THUD

 

He woke up with a start and was suddenly in a very familiar cavern. The metal circle on the ground told him exactly where he was, the [Great Mole]’s Boss Chamber. Izuku whipped around in the direction of the boss, reaching down to his waist for his sword, only to grab empty air.

 

Looking down, he found that his entire body below the neck was featureless and bright green and moving as if… Izuku could tell that it was made of Mana. Was he made of Mana right now? Was that even possible?

 

Had he died? Was he a ghost? Was this what the afterlife was like? Or was this something else completely? His panicked thoughts were interrupted when there was a thud behind him. He turned around to see the [Great Mole] sitting in front of him, its legs crossed, and its eyes staring at him.

 

He tried to say hello, or say anything, really, but found that no sound came out of his mouth. The [Great Mole] nodded to itself and spoke once again.

 

“My lord predicted as much. You may move in an area you have conquered, but speech is beyond your strength in this realm.”

 

Izuku was confused by a lot of things. The [Great Mole] could talk?! It had a ‘Lord’?! Was he dead or not!?

 

“You can’t be here for very long yet, and my lord is busy with other tasks, so he wished for me to pass along his message.”

 

The [Great Mole] scratched at its neck, a toothy grin spreading across its face as it leaned in closer. “[Water] and [Air], becoming more than the sum of their parts…”

 

The [Great Mole] paused before raising his head again, closing his eyes as he suddenly started to become transparent as he seemingly faded away, out of whatever kind of memory-dream-prophecy realm Izuku was in. 

 

“The [Storm] approaches, Izuku Midoriya, prepare yourself.”

Izuku woke up in the dark with a bit of a sore neck.

 

Shivering, he rubbed his hand through his hair. He had a vague feeling of… dread? As if a storm was on the horizon, lightning and thunder and all that bad stuff. He just couldn’t remember why he felt it.

 

Sitting up, he stretched out his neck, feeling the soreness go away after it clicked back into place. Sighing in relief, he moved to pat Sir Ratsudon, only to see that he wasn’t in the small box he was sleeping in.

 

Wait… a small box?

 

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and placed his hand up against the walls surrounding him, feeling the grain of the stone shooting directly upwards. Then all of a sudden, his memories clicked back tother through the fog of the sleepiness.

 

Using [Earthspike], he lowered the walls he had built around himself last night since he wasn’t able to get up to the roof like Rumi had, and felt really awkward about asking her to carry him up.

 

He was greeted by the sight of Rumi sitting on top of a pile of monsters, pinching off small parts of them and throwing them at Sir Ratsudon, who sat on a different, smaller pile of monsters.

 

“You’re finally up. While you were asleep I got us some coffee, so drink up. Might be a little cold though.”

 

Izuku raised up a [Earthspike] chair to sit next to her and held his hand up to her. “Sorry, I’m more of a Tea guy, coffee makes me jittery.”

 

Rumi shrugged, downing the mug of coffee in one go, and shaking her head afterwards. “Yikes, that’s bitter as fuck. Guess mine being hot helped with that. Oh shit, I forgot, your rat-thing fucking spazzed out earlier while fighting one of the smaller monsters.”

 

Izuku raised his eyebrow, looking over at Sir Ratsudon. “He… ‘spazzed out’? What does that even mean? What did it look like?”

 

Rumi sighed, turning to SIr Ratsudon and glaring at him. “You better show him, because I ain’t going to fucking try and imitate you.”

 

Izuku shook his head in surprise, blinking as Rumi directly addressed Sir Ratsudon. The spirit rat looked at her, before turning to him and sniffing, almost as if he was… “Sir Ratsudon, you can follow her orders as well while she’s a party member.”

 

Sir Ratsudon paused for a moment, getting to his feet and then shaking violently, a small glow coming off of him. Even more interesting to Izuku than the shaking and glowing, was the fact that Sir Ratsudon was visibly larger, now reaching up to his knee on all fours.

 

“Identify!”

 

“Sir Ratsudon” [2]

[A large, semi-corporeal rat, about the size of a dog]

[Can be used for scouting, and collecting small items]

Actions: [Bite: 2 Mana] [Burrow: 5 Stamina] [???]

Summon Cost: [18] Mana

Duration: N/A (Until dismissed)

HP: 40/40 | Mana: 26/30 | Stamina: 25/40 | XP: 150

 

“You levelled up!”

 

Sir Ratsudon spun in a circle, his little rat tail wagging wildly. Kneeling down, Izuku scratched the top of Sir Ratsudon’s head, and all down his sides, a grin on his face. He then remembered that Rumi was watching and stood up coughing. “Uh, yes, well done. Very good.”

 

Rumi laughed, hopping to her feet. “He grew suddenly like that at around 6 am, and suddenly… actually no, I’ll let you see it for yourself. Good timing, the monsters are starting to get fast enough that more are breaking through the defensive line. Not a lot more, but a few.”

 

She sighed, rolling her shoulders. “Still, none of them so far have been a challenge for me yet.”

 

Izuku smiled softly, wringing his hands together. “I mean, I don’t want to insult you, but… good. It’s better to be bored out of my mind than know that someone was getting hurt because I wasn’t strong enough.”

 

Rumi just stared at him for a moment, squinting at him, before shaking her head. “Sappy little shit, aren’t you? How are you still alive with a heart that bleeds that much?”

 

Izuku shrugged, his hand landing on the pommel of [Steelbringer]. “A mix of [Prodigy] and [Determined], I’d assume? I’m not sure. Either way, I’d rather be sappy than jaded.”

 

Rumi was about to say something else, when Sir Ratsudon let out a squeak that Izuku was able to hear, even across the courtyard, where he definitely shouldn’t have been able to. ‘Is it because Sir Ratsudon is a summon?’

