FSE

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Chapter 55:

"Hey! Hold on! Calm down! He's a leveler!"

The Elf gave her a look of disbelief. "Girl that's a monster, a fucking dangerous looking one. Get behind me, quick."

This was not going quite how Lyra had planned.

Rain approached and positively loomed at the guard who for his part unconsciously started moving backwards toward the gate, the spear trembling in his hands.

"I... Am not a monster." said Rain, trying to be unmonster like. He was not very good at it.

The guard just stared up at him, jaw hanging.

"It's true! He's not a monster. He's a, uhm, leveler from up north, you just aren't familiar with the race, that's all."

"He looks like he's about to eat me!"

"I'm not about to eat you," said Rain. The Elf looked like he didn't believe him in the slightest.

Opal piped up "Well, not ye-" a large paw slapped across her mouth, which being Rain's size covered her head entirely. A muffled unintelligible voice continued to speak from behind the paw.

"Er, ignore her, she's just a misbehaving slave, you know how it is, ahahaha-ha," said Lyra, attempting a casual laugh which sounded incredibly awkward in the standoff.

"Listen girl, I don't know why you thought it was a good idea to dress a monster in clothes but you aren't fooling anyone. That's a monster clear as day. If this is just a convoluted way to get around the restrictions on large monster slaves being allowed in..."

"Have you ever seen or heard of a species of monster like him before?"

"...Well, no-"

"Then how do you know for sure! He could just be a particularly aggressive looking leveler!"

"That's-"

"And frankly it is incredibly racist of you to assume that he is a monster, didn't your Mother teach you any manners? Is this the kind of welcome that Lynthia's best put out for an extremely incredibly disgustingly wealthy merchant looking to flood the town with gold and riches?"

"Now wait a moment, I'm no-"

"Is Lynthia full of racists? Because first impressions are important and your impression is of an uncouth guard judging others by appearance. What next? Are you going to call me a slut for being part Elf? Huh?"

"I'm a bloody Elf!"

"Yeah, well, that just makes it twice as bad!"

Lyra stepped forward as she spoke, berating the Elf with her words, practically beating him over the head with her commentary. She finished with staring him down with her hands on her hips.

The guard ran a hand over his sweaty brow.

"Look, I'm not going to let you in, period. This is not a normal situation. If half the guard hadn't gone off with the Inquisitor leaving us undermanned and understaffed I'd be looking to arrest you for trying this, as it is, just... go away with that giant feral looking thing following you around."

Lyra set her lips in a line. "Fine. You want to play it the hard way, I see how it is."

She beckoned at Rain and he removed his paw from Opal. The Goblin smiled as she saw Lyra motioning to her and skipped over. The guard looked at the Goblin suspiciously and gripped his spear.

Lyra snorted contemptuously and dove her hands into the pack. And then she began throwing gold at the guard.

"Wha- what are you doing!?"

"I'm bribing you! What does it look like! Take this! And this! And this!"

Gold and gems showered around the guard, bouncing and pinging off his armour. A few gem-encrusted necklaces landed on his spear and dangled comically from the tip. It was when Lyra stepped up and placed a tiara on his head that the guard started to crack under the onslaught. His fingers trembled with the rings Lyra was placing upon them as the spear fell from his hands to clatter on the ground.

"This is, you can't just do this!"

"Well, I am doing it guard guy, so you better deal with it!"

"This is so much money!"

"I know! And all for the small small price of overlooking my leveler friend over here's outward appearance!"

"..."

Lyra was standing at his shoulder now, whispering in his ear.

"You know you want to, just look how that gold glitters, just think of all you could buy, yes, just think, imagine all the whores and booze you can get your little guard guy mitts on, you could do anything with this, hell you could buy happiness with this."

Lyra broke the guard's will with a whimper.

He began scrabbling on the ground snatching up all the gold and gems into a bag.

The sheep girl gave him a smug smile as he stood back up, his face flustered, the tiara on his head askew.

"Fine. You can bring it in... As a leveler."

"Great!"

"I will still need to check your level however."

Lyra rolled her eyes. "Really? We're still doing that?"

The guard looked slightly offended. "I do have some professional courtesy you know. If the town Ranker commands to check for high levelers coming into town then it is the guard's job to enforce it."

"Yeah yeah I know. Rankers are always so paranoid."

"Well, it keeps things safe for the town, if a Ranker is going to be challenged for his rule its best it's done out in the open to reduce collateral damage. Personally, I think anyone willing to challenge Bane is clinically insane, even those with levels above him are scared to challenge him, but hey, I'd rather not take the risk."

The guard fiddled around with a velvet pouch on his belt until he produced what appeared to be a black glass sphere about two inches across. Inside the sphere he held in his gloved hands was a white number, the number 1.

"Simply let this level orb touch your skin and it will display your true level."

The guard made to hand it over to Lyra when Opal snatched it from his hand.

"Do me!" she said holding it up and staring at the number.

The sphere remained inert and unchanging.

"It doesn't work on monsters, obviously. Please take control of your Goblin slave. If you can't control it I will be forced to confiscate it and potentially put it down."

"Hey screw you, you manual breather!"

"Opal give it here, just let me show him my level and we can go."

"Boo."

Lyra took the orb from the Goblin girl. As she did the number in the sphere began to change, ticking up from one to two and so on. It began to warm in her bare hand as the orb worked and she handed it back to the guard. After a second or two of the number ticking up it came to a stop on the number fifteen, fifteen for Lyra's fifteen levels.

"Hmm. Fine. You didn't look like you were a threat anyway."

"Hey!"

"Very well, you can pass."

He stepped aside and gestured at the open gate.

Rain paused as he stepped by the guard. He looked down at the orb in the guard's hand. He knew what it was, it was a brand in his past life, definitive proof of his humiliating level one.

Not sure what he was thinking he held out a paw, his digits spread.

The guard looked at him warily. "What do you want monster?"

"Leveler." Growled Rain like distant thunder.

"Y-you want... what a joke. Fine, your master paid enough, we can play pretend. Tch, what a waste of time."

The guard hesitated and then reached out the orb and momentarily touched it up against one of Rain's paw pads.

Nothing happened.

"See. Now get lo-"

The number ticked up to two.

The guard stared at it, eyes bugging out of his head at the changed number.

"Wha- why did you bribe me?!"

The number ticked up to three.

"B-because he is a m-monster, what is this?"

Four, then five, faster now.

"He lied? But why?"

Six, seven, eight.

Rain shook his head. "No."

Nine, ten, eleven, faster and faster and faster, accelerating.

"What's happening? What is this?" said the guard as the orb started to rapidly heat.

Twelve, fourteen, sixteen, the numbers were starting to blur by this point.

"I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!"

Twenty, twenty four, twenty eight.

Smoke started to wisp off the black orb's surface and the numbers spun by ever faster.

"It's broken! Dumb leveler stuff, Rain isn't a leveler, I know, I just know he's a monster," said Opal eyeing the orb.

