The Power of Evolution

"Matron hell-slimes don't just randomly show up even if you kill hundreds of their children…" Morgana popped another piece of popcorn into her mouth. "You made this happen, didn't you, Leo?"

"This is training, training, I tell you," Leo explained. "It's not enough that they complete the quest on time… they have to risk their lives to do it."

As usual, the two of them were surveying the battle from a nearby shadowy section of the Weeping Meadows where they remained invisible to the naked eye.

"You're training them to fight the Decapitator?" Morgana asked right before scooping another handful of popcorn from the tub floating between her and Leo.

"Isn't that one of our main goals? Train heroes to defeat the enemies in our way to claim Death's seat?" Leo reminded her. "Well, this battle with the Decapitator is the first step, kid."

Leo grabbed a handful of popcorn himself but then he saw something that made him pause and drop the buttery bundle in his hand.

"I wondered why the only thing that changed about him was how his eyes while Ath3na's whole form had completely evolved," Leo said as his eyes grew wide with wonder. "So he had a trick up his sleeve, huh."

"Hmmm, I don't like that ability though," Morgana responded. "It's dangerous for the user too."

"With a name like that, how could it not?" Leo guessed.

They were, of course, referring to Black Howler who at this very moment activated his class ability [BERSERKER].

"Berserker!" Black Howler screamed into the sky, and in response, the earth around him seemed to shake as he transformed into a frightening monster to rival the matron slime in front of him.

Black Howler's wavy dark hair grew to resemble a lion's mane. It also grew to cover the sides of his face as well as the chin. His golden cat slit eyes began to glow like a beast's eyes reflecting light. They looked more intimidating now under rigid brows. But perhaps the most frightening thing about him was the set of fangs protruding from the growling mouth of the fiendish face.

Several notification windows appeared in front of Black Howler that Leo and Morgana managed to also view with the help of their administrator's command window.

[BLACK HOWLER HAS ACTIVATED CLASS ABILITY [BERSERKER]. THE FOLLOWING FEATURES ARE NOW ACTIVE FOR THE DURATION OF THE ABILITY'S ACTIVATION. SUSTAINED ACTIVATION: FIVE JOULES OF SOUL ENERGY PER MINUTE].

[[HEIGHTENED SENSES] Berserkers can see, hear, and smell far better than regular substitute reapers.]

[[IGNORE PAIN] Berserkers will feel no pain regardless of the damage done to them. Dropping to critical status will deactivate this ability.]

[[FRENZIED PAIN] The more pain is inflicted on the Berserker, the stronger they get. STR +1 for every ten percent drop in health.]

[[TERRIFYING RAGE] Critical strikes come more often with each critical causing nearby enemies to flee from a Berserker's terror.]

[[DEATHBLOW] Whenever a Berserker slays an enemy, the thrill of victory increases chances of critical hits.]

"These passives are too good," Leo frowned. "He'll turn into an imbalanced killing machine like this… should we nerf it?"

"I don't think it's necessary," Morgana replied.

She pointed a butter coated finger at the final notification to pop up which she knew could be seen not just by Black Howler but also by members of his party. True enough, a notification window appeared in front of Ath3na, Lyghtning, and Thorminator too.

[WARNING! BLACK HOWLER IN BERSERKER FORM CAN NO LONGER DISTINGUISH FRIEND FROM FOE. IT IS ADVISED THAT YOU DO NOT AGITATE THE PLAYER AND KEEP YOUR DISTANCE WHILE THIS ABILITY IS ACTIVATED.]

"I told you the ability was dangerous… It's a double-edged sword," Morgana laughed her tinkling laugh.

"So… will he be able to attack the matron slime or lose control and attack his team instead?" Leo asked.

"We're about to find out," Morgana replied. "Isn't this exciting?"

Black Howler had just raised his claymore forward with a single hairy hand that had also transformed to possess fingers with sharp claws.

Lyghtning, who was standing next to Black Howler, quickly took two steps away from him. "He's turned into a bloody werewolf!"

Black Howler spared her an icy glare and equally unnerving growl before his attention was stolen away once more by the matron slime who was now moving closer to him.

"At least he's pointing his sword at the slime," Ath3na sighed. "Cast your spell now, Thorminator!"

She needn't have reminded him as he was already in the midst of spell-casting.

"Like the martial masters of old, your power I'll help to mold," Thorminator chanted. "Focus!"

The shadowy figure of a strong man appeared superimposed over Lyghtning, Ath3na, and Black Howler. It flexed its muscular arms before disappearing in a brilliant red glow.

Afterward, a new notification appeared in front of Thorminator's teammates.

[[FOCUS] SPELL IS NOW ACTIVE. ATK +1 FOR A DURATION OF ONE MINUTE.]

"Interesting…" Lyghtning raised the hands that held her two shortswords up so she could inspect them. "My arms feel heavier for some reason but it doesn't feel like a bother at all."

"Good," Thorminator panted. "Go kick that slime's butt for me…"

A visibly sweating Thorminator collapsed butt-first onto the floor. He remained there despite the threat looming over his team.

"Of course, he'd be exhausted. He depleted his soul core casting all those spells at his level," Morgana chided although it sounded to Leo like she was actually impressed with the spellcaster in Ath3na's party.

Leo wanted to point this out to her but the sight of the Black Howler finally making a move stole his attention away.

Black launched himself off the ground like a beast pouncing on its prey with his claymore slung over his shoulder.

