Chapter 35: Rage Path

Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Rage Path

The wolves kept coming, howling, calling more of their own. As time went on, they weren’t random. He saw patterns, something only a player could see.

I see. It wasn’t that they were adapting, these beasts. It was just a mixture of patterns from all the monsters in the game.

That man, he really knows me, does’t he?

Allan saw it in the wave. They always hit the side first, like the hybrid lions. Three times in a row, and then the center, like the high-level pythons. It was like the patterns were mushed together.

"Center," he said. "Keep the one-armed one between us. Mage, attack their legs. Nothing flashy. I need only precision from you."

The A-ranker missing a forearm staggered. His bandage was already red and dripping. The other one dragged his leg, unable to say much, his jaw locked tight. Allan stayed close enough to both of them, hacking at the beasts with great timing.

The two injured ones saw it, unable to decipher how a B-rank was moving so quickly and precisely, his blade moving like he was three steps ahead of the beasts.

Diva was also close, three wolves still losing ground against her, but one slipped her swing. Another changed angle the second she dropped its packmate. She cursed under her breath as she adjusted her stance.

Allan saw it and didn’t let that opportunity go.

"You’re slower than I thought. Slower than a B-rank. Than me."

Her head snapped toward him. Whatever she was about to say died when a wolf came from her side. She met it instead.

And she met it like it had insulted her.

Her footwork got tight. She stopped giving ground. The next one she stepped into its tail and took a claw across the shoulder. She drove both blades up under its jaw. Dark blood hit her face, her eyes staring at Allan instead of the next wolf.

[Investment Opportunity Progress Detected]

[Target: Diva]

[Path: Combat Rage]

[Investment opportunity: coming close]

Come on. I want to use my A+ skill at that exact moment, he thought as he kept his watch on the wounded ones behind him.

"Northwest slope. Move, move, move."

They cut across the valley as Diva carved most of the path, her face covered in blood now. Every time a wolf tried to catch her off guard, she would just slice it like butter.

Meanwhile, Allan held the middle. He only took what would have killed the injured. Everything else was hers. The mage was at the back, her barrier getting thinner every time. Her hands shook, losing more mana than needed. Nobody said it aloud, but they all knew. She would soon run out of energy.

Lira walked half a step behind him, hand pressed to the mark on her ribs.

"Allan, there’s something coming again," she said, her voice thin. "It’s still far, but it’s coming here."

He didn’t ask. He’d learned not to.

***

They reached a rise of stone, half rock, half something else. It was the best cover the valley had. The mage dropped a barrier across the approach and sat down hard against the stone, breathing like she’d run a marathon.

Diva stood over the dead wolf, chest heaving. Blood, hers and the wolf’s, running down one side. She still hadn’t looked at the cut on her ribs.

She turned on him.

"You... why did you hold back before?" she grunted. "You left me open. On purpose, didn’t you? Commenting on it again and again. What is actually wrong with you?"

"You adapted, Diva. You became stronger. That’s what mattered."

"...I don’t like this, what you are doing. And that’s not an answer."

"It’s the one you’re getting for now."

She stared at him, another vein twitching on her forehead, but under the anger something else crossed her face for half a second. More like she was running the numbers again. Every order since the tree line. What it had cost her.

"When this is over," she said, "we talk. For real. If you are not honest, then we’re done for."

Allan wanted to ask if they were even a thing before this, but stopped.

"Deal," Allan said. He meant it as agreement. She heard it as a delay, but neither of them fixed it.

"Five minutes rest," he said. "Then we move."

The mage held the barrier with both hands for the five minutes. Allan watched the strain climb her arms.

Diva stood apart, cleaning her blades and glancing at him like she hadn’t decided whether to start the fight or save it.

Allan glanced at the Investment window still hanging at the edge of his sight. The bar was higher than ten minutes ago. Rage worked.

He walked over anyway and kept his voice down.

"Mad?"

"Of course. You played me, and you still are."

"I gave you a space to handle the beasts. You filled it and took every beast down. Now look around." He gestured around them. "Because of you, everyone is safe."

"You called me slow," she said, turning away.

"You were... for ten seconds." He tilted his head. "Then you weren’t."

She wanted to keep arguing, as he could see it building. Then the System pulsed again. He was watching those numbers move, so he kept talking, but Lira came close.

"The wolves, they are still there, circling around, waiting and observing."

"For us to leave the ground..."

"Perhaps, but I think they are waiting for us to get tired."

He turned to the group. "Move. Same formation. Diva on point. Mage, you know the drill. No heroic stunts, please."

The one-armed A-ranker pushed himself up without being asked, using the wall and anyone’s hand. "You know the alpha hasn’t shown up yet. If the big one shows?"

"We run," Allan said. "Because an alpha is beyond us. They are over a hundred levels. We would get squashed instantly."

They moved as the ground got steeper on the side. Black stone at angles. Roots thick as a forearm crossed the path where footing was beyond crooked.

Some of them appeared once more.

Diva fought like she had something to prove. Maybe she did. Allan fed the pattern to everybody, letting them easily fight against the wolves.

"Your left is open," he said once when it wasn’t.

She closed the gap fast. The wolf never finished the lunge.

"Still thinking too much," he said later.

She answered by driving a blade through a wolf’s eye to punch out the back of its skull.

[Combat Rage. Alignment Rising]

[Minor Trait Forming: Adaptive Aggression]

He didn’t cash it. Rage that burned out in one fight wasn’t worth the number. Rage that got smarter with every kill was.

Lira stayed at his shoulder, checking in every minute. Allan had given her the responsibility to be aware of the alpha.

As they went closer, Allan knew they were close to the goal of their quest.

"Allan!" Lira called, her eyes dark. "Above us."

"Mage!" Allan shouted. "Barrier above us now!"

The barrier snapped into place seconds before something massive landed on it. It cracked on impact, but still held. The mage made a sound Allan had heard before—from soldiers who’d taken many hits and kept on standing.

Diva looked up. Darkness was covering them all, while the remaining wolves ran away, scared.

"That’s not a wolf. Nor an alpha."

"No."

The weight above them shifted. The crack in the barrier spread.

"I know what it is," Allan said. "And we can kill it. Just follow my lead."

"Still giving orders?"

Allan came closer to Diva.

"When that thing lands, run to the left of where I’m looking. Right at the small cave," he whispered.

Diva glared at him. "Do you mean...?"

"Yes. We can’t defeat it. We face it, we all die. Now do what I say."

"No—"

The barrier shattered.