Sitting atop a rock, Bria watched on as Neth-amii slammed her staff into another low level water imp. The woman was panting as she surveyed the carnage, framed by the setting sun. Despite the numbers, Bria hadn’t offered a helping hand with them. It was clear Neth needed to work off steam, so Bria was there as support and little more.
The highest level she had identified among them was a resounding four, which might be terrifying for the villagers, but was nothing for even her to handle at this point. That was saying something, given how easily just one of the creatures could probably kill a person level three or lower. She hadn’t truly processed the difference that levels made for the average person until she’d had the moment to slow down and actually think about it.
“Thanks for not stepping in,” Neth-amii said, wiping her brow. “I must say, coming back to fight these creatures almost a decade later is cathartic.”
Bria considered fighting such monsters as a child, and shuddered. “A decade ago I was daydreaming about going on adventures while exploring an island that everyone knew.”
“And now you’re exploring a completely different world,” Neth-amii said, coming to sit with her as they looked out over the ocean. “I’m looking forward to seeing your home.”
“It’s not much,” Bria warned.
A gentle chuckle followed. “Perhaps, but it is something new. You looked upon my every day experience with wonder, and I hope to see the same when it comes time to view your own.”
Bria considered saying something against that, but when she stepped back and truly thought about it, it made sense. Just how much of Earth life had she taken for granted over her eighteen years? Simply coming to a new world had shown her that certain luxuries were not commonplace in this new land. For every wonder of magic, there was something truly distressing. Take toilet paper as an example. Everyone used a wet cloth to clean themselves after; washing the cloth as needed.
Better than using a hand like in some cultures she read about, but only slightly.
The sun slowly dipped beneath the horizon as the pair sat against one another, watching the shifting colors in companionable silence as the distant planet rose up over the horizon as the sun dipped behind it. Things weren’t magically better with Neth-amii following her argument with her parents, but her blood had hopefully cooled given her outburst against the local monster population.
“Thanks for being there,” Neth-amii said after the sun vanished, leaving a fading glow behind. “I’ve avoided that argument for most of my life, and now that it’s happened…”
Bria couldn’t say she understood, but she knew it wasn’t the time to make it about her. This was Neth’s moment, and she would do what she could for her friend.
“I can’t say it enough, but you’re the best friend I’ve had,” Neth-amii continued, her voice soft and warm. “I thought that my life was good, for the most part, but I didn’t realize how much I missed having someone I could simply talk to.”
The sentiment filled Bria with warmth and she found herself leaning more into the soft contact. “Honestly, I feel the same way. My last friend back home moved away years ago. I’m sort of the only person in my age group. There’s a woman five years my senior, and two boys three years younger than me. That’s it. Our village has been on the decline for the last twenty years, and I was close to leaving myself.”
Even if it had meant stowing away on the ship like the last person to leave.
“Look at us, two slimes in a dungeon,” Neth-amii said with a chuckle. “I didn’t ask before, but is it actually okay for me to come see your home?”
Was that even a question? “Of course it is.”
Neth’s arm slipped around her side, pulling Bria just a bit closer. The firmness of it sent warm flutters through her as she returned the favor, watching the last motes of light vanish from the horizon as the stars and distant planet came into sharp relief against the void of space. There was even a hint of shadow blocking out part of it. The sight was spectacular, and one that couldn’t be seen back on Earth. The moon just didn’t compare to a literal ring world hovering so clearly in the sky.
Were they on a moon? It made some sense to her limited understanding of science, but in the end it didn’t matter all that much. Not when this strange new world had magic of all things to balance it out. Plus, it was where she met Neth-amii. That counted for far more in Bria’s mind. The air had grown colder as the night pressed on, but they had one another for warmth. Would it be safe to simply fall asleep like this, or was the threat of monsters too great?
Well, that was a downside if she had ever heard one. At least her island lacked any venomous critters, poisonous plants, or deadly predators. That did nothing to take away from the experience, but it would be another perk of heading to Earth for a bit.
“Aww, look at you two,” Gil-hana said, shattering the moment. Bria and Neth pulled away from one another as they both stood, tension quickly fleeing from them at the realization that there wasn’t a true threat. Though it did nothing to stop the embarrassment she felt. “Krow, you owe me a silver core.”
