February ~ 38!

Grant peered at the map Suki was showing him and found the closest point to their destination as he remembered ever going. His sword lashed out, and a hole appeared, hanging in the air. She stepped through, holding his hand so they could travel together. An infinite moment passed in this place between places, and Grant felt a moment of fear as time seemed to stretch. He blinked, and they were suddenly standing next to the site of a recent avalanche.

“Great memories here,” he commented breezily. “I think that’s the rock that punctured my lung. Oh, look! That one still has my blood on it.”

“Stop complaining about the past; we’ve got places to be now.” Suki chuckled at his strained features. “I want to see how you can move now that there’s… nothing getting in the way.”

Grant looked down at his refurbished body, then into the woods surrounding them. Suki pointed into the distance, then took off in a sprint. “Road’s this way!”

After a moment, he realized that she was trying to race him. He felt his face stretch into a wild smile as he started running after her. “Massively better gear, yes. Perfectly sculpted body, yup. Running speed, thanks to body cultivation…?”

His pink-haired target appeared to slow down, then resumed what seemed like a normal running pace as he charged after her. The miles flashed by, and he was suddenly beside her… then in front of her and gaining ground. He threw a look behind himself, and felt gratification to see that she was showing as much shock as he felt. She narrowed her eyes and sped up, and soon they were thundering down the road at a pace that humans had never been made to move.

The most impressive thing to him was that they kept that pace up, and it felt as easy as going for a moderately long walk; his armor cultivation seemed to have made it so that his body didn’t even get sore from the strain anymore. A small building appeared in the distance, and Suki grabbed his arm. Moments later, he found himself racing through a hamlet while trying to figure out how to slow down without falling flat on his face.

There were no lights within the windows or smoke from chimneys. The smattering of abandoned wooden shacks sent shivers down his spine. He had to admit, he was glad to have Suki as company; it was invaluable to travel with a capable fighter to watch his back in an area where monsters were known to roam.

A sea of unnatural fog swirled past their legs, adding to the strangely otherworldly feel of the place. “I visited this place once, long ago. Father would take me hunting in the woods to hone my ability to notice detail. Nothing quite like hunting creatures in stealth to become a detail-oriented individual.”

After she finished speaking, they walked in silence in an attempt to find any sign of life in the area. Grant listened intently—so much so that, when a soft scratching came from his backpack, he nearly jumped to the top of one of the small buildings. He shifted his new gear out of the way and found that the journal was attempting to impart the message currently being written by someone else.

Surrounded. Doesn’t look good. Won’t survive. Monster wave. Will hide Wielded Weapon in dead tree next to barrier. Send full calendar.

Grant stared dumbfounded by the words. He snatched up the quill and, in his terrible handwriting, replied: Survive! On my way. -Grant

“Suki!” He slammed the journal shut and looked around for the barrier, only to be stymied by the omnipresent fog. “The barrier! Which direction?”

She understood his concern and instantly turned to run. “That way. What’s the situation?”

“Monster wave! Waylon’s almost down!” The pair sprinted through the fog, and soon terrible bellowing roars were echoing strangely through the haze. A light appeared through the mist. “The barrier! He’s gotta be near the… Regent’s icy stare, that’s not good.”

Between the barrier and a group of terrified villagers stood Waylon Wednesday. He leaned heavily on a stout villager as blood streamed from numerous lacerations. At first, Grant couldn’t tell if his friend still lived, or if the man next to him was just propping up his body. Then the young Lord Wednesday lashed out and slammed his weapon into the skull of a charging… thing.

“Those are Early Summer beasts! How?” Suki surged towards the heart of the danger, forcing Grant to keep up. By now, he could tell what the creatures were from their tags: Beastmen. Beyond walking on two legs, there was little else that resembled humans. Their bodies were hairy and heavily muscled; their heads sported intricate horns. Two beastmen focused their attention on Suki, who launched herself into the air and slammed her fist down on one’s head. It let out a mewling cry as it stumbled backward, a few of its horns snapped clean off.

Grant winced at the sight. On a human, a blow like that would have easily snapped a neck, possibly knocked the head clean off. Clearly, their heads were well protected, and yet Suki’s fists unerringly slammed into them instead of going for less-armored portions. At first, he thought it was due to the unsettling focus he had seen in people to simply trade blows; then he recalled that she was able to power right through armor. With such high defense on their skulls, it rapidly became apparent that the Beastmen hadn’t ever needed to defend that area.

Even so, it wasn’t anything Grant could take advantage of. In one smooth motion, Grant unsheathed February Twenty Nine and slashed across the chest of another Beastman.

Blood showered from the wound.

Damage dealt: 52 slashing. (41 mitigated. Critical! Massive blood loss: -25 health per second.)

The Beastman stumbled back and gaped at its wound in horror. The powerful strike had torn through the tough hide and shaved off nearly a quarter of its total health. Grant stared at his sword for a beat too long.

