Chương 25: This Is Not a Game

Kain POV The ugly, lumbering figure dragged itself out of the ocean with all the ceremony of a bloated slug with feet. It looked like a softshell tortoise and a whale had a baby, only it was a mottled greige-brown, and about the size of a large minibus. Nobody yet knew what it was, only that the feeling it gave off was one of menace and intense pressure.

It was like the creature was trying to supress the whole group of combatants, both the humans and the marine life they'd been fighting, with the sheer force of its presence. Kain was displeased to admit it was kind of working. The only people who had no reaction were the sheltered. Even the quiet dagger wielder had frozen in spot, and Kain was pretty sure that guy was either on leave from active service, or a war vet. The creature and the crowd were locked in a strange stalemate.

Neither side moving to attack or retreat. The atmosphere held in a strange deadlock until some guy broke the silence.

"What is that?" The stalemate broke, and the creature attacked. It stomped down once, hard, and the ground rippled, shattering the borders between many of the tide pools and causing a lot of people to stumble or fall. While the ripple itself hadn't been huge, having the literal floor fall out from under a person made for an incredibly unstable experience.

"Sand dolphin. Level 7," the woman wielding a large hammer had shouted over her shoulder. Kain didn't know the young woman's name, but everybody who'd been fighting for a while had witnessed her skill in action. It was something she called Identify. She had been using that skill on and off every time a new or interesting creature showed up. Apparently, it let her see the species and level of creatures within a certain range of power to her, it even told her when a species didn't yet have a name.

So far, she hadn't been wrong, which made Kain very worried. Until now the highest level of creature she had identified was Level 4. It had taken three people to fight it. Two of them at Level 2, plus the woman herself. She was a Level 3 hammer-wielder. Even with three people and a weapon it had still taken an effort to bring that thing down. Before it had been stopped it had even managed to injure someone and the whole farming operation had nearly disbanded as a result.

While some people had left, a lot of people hadn't been willing to give up on such a lucrative location – both materially and in levels. A lot of those same people, Kain included, were regretting that decision now, as he tried to escape the Level 7's area of influence. He should've known the conditions were too good to be true, and left while he was ahead. Sure, he'd managed to get couple levels and a System reward of his own. However, none of that was worth his life.

Why had he just assumed that Level 4 would be the most dangerous creature that would enter the area? Oh, right. Because a small part of him had been like that kid. Treating this like a game, assuming there were zones where boss monsters or creatures of too high a level wouldn't show up. Somewhere between his first level up and claiming his reward, he'd forgotten this was real life.

Then the sand dolphin shrieked, a low, resonant, drone that warbled in the air and sent the small hairs on the back of Kain's neck standing on end. Time to flee, Kain thought. He tried to run, but whatever Skill was in use was still hampering movement. The strapped sandals he was wearing had begun to chafe against his damp skin, and he was starting to feel the exhaustion of over an hour of exertion piling up. Just when the ground settled enough for him to try to run again, the creature stomped once more.

The earth rippled, the ground beneath him roiled, and Kain went down. Him and most other people. He had only made it to the edge of the area, but it appeared he wasn't going to be making it any farther as a second, then a third smaller, though no less ugly sand dolphin flanked the first one. They wasted no time as before the ground had even settled they were shooting jets of water from their beaks, aiming for the edges of the group, and cutting inwards.

"Level 4 and Level 4," the hammer wielding woman called. Her voice wavered as she shuffled inwards, bunching up with everyone else between the seawall and the shoreline where the three dolphins had corralled them. The water jets were short lived but powerful. While not as overwhelming as their larger companion's earth stomp area-of-effect attack, they were still dangerous. A few people were hit by the streams of water.

One was blasted into the seawall behind them, and the other found their arm shredded off as they had tried to drop to the ground but weren't fast enough to completely escape the violent stream. They'd been midway down and off balance when the attack clipped them, sending them flying back with such force that they tumbled several times over the craggy, wet ground and didn't move again.

Kain had no idea if they were still alive, but he knew they wouldn't be for long if they didn't get immediate medical attention for the blood loss. Even the other aquatic beasts and animals hadn't been spared from the dolphins' tyranny. A large number of them had fled into the ocean, or were cowering in the tide pools they'd so confidently leapt from before. Others were crushed when the earth had roiled, or trampled by the rushing humans.

The sudden, violent wave of deaths brought about a stark realization in every person on that beach: They were trapped, they were outmatched, and if they wanted any chance at survival, they'd need to fight. In one instant, everything stopped. Those trying to flee halted their attempts. Even the aggressive ocean life seemed to shift focus, from survival to solidarity. Then, by unspoken agreement, everything attacked. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

It was an orderless, chaotic mob of people. Some hurled stones or shells, others went in with fists and feet. More than one yelled war cries that might have been mistaken for shrieks of terror or desperation, as they threw themselves bodily at the ugly beasts that had boxed them in. A few people with Skills did some damage, and the group actually managed to knock down the Level 4 sand dolphin on the left, but mostly they just served as a nuisance and a distraction.

A couple dozen untrained individuals, armed mostly with baseball bats, hockey sticks, and one kid's cast-iron frying pan, did not make a proper fighting force. People died. A lot of people died. This was not a game. It had never been one. The battle became a slaughter, and the beach a horror scene that Kain knew would revisit him in his nightmares for years to come. Only four people on that beach had actual weapons. The war vet in his late thirties.

