---

You used Alchemy II! You used Magic Analysis I!
---Blackworm---
This target has not been harvested, dissected, or otherwise broken down into useful components. Without more Analysis Skills, at its current rank the Alchemy Skill is unable to analyze the traits of this target or its reactivity. This Creature has no Magical Properties whatsoever, not even MP.
---Lampworm---
This target has not been harvested, dissected, or otherwise broken down into useful components. Without more Analysis Skills, at its current rank the Alchemy Skill is unable to analyze the traits of this target or its reactivity. This Monstrous Creature has few Magical Properties, and barely any MP.
---Common Spider Species---
This target has not been harvested, dissected, or otherwise broken down into useful components. Without more Analysis Skills, at its current rank the Alchemy Skill is unable to analyze the traits of this target or its reactivity. This Creature has no Magical Properties whatsoever, not even MP.
---Wild Topapo---
Plant, Root. Firm exterior. Low taste value. High in carbohydrates. Slight toxicity in the skin and leaves. Soft, slightly crunchy interior. Relatively non-reactive. Very low magical properties.
---Blue Argep---
Plant, Berry. Firm exterior. High sweetness. Very High Vitamin Content. Slightly acidic juice. Negligible toxicity in seed pits. Soft, weak, pulpy, juicy. Slightly reactive. No magical properties.
---Alchemy and Analysis Complete!---

She soon came upon a couple of bushes, their leaves glimmering with the sheen of misty droplets. The bright green leaves of one bush concealed lumpy roots much like those Torrent and Oberon had been digging for when that beetle attacked, and the other plant's branches hung low with round, swollen bunches of blue colored berries.

Hrmph, no logs or anything on the ground to make use of. At least the rain from the night before seemed to have made any creatures wary of being out this early of a morning. Only a few small critters stirred about the forest floor, worms, bugs, and the like. Nothing immediately notable aside from that beetle she had left the others to deal with. Blackworm, Lampworm, and a common spider species. Seemed if she wanted to learn more about them she'd have to dissect them and learn more about them herself. Expected, but it was always a good idea to look before leaping.

It wasn't until she found a series of bushes did she find something even mildly interesting. Bright, lumpy roots like those Oberon and Torrent had been digging up, and the other had round bunches of blue colored berries. A quick analysis told her it was Wild Topapo andBlue Agrep.

"High in Carbs and high in Vitamin content..." Musing to herself, Ash plucked one of the berries from its stem and gave it a closer inspection. And the Topapo was even mildly magically reactive. Curious. She'd need to keep that in mind. Might be useful later if she could find other magically reactive things.

But before she could think about it, there was a blast, a roar accompanied by a hot wind.

Jumping slightly from being startled Ash fumbled with the Agrep, turning around and looking back in the direction she had come in. That was back in the direction the others had come from...! Quickly stuffing the berry in her backpack, the Pygmy Drake made a dash back to where she had come from. Who was shouting? She didn't recognize the voice, but something about Torrent and dying? It didn't take her long to reach the clearing where they had been previously fighting the beetle.

Oh no. Nonono. What did those idiots do?!

Fire. So much fire, like someone lit a campfire in a drought. Was...Torrent burning? It was difficult to see everything clearly through the flames. The heat from it was enough to feel from even all the way here. Urgh, this wasn't good. Flapping her wings, she lifted herself into the air with little grace.

The heat licked her claws, but she paid it no mind. For a moment, Ash attempted to hover there, bewildered, trying to piece together how it happened. The beetle? But it was dead. Something else? Didn't matter. Anger quickly punted any sort of sadness she was feeling out. Just how badly did they have to fuck up to explode something?! She should have stayed with them! Suppressing a growl, she did quick mental check. Oberon wasn't looking too good himself, but didn't seem to be in any immediate danger. Some goblin trying to put out the fire.

"Oberon! Get yourself together and try and heal torrent!" She shouted, trying to give them some sort of direction, hoping a voice might be good enough to spur them into action. "Mourningstar! See if you can find any healing herbs like in the cave, but if you can't return immediately!" They could worry about the remnants of the fire and explosion later, saving Torrent was their first priority. "You, Goblin! Clear a ground path to Torrent!" He seemed friendly, so perhaps he was another one like them? He seemed like he was trying to help.

She wasn't sure if she could try air lifting torrent out of this mess, but hopefully that goblin could try clearing a ground path that they could both lift her out of.

“Damn.” It seemed like even Mana Dart wasn’t enough to pierce through the Beetle’s armour, though it certainly put a crack in it; whatever this thing was made out of it tougher than any creature they’d fought so far, tougher than his Shield spells and even tougher than the rocks back in the cave. If they wanted to do any kind of damage to this thing it looked like they’d need more firepower than they currently had, or maybe just be a little more creative.

The beetle wasn’t completely unharmed though. He had been able to crack the chitin slightly, so he could keep hammering away at its shell with his Mana Dart’s until a big enough gap opened up for them to attack its main body. Alternatively they could flip it over somehow and attack its softer underside; either Torrent or Mourningstar looked like they might be strong or large enough to do so.

As he was about to say something the Beetle opened its mandibles wide to expose its mouth as at the same time its chitin parted to reveal a set of iridescent wings and a brightly coloured thorax with some kind of opening at the end with was pointed directly at them. As a blue glow began to emanate from inside its mouth and as the swirling blue of its thorax became agitated, Oberon drew a conclusion based on the results of Monster Analysis that they should probably get behind cover. “Get back! It’s going to- NO STOP!”

Torrent launched a fireball from her mouth towards the beetle, the one which currently had its sac filled with combustible material exposed for the world to see. Before his world went completely white Oberon had to confess that the resulting explosion was, admittedly, quite impressive.

WARNING: YOUR HP IS LOW!

His ears were ringing and everything hurt; those were the first things that came to mind as Oberon came back to his senses. He was still in the air, somehow, and he couldn’t have been dazed for more than a couple seconds at most but the world was suddenly on fire, both literally and figuratively as the flames spread further and wider and his body continued to feel like he was covered head to toe in sunburn. He heard someone shouting but couldn’t make out the words, though the urgency they carried was still clear even now.

He cast Minor Heal II on himself at it seemed to help; without the pain covering his whole body he was able to concentrate more at least and it seemed to lessen the ringing in his ears as well. He heard shouting again, a different voice this time, and he finally caught on to the fact that Torrent was hurt. He looked around urgently, taking in the scene; Digbie and Ash were here, unhurt and helping to clear a path to Torrent, Mourningstar seemed fine as well as his Shield or some resistance kept her relatively safe, but the Lesserwurm wasn’t so lucky.

The evolved lizard had been the closest to the blast and was still trapped within the inferno; the Sprite could just make out her body from where he hovered. Casting Shield III on himself Oberon began to fly towards her, the temperature rising as he approached the edges of the nearest flame and counting on his shield to keep him from bursting into flames. He kept a healthy distance from the fire as he flew above it until he was hovering above the lizard, lowering himself down as low as he could until the heat became unbearable, before casting first a Shield III on the Lesserwurm to prevent further damage before casting Minor Heal II as many times as he could manage.



@Old Amsterdam@Zeroth

---

@Zeroth@SilverPaw@Kazemitsu@ReusableSword

COMMAND INVALID. DUNGEON CANNOT REGISTER A MID-BOSS AT CURRENT LEVEL.

