Zool

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

MacKensie skidded to a halt and dropped to her knees next to James and Zell, her panic subsiding as the light of James' healing spell glowed over her Zell's body. She asked James if the other man would be okay and he appeared confident, so she put a hand on each of her two friend's shoulders and nodded briskly, about to head back into battle, but paused after a step to throw her own answer into Zell's dumb joke.

"So, bossman...?" he asked. "Rushing an opponent roughly twice your strength like a wild caveman.... how would you rate my strategy out of ten?"

"Maybe try not to take the 'Mindless gorilla' thing so far next time, yes?" she said angrily.

James verbalized his agreement, although with appropriately increased intensity and language, making her smile, albeit through a stern reprimanding expression for Zell. Aside from Zell's outburst of stupidity, she knew James' tone well enough to know that the swordsman would be fine. And then there was Fenna and Barracker's teamwork that had been effective enough to injure Zigmund. Even her own brief clash with him at the very beginning of battle had been world's apart in difference to her last showdown with the ninja. They were all stronger and she was confident that they could kill this agent of evil.

She saw the water javelins and Zell warned James in time for all of them to escape direct hits. MacKensie herself had pulled off a a corkscrew flip that saw her spin horizontally over the javelin, it flying past her harmlessly. As she landed, she saw James had blocked most of the damage with his anchor, a little blood trickling down the side of his face from a minor cut. And Adam, who'd taken up a position to cover the battlefield, had saved Zell by throwing a tree into the javelins path.

This really was a different party than the inexperienced, unascended one Zigmund had faced last time. And she was sure that he knew it too.

And then, as she watched the beautiful chemistry of assault from their resident Spear and Greatsword, that confidence she had was ripped from her at the sight of the ice explosion. She gasped, her sharp eyes catching the details of Zigmund's counterattack. The damage was apparent. Adam had once again showed his effectiveness with his magic - his root system somehow mitigating damage, but while Fenna had escaped with minor injuries, Barracker was hurt badly.

"Oh no. Barracker."

Once again, she went to help her friends but was paused mid-step by unexpected noise. Hoofbeats. She looked towards where the horseman appeared, but with glow of the rising sun behind him, horse and rider were almost a silouette. Almost. Her mouth opened, her brow furrowed as her mind told her that she could not really be seeing what her eyes were telling her.

I saw him... die. With her own eyes, she'd watched him drop lifelessly to the floor. With her own hands, she'd helped dig his grave, with the farm man's own broken shovel. Her and Joji had given him his own funeral on the hilltop overlooking Valhiem. How could this be?

"Life is getting up one more time than you’ve been knocked down. An' I came back to be sure you never did."

"Lord in heaven, it is him," she confirmed by his thick accent. She didn't even realise she was crying. "Clive."

Clive Michel was back - riding a ghostly, glowing horse. And he entered battle with a mighty mega-punch that sent Zigmund across the dirt. It was enough to break her from her pause, and while tears still rolled down her cheeks, Second Chance's leader's command was enough to re-engage her mind.

"He is vulnerable, attack!"

MacKensie rushed in, blue flames dancing into existence along her hands and arms, her maximum foot-speed a sight to behold. Knowing James was hoisting up the anchor as she left him, she jumped high and out of the way, to one side, then started her Deadly Flurry in sync with the results of the anchor flying towards Zigmund, aiming for the cracks in his armour. Mid air, she would fire her grapplehook at the ground next to her enemy and speed in like an air-to-ground missile, activating a second Deadly Flurry and baseball sliding right by the metal ninja while letting off 4 bolts-per-second until her blue flames disappeared.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

I'll have time to post later.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

It never takes much to start you guys off on your puns smh lol.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Wow at those last four posts! Great action xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

RIP. I know how important he was to anime. I'm sure many will miss him.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

@Saiyanlmao you must hate Zell! The love putting him through the ringer xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

She awoke with a deep breath, snuggling the thick, nice-smelling jacket up to her chin and almost dozing off again. Without even opening her eyes, she knew it must be still dark, for surely the eastern light would be doing it's best to ruin her half-asleep comfort right now. There she stayed for a while longer, but no more sleep was to be found. This is not the most optimal position for rest, her back told her. Who does this jacket belong too? her nose asked. Thank the lord we might go back to Valhiem and have a few days off, said the scabbing slash wounds on her waist and forearm.

When she finally opened her eyes, she saw a paling sky. Sunrise was approaching. After standing up, she stretched her arms and tried to work out the kinks in her neck and back. The coat she had in her hand was instantly recognisable and she smiled. Adam. Of course. He must already be up, she mused, although looking around, there was no sign of him.

