As the counter hits zero, Ben, Katagi, and I are all teleported somewhere with our parties. With a flash of light, we were all in the middle of a field I didn't recognize. We then heard a cracking sound, as the previously blue sky shattered, turning the sky wine red. It was surreal, as if I was watching the sky bleed. What looked to be vortexes opened up, with monsters pouring out of them. They appeared to be humanoid, but dead. Not like zombies, but more like ghouls. Before we had to worry about those though, another portal opened up. It looked like the vortexes from before, except it was perfectly circular, and around it was some kind of pixelated effect. Out from that portal, a humanoid figure wearing a lion mascot head floated out. At the very least, it looked human. It was a human body, covered in what looked like a skintight black fabric all over? Welp, this is my third lion now. Third time's the charm I guess. Before I could say a skill, I heard some voices.
"What's happening?"
"Who are they?"
"Hey guys!"
One of those voices was not like the other. There were six new people standing in the field with us, each holding a different weapon with a similar gem to ours embedded in them. The three people on my right were wielding a Spear, a Staff, and what looked like a Throwing Knife. The three people on my left were wielding a Gun, a Tonfa, and a Wand. The boy with the wand had asked what was happening, the girl with the throwing knife asked who we were, and the man with the spear cheerfully greeted us like nothing was wrong.
Before we could begin a conversation, the figure wearing the lion head spoke in a voice that reeked of insanity.
"Welcome one and all to my first episode of The Waves! Currently there are sixteen worlds participating, and for our first matchup I have the worlds of the Sword, Spear, and Gun linked together. I am your host Lionhead, and let's decide the game for today!"
So this figure went by Lionhead? Fitting. Lionhead was talking to a drone that had a camera on it. A giant roulette wheel appeared out of nowhere and began spinning. After about fifteen seconds, it landed on 'Colosseum'.
"There you have it folks! The first game will be a colosseum match, where each of the holy heroes and one of their vassals will work together against waves of monsters! All while trapped in a small arena!"
Ben and Katagi began floating up, along with the people wielding the Gun, Tonfa, Spear, and Throwing Knife. I tried to grab on to Katagi, but there was something around him that my hand slipped off of. That was weird, it didn't feel like I touched anything, and yet it was like my hand slipped before it would have grabbed Katagi. To be fair, every part of what was happening now was incredibly weird. Ben's party attempted to grab him to the same effect. The six of them kept floating up, until a floating island appeared under them. From there I couldn't see what was happening with them.
Lionhead then looked at the rest of us.
"Sorry folks, the challenge down here is for heroes only. How about you entertain yourself with the monsters the Wave is summoning?"
All of our party members' locations were then shifted far away from us, and a translucent blue barrier was set around me, the Staff guy, and the Wand boy.
"For those of you wondering what the three remaining heroes will be going up against, I have a word from our sponsor EarthBar!"
As he said that, another portal opened up, and out from it a strange mutated looking creature came out. It was as big as a bull, but reminded me of a trout. Its skin was a thin muddy brown, and its body was less long and more thick, with the eyes pushed further back on its body. The eyes were probably pushed back to make room for the incredibly wide circular mouth, filled with several layers of teeth. Each circle of teeth was rotating in opposite directions. This fish-like creature was floating in the air, before dipping down onto the ground, and eating the dirt! It began moving forward, with dirt disappearing into its body. In only a few seconds it had already consumed more dirt than I thought should be able to fit in its body, but it just kept going.
"EarthBar is a new innovative snack that will be life-changing for those that don't like to eat. Each bar contains the nutrient content of an entire planet! Just one bar will satiate you for a millennia!"
All the while this was happening, Lionhead was doing an ad read. What the hell is even going on.
"We need to stop it! Magic Missile!" The boy with the wand said. He looked slightly younger than me, was wearing glasses, and had a face still full of childlike curiosity, although right now it was filled with determination to fight. Three small projectiles came out of his wand, flying in different directions, curving to still strike the monster with a small burst of force. Upon being attacked, the monster turned and started accelerating towards the boy with the wand.
"The Devourer is the monster our sponsors have given us for today's game. The Devourer is capable of eating a whole planet! But our sponsor EarthBar was able to make a product able to satisfy it with only a single bar! Use the code you see on screen now to get a twenty percent discount on your first purchase. Now, let's check on how the other heroes are doing."
