August Intruder- Chapter 59- All Good? (Patreon)

The soft breeze blew against his skin as he ran, ruffling his hair.

It was a strange sensation to feel the way he felt right now as Melmarc ran down the meadow. He’d been talking to Naymond one moment and the next moment Naymond was pointing out the sounds of gunshot which implied the existence of humans.

Then he’d just moved., gone through the window and was on his way.

Melmarc knew what had happened, it was just strange. He’d thought of saving the people that were around, his mind had focused deeply on it even as he considered a lot of things like if Naymond had perhaps met Veebee.

Then his body had chosen the one thing he could act on, his mind had elevated the priority status of saving the Delvers. Both mind and body had agreed that it was something they could do and had acted in unison.

And despite how funny the idea of him saving Delvers was, it made complete sense to him that he could do it. This wasn’t some misguided need to be useful like what had happened back in the mansion on their school trip. This was different.

Melmarc’s body knew it could help on account of having fought for days and knowing the enemy, at least more than the new Delvers. There was no incorrect assumption there. And his mind thought it could help on account of the fact that even if the creatures were too much for his body, he could always use his knowledge of the portal to help the Delvers.

That level of instantaneous logic wasn’t normal to Melmarc. He usually needed time to think things through, to figure things out.

As he moved, he felt his legs pick up speed until he was running in small leaps. He’d activated [Knowledge is Power] the moment he was out of the window and had selected [World of Insight].

The moment [Knowledge is Power] was off cool down, he would use it again. There was no such thing as too many points in stats.

Well… there actually was, but that mostly applied to focusing on too few stats, theoretically speaking.

The way stats worked, Melmarc had never heard of anyone losing their mind because of their stats. From what he knew, it was as if every skill gave the Gifted just the right amount of stat points in just the right stats to keep them growing more powerful while remaining sane.

After Melmarc’s second use of [Knowledge is Power] he could hear the gunshots loud and clear. His time in the portal had already let him know that the meadow was practically as large as a large town, which meant that there was a possibility that he would need to think about running the length of an entire town if he wanted to help the Delvers

Luckily, he didn’t. The gunshots didn’t sound too far away. If he kept his current pace with his tattered shoes, he could be there in fifteen minutes.

It also meant that if he could multi-task properly enough, he could get [Secrecy] down by the time he got to them.

Since it worked with raw mana like [Rings of Saturn] and its abilities read like an extension of the skill, Melmarc assumed the same processes would be needed to activate the skill.

Still, he tried activating it the way he would activate [Knowledge is Power] hoping to confirm something.

He thought about the skill and simply willed it to be. To his dismay, nothing happened.

It was sad to discover that any skill he gained from now on was a skill he wouldn’t only need to learn how to use but a skill he would also need to learn how to activate.

This is going to shave off time from my activation speed.

While other Gifted would simply will their skills to activation, he would have to meet certain criteria.

It was annoying but slightly understandable. But even as he considered all these things, there was a part of his mind that had a feeling that Naymond hadn’t told him anything.

Melmarc had learned that his parents’ title of Oath wasn’t a job position but an actual kind of designated rank like SS-rank and the others. He’d also learned that they were rare, and important.

If there was speculation that the first Gifted to walk the earth were Oaths and it was from their passed on traits, even if dormant, that other Gifted eventually gained skills and classes, then being an Oath had to be extremely rare…

Right?

In the processing of his thoughts on the matter, and on the possibility that he may or may not gain some traits of his parents, Melmarc raised his hand and twirled it.

If he succeeded in getting out of the Portal, he would need to have a talk with both parents. He needed to know what specifically traits were and what theirs were. Because [Optimum Existence] seemed to be implying that in only a matter of time, he would possess whatever traits they had.

Melmarc’s hand lit up in a small glow born of the ring of mana that appeared around it. It was good to know that the same activation method for [Rings of Saturn] worked for [Secrecy].

His feet arrived at a decline, where the meadow sloped downwards like a hill, and without thinking about it, his feet pushed him off the ground.

Melmarc leapt over the distance and was falling.

He’d gone high. Very high. And his fall was long. The air rushed at him, slapping gently at his face and tussling his hair. The ground rushed up to meet him too as he descended.

