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Most people know what it's like to be on a rollercoaster. The seatbelt has you strapped tight to the chair. The rails are tight, designed to be a little rickety. But hopefully not too dangerous. The fear is engineered. Most rollercoasters, like plans, are safer than a car. People are more likely to be in a car accident than to have a rollercoaster accident.

The fear is in the mind.

For us, it wasn't.

"FALLING! FALLING AGAIN! BRACE YOURSELVES!" The dwarven captain cried out and the last look I got of him was the wind carrying his hat into the great tsunami that was hulking over us.

Then the ship tilted.

Hundreds of feet up in the air. Perhaps thousands.

No seat belts.

No guard rails.

Just water.

Endless, bottomless ocean.

And the creature was covered in spines and scales, a scale of a magnitude bigger than our tiny little toy boat. Its serpentine body rose above the waves, creating entire islands made just by parts of its long body.

And the screaming began.

"FUCKKK!"

I opened my mouth to scream and the sheer windforce from simply falling down at this height made my cheeks flare out and choke on my own spit and bits of sea spray. Next to me, Zenom grabbed Cecilia and stabbed his bastard sword into the flooring. Skaris and Arrosh did the same using their own weapons, while finding purchase on other railings.

The ship dived nose first.

"AHHHHHHH!!!"

"GRAB AHOLD OF SOMETHING!"

The wind howled. People yelled. Screamed. The Imugi continued to change the very landscape of the sea, a visceral raw fear in response to seeing something alive and so big.

Tiny people fell. Cultists. Adventurers. Those who couldn't get ready in time.

Except Arione's party, riding on the metal disc.

L'teya and Maria Akka Xalud leapt onto the metal disc where Clover and Scarlet was waiting. The moment the four of them were aboard, the little disc zipped deftly through the falling people. Arione flew alongside it, having cast [Fly] on himself.

Using the chaos.

They flew straight towards Fluporuin who was yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Shit! The captaaaaaaainnnn!" Zenom's voice blurred as the wind carried his voice away.

Boxes fell. Crates broke. Everything is beginning to lean downwards. Food. Weapons. Clothing. Everything falling, swallowed by the ocean a country's distance away from us.

And slowly, very slowly…

A shadow descended over the entire boat.

The tsunami, a landscape in and of itself, was collapsing.

Right on top of us.

Even while the adrenaline beat my heart raw with acrophobia, the rational part of my brain saw a chance.

I didn't say anything.

I flipped my body, the entire world turning upside down. Using [Snow Scream] as a pivot, I placed my foot on the plank.

"SLAVEBORN! DON'T–" His voice, carried away by the wind again.

I kicked off.

Straight towards Arione.

My goal was simple here.

Arione Popindale. A grade-2 Mage, with all the natural talent for magic that the elven race provides. A [Player] with extensive knowledge of this world; having been here for years. One who had used Clover to get on a quest similar to mine, except for the Elven Hero of the Six.

My goal: Kill him.

If we got to the island… there would be no telling what kind of havoc he could wreak.

Right here and now. Today.

I had to kill him. Or cripple him so bad that he'd be less of a threat. While the [Imugi] was near us, and he wanted to grab Fluporuin.

The hard part was getting there.

The boat was falling into the water nose first and every second, the surface grew closer and closer. Most of the adventurers had been fighting on the deck, near the front. Fluporuin and the mages were near the middle, where the stern was.

That meant I had to run up the deck, dodging crates, cultists and every other thing that could give me a concussion which would lead to a watery death.

Good thing my Cores are built exactly for things like this.

｢ Lock Slaveborn trades [Attack] for [Speed] ｣

｢ Lock Slaveborn trades [Attack] for [Speed] ｣

｢ Lock Slaveborn trades [Attack] for [Speed] ｣

｢ Lock Slaveborn trades [Attack] for [Speed] ｣

…

｢ Lock Slaveborn's [Physical] stat is too low ｣

｢ Maximum Buff Capacity reached｣

No more increasing buffs.

Now, it was all about timing. Changing what I did have at the right time, at the right moment, for the right job.

And shifting everything into pure speed…

The world blurred as I sprinted up the falling boat.

Everything was the shade of chill blue, as the tsunami continued to descend.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

And as I ran up the floors, someone appeared in my vision.

