The forest was a cacophony of screams as countless battles raged all around them, Eik’s team only one of many in the chaos.
Eik had already felt his wooden plaque vibrate inside his shirt, but there had been no time to take it out to check. The going through the forest was slow and there was little coherence in the ad...
2024-10-03 16:00:16 +0000 UTC View Post“Yeah, I’ve got a problem with you!” the bowl cut yelled, getting into Eik’s face just as he was getting to his feet. “You’re a damn traitor, is my problem with you!”
Eik narrowed his eyes in confusion, the accusation taking him completely by surprise. “I’m a traitor? Since when?”
“Since you ...
2024-10-02 16:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostHis world was blue.
Around him a vortex of terrifying proportions spun relentlessly, feeding into itself to grow stronger with every revolution. As it grew, so did the pressure bearing down on him intensify, weighing down on him more and more, flattening his organs and stretching his skin taut over his bones.
Just...
2024-09-30 16:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostIt was quiet.
It was dark.
Was this what death felt like? Had Sonja’s freaking new age mindfulness bull crap actually killed him? He’d be mad if it had.
As he slowly began to get a sense of his body, he tried to find his way in the darkness, but the moment he put out his hands to search for something to ...
2024-09-29 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostIn the box lay a legitimate work of art. It was a knife that looked equally beautiful and deadly.
The cheek of the blade was a darkened, matte metal with a silvery and highly polished edge setting a stark contrast between the two. From the choil near the guard to the tip, deep ridges ran parallel to the frighteningly sh...
2024-09-28 16:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostEik opened his eyes to a tiny, hairy paw jammed into his open mouth. Grumbling, he spit it out, jolting his cat awake. Mis looked at him accusatorially through cracked eyelids. The covers tempted him to stay for five more minutes but he had an appointment today.
Drowsy and wearing only his pajama pants he ...
2024-09-27 09:54:49 +0000 UTC View PostFragments of wood rocketed across the room, bouncing off the opposite wall. A few of the sharper pieces even buried themselves in the wall, more than half of their lengths disappearing into the white, veneer-like surface.
“What the fu—”
“You murdered my son! Left him to be…”—She heaved a sob, her fac...
2024-09-25 19:27:19 +0000 UTC View Post“What did you just say?” Eik whispered, his brain unable to consolidate the urgent tone with the words.
“I think I’ve hit E-rank,” Heath repeated with a face split in two by the widest of grins.
“You scared the living crap out of us!” Sonja admonished, with uncharacteristic fierceness.<...
2024-09-25 19:22:19 +0000 UTC View PostEik attempted to dig his heels into the cobbled street to break his momentum, but the lightning-quick backhand tore into his shoulder nonetheless, hurling him back through the garden fence of the house he had looped around.
He gasped for air as the battle continued to unfold on the street. Lying on his back, he raised h...
2024-09-25 19:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostFor a moment, everything stood still as he sailed through the air. And in that moment, he became sure he wouldn’t make it, but the effect of Movement Boost pushed him further, until his fingers closed around the cold chain links. With the strength of a mere F-ranker, he was unable to keep a proper grip on the metal as he sl...
2024-09-25 18:58:03 +0000 UTC View PostOne good thing about descending into the black nothingness of an underground temple in a world they knew nothing about, was that the stone steps at least didn’t creak like the wooden floor on the surface. Furthermore, with each step downward the temperature fell, making the humidity more tolerable.
By the time the lig...
2024-09-25 18:50:52 +0000 UTC View PostThey set off after the missing team immediately—the bright, otherworldly moonlight providing the visibility necessary to navigate the forest—while following the marks left on the tree trunks by the children.
For a couple of hours absolutely nothing happened as they continued their march through the forest. Ev...
2024-09-18 18:27:47 +0000 UTC View PostThe first thing Eik saw as he crashed through the forest underbrush was Heath, on all fours, heaving up what remained of the dirt duck hot pocket. The second was Michael doing the same. Sonja had made it a few meters further to support herself against the trunk of a mossy tree but her condition was no better. All three...
2024-09-18 18:23:08 +0000 UTC View Post“Not just one! We’ve got at least three of them coming up!” Heath shouted as he took a frontal stance, ready to finish the first one before the other two made it to them.
“Quadrupeds! Slim builds! Very fast!” Sonja added to Heath’s warnings as she drew her bow.
The first one barreled into Heath...
2024-09-18 18:20:26 +0000 UTC View Post“What do you think it says?” Michael asked as Sonja handed him the note.
“I think I can make a guess,” Eik said with concern, looking around the mossy clearing. “Look,” he added and traced a path along the ground with a finger.
Scattered bloodstains ran roughly from the initial direction the All...
