The fire crashed down around him without Leo taking another single bit of damage. The impacts reverberated in his head. Thankfully, the barrage was only ten seconds long. Ten seconds that felt like an eternity.

In the aftermath, the shield vanished, and Leo was able to take in his surroundings.

Devastation.

His Crownfall had turned the once camp into the beaches of Normandy. Thankfully it was bodies of ants that littered the ground and not people. All the camp members he’d been trying to protect had gotten inside in time to his utter relief.

Some of the ants had escaped the bombardment or miraculously survived it, and more were pouring from the hole still. Leo had activated Second Wind earlier in combat, and it still needed another few minutes before it was usable again. It was his own mistake to not rest up to 100% after the first fight and use too much of his Lightning Drive.

Ants rushed toward his downed body and Ellie sprung up to defend him. From the way her little legs were wobbling, Leo could tell she was also exhausted. His hand raised up and touched her side gently.

Everything would be fine.

A screaming hot phoenix burned straight into the approaching assault as a man clad in earthen armour suddenly appeared before him with a shout of vigor.

“Hey, kid,” the man said, smiling through a gap in his armour. “Looks like you need a hand.”

“Took you guys long enough,” Leo said, gasping out a laugh.

The man chuckled, but it sounded forced. “Take a rest, son. You’ve done plenty.”

Leo put his head back to rest but his eyes flew open as he was dragged backwards. His head tilted up and spotted a smiling face looking at him through what he could only describe as a knight’s helmet.

“You getting deja vu too?” Gordon asked, laughing.

“People are going to start calling it a thing if you keep dragging me after I’ve collapsed,” Leo joked. “Nice helmet by the way.”

“Thanks! Got it from the boss, not Cecelia, but the ant boss, ya know?” he smiled, eyes sparkling. “Guessing that whole ‘set the sky on fire’ thing was from the boss too? Looked a lot like something it did.”

“Yeah,” Leo groaned. “Maybe should have waited to try it at a more controlled time.”

“Probably. Pretty cool though.”

Leo was dragged to safety, and once he was, Gordon dashed back outside and into the battle, spear in hand.

Leo tried to meditate, but a bad feeling in his chest rose up like heartburn. A feeling that things weren’t over yet. What more could they throw at them now? Goliaths? Something new? Leo wasn’t sure, but it was messing with his focus.

Gotta recover. He kept chanting to himself. Second Wind only needed a couple more minutes. He had faith in his friends, but they’d just come from a boss fight and probably ran straight here. Resources were likely not as high as they needed to be.

“Need a heal?” Amy asked as she approached. Her hand glowed green but hadn’t yet cast the spell.

Leo looked around, people were hurt, bleeding, but stable. “Yes, please, but save some mana. I have a bad feeling.”

She frowned, a worried look spreading across her face. Her other hand began glowing too, but this time an even darker shade of green. She placed both hands on Leo, one on his head and one on his chest.

“Life’s Boon,” she whispered.

Leo gasped like he’d been shocked to life. Two defibrillators on his body. Energy coursed through his body and through his veins in a way that he’d never experienced before.

“I was saving this for an emergency. Now sounds like the best time, it just takes a while. It also really sucks, sorry in advance,” Amy said, sweat beading from her head.

Leo couldn’t respond. The feeling of not just vitality, but stamina too, was refilling his resource pools so rapidly that his world was spinning.

“Holy fuck,” Amy complained, wincing from effort. “How much stamina do you have?”

He was taking deep breaths, unable to control any groans or muscle spasms. This continued while sounds of fighting were continuing outside. Minutes passed, or maybe hours. Leo couldn’t tell. At some point he blacked out.

A loud crash jolted him back to consciousness as the wall beside him was turned to rubble. Inside the rubble was a man who looked to be part of it, clad in stone that was crumbling off him.

“Struth, that hurt,” Bjorn groaned in pain, wrenching himself free.

Leo tried to sit up, head spinning, eyes unfocused. It took a second, but focus came back quickly and he felt… amazing.

Like he’d gotten a full sleep and then some. His stamina and health were full, with his mana recovering slowly still.

“Take it easy when you stand,” Amy said between coughs through the dust. “Also, you’re going to need to rest a lot after the fight’s over.”

Leo didn’t have time to figure out what she meant, he quickly thanked her and ran to Bjorn. Ellie was in his soul-space, resting peacefully. He looked him over, and sighed in relief that he was fine, just a little dinged up.

Bjorn looked at him in surprise. “Didn’t think you’d be up so quick, there’s a fuckin’ demon out there.”

The armour clad man glanced around, “Ellen! You alright?!”

“Fine, honey. Do your thing!” A voice called back casually. The man smiled broadly.

“Bjorn! Get your ass back out here!” Ash called from outside.