“Fiddlesticks,” the man said, noisily stepping out of the brush to stand beside the gloating librarian. He casually handed over a larger core as he rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry about that, didn’t mean to actually bother you.”
“I most certainly did,” Gil said, completely unrepentant. “Come on, it is getting late and you both need to be rested if we’re going to get back on the road tomorrow. I can’t imagine staying here after that display, can you?”
Neth-amii shook her head, dusting off her robes. “No, you’re right. My father will rally those he can and run us out if we try to stay much longer.”
Gil-hana snorted. “He can try, but I see your point. This festering sore of a village isn’t worth the effort.”
Neth-amii opened her mouth to retort, only for a deafening crash to have it snap shut promptly. A beat of silence followed, then a steady clanging of metal on metal shattered the stillness of the night.
“That’s the village alarm!” Neth-amii shouted, breaking out into a sprint.
Bria was only a step behind her, and the others filed in after. Kro-ahnk quickly pulled up beside them, and it took a moment for her to realize that he was matching their fastest speed, which wasn’t her. Bria could move faster if needed, but Neth appeared to be going all out. Had she actually caught up with her friend, at least physically?
Smoke rose from Cliffside as they reached the perimeter. The gate had been completely smashed from whatever was attacking. The guards normally at the gate were—oh. They were laying out, one with crushed legs, and the other… Dead. Bria rushed over to the one lacking legs and pulsed [Heal] through him. Being level three, her spell recovered his full health almost immediately, and regrew his legs with a sickening squelch and crunch that would haunt Bria’s nightmares.
The moment was short lived as screaming from further in had them moving once more. It didn’t take long to find the source of the panic that had overtaken the city, and Bria cursed. Guards stood defensively around it, brandishing torches as it reared away, tongue flicking out.
[Basilisk Lv. 21]
“It must have followed us here,” Gil-hana said calmly.
Bria swallowed heavily, knowing that all of this was her fault. She needed to make amends. “Then it’s up to us to stop it.”
Any guilt or punishment could come after the creature was dealt with.
“Can we lure it away?” Kro-ahnk asked.
Gil-hana shook their head. “Unlikely. We, or more accurately, Bria here, is the prey it has chosen. It will not rest until she is dinner, or someone puts the beast down.”
“So why can’t I lead it out of the city?” Bria demanded.
Now wasn’t the time to turn a populated space into a battlefield!
Kro-ahnk was the one to answer. “Would you turn down a free meal just because your heart is set on a particular cut of that same dish?”
“Correct,” Gil-hana said. “This monster will feast on this city regardless. Still, you may distract it, if nothing else.”
Just great. If that would save lives, she would do it. Bria called upon [Bulwark] as she affixed her shield and drew her blade. The spell was slow to cast compared to the others she had, and drained more mana besides. “Neth, get the people somewhere safe. You know the city.”
Her friend didn’t argue, but she did send out a [Pray] that settled over each of them. If Bria had the mana, she would do the same for [Bulwark] but it took a large portion of her pool with each casting. Using it before the fight was one thing, but in the heat of battle it would be difficult and taxing.
“Krow, you’ll be with me up front.”
“Sure thing,” Krow said, already holding his massive skillet. “I can already imagine the profits from rendering this beastie down.”
“Don’t count your cores just yet,” Gil said with a laugh. “We have to kill this snake before we can skin it.”
With grim resolve, Bria charged forward. [Enhance] flowed through her, pushing her stats beyond their limits. The snake turned, tongue flicking towards her, then it let out a hiss that was somehow silent and deafening at the same time. Despite everything she had fought to this point, staring down a giant serpent was a different matter entirely. Especially with such a gulf between their levels.
Yet, her nerves didn’t waver.
The snake moved slowly, as if savoring the moment. It paid no attention to where Neth-amii was helping the others get away from the battle. The serpent brought its head level with Bria, opening its jaws wide. Its breath was foul, as though it ate nothing but undead. Actually, that was probably the case.
Kro-ahnk bonked it with his skillet.