2024-09-18 18:14:44 +0000 UTC View PostWhen they managed to wrestle off the excited kids wanting to know what he had done to his sparring opponent, Mikla, the black haired man who could open fractures at will, took Eik to a room with a nice, springy bed, a sofa, tables, windows, a bathroom, and other amenities that made the whole place resemble a luxury apa...
2024-09-18 18:12:15 +0000 UTC View PostEik stared openmouthed at Atla, whose smile never faltered.
“You-You want me to what, sorry?” he stammered.
“I’m saying I want you to fight that kid over there. I want to know what the new guy is capable of, and it’ll benefit the kid’s growth as well. Win win, I’d say.”
Eik looked arou...
2024-09-18 18:09:59 +0000 UTC View PostEik prepared to land on his feet, but the moment he entered the fracture, everything changed. What had been up became down. Left became right. Front became back. His brain could not make sense of what was going on. This was not something that should happen to a human.
But before he could even begin to comprehend ...
2024-09-18 18:07:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Eik stared open-mouthed at the regal woman as she spun in place, her robe billowing around her like the blossom of a colorful bell flower. Her smile was wide and completely unconcerned with the hostility of the onlookers. Her mannerisms reminded Eik more of a stage performer than the spearhead of an inter-dimensi...
2024-09-18 18:05:28 +0000 UTC View PostEik eyed Bart silently, the man squaring up like a temperamental third-grader. Everybody was staring, sensing the tension between the two men.
“What… is going on here, exactly?” Sonja asked with furrowed brows.
“It’s, uuh… It’s nothing, really—” Eik began, holding up his hands.
“Th...
2024-09-18 18:03:29 +0000 UTC View Post“Can you use the protection thing on me again?” Eik asked Michael.
The healer shook his head. “Not for another two minutes… But I think the cooldown gets shorter as the skill levels up and evolves.”
“Alright, I’ll do without it.”
“I’m gonna go check up on Heath and Sonja,” the he...
2024-09-18 18:01:32 +0000 UTC View PostA part of Eik was excited to see all the different plants growing in the new stretch of woods. New species bloomed all around, as if they’d been there for years. As they continued through, leafy canopies overhead, it began to sink in just how much their world had changed, and that the implications might be severe. 2024-09-18 17:49:20 +0000 UTC View Post
Eik, Heath, Sonja, and Michael circled the small plaza cautiously. They had not encountered any more monster since the two many-eyes bastards, and that was putting them on edge. With all the action tonight, it felt almost wrong for there to be nothing dangerous roaming the streets. Was it truly over?
“Why are t...
2024-09-18 17:35:19 +0000 UTC View PostEik was in pain.
Even with the short rest, topped with both healing magic and healing spheres, he still felt absolutely horrible. If there weren’t still monsters roaming Forest, he’d have loved to be asleep by now.
One of the Awakened at Mission Central was kind enough to set his arm and provide a sling for su...
2024-09-18 17:32:46 +0000 UTC View PostThe fiend must have known it was magnitudes more powerful than Eik and Michael, otherwise it wouldn’t have taken its sweet time like this. It would have rushed in and taken their heads in the blink of an eye. Instead, it was approaching them with curiosity, long, spindly fingers probing the air toward their faces. It contin...
2024-09-18 17:29:34 +0000 UTC View PostThe soaring monster clipped his shoulder painfully as he ducked and dove, rolling and falling, the ground coming up to meet him with a meaty thud. Despite having the air forced from his lungs, Eik got to his feet and ran. If the dumb bastard had leapt for him at full power, it might well have cleared the roof entirely, allowi...
2024-09-18 17:27:27 +0000 UTC View PostEik left the library feeling hopeful. After finalizing his choice of [Profound Toxin], a seemingly unique ability, the script had faded and displayed a new message.
[Acquired Resistance: Toxin lv. 24]
Against any of the toxic monsters that had appeared in the past nin...
2024-09-18 17:26:06 +0000 UTC View PostEik stared down at the sheet of paper in Harry’s hand, brow furrowed, rereading the scribbles over and over.
“What does it mean?”
“We’re not really sure what it means.”
“What’s this ‘Unified Mass’, then?”
“Don’t know that either,” Harry sighed with a shrug of his shou...
2024-09-18 16:58:00 +0000 UTC View Post[Inherent proficiency considered—Acquired Resistance: Toxin — Lv. 14]
Relief was immediate, the skill kicking in as soon as the letters appeared on his arm. The sting as they etched themselves into his skin was minor, relative to everything else. The feeling of resisting the...
2024-09-18 16:57:21 +0000 UTC View PostHow deep was this hole going to be?
It felt like hours, although it couldn’t have been more than seconds. The earth was crumbling slower than his own descent, providing a soft, albeit debris-filled cushion that carried him downwards without the risk of a fatal fall. Something was rapidly swallowing the material under ...
2024-09-18 16:02:33 +0000 UTC View Post
