New Fantasy World: Galeia-Chapter 64

Bromisnar took out his lute, and Bonte walked to me.

"Remember what I told you in the river." I gently raised her to her feet and gave her a soft kiss. "It’s nobodies business but yours, and we’ll stand beside you as long as you need. Make your choice. You have the power to move forward."

She looked me in the eye and nodded. Then, her face slowly changed from uncertainty to determination.

"I want power." she growled. "To never feel weak again. Never to be toyed with. Never to feel fear, pain, nor despair."

I nodded. "And to do that, you need to face it all. The fear, the pain, the despair. We can’t solve this problem for you, but we’ll support you. No matter what."

The monsters were reaching us, Yolin summoned her extra arms and all her skills came to life.

"They won’t move past me." she spread all her arms around her.

I looked at Alyssa. She had taken her helmet off and was smiling from ear to ear.

We gave each other a nod and I walked off towards Yolin, Bonte following me.

"Helmets on!" Alyssa called. "Natasha, Yolin, and Bonte will hold them back for Lapia to kill!"

We followed her instructions.

A huge white circle formed beneath us, with the Luzo at its center.

I checked my status and winced at the ten thousand extra strength and dexterity. How does it affect the others? How can my body hold that much strength? Is it Ignore Pain?

"Natasha... those were some nice words." the tank whispered as I stood next to her.

I raised my weapon horizontally, waiting for the wave of monsters to reach us. They were shortening the distance quite fast.

"It’s not much, but it’s what I can do." I sighed. "I can’t heal her mind, and she needs to face her demons."

A loud and quick tune came from behind, the Satyr started playing his lute. The scout crouched behind us, the daggers aiming forward.

"I don’t know what is going on, but I’ll use a few illusions." the Tigea muttered. "That’ll keep them a little occupied."

"Thank you." me and Yolin said at the same time.

He nodded, and shadows spread from his feet towards the green horde. They slowed down, but kept advancing.

"Ah... they are in a state of throwing their lives away." I bit my lips to avoid laughing. "That might have meddled with their perception or whatever."

"Something is insanely boosting two of my stats, so it’ll work either way." he chuckled. "When they get here, they’ll see nothing but shadows."

I nodded.

The first monsters reached us, clashing against us with their poorly improvised weapons, their bodies, and their claws. The sounds of tools hitting my armor surrounded us as hundreds joined them. A green sea of ugly little shits made me a little disgusted. They reached my waist, and their arms failed to reach my helmet.

I appraised one as it jumped and headbutted me in the chest, failing to do anything other than hurting itself.

[Walas, Lvl 140]

Pretty low for the ninth level.

Their weapons and claws broke on my armor and Yolin’s body. It felt like the Me’ik, but the ugly fuckers looked like bastardized goblins instead of an animal. I just pushed back those that came too close, and a lot of floating arms kept them in place, forming a circle around the tank.

Suddenly, a bright light came from behind us and bathed the visible area in an orange light. I smiled.

Solar Epitaph, was it?

I was already topped off in terms of stats. The various buffs made my eyesight sharper, my mind work faster, and my body more responsive. Streams of gentle energy flowed into me through the Bond, the little stamina I had spent so far slowly regenerating. Bubbles had formed around my figurative mind at some point.

The creatures had their eyes enveloped in shadows, their skin slowly burnt, and wails of pain left their deformed mouths as they assaulted us. They moved slower than the first time I saw them, some were completely frozen.

Our shadows disappeared, the source of light moving right above us.

"Oh, shit!" Bonte hissed and retreated after looking back.

I turned my head around and saw a literal sun descending on us. It occupied most of the space between the ground and ceiling.

THAT’S NOT MINIATURE! I screamed in my mind.

Yolin let out a loud laughter. "COME!"

Lapia yelled something in Elvish, and the sun fell down. A bright light enveloped us and the world fell silent for a second. It reminded me of a summer I went to Italy. The heat was comfortable, if anything.

In an instant, all the monsters turned to ashes. I stared with wide eyes. It reminded me of a nuclear blast, though miniature. The ground glowed red and the air shimmered.

This is a level three hundred wizard... but Alyssa made it sound as if the skill was particularly hard to learn. I gulped. How the fuck did she get kidnapped?

I nervously laughed as the world returned to its dim lighting as quickly as the explosion happened, not a single flame to be seen. Yolin joined me, enjoying the absurdity of it all.

Looking around, no monsters were left. I relaxed and turned to the rest of the group. There was a silver dome where Alyssa, Lapia, Bromisnar and presumably Bonte stood.

We walked to it and I knocked on the surface.

"All good in there?" I asked.

The dome slowly thinned until it disappeared.

They were all good. I walked to Lapia.

"Better?" I hugged her. Alyssa joined, then Yolin.

"A lot." she sighed in the cocoon of arms. "I’m sorry. I remembered the bandits and relived some unpleasant memories.

"It’s okay." the Luzo caressed the Elf’s face. "We’re here for you."

Yolin nodded with a toothy smile. "Like Natasha said, no matter what."

A loud sniff made us turn.

Bromisnar was wiping tears away. "Oh! I apologize. I’m weak to these sorts of scenes."

His pink goat-like eyes were a little puffy, and Bonte was rubbing his back.

Alyssa giggled, and we all laughed.

We moved to the next floor, and the environment changed. It was no longer a labyrinth of stone. It looked like a jungle. I looked up and saw white stalactites bathing the world in light. The ground was dirt, and trees blocked out view along with bushes.