 

“Something is coming!”

 

Rumi laughed, nodding. “Yea, kid, I know. I can smell ‘em. But that rat of yours is a good early-warning system for your level, I’ll give you that!”

 

Rumi took a step back as Izuku drew [Steelbringer], Sir Ratsudon running to his side. Izuku took a deep breath as a lot of dust was kicked up from one of the nearby alleyways. Eventually, a [Poison Dart Frog] hopped into the courtyard, even larger than the ones from yesterday.

 

“Identify!”

 

Poison Dart Frog

[Water Incursion Creature]

Level: 11

A large frog capable of shooting out poisoned darts.

HP: 70/70 | Stamina: 150/150 | Mana: N/A

 

Izuku immediately had to roll out of the way of a sword-sized poison covered barb and started running towards the [Poison Dart Frog]. 

 

“Shield! Lunge!”

 

Izuku grinned as the world blurred, and he felt [Steelbringer] stab into the side of the monster. It screeched at him, trying to grab him with its tongue, but he jumped out of the way, slicing down at it.

 

[23] Damage Given!

 

He got a shallow cut in the tongue, and the frog ‘ribbited’ at him angrily, something he hadn’t thought possible before today. He ducked underneath another barb being shot out of the frog and dashed forward.

 

[8] Damage Given!

 

“Earthspike!”

 

The ground rumbled, and a pointed spike of rock shot up from the ground and into the frog’s side, digging deep into its rubbery body. The frog made a choked noise for a second as it was speared, before collapsing to its side, dead.

 

[42] Damage Given!

 

Congratulations!

You have defeated a Level 11 [Poison Dart Frog]!

100XP Gained!

 

He stood up straight as he scanned the area around him, reaching up and swiping away the XP gain notification. He didn’t hear Sir Ratsudon making any more noise so he guessed that there were no more monsters coming.

 

But his summon also hadn’t helped him fight…

 

Izuku turned around to see Sir Ratsudon sitting on top of a [Sea Newt] that definitely hadn’t been there before. Izuku saw the disturbed dirt nearby the body as well and sighed. “Did I miss him using his new ability?”

 

Rumi nodded, grinning. “Yep.”

 

“Damn.”

 

Unfortunately for their already bored minds, there were no more breakthroughs, meaning that they had nothing to do but wait for the rest of that day, getting another bowl of soup, and going through their sleeping shifts again.

 

And thus, the 2nd day of the [Water Incursion] ended.

There was somehow even less stuff to fight on the 3rd day of the [Water Incursion].

 

Rumi sighed deeply when Izuku asked her about it. “The [Incursion]s making stronger monsters as they progress is a blessing and a curse. The reason we didn’t see any for most of yesterday is probably that it swapped to creating [Elite]s already.”

 

Izuku hummed, frowning. “But wouldn’t stronger monsters have a better chance at breaking through into the town?”

 

Rumi shook her head, leaning back on the wall of the Dungeon Hall. “Nope. They might be stronger, but there are far fewer of them. The trash mobs you’ve fought only got through because of sheer numbers, not because the defenders weren’t strong enough to hold them back.”

 

Izuku squinted, his finger curling around his chin. “So basically, they might be stronger, but because theirs less of them, the defenders don’t have to cover such a large force, and can focus their strength, making for a technically easier fight?”

 

Rumi snapped her fingers. “Bingo.”

 

Izuku smiled, nodding to himself. “That sounds counterintuitive, but I guess it makes a little sense? The front-line defenders are most likely people who are definitely strong enough to fight the [Elite]s at the very least, but the swarms of easier targets would be harder just to keep track of them all.”

 

Sir Ratsudon squeaked his agreement, or maybe he just squeaked because he heard Izuku speak, and Izuku patted him on the head. Rumi sighed again, sliding down the wall until she was sitting next to Izuku and Sir Ratsudon.

 

“Honestly? I can’t wait until the [Pinnacle] monster comes. When it does, I’m going to go fight it.”

 

Izuku looked over at her in shock. “What? But I’ll need your help here! What if a [Greater Sea Serpent] gets through? I’m not sure I could fight one by myself!”

 

Rumi just looked at him with her eyebrow raised. “Did you not read that book of yours enough? When the [Pinnacle] monster exists, no other Incursion monsters will. So you’ll be fine. Maybe I’ll bring you along so you can see a true pro at work!”

 

Izuku grinned at the offer, no longer worried about having to fight aline due to her explanation. “You’d let me?! I would be honoured!”

 

Rumi shook her head, before reaching up and pulling his [Mantle of the Duke] off, inspecting the top of his head. “Huh, with that dopey excitement thing you’ve got going on, I thought for sure you’d have some dog-kin in you. But you don’t even have the ears for it.”

 

Izuku just shrugged, tugging the [Mantle of the Duke] back on. “I wouldn’t know if I had any, either way, to be honest. Maybe I do have a dog-kin ancestor?”

 

Izuku could tell that Rumi was able to read through the lines, and he could see the appraising look, the one she had given him when she had learned of his solo dungeoneering, return to her face. 

 

She didn’t say anything, only offering him a sharp nod before turning and watching the town square again, but Izuku smiled anyway, glad not to have to go through a long-winded explanation. 

 

They only had to fight one other creature that day, a [Greater Sea Serpent], but Rumi almost immediately squashed it to bits out of sheer boredom. 

 

Night fell, illuminating the sky above the outer wall once again with spells and magic, and they once more performed their sleeping shifts. Sir Ratsudon didn’t need to sleep and was therefore both of their ‘backup’ during their shift. But because nothing got through, Izuku’s sleep was uninterrupted. But it wasn’t peaceful. 

 

The feeling of dread he had all day, the storm rolling around in the back of his head, setting off his anxiety… only grew larger and larger while he slept.