Thirty, thirty six-, the numbers became unreadable just a solid spinning blur as the orb began to glow red with raw heat. A faint whine filled the air, growing louder as the orb began to vibrate and the blur span even faster. The guard stared at the thing in his hand in frozen horror, frozen like a hare caught in the lamplight not knowing what to do.

As they watched the spinning white changed, becoming more like teeth, and then the shape of an open mouth outlined in jagged flickering and flashing.

The high pitched whining changed tone and shifted into a nauseating scream. The orb was now screaming, the mouth inside of it twitching and shaking. Smoke began to pour from the guard's glove and it suddenly burst into flame. The guard yelped and dropped the orb on the ground, patting out the glove fire on his armour.

The orb continued to scream, the glass vibrating so much it was visible to the naked eye, the ground around the screaming orb began to smoke and redden and melt, blackening and cracking, spots of magma appearing as an ungodly amount of heat poured from the orb. The orb was now lying in a small foot wide pool of half-melted earth, boiling droplets of lava and stone being spat outward in fits and starts.

As they watched in stunned silence the orb began to disappear, melting its way downward, disappearing down a two inch wide hole amongst the magma. The screaming did not stop, only becoming more muffled and quiet as the orb descended deeper and deeper and deeper into the earth until they could hear it no more.

They were left staring at the hole of unknown depth, maybe it went on forever?

"Wha- what in the actual fuck just happened..." whispered Lyra.

"It's because he's too much of a monster, it got scared, it has to be," said Opal, a little uncertainty in her voice.

"I... I don't know what I just witnessed... My gods, that was...." The guard wiped at his brow, sweat running down his face, and not just from the heat the orb had created.

"M-must be a flaw with the magic on the orb, it j-just happened to break when a m-monster touched it. You should talk to whoever you get those f-from. They're cheaping out on you, y-yeah?" said Lyra, her voice shaky. She eyed Rain nervously, suddenly unsure of what he really was.

"...R-right, that must be it. Gods whoever the hell made that thing they put some strange stuff in it."

Lyra swallowed. "Okay, I-I'll leave you to get on that! Can't have faulty level orbs around! D-dangerous!"

She began backing into the town and then suddenly turned and swiftly strode away, her hooves clacking on the cobble as she went. Rain and Opal followed after. They immediately headed toward the nearest alley and then down a few turns until they'd put some distance between themselves and the gate. A few people noticed them, it was hard not to with the size of Rain, but apart from the colour draining from their faces, and immediately turning on their heels and walking away, they did nothing.

Lyra paused, leaning against a wall, a little panicyness in her legs.

"I don't know what that was," said Rain. "The monster species that I am hasn't been around for a long time. Maybe that has something to do with it."

Lyra let out a long breath and closed her eyes. Whatever Rain said that was... unsettling. She had been level checked countless times throughout her life, she was very familiar with it. Never ever had she seen anything like that ever. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Perhaps he was right and it just wasn't compatible with an ancient monster, as though that made as much sense as anything. That screaming mouth...

"What a curiosity," said Vash's slightly muffled voice. "I have never seen nor heard of such a thing before. There is nothing in a level orb that might cause such a reaction, at least there was not back in my day."

"So what made that, whatever that was, happen?" said Lyra glaring at Opal's pack.

"I can only surmise. It does remind me of the backlash that can happen from causing impossibilities with fringe magic. Using fringe magic you can create things that do not fit in our world: A square circle, something that both exists and does not exist at once, solid nothingness. I knew of a number of mages at the top of their field who tried to push the envelope in that way. They all ended up institutionalised, raving about impossibilities, or dead."

"And this?"

"... measurement of something that cannot be measured, a monster's level, would be an impossibility."

"What are you suggesting?" gravelled Rain.

"I am not suggesting anything. A clumsy stumble upon an impossibility that caused a random magical backlash. A curiosity, no more. Best you move on."

Lyra wasn't particularly pleased with that answer but the more she considered it the more it made sense. An accidental measurement of a monster with no levels, made possible because of Rain's ancient species being outside what the creators of the orb had expected. That, that fitted... sort of. She calmed her breathing.

Opal had gotten bored while Vash spoke and had started poking around the alley. In particular investigating the dumpsters. She made a face at the smell as she opened one.

"I came here often," said Rain softly. "There were few chances for food. It was this or starve."

Opal dropped the lid back down with a bang.

"Well now everyone is food. This whole town can be eaten!" said the Goblin happily.

"Uhm, p-please don't eat everyone in Lynthia."

Rain looked around the alley and then began walking away.

"Hey, that wasn't an answer! You didn't answer meeee!"

Lyra hurried after him, suddenly very concerned.

Chapter 56:

Rain strode forward, ignoring the fretting sheep girl. It was strange being back in Lynthia. Everything looked so incredibly... small. What had been a vast building that loomed over Rain in his past life was now... kind of tiny looking. He knew exactly where he was and exactly where he was going of course, he knew Lynthia like the back of his hand, well the parts where low levelers were allowed to go anyway. Gated areas and high leveler reserved areas were still unknown to him.

A Human woman carrying a pile of scrolls and books in her arms appeared around a corner as he passed. She screamed and fell back against the wall, dropping everything, looking up in open terror at Rain as scrolls bounced and rolled across the cobble around her feet. He snorted a laugh. He wasn't even doing anything yet they feared him this much? He considered how he felt about that. The contrast between how it had been when he was last in Lynthia and now was almost painfully jarring, going from something people felt contempt for to something that made them fear for their lives. They were afraid of him now, he could almost relish that change.

He took them down alley after alley, avoiding the main streets, deeper into the low leveler's quarter of town. The buildings rapidly became more run down and decrepit, trash and horseshit were scattered across the unpaved roads and sketchy vagrants huddled in quiet corners doing gods knows what. The occasional waft of sewage and the rank smell of trash left out too long in the sun drifted past, all competing with the more isolated aromas, the ashy scent of a tobacconist, the distant stench of a tannery, the burnt tang of a blacksmith, even further away, the chemical stink of a leatherworker and the fragrance of a flower-seller, all blending together to create a unique miasma that took a sledgehammer to the nostrils.

Rain did not remember the lower leveler quarters smelling quite this terrible and he wrinkled his nose in distaste. Apparently his sense of smell was a step up from when he had been Human. He wouldn't call it anywhere near as good or as useful as an actual wolf, or even a dog, but it was good enough to be distracting while walking through town. He almost wished he had his Human sense of smell back and could ignore it more easily. He hoped that his new nose would get used to it after some time and naturally filter it out.

Well, despite the strange change in building size, and the more intense smell, it still felt like one thing, It felt like home, as rough and as dangerous as a home it was.

Thinking about it it was a minor miracle he had survived as long as he did when he was Human. He supposed it was a matter of luck and knowledge, easy to avoid getting into trouble if you simply avoided being around trouble altogether. Avoid this alley between noon and evening, only go to that street late at night, never ever go near that building. Rain had found late night and very early morning the least risky and the best time to scavenge. Survival meant figuring out the gaps in society and slinking between them. It wasn't a good way to live but it was a way to live, and that was what mattered, he'd never given up despite hanging on only by his fingertips most days, despite most people he met either being dismissive of him or wary of helping him for fear of the Ranker.

