"I'm sorry, you want me to do what now!?"
I asked as we were stepping into a large top of a hill, the makings of a magic circle beginning to form. I stood in the middle with Elyra, an elven woman with shoulder length deep blue hair, she wore an ornate robe that seemed to thrum with stored mana. I had been helping to draw out the circle before she had grabbed me and pulled me to the side.
"This magic circle is a ritual to allow for group chanting of high rank magic, it needs three parts. The anchors, being all of us chanting and focusing the magic, a linker being someone of a positive affinity magically to the target spell, and the caster who actually has knowledge and the mana for the spell. The other high level mages in the city are fighting against the attackers so you're the highest leveled person who has any affinity with the fire element."
"Fire element? I'm a wind mage, not a fire mage."
"Yes, but wind is a complementary element to fire in the same way that water is a negative element, it's not a one to one match, but it will work."
I turned to where in the distance I could see magic flying and people running through the streets. Towering over the city skyline two prominent figures rose. Both stood taller than any building around them, with one being a head taller than the other. Even from here, the presence and terror that emanated from them could be felt. One had charcoal black scales thicker than a vault's walls with two sets of arms and a large white sprawling crack expanding from their chest. A row of 3 sets of eyes ran along a draconian snout. Even now I found myself glancing down towards the announcement that had appeared when I saw the massive black scaled disaster.
You have encountered Potential Son of Blue Zilla, Godblight
You have gained 50,000 XP for encountering a creature above A rank
Your maximum possible damage cannot harm Zilla
System advisement for user survival: Run, because the gods won't risk answering your prayers
Across from him stood a figure wearing a massive yellow hoodie. Horns, and scales covered the sides of their face as spines shot through the back of the hoodie leaving holes where massive amounts of extreme heat seemed to radiate out. They stood with heat cracks radiating out from their body as a massive blinding beam of heat and force rocketed from their mouth and struck against Zilla, the beam causing the massive draconian lizard to stagger back slightly. The hoodies' figure seemed to sprout a webwork of cracks across their body as a pulse of green energy seemed to surge over them as their wounds seemed to close as if they had been healing for months. However just as much as the massive figure in the hoodie, Zilla's wounds seemed to heal just as fast
"Ok, and how exactly will this do anything to something like that!?"
I asked, pointing a finger towards the ferocious battle. Elyra turned as if just now seeing the fighting in the distance before she turned back and said.
"You're not dealing with it, we are basically supporting Alaster so he can get his best shot at Zilla."
At this my eyebrow raised thinking back to the out of breath kid who could barely carry the skeleton looking hungry woman.
"Uh, how exactly is a teenager, no matter how strong, supposed to take on a creature literally called a Godblight?"
"Because that teenager is the contractor of the Spirit king of fire Cataclysm, and in terms of raw destructive power he is hard to match."
Elyra began to lead me to the center where she began to close me into the glyph formation as I asked.
"Wait, huh. What's a spirit king?"
Elyra didn't stop as she explained while her eyes were still down drawing the circle.
"As people grow they will often see that the damage their skills does is different, for example fire becomes flame which becomes solar later on, in the same way your wind element becomes storm and then vortex. A spirit king is a being that stands as the keeper of the hidden fourth tier of an element, for fire it goes from Solar to Nova, and from Tempest to Hurricane. Alaster is the key to one of the biggest firepower sources ever."
I stared silently as internally I cringed knowing what I had mumbled about him while helping carry the bone woman. Before I could argue or say anything else there was a loud crash nearby as everyone turned to see a very interesting sight. A group seemed to be clinging to a massive 12 ft tall red crab with one claw larger than the other, a white underbelly, and a left hand that had fingers instead of the crab-like appendage on the left. Hanging on his back was a scorpion man as well as a shorter girl.
The smallest of the ragtag group tumbles from the crab's back with a yelp. She barely manages to soften the impact with an incredibly amateur roll before scrambling back onto her feet, only to immediately trip over a rock and face-plant into the dirt. She lifts her head with a pained groan, brow furrowing as she looks between her party and the looming battle in the distance. Her eyes widen and she springs to her feet whirling around to face her party.
"I haven't even been gone for a day!"
she roars, violently jabbing a finger at the lizard.
"What the actual FUCK is that?!"
The crab let everyone down as they shrugged and said in a surprisingly raspy voice.
"Oh that's Zila. I was gonna kill him before some guy stopped time, rescued him, and complained to us about ruining his plans/research or something. Then, he used a purple rock on him and that happened."
