CHPT 444: A Message from a Higher Power…

Sand. When in the air it was a lot like bugs. Swarms of bugs, eager to fill your eyes— cling to the tears building within, to scratch your nose with every inhale. There wasn't a worse place to fight. It felt so unsuited for humans.

Even so, Maris read about Sand-Shapers in the Levant. Earth Element users with the unique affinity for the manipulation of these shredded and broken down rocks mixed with the blood and bone of many.

She wished she could shape the sand as she did with the Lizardfolks lifeblood while watching the Tangent Boss awaken.

Watching. Maybe that wasn't the right term.

She was surviving.

She fell from the collapsing dune like a teardrop of blood. The sands around her rumbled and splashed like water as the monster below rolled and screeched to life. She could see the scales like fur made of brown metal blades.

Isaac traveled in the distance, burning a path of glass into the sand dune to slide down to safer ground beside Warren.

At least that was the idea until the Dune Python swung its tail.

FWCHHHH!!!

The massive weighted appendage ripped through the falling sands and smashed Isaac's glass path into a million reflective pieces. The two hit the ground soon after in a jumble of bodies.

Maris landed around the same time in a splash of blood. She outstretched her hands, regathering the splattered pieces back to her sword.

The Dune Python was too focused on Isaac and Warren to notice her. It looked hideous. Fitting for a boss. Built like the other serpentine Lizardfolk— a snake with arms. Only this one was larger. So large it blotted out the sun when it raised up to its full height. Shadows danced over the sands as it slithered and shook itself.

FWSHHHH!!

She blasted across the sands, slamming her blood blade into its backside.

CHKK!!

Her sword barely penetrated two inches. She could feel the vibrations rumbling up her arms as she slid to a halt across from Isaac and Warren. The scales were too dense. The muscle beneath was a different story.

That meant she'd just have to keep cutting. Nothing wrong with a stamina match.

"Warren give me some defense and try to blind it. Maris hang back until then." Isaac said. He usually was the one with the plans as of recently.

"If you fight, so do I." Maris usually was the one that didn't listen. Not always at least.

"You better not get hit." Isaac said casually.

Maris didn't reply. She didn't plan to.

With two heavy winded jumps, Warren was out of snakeshot. The brown scaled atrocity moved to chase with its mouth open so wide they couldn't even see its eyes. Just the abyssal cavern that was its mouth.

"AYE!!" Isaac smashed his sword against his shield and sent a tuft of flame at the creatures face. He was no Tank, but he could draw all the attention he needed, "Right here!"

The sixteen foot tall monster halted and sent its head flying at Isaac.

He raised his shield, already glowing red with his defensive Aura.

BOOM!

He squatted low, holding his ground as the Boss slowly shoved him deeper into the sands.

"I can't shoot its eyes if they stay behind your shield, tinman!" Warren yelled from his vantage point.

"Working on it." Isaac grunted and used his skill, (Shield Burst).

The Aura coating his shield and ignoring the Boss's devastating headbutt exploded. It didn't budge.

SWSHH!!

The Dune Python pressed harder into Isaac's shield and slashed at him, swatting him out of the way. He rolled through the sands before getting to his feet, now covered in another aura, changing his own from red to orange.

Another benefit of Archers. They could use their Aura's from considerable distances, and Warren had gotten quite good at doing so.

The Dune Python headed for Warren again. Maris charged its flank, cutting lines of red through its tail to try and stifle its movement. The Boss flailed it's massive musclebound tail and smacked her out of the way. Maris flipped in the air and landed back on her feet, spitting her own blood onto her sword casually before adjusting her game plan.

Her blood sword refined itself, beginning to move less like liquid and harden to something akin to metal. The sharp edges vibrated with power as she activated her skill (Sharp Arts) followed by a recently learned Aura technique.

It enveloped her blade, two thin lines. They circled the weapon in the shape of a double helix, growing sharp edges that spun like saw blades. A basic level Aura technique used on monsters with thick hide. Helix Shroud.

Luckily she had more than enough Mana to manage to multiple offensive assets at once.

Now the goal was to land a hit. Effectively.

She took off, ducking and dodging away from the Boss greatest weapon. It's tail.

It lost interest in her after an arrow smashed into its eye with a wet popping sound.

"UUUUWAGGGGH!"

