Chapter 223

Chapter 223

“That’s enough, time to run!” Ceselee shouted as she grabbed Ben to keep him from being left behind and got everyone to start sprinting. Thera’s efforts had managed to cull the number by ten. They couldn’t be certain they were dead given just how tough they were known to be, but even if they weren’t they were out of commission for the time being and could be dealt with later. The issue now was how successful they’d been at gaining the remaining beast's attention. Their eyes were firmly locked on them as they broke through the water onto land, giving Ben his first good look at the monsters.

Dragon was the only way to describe them. The smallest of them was as large as a two-story house, with the four adults making their way out of the water behind them feeling like small mountains to look at. He knew that was just the fear, but when coming face to face with a creature that overwhelmingly big, fear was persuasive. Though lacking wings, their powerful limbs looked ready to tear into the earth as their thick, dark scales kept them safe from damage. Not that anyone was trying to attack at this point. The goal had become putting as much distance between them and the town as they could to give those living there more time to evacuate and it was clear the adventurers were putting their all into that goal. The size difference alone made it so each step from one of the beasts shook the earth and made every bit of distance they fought to get meaningless as they easily caught up.This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

Unlike the others whose focus was entirely on speed, Ben got to sit back and watch the entire thing from the comfort of Ceselee’s shoulder, letting him see just how soon they’d be upon them. As the nearest ones opened their mouths, his first thought had been they were going to lunge and try to snap up those they could, until he remembered the detail that had stood out most to him in the briefing.

Oh son of a bitch.

“FIRE INCOMING!” he screamed, giving everyone seconds to throw themselves out of the way as hell rained down around them. Even without being hit the heat was blistering and just breathing the air itself burned. Thanks to the warning no one died, but half ended up injured, being too close to the flames they spewed, making it clear to all they could run no longer.

Seeing this Ceselee took charge, shouting out orders for all to hear. “EVERYONE TO YOUR GROUPS! IT’S TIME TO FIGHT, DON’T LET ANY RETURN TO TOWN!”

She put him down as everyone rushed together, letting him and Thera be greeted with Uzi’s laugh. “Man, this really didn’t turn out well, did it?”

“Gotta deal with what we’re given,” Zite said, trying to sound confident. “Uzi, Nobu, go help the other front line fighters with the large one to the left, there’s not enough people covering it. The rest of us will do our best to support you from here.”

The two gave a nod before running off, weapons in hand and ready to fight as they went in swinging, though it was hard to be sure if they were anything more than an annoyance to the beasts.

Eg did marginally better, firing arrows to the creature's eyes, but few hit its mark as it flailed about, trying to attack those at its feet as many were flung away, only to be healed as Zite and the other light and life mages directed their magic to them. With so much distance between them, it was less effective than it would be if they’d been closer, but it was made up for by the volume of healers as the other groups nearby helped as well.

That left Thera to face a different problem while fighting them. Of everyone, she was most equipped to deal damage to the monsters thanks to the sheer volume of mana she possessed, but throwing boulders carried dangers for those around her. Even if she hit the creature it could fall and crush those fighting at its feet, meaning she had to focus more on her control than exerting power as she pulled a boulder from the earth, and instead of throwing it, imparting as much force to the act as she could, she needed to repeatedly bash it as the leviathan tried to fight it off, never letting the stone leave her magical grasp as she pushed the limits of her control.

Each time stone hit scale the leviathan shook and Thera had to struggle not to let it slip from her hold, lest those chipping away below it suffered for it, but it was starting to take its toll on her. She was pushing the limits of her abilities and felt sweat form on her brow as she questioned just what she could do. Things were so much worse than what they’d expected upon taking the quest that she wouldn’t ignore the options available to her no matter how much she might not like them, but both her charm and dark magic were all but certain to take in those around them as well, and she couldn’t depend on attacking with her life magic either. Considering its massive size it was possible attempting such a thing would have the normal healing effect one would expect of the spell instead of being any help.

It was as she was searching within herself, trying to find anything more she could do that it opened its mouth as the smaller ones had before, and they all knew what was coming. Cries to fall back came from all of the group leaders, for the adventurers to throw themselves away from the coming blaze, but they were too close. Some would escape, but many would be helpless, cooked alive and dead before they could scream.

It was as they watched it take a deep breath, seconds before fire and death would explode from its mouth that she acted, with all of the power she could squeeze out of herself, throwing the boulder into its gaping jaws, shattering its teeth and in their first true bit of luck getting stuck there, not going so far as to get caught in its throat and suffocating the beast, but not being able to remove it either as it violently shook its head, keeping any but the smallest of fires from leaking out.

A cheer went up, but the event only enraged it all the more as it swiped at those on the ground, flinging them through the air to land with violent thuds, bodies bruised and broken from the assault before they got back up to rush back into the thick of it.

Minutes felt like hours as the battle waged on, Ben standing to the side, all but useless as he watched. Even if he wanted to do as he was suggested and help pull away the injured, he had a better than not chance of just getting in the way of the healers as they did their work. There simply weren't enough people around to spare anyone from the front line, healers had no choice but to do their best to keep them in fighting shape. Worse, when he looked around at the others it was clear that of all groups focusing on their own leviathans, they were having the best luck, at least compared to the others. Even though they were going against one of the largest he could see damage building up, but as he cast his gaze to those around him, more often than not what he saw was people collapsed on the ground with nothing else to give. It was a losing battle, and if they didn’t do something soon then it would be the end for them.

