I wake up and rub the sleep from my eyes. Today, we kill monsters.

  The gentle rumbling of the Pegasus actually made it very easy to sleep. Despite the fact we are on a hell planet infested with monsters that want to rip us to shreds. Before getting up, I check my stats just to be aware of where I am at.

  Makarious Ileon

  Lvl 54 Scout/ Lvl 12 Mage/ Lvl 9 Dragon

  Stats

  0 unallocated points

  Vitality: 30/37

  Strength: 31/37

  Endurance: 26/37

  Perception: 38/52

  Dexterity: 57/82

  Agility: 61/82

  Intelligence: 39/42

  Mana Control: 6/13

  Mana Capacity: 21/39

  Aether Control: 3/11

  Aether Capacity: 17/22

  Resources

  Health: 150/150

  Stamina: 130/130

  Aether: 425/425

  Mana: 525/525

  Path Skills

  [Scout] Blink Lvl 13/25

  [Scout] Stealth Lvl 5/25

  [Mage] Magic Fundamentals Lvl 5/25

  My training has yielded quite a bit of improvement since the ceremony. My Blink is halfway to being maxed out, and it is quite useful. Stealth is also just plain awesome, I can use it to easily move into hostile territory with ease. However, I can only keep it up for about three minutes without replenishing my aether.

  My general stats have hit quite nice levels. I am now significantly better than any normal human could hope to be without modifications. It feels good. I am stronger, faster and more aware of my surroundings. It feels like I might actually stand a chance against the monsters.

  I grab a ration bar and scarf it down at a rapid pace. Lemon says that I should eat slower, but I just want to get the strange taste out of my mouth as soon as possible. I head into the cockpit where Violet is sitting with her feet kicked up on the dashboard. Her hair is all neat and nicely tied up in a ponytail, which looks great on her. She is absolutely rocking the silver bodysuit that we were told to wear when not in our armor. Plus, it means I get to see her beautiful eyes as they skim over a book she is reading.

  Outside the windows, the reddish terrain blurs past. It seems we are currently driving through a stretch of abandoned farmland, remnants of farming equipment are scattered about. In the distance, massive ruined cities can be seen, the coffins for who knows how many people.

  “Hows it going?” I ask, trying to sound as not-annoying as possible.

  “One hour until we arrive. Now fuck off and go somewhere else.” It seems she still has no interest in talking to me.

  So naturally, I took a seat in the chair next to her. “Whatcha reading?”

  “101 ways to murder idiots that won't leave you alone.’ Her voice is cold and ruthless. Which is honestly such a badass way of insulting me. Especially since it is accompanied by that cute scowl of hers.

  “Hmm, sounds interesting. What is your favourite method?” I kick my feet up on the dashboard, mirroring her.

  She looks away from her book and glares at me. “Strangling. Or perhaps burning them at the stake.”

  “Oooh, those sound like a lot of fun. Burning at the stake would be a good way to train fire resistance. I wonder if there is a suffocation resistance skill as well.”

  “Fuck off, or you are going to find out.” Her scowl intensifies and she turns back to her book, seemingly content to ignore my presence.

  I grab a data tablet and pretend to do various things on it. Though really I am just watching Violet out of the corner of my eye. Every once in a while she smiles at something and it is mega cute. But then she goes right back to her scowl.

  After a while, we came to a stop at our destination. Outside the window is a truly horrific sight. A blue shield towering high into the sky in a dome shape is encapsulating a small ruined town. A stabilization field, to prevent the monsters from running rampant across the planet.

  However, the monsters are really not happy about it. Dozens of them are clawing relentlessly at the shield, trying to escape. Two hound types launch themselves at the barrier, only to be immediately vaporized into a black mist.

  In the distance I can see a bright column of red light rising into the air. It is locked in a fierce battle against the field, trying to knock it offline and trigger a surge. But the field will hold, probably.

  Violet glances out the window, sighs and then gets up. I follow her as we head into the common area, in which the others are busy suiting up in their armor. Violet and I also suit up and then we all stand over the table, a projection of the area on top.

