August Intruder- Chapter 47- Rings of Saturn (Patreon)

Melmarc stared at the notification in front of him as he ran.

During the duration of the effect of [Knowledge is Power] a good number of the bugs had fallen from his leg. They were enough that he could now count the ones that remained as the pin-pricks started again with each step. But he did not.

He’d told himself he would pick [Rings of Saturn] because he’d realized how badly he needed an offensive skill, and he’d gotten [Rings of Saturn] as an alternate skill for his skill upgrade.

Just my luck.

The fact that he was still staring at it as he ran towards the trees said a lot about him. And the little he picked from it was that things were easier said than done.

Even now, in a precarious situation where he needed an attack skill, he was hesitating. An attack skill was staring straight at him, daring him to follow through on his declaration, and he was not.

His mind kept going to that single night. It was stupid, Ark was the one with the post traumatic stress disorder. The therapist that had attended to them had given him a clean bill of health. According to him, Melmarc’s only problem from the attack was the physical aspect of it. The scar.

So it made no sense. Was it some kind of mana effect?

For some reason that made zero sense. He’d never heard of a mana styled PTSD. How was it even going to work? Your mana shorted out when you had the experience?

Whatever it was, he couldn’t select the skill right now even if he wanted to.

The leg under attack from the bugs stepped on the ground and the pin-pricks doubled. Melmarc shook it on reflex. His hope was to shake off a few of the bugs. He had no luck there.

Behind him the [Damned] had slowed down. They’d ceased their chaotic jumping and speedy attacks. The distance between him and them was slowly rising again. It wasn’t rising as quickly as Melmarc would’ve liked, but it was rising. And he would take all the good he could get.

Including Rings of Saturn?

Melmarc had no answer to that question.

Gauging the distance between him and the trees, he had at least five minutes before he reached them. He was running at a speed faster than what he was capable of before he became Gifted, but it wasn’t enough.

He looked down at his leg, wondered if simple physical violence would suffice to rid him of the bugs. He’d crushed them not too long ago when he’d stepped on them, he was sure of that. But there was always the chance that crushing them had been possible because whatever they were doing to him had not been activated yet.

You could give it a try now, he told himself. There’s no harm in trying.

Melmarc moved his hand to smack them away and paused.

No harm in trying.

But there was. There was at least the possibility of harm in trying.

What happened if he smacked them, and rather than displacing them or killing them, they just attached themselves to his arm and continued whatever they were doing to his leg to his arm.

Another worry was at the fact that it wasn’t a skill. And Melmarc didn’t even know if it was even something normal. [Knowledge is Power] hadn’t detected any skill from them and it counted something as simple as taking videos with a phone as a skill.

He kept on running, the trees growing ever closer.

What if it’s something else?

[Knowledge is Power] hadn’t even detected them as living things. Countless as they were and as close as they were, it hadn’t detected them. The knowledge scared Melmarc more as he realized something new.

He hadn’t even known what they were until he had watched them fall from the [Damned]. What did that say? Was there a problem with his skill or was there something significantly wrong with the creatures?

He slowed down as he approached the trees. Running into them would not help him in any way if the [Damned] were not close to him. The purpose of the trees was so that he could lose them in it.

Entering without the creatures behind him was just going into danger. It would be a risk without a reward.

As he slowed down, his mind also slowed down. His frantic thoughts took a back seat to something calmer, less erratic.

The first thing he noticed was that the only red indicators around him were the ones on his leg. The second thing he noticed was that none of them had made their way to his second leg in all his running.

He tried to remember if he had been running at a normal pace or dragging his leg behind him. The answer came a moment too slow for his liking. He’d been running at a normal pace when [Knowledge is Power] was in effect, but had dwindled back to dragging his leg when it had ceased.

And I was still faster than before I became a Gifted.

Just how much boost was the skill giving him?

Melmarc was practically strolling now, keeping an eye on the [Damned]. Their eyes never left him. They continued to follow at a steady pace. Jerky but undeterred.

I could just run, he thought.

But where?

There was nothing but trees, meadows, some kind of park and the ruins. Everywhere was a possible problem. He could take a roundabout path back to the ruins, lead the [Damned] far enough that they would be too far from the ruins by the time he returned to it.

He looked down at his leg and realized he was misplacing his priorities. The [Damned] were not a real problem right now, these things were. These things his skill could not identify that were harming him in a way he did not know. Getting rid of them was the priority.

“But how?” he muttered.

Smacking them aside might put him in bigger trouble than he was already in. He’d tried shaking his leg and that did nothing at all. Maybe he could—

It’s good to think a lot, words Ark had once said to him slithered into his mind. You’ve got the brains for it so you should. But sometimes…

He still remembered how Ark had been standing on top of the school fence. Why he’d climbed it to begin with was something Melmarc never learned. According to Ark it was supposed to be a lesson but he forgot. The second lesson, however, he remembered.

