The loud cries and screams came from the players that signal the start of the battle. The shadows slithered like snakes coming for everyone before they took up the form of players they engaged.
"Here we go." Ragnar sighed at the fast-approaching Night Crawlers zooming over them. They were dozens of those creatures, and he didn't know if they could defend till morning if this kept up.
"Keep those ugly things away from me while I cast Divine magic," the Spellskin said as he placed his palm over his other arm. His palm glowed over a simple figure on his skin. The drawing moved before it flew and disappeared from his arm. The picture of an animal took form in the air. Stick figures at first until they gathered light and form.
While the Spellskin was casting, Ragnar and the other DPS were circling him, pushing the Night Crawlers away from the Spellskin.
With an agile swing, Ragnar cut a large chunk of a Night Crawler, but the wound he inflected quickly rejuvenated, and the Night Crawler took Ragnar's form. Its eyes were hallows, while there was no color on its form except dark ash.
The Night Crawler reciprocated Ragnar's attack with a whistling strike that slipped past through his defense and connected with his shoulder. The latter's HP decreased to near half, and a sweat thrived on Ragnar's back.
"What the hell is this damage?" Ragnar hissed, particularly at Ren. Was he trying to kill him off again?
Come to think of it. If he died, wouldn't that mean that the quest would fail? And since he was the one who triggered it in the group, he was the main lead that should be alive till the end . . . right?
"It's fine," Ren said and added without care, "Just drink a Health Potion."
"Are you casting right now?" Ragnar asked through his gnashing teeth when he defended another blow from the Night Crawler. "It would help if you are. I can't die here, remember? I'm the one who triggered the quest."
"Relax . . ." Ren was secretly enjoying how Ragnar was struggling. He and Evie were positioned near the Spellskin, surrounded by DPS inside a circle, so they were safe from the swarms of Night Crawlers.
Like the other DPS, they weren't wasting their MP on their skills since it was useless. The Night Crawlers could only be defeated using Divine Magic. The only attack they used were normal attacks, except maybe if their skill could extend their life even a little.
"How am I to use any potions when I can't even take a breather here," said Ragnar and flung another swung from the Night Crawler before another quickly took its place, and he had no choice but to defend himself while gritting his teeth once more.
Ragnar was about to call for Ren again when a douse of sparkling green dust poured all over him like fine flour, and his HP bar increased.
Ragnar looked over at Evie, and a small smile blossomed on his lips. "Thanks."
Evie only nodded while she helped throw [Fires] against the Night Crawlers. It didn't kill them, but at least it slowed them down a little.
After ten agonizing minutes, the Spellskin finally finished his cast. "I call upon thee . . . the God of valor and ferocious strength, Fogur! Vanquish thy enemy and give back light to your territory!"
A giant boar made of glowing balls of green spirits flew over their heads. Its body sparkled like stars, and its strength could be felt even from miles away.
It was mesmerizing to watch.
Its luminance was enough to cast light over the darkness, and when it stormed toward the Night Crawlers, the creatures shrieked and retreated. But it was too late. The Spirit in the form of the God Fogur ravaged over their hallowed bodies. Just the tip of its tusk was enough for the Night Crawlers to burst into nothingness and vanish.
The tattoo the Spellskin used was powerful enough to eliminate dozens and dozens of Night Crawlers before the Spirit disappeared. It wasn't enough to ultimately kill the hundreds pouring in every direction, but it was enough to give breathing space to Ren and Orakh's group.
They quickly used the time to recover their HP. At the same time, Evie was amazed at what she saw.
"A Spellskin . . . they're remarkable."
"If you're pertaining to their powers to summon the Gods to aid them, then yes. However, the process of getting the Gods to form a pact with you is another thing entirely.
"See how that mark on his skin vanished once he used it? That's because their pact only pertained to one use only. And to acquire that tattoo again, he had to form another pact with Fogur. And that meant another favor from the God."
"That's . . ." Evie astonished face turned dull within a blink, "tedious . . ."
