The fairy dropped me onto the street, circling around in the air. “Stay here and attack the Nightmare from a distance.”

  “You’ll be fine?” I asked.

  “Me?” Sharon smirked. “Look at my stats.”

  {Sharon - ArcFairy of Carnage}

  [Silver]

  [9.6 m Hp 4m Str]

  [10m Mana]

  “Don’t worry just yet. The hardest part of the fight is still a long way off.”

  I blinked. “Does this thing have a second phase?”

  “I hope not,” Sharon grunted. “But that’s not what I mean. Tell me, how fast can that monster move?”

  “Substantially less than as a normal nightmare,” I stated. “It has a lot of strength but that’s not nearly enough to make up for its ridiculous weight.”

  “And where does its weight come from?”

  “Health.”

  Sharon nodded. “So. Tell me, soft-brained mortal, what’s going to happen when we start dealing damage?”

  “It’s going to get faster?”

  “A lot faster.” Sharon hovered to the left, keeping the Nightmare’s gaze. “But I don’t think the monster knows that. This is an inexperienced nightmare with highly inefficient attacks. By contrast, I am a fairy. We spend several of your mortal lifetimes practicing each of our abilities.”

  He laughed. “Until I call for you, sit back and watch.”

  Sharon rocketed into the sky, leaving behind a trail of sparkling fairy dust.

  {You have inhaled toxin [fairy dust] [1:00]}

  [You will suffer 300% increased damage from fairies.]

  I covered my mouth with my shirt. “Why’s everything about the fairies in this world so violent?”

  Sharon stretched his butterfly wings, accelerating until he was a streak of white in the sky, flickering around the Giant’s head like a swarm of angry flies. Suddenly, there was a clapping flash of energy, cutting a deep gash along the Nightmare’s shoulder.

  {Nightmare : (-24.59m) 1b}

  The nightmare howled, sealing the cut like putty. One head reared up and fired at the sky, wasting an obscene amount of mana as the monster utterly failed to hit the fairy.

  Sharon laughed, growing additional fangs and claws on the end of his fingers, only increasing his pace as additional cuts appeared on the Nightmare’s hide.

  Unfortunately, all those haphazard blasts of mana were curving down now, hurtling toward what remained of the city.

  I shouted after him, raising my hands. “Sharon! The Town!”

  Unfortunately, he couldn’t hear me a mile away over the sound of roaring energy, mana so dense in some places as to appear entirely solid.

  Figures.

  Even if there were probably less than a dozen people still alive…I couldn't let them die.

  I concentrated, forming smaller blobs of blue mana, condensing them to the size of pinheads. Since the balls of mana were really just breath, concentrated force should disperse their flimsy arrangement like a hot knife through butter.

  They shrieked, firing into the sky, connecting with the fireballs in plumes of heat and light.

  But several were making it through.

  Even as much as an advantage my blasts had to the Nightmare’s, that thing put more mana into each attack than I’d used in my life. If my blasts weren’t strong enough to cleave the fireballs in half, they did virtually nothing, like a plastic knife on a cement patio.

  The earth jolted as fireballs smoked entire blocks of the city. Players scattered from the wreckage with monsters close behind, either chasing them or fleeing larger displaced beasts.

  The nightmare just kept firing.

  “This isn't going to work,” I hissed, watching the fire climb higher.

  What’s the point in protecting the city if it’s a molten pulp by the time the fight is over?

  My hands shook.

  I had a lot of power. I even had a decent control over it.

  But I couldn’t protect an entire city from an Osium-rank threat. My abilities were all linear. If I got stronger, I could fight equally stronger monsters.

  I couldn’t do this alone.

  What had Master Tentazui said? Multiplicative power?

  It really was a shame my teammates were too weak to help.

  I tapped my foot on the floor.

  Hang on.

  Sharon had mutated again, adding mantis arms next to his ribs, which grew swords at the end, matching the ones growing out of his arms.

  {Sharon - ArcFairy of Carnage}

  [Carnage : (+1.24) 2.24x]

  [Innate damage increased]

  He could handle this.

  I started running for the bunker.

  “HEY!” Sharon screamed. “YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE BACKUP!”

  “That’s what I’m doing!” I shouted back. “Stay alive!”