Lionhead instantly travelled upward, to where the colosseum was floating in the air. Seems like he's done with the ad read now, and that just confirmed we have to stop it. This creature wouldn't stop on its own until whatever planet this was is completely gone.
I dashed at the Devourer and jumped on its back.
"Venom Jab III! Flarefist III! Stardust Strike III!"
I struck the Devourer several times. It didn't react to the Venom Jab, but after I hit it with Flarefist and Stardust Strike it attempted to buck me off. I turned my fall into a roll, but by the time I was upright the Devourer was almost on me.
"Second Heat Ray IV" A red beam hit the Devourer, and it immediately shifted its focus to the man wielding the Staff.
"Quite a simple attack pattern" The main wielding the staff at first glance looked like he was in his early fifties, but that was due to his grey hair and impressive beard. Looking at him for a bit longer, he looked like he was in his late twenties, with an air of wisdom around him. I guess he was like King Hersch, but younger.
"It just goes towards the person who last attacked it?" The wand boy asks. Okay I cannot keep referring to them like that.
"I guess we can just take this time to talk then. If we just keep attacking it, shifting its agro then we won't have to think much about it." I said.
"Sounds good. It may do us good to get acquainted with one another." The Staff man says. Stop it, me! I thought I broke that habit.
"My name is Ash, and I'm the Gauntlet hero, how about you two?"
"My name is Arthur, and I am the Staff hero and prince of my world."
"My name is Robin, and I'm the Wand hero of my world. I was kind of a student before this..?"
"Arthur, I guess you and I have similar power up methods? Shot-put Cannon II!" The skill creates a cannonball for me to throw at the Devourer, putting its attention on me again.
"It appears we do. You enhance skills, and I enhance magic. Quite compatible…"
"Oh those power up methods would be amazing on me! Heat Ray!" Robin fires a spell completely identical to the one Arthur fired, except it was weaker due to not being enhanced.
"And what is your power up method? Second Ice Javelin III!"
"Well, I can copy any spell I see perfectly. It may not sound very good, but a quality of my wand is that Skills and Magic are interchangeable. For me Sp and Mp are the same stat."
"Zweite Wind Slash! So if you had access to both of our methods you could enhance anything twice as much as we could?"
"Is it a quality of your world that Mp and Sp are the same stat? Air Cannon!"
"Nope! I've checked with William and Eve. They have Sp and Mp as different stats. I don't know about the enhancement though. Terra blast!"
On that skill, the Devourer turned towards it, and ate the rock. It then kept flying towards Robin.
"Second Aqua Shell III!" Arthur fired a spell at it to put the Devourer's attention back on him, but the Devourer kept going towards Robin.
"Oh shoot! Zweite Windstep!" I buffed Robin's speed, to which Robin began to run away from the Devourer.
"Wear it down as much as you can. I'll charge something to finish it off." Arthur told me.
"We don't know if it has a weakness, and our attacks haven't been doing very much damage. Are you sure you can take it out?"
"I am. Just help keep Robin alive."
I ran towards the Devourer. After putting a speed buff on myself, I was able to easily catch up to it. I grabbed the fins on its back, and planted my feet, trying to slow it down. My feet were displacing the ground as the Devourer moved, but it did gradually slow down, and once it finally stopped it shifted its attention back to me. It floated up, lifting me off the ground, then quickly spun around to try to fling me off. I flew through the air and rolled on the ground. While I was getting up, I glanced at Arthur. He was wielding his Staff pointed directly up, with wind and voices swirling around him. I could see his mouth move, but I could swear I heard dozens of voices all saying different things.
"Fireball Swarm!"
Now that both of us are a fair distance away from the Devourer, Robin unleashes a powerful looking skill at it. The Devourer is struck by several exploding fireballs, and actually moves away from us, shrieking in pain.
"I'm about to strike it. Give it everything you got!" I hear Arthur shout.
"Air Cannon! Lightning Bolt! Freezeflare Bolt!"
"Stardust Strike III! Shotput Cannon II! Zweite Wind Cutter!"
Our barrage of attacks hit the Devourer. I didn't know exactly how much we were hurting it, but given its shrieks we were definitely hurting it. Freezeflare Bolt was a very interesting spell. It was like an ice bolt, but when it struck the Devourer it exploded in a burst of fire.
