Apocalypse Redux

2047, Mars, Olympus Mons Crater

No one was quite sure how having a famous older brother and being trained in swordsmanship added up to “Valkyrie,” but that was how it had played out.

[Valkyrie Squire] as an epic starter [Class], with [Skills] for flying, aerial combat, combat in general, gear maintenance, and finally, racial healing abilities that ranged from sealing wounds to putting injured allies into what was effectively stasis.

[Warrior Valkyrie] had been her first Evolution, likewise epic, with a similar focus, though it granted access to the [Lesser Ressurection] spell that could heal lethal damage even after the target had passed the point where a doctor would have declared a time of death, though it couldn’t bring them back too much longer beyond that. The precise limit of resurrection abilities was currently unknown, but couldn’t be any longer than twenty minutes. And the lesser version also required a mostly intact body.

Then, the second Evolution had been yet another epic version, [Valkyrie Steelwing]. Still powerful, granting the complete [Ressurection] ability plus the ability to turn wings to metal and even launch razor-sharp feathers like the Stymphalian Birds of Ancient Greece.

Yet, it was still epic.

Maintaining an epic [Class] streak was impressive compared to the average, it still put her in the ninety-eighth percentile or higher, depending on who she asked, but it was simply lacking. It wasn’t enough, not by a long shot compared to who she had standing behind her.

And yes, Isaac was a world-class, paradigm-shattering talent, she’d been warned about not putting herself in danger to match him numerous times, but she had advantages even he hadn’t had. If all she managed to do was stay above the average, she knew that in the future, be it in ten years or ten thousand, she’d hate herself for having wasted this opportunity.

Because what on Earth was she doing with her life? Simply existing? Having her little house in the near-Germany-sized portion of Mars Isaac had claimed, redecorating the building and its grounds whenever she felt like it, or something had broken in training … it was a step in the right direction, yet somehow, also felt wrong.

“Everything that the light touches is yours” applied, after a certain fashion. Most of the crater wall had vanished below the horizon from her point of view, but there was not a single spot on the ground inside Olympus Mons from where one could see anything not also a part of Isaac’s estate.

There was more space up here than any single human being could ever possibly take up even if they spread out to the absolute maximum possible.

And it was lonely up here. The terraforming had finished a couple of years ago, but it was still taking a while for people to settle here, to build, to create communities within easy flying distance.

No real distractions from the “training in solitude” she’d imagined, yet at the same time, she wasn’t really getting anything close to that done. It was easy to imagine her [Skill] Levels shooting through the roof as she spent her days practicing, but hard to make those dreams a reality.

Yet what on Earth had she been doing before moving here? Spent half her time training in one way or another, the other half chasing meaningless “fun,” whether it was holidays or a string of short-lived relationships. It didn’t matter to her anymore what she’d actually achieved, not when she compared it to even a fraction of what her brother had achieved.

No one, not even his family, or Elena, as far as she knew, had a full overview of his [Classes], but information had spread that he’d been legendary from the 2nd Evolution onwards, and even his 1st Evolution had been at the very peak of what an epic [Class] could be.

Nothing she’d achieved so far measured up even in the slightest.

But what was she supposed to do, throw in the towel, and return to Earth? Where boyfriends ran out on her the instant Isaac was even in the most distant vicinity, as they seemingly remembered who she was related to only then? The girlfriends who somehow never seemed to stick around, and in one particularly mortifying incident, had hit on Isaac when he’d dropped by Tanja’s apartment?

That was hardly going to end well … can’t stay, can’t go back … how about walking forward? How about going to a place not as steeped in Isaac’s shadow as the entirety of Earth, or his literally country-sized backyard?

***

2051

Where was the best place to escape a famous relative’s shadow? A world they’d never even set foot on, of course.

Colonizing new worlds was hardly a simple process, with the ability to travel between solar systems being limited to only a single known Aspect, and a handful of specialized [Classes].

Or rather, having been. Because Isaac, it was always Isaac, had figured out a way to create new [Skills] from combinations of Aspect [Skills]. It hadn’t just been the first time anyone had managed that, it had also created the perfect [Skill] for large-scale interstellar exploration, which allowed entire ships to be carried through the void between stars.

Larger-scale interstellar exploration had recently found a planet that was habitable, albeit barely, and the call for volunteer colonists had gone out. Being both a healer and a fighter, all at a low enough Level to be able to grow into specialized [Classes] perfect for the current situation, had made Tanja a prime candidate even in the anonymized selection process.

And the same went for Viktoria who had, unknown to her, been in much the same state. Though you wouldn’t know it, not with how how confidently she presented herself, with how she flew through the air on an owl’s wings, covered in runes and other magical symbols, wreathed in a palpable aura of power whenever they were visible.

“Ready?” Viktoria asked as she landed lightly next to Tanja.

Tanja grinned. “Ready.”

And together, they walked aboard the shuttle that would take them to the Earth’s first and grandest space station, and then, the starship that would take them through the void, the New Horizon.

***

Six months later

Terra Nova was perhaps the laziest possible name anyone had ever come up with in the entirety of human history.

And inaccurate, in all honesty, considering what the world was like. Massive axial tilt resulting in seasonal variations that were rough, to say the least. On Earth, environmental conditions were usually such that life could evolve to survive everything their location could throw at them. Barring natural disasters, of course.

