Ben hurried in the pitch darkness, almost out of breath.

  A barrage of earth-trembling thuds kept crashing into the gate one after the other. The sound of wood shattering made it feel like the creature on the other side would break through at any moment.

  With the minute visibility, Ben almost lost his footing as he stepped on what felt like a broken plank.

  I should have grabbed my damn flashlight earlier!

  Le’Vieux, running behind him, illuminated his armor with that neon-white glow, allowing them to see just enough to avoid the obstacles between them and the van.

  Once they arrived, Ben planted his butt in the driver’s and twisted the key. He then flicked the high beams on, causing the area in front to illuminate.

  Le’Vieux stopped and stared at the front of the van. “Those lanterns are like broad daylight… Hurry and make them point at the gate.” He then raised two vials, ripped their corks off, and gulped their contents. His helmet and swords materialized before he tapped on the door. “You stay put here… I won’t be able to see a thing, and I’m all out of Night-Sight potions. Normally, I would have something like this handled, but I don't know what to expect with everything that's gone on here. If it looks like I’m about to die, then that’s your cue for joining in. Is that understood?”

  Ben nodded. “Alright. But please be careful.”

  Le’Vieux’s sigh echoed in his helmet. “If I don’t make it, then it’s up to you to ensure those caves are taken care of.” He didn’t wait for a response, and instead, his armor started to radiate that crimson energy again and zapped into a sphere.

  The gate cracked a few times before suddenly it exploded into a mess of splinters. Some pieces were as large as stakes and looked like they could impale a person.

  Ben put his arms in front of his face and held his breath. It felt like if one of them hit the windscreen, it would cause serious damage to him. Luckily, they bounced off, causing only minor scratches. Sighing in relief, he dropped his arms and saw the entire area covered with dust, which acted like a thick fog, diffusing the light beams.

  Le’Vieux had tanked the projectiles and advanced. He abruptly froze as still as a stone when he reached halfway between the gate and the van. His head tilted upwards as if he were looking at something.

  As the dust settled, it revealed a pair of gleaming yellow eyes that towered over twice the knight's height. They darted around the van several times before settling on Le'Vieux with a menacing stare full of rage.

  What the heck is that thing?

  Ben edged the van forward to get a better look and was stunned to see that its skin was as dark as the night. He could only see it due to the layer of wet slime that reflected the light in small dots from the headlights. Besides, there was no system notification, so the creature must have been more than ten levels higher than himself.

  The creature's face was similar in size to that of the regular Frogmen. However, it appeared to have large cuts along its cheeks, as if carved by a cleaver, revealing the razor-sharp teeth. Its head was connected via an elongated neck around a foot in length to a giant ballooned-up torso thicker than the van.

  The enchantments on Le’Vieux’s swords started glowing like red-hot coals before he started hacking and slashing at her belly. Every blow appeared to bounce off without significant damage while she stared at him with a menacing grin.

  Le’Vieux must have realized his attacks were ineffective and started backing off. However, an elongated hand raised from behind the creature before he could create enough distance and went down like a jackhammer. A shockwave of sparks emanated from the sphere, zapping toward the creature to no effect before it started gleaming so much that the surrounding area turned almost red.

  Holy crap!

  Ben was on the edge of his seat, biting his lips. When the glow dimmed, he could see Le’Vieux charging one of his power attacks, the same one he had used on the horde.

  The Nest Mother tilted her head, looking slightly confused about what had occurred, and was about to launch another blow when Le’Vieux swung his swords in a cross pattern. The gleaming energy collided with her belly with the roar of a lion, causing the earth to tremble and rupturing her skin wide open.

  Ben gagged when he saw the twitching mess of decayed guts within. He even noticed a few developing eggs nearly fall out before her hands went to push them back in, and she expelled an ear-shattering shriek.

  Le’Vieux must have noticed the opening and went for another attack. A slimy black substance started rushing from the skin surrounding the wound, filling the exposed area. His attack rebounded as if he had struck a dense boulder.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  What? It has a healing factor, too!

  The Nest Mother entered a vengeful frenzy, lashing out at the knight, who couldn’t escape in time. It started to whack him like a pinata, causing cracks in the sphere, which kept getting larger the more damage it took.

  He can’t keep tanking blows like that!

  Even though the creature seemed impossible to defeat, Ben didn’t want to wait and let the knight get hammered. He knew his van would suffer more damage than what the creature would suffer if he tried running it over. He needed to increase the damage while maintaining the condition of his vehicle. Knowing what could help, his hand shot to the upgrade menu.

  [Vehicle: Valkyrie Level 1: Bull Bar Mk.1 is now unlocked.]

  Ben raised his butt from the seat as blue particles appeared to come together at the front of the van. He saw the top of a bar forming, and when its shape was set, the magic faded, leaving behind the upgrade. Eager to test the bar's effectiveness, he took a deep breath and shot forward.

