Drake struggled to stay upright in the air with Vale on his back. The slick slime from passing through the inside of the flying insect Brood Fortress making it difficult for Vale to hold on.
"Is this what it feels like to be on the casting couch…" Drake muttered in disgust, "I never thought I would turn into a googirl in another world."
"This is the most vile, unpleasant, uncomfortable position I have ever been in!" Vale screamed.
Drake lurched forward, trying to keep balance in the air with his two remaining spells active. However it proved more than just a little difficult as his status was nearly empty.
His vision was quickly closing in on itself. Each status bar reaching zero faster than the last.
Drake's regeneration was beginning to lose out with the extreme expenditure to take down one of the two fortresses.
"What's wrong?" Vale asked, finally noticing how unsteady Drake was below her.
"I-I think I'm going to black out-" Drake groaned, suddenly feeling light headed, the area around him spinning.
"Don't pass out! We're still in the air damn it!" Vale shrieked.
Drake only heard the muffled response. He had miscalculated how much of his status it would take to bring down the fortress. And as a result Vale's buff had overtaken his regeneration.
They quickly began free falling as the last of Drake's spells winked out of existence once his mana had gone dry whatever was left of his stamina quickly following. With his health trailing close behind the previous two in hitting the bottom of the gas tank.
"No no no!" Vale yelled, "Don't get us killed after all you put me through you damned crazy Asuran! If we die I'm going to come back and kill you!"
All around them the remainder of the flying insect swarm began convening on them. Below them the fortress collided with the ground, kicking up dust and crushing anything left beneath it.
"Jeez I hope the rest of the squad wasn't under that…" Drake muttered weakly.
Vale shook him desperately, "This isn't the time to joke!!!"
"We might be kicking the bucket, I don't think there's a better time than now to get out one last joke."
Vale continued to shake Drake with all her effort while Drake did his best to keep his body awake.
But it was becoming increasingly hard for him to make out his surroundings the further they plummeted back down to the ground.
Looks like this is it. I'm out of special moves, trump cards, and ways out. Wish I could have lasted a bit longer… I really wanted to see what happened at the end of the story. He thought.
Luckily for him, Vale's screams seemed to have alerted someone to their precarious position. And that person was no other than their broody, overpowered leader.
Tan.
Shooting up from the swarm of insects from the ground like a rocket, he caught both Vale and Drake.
But what surprised Drake more was that there wasn't a scratch on him. In his fading consciousness he could only see a blurred visage of the man, however he had no colored ichor on him, no wounds. Just how strong was he?
Drake was soon able to see a glimpse of it.
With one hand he held Drake up by the back of his blood soaked robe, Vale clinging to him like a cat about to be dropped into water. In the other he held a freakishly long two-handed sword in one hand.
Drake thought he was seeing things when the insects in the air closed in, only to fall to pieces once they got too close to the trio.
I-I couldn't even see his arm move when he swung. What is this guy Sephiroth? He thought, his mouth slowly parting in awe.
"Y-you couldn't have done that earlier?" Drake grumbled.
"I have to conserve my status. You never know when something unexpected might happen," Tan replied, looking down at Drake, "You haven't been in a real war have you? You can fight, but you can't fight."
Drake felt immediately offended. But all he could do was star daggers at Tan while his body slowly went down to its last sliver of health. Vale's buff eating away at his status.
Beneficial Magic: Phoenix Ignition has ended.
He had no other choice but to rely on Tan for now. Once his health bottomed out, his regeneration would kick in again. And when that happened, he would be able to possibly craft a regeneration spell.
How exactly his new skills worked with creating unique spells was still new to him. It didn't work like his Heretical Mind did on earth. That skill allowed him to manipulate existing spells to his will. This combination of his class skills and new skills worked entirely on ingenuity. Each spell crafted from scratch.
They began descending as Tan continued to defend them from the onslaught of insects. When they finally reached the ground Drake was amazed to find the rest of the squad there.
Battered, bruised, and covered in all matter of sticky colorful ichor. But still alive.
"Good of you to join us!" Ganeer laughed.
"Good thing we didn't kill him huh. Crazy bastard took out a flying fortress," Gnobin snorted.
Silvester leveled Drake and Tan an even glare, "Yeah well all I see is trouble for the future if we make it out of this mess."
"Don't be such a stick in the mud Silvester. These two might be the reason we survive. It's a wonderful thing having such strapping young Asuran half-bloods leading the way," Kuuwei chirped in.