<If you do not follow up on that, I am going to figure out how to shock you through your armor when you go to relieve yourself.> Sarge’s bellow burst the strange moment of stillness that had overcome Grant, and the young man darted forward to turn the Beastman into venison.

A cloven hoof dented his chest armor and sent him sailing in a perfect parabolic arc before he slammed into the wet earth. He coughed lightly as the damage notification rolled in.

Damage taken: 5 blunt (50 mitigated)

Grant glanced to the side to check on Suki, and instantly found himself in awe of her power. Her metal fists slammed again and again into muscle and bone, forcing the beast to the ground. Grant couldn’t just sit and admire her skills; the Beastman he had wounded had dropped to all fours and thrown itself after him. A cloven hoof landed next to his left thigh right between his legs as he rolled. <One second later, and you wouldn’t have needed to worry about marrying Suki next year!>

“Not helpful!” Grant slammed his sword up, hoping that this creature’s arteries would behave the same as a human’s. February Twenty Nine sliced point-first into the area where the superficial femoral artery would be on a human; thanks to the attempt to crush him, Grant had a perfect target to aim for. The Beastman screamed as Grant shredded its inner thigh, and by the sheer volume of blood… “Arteries are in the same spot.”

Damage dealt: 61 slashing. (32 mitigated. Critical! Massive blood loss: -30 health per second.)

The monster stumbled a few steps toward Grant, then dropped to the ground, unconscious and rapidly headed toward death. Grant didn’t wait for the creature to expire naturally, driving February Twenty Nine through its heart and earning another monster kill toward his next Cultivation Achievement Level.

Waylon slumped onto the ground just as Grant rolled to his feet, desperately hoping that his friend was still alive. There were no monsters going for the downed man, so Grant couldn’t justify running to check on him. He instead turned back towards Suki, who was still hammering on the other Beastman. Grant sprinted forward and joined the fight, swordpoint leading. His weapon met resistance for a moment, then the sharpened blade slid through and wrought carnage on the soft organs, and debuffs started piling on rapidly. The creature bellowed in rage and pain, the vibration shaking the nearby trees and pulling the attention of the other Beastman.

*Boom.* Grant’s attention was pulled to a thunderous discharge of energy from the barrier that struck a stock animal which was fleeing the fighting. The domesticated bovine screamed as it was warped, and the animalistic cry became a full-throated scream of rage and hunger. The newly-minted minotaur charged at the nearby people, scattering them in its rampage.

Another Beastman leaped into the air and brought his hooves down on Suki, who blocked the blows by punching the hooves so rapidly that the creature was knocked out of the air. Grant pointed at the minotaur. “Suki, did you see that?”

She jumped onto the Beastman and beat it to death in the next two seconds, and the remaining Beastmen scampered backward. “What a rush! That’s the most fun I’ve had in years! I always have to hold back when I’m fighting-”

“Grant…!” The shout and wet cough refocused Grant. Waylon was trying to pull himself to his feet. In the mayhem, Grant had almost forgotten about his wounded friend. “All Wielders can… reinforce! You need to… the fluctuation-!”

Grant charged at his friend, murder in his eyes. Waylon watched him advance, confusion the only thing in his mind as he slowly slumped to the ground. The Lord of the Month jumped over the collapsed human, slashing into the arm of the minotaur that had nearly crushed his friend’s skull without even being noticed. His attack tore open a wide wound on the monster, but its follow-up punch sent blood flying from Grant’s mouth, eyes, and nose as the intense blunt damage transferred from his chest to the rest of his body.

Damage taken: 85 blunt. (50 mitigated.)

Health: 257/347.

Furious at the damage to his new gear, and confused as to the massive amount of damage, Grant struggled to his feet and prepared himself to meet the charging monster. He moved into a defensive pose as the creature tucked its head and charged like a bull. Every step shook the earth, and Grant tried to decide how he would manage to both attack and evade at the same time.

He shouldn’t have worried.

Suki blazed past him, appearing low in front of the minotaur, a move she had managed to pull off on Grant during the tournament. Her unexpected massive uppercut forced the creature into an upright position with its head thrown back.

During the moment that the monster was undefended, Grant leapt forward and slammed the point of his sword into the hollow of its neck. He met resistance for a moment too long to be comfortable, but then February Twenty Nine pushed through the beast.

Grant was slapped away by a huge hoof-fist, taking another hundred points of blunt damage and sending notifications of broken bones and ruptured organs scrawling across his vision. He squinted up through blurry eyes to see the minotaur still moving, still fighting.

<The sword is blocking the blood flow!> Sarge’s words were all the hint he needed.

Grant raised his hand, and called his sword back to himself with blood-flecked lips. “Time… is Space…”

His sword appeared in his hand, and blood fountained from the deep wound he’d carved into the creature’s lungs and airway. There was only one message that Grant saw before his vision went black.

Caution! Your heart has stopped!