The ultimate Clusterfuck

With Brunhilde and Aloy, 17:24 PM

They had been stuck in here for more than fifteen minutes now, which in itself might not have been such a long time, but in a pressing matter like this it was almost an eternity in which anything could happen… Adding that to the fact that John didn’t respond to them calling in through the mental connection made this nerve wrecking.

While Aloy was nervously holding her hands close to her chest in a form of prayer, Brun was running around in circles, her oversized sword in hand, nervously adjusting her grip repeatedly.

“What’s taking him so long?” the Valkyrie growled visibly irritated and nervous. She knew that being stuck in here wasn’t going to be their fate, but whatever happened to John she would take upon her own head and would enact **** for it. It had been her idea to split up even though she knew that it could lead to complications, and now they had no idea what was going on with John…

Speaking of, they tried to get through to him again.

’John, what’s going on? What happened? Is everything okay.’

It took a couple of seconds, but this time they actually received an answer.

’Girls! I’m in so much shit! I found James, and now he’s dead! And I’m chased by some Berserker chick!’

The wave of relief they felt when they heard his voice was immediately washed away as they understood what he had said.

Aloy was the first to say something, ’So he had accomplices?’

’Not really! She seems to be brainwashed. But she’s also ridiculously strong, and I don’t think I can beat her.’

’Well then run, you idiot!’ mentally screamed Brun.

’What do you think I’m doing right now, genius? I need to find a way to get the both of you in here to help me since Kim and Kaen are apparently trapped… Wait… I’ve got an idea! Get ready! I’ll try to find a spot where I can get you here! I need your help to restrain her, for a moment at least!’

...What did that boy have planned?

---

With John, 17:23 PM

FUCK, FUCK, FUCK.

That was pretty much the only thing going through John’s mind as he barely dodged another slash of the bone sword soaring through the table he had just been standing on. The wood exploded in a shower of splinters around the room, forcing John to shield the two pets in his arms from the rain.

The berserker behind him just screamed in rage as she hurled an axe out of the same ashen bone like the sword at John. He was able to dodge most of the weapon but was still grazed by the somehow razor-sharp edge.

-15 HP

It was bad enough to dodge the berserking woman behind him, but the two burdens in his hands were a serious handicap that would **** John to deal with it soon enough. He would need to deal with them as quickly as possible, both for their and his sake.

He threw another Trapper’s Kit trap on the floor, but the redhead simply dodged it by leaping over it and closing the distance between her and John again. At that moment, John heard a muffled voice in the back of his head. ’John, what’s going on? What happened? Is everything okay.’

Oh thank the gods (or whoever listened at that moment), they were alright! He had already feared that James got to them first and somehow got the drop on them…

’Girls! I’m in so much shit! I found James, and now he’s dead! And I’m chased by some Berserker chick!’

Thinking his message took too much focus, so he didn’t have enough time to dodge the next sword attack, which impaled his side.

-65 HP

Screaming in pain, he checked if his companions were okay, which they thankfully were. The same could not be said about him though; he was running out time, and quickly at that. He needed to fish out all of the tricks he had now just so that he could survive.

Ensnaring her with his Magic Rope hadn’t worked before, but it would allow him to draw her attention away for barely enough time so that he could re-activate Essence Aura on himself.

Energy Aura Applied! Livewire extended for 3 minutes.

He had already used the skill the first moment he could when he was sprinting up the stairs and had a bit of a head start. Dropping the Rope spell, he took off once again through one of the destroyed walls adorning the classroom they had been in. He ended up in another corridor as the voices in his head replied again.

’So he had accomplices?’

This time it was Aloy responding, so they were both well and safe in the Nexus, which in itself was also a problem though since they couldn’t really help him there…

’Not really! She seems to be brainwashed. But she’s also ridiculously strong, and I don’t think I can beat her,’ was his quick reply as the bonemancer behind him, rather than using the existing hole, made another one with the weapons in her hand. If she wasn’t trying to kill him in this exact moment, John would probably gush about her ability so much…

’Well then run, you idiot!’

Oh, no shit, Brun?! He saved that thought for his own mind, not sending that.