DIRE_RAT_A WAS KILLED BY ADULT_DIRE_RAT_123! REGISTER ADULT_DIRE_RAT_123 AS AN INTRUDER?

Jason sighed, why did things have to be so difficult? "No, do not register ADULT_DIRE_RAT_123 as an intruder..." he grumbled as he sped along.

“If we encounter an ex-human, let’s try to resolve this situation peacefully, alright?” Asteria chimed in as she easily caught up to Jason, If they’re an ex-human, maybe they’ll just agree to a non-aggression pact if nothing else.

'If it is indeed one of our fellow reincarnators, I don't intend to settle the matter violently.' Jason responded to his Second in Command with [Telepathy II] as he continued to push the limits of his speed, 'However, in the event that they refuse to back down, more... Pysical, methods of persuasion, but by no means do I intend at all to outright kill them.... However, Mourningstar; whom already made an attempt on my life, is a different story... By the way, your speed is rather impressive Asteria, keep up the good work.'

Though Jason wasn't far from the entrance, he had a sinking feeling in his 'gut' that shit was about to hit the proverbial fan. It was clear he might not get there in time to stop the Skeleblins from attacking the intruder. The intruder that was shooting Fireballs into his dungeon. His dungeon, that the Skeleblins protected. What was this idiot thinking--because there were only a handful of creatures Jason knew could create a Fireball, and to him they were all probably idiots. They almost deserved to get attacked by the Skeleblins. After all, he was working so hard on this dungeon, trying to fix it, trying to make it better, and what did he get for his efforts? How dare they do this to him? How dare they BETRAY him? This...this...intruder! Intruder! Intruder!

NO! Jason roared in his mind. Those WEREN'T his thoughts, those were the 'thoughts'; if they could be called that-, of the dungeon. It was HIS decision as to who counted as an intruder and who didn't. HE was the BOSS of the DUNGEON-- not the other way around. Come to think of it, if Crispy WAS indeed attacking the dungeon, he'd have an entire retinue of goblins backing him up, no doubt endowed with more developed equipment made outside the cave. Therefore, Jason needed reinforcements of his own, and so he called them; "ALL NEARBY UNITS, MOBILIZE AND HEAD TO THE DUNGEON ENTRANCE!!!" the Boss slime roared as loudly as he could without slowing down. Hopefully, there would be some assimilated mobs close enough to hear Jason's rallying cry.

Even pushing himself past his limit, Jason STILL wasn't fast enough... He wanted- No, he NEEDED more speed. He HAD to go F A S T. Then it hit him; a revelation caused by one of his rocky outcroppings striking the dirt. His variance, had changed him, both in, and out. He wasnt just a slime, he was a living part of the very element he wielded. I am stone. Stone is me. he thought, I am stone. Stone is me. I am stone. Stone is me. I am stone. Stone is me. I am stone. Stone is me. I. A M. S T O N E. S T O N E. I S. M E. and so, Jason cast [Stone Shot II], using himself; his whole self, as the projectile. Not to soar through the air, but to use that same magical force that propelled his first magical attack to drive himself faster.

Though he wasn't able to arrive fast enough to stop the engagement from starting, Jason made it on scene just in time to see Asura lash out at his soldiers. "ASURA, DON'T ATTACK THEM, THEY WORK FOR ME!" Jason exclaimed with a mighty [Warcry II] aimed to grab the attention of his 'brother' as he continued to close the distance. (this is when he's in warcry's effective range)

Ardur The Pixie

Curiosity! > Rage. /// Adventuring day 4 // Morning / Location - Cave entrance > Cave

Ardur watched with wonder and excitement as his fire ball traveled through the air and exploded on a far off rock. “So it does drop” he thought out loud, unaware of the goblins who were watching nearby. That fire ball also took a good chunk of his manna, not quite a quarter but almost. His chant seemed to strengthen the spell as well, he was unsure if invoking some kind of god made it stronger because of the god or because of the users view or interpretation of said god. One thing he did discover to be mostly true was the spell seemed to rely a lot on the wielder and what he tried to do with it. Only when he heard a strange sound did the buff pixie get drawn out of his thoughts and back to reality.

He felt strange, his instincts were trying to tell him to take flight and run. He could feel his heart racing because of this invisible enemy he could only just now begin to hear. Squinting into the darkness of the cave he began to make out three goblin shaped figures. These figures seemed to move in a way he wasn’t used too. Ways that seemed unnatural. Then in a flicker of light he was able to make it out, bones and scraps of what used to be a living thing. There was three of them, and they were armed with some kind of weapons.

Ardur was frozen, he couldn’t move. Undead where here in this world, in front of him and running toward him in a very unfriendly manner. These things weren’t here before someone had to have brought them into this world. What changed? The death of Rattleskull? The exodus of the other reborn and goblins from this cave? What happened that could shift the balance and bring these abominations into this world? It couldn’t be him, could it? That arrogant slime? But that’s what changed, that slime from the fight with Rattle gripped onto that crystal and spouted some nonsense about being its master.

How could he do that? How could he bring the dead back to life? Ardur spent both of his lives trying to prevent death but welcomed it when it came for him, because it was natural. Who does he think he is, trying to play god.

To the others that could see him Ardur remained quiet still almost like he was frozen with fear just from the mere sight of the skeletons. He began to shake, his arms at his side as he clenched his fists. An explosion echoed in the forest behind him and with that Ardur began to experience something he hadn’t experienced since he woke up in this world. Rage, pure unbridled rage.

He couldn’t control himself. “Two lives of trying to keep people alive, a lifetime spent helping others and you falter to something like this… this evil and unnatural thing?” he was practically yelling at the undead but who was he addressing? Himself or the one that brought these things to life? “Come, let me show you the Sun's mercy, Let me cleanse you of your sins so you may rest eternally” without skipping a beat Ardur cast Shield I on himself and focused it into his hands. “Fire cleanses and inferno purifies.” He began to chant again but this time like the shield spell, he tried to focus on keeping the fireballs just on the outside of the shield. It looked like he was attempting to cast with both of his hands. Letting the fireballs feed and burn at the shield spell.

“My soul is fire, my heart is of the sun, Burn and envelope the evil within these lost souls!” With that he leaped forward and flew towards the closest skeleton as fast as he could intent on punching the creature with his fist's of fire. Ardur wasn’t in a the right state of mind, his compulsion to destroy these skeletons wasn’t something he could stop himself from doing at least not yet. Trapped in this mindset, the buff pixie would uncontrollably use his mana to the point where he was willing to sacrifice his own life force. Who among those nearby could shake him from this anger of his? The war cry from the slime didn’t seem to faze him, if it did its not showing. Who would be willing to stand against this burning pixie with fire in his heart and rage in his eyes?

@Zeroth
@Guy0fV4lor
@Lucius Cypher
@Kazemitsu

The events that had transpired happened so quickly that the blue furred dire rat was left dumbstruck...that or the fact that on their way down off the rock, Ed smacked his head onto the ground first. Not enough to lead to injury but forceful enough to discombobulate the boy. While the dust settled around him, he stared at his surroundings with some disbelief, questioning if the event really had happened. For a scant few seconds, Ed simply stared in the distance with a blank look in his eyes. He was snapped out of his stupor by Danny. Ed did not expect anyone to follow him here, and combined with the relatively silent floating by the wisp; Danny speaking to him startled the dire rat. Ed, seeing as it was just Danny, visibly relaxed and let out a long sigh. "Jesus Christ, Danny...don't go sneaking up on me like that." He tells the wisp while shaking off the excess dust and moisture from his body like a dog would. "An explosion near the mouth of the cave? That doesn't sound good." Ed then looks at the lizard corpse and feels his stomach grumble still. The small amount of meat inside of his stomach was not enough, but the explosion near the entrance sounded urgent...so Ed decides to kill two birds with one stone.