Lety leapt off of the metal disc with her double axes, stabbed them into the flooring, reminding me of a praying mantis. They cut through the wood with ease until finally catching on something. She swung her body then began to run down the floors.

Straight towards me.

I tightened the grip on my sword.

"Slaveborn! Stop this!" Lety screamed out and I could barely hear her over the hundred other things going on.

Her axes gleamed with red and black. Obsidian. As she ran, bits of stone began to surface around her skin. They'd fed her [Cores] for a tank alright. A complete defense build, probably building on top of the [Poison] type of Cores she got first.

You see, for Elves, the first Core they get is very important. Their racial trait, [Core Domination] allows them 11 Cores Slots. Technically, 10 Slots. It's just that one Core gets absorbed into their body. Permanently. The caveat being that you cannot be more than 10 levels above or below the Core's grading.

So a level 1 person can at most, absorb a Grade-10 or Grade-9.

Of course, the Character can take a Grade-2 Core. But the Racial Ability simply won't work, only coming into effect when the person's level and the Grade of the Core in them synced up perfectly.

And for L'teya, the first Core she ever absorbed was…

Grade-9. Death Worm.

Her axes began to drip with poison.

A poison that spelled instant death for anyone under level 10, or a monster grade-10.

Of course, I wasn't either of those. But it would still put stacks of [Poison] on me. [Poison], which I took damage from regardless of my [Magic Immunity] or [Defense] stat.

Status damage.

The elf barbarian rushed towards me in a furious tornado that spat venom with each spin.

I hadn't expected L'teya to openly bear arms against me. She'd been nothing but friendly. Deep down, I wanted to recruit her after all this was over. Get her away from Clover. Maybe I'm being vain and narcissistic, but I could do more for her than Arione ever could. Back then, she was looking for her brother. I thought Arione would have helped her but…

If she was this weak after a year with him, he didn't give a shit about her.

The tornado came closer and closer.

But I had other important people to me now.

I couldn't abandon them because of something like regrets over a choice that we all made.

Even for L'teya.

I grabbed [Lunar Shield] out of the air and grinded it against the floorboards while running. In my right hand, I held [Snow Scream] and began to yell as I approached her. The elven warrior screamed her battle cry.

L'teya. The one who had the best battle-sense out of all of us.

She pivoted away from my sword and towards my shield, trying to hack off my arm at the elbow.

Not my neck. Not my heart. Not my chest. Not my stomach.

My arm.

…Weak.

She didn't have the stomach for this.

…She didn't belong here.

｢ Lock Slaveborn casts [Mire] ｣

Coum's mud exploded out of the shield and enveloped L'teya's entire body in a flurry of dirt, water and mire. It went into her nose, eyes and most of all, slowed down her momentum just enough.

My sword lashed out, aiming straight for her throat.

Two inches deep.

I drew blood.

L'teya's battle axes came up with brutal force, knocking my blade away, preserving her life. But the damage was done. I spun and left two deep cuts in her hamstrings.

Covered in mud. A cut on her throat. Hamstrung.

And I kicked her in the ankle, breaking it and sending her airborne.

Free-fall kicked in.

Gravity pulled her down.

I wanted to throw up.

God, I felt sick.

For a moment, it was just her and me. Her red hair collapsing as the beautiful elf barbarian fell towards the waves below.

"...careful, Slaveborn."

And that was that.

The rush of blood in my ears came in full force as the world resumed its chaotic spurt of battle.

A bloodcurdling wail from a ghost of a person that she could have been.

"LETY!"

Clover.

"Shit! Move this thing! Get the Elf barbarian!"

Arione's metal disc U-turned away from Fluporuin and shot past me, chasing after Lety's falling body. She wasn't fatally wounded. Just helpless without anything to grab onto.

Then–

Whoosh!

Right behind the metal disc, a blast of flame followed. It swallowed me up whole and I felt the heat in my body go up, followed by the momentary panic that came from being burned alive.

But the whole boat was covered in the tsunami's shadow.

And I ran through the flames, intent on climbing. Higher, towards Fluporuin.

Arione hovered above, wind billowing his long cloak. The elven mage snarled something unheard and spread his arms out straight towards me. Instead of summoning fire, he summoned his other specialty: Wind.

A trick he'd displayed at Samak, when he realized I was immune to magic.

The elven mage summoned a tempest that roared out of his fingertips. Not to hurt me, but to throw me off –putting me into freefall the same way I had done for L'teya.