Sometimes you just have to quiet the thoughts…

Melmarc looked down at his legs. “… And act.”

He slammed his hand into his leg, beating down on the critters frantically. He really hoped he wasn’t making a stupid decision as he struck at it and shook his pants leg violently.

Melmarc stopped after a while and looked at the outcome of his actions. There was good and bad.

The good news was that some of the critters had actually released his pants leg. The bad was that the ones that were not on his leg were now on his hand.

Shit, he groaned. Thanks a lot, Ark.

Funny enough, he could imagine Ark laughing at him in response. His brother would probably be saying something about how he should’ve used his big brain to figure out when to listen and just act and when not to.

There was another good news, though. While the slow sensation of pin-pricks was beginning to travel up his arm, the one on his leg was slowly reducing. It wasn’t as strong anymore. What made it a major good news was that he needed his legs once more.

Behind him the [Damned] had resumed their jumping death dance.

They know when I’m getting away?

Melmarc turned and ran into the trees.

…

Melmarc was barely three trees into the collage of trees when one of the [Damned] darted into the confines. It had a sickle for a hand. Before it could swing the sickle, its leap rammed it into a tree. The impact turned the thing askew and it fell to the ground.

To Melmarc’s surprise, falling didn’t stop it. In fact, right there, lying on the ground, its legs twisted up as if it was still in a jumping motion, then its body started twitching frantically.

Its sickle hand flashed about, sweeping around it. It cut through blades of grass and drew clean lines in the ground. The action was chaotic and dust rose slowly.

Melmarc hid himself behind a tree as the creature thrashed about. It was odd to watch. It was as if the creature was not even aware of the fact that it was no longer air borne. Another thing Melmarc noticed was just how sharp the sickle was. Either that, or every swing of its arm was vastly more powerful than Melmarc had thought in the beginning.

There was no point where it jerked, maybe hindered by how sturdy the ground was.

The other creatures leapt over it as they swarmed the forest.

Melmarc counted the red indicators as they entered. Their entry was chaotic, sweeps and blows, jumps and twirls. Some smacked into the trees and fell like their companions while others simply swept through the entire distance, avoiding all the trees without even trying.

Two bumped into each other, fell and simply stopped moving.

Melmarc held on to all the pieces of information as he waited behind the tree, watching. Ones they were all within the canopy of trees, he would make his exit out the side. But he knew now that he couldn’t lose them. At least not without getting rid of the bugs.

The moment he watched the last red indicator dash inside, Melmarc turned and ran to the side. He’d kept his wits about him, paid attention to the fastest route out.

[Knowledge is Power] would’ve told him exactly what was where in case there were also threats amongst the trees but he couldn’t risk using it yet. For all he knew, if there were threats, the skill would draw their attention to him.

And even if it didn’t, it would draw the attention of the [Damned] to him.

Melmarc frowned as he fled, the light of the world beyond the trees not too far from him.

I thought delving was about fighting and killing and coming back home.

He burst out of the trees, one hand and one foot stained with the same critters. But there was a new problem, their indicators were growing dim, fizzling out.

He wondered if it was a new aspect of [Knowledge is Power]. Maybe now that he’d hit level ten, the skill had added a new function.

No.

He couldn’t agree with that. Skills were understandable as mastery increased, but they did not get necessarily better until they were upgraded.

Maybe what he was experiencing was simply something he hadn’t paid attention to before. Maybe as the timer for the skill slowly elapsed, the indicators slowly dimmed into nonexistence.

Wouldn’t I have noticed that by now?

As reasonable as his own question was, he had a feeling he wouldn’t have. After all, he hadn’t noticed that he always knew all the buffs he got until Naymond pointed them out.

So much for big brains.

As he ran, increasing the distance between himself and the trees, he watched the dwindling red indicators continue to clash carelessly amongst the trees.

Watching them gave him an answer to one of his questions. Delving was about killing, fighting and going home. He was just the fool who had refused to accept an active attack skill.

He would’ve been more useful if he had a team, but he didn’t.

Delano was right. Fakers are useless without a team.

Melmarc kept his feet moving as fast as he could for as long as he could. After a few minutes of running without fatigue, [Knowledge is Power] finally gave out on him. He knew the moment it happened, his body was abruptly heavier, his speed dropped to human speed as well. He almost stumbled from the sudden shift in… everything but caught himself at the last minute.

When he did, he pushed himself into a steady jog.

Why did everything just… stop? Melmarc wondered.

It wasn’t an exaggeration. Everything had quite literally changed. It wasn’t just the speed. His lungs, he realized, were suddenly taking in less air than usual. He realized the air wasn’t so strong against his skin. It took another moment for him to realize something.

