(Zack)

Before the evil bastard can collect himself, I switch into Demon Form for its greater boost and charge. Much like with his ally, he casts spells at me, but they barely hurt me the one time they manage to hit my body.

Big S really must have overestimated their powers when he said it would take me this Ascension just to overwhelmingly kill the first. I'm doing that for the second-strongest of them. In the fractional second it takes me to reach the ancient wizard, he's only cast five spells, and then his head rolls.

Quite literally, because I cut if off. For good measure, I then slice his body in two, before cutting into his heart, slicing that into four.

He's dead.

That was easy.

And rather unsatisfying.

I find myself in the mines. Deep within the mines, right outside…

An Experience farm!

"Thanks, Big S!"

Oh, he didn't send me here for Experience. Bummer. I know this because I can see a party of five in the distance, four of whom are fending off monsters as the fifth lacks a Status entirely.

I unleash a Roar using my Demonic Voice, and nearly everything in the chamber freezes. I flap my wings and soar through the chamber, removing a head here and there as I reach the party, then land in front of them.

"Stupid monsters," I turn and release several Fireballs, killing all of the nearby kobolds and bats as the rest begin to flee. "That's right, fear me, for I will be the one to rip your intestines from your bodies, string up up on the hanging mites by them, and scatter your guts across your allies!"

They start running even harder. I guess a Demon threatening them using Intimidate and Demonic Voice only made it even more frightening. They might have high stats, but my boost from Angel put me even higher than these pathetic things. Not by much, but enough that my Willpower is higher than theirs, and even a single point higher is all that's needed.

I suppose this would still be a fight for me.

Shrugging, I turn around and approach the dead one. A male mage.

"We were chased into here," one of the Adventurers, a knight, says. "We should've been able to handle this, except that he was poisoned, and-"

"Say no more," I kneel as she stops talking. Their priest is low on Mana, which means he probably wasn't able to heal the mage in time. "Hm. How should I do this? Do I just put my hands on him? Or slap him? Stab him?"

"What are you talking about?" The knight asks in horror.

"I do have a holy blade," I ignore her. "But nah, it probably doesn't require a weapon to use. Let's see… how's this?"

I hold my hands over the fallen mage, drawing on my powers as I follow the instructions in the window for the Angel Class Available Skills list.

"Resurrection!"

My body glows violet, and the light spreads from me into the fallen mage, spreading over him as his Status reappears, the stab wound in his chest, just-barely missing his heart, mending a little as well.

New Skill! Resurrection Active So long as the corpse is fresh and not damaged too badly, you can restore their life to them and heal some of their injuries, curing them of ailments they had upon their death. They will receive some debuffs temporarily upon their resurrection. Restoration: 10% of their Health per Level of this Skill Stat Debuff: -80% to Stats (reduces by 8% per Level of this Skill) Regeneration Debuff: -100% Regeneration (reduces by 10% per Level of this Skill Debuff Duration: 72 hours (reduces by 7.2 hours per Level of this Skill) Cost: 10,000 Mana

"Damn, that's costly!" I say. "And no reduction on its cost, either! That sucks! I guess that's the price to pay for such a powerful Skill, though!"

The mage groans a little, and the priest immediately rushes to his side.

"I've got this," I hold out my hands. "Heal!"

Target +1,143 Health!

It only takes me another Heal to fully restore his Health, and that was probably overkill, since he doesn't even have 2,000 Health. But since he can't regenerate anything for the full three days since this was the first use of the Skill by me, it's better than nothing. Not that the priest wouldn't have healed him, but I'm going all the way. At least he still healed some from the Skill, despite the Skill technically being at Level 0 when it was used. I suppose that's natural, though, since 0 Health is still dead, which would defeat the point of the Skill.

"Take it easy for a few days," I tell him. "I'm sure you have notices letting you know the timers on those. Until you can regenerate again and the debuff to your Stats is gone, you'll be pretty pathetic in a fight."

"Thanks," he says. "Lord Dark of Air was staring at me intently all of a sudden. I never expected the Sacred Crystals to actually manifest in the forms of children. It was… rather unnerving."

"I'm sure," I smile at him. "First time I ended up in that chamber, it freaked me out. Never want to go there again, and I doubt I ever will, knowing the things I know."

"You've seen him?" He asks.

"Yes," I glance to the monsters, which are giving us some space for now. I look back to the mage. "I've seen all of them in their avatars."

"It figures you would," the knight says. "The Skill actually does exist?"

"Yeah," I sigh. "I was told I wasn't allowed to break any necks to prove it. Apparently, that's traumatizing to some people. Nathan would have access to the Skill right now, too, except he didn't take on Angel, which is the requirement to be able to use it."

Heh. I'm a demon who used Resurrection. Big S is probably doubled over in laughter at this. Which may actually be why he sent me here, now that I think about it.

"Why didn't he take on Angel?" She asks.

"Ah, fuck!" I exclaim. "I did it again! Higher Rank Classes take more Experience to Level, right? And the higher your Level, especially with similar Classes, makes it take even more to earn that Experience. So him taking on Angel would stem his ability to gain Stats. And I took on a Rank 4 Class rather than Mystic Knight, as I'd intended. Dammit! Stupid Zack! I'm going to go kill some shit!"