Terra Nova … not so much. With it being primarily covered in dirt, not water, it did not retain warmth well and as the seasons changed, the ground cooled rapidly, leaving a good seventy-five percent of the planet to cycle between scorching expanses of sand, and frosty plains of ice and snow as the year progressed, with the fact that a Terra Nova year was almost twice as long as Earth’s only somewhat mitigating the issue.

What plants did manage to survive were either alien cacti-equivalents, or titanic trees that combined the best traits of bamboo and succulents, growing swiftly in the fertile periods and slowly filling out their internals afterwards, relying on a whole host of interesting chemicals to withstand the temperature extremes.

Animals, meanwhile, tended to be nomadic, following whatever environment they were adapted to.

Though there were these fox-like scavengers the size of a large cat or small dog which followed the bigger herbivores just ahead of the worst of winter and were cute as sin.

As a result, getting shelter and agriculture set up as fast as possible was vital, and getting at least some basic protective enchantments up and running was also important.

Tanja and Viktoria often worked together on that, one to put up the house, the other to enchant them. Though they were also often tasked with fixing up small scrapes and bruises when they occurred nearby. Not that they minded, it took more effort to light a candle than it was to heal an injury that small and people were grateful.

They were both still at Level 50, it would take a bit longer before the good colonist pioneer, or frontier-themed [Classes] started becoming available, but at that point in their advancement, they were already well into the realm of the superhuman.

Until one day, a literal army of monsters arrived on their doorsteps.

***

No one had known what had happened, what had caused things, but somehow, monsters, [System] monsters, had appeared on the surface of Terra Nova and started swarming.

Honestly, it was something straight out of the worst-case “rampant autonomous summoning” scenario that sometimes got discussed on the History Channel.

They’d already called for help, obviously, but it had been a deliberate choice to not have a bunch of S-Rankers hanging around. This colony was meant to be a human, triumph, not the result of a bunch of gods made flesh reshaping the new world with a wave of their hands.

And now it was biting them in the ass.

People were worried that their FTL communicator, still in an experimental phase, would fail, but both Tanja and Viktoria had emergency beacons as a part of their bloodline, and they’d triggered those the instant things had started to go wrong. Several days ago.

… The only reason they were still alive was that the monsters were all at Tier 7 and below. Either whoever had summoned their “progenitors” didn’t have the mana for anything stronger, or the weaker monsters had been chosen because anything bigger would have been immediately noticed, and they’d have just evacuated to the orbiting colony vessel before anything reached them.

There was a rather easy win condition here, killing the originally summoned monsters would cut off the flow of reinforcements, but they could not spare the manpower, or power in general, to do so.

As it stood, the idea of using more standard people to colonize new worlds for the sake of “symbolism” had proved to have been rather abysmal.

Tanja’s wings opened up with a thought, then flicked forward without making her move a single inch, because she was not trying to fly. No, she was trying to unleash another hail of feathers turned blades, a dozen long knives that could cut through concrete like butter ripping apart several of the nearest hydra’s heads, then a blast of hellfire cauterized the injuries.

She’d been at this way too long, her wings were starting to look bald. The feathers did grow back, but not quickly enough to sustain this rate of fire.

And when the beast’s final head tried to bite her, she drove her blade through the bottom of its jaw and into its brain, then unleashed a blast of hellfire to obliterate the inside of its skull.

No real kill notification flashed in her vision, she’d turned them off days ago, but rather, she saw a small notification in the corner of her eye that basically boiled down to “kill confirmed.” She did not need to know what the monster was called or how much XP she’d gotten, but she did need to know her enemy was dead.

Now that the hydra was dead, Tanja looked around the battlefield. Most humans were still alive, although the number of people who were “alive again” instead was rather numerous. If it weren’t for the support of the twin valkyries, they likely would have already all died.

Yet most people were in rough shape. Near death. Unable to hold out for very long.

Spellfire rained down as Viktoria flew by overhead, discharging everything she’d spent the last five minutes imbuing her wings with.

Both of them had recently advanced to the 3rd Evolution, and thrown all their stockpiled XP into levelling their new legendary [Classes]. Viktoria had her [Indomitable Spellwing], while Tanja had gone in the near-opposite direction.

[Saintess of the Crimson Fields].

Healing and blood.

Not what she’d expected her 3rd Evolution to be, but it was what she’d been offered, one of three legendary options.

Still, plenty of fighters had one or two less combat-focused Evolutions under her belt, so it should be fine.

Tanja waved her hands and exerted the force of her [Bloody Retribution] over the mess the hydra had left behind, unleashing spears made of the toxic soup that was its sorry excuse for blood and impaling half a dozen monsters that weren’t quite as tolerant of excruciating poison.

And then, she triggered her [Class’] Core [Skill], the only big one she had.

[Attack of the Dead Men].

A crimson mist washed out from her palm, spreading across the field, and sinking into any humans not at near-perfect health. Then, after a long moment, bloody tentacles lashed out and ripped pieces from the nearest corpses, removing anything their hosts were lacking, transplanting everything needed to restore them to perfect health while the physical manifestation of the [Skill] jumped to the nearby dead humans.