A wild eyed man with an unkempt red beard suddenly burst from an alley. He held a rusted sword in his hands, the wobbling point aimed at Rain.

"The gods sent you, didn't they! They knew I was stagnating with my leveling, they sent you for me to kill! To level me up! To make me strong!"

Rain stared the man down and he practically wilted under his gaze, his shoulders slumping and his legs trembling.

"Sorry sir but you are mistaken, this is a leveler, not a monster, an easy mix up, it happens," said Lyra coming up behind. "Have you seen or heard of a monster species that looks like him before? Why would the town guard let a free monster into town? Come on, think about it," she scoffed.

The man looked at her sceptically. As he did so Rain reached forward and ripped his sword from his hands sending the man stumbling. Rain then turned and threw the sword into the sky, literally, the sword went up and it just didn't come back down, becoming a dot and then vanishing from sight in the blue above. The bearded man was left gaping, his arms limp at his sides as Rain strode by.

"Clean your act up," growled Rain in passing.

The man blinked, taking a moment to realise the monster had spoken to him. He stared in confusion at the monster's back as it turned a corner and disappeared from view.

"Someone you knew Rain?"

Rain stopped and turned on the sheep girl, she took a step back instinctively.

"I forgot to come up with a name for you to call me while I'm here. I shouldn't have spoken to that man, It's better to avoid any connection to my old life if possible. What should I call myself?"

"Let the Goblin name him," came a muffled voice, a sense of amusement in it.

"Yeah, Boner's right, I should come up with your leveler disguise name, I'm good at names."

"I'm pretty sure both of you are absolutely terrible at names..." muttered Lyra.

Opal tapped a finger on her chin, thinking deeply. "How about Nightfang?"

A cackle could be heard from with the pack.

"I think he needs a really boring name to fit in amongst levelers... Barry?"

The cackling went up a notch.

Rain stared at Lyra.

"M-maybe not?"

"My Father's middle name was Fitz. I guess that will do for now."

"Fitz... That's a nice name."

"It's a common name so it won't be noticed, it's good enough. There's somewhere I want to check before we go to the mid leveler areas of town, it won't take long, it's right here."

Rain turned and passed from the alley and into the street. He took a few steps forward and turned toward a larger four-storey building. The larger building was run down and poor like the other buildings but it clearly saw a fair amount of use and someone had put some care into basic maintenance. Which was surprising considering it was quite clearly a whorehouse.

A scantily clad woman who was standing outside smoking went pale as a sheet seeing Rain and ran inside.

"Why are we here?" said Opal. "Is that building special somehow? Why are you looking at it that way?"

"I used to live here, or rather, I used to live in the old shed out back. I found refuge here when I Couldn't elsewhere."

Opal turned to Lyra who was looking at the building a little uncomfortably.

"You know something don't you, tell me why he's acting weird."

"It's ah where he used to live, I don't think it's more than that, but this is a place where people go for, uhm, sex, to pay for sex from, ah, professionals."

"Huh," said Opal, looking at the building with new eyes. "Well that explains some things. I did wonder how he knew so much about that stuff."

Opal gave the entrance one last glance before she wandered after Rain who had disappeared around the back of the building. There she found him looking over a dilapidated shed cloistered at the back of a weed filled dirt yard. It was fortunate the shed wasn't a small one as Rain would not have been able to fit inside, even so he had difficulty getting through the front door and part of the wooden door frame collapsed around him. He dug around inside until he found what he was looking for underneath the floorboards. Then he withdrew, a very raggedy stuffed teddy bear with half its fur and a button eye missing held in his paw. He flipped it over and began picking at it with his claws, not very successfully as his claws were simply too big.

He was getting frustrated until Opal put a hand on his arm and gently took the bear from him. She turned it over in her hands with curiosity, examining the worn away fluff and loose stitches. Whatever it was it was obviously very old.

"What is this?"

"It's a stuffed bear."

"...what do you use it for?"

Rain scratched his jaw and looked away.

Opal squinted at him, clearly wondering why he wouldn't answer.

"It's a momento, most likely, Opal. Young children use stuffed toys to hug, for comfort and a feeling of safety, it's a commonly done thing," said Lyra.

"Oh... Nobody gave me something like that when I was young..." Opal actually looked a little bothered by the discovery.

She fiddled with the back of the bear as Rain had been doing and after a moment managed to open it. She gently pulled out a paper rectangle and unfolded it. Inside were two lockes of dried hair pinned to the paper, black and brown.

"What... is this?" said Opal furrowing her brow in confusion.

"Lockes of my parent's hair, it's all I have left of them... You can put it back now."

Opal stared at the hair in silence, touching a small finger to the dried out lockes, gently running her fingertip along the hairs. She swallowed, trying to clear her suddenly tight throat. Rain's parent's hair, she was touching something held dearly, something that was deeply important to him, she could practically feel the reverence that Rain held for them, to be so cared for- to hold onto for so long despite everything...

"That's-... A Gobbo... would not do this." Opal looked away from Rain as she very carefully put the refolded paper back in the bear. "You really loved each other, as a family, there was never... there was never anything like that in my old tribe, not even once." She hunched her shoulders and made herself small. "G-gobbos don't c-care, they don't c-care... I wanted, I just wanted... to have that t-trust, b-but they wouldn't, they, they-." Her small shoulders shook and she brought a hand to her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks, she trembled, she couldn't believe how strongly seeing the love of Rain's family had hit her, it was just so so far from the backstabbing bitterness that her old tribe had been filled with, the physical manifestation of why she had wanted out. Dungeon Gobbos didn't do family, that was just the unfortunate mistrusting nature a dungeon bred, it was just how it was.

She rubbed her hand over her face repeatedly, trying to get the flood of tears to clear, but along with the falling feeling in her gut and the horrible tightness in her throat it just didn't stop. She trembled as she held out the stuffed bear for Rain to take, her eyes firmly glued to the ground, she didn't want Rain to see her like this, this was embarrassing, it was just hair, this reaction was ridiculous.

A paw reached out, and then passed the bear and wrapped around her, She sobbed as Rain knelt and pulled her close to his chest, squeezing her tight, surrounding her with himself.

"You don't have to feel that way anymore Opal. We are a family, I would do anything for you, I'd do anything for you. I'll never abandon you, I'll find you no matter where you are, I'll always find you and hold you close. Do you trust me?"

Opal was no longer capable of speech as she bawled her eyes out into his chest fur but she nodded her head as her small hands desperately clutched at him.

Rain held her tight, letting her work through it.

Behind them Lyra stood. She was having a hard time keeping it together herself, her hands were over her mouth and tears were gently rolling from her eyes. She felt like she'd just been attacked with how un-monster like Opal was compared to what she had been taught. It hurt to see the monster girl like this, so emotionally vulnerable and defenceless, as much as any leveler could be. Lyra felt physically ill that she had ever thought of Opal as a sub-sapient and lesser developed being.

Rain held Opal for a few minutes letting the Goblin have it out until he started to feel her body relax against him, her breath slowly calming, becoming more even as she recovered.

