"Bloody hell!" Nate shrieked, dangling over the precipice in her glowing energy-thong. Her magnetic soles sparked helplessly, trying to find purchase in the empty air.
Before them lay a view that would give any normal person a terminal case of acrophobia. A gargantuan well, soaring up into an infinite sky. The "Vertical Limit" zone had no floor—only a bottomless pit churning with mist, from which rose the low thrum of giant fans creating powerful updrafts. The walls of the well were riddled with everything one could possibly climb: sheer rock-climbing walls with multi-coloured grips, rickety rope ladders, narrow ledges, suspension bridges made of rotting planks, and hovering platforms moving in unpredictable patterns.
And it was all terrifyingly high up.
"Gravity..." Lena rasped, hauling Nate back onto the narrow starting ledge. Her body felt heavy as lead; every movement required a conscious effort. "The System’s cranked the gravity to the max. It’s about thirty percent heavier than usual here."
"Brilliant," Nate groaned, adjusting her glowing micro-top. "Just bloody wonderful. I’m going to be jumping like a pregnant hippo, and my tits are going to try and make a break for it."
Irina, in her new Dragon Priestess look, stepped to the edge. Her translucent silk cape and scaled bikini fluttered in the wind, making her look like a figurehead on the prow of an ancient ship. She peered down, her golden eyes narrowing.
"I can feel the currents," she said softly. "The air here... it’s malicious. It will try to throw us off. But the wings... they’ll help us glide. A little."
From below came a buzzing sound and the screech of spikes on metal. Rollo, using his modified skates like crampons, slowly crawled onto the platform.
"Phew, lovely weather," the hedgehog said, brushing frost from his glasses. "Speedrun is officially cancelled; we’re switching to 'Scrounger' mode. I’ll hang back and... ahem... act as the safety."
"The only thing you’ll be 'acting' as is a target for my boot if you don't keep up," Lena muttered.
She approached the first wall—a sheer cliff of rough, artificial stone rising about fifty metres. It was time to test the new modifications. Lena pressed her palm against the rock. The symbiote beneath the "nano-skin" stirred. Thousands of microscopic black hooks instantly sprouted from her fingertips and palms. She pressed down. The grip was perfect. She could hang by one hand without even straining a muscle. The same happened with her bare feet and knees.
"Right," Lena took a deep breath. The harness barely covered her, and the wind chilled her skin, but the symbiote warmed her from within, maintaining her "combat temperature." "I’ll go first. I’ll scout the route. Nate, you’re behind me—use the anti-grav for jumps between grips. Ira, you’re the sweep. If anyone slips, try to catch them with the wind or your wings. Rollo... just try not to die or get in the way."
She began the ascent. It was a strange sensation—moving not like a human, but like a lizard or a spider. She didn't need large grips; the slightest imperfection in the stone was enough for the symbiote to lock on. She could crawl upside down, sideways, in the most unnatural positions. Naturally, these positions offered spectacular views for those below.
"Oh, yes..." came Rollo’s muffled whisper from below as he crawled after them using his spiked wheels. "Soft-body physics in action. Look at that angle! Look at the texture detail! The devs are absolute geniuses!"
"I can hear you, you little creep!" Lena shouted, hanging by one hand and looking down.
The view from above was impressive. Nate was hopping between grips like a glowing flea, her bracelets flashing blue with every push to compensate for the heavy gravity. Irina climbed slowly but gracefully, occasionally aiding herself with short flaps of her ghostly golden wings. And below them, clinging to the rock, hung a blue hedgehog in oversized glasses, clearly enjoying the sight of three female figures in extremely revealing outfits.
"Look at the path, not the textures, or you’ll fall!" Lena threatened, continuing her climb.
The first fifty metres were just a warm-up. After that, platforming hell truly began. The rock wall ended, replaced by a series of hanging platforms swaying on rusty chains. The wind here blew with such force that they had to shout to be heard.
"Heads up!" Lena bellowed over the howl of the gale. "The platforms are unstable! Jump only when they’re at the lowest point of the swing! Nate, you’re up!"
Nate nodded and activated her anti-grav bracelets to full power.
"Banzai!"