He would just carry his meal all the way to the cave mouth. The body that Ed possessed was physically stronger than most, that was a given fact; but with the [Stronger I] skill he already had, carrying a single corpse across a short distance would likely be no problem for him. After hoisting and balancing the corpse upon his back, the young dire rat was ready to go to the mouth of the cave and investigate.

"Sorry about that, but you should really try to pay attention to your surroundings, even if you're busy with something." Danny didn't feel the need to mention that he too had had problems following that advice in the past.

It was a bit surprising to see Ed put the body of the lizard he was eating on his back but he figured the Dire Rat must have his reasons. As the two of them made their way to the cave entrance Danny tried to study how Ed moved, in an attempt to get an idea for how he might be able move without mana, making sure not to get lost in what he was doing.

---

---

“Mourn did what? I want the full story when there's time. And yeah, I planned to train some more, but there’s BS happening again. Actually, after this, could we practice together? I think there are some skills that can be gained easier with someone.”

She continued running besides Jason. They soon spotted Asura and a some goblins near the cave’s entrance. Asteria stopped to observe for now, focusing on her sight to try and see all the details. Asura seemed different than the last time she’d seen him, so she analysed him. In the middle of an already chaotic situation a crazed pixie – Ardur – began chanting and conjuring spell-fire, spewing it everywhere after rambling furiously about how evil the zombies were. Asteria tensed up, wary of getting burned.

“Dude, the fuck’s your problem,” Asteria grumbled. As insane as the idea was, this seemed like a good time to make use of one of her skills. And so, while Ardur was focused on destroying the nearest skeleton, Asteria dashed at him in a full sprint while trying to avoid the flames as best as she could, and jumped towards the pixie. Her intent was not to harm him, but only to restrain him. As soon as she had physical contact with him, she’d do her best to wrap her tail around him, and activate Mana Drain. “Listen to me! I know this is weird, alright, but they’re allies for now. So, could you just back down and ignore them?”

"Dammit you pixie, you just really want to be a thorn in my side don't you?" By the time Orchid came up to the cave she could see the strangely muscular pixie and some residue of his fire magic near the cave entrance. If he had done it somewhere out of sight Orchid wouldn't have cared what he was doing, however his explosions had caught her attention and possibly made the other goblins jumpier than they already where. Of course things weren't going to be so simply. As Orchid approached there was another, louder explosion off into the forest. This one seemed much more dangerous than Ardur's. "What the hell?"

It was on the side of the forest where the other monsters were. Ash and the others were in that direction, and may have possibly ran into danger. Not only that, but if what Wej said was correct some of the other goblins who were partial to Orchid were also over there talking to some of the monsters or maybe just the goblins. Point was, people that she could rely on were now in danger. And if that wasn't bad enough, as Orchid glanced back towards Ardur she saw zombies of all things heading towards the cave entrance. Goblin zombies too, likely from yesterday's little bloodbath. Gritting her teeth and sighing Orchid turned to Wej. "Follow me and get ready for a fight."

Orchid would leave the cave entrance and head towards the forest. Finding the area was easy; it was the place that was one fire. Looked like one of the other monsters had got caught in a giant fireball. A bunch of other monsters were here too. Orchid needed to get her goblins out of here before things get any crazier. "Oi! Bigz, Jezee, get over here!" Orchid didn't have any healing herbs for the wounded, so she couldn't help them. She just needed her goblins out of this mess, and then she'll figure out what could be done to assist. For starters, Orchid tries to stamp out some of the grass fire with her shield, making sure to strike hard and fast to snuff out the embers and prevent her shield from catching flame.

Mourningstar

Oh, that's new. Mouths don't usually do that when you open them, maybe this Corpselight thing will work out in the end. She was even able to get a grip on the thing, despite not being able to actually pierce it's shell. Sure she just got bucked off, but she was feeling alright nonetheless. Everyone was attacking it now, hopefully they could kill it before something crazy ha-

T̛̳̥̖͖̀̽̋͒̃̓̿͒ẖ̙̦̳̱̠̙̀̽̓̕e̵̛̪͖͓͈̤͗͑̄ͭ͊n̘̞̲͓̜͆̓ͭͦ̑̓ͅ ͈͖̖ͩ̾̆̇̅ͤ́T̵̤̳̭̭̮͖ͯͯḧ̢̡͕̘̪̝ͅe̵͚͍̙͖̗̱͇͑̄͛ͨ̅̏̕ ̛͙̥͇̮̯̥͌ͫ͟͜W̛̲̰̞̬̩͖ͯ̀ô̲̤̣͓͙͓͑͑̑̌́̋ͫͅr̫̳͗͗̏̏̍ͥ́l̸͈̪͓̳͕̬͔̅ͪ̔͂̎͊͒̓d̸͓͆͑ͥͣͭ̇̀͠ ̷̼̘̩̍̅̍̽̅̈͊ͪ̕E̡̻̦̲͎̋̿͛ͤ̕r̢̯͓̱̗̰̮̠̿̔̅̊̽͌̅u̷̷̼͚͎̠̿ͮ͌̿̒͆͂̓ͅp̵̞̗̯͕̯͉̼͙̎ͦ̅͑͜t̩͉̻̻͙̲ͫ̿͐ͦ́e͍͖ͩͮ͋͋ͨ̄̒d̻͉͇͍͛̅̅͒ͨ̅.̯̥̪͛́ͩͪͭ͌̂ͅ

---

Oh christ what the hell happened. One second she was getting ready for a follow up assault on the beetle thing, the next she's face down on the ground while the whole world is on fire. Why is fire such a common thing in her new life, in her old one she never had to deal with random fires. Jesus christ, what is even happening right now.

But there is no time to be stunned and confused, people are yelling and someone is dying. At least, Mourningstar is pretty sure someone is dying. She can't really hear anything right now, other than a persistent ringing in her ears, but she can see that Torrent needs help badly. And so, despite the insane amount of fire everywhere around, Mourningstar rushes in to be the hero once again.

Fire is ignored as Mourningstar flies directly over it, keeping her breathing to a minimum and her eyes narrowed to minimize the effects of the rampant fire. Luckily Digbie was making a pretty good path for her, extinguishing as much of the flames as possible in a direct line to Torrent, which sped things up quite nicely.

When she arrived at Torrent's seemingly lifeless body, the first thing she noticed was baked potatoes. Strange detail to latch onto, especially when one is in front of a dying body. But something about those baked potatoes really spoke to her, they reminded her of a game she really hated back in her first life. You could just pause in the middle of combat and eat a bunch of random food junk you had on you, and it would heal you almost instantly. While she doubted it would do much in a real world setting, especially since you can't pause the real world, it was honestly the best idea she had.

This is so incredibly stupid. On one hand she really hopes this works, because that means she saved her friends life, on the other hand if this works than she will have lost so much respect for this world. So with Lesser Force, she opened up Torrent's mouth and shoved a Baked Topapo in there, forcing her to chew and swallow with one invisible hand while she picked up the next Baked Topapo with the other.