(Luca)

Okay, I really, really need to pee, and I have a Max on top of me, with Gavin and Braden pinning me at the sides. I have needed to pee for an hour now, and they are all asleep. While I appreciate that they tried to help me with my bad dreams, I would appreciate it if they would move so that I can go pee.

Because I really, really, really need to go pee!

Suddenly, and without warning, all three of them jump up, looking confused.

Now I can go pee, so I hurry downstairs and to our bathroom to pee. After doing that and washing my hands, I return upstairs and change into my day clothes, where the others are changing as well.

"What happened?" I ask Braden.

"Zack woke us up," he responds. "Screaming in our heads 'Luca needs to pee you sleepy-heads'."

Lord Zack is awesome. He targeted three people whose heads were by mine, yet didn't touch my head with that. I bet all of my bad dreams stopped when he returned just because he returned. Lord Zack is the most awesome being in existence, and his very presence chases away nightmares.

After I finish dressing, I make my way downstairs, and the others go to use the bathroom once they finish dressing. Lord Zack is making breakfast for all of us, which is awesome, because it's usually either Max or Gavin doing it, or both. Usually Max, because he likes making food without it being his job or being forced to.

Breakfast is awesome. It always tastes better when Lord Zack does it because he has amazing cooking skills that he rarely uses.

"We aren't going to the mines again today," he informs us after breakfast finishes. "We can try that again in a day or two or something. Today, however, you four are going to be tested."

"Tested?" Gavin asks. "How?"

"I'll tell you guys once dishes are cleaned up."

Gavin and Max clean the dishes while Braden and I play chess, then the four of us gather in front of Lord Zack to find out what our test is.

"Today," Lord Zack says. "The four of you are going to fight the Candy Beast."

"The what?" Gavin asks.

"Candy Beast!" Max hops up and down excitedly. I suppose it's only natural he would know what it is. "Me want kill! Wait. We be kill it? It be Holiday Boss!"

"Exactly," Lord Zack smiles as I realize he's intending on us fighting a Holiday Boss. Without him. "The four of you are going to fight a Holiday Boss as a team. After that, you four will get to see me fight one."

Yay! I get to see Lord Zack be awesome in a fight again!

"There's more than one here?" Gavin asks.

"Yup!" Lord Zack grins. "There are four in the valley itself, and two in the pass beside us, one near Maelnor, and one towards the City at the other end. While individually, the four of you would never stand a chance against it, I have faith that you will all succeed in defeating it."

He turns serious.

"However," he says. "The Candy Beast is not something to take lightly. It will be tough, tougher than some of the things you four have fought before. Its attacks will hurt, and you will take damage. That is inevitable. Do not give up, and do not act rashly. Calculate your attacks, plan them, and deliver them true. Some of the Dark Knights are watching it to ensure no one else attacks it to steal part of your reward."

Gavin gives me a nervous look.

"Luca's a healer," he says. "He won't get part of the reward, will he?"

"He will," Lord Zack shakes his head. "As long as he heals you guys and buffs you guys, he'll receive a portion of the rewards as well. Big S didn't design the System to punish healers for not attacking when they help in a fight."

That is good.

"And as a warning," Lord Zack says. "You will each receive Bonus Experience for the kill. Do not use it. It will act as a form of power-Leveling, so you should reserve it until you need it. Unless I say otherwise, do not use it until the battle for the valley. It might be only a couple of Levels each, but that doesn't matter. This is advice I have heard from Adventurers far, far more experienced than me."

Which you ignored, because you are awesome like that.

"No," Lord Zack gives me an amused look. "Because for me, I was either needing the push to get through what would be a definite slog, like with Angel, or because I'm just impatient and it doesn't matter much in the long run for me."

"Why does it matter for us, but not you?" Gavin asks.

Not a rude wording to that, even if there's a slight hint of annoyance. It seems more like curiosity than just being annoyed by Lord Zack.

"Because for you guys," Lord Zack explains. "That could be days to weeks of training. For me, that was generally an hour or two, at most. If even that. If it's not, it's what's a slog comparatively to what's normal for me. Which is why I'm going to smack myself pretty hard a few times."

"Why?" I ask.

"Because," Lord Zack sighs. "I accidentally took on a Rank 4 Class in excitement rather than working on some lesser ones. Every Ascension makes gaining Experience in general take more effort. Each Rank of a Class increases that difficulty as well. Rank 4 Classes are a pain in the ass for someone like me, who is used to being able to completely master a Class in just a few weeks."

Oh. That makes sense. But that won't be a problem for you, because-ow! He bopped me on the head! I pout at him for that.

"Back on track, guys," he says. "We're heading into the pass for you four to fight the Candy Beast. Do not use the Bonus Experience unless you absolutely need to, which you probably won't considering how little it'll be, or unless I tell you it's okay to. If and only if you four are truly in danger, I will personally step in and finish it off. After that, you four will get to see me fight one on my own."

"Zack," Braden says, his voice as soft and quiet as ever. "Don't Holiday Bosses usually take teams of ten to fifty Adventurers to kill?"

"Yes, why?" Lord Zack asks.

"How, exactly, are we supposed to kill it with just the four of us?"