She pushed off from the edge and soared across the abyss. The wind caught her light body, trying to shove her aside, but she corrected her flight with an impulse from her bracers and landed precisely on the swaying plank.
"Contact! The magnets are holding!"
The platform tilted dangerously under her weight and the impact of the wind. Nate had to balance herself, standing wide-legged and crouching low, which stretched her glowing thong and top to their absolute limits, showing the world everything there was to see.
"Splendid balance-keeping pose!" Rollo commented, already having scurried across the chain. "Very... aerodynamic!"
"Shut it!" Nate flushed, though the wind made it impossible to tell.
Lena jumped next; the symbiote allowed her to stick to the planks even at a 45-degree angle. Irina glided over, using her wings like a sail.
Then, things got worse. Some of the platforms turned out to be "fakes." Lena jumped onto the next wooden stage, and it instantly crumbled into rot beneath her feet.
"Eli!" Irina screamed.
Lena was falling into the void. But the symbiote reacted instantly. Two long black tendrils with hooks at the ends shot from her back and latched onto a neighbouring, solid platform. The jerk was horrific. Lena swung on the tendrils like a yo-yo. The harness bit into her body, and the wind was knocked out of her. She hung over the abyss, dangling in the gale.
"Pull yourself up!" Nate shouted, reaching out a hand.
Lena, growling with the effort, hauled herself up the tendrils and scrambled onto the platform.
"Bloody System..." she rasped, trying to catch her breath. "From now on, we check every plank before we jump! Rollo, you’re the lightest. Go in front and poke them with a stick!"
"Why me?! I’m support! I’m an observer!"
"You’re a consumable! Move it!"
The next section turned out to be a "jungle." Rope bridges overgrown with strange, oily plants were slung between stone pillars.
"Careful, it’s slippery," Lena warned as she stepped onto the bridge. Her "gecko paws" were skidding on the damp foliage.
And then, the vines came to life. They weren't just plants, but "Predatory Strangler-Cables" (Lvl. 18)—thick, flexible wires camouflaged as greenery, tipped with metal spikes. One of the vines lashed out at Irina’s leg, coiled around her ankle, and gave a sharp yank.
"Ah!" Irina fell to her knees, dropping her staff, which began to roll toward the edge of the bridge.
"Hang on!" Lena jumped toward her.
She didn't try to hack the vine with a blade—she was afraid of hitting her friend’s leg. Instead, she grabbed the cable with her hands, her symbiote-gloves with their hooks biting into the braiding. Lena began to pull, pitting her strength against the mechanism.
"Nate, cover us! There’s loads of them!"
Other vines began to stir all around, trying to seize the girls by their arms, waists, and legs. Nate opened fire. In this mode, her plasma cannons functioned like cutters. Short, precise pulses sliced through the cables, sending lubricant and sparks flying.
"Get your hands off my priestess, you half-baked tentacles!" Nate yelled, spinning like a top and firing with both hands.
The pose, which was a far cry from elegant, turned out to be incredibly effective.
Lena finally overpowered the cable holding Irina and ripped it from its mounting with a sickening crunch.
"Get up! Leg it to that cliff!"
They tore across the bridge, literally hacking through living circuitry, and scrambled onto a broad stone ledge.
"Phew..." Irina clutched her rescued staff to her chest. A red welt from the cable marked her leg. "Thank you. I... I wasn't ready for that."
"Get used to it," Lena muttered, inspecting her hands. The symbiote was already stitching up the minor nicks on her palms. "Everything here wants to kill us. Or throw us off."
"Or strip us bare," Rollo added grimly, pointing a finger at the sky.
Above them, circling in the updrafts, new enemies appeared.
[Enemy: Pterodactyl-Fetishist (Lvl. 22)] [Type: Flying / Perverted] [Special Feature: Attacks from the air; priority targets are items of clothing and gear. Possesses skills 'Pinch' and 'Revealment'.]
These weren't dinosaurs, but nightmarish constructions of leather, tattered canvas, and rusted clockwork. Their beaks resembled giant wire-cutters, and their talons were hooked and grasping. Their eyes glowed with a lecherous red light. There were about a dozen of them, and they were diving straight for the squad.
"Incoming!" Lena roared, transforming her right arm into a massive, bladed whip—the perfect weapon against flyers. "Back to back! Defend the perimeter!"