YOU--

Nononononononsgkklp9gswy9jvsy

Jumping slightly from being startled Ash fumbled with the Agrep, turning around and looking back in the direction she had come in. That was back in the direction the others had come from...!

His ears were ringing and everything hurt; those were the first things that came to mind as Oberon came back to his senses.

Digbie quickly ran to the aid of the situation, trying to utilize {Soil Manipulation} around the area to extinguish the flames by overturning and covering dirt. Specifically, he saw that Torrent was really busy dying, so he was constructing a safer path for Oberon to move across. Oberon could heal, and that was litERALLY THE ONE THING HE NEEDED TO DO RIGHT NOW OH MY GOD TORRENT IS DYING!

Oh christ what the hell happened. One second she was getting ready for a follow up assault on the beetle thing, the next she's face down on the ground while the whole world is on fire. Why is fire such a common thing in her new life, in her old one she never had to deal with random fires. Jesus christ, what is even happening right now.

Fire burning melting loss can't thought it's wrong all busy terror

--HAVE--

Quickly stuffing the berry in her backpack, the Pygmy Drake made a dash back to where she had come from. Who was shouting? She didn't recognize the voice, but something about Torrent and dying? It didn't take her long to reach the clearing where they had been previously fighting the beetle.

He was still in the air, somehow, and he couldn’t have been dazed for more than a couple seconds at most but the world was suddenly on fire, both literally and figuratively as the flames spread further and wider and his body continued to feel like he was covered head to toe in sunburn.

Scared

"OBERON HEAL TORRENT NOW--!"

Dying

But there is no time to be stunned and confused, people are yelling and someone is dying. At least, Mourningstar is pretty sure someone is dying. She can't really hear anything right now, other than a persistent ringing in her ears, but she can see that Torrent needs help badly. And so, despite the insane amount of fire everywhere around, Mourningstar rushes in to be the hero once again.

--NO--

Oh no. Nonono. What did those idiots do?!

Fire. So much fire, like someone lit a campfire in a drought. Was...Torrent burning? It was difficult to see everything clearly through the flames. The heat from it was enough to feel from even all the way here.

"--OR SHE'S GONNA KICK THE BUCKET!"

He heard someone shouting but couldn’t make out the words, though the urgency they carried was still clear even now.

He cast Minor Heal II on himself at it seemed to help; without the pain covering his whole body he was able to concentrate more at least and it seemed to lessen the ringing in his ears as well.

Fire is ignored as Mourningstar flies directly over it, keeping her breathing to a minimum and her eyes narrowed to minimize the effects of the rampant fire. Luckily Digbie was making a pretty good path for her, extinguishing as much of the flames as possible in a direct line to Torrent, which sped things up quite nicely.

Can't
Need more stop no plea

--HP--

Urgh, this wasn't good. Flapping her wings, she lifted herself into the air with little grace.

The heat licked her claws, but she paid it no mind. For a moment, Ash attempted to hover there, bewildered, trying to piece together how it happened.

"Oberon! Get yourself together--!"

Broke missing lost mommy where kill you not fair not wright mesh fear

He heard shouting again, a different voice this time, and he finally caught on to the fact that Torrent was hurt. He looked around urgently, taking in the scene; Digbie and Ash were here, unhurt and helping to clear a path to Torrent, Mourningstar seemed fine as well as his Shield or some resistance kept her relatively safe, but the Lesserwurm wasn’t so lucky.

In his heightened state of awareness, brought forth by the anxiety due to the stress of the situation, Digbie began to follow in the footsteps of Jason as he began to chant... well... no that wasn't the right word. He began to repeatedly speak out the same sentence over and over as quick as he could.

"RECOVERTHEEARTH--"

When she arrived at Torrent's seemingly lifeless body, the first thing she noticed was baked potatoes. Strange detail to latch onto, especially when one is in front of a dying body. But something about those baked potatoes really spoke to her, they reminded her of a game she really hated back in her first life.

--REMAIN--

"--and try and heal Torrent!" The beetle? But it was dead. Something else? Didn't matter. Anger quickly punted any sort of sadness she was feeling out. Just how badly did they have to fuck up to explode something?!

"--ANDSAVETHEWURM--"

The evolved lizard had been the closest to the blast and was still trapped within the inferno; the Sprite could just make out her body from where he hovered. Casting Shield III on himself Oberon began to fly towards her, the temperature rising as he approached the edges of the nearest flame and counting on his shield to keep him from bursting into flames.

You could just pause in the middle of combat and eat a bunch of random food junk you had on you, and it would heal you almost instantly. While she doubted it would do much in a real world setting, especially since you can't pause the real world, it was honestly the best idea she had.

Suffering no not don't stop please

--ING. YOU--

Suppressing a growl, she did quick mental check. Oberon wasn't looking too good himself, but didn't seem to be in any immediate danger. Some goblin trying to put out the fire.

"--RECOVERTHEEARTHANDSAVETHEWURM--"

He kept a healthy distance from the fire as he flew above it until he was hovering above the lizard, lowering himself down as low as he could until the heat became unbearable, before casting first a Shield III on the Lesserwurm to prevent further damage--

This is so incredibly stupid. On one hand she really hopes this works, because that means she saved her friends life, on the other hand if this works than she will have lost so much respect for this world.

--ARE--

Darkness. Blissful darkness as her mind fled the horrors of her body. She was going to die.

"Mourningstar! See if you can find any healing herbs--" She shouted, trying to give them some sort of direction, hoping a voice might be good enough to spur them into action.

So with Lesser Force, she opened up Torrent's mouth and shoved a Baked Topapo in there, forcing her to chew and swallow with one invisible hand while she picked up the next Baked Topapo with the other.

"--RECOVERTHEEARTHANDSAVETHEWURM--"

--before casting Minor Heal II as many times as he could manage.

But Oberon had, since his meditation, cast Shield III on Mourningstar...Mana Dart I on the Beetle...Minor Heal II on himself...Shield III on himself as he rose above the flames...he had felt his MP dropping even as he extended his hand to try and cast Shield III on Torrent to keep her from taking further damage...

As the Sprite flew up above the flames, he was in the direct light of the sun. His body glimmered like a fairy-shaped diamond. Down below, Digbie's frantic mud-slinging had succeeded in dousing most of the flames on the ground--and oddly enough, in his kicking and running, he seemed to have traced a circle in the ground around Torrent unintentionally.

The circle started to glow.

Oberon felt a trickle of Mana added to what he had left as the sun beamed down.

--Recover--

She couldn't believe it. Even as she had thrashed in torment, her mind fleetingly grasping at understanding, it had seemed almost unreal. But she knew this darkness and what it brought far too well.

"Shield III!"

"--RECOVERTHEEARTHANDSAVETHEWURM--"

"--like in the cave, but if you can't return immediately!" They could worry about the remnants of the fire and explosion later, saving Torrent was their first priority.

"Minor Heal II!"

As Mourningstar attempted to force feed the Lesserwurm, who was on the verge of unconsciousness, Torrent's body instinctively tried to keep its airways clear by coughing. A mix of blood and warm vegetable pulp spattered the Corpselight's glowing body.

You have no MP Remaining.

--ing HP slowly--
YOU ARE BURN--

She was going to die. A final end, perhaps. The bastard Demon King hadn't even felt fit to answer her demands... She didn't expect him - it - to save her.

"You, Goblin! Clear a ground path to Torrent!" He seemed friendly, so perhaps he was another one like them? He seemed like he was trying to help.

