[14] - Re: Surgence
"Cross Impact!"
Scales and blood flew into the air as her daggers carved into the back of the Elemental Dragon, waves of wind blasting out from the impact. The poor thing let out one last growl before it fell onto the earth, dissolving and leaving behind nothing but shards of white light.
[Gained 22000 Exp, 15000 Credits, and x1 Dragon Claw]
[Level up!]
IF sighed. That was the fourth Elemental Dragon she'd slain since she began camping out in Gapain Field, and she was already bored. The thing was predictable as all hell, and a good Cross Impact to the head would blind it and turn it into a giant panicking chicken. All she'd need to do then is hop onto its back and slam Cross Impacts onto its back until it falls over.
An easy job, made even easier with every level up she experienced. It was...rather sad actually. The next Boss Monsters above this one was the Flame Fenrir, and that flaming wolf was far stronger in comparison.
Then again, the Flame Fenrir wasn't as large as the dragon, so the comparison falls apart after that.
Well, at least the Elemental Dragon gave her a good sum of Exp every time it came, so that was nice. Her level had risen three times already, and she'd only killed four of its kind.
...That sounded horribly morbid. Let's not continue.
It'd been a couple days since she began her little camping trip, and three days since she arrived back in Leanbox. She'd spent the first day being dragged around by Vert, going from store to store as the woman browsed through games she'd missed and such. IF didn't quite have the heart to say that she wanted to do something else.
She did manage to tell her plans over dinner. Vert and Chika were understandable concerned at first, but she convinced them at the end. She did promise to call them back once every day, but that wasn't too bad.
And so here she was, running around Gapain Field, slaying monsters as they cropped up and slamming giant Dragons into the dirt when they came. The two hidden Boss Monsters were obviously not included on that list.
Still, her level was rising at a steady pace, and it wouldn't be long before she'd reach level 20. Not quite enough to unlock more skill slots, but it'd increase the stat boosts she'd receive with every level up.
It'd take a while, but that was fine.
[ Green Noah* ]
5988/10000 HP healed using this skill
[ Dagger Mastery** ]
266/500 Monsters slain until Rank Up
4/10 Boss Monsters slain until Rank Up
She had tasks to do after all.
...
"Spectral Flash!"
A wide arc of lightning shot out from her dagger, and the tens of monsters rushing towards her were immediately burnt away. Notifications flooded through her vision, and IF smirked as she saw one particular one flash through her eyes.
[ Dagger Mastery** ]
500/500 Monsters slain until Rank Up
She wasn't quite sure what'd happened, but a giant wave of monsters had suddenly appeared. Most would probably be terrified by such a sight, but IF hardly was. She had a certain AOE skill and it'd been waiting for a good opportunity to be used.
The stampede swiftly petered out as her Spectral Flash came, swiping through the army and burning the monsters to a crisp.
She wasn't all that surprised though. There was a reason the guild warned people from killing too many monsters in a single area. The abundance of magic left behind from all the slain monsters would create an eruption in monster spawns, creating a giant Stampede.
Which was exactly what she'd been waiting for actually. It was a nightmare scenario for others, but for her and her Spectral Flash, it was essentially a giant Exp candy for her to take.
There was something odd though. There were no Elemental Dragons in the Stampede she'd faced, which was definitely strange. Stampedes were dangerous precisely because of the numerous Boss Monsters they had, but the one she'd taken one had none.
It probably meant that the Elemental Dragons had stayed back. It also probably meant that those dragons had reserved another army of monsters, and that the Stampede she'd just faced was simply a scouting party.
She frowned. That wasn't good. Not in the slightest. If that giant group had just been a scouting party, then how large was the actual Stampede?
She still had two thirds of her SP remaining, but would that be enough? An Elemental Dragon usually took a third of her SP. If she drank two SP Chargers, she'd be able to slay three dragons. It'd leave her with no SP for the normal monsters however.
She bit her lip. That was assuming if there were only there Elemental Dragons, of course. What if there were more?
...
She was the one who caused this Stampede. She needed to fix this.
Taking out Soul Blazer, she hopped on and drove forward, keeping an ear out for where the monsters were. The plains were empty now, and she couldn't help but frown at how eerie the entire place looked now.
She did eventually find them, grouped together at the far edge of the dungeon. She looked at them and winced. Discounting the Elemental Dragons, the Stampede of monsters were definitely larger than the one she'd just faced.