Chaos ensued. The pterodactyls weren't trying to kill them; they were trying to undress them. One beast dived at Nate. The pirate opened fire, but the creature dodged nimbly and, as it swept past, snapped its beak onto the strap of her glowing top.
SNAP!
The strap, made of forcefield and thin plastic, gave way. The top slid dangerously to one side, nearly exposing her.
"YOU BLOODY FLYING CHICKEN!" Nate bellowed, one hand clutching the remains of her outfit while the other fired at the retreating offender. "THAT’S MY FAVOURITE SKIN! I’LL TURN YOU INTO NUGGETS!"
A second pterodactyl targeted Irina, attracted by her fluttering silk cape. It dug its claws into the fabric and yanked upwards. The force nearly jerked Irina right off the ledge.
"Let go! It’s part of the set! The wings don't work properly without it!"
"Eli, help her!" Nate shouted, fighting a losing battle for her dignity against two other beasts.
Lena was occupied. Three pterodactyls were circling her, snapping at the harness straps on her hips and back. She spun like a dervish, her symbiote-whip cracking through the air, swatting the creatures down and lopping off mechanical limbs and wings. Seeing that Irina was about to be carried off along with her cape, Lena lashed out. The blade coiled around the pterodactyl's neck. Lena yanked with all her might. The mechanical beast's head detached with a sickening crunch. The carcass plummeted into the abyss, taking a shred of silk with it.
The Priestess, now free, fell to her knees. She was livid. Absolutely fuming.
"You... you ripped my dress!" Her voice began to vibrate with that dragon growl once more. "YOU. RIPPED. THE. HIGH. PRIESTESS’. DRESS!"
Her eyes flared gold. The Dragon aura began to thicken around her.
"Nate, hit the deck!" Lena screamed, throwing herself onto the stones and shielding her head.
Irina stood up. What remained of her cape and scaled bikini shone with an unbearable light. She raised her hands to the sky.
[DRAGON SUMMON: CELESTIAL FIRE!]
The ghostly golden dragon behind her spread its gargantuan wings and let out a silent roar. From the sky, straight out of the churning clouds, pillars of golden flame struck down. This wasn't just fire; it was a carpet-bombing of pure mana. The pillars hit the pterodactyls with pinpoint accuracy. The creatures went up like matchsticks. Canvas wings incinerated in seconds; gears melted. The sky above the ledge became a firework display of burning wreckage and feathers.
A minute later, it was over. The last pterodactyl, smoking and missing a wing, beat a pathetic retreat into the mist, squawking miserably. Irina lowered her arms. The aura dissipated. She stood there, breathing heavily in her tattered cape, looking entirely unscathed and utterly majestic.
[Enemies Defeated! Experience Gained.]
Nate, having somehow knotted her broken strap back together, scrambled up from the ground.
"Remind me never to tickle your temper when you’re wearing that," she said with newfound respect.
"They brought it on themselves," Irina said, lifting her chin proudly. "No one messes with my look."
Rollo, who had been hiding in a small niche, crawled out and dusted himself off.
"Blimey, you lot don't half put on a show," the hedgehog said, adjusting his glasses. "What a performance! Shame I didn't have any popcorn. But the camera angles during that fight... mm... dynamic! Especially when Nate was catching her top. I’ll need to see that back in slow-mo."
"I’m going to chuck you off this ledge," Nate promised tiredly. "I mean it."
"Alright, alright, I’m zipped! You’re hard as nails, no arguments here."
They pressed on. Ahead lay the most difficult stretch—the "Trail of Winds." A narrow ledge, barely half a metre wide, spiralling up the rock face. No railings. The stone was wet and slick. The wind here blew with such ferocity it felt like it could peel the skin right off them.
"Hug the rock!" Lena yelled, leading the way. Her symbiote clung to the wet stone like glue. "Don’t look down! Ira, use your wings as stabilisers, pin us against the wall! Nate, magnets to maximum!"
It was excruciatingly slow. Every step was a battle against the gale trying to pluck them from the cliff and hurl them into the void. Their half-naked bodies were freezing; their muscles cramped. Rollo crawled behind, every spike dug in. He’d stopped commenting on the "textures"—he was genuinely terrified.
