Paradox Saga: Rising Sun

We Make Some Spider BBQ

“KRSSSSS!”

The spiders shrieked the moment they saw us. They’re probably angry. Who wouldn’t? You’re having a nice sleep until suddenly you’re pushed out of your comfortable crystal nest with a strong gust of water. A good alternative for an alarm clock, I taught, though huge spiders don’t need one. With a good woken-up face, they advance in our direction. They probably thought they were lucky to have their breakfast (or dinner) waiting for them.

“I’m amazed by how you did that senpai but isn’t water gonna make them immune to fire?” I asked as I started to group up with them.

Midorima’s staff appeared in her hand. “You don’t think I’d splash them with simple water, do you? They may be wet but that doesn’t mean they’re immune to fire.”

Just to prove her point, Midorima summoned multiple fireballs and hit a number of the spiders at once. The monsters shrieked in pain as the fireballs hit them. They should’ve been lit to flames. Instead, their bodies only smoked like they had hot coffee as a morning bath.

“My spell Overflow slows the enemies and decreases their immunity to magic,” Midorima explained as the others started brandishing their weapons.

Nami plucked an arrow out of her quiver. “Still the same strategy. Fritz and Saiko on the frontline with me and Thyme to damage the monsters. Shiro will be in the back with Midorima and help us up.”

“Remember to use spells and skill below D-Rank,” Saiko reminded. “We have to make Shiro gain some experience and do the last hits.”

The others nodded in approval and prepared to fight. I raised my staff. I wanted to object with the idea. I don’t want them to treat me like a baby. At least, I can damage and kill some of the monsters at my best. And again, I had a hard time with a single Crawler. I guess I’ll just let them handle most of the spiders.

I taught it’d be difficult to clear the second caverns. It was not. The girls moved like they were reading each other’s thoughts. Fritz would slice a dazed Crawler that Saiko just punched. Thyme would summon thorny vines that grapple several monsters to the ground while Nami covers for her, shooting arrows on the spiders’ eyes. Midorima shot a bolt of lightning on a spider that almost bit Saiko. Well, I taught, after all, they’re of a higher rank than mine.

True to what Saiko said, most of the spiders were only injured. Some had lost a leg or two and some had arrows sticking on different parts of their body that made me remember those Chinese people sticking needles on someone’s back on TV. I think it was called acupuncture.

At times, the girls would overdo what they were doing and kill a spider instantly. As my fireball shot a crippled Crawler, Saiko was beside it, holding another Crawler by its fangs. She slammed it to the ground headfirst like a wrestler, instantly smashing the monster’s head to its death. Nami imbued some mana into one of her arrows and shot a Crawler in the middle of its eye. The Crawler was instantly pushed to a wall and crushed like a watermelon, spilling guts and fur everywhere. If these skills are Rank-E, I don’t know what the higher levels look like.

I managed to finish off the injured ones, or as what Saiko told me earlier, the “last hits”. I could feel myself getting better with shooting my fireball. Perhaps it's what they meant when they said I have to gain experience, whatever that is. The most possible explanation is that maybe I was feeling fine as I felt like I was the main character in a video game. The Gigants laid on the ground with green blood oozing from their bodies as their HP turned to zero and, later, disappeared.

I shot a fireball on a limping spider. “That should be the last one,” I said as the spider’s body smoldered to ashes.

Fritz wiped green slimy blood off his axe with a cloth. “Yeah, I’m sure it is,” she assured.

“Well, have a rest, Shiro. Sit back and relax. I’m sure the Clearance message will appear soon,” Thyme said.

I did need a rest. My body felt slimy with the green blood from the first Gigant I faced and I bet even Midorima’s spell wouldn’t get the foul odor off my body. I sat down and watched the spiders slowly dissolve. The others also sat down and probably were having a rest, too. Using my skills must’ve really taken a lot of my energy since I was breathing hard. I looked at my Status and my guess was true. Mana: 75/400 was written inside the MP bar. It was slowly regenerating like 5 or 10 Mana Points were being added every second.

“Notification! Press to see the message”

The message appeared in front of me the moment I pressed it. “Your Pyroshot has now been upgraded and updated. See the Skills Tab for more information,” I read. Below it was another notification box. It said, “Your Status has also been upgraded. See the Status Tab for more information”.