  Le’Vieux’s sphere broke into tiny particles before the whack slammed into his armor, causing it to ring loudly like a church bell. He flew a few meters back and hit one of the barrels lying on the ground.

  Adrenaline raced through Ben’s chest as he positioned the van coming from the side. He wasn’t too happy about Le’Vieux being slapped like a ragdoll, but at least he wouldn’t be in the way when he rammed the creatures. Coming from the side, he observed the creature had a thick tail protruding from above its butt and figured that’s where the eggs must have come out of. Pressing harder on the gas, he crashed into its side.

  The force jolted Ben from his seat as the van rebounded to the side. The creature hit the ground like a sack of potatoes before rolling in a shriek. A large portion of its skin and guts had been ripped out and were hanging from the top of the bull bar. As much as he wanted to turn around and go in for another strike, he needed to check up on Le’Vieux and see if he was alright. He had something in mind that could finish it, but he needed help from the knight.

  Le’Vieux had gotten out of the rubble when Ben stopped near him. He threw an empty vial, which shattered when it hit the ground a few meters away. He stomped towards the van, panting in anger.

  Ben put his window down. “Fighting it head-on is not going to work.” He pointed at the hanging mess before him, “I’m going to ram it again with the van. It should create a big enough opening for you to throw another one of your fire vials inside. Fire seems to be the only thing that works with these things.”

  Le’Vieux didn’t say anything and just nodded. He raised his hand when the orange vial appeared.

  Ben hit the gas and turned the van around. By then, the creature had gotten up and started moving toward the van. He steered around as its hand came hammering down, shaking the ground. Once he reached the fortifications on the other side, he turned around and accelerated as fast as possible.

  The moment Ben made contact, the front of the van dug deep into the creature's belly, and his seatbelt did the same to his chest. It felt like he had fallen off a cliff as a metallic taste filled the back of his throat, and his ears rang like an old telephone. He dragged the creature across the storage area before he squished it between the fortifications on the other side.

  Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Ben shifted into reverse. His tires spun in the mess of guts and gore before he sluggishly moved away with a bounce, squishing the eggs that had dropped out. Looking up, he saw the creature twitching, trying to hold in the eggs, when the vial flew in from the corner of his vision.

  The perfectly aimed vial landed in her guts and exploded into an inferno, causing the slime to sizzle away before the skin melted away like hot candle wax. The eggs hissed as they popped before shriveling into piles of ash.

  Ben managed to escape the flames, which bounced off his windscreen. He parked near Le’Vieux, who took his place in the passenger seat.

  [You killed Infected Nest Mother Level 28: +350XP]

  [You are now Level 4: +1 Skill Point Available.]

  [Order of the Hollow Moon (Faction): You have been promoted to Companion.]

  ***

  When more than one system user defeats an enemy, the total experience is divided equally among all system users who damaged the enemy.

  ***

  [Van Stats: Condition 68%, Fuel 38%]

  They both exhaled in relief as Ben saw the notification pop up.

  Le’Vieux’s helmet and swords vanished before he tapped Ben on the shoulder with a nod. “You did good, kid. Not many can say they saved my skin like that. Now, I think we both deserve some rest.”

  Ben pointed at the flames which had spread to the outpost walls. “Shouldn’t we take those flames out before everything burns down?”

  Le’Vieux shook his head. “Those walls are made from fire-treated trunks. The fire will die down soon enough. Regardless, we’ll have to rebuild this outpost from the ground up.” He looked around at the state of the gate and yawned, “We’ll have to take turns to keep watch while the other sleep in case there are more attacks.”

  Ben noticed Le’Vieux’s eyes were red, and it seemed like he was about to fall asleep at any moment. He shrugged and nodded. “Relax… I’ll take the first watch.”

  Ben parked the van on a hill overlooking the foot of a large mountain where the caves were located.

  Earlier in the morning, he had been shaken awake and given another Mirium potion, which he used to repair and refuel the van. After taming their grumbling stomachs with much-needed food, they set off.

  Their journey had taken them past the nest's aftermath, where the flames of the forest fire they had caused the previous day still burned, blowing out dark plumes of sooty smoke. The trail became more rocky until no flora could be seen apart from a dried branch. After another fifteen minutes of driving, they arrived at the hill.

  Le’Vieux slid open the looking glass and motioned Ben to follow him to the edge, where he started observing below. After moving it around a little, he stopped and tilted his head as if he had seen something peculiar. “What?”

  Ben looked below to try and see what was going on and noticed two large figures embroiled in a melee. “Looks like a battle if you ask me.”

  Le’Vieux cleared his throat, “Yeah, between two fairies, and one appears to be infected. There is also a new opening at the foot of the mountain where they must have come through. We need to get down there.” He snapped the looking glass closed before heading towards the van.

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