Leo released Ruby’s hands after a moment, he’d grabbed so hard that there were red marks on her exposed forearms. The sleeves of her robe quickly covered them. Fiery red eyes locked on him. The pressure and murderous intent emanating from her was immense.

He was expecting a fight, some kind of backlash, even after his… apology. But instead, she turned to the battle once more and screamed.

“Gareth! We’re leaving right the fuck now!”

Her words carried across the small distance and before Gareth could respond, Ruby leapt from the wall and strode towards him. She didn’t glance back once.

Leo watched as she spoke to Gareth briefly. The man looked at Leo, closed his eyes solemnly and then nodded at Ruby. A moment later he and Ruby walked off, finding the rest of their group and preparing to leave.

That was a mistake. I shouldn’t have done that.

He meant it too. Not at any point was his intention to somehow suppress her completely with his aura. It had flared up instinctually in response to his emotions. It had all happened so quickly, the compounded rage and distress had overwhelmed Storm’s Guidance.

Control had come back to him now, although he could almost feel like the shackles binding the storm within were permanently loosening each time he lost control. The idea of what could happen when they all broke scared him. Losing control like that was something he hated most.

Before long, Ruby was gone. The fighting had wound down after Leo and Ellie joined back in. All the antlings that had attacked them were killed, and Nolan approached him not long after.

“Why did Gareth and the others leave?” he asked between exasperated breaths. “I saw some kind of blast of flame up in the air, but not the reason. Well, I suppose I can guess the reason.”

Leo nodded. “She pressed the wrong buttons and I kind of lost my cool. Then she snapped and tried to roast me, pretty justified on her part to be honest,” Leo explained casually, sighing. “After that she just kinda left. Surprised me that she didn’t try to kill me again.”

Nolan shook his head. “She’s completely mental, it’s no use trying to consider her actions. Good riddance.”

“She was strong though. Really good against swarms of ants,” Leo said.

“True, but we managed. And we can manage again.”

Leo smiled softly.

Conversation was shortly discarded in lieu of clean-up and system notifications. Leo went through his, skipping over the kills and just focusing on the level-ups. Leo was surprised to see that whatever the “First Assault” was, had not ended. Or at least he assumed so due to not getting the quest completion.

Your Elemental Adept Class has reached Level 53
Stat points distributed
+3 Free Points

Your Elemental Adept Class has reached Level 54

Stat points distributed

+3 Free Points

Anchored Progression:

+2 All stats, +4 Free Points

Ellie has reached Level 51

Stat points distributed

+3 Free Points

Ellie’s gains from Race:

+5 Free Points

Two levels in his class, and one level for Ellie. He had no idea why he’d gotten two and she only one, something the system only knew, but it was all a positive.

He popped the free points into Strength, just to try and bring it up a bit.

Looking around at his camp members, they were all clearly exhausted, but still alive. No one had died, but there were some serious injuries. Amy, Morgan, and someone named Arman were the only healers the camp had so they had their work cut out for them. Anyone without life threatening injuries was just told to chug a potion or try and recover it over time with their own vitality.

Leo was in the ‘recover with his own vitality’ batch, not nearly hurt enough to warrant the mana. He held Ellie in his arms as he surveyed the city from the highest rooftop nearby.

He couldn’t see any ants approaching, nor could he see his friends come out of the Cinder Bastion. He was just stuck waiting for the next assault.

~

Ants rushed through tunnels, causing the walls to rumble and quake, some bigger than others. Jasper and his group of converted were hiding under the effect of a skill from one of them. It created a shadowy dome that obscured vision and hid auras. They were huddled up as the enemy flooded past. But not one of them was scared.

They had all received the same quest as the people above, but it had all come too early. Pushing towards their Lord had been their goal for days now, and slow progress had been made. Their Lord had told them that no more converted would be joining them, so making sure the numbers held strong was key.

Jasper led with purpose and resolve, a shadow of his old scared self. Every one of the gathered converted were the same. From scared and desperate to willing sacrifices in the cause of their Lord.

Time passed quickly and the ants had all passed, giving the group a chance to make it all the way to the next section. Broken dirt and repetitive tunnels suddenly became solid stone. A large ancient door was before them, coated in a barrier of light that illuminated the tunnel.

Quest Updated!