And then, it fixed those bodies with parts from dead monsters, creating Frankensteinian abominations that often just lay there, still dead.

But in many cases, they rose again, the spirits of the fallen not yet having left the earthly plane and taking the chance to avenge their deaths.

It was a gruesome [Skill], with an even more gruesome effect, she’d thrown up the first time she’d used it, yet it was effective. And it was not one she’d ever have unlocked through training in a million years. No, this was the ultimate culmination of the horror show this world had become. A mass-healing ability that compensated for insufficient mana by harvesting the available flesh carpeting the ground.

A stitched-together abomination rose from the center of the enemy horde, made almost entirely from monster pieces, and roared “Run! I’ll hold them off!”

The body was so badly ruined she had no idea who that had even been, but the intent was obvious. Whoever was piloting the abomination, they’d be distracting the monsters, and if everyone else ran … they might be able to get enough distance to establish a proper fortification.

Or abandoning the meager defenses of the village could get them all killed.

They took the chance anyway.

***

Tanja’s wings beat slowly as she hung above the source of it all, a land of blood broken summoning circles and shattered containment runes.

Though based on a ring of protective enchantments that surrounded a massive bloodstain, this had not been a trap. It had been some absolute fool lining up monsters to fight simultaneously, so they could likely get a better [Class], or something like that. She’d been tempted to try that herself in the past, but she hadn’t actually done it. For obvious reasons.

And in the middle of all, all the carnage were the monsters she was here to kill.

A Tier 5 Hydra, a Tier 7 Familiar of Iammax in the form of a crimson-clad demon knight, a True Terror Bird, Tier 6, and finally, a Manticore, also Tier 7.

The origins of the beasts that had nearly spelled doom to the colony.

So, what to do … a stealth attack could cripple the strongest target, but actually finish off the Hydra … yeah, that ball of snakes had to go.

Tanja furled her wings and dropped like a stone, then triggered [Air Strike] at the moment of impact, her wings re-manifesting in a single smooth motion that tore their metallic edges clean through the monster, carving it into several pieces, while completely preventing any and all damage she might have taken. The follow-up blast of bloodline-fuelled hellfire ensured that even if the initial burst of destruction had not been enough, the hydra would not rise again.

One down, three to go.

The disturbingly humanoid face of the manticore loomed before her, a lion’s mane falling around it while its bat wings seemed to blot out the sky and a spike-studded scorpion tail rose over the beast’s back.

[Blood Retribution]!

A hail of bloody needles tore up the monster’s face, obliterating its eyes and ripping apart everything else, though this was a Tier 7 monster, with at least 10 Levels on her. It survived.

When it unleashed a salvo of venomous lances as long as her forearm with a flick of its tail, Tanja interposed her wings while she leaped backwards. With a terrible metallic screeching sound, the projectiles penetrated, wedging themselves between her metal feathers but missing the only part of her wings that was actually flesh.

With a shrugging motion, she shed the toxin-dripping spikes from where they stuck, then launched herself back up into the skies … where she found herself having to let herself fall right back down to avoid a scything kick from the terror bird.

A two-meter tall prehistoric apex predator with a beak that could snap bones in half and clawed feet that could disembowel a person with a single kick, empowered to new heights by the [System].

But even though it would have fucked her up if it had hit, it was weaker than her. A single salvo of steel-shod feathers turned it into a pincushion. Even if it had managed to land properly after the impact, it would have died soon anyway.

Sadly, Tanja was now also rather exposed, and the demon had started unleashing bolts of solid, metallic, fire at her.

Cursing, she dove back down to put the manticore between them, only for the damn beast to lash out with its tail, which she blocked with her wings, again … only for the spikes to get stuck and when the tail was yanked back, she came along with it.

Biting back another avalanche of harsh language, Tanja let herself be hurled at the demon, which seemed to be just as surprised as she was. Or, at the very least, it wasn’t reacting in a timely fashion.

They both went down in a heap, and their close-range [Auras] clashed in a furious explosion of power, heat, and cursed energy meeting her wall of steel and cloud of floating shards even as their blades began to clash in a furious melee.

Tanja burned.

The demon was cut and cut again, until blood was leaking from every gap in its armor.

In the end, it was pure luck that decided it. Tanja noticed the manticore pouncing and her from behind and flung herself to the side, wings too damaged to fly from the previous collision, and the big lion-monster bowled over her previous foe, who didn’t get up. Apparently, it had already been so badly injured that getting knocked to the ground had left it unable to rise once more.

Wings rising limply over her shoulders, forming a primitive shield, sword in hand, Tanja stared down the blinded manticore.

Could she … yes she could. Enough blood had been spilled here, and some of it was hers.

[Crimson Sanctification] triggered, a wave of power washing out from her to stain the dirt red even where it had not been directly covered in the lifeblood of the living and the dead. Vitality flowed up into her even as the manticore seemed to stagger, restrained by the now-holy ground.

Once the already spilled blood was used up, the [Skill] would start draining her, but she should be able to finish this before then.

Sidestep another tail strike, blade to the joint between the last and second-to-last segment of the tail, yank sword back to avoid it getting ripped out of her hand, get headbutted by the monster and scramble back, retrieve arm from its maw before it had bite back … then launch yourself back into the beast’s face, and drive the sword into its eye up to the hilt.

