I feel an odd energy flowing into my soul from an awkward direction. It’s something I don’t understand, but I use this energy to heal myself anyway. I focus on repairing my arms and internal organs first. Usually I would be curious about something unknown happening to my body, but I don’t have time to think.
(Fledgling Atrocity / ???)
Everyone is staring at the Fledgling Atrocity in complete silence. It feels like I’m standing on the edge of a cliff. The camp was set up inside of a dead end, so the monster is currently blocking the only exit.
The small ball of a creature launches itself, causing the ground from beneath it to explode. I Instant Position myself and grab it by its leg as it’s mere inches from reaching Eva’s head. The bone in my forearm cracks from not healing enough and the sheer momentum of the monster.
Eva falls backwards from the shock and I fling the Fledgling Atrocity back from whence it came. Toulif intercepts it and slams his still darkened fist downward, sending it plummeting into the ground.
“Ack!” Toulif grimaces and pulls his right hand up- No, his hand is gone. Cleanly cut off at the wrist.
I scowl as I start to conjure something with Soul Conjuration. Herldren appears next to the monster with the three hammers he has left. He swings them down at the monster, and at the same time the healer runs to Gents side to try and heal him.
The hammers strike the ground and the Fledgling Atrocity is nowhere to be seen. With Magical Aura Perception I see it move, but I’m not fast enough to stop it. The monster rips through one of the unnamed cultists and his insides burst from his back. I never even got his name.
The monster turns to the next weakest cultist, the healer.
“Shit!” I launch the two soul-circular saw blades that I’ve spun to great speeds with Magical Aura Manipulation, at the Fledgling Atrocity. The monster immediately senses them and pivots to dodge out of the way.
Toulif stabs his one still intact hand into the ground and a black spike shoots from right underneath the monster. It casually moves out of the way from the attack as well.
It’s too fast-
The Jinn Warrior appears on top of the monster with some sort of teleporting ability. He tries to swing at the monster, but he is suddenly pulled into the ground. A disturbing display of black entrails and bone fragments are flung upward.
You have slain a (Jinn Warrior / level 32)
-
Very little experience rewarded
He died instantly-
I take note of his failures with Quick Thinking.
I appear mid-air, above the Fledgling Atrocity with Instant Position. I don’t want to be pulled into the ground, so just don’t touch the ground. I create a dome barrier with Soul Conjuration and throw it on top of the small monster. I keep the dome held down with Magical Aura Manipulation. “Spike it, Toulif!”
I hope, I pray- that Toulif realizes how desperate the situation is and just does it. And thank Ydri because my prayers were answered.
A black spike explodes out of my soul-barrier with the monster impaled on it. I blink at the ball of fur. It worked?
The Fledgling Atrocity starts rapidly spinning and the black spike is ripped apart before it could dissipate. The monster's chicken legs land on the decimated spike and launches itself at me. It slams into my abdomen and I’m rocketed into the ceiling.
To my surprise it barely hurts at all. A small notification appears.
Summon’s Respite (2 / 3)
Eva-
The monster slowly starts to fall mid-air, and my eye widens as I come up with a theory. Maybe the Fledgling Atrocity can’t use whatever magic it has without being in contact with the ground. I think it’s earth magic so the possibility is there.
I launch myself from the ceiling at the monster. I go to punch it and it reorients itself so it can bite my hand off. I grinned because my bait had successfully worked. I send a soul-fragment into its mouth and I feel surprise come from its soul for the first time.
I fall past the Fledgling Atrocity as I hold it in place in the air with Magical Aura Manipulation. I land on my feet and look up at the monster squirming in place. I smile in glee, it work-
A massive grey and brown magic circle appears shining brightly behind the small furry monster. The rock all around us starts to ripple like it’s turned into a liquid. I grit my teeth as I realize it didn’t work.
I slam the Fledgling Atrocity into the floor and the ground ripples outward from the impact like slapping a waterbed. I lose my footing slightly as the ground becomes unstable.
Toulif yells out “It’s pinned! Hit it with everything!”
I grab the soul-circular saw blades I made earlier and send it at the monster. Gent, who now has regained consciousness, sends pillars of rock out of the ceiling to slam into the monster. Even Eva sends a ball of fire at it.
Toulif swings his one intact hand and a black crescent shaped energy is sent through the air. He then stabs his hand into the ground to create another spike.
All the attacks land at the same time. The Fledgling Atrocity shrieks and I take that as a que to detonate the saw blades and the soul fragment at the same time with Magical Aura Manipulation.
A brilliant ball of black flames explodes outward. Soul fire is flung everywhere and the Fledgling Atrocity goes silent. The small lake of fire I just created burns brightly as a stressful silence engulfs me.
