The Last Experience Point

Chapter 61: Ascension

Like an explosion from within, a rush of pure energy washed over Zach as he activated Unleashed Phase. His eye widened, he took a sharp inhalation of breath, and a feeling of renewal came upon him so suddenly that it overwhelmed his senses. The cold air biting into his skin seemed to relent; the chill in his spine lessened until a steadily growing heat replaced it. All at once, he felt reinvigorated: fully, completely alive. To his satisfaction, he found himself able to grip his blade tightly in his wrist, which was no longer aching and trembling. His breathing, which until a moment ago had been heavy and on the verge of panting, was now slow but deep and refreshing. Other than a slight, lingering nausea caused by the stomach-roiling, putrid smell of rapidly drying green ooze that had drenched him from head to toe a moment prior, Zach felt better than ever before.

As had been the case the last time he’d gone to Phase Level 1, his hands—or hand, rather—and both his feet, which had already been releasing a steady puff of impossibly black smoke, now added the occasional golden, burning ember as even faster, thicker smoke rose up into the air a bit above his head before dissipating. Like a light emerging in the darkness, a sense of purpose came upon him. He felt powerful and determined: stoic and unafraid. All this, while Kalana’s mother watched on with awe plain in her expression.

“Incredible,” she said. Though the word was ostensibly spoken as a compliment, a crease in her brow gave Zach the impression that she was displeased by what she saw. “For a human to have such an ability, I…” She began muttering under her breath at a volume too low for Zach to overhear. At the same time, something akin to disgust popped up on her lips. Had he somehow upset or offended her?

“What’s wrong?” Zach asked.

“It’s…nothing,” she whispered in reply. “Pay it no heed.”

“If you say so.” Putting Fylwen out of his mind, he drew another deep, satisfying breath and craned his head to loosen the muscles in his neck. “You know, I have to admit: for doing something so dangerous, I feel pretty damn good right now.”

“I can see that,” she said, her voice still coming through as a whisper. He was surprised he was able to hear her at all amid the mess of chaotic, angry shouting, even louder cries of pain, and in a few unfortunate cases, the final gasps of death that came from every direction around him here on this grassy, open battlefield. Raising her voice somewhat, Fylwen fixed him with an uneasy, skeptical look and said, “You seem completely refreshed.”

“Because I am,” he replied, to which she again cringed—or at least he was pretty sure that was what she did. Her movements were slight and almost seemed involuntary, which caused Zach to second-guess what he observed from her. Yet he didn’t think he was imagining the way she shifted uneasily on her feet and ever-so slightly narrowed her eyes distrustfully at him. No, he was pretty sure he was picking up on some kind of genuine resentment directed his way. But…why? It made no logical sense, especially since her displeasure was seemingly in response to learning about—and now witnessing—Zach’s abilities. Of all things, why would that upset her? Seriously, how could Kalana’s mom be anything other than happy—or at least relieved—that someone had come along who could help her people? Wasn’t that exactly what she’d wanted in the first place? It just made no damn sense.

Now’s not the time to worry about it, though, he told himself. Focus!

From the loose, light feeling in his legs, the easing up of his breathing, and the dramatic rise in his overall level of energy, Zach could tell that all of the stamina he’d burned up while dodging, blocking, striking, and running had been replenished. It was as though he’d just gotten up out of bed after a long, restful sleep, and now he was fully charged and eager. Every last bit of his energy had been restored.

As he’d come to understand, stamina could be drained two different ways: by using abilities with ‘exertion costs,’ or by literally just performing cardio-intensive actions. Though Unleashed Phase altered Zach’s abilities so that he paid for them with time rather than stamina, he could still exhaust himself through physical means. Thankfully, each time he used Unleashed Phase, it replenished all of his stamina at the cost of time.

Zach glanced at the information hovering in the air before him, where he could see his remaining duration of Unleashed Phase as well as the time costs of his various abilities. It seemed that amid his frantic, panic-filled struggle to survive, he had exerted himself even more than he’d realized, as the cost of the stamina he’d replenished had been deducted from the current duration remaining on this fresh, new instance of Unleashed Phase, and it was a bit higher than he’d expected, leaving him with just over thirteen-and-a-half minutes. Not that it mattered, of course; after all, he was about to reset it yet again.

Unleashed Phase Duration

13:49 Remaining

Wave Slash

1:15

Boundless

0:10

Phase Blink

0:20

Phase Shield (READY) (25 seconds)

0:45

Phase Rescue

0:35 / 2:15 (if used with Boundless)

Phase Slash

1:10 / 6:10 (if used with ??)

