A bit after the class planning session I go to morning training as usual, need a few more levels if I want to exceed six hours there. Not that it is already mentally numbing just doing the same thing over and over for six hours straight.

Back on the fortress's wall I again notice that something in the water is moving unusually, (come now Elly, you must have seen that!)

(I don't think I have, no.)

(Grr, fine.)

I cast my aoe spell as usual.

Your 'Rock Fall' spell has inflicted a total of 315793 damage.

I still don't get why the military here tolerates me wasting my damage potential like that but as long as no one says anything I gladly take the inflated exp count over a handful of real kills.

splash

Finally, Elly admits, (now, I've seen something!)

(See? I told you there was something off!)

(Huh, but what... crap!)

Name Ruth Age N/A Classes Water Elemental 4, Hunter 4, Survivor 4, Bandit 4, Scout 4

Miner 4, Nurse 4 Race Undine 4 Extra Monster 4, Boss 4 HP 34656/34656 MP 1532/1532 SP 4144/4144 STR 620+58 DEX 724 VIT 452 MAG 268 FTH 260 WIL 264 CHA 144 Equipment Monster Glaive Skills Water Magic 4 (Rank 1), Spear Training 8

Crushing Blow 4

Danger Sense 4, Stamina Boost 4

Physical Resistance 4

Unsafe Zone 4 Weakness Lightning

And cue boss music. I'm feeling partial to Dance Macabre for this.

(That's the first boss I see out in the open. So they aren't exclusive to dungeons. Also, that's the first time a monster doesn't just have monster as race. And do I want to know what the Crushing Blow skill is?)

(Want? Probably not. But should - definitely yes.)

Crushing Blow

50 MP per regular attack

Physical attacks inflict fracture at a rate of 60.

The inflicted status damage is five times the regular amount.

Before I can finish my thoughts the mass of water leaves the moat and rushes past the gate guardians. It then takes the form of a twin-tailed humanoid woman made of hard water with a glaive as a weapon and begins attacking the surprised guardians from behind. The rude boss which appraisal just called Ruth manages to knock out a few of the soldiers but then gets surrounded by more of them while a couple more men carry away the injured, others take their place.

(I didn't think that 'mindless' monster would follow such a tactic. All others so far just attacked head-on. If I had to take a guess I'd say she was probably scouting the last couple of days and checking for ranged or magical capabilities of our defenses and now just waited until I've depleted most of my MP.)

(I dunno. I don't think that Hatsune-gone-bad over there has the mental capacity for that.)

(Got any better explanation then?)

(None at the moment.)

While I think-talk with Elly the boss monster Ruth is striking down several more soldiers with her pole dance fighting style mixed with sudden water splashes that seem just as deadly. Some of the guards are only wounded, others seemingly left for dead. Seems like no one was prepared for such a sudden boss fight. We really need scouts up here to spot such a thing earlier next time.

Also, please be a good executioner and don't have a slide attack...

(Any idea what to do now? She's moving too much around to aim a spell at her properly. Don't want to find out the hard way if friendly fire is on.)

(Just prepare the spell, wait until she commits to an attack and then unleash the shot. I believe in you, you can hit her.)

(Right, wish me luck.)

I wait a moment. The boss sticks the glaive into the ground and propels herself around it for a roundhouse attack wounding several more soldiers that failed to get out of the way. I take that opportunity to release my spell.

Your lightning bullet has inflicted 1068 damage to Ruth and inflicted a status effect.

Ngrhhhh!!

A wonderful noise. Wait, I have one more for you!

Your lightning bullet has inflicted 1068 damage to Ruth and inflicted a status effect.

Grargggrhhh!!

The soldiers take the stun duration to overwhelm her. Or at least try to. She still doesn't go down and that was all of my MP. She's pissed and now looks in my direction. Shit.

She throws a mass of water in my direction but luckily it fails to reach me, I'm too far up for her attack range.

Name Ruth Age N/A Classes Water Elemental 4, Hunter 4, Survivor 4, Bandit 4, Scout 4

Miner 4, Nurse 4 Race Undine 4 Extra Monster 4, Boss 4 HP 8743/34656 MP 182/1532 SP 1474/4144 STR 620+58 DEX 724 VIT 452 MAG 268 FTH 260 WIL 264 CHA 144 Equipment Monster Glaive Skills Water Magic 4 (Rank 1), Spear Training 8

Crushing Blow 4

Danger Sense 4, Stamina Boost 4

Physical Resistance 4

Unsafe Zone 4 Weakness Lightning

(Now what?)