"What the fuck?" I blurted out. "What is this?"

"The tenth level." Bonte answered behind me. "Why?"

"And Golems are supposed to be here?" I asked next.

"Yes. Look." Yolin pointed at a boulder between trees a few meters in front of us. "There’s one right there."

It was an unassuming rock on the dirt ground. It was pitch black, and had a lot of jagged edges.

"Well... whatever." I shrugged. "Let’s get the ores, then."

They dismounted and assumed the battle formation as discussed the previous day. Yolin was at the front, Bonte a few meters behind her. Lapia, Alyssa, and Bromisnar stood together at the back.

A flying white fist hit the boulder and it immediately moved. Legs pushed it up, and arms rose from beneath it. It stood at five meters in height.

That’s a Golem alright. I circled them, keeping an eye out for any cheeky crature that would approach. Boulders sat every fifty meters, and some formed groups.

[Jungle Golem, Lvl 200]

The monster slowly approached Yolin flattening the ground, cracking branches, and breaking small stones, then raised an arm. An Asura Projection grabbed the limb and kept it from moving.

The Oni rushed to it, and punched it once with a loud impact. It cracked and shattered, splitting in a few hundred pieces and revealing a silvery mass at its center.

"That’s how it’s done." the tank picked up the ore and tossed it in my direction.

I received it and stored it.

"You can’t use too much force, or the ore breaks. Fire is not advisable, the ore may melt and fuse with the stone... and we’re surrounded by trees." Yolin spoke as we moved forward.

"Is the ore usable if it’s cut in half?" Lapia asked, her staff floating behind her.

"Yes." Bromisnar nodded. "The bounty asked to bring clean ores, not necessarily whole."

"Alright, let’s do it slowly but surely." Alyssa said from the back.

They moved on foot, and I moved on top of Sonya, Pochi walking next to us.

A few Golems were killed, Lapia used her Thaumaturgy spells to cut the things in half from top to bottom. Yolin punched them and shattered the stone around the ore. Bonte somehow confused them even though they were made of stone. And the Satyr froze them with loud tunes from his lute.

I might have overly boosted them with the items. I pondered as they annihilated monster after monster.

As I had nothing to do, I appraised everything in my reach. All the Golems had the same name, and were level 200 on average. Doing poor math, I failed to reach an answer to the level growth of monsters for each level. The first had 50 tops according to the Oni, and the tenth had 200. The ninth had 140 on average. It made no sense to me.

I saw a boulder near me and approached it on Sonya. When I came ten meters from it, it stood up. Bushes fell from its back and it pushed the tree’s branches aside. A fist came down on me and I stopped it with a hand. Sonya didn’t flinch.

It didn’t make sounds like a living creature. It was deadly silent except for its footsteps and the grinding of stone its limbs produced.

It doesn’t have a head, so no forehead to write. I inspected the thing for a while.

When I was satisfied, I vertically cut it in half with my pike. The thing crumbled and the ore inside was revealed.

I quickly dismounted and stored it, then got on top of Sonya again.

Circling around the group, I decided to appraise my companions. I hadn’t done it once since meeting each of them, and I wanted to see if they had leveled up.

[Lapia Pofeta – Bonded Partner – Domi Elf, Lvl 177 Pyromancer]

[Alyssa Pruvik – Bonded Partner – Krystaali Luzo, Lvl 248 Cardinal]

[Yolin Makav – Bonded Partner – Red Oni, Lvl 305 Asura]

[Bromisnar Bahadh – Bonded Companion – Khlyp Satyr, Lvl 169 Minstrel]

[Bonte Slirmy – Bonded Companion – Shishi Tigea, Lvl 136 Shadow Chaser]

Well... I should appraise them more often. I chastised myself. So little growth.

I read my skill for mounts and noticed it mentioned efficiency of E’er absorption. With me being a Halve, having high affinity with it, Sonya had gained a lot more with a single herd of Me’ik. Besides, she didn’t have classes like people did.

Maybe their lower leveled classes increase more. Can’t see that, unfortunately. I checked the surroundings and nothing seemed out of place. There were no birds, bugs, critters, or anything of the sort. The boulders didn’t react to sound, but moved when someone approached them.

Do they have a radar? I wondered as I dismounted again.

I picked up a rock near a clump of trees and tossed it to another boulder. It didn’t move.

Do they react to living things, then? I looked around, a little bored.

"Natasha, we’re moving!" Alyssa called to me.

I climbed on the Ratnak and caught up to them. We moved through the jungle killing Golems for a few hours. Bromisnar’s lute kept the activity from being a drag, and I vibed to his music.

We reached a wide clearing and I noticed a small little thing flying at the center. Moving past the rest, I approached it to get a better look.

It looked like a bug, it had wings like a dragonfly, antlers like a moth, and feet like a mosquito. It was a little terrifying to look at.

Turning to me, it lazily flied in my direction. I decided to appraise it before killing it.

[Floor Guardian – Morthar Vanguard, Lvl 250]

What the fuck? I stared at the thing in confusion. This little shit is the floor guardian?

"Natasha." Alyssa’s voice was dead serious. "Walk away from it. Slowly."

I looked back and they all had assumed battle formations. freewёbnoνel.com

"Why?" I tilted my head.

"That is a scout. They’re a swarm." Yolin quietly said. "They group up and latch onto people, then explode."

Oh. I nodded. Wouldn’t want that to happen.

I slowly turned and noticed a few approaching them from behind.

"Too late." I sighed and pointed behind them. "They’re around us already."