Hannah worked with practiced ease as she helped Harvey strap on his plate armor. He’d had time to repair it since his last bout, but his warhammer hadn’t been so lucky. Buying a second had left him with a measly 1613 merit, but if all went well today, he’d be flush with cash once more.

  “I’m excited to fight together again. It’s been since… what, the first time I brought you into the mine?” Harvey asked, carefully maneuvering to give Hannah access to the straps.

  “Has it really been that long?” Julian wondered.

  “I think so. Other than the hunt with Elena, I’ve been on my own. It will be nice to have some backup.” Harvey acknowledged

  Hannah tugged on a strap around his arm. “This tight enough?”

  “A little more, please. Ow! Now it’s a tourniquet.” Harvey swore.

  They didn’t have a particular mission for the day other than getting a few class levels, so Harvey suggested they push into the dead side of the forest to look for any new materials Elena could use for her inks.

  Harvey could feel the anticipation welling up inside him. It wasn’t some deranged excitement about killing monsters. If he could power level exploding wooden training dummies, he would. No, he was excited because he was finally free to catch up to his friends. It didn’t bother him being behind when they first got here, but he wouldn’t stand for it now after all his hard work.

  Plink

  “What was that?” Julian asked.

  They spun around, looking for the source of the noise, when a second pinged near Harvey’s back shoulder. Turning, he saw a jet black feather floating down to the floor.

  “Carrionwing,” Harvey announced, turning to scan the trees just as a large quill delivered its caustic payload into Buttercup’s neck.

  Their dark feathers blended in with the black wood and purple leaves above, but an outstretched wing piercing into the light gave him a target. A fireball appeared in his hand, round and weightless, illuminating the shadowy forest. He could feel the heat of the forge bleeding out through the thin film of essence holding it all together, and wasted no time hurling it towards the branch. It lit up the frame of a rotted chickadee that would’ve been cute at its normal size but looked monstrous after swelling to the size of a soccer ball.

  It let out a vicious screech as it flitted away from the orb, but it couldn’t dodge the eruption after impact. It was like a grenade of pure flames exploded out, incinerating leaves and singing feathers as the Carrionwing tried to fly away. Sizzling black smoke rose where the fire ignited the oily black liquid carrying the birds' disease, rotting leaves and branches alike.

  “Rip the feather out and heal him,” Harvey commanded, searching for a target.

  She did as instructed, careful not to break the quill under his skin before tossing the feather aside. More began raining down above them, pinging off Harvey and Julian’s armor like they were fish in a barrel. Bolts of white light shot from Buttercup’s antlers, knocking away most of the feathers headed for himself and Hannah.

  “There are a lot of them!” Julian called. “They’ll swarm at us once they run out of feathers.”

  Harvey sent fireballs whenever he saw an opportunity, leaving the unsullied canopy above pockmarked with patches of burning leaves. He found what looked like a woodpecker, its long beak seated right into a skeletal head, and buried one right in its chest. It had yet to fire all of the poisoned feathers, and he watched as the air around it filled with acrid smoke that boiled the Carrionwing alive.

  You have slain Level 18 - Carrionwing. Essence Gained. 572 Merit Earned.

  The body tumbled to the ground, what was once a woodpecker now a heap of bone and half-rotted flesh. Dead Carrionwing already smelled bad enough, but being bathed in unholy incense made it so much worse. Harvey retched as he backed away and searched for another target.

  The barrage eventually stopped, and the forest returned to an eerie silence as they anticipated the swarm.

  “Anybody get hit?” Julian muttered, anxiously watching the sky.

  “Yeah, but your healing aura already dealt with most of it. My aura took care of the rest.” Hannah replied, a golden glow radiating from her hands into a patch of sickly gray flesh in Buttercup’s neck.

  “Nope, I’m good,” Harvey answered.

  “Don’t let your guard down. They’re waiting to let the poison do its work before coming in to finish us off.” Julian warned.

  “Won’t do them much good.” Harvey shrugged, adjusting the grip on his hammer.

  The forest was still for a long moment, only the sound of crushed leaves and the stench of dead birds. A questioning caw broke the spell, angry chirps mixing with uneasy songs of a variety of bird species all staring down at them. They sounded… confused. Angry?

  He may not be able to understand bird, but their intentions were made clear as a wren dove for his eyes. A Fangbreaker flashed to life over the slit in his helmet, sending the bird bouncing off before a Flamestrike-infused hammer swing launched it into a tree. A puff of gore and feathers came with a kill notification and 2 more Carrionwing heading his way.

  The dance of death began, Harvey falling into a rhythm as he blocked, swung, and shot depending on the position of his enemies. It felt good to cover any distance with his attacks, instead of constantly trying to fight his way closer to a retreating enemy. If they came in with beaks and talons, he was ready. If they retreated, he could punish.