“We need you out there too, kid. You up for it?”

Leo nodded and the pair exited the building. Bjorn had seen it, but Leo hadn’t.

It was the sole remaining antling, but it was anything but normal antling. Its body was streamline, large, and all around sharp. Jagged spikes covered its body like spines, but thicker and… moving.

Royal Guard - Level 65

Leo stood stunned for a moment. “You weren’t kidding,” he muttered.

Arrows were peppering it from the side, most of which were being deflected by the spines that moved like tentacles. They whipped the arrows away without even looking towards the archer. Sunlight coloured flames caught on the spines, but they were extinguished quickly.

Cecelia was currently holding its offensive, parrying as many attacks as possible but could barely land a counter. Gordon was playing the main offensive, lightning fast spear attacks ripping between its spines like precision strikes, causing the creature to groan and lash out, but Gordon was quick.

“Leo!” Ashley exclaimed. “Punch this thing would you?!”

…

How am I meant to punch that?

He settled for kicks. From range.

Fuel the Fire filled his muscles, hoping to enhance the power of his incoming Gale Talon. He kicked out three times, slowly and powerfully. Each one caused a massive blade of wind to form and slice into the Royal Guard.

Sharp spines tried to intercept it like an active defense, but they couldn’t catch wind. The blades sliced hard through them, completely severing them and cutting deep into the carapace beneath. It screeched in outrage.

Spines began regrowing quickly, but Leo took this opportunity to try and land some decisive hits where it was unprotected. This had to be the last enemy, so he went all out once again.

He forced Lightning Drive to take hold, and it felt like forcing thick sludge through his veins. He forced it anyway. He had the stamina to burn.

And burning it was. He could feel it being sucked into his two skills, eating it up like he was leaking fuel. But all that power culminated in two things.

Speed. And destruction.

His fist lit up with blinding blue light, slamming into the creature while it was distracted by Bjorn’s taunt. Volt Crash ripped through its body, causing it to shudder, all of the spiney tentacles thrashing around it randomly.

Leo got nicked by one as he jumped back, but a shield blocked it easily, shattering under the force. He took the brunt of it, but it was barely enough to knock him back.

I missed those shields. Leo smiled to himself.

Ashley was shielding with perfect timing, enhancing strikes with extra light, or giving defensive buffs to the team. Two of them had hit level fifty. And one of them was their healer.

He backed off the fight, waiting for his ranged cooldowns before striking again. Directly next to Ashley now, he spoke quickly. “Good to see you again.”

“You too.”

There was a bit of a weird silence for no reason.

“Wanna see something awesome?” she asked suddenly. “It’s my first time using my level fifty skill.”

He held back his immediate agreement for a moment when he thought back to his first use of Crownfall from his ring. Based on her supportive class, this… would probably be safer.

“It’s got a bit of a long cooldown, but it sounds insane.” She grinned as the spell began channelling through her. Not even waiting for a reply from Leo.

Leo could feel the power building within her, light began glowing from her feet, all the way to the tips of her fingers like she was an angelic prophet merging into reality. Strings of light fell from her hands like a puppeteer of light.

“Luminarmy!”

Her hand went from the sky to directed at the enemy. Behind her, two armed constructs of light manifested. Then more appeared until there were ten of them. Ten humanoid constructs of light that were on horseback. The horses were made of light too. None of them had faces.

“Charge!” she called, and the constructed squadron ran right through her, straight towards the enemy.

Leo expected the Royal Guard to try and dodge or block the attacks. And it did try, but it was no use. The luminous army tore into the creature like it wasn’t even a threat. Each wound caused by the weapons of the summoned army lit up like a light planted beneath its odd coloured chitin.

Everyone stood still and watched as their healer did more damage than any of them had so far and then some. Cecelia looked torn by the sheer power exhibited.

“Holy–Ash, that's awesome!” Leo exclaimed.

“I know, right!” She grinned. “What kind of skill did you get?”

“Not telling.”

“Leeoooo,” she drew the name out like a tease. He knew what was coming.

“Did you get a new punch?”

He paused. For a good few seconds before speaking. “No comment.”

The luminous army soon faded, and the enemy wasn’t dead yet. It was very damaged however. Leo wanted to use his new Elemental Severance, but his Elementum had completely diminished while he was being rejuvenated, even after maxing it out again. Apparently while it would hold at max stacks out of combat, that wasn’t forever.

Gale Talon was off cooldown, so he unleashed it once again in three quick strikes, this time while he was dashing. He looked like an olympic gymnast performing a routine as he flipped and kicked.

The antling snapped out at Bjorn, but his shield kept deflecting the blows. He wasn’t landing hits but it was enough to hold its attention now and then. Cecelia was taking it apart methodically as she usually did, parries and slashes, more than often coated in silvery light. Gordon and Ron were continuing to tear chunks from it.