It wasn’t a gentle tap, but a thunderous blow that slammed the serpent’s head into the dirt, leaving an indent in the packed earth. Neither Bria nor the Basilisk had expected it, but Bria wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. She darted forward, and stabbed at the snake’s eye. Steel pierced the thick membrane, and the eyelid slammed shut on the blade like a vice. She was fairly certain snakes on Earth didn’t have those, but there was no point complaining about that.
Bria let go of her sword as the snake reared back, hissing and thrashing. One impact drove the blade even deeper into its eye, making everything worse. Buildings shattered in the flailing chaos as the serpent curled upon itself, scales pushing against the embedded blade. Bria looked about, then grabbed a broken spear off the ground. It wasn’t a good weapon, but it had a blade and would function well enough until she could recover her sword.
Rings of light ensnared the flailing monster, slowing the frantic movements. Gil-hana manifested a mace of pure light and hit the beast just as Kro-ahnk moved to do the same. Neither blunt impact seemed to do much, but Bria wasn’t going to be left behind. She stabbed at the scales, gritting her teeth as the blade chipped against the armored surface.
Her gaze snapped to the blade still in the monster’s eye, and Bria determined she needed to get it back if she was going to truly contribute to the battle. She brought her shield up, the metal doing little when the tail lashed into her. She crashed through the poor tavern, then landed in a heap beside the line of retreating villagers.
Neth-amii ran up, but [Bulwark] had taken the hit, and [Pray] hadn’t even triggered.
“Ow,” Bria said rhetorically. “I feel like I’m a bit outclassed here.”
Neth-amii offered a hand, which Bria accepted, getting back to her feet.
“By all accounts, we should be fleeing.”
Bria snorted. “Yeah, probably. You good to join us yet?”
“Most everyone is out of the city, or knows they should be,” Neth-amii said, rolling her shoulders. “Shall we bring the fight to it?”
“Already there,” Bria said.
The Basilisk had remained engaged with Gil and Krow, the two dancing around it or tanking hits. The sheen of [Pray] had faded from Krow, but Gil still had theirs. Each attempt to strike was batted away by ringing metal or brilliant light. Both fighters put Bria to shame, but she wasn’t going to let them do all the work.
[Bulwark] went back up as she ran forward, rejoining the melee just as it finished casting. Neth-amii threw out hard hitting magic, but the serpent’s scales seemed impervious to their attacks. Yet, there were scabbed cuts along the monster from where Ri-durak had injured it. Which meant it wasn’t invincible, just really durable.
More than that, Bria really wanted her sword back.
The scrap of metal in her hand wasn’t worth much, but it was better than being unarmed. Bria was relying on [Bulwark] to keep her in the fight; mostly because she wasn’t sure she could actually survive a hit from such a powerful monster as a mere level eight human. She had doubts about Gil-hana as well, but the librarian was deftly dodging everything the Basilisk tried even as their mace smashed into scales.
Krow blocked another hit with his trusty pan, fumbling back but otherwise unharmed as he charged back into the fray while waving his pan overhead. He pulled something from his pack and threw it at the serpent. The vial burst against the beast’s skin, and it did something to the scales that caused them to shatter when his pan hit them a moment after.
“Aim there!” he yelled.
Gil and Neth didn’t need to be told twice, sending their best magic at the serpent. Bria channeled [Flame] but it was a tickle in comparison. Instead, she took off the moment her spell finished, aiming for the monster’s eye. Her sword was still stuck in the shut orbital, but she was determined to get it back.
The handle was barely protruding from the eyelid, but she took a firm hold on it and with all the strength she could muster. With a wild cry, Bria ripped it free. A torrent of blood and fluid followed as Bria ducked under the thrashing monster only to get soaked in viscera.
The temptation to cast [Cleanse] was strong, but Bria was looking at a rapidly dwindling mana pool. She could deal with the grossness if it meant being able to heal someone from near death. Like Kro-ahnk who had just gotten flattened by the Basilisk. Bria ran to his side while the others pelted the monster with spells, then hit him with [Heal]. The man stood from the puddle of his own blood, bones cracked back into place, and he grinned.
“You are so going in the skillet for that one!”
