“What do you think of him?” Vera asked after watching the fight that Leo had just been in, and the aftermath.

Caldrin pondered it for a moment before answering. “He is… passable.”

Vera gestured for him to continue, pulling a strand of grass-like hair from her vision and tucking it behind her ear.

“With so many Essences, it’s likely he’s getting many stat bonuses, which, at this time of progression, would give him a major boon.”

“Oh,” she said, sultry in tone. “Master of Essences revealing some secrets?”

Caldrin huffed a laugh. “Not today, simply the basics; Essences bind to stats. More Essences, more stats.”

“Hmm. I was hoping for something new,” Vera said, smiling.

Caldrin sighed. “With five Essences, his progression through D-grade will be stifling, not to mention higher grades.”

“I always wondered about that,” Vera said. “With only the two that I have, it was difficult, but not impossible. With four, I can imagine it would be twice as hard.”

Caldrin shook his head. “It’s not additive. When I gained my Water Essence back in S-grade, the path to the peak that I was sure to reach felt almost impossible. Integrating an Essence into one’s path at S-grade when you haven’t had the time to fully bond and merge with it can be deadly. At least this boy has time to adjust, but a human, with five Essences…” He paused. Vera answered.

“The likelihood of him reaching Godhood will be slim to none.”

He nodded.

“Falling behind would be the least of his issues. His technique, aura control, and mental stability need to be vastly improved for him to compete.”

“For now though,” Vera said. “He’ll be just fine through E-grade and likely D-grade. Probably become one of the strongest humans on his planet.”

She smiled, continuing. “We also can’t ignore the sharp-toothed predator in the room. The bond of a dragon, especially one so unique, will surely help his path.”

Caldrin smiled, before his eyes darkened.

“If he survives long enough to forge one.”

~

The group of fighters were assembled before the regal set of grand doors. Intricate marbling was splattered with chunks of antling and sickly green ichor. They had rested as long as they dared, regaining enough resources to push ahead.

The bodies of the fallen were stored within dimensional rings, kept safe from any further transgression. The auras around him were fluctuating wildly. Some with fear, others with anger and unbridled killing intent. Mixed in the middle was Ruby, who, on the outside, was emanating such a calm and carefree demeanor.

Leo could feel her true self, however.

She was like a roiling inferno of anger and disgust.

The feeling was stifling. Like staring down an impending explosion. Whether this was how she always was, or if this was a new side to her, Leo wasn’t sure. He’d never been this in touch with auras and their effects on the world. Truly supernatural in nature.

He looked around. Dead ants the size of two storey houses with signs of destruction everywhere.

Maybe not that supernatural anymore. New-natural.

Cecelia took a deep breath, exhaling loud enough to draw attention.

“I won’t bother with a speech. We have a job to do.”

She paused, speaking again after a moment. “You all know your assignments. Fight well. Fight together. And lets get out of this fucking hellhole.”

“Damn right,” Bjorn said.

She stepped up to the doors, pushing with enough strength to force them open. As soon as whatever threshold was reached, the doors began opening on their own.

The doors barely made a sound despite their massive size, opening up into a huge chamber filled with the scuttling and chittering sounds they all recognised.

The chamber was grandiose, perhaps once used as a gathering for a royal procession.

But now…

It was nothing but a breeding ground for chaos.

What was once seating for crowds of spectators was now nothing more than a hatchery of evil. Swarms of ants crowded the eggs, tending to them before they hatched. The walls were lined with dirt, packed in so tightly that it looked like it was truly underground. Purple moss was used as a light source, lined along the walls in such massive amounts so that everything was illuminated.

Leo took it all in at once, stunned. There were a lot of ants.

The Queen sat at the back of the room, atop a set of stairs that hadn’t been packed with dirt. She was large. Not quite the size of a Goliath in height, but just as wide. A thick body gave way to what must have been an egg sack attached to her. It constantly birthed eggs that were carried off to the lower ground.

What ferocity she lacked in body, she more than made up for in her face.

Sharp, spiked mandibles. Huge, compound eyes. A constant sort of expression that just screamed rage.

Antling Queen - Level 90

The moment the doors fully opened, revealing the fighters that had trespassed upon her kingdom, the Queen clicked her mandibles once. Loud and resonating.

All the antlings within the room stopped, turning toward the doors. Like a horde of zombies discovering noise, they all locked on the source.