You have reached the prison of Lord Serrix. The door to his prison will unlock when the Queen’s castle unlocks in five days.

Jasper sighed. He’d expected to just be able to enter as soon as the original quest announcement for the keeps falling had gone out. Now they would have to stay hidden and wait.

At least he could enjoy the thought of what was about to happen to the humans above him.

The ants were coming and Jasper briefly shuddered after thinking about the thing that had passed by them at the end.

A true monster.

~

A prickle of danger tickled the back of Leo’s mind. It was faint, almost non-existent, but it made him turn his head to the middle of his camp. It had been almost an hour since the battle had concluded and not a single ant had appeared again. The atmosphere was tense, but people had started slowly relaxing.

He leapt from the roof, holding Ellie in his arms as she squealed with delight. The squeal ended as soon as they landed, the little dragon wriggling from his arms and sniffing at the ground.

“You sense something?” Leo asked, the feeling of unease growing slightly.

Ellie nodded and kept crawling forward, nose barely leaving the ground. Then she stopped suddenly and yelped in alarm.

“What is it?” Leo asked quickly, dropping to the ground and placing his ear against it.

He closed his eyes, focusing on shutting out the conversation around him. All the sounds of question and interest in his actions were drowned out until all he could hear was silence and his own heartbeat, slow and repetitive.

And… scratching?

His eyes opened wide as he jumped to his feet. “They’re tunneling up from below!” He projected his voice as much as he could and the moment he did the ground visibly rumbled.

Panicked yells of alarm echoing Leo’s words were dispersed through camp and before long all the fighters were in formation facing the hole. Leo stood at the front beside Nolan. They were prepared for this.

The seconds crawled by as the rumbling grew louder. The moment something appeared, it was getting a Frost Lance straight to its ugly face.

Ellie suddenly ran off towards the crafters in building A at full speed. Three seconds later, a scream of alarm, laced with pure terror came from it. Leo’s eyes widened and he responded quickly, Lightning Drive coating his body as he shot off like a rocket.

Ants had started pouring through another hole in the floor, tearing into people left and right. Ellie was already inside ripping into the enemy, and Leo shook off the horror and quickly helped.

The ants were all much higher level than the ones they’d fought just earlier that day, strong enough to completely overwhelm anyone who wasn’t at least level 35. That meant the crafters.

“Help me please!” Hector cried out as he tried to stop an Antling from tearing him apart.

Leo spun into a roundhouse kick that sent a blade of razor sharp wind through the air. Its jagged sharp mandibles were sliced cleanly in half before they could tear into Hector’s body. The attack was followed up by two more kicks, Leo spinning into them rapidly. Two more blades of wind appeared at almost the same time, combining into an X of wind blades that decimated it and two more behind it.

Hector shook off his terror and ran towards him and the door, Leo moved before the man could even approach, there were endless enemies here.

The ground rumbled once more as the fighting continued. Then the shouts of battle outside began. It was complete mayhem, reminding him of the bloodmoon and all the chaos when the ants would tunnel from below.

He moved swiftly and decisively, saving as many people as he could. Some of the people in this building could fight, and were doing so heroically. With Leo and Ellie’s help, the ants were corralled enough to let the crafters and injured escape. It continued until Leo was the only one in the room with the ants still pouring from the hole.

They just didn’t stop, no matter how many he and Ellie took down. So it was time to change things up. A Cloak of Wind manifested around him as he shot into the air right above the hole. Ellie met him mid air, being led by Leo’s intentions with the bond.

Gauntlets of draconic brilliance manifested as Ellie shimmered onto his being. Leo swung his arm up hard into the ceiling, causing it to crumble into large chunks, all falling towards the hole below.

Leo knew that some loose rock wouldn't do a lot to stop them coming, but it would certainly slow them down. Larger and thicker pieces began crumbling from the roof as Leo hung from it, hand embedded into the stone. When a large, thick slab had finally fallen, Leo pushed off the ceiling and kicked hard into the stone with both feet.

The large slab descended so fast it crushed several Antlings, dust and rock flying everywhere. Like a meteor had crashed into the earth, the hole was buried for now. He shot a Frost Lance that detonated a second later into one of the remaining antlings that had come out while he was airborne.

The roof was still coming down around him but compared to the tower trial of strength, this was a breeze. A few hops and dashes and he was outside, taking in the scene around him. More complete mayhem.