The crabman seemed to pause as if remembering something before he turned back with a raised eyebrow
"You were there when we fought him in the sewers? Did you lose your memories twice in a day? You literally intervened in my duel with Zila after he didn't die the second time and was about to cause that retaliatory attack that almost killed me"
As the others stepped down around them one seemed to be suddenly surrounded by sudden strange dark aura. The man's head is mysteriously covered by a great helm with an ornamental visor. Blacker than night itself it creates a stark contrast with the radiant crimson emanating from where his eyes should be. Upon his head there sits a crown of jagged iron instilling a sense of dread in anyone who would dare look upon it. When I look into his eyes all you can see is anger too terrifying to be caused by a single man. You can see he is barely holding back the incredible power of his red-tinted aura. He is clad in a jagged obsidian plate armor, it looks like it was forged in the deepest of hells and instills a feeling of boundless dread. You can see it has no scratches or dents as he does not get hit at all. In his right hand he effortlessly holds a heavy ritual looking scythe giving off the feeling of death itself and big enough to behead a dragon. He wears a tattered cape, further adding to his very mysterious and stoic image of a peerless warrior. His whole armor is covered with chains as they jingle along with his steps, promising no escape to his enemies. And when he speaks it is as if the world itself fails to process his voice. Every word is layered with soft whispers and baritone echoes. When he is angry his words shatter glass and burst eardrums.
I blinked a few times as my thoughts returned to normal and saw a system message pop up
L%nt@rn has used some plusality to alter the perception of character:Aris
Ob$s@7ver has facepalmed
L%nt@rn rereads what they have done and dry heaves from embarrassment
*ud^ci$y cackles watching L%nt@rn
V(5l looks at Lantern with the expression of pure horror
E8c!l comments about a "skill issue"
45 players have taken 2 psychic damage from second hand embarrassment
L%nt@rn has taken 4 psychic damage
In the past I may have commented on this, maybe even begun to question my reality, however considering I was standing in a magic circle with a 12 ft talking crab, 5th dimensional beings taking damage from second hand embarrassment while in the distance a massive guy in a yellow hoodie elbow drops a lizard that can apparently hurt gods has made me realize its best not to ask. I looked past the messages to the last member of the group that just landed. They looked to be a spider halfblood wearing a fancy suit and walking around with a centaur like build with a thorax and 8 legs while still having a humanoid torso with fangs and spider eyes. A layer of thin black fur covered them like fuzz as the spider turned to us.
"Well now, let's at least make sure that you all are a bit more warded than this? Cu, you're up."
From nearby a figure in a blue robe wielding a hammer head tipped wooden staff floated over and sighed. They seemed to spend the next minute constructing a series of runes outside of the magic circle that much to my annoyance I could not see as when they finished a large transparent dome rose up around us, several people touching it as if unsure if it was really there. I turned, unsure whether to thank them or not when a portal opened up and from it more people including a little white fox I recognized. She saw me and ran over as she was stopped before crossing into the middle.
"Beatrice, whats going on, where are the others?"
"Everyone is ok for now, the others said they were going to help grab people in the city who haven't evacuated yet. I came here to see if I could help."
I wanted to ask her more questions, but we were cut off by the sounds of someone playing music on a violin and the sound of trees getting uprooted. As we turned I heard the command to start chanting be called, but since I was in the middle, my part was yet to come, so I was able to watch as everyone ran to their positions, but past them I saw the massive crab standing without its weapon drawn. Before it the trees exploded with these strange creatures rushing out. They resembled a mix between a tortoise and an ogre with towering muscular builds, but also reptilian heads and large durable backplates like a shell. As they ran I saw the girl slam her hand down, raw mana seeming to swim through the ground as suddenly the solid earth took on properties like liquid, trapping several of the creatures. However what made my eyes practically pop out of my head wasn't what she had done, but because it wasn't magic.
She had taken mana and forcibly used it to effect aspects of the ground to change its properties to be like that of a liquid. It should be impossible from a theoretical, and practical level, and yet I saw her do it. My eyes shot towards the crab where he raised his guard, 5 of the hulking beasts, no shorter, and if anything slightly taller than him swung, raining down blows. The crab seemed to cock back its arm, and had I not seen it I would have mistaken it for a cannonshot as its arms moved so fast that sound boomed around him, and three of the beasts flew backwards, flying through several trees as they fell killing them. I watched my announcements, waiting to see what skill he has used, but nothing came. As my eyes drifted up I realized….. That wasn't a skill, just physical force. My eyes drifted to the others in their group who for the time being seemed content to wait and watch aside from the figure in armor who held a hand out, grasping a golden chain that formed before them. As they yanked the sky seemed to shatter as a massive towering figure of an angelic woman descended in battle armor. Even the most dutiful chanters were silenced as they looked upward and the announcement came
rejoice for Ereshkigal, the right hand of Magnetina has arrived
Some fell to their knees, others tried to resume praying, however as I looked around with a nervous smile all I could think was.
"So this is power."