I can’t believe I actually jumped! Grabbing a sharp rock, I lunge from my hiding place above the underground lake and at the giant feathered snake monster poised to turn Andreen into stone.

“Frost Armor!” I scream as multicast envelops me, and the slab of jagged stone that I grip so hard that my palms bleed.

For a moment, a brief moment, my heart beats so fast it feels like it’s exploding in my chest as I rapidly realize that I am going to faceplant into the water. And then he notices me; the basilisk named De’ Pollo turns his massive head just in time for me to slam into the crown of his skull in a ball of dwarven fury. But not before he opens his terrible eyes—

What happens next I can barely describe; I land on him just when he opens his eyes. The flash of searing light illuminates the cave like a search-light on a rescue helicopter, as I desperately try to hold on to the rigid black and brown scales. When I realize he missed, I scream, “HA!” in his stupid half-snake, half-chicken face before stabbing his right eye as hard as I can.

“SPINE CHILL!” I scream as the stone drives into the soft and wet tissue. ”REN—”

And then I’m on the ground, my back feeling like it broke in three places as I gingerly try to get up, much to my body’s protest. I must have been thrown so fast off the basilisk that I bounced off the wall and lost consciousness. I can hear the vague sound of screaming, but that’s not my biggest concern. There are a dozen naked men here, and Mixie and Andreen are still barely hanging on. The water sloshing violently can wait.

You’ve taken 90 damage.

You’ve taken 65 damage

You have Mild Concussion

You have Moderate Blunt Force Trauma

I cough blood but get up. The men looked confused, torn between a desire to help their master and unsure what happened. That won’t last long. They slowly turn toward me, and anger colors their expressions, from their face to the tension in their muscles. I just punched god. Their god.

But that is all the distraction Andreen needs. Somehow, he recovers, spins on his hip, and kicks the mind-controlled slave holding him hard in the knees. The man buckles, falls, and hits the ground next to the elf and who then proceeds to chomp on the man’s throat.

The “crunch” is audible as the flesh tears. The elf spits out a wad of skin, muscle, and the soft tissue in-between. The man tries to scream, reaching for a throat that isn’t there as he rolls away from the male elf.

My mind instantly goes to the two spells I just learned—

Spine Chill _Lv 1:: Active Spell_Cost 15 Mana_ 15 Second Cooldown_ Target you touch suffers from Mild Concussion each time they receive Frost Damage for 60 seconds. 50% chance of dealing an additional 20 damage to Health or Stamina.

Rend Enchantments _Lv 1:: Active Spell_Cost 30 Mana_10 Second Cooldown_ Target you touch loses all enchantments and loses 50 Health for each Enchantment removed. If the target dies, gain 30 Health.

I make a beeline for the mind slave holding my wrench as the others make their way to Andreen. Mixie is trying to roll herself upright to no avail, and Andreen is trying to undo his bonds as quickly as possible as he writhes on the floor. I reach the man with my wrench just before he turns to face me. He is quick, and only sheer panic allows me to cast the spell just before he turns me into paste as his colleagues run toward the elves.

“Rend Enchantments!!” The spell rockets from my outstretched hands thanks to multicast as I hit the naked man square in the chest. At first, I think nothing happened. And then he buckles, then screams. A loud, obnoxious cry, as if all the pain he’s ever experienced rushes back into his nervous System. He drops the wrench as he tries to cradle his ruined, frost-bitten arm while dropping to his knees in pain.

“I’ll be taking that.”

Retrieving the oversized wrench, I stand over the man who once broke my face hours before. I don’t feel anger, but I don’t feel remorse either. I bash his brains in and keep hitting him until the System says—

You’ve gained 30 Health.

Covered in blood, I narrowly miss getting my head knocked off by an approaching mind slave. I roll away from the man and the punch and assume a combat crouch as he looms over me, his body a tower of tanned muscle with an eagle tattoo on his chest. Fuck this guy. I throw my wrench at his face while casting Spine Chill, wrapping the effect around the wrench in the desperate hope that the combination will work.

He catches it and tosses it back at me with double the force. I twist out the way of the wrench before feeling a foot connect to the side of my skull.

You’ve taken 37 Damage

I nearly vomited from the pain before realizing that he didn’t follow through. My head snapped back, yes, but it didn’t spin around in its socket.

#15 Slave of De’ Pollo has Mild Concussion

I smile through rattling teeth. The man holds his head in hands as he stumbles backward, off-balance. When he lands on his butt, I pounce.

“Cold Extremities!” his head is in my hands, and I proceed to bash it against the hard floor, “Rend Enchantments!” and then his head explodes in my hands in frozen flesh-colored chunks.

As I reach for my wrench, Andreen and Mixie are hauled closer to the water.

“Please Exalted one, accept these offerings to heal your maladies!” the leader in the jawbone crown cries.

The basilisk dives beneath the waves and suddenly reappears in a splash of freshwater and rage. His right eye is frozen over, and his face is curled in an expression that can only be read as suffering through excruciating pain. Then I realize something.

Aren’t snakes cold-blooded? I run toward the gathered group holding Andreen and Mixie, who are now struggling like never before against their captors to no avail.

I run toward them, wrench in hand.

“Remove this pebble from my eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyes foooooools!!!” De’ Pollo screams before diving back into the waves. The shadow of his slithering body thrashing against everything and anything to remove the rock I shoved into his eye before going into spasms is entrancing. Some of the men dive into the lake to assist their master, who is blinded by pain.

Which means fewer bad guys on the ground. I don’t have anything fancy like an ice storm or a fireball, but I do have the ability to draw aggro.