  “Alright,” Stephen says, “is everyone aware of the procedure and our roles?” He points to a bunch of lines drawn on the map. Our plan for infiltrating the hive and slaying the queen as she rests inside the central rift.

  “Yep! Get in, fuck some monsters up, kill their queen, grab the goodies and get the fuck out.” Liv says, expertly laying out our general strategy.

  “And don't forget to have a fun time!” I add.

  “Monsters die fun.” Moxie says, nodding in agreement.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “You all are a bunch of fucking weirdos.” Violet comments and then immediately dodges a punch from Liv.

  I grab Liv and hold her back. “Well, don't worry. I am sure you will be just as weird in no time.”

  She just stares at me in silence. Then Stephen interjects. “Well then, lets get going.”

  We leave the Pegasus behind, turning on its cloaking function which completely hides it. Unfortunately, it is too big and not maneuverable enough to take into the city with us. But that is what the FAUD is for.

  We walk up to the shield and Stephen attaches some device to it. Some sort of analyzer and key to let us through the shield. Immediately, it starts feeding streams of data into our neural links and the system conveniently displays it for us.

  [Rank 1 Hive]

  [Objectives: Destroy Hatcheries (0/10), Defeat Queen (0/1), Clear Monsters (0%)]

  [Monster Level: 60]

  [Monster Type: Hound]

  [Rewards (Squad): 3 Augment Crates & 2 Gear Crates]

  “Is everyone ready?” Stephen asks, really embodying that leaderly spirit of his. “Looks like this is gonna be a whole lot of fun.”

  “Fuck yeah. Let's make those monsters regret messing with humanity.” I say, which is met with cheers of agreement from the others. Even Violet seems eager to do some monster slaying.

  Stephen presses some buttons on the device and the shield ripples and then a large hole opens in it. Immediately, all the nearby monsters surge towards the opening and right towards us.

  I Blink in front of Moxie as a hound leaps for her. I step around and sink my dagger into its side, deeply. The crunch of the aetherium being pierced is horrible as my blade sinks into its core, but it feels good to finally be killing a monster.

  The hound dies with a shower of black blood, already soaking me in the disgusting stuff. Moxie barely has time to utter a “Thanks” before the next hound is on us. She casts a ball of light and quickly kills it.

  I look over at Liv, who has charged right into the shield and is standing in the middle of several hounds, absorbing their attacks with her heavy shield. She is unable to move, but she effortlessly cleaves three of the hounds in half at the same time. But, she misses the core, and the parts of each hound manage to rejoin back together, good as new.

  Monsters are horrifying, and it seems like these hounds want to cuddle with us today.

  Stephen launches past me and sets up on the top of a building. Just as I slay several more hounds, he starts shooting and many more fall. Violet massacres several hounds that try teaming up on her. They cannot get a single hit as she just effortlessly moves around them like a gust of wind. It's super hot.

  We make quick work of the rest of the monsters, though I manage to get a pretty nasty bite on my arm. Thankfully, Moxie is nearby and heals it up quickly and it is like it was never there.

  We regroup and heal up. Since the shield has closed up, we have no option but to head inwards and defeat the queen. We deploy several sensor drones and we find out the location of the nearest hatchery, about five hundred meters away. So we make our way there, hopping over the roofs of buildings so we minimize the amount of times we get ambushed. I trail a bit ahead, so I end up triggering the most attacks. But thankfully my Blink allows me to quickly get out of the way of any claws or teeth. I am not in the mood to cuddle with any monsters today.

  Of course, we still get found quite often. It is quite horrifying when a fifty kilogram hound leaps up from an alleyway and nearly takes a bite out of your side. Liv actually got bit once, which we all laughed at.

  Thankfully, between the armor and Moxie’s medical tending, we don't sustain any permanent damage. Though she does warn us that she cannot heal anything beyond cuts and bruises basically. So we still must be careful and alert, we aren't invincible just because we have a medic.

  We reach the hatchery and I nearly puke at the sight. Crouching on a nearby building next to Violet – who continues to prove her badassery – we look inside. It seems they have taken root in a small sports stadium. The entire area contains piles of eggs, disgusting red ones that are the size of a hoverbike.

