Leo’s coherence came back in short, staccato bursts. His vision blurred as he tried to figure out who he was and what was happening. He found himself staring at the ground, propped up on one hand.

Moving to a kneel, two hands came up to his face, striking it hard enough to make a difference.

“Okay,” Leo coughed. “That’s better.”

His vision returned as his cheeks stung. But he wished it hadn’t. He desperately wanted to remain unaware.

Looking around with hollow eyes, he spotted Ashley, still upright thanks to a barrier of light erected behind her. Her eyes were the same. Both hands were still extended, but shaking, covered in what looked like burns. A small piece of chitin was embedded in her shoulder, dripping blood.

He followed the woman’s eyes.

And his heart sank.

Whatever was left of the last Royal Guard was now a pile of flesh and gore. Green ichor coated chunks of red meat in massive piles.

His lip trembled. He couldn’t see anyone. They were… gone.

“Ash…” Leo said, voice filled with desperation.

“I…I couldn’t save all of them. I… don’t know if I saved anyone.”

Leo got to his feet, walking unsteadily towards the carnage. Emotions were boiling within him. Fear, anger, despair. His storm was building, but none of it showed.

He felt numb.

Cecelia suddenly sprinted past him, pushing him out the way. “No!”

Why hadn’t he just helped finish it off?

“I’m sorry…” Ashley said, barely more than a whisper.

Leo managed to put his hand into hers as he stared on in shock. “You… did all you could.”

She screamed, but all that came out was a small squeak of pain, mouth open in grief. He pulled her close and, as gently as he could, removed the piece of chitin. She barely flinched.

Cecelia was digging through thick chunks of flesh, pulling it apart as she frantically searched. “Help me!”

A piece of antling suddenly rocketed into the air and a figure emerged, slick with green ichor. His hair gave him away immediately, and Leo stepped back to look at Ashley. “You saved… him?”

She shook her head repeatedly, eyes wide. “I couldn’t see him. It was Ron and Bjorn I tried to save. But I think it overwhelmed my shield.”

“That could mean…” Leo’s eyes filled with hope as his words cut out.

Cain stumbled. He was heavily injured, but still alive. Matilda, now barely on her feet, rushed over to him.

“Where’s Freddy?” she asked quickly. Cain shook his head and Matilda gasped. Then began healing him.

Cecelia gasped, finding a body in the mess. Leo dashed over quickly, Ashley in tow. It was Ron. He was breathing, just covered in gunk. He spat out large globs of it.

“Ron,” Cecelia said, hugging him tightly as tears formed.

If Ron was okay…

Leo’s eyes met Ashley’s and they both started pulling flesh apart. Leo stopped suddenly, closing his eyes as he let out a small pulse of aura detection.

“What are you doing?” Ashley demanded. “Keep searching!”

Ellie jumped out of his soul-space a moment later, instantly diving towards where Leo had felt a ping.

She started tearing apart chitin and flesh with ease, it no longer held together by whatever soul once inhabited it. Leo joined in, and soon he was covered in more gore, but he pulled Bjorn free. The man was spluttering and gasping for air, almost drowned in whatever blood these antlings had.

“Bjorn!” Both Leo and Ashley’s voices came out together, holding him tightly.

“Christ,” Bjorn coughed. “What the fuck was that?”

“Some kind of suicide attack. It came so fast…” Leo’s breath came quickly, hands shaking as his control started to worsen.

Bjorn stilled, eyes closing. He put his hands on both of his friends, pulling them closer. “Anyone else make it? Please… tell me it wasn’t just me.”

“Ron and Cain so far,” Ashley said softly. She suddenly turned to Leo. “How did you find him? Is anyone else okay?”

“I can’t… I can’t focus,” Leo said.

Gordon was suddenly next to them in a flash of lightning. “Where are Nolan and Morgan?” The young man trembled, eyes wide with fear.

“I–I don’t know,” Leo said.

“You found the invisible ant. I saw you also find Bjorn like it was nothing. Please!” Gordon grabbed Leo’s shoulders. “Tell me how you did it so I can try!”

He was grabbing Leo’s arms hard enough to bruise, shaking him desperately. Leo’s eyes remained hollow and blank. The pressure was building.

“Stop it!” Ashley yelled, wrenching Gordon’s hands from Leo with force and threw him backwards. She grabbed Leo’s face, pressing her own forehead into his.

“Please. You can do this. Focus.”

Ellie jumped back into his soul-space. She knew instinctively that he needed help. Leo closed his eyes, afraid of what he would see. He focused on the auras, shutting out the sounds of faraway battle and the quiet sobs of the prone Gordon. Ashley’s steady breathing right in front of his face drifted away until he could hear nothing but his own heartbeat.

