ERode

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

They broke off into a mad dash, but as they got closer and closer, Muu and Matteo both experienced the same thing. The sheer size of the monster before them was insane. It may not have looked all that impressive at a distance, but up close, the gears in their skulls began to churn. An ordinary toad ate insects, and they stood at ten to fifteen centimeters in length. They had no teeth to chew or grind, so they end up simply swallowing whatever they ate.

In that case, how massive was a toad going to have to be, to swallow livestock whole?

It towered above them all, a monster five meters tall, three meters wide, the sheer size enough to block out a portion of the gray sky. Far from being threatened by the two children running at it from the fields, it regarded them with a lazy blink, an irreverent nonchalance that wasn’t even disturbed when Ash’s arrow sank three centimeters into its slimy, sinuous flesh. In the distance, that horse looked tasty, and there was a snack along the way as well. Shifting its heavy form towards its left, the creature crawled over in a plodding manner, almost uncaring for the presence of Matteo and his suddenly inadequately sized knife.

But of course the toad cared.

Insects, small as they are, were still food, after all.

With no hesitation, and barely any telegraph, its pink tongue flickered out with bone-pounding force and gale-like speed, ready to grab Matteo and fling him into its open mouth.

Fate/Secondary Genesis

"Eh, I can imagine someone from Japan doing it for sure," Naoko replied, bobbing up and down slightly as she wiped the counters. "Ancestral worship n all. Elders would probs like to know how their legacy's doing as well. Like a doting grandpa, yeah?"

A pause. Her lips pursed. "Not that a magus family would have something like that."

The comment about their propensity for the manipulations of the masses gave her some pause as well, another thoughtful silence passing, before Naoko ultimately ended up shrugging. Just because they were like the kings of old didn't make them assholes, though a magus heritage certainly would. She sharpened her knives on a whetstone, wiped them off with a damp cloth, made sure all her spices were secured, before flashing Sophie the thumbs up.

"Peeking's fine with me. Don't forget your shades though, Sophie. Pretty sure this is the perfect time to dress down...but we're definitely taking a u-turn if they've set up a Bounded Field, no matter the distance. Can't have them spontaneously nuking my truck."

Fate/Secondary Genesis

Ah, blessed break with glorious iced water. As the final set of Belgian Waffles were popped off the grid, Naoko finally let the tension seep out of her body, her form practically becoming a slime as she seeped against the wall. Sipping through a straw, she sat on a stool and watched Sophie flip through the pages of her pilfered paper.

“Uwah,” she vocalized, eyes scanning over the murders and the war of drugs, “American media is as dreary as ever, huh.”

But of course crude crimes weren’t anything that interested an Empress. Raising a brow at the headlines extolling some European 1%-er, Naoko sipped on the straw until it started producing obnoxious sounds, before hopping off her stool again, rejuvenated. “Pretty sure any magi family coming over to Boston’s gonna be suspect,” she replied, “But being the rich fellows they are, they’d probably have summoned some super crazy person like Hercules as an Archer or Lancelot as a Saber, yeah?”

She turned on the tap, rolled up her sleeves, and started scrubbing away. Lunch rush being down didn’t mean work stopped, sadly. A couple moments of silence passed before she spoke up again. “This totally is a challenge, right?” Naoko ventured, performing miracles with her steel wool, “Like, wow, gotta be some next level arrogance to announce your presence via the news...but huh.”

An inkling of something crawled in her mind. It didn’t align at all with her current plan of ‘doing nothing the whole time and just seeing who crawls out of the war’, but maybe a proactive approach was alright as well.

“If you wanna go say ‘hi’, I’m not opposed. Austrian aristocrat’s gotta be hot, right, Sophie?”

Snobby Students Are Summoned As Heroes?

As Irene saw something in the distance, Albrecht was quick to follow as well, jogging up the hill. Six hours of non-stop walking, no matter how carefully he controlled the pace, was still painful. His legs ached, his throat was parched, and his stomach grumbled, all physical discomforts that Albrecht never had to suffer from before. Incredible fatigue from pulling all-nighters? Easy. A whole day spent pouring over a subject he had no interest at all? Easy. But business leaders of multinational conglomerates certainly weren’t armor-wearing cross-country-hiking knights, and by the time he got up to that large hill, the youth was more than fine with plopping onto the ground with a thump, turning his head towards the darkening horizon.

