Chapter 20: Chapter 20: The Sky Opens Up

Sitting together on the soft red floor, Jane and I are chatting after a long training session. I had to really put my new technique through its paces, Jane really helped me find all the flaws and suggest new ideas. The fighting also let me start instilling Blood Memory into the floating panels. It is minimal for now, but they are already a very effective weapon.

I had told Jane about the possibilities of the rain being an omen of something dangerous. The game lets me tell NPCs anything about the world and the game without censoring it or ignoring my words. Thanks to that I have explained much about the real world, naturally leaving out the fact that this world is a game. No point in being a dick like that.

The forums didn’t have much information, and every disaster was different, so I can’t think of many ways to prepare. Jane listened anxiously until I finally got to the end of my explanation. “If the rain is really a prelude to some disaster, can we really just sit here and not try to help?” I could see willfulness in her eyes, the desire to stand and fight. She may be an NPC, but letting her get hurt in any way in the fight would probably set me off for days.

“I get you want to do the right thing, but you are already in enough danger as it is. You are getting stronger,yes. But you don’t have your magic yet.” She could take down a normal sized snake at this point and I am sure she will be a terror when she can finally start using skills, but she is too fragile to be in the fight. Or maybe I am just being selfish. “The town has many skilled adventurers, so they should be able to handle whatever is coming. The forums say that the capital is already working on breaking past the barrier created by the clouds and help is on the way.”

It seems that they have been trying to get past the clouds for days now, but things were not going so well. The clouds were not well understood and they had no idea why the rain prevented passage. I am lying to her a bit here considering I doubt that anyone will get here in time to do much, but I am doing it for her own good. The world out there is scary enough without whatever disaster is looming. Just that fucking deer thing was a nightmare in and of itself.

“By the way, do you know anything about a humanoid monster that looks like a deer and is like, super creepy?” I had kept forgetting to ask the natives about this, and the forums never mentioned the damn thing so I thought I might as well try to see if Jane knows anything.

Her face just switches to complete confusion as she adorably tilts her head. “What’s a deer?”

Right, some earth creatures don’t exist here. My bad. “Okay, so a deer is-” And before I can really answer I feel a shiver run down my spine. Looking at Jane and her twisted expression I can tell she felt it too.

A howl rips through the whole mountain. A call to the world and full of hate. The whole mountain beneath our feet begins to tremble as I move to cover Jane.

“What is that? What is happening?” Her blade is already drawn as she stares out in the direction of the howl.

I can’t find the words to respond with as a flash of light appears in front of me. My system menu popping into existence and silvery gold letters carving themselves out before my eyes.

[World Quest: The Abyss has spawned a dangerous creature, defeat it and save the town.]

[Reward Type: Special Skill.]

No option to accept or not huh?

“Vee, you froze. What is it?” Jane’s voice quivers a little as she calls out to me, her hand placing against my head.

“I got a quest, The Abyss had spawned something nasty and the whole town is in danger.” I spoke before I realized that doing so would be a bad decision.

“We have to go help!”

“I already told you that even with your skills, you would just be in danger. This is different than any training you have been through. What we are dealing with is likely something even I would struggle against. You can feel that pressure right?” Ever since the howl went out, I have been feeling a crushing weight, one that makes you want to run and hide. “I can come back to life, you can’t. I am not risking it.” I speak with a strong finality as I look Jane in the eyes.

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She looks down with slightly glistening eyes. “I just… I’m scared for Dahlia and the others. They said they kicked Lupis out, which means they don’t have a proper magic caster anymore. They… They were always there for me to help me pursue my dream…”

She is such a good kid. I want to let her help so badly, but my heart would never allow that. I have to stay rational. “They wouldn’t be able to fight properly if they knew you were in danger. Let’s-” Numerous explosions ring out from beyond the cave’s walls. The traps I set up!

I can feel nearly every land mine I set up going off one after another. Shit! The walls of my cave get blown in as another explosion rings out. I can see the rain now. It is no longer water, but a thick black liquid seeped in shadow. “Jane, get behind me!” I twist control of the crimson steel in the walls to create a sort of blender as monsters come swarming through.