Even that was deafened.

All of his friend’s auras appeared suddenly, erratic and unsteady. He scanned the area, feeling remnants of several people. They were no longer alive, but still gave off a faint whiff of energy.

His eyes shot open as he felt something more. Two more. He ran to the first, and weaker of the two, pulling apart piles of flesh. Ellie helped, as did Gordon after he noticed Leo move. A hand appeared, and Leo grabbed it and pulled.

An armoured man came free, unconscious, impaled, but still alive. “Matilda! Ash!” Leo called for healing. He pulled a strong healing potion from his ring, pouring the contents into his mouth. It wasn’t required to swallow, somehow pouring straight down his throat.

Tears of anguish and pain echoed out from the young lightning spear wielder as he held his friend dear. Nolan was out of immediate danger for now, the healing potion was doing work. Leo quickly moved to the other aura he felt, secretly hoping it was Morgan.

The gore was cleared quickly, and he found Morgan.

...It wasn’t her aura he had felt.

She was gone.

A massive hole in her chest dripped with blood, her eyes were closed over in blood and sick, green ichor. Leo placed her gently down next to him as he dug deeper, finding the young boy, Ed’s body underneath. A piece of chitin was sticking out of his stomach. It was almost the same shape as the hole in Morgan’s chest.

She protected him? Or just happened to be in his way? Fuck.

Instead of pulling the man free, Leo just tipped a healing potion into his mouth. The piece of chitin was instantly pushed from his stomach as he awoke in a gasp of pain and shock.

“Take it easy,” Leo said, voice steady. “You’re still healing.”

The man started instantly healing his own wounds, helping the healing potions effectiveness. “Think you can stand?” Leo asked. “We could do with another healer right now.”

The man nodded, grabbing Leo’s hand and being pulled from the mess. He was briefly lifted off his feet as Leo used too much strength. All of his control felt lacking. “Sorry.”

Three people were dead, and Nolan wasn’t regaining consciousness. Gareth, Freddy, and Morgan. Leo didn’t know Freddy, and Gareth wasn’t exactly a friend. But Morgan was. He’d spent time with her, gotten to know the dark, steady woman. Her deadpan humour and stoic expressions.

She was a friend.

He didn’t know what to do next.

“No!” A voice screamed out from across the battlefield. Gordon sprinted over and found Morgan’s body. A dark, piercing scream echoing out from him.

Leo couldn’t look. He just stared at the ground, unsure what to do next as his brain was flooded with grief.

Cecelia warned them this could happen. That they could lose people. He just didn’t believe it until now. Didn’t believe it would be his friends.

Ruby wandered over, brushing off her robe as she tried to remove some chunks of green splatter. “What’s all the fuss about?”

Leo looked up at her incredulously, anger rising. “Are you kidding?”

“Kidding about what? People die all the time here. It’s not a big deal.”

The anger was replaced with focused fury as it started to rise in his chest. “Gareth is gone. And you feel… nothing?”

“Oh, did he die too?” Ruby asked.

Leo was expecting her to react with some form of grief or sadness.

“Oof. Rough one.” She shook her head.

“Oh well.” She shrugged.

“Oh… Well?” Leo repeated, unbelieving of what he heard. “You–”

He was interrupted as she suddenly shouted in glee. “Eddie!” she ran off towards the young healer.

“Un-fuckingbelievable,” Leo muttered, disbelief plastered on his face. He’d made a fist without realising.

Ashley walked over to him, accompanied by Bjorn. “She’s so mental,” she said with a scowl.

“I don’t usually talk that ill of people when they aren’t present, but you’re right with that one,” Bjorn said. “There’s something properly wrong there.”

“You’re only noticing it now?” Ashley asked. She was trying to lighten up the situation a little, but it wasn’t holding. Her face sank a moment later.

“What if they blame me…” Ashley said, head in her hands.

“You did what you could. Without you it would have been even worse,” Leo said, trying to console her.

“You saved my life, lass. And Ron’s. Keep your chin up.”

She nodded, but it didn’t change her expression.

Cecelia walked over, with Ron in tow as she helped him along. He was healing slowly, but he was okay. All of them had survived while others hadn’t.

It hurt.

“We need to regroup and collect ourselves,” Cecelia said, voice quiet. “The Queen still needs to die, or we all lose.”

“Can you give people a fucking minute?” Ashley asked, voice harsh. “We just lost Morgan. Nolan’s unconscious. And you want us to jump right back into the fight?”

“We have to,” Cecelia said solemnly.

