Civilization

Attached to the charging fishman were small blue strings connected to several semi-transparent being's fingertips floating along the ceiling of the tunnel. Their white hands glow cyan as their fingers twitch around, moving the strings. However, the rest of the body was hidden in an oversized cloak, with a hood over its head covering its face.

"What are those? Yor! What are they?" - Frank

"I don't know. I've never seen a monster that is practically invisible. I just know rushing in now is a bad idea. We should fall back more and figure out how we are going to deal with them. The first two fishman that attacked us didn't have those strings, but the ones charging at us now do." - Yor

"What would we do if we were to retreat? Shouldn't we fight them now and figure out what we can do?" - Kingston

"Hmm… I have an idea. Gopopo shoot a couple of arrows, one aiming at the strings and one aiming at the floating monster. While he does this, we retreat for and not engage in combat until we see the results of Gopopo's arrows. If 1 arrow each doesn't work, then shoot another. Can you do this?" - Yor

"It's not whether I can do this, but I must be able to do this. Don't worry, I'll land the shot." - Gopopo

"Alright. David and Gibing retreat with the rest of us, but stay focused on the front. Be prepared for anything unexpected. Luckily we have already fallen back, but if we retreat too slowly the monsters will catch up." - Kingston

We start to retreat away from the monsters, with Ken and Kaede bringing up the rear, while the rest of us were watching in anticipation as Gopopo pulls back the bowstring. Steadying his breathing as he retreats, he calmly takes aim and quickly fires off two arrows. Both cuts through the air with one slicing through a blue string and the other flying through the floating monster, but to our dismay, neither arrow did anything.

The cut string magically reconnects within a second of breaking, and obviously the arrow that went through the floating monster did nothing. In disbelief, Gopopo fires another short barrage of arrows aiming at different strings and monsters, but to little success.

"Damn, Sabrina wasn't joking when she said nothing can hit the wraiths she was fighting. What was it again…? Magic! Right, only magic could hit those monsters." - Kingston

"Kingston, the only problem is that none of us can use magic…" - Frank

"That is a big problem. If these monsters are only able to be killed with magic then the only people that can help us are Stellar, Solar, Lynn, Gyumi and Ian. However, if we assume this is happening near them too, then the Krepost is in big danger since only Stellar can defend it." - Yor

"No, we have the Zivotinjas and Crizannas. Their skills should be able to hit them as well, and HavenFall has all our mages, so they are fine. The problem is us, since all of us use weapons to fight… WAIT A MINUTE! I have a Spear of Light. This should work, right?!" - Kingston

"It should work in theory, but you would need to activate it first, and that requires you to activate Endless Rage." - Yor

"Kingston, don't worry about us and activate the skill. The last time you did it, you were able to control yourself." - Ken

"Right, and if anything happens, we can just beat you down until you become unconscious. That should fix it easy." - Gibing

"Alright then, then what's the plan Yor." - Kingston

"Once you activate Endless Rage, you have approximately 5 minutes before you go Berserk to the point of no return. You will do your best to defeat as many of the floating monsters as possible before that timer runs out.  The moment you get close to that time limit, both Gibing and David will activate Blood Boil and Charge to stop you.

While you are fighting the floating monsters, Frank, Ken and Kaede will focus on the fishman, leaving David and Gibing to focus on your movements. If you are worried about me since the twins are leaving, don't be. While I'm not the strongest here, I am still a demi-human. I can protect myself to an extent.

Gopopo focus on support, shoot any monster that you deem to be troubling as well as help eliminate any monster that is close to death, so that the front line can focus on the others. Let's try our best to push forward rather than stand still in one spot and fight, that way we can slowly approach the portal while fighting. Did everyone get that?" - Yor

"Understood." - Gibing, David, Frank, Ken, Kaede, Gopopo

"Then, shall we start." - Kingston

Stopping our retreat, I squeeze through a small gap between David and Gibing, dashing quickly at the approaching monsters. Following behind me were the steps of my comrades, each with a determined look on their faces. I took a deep breath and stared daggers into the monster in the front, eyeing the ghost puppeteer above it. Once in range, I leap up stabbing forward with my spear and, at the same time, activating the skill.