Time to bring the impact.

Leo finished his flip and ignited the core of his armour, coating his body in roaring flames that drew the attention of his allies. His fist lit up with glowing embers, combining it with Wyrmstep to give him that extra oomph. He felt Ellie twitch from within his soul-space.

His fist crashed down on the monster's head, forcing it into the ground with a loud thud. An explosion of flame followed almost simultaneously, bathing them both in heat.

Cecelia followed up with her own skill, Silent Moon. It severed its head at the neck with practiced ease, ending the fight just like that.

As the notification came in, Leo realised that he’d gotten a lot more than he’d expected after using Crownfall and fighting for so long.

You have slain: Royal Guard - Level 65

Increased Experience for defeating a higher level enemy

+1943 Store Credits

Your Elemental Adept class has reached level 55

Stat points distributed

+3 Free Points

Your Elemental Adept class has reached level 56

Stat points distributed

+3 Free Points

Anchored Progression:

+2 All stats, +4 Free Points

Ellie has reached level 52

Stat points distributed

+3 Free Points

Ellie’s gains from race:

+5 Free Points

He’d taken another leap in levels, but was unsure as to why. One reason he was thinking was that while he and Ellie were technically fighting together during the fight, the amount of actual fighting together was lower compared to the Cinder Bastion.

Cecelia approached him after a moment, likely finishing looking over her own notifications.

“I should thank you for defending the place so well… Although, perhaps a little less destruction would have been preferred.” She smiled, and Leo realised she was joking… He hoped so at least.

“Yeah… Kinda went a bit too wild.” He turned. “Thanks again Ash, saved my ass.”

She approached with Bjorn and Ron in tow. “What would you do without me?” She winked.

“Probably get blown to pieces,” Ron said.

Leo was holding in a laugh, it shouldn’t have been funny but something about the way he deadpanned it tickled him.

Bjorn seemed to catch the same bug, but he couldn’t hold it.

“What’s funny?” Ron asked curiously.

That broke Leo and he let it loose, laughing along with Bjorn.

“You guys are dumb,” Ashley said, shaking her head.

“While I would love to continue the reunion and enjoy the chatter,” Cecelia began. “I need to take stock of casualties, injuries, and damage. All of it looks rather extensive.”

“I don’t think anyone died. I hope not, at least. Ellie was able to pick up on the attack inside the building before I was, and got there quick enough to stop them from being slaughtered. Might be a few missing arms and legs though…” Leo paused. “Also… the building doesn’t have a roof anymore.”

Cecelia gave him a blank look, blinking a few times. Then nodded and walked off.

“What happened to the roof?” Ashley whispered curiously.

“...”

“I punched it.”

“...”

“Pffp.” She burst into laughter, doubling over herself like she had been holding it in. It wasn’t that funny.

“Tell me all about the trip in the bastion,” Leo said after a beat as the group walked. Gordon had already gone inside, likely to see his old group again.

“You warned us it was hot, but holy shit was it scorchin’” Bjorn said, stretching. “Feels good to be out.”

“Mmh,” Ron grumbled in agreement.

“Totally was, felt like sweat was—”

A notification appeared before all of them stunning them in place.

Quest Complete!

You have survived the first onslaught from the Queen, defeating her guard. Congratulations… for now.

Reward: Expanded Tutorial Store

Quest Received

The Queen prepares herself for the next attack while amassing even more soldiers. Her castle will open in five days. If you do not stop her when it opens, the queen’s army will become unstoppable.

Prepare yourselves for the final battle.

Objective: Enter the Queen’s Castle when it opens

Reward: N/A

“It’s always something else, huh?” Bjorn said, shaking his head.

“At least it says “Final battle,” Leo said, shrugging. “Guess this tutorial is coming to an end early.”

“Sure doesn’t feel like early,” Ashley moaned. “Feels like we’ve been here for years.”

Leo thought back over all he’d been through already in this place. Meeting his friends for the first time in that small house, drop-kicking an ant into a wall. Finding Ashley and saving her from those maximum security prison convicts, and then again in the Beast Pens. Hatching Ellie, his new lifelong companion. The Tower and its teaching trials with monstrous war golem.

All of those things had happened within a few weeks, but it did feel like a whole life was spent in here.

“I’m looking forward to getting back to Earth, if it’s still there,” Leo said wistfully. “I want to find Natalie.”

Bjorn put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. “We’ll get you there lad, just need to kill some more ants.”

Leo smiled softly, placing his hand on Bjorn’s. “I am pretty good at that.”

Bjorn chuckled.

“Guys you need to check out this store update. It’s… something,” Ashley said.

Leo opened the store and his eyes went wide.

Really?