"If we get out of this..." he whispered. "I’m deleting the hentai folder. Honestly. Well, half of it, at least."
At one point, a gust became so violent that Irina—the lightest and most "wind-catching" due to the remnants of her cape—was torn from the rock.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
"Aaah!" She dangled by one hand over the abyss, her fingers slipping on the wet stone.
"Ira!" Nate, who was just in front of her, didn't hesitate.
She activated her anti-grav jump—not upwards, but downwards toward Irina—and grabbed her free hand.
"I’ve got you!"
Now they were both dangling, held up only by Irina’s single hand, which was losing its grip on the ledge. The weight of two was too much. Irina’s fingers began to uncurl.
"Lena! We’re falling!"
Lena spun around. Seeing the situation, she knew she wouldn't make it down in time.
"Symbiote, do it! Full power!"
Bracing her legs against the rock, she fired her right arm downwards. A long, thick black tendril coiled around Nate’s waist.
"Heave!"
Lena strained with every fibre of her being. The symbiote, boosted by the harness, worked at its absolute limit; her muscles screamed. She hauled the weight of both girls upwards, fighting gravity and the gale. Nate, feeling the support, managed to pull herself up and grab Irina by the waist with her other hand. Together, with Lena’s help, they scrambled back onto the ledge.
They lay on the narrow outcrop, huddled together against each other and the cold stone, unable to move.
"I... I love you, Vector," Nate rasped. "And you, Dragon-girl. We’re bloody brilliant, aren't we?"
"Shut it and keep crawling," Lena replied, but her voice held so much relief it sounded like a confession of love.
After another half-hour of hellish crawling, the ledge widened and led them onto a massive, stable stone platform. A checkpoint. There was no wind here. It was quiet, save for the hum of the fans below. They collapsed onto the stones, utterly spent. Their "sexy" outfits were filthy, torn, and skewed. Their bodies were covered in bruises and scrapes. But they had made it.
"We did it," Irina exhaled, lying on her back and staring at the sky, which was no longer black but a pre-dawn grey.
"Almost," Lena sat up, her back cracking painfully.
She looked ahead. A broad staircase, carved directly into the rock, led up from the platform to the very top of the well. There stood a massive Arena—a structure of glass and chrome floating in the air on anti-gravity pads. It shone in the rays of the rising sun. And above the Arena hung a holographic sign:
[ZONE FINAL: TOP OF THE WORLD] [Boss: ???]
"There it is," Rollo said, rolling up to them. "The final push. The boss of this gym. Word is, he’s got self-esteem issues and very big... guns."
"What kind of guns?" Nate asked, propping herself up on an elbow.
"Well... metaphorical ones. And literal ones."
Lena stood up. Her body ached, but a cold fire of determination burned within. They had been through hell. They had grown stronger. They had become a team.
"Get up, girls. It’s time to wrap up this level. We’re heading to the top. And whoever is up there, we’re chucking them off."
They approached the broad stone staircase. It seemed so simple—just climbing the steps after the absolute hell they’d already endured. Lena confidently raised her foot over the first step. Her leg passed straight through the stone.
"What the—" She stumbled, nearly face-planting, but the symbiote on her other leg locked onto the ground to keep her balance.
The illusion flickered and dissolved. There was no staircase. Instead, the Abyss yawned open before them again. Hundreds of metres of nothingness separated them from the floating Arena. The wind up here at this altitude howled with renewed fury, threatening to blow them away like dandelion seeds.
"The System is taking the piss," Nate noted flatly, staring down. Her energy-thong flickered dimly, mirroring her sinking spirits. "It was a mirage. We’re stuck."
"No," Irina stepped to the very edge. "There’s something there. I can feel... a disturbance in the air. The currents are flowing around something solid."
She extended her staff and cautiously, like a sapper, tapped at the void.
Tap.
The tip of the staff hit an invisible barrier.
"An invisible bridge," Lena realised. "A classic of the genre. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Except there it was sand, and here we’ve got..."
"...only faith and gravity that wants us dead," Nate finished.
"Rollo," Lena turned to the hedgehog hiding behind her leg. "Your turn. You’re our master of bugs and textures. Get out there and find the path."