Tanja grimaced and winced as she stared down at the row of lacerations the manticore’s teeth had left in her left forearm. That had been close.

A series of tremendous explosions rocking the world disrupted her contemplation, causing her to stare at the cataclysm happening in the distance.

Reinforcements. Judging by the distinct color of the flames, Isaac was here.

“You’re late, big brother,” Tanja smiled sadly. “We had to win this one ourselves.”

She sighed, and glanced at her wings. They were already fully restored, no need for extra healing spells. Time to fly over to the others.

***

In the end, the culprit was simultaneously identified and never found. And only in the world of the [System] did that statement make perfect sense.

It had been a company who had tried to buy the planet but been shot down due to the political and “image” implications of the first naturally inhabitable non-Earth planet being sold.

So they had found some of the younger, more impressionable members of the expedition and dripped poison into their ears, convincing them that they had it in them to grow powerful, and all they had to do was start summoning. A few tips and tricks for doing it in the dumbest possible way and the disaster that had wound up unfolding had been near-unavoidable.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

The action hadn’t even been illegal, despite the inherent immorality of indirectly getting people killed. In time, the culprit would have been found, and a while after that, there would have been consequences, considering just who had been embarrassed, hurt, or killed, but it had never gotten that far.

Because the Ghost had stepped in, murdered everyone directly involved, and erased them from history using an unknown [Skill] of immeasurable power. Some people still knew the names, those who had personally known the “victims,” but the information could not be shared in any way.

Records were erased, words snatched away by the wind, and even memories slowly began to erode under the relentless march of time, leaving the perpetrators to disappear into the abyss of history, joining the handful of others who had managed to offend the Ghost so badly that even their name did not survive.

Though, to be honest, Tanja didn’t care all that much about it either way. She’d found herself on Terra Nova, realized who she was, and decided where to go from here.

***

2077

Well, it had been five years since Isaac had gone off into outer space, and since then, she had hit Level 150 with her legendary 4th Evolution, and she was happy. Also busy, eternally pinging between medical work, training herself, and going Aspect hunting.

Because that was what had, at least as far as she could tell, given her her [Skysundering Blade].

Steel, air, and winged monster Aspects, all having come together to form a [Class] as deadly as her previous one had been … sanctifying? Holy? Blessed?

Anyway, that was the [Class] she’d been using for the last fifty Levels, and while it had been good, she wanted something that truly fit her for her 5th Evolution. Something that combined everything she was and wanted to be, a warrior and healer, a magical being that crossed the stars and seemingly came straight out of myth and legend.

A legendary [Class], of course, which she still had to earn. Because at the moment, she was still only being offered epic ones. But she’d only hit Level 150 literally an hour ago, which was why she was lying on the sandy shores of one of Olympus Mons’ massive lakes, looking like she’d just run two marathons back to back, utterly exhausted. Wings of brown, amber, and gold were splayed out to either side, having dug vast trenches through the beach when she’d unfurled them.

Yes, Tanja decided, she’d stay here for at least a week, only getting up for food, the bathroom, and to jump into the water. Though to be entirely honest with herself, she’d probably swear off the beach in a day or two, when enough sand had found itself into unfortunate places over time, and she’d eventually flee until she’d managed to scrub those memories from her brain, like she’d always done so far.

Wings had way too many spots grains of sand could eventually wind up in and start itching something fierce, but until things got that far, she’d stay right here.

It was funny. If this had still been the world of her childhood, she’d have either already long since had children, or had to get used to the idea that she’d never have any of her own.

Yet in the world she lived in, some would barely even consider her an adult, someone who’d only lived for a tiny fraction of her lifespan, who still had enough time to do, well, anything and everything she wanted.

The people who’d been adults when the [System] had initialized had struggled to adapt, but they’d adapted.

The children born after the initialization were doing just fine.

But to people like her, for whom their entire world had been transformed as they were learning what the world was like … the situation had been fucking weird. Still was, to be honest.

Tanja sighed and laid her head in the sand. With how philosophical she was getting, you’d have thought she was dru- …

Her phone rang.

If it was another person trying to congratulate her for reaching the peak of the 4th Evolution … well, she wouldn’t blow up at them, she’d be polite, but she’d have still been happier with peace, just peace.

With a sigh, Tanja rolled over and grabbed her phone from the drinks table. It was the SDC, the Summoning Disaster Commission, whose job it was to evaluate the safety of summoning practices and fix things if shit hit the fan. She, and most other people striving to reach the peak, had that number saved, but that was to get help. There was no reason for them to be calling. She certainly couldn’t remember having done anything even remotely worthy of their attention.

But it was vanishingly unlikely to be a butt dial or the like, and anything more general would have been sent out as a part of the newsletter. This had to be important.

“Tanja Thoma,” she picked up, not even bothering to hide the alarm and annoyance she was currently feeling in equal measure.

“Ms. Thoma, have you ever heard of the ‘Crucible’ Dungeon?” a generic, flat, voice that could just as likely been a machine as a human, asked.

“Urban legend, monstrous Dungeon that offers over-the-top threats and guarantees legendary [Classes]?”