"Get away from it! Run!"

Lyra blinked and turned to see that the back of the whorehouse had gotten busy.

A man stood in one of the doorways, he held a crossbow up and pointed at Rain, the scantily clad woman who had originally seen them out front hung off his shoulder, an accusing finger pointed at Rain where he knelt. Above the door the various windows of the building were filled with people, dozens of them, going all the way up to the fourth floor, most of them had bows or rocks in hand, all were looking at them fearfully.

"H-hey, hold on, you can't! They're like us! Please don't! Please!" begged Lyra.

"Get out of the way you stupid bint! Move!"

Lyra shook her head, not even sure what she was doing anymore.

"You don't understand! There- they're- don't hurt them!"

Lyra bit her lip and then stepped in front of Rain and Opal, spreading her arms wide, daring them to shoot.

"What's that crazy Half-Elf doing? That thing is going to rip her apart!"

"Fuck her, fire around the silly bitch."

"Wait, you can't, we'll hit her-!"

The scantily clad woman in the door grabbed for the trigger on the man's crossbow and the twang of a bow string filled the air. Lyra felt her heart jump into her mouth as the ground by her sprayed dust into the air and a bolt embedded itself in the earth. Everyone seemed to take this as the starting signal, pushing their frayed nerves over the edge into action. The air was filled with the snapping of strings and the throwing of stones.

Lyra only had a fraction of a moment to realise she had thrown her life away.

Then everything went black in a rushing blur of motion.

It took her a few seconds to understand that the black wasn't her loss of consciousness but that she was now wrapped in black fur, pressed up close to her face. She turned her head to see Opal blinking at her in confusion. What...

Everything was quiet, surrounded by fur.

Then the spat spatter sound of blood dripping broke the silence. Lyra pushed her hands against Rain's chest and he let her go from his embrace. She took a step back and walked around the wolf, dismay already in her eyes. His back was a pincushion of arrows.

"But... I said not to," she murmured, horrified."

Rain suddenly stood up fully and turned. He put a paw on Lyra's shoulder and gently pulled her behind him with Opal. He glared at the people in the building and they pulled back from the windows in fright, as though his gaze was physically pushing at them. The woman in the door actually ran away, disappearing into the building.

"I'm not here for you, but press me and you'll be put on my list. You don't want to be on my list," growled Rain.

"G-go away monster!"

"If you didn't want to harm us why come here?!"

"Someone find me more bolts! Quickly now!"

Opal ran her arm over her face, drying the last of her tears. "Fuck them. Kill them all, they don't deserve to live."

Rain gently shook his head. "I... know all of them. They're kind people. They're just... I can't tell them who I am, even if they believed me it would just end badly for them."

"We should go," said Lyra, "This isn't something that can have a good outcome, we should just go."

"...You're right... this isn't constructive."

Rain rolled his shoulders and most of the quarrels felt from his back and clattered to the ground. That quieted the onlookers down by a lot, all of them made suddenly awkwardly aware of just how ineffective their attack had been.

Rain gave them one last intimidating glance, snorted, and then turned and left. The girls hurried after him as he disappeared down the nearest alley.

Chapter 57:

The three of them made their way through dingy back alleys, quickly leaving the low levelers quarter behind and headed toward the mid levelers part of town.

Lyra hesitantly touched at Rain's elbow causing him to stop.

"Uhm, I should take out those arrow shafts. They kinda stand out a bit and they don't make you look very leveler like."

"I don't think anything makes me look very leveler like," gravelled Rain, but he sat down on the ground crossing his legs so that she could reach the arrows.

"I feel... guilty," muttered Lyra as she gently touched one of the arrows in Rain's back. "Levelers are supposed to be good, we kill monsters... but monsters aren't like I was told, or how I understood..."

Opal spat to the side. "Levelers were never good sheepy. You trap monsters in dungeons in a never ending cycle of death and killing all for your own greed. You make us suffer and hate and struggle for nothing."

"That's because of what happens sometimes with monsters! If we didn't the world would, there would- You don't know about it, you don't understand!"

"BULLSHIT! You do it for levels! For power!"

"Stop." growled Rain, firmly putting an end to it.

They fell silent as Lyra slowly worked the remaining arrows from Rain's back. Fortunately, they were only shallow wounds and despite Rain's body occasionally tensing up with pain they came out easily. Lyra was glad she had chosen black for his coat, it hid the bloodstains well.

"Maybe it was a bad idea to come here like this, pretending to be a leveler," she murmured, "I didn't expect the reaction to be quite so- I guess I really am getting used to being around you."

"It's fine. There wasn't an easy way into town, your idea worked, we are inside and so far the town hasn't entirely gone to war with me."

"I guess at least some people are assuming you're my slave, It would have saved so much hassle if we could have just bypassed the walls though."

"Why didn't we?" said Opal.

"Because they are enchanted everywhere but at the gatehouses.

Opal twirled her black hair, looking between Lyra and Rain.

"Hmm, So do you want to keep going like this? These levelers don't seem to like us very much."

"I'm not leaving until I've found at least Lira and Adlen, we've come this far I'm not backing down now."

"We could use my invisibility?" said Lyra, "Now we're inside we don't need to remain out in the open like this, we could do this from the shadows."

Rain hesitated then shook his head. "No, if we can do this a certain way we can come back freely over and over, just randomly killing them could draw attention. Do you know what I have in mind?"

"I think so," said Lyra, "But let's see what happens first. Come on let's go to some busier areas, I'll try and be a bit louder about you being a 'leveler' this time."

They moved deeper into the mid leveler quarter and toward the market districts. It was busier here, much busier, and the number of people who practically jumped out of their skin and fled when they saw Rain increased. A couple of people tried to draw swords and attack him but this time Lyra was ready with a heavy duty word barrage that involved a lot of accusations of racism and rudeness and why in the gods sweet name would the guards let a giant scary monster into town? Don't be ridiculous that would never happen, be rational, gosh. In short she gaslit the ever loving shit out of them, in fact this went past gaslighting, she was solidifying the gas into a brick and hitting people in the face with it.

Rain for his part found he was, strangely enough, starting to enjoy the reactions. It was somehow gratifying to see people draw back from him after his past life where they would intentionally ignore him or casually knock him aside with a look of disgust.

The air was filled with the scent of food as stalls and shops lining the edges of the cobble tried to flog cheap grub to passers-by. Rain felt not a little discomfort from this, the rich spiced scent of meat roasting over open braziers getting his hunger up, filling his mouth with saliva, causing his stomach to growl, he could just reach out and ta-. He was glad for the reprieve when they moved away although the hunger never quite disappeared, instead becoming a slow background burn grating on his nerves.

They caused a huge commotion as they emerged into the market proper, hawkers at stalls going bugeyed and choking on their own spit as Rain's shadow loomed over them. The crowd had a difficult time keeping back from him with so many people and it was only Lyra walking in front of him with her arms spread and announcing him that stopped a full blown panic.