I still didn’t get a notification and the ground is still rippling like water.
Toulif screams “It’s not dead yet! Keep attacking!” but it’s to late-
An ethereal voice echoes throughout the dungeon coming from every direction. A single word shakes the foundation of my soul from the massive amount of ambient magical power suddenly drained from the air around me. I’m reminded of a nightmare I had. A common nightmare that most people have.
The fear of being buried alive-
“Entomb!”
The only exit from the camp starts to twist onto itself and implodes, closing off our only means of escape. The cavity we are in starts to violently shake and constrict. I’m so horrified that I almost want to laugh.
The Fledgling Atrocity appears within the black flames as they start to extinguish. Its fur is burning and patchy. The shark-like teeth in its maw are now cracked and broken. It’s injured!
I create a soul-sledgehammer and coat my legs in Aura of Constitution to launch myself at the monster. I swing the hammer down at it, but the Fledgling Atrocity appears already biting down into my thigh. Its broken teeth still dig deep into my leg despite me focusing my whole aura on the one leg.
Toulif starts to chant “I call upon the amputated hands of the first devil-”
My aura folds outward from my leg surrounding the atrocity. I grit my teeth as I rip the creature from my leg with Magical Aura Manipulation and Soul Conjuration. I feel Eva’s soul waver as the same odd energy continues to flow into me.
“I beseech thee, supreme dark one!-”
Toulif stabs his one hand into his own chest and red blood pours out. I send the Fledgling Atrocity encased within a piece of my soul flying into the far wall. I hold it there as Toulifs blood turns an inky black.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Annihilate the foul creature before me!-”
Toulif pulls his hand out of his chest with a sword formed out of his own blackened blood. The room continues to crack and rumble as the entire cavern constricts. He raises the dark sword above his head-
“Dark Demonic Departure!”
He swings- and the dungeon vertically splits in two. A solid wall of black is thrusted forward at the Fledgling Atrocity faster than the speed of sound. The cave crumples as the constriction is suddenly pushed back from the pressure of the attack.
The black energy hits where I’m holding the monster in place. I don’t need to detonate the soul fragment as the weight of Toulif’s attack crushes the Soul Conjuration for me.
A massive ball of dark energy and black flames expands outward from ground zero of the attack. Everyone in the room is sent careening backward from the detonation.
I Instant position to grab Eva and the healer cultist before slamming into the wall. I vomit a mouthful of blood as I use my body as a cushion to protect them. I feel something crack inside me as I suddenly lose control over my aura.
Summon’s Respite (1 / 3)
I collapsed to the ground as the two I grabbed fall to my side. The flow of odd energy has suddenly stopped and my soul is reacting violently. I vomit more blood as my soul convulses and cracks.
“I- I need mana-”
Soul Conjuration has a repair function. I need mana to repair my soul. I push Mana Cycling and scream out in pain as my soul is strained even further. But I manage to slowly piece it back together.
I attempt to breathe deeply, but it only comes out as ragged. My vision has become blurry, but I blink a few times and gradually it becomes more clear. My eye widens and I give a guttural sigh of relief as I read a notification.
You have slain a (Fledgling Atrocity / level 84)
-
Massive experience rewarded
You have leveled up! (38 → 45)
-
You have earned (35) stat points
(Instant Thought) has leveled up! (1 → 2)
(Mana Cycling) has leveled up! (7 → 9)
(Instant Position) has leveled up! (7 → 8)
(Aura of Constitution) has leveled up! (5 → 6)
(Soul Conjuration) has leveled up! (3 → 5)
I blink at the grey screen beneath all the level ups-
Good job!
Ydri? I stare at the notification with an unprocessing expression. I did a good job? I think back to my entire day, no, my entire time in this world. Battle after battle, question after question, level after level. Am I doing a good job?
How many have died because of me at this point. An odd thought to have, but I think about it nonetheless. Charlie is dead. The blue demon, Herldren, is dead. That one cultist whose name I never got, is dead. Toulif’s right hand is gone.
The overflow of information, the constant fighting… Managing relationships with cultists in a fucking dungeon?! Why am I so bad at that?... I lost my left eye, and I nearly lost my right arm!
Everything around me wants to kill me, but I’m still alive! I grin wide revealing my bloody and cracked teeth. It doesn’t last long as I start having a coughing fit.
When it’s over a sigh wistfully as I stare at the ceiling with my one remaining eye. Darkness slowly starts to overtake me. It doesn’t feel like dying this time however.
I wonder. In this world, how fast does someone normally level? Certainly not as fast as I’ve been going, right? I mean, Toulif’s an elf and they live for a very long time. He’s only level 53 last I checked. I wonder how old he is.
I bet I’m leveling thousands of times faster than a normal person.