There were only three Elemental Dragons thankfully, so her apocalyptic ideas could be put to rest. The problem remained however. After she dealt with the dragons, she still had hundreds of normal monsters she'd need to take down without SP. She definitely could, but would her stamina last until it ended?
Drinking down an SP Charger, she got back on her Soul Blazer and rushed forward. The entire group turned their heads towards her, and IF grinned. Time to do this.
She stood atop her seat and leapt up. The dragon she was heading towards flinched back in surprise, and her daggers lit up as she poured her SP into them. Its eyes went wide, and she smirked.
"Cross Impact!"
The dragon howled as its face was essentially blown apart, blinding it and showering the monsters below with scales and gore. Landing on its destroyed head, she leapt to the side and slammed a Cross Impact onto another dragon's head. Its face similarly exploded fantastically, and she landed on its neck and turned to the last dragon.
It whimpered. Her smirk grew. She leapt towards it, and-
"Cross Impact!"
It howled in pain as her daggers struck true, carving out its face and sending scales and blood down onto the grass. IF slid onto its back and glanced at the monsters surrounding her. Their gazes were uncertain now, terrified. Good. The less confidence these monsters have, the easier they'd be to kill.
...She sounded like a villain there. Doesn't make it any less true however.
Turning around, she began slamming Cross Impacts onto its back, carving deeper and deeper until her blades reached its heart. The dragon tried shaking her off, but her footing remained firm. Drinking another SP Charger, she sent one last Cross Impact, carving its heart into three and killing it.
Before it could fall, she leapt onto the second dragon and began her attacks anew, sending Cross Impacts onto its back until she reached its heart. She sliced the organ apart and jumped onto the back of the last remaining dragon. It didn't even attempt to throw her off its back. Strange, but she wouldn't question it.
Her daggers lit up, and she swung. Her Cross Impacts came one after another, and the Elemental Dragon could only whimper as her daggers dug deeper and deeper. Eventually, the heart was visible. It was beating slowly, weakly, and she stared at it for a couple moments before she sliced the thing apart with one more Cross Impact.
Its shaking stopped, and the dragon fell onto the earth, body breaking into motes of light.
[Gained 66000 Exp and 45000 Credits]
[Level up!]
[[ Dagger Mastery** ] — [ Dagger Mastery *** ]]
IF blinked. The level up was nice, and the Rank Up was even better, but where were her Dragon Claws? Shouldn't she have received three-
She shook her head. Now was now the time to ponder that.
She casually glanced at all the monsters around her. They didn't move. They dared not to. She'd slain their leaders without any effort, so what chance did they have?
It was a lie of course. She was tired. Her daggers felt heavy, her SP was drained too quickly, and the SP Chargers she drank did not help in the slightest. Still, she kept herself steady, twirling her daggers as she took a step forward. The monsters took a step back.
The monsters were scared of her. They were terrified of her. How insulting.
She took a step forward, and leapt. The Cardbird she'd suddenly sped towards was suddenly sliced in two, and the Sunflowery next to it shivered in fright. The sentient flower was beheaded a moment later.
And so the Stampede fell into chaos as the monsters split apart. Some rushed towards her, some frantically ran away, and some were rooted in place with fright. None of them lasted any longer against her daggers.
...
The girl was a whirlwind of death. Her daggers moved with no mercy, cleaving through monsters with no resistance. It was almost as if she dancing, the monsters nothing but props to bolster her solo performance.
How beautiful.
Her hair seemed to glow under the sunlight, and her figure ethereal as shards of light surrounded her. The girl looked like a mirage, an illusion that'd break if she interrupted it for even a second. A lone performance forever destined to remain alone.
Something about it saddened Linda.
She'd come after Magic had told her of a Stampede. It was perfect, she'd said. They could corrupt the monsters and send them towards Leanbox. It'd be the perfect distraction. It'd be the perfect spark.
Linda was hesitant, but what could she do? She and Magic went way back, but the woman seemed so different now, alien. It was as if that mentor she once had no longer inhabited that body. The curt but warm conversations they shared had faded away, replaced by the coldness between co-workers.
So she went, following where the sounds of battle were coming from. But she found not a terrifying group of monsters, but of a scattered group, with each monster spreading chaotically as the girl tore them apart.
The girl felt familiar. The sight of her filled her with both warm familiarity and indignation. It was almost as if she was a rival she once had.