’What do you think I’m doing right now, genius? I need to find a way to get the both of you in here to help me since Kim and Kaen are apparently trapped… Wait… I’ve got an idea! Get ready! I’ll try to find a spot where I can get you here! I need your help to restrain her, for a moment at least!’ Just as he was saying that, a plan formulated in his mind. It was probably absolutely stupid, but it could work! Pulling out his Nexus Card from his inventory, he put it into the snout of Thorn.

“Okay, boy, I need you to do with that card what I always do with it. Can you do that? I’ll keep the evil lady away from the two of you, but I really need your help…” he was basically screaming that as he dodged a barrage of bone bullets impacting into the pillars just to the side of him.

With a bark, Thorn jumped out of his hands and ran into a direction that would hopefully make it possible for John to keep Andrea away from him. Gary joined his ‘brother’ a second later, giving John the ability to properly keep the woman at bay. Thanks to the Livewire buff, he would hopefully be able to dodge and block her attacks well enough.

As if she didn’t even register the two animals running off, she just barreled into John, swinging the axe in the direction of his head. Bringing up his shield just quickly enough he redirected her attack into the ceiling, leaving her wide open for an attack. Trying to handicap her as much as possible in ‘one strike’, he went for a fully Mana Charged Flurry Strike at her legs and feet in the hopes that he could slow her down with that, at least movement wise. He could see something shift beneath her skin, though mostly under the exposed skin around her stomach.

Physical Armor reduces Physical Damage by 30%
16 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 5 DMG (Fire) + 19 DMG (Magic)
11 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 5 DMG (Fire) + 14 DMG (Magic)
15 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 5 DMG (Fire) + 18 DMG (Magic)
15 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 5 DMG (Fire) + 18 DMG (Magic)
14 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 5 DMG (Fire) + 17 DMG (Magic)
15 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 5 DMG (Fire) + 18 DMG (Magic)

Enemy crippled! Future damage automatically 1.5x, Movement Speed reduced by 25%

Well, that certainly was a lot of damage! And that had exactly the intended effect on her, so maybe he could fight back now!

Enemy ignored 50% of damage!

...What? How?!

Well, even if he didn’t get the intended damage, she was still crippled at least! But John was seriously wondering what gave her that ability, and the Physical armor as well now that he thought about it… Though that could potentially be some kind of bone armor beneath her skin…

Forcing some distance between himself and his opponent, he could immediately feel the effects of her being crippled. As she tried to close the distance, she was a lot slower than she was before, making it possible for John to properly dodge her. He didn’t know how much he could damage her though… In his mind he was trying to come up with some kind of way to help her, and that heavily relied on not killing her…

As if on queue, a voice behind John screamed, “Down!” which was just the thing that he did as both a spectral tomahawk and a bola-like weapon flew at the nun that was just about to attack him. The throwing axe lodged itself into her shoulder as the bola tightly wound around her, restricting her arms, even if just for a moment. That was exactly the moment that John needed! Adding to that binding with his Magic Rope and a pitfall trap from his Trapper’s Kit directly beneath her, he wasted no moment as he grabbed both girls that came running from behind him (each with one pet in their hands). In the cluster of four people, John sent a quick mental message to Kim’s phone, notifying her of his arrival.

John [17:28]: BOGEY INCOMING, PREPARE FOR IMPACT, REQUIRE ASSISTANCE!

He immediately switched from James’ Barrier into his own. In a matter of seconds, the world around them shattered, and instead of the stale and murky smell of the School Barrier, they were now assaulted by the thinner air of the monastery that was thick with the smell of smoke. They were standing pretty much in the exact point they had been in James’ Barrier, except it was now looking like someone had raided the temple while John had been away.

The hell had happened here?

Corruption Active! Eliminate Enemies to reset Barrier to its original status!

Objective: Kill all (spawned) enemies.
Rewards:
+350$
+250 XP
+1 Cursed Item

Okay, that didn’t actually explain anything about what happened, but it gave John some kind of idea.

While he was still focused on the pop-up in his face, he was suddenly swept from his feet, falling backwards. He saw the bone axe sailing above his periphery as he tried to regain his balance. Forcing himself to drop the rope spell, he backpedaled to gain footing once again, only to be met by another pop-up.