  Buttercup was a machine, constantly repositioning and using her Guardian’s Crown abilities to knock the birds off balance before Hannah pinned them to a tree. Their rotted flesh and strange magic allowing bone wings to fly meant a destroyed wing wasn’t always a death sentence, but the exploding arrows of a lightly charged Critical Mass arrow usually were.

  Instead of exhausting herself with her ultimate finisher, the F Grade evolution made the skill more versatile. If she needed a nuke, she could wait for 20 shots and let one fly. If all she needed was some TNT, she only needed 5 before blowing a bird to smithereens.

  Julian didn’t have the range of his fellows, but none of the Carrionwing attacking him ever got the chance to retreat. Roiling flames covered him from head to toe, lashing out at any bird stupid enough to test their luck. Even if they avoided the flaming armor, a red-hot sword was never far behind. He didn’t waste essence on any of his other skills because he didn’t have to. These birds would be dangerous for an unarmored Veilstrider, but they were woefully unequipped to take down a group like theirs.

  It took less than a minute from the first wren popped for the rest to fall. Almost a dozen Carrionwing lay dead at their feet, the ground boiling as what was left of their acid seeped into the ground. Smoke filled the air above them as leaves burned, but Harvey was relieved to see the branches resisting the fire. The battle wouldn't burn down the whole forest.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “I’ll take the biggest corpses for Elena. Unless you guys want them for some reason?” Harvey grimaced.

  “Hell no!” Hannah answered, her voice nasally from pinching her nose shut. “Let’s get out of here!”

  The group migrated a few hundred feet upwind before going through the notifications. The birds were all between Level 15 and Level 22, with most solo kills netting around 600 merit and group efforts giving half. In the end, Harvey walked away with 2471.

  “I know that fight wasn’t particularly dangerous, but does anyone else feel like we’re getting less merit from kills lately?” Harvey asked.

  “Yeah, now that you mention it. I honestly don’t really think about merit that much lately. I could barely fathom spending a few hundred on coffee when the trial started, but now we get so much I barely notice.” Hannah mused.

  “Maybe the System is scaling back now that the training wheels are coming off,” Harvey wondered.

  They kept heading east towards the rising sun. Julian and Hannah hadn’t risked entering the rocky wasteland past the undead forest when they were first looking for survivors, so it would be everyone’s first time exploring it. Veils End was smack dab in the middle of the forest, so it would take a few hours of walking to reach it.

  They chatted quietly as they roamed, but spent most of their time carefully listening for any beasts. Hannah occasionally sent her Essence Hawk on patrol, the skill not changing at all since she hadn’t been able to bring it up to F Grade with the others. Eventually, they stumbled upon a familiar red mist.

  “God, I hate bloodrunn.” Hannah blanched, taking a cloth from her slipsack and tying it around her mouth.

  “You can wait here if you want, Hannah. Their hit-and-run tactics shouldn’t work very well with our plate armor.” Julian offered.

  “No, we’ll be fine. Can you make some armor for Buttercup when we get back, though, Harvey?” She asked.

  “Probably. I’ve never done it before, but it shouldn’t be too hard.”

  Slowly, they trudged into the mist. Harvey nearly slipped, the leaves underfoot slick with blood. The pack must have been feasting here for a while, as the mist had painted every surface crimson.

  “Careful, clumsy,” Hannah whispered.

  Everything around them started to blend together, their visibility shrinking to just a few feet in every direction. Every shot from Hannah’s bow would have to be point-blank, and Harvey would need every millisecond of reaction speed to catch a hound on the run. They inched forward, a faint rustling in the distance turning to the familiar sound of flesh tearing as they grew closer.

  It took everything Harvey had not to let his armor rattle, but in the end, it was a nervous huff from Buttercup that alerted the horde.

  The sound of ripping skin and devoured meat disappeared in an instant, leaving them in a silent world of red. The pack made no move to attack, so the trio rushed toward the corpse whose blood they were standing in. It was a massive Stonetusk, likely an F Grade one, considering it was even larger than the Level 12 Gary had mutilated back when they were building the wall. All that was left was skin and bone, most of the body already devoured by their enemy.

  “Can you light your armor? It might burn away the blood.” Harvey suggested.

  Julian didn’t hesitate, activating his Firebreak Mantle at full strength. The mist around him smoked as cauterized blood fell like rain.

  “Gross,” Hannah murmured as she readied an arrow.

  A flash of movement was met with a yelp of pain from Buttercup as blood began to leak from a long gash on his side. His leg buckled, nearly sending Hannah toppling over before Lockstep held her in place.

  “No!” She yelled, a golden glow slowly closing the wound.

  “Get them between us!” Julian commanded, waving his burning sword through the mist to clear a wider area. Harvey moved to the opposite side, leaving them in the middle. He held his arms out wide, inviting the beasts to target him instead of the buck.

  When nothing came, he started throwing fireballs, trying to clear a path through the mist. Explosions rang through the forest with brilliant flashes of light, but the bloodrunn remained silent. He felt his anxiety building, and jumped when a crimson hound barreled into his side. Luckily, it was light and wasn’t able to knock him over before he twisted and let its momentum carry it into the ground. It rolled away, scrambling to its feet before baring its fangs at him.