“Well, someone built it, things predictably went wrong, and we can’t get in because the idiots who made it decided locking out anyone under or over Level 150 would increase the danger and make it easier to obtain high-rarity [Classes].”

“And you’re asking me to help … why exactly?” Tanja asked.

Granted, most people who hit Level 150 didn’t run out of the summoning room and fly across the grounds of Akashik Academy whooping with joy, the final threshold had the smallest number of people stuck at it, and those with her quality of [Classes] were still uncommon, even at those Levels, but how did that trail of logic end with “Tanja, go deal with that?”

“It’s complicated, but suffice it to say, we need someone capable of using resurrection magic who can defend themselves. Are you willing to help?”

Tanja didn’t bother to keep her sigh internal as she said “yes” and got directions to a point basically on the other side of Mars.

Well, there went her holiday.

***

Even from the air, Tanja could recognize half a dozen different S-Rankers, expert mages, and ten extremely distraught people who looked to be in their thirties or forties, paired up. The parents of those inside, most likely.

She landed next to Patrick, whom she had met only on occasion, but at least she knew him.

“Scheiße,” he muttered. Magic sparked against his fingers, though he ignored that in favor of turning to look up at her.

“Look, you’re going to get a whole spiel but basically, a guy bonded with a Dungeon Class, created one that is Level-locked to 150, and I can’t crack it before everyone currently alive is also dead. Also, only five people can be inside at any one moment, only one person’s died so far, and you can’t backtrack, so you have to clear it with whatever you have inside.”

“The healer’s the one who died?” Tanja guessed.

Patrick grimaced. “They literally forged a hundred-thousand layers of runic wards inside the dungeon stone. It’s all brute force, no finesse, and while I have a workaround, I have to break them one at a time.”

“When those wards go down, we’re destroying the Dungeon. That’s what we’re here for.”

Tanja turned to see an Asian man wrapped in heavy plate armor approach. Seon Yoo-jin, former Guildmaster of the Hunter’s Guild.

“I’ll understand if you don’t want to risk your life for the kinds of fools who are trapped in there. You’ve been called in because certain individuals have more pull than they should.”

He flashed a dirty look at the presumed parents, who only then seemed to notice her.

“I’ll offer you …” was all the closest man managed to get out before he found himself trying to talk around a chunk of ice that seemed to have manifested in his mouth of its own accord.

“How about this:” Tanja suggested. “Each and every single one gives a full explanation of every law you broke to make this Dungeon happen.”

And with that, she pulled out her phone and plopped herself down in the red dirt right then and there.

What she was actually doing was getting a rundown on what she’d face inside from Patrick via a Party. She wasn’t entirely sure if she’d be going in just yet, though she was pretty close to falling on the side of “screw it, let’s save them.”

Especially if it prevented a repeat performance. Having everyone involved publically dragged through the mud would hopefully make that happen.

So she continued to sit there, studiously ignoring the pleas, bribes, and threats being hurled her way. Honestly, she didn’t care about anyone’s influence. While she didn’t have any of her own, Isaac’s legacy largely insulated her from anyone who tried to go after her through extra-legal means.

Of course, if Isaac had been in her place, he’d likely already have run in and beaten the Dungeon in five seconds flat.

But she wasn’t Isaac. She’d be in serious danger if she tried this, and wouldn’t march in there for the benefit of a bunch of idiots who’d risked the lives of everyone in the area with a Dungeon that was functionally impossible to swiftly destroy if it went crazy.

That was when Guildmaster Seon walked back over.

“They accepted the deal. But you still don’t have to do this,” he advised her.

“But I’m going to,” Tanja replied after a long pause. Part of her continued to remind her how dangerous this was, and who she was risking it for, but another was reminding her just how bad she’d feel if she didn’t try. Wasn’t that what had made Isaac who he was, marching into whatever hell the world threw up to rip apart whatever fresh horror threatened lives? He might have played it off as “I’m just selfish, I gotta live on this planet too, you know” but he nevertheless had gone above and beyond numerous times.

“This’d better not turn into me becoming some kind of default rescue part,” she grumbled as she jumped to her feet.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Patrick stated flatly. “I’ll make sure that everysingle thing they ever offered you, they’ll actually have to produce.”

She snorted. “It’ll be interesting to see you pull that off.”

And with that, she marched up to the entrance of the dungeon and stopped just short of entering.

Did she really want to do something so monumentally self-destruc- … before she could talk herself out of it, Tanja took another step, going beyond the point of no return, her full regalia manifesting around her.

Black cloth covered in silver plates wrapped her, a helmet with black flames burning deep within its eyesockets took its place atop her head, and at her side, a Kriegsmesser appeared.

Legacy.

Isaac’s old sword, the one he’d eventually replaced with a literally legendary weapon, Balmung, from the old Germanic myths.

Behind her, the door slammed shut, closing itself with such violence she was sure she’d have been cut in half, had she not already been fully inside … though that was obviously why it had closed.

Wind magic swirled around Tanja, plucking feathers from her wings that turned into lethal blades the instant they lost contact with her skin, rapidly covering her in a layer of flashing blades seamlessly interwoven with her [Aura].

