The forest was all bones. And not metaphorically, the wood was literally calcified and even the grass had crumbled into bone dust. It was as if someone had supercharged the Münchmeyer plague of my old world to affect everything that was even remotely organic. There was no loose Asterite left in the forest anymore, I checked, but the effect was obvious. Infection of all life.

  My original world was probably doomed even if we had managed to repel the invasion. All those skeletons with the Asterite in them. Could Asterite even be destroyed? Had to be. Otherwise why not just drop a few skeletons and let them consume the entire world?

  The devastation terrified me for another reason. Twelve mutual deaths, twelve knives, twelve Asterite remnants. If all of them were like this then this was a massive problem. A vision of twelve great trees of bone each as tall as mountains came unbidden to my mind. Each tree raining Asterite pollen that turned whatever it touched into Asterite tainted bone, that in turn would spread the infection. Twelve beacons to terraform a world. Hopefully the gods or whatever would intervene if that was a legitimate possibility.

  Our expedition moved cautiously in silence once those that had quit were transported to New Delport by a teleportation mage. Teleporters took hours to set up at these distances but without the constant looking threat of retchroot swarms, it was more than doable.

  We had seen retchroot swarms, a chittering and squeaking tide that swept through the bone trees but they were all racing towards a point ahead, where the roar had originated from. No one really had any illusions about capturing anything anymore, it was just elimination and our job was to clean up the stragglers.

  I resisted the urge to use my divination to look ahead, I couldn't afford another drain on my depleted mana stockpile. I guess I would have to see what we were up against with the rest. The forest was silent, deathly so. No sound other than our own footsteps and breathing. No chatter of wildlife, buzzing of insects or the constant traffic of New Delport that I was so used to in such a short period.

  We moved with purpose and trepidation. The creature was dangerous and we were already tired even with magical rest and hearing and there was no getting the drop on it. Carelessness now very possibly meant death. The ground crunched as I took a step and Cold Blooded

  The creature dropped. It was a rat, only it was larger than Medea. Almost the size of a horse. Actually, there were at least a dozen such rats and none of them had successfully taken anyone out in the ambush.

  For a moment, we stared at them and they stared at us before something came barreling through, its speed and size actually uprooting the bone trees in its path.

  The massive creature, easily at least three times the size of the ones that had ambushed us, erupted in a shower of bone splinters, its jaws snapping with bone-crushing force where Ulgina was standing just moments ago. It was vaguely rat-like but it had the proportions and musculature of a grizzly and a barbed network of crests and tusks of bone covered its body. I could see the outer skeleton’s hooks and points sinking into the flesh of the beast and congealed blood leaking out of the punctures. And I just that this network connected directly to the inner skeleton and controlled it, the flesh was all just window dressing. The creature was just a shell for the bone, the lifeless glassy eyes told us so.

  Fahria reacted, launching a barrage of molten glass at one of the smaller creatures, the one closest to us. The searing projectiles struck its hide, but a yellow barrier formed instantaneously. It was almost impervious, the glass hardening and shattering harmlessly upon contact and only leaving some superficial markings behind but then it shattered and the rat yelped. I fired off the two standard buffs for Medea, Hasten and Enlarge and observed. Now that I looked closer, I could see two spikes of bone that emerged from its teeth curving and lancing through its skull and brain from the sides.

  In a single, fluid motion, the beast twisted itself, its powerful claws sweeping a girl off her feet and sending her crashing into the ground. She cried out in pain, clutching her side where ribs had almost, if not actually cracked under the impact. I recognized her, she was a beastmorph or something like that. She had tried to transform but the creature had been far too quick. I glanced back and Fahria had disappeared up a tree in a flash of fire. A moment later, shards of glass started to rain on it. Each shard burned a tiny smoking hole. The creature was smart and was trying to back to the pack after Fahria's initial attack had isolated it but we couldn't afford to let it do that.

  We were not in the standard battle formation; having previously agreed to split into groups with people that covered each other's weaknesses and the ambush had not broken up the teams.

  The creature slowed down for a moment as Gres turned his attention to it and the air grew heavy. I had seen that technique crush and turn lesser rats into pancakes. He charged forward, attempting to dismember the creature as thorny vines emerged from the ground like snakes and began to strangle it. That was not one of ours, just another guild classer was going to run interference for everyone.

  A distant roar that made my bones tempted me to look away but ignored the urge. I shouldn't have.