"It would have been more but Dolf…" Norris added morbidly.
"Dolf got sloppy. It's just how it is. We are all lucky to still be here with the swarm on the planet," Tan pointed out, "So far there haven't been any of the Queen's chosen in the swarm but we won't know when they will show up."
Drake raised his head slightly, still in Tan's grip, "Queen's chosen?"
Vale slipped off Drake's back, her hands knuckle white.
"Any of her brood above level 40 with a final class advancement. Final class advancement puts you into another realm of power and it's the second hurdle," she explained, wiping her slimy hands on Drake's face.
"Oh! Come on! I can't move here, that isn't fair!" Drake gasped, nearly puking.
"It's well what you deserve! Who burning decides to kill a flying fortress by tearing through it!? I have ichor and insect guts in places-there-should-never-be!" she screamed, getting closer and closer to Drake's face with each word.
"I see your point. And I apologize. Next time be sure to find a cleaner and less slimy way. TO KILL A FUCKING MOBILE FORTRESS WITH WINGS!"
Tan dropped Drake to the ground with a thud forcing him to let out the remaining air in his lungs from the impact.
"Hey! I'm on one health here! Fragile package!" Drake shouted, "Does no one appreciate how many insects I killed?"
"There's plenty more to be killed goldielocks," Ganeer pointed out, the area they had cleared beginning to be swarmed once again by countless insects.
"Can't we call for a 15 minute time out or something? I can't even move my legs and everything hurts I might add…" Drake complained.
"Are you going to always talk this much?" Silvester groaned.
"I take it back, maybe we should have tried harder to kill him…" Gnobin scoffed.
Tan knelt down next to Drake bringing his voice to a whisper, "No more magic. You got away with it for now because our observers had to leave. But the initial assault by the swarm is beginning to fade, which means they will be replaced soon enough."
Drake nodded as best he could, surprised that Tan wasn't reprimanding him instead of only warning him.
Tan stood back up, "Defend our position. We will wade out this storm until it passes. We fight until our last breath! Gather your strength and collect your points!"
Drake was forced to sit and watch as the others began fighting off the incoming tsunami that was the insects assaulting them.
As a result however, he was finally able to see Tan fighting up close at last. And it was not what he expected.
He still held the extremely long blade, swinging it back and forth more with strength and speed than with technique. At least for a few moments before it vanished, replaced by an overly decorated bow with a string that Drake swore was a ruby red.
Tan wielded the bow with expertise. Each draw and release quick, full, and accurate as the arrows seemed to form out of thin air as he drew and released in quick succession. Each arrow finding their way in between the eyes of whatever target he deemed necessary to die.
Drake had never seen someone use so many weapons so expertly in quick succession. It had to be a skill for weapon mastery, but Drake was only aware of one that helped with the damage of weaponry. Not the use and mastery of them.
As far as he was aware that was still all on the person using them. Their ability to master the weapon through hard work.
Again surprised, Drake was left amazed. The insects began tightening their encirclement and in response Tan replaced his weapon.
He was now holding two chakrams.
Drake forced himself to sit up, his status trickling up like a cup being painstakingly filled drop by drop. But he had no other choice than to wait for his natural regeneration to refill his status.
Tan spun his blades in the air, catching them at their handles deftly. The next moment he shot forward and for the first time Drake was able to catch it, a glimpse of what was happening.
On the tip of the blades just for an instant right before the serrated edges touched their opponent a burst of mana and magic covered them.
Drake smiled.
I knew you were hiding something.
"He is amazing. I was not aware half-blood Asurans could obtain such strength!"
Drake looked over his younger self painted with excitement. Drake had almost forgotten about the following pair but they had tagged along with him through the madness that was the last few hours.
But while his younger self was amazed. Mir'phyra was more stone faced, watching the proceedings looking rather bored.
Drake felt rather suspicious but then it hit him.
She can't tell he's using magic? I assumed she would be able to at least detect it as an S-Rank. What if she can… but she's here under restricted means. So does that mean she can't use all her skills? Or can she not use any of her skills?
Drake turned back to the group fending off the swarm, another thought passing through his head.
I feel like I'm not seeing the whole picture. She imprinted herself on the Asuran skill stones somehow and that let her come here… Let her come here?
He couldn't finish his thought, the sounds of the battle hitting a fever pitch. Forcing his attention back to it.