"Me?!" Rollo adjusted his glasses indignantly. "I’m support! I’m moral support! If I fall, who’s going to provide the commentary for your epic fails?"
"If you don't go, I’ll chuck you off myself," Lena threatened, transforming her arm into a whip.
"Alright, alright! Tyranny! Abuse! I’m going!"
Grumbling, Rollo rolled forward on his skates. He moved slowly, constantly poking the space in front of him with a small stick he’d scavenged.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
They moved in single file. Rollo in the lead, then Lena feeling the path with her symbiote-tendrils, followed by Nate ready to activate her magnets at a moment's notice, and Irina bringing up the rear, using the wind for stability. It was terrifying walking on air, seeing kilometres of nothingness beneath your feet. The brain refused to believe the footing was real. Every step was a leap of faith. The trail was narrow, winding, and occasionally broke off, forcing them to jump across invisible gaps.
Naturally, the System wasn't about to leave them in peace.
"Caw! Fresh meat in skimpy cossies!"
A familiar screech sounded from above.
"Again?!" Nate wailed, raising her plasma cannons. "I thought I’d shot the lot of them!"
New Pterodactyl-Fetishists. But this time, they weren't alone. On the backs of the mechanical beasts sat riders—small, green-skinned, big-eared creatures in leather helmets and aviator goggles.
[Enemy: Goblin Sniper on Pterodactyl (Lvl. 25)] [Feature: Fires poisoned darts and hurls filthy insults.]
"Oi, babe in the thong!" one goblin shouted as he swept past. "Nice bumper! Give us a honk!"
He fired a blowpipe. A dart hissed past, missing Nate’s face by a centimetre.
"I’ll give you a honk, you little toerag!" Nate opened fire, but balancing on an invisible path while shooting at erratic targets was nearly impossible.
It was pure chaos. They had to push forward without being able to see the road while simultaneously fending off an aerial assault. The goblins circled them, raining down darts and small stones. The pterodactyls made renewed attempts to snatch at their gear.
"Shield! Ira, shield!" Lena shouted, swatting away another flyer with her whip.
Irina, barely maintaining her balance, raised her staff. A golden dome covered them, but it was unstable due to her fear of falling. Darts clattered against the magical barrier, leaving toxic green stains.
"Rollo, faster! Find the way!" Lena urged.
The hedgehog rolled ahead, panicking and poking his stick in every direction.
"I’m trying! There’s a fork! I think it’s left! No, right! Aaah!"
One of the pterodactyls, breaking through the weakened shield, dived straight at Rollo.
"My glasses! Not the glasses, you overgrown pigeon!" the hedgehog yelled, fending it off with his stick.
At that moment, the goblin rider threw something sticky. A net. Rollo became entangled, and his skates skidded over the invisible edge.
"I’m falling! Catch me!"
He slipped.
"Rollo!" Lena lashed out with her whip, but she was too slow.
The hedgehog plummeted into the abyss, shrieking and kicking. But he didn't fall for long. A second later, another pterodactyl snatched him up. The goblin on its back cackled gleefully.
"Look, lads! A blue rat! He’ll be a cracking snack with a pint!"
They were carrying off their navigator.
"You absolute bastards!" Irina snapped. Her fear of heights vanished, replaced by draconic fury. "Nobody eats my hedgehog! Only I get to kick him!"
She unfurled her ghostly wings. Forgetting the invisible path, she pushed off the air and soared upwards.
"DRAGON’S GRIP!"
She caught up to the pterodactyl carrying Rollo. Her hands, wreathed in golden flame, clamped onto the creature’s mechanical neck. With a violent jerk, the pterodactyl’s head was ripped clean off. The goblin went screaming into the depths. Irina caught the net containing Rollo and, banking sharply, returned to the invisible path, landing softly next to Lena.
"Blimey," was all Nate could say. "You can actually fly now."
"He’s my loot," Irina grumbled, freeing the terrified hedgehog from the net. "Find your own pets."
The remaining goblins, unimpressed by the display of power, decided to make themselves scarce. The way was clear. They crossed the final metres of the invisible bridge and finally stepped onto the solid, chrome floor of the Arena.
