A/N: We're near the end of the Necromancer arc. Wish our many brave OC's luck, and swift travels to Beatrix.
Mark's character stats (Start of Chapter 6)
Character class: Wizard Knight
Level: 5, 40xp until next level up.
HP: 78 / 108
MP: 40 / 315
Strength: 25
Speed: 18
Spirit: 27
Magic: 44
Weapon: Bronze sabre
Armour: Traveller's cloak
Footwear: Leather shoes
Accessory: Isekai ring
Skills: None
Magic: Poison, Regen
Trance: Balmung strike
Items: 2 potion, 1 phoenix down, Antidote, Goblin Dagger, 13 Goblin Steak
Gil: 180
A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?
CHAPTER SIX
Level 5 Trance vs. Level 50 Hobgoblin
"Cast: Demi!" thundered the guttural voice of the Necromancer across the battlefield, and a massive orb of darkness swirled above the keep.
A spell that did 25% damage to all targets no matter how high your level or HP.
A high level spell, but not one that could kill them.
And yet the Hobgoblin cast it in favour of reviving its dead.
As they all tried to find some shelter, and thought occurred to Mark. Why this attack? Then the possibility occurred, if it weakened us by a quarter, what could do the walls? While game mechanics existed, the rules of magic and combat were much more logical, what kind of magic only works on people or monsters? Four walls, a quarter, one wall...
"No, it can't be!" If a wall was destroyed, they wouldn't last long enough for Beatrix to arrive. He had unlocked his first trance mode on the verge of death, even now he could feel it demanding to be used. But he had only enough MP for a single use, and while it could probably one hit the Necromancer's forces, it was doubtful it would do much against the level 50 caster. But if he timed and angled it right, he could probably catch it in the attack as well.
Trance Skill List:
Balmung Strike
Cost: 30MP
Effect: A circular slashing attack using the caster as the epicentre that draws forth Balmung for an instant, hitting all enemies in reach . Max range, 500 meters.
The Demi smashed down upon them, an agonising pain ran through their bodies and they were all thrown to the ground. One wall disintegrated, leaving the still moving Goblins, a means of attack. As we all struggled to our feet, the Goblins flooded in, many of us died without getting a chance to counter attack, or even stand.
Picking up our weapons, Alexandrian soldiers, villagers, and world traveller alike, fought back. It wasn't like last time, the fight was on their terms. Still with manic effort we beat them back over the course of an hour, forcing them past the wall, or where the wall had once been. It wasn't much, but it stopped us from being flanked.
Now the Hobgoblin revived his Goblins without waiting for them all to die, denying us time to barricade the massive gap in our defences. For a monster it was smart. If Mark wanted to use his Trance, he couldn't afford to use anymore magic. As he tired from the continuous fighting, Mark had no choice but to quickly down one of his precious potions, only one potion left.
The fight dragged on and on, many martial art skills returned to him, while his level didn't increase, he was becoming stronger and stronger by being more efficient, calling forth movements and techniques from his real life. When he threw a Goblin using its momentum, he received his knowledge of Aikido, then he understood. If his movements or actions matched a skill, it was triggered and returned to him, and so, even as his life was on the line, he recklessly experimented.
Acquired: Karate gouging techniques
Acquired: Full standing forward rolls
Acquired: Aikido throws
Acquired: Aikido Grabbling and locks
Acquired: Four directional evasion
Acquired: Dance steps applied for dodging
Acquired: Jojutsu
Acquired: Wadou-ryuu
Acquired: Self learned mixed martial arts
Acquired: Boxing
Acquired: Kinetic connectivity
There was still much more, but the goblins could no longer land a blow on him despite his low level, he danced around them, killing and killing and killing, helping others, killing and killing and killing.
The Hobgoblin began to cast his revival spell.
Mark downed his last potion.
Everyone was exhausted.
They couldn't handle another round of Goblin attacks.
It was time to use the Trance.
He rushed through the massive gap in their defence, swiftly running past the corpses, even as they began to quiver as life returned to them. He had covered half the distance between the keep and the Necromancer. It was time to use his trance. With 500 meter range in every direction, he could hit all of them.
He would almost certainly die afterward.