I made the message disappear and scratched my head. I have no idea where to look for the Skills Tab. I decided to ask Nami.

“Umm, Nami?” I called.

Nami turned around. “Yes, Shiro?”

“Can I have some help?” I explained to her the notifications that came earlier.

“That’s easy, Shiro. Just say Menu,” she answered.

I obliged. “Menu!”

A Menu Box the size of a notebook appeared in front of me. It was just like in the video game. There were many tabs aligned vertically though some were either black or had a question mark. I decided to look at my Status first. I pressed the Status Tab and my data appeared. There was a new bar below my name. It was a green bar with the words Level 2 written inside it. However, unlike the HP and MP bars, it had no numbers. The bar was just filled with a green-colored line as an indication of the amount needed to level up. My HP and MP were updated too.

“HP: 379/379, MP: 465/465,” Nami read aloud. “Shiro! This is great!” she congratulated and clapped my back.

“T-Thanks…”

“Your Attributes even increased by 10 each. Good job, Shiro!”

“Y-Yeah…”

After looking at my Status, I simply thought to exit the Status Tab, as Nami advised, and arrived at the Menu again. This time, I pressed the Skills Tab. A notification lit on the screen-like box, saying: Your Pyroshot’s Rank has been upgraded! I brushed it off and looked at the skills. Two options were written there, namely: Active Skills and Passive Skills. I clicked on the Active Skills and saw two tabs: Elemental Shot and Mana Blade. I clicked on the Elemental Shot. A single tab appeared with the sign Sub-skills on the uppermost part. It was my skill Pyroshot. I clicked on it.

Sub-skill: Pyroshot

Level 1

Summon multiple fireballs (maximum of 5) that damages enemies.

Rank: E

Skill Type: Mage-Class

Damage: 100 (per Fireball)

“Woah…” someone said behind me and Nami. It was Midorima

“Why? Is it that amazing?” I asked.

“That amazing? Of course, it is!” Midorima remarked. “You’re Rank is F but you managed to raise your skill’s rank from F to E in a single day, an hour to be exact! Not even I was able to do it.”

“She’s correct, Shiro. I don’t know how you did it but you’re amazing,” Nami added. “Commonly, even after clearing an Anaphora, F-Rank Figures level up their skills by one or two but in your case, the Rank upgraded.”

“O-Okay,” I said. I really didn’t know what to say. This was probably an error.

“By the way, have any of you received a message?” Nami asked and looked at all of them.

“Unfortunately, none,” Thyme answered. “Besides…”

Thyme pointed at the dissolving spiders. There were several bronze coins, balls of white silk (or web), and glass tubes filled with green liquid. I looked at them. I don’t know what to comprehend. They looked worried and confused at the same time.

“Something’s off…” Midorima said and stood.

“What’s off?” I asked Nami. “Is there something wrong?”

“Unluckily, there is, Shiro,” she answered and sat down. The other girls were now starting to pick the item drops.

“What’s wrong? What do you mean by that message?”

Nami got an arrow, put some mana in it, and let it fly around the caverns. “In an Anaphora, the monsters are ranked based on their different qualities. The previous Underground Crawlers were Servant-Level monsters, or so to say, the lowest ranking ones. The Gigant Crawlers that we cleared a while ago were Footman-Level monsters which is what Class-F Anaphoras commonly summon. We expected that the Gigants were the last ones that we would fight. Turns out there’s a Boss-Level monster here.”

“I don’t hope so…”  

“Don’t worry. Since there is a Boss-Level monster here, we’ll let you rest. We’ll try to manage this monster on our own.”

"Okay," I said. "But, please don't pressure yourself too much."

Nami smiles and raised a thumb up. "Sure, " she said before turning around and conversed with the others. 

As I watched them talking and picking the item drops, I was deep in thought. The truth was I wasn't worried about myself. I was worried that they may hurt themselves because of me. I'm worried for them more than the way they care for me. Sure, they are stronger than me but it didn't assure me. Strong people have weaknesses too. I remembered a story I read in a book, a story about Achilles. In Greek mythology, he was invulnerable except for his heel. He has slain a lot of people in battle, facing swords and arrows that should've went through his body, yet he died by an arrow shot on his heel. I chuckled on the thought. 