  The larger bear-like creature did and a shockwave of energy pushed us all back. It was not enough to send us flying or hurt us but it had been enough to free its smaller brethren. A quick glance told me that the other rats had also capitalized on the wave. One clawed and ripped off someone's face before having its skull caved in with a punch.

  I fished out some of my precious Aetherite and summoned a fire sprite that I ordered down into the creature’s maw with only a single directive, burn. Notifications flashed on the side of my vision as the skill rapidly leveled up after wrecking its insides.

  Hreth, another guilder who had joined us with the teleporter, was a wrecking ball. His hammer fell down with a thunderous crash and one of the rats and then the bony ground beneath it formed a crater. Weight and gravity users. I had no idea how to even go about unlocking something like that. Then he flew after the big beast and with a swing of his hammer, sent it crashing into and through a few bone trees. Others followed after Hreth and I turned my attention back to our prey.

  Our rat was finally losing ground. A small rain of molten glass peppered its side as Gres jumped around it while occasionally slicing. With its target occupied, Medea shot forward like an arrow and jabbed its tail into it and unloaded as much venom as it could. Assassin's Eye

  The girl had finally transformed into a… was that a werewolf? She was cautious, waiting for openings Medea and Fahria created. Fahria was haranguing it from far whereas Medea ran circles around the creature and poking small holes with its stinger.

  Until it caught the tail in its jaw after twisting its body so rapidly that I was sure that it had to be a skill. It clamped down with a small red glow and sharply jerked its head back and Medea was pulled along; it began to repeatedly slam the spider-scorpion around by moving its powerful jaw. Medea’s legs shot out and unfolded into hands that grasped its upper jaw as it tried to prevent the monster from crushing it but slowly they began to buckle and fold under the pressure. Sharp cracking noises as the insect’s other limbs twitched and thrashed and its tail lashed out desperately. I was about to intervene but a timely smash from Gres freed Medea and the insectoid retreated , its stinger uselessly locked into an unnatural inward curve.

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  “Hey, can I borrow some Aetherite?” Fahria popped up next to me and a hand expertly slid to my belt pouch. “Thanks! I'll pay you back later, Anya.” She flashed away before I could even give my assent. A spear of glass, hard on one end and melted on the other flew towards the monster. A shriek of pain rang out as it was pinned to the ground.

  A glaive of glass had ripped the creature’s underbelly open and I cast Induce Bleeding

  Medea was looking… bad. Its chitin was crushed and those new wings had been squished into the broken shell. And the stinger was locked into an useless angle. It was not in any immediate danger but Medea was incapable of fighting until I found it a healer.

  I had some skill notifications but that was not really important at the moment. I had a class mastery notification however.

  \\Asterite Retchling slain

  \\Due to slaying something with the accursed touch of Aster, massively increased experience was awarded.

  \\[MAGICAL BEAST REARER TRAINEE] is now level 10!

  \\Class mastered [MAGICAL BEAST REARER TRAINEE]. +1 to STRENGTH, CELERITY AND VITALITY

  No time to be picky, I just picked a level 10 class [MENTALIST DISCIPLE]

  All around me, the smaller rats, the Asterite Retchlings were being routed and eliminated but the big bear and the guild classers battling it were drawing close; back to us. We had to move. I ordered Medea to shrink down but it couldn't in its injured state. And so I began the long and arduous task of dragging Medea away to a healer.

  And then the beast crashed before us and I was sent flying. A cold part of my mind noted that I had broken several bones at once. I could vaguely make out someone yelling out a warning, maybe Ulgina? I didn't have the time to even scream before I felt my head hit something and all went dark.

  I was only out for a second but the bear was in sight. Not close but in sight. No, not a bear. It was larger than elephants! It was not paying attention to me but facing Hreth, Neevom and another classer whose name I did not know. Arrows of black energy were crackling on its back and the bone cage had shattered in many places. Splotches of white told me of numerous weak spots but I was not strong enough to do anything about them.

  And I saw Medea, somewhere between them and buried in bone.

  The bear charged.

  I commanded what remained my mana but it was not enough. But I knew and saw with clarity that Medea would not survive being trampled and it was going to be trampled. My pet, my familiar, my oldest companion in this world, my greatest weapon, the feral insect I had enslaved, it would die.

  My would die.