It took off for Warren fully understanding his danger.

Maris ran beside the massive boss, slowing to hop over its tail and run towards Isaac.

"Maris!—"

"Isaac! Shield!" She yelled flatly.

Isaac dropped down to one knee and raised his shield as Maris jumped. The second her feet hit the shield, she was jumping again with Isaac's help.

Predators are known to have tunnel vision. Maris was known to not know much about the world she'd only recently entered. But that was one thing she held onto. It was a weakness. She liked finding those.

SHLCK!!!

Her Helix shrouded blood sword bit through the Dune Pythons massive neck worlds easier than before. She slid down its throat, opening a giant line of red in its wake. Seeing all the red was exciting. A sign of success, a symbol of power. Her power. Seeing all the blood awakened something inside her.

None of it splattered. Even as the Boss shook and threw its body around in the sand to try and shake her off. Maris held on. Even when it jumped up into the air and slammed itself over the top of her.

She could hear Isaac and Warrens screams before she went under.

***

DING!

[Tangent Complete! You and your allies have slain the Dune Python! Claim your Loot and exit the Tangent.]

[+250 EXP]

[Tangent Completion Reward: +2 Stat Points]

DING!

[You have Leveled Up! You are now Level 11!]

[3 Stat Points Available]

Isaac had never ignored his system screen so effortlessly. He sprinted for Maris, shoulder charging into the Boss's corpse in an attempt to get the massive creature off of her. It did little more than budge in the sand.

"FUCK! Come on…. Come on. Warren help me roll this thing over." Isaac said to the Archer who landed beside him. It wasn't Warren. Not at first. This student was shorter than Warren by an inch and had skin as pale as snow. His brown hair fluttered in the wind casually.

Isaac nodded to Chase. The Claude obsessed Archer beside Warren began pushing against the corpse. They all grunted and groaned, slowly joined by the rest of Chase's team.

Nothing much. Even as Chase activated his God Form and became boosted by the legs of Cernunnos.

Conroy backed away from the Boss and headed south, "I'll go find, Prof. Ra—"

SHLCK!

A blade ripped through the backside of the corpse. Growing even now. The aura shrouding it flickered in and out of existence.

"Oh thank the g—….. man fuck it thank everything!" Warren yelled as he and Isaac climbed onto the Boss and began trying to pull Maris through the massive wound.

It took a lot of effort. The muscles were growing stiff and constricting. If they waited any longer things would've gone sour, unless someone lifted it. Luckily that idea didn't need to be humored. Isaac and Warren pulled Maris out with a final heave of her arm.

The second she was out, looks were cast. Not because she was horribly injured or broken. Because she was covered in armor. The exact same armor Isaac wore. It glowed a deep purple under the sun and moved like liquid paint on her real armor beneath. The blue fizzle of her aura hovered above it, showing itself as red in places.

Blood.

"Isaac that ain't a sword." Warren whispered.

"I'm aware."

Maris threw the arrow shot into the creature earlier at Chase's feet.

"I told you to stop following us." Maris sounded tired.

Her blood armor dripped off of her frame like water and dyed the sands.

Stacy's feline licked at it hesitantly.

"We're merely helping our classmates. Stubbornness isn't always a positive trait, Maris." Conroy explained as he sheathed his kusanagi.

"Neither is lying." Maris shot back. "You feel bad for us. Don't do that. "

"We just want to hel—"

"If you want to help, stand by Claude and Ursula when they come back."

All of them silenced momentarily. The subject was a stiff area for the most of them, choosing to ignore it in public…. discussing it in private away from the Detectives and Maris' group was usually a better idea. But Maris was as blunt as her blades were sharp.

"Why are you so sure they are? The likelihood of students surviving in the wild for this long is next to zero. I'm sorry but this is the truth, Maris." Conroy explained.

"No….."

Conroy looked over to Chase, "What?"

"They're coming. They might already—" Chase stopped speaking, noticing how Maris and her team were watching people behind them instead of them.

They all turned to find Det. Mixus one and two standing as lifelessly as ever.

"Well done everyone. Maris, we would like to discuss the events pertaining to your loss." The short haired detective in cleaner clothing said.

Maris didn't even want to look at the Detectives. More than anything, she wanted to know what Chase knew.

Why was he so sure?