(Uhh, no idea. You're down to 41 MP. You have no option to use SP at range and your melee attacks would be useless. So unless the fight takes another hour I don't see anything you can do.)

(...well, another thing to look for in a class. An SP-based ranged attack, a way to turn SP into MP or anything else in that direction. Although...)

ERROR: insufficient MP for this action.

(What were you trying to do?)

(Just making sure. Skills just say that they use X MP not that I can't go into negatives. And with how buggy everything is that was at least worth a try.)

(Good thinking but now we know that you can't.)

I can do nothing but wait the whole time. Several more soldiers die, by my count at least twenty are dead by now. I hate this feeling. If I hadn't cast the rain spell before I would have had enough MP to stun the boss long enough to prevent a lot of those deaths. I NEED more MP, a lot more...

It takes a few more minutes but soon Ruth is taken down. As she dissolves into a stream of bubbles she starts screaming like a banshee, "U̷̯͝ȓ̸̩g̸̦̏h̸͚̆,̴̪̚ ̴̙́n̴̘̄ǭ̴t̵̹̽ ̸̮̄a̷͓͝g̸͉͒a̶͖̋i̴̦̅n̸̩̒!̸̞̈"

(I guess with that we're now officially ruthless.)

(Feeling better now that it is over?)

(Not really. I still feel like I could've prevented several deaths just by waiting with the rain magic.)

(That is not something you can change now anymore. What is done is done.)

(Really, situations like these make me wish I could still sleep just so I can get this day behind me...)

(Stop wallowing in self-pity. That doesn't get us anywhere.)

(...sorry, but I needed that. Reminds me that I'm still human, at least to a degree.)

I make my way down from the wall again but at the bottom, I'm stopped by one of the captains on duty. The middle-aged bald man calls out to me, "uh, hey, you're Jared, right? Thanks for the assistance earlier. Your stun has probably saved a lot of my men. I know you have your orders to focus on the flood out there but I appreciate that you took some of your time to lend us a hand. You have my sincerest gratitude", he takes a slight bow.

"That was no problem really. I wish I had noticed the boss before I cast the big spell. But may I speak freely?"

"Sure, I don't mind. What bothers you?"

"I think that boss was actually waiting for me to waste my MP on the rain spell. It wasn't just randomly attacking."

"What makes you think so?"

"Before I cast my spell I already felt that something was off but I couldn't find anything so I thought I just imagined it. But that thing started its attack just moments after the debris from my spell started falling. Like it was certain my MP pool was exhausted."

"Hmm... I've never heard of such an occurrence. The monsters we're used to, lack the intelligence for any elaborate tactics."

"But you've seen it yourself. It didn't attack head-on. It started its attack by slipping through our frontline."

He stares at me in disbelief, "yeah, you're right... honestly, it is quite concerning. I'll add that to my report if you don't mind."

"On the contrary. I think this warrants some investigation once we're through this flood. If monsters are usually not capable of such behavior there might be someone else in charge."

"That's possible. Now, if you excuse me, duty calls."

"Sure, take care."

(Feeling better now, Jared?)

(Only slightly. I think I'll just wander around a bit, need to get my head off of things.)

(Sure thing.)

While trying to get away from the gate through the rescue operations for the wounded I run into Lucia again, "Hey, are you helping, too, Lucia?"

"Well, as much as I can. I can still only cast cure once per day. At least it was enough to save one of the soldiers from the worst. Will still take him three or four weeks to fully recover. The boss inflicted some nasty fractures on him."

"That's nothing I can help with. Even if it wasn't for you know what reason I used the rest of my MP on some stun spells."

"Yeah, I heard that you left quite an impact. For someone that doesn't want to stand out, you certainly do your best to attract attention."

"Sure, I could've just done nothing and let even more people die. Would've let me sleep sooo well at night."

She shyly looks around, "mind coming with me for a bit? I need to make a delivery and would like some company."