After collecting all the possible loot they can get, the girls called me. We convened and planned our strategy. 

"Based the monsters we previously faced, I'm sure the boss of this Anaphora would be a Greater Spitting Ten-Legs or Armor-Bristled Scorpion. Either way, we have to prepare. We can easily beat it with a single spell but our priority here is Shiro," Nami explained and looked at me. 

"Wait, you want me to fight alone? Again?!" I exclaimed.

She giggled. "Of course not! Don't be hysterical. We want you to level up as soon as you can. You have to."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"We'll explain later but for now, focus on our plan," Nami said and looked down. She started drawing images using a short blade, probably a knife or a dagger. 

I tried not to laugh on her illustration. Nami drew big circle with four pair of zigzag lines as legs. Then, she drew a huddle of five X's formed into a reverse U. The result looked like a sun had a bad hair day as it shone down a mountain. 

"We will huddle and try to maintain distance with the boss," Nami said and drew a straight line to indicate the gap. "Fritz, Saiko and Thyme will be in the front with Midorima and me on the back. Fritz would be the one to take on the monster so that Saiko wouldn't kill the boss in a single hit..."

"Oh, come on," Saiko grunted.

"...and you, Shiro, will be here," Nami continued and pointed on a single circle a few inches away from the five X's. "Once the HP drops and the boss can't take a single hit, we'll call you so you can throw the last hit," Nami finished.

"But do I have to be the one to kill it? I mean, you'll hit and shoot it a lot while I just wait and kill the boss?"

"Yes," Nami answered. "There's no time to explain, Shiro," she added as I was about to object, "Normally, these bosses would come to our own and I estimate it would take them a minute to come here." 

I was about to object when suddenly, my body suddenly tingled like someone stuck static wires to my whole body. 

True to her word, the ground suddenly rumbled. Loud thumps echoed around the caverns like someone was pounding a massive hammer down the ground. The thumps seemed to get closer and we had a hard time standing as every thump caused the ground to shake. 

"Shiro, you have to get farther as we planned," Nami said and stared at the deep path. 

I summoned five balls of flame above my staff. "I can handle this. My skill just upgraded, remember?"

"No. You have to get far away from here," Saiko yelled and clenched her giant metal fists. "Something's wrong with this boss."

"What do you mean?"I asked.

The girls didn't manage to answer. The thumps began to get louder as creatures started to come out the dark passage. Fire Flies flew past us, glowing butterflies were doing their best to outrun whatever was in the dark path, red and violet centipedes creeped their way past with their hundred feet. Every insect started running, or crawl, away from the passage as if something big was chasing them. 

Then, it appeared. I taught I was seeing things. Eight glowing red balls floated in a semi-curved line. It was faint at first but the balls seemed to glow. The glow from the balls became clearer and I realized they weren't balls. They were something's eyes, a monster's eyes, to be exact. For the first time (and probably the last time) in my life, I saw the biggest spider I can imagine. These things normally show in my nightmares but here it is in front of me, making me want to wish that this was just a dream. Of course, it wasn't. The giant black widow even barely fit in the cavern. My eyes were getting hazy, perhaps because I forgot to wear my glasses or out of fear, and I tried to wipe the sweat dripping off my face. 

"No, this isn't possible!" Fritz exclaimed in a surprised tone.

"What's impossible?" I asked out.

"That thing isn't supposed to be here," Midorima replied, which really wasn't an answer.

The giant black widow fit half its body on the place and roared. How a spider can roar, I have no idea but its breath reeked of poisonous mushrooms and week-long unwashed socks. It bared its mouth, a hundred bristles as its teeth, making me sweat some more. I'd rather eat the spider than it eating me. 

"This Anaphora is Rank-F. How can a Rank-E monster be here?" Thyme asked herself.

"I don't know but whatever happens, we mustn't let that monster get to that portal," Nami answered. 

I have no idea how a monster bigger than a two-storey house fit inside a portal the size of a door but I set the idea aside. I held my breath as the spider fit its whole body through the passage and looked at us (not me, I hope) as it started to advance on our direction.