It was a vast circular space floating above the clouds. The floor was made of polished metal and reinforced glass, through which the abyss was visible. High columns decorated with runes stood around the perimeter. In the centre of the Arena, curled into a ball, slept a Creature.
A Dragon. Not a ghostly one like Irina’s, but a real, physical one. It was gargantuan, covered in scales the colour of a stormy sky, with veins pulsing with blue energy. Its wings were folded, and wisps of steam escaped its nostrils.
[ZONE BOSS: Storm Dragon Aetara (Lvl. 30)] [Type: Air / Lightning Elemental] [Feature: Lord of the Skies. Hates anyone flying in his airspace.]
"Level thirty," Lena clenched her fists. The symbiote grew nervous. This was a serious opponent—stronger than anything they had faced so far. "We’re level twelve. Ira is twenty. The odds are... not great."
The dragon opened its eyes—vibrant blue, pupil-less, with lightning dancing within. It rose slowly. Its size was staggering, roughly the height of a three-storey house. It unfurled its wings, and a gust of wind swept across the Arena, nearly knocking the girls off their feet. The dragon looked at them with contempt, as if they were bothersome gnats. But then, its gaze settled on Irina.
It sensed her. The ancient blood that had awakened within.
"Rrrrr... Kin?" The voice was like thunder, vibrating directly in their heads. "No. A half-breed. A pathetic imitation. You dare wear scales? You dare fly in my sky?"
Irina stepped forward. Her fear was gone, replaced by the pride of a Dragon Priestess. Her own aura flared gold in response to the challenge.
"I am no imitation," her voice rang out with the sound of steel and a draconic growl. "I am Ryu Kiko. And I’ve come for your experience points."
"Arrogant mite! I shall turn you to ash!"
[Combat Initiated!]
The dragon roared and unleashed a stream of chain lightning.
"Scatter!" Lena commanded.
They dove apart. The lightning struck the centre of the Arena, shattering the glass floor and splitting into dozens of smaller bolts that chased after the heroines. Nate, using anti-grav jumps, hopped between the columns, trying to find a sniping position.
"Have some of that, you overgrown battery!" She opened up with a rapid volley from her plasma cannons.
Bolts of energy exploded against the dragon’s scales, leaving black scorch marks, but his health bar barely nudged.
"He’s got energy resistance!" Nate yelled. "My guns aren't doing a bloody thing!"
Lena tried to get closer. She activated her axe-blades and, using the hooks on her feet, sprinted right up the dragon’s flank, dodging swipes from its tail and wings. Reaching its side, she began to hack away. Black chitin slammed into blue scales. Sparks flew like a fountain.
"Arrgh!" The dragon flinched, feeling the sting. The Abyss symbiote was punching straight through its elemental defences.
The dragon buffeted her with a wing, creating a wave of air that threw Lena back. She flew across the entire Arena and slammed into a column.
[Damage received: 600. Health: 50%.]
"Eli!" Irina, who was hovering in the air trading magical blows with the dragon, saw her friend fall.
It was a battle of two dragons. Irina was smaller and weaker, but faster and more nimble. She dodged attacks, stinging with "Celestial Fire" at the creature's vulnerable spots.
"You’re getting on my nerves, half-breed!" Aetara roared.
He began to gather energy for an ultimate attack. His entire body lit up an eye-watering blue. The air in the Arena became thick with static.
[Warning! Boss is preparing an attack: ‘Storm Cataclysm’!] [Area of effect: The entire Arena.]
"There’s nowhere to hide!" Nate screamed.
"Ira, break his cast!" Lena rasped, staggering to her feet.
Irina hovered before the dragon’s maw. She knew her ordinary strength wouldn't be enough. She needed something more. She remembered the chest. She remembered that fury.
"I... I’ll try!" She closed her eyes, concentrating.
The golden aura thickened, transforming into an almost physical dragon.
"DRAGON FORM: EMBODIMENT!"
For a second, Irina vanished, and in her place appeared a golden dragon the size of a bus. Smaller than the boss, but its fire burned brighter. The golden dragon slammed into the blue one.
KABOOM!