It was hard to see, but it was certainly there. He spotted cultivated land, small rectangular bumps that must have been buildings, and even vague shadows moving about in the distance, no doubt the residents of this strange land. A village? A town? It was a bit shitty that it was in the opposite direction they went, but still, Albrecht let out a half-laugh of relief. “Look,” he pointed, “There’s south, I guess. Fuck me, guess we’ll double ba-”

And then, there was a light. Nothing but a glimpse, nothing but a flash. A bright blue shine that light up the distance and disappeared just as soon as it emerged. The knight rubbed his eyes, then narrowed them.

Next was the tremor, deep and strong, running up Albrecht’s spine, his armor clacking together. He turned to the others, raised a brow. An earthquake? Good thing they weren’t by a mountain then. And he couldn’t see any sort of giant creature rushing at them either, so…nothing to worry about.

There was plenty to worry about.

Right as Albrecht stood up, a beam of light shot up from the distance with a tremendous roar, flying up into the heavens itself. The skybeam burned away the darkening day, and, at this distance, with this much flowing out, even he could feel that aberrant tingling now. This was bad news. This wasn’t something any of them were prepared to handle. What the actual shitduggery was this? Like, come fucking on, just give them a break already. Was this some demon portal that would spawn the DARKNESS they had to fight? Was this aliens, coming to completely eradicate the fantasy setting of this place? Was the Goddess just memeing on them at this point, and really just plucked them out of their normal lives and deaths to troll them with random environmental threats?

He allowed himself two seconds to toss unanswered questions against his skull, before refocusing himself by clapping his hands against his cheeks.

That was a bad idea too. His palms were armored.

“Ow, crap that stings.” Albrecht grimaced, a red mark on either side of his cheeks. “But I guess that tosses THAT village out of the picture. Let’s uh…stay calm for now and just keep on walking on. I’ll take the front, Jyu-Ni takes the middle and Irene, stay in the back and just keep an eye out for that giant frickin death ray beam. If it looks like it’s growing bigger, gimme a word and we’re fucking booking it.”

Yeah, sounded good. He nodded once to himself, forcing an overconfident grin on his face.

“For now, ladies, let’s keep calm n carry on.”

If there was one village behind them, there had to be another village in front of them, right? With that in mind, Albrecht plotted a course over more hills, hoping to see another sign of civilization in the distance, hopefully far and away from that ominous pillar of light that gave him the heebie-jeebies.

Snobby Students Are Summoned As Heroes?

“Hrmm.”

A roar. A Chirotoraptor. Due west, within the forest.

She brushed her hand against her sword, before ignoring it, projecting an aura of confidence and indifference for her men to emulate. That rapturous monster may be a fearsome foe, but considering its eating habits, it would not choose to go after the crusaders themselves. No, such a creature is naught but a trial sent by the Goddess On High to examine the veracity of the heroes she called. A squadron of crusaders was enough to strip the flesh from the beast’s bones. It wouldn’t be a challenge for the heroes.

The Templar rode on, the Bishop beside her. As the sun dipped lower, the village of Tiki came into view. A Skalan village it may have been, but the modesty of the settlement was pleasant, at least. Wheat fields spread over the sunrise, and comforting cottages bore not the ostentatious embellishments of normal Dwema buildings. Through the visor, she could see the forms of a few Bestia finishing up a day’s labor, and the sight brought a smile upon her face, hidden as it was. She nodded slightly at their retreating forms, as the platoon entered the vague borders of the village. As customary, the town bell rang thrice, and as customary, the village-folk gathered outside, a few of them already dragging out bags of grain.

“Stand down,” she spoke, her voice echoing out of her helm, “The Order has not come to collect the Goddess’s generosities this time. Where is the elder of this village? We require food and drink for the night, as well as housing for Our Venerable Bishop.”