Enemy is no longer Crippled!

What kind of freak was she?!? Did she fucking regenerate?!

Looking at her legs, the wounds he had afflicted were indeed closing up once again, leaving behind only shredded clothes and some slightly red skin.

“The fuck kind of freak is she?!?” voiced Brun, clearly thinking the same as John.

The redhead nun took that moment to switch up her… equipment. The bone axe and the sword were rapidly losing their forms, starting to flow like milk that was following some kind of molding. A moment later the nun had a bone-white hammer in her hands, with the head of the hammer being bigger than her head.

“No idea! Which is why I want to nullify whatever effect is doing that! I could see that her level was a lot higher than it would be normally, so she seems to be under the effect of something! Like, some kind of Berserker Enhancement, boosting her physical powers but draining her mental abilities!”

There was something off about the warhammer though… it looked a lot more misshapen and clunky than the other weapons… Could it be that she’s running out of mana? Was that her secret?

“That sounds like some anime bullshit! Berserker Enhancement… What a load of bull!”

Screaming in pure anger once, the berserker swung the hammer above her head, bringing it down in the direction of John and Brun. The ground beneath exploded in gravel and dust as the tremors of the hit obliterated the floor. Both John and Brun thankfully had abilities that kept them from falling; however, Aloy wasn’t that lucky, falling down into the basement of the place.

’Fuck! So the monastery actually had a basement! That would’ve saved a lot of time..’

Andrea didn’t seem to care for the falling redhead though, as she jumped at the two airborne people with a leap that required superhuman strength, not that anyone would’ve doubted that she had that…

Just before she was about to hit Brun’s sword with the flat side of her hammer, a dark blue blur slammed into her side in a rain of debris, flinging the redhead berserker into the nearby wall. As the dust around that wall settled, John could see that the small dragon-kin that was Kaen was pummeling away at the bigger woman with a face contorted in pure rage.

”You want to smash husbando?!? I’ll smash you!”

...Uuuh....

---

With Kim and Kaen, 2 Minutes earlier

Kim was staring at her phone, trying to understand what John had just written. Were they taking the enemy into this Barrier? That sounded like a solid strategy were it not for the already present enemies that were highly elusive, either in concealing themselves or in avoiding ****.

Kaen meanwhile was busy battering into the monk, dead and on the ground. Her chest was starting to glow from the inside, signalling that she was beginning to overheat, building up a lot more power but also shutting down her mental capacities.

“STAY! DEAD! STAY! DEAD!”

Each word punctuated by another punch, cracking the ground beneath the bloody pulp that used to be a head.

As the body started to shutter, both of the girls felt something shift in the world, and seconds later there was an earth-shaking tremor coming from somewhere nearby.

“Kaen! John is in the Barrier now! You’re faster than me! Get to them!” Kim didn’t even have to finish her sentence to get Kaen out of the door. The small dragon was immediately dashing through the door, out of Kim’s sight, as she was starting to follow her friend. This enemy was going to get up two more times anyway, so they might as well keep him waiting as they deal with whatever John had brought into this world…

It took Kim no time to follow the trail of devastation that Kaen had left behind her as she basically bee lined her way to where she had felt the tremors. That girl had extremely good hearing and sensory abilities in terms of shockwaves, so she could hone in on the source with deadly efficiency.

The martial artist quickly saw the situation that had unfolded around John. The ground beneath him was destroyed, revealing the sub-level of the basement with a redhead kneeling down there with a bow in her hands, while he and another girl, a blonde one this time, were keeping themselves suspended in the air. Kaen was meanwhile pummeling into a redhead with a skull tattoo on her face and an ashen warhammer in her hands.

John sure knew how to surround himself with girls apparently…

---

With John, 17:33 PM

Auditory Atmosphere Supplement Activated. Now Playing: Metal Gear Rising - Rules of Nature

He would need to have a talk with Kaen later about what she meant with ‘husbando’... For now, he needed to deal with the enemy! At that moment, Kim stepped through the hole that Kaen had created. John saw this as a good time to plan the next steps.