I can’t tell the direction of the wind.

That didn’t make sense. He’d known the direction of the wind but hadn’t even been aware of it until now. He hadn’t even been paying it any attention. But now that his skill had timed out, he was aware of all the things he had taken for granted. Like how he hadn’t gotten tired after running for so long.

Melmarc knew his stats, and even though [Knowledge is Power] gave him a stat boost, he didn’t have any stat he was aware of that increased things like lung capacity and the level of awareness he was discovering he’d gotten.

No, there was something for the awareness. That was [Perception].

It grated him how much he didn’t know of his own skills as he made a decision to head for hte ruins. Naymond had been a Delver once and Veebee had said he’d also entered the portal.

As a former Delver, he was sure Naymond would’ve also figured out that the answer to closing the portal and completing the quest would be towards the high and domineering castle all the way at the end of the horizon.

Melmarc spent a few more minutes going from a jog to a walk. Each time he checked behind him, made sure the [Damned] were not following him.

Whatever the critters were doing to him that was leaving him with a pin-prick sensation was at least not killing him… he hoped.

For now, he wasn’t feeling anything. He wasn’t getting tired faster than normal and he wasn’t feeling nauseous in any way. Whatever the critters were, it seemed all their purpose was directed towards was slowing down the prey or target.

Melmarc felt more like a prey than a target.

Even when he knew the [Damned] were somewhere in the distance too far from him to be harmful, he still felt like he was being hunted.

I don’t like feeling like prey.

Not for the first time, Melmarc thought of what had led him here and was angry. Naymond and Alfa had sent him on a mission he shouldn’t have been going on and now here he was.

It had been entirely irresponsible of them. He was just a child, sixteen was an interesting age but it still remained the age of a child. How had they thought this was going to pan out?

Still better than a bullet to the head.

Melmarc knew his words were supposed to console him but they did not. Without [Knowledge is Power] it would have ended up as a bullet to the head.

The thought sobered him terribly as he drew closer to a small ruin. It looked like a small room. Maybe a shop or something. There were no pillars inside, no hidden rooms or double floors. It was just a simple roofless, four cornered building with broken bricks and crumbling walls.

The room was too small for his liking. Anything could spot him and come for him too easily and too quickly. What he wanted was a room that was a little larger with enough obstacles that an attack from one of the [Damned] stood the chance of being stopped by a random pillar or something.

More importantly, now that the chaos was dwindling down, everything was dawning on Melmarc.

He had really almost died.

Avram had shot at him at point blank range. No one survived a gunshot wound of that level. His leg trembled under him and he knew it had nothing to do with the critters.

And what would’ve happened if he had died?

Would the police department have simply drafted an apology letter and handed them over to his parents?

And what would his parents have done? Ark would’ve definitely been a mess. Melmarc could count on Ark to cause problems. If not now, then in the future. With a class as terrifyingly named as [Demon Lord] and a literal demon by his side arguably as powerful as Dragon-knight’s dragon, he couldn’t see it going any other way.

Melmarc didn’t know when he stopped walking.

What of Ninra, and his parents? What of uncle Dorthna?

What of Delano and Eroms?

They were his only friends, and he was theirs. They would be devastated. Delano would flood the dark web with all the conspiracy theories he could think of.

But Melmarc wouldn’t know. Because he’d be dead.

And what would they say killed him? What would’ve been so grand that he was sacrificing himself?

To deliver half a brain, Melmarc thought absently.

A small tear ran down his right eye and he almost cleaned it with his critter-stained hand. He stopped himself on time.

Melmarc wasn’t sure what he was crying for. Was it from almost dying or for the people that would be left behind to deal with his death?

He wiped his tear with his free hand, unsure.

One thing he was sure of in all the sadness and reality, was that he was angry at Alfa and Naymond.

They were the reason he was in this mess, alone and helpless, capable of nothing but running.

Melmarc let out a sigh. Who was he kidding, he was angry with himself, too.

Ultimately, despite everything they’d said, he might not have said yes or no, but he didn’t fight the decision. He had taken the decoy phone and made his way into the same car as the conniving sonofa—

Melmarc paused.

That had come out of nowhere. Well, not nowhere, but he never remembered ever being this vindictive about a person. Not even the few bullies he’d experienced growing up had made him this angry.

Well none of them gave you a sob story about trying to be better before selling you out to a guy with a gun that deals in human brains.

Melmarc made a promise to himself as he resumed walking. If he ever got out of the portal, surviving being chased by farm implement wielding monsters, he would find every way in his power to make David Swan pay.

It was even more annoying to know that the bastard shared the same name with his dad.

And if the police refused to help, Alfa and Naymond included, then he would know that they were terrible people, through and true. It didn’t matter what excuses they would give.

