The World of Jova. Here, in a small nation and, in an even smaller village, a deadly battle was unfolding. The local adventurers and the adventurers from nearby villagers had banded together to fight the waves of monsters pouring out from the Ancient Lord's Forest.

What should have been a tragedy--one where an innocent town was overrun by monsters--was averted. The one responsible was one, Gwenybell Ortergs--the fledgling Hero of Jova. She, a young woman of auburn hair and of humble origins, had been plagued by visions for a month earlier. Initially, she ignored those visions, but they had become unbearable some sixteen days before the battle.

She petitioned the local adventurers. 

"Something terrible is coming!" she would say. 

They, however, laughed at her, disregarding her as some crazy chicken rearer. Their small village? Targeted by monsters? It was unheard of. The worst the adventurers in those parts had to deal with were bears and frenzied goats. The adventurers of this village were ones that traveled far if they wanted to experience true danger.

Yet, Gwenybell did not give up. She went out of her way to protest and yell at the Guildmaster's door. Upon being harshly reprimanded, she went into the Ancient Lord's Forest, intending to find proof of her visions.

It was a foolish choice, but thankfully, she had made sure that many knew she would be going to the forest. The adventurers, while dismissive, were not monsters. They appreciated that her mother's family provided them with fresh eggs, and many owed Gwenybell's grandmother. Because of this pre-existing relationship, a few followed her into the forest, intending to stop her.

"It was like she had walked this forest her entire life," some of the adventurers had said.

When they pursued her, they found it to be as difficult as pursuing a fleeing rabbit. The young woman was elegant and ran with purpose as if guided by an invisible force.

She led them to what she was sure was the source of her visions--a lake polluted purple by strange miasma. The adventurers that witnessed the scene--at that moment, their doubts evaporated.

And that was how Gwenybell and the adventurers managed to rally their forces together. Something was occurring, and Gwenybell might have been the oracle that afforded them some warning. With her warnings leading them, they bolstered the village's defenses, choosing to hold the majority of the battle on the open fields between the village and the forest.

When the prophesied day came, vile, sludge-covered monsters poured out of the forest from all sides a few hours before dusk. Goblins, imps, bats, floating eyeballs, snapping turtles, sludge-flinging monkeys--all manners of monsters, both annoying and deadly, had appeared.

The adventurers, villagers, and Gwenybell herself greeted them on their trap-laden fields.

 

***

 

It was now late into the night, two hours past midnight to be exact, and the outpour of monsters was finally waning. Unfortunately, however, the air--it was tense. Gwenybell--she did not yet breathe easy. No, this young woman felt a profane stirring within the forest.

"Gwen? Why are you still looking at the forest? Do you sense something?" asked the sultry spellcaster, Nixim. Slim-fitting robes and with a black witch's hat covering her white hair, this adventurer had taken down 132 monsters thus far with her potent fire magic.

"Is there something coming, lass?" asked the burly old man stepping on the head of a goblin, Goff. He, a man wearing only armored trousers and a sash across his chest, was a beacon of strength. He had defeated 189 monsters, proving just why he was regarded as the "Wall of the West."

These two stood mere steps away from the distracted Gwenybell, and were intent on listening to her--their oracle.

"Something's coming," Gwenybell said. "This is it--the thing hurting the forest... The thing that should not exist."

"Is it the source of the miasma?" Nixim asked.

Goff looked over his shoulder at the battlefield. "There are not many of us that can continue the fight... We may have to hold it here... Friends... if you cannot fight, do not hesitate to run and regroup. I and this body of mine will cover you."

"No," Gweybell said. "We have to end this here. The longer this thing exists, the more we lose... That's what my senses are telling me."

The ground started shaking--the three could now feel it. Something was coming--Gwenybell was proven correct once more.

A strange substance--a sticky, smokey, and dark substance began leaking out from the forest.

"Miasma," Nixim said, already preparing her Holy-aligned spells. "The creature it precedes must be on another level."

That creature finally appeared. A large, hulking mass--it lumbered out of the forest.

A malefic tortoise--was there any other way of describing it? It had a large, black shell, was on four large black legs, with its head tucked within the shell but its yellow eyes glowing. Miasma was flowing out of its shell, but what made this particular creature worthy of the malefic tag were the black flames pouring from its backside like a furry tail.

"I can't say I've ever laid eyes on something like that... Those flames feel ominous."

"Hmm, must be ignited miasma... That's a new one," Nixim followed. "Hey, Goff. Take this gift without complaints."

Nixim pointed her silver staff at Goff, and a mote of light flew to him. A golden aura enveloped him and shined for a few seconds before fading.

"You make sure to clobber that thing."

"Much obliged, Nixim!" Goff shouted before sprinting toward the enemy.

Nixim glanced at Gwenybell. "That aura will protect him for ten minutes."

Goff roared as he waved his slab of iron in the shape of a greatsword. He adjusted his grip and slammed the side of that mass into the tortoise, hoping to knock it a little off its feet. That tortoise, its legs like trunks, stayed firm.

"Heh! Big one!" Goff roared as a cloud of miasma blew out from the tortoise's shell.

The moment it engulfed Goff, Nixim's magic reacted. The miasma fizzled out as the golden light countered it.

"I can't let this pass!" Goff said as every muscle on his body bulged. His grip on his sword the tightest it had been so far; he swung his sword toward the tortoise and whipped up a small windstorm. The wind blew the miasma back onto the tortoise and prevented the tortoise from moving forward.

Then, balls of light flew past Goff along with crossbow bolts. They hit the tortoise's body, with many ball of light slipping into the shell and hitting the head hidden within.