"Take cover! Judgement IX!"
Robin and I activated defensive skills, and moments after a gigantic beam of light fell from the sky. This beam struck the Devourer, producing a blinding explosion of force and light. In the aftermath, it almost looked like a meteor struck the ground in front of us, and in the bottom of the crater the Devourer's corpse lay, looking almost burnt to a crisp.
"You think there's enough left for all of us to unlock weapons?" Robin innocently asks me.
"I hope so."
Robin goes into the crater and pulls out a knife, cutting off parts of the Devourer for us. I realize just now that I never tried using a weapon that wasn't my Gauntlets.
The barrier around us disappeared. I'm glad it didn't stop that Judgement spell from coming in, but now we have to worry about ghouls. I can also reconvene with my party. Now that I think about it, I didn't see the other heroes have parties.
"Do you have any wide range spells to deal with the ghouls?" I ask.
"Unfortunately that spell drained me of all my Mp. I'll have to stick to skills or melee combat." Arthur turns his Staff into a pike. Robin rejoins us.
"Arthur, that judgement spell was so cool!" Robin fanboys over Arthur's Judgement spell. "But I can't copy it. Do you know why?"
"In my world, that spell would be choral magic. In other words, a spell that normally requires the cooperation of roughly a dozen mages. A quality of my staff is that I'm able to perform magic I'm not supposed to be able to."
So wait, their weapons have qualities that go hand in hand with their power up methods? A weapon quality is some other way a weapon gives a buff to its wielder? Then what's mine?!
"So I can't copy it because it's a spell I'm not capable of ever performing on my own? I suppose that makes sense…"
The three of us are torn from our conversation, as several powerful flashes of light and sound erupt from the wave of ghouls. There are so many that the ghouls that are running towards us look like a literal tidal wave. Looking over to where the light and sound is coming from, I see a giant pillar of earth sticking up, the pillar itself looks about twenty feet high, and ten feet in radius. At the top of it, my party and Ben's are fending off a neverending swarm of ghouls. Ben's party is doing a good job keeping everybody buffed and healed. With Elias and Elzabell performing wide range magic to lessen the wave climbing the pillar, Maria and Ben's party are able to keep the ghouls from swarming them at the top.
"We have to get to them!" I exclaim.
"Yes, we need to make sure they'll be okay." Robin adds.
All of us dash forward into the wave of ghouls. There's too many for us to smack them all, so we need to resort to wide range skills.
"Flarefist III! Stardust Strike III! Zweite Windcutter!"
"Air Strike Blast! Second Blast! Stardust Cannon! Whirlwind!"
"Magic Missile! Fireball Swarm! Lightning Discharge! Oh I can copy their spells now. Radiant Burst! Aquavolt Stream!"
I'm seeing now that my Gauntlets also have a lack of wide range skills. At least I still have Mp left. Wind magic seems to be good for wide range attacks. Robin's wand has so much versatility though. I don't even want to think about how many spells he potentially has copied. I leave clearing the path to those two while I incant a buff for us to get up the pillar.
"Zweite Windstep!" I apply this buff to Arthur, and Robin still has the buff I gave him. Now how will I get up the pillar? I don't have time to incant another one before we arrive.
"Windstep!" Robin applies my own buff spell to me and gives me a cheeky smile. If he wasn't so useful he might be annoying. I wonder if the people who's spells he copied feel the same way. All of us quickly dash up the pillar, and land on the top of it, firing a few more skills down to keep the ghouls away for a bit longer.
"How is everyone?" I ask. 'Could be better' is the general response.
"No time for pleasantries." Elzabell flatly responds. "See that big guy over there?" She points to a much larger ghoul. It looked less undead than the ghouls around it, I guess closer to a Frankenstein-like monster. It was about four times larger than the ghouls, which were about as large as an average person. It was also wielding a staff with a skull on the end.
"That guy keeps summoning more ghouls. The vortexes themselves aren't putting out too many ghouls, but with him here it's only a matter of time until we run out of Mp and get overrun. He's been staying out of our spell range, so we can't take him out from here."