However, something did catch her notice. Her sharp eyes saw a figure at the bottom of the hill. There was a person just standing there, and it felt like they were looking right back at her. And then she saw the red light - coming from the facial area - and it felt like she'd just been washed over by a bar-code scanner.

"Sacre bleu!"

Instantly, she turned and sprinted toward the temple, adrenaline flowing like white-water rapids. "EVERYONE!!!" she screamed as loud as her lungs could manage as she passed under the entrance. She kicked every door in the entrance hall open, shouting over and over, "THE NINJA! THE NINJA IS HERE!!!"

Could they even hear her in this massive place? She dared to run further into the main corridor to scream her lungs out yet again. But she dared not waste anymore time. There were still a few civilians in the temple who'd chosen not to go home in the night. Imagine if the ninja got inside the temple and she lost track of him in this maze of a temple? The havoc he could create! She could not - would not - leave the entrance to the temple unguarded! And so she ran back outside and stood her ground in front of the large religious building.

"Calm. Focus. Don't forget to breathe." The Olympic archer in her coming out. Come on, guys, she pleaded, her heart pounding.

By the time the metal ninja was in front of her, her weapons were brandished, crossbow ready and bolts between the fingers of the hand holding her dagger.

"Once a party of 9..." Yes, talk. Need more time. "There are less of you now. And the wizard girl will sadly not be joining you again either."

MacKensie gasped, her bottom lip shaking. "Lillianna."

"I had a lot of fun with her. A shame that her fragile wizard body could not last longer."

Her eyes watered and her legs felt weak. Her stomach churned. She even had to look away, chin-to-shoulder as his words shook her core.

"I saw how you survived Aurok. One of you gave your lives. I seem to remember snapping the neck of one of you too. Hmmm... consider those weaklings the lucky ones. Back then...? I was at less than half of my real strength."

Lies! she had to tell herself as her emotions channeled into anger. She looked back at the ninja, determined to be strong, fury fuelling her stand.

"NOW WITNESS THE TRUE POWER OF ZIGMUND MUGBA-ZARAK!"

His display was like he was daring her to call his bluff, but she refused to allow it to affect her building rage and mental strength. She did not avert her gaze, she used all the time that he would allow to keep building and building... Lillianna! ...and building and building... Clive! ...and building and building... Arthur!

His attack triggered her into action, she ran at him. But as he jumped and summoned the biggest weapon she'd ever seen, her agility and reflexes allowed her to react, although there was no possible way - not even with her speed - to completely avoid damage and she was knocked flying from the impact of the crashing attack. She bounced like a ragdoll as her body hit the ground, but the second time she hit the ground she was rolling back to her feet, ignoring the pain and ripped sleeve of her tunic. She ran towards a flanking position, firing off shots, then as she saw the roots come out of the ground, she realised who had joined the fight.

"Adam!"

And she reacted, firing her grapplehook at the ground between the feet of Zigmund, then leaned back and surfed the dirt at high speed into close quarters combat. If he moved, she would adjust. Once in range, she flew into dagger attacks and close range shots.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

I thought I would have time to post this morning and have MacKensie scream into the temple that Second Chance has company, but I will be busy with Mother's Day duties for me and my fella xD

I will post tonight, but if you need to go before then, assume MacKensie is alerted to the danger and has time to announce that it's party time! Or have your character sound the alarm. Anyway to help us all get realistically to fighting words xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

It was true; being a hero had an incredibly fulfilling aspect to it. Her parents had always taught her, "The key to happiness is purpose. The key to purpose is duty. The key to duty is discipline." Her mother had even once told her that even the beauty of marriage was almost as much about duty as it was about love. It had sounded so strange to her at the time. It still did. But when it came to this Gold Contract, the discipline and duty they had shown had brought them success. And a heroic purpose certainly did feel like happiness, even the with injuries and fatigue. In this moment, she felt an extra pride to be a Trydant. She missed her family so much, but she knew she would be making them proud, if they knew what she was going through.

"To be honest, MacKensie - and this is gonna sound pretty mad - but I'm over the whole 'getting hit by a bus' thing. Truly. I'm a pretty simple guy. Adaptable. And I'm here now, dealing with it. And I can live with that."

How!? A question she found herself asking over and over when it came to this man. Underneath all that bravado, it would seem that he really was as tough as he portrayed. Physically and mentally.

"...Especially with you around."

And always knew how to make her go red as a beetroot. Thank goodness it was dark and they were out of eachothers sight. After a silence that was very awkward for her, he continued, and she would agree quite emphatically. "Yes, I do not intend to go anywhere else in Valhiem until we find out what is in that Source Comm. I must know who or what is behind all of this." She was so deadly serious, but couldn't help but chuckle at the previous phrase that had been rolling around in her mind since he'd said it. He'd turned her special attack into a McDonalds icecream product. "A 'MacFlurry.' When do you have time to come up with this nonsense?" Her smile was for the dark, but indicative in her tone.