A rumble echoed from within the shell.

"Here it comes!" Goff yelled, his smile wide, and his body moving toward the shell's opening.

The tortoise's head sprang out from the shell--a dry and thin tortoise's head on an equally as decrypt neck. Its eyes were shut with trails of blood leaking from them, and black veins spread from a strange black jewel in its forehead. It looked even more wrinkly than expected--like it was so ill, it could die any moment. Miasma leaked from its mouth as its stretched throat twitched. Nixim squinted--she was sure she saw dim cinders mixed in with the miasma.

"Goff! It's charging something!"

"No, it's not!"

Goff roared as a bright white light consumed his sword.

"Back off, beastie!"

He slashed the tortoise's head. The moment his slab of iron connected, it didn't cut through it--the magic surrounding the sword burst. The head was kicked back by the blast, the tortoise groaning while Goff experienced a similar recoil.

"Head Burster wasn't able to sink in too deep, but it should have rattled that noggin of yours, 'ey, beastie?"

Goff's question was answered by the tortoise withdrawing its head, its attack interrupted.

"Don't let up, Goff!" Nixim screamed, holy light coalescing around her.

"Aye!"

Goff was going to drive his sword into the shell's opening but then, a black fireball flew out from the ignited miasma and struck Goff in the chest, taking him by surprise.

"Gah!" he screamed. "That pain--" He stumbled back, cutting himself off. "I've never--"

"GOFF!"

More fireballs hit him, each exploding on contact, each hurting, and each pushing him back further and further. One could barely hear his screams over the explosions of fire and miasma.

Nixim, sweating, twirled her staff and charged up a new Holy spell. Finally, with the tip of her staff shining its brightest, she aimed and fired a large beam of golden light at the tortoise. It interrupted the fireballs as the light completely enveloped the enemy.

Ten seconds--that was how long Nixim's beam lasted. Once the light waned, the combatants could see that the tortoise had tucked its limbs into its shell. Not only that, but the ignited miasma was no more--

"Hold on!" Nixim screamed.

The black flames blew out from its behind once more.

"Round 2!" Nixim screamed as she prepared another holy spell.

Then, the flames changed form. They rose a few feet higher and adopted a serpentine silhouette, much to the horror of the onlookers.

"Miss Nixim..." Gwenybell muttered. "Is that still miasma?"

The serpent of black flames hissed, the details of its mouth, fangs, and tongue forming.

"I--I don't know--"

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE!" Goff roared as he got on one knee, the rest of his body leaning on the sword he had driven into the ground. "There's nothing but bloodlust in that thing!"

The serpent let out an air-shaking hiss. The tortoise's body glowed black and then, with a whip of the serpent's head--like it was sending a warning shot--the black aura was released as a large pulse.

The wave traveled toward the three combatants quickly, and struck all three of them, sending an unimaginably deep pain into their bodies.

Nixim's eyes rolled into the back of her head as she was blown back, wailing.

Goff, having experienced the pain moments earlier, tried to resist, but he too was blown back.

"No!"

Gwenybell tried to stay upright as the pulse pushed her back. The attack--it didn't make sense. She felt she could stand up to it. She felt that it wasn't a matter of her body being strong or her armor being durable--the attack was clashing with something else.

I'm not enough.

The moment that thought creeped in, she felt the pain reach deeper. She lost. She knew she lost. The attack resolved itself and she was blown back by the pulse. She hit the ground harder than the other, propelled by what could have been described as an imaginary force. Even so, with her forehead bleeding and her body screaming from within its deepest reaches, she got on her feet while the other two stayed down.

"NO!"

She aimed her crossbow and started firing at the tortoise. Many of her bolts fell short, and the ones that connected only hit the shell.

The tortoise's legs were back out, and its could be seen within the darkness of the shell. It saw Gwenybell. It saw that gnat approaching. It lifted its lef and slammed it down, sending an earth-rending wave of seismic force at the girl.

She gritted her teeth as the ground beneath her feet sunk and then an invisible force shot out, displacing earth and sending her into the air.

She cursed her weakness as she fell onto her back, bounced, and landed on her chest and chin.

"Not yet..."

Something within her told her to still stand. She tightened her grip around whatever that force within her was, and she got on her knees, blood dripping onto the soil below. She lifted her gaze.

"Not yet--"

Her voice then stopped. Gwenybell saw something that made her question her sanity. A nun was running across the field and toward the malefic tortoise.

"Hey!" Gwenybell cried. "Don't go there--"

The malefic tortoise roared as it brought its head back out. Under the gaze of the serpent growing from its backside, it shot a beam of miasma and some black flame at Gwenybell. The young woman winced and shut her eyes out of reflex.

A beam of smoky magic, one as voluminous as the malefic tortoise's, flew over Gwenybell's head from behind her and crashed into the miasma.

Gwenybell opened her eyes and yelped as two disembodied hands flew in from the side and dragged her along the ground and to the feet of the one firing the smoky magic. The girl with determination to spare now dragged to safety; the savior stopped pouring out magic and let the miasma beam strike the ground.

Gwenybell's eyes were wide, conveying all the shock in her heart. "W-Who are you?" she asked, her back on the ground and her eyes pointed toward the sky.

The savior, a woman with white hair and grey skin, looked down at Gwenybell and smirked. "We're the Auxiliary forces."

The two heard a loud smack, a monstrous yelp, and felt the ground shake a moment after.

Gwenybell quickly lifted her head and saw the malefic tortoise on its side and trying to get up, and the nun many feet away from it, jumping up and down with her staff in the air.

"We were helping with the small fry," the savior said. Gwenybell looked up at her. "We'll help with this big boy now."