“CAUSE FEAR!”

Suddenly their attention is on me, and the elves pounce on this momentary distraction; Mixie bashes her head against one captive’s chin, and Andreen slams his foot into yet another knee making it bend the wrong way. I gotta do the rest. I barrel into the group and do the only thing I can do.

“REND ENCHANTMENTS!” With extended range and multicast, spells fire off into a cone, hitting everyone before my mind panics and tries to “bend” the spell away from allies. Suddenly the cone becomes a shotgun spray, which, by sheer luck, doesn’t hit the elves. The enslaved men scream.

“Get behind me!” I shout above the cries of pain, my voice sounding less like a plea and more like a command, as if it was infused by confidence and Mana. The elves dart behind me, so I can follow up with Spine Chill.

My Character Status screen begs my attention-

Character Status

Health : 50/104

Stamina : 51/56

Mana : 29/155

Twenty-nine Mana? Well, I gotta make it count. I put down the wrench and raise both hands as the mind slaves charge.

“COLD EXTREMITIES!!!” with multicast and extended range added. In a blanket cone of frosty death, these guys were barely affected before. But now?

As the three men charge, they cover the distance in a moment and fall to their knees. The spell keeps going, thankfully draining HP and not Mana. They scream in protest as they freeze, before that too becomes a wordless shriek as their bodies frost over, leaving their skin blue and their veins a rich purple. And when it is all over, I gain 60 Health.

I spare a look behind me and see that the elves have managed to free themselves. I smile as some tension deflates from my body in utter relief.

“Are you guys ok?” I ask as the waters below the underground lake still thrash with the cries of the supposed snake god. The men who stayed behind on the water edge are visibly confused by the jumbled cries for help and their desire to kill us.

Andreen puts his hand on my shoulder, exhaustion and pain on his long face, but the beginning of a smile forming in eyes and lips, “I don’t know what you’re doing or how you’re doing it, but”— he squeezes with genuine warmth—“thank you.”

And Mixie places her hand on the opposite shoulder, except her eyes blaze with rage. She merely nods at me, not even remotely embarrassed that she’s naked.

The System announces in a clear voice,

You have joined a party. You will now share Loot and XP.

We charge.

***********

Character Sheet

Name: Mike Sammons

Race: Dwarf

Origin : Hills

Stats : Level 8

Strength : 11

Dexterity : 7

Intelligence : 17

Wisdom : 14

Constitution : 12

Charisma: 1

Bonus Stat Luck: 20

Bonus Stat Perception: 1

Unallocated Points : 0

Unallocated Class Points : 0

Character Status

Health : 83/104

Stamina : 56/56

Mana : 14/155

Conditions : Curse of Grave Water - Greater Resistance (Your mind has proved harder to break than most, which has drawn the ire of the Basilisk! Kill it before he makes you submit), Rested

Class Sheet

Class : Necromancer (Wizard Lv_6) (Cleric Lv_2)

Spells Book : Tome of Mike

Cold Extremities_Lv 4:: Active Spell_Cost 14 Mana_ 1 Second Cooldown_You remove the warmth from things you touch. Deal 26 Cold Damage per second with a 25% chance of causing Chill and Frostbite. Lose 3 health per second the longer this ability is active. You can activate this ability on each extremity. Scales with Intelligence and Constitution.

Frost Armor. _Lv 4:: Active Spell_Cost 25 Mana_ 5 Second Cooldown_ Give a protective layer of Ice on a target object or creature you touch. Target gains 117 points of Elemental Armor however they lose 3 Stamina per second. Has a 50% chance of applying Chill and a 15% chance of applying Frostbite to Melee attackers. Scales with Intelligence and Wisdom.

Cause Fear. _Lv 1:: Active Spell _ Cost 10 Mana_ 3 second Cooldown_ Your perceived combat prowess has allowed you to manipulate the hidden Stat Will. Enemies you target within a short cone are forced to reconsider attacking you and have a 20% chance of being effected by Terror. Scales with Wisdom and Charisma.

Spine Chill _Lv 1:: Active Spell_Cost 15 Mana_ 15 Second Cooldown_ Target you touch suffers from Mild Concussion each time they receive Frost Damage for 60 seconds. 50% chance of dealing an additional 20 damage to Health or Stamina.

Rend Enchantments _Lv 1:: Active Spell_Cost 30 Mana_10 Second Cooldown_ Target you touch loses all enchantments and loses 50 Health for each Enchantment removed. If the target dies, gain 30 Health.

Passive Skills

Identify Lv 2 :: Allows you to see the first page of a Character Stat sheet. At second level you can perceive details of monsters by knowing their name. Glossary is unlocked.

Reduced Spell Cost Lv 1 :: Spells you cast cost 5 Mana less.

FrostBorn :: You have an increased chance of applying FrostBite and Chill. Also anytime you apply FrostBite or Chill to a target above 3x stacks gain 1 Health, 1 Stamina, and 3 Mana.

Extended Touch Range :: Spells in touch range can either remain touch spells or shoot out in a straight line for 1 meter (about the size of a baseball bat).

Multicast :: Reduce the effectiveness of a spell by 40% to increase the number of times that spell is cast by 2 at no additional cost.

Resist Disease :: You have achieved a greater than normal resistance to biological agents like diseases and toxins. You gain XP once foreign ailments have been overcome.

Resist Curse :: You possess a supernatural resistance to the effect of Curses. You gain XP from breaking curses.

Minor Lucky Star :: Increase all chances of reaching desired probable outcomes by 50%. Desired outcomes that deal damage now deal Critical Damage ( Deal 50% more damage)