Reaper's Resurgence: A System Reset

Astrid tenses up as she watches from overhead while the prince\'s group travels through the trees beneath her. She has already warned the others that the enemy intends to strike earlier than initially planned but didn\'t feel comfortable enough letting them out of her sight to go back personally, instead sending Cass to warn them on her behalf.

Something about this turn of events rubs Astrid the wrong way though, and she can\'t help but feel like there\'s something wrong. Like she\'s missing an important piece of the puzzle.

She continues watching over them as they traverse the forest, only for Astrid to suddenly feel a telepathic connection beginning to form between her and Elizabeth. So she lets it form, following which Elizabeth immediately asks, \'Where is Cassandra?\'

Astrid\'s eyes widen in alarm, realization setting in on the missing piece of the puzzle.

\'She didn\'t come back to base, did she?\' Astrid sends back, only to get a short, \'She didn\'t,\' in reply.

A traitor. That\'s why they changed their plans suddenly, and that\'s probably why Cass has been so friendly with me.

\'I sent her to warn you that the enemies are attacking prematurely, but it looks like-\' Astrid begins only for Elizabeth to finish for her, \'She betrayed us.\'

Astrid nods her head despite Elizabeth not being able to see what she\'s doing.

\'Alara says for us to keep this link open and for you to give us updates on what they\'re doing,\' Elizabeth says before adding in a grim tone, \'We\'ll handle the traitor if she shows up.\'

\'Understood," Astrid responds, not taking her eyes away from the traveling group of nobles. \'Mind if I ask why you grew suspicious enough of her to ask?\'

\'Cass was never on my side in the politics of the nation, and while her position wasn\'t publicly disclosed, her father was publicly on my brother\'s side,\' Elizabeth answers. \'It\'s only natural to distrust her when we\'re facing my brother here.\'

Politics. Something I never want to have to deal with.

\'Understood,\' Astrid responds again before going silent, focusing all of her attention on the nobles.

Alexia

The Present

Right when I raise my hand towards the boss, preparing to send some more Quantum Bolt\'s its way, Luna flaps her wings and flies off of my shoulder. She then dives straight towards the scorpion to my shock and horror, only to be ignored by the thing as she goes straight for one of its open wounds and sticks her two tiny but sharp fangs into the wound. I then watch with more than a little surprise while poison energy begins getting drained from the monster and into Luna.

Quantum Vampirism. I almost forgot about that skill since I was focusing on her passive.

It lets her sustain herself off the elemental energy of others. Meaning that despite being a vampire bat, she doesn\'t actually have to drink blood.

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She can even heal herself with elemental energy.

I grin at that before beginning to barrage the monster with Quantum Bolts again, carefully avoiding Luna as I do so. Meanwhile the boss itself doesn\'t even seem to notice or care about Luna in the slightest. It does, however, notice my bolts. But without its main claws, they all end up striking it, halting its progress towards me.

With the creature on the retreat, I summon my polearm and throw it before moving towards the creature as fast as I can while still injured and sending more Quantum Bolts. Then, right when the creature who at some point gives up in blocking my attacks throws one of its remaining limbs my way, I teleport directly upwards above its limb. And my polearm happens to strike it in the midsection at that very moment, cracking its carapace there before I resummon my polearm to my hand and swing it down with my falling momentum to slice straight through a part of its arm that it had repeatedly used to block my Quantum Bolts.

When my feet land on the ground, albeit a little wobbly thanks to my injuries, the monster\'s limb lands next to me as the boss lets out a loud screech of pain.

I can\'t help but grin as I turn around to face the monster, flipping my polearm as I do so to smack it in the side of the head. Then I jump up to land on its back before reaching down and grabbing hold of a wounded area where its carapace is already peeling off.

And begin spamming Quantum Burst, making the monster crash to the ground with convulsions running through its body. But I almost stop when I remember that I\'m not alone, making me quickly look to find Luna still snacking on its elemental energy.

Huh. Guess she\'s immune to my attacks? Or is it just a sort of friendly fire thing?

Either way, it\'s good.

Adrenaline fills me – I think – and I feel a rush, pushing me through the pain of the poisonous blood eating away at me into raising my hand holding my polearm and swinging it down, thrusting the weapon straight into the center of the boss\'s back. The creature immediately lets out an ear wrenching screech that has me falling off of the creature\'s back holding my ears. And as I do so, I feel liquid leaving my ears that I quickly realize is blood.

It\'s not only me though. I somehow feel a flash of pain coming to me from my bond with Luna. Not enough to frighten me, but enough to worry me.

Then the screech cuts off, letting me uncover my ears and look up at the scorpion.

The creature isn\'t moving.

Did I… did we win?

Cracks begin to form on the remaining bits of its carapace.

Of course not.

"Get away from it!" I scream at Luna while trying to get up myself, but I feel my leg completely unresponsive to my commands.

Then the carapace explodes, spraying the boss\'s poisonous blood outwards.

Right before the blood is about to cover me, I feel a sudden influx of soul entering my body and filling me up. Enough soul that I manage to teleport away multiple times until I\'m out of danger, the poison simply splashing harmlessly on the ground as I look out over it with Luna moving over to my shoulder.

[Level 100 Nightshade Queen Defeated – User\'s earned EXP has been increased a large amount due to killing a being whose level is fifteen or more levels higher than their own.]

[Seventeen points have been earned for killing a creature sixteen levels above you.]

{Congratulations! You have leveled up to level 85! Your Species has awarded you +2 VIT, +2 DEX, +2 STR, +2 MAG, and +2 MEN. Your Class has awarded you +1 VIT, +1 DEX, +1 STR, +2 MAG, and +2 MEN.}

…

{Congratulations! You have leveled up to level 89! Your Species has awarded you +2 VIT, +2 DEX, +2 STR, +2 MAG, and +2 MEN. Your Class has awarded you +1 VIT, +1 DEX, +1 STR, +2 MAG, and +2 MEN.}

[Fifty points have been earned for clearing a Dungeon.]

{Congratulations! You have cleared the Dungeon known as the Crawling Caverns! Touch the loot box to claim your reward!}

I smile at that before seeing the thing I was hoping for appearing in front of my eyes.