Laughing, Bria followed right behind the man. Her friends were all crazy, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. Because she fit right in with them. Who else would willfully fight a monster that towered over a village? Not anyone else she knew, that’s for sure.
Kro-ahnk slapped aside the beast’s tail while Gil smacked it in the face with a mace. Neth continued to aim spells at the damaged scales all while Bria danced around it, waiting for her chance. When the monster snapped at her, she took the risk. Bria jumped, and landed inside the monster’s mouth. Fangs bit into her [Bulwark] immediately, shattering the skill. There was a brief moment of repulsion from the effect, and she used it to angle her sword up.
She pierced the roof, and a venom sac, but hit bone instead of brain. Panic flashed through her as the fangs came back down and stabbed into her. Immediately her blood caught on fire, spreading with each beat of her heart. Frantically, she cast [Cleanse], purging it before it reached her heart, but more venom entered the wound.
Frantic stabs and thrusts upward followed as she cast another [Cleanse] to keep the poison from spreading far enough to hit her vital organs. A [Heal] followed, keeping her health from reaching zero. Hitting zero might not be instant death, but in her current situation, it may as well have been.
Despite the seeming futility of it, she continued to stab into the mouth of the beast, searching for something vulnerable even as sharp fangs attempted to guide her deeper into the monster’s maw. Screaming outside told her the battle hadn’t slowed from her own actions, or the vertigo caused by the beast’s head whipping about.
Near the back of the mouth, Bria was being angled for swallowing when she finally hit something soft that wasn’t full of venom. Her blade slid in, and cut deep, spraying blood at high pressure. Worse, some of it got into her mouth. Another [Cleanse] was necessitated even as she focused her attention on widening the spray and making sure the monster bled as much as possible from the wound.
The direction of the muscles shifted, the Basilisk’s jaw opening wide as Bria found herself forcefully expelled from the beast’s mouth. She hit the ground hard, only for the pain to abate almost instantly. Neth-amii was beside her a beat later, casting [Cleanse] and [Mend]. It brought to mind the question of how much mana Neth could draw upon.
The [Cleanse] hit hard, clearing the fog from her mind. Her attention shifted back to the Basilisk as it writhed, spitting blood everywhere. The wound on its side was also pouring blood, and the beast slowed, its undulations falling slack. Its remaining eye stared directly at Bria and she found herself glad this wasn’t the sort that could turn people to stone.
Your group has defeated a [Basilisk] 2,258 EXP Granted!
Bria Ortega has leveled up!
Hit Points: 73+10=83
Mana: 66+8=74
Strength: 67+11=78
Defense: 58+9=67
Agility: 57+7=64
Magic Might: 60+12=72
Magic Defense: 61+8=69
[Sharpness] Learned!
Panting, Bria glared at the fallen beast. They’d done it, brought down the Basilisk. She even got a level for her actions, bringing her within spitting distance of that mythical Class that seemed to make everyone more dangerous. She hugged Neth-amii, squealing as they spun around. Neth was now level sixteen, which was exciting. Looking off to the side where Krow and Gil stood, she could see that both of them had leveled as well. They shared some odd hand slap thing between them, then Krow was moving towards the monster’s corpse with a knife in hand.
“We did it,” Bria said, grinning.
“Foolish!” Neth-amii declared, smacking Bria before pulling her into an even tighter hug. “Do not ever do something so reckless again!”
Hesitantly, Bria returned the hug. “No promises, not if you’re in danger.”
She pointedly ignored how her friend sniffled at that.
The village was a wreck, but should be repairable outside of the central square. She felt bad for the tavern that had fed them. It was a total loss. She could only imagine how long it would take to rebuild what was destroyed, and didn’t even want to consider the lives lost because of her. Yet, as she surveyed the damages, something stood out.
Or rather, someone.
In the distance, a hooded figure stood; watching.
It was the same masked man they had encountered in the dungeon and later fought alongside Ri-durak. Had he been the one to lure the serpent after them? Why bother when it would be easier to just strike at them on his own? Or bring a contingent of guards? Those questions and more swirled around Bria’s head as the figure mimed tipping their hat, then vanished into motes of purple light.