My body slowly starts to go numb and my mind drifts further into sleep. I think I did a very good job indeed!
My last thought before my consciousness slips away is the memory of the murder of that one guy. The mugger that I killed before I got isekaied. It was so boring. I felt nothing. No pleasure or pain was derived.
A question slips out of my lips “Are you having fun yet?”
Pfft- yeah!
---
A dream- A memory-
I’m at my grandma’s house!
My mom and dad are going out to do something! I don’t really remember what it was they needed to do though!
They are going to be gone for about a week. So, I get to hangout with grandma until they get back! She sits and does nothing as she watches the TV all day, so I get to play around without anyone stopping me!
I just turned 7 last month, mom said seven’s a lucky number!
On the first day I just explored the new house and saw all the new stuff!
Nothing happened on the second day-
On the third day I played with a box of strange toys I found! I can’t remember what they were though.
On the fourth day I watched TV with grandma! She was quiet today-
On the fifth day I found the keys to the basement. There was a washer and dryer and a lot of space for storage! It was fun to hide stuff in there!
On the sixth day-
On the seventh day my parents returned. They were saying something about how they were confused.
Grandma was missing? Where did she go?
---
I woke up with an extremely painful headache. Didn’t I have Pain Tolerance?
I try to open my eyes then freeze when only one of them opens. What happened, what's wrong with my eye?! The sudden panic jolts me fully awake.
My one eye blinks as a hand slowly pushes me back down. My memories slowly start to return. Oh yeah, I only have one eye now. Wait, who are you?
I turn my head to the person in my blind spot. I recognize him as the healer cultist, I never got his name ethier.
“You need to rest, you’re low on blood.”
I blink at the average looking man. Or, kid I guess. He looks like he’s 17. “I’m low on blood?”
“You are very low on blood, if your level and durability wasn’t so high you’d be dead right now.” He looks at me with furrowed brows.
I take a moment to process what he said with my tired mind. I guess it makes sense. My healing ability only puts me back together and doesn’t actually regrow anything. It wouldn’t just magically make more blood either.
Maybe I could work on a better healing skill? I’m not sure how to go about that though. Should I try to manipulate my body the same way I manipulate my soul? That doesn’t sound right. My soul manipulates my body and I manipulate my soul. Could I create more body the same way I can create more soul?
My train of thought is interrupted by the healer cultist “Thank you.”
What? I turned to him “What?”
“I said, Thank you. If you didn’t catch me, I would have died. Instead I got away with a few broken ribs.” He smirks at me.
What? What?! I thought everyone was terrified of me! Wait, how am I alive? “You… Don’t want to kill me?” I asked him dubiously.
He frowned at me. I take the moment to actually look around me properly. We are still where the camp used to be. Everything was annihilated. The tent, the food, any supplies that they had left, all gone.
Toulif is sitting alone at the far wall in front of me. His soul is… annoyed, enraged, apathetic, all at once? His upper robes have been torn to shreds and he’s very muscular for an elf. His right hand is still missing and the stump has been bandaged.
(Cultist / level 58)
I turn my head to my right to see Eva next to Gent. Gent seems to be moving rocks with magic. I think he is digging a tunnel to get out of this cave-in caused by the Fledgling Atrocity.
(Cultist / level 50)
(Cultist / level 43)
“You have Eva to thank for that. They helped you.” I look back at the cultist. Eva helped me?
“She did?” For some reason I feel a massive amount of surprise coming from the cultist next to me. He quickly shushes me. What the fuck is going on?!
He backs away and scratches the back of his head. “Anyway, Evan, our vice-captain, convinced the captain to not kill you. My name's Jammie by the way.”
(Cultist / level 24)
I pause. Oh, I just fucked up.
I speak with my eye glazed over at my own stupidity “Hi, I’m Tiffany.”
“I know.” Jammie quickly glances between Eva and Toulif before looking back at me. He whispers “I wanna talk to you later.”
Fuck- He wants me to spill the beans! I groan loudly and slap my forehead. I’m such an idiot, I can’t believe I let that slip!
Jammie calls out across the room. “Vice captain, she’s awake!”
My shame instantly turns into worry. Did he just call her over! I’m not ready!
Eva turns around and immediately starts walking towards us. Uhhh- It's fine, the healer is here and he can help mediate- Jammie stands up and brushes off his knees. “I’m just gonna let you two- uh, yeah.” And he starts walking away.
What. What?... Oh! He’s just gonna leave…
Fuck.
Eva reaches my side and looks down at me through her mask. I can’t tell what she’s feeling through her soul.
I give her a wry smile “Hi?”
Her voice comes out firm, a kind of voice I hadn’t heard from her before. “Tiffany. What are you?”
“Uhhh..”