  Cold Blooded

  “Summon Eidolon

  And immediately I felt an emptiness in my gut and an exhaustion greater than any I'd felt before. If I was standing, I would have fell but as it was, I only slumped further and coughed blood. But I had done it. A yellow portal spat Medea before me as new notifications scrolled across my vision.

  \\WARNING: mana inadequate for this spell

  \\WARNING: mana depleted

  \\WARNING: life force used to cast spell

  \\You have debuff: mana depletion

  \\You have debuff: drained vitality

  The beast tripped as vines, barbed and thicker than any I'd seen before emerged from the ground and then wrapped around it. But that only enraged it. With a gurgling screech and the sound of snapping vines, the creature burst forward and clamped its massive jaws around Hreth's leg with a similar glow as what its juvenile compatriot had exhibited, just gold. He screamed but tried to pry the creature's jaw open using his gravity. Slowly, almost torturously the jaw widened as weight forced it almost open. It let go when an arrow poked the bear’s eye out. The creature thrashed and grappled with the unnamed guild woman as Hreth half jumped and half floated to start mending. New vines kept crawling up on the beast as it tore at them while fending off Neevom and the woman. Until with a titanic roar, it shook off its harassers and swiped with a gold tipped claw that tore off chunks from the ground before meeting a blue rectangular barrier.

  I briefly considered casting Spinal Shiver Assassin Eye

  What did it even expect me to do?

  The bear rat shuddered as blood and some corrosive black energy poured out of it like dirty smog. Assassin's Eye

  “HRETH, CHARGE IT NOW!” Ulgina yelled from somewhere above and I would have jumped if not for the fact that I was too injured for that. Hreth, for his part, moved away and grasped one of his hammers with both hands. A faint blue glow started to build him in his weapon.

  “NOW!” Ulgina roared after some time as the monster was finally restrained securely in vines.

  Hreth jumped in the air, higher than I had ever seen him rise. And he froze in the air as if he had no weight and gravity didn't exist. And from his lofty height, he held out his now brilliantly radiant hammer in one hand. I could not see his face but I could tell he was struggling to keep the thing under control. If I attacked him now then he would be defenseless and probably fall to his death. I shook myself, the skill was not discerning in telling me how to kill. He relaxed his fingers. And. He. Just. Let. Go.

  The hammer spun in the air lazily as it slowly picked up speed. It fell like a blue star descending and then it sped up. One second, it was halfway between the monster and Hreth, it crashed like a meteor the next. Dust rose up and then came the shockwave. It bodily threw Medea and I to the ground in a tangle of limbs as the very ground shook.

  We extracted ourselves from the ground and waited for the kill notification. It never came. My stomach dropped. That had to have been enough. The smoke and dust cleared slowly, it seemed to be almost stuck in a gravitational flux of its own but it did disperse.

  And I saw the monster, now with all its flesh gone and a barrier over the bones that shone like gold. There was no rat left in it anymore, just Aster. Only Aster. Every other rat corpse around us liquified into a white substance that flowed into the creature and it visibly grew bigger.

  Asterite particles tend to clump together when not directed. To converge eternally is its calling but it is usually kept from this union.

  Another barrage of attacks. The gold glow flickered for a second before the moths were phased out of existence by the increasingly brighter light. Above me, I could see Hreth’s mouth moving. He was probably swearing even though I couldn't hear him. He fell onto the monster with his other hammer held high. The monster bellowed and raised a skeletal claw. The gold luminescence flickered and then flashed brightly as hammer met claw and both froze. A gust of wind emanated outwards from the force of the impact but the blow had been neutralized. A moment later, the woman leapt back into the fray as Hreth began to pummel the creature into the ground.

  The creature’s golden shell didn't even flicker anymore, only brightened. Between the onslaught of the classers and Ulgina taking potshots at it, the yellowish glow was constantly building up in intensity until a wave of energy exploded outwards from it.

  The classers were thrown in the air before a still gold and shining skeleton snapped up the woman in its jaws. It clamped down as she struggled against the bite force.

  And then Neevom scooped us up on a platform of earth. “Let's get you out of here.” He muttered before going back to the battle and the platform started flying away to safety. The last thing I saw of the battle was an enormous arrow of darkness that dimmed everything around it flying through the air with a screech. I didn't catch what happened immediately afterwards but I could see the entire bone forest disintegrating from the point of impact. The wave of destruction kept spreading below me and anything it touched simply crumbled into dark grey dust. We flying quickly but the annihilation below us was fast.

  And finally the quest success notifications came.