Drake looked around for the source and saw Tan battling it out with something that wasn't an insect.
No instead it was a man. However, it didn't have a head. But Drake recognized the greenish skin that covered the headless figure.
Tan was fighting with the reanimated corpse of Dolf.
"How is that possible? Are the undead on this friggin planet too?!" Drake shouted.
The fight continued between Tan and Dolf in a heated exchange. Tan still held the advantage, his chakrams digging into Dolf with every flurry of blows. But Dolf seemed unaffected from the wounds.
That was until Tan vanished with an increase in speed, and struck the headless corpse in the back with enough force to send it flying right in Drake's direction.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't send it over here!"
The body skidded to a stop a few feet away from Drake, on its back a still withering insect attached to the body's back. A long purplish stinger inserted into the base of its spine.
Drake immediate felt a burst of energy and forced himself to get up if only to put strength into his right fist, driving it deep into the worming insect.
His blow connected and the bug splattered into green goo.
Drake sighed deeply, "Great. Now there are not only flying fortress, bugs that are invisible ninja levels of fuck you energy. There are now zombi-fying xenomorph type FACESUCKERS!? This place is great! This place is fucking awesome! Might as well be in Australia!"
To Drake's horror that wasn't the end of it. In short time after Tan had thrown Dolf's corpse Drake's way, more of the objectively nightmare fuel inducing reanimated corpses began showing up.
All around the group, not only were the insects in full force, but races of people Drake had seen at the staging camp had started to come in groups.
Wolfmen and women, human-like Djin, four armed men and women. There were even Lizard men in the swarm, wading their way to the front with their mechanical backpacks and equipment missing.
"Nice! So this is just the insect-apocalypse version of GoT. Sick!"
Drake finally had enough mana in the tank to begin casting spells again, but with a cursory glance at Tan, he was reminded that he definitely shouldn't.
But Drake only listened when it suited him.
"And it doesn't suit me now! I ain't dying here! Body Renewal!"
Forcing his water magic to manifest, Drake attempted to weave the spell around him, doing his best to remember and mimic the feeling of when his water endowment activated.
With his new class and skills his control over his magic had increased by a large margin, but he had yet to train with it long enough to call it significant enough to pull off specific types of buff magic without the system to help guide him.
But there was no time to fear failure. There was an army bearing down on them, with more being added to the ranks from their own force.
Drake pushed his mana manipulation as far as he currently could, feeling and molding the spell bit by bit. The spell was rough, but slowly coming together as the spell circle formed.
He felt the familiar pull of mana being extracted from himself and entering the blue rotating formation. A mental click told him he had fumbled through the maze that was forming the spell until it was enough to activate.
And with his will, the spell washed over him and he saw a noticeable increase of his status as it steadily replenished.
"I'm back in the fight! Arcadia stands!"
Drake roared into action, shooting forward into the fray like a hound released from a leash.
"One way or another I'm going to make it through this bullshit quest! I'm going home!"
Colliding with the line of encircling insects Drake ripped through whatever was in arms reach, holding nothing back.
His hands turned into weapons of death and destruction as they lit up with a self made augmentation spell he applied. Black fire enveloped the tips of his fingers as he threw punches through the bodies of reanimated corpses and insects alike.
Drake's Mana Germination skill began to ramp up once again, and this time there was no buff from Vale to bring the regeneration down.
He now had a licence to use his mana and spells to its fullest and without concern. He heeded no warnings from Tan, there was no room for it. Drake was sure that if he held back here with the lack of a full set of skills they would surely be overrun.
The appearance of other fallen squads confirmed to him that many of the attack force had been killed and turned into soldiers for the other invasion force.
A thought wormed into his mind as he fought through the swarm, dodging swiping blades, serrated teeth and spikes.
Just what is so important on this planet that so many people have to die for?
A fleeting thought however as Drake waded his way through the ocean that was the massive onslaught of bugs and reanimated corpses. Soon he came to an opponent that wouldn't go down quickly.
Drake immediately feared he had come across just what Vale and Tan had hinted at. One of the Queen's Chosen.
Tizruuk Dznoots Level 40
Standing in a cleared square of the swarm stood a bipedal insect. Long antennae extending down past a mostly human face, massive trunks for arms and legs and for the first time a body covered in armor. In the insect's hands two long curved blades of black.
Drake held his ground staring back at the insect, readying himself.
"I really need to finish getting my skills… This is like the tutorial on hell mode," he groaned.