Melmarc noted this. With two bursts of [Knowledge is Power] he could jump from the ground to the first floor of a building quite easily.

He hit the ground and his body tucked into itself and he dispersed the force of impact with a roll. When he came up to his feet, his running continued.

His ring of mana was still glowing around his wrist and he noticed that he’d left a burn mark amongst the grass where he’d landed.

Normally, Melmarc would tell his mind to focus on the task at hand and ignore the little things like the burn mark but his mind was focused.

He threw the first ring of mana and it embedded itself in the ground ten feet away from him. It spun where it landed until it slowly dug a hole in the ground and vanished from sight.

His mind catalogued it quickly.

Melmarc thought about why that had happened. Unless he could somehow link his mind to the raw mana, there had to be a difference between the rings of mana for [Rings of Saturn] and [Secrecy].

So he tried mentally commanding the second ring of mana to explode when he threw it and nothing happened. It embedded itself in the ground and dug another hole.

It seemed his skills weren’t entirely working like magic. They didn’t automatically link themselves to his mind, and they didn’t listen to him.

It meant he had to figure it out another way.

He’d gone through all four rings of mana [Rings of Saturn] allowed him. Thoughts on the matter fluttered about in his head as he waited for the cool down and activated [Knowledge is Power] once more.

The effects of the skill hit him not too long after.

By the time he was close enough that the sounds of gunshots were more than a pop and actually gunshots, [Rings of Saturn] was off cool down and he had an idea.

The skill said that he gathered raw mana to himself. By that logic, the raw mana didn’t come from him, he called it from somewhere. He was merely the catalyst. And the more he kept it, the brighter it was and the stronger it was.

What if the longer I have it, the stronger its bound?

[Rings of Saturn] dealt in striking attacks but [Secrecy] seemed to follow the rule of explosion, which meant it likely had to shatter to be activated.

The stronger something is held together the harder it is to break.

If threw glass against a solid ground hard enough, it would shatter. But if you used the same force on a stone, the outcome would be different.

Melmarc twirled his hand, considering the option. The moment he felt the ring of mana come alive around his wrist, he flung it again. It crossed the distance to embed itself in the ground.

One, two…

A smile touched Melmarc’s lips as the ring pulsed and exploded on the third count.

A three second time delay on impact.

He watched the explosion in intrigue. It was wide, likely ten feet in diameter. Enough for two people to stand comfortably inside.

It was also translucent, like looking through a transparent film if the film was without wrinkles or wobbles. You would notice it if you were paying attention.

Then there was the effect outside of it, the way the mana in the air moved as if something had pushed it aside and there was suddenly a flood of ambient mana on this side of the explosion.

Melmarc kept his mind on it, counting how long it would last as he ran straight into it. The moment he pierced into its field, [World of Insight] went haywire.

Melmarc’s focus went blind and deaf. With his eyes and ears he could see and hear, but [World of Insight] went crazy before it just winked out.

It was as if he was trying to listen to things happen from a mile away while standing in front of the speakers at a party belonging to some metallic band while trying to spy on his neighbor from across the street in the middle of the night with no lights on while wearing sunshades.

Melmarc kept going until his legs carried him out of the area of effect. Then he turned and continued running backwards until the effect simply dispersed.

Four seconds, he noted as he turned and continued his mad dash towards the gunshots.

As he ran, the scenery around him slowly became familiar. Melmarc noted it with each step as the grass grew higher and thicker beneath his feet and the buildings became a slow back drop into nothingness.

The shots were basically coming from the area he’d started at.

Melmarc pulled himself to a stop and turned in its very obvious direction. All the certainty he’d had to help the Delvers slowly eased from his mind.

Could he still help them? Even now that he knew where they were?

He stood, staring at the part of the meadow he had ventured into only once. Even then, he had been sure not to go in too deep.

Staring at the trees it brought him a sense of nostalgia. It took him to a time when the [Damned] were a threat he ran from. A time when survival had seemed impossible.

He stared at the trees, mildly surprised at his hesitation.

I thought you wanted to go straight for them, he thought, the words mocking himself.