As he stared on, knowing just how hopeless it was a single idea came to him. One he hated and knew that Thera would too, but with each passing moment putting them in a worse position he had to try.

As chaos spread around them he didn’t have time to try and explain, so instead he took her hand and connected to her, keeping hidden mind up around all but one he possessed to let him express just what he wanted to do, leaving her to pull back in horror when he was done.

“One of these days we really need to have a serious talk about how badly you seem to want to die.”

“I wouldn’t be suggesting it looked like we had a chance of winning. Now can you do it?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never tried to use my magic that way before. If you’re right I’m pretty sure I could kill this one instead.”

“Yeah, but that leaves the others. Come on, give me a little trust here.”

She didn’t want to give in, but it was obvious things were far more dangerous than any of the guilds had expected, the lack of manpower simply couldn’t handle the overwhelming monster presence surrounding them, so rather than try to argue any more she did as he asked and pulled even more stone from the earth and bringing it to the leviathan.

With the greater amount of mass came a loss of speed and control, but since she wasn’t trying to attack it wasn’t an issue. Instead, she brought it to the thick neck of the beast and tried to use her magic to alter the physical properties of the rock itself, forcing it to flow like a liquid as she fashioned it around its neck while the leviathan struggled and fought to avoid it with all of its might, not knowing what was happening but understanding it was the fault of the same creatures attacking it.

He knew that when it went against the three larger ones the adventurers would need to provide it aid to take it down, but things had just shifted heavily in their favour, all the more so as he saw the larger beast strike a powerful blow against the smaller one’s neck, tearing through scales as blood gushed out, leaving it to collapse to the ground and move on to its next target a few moments later.

He felt his eyes glow at the implications of the notification in his mind. He knew that by having his job pool combined with the others in their temporary party that he got experience for hunting monsters, and given just how powerful they were he didn’t doubt it was a massive amount. If that was the case and they all got experience when the one leviathan killed the other then it told him two very important things.

The first was that the ten that Thera had successfully suppressed before they came to land were almost certainly not dead. He was sure that doing so would have given him and the others the experience he needed to finish their jobs before anything else happened. Beyond that though, it told him that if he played things right, sharing his personal job crystal with the others to use and forming a party again and again, they all might be able to finish off multiple jobs by the time the battle ended.

He was almost licking his lips in excitement at the prospect if it worked. Despite the devastation around them, if he could move things to his benefit from the situation then he happily would, and with no other way he could contribute to the ongoing battle he reached into his pocket, touched his personal job crystal and let the options fill his mind.

AVAILABLE JOBS

Trap userTree tamerCraftsman- alchemy pathCraftsman- artistic pathCraftsman- blacksmith pathCraftsman- cooking pathCraftsman- stonecrafts pathCraftsman- sewing pathHereticHoly craftsmanKinTankMathematicianFractured mind userAdventurerCursed item makerHigh craftsman

So many options available, but just to be safe let's take the one I was planning on taking anyway since there’s nothing new.

Silently, he selected the fractured mind user job, feeling certain that he’d be able to finish it easily enough if things didn’t work out as he’d hoped as notifications exploded in his head.

Name: Ben Heph

Race: Human

Titles: Apostle of Myriad, The Forgotten One, Miracle Maker, Skill learner

Jobs: Fractured mind user (lv 4)

Previous Jobs: Apprentice craftsman, Craftsman, Priest, Enchanter, Mind user, Magic item maker, Magic weapon maker, High enchanter

Attributes:

Vitality: 203Vitality recovery rate: 3/hrMana: 146Mana recovery rate: 8/minStrength: 214Agility: 86Stamina: 731Intelligence: 635





Affinities:

Light: 3Life: 2Fire: 4Water: 3Air: 4Earth: 2Death: 3Dark: 1Space: 4Time: 5





Resistances:

Light: 68Life: 72Fire: 75Water: 69Air: 66Earth: 81Death: 78Dark: 85Space: 63Time: 61





Blessed skills:

Crafting lv8Enchanting lv7Focus lv7





Passive skills:

World speak+Tolerance lv2Sacrilege lv3Complex mind lv5BindPartial demonic bodyDefense enhancement lv2Parallel thought lv3AmbidexterityAbsorption resistance lv1Enchanting knowledge lv4

Active skills:

Dismantling lv4Stealth lv1Connect lv8Hidden mind lv5Calculate lv3 Knife wielder lv0Hammer wielder lv0Meditation lv1Cycling lv0Marksmanship lv0Speed reading lv1

Blessings:

Myriad's BlessingAnailia's Blessing

Trials:

Trial of Anailia and Tolona

As he made his selection and the notifications filled his head, his thoughts exploded in pain. He didn’t understand what was happening, but it felt as though his various minds were being ripped apart, and before he could yell out he felt his consciousness fade as the world grew dark.