“So, how does it work?” Fylwen asked him. “Do you simply repeat what you’ve just done a second time? To activate this next…this next ‘phase’ of yours?”

The question pried his attention off the timer, and he turned his head towards Fylwen as an unexpected sinking feeling entered his belly. “Oh, uh, yeah.”

Even amid such a wild surge of confidence and energy, Zach’s footing became suddenly unsteady as he thought about the reality of actually ramping things up to Phase Level 2. Despite Fylwen’s promise that she could protect him, there was a natural inclination within himself—a sort of inner voice that called out to him not to push himself any further. As things were, he was already risking almost certain death just by taking on a double-high exertion debt, which he would have to pay when his current duration of Unleashed Phase expired. To tack on an additional “very high” cost on top of that? The idea of it rubbed him the wrong way. If Kalana’s mom was mistaken or had miscalculated even slightly, it could cost him his life. What if it turned out she couldn’t heal him after all? In that case, Zach guessed his chance of death went from ninety-nine percent to one-hundred percent.

Filling with a stubborn sense of reluctant hesitation, he tensed. “Miss Vayra, are you sure you’ll be able to—”

“Yes,” she replied immediately, sounding alarmed, impatient, and restless. She whipped her head around as though to take in the sight of the Elves, both dead and alive, all around and in some cases above her. The sudden movement caused a strand of her golden hair to briefly cover one of her eyes. “My people continue to die,” she said, her tone desperate. “So please. You must unleash more of yourself. Relieve some of their burden. I implore you, young man."

“It just feels wrong,” Zach said apologetically. “It just…it just doesn’t feel right. I feel like something bad will happen to me if I do this.”

Fylwen ran her left hand through her hair while bobbing her head around in seemingly random directions. “Nothing of the sort shall occur,” she said. “You will be fine—but my people won’t be. Now please, hurry!”

Though Fluffles and Chumpkenwiffles were doing a great job of protecting the two of them, there had been a few close calls during the last couple of moments as zombies continued to encircle them from every direction. As powerful as the two Shadowfangs might have been, Zach could not reasonably expect them to continue to be fast enough to cut down the roller-skating mobs that determinedly and unendingly advanced towards the four of them. He also couldn’t afford to continue standing around idly while considering his next move. He could either trust Fylwen or he could disregard her: but he had to choose one or the other. Becoming agitated, he called forth his stats and briefly glanced over them.

Name

Zachys Calador

Level

13

EXP

13283/15000

Armor Bonus

52

Strength

37

Dexterity

33

Constitution

34

Intelligence

74

Speed

31

Luck

30

Having gained +5 to all of his stats, as well as an additional +5 to armor, Zach paused to consider whether or not this might be enough of a boost all on its own. What if he was strong enough now to make a difference? Truly, did he actually need to risk another Phase Reset and Unleashed Phase? It was an important question, and as a single zombie somehow slipped through the perimeter that Fluffles and Chumpkenwiffles had established, it seemed he now had the perfect opportunity to learn the answer for himself. With a loud, angry-sounding moan, the zombie not only made straight for Zach, but it came at him already swinging, too.

Stepping forward to meet it head-on, Zach bent backwards to duck beneath a one-two combination that the “Fundead Roller-Ghast” immediately threw at him. Straightening his back, he retaliated, whipping his own sword from left to right and striking the zombie directly across the face; this caused a giant blob of green, slimy pus to splatter across the grass while cutting off most of the creature’s nose and dealing 997 damage; it also caused the mob to stumble backwards into the one behind it, and both nearly fell over.

HP

5003/6000

Name

Fundead Roller-Ghast 1F

Level

18

Though the increase in damage was clear and undeniable, Zach frowned as he realized it still wouldn’t be enough. Darting his head around, he noted the absolute sea of mobs that continued to encircle and enclose the Elvish resistance. There were just so many of them. And for him to make even a marginal difference, he would not be able to get by with his current level of power. It really was as simple as that. Had there not been such an insurmountable quantity of the horribly smelling, vile creatures, it would be one thing. But with so many of them packed in so tightly that their bodies made it difficult to see beyond more than a few-dozen feet in any direction, he just wouldn’t be able to impact their numbers in any meaningful way with his current stats. Even with his best efforts, more of Fylwen’s people—more of Kalana’s people—would die, and if he allowed that to happen, he knew it would weigh on him for a very long time.

I have to do this, he thought. And if nothing else, at least I'll get to see what I can really do.