In reaction to his approach, the matron slime let loose a dozen tendrils at him, and they hurtled toward him like deadly lances. But just before the lances could pierce Black Howler's body Lyghtning jumped between them with her shortswords standing at the ready.

"Oh no, you don't," she chided the slime. Then she yelled, "Ravaging Blades!"

She spun in the air like a top with her shortswords stretched out before her and cut through the tendrils that would have skewered her teammate who seemed single-mindedly focused only on attacking.

Black Howler vaulted over Lyghtning and continued on toward the matron slime, which without its tendrils opted to launch its top half at the attacking player.

With its claws extended, his left hand came up and swiped at the matron slime's head with a fury that cut the air between them. This forced the slime back just long enough for Black Howler to raised his claymore high, and just before swinging it down with one hand, he spoke in a guttural voice, "Devour!"

A notification window appeared in front of Leo and Morgana which detailed the weapon's ability.

[[DEVOUR] Masamune Dark Blade rips into its target, doing damage and absorbing a portion of the target's mass to replenish the player's soul core. This weapon ability can only be used once per day.]

An aura of darkness wrapped around the claymore's obsidian edge that transformed into the shape of wide-open jaws just as the claymore came swinging down at the matron slime. The jaws snapped at the matron slime's body and ripped off a large chunk of its top half.

If the matron slime could scream, Leo thought it would have done just that. But the howl that came afterward had come from Black Howler who activated [WOLF'S HOWL] in order to instill fear into the monster and lower its defenses.

Leo believed this was done in consideration for Ath3na who had jumped forward right after Black Howler's attack.

"He's not as mindless in that form as we thought," Leo realized.

Ath3na activated [SPECTRAL CLOAK] and then plunged into the hole Black Howler had made in the matron slime's top half.

Leo could see her face crunched up in pain inside the slime yet she managed to swim the short distance toward its core and pierce the core with her spear.

At the same instance, Morgana snapped her fingers and summoned a beach umbrella to hover over her and Leo.

"What's this for?" Leo asked.

He found out the answer himself a second later.

Ath3na's attack was a critical hit that caused the matron's core to crack into a dozen pieces right before dissolving into nothingness. Then the slime's body exploded, showering the meadow and the nearby players in icky red goo.

"Eww! I'm covered in rubbish," Lyghtning complained. "I can actually feel how sticky it is…"

"Moments like this, you kind of wish the sensory settings could be dialed down, right?" Thorminator added while he rubbed the goo out of his eyes.

All but Ath3na seemed covered in red goo as her ability was still active. It was a stroke of luck too because she was suddenly attacked from behind. And although she felt the pain in her back, the damage had been greatly muted.

Ath3na whirled around and raised her spear forward to block the second attack that had come swinging at her, and the force of his slash caused the hands holding her spear shaft to go numb.

"Huh," Leo looked on in surprise. "I was sure we'd put a block from players harming each other since we were still working on a proper PVP mechanic…"

"The blocks might be too weak for evolved players," Morgana deduced. "We'll have to reinforce it… but let's see if they can overcome this themselves first."

The two of them looked on while Ath3na locked blades with her berserk teammate.

"Get a grip, Howler!" she yelled into his growling face which was mere inches away from her own. "We're on the same side!"

It didn't seem like he could hear her at all. In fact, he only increased the pressure on his claymore and forced Ath3na back a step.

"Nope, he's not going to get control back… not with Ath3na in front of him," Leo realized. "It would be best to separate them, Morgana… and make it look like the system did it, will you?"

"Men…" Morgana shook her head.

She snapped her fingers and caused a puff of smoke to appear between Black Howler and Ath3na that expanded rapidly to push the players away from each other.

This smoke cleared to give way to a new notification that Leo had just finished typing into his command screen.

[PVP IS NOT ALLOWED OUTSIDE OF DUELS. A PENALTY WILL BE GIVEN TO PLAYER [BLACK HOWLER] FOR INITIATING AN ATTACK]

Morgana snapped her fingers a second time which caused Black Howler to be enveloped in another puff of white smoke. It dissipated moments later to reveal that his form had reverted back to normal.

"I took away his berserker status now but he'll become a problem later on if he doesn't learn to control himself, Leo," Morgana explained.

"Not to worry," Leo replied as he watched Black Howler bowing his head apologetically to Ath3na. "A player like him will want to learn control… he'll probably seek Maestro out soon enough."

Morgana glanced sideways at Leo. "Why do you sound so happy about that?"

"Because," Leo glanced toward her too, "I've been dying for a training montage."

A new notification appeared in front of all the players who'd fought against the matron slime.

[CONGRATULATIONS ON SLAYING THE FIELD BOSS [MATRON SLIME]]

A second notification appeared over the first.

[ EACH PARTICIPANT WILL RECEIVE THE FOLLOWING REWARDS: 3x hell-slime cores and 10x low-grade soul stones.]

A third notification popped up over the second one.

[FOR SLAYING THE FIELD BOSS, PLAYER [Ath3na] RECEIVES THE FOLLOWING EXTRA REWARD: 1x rare-type mid-grade soul stone.]

"Leo…" Morgana gave him the stink eye. "You're giving away stones again?"

Leo quickly raised a hand to stop her from getting too mad.

"A lot of players died in this battle so their resurrection fees will make up for our losses," Leo reminded her. "Plus, you've been siphoning off a lot of essence from all their kills too."

Morgana's shoulders slumped. "Fine… but the remaining half of this quest better not bleed us dry!"

"It won't," Leo assured her with a smile. "If these guys had a hard time with this last surprise then they're going to hate what's coming next."