“That’s a lot,” Bjorn whispered.

“Why are they just watching us?” Ashley replied, also whispering.

“Not sure,” Cecelia said. “But the longer they stay still, the more resources we can recover, albeit tiny.”

“Sounds—”

Leo spun his head, interrupting his own words as he felt it.

Ruby was grinning wildly, eyes wide with enjoyment and bloodlust. It appeared she could no longer hold back.

“Wait!” Leo tried to say but his voice was dwarfed by the roar of a massive fireball tearing through the air above their heads.

Leo just watched as it descended, hitting a massive cluster of both eggs and antlings. It detonated into a huge explosion of power, sending chunks of antling and egg everywhere.

As the smoke of the fire quickly faded, the Queen, and army of antlings, screeched as one.

The sound was deafening, especially to Leo’s advanced ears. A starting pistol of carnage.

The fight for the tutorial’s finish had begun.

Leo’s job was to get to the Queen, much more suited for single combat than taking care of massive hordes. Weaving through them was easy, especially with his Cloak of Wind and Lightning Stance. He was saving Lightning Drive for when he needed it.

Antlings lunged for him from all directions, passing over his head, barely touching his sides. All of them missed. Their levels, being around 40, were much too slow. The only chance they had was to overwhelm with numbers.

Cain was parallel to him, tearing through the crowd like he was in order to get to the Queen. There was a faint competitive spirit to their actions, uncontrolled by them, just some innate pride that seemed to leak out.

Before they could even get to the Queen, however, she made her first move. Leo’s Nerveflash sent a spark of danger down his spine as energy started coalescing in front of the Queen. He glanced at the walls, the crafted earth, the entire hive…

She’s a mage…

Large spikes of crumbling earth formed in front of her until there were four. Leo was forced to dodge an antling that attempted to hold him down with a Spark Dash.

She took this moment to launch her attack.

The spikes shot through the air, the fastest attack he’d ever seen. One of the spikes was aimed directly at him, forcing him to evade as he used his other Spark Dash charge. The earthen spike rocked the ground behind him, embedding itself into the floor.

He quickly took this time to leap into the air and counter attack, but instantly realised his mistake.

The Queen still had two spikes hovering in front of her.

“Oh fu–”

She screeched, firing one of the last two spikes at him.

Leo twisted his body, calling for Ellie’s help as their Draconic Equip activated. Ellie formed into gauntlets that covered his arms while Leo built power up in his fist. Blue lightning crackled, coating the gauntlet in sparkling light.

His fist crashed into the tip of the spike with pinpoint precision, tearing through the earthen power as he roared. He barely had the momentum to keep this thing from sending him flying backwards. A pain lanced up his shoulder.

Volt Crash demolished the spike, Leo’s fist just barely winning the battle. As he finished swinging his Nerveflash lit up again with danger, telling him to move. He really didn’t want his emergency to trigger yet, so he tried to adjust himself.

Tailwind aided his momentum, combining it with a Wyrmstep aimed at an antling on the ground. He was pulled through the air with incredible force towards the ground, narrowly avoiding the spike that barely passed his shoulder.

Way too close, Leo thought as his knee crushed an antlings head.

The Queen was more deadly than he realised, which should perhaps be expected from a level 90 opponent and endboss of the tutorial.

But even with that attack she just unleashed, she wasn’t giving him the sense of danger he was expecting. It wasn’t insurmountable.

Behind him, the rest of the fighters were tearing through the crowd with steady progress, taking out swathes of enemies with what attacks they could muster. Ruby was particularly effective, each spell cast would kill at least ten antlings. The horde was being quickly eradicated.

He could briefly hear Cecelia roaring out commands and skills, glad to know they were still safe. He wanted to look. Make sure. His eyes stayed locked on the Queen.

Leo let Draconic Equip fade, opting to save some Resonance for now. An antling attacked him from behind, but a quick backhand drove it into the ground with ease, killing it instantly. It was barely worth the time spent for the experience.

Keeping low, Leo felt some energy building up again in the Queen. He risked a look, spotting Cain ahead of him. He was getting closer to the Queen and she didn’t seem to appreciate it.

Like he’d set off a tripwire, a quake rattled the floor, and all the eggs that were still culminating antlings started glowing. Leo’s danger sense went absolutely berserk, telling him to get the hell off the ground at once.