The guy had the look of someone who'd seen too much and decided to substitute therapy with violence. He'd been quiet and efficient, fighting in his own pocket of beach, but Kain was certain he'd killed more creatures than anyone else. Then there was the war hammer woman. She was tall, heavily muscled, and swung with force and power. There was the Skillit kid. According to the hammer wielding woman – Kain made a note to learn these peoples' names if he survived – the cast iron frying pan had become a 'named object'.

That basically meant that it went from an everyday item to a System recognised, often special or unique item. Finally, there was him. Kain had brought a sword. A real, two-handed longsword. It had seemed like overkill when he'd first brought it out, but he'd been having fun, farming mobs, thinking he'd put his HEMA hobby to some use outside of the few exhibitions he'd participated in with his club.

He'd bought the live blade because he wanted a display piece but didn't want to feel like that douche who hung up expensive artwork knowing it was impractical to wield. Even so, he never thought he'd need to use it in an actual fight. Not that what he'd been doing against the earlier creatures had really counted as a 'fight'. Now, looking at the two remaining sand dolphins tearing through people, he found himself disinclined to use it at all.

They'd lost over ten people, but the group had taken out one of the creatures, opening a path of escape. But could he go? Could he leave the rest of the people here to die when he was one of the only Level 3's and had an actual weapon. As he watched, the Level 7 opened its mouth and let out another disturbing, warbling screech. This one seemed to strike at something in his brain, making him nauseous and dizzy for a moment that quickly passed. Then the sand dolphin shot out a stream of water.

The jet was thin, precise, and much more powerful than the ones its companions had used. It swept its head to the side where a cluster of people were harassing, and being savaged in turn, by the remaining Level 4. The sand dolphin's water jet cut through the crowd like a laser, shearing through anything and anyone in its path. The only real silver lining was that the Level 7 seemed more interested in hurting the most people it could than it was in saving its ally.

When the attack finally ended, the sand dolphin had taken out a lot of people, but it had also torn a hole into the side of the Level 4. The few survivors took advantage of the friendly fire to converge onto the injured creature with a wanton disregard for their lives that he simply could not fathom. Why were they doing this?

Was it the adrenaline, or group mania, or whatever it was that happened in cults that could turn a bunch of otherwise rational, reasonable people into the kind of lunatics who would follow a charismatic megalomaniac in an ill-fitting suit to the grave? Kain was sure that if they all just fled, some of them could make it out of here alive. Certainly, more than if they decided to fight. Kain had made up his mind to get the hell out.

He'd been close enough to be hit by the initial area attacks, but was now far enough on the periphery of the fight that he wasn't really a target. He was gonna take advantage of this position to try and get away clean. No way was he jumping into that mosh-pit of death just to play hero. He wasn't suicidal. However, being the decent person he was, he figured he should at least try to instigate a retreat. Even if he only helped a few, it was probably more than would otherwise survive this nightmare.

It would draw some attention to him, sure, but the creatures seemed to go for easy prey. He had just cupped his hands around his mouth when he saw something he wished he hadn't. Skillit kid. Kain was sure he'd seen the boy disappear. Kain thought he had run away, and had been genuinely impressed by the kid's pragmatism. He had been wrong. Very wrong. The boy hadn't fled. Somehow, he'd hidden himself, and now he was planning to commit the exact heroics Kain was trying to avoid.

Just as the Level 7 opened its mouth to spray another stream of water the kid leapt forward in a reckless lunge that managed to slam into the creature's face despite himself. The cast iron pan glowed its signature glow just before striking with the full weight of the child behind it. The attack might have disrupted the sand dolphin's water jet, but that didn't stop it from turning to target the kid who had fallen to the ground. Body slamming hard into the wet stones and disturbed rocks of the once beautiful area.

Apparently, the dagger-vet had only been looking for an opening as after Skillit kid made his move he darted in, striking fast and precise. The creature began to bleed. It wasn't enough. That's when the woman, who up until then had been kiting the Level 4, dancing around it and keeping its attention, changed targets and charged the larger threat with her hammer. Kain knew. If he didn't move now, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

Walking (read: running) away might keep him physically safe and intact, however he didn't know that he'd be able to live with the person who survived. He watched as the sand dolphin expertly redirected the hammer to non-vital parts of its body. The damage as minimal as the superficial cuts. The two working together were able to harass it, but it wasn't being hindered.

That left it with the opportunity to go after the boy, the boy who Kain could tell was injured by the way he wasn't quite able to pick himself up off the ground. In a bid of desperation, Skillet kid began to literally roll away from the massive creature. Props to the kid because he didn't stop. He gritted his teeth and rolled or crawled through pockets of water, over jagged stone and the broken shells and corpses of hours of 'farmed' creatures.

The sand dolphin wasn't fast, but it wasn't slow either, as it lumbered towards the vulnerable boy. A short distance away, the few remaining fighters were in the final stages of their face-off with the now Level 5 sand dolphin. At least according to the hammer wielder. If nobody else did anything, that kid was going to die. That fact was as cemented in his mind as the certainty that he was about to make an incredibly stupid decision, but it was the only one he could live with.

He didn't know it until later, but that was the first time one of his stats had gone up. Willpower. Ironic considering how badly he wanted to run in the opposite direction. He supposed that fact that he wasn't was kind of the point, though. In that moment, he'd been afraid. Afraid of dying, of pain, of trying and failing; powerless but to watch because he didn't have the power to protect the child right in front of him. But Kain was tired of letting the fear decide. That wasn't who he wanted to be.

This was a new world. A world where risk gained you equal reward. A world where he could gain the power to protect whatever he wanted to protect. Kain raised his longsword and charged.