An explosion of two elements shook the Arena. The ‘Storm Cataclysm’ was interrupted. The boss was thrown back, falling onto its spine, stunned. Irina returned to her human form and collapsed onto the floor, utterly spent. Mana at zero. Health at its limit.
"He’s stunned!" Nate yelled, scrambling out from cover. "Finish him!"
The boss lay there, HP at the 10% mark. Victory was within reach. Lena ran toward him. She was angry. Livid that she’d been tossed around like a doll. Livid at her own weakness. The symbiote inside resonated with this anger, demanding blood. And then, something went wrong.
That very "Void Harness" modification, which provided protection from chaos magic, had a hidden side effect when the wearer’s health was low.
[Warning! Critical level of health and rage.] [Activating hidden passive skill: ‘Abyss Frenzy’.] [Character control lost.]
"What the..." Lena stopped.
Her body began to change. Not a controlled transformation, but an explosion. Black symbiote sludge flooded out from under the harness straps, covering her entirely. She was no longer a woman in a suit. She had become a monster. Her arms turned into gargantuan jagged blades. Her legs became clawed paws. Spikes erupted from her back. Her head turned into a featureless mask with a massive, toothy maw. But the most horrific change was her torso. Her chest and stomach split open, turning into one continuous vertical mouth lined with rotating blades, like a meat grinder.
"Eli?" Nate stopped, staring at the creature in horror.
The thing that used to be Lena let out a non-human shriek and lunged at the stunned dragon. It was a slaughter. She shredded him. Tearing with claws, hacking with bladed arms. She threw her entire weight onto him, and the rotating blades on her chest and belly ground into the boss’s flesh, spraying blue blood and scales everywhere. The dragon didn't even have a chance to recover. The health bar vanished in seconds.
[BOSS DEFEATED!]
Aetara dissolved into pixels. But the Berserker didn't stop. The creature turned its featureless head, seeking new targets. In its clouded mind, everything living was an enemy. It saw Nate standing there with her pistols lowered. It saw Irina lying helpless on the floor.
"Enemies... Destroy..." the creature rasped in a voice that held only the faintest ghost of Lena’s tone.
It leaped.
"Eli, no! It’s us!" Nate screamed, trying to raise her weapons, but she couldn't bring herself to shoot her friend.
The Berserker knocked Nate off her feet. A blow from a massive bladed arm sent her flying to the edge of the Arena. Nate hit her head against a column and went still. Her energy-thong went dark. The creature turned toward Irina. The Priestess watched the advancing nightmare with wide, terrified eyes. She didn't even have the strength to lift a hand.
"Eli... please..." she whispered.
The Berserker raised its blades for a finishing strike.
Rollo watched all of this from behind a far column, shaking like a leaf.
"This is mental. It’s game over. They’re going to kill each other, and then I’m next on the menu."
He saw the monster that was Lena raising its blades over the helpless Irina. He saw Nate lying motionless.
"Come on, think, you hedgehog! Think! You’re a speedrunner! You have to find a glitch!"
His gaze darted across the Arena, over the monster... and snagged on a detail. As the Berserker raised its arms to strike, its ribcage—that horrific maw of blades—began to heave and sink convulsively. It looked like a fit of hysterics. The sobs of a monster trapped in its own body. And that detail—the heaving, albeit monstrous, chest—somehow triggered something ancient in Rollo’s brain, something hardcoded by his perverted developers.
[Warning! Trigger detected: ‘Hysterical Heaving’.] [Activating hidden NPC ability for Rollo: ‘Chrono-Shift’ (Time Rewind).] [Type: Global server rollback of 60 seconds.]
"Oh, my..." Rollo whispered, feeling his sneakers begin to glow an eye-watering white. "I think I’ve found the 'Load Save' button."
He rolled out from behind the column and, hitting top speed, raced straight toward the Berserker.
"OI, YOU BUNCH OF BLADES!" he yelled. "OVER HERE!"
The Berserker was distracted from Irina for a second and turned its head toward the hedgehog. Rollo jumped, activated his thrusters, and as he flew past the monster’s face, he did the only thing that came to mind. He ripped off his cool aviator glasses and chucked them right into the toothy maw on Lena’s chest.
The glasses hit the blade mechanism. There was a sickening grind.
CRACK!