"The mighty merchant king, Fitz of the north has arrived in Lynthia! No he is not a monster, yes he has lots of gold! You think he's a monster? Well I guess you must hate gold then cause you aren't getting any!"

As Lyra spoke Rain turned his head, his gaze following Opal. Like a piece of steel being drawn toward a magnet the Goblin was making a beeline to the nearest stall selling weapons, a fascinated look in her eyes.

The rotund and bald merchant running the stall gave the Goblin a sceptical look.

"Did your master send you out on an errand Goblin?

"...Yes? My master says to give me your best weapon, the shiniest, pointiest, sharpiest pointy you have."

The merchant blinked down at her, then his gaze moved to her pack which did look like the sort of thing someone wealthy might perhaps own. An ingratiating smile appeared on the merchant's face. He had stumbled upon an easy mark, what a wonderful day!

Immediately he brushed aside the blades laid out on his counter and from underneath produced a box, a long black lacquered box. He ran his hand along it reverently.

"This is a rarity in this part of the world, this came from far far to the east, created over the course of a decade by celibate monks of the skyspine mountain range. They rarely if ever interact with the outside world, this had to be smuggled out and even then ten people died in the process, the monks guard their masterpieces carefully.

A fire was burning in Opal, the fire of hype. She found she could not look away from the merchant's emotive performance.

The merchant flourished his chubby hands, "May I present, with the greatest sanctity, the Crimson Katana of Kalirn!"

He ran a finger along the rim and then carefully, slowly, opened the box as though revealing his favourite child. Opal's mouth dropped open seeing the glossy red curved blade within. Her hand came out, shaking slightly as she hesitantly reached for this magnificent weapon. The merchant drew the box back to her dismay.

"I want this." said Opal, her throat dry.

"I can't just give it away, I just can't, the man who gave it to me, he stumbled into my home bleeding from a gut wound, with his dying breath he bequeathed me it, I must protect it for all my life."

"B-but you showed me it after I asked!"

"Yes, but the mental pain I would have to endure to trade it away, I no longer know if I can endure it, although... perhaps... perhaps large quantities of coinage could soothe the agony."

Opal set her lips in a line and determinedly slammed her pack down on the ground. She flipped open the top and grabbed fistfuls of gold and began throwing them on the counter.

The merchant's eyes seemed to become luminous with glee. That is until Opal dumped a skull on the counter. A skull with two green flames for eyes which remained in place and unmoving. What was this? A tacky magical lantern?

He leaned in, puzzlement creasing his brow. Since it was thrown in with the gold surely it must be worth some significant amount, but why? He squinted at the two flames, carefully looking between them.

"BOO." spoke the skull.

The merchant let out an unfortunately girlish squeak and lurched backwards, his fat wobbling alarmingly.

"Hey don't scare him Boner, this idiot is giving away amazing swords for practically nothing! What a complete fool hahaha!"

Vash sighed and rolled his eyes. Then he glanced over to Rain who was watching this unfold some distance away from the stall. He sighed again, this time resignedly.

"That sword is just resin coated wood. I can see inside of it. He's trying to scam you."

The merchant blinked. What the hell was this? A magical skull that saw truths?

"Not true! Whatever that skull is, it's not telling the truth!"

"Even for a mortal you are truly a pathetic specimen. I wouldn't even consider you for my collection. You should dig a grave and put yourself in it, it would be skipping to the only relevant point of your life. To think you and I tread the same ground. Ugh, such a wretched creature.

You disgust me."

"Wow Boner, that was kind of a jerk thing to say."

"Your opinion does not matter to me at all Goblin, I only advise because your master is a brute who holds my existence in his paws."

"Yeah, well, my opinion says it would be interesting to see what would happen if I painted you with lard and tossed you to some piggys."

"...I amend my statement. Nevermind what I said about your opinion. Take back the gold."

"H-hey hang on now," said the merchant suddenly very aware of the pile of gold sitting on his counter. "You've already paid, I don't do refunds!"

He overcame his wariness of the skull and grabbed at the gold, sweeping it toward himself. It was as he was doing this that a shadow covered him and blocked the light. He blinked and looked up to see a wall of black. A paw came up and gripped the front flap of the canvas roof of his stall and ripped it upwards. The merchant screamed and fell backwards as a monstrous wolf head looked down at him. He scrambled back on his butt, unable to look away from those feral yellow eyes until he slammed up against the wall at the back.

"What is happening here," gravelled Rain.

"Hmm. I just saved your Goblin from losing you lots of gold for nothing."

"Why."

"She was trying to buy the sword. It's made of wood, it's fake, I can see."

Rain glanced at the skull then to the sword box. He then put one massive paw on it and curled his digits around it, applying pressure until the box exploded into splinters. The splintered remains of the sword, clearly wood beneath the enamel, were revealed.

Opal gasped and rounded on the merchant. "I trusted you! How could you betray the sword!"

The quivering merchant shook his head violently.

"P-please don't kill me! I have two wives and fourteen children!"

"Oh good! Rain can eat them too!" said Opal with an evil grin.

The merchant whimpered at that and a slowly growing wet patch appeared on his trousers.

"Opal take the money. Don't take the skull out again, levelers don't like und- they don't like talking skulls."

The Goblin grumbled but began sweeping the gold back into her pack along with the skull which "Hmphhed" as it was put back inside.

Rain turned away from the stall. Lyra was nowhere in sight, she'd wandered off. Not good. He could already see people around him were starting to lose it. An unattended giant monster tended to have that effect.

Well, no point wasting time. He raised his voice. "Lyra." The whole crowd flinched away from him and conversation died over the entire market. Everyone was looking at him now. That might have been a mistake.

"Yes?" came a voice. "Why are you pronouncing my name like that?"

Rain blinked and turned to see a small person. A Halfling. It was her, Lira. One of his killers.

His breathing accelerated and his fur raised, traumatic memories like nails on a chalkboard and scalding fury along with it thrusting to the forefront of his mind. He prepared to leap on her, to literally rip her apart in front of everyone.

A hand touched at his thigh and he looked down to see Lyra had appeared beside him, she had a worried look in her eye as though she knew what he intended. She shook her head slightly. Rain, with great difficulty, forced his body to relax.

"I saw you earlier, you're that fancy rich merchant people have been speaking about?" said the Halfling. "Hmm, you know you must be awfully high level to have a body like that, would you say what your level is if it isn't too much trouble? I would just love to hear what a big strong one like you has built up." The Halfling bit her lip and gave Rain a coy look.

Rain blinked. "You don't think I'm a monster?"

"No? That sheepy half-Elf said you weren't and I haven't seen a monster like you before so you must be a leveler right!" said the Halfling with a genuinely charming and friendly smile.

The irony that the only person in the entire town who was welcoming of him was the person he had come to kill was not lost on Rain.

Chapter 58:

I'm-" Rain glanced at Lyra who was desperately making little cutting motions with her hand. "I have levels enough. In my culture we keep the specifics private, this open sharing of a person's numbers is strange to me."

The Halfling tilted her head. "Huh, well I suppose that's fair. I guess I'll just have to imagine how strong you are." She ran her eyes over his body. "That won't be very hard."