  Harvey stomped after it, only for a second to leap into his back, sending him tumbling into the mud. He heard the thwack of an arrow impaling the beast, and reached both arms behind his head to grab the muzzle of the flailing beast. Grabbing the skin tight, he conjured a fireball in his palm and slammed it into the beast's head. The metal covering his back grew hot as the flames licked him, but he fared much better than the bloodrunn. Its brain sufficiently cooked, he dragged the spasming body off of his back, stood up, and buried his hammer in its chest. A sickening crunch of broken ribs impaling vital organs announced its death, and its brethren wasted no time drinking the blood from their fallen brother.

  Ribbons floated away from the corpse and into the mist, and Harvey sent fireballs soaring after them.

  “I got two down on this side!” Julian shouted. “Hannah, you ok?”

  “A little singed, but we’re fi…” She started, before screaming. Harvey looked up and saw blood pouring from a cut on her face. She pressed her palm to her cheek, covering the wound just as a new one opened on the back of her hand. Thin blades of blood were flying out of the mist, rending flesh.

  “Shield!” Julian called, one of Buttercup’s crystalline antlers snapping as a bubble of blue energy encased them both. Blood bullets fell like rain against the barrier, and Julian leapt into the mist. Fire exploded in every direction when he landed, revealing a bloodrunn with a mane of spiny red quills ringing its neck that hummed with power. The mist dispersed by his flames was quickly replaced as each quill sucked in more from the surrounding air, forming bullets it shot towards Julian.

  Harvey watched his friend march through the barrage, barreling towards the F Grade until a pair of G grades lunged out of the mist for him. He had no idea how long Hannah’s shield was going to last, so he wasted no time getting to work on the weaker bloodrunn. He sent a Flamestrike towards an incoming head, only to swing wide as its partner charged into his legs. The impact sent him leaning awkwardly, falling to a knee before using Booster to shoot back up. Steady again, he kicked the nearest hound, sending it barreling back into the mist with a fireball hot on its heels.

  With only one opponent for the moment, he made wide swings to keep the hound in front of him. Buttercup’s shield fractured behind them, and Hannah was ready with an arrow that flew over his shoulder and into the bloodrunn’s throat. The surprise attack stunned the animal, and Harvey ended it with an overhead swing that crushed its skull. He and Hannah fought back to back, her raining hell from Buttercup’s back as they dismantled the pack one by one.

  Julian screamed as he chased the F Grade through the mist, its body nearly disappearing thanks to its nearly perfect camouflage. He channeled essence into leap after leap, bursts of fire illuminating the best for a moment until it could slink into the trees. Deciding he’d had enough, he poured almost a third of his remaining essence into Burning Resolve, his body swelling as his weave returned in full force, looking like streams of lava flowing across his skin. Luckily, his skill allowed his essence-infused armor to grow with him. Otherwise, he’d pop through the straps each time he used the skill. He had no way to attack the creature from a distance, so he barreled after the thing, letting his enlarged, flame-covered body chew through as much of the mist as possible while forcing the beast to waste its blood magic on him.

  Buttercup took the most punishment, and Hannah was forced to use two more crystal tines to shield them while she struggled to heal his wounds. Harvey was tired, but safe in his heavy armor. The weaker bloodrunn fell one by one, until only the F Grade remained. Its crimson domain shrank bit by bit, the ocean of mist being reduced to a pond as Julian’s colossal form backed it into a corner. The wicked snarl on its face gave way to primal fear as thunderous footsteps drew closer.

  Julian’s breath heaved, his monstrous size making each huff sound like thunder. In a last-ditch effort at survival, it gathered all the remaining blood into a single cannonball that soared at Julian’s chest. Harvey was shocked to see him topple over, the ground quaking as he fell flat on his back.

  The bloodrunn turned to run, but a glowing, crystal-covered arrow sank deep in its shoulder before exploding, utterly destroying its front leg. A pained howl filled the air, and Harvey charged the beast with a sweeping Flamestrike that sent its charred body into the air. Its evolved body withstood his first blow, but not the second.

  “Julian! Are you ok!” Harvey shrieked as he dove to his side. His body was slowly shrinking as the effects of Burning Resolve faded away, and he found him gasping for air.

  “That… thing… was… fast.” Julian heaved. “Whew! I need to do more cardio.”

  Radiant light shone from all three of them, each tinged with the colors of their classes. Seeing everyone was ok, Harvey basked in the glory of progress, letting the System’s power wash over him.

  Your class, Arcanist, has reached Level 23. +1 Vitality, +2 Endurance, +2 Wisdom, +1 Willpower, +2 Free Points

  Your class, Arcanist, has reached Level 24. +1 Vitality, +2 Endurance, +2 Wisdom, +1 Willpower, +2 Free Points

  Your Race, Veilstrider, has reached Level 24. +1 to all stats