Apocalypse: Regression

As the seconds bled down Nick’s mind like tiny grains of sand in an hourglass, he couldn’t help but feel his anxiety rise. His heart began to feel like a metronome as he continued to look around him, his eyes peeled for even the slightest change or movement in his surroundings, but nothing happened.

“No chance you have any words of wisdom for the moment,” Nick asked, hoping the woman would reply again, but still, nothing happened. Whether she had abandoned him, told him all she knew, or just had other things to do, Nick was alone. Alone with his thoughts, in another world, waiting and praying that an enemy he couldn’t handle didn’t show up before the others got there.

Maybe I should name the place . . . Nickland or Nicktopia or . . . Nickheim . . . Nicolaheim . . . Nick thought, trying to distract himself with name ideas for their home realm as he continued to look around him, wondering if someone was stopping Seo-ah and the others from joining him. He thought maybe there was some clerical or bureaucratic things that were blocking their entrance into the world since there was no way Seo-ah would get his message and not immediately join him, but that idea never had time to take root, as the sound of the subtle, unmistakable soft crunch of snow underfoot came through the distance.

It wasn’t even a moment later that the subtle soft crunch became something much louder as he saw what could only be described as an organized company of horned lepuses emerge from the drifts in the distance, their fur covered with armor that looked like it was made from wood and bark as they marched in a surprisingly organized fashion. Behind them, he could see a half dozen tall squirrel-like creatures Omni-Trainer Insight identified as ‘sciurus’ scampering about taking positions on hills or in trees, wearing robes that looked like they’d been woven together from brown fur, the source of which became quickly apparent: a large four-legged, ox-like beast with multiple massive horns that stretched out on either side of its head as it marched forward. The ox-like beast, though not wearing armor or robes like the horned lepuses and the sciurus creatures, had thick, heavy brown fur that shimmered like metal in the light of the sky.

Atop the ox rode a four-foot-tall horned lepus, the largest one Nick had seen yet, wearing the skull of what looked like a baby vulpe as it squeaked orders at the other lepuses and sciuri.

Responding to those orders, one of the horned lepuses on the first row dashed forward. As it ran across the snow toward Nick, he quickly chugged one of Topaz’s agility potions, preparing himself for the battle just in time as the horned lepus jumped at him, its icicle horn aimed straight for his heart. Nick sidestepped the jumping bunny and thrust his spear forward, the blade of his weapon slicing through bark armor and catching the creature in its side. It let out a pained squeal, collapsing onto the frost-hardened ground. The two dozen others advanced, splitting into two groups and moving in tandem to flank him.

"Come on then," he growled, his voice a low rumble against the howling wind.

The sciuri chose that moment to strike, using wind magic to fly into the air and swoop with the precision of seasoned fliers, a gust of frigid wind magic buffeting Nick sideways. He stumbled but quickly regained his footing, using the spear's long reach to keep the rabid lepuses at bay with Spear Sweeps while he scanned the battlefield for the wind-casters.

"Can't let them regroup," he thought, eyeing the trees where the mage sciuri landed briefly before taking off again.

There were a half dozen cracks as the lepus fighters fired a volley of ice horns, and Nick threw himself forward, hearing a series of thunks as the horns pierced the ground where he’d just stood. A loud whooshing sign came from above him, and he instinctively hurled his spear like a javelin, catching a sciurus mid-incantation. The fuzzy, blood-splattered rodent fell, its robe fluttering down after it as Nick quickly equipped his Blade of a Thousand Failures and his shield and charged into the lepuses’ ranks.

The blade erupted with holy fire as Nick slashed, the flames igniting the wooden armor as it cut through a snarling foe. He heard the crack of a fired horn and turned his shield just in time to intercept the projectile. A loud clang resounded out from the shield as he simultaneously leapt over two incoming horn thrusts. He hit the ground, rolled, and came to his feet, swinging his fiery sword. The burning blade cut down two more lepuses as Nick darted towards the treeline.

He only saw the sciuri in the tree he was running towards a moment before the three flying rodents finished the spell they’d been casting. A sudden tornado lifted him off the ground, and he found himself rising in the air and flying back the way he’d come.

He was thirty feet in the air and upside down when the swirling wind and snow around him suddenly stopped, sending him into a free fall. Nick only had a moment to activate the enchantment on his Sandals of Hermes, giving him some measure of control as he fell through the air. He slowed his descent enough to give him time to right himself and bend his knees as he landed. He felt something tear in his left knee, but despite the difficulty of each step after, he couldn’t afford to stop moving as the horned lepuses tried again to encircle and skewer him.