Rain squinted at Lira. She was just so- she just didn't seem to care at all... It was... strange. He couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong with this situation, a subtle animal instinct warning him to be wary. But then perhaps he was just so used to people reacting poorly to him that coming across someone who seemed entirely unafraid was setting him off balance.

A gasp drew his attention away from the Halfling. Someone other than himself was causing unrest amongst the market crowd, someone pushing others out of the way.

A man with his rear to Rain appeared, walking backwards, pulling something across the ground. The crowd shifted and it came into a view, a Human woman, a woman wearing a corset and a torn blouse. She was being dragged, struggling to keep herself up on all fours but more often than not falling down as the man hauled on her long black hair roughly held in fist. Judging by the state of her clothing she was most likely a low leveler, in fact Rain thought he vaguely recognised her from his past life, although it was difficult to tell with how swollen and bruised her face was.

The man snorted in disgust as she slipped and twisted her wrist on the cobble, whimpering in pain. He pulled back on her hair, tilting her head up and grasped her chin with a gloved hand.

"Do you want to go back to the low leveler's quarter?"

The woman looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"N-no.. I, want to be with you, you're so... high leveled! One of the highest!"

"I am. And I'm growing stronger, you should want to be with me, I'm an up and comer, a prodigy. Don't be like the others, don't be like Myra, you'll stay with me no matter if someone comes along with more levels than me, you will, I know you will."

He stared at the woman's wide and terrified eyes for a moment longer and then released her. She fell back with a sob.

"What are you doing Adlen?" said Lira. The blonde haired Halfling had her hands on her hips, a dangerous tone to her voice.

Rain's eye twitched as the man turned and he saw his face for the first time. Tall, curly black hair, a body like a sculpted idealization, a metal spear with a patterned blade on his back. It was Adlen, another one of his murderers.

Rain planned his path of attack. Lira was turned away from him, he would lunge forward, teeth taking her in the back of the neck, bite down hard and fast, end her quickly, then keeping his momentum he would leap, tackle Adlen, taking him to ground before he knew what was happening and then ripping and tearing until there was nothing left.

He stared unblinking, every monstrous and predatory instinct in him screaming at him to do it, kill them, kill them now!

The problem was what came after. He glanced around. There were a lot of people in this market, many of them around mid level and likely a few higher leveled. Nothing would unify them into one deadly combative force like seeing an out of control monster killing their own. Rain knew he was strong, but he also knew he wasn't that strong. Killing Adlen and Lira right here right now would be a death sentence, he glanced at Lyra and Opal, and most likely not just for him. He clamped down on his fury, boxing it away as best he could for the moment. The box was already starting to show signs of breaking apart under the pressure.

"Lira what the hell is that with you? Did you get a new slave? How did you even swing getting a giant thing like that into town?"

"Leveler, Adlen, this one here is a leveler. Why are you being so rude? And more importantly what are you doing with that woman?"

Adlen stared at her then stared at the hulking wolf monster, then back at Lira.

"What are you blathering about you silly Halfling, that is not a leveler, there's no fucking way. No, just no."

Rain had been waiting for this. He took a step forward. Both of them looked at him in surprise.

"Are you calling me a monster?" he growled.

Adlen looked at Rain warily, not liking that this stranger was taking the aggressive stance.

"I'm not calling you a monster, you are a monster, obviously, and a pretty stupid one if you can't even understand that. Piss off back to your master and stop bothering us."

"In my culture calling someone a monster is a grave insult. If you're so sure of your word then duel me, if I win then you will swallow your pride, grovel, and apologise for what you said. Of course a leveler like yourself isn't afraid to fight an apparent monster like me right?" Rain pulled back his lips, flashing his canines in a wolfish grin.

"What?" said Adlen, clearly baffled that the monster hadn't shut up and gone away yet. Slaves just didn't talk back like this. "I'm not duelling a monster, don't be ridiculous. Why am I even talking to you? I doubt you even understand what you're suggesting!"

"Then are you walking back what you said?"

Adlen scowled in irritation. "No-

"Master, why is this leveler so afraid of you? Did his spine fall out his butthole like you said can happen sometimes?" said Opal with big innocent eyes.

Adlen's fists clenched as Opal spoke and his face started to redden. "First you, now some Goblin filth dares-"

"Should we look around and see if we can find it master? Maybe we can put it back up his butt, then maybe he won't be such a floppy spineless dildo!" Opal began looking around, as though hunting for Adlen's missing spine, this drew a few sniggers from the crowd which flushed Adlen's cheeks with white hot fury. He looked like he was about to attack the Goblin so Rain interjected.

"Duel me." he growled, putting it simply.

"You should do it Adlen," said Lira, "It's the right thing to do, maybe you'll learn a lesson about running your mouth."

Rain glanced down at the Halfling...Why was she helping him? Did she truly believe he was a leveler? He wasn't sure that was the case but having her help for the moment was useful.

"Lira, I'm not being dragged into this nonsense when literally everyone can clearly see that thing is a monster!"

"So how was he let into town? The guards check everyone who comes by with a level orb. How do you explain that?"

Adlen glared at the Halfling, infuriated by her point. "He obviously was allowed in as a slave."

"The Ranker doesn't allow large monster slaves into town, as a rule, you know that, you said it yourself."

"Just- just shut up! I don't know how it got in but it did, go and find a guard with a level orb, we can end this right now!"

This was not going in a direction Rain had intended, he suspected a public repeat of what happened to the last level orb he touched would do him no favours and he would be lucky if he was just imprisoned if not lynched.

Adlen's lack of interest in fighting him was the problem, Rain had hoped baiting him would have been enough to get him to agree to a duel but the leveler just didn't want to commit. He was about to raise the stakes, try a different angle, increasing the pressure on Adlen further, when Lyra stepped forward and did it for him.

"Slave, for three months."

Adlen blinked. "What?"

"You beat Fitz here and he will be your slave for three months. He's a monster right? A powerful leveler will sometimes keep a powerful monster as an aesthetic slave in the cities, it's a sign of prestige, symbolic of their strength, a display of prowess."

He squinted at Lyra then turned his eyes to Rain. He glanced over him, an analytical look in his eye, judging. A large, unique, and extremely intimidating monster like this at his beck and call?... That would be... Impressive. He would stand out, draw attention, it would be as though he'd increased his level without actually doing so.

"That is... Wait, you're its master?"

"If you wish to believe that then feel free."

"Of course If I beat you then you will be my slave for three months in turn," gravelled Rain, "Being my slave would be an acceptable apology, better than grovelling even."

"Hell no! Levelers aren't slaves!"

"What is it that you think you are doing to that woman you are dragging around?"

Adlen gawped at him and then curled his lip in anger, anger because Rain's comment had an edge of truth.

"So are you going to do it? You aren't afraid of my little friend here are you?" said Lyra, giving Adlen a wink.

Rain wasn't sure how he felt about being described as little.

"No chance, jerkface over here is way too much of a coward!" scoffed Opal.

"You're literally just a shitty Goblin! Why are you even talking?!"