Linda wanted to confront her, to find out who that girl was, but she couldn't move. She couldn't disturb the girl's performance.
So she watched, awed and terrified at the display, and when the last monster finally fell to the girl's dagger, Linda swiftly left. A seed had been planted in her heart, and Linda hoped she could see the girl perform once more.
...
In. Out. In. Out.
IF stared at the ground, her hands on her knees. Her lungs were burning. Everything hurt. Her arms felt like they were about to fall off. Her legs felt numb. Her head was spinning. Her vision was blurry.
She felt terrible.
In. Out. In. Out.
She breathed. It felt like there was a fire in her chest, growing with every breath she took, but she forced herself. She couldn't stop. She couldn't fall asleep. Not yet.
She glanced at the mountain of notifications at the edge of her vision, and she dismissed them all. She couldn't read them, and she didn't want to. Reading the words hurt her. Trying to think hurt. It took her everything to just stand, and even more to continue breathing. Everything hurt.
In. Out. In. Out.
Right. She needed water. Her tongue tasted like ash.
But she couldn't. She couldn't bring her finger up to open her inventory. She couldn't even read what her status was saying. The words were floating about, their edges blurring and leaving behind colourful splodges.
She couldn't move.
wHY cOuLDn'T sHe dO aNYtHiNG?
...
In. Out. In. Out.
She blinked blearily, staring at the empty bottle in her hands. That was strange. When did she pull out this empty bottle? And why?
Idly, she traced a finger over her lips and found them wet. Why were her lips wet? Weren't they uncomfortably dry before? She looked down at the empty bottle again. It felt like the answer was there, but her mind was incapable of putting them together, the gears of her consciousness trapped and immobile.
In. Out. In. Out.
What was she doing? Where was she going? She didn't know. It felt as if the world was slowing down, the surrounding shifting from one second to another. Was she moving? She didn't know. Her legs felt numb. She couldn't feel anything below her waist.
Where was she going? She needed to stop. She needed to go back to her camp. She needed to-, she needed-, she-
...
In. Out. In. Out.
In. Out. In. Out.
In. Out. In. Out.
Oh. There was a...circle of stone? Inside she could see...black things? No-, no, that's...ash, wasn't it? And this thing she was standing before was a...campfire? Right. Campfire. It's a fire you build outdoors when you're...camping, right? That's why it's called that, wasn't it?
Why was she here again? She was trying to-, she was...she was trying to...she-...
What was...What was she trying to do again? Everything felt so distant all of a sudden. The stones-, campfire was still in front of her. What was she supposed to do with it? Was it something important? It was, right? She knew it was. Why was it important?
She needed to think, to remember, but she just couldn't. Everything felt so slow. Her heart felt like it was going to burst. She-, she was going to die. Her heart burned. It hurt. It hurt so much.
She needed-, she needed to-, she-, she-
She needed to-
In. Out. In. Out.
In. Out. In. Out.
In. Out. In. Out.
Her cheeks felt wet. She didn't know why. Why were her cheeks wet? Why did her eyes feel wet? No, no, no. She couldn't be wet. The-, the campfire would go out if it was wet, right? N-No, the campfire was already out. But wasn't she trying to light it?
Why was she trying to light-, no, no that wasn't it. She wasn't trying to-, she was supposed to go somewhere, somewhere close to this campfire. She just needed to-, she needed to go somewhere. Where did she need to go? She needed to remember. She needed to think.
She couldn't think. She couldn't. She just neEdED tO stOP-
In. Out. In. Out.
In. Out. In. Out.
Ah, everything was dark all of a sudden. Where was this? She was under some kind of...fabric? It was green. That was nice. Green was nice. She liked green. Something about green made her feel nice.
She looked around again. Everything was blurry, but she could see something...white? It was bloated, and soft, and her hands sunk into it when she pressed into it. Something about it felt familiar, the word waiting to be said. She pressed it again. It was soft. She liked soft things. Soft things were-
Pillow! It's a pillow! She remembered now! Pillows were nice. They were comfortable, and soft, and putting her head on it made her sleepy-
No, no. That was the point, right? Pillows were meant to-, to be slept on, right?
Suddenly, the world was sideways. IF blearily blinked, confused, but she felt so tired suddenly.
In. Out. In. Out.
Ah, she felt so sleepy...It's fine...if she...slept...ri...ght...?