"Uh, sure, why not", we start walking and she leads the way.

"Just to let you know, you helping kept the casualties down a lot, there were comparatively few this time."

"That was FEW!? I've seen at least twenty people die!"

"Yeah, in the past we got at most one boss per flood but they each claimed at least fifty lives."

"Fifty? God, we clearly need some changes around here..."

"Oh, what do you have in mind, Jared?"

"No idea yet. At least nothing unproblematic. From what I've gathered it would help if someone took over the 'Lord's Mansion'. And basically, I'm only one requirement away from doing so. But... well, you can guess that that wouldn't go too well. People would probably not accept me as their lord."

"And what if you... revealed your other secret?"

(Hey, I wanted to say that!)

"You know what", (that goes for you both!), "give me a good explanation where the missing twenty-something 'Lost Ones' got... lost and I'll do just that. Jeff hinted at there being sixty but down here only half were known. Until then I'm erring on the side of caution and keep it to myself."

(That's all? easy! ...wait, damn, I got nothing. I WAS SO CLOSE!!)

"Sorry, no idea on that. But why is that relevant? The people revere the 'Lost Ones'."

"I'm trying to figure out the why. I don't get any special class options or anything. Stat wise I'm even at a disadvantage. The only thing I got... is free [Appraisal] basically, that's not something you can win a war with. So what makes them 'special'?"

(Hey, I'm more than just that!)

(I know but that's not the point.)

Lucia thinks for a moment then answers bluntly, "they are the ones sent by the gods what more would they need? The gods have deemed them sufficient to achieve their role so who are we to question god's decision?"

Ah, so it is not the 'Chosen One' trope but the 'Sufficient One'.

"...I was there so that's not good enough for me. Also if they are so 'holy' that makes it even stranger that they are just not accounted for."

"Huh, yeah, I guess you're right with that. But what does it change for you personally?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. Were they killed off before they reached civilization? Were they purged from the records because of some reason? Were they also... monsters and either killed before they revealed themselves or killed BECAUSE they revealed themselves? Or did Jeff lie for whatever reason? Too many options and I like none of them."

"I don't think this is something anyone here can answer. Our line to the big boss is cut off and anyone else that could clear up the other options should be dead of old age or other causes."

"Yeah, probably. Either way, I'll observe for a while longer, try to talk to some relevant people and then decide."

"...well, that's good enough for me. Also, we're here."

"The medical facility? What do you want to do here?"

"Just deliver a few things for the reverend mother. Please keep in mind this is not a buffet for you."

"Ha, ha, funny."

We head inside and Lucia hands a bag to one of the medics, delivering a quick message from the reverend mother, then we head back.

Lucia then asks me out, "say, I'm done for the day. Wanna go see the play?"

"Which one?"

"Just the standard one about the Gyev mythos."

"Eh, why not. Can't hurt to see another interpretation of it."

The play we watch in the theatre follows the same broad strokes as what I've read before just even more dramatized. But the stage director had the genius idea to kill the hero's fiancee off-screen and then she just doesn't appear anymore, like what the heck?

"So, what did you think of it, Jared?"

"It was way too over the top and either I didn't understand what they were going for or the story was just full of plot holes. Like when Gyev returns home after he defeats the demon lord his fiance is just gone from the story like she never existed. He shouldn't know by that point that she died."

"Someone's a critic..."

"Sorry, but I'm currently looking for certain information that is closely related to this play so I was kinda hoping it would help me make some progress."

"No, it is fine."

"Also, Lucia, why did you decide to bring me? Don't you have people you'd rather be around?"

"Not really. It was just a spur of the moment decision. You looked like you needed some distraction so why not?"

"Yeah, I kinda needed that. Thanks."

"Want to tell me what happened?"

"It's nothing you don't already know. I just felt a bit down because I kinda already knew that something was off before the boss appeared and despite that, I wasted a lot of MP instead of making sure it is safe first. With that MP I could've stunned the boss maybe seven more times and a lot less people would've needed to die."

"That's what you're worried about? You don't have to. Today there were already a whole lot less deaths than usual. Even if you hit it only twice that already helped a lot."

"That's easy for you to say. For you, that may be 'normal' but for me, it is not. I didn't have to experience people dying in droves around me before."