Ashley began to retort but Leo stopped her with a hand.

“She’s right,” Leo began. “This whole fucking tutorial will keep killing people we care about until that Queen dies. Until every last one of these six-legged shits are dead.” He paused for a moment.

“I’m hurting—not… my body. But my mind and my heart. I’m still wrestling for control at whatever is pushing my mind to its limit, but I’m running out of space fast and I don’t know what’s going to happen when it breaks. Losing one of you… I don’t think I could take it.”

“Aint going anywhere, kid,” Bjorn said, patting Leo on his back.

“Let’s go kill that fucking thing,” Gordon said, suddenly beside them. His face was red, both from crying and drying blood. “I’m so done with this place. I just want to go home.”

“I am sorry for your losses,” Matilda said, also gathering. “We have stored the body of Freddy and will begin resting to restore our resources. I suggest you all start doing the same.”

“Is Nolan awake? What of Ruby and Edward?” Cecelia asked quickly.

“Nolan’s going to be out of action for at least an hour,” Gordon said. “He has a skill that can save his life, but it’s low rarity. Some kind of last chance that must have saved him.” Gordon shuddered. “When he finds out about Morgan… he…”

“We can’t bring her back. But we can honour her memory by killing what was responsible,” Cecelia said.

Gordon nodded, eyes full of resolve.

“Ten minutes at most. Our allies outside are likely being assaulted right now by the endless waves. Nolan will be safe here while we kill the Queen.”

With that, all who were alive started to meditate, restoring whatever they could as fast as they could.

Leo was struggling to focus his mind. Storm’s Guidance was helping, but it was like trying to fit grains of sand back through the mouth of an hourglass one by one while there was still some pouring out. He opted for a distraction, something to maybe help things in the fight ahead.

Level 70 Elemental Adept Class skill selection available

Leo opened the list of skills, starting with the first. He looked at it, and didn’t even blink.

Iron Heart (Uncommon)

Brace for impact. Send that impact back twofold.

Take up a defensive stance that reduces damage that you take. Any damage you take while active will be added to your next strike.

Cannot move while Iron Heart is active.

Scales with Strength and Toughness

Cooldown: 2 Minutes

It was useful, no doubt about it… No. It wasn’t good enough.

The amount of skills that the system had offered him to do with defensive means were driving him a little crazy. He’d never taken any of the skills to do with Toughness, becoming a rock, or being defensive. It rubbed him the wrong way. It was irrational. He didn’t care right now.

Onto the next.

Pulse Step (Uncommon)

Movement. Motion. Control.

Use your mana to propel yourself a small distance. Each consecutive dash requires exponentially more mana.

Cooldown: None

Something to finally distract him.

It was simple, yet entirely incredible, all at the same time.

A no cooldown, spammable dash that he could use to reposition himself whenever he needed to. It seemed completely broken in every way and Leo couldn’t believe such a skill even existed.

Spark Dash, when he’d received it, was one of the best skills of his arsenal. When it was upgraded into Lightning Drive, it could arguably be called his best skill. So far, this skill was a winner, and it was only two of four.

Hoping for another gem, but also not, he checked out the next option.

Aura Sense (Uncommon)

You begin to feel what was always there.

By focusing inward, you extend your awareness outward, brushing against the presence of other living beings.
Their auras reveal themselves as impressions rather than images, allowing you to sense position and intent, even without sight.

Scales with Wisdom and Will

Cooldown: None

Quite a surprising skill to see. Or perhaps not, once he thought about it.

This skill was basically giving him a real skill for what he could already do, likely enhancing it or making it easier to do and activate. That was good and all, but Leo would rather just practice the skill himself and save a selection for something better. Like Pulse Step, or Flicker Jabs. That was a skill he thought about all the time, regretting passing it up with every fight.

He checked out the last option.

Yeah. Seems about fucking right.

Barrage (Rare)

Do not let them breathe.

You unleash a rapid succession of strikes, each blow flowing into the next without pause.
The longer a barrage continues, the faster and heavier your strikes become. After ten hits in the chain, stamina costs will increase exponentially, as will the strength.

Scales with Strength and Agility.
Cooldown: 30 Seconds

Like Flicker Jabs on steroids.

This was an absolute winner of a skill in every way possible. It was also scratching the itch of becoming an anime protagonist. Although, right now, that was the last thing on his mind.

So, he started comparing Pulse Step and Barrage. Weighing them for about two seconds before he ultimately made his choice.

Not passing this up again. Sorry Pulse Step, maybe next time.

You have unlocked the Elemental Adept Class skill: Barrage (Rare)