"--RECOVERTHEEARTHANDSAVETHEWURM--"

Torrent's body was shrouded in green sparkles, the same which swirled around Oberon's outstretched hand...then the light died away.

The golden light filling Digbie's circle, however, began to emit secondary sparkles as well--once more the color of emeralds.

--. You were--
--ING SEVERELY--

She didn't want to be saved. She wanted to survive through her own means. All that anger had to be worth something! DAMNIT WHY DID SHE HAVE TO DIE?

Oberon knew his tank had run dry. What else could he do? Even if he used a Mana Crystal--did he have one?--would he be in time? In a way he felt...too calm. He had never experienced death before. Never had to save a life before. And Torrent...Torrent was...or wasn't...

This fire, the others, the goblins, the cave, the danger, there was so much going on...

Digbie's Soil Manipulation had succeeded in smothering the flames, leaving only a few smoking embers, but still the goblin chanted. He had to make this place safe--the flames, the danger, had to go! He had to make it safe so Oberon could come here--because Oberon could do what he couldn't, Oberon could heal, Torrent, his friend was going to die--!

--healed by Minor--
--.
Your Severe Burn has partially healed. You are still Burning.

"--RECOVERTHEEARTHANDSAVETHEWURM--"

The Shield III around Torrent's body shattered. The glowing circle grew brighter, and the blackened grass began to shiver as its base began to poke up a little higher, revealing new and green growths...

You are recovering HP slowly. Your HP is now full.

Her body fell still.

Once again, that white room. Four non-existent walls, a non-existent floor, and non-existent ceiling. White, void, empty. No shadows, no feeling, no sound...

No, there was feeling. Something heavy on her chest and in her hand--claw? Something she was gripping onto so tightly, because she was just so angry! A chain of iron, but coated in rust, the links cracking and stretching...It felt like before...didn't it? What was before? Blue eyes. Forcing herself back...back...into her body? Her body! Burning!

"I didn't make you weak."

A looming shadow. He--it--wasn't going to save her. He just watched--but just this once. Just this once he spoke.

"I picked you because you can become strong." She would remember that.

She had just enough strength for one more pull, even if it was so weak...one fragile, trembling claw holding on...

You have no MP remaining.
Your Stamina is Low.

"She's dying. She's dying and I can't help..." Digbie's heart sank. He felt powerless to do anything. He wanted to turn away from the sight of what was happening, but he couldn't bare to take his eyes off of what was going on. It was terrifying to watch, yet despite the sickness swelling up from within, Digbie kept trying to extinguish the flames around Torrent, determined to get her a way out of the hell she was experiencing or someone else a way in to heal her. He had seen Oberon managed to do something, so maybe...gently, he tried to gather the loose soil in his bare hands and smother the flames on Torrent's body...

Heal II. You are recovering HP slowly.
WARNING! YOUR HP IS LOW!
Your Burn was doused.
HP Recovery has ceased. Your HP is still Very Low.

She felt, all over, her shriveled and blackened skin. She smelled her own blood, copper and rust. Her own flesh, somehow sickly sweet like pork. Her scales were cracking, popping, peeling like scabs from the heat. But the roar of the flames was gone. She didn't have enough voice left to scream, no matter how desperate the pain. Her throat was raw and it felt like there was something sticking in her windpipe. She tasted the blood too, warm and iron. Her tears had dried; her eyes were crusted shut with blood. Even though her throat was seared, it was the only way she could breathe, as blood had also caked her nose shut. She couldn't hear her own wheezing, for the same had blocked the earholes on either side of her reptilian head. Her skin was splitting apart.

But her spirit remained.

Torrent was alive. For now.

---

“Two lives of trying to keep people alive, a lifetime spent helping others and you falter to something like this… this evil and unnatural thing?” Ardur practically screamed, rage spilling from him like froth from the mouth as the three Skeleblins approached with murder in their eyesockets.

"You might wanna take flight, kid." Asura tried to channel the same strength that he used to activate the Smash skill into his tendril as he hurled the stone. The elasticity of his limb, his slightly increased strength, and the use of the melee skill caused the stone to flash red for just an instant before it took flight. The light immediately drew the attention of the three skeletons as they registered what had to be an attack.

Leonidas, as the tallest and broadest of the three, had been leading the charge due to its longer stride even though the three were roughly the same speed. But with a sudden burst--a lunge, as opposed to a sustained run--Gawain jumped in front and swung its Wooden Club. The stone struck the weapon and was batted away, but there was a noticeable cracking and splintering of the weapon and the joints of Gawain's arm made several popping noises.

"Assist the pixie there, Ardur, if the goblins get nasty." Asura said to Mother Slime. "Don't eat him and don't attack unless they do first." The Amorphous Slime surged forward to meet the skeletons in closer combat--

“Come, let me show you the Sun's mercy, Let me cleanse you of your sins so you may rest eternally--” without skipping a beat Ardur cast Shield I on himself and focused it into his hands. Similar to before when he had punched a stone, the golden orbs tightened and became smaller and denser around his fists...

"ALL NEARBY UNITS, MOBILIZE AND HEAD TO THE DUNGEON ENTRANCE!!!" That had to be Jason's voice booming out, echoing within the cave. The three Skeleblins' eyes flashed. They were already at the entrance and mobilized to attack the intruders--having "approval" from the Boss only increased their tenacity.

Leonidas hefted his Wooden Spear like a javelin--

Within five feet of the skele-blins Asura lashed out. Stretching his 'limbs' as far as he could to sweep as hard as he could across the three skeletons. While that went on another pseudopod went straight, acting like a ball on a gooey rope to nail the middle skeleton with a blunt strike. Again Gawain moved into the path of the sweep, stopping Asura's tendril at the cost of another chunk of splinters flying from its weapon. As the pseudopod naturally began to retract, the Skeleblin followed it in and raised its club as its teeth clattered.

“Fire cleanses and inferno purifies.” Ardur began to chant again but this time like the shield spell, he tried to focus on keeping the fireballs just on the outside of the shield. The Fireball formed around his fists with the shield glowing at its center--but rather than the Shield absorbing the damage from the flames, it was the fire that fed on the shield like charcoal. Yet once the shield was completely burned away, Ardur somehow didn't feel that the fire was going to burn him next. Again, red veins began to spread up both of his arms...

Jason cast [Stone Shot II], using himself; his whole self, as the projectile. Not to soar through the air, but to use that same magical force that propelled his first magical attack to drive himself faster. He focused all of his mental capacity into feeling himself become one with his stone magic for the purpose of increasing his speed, chanting inside his own head...it felt like he might be going faster, but he couldn't be certain, and either way the battle was already starting...He just needed to get close enough to use his Warcry and maybe--

You used Monster Analysis II! Magic Analysis I boosts the effectiveness of this skill!
This is a Monster, with almost no magical energies. This is a new monster to you!
---Asura---
Amorphous Slime - Slimes that have a preference for shape shifting sometimes develop a weakened membrane. Their defensive abilities stop increasing so quickly compared to normal slime types, but their shapeshifting and movement skills rise more quickly. These slimes avoid water, as it has a much stronger diluting effect on them. They are also vulnerable to temperatures of either extreme, as their primarily liquid bodies can freeze or boil. They have an easier time healing after attacks, as their body tends to just flow back together. You know this Amorphous Slime as Asura, a fellow Reincarnator. Asura's only magically oriented skill is a Magic Resistance to attacks, and his MP is about half of yours at full value. However, there are a small number of magical skills he is developing.
---Analysis Complete!---

Asura's straight-tendril struck Leonidas in the sternum as the skeleton was about to throw its spear, knocking the creature back a step and cracking the bone. But it was still "alive," and it clattered angrily as it hefted the weapon again. Meanwhile, Y'tahl's gaze was suddenly drawn to Ardur for some reason, and for a moment the skeleblin simply stood there stock still--then, angrily chattering, it raised its own stone spear and charged the Pixie...

