As dread filled him.

“These violent delights have violent ends,” the man esoterically claimed, and John’s body slacked. What’s with all the Shakespeare. The illusion of the balcony disappeared, and as he slowly turned around, he noticed the bird had faded away too. I should’ve used Spy on it. Damnit!

Apparently, the hooded figure’s illusion wasn’t too far off from the man’s actual appearance. The third human in the barrier wore a hooded robe, which concealed a deceptively young face with black hair. Lean and lanky, he was a pole. A pole which had captured John. He used Spy on the man, also regretting not having done so on the balcony. I really messed up.

William Shakespeare
Author, Poet, Mage; Level ??
Not actually Shakespeare, but h̴̠̻̟͖̓́̅̔̕ͅă̶͇̬̞̖͙̪̬͙̼̹͋̄͆̅͆͗̄̈͝ͅș̸̛̛͓̰̈́͋͆̈́͐̈́̇ ̵̢̛̦̤̗̞͐̅͋̈́̅m̸͔̹̩͓͚͚̟͐̍͝a̴̛̛͔͕̓͛͠͝n̶̫̮̠͕̼͙̲̓́͛̉͑̑͂̋̃́̌̊̿͠į̸͓̖̤̼̜̠̭̩̩͕́͊̀̒͌̾̉͌̐̽͗p̷̫͕̪̓ũ̷̥̝̠̞͋l̴̝͈̯̽͐̀͋̀̃̔̈́͗́̀̾̐͘̕a̸̛̰͓͚̞̮͈͓̓̈͌͑̆̑̂̆͒̿̌̆̋ţ̶̮̭̮͚̤̳̏̅̔́͆̈́̀͋̓̅̿̈́̋͝͠e̸̼̝̤͖͓̟͇͕̗̭̱͖̥͛̉̒͜͝ͅḓ̶̨̖̟̩͔̬͓͙̥̟̅̎͊̎͗̋́̓͊̒̇̚̕͝ ̶̶̵̷̶̶̵̷̶̶̵̷̧̧̧̛̛̛͇̥̗̭̤͔͔̖͓̺͖̟̺̤̘̠̤͈̠̹̳̬̯͍͕̫̺͚͎̗̲͔̥̝̱̳̲͖͓͇̥̗̭̤͔͔̖͓̺͖̟̺̤̘̠̤͈̠̹̳̬̯͍͕̫̺͚͎̗̲͔̥̝̱̳̲͖͓͇̥̗̭̤͔͔̖͓̺͖̟̺̤̘̠̤͈̠̹̳̬̯͍͕̫̺͚͎̗̲͔̥̝̱̳̲͖͓̇̈̀̅̈̂́̄͑͐́͑̓̽͗͆̋͑̋͆̔͆̔̍͗̇̊̿̉͗̅̇̈̀̅̈̂́̄͑͐́͑̓̽͗͆̋͑̋͆̔͆̔̍͗̇̊̿̉͗̅̇̈̀̅̈̂́̄͑͐́͑̓̽͗͆̋͑̋͆̔͆̔̍͗̇̊̿̉͗̅̕̚̕̕̚̕̕̚̕͜͜͜͝͝͝

He got a migraine looking at the glitched text, so he quickly looked away. Amy, wearing her school clothes instead of her armor, was dragged into the room by two goblins. One held her horn, the other was burned all over. Ignis was nowhere in sight.

“Let go of me! Once I get my horn back, you’ll all be reduced to ash!” she yelled as she kicked the burnt goblin in the face. It released her, but the rope sitting next to the chest coiled around her, looping around her limbs and constricting tightly.
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” the alleged Shakespeare replied.

Amy struggled in her bonds and tried to channel any sort of magic to aid her, but without her horn, she was useless. John watched on, trying to think of some sort of plan.

The man studied her apathetically and continued, “Frailty, thy name is woman.” The goblin began to drag the bound Amy toward the mage, and John looked at his slowly regenerating mana bar. He had an idea, but it was risky and might not even work. He had to let the man monologue a while longer.

“I don’t think we’re going to make it back to class before lunch ends,” John stated the obvious in an attempt to lighten Amy’s mood, and though she rolled her eyes, her lips curled upwards slightly.

The man ignored them completely, his grip harshening on John’s shoulder as he levitated Amy and led them both up the stairs to the top, passing a room thick with the stench of filth, said room being where the women and children of the village were hiding. He led them both to the roof, and John was almost ready to enact his plan.

“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” the Shakespeare impersonator said as he set Amy down in the middle of a circle carved into the top of the roof.

“What’re you doing?” she yelled as the ropes scraped against her; what John assumed to be the last goblin warrior had joined them on the roof and looked on with a dumb stare.