So, let’s see what this “Crucible” was like.

Slowly, she advanced through the corridor, directing metallic feathers to clear the area before her, bouncing off the floor to ensure there were no triggers there, and carving through the air to hack apart potential tripwires.

There were a few places where traps had already been triggered, but that was all. She certainly didn’t trigger anything.

Nothing really came of it, but she kept at it anyway … until she reached the first staircase and her feathers went straight through the first few stairs. As in, even though she could see them, they weren’t actually there. A normal fall wouldn’t endanger her, hitting the floor at terminal velocity would still leave her perfectly fine, but there could be anything down there.

Well, that was going to be a problem.

Tanja sighed, and started looking around for the actual path forward, except that didn’t exist, because of course it didn’t.

It was a straight shot from the entrance to the staircase that led deeper, no branching tunnels, no other paths to go.

Tanja hurled a few feathers deeper into the corridor to check if there were solid stairs deeper in, not until the staircase turned. And there wasn’t enough space for her to fly. Someone with a different means of flight would be able to still fly along, but she doubted the dungeon would have been designed so that it could only be solved with a very specific kind of [Skill]. Though if it had been, the only way to do this was going to end was with her waiting until the S-Rankers outside busted down the walls.

Which would be a rather pathetic end to this whole affair, wouldn’t it?

No, there had to be a trick here, a solution, something she’d missed.

So … when in doubt, try everything.

A single beat of her wings unleashed a barrage of blade-feathers into the stairway’s entry. Most just went through the floor, bounced off the ceiling, or struck the bend found a hundred meters down the stairs.

But some, well, they went through the wall.

Well, that had been easy. If it wasn’t a trap, that was. A thorough round of prodding with a long stick she’d taken from her inventory hit a hidden switch and deactivated the illusion cloaking the wall.

Tanja went down the newly revealed staircase, though she never let up the prodding, until after what felt like thousands of steps, she emerged into a large cavern. Big enough for her to fly, too big for trap-triggers to have been strung throughout the open air.

Her wings unfurled fully with a satisfying “crack” of displaced air, then launched herself toward the stony sky.

Beneath Tanja, a vast expanse of stone fell away, dotted with small rock houses and a single, massive ziggurat filling the space. There were a few bloodstains, some damage to the city, sure. But other than that, it was empty. Quiet like a tomb.

… until a freaking dragon detached from the ceiling and launched itself at her, red-black scales covering it from snout to tail, baleful energy streaming off it in waves.

It didn’t look particularly agile, more of a heavy bomber than a fighter jet, but she’d treat it with respect and caution all the same.

Dark flames, akin to hellfire but somehow even more malevolent, boiled from the beast’s maw as it hurled itself at her, creating a massive streak of flame through the air, almost as though it was a meteor raining down onto an unsuspecting Earth.

A single flap of her wings took Tanja out of the monster’s path but not its wake, a massive shockwave that covered a full quarter of the cave’s width and slammed into her like a battering ram, sending her tumbling ass over teakettle until she managed to stabilize herself, almost a hundred meters back.

So, not a pushover. In fact, between its size and powers, she’d compare it more to a [Raid Boss] than a regular dungeon monster. She just hoped it didn’t have the same kind of raw durability they did.

Tanja followed the monster with her eyes, tightening her grip on Legacy’s hilt. It drew a loooooong circle as it turned back around, its sheer momentum apparently rather hard to bleed off.

It was powerful but slow, which should have allowed her to dance around it with ease. In theory.

Because that thing’s wake would always be there, ready to knock her for a loop, with the best way through likely being a head-on collision that would still hit her like a truck and slow her momentum, leaving her right in front of the beast’s open snout.

But it wouldn’t throw her to the side … as long as she survived.

Yeah, that wouldn’t fly. Tanja flew backwards as the monster came in for another attack run, trying to make sure she’d have as much time as possible to spot a weakness.

Yet as she watched, it seemed to be gathering momentum, steadily growing faster and while she was still more than able to dodge, the wake slammed into her with so much force it came within mere meters of actually slamming her into the nearby wall.

And just like that, she had her in. If the shockwave got stronger at faster speeds, that would indicate that it got weaker at slower ones, right?

So Tanja made the sane choice and started chasing the giant murder lizard. By the time she’d managed to catch up, it was already done turning. A flap of her wings carried her over its gnashing jaws and into the ceiling. Which she immediately kicked off of and slammed into the monster’s back, sword-first.

Legacy’s tip slammed into a gap between scales, but it penetrated only a couple of centimeters, barely enough to reach the flesh below.

That was when the dragon’s wings reached the apex of their motion and descended again, making its body jerk upwards and nearly slammed her sword’s hilt into Tanja’s gut as she staggered. Though hastily banishing the blade turned that into a mere stumble, rather than an embarrassing and painful injury. Instead, she just tumbled off its back and had to dive to avoid getting smacked by its tail.

Wow.

That thing was going to be a pain, wasn’t it?

Tanja started chasing the dragon, and managed to land a couple more blows, but none of them were any more successful. Even when heavily empowered with Strike-type [Skills], the monster was just way too tough, and going for weak points wasn’t working either.