"I understand. But now we've got three heroes working together! All of us can take that guy." I confidently say. "Plus, the ghouls aren't strong at all on their own. When we fight him, it shouldn't be hard to keep the ghouls away." The ghouls were actually really weak on their own. The only one I directly hit had its head explode with a single punch. It was really only their numbers making them dangerous, so once we take out the big guy this fight is as good as won.
"Since this may be our only free moment before the fight, here, Ash, Arthur." Robin gives us each a piece of the Devourer, and we all absorb it.
Devourer Gauntlets, Unlock Bonus: +5 ATK, +5 DEF, Poison Resist (Low), Cyclone Smash
Equip Bonus: Poison Resist (All), Earth Resist (Lar), Water Resist (Med), Wind Resist (Low), Cyclone Smash, Burrowing (passive)
These Gauntlets are amazing! Not only do they give me insane resistances, but it also gives me a skill, and a new passive? I suppose it will make me able to dig through the ground? Well, I know how we're starting our advance.
"Alright everyone, jump down after me."
"Wait! Don't be so reckless!" Maria calls out after me. I'm not really worried though. I am one hundred percent sure we can handle this. I leap off the pillar into the oncoming horde, and right before I land-
"Cyclone Smash IV!" My punch blasts apart the ghoul under me, and when my punch hits the ground a whirlwind bursts forth from me, throwing and slicing the ghouls, and even hitting further away ghouls with the corpses of their allies.
"Let's go!" I shout. Robin and Arthur jump down with me, and launch wide range skills of their own. The non-heroes hesitate a bit, but eventually jump down with us. All of us are making a path forward. Us heroes fire skills forward to clear a path, while the non-heroes are keeping the ghouls away from our sides, as well as applying buffs and healing when needed. We make steady progress towards the Ghoul Boss.
"How will we keep the ghouls away from us when we get to the boss?" Robin asks.
"Leave that to me." Elzabell responds. "When we make it to the boss I'll need to be protected for ten seconds. It's a big spell, so I need absolute focus for it."
"Got it. We'll make sure you're okay." One of Ben's party members responded. "Heroes, you can focus on the boss. Once Elzabell completes her spell we'll assist you however we can."
"Got it. Thanks guys" I give them a nod.
After a few more minutes of fighting our way forward, we made it to the boss.
"Cyclone Smash IV!" I swing my fist forward. When I don't strike the ground, the whirlwind flies out in front of me, as opposed to all around me. I used this skill to clear out the ghouls in front of me. Everybody was focused on keeping Elzabell safe for the time she needed, and we were having no problems with the ghouls around us. Unfortunately, the boss wasn't going to just let us do as we pleased. It roared at our approach, and brandished its skull staff. A wave of ghouls erupted from the ground. About two thirds of them came towards us, and the remaining third climbed up the boss, and crawled around the skull on its staff. Once a large number of ghouls crowded around the skull, they began to glow, and… crystalize? The ghouls coming towards us were easily repelled by Arthur, Robin, and I's skills.
"I am the source of god-like power. World, magic, hear my plea and grant it. Form a spell that will protect us from the invaders of this world. Drifa Water Sanctuary!" Elzabell finished incanting a very powerful sounding spell. I'll be honest, I don't understand anything about what was involved in the casting of it. I haven't even read about magic going beyond Zweite. It's clear that whatever this spell is, it's far beyond what I am capable of now.
A gigantic sphere of water formed around all of us. This sphere was so gigantic that despite the fact that the boss was huge, there was still a lot of room for us to manoeuver around it. The sphere of water was spinning so fast the outside of it was like a shredder. Any ghouls that tried to get in lost whatever body part they tried to enter with. All we have to deal with is the hundred or so ghouls on the inside with us, and the boss.
"Fireball Swarm!"
"Zweite Sunbeam!"
Okay scratch that, the boss and twenty or so ghouls. While I was thinking about what to do Robin and Elias wiped out most of the ghouls on the inside with us.
"We'll take care of the rest of them." Ben's party shouts to me, as the rush towards the remaining ghouls. All of us are at full health and buffed, so we don't exactly need support magic at the moment. As Ben's party runs towards those ghouls, the boss looks towards them, and leaps. God damn it's agile for its size.
"Cyclone Cannon!"
Arthur's skill knocks it off its intended course, and when it lands, it instead shifts its focus over to us. It was a strong impact, and part of its face looks torn from the cyclone of that skill, but it also looks like a torn up face isn't bothering it too much.