It had been hours, Beatrix had to be close, she had to be!
Still adrenaline kept him surging onwards. He had reckless in real life, why not in this fantasy nonsense? The weak had to take chances to survive in the world of the strong.
His power began spill forth, the trance's multicolour aura billowing around him. Though Mark couldn't see it at the time, his hair darkened and lengthened, flowing unnaturally. Otherwise his form didn't change, his bronze sword was engulfed in black fluid, which took the shape of Balmung, a curved one handed sword that was wider at the middle.
All the Goblins had revived.
The Hobgoblin looked confused by his presence, it raised a hand, charging another Demi.
"Trance: Balmung Strike!" Mark yelled, swinging Balmung in a swift arc. There was a flicker of blackness and all the Goblins were cut in two, their upper bodies lifting up and scattering across the battlefield. When the lengthened blade reached the Necromancer, the powerful Hobgoblin guarded against the Balmung, but was sent skidding back dozens of feet, a deep gash that reached the bone appeared on the Hobgoblin's arm. Blood gushed, it stumbled, arm hanging limply.
"YOU LOWLY HUMAN!" it thundered in a terrible rage. It didn't bother with a spell, this required physical satisfaction. The human's eyes were unfocused, it must be low on MP. The Necromancer covered the distance in an instant, and drove its fist into Mark's chest, he vomited blood as his ribcage cracked.
HP: 4 / 108
MP: 10 / 310
It grabbed his dropped sword and swung for Mark's head, only to miss, as the human had already collapsed in a pile of his own blood.
"Cura!" yelled a woman's voice and Mark's body was engulfed in a healing green light.
HP: 108 / 108
MP: 10 / 310
Help had arrived. His reckless attempt had brought seconds, but they were here, and he still lived.
Snarling, the Hobgoblin attacked again at the unconscious Mark, but a silver sword blocked his attack, the legendary blade 'Save the Queen.' The Hobgoblin was repelled, it quickly cast its revival spell, hoping to surround this high level enemy, but they were attacked from behind by high level Alexandrian soldiers and were unable to aid their Necromancer master.
A few made it past, but Beatrix casually beheaded them as she approached the Hobgoblin.
"To think a mere level 50 could cause this much trouble," she remarked, charging powerful offensive magic into her sword.
The Hobgoblin felt a chill of absolute fear, sensing the level difference between them. The difference between was far more vast than the strength difference between itself and the unconscious world traveller on the grass.
"Flare!" it growled generating a mass of non-elemental energy, it blasted it towards Beatrix, who took a low drawing stance as it approached.
"Climhazzard!" a tremendous arc of energy erupted from her blade, it sliced through the Flare spell, causing it to detonate early, the mass of heat, light and energy blinded the Necromancer and it wasn't able to react in time as the slicing energy continued onward, cutting the level 50 Hobgoblin from head to groin, it split apart in a fountain of blood.
The undead Goblins that were still alive then collapsed in a pile of liquefying flesh and crumbling bone, the magic that kept them bound to this world fading away.
Cheers were heard from the keep, the survivors deeply relieved that it was finally over. Just under half of them had survived, but it was better than a total massacre. They had fought long and hard against a seemingly never-ending threat. Without killing the Necromancer, they had no way to win. But their desperate efforts had lasted until one who could, their renowned General Beatrix had been able to reach the battlefield.
Mark remained unconscious, though his wounds had been completely healed by the mid tier spell, but that didn't magically wake him up, his low MP put a big strain on his mind, combined with using Trance for the first time, he would likely be out for days.
Shared EXP gained...
EXP gained: 5820 points
LEVEL UP!
LEVEL UP!
LEVEL UP!
LEVEL UP!
LEVEL UP!
"163 points until next level up."
Soaked in his own blood, Beatrix regarded him for a moment, before effortlessly slinging him over her shoulder, despite being close to three times her size. She left his sword where it lay, it was broken to pieces by her attack, not surprising, really. It was a cheap, low quality weapon.
"Keep playing at hero, huh?" she said to him as she headed over to rejoin her forces, who were hurrying to the keep where they were aiding the injured. "Well, stupid as that was, thanks for helping out." She sighed in defeat, perhaps her sister was right, perhaps he wasn't a rogue after all.