His shield swung to his left, knocking four of the creatures back, his blazing sword slashed to his right cutting through another two and setting them on fire. But that left him dangerously vulnerable in the center, and he was hit by three horns shot right into his chest and left leg. He felt them hit, his armor’s protection blunting the force but not enough to stop the projectiles from piercing.

The ring on his left hand glowed, and with a roar of magical energy, the trees around him were torn apart and roots from under the snow torn up as the plant material was pulled into a swirling form. A second later, there was a ten-foot-long creature made of wood that resembled a small wingless dragon. Nick had never seen it before, but he instinctively recognized it as the new version of his summoned shambler, upgraded with the Drakebloom Heart.

“Defend me!” Nick commanded and the shambler acted. It roared and then spewed a green sludge that hit half the horned lepuses, who squealed in pain, the toxic substance burning them.

Nick pulled out the horns that had pierced his armor and used Healing Touch to stop the bleeding before he ran into the ranks of the remaining lepuses. Burning blade met hard ice horn and the blade won, cutting through horns into flesh again and again until no lepus remained in front of him.

He heard a high-pitched sound and felt the ground shake. He turned to see the lepus leader screaming as it charged in on the back of the musk ox. The horned creature slammed into the side of the dragon shambler as it was killing the last soldier lepus with a raised claw. The wood and vine side of the shambler cracked, and the creature was sent flying. It hit the ground and rolled, kicking up snow. It came to a stop ten feet from where it started.

A small tornado started to form around the shambler, and Nick saw more of the flying sciurus mages in a nearby tree, small hands waving as they chanted. Nick couldn’t let his summon be torn apart, so he charged at the tree, his sandals propelling him with enhanced speed. His sword and shield disappeared from his hands as he reached the tree and leapt up, catching the lowest branch. He pulled himself up and leapt from one branch to the other until he reached the sciuri. They had gathered enough wind that the shambler was already a few feet off the ground, and the musk ox had circled and was ready to charge it once again.

Nick extended his hands, letting his aura flow through his core, twisting as it left his fist. His aura flared white, similar to when he used Dragon Fist of Fury but instead of simply covering his fist in aura it extended out like a blade cutting through the chanting creatures. There was a moment of surprise from the creatures before they split in half and toppled from the tree. Then a loud crash sounded as the spell that held the shambler aloft failed and the summon fell and hit the ground.

The charging musk ox’s glowing horns hit the shambler a moment later, the summon’s already-broken side splintering and shattering. The shambler clawed weakly at the ox even as it was split in two, trying to fulfill the last order from its maker before the magic that kept its body together gave out, the glowing light in its eyes snuffed out as it broke apart.

Nick felt the familiar twinge of magical energy that told him the summon had been defeated and returned to wherever it went during the week-long cooldown. With a swift movement, Nick channeled his magic, calling forth the power of holy fire to strike at the beast. The flames danced and crackled as they shot towards their target, but to his surprise, the horned lepus riding the ox seemed to anticipate his move, pulling a small blue ball out of its inventory and throwing it at the flames. Upon contact with the holy fire, the blue ball erupted into a giant pillowy explosion of soft snow, engulfing and extinguishing Nick’s magic.

Before Nick could formulate another plan, the ox-like monster started to glow, and then it shot forward faster than Nick could follow. There was a loud snap, and Nick felt the tree he was standing in shudder violently and then begin to fall forward. It was all he could do to turn and grab the trunk of the tree before it hit a snowbank, sending up a wave of snow.

Nick's breaths came in visible puffs as he strained to push the tree off of him as the pain from his injured knee only grew greater under the weight of the wood. His muscles tensed as he saw the arctic behemoth lumbering toward him.

"Come on, big guy," Nick murmured as he finally shoved the tree enough to slip his legs out from under its trunk and re-equip his sword and shield. “Let's see what you're made of.”

He wobbled faintly as he got to his feet, gritting his teeth through the pain as he used Charge to attack the arctic monster. A moment before he got within striking distance he feinted to the left, but the beast was quicker than it looked. With a thunderous snort, it charged, horns aimed to skewer. Nick rolled away, feeling the whoosh of air as the deadly tips gouged at the hard ground where he’d been standing, sending up sprays of snow and dirt.

Before he could recover, a shadow loomed over him. The chief of the pack, the scar-riddled horned lepus with the vulpe skull helmet, leapt from the back of the four-legged beast and stabbed down at Nick with a long blue ice lance.

Nick’s blade rose, almost of its own accord, barely parrying the tip of the incoming weapon just enough to force it to pass by his head. But even as Nick parried the blade, his footing gave way, his knee injury reaching the point of failure at the worst time, robbing him of his stance as the grizzled lepus’s second weapon, its own sharp horn, stabbed into his right shoulder. The creature’s body weight came down and forced the horn even deeper as the two fell backwards. There was a loud squelch as the lepus pulled his horn from Nick and grinned down at him with sharpened incisors, the wicked teeth gleaming. The monster looked like it was about to tear through Nick’s chest.

