Five minutes quickly turned to ten, and the chase almost came to an end when they reached the river. Crossing it wasn’t possible, because doing so would force them to slow down. That would make them sitting ducks for the wasps to kill.

They ran along the river, following it upstream. If they didn’t cross soon, they would undoubtedly get lost. A prospect that in the Dural Forest, was possibly even more dangerous than the wasps. Ronny knew that he’d have to think of something soon, but his options were limited. All he could do was hope that something unexpected would save them.

Luckily, that was exactly what happened.

For the whole chase, System had been in the background, constantly informing Ronny that he’d gotten XP. The rate at which the bugs were dying at the nest had slowed considerably by the time he got the messages he desperately needed.

“LEVEL increased to 15. Stats Increased”

“Skill Added: Frost.”

Excitedly, he navigated through his stat sheet and pulled up the description for his new skill.

“Frost (MAGIC, LVL 1)” was a spell that gave him the ability to “release a blast of cold” from his hands. It was first his first spell that could be used offensively and seeing it on his stat sheet was a thrilling experience.

He decided to take a risk, and dropped the wooden sword he’d been using to swat away the bugs until that point. The spell required both hands, so there wasn’t much of a choice. Now though, there was nothing to defend himself—other than his new magic.

He put his hands behind his back and activated the spell. A gust of icy wind shot through the air, chilling the surroundings. Some bark on the trees and leaves on the ground were left with a thin glaze of ice, but the wasps were unaffected.

“What was that!?” Enzi had been running beside Ronny when he used the spell.

“Magic! I got it with my last level up! It’s useless though...”

“You really can’t think of anything!?”

“No! It’s just releases some wind. It’s not enough to harm them!”

“I think we’re going to have to fight them.” Enzi was level 19 by that point and felt a great deal stronger than before. It seemed possible to pull ahead now. He noticed a short waterfall coming up, “Let’s stop there!”

Ronny knew he was right. They’d get lost with no way to find their way back if they kept running. Even so, he didn’t expect to win. “If we’re going to die, we might as well go out fighting.”

They came to the waterfall, which poured down from a rocky overhang. It was good cover, entirely preventing any attacks from behind or above, but going there also meant that they’d be cornered. It was a risk they had to take.

As they reached the destination, Ronny turned to cast his Frost, which proved slightly more effective this time around. It was closer range than before, and the wasp at its epicenter lost flight for a second. Enzi followed up the attack by throwing a heavy-looking stone at it.

“+51 XP.”

That was one down, but there were many more. One charged in on Enzi and was caught by the waist. Ronny ripped off its stinger while Enzi held it in place. Another 51 XP.

Even in their fatigued states, the level ups had made both Ronny and Enzi far stronger than before—and surviving seemed possible. That being said, the insects were still formidable opponents. Five of them rushed in at around the same time.

Ronny used Frost again, which he had figured out how to adjust the density of. By putting his hands together at a narrow angle, it resulted in a concentrated projectile. The wider the angle, the wider the area of effect, but the tradeoff was a diluted attack. He used it to stun three of them, though at a the width he had used to get do that, they’d be up again in seconds.

The other two continued their assault. Enzi picked up a rock and brought it down upon one’s head while Ronny used an extremely concentrated Frost on the one that was coming for him. At that range, the bug dropped like a rock, giving Enzi time to kill it with his rock.

In doing all that though, they’d lost time. The bugs that had been stunned were now at point blank range, stingers readied.

Enzi crushed one with his stone, but the other managed to sting him. The demon howled in pain as he ripped the foe away from his body, killing it with a gruesome beheading. Ronny had it easier and killed his foe without trouble.

That still left more than half alive. They wasps didn’t have the teamwork or raw strength that the men did, but they had numbers—and that was problematic.

Two more bugs charged at separate times. The fact that they were uncoordinated was the only reason that Enzi and Ronny were still alive. They worked together to kill the first, and then turned to the second. After crushing it beneath his foot, System chimed in.

“Status Added: Overworked.”

In that moment, any problems they had were amplified tenfold. “Enzi! My ability is acting up. I’m a lot weaker now.” Suddenly, the pain from the stings worsened dramatically.

“Can you fight?”

His body was shaking uncontrollably, “I’ll try.”

“Just use your magic. Knock them out of the air. I’ll take care of the finishing blows.”

“Right.” Ronny wanted to keep moving but didn’t want to argue in such a dire situation. He started casting Freeze as fast as he could.

Four more flew in, and Ronny froze two. Enzi killed one before it reached him and took a sting from the other unimpeded one. The swelling was getting to be disastrous. He crushed the attacker’s head between his elbows and finished off the other two with some stomps.

Seven more. Two volleys of two came in, and all were killed with the same ‘freeze and crush’ combination. That brought the count down to three. The remaining foes charged in and were dealt with by the now refined freeze and crush strategy.

When it was done, the two collapsed onto the ground, beyond exhausted.

“LEVEL increased to 16. Stats increased.”

LEVEL: 16

STATS:

STRENGTH: 21 (15) DEFTNESS: 14 (10.5) MAGIC: 8 (6)

ACTIVE EFFECTS: Overworked

PASSIVE EFFECTS: Magic Detection (LVL 1), Team (Enzi Adeyemi)

SKILLS:

Scan Detect Life (MAGIC, LVL 1) Freeze (MAGIC, LVL 1)