Too late.

｢ Lock Slaveborn casts [All Mages Must Die: Shadow Blink]｣

It had been awhile since I got to use this.

Whenever I got hit by a spell and the damage was nullified…

A single use of [Shadow Blink].

I dove into my own shadow,

And the world turned into a cool shade of gray, instantly making my decision on where to appear.

I shot out of the shadow from beneath Arione, leaping straight towards him.

But Arione had seen this move before. Or maybe it's because he'd survived everything MSS has thrown at him and you don't get to survive for a decade as a Player without picking up a few tricks. Even before I blinked through his shadow and shot away from the boat, he was already flying away.

Snarling, I stabbed my sword into the floorboards. Straining to reach, to grab purchase, anything. Purposefully turning off [Aura], [Snow Scream] screeched as it froze the planks so that I could hang on.

" –like a Cockroach!" I didn't catch the beginning of what Arione said.

But I'd scared him.

I saw it now. The pale lips, eyes darting between me, the rest of the crew and his party which went to rescue L'teya from falling to her death.

He was getting desperate.

I had to keep him on the backfoot.

A suicide move for sure.

But it was the only thing I could think of.

"Get the fuck over here!"

And I jumped off the boat and straight towards Arione.

The Mage sneered at my mistake, floating a bit further away.

Now, I was the same as L'teya. Nothing to grab ahold of.

A certain death. A fool's move.

｢ Lock Slaveborn casts [King's Guard] ｣

My [Lunar Shield] snapped into orbit.

I grabbed it with one hand and pulled.

The core ability put the shield into Orbit, meaning that it always stayed a certain distance from me. Whether that meant something slammed into it, or applied constant force, the rule was there. It might bend and strain, but the distance was a rule.

A rule of MSS, requiring a deep understanding of Cores. A characteristic of this Core that people might not even think about. It's an Auto-block? What more do you need to know? What loser would bother memorizing a small fact like that when there were thousands of other Cores out there?

Me. I'm that type of loser.

I studied this game for 14 years.

Every.

Single.

Fucking.

Nook.

And.

Cranny.

I swung myself forward with enough velocity to slam into Arione's arm and hear it crack.

"FUCK!"

Exhilaration took over as I struggled to find purchase on my sword. To stab his skinny little neck. But my little stunt left my arms tangled up. Arione, the fucker, reached inside his thigh and took out a curved dagger and swung it wildly. Zero technique, zero fighting instincts. But in close quarters like that, it was more deadly than anything else he could have done.

But the blade wouldn't connect, it would–

The moment his dagger made contact with my chest, it exploded into fire.

I felt my body being carried away from the supernaturally heated air; the strong scent of ozone and burnt hair assaulting my nostrils.

Then panic. I was in free fall.

Shit. The shield, where's my–

I landed on the floor.

…The wall?

Blue sky stretched above me, infinite and unending.

Mountains of black scales, rising and falling from the ocean surface.

Tsunamis of proportions that could make men tremble lay far beneath where I was.

The scale beneath me pulsed with life, heat and magic.

Arione landed a few yards away from me.

For a moment, we stopped. Staring.

Frozen.

Shocked.

It wasn't just black scales that rose and fell like planets being birthed from the ocean.

Red.

Yellow.

Green.

…More.

Like snakes in a hole, tangled together in a nauseating mix of heat, sex and smell…

But bigger.

Like a nightmare from some eldritch horror.

Oh god.

A single Imugi could level a country. Just by migrating, it would level everything in its path.

Just by passing through, it was a natural disaster.

Serpentine bodies tangled around each other. Each time they met, more tsunamis were left in the wake.

…I saw a small island in the distance crushed. Flattened. Sunk.

Erased into nothingness. The absolute certainty that even an island did not matter in the grand sceme of life of these grade-2 monster beings, that were living gods in this ocean. Entire species, monster dens, gone because the Imugis decided to rub against one another in a simple greeting.

I cannot describe what it looked like, for my brain cannot comprehend the sheer magnanimity of what I saw. My eyes could not capture what is beyond mortal sight.

And another…

And another…

And the calls began….

Mating Season.

And in Mating Season… only one of them could mate.

The sky darkened.

And rain began to fall as a torrential downpour.

A roar that sent me screaming to the floor, covering my ears and clutching at my eyes.

It was over.

...Everything was over.

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