Danny and Ed were still some distance away from the others--they could see Jason and Asteria from the rear, and not too far ahead of the Wisp and male Dire Rat, Mother Rat was running full tilt as well. Would they make it in time to be of any help?

“My soul is fire, my heart is of the sun, Burn and envelope the evil within these lost souls!” With that he leaped forward and flew towards the closest skeleton as fast as he could intent on punching the creature with his fists of fire!

You are experiencing a Fast Rate of Skill Progression.

Y'Tahl stopped its run and started to position its spear for a thrust--but for some reason the skeleblin seemed awkward with the weapon's weight, and by the time it got the point into position--

Ardur had exercised his entire body and made use of his Healing skills as a Pixie to "cheat" his species' natural limitations, and thus acquired Physical Conditioning to raise all of his base physical stats. Focused training after that had granted him Stronger, increasing solely his muscle's ability to generate power. His Lesser Flight skill had improved over time, granting him more speed, and driving in from the air like this his momentum had the added weight of gravity. His Shield spell protected his fists from the stress his own body was about to put on them--and they were on fire to boot.

Though he wasn't able to arrive fast enough to stop the engagement from starting, Jason made it on scene just in time to see Asura lash out at his soldiers. He activated [Warcry II]--

Y'TAHL KILLED BY INTRUDER_PIXIE!

Ardur's flaming fist, like some kind of mage who could harness the power of dragon's fire, shattered Ytahl's skull and carried on downwards with the pixie's dropping momentum, also shattering the clavicle and destroying a shoulder socket. The Skeleblin's arm spun off into the distance, clattering on the rocks where it continue to twitch unnaturally. The Badly Made Stone Spear clattered to the floor as well...

But at that same moment, Asteria suddenly barreled into Ardur!

“Listen to me! I know this is weird, alright, but they’re allies for now. So, could you just back down and ignore them?” Her tail wrapped around Ardur and squeezed, and suddenly he felt his strength draining away! He had already used quite a bit of Mana, adding the various chants to his Fireball and now to this odd combo spell, and as the Rat drained him he felt the last bit of it ebb away, followed by the usual System Notice.

"ASURA, DON'T ATTACK THEM, THEY WORK FOR ME!"

Asura suddenly felt as if he HAD to look--it was like that feeling when something, a bug perhaps, lands on your shoulder and you IMMEDIATELY have to turn your head and swat it away. Like the moment something truly startles you and you JUMP without fully intending to. All of his focus--and his aggression that had previously been focused on the skeletons--suddenly shifted towards Jason. The same was true for Momma Slime, who had already started rolling towards Asteria after what Asura told her about protecting the Pixie--now she was rumbling towards Jason like a giant blue boulder!

With Asura distracted, Gawain swung the Wooden Club and Leonidas stepped forward to thrust with the Wooden Spear. The club hit hard enough to jiggle his body mass, and the spear sank a few inches into his membrane with a wet fart sound, but as both weapons were withdrawn Asura didn't feel all that injured. Still, the two Skeleblins clattered angrily and continued to attack, Gawain swinging the club like a bat in both hands and Leonidas taking a half step back in order to drive as much weight into the next thrust as possible...

---

"Dammit you pixie, you just really want to be a thorn in my side don't you?"

"OI! Dat muskle Pixie stole me spell!" Crispy snarled. He looked like he was about to cast his own Fireball, when suddenly the explosion from behind them sent a wave of smoke over the group.

"Follow me and get ready for a fight." came Orchid's voice. Crispy wasn't going to listen to her--he was the Boss after all--but he couldn't see anything. So he had to follow the voice in order to keep the tribe from getting split up. Yeah, that was it! The other goblins, save Clod who had hung back, did the same. Orchid needed to get her goblins out of here before things get any crazier. "Oi! Bigz, Jezee, get over here!" Orchid didn't have any healing herbs for the wounded, so she couldn't help them. She just needed her goblins out of this mess, and then she'll figure out what could be done to assist. For starters, Orchid tried to stamp out some of the grass fire with her shield, making sure to strike hard and fast to snuff out the embers and prevent her shield from catching flame.

She didn't have to do much, as by the time the goblins all grouped together again Digbie had pretty much handled the flames. It looked like that one monster was still alive after all...

"Oi, how Digbie doin' magic now!?" called out Wej as Bigs and Jezee came jogging up. The female was practically shivering from fear and Bigs' eyes were wide as dinner plates.

"Digbie, ya gots to get ways from dere! Come wiv us!" shouted Bigs.

"All dese udda mobs crazy! Dey made dat big beetle go BOOM!" cried Jezee.

"LOOK! DAT ONE ALMOST DEAD!" Crispy practically danced in glee as he pointed at Torrent. One of Crispy's minions pulled their Stone Knife from their vine belt...

Asura was surprised what he had done had actually worked a bit. The stone had flown further and harder than he could have done with just his own body. He'd have to play with that some more later. The stone was hit by one of the skeletons wielding a club and seemed to damage that weapon pretty damn good. If his knowledge from games was right once those weapons broke the skeletons would be significantly weaker.

But it'd just be faster to take out the skeletons. Undead tended to be pesky annoyances in the long run if they aren't taken care of sooner rather than later. The same skeleton got in the way of the sweep and blocked, but his weapon took more damage while the 'hammer' blow to Leonidas cracked the undead beings sternum. Good damage for it being half assed since he was focusing on all three skeletons.

Ardur joined the fight surprisingly as a little angry comet. He wiped out a skeleton in a single strike through muscle and magic. "Good on ya kid." Asura called out just as he got whacked and then stabbed. The damage was minimal and he simply huffed. One of you couldn't have a blade, could ya. Noooooo." He muttered, and just as he was about to attack once more a familiar voice hollered out drawing his attention.

Rolling his eyes he hollered back. "Undead don't work for anyone but whoever raised em. I know for a fact you don't have necromancy, boy." He yelled before forcing some his attention back on the skeletons in front of him. He wasn't some random mindless mob running on an AI, he had way higher brain functions than that. One had half stepped back to put more weight into a spear thrust while the other going for a home run swing. Focusing on the pair his pseudopods snaked out and he tried to Counter the pair.

He did see Mother Slime start rolling towards Jason and co, that damned Warcry had aggroed her and she lacked the higher brain functions and critical thinking. "Mother Slime ignore it, come over here!" He hollered, trying to get her attention to come help him and Ardur. Not that the pair truly needed it. He hadn't noticed Asteria get Ardur to calm down.

Mourningstar

"Please don't die. I don't know if we're friends or not, I've barely even talked to you since we first met because it's been so crazy, but I don't want you to die. So please don't." Mourningstar whispered to Torrent as emeralds filled the air, sparkling and shimmering as everyone gave it their all to try and save the Direwurm. She was practically touching the ground as she whispered to her fallen ally, trying to cover her body from whatever remaining flames there may or may not have been. She couldn't really tell, she had her eyes closed and was praying to whatever was out there.

