from the forest. In the dark of night, with Harriet’s echoes bouncing through the air, and the dark shadows pooling in such a way that the forest was nothing more than a black maw, I felt a shiver of fear claw its way up my back.
On Oresstria I couldn’t convince myself there wasn’t anything waiting in the dark. I wasn’t safe. Again that pang of sadness, the stab of nostalgia, this time for a safety I’d probably never feel again. Life’s so much easier when you’re alone in the universe.
My mind was wandering and I didn’t have the time for its shit. I shook my head and called to Eternity, “Flood light here, please. Give me a wide cone. Tell Ever to get ready.”
The first drops of rain splashed on the back of my hands and my shoulders, seeping into my battered shirt. Lightning crested the sky.
I began sketching the elements of the rune in the dirt of the road, using the sword as a spade for it. A pang from my [Rune mastery] drew my attention to the thickness of the lines I drew. Even if the shape was correct, the lines of power needed to be consistent for the effect to function correctly.
“Their barrier is failing. Harriet is attacking with all her strength,” Eternity said. “Crystal’s unleashing Tusk. There’s no more time to wait.”
“Can’t Ever do something?” I growled back, trying not to lose focus on what I was doing.
“While Methol's delving the node, it is limited in its ability to help. It is unable to take direct action without her presence.”
A howl of victory echoed in the night, then a pregnant silence, followed by a roar of anger. I immediately doubled my rate of work, trying my best to copy the symbols as closely as possible, blown up as large as I could make them. With rain sizzling on the dry dust around me, I hurried to finish before all my work turned to mud.
If I didn’t trap as much of Harriet as possible, then she could just rip a part of herself off to keep coming after me. Melenith had made limbs of fire. I wasn’t going to risk any absurdity anymore, always prepared for the worst possible situation.
Tearing. Crashing. Howling. Sounds as if from a demolition crew echoed from the dark, slammed into the forest, then came back as echoes, thrice more terrible.
This was a bad idea! I tried not to step on my own work, the earth now soft beneath my boots. Rain fell in tiny droplets, cold against my skin. Flashes of lightning illuminated the world around and it was all I could do not to scream every time the thunder followed.
I was outside a village. In a fucking field. In a storm. Waving a sword around. Right.
“Ever’s lost sight of them. Harriet is in pursuit. She is tearing through the village.”
“Goddammit, Tusk,” I growled, working as fast as I could. The lines were far more finicky than I’d expected, and the design, once zoomed in, was stupidly intricate. I had to erase several lines with the heel of my boot and start over.
I was almost done with the second element of the rune when I heard the crash. It was almost at the gate. I raised my head just as Tusk barrelled out into the field, the queen right on his heels. She ripped the gate straight off its moorings, wood flying everywhere.
She stopped with a squelch of tiny legs slipping through the mud, claws raking hidden stones. Those two gigantic eyes swivelled in my direction, reflecting Eternity’s light.
With a sliver of recovered MP, I activated the surge to buy myself a few more seconds to at least finish this part.
A moment of silence as perception accelerated and I kept furiously drawing. I wouldn’t get enough time to make the third part of the rune. I wasn’t sure I even needed it.
I prayed I didn’t.
Harriet lowered her head and charged in that terrifying slow-motion of the surge. Not attacked; she, literally, charged me like a bull, pincers aimed at my head.
No time to draw more. I turned and ran to the origin of the rune, skill tree opened. On the last edge of my MP, I dropped a point in the first of the skills I’d selected earlier. My MP bar shot back up in an instant, filling completely.
I immediately activated [Rune Smith: Basic element], so as to not waste a single point of MP, and selected the first fragment. First, I had no idea what should happen, but apparently the skill recognized the construct. Lines glowed blindingly and immediately a timer appeared in the corner of my interface, counting down from three seconds. The surge did not affect it.
I almost panicked and selected the second fragment. It glowed too. With my MP near depleted, I did the last part of the preparation. Harriet was nearly on top of me. The ground beneath us trembled.
With less than a moment to act, I stuck the mana shard in the power area of the rune and demanded the whole thing activate. But—
The surge ended suddenly. I stumbled. My MP was gone. In a heartbeat the queen was on me.
I dropped my second point and immediately poured all that fresh power into the rune.