The shockwave that traveled along with it made attacking from the side hard, going at it from behind was only possible by approaching straight on to avoid the wind created by its wings, leaving her open to the tail, and attacking it head-on risked encountering its teeth or flame.

As she flashed past yet again, Tanja cast [Bloody Retribution] to command the blood pooling around its scales to rip and tear.

The dragon’s roar of pain shook the entire cavern as scales and the skin it was attached to went flying, bloody rain following soon after, painting the ground red. It had worked, but also cost far too much mana. And while the flesh below was obviously weaker, she wasn’t sure if it was weaker enough to finish this in a reasonable amount of time, and if it would leave her with any mana in the tank later.

So she resorted to the nuclear options, and walked straight into the lion’s den. Or mouth, as it were.

Tanja waited until the dragon’s path had nearly reached the other wall before hurling herself after it, accelerating for all she was worth, and just as it was finished turning back to face her, triggered [Skypiercer] and the [The Rending Blade] simultaneously.

The former was a cooldown [Skill] that hurled her forward while cloaking her in a near-indestructible forcefield amusingly similar to what was protecting the dragon, and the latter, she could use as often as she wanted, it just drunk her mana more quickly than a Bavarian downed beer at the Oktoberfest.

Energy coiled around the tip of her sword, capable of ripping apart anything it struck, even if it would have traditionally been able to resist or ignore a blade’s impact, such as spellwork or things without an even remotely physical form. Oh, and it also left behind a trail of energy that hung in the air, ensuring that even after Tanja was done blasting clean through her enemy, any further movement would cut up its insides.

The dragon had opened its mouth and tried to spit fire at her, but it had been caught off-guard by her sudden increase in speed, and by the time she exploded out of its back a third of the way down its body, it was already falling out of the air, dying.

Which meant that despite the beast’s toughness, it wasn’t an actual [Raid Boss]. Because those particular fuckers could keep with injuries that would have put down a slasher movie villain a hundred times over.

As she watched the dragon’s corpse hit the ground, Tanja tried to puzzle out what exactly was going on here. Why was the dragon the only monster here? Hadn’t this area already been beaten? The damage to the city would have indicated so, yet the biggest threat, the creature this entire area seemed to have been designed around, it had still been alive, kicking, and a huge pain in the ass.

So had the original delvers just straight-up run past it? Wasn’t the entire fucking point of this to challenge yourself? Had they missed this thing, or just run from it?

Either way, the fact that she’d beaten it alone, albeit using a cooldown [Skill], told her that the people this Dungeon had been built for had absolutely no business being inside it.

Actually, considering the large scorch marks she could see from up here, the dragon had fought at least one thing before she’d shown up, and only one group had delved inside before now … Tanja swore under her breath.

Typical.

Though then again, these people had created, or at least benefited, from a Dungeon that had practically been designed to be a problem, locking out the vast majority of humanity, including those who normally cleaned up issues such as a Dungeon Core creating eldritch horrors or plague monsters.

The “Crucible” was interesting in theory, but in practice, there were way, way, waaaaaay too many issues that could arise, issues that could then easily spiral into near-apocalyptic disasters.

But she wasn’t here to fight, she was here to find the idiots who’d tried to delve into this hellhole.

Tanja went looking for the way forward, and found I after only thirty seconds or so. It was a literal hole in the wall, which led to a corridor filled with spent traps … and a human corpse, burnt beyond recognition. Though a crushed skull was most likely the cause of death. The healer, most likely.

They hadn’t even bothered to take their friend’s body. Wow … yeah, they straight-up sucked. Why was she risking her life to save them again? Oh, right, because it had seemed like the right thing at the time. And because she’d blackmailed the parents into confessing all the shit that had gone into this, ensuring that a repeat performance would be much less likely to come about.

Using her feather-storm tactic for cleaning out the traps, Tanja advanced until she reached the end, then used her sword to open the door, wary of traps. Many Dungeons would have saferooms in places like this, but considering how dangerous this place was supposed to be, she doubted it would be anything close to that safe.

Nothing blew up, not in the traditional sense of the word.

“Are you all they sent?”

Tanja heard the man at the same time that she saw him. He was her age, white, had brown hair, blue eyes, and practically radiated “I am better than you” energy. Instead of responding verbally, she just raised a questioning eyebrow.

“You think you’re getting paid for having an attitude?”

Oh God … between a slightly damp collar and the wet trails on the man’s cheeks, it was obvious that he’d been crying, yet the instant reinforcements arrived, the moment it looked like things would be fine and the danger had passed, this was how they acted?

“For one, I’m not getting pa- …”

Tanja tried to explain, she really did, but was immediately faced with a barrage of questions. Some of them might even have been worth answering, but she didn’t hear them over the constant yelling of the asshole getting right in her face.

Deep breath in, deep breath out, think about it, really think, decide if you can live with the consequences … yeah, Tanja absolutely could.

She balled her right hand into a half-fist, leaving her middle and index finger extended, activated [Magic Blade] and [The Rending Blade] to wrap them in a mana-formed blade, and drove it into the bottom of the man’s jaw, up into his skull, a likely lethal attack even before she unleashed a short burst of hellfire that streamed from his mouth and nose.