Blood and baked topapo covered her entire body, but that didn't matter right now, all that mattered was making sure Torrent lived to see another day. Their efforts had succeeded for now, but the day was still young. Jeez, they had barely even woken up and they had already nearly died. Regardless, Mourningstar didn't need to be a doctor to tell that Torrent was still super hurt, she needed healing ASAP and judging by the fact that Oberon wasn't working on healing, he was out of MP.

"LOOK! DAT ONE ALMOST DEAD!" Oh great, the Goblins showed up. Honestly, Mourningstar just wanted to kill them and get it over with, this whole coexistence thing was bound to fail. But at the same time, she could tell getting into a fight right now was not the optimal path. Good thing fighting wasn't her only option right now. She dropped the topapo she was holding next to Torrent and floated up to her usual height, slowly turning to Crispy's group as she began her plan.

"You really don't want to try me right now. She injected as much menacing rasp into her voice as possible as she slowly turned, opening her mouth and letting blood drip off her as she glared at Crispy, applying a bit of Mana Shape to herself to form a menacing black aura. If it was nighttime this would have worked even better, but she would just have to make due with what she had. "But if you really want to test your luck, feel free. I could use a hearty breakfast, and you all look absolutely delicious." And then she licked some of the blood off of herself. Pretty gross tasting in all honesty, but animal brain likes it. The topapo was good though.

It seemed like Torrent was still alive, which was great news, but Oberon felt like most of the credit for her recovery belonged to Digbie. He had made it to the Lesserwurm in time to cast both his Shield spell and his Minor Heal, which had surely contributed, but after everything else he had done during the fight with the Flak Beetle and to protect himself he hadn't had much mana let for Torrent and when that mana had run out the Sprite had all but given up.

But Digbie hadn't, the others didn't, and they were able to pull out the extra power needed to keep Torrent alive. He was happy it had all worked out, but he was less than proud of his own contributions to it.

Torrent was still severely injured however and with the arrival of the Goblins it seemed like they weren't out of the woods just yet. Crispy sounded almost gleeful about the fact that one of them was almost dead and one of his minions was pulling a knife from his belt to apparently finish off the job; Mourningstar, as was to be expected, took offence at this and began trying to cow the Goblins into submission through intimidation, using her new form as well as some magical effects to create a fairly terrifying image.

As effectively terrifying as it was, Oberon didn't think it would have the intended effect however. He felt like a fight was about to break out and Torrent was still in desperate need of healing which made his complete lack of mana something he needed to address as soon as possible. And speaking of drawing out additional power, something had happened in the middle of everything which he thought was worth exploring.

Flying over to Digbie the smaller Sprite placed a hand on the Goblin's shoulder to get his attention before speaking into his ear. "Watch over Torrent for now. I'm going to recover my mana so I can finish healing her." With that said he flew up into the branches of the trees above them, flying high enough to clear the initial layer of foliage until he was hovering in the bright light of day. Oberon looked around until he could find a branch that was wide enough for him to comfortably sit on which was also exposed to direct sunlight, alighting on it and sitting down with his legs crossed as he had before.

Once settled in he began to meditate again, clearing his mind of everything, the extra distance between himself and the ground helping him to ignore what was going on below as he opened himself up the he flow of ambient mana. This time he also tried to focus on the light hitting his body, the feel of the suns warmth on his skin, imagining the light filling his being alongside the mana.



@Gardevoiran@Zeroth

As Danny got closer to the cave entrance what he saw was pure chaos. The closer he got the more chaotic things appeared. It looked like Asura was fighting the Skelebins, only for Jason to yell something and draw the attention of the other Slime. He really hoped he didn't have to get involved in their battle as he had no desire to fight against another Reincarnate.

While trying to think of a way to stay out of the Slime battle, he heard something that sounded like an explosion in the distance. Curious and worried about another fire he made his way towards, both staying close the cave ceiling and moving as fast as he could with the stalactites blocking his path. Eventually he saw a Goblin that he believed to be Crispy in the distance, and still convinced he had the best counter for the Goblin's Fireballs he switched gears. He dropped down a good bit in order to have a clear path and while concealing his presence in the hopes of staying unnoticed moved as as fast as he could towards the Goblin variant hoping to able to deal with his fire attacks if needed.

As he got closer to his target he noticed what he thought was a heavily injured Torrent and some strange looking Wisp which was probably a fellow Reincarnate since they were talking. Hoping he was right about the monster he decided to analyze it as he slowly got closer.

---

"Torrent...!" Dropping to the ground next to Torrent, Ash studied her quickly as she could. This was bad. Second...third degree burns? No Aloe or antiseptics. Urgh, this was bad. These fools! Barely even a day out of the cave and they can't even keep themselves alive! Quite honestly, she was pissed. Once Torrent was stabilized she'd give them all a thorough lecture and talking too about actually thinking because they weren't going to get anywhere without some forethought.

"LOOK! DAT ONE ALMOST DEAD!"

And these goblins were not helping.

A low hiss escaped her mouth as Ash placed a claw over her muzzle. Anger. Annoyance. These goddamn brain dead useless green skinned bastards. Ash, was admittedly easily annoyed. By peoples stupidity. Ignorance. Thoughtlessness. Fighting. Violence. Usually though, she understood she was different in that regard, in her past life she usually simply went with the flow. Didn't do anything. Just let things happen because that was the easiest, best thing to do. But this...? This was just absurd. She had lost her patience, and she was more than happy to take it out on some uneducated goblins.

"...I'm not sure about delicious, Mourn," Ash turned to face the goblins, a cold voice as she glared at all the ones present. "But perhaps I can grind that halfwit's bones into seasoning. I heard goblin eyes are quite useful in Alchemy. Maybe I should confirm that theory." She was done being nice and attempting to make them see. If these fools couldn't understand, then fine. They'd just be crushed and used for progress. She cast a glance over to Orchid.

...well, if this is the way things played out, there was no helping it. Ash was already preparing to strike the moment things even looked like they were about to get even a little violent.

---

Torrent would've opened her eyes if she could have as she was pulled back from the brink. She was in agony with only her mouth left as a sense. She couldn't see, hear, or use her nose. Nostril? Whatever. All she had were her memories and the system messages.

She was still in trouble. She could feel movement around her as little jolts of pain rocked into her at every turn as her body moved from breathing or outside influence. This pain was maddening, but she fought against it. Carefully she swallowed as she considered what to do.

She'd finally gotten that response she had been searching for. Not weak. Strong. She'd remember that for the rest of her life. However short that was looking to be.

She couldn't speak, attempting such bought pain in her raw throat, which left her little in the way of options.

She was splitting apart, she could feel it. Which wasn't good because -

Wait. Splitting apart. Skin. Could she take this opportunity to use that Shed Skin ability? If she could do that then she could move easier, get her senses back too.

Hissing from the pain and effort Torrent focused on moving her body in a way to exaggerate the splitting. She'd force herself out of her own skin somehow, she couldn't just sit here and wait for some two-bit predator to show up and eat her. She wasn't prey! She was the predator here, damnit!