  Hounds that seem to be less combat specialized are busy tending to the eggs and the general area. The monsters emerge fully formed and ready to kill things, as one would expect.

  “Okay, let's take this slowly and methodical-” Stephen tries to say something leaderly, but then Violet jumps off the roof and lands right in the middle of the hatchery. Stephen quickly drops into his firing position and takes aim. “Welp, fuck that, lets rip those bastards in two!” Stephen’s entire persona seems to shift the moment he gets behind his rifle .

  I jump down into the hatchery, cushioning my fall with an air spell that I was totally confident in. I am immediately beset by several hounds which meet the point of my blade with much glee. Though one does manage to take a chunk out of my arm, which hurts like hell by the way.

  The monsters just don't stop, I throw a fireball in Liv’s general direction and manage to kill six of them. Turns out she is great for concentrating them in one spot. Which is good, because I still suck at aiming spells.

  I Blink over and kill a hound that was about to take a bite into Violet. She briefly turns and thanks me, but then goes right back to her work. She is truly beautiful to watch at work, I wish I could just observe her the entire time. But I notice a group of them heading up behind Moxie, so I rush over to her aid.

  We slowly make progress and the incoming monsters start thinning, the entire stadium has turned into pools of black blood with a bit of red mixed in. The stench is horrible, so we are sure to keep our helmets on.

  Moxie gets to work destroying the eggs, with massive jets of flame that rain down from the sky of course. It seems Moxie doesn't know the meaning of the word ‘subtle.’ She also seems to love making things explode in fancy colors with her light spells. I offhandedly suggest she should become an artist and she blushes and rushes off to go heal someone who was injured at the right moment to give her an escape.

  With a gross squelching sound, Violet’s blade pierces the last egg and it explodes into a mix of some sort of acid as well as blood. She tries to wipe it off, but it seems to be very sticky, how glorious.

  The area quiets as we defeat the horde of monsters that was in the area. Then the FAUD appears and begins collecting some sort of red glowing rock from the destroyed eggs. I ask Moxie what it is.

  “Undeveloped monster cores are useful materials. Weapons, big booms.” She smiles at the mention of the big booms. I imagine she must be super happy to be able to create explosions whenever she wants now. Still, it is interesting that we are utilizing undeveloped monster cores as materials. But it does make sense, they are quite tough and likely contain a lot of stored energy.

  It takes until the sun starts setting for the FAUD to finish its collection. Then, it settles down in the middle of the stadium. It projects a shield that is about ten meters in diameter and we quickly enter inside.

  “Alright then. Good work everyone. Lets get what rest we can until morning and then continue onwards. We still have nine hatcheries and the queen to clear out.” Stephen announces, to which everyone sighs and relaxes a bit. “Who wants to take the first watch?”

  Liv and Violet both volunteer immediately. After all, getting the first watch is a massive boon. It is no small thing to get uninterrupted sleep after your watch is done. Being woken up in the middle of one’s sleep cycle isn't ideal. They end up flipping a coin that we conveniently find nearby. Liv wins and settles on top of a nearby building, scanning the surroundings like a hawk.

  Before I relax, I check all of the level-up notifications. I got a nice chunk of levels. But it's nowhere near as much as from the level 250 orc. It seems experience scales drastically the higher the level difference.

  [Scout has leveled up! Lvl 54 -> Lvl 60]

  [Mage has leveled up! Lvl 12 -> Lvl 24]

  [Average Level is now 42]

  [Gained 18 Unallocated Stat Points]

  [Lemon has leveled up! Lvl 9 -> Lvl 15]

  [Blink has leveled up! Lvl 13 -> Lvl 14]

  [Stealth has leveled up! Lvl 5 -> Lvl 6]

  I lay down on the hard ground and it takes me a while to start drifting off. Especially because Lemon won't stop commenting about all the mistakes I made and how to do things better. Thankfully, she saved all the tips for after we finished fighting. She does seem to like observing most of the time, which is just fine with me, mental conversations are quite distracting.

  Just before I fade into unconsciousness, I hear a loud boom in the distance. Must be some squad clearing a hive. It helps me sleep nicely, knowing that we are making progress against the monsters.

  Next Chapter: But They Have Claws

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