  Of course, between talking from a mile away and the deafening screeching and roaring from all that mana, he never heard a word I said

  I’d really have to learn that mana-voice projection thing.

  The bunker doors were still open by the time I reached the base, with Grey and Screech watching the burning city.

  “What are you two doing here?” I asked.

  Grey hesitated. “It seemed…like a good life experience. Sir.”

  Screech clapped his hands, smiling wide as he pointed to a monster with several hundred arms and eyes as it ate a five story condominium. “Look!”

  I nodded slowly. “Okay... Just…stay safe. I need to find the others.”

  “Kitchen,” Grey said. “Making pie. Cherry?”

  “Pie!” Screech shouted, clapping his hands.

  I sprinted there, flinging the door wide open.

  “Let me guess.” Catania slipped the pie into the oven and slammed the door shut with a groan of rusty old metal. “Our little Lead couldn’t fight a High-Osmium all by himself?”

  “Not even close,” I grunted. “Where’s Soise?”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Soise and Toya looked up from their card game. “What?”

  “The city’s falling apart,” I sighed. “And I’m completely out of mana, so I’m basically useless now.”

  Soise smirked. “Welcome to the club.”

  “Anyway, I know a guy who can take care of the main threat, but if we don’t start moving people into bunker—

  “There won’t be much city left?” Soise asked.

  “Something like that.”

  “I doubt we could do much,” Catania sighed. “It’s your call, Captain.”

  “We’re going,” soise stated. “Though I have to wonder which friend of yours can handle a High-Osmium with a billion hitpoints. Did you summon something?”

  “Not this time. My roommate’s an Arcfairy, so he’s fine,” I stated.

  “I’m just surprised anybody’s still alive out there,” Toya trailed off, clearing his throat and blinking hard. “Hold on. Your roommate is a what now?”

  “An Arcfairy.”

  “Huh.” Toya got up from the table, dusting off his clothes. “Today is just full of surprises, isn’t it?”

  Catania grunted. “I knew he was odd.”

  Soise started packing up. “Some of us might die, so I just want to say it’s been an honor working with the four of you…”

  She trailed off.

  “Where’s Sip?”

  “Probably hiding somewhere,” Catania stated, peeling the oven mitts from her calloused hands. “It’s for the best.”

  “Before you go, I should say this.” I took a deep breath. “As you are now, none of you have any chance of survival out there. Like, none. The place is absolutely infested with Brass and Lead monsters.”

  Toya glowered. “Then why would you ask us to join you?”

  “He’s probably got some kind of stupid magical artifact that’ll make us all incredibly strong,” Catania grunted. “I’m willing to bet on enchanted gear.”

  “Actually it’s a lot simpler than that.”

  I clenched my jaw.

  But there was a cost.

  There was a hefty cost.

  How far would I go to save one reset?

  Soise raised an eyebrow. “What are you smiling about?”

  “Oh nothing,” I sighed. “I’ll probably regret this next time I die.”

  “Eh?”

  “Nothing”

  I knelt to the ground, clasping both hands on my bracelets. An air of power filled the room. The temperature began to shift and goosebumps surfaced on our arms.

  Toya and the others stared in amazement.

  I reached into my chest, concentrating, focused on holding my screens steady as the rest of my mind churned.

  A glowing orb separated from my shirt, clattering to the ground with unsteady power.

  {Grind : (-10k) 313.6k Str}

  And then another, so large it chipped the floor.

  {Grind : (-100k) 213.6k Str}

  Soise started. “Grind?”

  {Grind : (-100k) 113.6k Str}

  “I don’t need it,” I hissed. “I don’t need any of it.”

  {Grind : (-100k) 13.6k Str}

  The next orb was the size of a baseball, glowing like headlights on an empty road.

  {Grind : (-250k) 2k AtkSp}

  I fell to the ground, wheezing. My head spun and my chest was heavy. I could feel the weakness in my body. There was a weight on all my movements that just wasn’t there before, as if I had strapped weights around my body.

  But I wasn’t done yet.

  {Grind : (-300k) 12.9k Dex}

  {Grind : (-275k) 1.6k Dur}

  That was my limit.

  I collapsed, keeping Grey’s stat frozen with the faintest strand of what little mental force I had left biting back against the searing pain in my mind.

  “Grind…” Soise whispered. “What is this?”

  “My stats,” I said. “I really just need Mana and health.”