The lower leveled people were huddled together while the fighters held off the enemies as best they could. Ants were coming from all sides, surrounding them. Leo cursed, dashing into the fray to relieve some pressure but he couldn’t be on every side at once.

He had to hope that just defeating enemies would be enough to save as many as he could. The ants were so strong that soon the group of survivors were pushed towards one of the other buildings. It turned the surround into a semi circle of defense, with the wounded and lesser fighters retreating into the building.

Leo was in the thick of it, blasting holes in ants whenever he could. Every time his cooldowns came up, he would cycle through them. Volt Crash, Scarlet Impact, Layered Bastion, Frost Lance, Absolute Shatter, Gale Talon. He was moving on pure instinct, but the tide was unending.

His resources were dropping rapidly and Leo had one last trick—or two—up his sleeve that he didn’t want to rely on. Call of the Storm was his go to emergency button, but it had been causing the shackles on his storm to loosen each time he had to rely on it. His other emergency card… was something he had yet to try but had been building up the resources since he’d gotten it.

Active ability: Crownfall
Mark the sky above. After a brief delay, the sky fractures around the target zone and a rain of molten fragments descend.
Each impact explodes on contact, dealing heavy fire damage in overlapping bursts. Enemies caught within multiple detonations suffer escalating burn damage over time.
Lasts 10 seconds
Requires a total of 10,000 mana to use. Mana can be stored over time.
Cooldown: 8 hours

The skill didn’t tell him what kind of area it would be or how devastating the effect truly was. Items were different from skills in that regard. When one received a new skill, its basic effects, range, and effectiveness were learned along with the skill. That didn't mean that one would be an expert in a newly acquired skill, but it would be enough to know when to use it.

A set of mandibles snapped out above his head as he slid underneath an antling. An earthen wall raised up from below it, shooting it upwards as Ellie cut it apart with her Elemental Breath, channelling lightning.

I can’t keep this up for much longer. Leo was gasping, bleeding, and running low on resources.

“Fuck it,” he muttered, activating Crownfall.

The ring on his finger began glowing as all of the mana inside it rose into the air, blending with the atmosphere. All the mana rushed upwards, forming into small balls that ignited in the air, turning fiery red. One, two, ten… More and more rapidly formed until the sky was clouded in them. The power contained was enough to even draw the antlings attention, all of them looking skyward.

Leo did too.

“Uh oh.”

Then they descended.

In a sheer panicked run, Leo scooped up Ellie and dashed for the door to the building they were guarding as the sky fell. Chunks of molten rain were cascading down behind him, blowing ants into chunks of flesh and chitin as they all tried to scatter.

The entirety of the camp was being bombarded and destroyed. What hadn’t been already trampled or destroyed by the battle was now completely ruined. Leo was dodging and weaving for his life as he tried to make it to safety from his own skill. But his Spark Dashes were on cooldown, and he couldn’t summon up his Lightning Drive again or he’d likely collapse on the spot.

With little options, his Stoneskin reinforced itself on his most important parts as one of the molten chunks detonated beside him. Ellie wouldn’t go into his soul-space, so he had to spin his body, taking the brunt of it.

Scorching heat seared across his back, even through his armour’s fire resistance and he fell to the floor. Panic rose instantly once again as his Nerveflash triggered, forcing his body into a roll that dodged another bombardment.

Notifications were pinging in his mind but with the emergency Nerveflash triggering, his brain was scrambled and his stamina was almost bottomed out. The rain wasn’t ending and he could barely move.

He struggled and pushed his hand into the dirt, forming a Layered Bastion that encased him in three layers. But after just two strikes it exploded.

Was this how he went out?

Killed by his own item.

Ellie wouldn’t leave him, no matter how hard he tried to push. Leo hoped they’d both survive what was about to hit them. At least alive enough to be healed after it ended.

The fire approached and Leo closed his eyes, holding Ellie tight in an attempt to protect her.

*Boom*

It impacted him dead on and Leo felt… nothing?

He opened his eyes, and discovered a translucent white shell without the slightest crack in it. Pale white brilliance that he couldn’t help but smile at.

He tilted his head and spotted the blonde haired saviour. She gave him a slight smirk, just before his surroundings exploded.