Having made up his mind, Zach activated Phase Reset, which immediately reset the cooldown to Unleashed Phase, now once more ready to be used, though this time with a “very high” exertion cost. Then he prepared himself. He accepted that he was really, truly, actually going to do this. Zach was actually going to go through with this insanity. It was time to activate Unleashed Phase: it was time for him to go well beyond the point he was capable of handling.

Yet as he took one final glance at the duration remaining on Unleashed Phase, a sense of dissatisfaction came over him. He couldn’t help but feel like he was putting a whole lot of time to waste. If he was going to reset it all anyway, wouldn’t it be best to use a few abilities first? Hell, he could burn all thirteen-and-a-half minutes in under ten seconds if he unleashed a barrage of Wave Slashes back-to-back. Whether he used Unleashed Phase with thirteen minutes or thirteen seconds left on the clock, it would make no difference, so why not at least get something for his time?

I might as well, he thought. I’ve got nothing to lose by using it up.

Having become momentarily lost in his thoughts, he was slow to realize that Fylwen had been staring at him as though intent on observing his every move. “Have you done it?” she asked him, sounding even more impatient. Yet there was more than just impatience about her. There was something else: something Zach took to be revulsion. It was evident in the way she slightly peeled back the bottom-right corner of her lips and partially wrinkled her nose. Her jagged, pointed ears also seemed to flutter with small, unsteady movements.

“Not yet,” he said. “In just a second.”

“In just a second?” she asked, repeating his words. “My people!”

“I know, I know! I just don’t want to waste all this time.”

“It seems to me that’s exactly what you’re doing.”

Zach chose to ignore her rude quip. He reminded himself that the people she cared about and loved were fighting, being injured, and in the worst of cases dying all around her. Even still, he couldn’t help but feel a rising bout of annoyance at the fact that, for someone who seemed to show disgust at the mere existence of his abilities, she sure couldn’t wait for him to use them. When this was all over, he planned to take this up with her. As awkward a conversation as it might be, he was going to ask her why she kept scowling at him, as he was now positive that he was not mistaking her facial expressions for something else. The looks she sent his way were not due to the general situation or the plight of her people: no, they were deliberate, and they were definitely directed at him personally, and he wanted to know why. For now, though, he merely tuned her out and returned his attention to the zombie he’d just struck, which was now skating its way back towards him. This, as several severed heads streaking green ooze continued to fly over his own head following more strikes from Fluffles’ claws.

After a particularly gruesome kill, the cat paused, glanced over his shoulder at Zach, and then, as if noticing the approaching threat, began to move in Zach’s direction. But before he could travel so much as an inch, Zach raised his chin at Fluffles and called to him to stop. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve got this one.”

“Zach have that one,” the cat said without hesitation. Instead of a meow, a loud, startling roar followed his words, which were still deep and booming in comparison to his normally higher-pitched, more child-like voice. “Fluffles kill this one instead.”

With that, the cat lifted his front-left paw, swiped it up and across, and decapitated another level-18 “Fundead Roller-Ghast,” dealing an astonishing 7021 damage with just a single hit. Then, striding into Zach’s view with an angry “woof” that was equally as loud as Fluffles’ roar, Chumpkenwiffles tackled one of the zombies to the ground and began growling as she savagely tore into its flesh, killing it in three fast, successive bites, each doing over two-thousand damage. Zach honestly couldn’t tell which of the two animals was more powerful because, on the one hand, Fluffles’ attacks struck for far more damage, and he was also capable of using powerful magic, but on the other hand, Chumpkenwiffles attacked far, far faster. It was to the extent that the dog could likely deliver numerous bites to an enemy before Fluffles could claw them a single time. Oh, and then there were her explosive laser beams, which she now used to practically detonate two more of the zombies, sending their guts and green ooze splattering everywhere.

Distracted by the two Shadowfangs, Zach nearly lost his own guts. Having just managed to take a wide, lunging step to his left to avoid a forward thrust from the shortsword wielded in his foe’s left, rotten hand, he swore at himself for making the kind of mistake that should’ve been ironed out of him by now. With the sounds of battle playing like a disturbing concert all around him, he took two brisk steps, lifted up his foot, and sent it shooting forward, striking the creature dead center in its chest for 82 damage, which literally sent it rolling backwards on its skates until colliding straight into the mob behind it. For the second time, both of the decaying sacks of flesh nearly fell over. But also like before, the one he’d struck was quick to regain its footing and begin skating back in his direction.

“Ruuuuhhhh!” the zombie moaned as it pursued him. “Ruuuuhhhh!”

“Wave Slash!” Zach shouted in response, slashing at the air with his blade.