You kill a few [Damned] and suddenly you think you’re all that.

The condescension at himself stunned him. That was new. He doubted himself from time to time, everybody did, but Melmarc never remembered mocking himself.

He took a single step forward, hesitated again.

“What if there aren’t [Damned] in there?” he muttered to himself.

It was a possibility.

The [Damned] gave him the impression that they were actual people, or at least had once been actual people. They were humanoid and had items normal people would use attached to their hands. It was only safe to assume that something had gone wrong and they’d somehow fused with their everyday items.

And they only move around the buildings. Areas normal people would stay.

But within the trees…

For all he knew he could find himself face to face with a lion with a massive tree trunk for a tail or a snake covered in leaves.

Or a gorilla with rock hands.

None of them sounded like things he wanted to run into. If he ran out of skills to use, he didn’t know how to fight against an animal. What would he do?

Run.

Melmarc shook the thought away.

“I can do this,” he said, pumping himself up and taking a step forward. “I can take anything it throws at me.”

Dissonant.

Melmarc sighed. “Alright, I can’t take anything it throws at me but I can try.”

Silence.

He nodded, pleased with himself, and took another step forward.

“Alright. Let’s go in there and try.”

…

Melmarc leapt over a hole in the ground. It was deeper than it had any right to be and looked like something massive had burrowed downwards.

He ignored it, running through the trees.

Almost there, he thought, activating [Knowledge is Power] for the second time since entering this part of the portal.

He noted something strange. At this point he was basically spamming [Knowledge is Power] and couldn’t feel anything close to mana fatigue.

Even the weight on his head that came with using the skill without copying an actual skill was a little too light in his opinion.

He wondered if his new designation as [August Intruder] had anything to do with it. When he’d had the [August Guest] and [Intruder] designations, the heaviness had been stronger and Naymond had said his form looked lacking in unity.

A mixture instead of a compound.

He’d be stupid not to assume his status as [August Intruder] was not somehow a combination of [August Guest] and [Intruder] and Naymond had said his form was better now.

What were the chances that the severity of the heaviness had had something to do with his form and his designations at the time?

Melmarc rounded a tree as [Knowledge is Power] returned to him.

The information he got was not very favorable.

[Skill Knowledge Is Power is concluded.]

[All stats are increased by +0.5.]

[Life forms detected: 31.]

[You have received 6 Potential buffs.]

Melmarc ignored the skill list for now and focused on what was more important. The gunshots were already loud enough to deafen him.

Two wounded. One severely wounded. Three fighting.

He moved his hand, eyes focusing on a red indicator amidst the sea of trees and five green indicators. The moment the ring of mana appeared, he aimed and threw it.

You have used [Secrecy]

[Remaining uses: 1/2]

The ring of mana cut through the air, took the straight path. Melmarc ignored it, believing it would hit its target and turned his attention to the skill list. He already knew his options and the one he wanted to choose.

[Fist of Thunder (Mastery 2.00%)]

The Gifted wraps their fist in electricity at a mana cost.

[Vitality of the Drunk (Mastery 4.00%)]

The Gifted intoxicates a target with life

[Hand of Vitality (Mastery 8.00%]

The Gifted has increased health and regeneration speed.

[Waking Moments (10.00&]

The Gifted requires far less sleep than most.

[Soul Damnation (Mastery 08.00%)

The damned damns their own soul into further damnation through the damnation of their soul by offering their soul to Caldath.

[Sword of the Immortal (02.01%)]

The Gifted cuts a target at the same strength regardless of health.

…

[Buff mastery is scaled based on mastery of skill Bless Your Kindness. Mastery of buff will begin reduction after ten minutes.]

[Would you like to select a Buff?]

[Yes/No.]

[Remaining time: 00:02:09.]

Melmarc smiled at [Fist of Thunder] and selected [Vitality of the Drunk]. Now, he prayed he would not have to learn how it worked.

Melmarc was happy to find out that he didn’t as information flooded into him.

He raised his hand and placed it over his mouth, then thought of the skill the same way he did with [Knowledge is Power]. There was a sweet taste with a sharp tingle. It reminded Melmarc of that one time Ark had convinced him to drink.