Even as he toppled over like a felled tree, Tanja intoned “[Ressurection].” And by the time he hit the ground, he was already alive once more. Confused about why he was suddenly on the floor, but alive.

Shocked silence greeted her action. Finally.

Was that how Isaac would have done it? Probably not, but then again, she sincerely doubted Isaac would have found himself in a position like this either, he’d have prevented it from happening in the first place. Or had some kind of leverage to get them to keep their pieholes shut.

But it had worked, and had gotten her an opening. That was what mattered.

“Shut up, sit down, and listen. I’m here because, for some reason, I don’t want any of you to die, or at least not stay dead. That’s the job I decided to do because I’d like it that way, so don’t act like assholes. I’m here to replace the healer you got killed until the Dungeon gets busted open in a couple of days at the latest, and then, the S-Rankers waiting outside will come storming in and crush this place.

“Also, if keep being a pain in my ass until that happens, then I’ll kill you, bring you back after fifteen minutes so you don’t stay dead, and then kill you again. And I will keep that up until we’re out of here, because some of you look like you’d literally be less of a hassle if we have to drag your dead bodies along instead of having your quote-unquote ‘help.’

“So, are you going to be that kind of problem?”

Silence greeted her pronouncement, but it seemed to have landed nevertheless. Though it wouldn’t last, she knew that.

A while ago, Tanja had decided she was going to start reading the classics, or at least the “classics” of leadership. She’d read the Book of Five Rings before as part of learning swordsmanship, so she’d started with The Art of War, then followed it up with The Prince and gotten halfway through the absolute monstrosity Clausewitz had creatively titled “On War” before deciding that her time was better spent studying the sword.

But there was a sentiment that had stuck with her. Fear and love were both ways to lead, and while love was strong but fragile, capable of easily being lost, fear was an iron shackle, not good at provoking true support however perfectly passable at maintaining command.

The issue with ruling through fear lay elsewhere. Because when people feared you more than what you might do to them if they stepped out of line, when fear became true hatred from the bottom of their hearts, then you were fucked.

And that was exactly where her current actions would lead, they’d turn on her once they recovered their wits.

However, this was not a situation where she needed true support, she just needed to run out the clock.

If this was an actual saferoom, as some dungeons had them, that would be easy. But considering how difficult this Dungeon was supposed to be … and there was already an animated, draconic-looking, suit of armor kicking in the door.

This would get ugly.

“Alright, heads up!” Tanja yelled. “If you die in a stupid way, I’ll bring you back just so I can kick your ass myself!”

***

The end was extraordinarily anticlimactic. The entire Dungeon quaked, magical energy flickered and flared, and the very air seemed to scream as the S-Rankers outside tore their way in.

There was a series of rending explosions next, getting ever closer, while the temperature in their now-devastated “saferoom,” until finally, Guildmaster Seon poked his head into the door.

“You guys alright?” he asked, catching the looks the others were throwing Tanja and grinned. “Good job, Ms. Thoma.”

Then, he turned to the others, grinning wolfishly.

“Enjoy the next ten minutes, that’s how long we’ll take to clear this place. Then, we’re going to figure out just how much of this is your fault.”

Tanja could hear the savage glee in his voice. As angry as he’d been outside, as happy he was to finally have the situation resolved.

She stayed put in the trashed “safe” room, covered in blood, guts, and armor fragments, enjoying the sheer discomfort of these brats.

The Guildmaster and Patrick came back four minutes later, with the mage looking just as he had outside, while the tank was covered in soot but completely unharmed otherwise. The sheer ludicrous power of the fifth Evolution at work.

Tanja hopped to her feet and practically skipped out of the Dungeon, while Patrick had to point out that the entire cavern system was soon going to cave in to get the idiot brigade to move.

Once she was outside, though, it didn’t take long for the last twenty hours to catch up to her, and Tanja just let herself flop down on a nearby camping chair. She’d done it. Granted, she’d made more than a few enemies, and she could feel the angry glares from both the idiot brigade and their parents, but she could live with that.

***

To her great shame, it took Tanja almost a month to think of looking at her [Class] Evolution options, though when she did, seeing what she did more than wiped away her bad feelings.

Chooser of the Slain (legendary)

Its name might be the literal translation of “Valkyrie,” but this Class is the truest essence of the power wielded by those ancient warriors.

The Choser of the Slain, quite literally, stands on the border between life and death, between this world and the next, and chooses who crosses it, who lives, who dies, and returns as an Einherjar to fight once more.

Through lethal swordplay, blood manipulation, and the outright wielding of death itself as a weapon, the holder of this Class can put her foes in the grave.

Through the very powers of life, through unparalleled knowledge of all things healing, the holder of this Class can deny the reaper not only for others but also herself.

Through the power of pure human spirit, you may grant great strength to the worthy you rip from the cold embrace of the grave, allowing them to evolve into stronger versions of their current race, or simply turning them into the very embodiment of martial power that is the Einherjar.

Whether it is taking lives on the battlefield, or saving them off it, this Class grants and/or enhances the Skills necessary for that.

A legendary [Class], not only in the sense of the [System’s] literal classifications, but it also made her an actual legend. A direct rebirth of an ancient being seen as being a direct conduit to the very gods themselves.

This was truly a [Class] she would be happy to carry into eternity.

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