Zach watched expectantly as his sword carved out a mass of green, patchy, cloud-like, and semi-transparent energy, which quickly solidified and reformed itself into a metallic, double-bladed disc that began to move, slowly at first, in the direction of the “Fundead Roller-Ghast” that skated straight towards where he stood beside Fylwen. Though the disc started off at a painfully slow pace, less than a second later it began to pick up speed. Then, just as it seemed about to really take off, it struck its target, dealing a confusingly low 1,457 damage and slicing off almost the entirety of the zombie’s right shoulder blade, severing its arm in the process and causing it to drop one of its two shortswords. However briefly, it also halted the filthy, decaying creature’s forward momentum, though not for long.

“What the hell?” Zach asked aloud with a growl. “That’s all it did?” He blinked in confusion—but it was short-lived. Almost as soon as he finished speaking, he released a mild chuckle at his own stupidity as the painfully obvious reason dawned upon him. “Oh, right. I’m too close. Duh.”

Given that an uncountable number of these foul, ragged zombies occupied nearly all of the empty space around him in every direction, it made sense that his Wave Slash did not provide much in the way of damage. How could it? There had only been about eight-or-so feet separating him from his would-be attacker. And since Wave Slash required a reasonable amount of distance to be used to its full potential, it should not have been a surprise to him that it lacked the killing power he’d been hoping for. It did, however, continue on to strike more than just one target: way more, in fact. Even in its weakened state, it managed to hit so many targets that Zach needed a moment to understand what his eye was seeing.

First, the number 909 appeared above the zombie lurking behind the one that Zach had just struck. Then, almost in the same instant, the number 702 appeared above the head of the zombie behind that one, with this zombie being named “Fundead Roller-Ghast 1H.” Farther down the line, the number 505 popped up next, then 301, 104, and 62. But it didn’t stop there. Zach observed in a state of pure fascination as, following a 9, a cascade of 1s began appearing one behind the next at an increasingly faster rate, stretching on for as far as the eye could see in a single direction until he eventually lost the ability to gaze any farther into the distance.

Holy shit! How many did I just hit?

“Ruuuuhhhh!” moaned Fundead Roller-Ghast 1F, reminding Zach that his foe was still very much alive and demanding his full attention. Zach took his eye off the cluster of 1s that were only now beginning to fade away into thin air, and he prepared to strike a second time.

HP

3464/6000

Name

Fundead Roller-Ghast 1F

Level

18

“Wave Slash!” Zach shouted yet again, slashing the blade that Fluffles had crafted for him diagonally downwards and forming another cloudy, semi-transparent mass of energy that, as always, soon thereafter became a shiny, metallic disc, which took off slowly before surging ahead with a rapid increase in speed.

With the zombie having already closed most of the distance between the two of them on its roller skates, the disc struck the undead cretin point-blank a mere instant after the energy had finished transforming itself. Zach was so close to his enemy that he could actually hear the sound the disc made as it ripped and tore through the creature’s flesh; it was only by luck that the resulting spray of green ooze did not shoot in his direction and coat him with another fresh layer of the pus-like, abysmally smelling green slime.

Despite his Wave Slash cutting a hole straight through the creature’s chest before shooting out of its back, it somehow only managed to inflict a paltry 901 damage, as well as an even more anemic 375 damage to the one behind it, and 111 to the zombie behind that one. Like his previous Wave Slash, it only took a matter of moments before another parade of 1s popped up in a straight, seemingly endless line as the disc continued farther along. But this time, however, with many of the nearest roller-skating zombies already put off balance from the first Wave Slash, their bodies were angled in such a way that Zach could just see the metal disc through the gaps between their rotten forms; now, Zach was able to observe how, each time it struck a target, it became smaller and smaller even as it continued to pick up more belated speed. By the time his Wave Slash had struck the tenth zombie in the line—or maybe the eleventh, as it was hard to tell—it had shrunk until it was smaller than a pebble and no longer visible.

“Still not enough to kill you, huh?” Zach asked the one-armed zombie with a literal hole in its chest that yet again continued to skate towards him.

With a grunt, he raised his sword to block a clumsy downward slash from the shortsword in the creature’s left hand. Then, with another grunt, he pressed his sword forward, shoving his weapon against the zombie’s smaller blade, and the result was that the mob skated backwards a foot or two before halting and advancing once more. Zach was both annoyed and angered to see that, even after two Wave Slashes, it still had close to half of its HP.