A tingle filled his chest, the itching stopped, and Melmarc darted past a man hiding behind a tree with a machine gun.

“What the hell?”

The words came from somewhere Melmarc didn’t care to take note of. With [World of Insight] he would’ve been able to tell.

The thought made him realize that maybe he’d been using [World of Insight] a little too much. As a [Faker] diversity was his strength.

The itching in his chest wasn’t completely gone, but Melmarc didn’t think he could wait for it as one of the red indicators dived at him from outside the area of effect of [Secrecy].

He spun, arm stretched outwards so that his fist smacked into the creature. His fist made contact with its head, sending it flying to the side.

Melmarc felt the force of the blow and knew whatever he’d struck was as sturdy as the [Damned]. It was simply too small.

“Get out of there!” someone bellowed.

Melmarc ignored them.

[Knowledge is power] told him that there were thirty-one life forms. If five were on his side, then they had twenty-six to kill.

He just had to—

Another red indicator dived at him and he ducked in time to avoid it. He ignored the splashing at his feet as he moved around but felt the familiar weight of the critters as they fell on him, tiny red indicators attaching themselves to him.

He would’ve had much to say if he wasn’t stopped in his tracks by what he saw.

All around him children were crawling around the water, infants barely larger than what would be expected of one no older than a year. Each one looked wrong. Eyes too hollow, skin too pale and translucent, cracks running along them.

There were even some that remained lifeless on the ground.

Melmarc felt bile rise in his throat.

“Get out of there man!” someone shouted.

Melmarc hesitated and something smacked into him from behind. Pain flared in his back as if he had been stabbed and he reached behind him to grab whatever it was.

He tugged once to find it stuck to him, then tugged a second time with all his strength. His hand came away holding one of the infants. Critters crawled from its ears to climb up his hand and the numbness slowly began to settle in.

They’re just babies.

“… For the love of God!” someone swore before a bullet blasted past Melmarc to put down one of the babies.

Melmarc ducked a moment after, reflexes reacting slower than a moving bullet.

You’re being a burden, he thought in panic, throwing the baby he was holding aside. Pull yourself together.

Be useful.

“Yes,” Melmarc muttered. “Useful.”

He heard steps rushing behind him, growing closer and closer. The Delvers he had come here to help were rushing into the chaos he had thrown himself into to help him as if he was a bigger burden than anything.

Melmarc refused to be a burden. He hadn’t jumped in her because he was foolish and thoughtless. He’d jumped in because he knew he could handle this.

The babies had simply been a surprise.

They’re just smaller [Damned], he told himself as he rose to his full height. They are nothing more than that.

The footsteps came to a wet halt behind him and Melmarc didn’t bother turning to look at it. Instead, he moved his hand in a steady twirl.

You have activated [Rings of Saturn]

[Remaining uses: 3/4]

He turned without thought and held his hand out, a ring of mana roiling around his wrist. One of the infants dived straight into it and he caught it.

Then he squeezed.

He felt a crack beneath his grip and, against his determination, winced.

You have slain [Damned (C)]

You have gained 63 EP

Total EP 67

Melmarc released the creature and it fell to the ground with a wet plop. The ring of mana on his hand was dying but he raised his hands up what should be a boxer’s stance, but he didn’t make fists, and his hands didn’t stay still.

He held them open and moved them in slow circles.

You have activated [Rings of Saturn]

[Remaining uses: 2/4]

A ring of mana gathered around his second wrist. Both rings were not bright, but they were there.

Melmarc remembered a time when uncle Dorthna had given a bad reaction to fighting babies and he wondered if this was the reason. Perhaps it hadn’t been because they were difficult to fight but because of the very idea of what you were fighting.

It isn’t right to hit babies…

“…But the [Damned] don’t count,” Melmarc muttered.

He struck with a jab as a baby flew through the air and his fist cracked its face, sending it tumbling through the air past him.

When it hit the ground, he heard a very intentional burst of gunfire behind him.

Despite his resolve, he grimaced at what he had just done. What he was about to do.

“Twelve o’clock,” the man behind him said.

His words were succeeded by the odd sound of him raising his weapon. It was less the sound of his weapon being raised and more of the sound his entire body made—clothes, vests, and everything else—as he raised his weapon.