"WHAT IN THE FUCKING HELL IS THIS SHIT!?"

…

“And who is that within your well?”

But, of course, such things were to be left unanswered, when a beam of light pierced the night skies, the tremor of ancient mana felt even at such a distance. The Glade. The heroes.

The Templar found her hand wrapped around her sword.

This, this she could not ignore.

Suddenly, My Favorite MMORPG has Become Real?! — A Log Horizon-inspired RP

Dunno, what if it's actually a lvl 85 Area Boss?

Fate/Secondary Genesis

Sophie took really well to her new ‘job’, didn’t she?

Inside the food truck, Naoko was hard at work as well, popping open cabinets and fridges with a ferocity becoming of being the only kitchen worked in a popular food truck during lunch rush. Crepes sizzled on low heat while she whipped up another batch of whipped cream. Strawberry prep was already done, thank god, but at this rate, she might have to buy that particular farmer’s stock out completely. When business was good, business was hell, and that didn’t even account for the increase in customer traffic they got ever since word got around that the Winter Palace hired a new, hot Russian girl.

“Yup!” Naoko shouted over the din of her living kitchen, “Discounts for returning and if you bring in new customers too! Super good deal! Crepes n ice cream are up!”

With a rushed flourish, she wrapped the crepes up in compostable recycled paper, slid them over to Sophie, and then gave her forearms seven milliseconds of rest before she launched to the next order, snatching a pinned slip and giving it a once over. Three tuna ice cream sandwiches and a cup of apple sauce chili? Ey, that was totally Danielle and her boss, wasn’t it? She tossed in a venison corndog for the heck of it, imagining just how wonderful it’d be once the shift ends and she could finally do something about her throat.

“If they’re a snack, you might as well get their numbers anyways, Sophie,” the pink-haired woman said, shaking droplets of water off her hand as she switched to the next order. “Wouldn’t mind just letting you borrow mine.”

After all, as long as it was consensual and safe, mana transfer with strangers would totally lighten up Naoko’s own load, even if only slightly.

✧ Talrae S2 ✧

They had been waiting for that.

Breaking out from the lines repeatedly was nothing more than a sign of lack of discipline, from a trainer painting a massive target on his back by breaking into enemy lines solo, to a mage pushing aside her tank in order to get a clear shot at a singular goblin. As Willow vented her anger on the two trainers, human and goblin alike, an opening exposed itself, one that no glory-seeking Goblin would ignore. Three poisoned bolts drove themselves into her body, her healing spells already set to cooldown as they were expended upon River. Immediately, debuffs such as <<Disease>>, <<Grevious>>, and <<Poison>> emerged on her status, chipping further away, but those were an afterthought compared to the sudden struggles that sounded through the rest of the backline.

The wedge of goblins that crashed the lines hadn’t just been there to kill. They had also served as a distraction, one that was only magnified by the sudden appearance of a faerie dragon knocking everyone away. And as the attention shifted back to the frontlines, the clash between the main forces, no one realized that the enemy was still amongst them until it was too late.

Holly felt a pinprick on her neck, before the world immediately blackened in front of her. The <<Sleep>> status burned right before her eyes, and no matter what she willed herself to do, she could not force the darkness of unconsciousness away.

Prome, lost in his own world as he unloaded Fire Blast after Fire Blast, suddenly choked, thin wire tightening around his neck as a small creature latched onto his back, pulling harder and harder on the garrotte.

All around them, other backline DPses were suddenly tipping over, disabled or debilitated, while the Goblins surged with renewed vigor in this moment of respite, their own backline offenses now able to fully commit upon smashing apart the shield wall. Goblin Ambushers. That was what had slipped in during the mess that the wargs and brutes had caused, small, black-cloaked creatures that specialized in disabling rather than killing, a whole assortment of powerful debuffs in their small, deadly hands.