That knocked the smug look of Opal's face, but fortunately she was wearing another, smaller, smug look underneath.

"I'd totally fight tall and wolfy over here, I'm not afraid like you, you fat sack of expired cheese with a cavernous asshole! R-Fitz, fight me! one on one!"

Rain wasn't sure if Opal was being serious or simply trying to aggravate Adlen, still, he held up a paw warning her back.

"She is correct that you are being a coward. Perhaps we really should form a search party for your spine?"

That, at last, was enough to push Adlen's vexation over the brink.

"I've really heard enough of this," said the leveler, he flipped the spear from his back and spun it in hand. "We'll duel, and then your idiot Half-elf master will give you to me and I'll make you my dog. That will be oh so wonderfully fitting. I'll command you to sit and fetch and crawl on your belly like a pet, until you're ashamed to even lift your head."

The crowd had already been keeping a distance as best they could from Rain, they drew back further as Adlen flourished his spear. This time however there was a sense of interest coming from the Humans and Elves and various other races that made up the crowd. If there was anything a town liked it was entertainment. Entertainment was a genuinely highly valued commodity away from the cities, and seeing a plucky leveler crushing an uncomfortably intimidating monster like Rain was just fine by them.

Space was quickly made for the fight, volunteers pushing back stalls, leaving an open square surrounded by the crowd.

Lyra raised her hands, activating full business sheep mode.

"We're taking bets, taking bets! Anyone wishing to lay down gold hand it to the Goblin! This is the duel of the year, no, the decade folks! Have you ever seen the like! Fitz of the North accused of monsterhood, versus this... Adlen guy, Prodigy of Lynthia! He has a spear! It is very pointy!"

The attention of the crowd switched from Rain to Lyra. The sheep girl was quickly getting into the swing of things, stoking the crowd, building interest. The crowd's eyes followed her waving arms as she built the hype ever higher, Opal especially couldn't look away, fascinated by this new phenomenon.

One of the crowd caught Lyra's attention.

"You, yes you! You look very assured of the way this is going to go! What say you?"

A muscular man, clearly a blacksmith judging by the size of his crossed arms and his leather apron, glared at Lyra, annoyed about being singled out. He shifted his shoulders and shook his head.

"Well obviously young Adlen is going to win. That's a big monster, a real feral lookin' fucker, but levelers fight increasingly large monsters as they level higher, Adlen included, in fact I know he was part of a group who took on a Panthara, far more dangerous than that wolf thing. He knows what best practice is, this will be a slow painful dismantling of your slave, girl. I hope you don't regret it."

"A Panthara? Wow! Care to put your money where your mouth is?" said Lyra, practically bouncing on the spot.

Opal appeared in front of the blacksmith, an open bag in her hands held up high. The blacksmith snorted a laugh, hesitated, then reached for his purse.

"Sure, why not, but only with two to one odds. Still want to do this?

"Mhmm!"

There was a moment of silence, then the market crowd shifted into full commerce mode as the sound of a dozen clinking coins falling from the blacksmith's hand pierced the air. There was money to be made and that moved people with a magic all of its own.

"I'll take odds on the overgrown monster winning! Anyone?" cried a voice in the back, and then someone else, "Get your meat! Can't watchah fight without meat! Come buy mi' meat!"

Opal drifted from person to person willing to take a bet against Rain, which turned out to be a lot, levelers always beat monsters in the end, no matter how intimidating a monster was, that was just how things were. Lyra followed behind the Goblin girl, she'd procured a notepad from somewhere and was busily noting down every name and face that stepped up with money in hand to put in Opal's bag. The sheep girl doubted she would need it, but she had standards, she was a business sheep after all.

Chapter 59:

As Lyra and Opal worked the crowd one particularly enthusiastic male Elf tried to push papers into Opal's bag. Opal snatched the bag away, scowling at him.

"What is that? Stop trying to put your nasty leveler trash in my bag!"

Lyra plucked one of the papers from the Elf and looked it over. It was a PLH contract, Power Leveling Hours, the alternative currency to coinage.

Annoyed, she thrust the paper back into his hands.

"How are you going to bet PLH? That doesn't make any sense!"

The Elf gave her a charming smile, his red hair perfectly coiffed. "Well if it goes my way you would be helping me level, in the dungeon, just us together. Or hey, if I lose I would, of course, help you, if only for half the time since you are claiming two to one odds. Alas, it would be less time, but anytime with you would have... great value to me."

Lyra's hand edged toward her face in an instinctive facepalm, with difficulty she restrained herself. Godsdamned amorous Elves, she was embarrassed to count herself as half of one at times.

"According to that contract I'm lower level than you, and I'm not even a real combat Class, sorry but no, you can't power level someone stronger than you, and I'm not taking these anyway! Bet real gold if you want to bet. Opal, next!"

"W-wait, hold on now, we don't have to level, we could-"

"She said no Elfy!" said Opal. She kicked him in the shin and turned away.

The Elf looked down at his shin more in surprise that a Goblin slave had the audacity to touch him than pain. By the time he looked up again Lyra and Opal had moved on and were surrounded by people trying to throw money at them.

Meanwhile, in the center of the square surrounded by the crowd, Adlen was cracking his knuckles and rolling his neck. He put a hand on a knee and leaned to the side, then the other, stretching out and easing his muscles, loosening up, shaking out his limbs and then going through various martial motions with his spear.

Rain watched the tip of the spear as it swung. Not so long ago it had been used to cut him apart, painted red with the last of his life. Adlen continued to move, performing stretches, practising smooth languid strikes. The more this continued, and the more Adlen ignored him, the angrier Rain got, it was like he was being mocked. The box in his mind splintered and came apart. He could no longer hold himself back.

"Get on with it," snarled Rain causing the crowd nearest him to step back in alarm. He tensed and untensed his paws, rolling his claws, eager to lay into this HUMAN, he could practically feel the wounds of his death, missing arms, spilled guts, ghostly apparitions that marred his body, prickling at his nerves, like little clawed demon hands picking and pulling at his mind. This one had done this to him, ended him, disfigured him, mutilated him. Adlen had-. He could feel his memories crawling up his back, trying to drag him down, down into the suffocating darkness.

"Warrior's value preparation, maybe you could learn something," said Adlen with a sneer, spinning his spear as he warmed up.

"I'm not a warrior," said Rain, his voice dark. "I am a killer. A predator."

Adlen paused at that and really gave Rain his attention. He didn't seem to like what he saw. A little doubt seeped into his expression. He shook his head, this was just another fight with yet another monster, if a particularly threatening looking one with eyes that- well, it didn't matter. He settled himself and then turned to his side where the woman he had brought with him sat. He raised an eyebrow and tapped the butt of his spear against her until she was forced to move, scuttling on all fours to the edge of the crowd. He caught her attention and wagged a finger at her.

"Wish me luck."

"G-good luck!" whimpered the woman.

"Really Adlen?" said Lira, folding her arms and giving him a disappointed glare.

"Oh fuck off Lira, it's not like you haven't been dropped like a sack of shit before. Where's Brax hmm? Yeah, I thought so. I'm just ensuring long term loyalty, you should do the same with some low leveler guy."