Melmarc stepped quickly, his feet splashing water beneath him.

His entire face twitched at the discomfort of a gun going off right beside him. Amidst the other chaotic sounds of gunshots, there was an odd pop that he expected would come from a gunshot making impact with a moldy cement wall.

From his periphery, Melmarc saw something spin in the air before landing directly in front of him.

Melmarc followed the red indicator without looking at his target. He placed his aim simply, eyes focused on the indicator and not what it was indicating, and drove his fist into the spot just beneath the indicator.

The sounding of something crushing filled his ear as his interface flashed in front of him.

You have slain [Damned]

You have gained 53 EP

Total EP 120

Even as he tried to turn his attention in search of his next target, Melmarc felt a hand on his shoulder.

It was firm yet somehow gentle.

“We’ve got to clear the place!” the man shouted. “We’re about to wipe them out in one blow. We can’t stay here when that happens.”

The man released him just so he could take another shot.

Melmarc didn’t object.

He came up to his feet, turned, and threw the rings of mana around his wrist. Each one was thrown from a side arm position so that they cut through the air like a discus.

Two notifications popped up in front of him and he couldn’t help containing how impressed he was when he watched one of the rings cut two of the creatures’ heads off on its path before embedding itself in the torso of the third.

Then the feeling was overshadowed by the sight of it all and he tasted bile once more. He closed his feelings to it, pretended he was fine.

You’ll be out of here soon.

With the words keeping him in check and the Delver slowly guiding him back by pulling on his shirt, Melmarc pulled up another ring of mana.

You have used [Secrecy]

[Remaining uses: 0/2]

As they moved back, the [Damned] gathering to them in their dying numbers, Melmarc tossed the ring of mana forward in what looked like a half hearted throw.

It landed an acceptable distance away from him and the man.

“Up the tree,” the man said from behind him.

Melmarc turned and simply started climbing, knowing the tree was there as [Secrecy] activated,

The [Damned] within its area of effect simply stopped moving like malfunctioning robots, staring, then looking around.

Melmarc noticed then that all the green indicators except for one were now above ground level.

The only person that was not on a tree was a man with short, permed hair. He recognized him as the man he’d passed when he charged into the fight.

Whoever he was, he was charging straight to the heart of the [Damned]. With all the gunfire done with, he had no risk of being shot.

As he ran, electricity crackled along the length of his forearms, strong and blue with a hint of green. It took Melmarc only a moment to realize that the man had another thing to worry about as his steps carried him closer to the stunned creatures.

“DON’T GET TOO CLOSE!” he bellowed, hoping the man heard him.

He was pleased when the man came to an abrupt stop.

“CLEAR!” the man bellowed, then slammed both hands into the water.

An entire radius around the man too far for Melmarc to calculate immediately lit up in blue and green. The swamp grew electrified. A lot of the monsters twitched and jerked the way most electrocuted things in movies tended to.

The entire ordeal lasted for probably eight seconds with the man standing in the water, hands buried in the water.

Before long it all died down and the man pulled his hands from the water. He looked spent, tired.

“All good?” the man with Melmarc asked.

Melmarc nodded, arms and legs wrapped around the trunk of the tree in an awkward position before realizing he was probably not the one being asked.

The man who had clearly used [Fist of Thunder] raised his arm and held a thumbs up.

“Clear,” he announced. Then he turned his head. “Now we’ve got to figure out how to save Claire.”

Melmarc looked up at the man sharing a tree with him.

“I might be able to help,” he said as the critters that had gotten on him fell off.

…

Clinton was confused, and it had nothing to do with the fact that their healer was dying.

“I might be able to help.”

The words rang through his earpiece and he turned in the direction of their new companion. There was no mistaking the voice, it was young. Young enough.

The Blight said their priority was saving a young boy that had been caught in the portal. This was a boy’s voice, but the body was a different conversation entirely.

In a minute, he was looking up at someone who was taller than him and looking down at him with hollow hazel eyes that looked more green than hazel right now. Those eyes seemed to be looking for his soul.

Definitely can’t be who we’re looking for… right?