✧ Talrae S2 ✧

The presence of Pepper was a miracle unto itself. Bursting out of nowhere, the faerie dragon’s sheer mass deflected the incoming goblins, giving the adventurers those much needed seconds to reorganize themselves. Prome’s flames charred, Holly’s arrows pierced, River’s lightning obliterated, and as more adventurers charged to suppress the threat, three definitive drum beats resounded, and the wedge formation of Brute and Warg began their retreat.

But this was not a loss for the goblins. No, for all the awe-inspiring terror that the full-grown faerie dragon struck in their hearts, what those beautiful feathers caused was more than fear. It was desire.

A dragon. A true dragon. Oh, how many stories would be told in their name if they were the ones to claim the life of a dragon. Those feathers would make a beautiful headdress. Imagine how gorgeous using those glistening eyeballs would be as an amulet. The talons, so razor-sharp, much greater than any dagger they could craft. And imagine how grand it would be, claiming a faerie dragon’s beak as your helmet.

They dreamed. They obsessed. They craved.

To fly over the battlefield was to expose oneself. And to do so in a world where magic could not be dodged? Doubly foolish. The greediest of all was a Shaman that raised his birdskull staff in a triumphant roar, sending out unholy lightning. One searing crack and Pepper was tumbling, shot out of the skies, her right wing heavily damaged. She spiralled, fell, and crashed behind enemy lines, leaving a trail of feathers and upturned dirt in her wake. A few goblins were crushed beneath her weight but more were worked up into a frenzy by this gift from the heavens. Before Pepper could rise up, the monsters descended upon her. A Brute wrapped his arms around her beak, sealing the noxious fumes before they could be spilled again. Wargs crashed against her muscular, but fragile wings, while lesser goblins, hungry for blood and glory, swarmed her body like ants, raising rudimentary farming tools with malicious intent.

River could see this, all in the backline, behind the raised shields of Paladins, Knights, and Warriors. Could see the physical representation of his pet’s health scatter into the winds as they ripped and tore.

Seconds remained before the faerie dragon expired. Prodigiously sized she may be, and yet that same size did not translate to significant strength.

✧ Talrae S2 ✧

It was a war!

So many years ago, that cold, mechanical voice told them to prepare for a great war, and now here it was! Years spent in wait, years spent sharpening their blades, years spent raiding and fighting and arguing and preparing! For this moment, where they will be immortalized by the flesh they rent! The drums sang the warsong of their people, emboldening their bodies and their spirits. None of them on the frontline had expected to live to see another day, and they pushed themselves with renewed vigor instead. One Brute tore through the ranks, chaining Hard Punches and Club Swings together with mad abandon until he was burnt out and ripped apart by the cowardly, armored ants. A mere Goblin managed to distinguish himself amongst his peers by driving a knife into the heel of another adventurer, bringing her down onto the ground before ripping off her helm and pulverizing her skull with a stone axe. His fate was to be beheaded by a Reaper moments afterwards. Far in the back, Goblin Archers shot out waves and waves of arrows, providing nothing more than a distraction for the Shamans that did their great and terrible magics.

From the frontlines, their call was glorious, and the disintegrating beam of power that they evoked turned men to ash, cutting a craterous swath through the ranks of adventurers, only for the Shamans to be equally crushed by fireballs falling like meteors. But though the adventurers could all kill three or four goblins by themselves, the goblins replaced themselves at an even greater rate, the war drums becoming a form of communication that allowed massive amounts of units to shift like a sentient flood. For a moment, the adventurers could hold the line, no push even harder.

But in the next, one part of the main force collapsed entirely.

They had been patient, they had waited long, but now, cloaked Goblins atop of Wargs slammed into the shield wall before letting out a grand cry of outrage. <<Brutal Taunt>>, a lesser variation of a Paladin’s Radiant Challenge that only temporarily drew the target’s attention. But rather than engage afterwards, the Warg Riders peeled off instead, pulling the tanks away with them and exposing the DPSes behind the lines. Immediately, monsters flooded in through the gap, Wargs sowing discord and Blood Boiled Brutes knocking them away.

Willow, as it happened, was simply unlucky.

The light that radiated from her body exposed her clearly as a healer, and the Warg Riders charged at her immediately, axes raised to chop her to pieces.