Seven days of travel through the altered jungle brought Reidar to the edge of another clearing.
"Finally... This took too much time..."
His Sprites had returned with eager chittering some hours earlier, when he was still inside the forest. It wasn’t actually simple what the sprites wanted to tell him, but they somehow made him understand.
They found something. Through the canopy of vines and impossibly tall trees, they, and later Reidar, spotted the shape of human construction.
The second gas station stood before him, though ’stood’ was a kind way to say the thing hadn’t completely collapsed.
The building leaned at a precarious angle, its roof caved in on the left side where a massive tree had crashed through the structure. The tree was bigger than the building itself, and it was just because of pure luck that it didn’t completely destroy the thing.
It also looked like part of the left side of the building had been ripped apart, but there was no sign of where the missing part was, as there wasn’t a single piece of stone or concrete on the ground, aside from those that fell from the building that was standing here.
If the left side of the building had collapsed, then Reidar should have seen those remains, but they were nowhere to be seen.
The area, though, was filled with broken glass around shattered windows. The fuel pumps seemed fine, but Reidar couldn’t tell if that was good or bad.
Getting a car without a proper road was impossible, and even if he found one, making it start would not be simple.
"The building wouldn’t be standing if it exploded."
The underground storage tanks had survived whatever calamity had claimed the rest of the gas station. The smell of gasoline was strong, but there was no overwhelming reek that would show a major spill that could lead to explosions.
"A landmark that actually exists."
According to his map, this station was roughly fifty kilometers from the first one. The journey that should have taken an hour by car had consumed a full week on foot through terrain that defied natural laws.
That was without considering the three days that he had already spent traveling. Not everything was because of the distances themselves, but more because of the monsters in the area, who gave him a ton of problems and slowed his pace to a crawl.
Unfortunately, they had not been enough for him to level up, but he wasn’t that stressed about it.
His relief at finding buildings vanished when he noticed movement around the place.
"I knew I wouldn’t have been lucky..."
Rift-Sprites, dozens of them, were scavenging through the wreckage outside of the place. Their levels floated above their heads in the familiar text.
–Ember Rift-Sprite—Level 8–
–Stone Rift-Sprite—Level 9–
–Aqua Rift-Sprite—Level 8–
–Wind Rift-Sprite–Level 9–
They were all around those levels, 8-9.
"It seems like these things don’t get much stronger with time. But I’ve noticed that’s not the case with other monsters..."
Reidar faced many level 11, 12, and even 14 monsters along the way, but they were corrupted, while the Rift-Sprites were actually common monsters, so it made sense, at least in a video game mechanic, which these monsters seemed to follow. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ N0velFire.ɴet
It had to mean something real was going on—this wasn’t some game where monsters were made by people. If things worked this way, then maybe something natural was holding the Rift-Sprites back, or maybe nothing was pushing them to grow stronger.
The pattern repeated across the group. Eight sprites at level 8, four at level 9. All of them moved as if they were searching for something. Reidar actually noticed they were trying to enter the building.
Reidar changed his Rift-Sprites, taking one for each element, plus one Aqua Rift-Sprite he wanted to take in reserve in case some fire spilled too close to the gas tanks.
His level 13 Rift-Sprites emerged from the tears in reality some seconds later.
–Summoned Ember Rift-Sprite—Level 13–
–Summoned Stone Rift-Sprite—Level 13–
–Summoned Aqua Rift-Sprite—Level 13–
–Summoned Aqua Rift-Sprite—Level 13–
–Summoned Wind Rift-Sprite—Level 13–
The wild sprites noticed his summons. Not that Reidar was trying to hide them. He had fought so many Rift-sprites in the past days that he knew what to expect of them already and could manage himself pretty well even alone.
Besides, his Rift-Sprite Hunter IV increased the damage done to Rift-Sprites by 20%, so his level 13 sprites would make quick work of them.
The wild sprites’ chittering rose to aggressive shrieks as they gave up their scavenging and charged across the debris field.
"Spread out and take them on. Don’t let them group up."
His summons sprang into action right away. The Wind Sprite shot forward, using its speed to harass the charging creatures.
Both Aqua Sprites flanked wide, preparing for crossfire attacks. Stone and Ember Sprites formed a defensive line in the center.
The battle erupted with a barrage of elemental attacks. Wild sprites fired stone bullets and water bullets across the clearing. Reidar’s summons responded with their projectiles, and he even added his own to increase his proficiency.
—[«Skill Proficiency Status Update»] —
[« Summon Rift-Sprite Squad »]
Reidar raised his Rift-Sprite Conductor and channeled mana into a Fireball. The sphere of orange flame struck the nearest enemy sprite chest, its enhanced damage crackling through the creature’s shell.
[Your Fireball strikes Ember Rift-Sprite for 127 Fire Damage.]
[Arcane Leech effect triggered. 31.75 damage points converted into mana.]
His first target collapsed with a shriek, its orange eyes dimming to nothing.
[Ember Rift-Sprite defeated.]
[You have gained 17 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]
[You have earned 17 Survival Points.]
His summons were higher level, and that made all the difference. They worked together, hitting the wild sprites from all sides, and their attacks did a lot of damage. The enemy didn’t stand a chance—they dropped one after another.
[Stone Rift-Sprite defeated.]
[You have gained 18 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]
[You have earned 16 Survival Points.]
[Aqua Rift-Sprite defeated.]
[You have gained 19 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]
[You have earned 18 survival points.]
His summons kept wiping out the monsters, and the notifications kept coming. In just a few minutes, the clearing went silent.
[Wind Rift-Sprite defeated.]
[You have gained 17 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]
[You have earned 21 Survival Points.]
Reidar scanned the clearing. Twelve sprite bodies lay on the ground. Their shells were cracked at various points, and different kinds of wounds appeared based on the attacking sprite’s element.
Some were scorched, some were shattered by stone bullets, whose passage could be seen by the stone fragments around; the same could be said for the water bullets, which left the wound wet, while the wind blades made too precise cuts. Instead, his summons barely had a scratch—being higher level really gave them the edge.
[Rift-Sprites defeated.]
[Total C.L.A.S.P. Points gained: 540.]
[Total survival points earned: 489.]
Reidar didn’t dismiss his summons. He didn’t know what monsters could be hiding nearby, so he kept two Rift-Sprites behind him, two in the front, and sent the remaining one to look around.