"Then you'll have to get used to it."

"I kinda already am. And that's a thing that worries me greatly. I wasn't able to stomach the sight of blood, now I am. People dying? ...have ended some myself. Didn't feel as much as I should have about it. I'm worried that I've become a monster not only in body but also in mind."

"...you're more human than you think you are."

POV: Darius

"Thanks for the reports, Therese."

"You don't have to thank me. I'm just looking forward to when you can take your job back. I'm not cut out for replacing you."

"Ha, you're doing a way better job than you think!"

"I don't care. I just... want to get back in the field. The desk is really not my battlefield."

"Yeah, anyway, the doc has limited me to two hours of activity so which are the most pressing issues I have to be aware of?"

"The most important... mostly rumors and an exchange of... bloodsuckers. The vampire Erwin has been turned to dust but instead we got Jared. He's a silver elf caster. I'm not sure he is trustworthy but any interrogation with a truth gem yields nothing to go on. The captain he is working under thinks he is ok but my gut says something is off."

One vampire less but another obtained, so in the end, nothing has changed.

"Alright. Is he doing his job as caster properly?"

"Yes, all according to protocol."

"...I'm not a fan of vampires, exactly like you, but as long as he behaves I see no issue. And what was that about rumors?"

"Supposedly some of the civilians have seen someone speak to the 'Lord's Mansion'. Since then there's a rumor going around that a suitable noble will be found soon. I've some men investigate but they found nothing to confirm or deny those rumors."

"It would be most welcome if that was true. Therese, I know that you don't take well to the nobles but not all of them are like the asses that ruined your life. I'm not saying to forget it but I want you to give those that weren't involved a chance. And not just because we need the fortress active but because they deserve a chance. You know me. I take my oath very seriously. If a noble abuses the common people I WILL make them pay!"

"Yes, I know you are right. I'll... try to put my feelings aside."

"Good girl."

Therese looks a bit down but this is something she has to endure. I know she can.

"Any other rumors?"

"...there's one thing I have conflicting reports on. One group has seemingly confirmed that God has abandoned us, prayers get actively rejected. If true that would also mean we can't count on a 'Lost One' helping us out this time."

"I was afraid that something like that would come true. Everything has just been going downhill for hundreds of years if the history books are anything to go by. And if God was still on our side he would have done something about it earlier... so what is the conflicting report?"

"One messenger from the church claims that the high priest has received an oracle about a 'Lost Child' arriving. However, they haven't detected any life signs. I can't really make any sense of this."

"Maybe... what if God is angry with us for failing him all this time and he just sent us a corpse this time to tell us we're dead to him?"

"Please spare me the morbid humor."

"Hmmm... the only other option I could think of is that the 'Lost One' is just out of range, maybe on one of the other continents. And our task is to rescue them before they can eventually rescue us."

"I don't see why God would drop them off over there, that is just a death sentence. And the thought that God is angry with us is scarier than just being abandoned... an angry god... I don't want to imagine."

"I think the same way. Could you please try to arrange an appointment with the head priest? I want to confirm this personally when I get out of here."

"I'll see to it. And please keep this to yourself, Darius. I know you have a problem keeping secrets but if this gets out there will be mass panic."

"Yeah, I know that. You have my word I'll keep silent about that. It is up to the church guys whether they want to make the announcement or not. Though I would prefer it if they didn't."

"Anything else I need to know about, Therese?"

"Well, there's only one more thing but that has to wait until you recover. That is not something I can just bring here and you need to see it in person."

"Sure, makes me look even more forward to getting out of here. And next time, please bring some good news for a change."

"I have some minor good news if you want."

"I'm listening."

"Recently we've depleted our last truth gem and we got two replacements in the last few days. Chloe's group found one in the dungeon and one of the refugees that came from a nearby village donated theirs."

"Uh, sorry, who was Chloe again? Was that your Changeling friend?"

"Yeah, exactly, her."

"Forgive me, I know she hasn't done anything wrong and has in fact contributed a lot but... morphs still weird me out. Sorry."

"She... gets that from a lot of people. Just promise me you'll give her a proper chance some time, okay?"

"Fine, I'll see what I can do."

"Good, then if you'll excuse me."

"Sure, take care, Therese."