“Shields!” Leo roared with every fibre of his being, directing the voice towards Ashley.

He watched a shimmering dome go up as the eggs’ glow hit a crescendo.

They exploded.

Like a minefield of traps being detonated all at once.

Each explosion wasn’t that deadly in itself, but there were so many that it didn’t matter. Leo was sent flying, taking a massive hit that rocked him into a wall. His breath was knocked out of him, Reinforced Stoneskin thankfully taking some of the brunt of it.

His body hit the ground with a thud as he landed, pushing himself to a knee for a moment while he caught his breath. Checking his vitals, it showed that his health was more than forty percent lower than it was a moment ago, but it felt lower.

“What is it with this tutorial being so hard? Everything is like an instant kill,” he croaked out in annoyance.

He was so done with this so-called ‘tutorial’. In no way was it anything like that. A tutorial should teach and be easy, yet increase in challenge as one gets used to the systems. This was like; “hey, you good? No? Fuck you.”

Utterly relentless in its pain and difficulty.

One wrong move would have killed him, and worse, the people he cared for. He was so worried that the explosion had hurt them, a hand grasping the wall next to him to get him upright. His Cloak manifested again, and he forced his legs to push him skyward.

Airborne, Leo looked over at the area his friends had been fighting and was relieved to see a dome of shimmering white light surrounding them all. He’d called out in time, or maybe Ashley was ready for it. Either way, he was so thankful for their princess bulldozer.

His eyes locked on the Queen next, anxiousness giving way to fury. What little he’d corralled of the storm within had started to seep its way out like a leak had been sprung. This fight needed to end so he could rest and get back control.

Lightning Drive started flowing through his body, each pulse of it giving his muscles more speed. Leo hit the ground like a lead weight and took off.

With the devastation caused by the Queen, Leo didn’t need to worry so much about antlings any more. Her attack had been one of indiscriminate carnage. Sacrifice the colony to save the Queen. She could always make more.

His legs carried him swiftly towards the monarch, eyes boring a hole into her. He spotted Cain, quite injured, but not out of the fight. The man got up when he spotted what little he could see of Leo.

In seconds, Leo was upon the Queen, who raised some sort of barrier when his fist came crashing down. The dull brown barrier quaked under the strength of his fist, but ultimately held.

The Queen screeched, stomping one of her legs into the ground. Leo suddenly jumped to the side as an earthen spike shot up from the ground. He followed it with a backflip he was forced to make as the ground opened up beneath him.

Mid-air, Leo twisted into a kick, sending gale after gale into the barrier surrounding the Queen. Each hit of Gale Talon caused the barrier to fracture a little, but not enough to break it.

Cain’s rending claw of power crashed into it a moment later, causing it to fracture more.

In outrage, the Queen retaliated. Waves of spikes forming in the air above. Leo backed up, needing the space to dodge while throwing a Frost Lance. He wanted to bring Ellie out, but those spikes were so fast, he was worried she would be instantly killed.

The little dragon appreciated his care for her safety.

But ultimately didn’t agree.

She appeared at once behind him, distracting Leo for a second as he turned in shock. He thought he could control her from leaving his soul-space if he willed it, but she had overridden it.

His danger sense flashed warning as the Queen unleashed her next attack. A wave of smaller spikes shot out like a blast from a shotgun, aimed towards his direction. They would rip apart anything in their path, including himself and his rebellious dragon.

Earth mana coursed through him, raising a set of three walls instantaneously. Leo knew they wouldn’t be enough based on the attack he’d punched through earlier. So he did what he could.

His body shielded Ellie as his back reinforced with Stoneskin. He was quick, but not quick enough to outrun the range of the attack.

The spikes shot out as Leo braced. But just as they did, a voice sounded out. Loud and domineering.

“Guardian!”

The form of Bjorn, clad in stone, appeared before him in a flash of instant movement. His shield rose, and as the spikes tore apart his walls like they weren’t there, all the spikes were destroyed by the power of Bjorn’s shield.

“I got you, kid,” Bjorn said, grinning down at him through a plated helmet of stone.

Warmth filled his heart, smiling back without realising. “Nice shield.”

Bjorn chuckled. And a moment later, a glowing phoenix hit the barrier of the Queen.

With no antlings to slog through, reinforcements had arrived at the front.

It was time to end this.