"I have some self respect. If you care so much then why don't you spend more time trying to level up?"

Adlen glared at her but didn't reply, instead he dropped into position, spear held at the ready by his side and faced Rain. "Maybe that's how this will end," he muttered.

Lyra appeared to one side, arms raised in the air again, drawing attention.

"We'll have a nice clean fight!"

Rain gave her a look.

"Er, well a moderately dirty fight! Ready! Set! Go!" she finished the last bit in a rush and leapt back into the crowd.

Rain dropped his center of balance forward, angling his legs, the claws on his feet tearing up the cobble. He powered forward hard, leaping into the air, his entire huge mass going airborne, claws outstretched reaching for Adlen, maw ready to snap down.

The problem was that Adlen was already in motion, activating a Skill that released a store of momentum built up from his warm up he accelerated at an incredible speed. The butt of his all-metal spear struck the cobble in a flash of sparks and he violently shoved himself to the side, out of Rain's path, then pivoting on his heel as smoothly as a dancer he twisted and sent the deadly blade of his spear whipping toward Rain.

Rain had only a moment to understand by just how much he had underestimated Adlen before the razor sharp metal tore into his shoulder. It was only the instinctive jerk of his arm that stopped it from going further, knocking aside the shaft with his forearm.

He spun and crashed down, cobble shattering under his feet from the impact. Turning in the same motion he twisted and lunged for Adlen aiming to catch him unawares with his lack of reaction to being wounded, but Adlen was ready and danced backwards skipping just out of range of Rain's claws, blood flicking off his spear.

Fast. Adlen was unbelievably fast and slippery.

Rain snarled and tried grabbing for the spear, lunging forward with each stride, if he could just wrap his paws around the shaft he could rip it from Adlen's grasp leaving the leveler unable to harm him and completely defenceless.

Swipe, swipe, grab. Miss, miss, miss. With growing frustration Rain found his attacks thwarted again and again and again, his paws avoided or batted aside by the twirling twisting spear.

The crowd moved with them as Adlen retreated under Rain's ferocity, backing up through the market. Lyra watched with concern, suddenly a lot more worried about how this was going to go. It didn't matter how strong Rain was if he couldn't touch the damned leveler. She caught the blacksmith out of the corner of her eye, he was looking at her with a raised eyebrow, 'I told you so' practically radiating off of him in physical waves.

He was right of course, to Lyra's irritation. Most levelers who took on larger monsters had specially prepared tactics, it made sense, no point being caught under a large monster's weight advantage, far better to avoid and poke and use Skills. She just hadn't expected it to work quite this well against Rain, Adlen's Class was clearly built for speed and it was paying off.

"Fitz! Don't let him wear you down!" she cried out.

Adlen smirked as he dodged Rain's lunging claws once more, his feet deftly moving across the ground keeping him just out of reach.

"Your moron master just lost herself a slave it seems. I am curious how she controls you, she looks like a low leveler, maybe tens at a stretch. Let me guess, she has some spawn of yours locked up somewhere, or wait, perhaps it's an enchanted implant designed to pierce your heart? I've heard they save that for the most feral ones."

Rain snarled and lunged for his throat, paw grabbing. Adlen turned to the side, evading, and brought the spear up to slice open Rain's stomach, Rain threw his weight at an angle, diving out the away, just dodging the blade. He rolled on the cobble, his back to Adlen and Adlen took the chance, charging in with his spear lancing forward, ready to skewer Rain.

Exactly as Rain had planned. Rain spun as he came up, holding himself up with his paws and kicking out his leg. His foot hooked around a burning brazier and he flung it around and straight toward the charging leveler. Hot coals and a spitted chicken fell from it as it tumbled through the air and Adlen had to abort his charge and back up, holding up his spear to fend off the flying hunk of metal. The crowd behind cried out as they were showered with sparks and fire and burning coals and an entire roasted chicken.

Not even pausing Rain slammed his paws down onto the cobble, spreading his digits and digging his claws in, then using his outsized strength he powered his arms forward, ripping his paws through the chunks of stone and earth and shovelling them up in an under arm swing. Adlen had barely fended off the brazier before dozens of fist sized cobble stones were hurtling toward him. In an instant he set his feet and spun his weapon. Flashes of light left after images in Rain's eyes as light sparked at both ends of the spear and the spear vanished, no, not vanished, just spinning in Adlen's hand so fast it was a soft blur audibly fanning the air.

Stone cracked and ricocheted again and again against the spinning metal as Adlen fended off the projectiles, less fortunate were the crowd behind who howled as heavy cobblestones thudded against exposed flesh. Rain recognised a Skill when he saw one and wasn't about to let Adlen press him with it. He was already lunging forward and scooping up the fallen brazier, the squat cast iron rods still hot to the touch as he drove the thing into the spinning blur of the spear.

CLANG! The brazier did its job, the spear was stopped with an ear splitting noise, the metal crashing together violently causing the spear to visibly wobble along its length and for Rain's paws to sting from the vibration that shook the brazier. Adlen flinched and nearly dropped his weapon, leaping backwards out of surprise. He continued to retreat until he found himself by a large round fountain over a dozen feet wide, ringed by a thick knee high wall. In the middle of the pool was a statue of the original founding Ranker of Lynthia, worn and mossy with age, water burbling down its surface.

The fountain was near the top of the market, the fight having moved them there. The crowd had been following along, although having just been caught by Rain's impromptu projectiles they were a lot more cautious of coming close and the space around the two had increased greatly.

Adlen jumped up on the pool wall of the fountain and gave Rain a wary look before examining his spear for damage, seeing it was fine he checked over his hand, rolling his knuckles and squeezing his fist tight. He was clearly discomfited, though he tried to hide it.

"You know something about Skills monster?"

Rain remained silent, his eyes carefully watching the leveler. This seemed to bother Adlen more than a reply.

Adlen stepped backwards around the rim of the fountain, his feet perfectly placed to keep his balance. Rain stalked around it in turn, following the wall and Adlen. The leveler kept him at a distance until Rain suddenly rushed forward, reaching out to grab at him. This time Adlen was not content to let Rain have it all his way and he stabbed at his paws, slicing at him, cutting at his paw pads, using the fountain to his advantage, sending flicking lines of blood into the air to patter down on the water with each strike. Rain's increasingly desperate attempts to grab the spear thwarted and countered in blood.

Rain slowed, clearly getting frustrated. He watched as Adlen danced backwards around the fountain twirling his spear.

He sneered, "Stupid monster, know your betters. You are nothing, just fuel for my leveling or a trophy for me to parade around, a dog I will put to heel."

Fuck this. Rain turned, stepped up on the pool wall, and booted the statue in the middle of the fountain as hard he could. He expected the statue to break halfway up, instead the entire fountain ripped from the water and exploded through the side of the pool's outer wall straight where Adlen was standing. Adlen was blown off his feet as half a ton of stone crashed into him, sending him rolling across the cobble as broken chunks of statue showered and clattered down around him.

Rain blinked. That... had worked a little better than expected.