  Toya turned over the yellow orb in the palm of his hand. “How is this even possible?” Slowly, his expression darkened. “Grind. We’ve only just reached Brass, and barely that too. I can’t even use this much power. I don’t even know if my mental energy has reached that point.”

  “It has,” I stated. “And if not, it will. There’s a sea of monsters to farm Exp. You four—well, three—just need the power to kill them.”

  When I started pushing myself up, my arms wouldn't respond.

  Actually, they wouldn’t move at all.

  Toya held onto the yellow orb for a long while. Then, he slowly, carefully passed it to Catania.

  “I’m mostly an ability user too,” Toya sighed. “I know some martial arts but I don’t have the multipliers to make full use of that kind of power.”

  Soise passed the largest strength orbs to her as well. “As you said, we just need the power to kill monsters. As long as one of us can consistently farm for stats, they care to share orbs with everyone else.”

  “Toya, take the little orb,” I said. “Catania, you can have the rest.”

  She just stared at the pile of radiating crystal balls, shimmering like stars.

  Catania backed away.

  “Sorry but no,” she said. “I don’t mean to be rude—”

  “You’re upset,” Soise whispered. “All this time you’ve been getting strong on your own, and now, you’re just being given all this power from people you don’t even know that well. It feels cheap, doesn’t it?”

  Catania nodded.

  “Shut up and take the orbs,” Toya barked. “I’ll still be stronger than you are.”

  He took the dinky tennis ball-size orb and broke it.

  {Toya : (+10k) 15k}

  Toya raised a hand too fast, smacking himself in the face. When he tried moving it back, the back of his fist cracked against the floor.

  “Oh, wow that's going to take some getting used to.”

  Catania swallowed her pride, smashing her orbs on the floor.

  {Catania}

  [Brass]

  [(+300k) 100k Str]

  [+(250k) 100k% Atksp]

  [+(300k) 100k Dex ]

  [+(275k) 100k Dur]

  She was frozen in place for a straight minute.

  “Hey, guys?” Catania whispered. “I’m scared to move.”

  Toya laughed. “See?”

  He smacked himself in the face again.

  “I’m serious,” Catania growled. “If I sneeze wrong, I could kill somebody.”

  Soise laid a hand on her shoulder. “Just breathe. Feel your heartbeat.”

  Slowly but surely, Catania’s stats simmered down.

  //Catania : 10k Str//

  “I should turn Atksp down too, right?” She asked.

  “No need,” I shrugged. “Atksp is a measurement of reaction speed more than anything. You shouldn’t notice any difference until someone tries to hurt you—”

  Toya jabbed me in the nose.

  I jolted, staggering back in shock.

  He was frowning.

  “That could be a problem. Keep away from monsters for now, okay?”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said with a grin. “My orbs find them for me.”

  “You don’t know that,” Catania grumbled, looking at the floor. “Grind, do you understand what kind of gift this is? Do you know what it’s going to cost you? Without strength or reaction speed your—”

  I shook my head. “First off, you probably have no idea what this really cost me, given our current situation. And I’m saying, it’s fine. Really.”

  Once I’d finally managed to drop my health to something reasonable, we ran from the bunker, past Grey and Screech.

  “Don’t let Sip leave!” Catania shouted. “He’ll get himself killed!”

  Grey tilted her head. “Sir?”

  I nodded. “He’s going to stay here with you and Screech. Please stay safe. If the monsters head this far up, you’ll have to lower the gates.”

  Soise stared slack-jawed at the winged being covered in metal thorns, chains, and blades.

  “That’s your roommate?!”

  {Nightmare : (-40.03m) 0.99b Hp}

  Toya rubbed his eyes. “We’re not hallucinating, are we?”

  I nodded. “This is new to me too.”

  The nightmare staggered, spewing clouds of purple vapor into the air.

  “That’s blood,” Catania grunted. “I’m sure of it—is it glowing?”

  The mana in the blood changed tint as Riot took effect. They exploded into smaller and smaller droplets, hitting the city all at once, each dealing enough damage to vaporize copper monsters.

  Toya had formed a web overhead, wincing as the droplets continually tore through his defenses.

  Was it already too late?

  Were there already no survivors?

  And then, there was a scream—a human scream—and we started running.

  This wasn’t over just yet.

  // {Notice} //

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