"RAAAUUUAAGHHH" This thing roars at us, then sprints at us. Again, GOD DAMN it is terrifying when something twenty feet tall sprints at you. In only five seconds it's upon us, and it swings its mace at me and Arthur. I dash towards it, and slide under the mace while Arthur makes use of his Windstep to jump over the swing towards its head.
"Lightning Kick IV!"
"Air Strike Blast! Second Blast!"
I kick out the back of its knee, while at the same time Arthur lands two powerful skills to its head, knocking it down. When it starts falling, Robin rushes in, and stabs it in its closest foot with his wand.
"Energy Drain!" Robin looks at me and Arthur.
"This was the skill I got from the Devourer!" He says with a cheery smile.
"ARRRAAAHGGG" The giant lashes out the foot Robin stabbed it in, knocking back Robin, winding him.
"Magic Conduit!" Maria wraps one yoyo around Elias, and the other around Elzabell.
"Zweite Stonespear!" Elias calls out. A spike erupts from the ground, piercing the giant's solar plexus.
"Wand hero, from one spellcaster to another, don't waste your words on talking during combat." Elzabell explains as if talking to a child, which I guess she kind of is.
"What-.. What are you doing then?" Robin retorts, still recovering from being winded.
"There's a spike of earth keeping it from getting up, so I think I have time to talk." Elzabell smugly says.
"Alright, whoever is in the right here, I don't care. Let's just finish it off." I say in my best commanding tone.
"Alright, let's fire our attacks at the same time!" Arthur says.
"Stardust Strike V! Stardust Cannon! Stardust Missile! Zweite Sunbeam! Zweite Lightning Squall!" All of us use powerful skills, and attack it all over at the same time. After we pummel it with all of our attacks, it stops moving. I'm assuming we got him.
Immediately after, about two thirds of the ghouls outside of the sphere Elzabell created collapse. Did he really create that many? I absorb all the materials I can while the sphere is still up.
Interdimensional Ghoul Gauntlets unlocked
Interdimensional Crystalized Ghoul Gauntlets unlocked
Interdimensional Wight Giant Gauntlets unlocked
Oh the Crystal Ghoul gauntlets gave me a pretty good sounding defensive skill 'Crystal Guard'. I'll have to test it later though. The Wight Giant gave me a skill too, 'Air Strike Rush'. I'll have to see how it differs from Quick Rush when I unlock it.
The water sphere suddenly bursts. Once again floating above us is Lionhead, now with comical angry eyebrows over his mascot head. He begins speaking in his signature insane voice, but it sounds kind of restrained this time.
"Oh all of you dealt with this while I was busy with the Colosseum. There is a drone watching the bosses, but it appears it was obscured by the sphere. I'll make sure there aren't this many enemies next time, so don't obscure the camera next time, okay? I may have to interfere if you do."
"He flew through my spell with so much force it completely shattered…" Elzabell whispers to me. I think she sounds a bit scared. Not gonna lie, I am too. Her spell was strong enough to shred apart these ghouls, but there was something powerful enough to completely ignore it? Even more than that, to be able to instantly destroy it by flying into it.
"Are you… angry?" I hesitantly ask Lionhead.
"Oh hardly. This was a pretty good first episode. I got some drama started, and your fight with the Devourer was flashy enough to be passable. Once I take my leave the Wave will end in one minute."
Arthur Robin and I all look at each other. What happened up there?
"Well bye bye heroes, and look forward to the next wave!" With no warning, Lionhead flies in front of his portal, then presumably through it. He's moving so fast I can't see him when he moves, so I'm just assuming how he moves based on where he ends up.
"We've only got a bit more time. Is there anything else to discuss?" I ask.
"There's a lot of mysteries behind this, but I know at least a few of my questions will be answered once the wave is over."
"So are we friends now?" Robin asks.
Arthur and I are caught off guard by that question for a second, but come on, it's an easy question.
"Of course we are! We may not know what's happening, but if we work together, I'm sure we can win! I'm not really sure what winning means in this case though…"
"Surviving, probably."
"Yeah! As heroes, let's make sure nobody dies from these Waves!" Robin adamantly says.
We don't have much else to say, so we simply wait for the timer to fall to zero.