’Keep an eye on the berserker! I need to know what’s going on in here!’

He could only see the nod from Brun, but he got a mental acknowledgement from Aloy, giving him also the confirmation that she was okay. Both Gary and Thorn were hiding somewhere, hopefully, as John couldn’t see them.

Using a Push Flash Step, he landed next to the Asian girl looking at the calamity.

“What’s the status? What kind of enemies are there in the Barrier?”

Kim didn’t waste a moment to jump into explanations, “Some kind of undead monk, able to resurrect himself, and a flying assailant that I wasn’t able to identify yet, but they use ranged attacks to get their targets. I think the monk can resurrect himself or others two more times. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem, it’s only time consuming. Seeing as how we didn’t encounter anything else up until now, I’m going to say that there is no other opponent. What’s your enemy?”

John sighed in relief, that didn’t sound too bad. “Well, she’s able to manipulate her bones into weapons and projectiles, she has some freak regenerative abilities, and she’s stupidly strong. Also, I believe she’s under the influence of some kind of magic forcing her to do this. She told me to ‘help her’, so if possible, I would prefer it if she didn’t die. From a level point, she’s about your level, but by now I have no idea if I believe these levels anymore…”

Kim thought about what he said for a moment before agreeing to the plan, “So the goal is to incapacitate her. What’s your plan to help her?”

The small dragon was sent airborne at that moment, flying off to somewhere down the hall. Brun and Aloy took that moment to occupy the enemy by engaging her with sword and bow, respectively.

“I have a skill that should be able to help her, hopefully. Do you think you and Kaen can deal with her? I’ll take care of the monk, and Brun is probably the most suited to fight someone in the air.”

Immediately, Kaen came flying back into their field of view, grabbing the bone berserker by her hair and slamming her into the ground.

Slowly nodding, Kim said, “I believe so. Is there a way we can communicate in a more instantaneous manner than with the phones?”

Extending his hand, John quickly said, “I do, but the only way to do so is through a Bond.”

Not wasting a second, she took his hand into hers, “That should not be a problem anymore. You have proven to be a reliable person, even in the short time that I have known you now. My father speaks highly of you and your allegiance with the Gjoskenholms speaks for you. I would be honored to be bonded with you.”

Wow, that was a lot more formal than he had expected.

Trying not to waste any time himself though, he immediately cast Bond to seal the ‘deal’.

Bond with Kim Moon established!

’Okay, now we can talk through a form of telepathy; you can talk with me and vice versa. To talk to the others, you need to talk through me right now.’

Nodding her head, Kim slipped into a combat stance to join the fight. ’We’ll see each other after this, then we’ll talk about how to honor this bond.’

There was something… weird about the way she said that, but John didn’t have the time to think about it. He quickly broadcasted his thought into all the present bonded people.

’Okay, time to do this thing a bit more tactical. There’s a flying enemy somewhere out there. Brun, you’re the only one with some sort of flight ability, you can deal with that?’

’Consider it done!’

’Good. Next, there’s an undead monk running around, being a general nuisance and apparently able to resurrect enemies. I’ll take him out.

’Lastly, Kim and Kaen will take care of Andrea the berserker, non-lethally. Aloy, can you support them from range?’

’Of course.’

’Great! Then everyone knows the plan; we’ll meet up here to deal with her afterwards.’

And that instant, everyone sprang to action, moving in the direction of their opponents.

This was starting to finally go their way!

[Hello, Razorswift here, with a quick word out to you! This chapter marks a special occasion. This branch started on Chapter 11 of the Main Branch, meaning that this here chapter, Chapter 111, is my 100th written chapter. I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has read so far, both the people being with me since the beginning last October and the people joining in along the way. You people are crazy that you want to read my mediocre ramblings and my stupid plot, but thank you a lot nonetheless :)
I also want to give thanks to all the other authors of this story, making it what it is today! You guys are amazing in your own way!
Lastly, I want to thank everyone on the Discord who has supported me even though they might not read my branch. Even if you piss me off sometimes, I’m still grateful.
Now, I won’t annoy with more of this mushy stuff. ON WITH THE **** IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!]