But even if they did, then he would be the vindictive child. He would talk to his parents. They were government Delvers and they had gone on a very large number of missions. They also knew a Delver with the ability to recreate their house just the way it had been before it had been destroyed.

Certainly they would know someone or someone that knew someone that was connected enough to track down David Swan, right?

Even low ranking non-Gifted government workers knew someone. And uncle Dorthna had said they somehow knew Dragon-Knight so that had to be something. Unimportant people didn’t just know Dragon-knight.

Melmarc didn't like what Naymond, Alfa and David were doing to him. He knew there were people in the world that couldn't be trusted, but this was different.

At this rate he was going to distrust people on default.

He didn't want to be that kind of person. He wanted to be a realist not a pessimist.

As Melmarc walked, checking around him for any sign of the [Damned], new worries filled his head. He’d gotten his class, registered his class, and started his mentee program. And none of his parents had been around for it.

I really hope they are alright.

It was almost an hour later when Melmarc found a convenient place. He’d gone through three ruined buildings, used [Knowledge is Power] three times and was already having a slow growing headache and had failed to get rid of the critters.

One of the buildings had [Damned] in them and Melmarc was more than careful to avoid the red indicators that filled the ground when he saw them. There was nothing he needed to study about them so the first thing he’d done once he’d learned of their presence was run.

He’d tried getting rid of the critters during one of his uses of [Knowledge is Power] and, unfortunately, there were disadvantages to being unable to damage or be damaged.

His only reprieve was in the fact that the creature simply clung to him and didn’t move.

It was night when he finally found a building that met his criteria. When he did, he crawled into a small corner where two walls met and put his back to it. The building had a mess work of rubbles around it that would hinder movement a lot so that would slow down anything that had the disadvantage of coming in. So far it seemed the ruins only had the [Damned] for monsters, and from what he’d learned of them, they weren’t intelligent enough to sneak up on him.

In a building like this, he would hear them from a mile away, figuratively speaking.

His eyes were heavy as he settled into his small corner. He wasn’t sure if it was because it was actually night time and his body was responding to his normal sleep cycle or if it was just the effect of it being night in the portal.

Melmarc spent another paranoid hour trying to keep himself awake, failing horribly. In the end, he came to the conclusion that sleep was inevitable.

It didn’t matter what he did, he would eventually sleep off. The least he could do was sleep intentionally. There would be too much panic from suddenly coming awake after sleeping without knowing when.

But there was one last thing he needed to do before falling asleep.

Melmarc called up his interface.

[Rings of Saturn]

The Gifted wraps a ring of pure raw mana around they’re body and can attack with it.

As much as he would’ve loved to think about it, there was nothing to think about. He’d been offered the skill once before and he’d been stubborn about it. Now, he didn’t really have a choice.

It was funny when he thought about it. Now that he knew for certain that the interface wasn’t just a personal thing and that it was far beyond just him and the Gifted, it felt as if the world was trying to push the skill on him.

It had given him a choice once before, giving him options, and he had refused it. Now it was giving it to him without a choice.

Well… It was giving him a choice, but it wasn’t really worth calling a choice. It was like being thrown onto a battlefield and being given the options of a gun or a blanket.

You could choose the blanket but…

It was hard to imagine anyone choosing the blanket.

Melmarc sighed. Some things, it turned out, were inevitable.

He positioned himself to sleep, made certain that his critter-stained limbs were on the same side. Luckily, they were. Left hand and left leg.

He would probably move around in his sleep and stain his whole body, but that wasn’t enough reason to not be cautious.

When he was done, he attended to what he wished he hadn’t needed to attend to.

[Would you like to choose Rings of Saturn? You will not be able to renege on this decision.]

[Yes/No].

Melmarc didn’t like this one bit. Couldn’t you have offered me Fist of Thunder again, instead?

True to form, he got no answer.

Yes.

Rings of Saturn (Mastery 02.00%)

While skill is in effect you cannot use any other skill.

Conclusion of skill will release lock on other skills.

Four blasts before every cooldown will be available.

+10% damage increase for consecutive successful hits.

Skill perks:

Strength +3 Balance +5 Dexterity +3 Mana +4 Agility +2 Balance +1 Accuracy +3

…

[You have selected skill Rings of Saturn. This has been permanently added to your skill list.]

Stat increase detected.

Agility +2-4 Balance +1-6 Mental +3 Mana +1-5.

…

Stats

Agility +4 Balance +6 Mental +3 Mana +5 Strength +3 Dexterity +3 Accuracy +3

Melmarc looked at his stats with groggy eyes and a small smile touched his lips. They were beginning to look like the stats of a Delver and not the simple [Faker] that he was.

That night, he slept uncomfortably.