"Thanks too," he admitted. In her surprise, she looked in his direction, although from this position, she was simply looking at a view of stone. "For blowing up at me on the temple roof, this afternoon. With great power comes great responsibility. Sounds pretty damn cringe, but it's true."

"It is not cringey, I do not think," she answered sharply, straightening up with an air of haughtiness. "It is noble and dignified. We are heroes now and we must act accordingly."

"Being a hero ain't half bad. I'll try and take a little bit more seriously." And of course, he couldn't help himself and added, "A teeeeeny little bit."

She shook her head. "I suppose every journey starts with a small step in the right direction."

"How about you doll? You doing alright?"

She sighed. "I will be fine, I think. I am not so adaptable as you. Many things weigh on me. And I miss my family so much. My friends. My life. I am not sure if it is fortune or misfortune that; I do not have much time to dwell on these things. My problems in this world are as much as I can handle. But I can and will handle them. I will do my part for the success of our team. For the friendship and bonds we have."

"You manage to stop overthinking that problem of yours?"

"Oh, ummm..." And she thought of a way to lie without lying. "Actually, yes. And I have you to thank in many ways for it. Whenever I had time to think, my balance would fail me. My reflexes. My agility. The deaths of Clive and Arthur had made me so fearful of my life. I became so precoccupied with failure to execute my Ranger abilities. The more I was careful... the more I concentrated... the worse this problem became. I was certain I would never be able to be zooming and flipping around like I was in our previous battles. But I realised that in last battle just now: When thinking about every aim, every foot-placement, every precise angle of my grapplehook... it is impossible." Her mind went to when James called out to her to go get the phylactery. How she responded. "But when all of these thoughts simply cannot be organised - or even thought of, in the first place, for there is simply no time - that is when I can be MacKensie Trydant, the Ranger." She knew that he would understand, in spite of her long-winded and possibly confusing explanation. "I must sometimes trust 'not to think,' when it comes to my ability."

And now she was the one who could not help herself, and added, "I must be a mindless gorilla like you." She covered her mouth to hold back any noise of her laugh until she could control herself. "Now go and get some sleep, Zell Brooks. I hear it in your voice - you are dying in pain just to stand there. Go."

Whether he left or not, for her she would stand for a while longer at Temple Hill steps. Eventually she would grab her bedroll and make a semi-comfortable seat at the foot of the pillar, wrapping her cloak tight about her and maybe managing a few hours of sleep.

One thing was for certain: She would not be caught dead sleeping in that Temple. It creeped her out, to no end.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

MacKensie went to go and eat after leaving the shrine room. In the kitchen, she sat and processed Barracker's words, his emotions and his demeanour. What that led to was rather unexpected. She thought that sympathy would dominate her conclusion, but while that was most certainly present, it was not what grabbed her. What grabbed her was a momumental admiration for Barracker Kassel. How could a man whose life had taken such a bad turn manage to maintain such composure and level-headedness... such honour and unshakeable principles? It could have been so easy to throw away everything in the face of such persecution and prejudice. But he hadn't. He was a rock of righteousness. Of course, it could not escape her that he'd lost his true love in this process. Perhaps one day, when she knew him better, she might suggest - convince - that he should reconnect with Evelyne. In truth, it was none of her business, but she felt a duty to her sense of romance that she bring up that conversation one day in the future.

With everyone settling down to sleep, she decided to go outside to be alone. It felt like a victory in itself to just walk out of the temple entrance, after going in and facing what they did. There was pride too. Pride to be in such amazing company. Everyone in their group was such an unbelievable person of strength and character. She would die (again) for her new friends. They all meant so much to her and she would strive to meet their standards - to be worthy of them.

Her silent Ranger footsteps, in the night, made her nigh undetectable. This was probably how she managed to get to the steps of Temple Hill without alerting the other man out here. And perhaps it was her preoccupied mind that was the reason her Ranger perception did not sense him.

When Zell sighed loudly, "Eek!" MacKensie jumped out of her skin. "Zell."

Of all the people to run into, he was one of two she'd rather have avoided. Hard to run away now. "What are you doing out here? You should be resting your injuries." She shuffled a bit of dirt about with her feet, until finally deciding to walk around to the other side of big pillar he was leaning against, then mirrored him and leaned against the stone, lightly grinding her thumbnails against eachother and looking out into the night as they conversed.

"How are you feeling?"