Meanwhile, unknown to Beatrix, a red mist rose from the corpse of the Necromancer Hobgoblin, it shot into the air, and disappeared from site.
From a long distance away, watching atop their mini two person airship, Thorn and Zorn had watched the entire battle. They hadn't expected the Necromancer to fail, the berserker aspect magic they had granted the random Goblin they'd found couldn't stand up against a level 99 holy knight true. Still that wasn't the issue, nobody should have been able to escape, nobody should have lived long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
"That traveller helped too much, he did," remarked Thorn.
"Indeed, he helped too much," Zorn agreed with a deep frown. "Weak he is, but smart, delay, delay, delay, the queen's soldiers do not fight like that. Ruined things he did."
"Powerful trance he had, dangerous this one is," declared Thorn. "Kill him, we should?"
"Not tell Queen Brahne about this, Master Kuja not be pleased we fail because of weak traveller," Zorn disagreed. This experiment was done without their majesty's permission. Their true master had ordered this, but they should not chance the Queen's ire for using her own subjects.
"Ah!" realised Thorn. "Blame on horrible General, we should."
"Agreed, horrible General, we should blame," Zorn mirrored.
"But still, we should watch this one, Master is interested in Trance users." Thorn said.
"If Trance user interferes again, kill him we should," Zorn suggested.
"Yes," Thorn held up the binoculars, travellers garb, dark hair, and a beard, but the distance was too great to see his features clearly. "Can't see his face."
"Troublesome, that is," sighed Zorn. "Keep eyes peeled, we should."
A red wisp of mist floated towards them. Zorn held out his hand and it condensed into a tiny red orb. When eaten it caused a manic state, driving them to kill and get stronger. A level 50 Goblin was an abnormality, with this they levelled up many times faster.
"Failed experiment, this is."
"Give to Black Waltz, we should."
"Perhaps."
Three days passed, Mark slept as his MP and stamina slowly recovered. He had been transported back to the city, as had all the survivors. The keep would be rebuilt stronger than ever once the troops were recalled to act as guards while the craftsmen did their work. Little though it might have been, he had made a difference.
Hironobu stood over his bed. "I'm impressed," he said quietly. "Perhaps beneath the mask of an arrogant creator and artist, there is the possibility of a hero." He turned to leave, his body fading away like mist. "I'll be counting on you to correct my mistake." He vanished.
Mark wasn't the first author he had sent to this world as punishment.
CHAPTER END
Next chapter: Joining the Pluto Knights after rough sex
Mark's character stats (End of Chapter 6)
Character class: Wizard Knight
Level: 10, 163xp until next level up.
HP: 523 / 523
MP: 630 / 630
Strength: 28
Speed: 20
Spirit: 35
Magic: 49
Weapon: Goblin Dagger
Armour: Traveller's cloak
Footwear: Leather shoes
Accessory: Isekai ring
Skills: None
Magic: Poison, Regen
Trance: Balmung strike
Items: 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak
Gil: 180
Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The Necromancer arc is finally over, time for Steiner to return to the plot, and of course introducing Princess Garnet.
That has nothing to do with the next chapter's title, get your minds out the gutters!
I'm almost old enough to be her father.
Hah! I remember playing the game when I was 11 years old. Time goes so fast.
As for what's hinted in the next chapter title, it's an army full of physically fit women, of course I'm going to give it a go. In real life, I like my women strong, and that will carry over to my OC / SI.
Also before any of you guys complain about the times five level up, he did get shared EXP from a level 50 character. Only he and Beatrix dealt the creature damage, and as we know it gets divided equally no matter how meagre an amount one character contributed to the kill. And had undead provided EXP, Mark and the rest would have probably levelled up 10 times plus each. Think how much we as gamers can level our parties with 2 - 3 hours of grinding.
That said, he's barely as strong as the weakest grunts of the Pluto Knights, he just moves better and has more combat options. Most Alexandrian soldiers are in the 15 - 20 bracket, so he's still a weak character.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you want to learn more about my Dingir character that this is loosely based on, check out on Amazon my book Grey Faction: Mistaken Apostles, available worldwide. :)
