A baby hydra

Shit. Not a fire dragon? I guess that’s not how this skill works. Hydra will have to do.

The hydra emerged from a puddle at John’s feet, rising dramatically. It had four heads and its scales were sapphire blue. Its heads roared cutely as it charged at the Flinthog, arraying its heads in a straight horizontal line. The outer heads sprayed high pressure water at the Flinthog, and the inner heads continued roaring, apparently waiting to be in biting range.

2 dmg

2 dmg

2 dmg

2 dmg

+50 Exp.

+50 Exp.

Surprise crit! 5 dmg

The mud sparrows shattered. Despite being made of rocks, they had very low hp. Ignis reached Julie and bit her ass, lighting her skirt on fire, and scurried back to John’s side. John chuckled as Julie frantically swatted at her skirt to put out the flames as she ducked John’s flames. John’s merriment died almost instantly. Julie slammed her right palm into the ground with a shriek and a purple summoning circle glowed into existence around her.

Meanwhile, the Hydra reached its foe and began a fierce battle, snapping and spraying at the Flinthog. The Flinthog shot sharp rocks and scratched at the Hydra in retaliation. They seemed to be equally matched.

Julie’s circle grew to about four feet in diameter, and the ground around it began to shake. A dozen earthen hands shot out of the ground, like zombies rising out of a cemetery. John quickly cast observe, eager to know what he was up against now.

Level 2 Pebble Pixie (hoard)

A dozen summoned creatures made of pebbles, whose primary objective is to distract from any master plans being made by their master.

John was extremely grateful for his observe skill in that moment. He ordered Ignis to distract the pixies and turned his attention back to Julie, who was indeed in the middle of creating an even larger summoning circle. John cast flames at her in hopes of distracting her, but the Flinthog leapt into the line fire and shattered instead.

+100 Exp.

Level Up!

+5 stat points

The summoning circle shattered with a bloodcurdling howl and a massive paw breaking through the earth. John cast Observe yet again.

Level 10 Granite Wolf

A summoned creature made of granite, whose primary objective is to attack for its master.

John’s eyes widened in fear.

The Hydra roared in triumph, having dispatched its enemy, and looked to John for approval. It cocked all four of its heads in confusion, not understanding look of horror on his face. It looked around to Ignis, bravely nipping at the eight remaining pixies, and decided to assist. This time it lined up its head in a 2x2 square, the top heads spraying water at a pixie that was about to dive bomb Ignis.

John accepted his fate. Game Over.

He closed his eyes and let the anger at being beaten so quickly boil. It consumed him in a flash, his aggravated Gamer instincts taking over. So many games he had ragequit. So many times he had thrown controllers across the room. So many times he had wanted to smash his keyboard through the monitor. They all came crashing into his memory, burning inside his head. His eyes snapped open, an info box in front of his face.

New skill: Rageflame(passive) level 1

Your anger fuels your mana, manifesting as a raging inferno burning inside and around you.

Mana regen x2

10 dmg per second within 5-foot radius

Crit chance x2

John smirked, letting the tide of anger sweep him away as he rushed towards the Granite Wolf as it loped towards him. He felt the power surround him as he jumped, trusting in his parkour skill. The Granite Wolf’s jaws snapped just below John as he flew over it, casting flames downwards.

Gamer dodge

1 dmg

1 dmg

1 dmg

Gamer dodge

Crit! 2 dmg

1 dmg

The damage pop ups served as fuel for John’s anger. He landed behind the wolf and kept running towards Julie. She was standing there, slack-jawed in awe. Whether this was because of John’s sick moves or because of his decision to just run straight at an eight-foot tall wolf was debatable. Nevertheless, John cast flames at her as he ran at her.

The pixie was shot out of the air and Ignis continued its battle. The Hydra reached the fray to find only three pixies left. Two of its heads shot at one, a third head bit a pixie in half, the last head roaring in triumph as Ignis pounced the last pixie. The two summons turned towards their master for further orders. Their eyes rested upon him, heroically wreathed in flames and a snarl on his face, and then on the giant wolf behind him scrambling to turn towards him. Not a word was needed between them to confirm what their duty would be.

Julie’s eyes focused on him with a start, and she seemed to still be in shock. Then she fell forward into a push-up position, two more summoning circles forming where her hands met the ground, and rolled sideways out of the path of John’s flames. Her aptitude for dodging his attacks irritated John. His flames increased in volume and changed color, from a warm orange to a blowtorch blue.

Flames level 3: 5 dmg per second

John cast observe on the two newcomers clawing their way out of the earth.

Level 8 Sandstone Cynocephalus

A summoned creature made of Sandstone, whose primary objective is to defend its master.

The pair clawed their way up, twelve-foot-tall humanoid bodies with dog heads. Each had an eight-foot spear and a ten-by-four-foot rectangular shield. They flanked Julie, guarding her from any attacks from the front. Then came another howl. This one seemed different, though.

Ignis had leapt onto the wolf’s neck, and was clawing furiously in an attempt to at least slow down the beast. The hydra was latched onto the wolf’s tail, gnawing at it. They were just minor annoyances to the wolf, who managed to turn itself to face John and was bounding in his direction. Ignis, in a **** attempt to save its master, slid onto the wolf’s snout and clawed at its eyes. That did the trick.

John risked looking back and saw that the wolf was howling in pain as it shook its head rapidly back and forth, trying to get Ignis to remove its paws from its eyes. The Hydra had been thrown off the wolf’s tail and was lying on its side, breathing heavily. John was torn between making the best of the opening Ignis had made and healing the hydra.