That sound was the final straw. The world around them shuddered. The colours inverted. Sounds began to play in reverse. The Arena, the dragon, the girls—everything began to wind back like an old videotape.
"You’re getting on my nerves, half-breed!" Aetara roared.
The world returned to normal. They were standing in the Arena. The dragon was alive, his health at 50%. Lena had just been thrown back by the blow and hit the column.
[Damage received: 600. Health: 50%.]
"Eli!" Irina, hovering in the air, saw her friend fall.
Everything was repeating. Now the dragon would start casting ‘Storm Cataclysm.’ Irina would spend all her strength to break it. And then...
"STOP!" Rollo’s frantic scream rang out.
The hedgehog rolled into the middle of the Arena, waving his arms.
"Don't do it, Dragon-girl! Don't use your ult!"
"What?" Irina froze in mid-air, confused.
"He’s got a weak spot!" Rollo yelled. He didn't even know how he knew. The information just floated into his head like a loading screen tip. "Under the left wing! The scales are damaged there! I can see a texture bug!"
"How do you..." Nate began.
"I don't know! Just hit him there! Eli! Don't tank with your face! Get in from the left! Nate, distract him! Ira, prep a precision strike!"
There was so much confidence in his voice that they actually listened. Nate started peppering the dragon with plasma, aiming for the eyes. Lena, instead of a head-on attack, used her hooks and ran along the wall, coming up on the boss’s left side. She saw it. A small gap in the blue armour under the wing joint, where raw flesh was pulsing.
"Target locked!"
She leaped and drove both axe-blades deep into the wound. The dragon roared in pain—genuine, unbearable agony. He forgot all about the cataclysm and Irina, desperate only to reach Lena as she tore at his flesh.
"Ira, do it!" Lena shouted, clinging to the thrashing boss.
Irina clasped her hands, forming not a gargantuan dragon this time, but a concentrated spear of golden fire.
"DRAGON SPEAR!"
She hurled it. The spear struck precisely into the rent Lena had widened, piercing the dragon's heart. The boss froze. The blue eyes flickered and died. He slumped onto the Arena floor, dissolving into a myriad of sparks.
[BOSS DEFEATED!]
Victory. A clean one. No berserker rages, no casualties among the squad. They stood there, breathing heavily, unable to believe it had ended so quickly. Lena approached Rollo, who was sitting on the floor wiping his glasses (which, surprisingly, were still in one piece).
"Hedgehog. How did you know about the weak spot?"
Rollo looked up at her. Behind the lenses, there was only emptiness.
"I… I don't remember," he said honestly. "I just… knew. Like… déjà vu. A bit weird, isn't it?"
Lena frowned. The symbiote inside her was calm. No trace of madness.
"Weird. But cheers. You saved our skins."
At that moment, the Arena was bathed in a golden light.
[Attention! Colossal experience gained for defeating the Zone Boss!] [Level Up!] [Eli-00 has reached Level 20! Nate has reached Level 20! Ryu Kiko has reached Level 22!]
They had all hit the Level 20 threshold. Their bodies surged with new power. New skills, new possibilities. They had become true heroes of this game.
"We’re absolutely nails," Nate smirked, reloading her plasma cannons. "Level twenty! Nothing can touch us now."
Irina smiled, feeling the dragon power finally stabilise. They walked to the edge of the Arena and looked down. The clouds had cleared. And they saw the Festival.
It wasn't an "Exhibition Centre." It was a gargantuan, insane world consisting of hundreds of pavilions, arenas, castles, and labyrinths, all stitched together by bridges and portals. It stretched out to the horizon. Everywhere they looked, monsters swarmed and magical battles flared. And in the very heart of the chaos rose a Gigantic Tower, its summit lost in the heavens. From there emanated the very purple light that had started this whole mess.
A new system message flickered before their eyes.
[Recommended level for the Final Boss: 70.]
The smirk vanished from Nate's face.
"Seventy?" she repeated, her voice weak. "We nearly copped it against a level thirty. And we're only level twenty."
Lena stared at the Tower. It looked infinitely far away.
"This is just the beginning," she said. "We’ve finished the tutorial. Now the real game starts."
"And where to now?" Irina asked. "Where the hell are we going to find another fifty levels?.."