Facsimiles of all kinds of monsters made of nothing but the black rain tear through with palpable insanity and malice. Their forms dispersing into black smoke as they are torn apart. I can’t keep this up forever, I will need to log out eventually and Jane can’t fight an onslaught like this no matter her strength.

“Jane, we are going to need to head to town! I can’t protect you forever here. Get on me!” I spread out all the panels of blood I had created around me to form a defensive barrier. Lightning passes between the now spiked panels and fills in the gaps while Jane hops through an opening and straddles my back. I form a saddle of blood beneath her and strap her in tightly, then I rip through the cave with my defenses on full power.

Breaking out into the rain I can see the black monsters flooding the forest, the goo and shadows seeping up out of the ground and replenishing their infinite numbers. Fuck! What kind of impossible quest is this?! I really want to have a word with the devs about this bullshit.

I break into a sprint towards the town knowing it is the only place I can get Jane that will be able to hold out while I take breaks. A stampede of monsters like this needs numbers to fight back with. My dome of blood plates is fixed around me as it slams into the monsters, my [Physical Enhancement] pushing my body past its limits and letting me sprint at incredible speeds.

Groahhhh!

A thick roar echoes out from behind me as more black rain takes a shape that is far larger than any of the rabble it has created so far. Wolves as large as I am and dripping saliva of black goo charge towards us and slam into my barrier. The panels go flying at the force and the offending wolf shatters when the spikes pierce into its head.

However, a single death is not enough to give me any confidence. There are so many of these things that as they slam into my panels they are starting to crack. Another wolf slams into my barrier and the first panel breaks, the pieces fall to the ground, and at the speed I am running I don’t have the presence of mind to pick up the pieces.

I turn to look back at the broken panels when Jane shouts “Incoming!” I whip my head around to see nothing more than a giant wolf head trying to devour my whole body laid right in the middle of my path.

“Ha! As if!” I throw several thick flat panels beneath my feet and leap across my newly created stairs to make it over the snapping head. “Tch. These things are relentless!” I am not sure why, but I can feel that every creature here really wants me dead. The rain is not letting up at all and the number of monsters keeps increasing. More wolves start appearing, larger than before as they snap at my barrier. I can feel panels vanishing from my control as they are swallowed by the beasts every time.

The space between my blood panels is increasing and a set of jaws manages to break through and snap at the girl on my back. “Jane!” Her blade swipes out, cleanly cutting through the wolf’s head and turning it back to nothing but smoke. She laughs at me, but I can feel how tense she is as she speaks. “Come on, something like that is easy to cut down compared to your hellish training!”

I can’t help but snort. “I don’t want to hear any complaints when you always do said training with a huge smile on your face and beg for more!” I can’t see her face, but I am sure she is rolling her eyes right now. Another wolf slips through my barrier before I can finish moving the panels closer. I am focusing on so many things at once that its claws leave a large scratch across my arm before Jane cuts it down. Damn it.

I run [Healing Magic] across the wound before pushing even more Ether into [Physical Enhancement]. I would cover myself in lightning, but I can’t do that with Jane on my back. They are just going to keep breaking my panels and attacking from every direction. I can’t keep this up!

“Vee, can you try cutting off the rain?!” Jane continues to cut down the stray wolves as we run through the pouring black rain. The wolves seem to be learning annoyingly quickly and instead of getting larger, they are instead making smaller versions to slip through the cracks the large wolves make.

“I don’t have enough blood to do something like that in any effective range. If I made an umbrella that large I would not be able to focus on panels keeping us safe.” I had already considered it, but I don’t have enough Ether to make that much- Wait! The Ether in the air is extremely thick right now isn't it?! “Never mind! I just had an idea. You keep them off me while I prepare!”

“On it!” Jane sharpens her focus as the panels all around me stop acting with my input and begin being rapidly chipped away.

Time to see how big a mess I can make!