Then Evie looked over at Ren. "Can you copy it?"
". . ." Ren returned her stare and threw back her question at her. "What do you think?"
Evie pursed her lips and didn't say anything more, especially as another batch of Night Crawlers were eyeing their location.
And when they swarmed in their direction, they were surprised when another Giant Boar soared into the sky. It took the form of the Boar God, Fogur. It was titanic in size, with four tusks protruding from its mouth and four pairs of eyes dotted its head. Its body glowed like millions of stars while weird symbols formed on its fur.
It dashed forward, rampaging all the Night Crawlers in its path. Unlike with most spells, the God Fogur sought its enemies, dealing massive AoE damage whenever it went before its energy depleted and vanished in thin air.
Ragnar and Evie stared at Ren with gaping mouths. They expected that Ren could copy it, but they were still surprised nevertheless.
"So you can copy it." Ragnar didn't know if he should be relieved or not at the knowledge. Wasn't Ren's skill too OP?
Ren gave a half-shrug. "I'm not omnipotent. I'm also restricted by the original spell."
Ragnar raised a brow. "Meaning?"
"I can only do that one time before it disappears in my spell list. And it consumed an insane amount of MP," said Ren while he took multiple Mana Potions to restore his MP bar to full.
"Yeah. It seemed like a huge problem," said Ragnar in a sarcastic tone.
At the side, Orakh was ecstatic, and he patted Ren's shoulder. "You're strong, warrior. We could use someone like you in the hunt tomorrow."
[A New Quest Acquired!]
Yes! Ren was satisfied with the turn of events. He didn't know how many Night Crawlers he must defeat to trigger Orakh's event, so he just let loose.
In truth, the True Ending of Sharina's real Rare Quest couldn't be achieved without either a Spellskin or a Shaman since they needed Divine Magic to do so. Ren just hastened it with his [Mind Palace] and [Probe]. All for the sake of getting that Mask for Ragnar.
"Thank you for the praise. But we must survive this night before we talk about tomorrow."
Orakh laughed out loud. "Ahahaha! I like that you're humble as you are powerful!"
[Your Relationship Level with Orakh increased to Friends!]
Orakh smacked Ren's back, and the latter gasped, drawing a sharp breath.
Why were Orcs like to smack the air out of the players' lungs? Ren really wondered about that.
Though Ren and Orakh's group were having a somewhat easy time with the Night Crawlers because of two Divine Users in their group, the same couldn't be said about the other groups.
The inhabitants didn't need to worry since the magic users in their clan were healing them, and the ATP of the combatant inhabitants was high.
The players were the ones who suffered the brunt of the damage. Adding to their predicament were their low ATP against the Night Crawlers and lack of White Mages to heal their HP. The support simply couldn't keep up with the number of players they needed to heal and the number of Night Crawlers inflicting damage left and right.
At the same time, the Divine Users in their group cast their magic way too late to give them enough time to recover their HP. The players were simply too overwhelmed with the creatures to even bother about drinking Health Potions. So most rely on their White Mages, but even the support couldn't keep up.
In the span of an hour, almost half of the group was wiped out while the Night Crawlers were endless, pouring like streams. Unending. Unceasing. Time moved so slowly that everyone felt every second of it.
"Pull it together, men!" Orakh shouted. "Dawn is before us!"
Yeah. After two more hours. Ren mused to himself.
Time moved slowly and eventually, an hour or so passed.
It was clear to see that the Night Crawlers overpowered every group, and when they were about to give up, their hope was rekindled when the break of dawn was only a few thirty minutes away.
Just one more push and everything would finally be over. And when they were about to sigh in relief and joy that they had finally made it through the night, an ear-wrenching raspy howl sank their hope into the pit of oblivion.
"Here it comes . . . ," muttered Orakh.
"What comes?" Ragnar rasped, tired of fending off the Night Crawlers. It felt like his limbs would fall off his shoulders at any moment.
Orakh looked over the twin moons and with a serious face and voice whispered,
". . . The Night Thing."