That suited John’s plan nicely. He kicked Shakespeare away, dealing minor damage but creating a gap between them.

8 dmg

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!” was the Shakespeare’s response, as he threw a small fireball at John, who created a wall with Mana Construct right next to Shakespeare, the explosion of the fireball singing the mage’s robes.

He summoned the Duck Call from his inventory and blew into it. The moment his lips pressed to the device, innumerable black specks rose out of the forest below, and he briefly wondered where they would come from if he had done it in a barren field.

The Mage readied another fireball, and John dodged back, edging himself closer to the last goblin warrior, who watched on in fascination. John didn’t know it then, but he was challenging the leader of their village to trial by combat in the goblin’s eyes.

The ducks swirled around the man, picking apart his robes and dealing minor damage to him. As one, the flock reformed and spiraled toward him in a divebomb, the black mass more intimidating than John remembered it.

The mage seemed less impressed, and purple electricity crackled from his fingers as he laughed the cackle of a madman. He rubbed his hands together and pulled them apart, a gossamer string of lightning stretching between them. He flicked this at the approaching flock, and though none of them died, they were all shocked out of the air.

Their attack interrupted, they disappeared, and the duck call cracked and pulsed a dark brown to signify that it had been used. John banished the small yellow cylinder back into his inventory.

John took the opportunity while the mage was distracted to dive toward the goblin warrior, who passively let him. John ripped the horn from the goblin’s grasp, and blew into it.

A deep, dark tone that was much different from Amy’s filled the air, and his clothes were immediately replaced with the armor which he had seen Amy wear. Initially, it was uncomfortable, as it was fit for a female, but it magically resized itself to his body. He felt the stress of multiple presences weighing on his mind.

One was fiery, and the least resistant to his presence. It radiated a pleasurable warmth, and its own cognition seemed the most malleable to John’s will. It seemed eager to be released, regardless of who he was.

The second seemed solid, as though it were a boulder that existed in his mind. A seething anger and hate radiated from it, and he couldn’t interact with it at all. Despite that, it seemed close to forcing itself out. As if it were molding John’s cognition.

The last was a thunderous presence, it made his mind tingle with excess electricity, and it seemed curious, but calm. A sharp difference from the other two. It also wanted to be released, but it seemed content to watch as well.

You have temporarily gained skills from the beast tamer class!
Beast Connection Level 10!
Beast Summon Level 2!
Beast Command Level 5!

So these presences are the creatures she can summon… as curious as I am as to what that electricity is, the fire is probably Ignis, my safest bet.

Shakespeare threw another fireball, and John’s decision was made for him as Ignis bounded up the steps from the room below, meeting the fireball with one of her own.

The stress on his mind of having another entity fully under his control was palpable, and it grew worse as Rocky thudded up the steps.

Gamer’s Mind under stress! Reduce mental stress!

He held his head as it throbbed painfully, but no popups appeared to inform him of health damage. Ignis leapt toward Amy and burned her ropes off, trying to avoid hurting Amy but spreading minor burns wherever she wasn’t covered by her uniform.

John struggled to stand as Rocky approached Shakespeare, bellowing and huffing as the mage hurled fireball after fireball directly into his rigid body to no effect.

With a single swipe, Rocky bat Shakespeare off the tower as if he were a fly and apparently cleared the barrier for them.

Boss Defeated!
+800 xp
Level Up!
+$500
+1 Robe of Elemental Protection (tattered, singed)
+1 Spellbook (Magic Rope)

Achievement Unlocked: No More Training Wheels
Defeat a boss from a barrier whose level is greater than or equal to yours! It’s pathetic that I had to make a separate achievement for this.

• 1 Skill Evolution Point

Barrier cleared! You may now leave!

Quest Complete! +400 xp, +1 skill point, +1 Shard of Mercy

Level Up!

Deciding he could bask in the spoils later, he walked over to where Amy was lying. He helped Amy into a sitting position, sitting down himself. Slightly burnt but otherwise alright, she grabbed the horn from his belt, causing the armor and his temporary skills to disappear. Both animals immediately faded back into whatever plane they had been summoned from, and John’s head cleared, the pressure on his mind gone.

Temporary Skills Lost!

“That was intense,” she remarked, seemingly not having much to say, before checking her phone and noticing something; “I’m late for my sixth period class!”

With that, she stuffed the horn into her bag and exited the barrier before he could get a word out. He laid on the top of the barren tower, noticing that the last goblin warrior, and also possibly the last male, was watching him slack jawed.

If I’m already late to gym, it’s better to skip than to let Coach Conroy tear me a new one. I’ll deal with it on Thursday, he thought and turned to the goblin man.

“Hey uh… sorry for killing all your friends, but I really had ****. Can you even understand me?” The goblin eagerly nodded and said one thing...