HP

2563/6000

Name

Fundead Roller-Ghast 1F

Level

18

Making things even more frustrating was the fact that, now that he knew a single Wave Slash was capable of hitting a great many targets if they were lined up in a row, he realized if he’d only been a sufficient distance away, he could have likely killed dozens of the foul things at once with a single use of the ability: hell, maybe even more! To be fair, it was kind of hard to know without trying it for himself. Unfortunately, since the zombies had him, Fylwen, and the Elves so unforgivingly boxed in, there was no way for him to flee or Phase Blink to gain distance. Any path forward was one he would have to cut open himself.

Venting some of his discontent, Zach stepped forward and released a slash that cut cleanly across the creature’s throat, dealing 845 damage. His foe immediately retaliated, but with only one shortsword, it was easy enough for Zach to simply swat away the weak counter strike sent his way. Then he slashed twice in quick succession, putting even more anger and power into each cut, and with those, he butchered the creature for another 870 and 945 damage respectively. The final blow seemed to do the job in finishing this monstrosity off once and for all. The moment Zach saw its HP hit 0, he immediately hopped backwards, pulling himself away from the zombie as its flesh turned green, brightened, and then liquified into a giant ooze vaguely in the shape of a human that quickly collapsed into a puddle on the grass. He was glad he was able to avoid getting any of the gunk on him from the messy splash.

+2000xp

LEVEL UP!

14 (13)

Dexterity

+1 (34)

Constitution

+1 (35)

Speed

+1 (32)

Current XP

283

XP Required for Level 15

25000

Having been so caught up in the horror and excitement of his current predicament, Zach had forgotten all about leveling up and experience points. As a display popped into existence declaring him to now be level 14, two thoughts entered his mind at the exact same time: the first was that, while certainly not perfect, this was far from the worst level up he’d ever gotten, and the second was that the jump in experience points required between levels was starting to get higher and higher. It was no wonder it took people their entire lives to get to such high levels—and it also really highlighted the sheer absurdity of how fast Kalana and her kind seemed to race through it all, achieving immense power in a fraction of the time it took humans.

How am I even going to keep leveling up? Zach wondered. The amount required keeps getting so much damn higher!

Stuck in a turbulent and potentially fatal situation, Zach forced any thoughts of his progress relative to Kal’s out of his head. He knew that if he allowed himself to be distracted it could result in the death of himself or others. Even still, it wasn’t easy to calm the anxious feeling in the pit of his belly that arose at the uncomfortable realization that seemed to be facing him: that he might never be able to catch up. That it might take him thirty years of constant grinding for XP just to get halfway to where Kalana was right at this moment.

Shaking his head as though to cast away doubt and uncertainty, he refocused his attention elsewhere, glancing instead at the display containing his abilities and Unleashed Phase duration. He still had plenty of time left on the clock. In the corner of his eye, he saw Fylwen standing beside him with her hands on her hips and an impatient, desperate glower in her eyes. He knew he couldn’t keep her waiting for all that much longer. He needed to hurry up, throw a few more Wave Slashes, and then be done with it. Though, given how ineffective they were at such close range, he wondered if it would even be worth the few seconds it took to do it. Surely, he might as well. After all, it wasn't like he had anything better to use, right?

Wait, do I?

As a question formed in his head, Zach snuck another brief peek at the display, and this time, it was the list of abilities that drew his interest as opposed to the time remaining on Unleashed Phase. Up until now, he had assumed that Wave Slash was his only ability of value that he could use to attack and kill things, but that wasn’t exactly true, was it? At the very bottom of his display, he saw the name of an ability that he had somehow forgotten he possessed.

Unleashed Phase Duration

10:49 Remaining

Wave Slash

1:15

Boundless

0:10

Phase Blink

0:20

Phase Shield (READY) (25 seconds)

0:45

Phase Rescue

0:35 / 2:15 (if used with Boundless)

Phase Slash

1:10 / 6:10 (if used with ??)

Phase Slash, Zach thought. What does it even do?

Since learning Unleashed Phase, he had never once had the chance to try Phase Slash. This was because, up until now, every time he’d used Unleashed Phase, he’d found himself in a position where there was either no need to try using it or it was too risky due to the cost in time or the uncertainty of what it might do. But now? Now, things were different. It didn’t matter if he used it and it was useless. It didn’t matter if he threw away the cost in time that the ability demanded. Because he was just going to reset the timer anyway. This was a unique opportunity to see if this thing was even worth the minute and ten seconds it cost. Willing it forward, Zach called forth a new informational display, this one containing just the description of Phase Slash.