Cursing his destroyed knee, Nick thrust his hips up with all of his might, sending the lepus toppling over him as he rolled over and lugging his weakened, broken body off the ground. He used his sword for support, pushing the blade into the frozen dirt beneath his feet as he eyed the enraged lepus leader.

The rodent leader had gotten up much quicker, but had taken the time Nick had spent standing up to recover its weapon, which had been lost during their earlier tumble. The monster adjusted the skull on its head as it cackled menacingly at Nick.

However, just as the lepus went to charge at Nick, a familiar projectile struck the beast in the face so hard that the creature was nearly knocked out cold, its body skidding across the ground. Nick turned his head to see Elizabeth with Seo-ah and the other Walters charging out of the portal.

Mr. Walters quickly materialized his orange hexagonal shield in front of him in a burst of light, deflecting a barrage of ice shards before throwing out a dozen aura-filled punches that absolutely wrecked several of the arctic mages.

As Mr. Walters killed the closer casters, Arnold used his Maul of Afterburn like a baseball bat, the heavy obsidian head of the weapon connecting with one lepus soldier hard enough to send it flying like a homerun ball. The afterburn triggered a second later, turning the little soldier into a fireball that exploded on impact as it smashed into one of the mages Mr. Walters hadn’t killed yet.

Meanwhile, Lou copied his dad, firing off fist after fist like a professional boxer as Seo-ah and Elizabeth ran straight toward Nick. Seo-ah’s spear soared past Nick and punched a hole right in the lepus’s leader face while Elizabeth, with the help of her incredibly high base stats and the buff from Lover’s Charm made her way straight to the large ox, her returning medicine ball disappearing and being replaced by her own sword as she sliced through the monster’s hide with an aura blade.

The relief from watching his enemies melt before his eyes after coming so close to dying washed over Nick like a wave, pulling the anxiety and adrenaline from his body at the same time as the pain from his destroyed leg, his stabbed shoulder, and his battered body caught up to him all at once and left him collapsing in place like a retracting slinky.

“Adele! We need Adele here right away!” Seo-ah shouted as she ran from her latest kill over to Nick.

“No . . . no, wait,” Nick protested, stopping her from supporting him as he pointed at the leader’s body. “You need to . . .” He struggled to take a breath, wondering if he had perhaps broken a rib during the fight too. “The loot. You need to get . . . the loot first.”

Seo-ah looked at Nick like he was crazy. “The armor? What’s the point of—”

“Cut it open. There is an essence fragment inside,” Nick managed, each word slow and deliberate as he did his best to convey a sense of urgency.

“I’ll handle the looting,” Elizabeth assured Nick. “Dad, can you help Nick? Adele’s still on the other side. She won’t be able to get here right away. The authorities over there are going crazy right now.”

“Authorities . . . tch. How could there be authorities blocking our way when our cause is so pure?!” Topaz scoffed from a few paces away. Nick was so out of it that he hadn’t even noticed her arrival.

“I’m sure the cultists think the same thing,” Lou snarked.

“Hold on, boy. I got you,” Mr. Walters assured Nick as he put a hand on his shoulder, his magic immediately beginning the healing process. Topaz reached them a second later, pulled out a red healing potion, and handed it to Nick.

“You better use your Pep Talk skill, or else Mr. Walter’s ability isn’t going to be good enough to fix this,” Topaz said as she looked at Nick’s wounds. “If I had to guess, the internal bleeding and swelling is pretty bad here.”

“I’m sure Mr. Walters has every bit the ability needed to fix it without my help,” Nick said even as he cast Pep Talk just as Topaz suggested, and while Nick was certain that Mr. Walters could tell, the old man didn’t call Nick out and instead continued to work on the injuries.

“I got it, but what is it?” Seo-ah said as she held up the essence fragment. Unlike the one Nick had harvested earlier, this one wasn’t minor. It was an actual essence fragment.

“That’s the material we need for the Domain Heart. We have to build it as quickly as possible,” Nick explained, doing his best not to pass out as the exhaustion kept building in his bones. It didn’t help that he had barely slept the night before or that the potions he’d used that day had pushed him past his normal abilities.

“Domain Heart? Nick, what’s going on?” Mr. Walters asked, looking at the essence fragment Seo-ah was holding.

“Well, I don’t have long to tell you all, but . . . let me start with the notifications I got from the system,” Nick said, opening the messages from his system history so they could read what he got when he first entered the realm and, with the clock ticking down until the next threat arrived, they could work as a team to kill as many of the locals as needed to build the domain heart.