"Endless Rage." - Kingston

[ Endless Rage Activated ]

[ Spear of Light Activated ]

Within seconds, the world gets dyed in a scarlet red with my spear glowing a bright ruby color, contrasting against the light cyan glow of the ghost. My spearhead draws closer to the monster and, realizing the danger, it casts a barrier spell in front of it's body, releasing the strings attached to its fingertips at the same time.

A large cobalt hexagonal barrier appears between the monster and my spear. As the spear touches the surface of the barrier, multiple ripples appear, distributing the spear's damage. However, I didn't give up just because my first strike failed. Before landing, I attempt another attack, activating Cleave with my now activated Spear of Light.

The increased Strength from Endless Rage, plus the damage from the activated Spear of Light, rips through the barrier as Cleave is used. Unfortunately, I had to land on the ground after that attack. A smile spreads across my face as I look at the sea of letters, with the smile growing larger as the ghosts become covered in those same letters. A glowing Kill, can be seen on the area hidden by its hood.

Cracking the ground below, I leap up attacking the monster without any hesitate, directly aiming for the glowing words, however, I wasn't fighting a single ghost but a whole fraid of ghosts. Breaking down one barrier just allowed another to create one where ever I was attacking, and that was just the start.

Some ghosts released control over the fishman and turned to attacking me with spells of condensed Dark Magic. A mix of indigo and black balls were flung at me, each the size of a soccer ball and each exploding on contact. The balls shook the cave and reduced my area of movement, making me dodge constant while also weaving around the attacks of the fishman.

Supporting me were Frank, Ken and Kaede who has started to attack the monsters in the front. Frank's spear clashes with the other fishman's spear, creating small bright sparks as the spearheads rub against each other, in the lightning quick strikes. Ken and Kaede, simultaneously fights against 2 fishmen, as they both co-ordinate their strikes, attacking both at the same time. They both dodge the enemies attacks, retaliating on a different monster each time, switching between the 2 and confusing them.

Supporting those them was Gopopo as he expertly aims at key moments to eliminate the threat. Penetrating through the eyes of the fishmen, as well as, shooting an arrow at the wrists of fishmen as they attempt an attack damaging them and disarming them, allowing for the others to attack or quickly retreat. However, it was all dyed in red for me. I could only really see the glowing words around me, as if they are the stars in the night sky.

Gripping onto the spear tightly, I dance around the incoming indigo and black balls, leaping onto of nearby fishmen's heads, or spears to dodge the attacks. Stray balls would end up damaging the fishmen, leaving them covered in purple ooze and once the opportunity rises, I Quickstep towards the ghost attacking at the weak spot.

Barriers stop my progress, but after 3 strikes they would break, revealing the sweet glowing words that were my aim. However, as I break through the barrier and my spear draws near the glowing, Kill, my head throbs as a bright cyan light flashes from underneath the hood. The dark tunnel gets replaced by a bright white room, and all monsters and NPCs disappear, leaving only me.

I blink and in front of me, my family appears. Blink again, and they are on the ground in a puddle of blood with their heads decapitated and staring at me with smiling eyes and mouths.

Stepping back in fright as a small scream comes out of my mouth, I feel my whole body shudder as my blood runs cold. Blinking again, they disappear, and instead my friends appear in front of me. Their eyes stone-cold with weapons in their hands. Ian in the lead dashes toward me.

I try to escape but looking down, I realize my legs were buried in the white ground, unable to move. Unable to do anything as Ian's trident penetrates my chest. Luke's spear stabbing not too far away, Stellar's knife slicing my ear off. David's war hammer smashing my hand. Gibing's axe, chopping my other arm off. Frank's spear stabbing into my shoulder. Ken and Kaede's clubs smashing into my sides. Solar's and Lynn's magic disintegrating my body.

It didn't happen once. After they all attack me, it would reset, starting all over with Ian's strike.

Over and over.

Death after death.

A ghastly scream escapes my lips as I open my eyes to the ghost's illusion dropping to the ground as my scream echoes in the cave as my head splits open. My whole body shakes as I clutch onto my head. Despite it being an illusion and I had Endless Rage activate, I felt every attack. I felt myself die over and over again, just like I was in the Ikanda, but then a sweet angelic voice appears next to me, or at least it sounded angelic at that moment.

"What are you waiting for? Are you still not going to accept me?" - ???