(UNLEASHED ABILITY) Phase Slash (UNIQUE)

Requires Sword. User slashes the air and sends an energy wave at target enemy dealing between 1 and 999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 damage depending on an equal combination of all primary stats. Usage Cost: 1:10 / 6:10 (if used with ??)

Being that the ability cost five seconds less than Wave Slash and had a somewhat similar description, Zach had naturally assumed that it must be slightly less powerful or simply not as worth using. But now that he had no reason to hold back, he decided to go for it. After all, he really had nothing to lose but time: time that he’d be giving up anyway, right? So why not?

Not wanting to keep Fylwen waiting any longer, Zach decided to burn the rest of his time on Phase Slash. Even if it wasn’t as powerful as Wave Slash, it still wouldn’t matter in the long run. And so, with his mind firmly made up, he prepared himself to activate the one ability in his arsenal he had yet to call upon. For this, however, he needed a target, as unlike Wave Slash, this ability required Zach to specifically choose who or what he wanted to strike. Unsurprisingly, he mentally selected the zombie that had begun skating towards him to replace the one Zach had just killed. And with that, he activated it.

Right away, one thing became perfectly clear: that much like Wave Slash, this ability caused his body to move all on its own as though automated. The moment he activated the ability, his mouth popped open, his left, sword-bearing arm raised upwards and off to his left side of its own will, and his knees bent ever so slightly.

“Phase Slash!” he shouted out, the words automatically escaping his lips. With that, he swung his blade diagonally downwards in a way that was reminiscent of Wave Slash. But that, to be certain, was where similarities between the two ended. This much became totally clear the moment his blade completed its downward slash, revealing this to be yet another excessively, painfully loud ability.

As though following on the heels of the sword’s motion, the entire world erupted with a sound that was eerily similar to a jacket zipper being opened; only, the volume of it was easily enough to rival, if not outright exceed, the explosive pop of the sonic boom that typically followed Phase Blink. In fact, for sure it was louder.

To be clear, this was certainly no “pop” or “boom.” This zipper-like sound was instead much higher in pitch and caused a giant, secondary echo that was almost as bad as the core sound. Zach had no idea how he resisted the urge to jump as the startling noise filled his surroundings. As things were, he was just glad it didn’t cause any of Fylwen’s people to die, as many of the Elves around and above him fearfully turned their heads away from their actual enemy and towards Zach as if to investigate the source of such a loud, bizarre sound.

Upon completing the downward slash with his blade, there was movement—but Zach did not see much of it, for he was too taken aback by the screeching, zipper-like sound to be cognizant of whatever it was that escaped his blade. He only distantly became aware of it, catching a mere glimpse of movement in his peripheral vision. Whatever it was, though, he missed it. But before he had time to reflect, there came another sound, this one far, far lower in volume. It was a squish: an audible, unmistakable squish.

By the time Zach realized that the mob skating towards him had taken 8,241 damage and had likewise exploded, he was already being showered by an absolute torrential downpour of green, rotten ooze, which once more activated his gag reflex and sickened him to the point that his knees felt weak. If not for a sense of sheer disbelief causing him to feel somewhat detached from reality, he would likely have vomited all over himself a second time. At the very least, he wondered if he was finally becoming somewhat desensitized to the horrible smells of this planet—everything from pumpkin blood to zombie ooze.

+2000xp

It took him a moment to realize that Chumpkenwiffles and Fluffles had both stopped whatever they were doing and had turned their heads to stare at him, as did Fylwen, who looked, of all things, positively miserable. The sense of utter repulsion in her expression was so at odds with the gratitude Zach supposed she ought to be feeling upon finding an ally capable of fighting for her imperiled Elvish kin. Had he not had so many more important things to worry about right now, the look she wore on her face would have probably started an argument right here on the spot. No longer did she appear to be suppressing or hiding her disgust: she now wore it openly on her face.

“What did you just do?” she asked him.

“I uh…I tried out my Phase Slash.”

“Tried? What do you mean you ‘tried’?”

Zach shrugged, though he did so with only the one fully intact shoulder that he actually had. “I never got the chance to use that before, so I wanted to see what it did. Ah, speaking of which!” Zach inhaled and held the breath within himself for a moment. “Phase Slash!” he then shouted out an instant later, releasing the air in his lungs and activating the ability a second time.

Due to Fluffles’ and Chumpkenwiffles’ brief pause, three more zombies had broken through the perimeter they had established, skating right on through and making Zach, as usual, their primary target. All three moaned loudly as they raised their shortswords, gliding ever closer to him by the second. Unfortunately for the one in the middle, Zach was already slashing his sword downwards through the air; like before, a zipping, high-pitched noise drowned out nearly all other sounds as Zach completed the slash.

