Poisoned Rationality

The five of us snuck through the forest until we got to the edge of the clearing where the two huge monsters were fighting.

The orc was tall, getting close to three meters tall, with thick green skin and two large tusks coming out of its face. It wore a simple loincloth and wielded a large wooden stick.

The ogre put the orc to shame. It was over four meters tall, with tough greenish-brown skin and huge limbs with large claws at the end. It wore a similar loincloth, but it was a lot bigger.

The two beasts were swinging at each other wildly. The orc used both its fists and its club, while the ogre instead used only its hands, using its tough claws in place of a weapon.

We stopped at the edge of the clearing and waited.

Right as the orc landed a rather nasty punch on the ogre’s face, I nudged Sarya and nodded at her.

She activated her skill and launched forward, running in a vague circle around the edge of the clearing. Huge spines of bone shot from the ground, creating a large spiky fence.

Nat then activated a skill, and a dress of fire burst into existence around her body. As the flames calmed, she formed two fireballs in her hands and threw them at the orc and ogre.

The two beasts separated and roared in our direction. Ariana and Tyler leaped into the circle. Tyler slashed at the ogre with his sword, leaving a shallow cut along its forearm, while Ariana swung her blades in a rush, leaving several small cuts along the orc’s body as she twirled around it.

Sarya and I rushed into the fight as well. She stomped the ground, and red energy rushed forward, erupting into more bone spines that stabbed the legs and back of the two monsters.

I lunged forward and stabbed the orc, driving my blade deep into its side. It bellowed in pain, shaking its body. I jumped back, dodging a swing from its club.

With it distracted and facing me, Ariana jumped onto its back, driving two daggers into the back of its skull.

It shuddered and collapsed, convulsing.

Without pause, we turned to fight the ogre with the rest of our group.

Nat was launching fireballs at the towering beast, scorching its tough skin and singeing its hair. Tyler was taking a bunch of the hits from the beast, his armor deflecting the claws, while retaliating with swings of his sword.

Sarya was throwing her curveclaws, which sometimes sank into the ogre’s skin, but often bounced off.

“This isn’t working,” Nat called. “The dress gives me a fifty-percent buff to fire damage, and it’s doing nothing.”

“Shit,” I muttered. “Alright, I’m going to use my destructive skill.” Tyler, Sarya, and Ariana backed away, and I leaped forward. Calling forth my energy, I prepared my skill.

Inky black shot down my arm, covering my hand and coiling into a ball of energy. Tendrils whipped out randomly, lashing the air.

Right as the ogre took a step forward and swung its fist, I launched the spell.

The blast of energy shot forward, striking through the beast and into the forest. A huge shockwave shook the forest, and all five of us were blown backward.

Then silence.

The part of the forest that was hit with the blast was destroyed, with the remnants singed and covered with a dark aura.

“Holy shit,” Tyler said shakily. “You were not kidding.”

“Yeah,” I groaned, sitting up. “I wasn’t.”

We all got up and quickly vacated the area. We did not want to be nearby when people came searching for what happened.

After finding another clearing about ten minutes away, we rested.

“Now’s as good a time as any to show off our new skills,” Nat sighed. “I already used mine. It’s called [Dress of Fire] and gives me a dress made of fire that only burns enemies. When I have it active, it gives me a fifty-percent buff to fire damage and a fifty-percent decrease to the MP cost of fire spells. It lasts for a total of four hours, which only refreshes after the cooldown is completed when the four hours run out, or if the length of the cooldown passes between uses.”

“That’s really good,” Ariana told her. “Mine just lets me put poison on my claws or teeth.”

“Mine makes my sword apply [Burned] to enemies and hit with more force,” Tyler said. “Not that great either.”

“It’s pretty good, if you think about it,” Sarya hummed. “The more force you hit with, the more you’ll damage them.”

“What about yours?” Nat asked her.

“It’s the first one I used in our fight,” She replied. “I run and leave a trail of spines behind me.”

“That leaves you,” Ariana said, turning to me. “Show us!”

“Yeah, yeah,” I huffed, standing up. “It’s pretty useful.”

You ready? I asked Ria.

“Yep!” She replied.

I concentrated on the ability and pushed my energy into it.

There was a brief flash of disorientation before I was suddenly looking at myself standing next to me.

“Wow,” Ria said, shaking her head. “That was weird.”

“There are two of you!?” Ariana exclaimed, rushing up to us. “Who’s who?”

“I’m Nyx,” I said, raising my hand. “This is weird.”

“How does it work?” Nat asked.

“We both start at seventy-five percent of our regular power,” Ria replied.

“And over time, we drop down to fifty percent,” I continued. “When we’re in one body, that percentage goes back up, capping at seventy-five.”

“Neat,” Ariana grinned.

“Hold on a sec,” Tyler said. “Did anyone grab one of the orc’s ears for the quest?”

“I did,” Sarya told him, holding up her loot bag.

“Let’s go turn it in, then,” Nat suggested.

We all got up and headed back to town. Ria and I stopped using our ability, and Ria’s body dissolved into black dust before fading.

“If anyone asks if we saw anything related to the big sound, we should all say we saw nothing,” I told everyone. They all nodded in agreement.

“The orc’s body is still there, though,” Tyler pointed out.

“We’ll say that we defeated it, grabbed the ear, and headed back, and then heard a loud sound on our way back,” Ariana decided.

“Got it,” Nat said.

Once we made it back, we turned in the quest and split the coins before finding another table. It was a bit later, and by now there were a lot of other adventurers sitting inside.

“What’re we thinking now?” I asked. “When should we head to the next town?”

“I’d say in a week,” Nat replied. “Gives us more time to level, and potentially rank up.”

“I think we should also spend some time solo-leveling,” Tyler suggested. “Maybe we do that for the next eight days, do some rank-ups in the last two days, and then take an escort quest to the next town.”

“Sounds good,” I said.