---

@Zeroth@SilverPaw@Kazemitsu@ReusableSword

Of course Asura had to think he knew everything.  Honestly, the fact that Y'tahl had fallen so quickly with neither of the two aggressors considering the consequences of killing the innocent skeleblin that sought only to faithfully defend his home from invasion. However, the skeleblins' skills with wielding weapons they'd just acquired was rather impressive... Perhaps it had to do with their 'deactivated' skills? Regardless, Leonidas took half a step back; ready to pour all of his weight into his thrust.  Oddly enough, it was almost a moment deja vous, similar to the stance and thrust taken by the female goblin of 'brawny team' as she activated [Skewer]...  Was that what Leonidas was on the verge of doing? Despite Jason's rabid curiosity, it was clear Asura intended to counterattack, and it was unlikely the skeleblins would be able to survive the upcoming onslaught of attacks the other slime would likely follow up with. "Leonidas! Gawain! Get out of his attack range! Focus only on dodging and defense!"  he called to his remaining soldiers as he summoned a [Rock Spire I] in front of Asura,  aimed not to pierce his gelatinous form, but to block his attempted attack.

However before he could continue his attempt to get his 'brother' to better understand the situation, Jason was suddenly on a collision course with Mama Slime!  Quickly compressing his body as he popped a mana crystal (bringing his somewhat low mana back to full) moments before they crashed into each other using [Limited Shapeshift I], Jason hurriedly spat out a chant; aiming to complete it as quickly as he could, as he launched himself into the air, "Let this son of stone take flight! Stone Shot--LEVITATION!!!" he cried, using his entire body as ammunition for the changed [Stone Shot II], attempting to 'fly' over the massive blue slime.  If he successfully vaulted Mama Slime, Jason would continue closing the distance to Asura since Asteria had already taken care of Ardur rather efficiently for the time being.

(Inventory and summary coming soon)

---

"Ooohhh thank God." Digbie fell backwards with relief, breathing heavily against the charred and blackened dirt. He was tired, exhausted, and a number of things, but he felt successful and happy. He helped save a life, even if he didn't do too much at first thought.

"Watch over Torrent for now. I'm going to recover my mana so I can finish healing her,"

"Of course... haah... just gonna catch my breath first..." Digbie was busy taking a moment.

Then he sat up, and he realized he did a lot more than he had originally thought. The fire was almost completely gone, save for the occasional ember in the midst of charcoal and ash. Oh jeez... maybe he did a ton. Hecc, the soil underneath the group was bound to be changed after this event, for better or for worse. That was the least of his worries, though...

"Oi, how Digbie doin' magic now!?"
"Digbie, ya gots to get ways from dere! Come wiv us!"
"All dese udda mobs crazy! Dey made dat big beetle go BOOM!"

The goblins were here, with Orchid in tow and with their combined intelligences of a breadbowl. Great. The barbarians wanted to get more goblins to join their ranks, and they came back to grab Digbie. No doubt they were lured here by the explosion. Digbie grabbed a Topapo and chomped on it beside Torrent as he let the others intimidate, stopping his eating when he heard Crispy speak.

"LOOK! DAT ONE ALMOST DEAD!"

Oh heck no.

Digbie stood as soon as Crispy drew the knife, grabbing a Mana Crystal from his Ratskin Pack and popping it.

Used Mana Crystal!
MP recovered.
Mana Crystal consumed.

He had some food in his belly, he had his magic back, and he was NOT having what was about to happen to Torrent happen. The greenskin stood in front of the injured wurm and used {Soil Manipulation}, lifting a clump of soil from the ground and shaping it into a spike consisting of tightly packed dirt. He aimed it at Crispy and simply stood there.

If looks could kill, Crispy would have had a heart attack right there.

---

The dire rat and the wisp just arrived where the disturbance was reported. Jason was there, as well as Asura, Ardur, Asteria, Mother Rat, Mother Slime,...and the skeleblins. Ed drops his meal off his back rather unceremoniously and begins to pace back and forth nervously with his eyes shut tight, as the chaos of the situation threatens to boil over to further violence. 'Oh God...why THEM! Of all the things you could have caused the ruckus; why did it have to be Asura and Ardur fighting the fucking skeletons!' Ed desperately complained to God in his mind.

In his past life, Edward did not like anything concerning the undead in any form. From whispered stories claiming that there was a dead girl's ghost that would haunt you forever if you don't send the text forward to a set number of people in one night to the universally loved holiday of Halloween. He hated, or more accurately, feared them with a passion. Ever since 10 year old Ed decided it was a smart move to watch 'The Evil Dead' alone, in the middle of night when his parents told him specifically that he was too young to watch such scary films. Young Ed would show them that he was brave enough to watch.

Goddammit, younger Ed. Why were you so damned stupid?

His parents awoke in the wee hours of the morning to find him screaming his lungs out, but the damage was done. Ed was forever scarred by the movie and had an irrational fear to anything undead related. Something that he carried over to his second life.

'Okokokok...Ed you're being a big baby about this. Stop this shit. Go help your friends.' Ed chided himself as he was merely pacing while the others were doing their best to stop the mess. He puffed up his chest and tried to muster as much bravery his little body could have possibly mustered. He felt strong. Indomitable. Like he could take the world on and win.

He then opened his eyes and caught sight of the animated skelebois. There the authentic undead specimens stood. No smoke nor mirrors. A genuine, 100% real, undead. "OhGodwhythefuckdidithavetobetheundead..." He mutters to himself. His bravery, crashing down like a small pillar of sand struck by a massive wave.

Ed, defeated and frozen in place, could only clamp his mouth shut as his body unwillingly produced a sad, muffled, cry while his eyes watered in fear.

Ardur The Pixie

Rage. > I'm ok /// Adventuring day 4 // Morning / Location - Cave

Like watching something from the back seat of a car all ardor could do was watch as he rocketed toward the skeleton. He wasn’t afraid, he wasn’t angry either. Ardur simply lost control, or at least that’s what it felt like. He had only felt rage like this a few times before and normally they were over something trivial or just frustrating. This was different hell everything was different.

Careening through the air he watched in slow motion as he flew past the weapon of the skeleton. Arm stretched out and just as his shield spell fluttered and was nearly at its end. His flaming fist struck the skeletons' skull. The force of which forced his arc toward the ground making him shatter more and more bones until the skeleton was nearly shorn in half. The burning splinters of bone and sinew rained down around him. With his mana nearly depleted the still raging pixie then attempted to rush at the other two enemies’.

However, within a few steps he felt himself become constricted around his legs and waist. Something or someone had taken him by surprise and wrapped themselves around him. He could hear a whisper; no someone was practically yelling at him, but he couldn’t quite hear them. Then suddenly he felt the last of his mana disappear and feeling as if he was just punched in the stomach by it. Taking a moment to breath he was thrust back into the world.

After catching his breath, he began to whisper to himself, almost like he was trying to comfort a scared or frightened lover. “Sorry Sara, I let my anger get the best of me again.” With his eyes and taking deep breaths Ardur slowly grasped the situation that was going on around him and that he started. First things first get out of this rat’s grasp then try to figure out what’s going on. Lastly, he knew he would want to scour the cave for a moment to look for a few mana crystals. They had plenty of time to regrow by now.

“Oi!” he spoke up towards the large rat who talked to him, “can you let me go? I'm okay now.” Ardur spoke towards his captor however if she didn’t let him go he would resort to forcing himself free. With the benefit of physical conditioning I and Stronger I he would punch, kick, or bite her so that he may be released. The plan after that would be to fly up high enough, so he would be out of reach of the others, and he could talk to them. He was out of mana sure, but not out of stamina.

@Zeroth
@Guy0fV4lor
@Lucius Cypher
@Kazemitsu
@SilverPaw