Paying closer attention, this time he was able to see what had only registered in his brain as “movement” during his first use of Phase Slash. And as he discovered, there was a very good reason why. Unlike Wave Slash, which was flashy and involved green-colored energy reforging itself midair, this ability was only barely visible—and even then, it required him to view it from just the correct angle. With a narrowed eye, Zach could only describe what emerged from his blade as some kind of distortion in the air itself. Rather than produce any visible energy, the very world rippled in a way that, while not quite shapeless, was nevertheless too nebulous to attribute to any one form. It was as though the empty space itself was bending and twisting around a partially visible distortion. And this “distortion” moved at a speed far, far greater than Wave Slash; it also did not increase or decrease its velocity.

The moment the distortion appeared, it burned across the distance between it and its target at what was consistently a nearly imperceptible speed, striking almost instantaneously. And like before, a “squish” came from the zombie that the Phase Slash struck, dealing 7,841 damage while causing the creature to pop like a boot stepping on a water balloon. For the second time, a green, slimy ooze showered Zach, but to his own amazement, he ignored it and turned his attention towards dealing with the other two.

Even as more slime continued to pour down and drench his gear, which was only first starting to automatically stitch itself back together and repair the many holes that Fluffles and Chumpkenwiffles had torn into it, Zach was already raising his blade for another strike.

“Phase Slash!” he cried. “Phase Slash!”

Twice more, he swung down his blade, and twice more, he exploded zombies. In this case, he dismantled the one to his immediate left and the one to his immediate right, both of whom were about to reach him. They popped like a potato in a microwave, further splattering their disgusting ooze all over his face and body.

+2000xp

+2000xp

Following the death of the second zombie, a bag glowing with a white light appeared near a puddle of ooze, which was all that now remained of the foul creature, but Zach didn’t dare pick up the loot—not with everything else going on around him. Whatever had dropped for him, it would have to wait. Right now, he had more things he needed to kill. How much time did he have left, anyway?

Unleashed Phase Duration

7:05 Remaining

Wave Slash

1:15

Boundless

0:10

Phase Blink

0:20

Phase Shield (READY) (25 seconds)

0:45

Phase Rescue

0:35 / 2:15 (if used with Boundless)

Phase Slash

1:10 / 6:10 (if used with ??)

Twirling his blade in his left hand, he took a step forward, eyed another three zombies towards the edge of the perimeter, and rather than wait for them to skate over to him, Zach seized the initiative and attacked first.

“Phase Slash!”

“Phase Slash!”

“Phase Slash!”

Waving his sword around like a musical conductor, he activated one Phase Slash after the other, and each time, the air in front of his sword became distorted, and this distortion was hurtled across the distance at each one of his targets, exploding their bodies with another squish. These three mobs fortunately happened to have been far enough away so that Zach was well out of reach of the green slime that eventually began raining down onto the grass in front of him.

+2000xp

+2000xp

+2000xp

Zach couldn’t believe he’d had this kind of power up his sleeve the entire time. Clearly, it packed an even greater punch than Wave Slash, though he supposed the drawback here was that Wave Slash could strike multiple enemies and didn’t require a target, whereas Phase Slash could only hurt one enemy at a time. Even still, he was glad to have something like this to call upon—and call upon it he did. With just enough time left on the clock, he was able to explode another three zombies for an additional +6000xp, and all while Fylwen’s frown turned ever closer into a scowl from where she stood beside him. Seriously, what the fuck was her problem? It was really starting to piss Zach off.

Pretending not to notice her reaction, he asked, “What do you think?”

“It’s quite powerful,” she said. “But you still did not make a dent in the enemy’s number. Now, will you please get on with it?”

“All right,” Zach said with a nod. “But I have to say, Miss Vayra. I do notice the way you keep looking at me. I’m not blind—at least not completely.”

She shifted her eyes in his direction, and then she narrowed them, all while keeping her head pointed forward. “What look would that be?”

Zach grunted. “Come on. You know.”

“I know?”

He sighed. “All right, fine. Just forget it for now. But I know you’re giving me bad looks. I’m not going to pretend like I don’t see it.”

With fifteen seconds left on Unleashed Phase, Zach did not have the time to press her about the bitchy attitude and mean stares she kept sending his way. Instead, he needed to put all of his effort on suppressing the return of nervous, acidic pain that flowed into his gut at the thought of actually activating Unleashed Phase again. Though he’d already made up his mind to do so, it didn’t make it any less terrifying. But this was something he had to do. There was no more time left to stall. With mere seconds remaining before he collapsed into a potentially fatal E-debt, he had no choice but to grip his blade more tightly, gather his courage, and pull the trigger, so to speak. And so, that was what he did.

Despite already owing two high exertion debts, and despite some well-grounded uncertainty over whether or not he’d even be able to handle a single “very-high” debt all on its own, Zachys Calador activated Unleashed Phase with a Phase Level of 2. And when he did, the change in his very being was immediate and overwhelming to the point he almost became lost in it. Something akin to an explosion went off inside of him: like he was one of the zombies he’d blown apart with Phase Slash.

As soon as Zach activated Unleashed Phase, he arched his back, gritted his teeth, and hissed in both agony and delight as a sensation of power came upon him that was so bafflingly intense that he couldn’t help but drop his sword and fall to his knees.

“Young man?” Fylwen called to him, sounding alarmed. “What’s wrong? Tell me!”

He couldn’t reply. For a moment, he was completely mute, not even able to shout or scream out the rush of extreme sensations shooting through his body. It was as though it were a side effect of using a level of exertion so vastly far beyond his current level of stamina. Or maybe this was something that would’ve happened anyway, whether he was ready to use this ability or not. In either case, it did not change the fact that every last inch of his skin felt as though it were being shocked with a thousand volts.

“F-fuck,” he said, barely able to get the word out.

“Are you okay?” asked a female voice somewhere behind him, which he took to be Chumpkenwiffles. “Awoof! Awoof! Are you okay?”

“Zach okay,” Fluffles replied, his voice still deep, booming, and powerful. “Chumpkenwiffles not worry and give Fluffles chin scratch with paw.”

“No. You give me back scratch with your claws.”

“No! Zach say Chumpkenwiffles obey Fluffles.”

“He did not say that.”

“Yes! Yes he say! I hear him. Right, Zach? Right? Right you say doggie have to obey Fluffles?”

Zach ignored the two of them. Right now, it was all he could do not to collapse face-first onto the grass and into a puddle of still-drying green ooze. Clenching his teeth even harder, he fought to gain control over himself as the extreme, unbearable sensations flowing through every corner of his body made him release something close to a half-hiss, half-groan.

It was like being caught in the current of an ocean or a powerful river. He tried to swim, knowing that to be carried away in this case would mean death. Though only a few seconds had passed, he was now fairly certain that this was a direct result of him pushing himself way, way, way beyond the point he could reasonably handle, and assuming he was correct, it meant that E-debt wasn’t some bottomless thing after all.

Although one could certainly “borrow” more than they could repay, which would result in either passing out or, for very big debts, a quick death, it seemed that even that had its limitations. Contrary to what he’d come to believe, it did not seem like he could simply Phase Reset himself to the point of summoning dragons if he ever found himself in an inescapable pinch that was sure to result in certain doom. No, it seemed that there were limits after all, and he’d brushed very, very close to one. Or at least he hoped he’d only “brushed” it. He now had the sense that passing this limitation would mean instant death. Thus, he would either get back onto his feet and stabilize, or he would fall forward and die.

Kalana, he thought, grinding his teeth. Kal, I’m okay. I’m okay, Kal. I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay!

Whether it was through willpower or dumb luck, he somehow found the strength to pull himself back together. He wasn’t sure how he did it: he wasn’t even sure if it was something he consciously did at all or if it was just his body adjusting to what he knew was going to be a big, big boost in power. Whichever the case, he was thrilled to discover that he was able to return to his feet. And when he did, he noticed that all of the impossibly black smoke that typically trailed off his hand and his feet was now gone, replaced instead by frequent, fast-moving columns of pure, golden, burning embers, which rose to varying, unpredictable heights in the air before jumping off in seemingly random directions.

As Zach blinked a few times and regained his composure, he was only distantly aware that Fylwen, Fluffles, and Chumpkenwiffles were all firing off questions at him, even as the two animals had returned to fending off zombies as though to rebuild the crumbling perimeter. Ignoring Fylwen as well as the Shadowfangs, Zach called forth his stats, wanting to see the confirmation that he had truly been able to pull a greater power out of himself.

Name

Zachys Calador

Level

14

EXP

18283/25000

Armor Bonus

77

Strength

67

Dexterity

64

Constitution

65

Intelligence

104

Speed

62

Luck

60

“Gods!” he said with a gasp as the sight of his own stats shocked him. “I can’t…I can’t believe it.”

Fylwen’s face darkened, and with a horrified-sounding whisper, she said, “Neither can I, human.”