What to do? This and other questions race through my mind as I try to come up with some tactic that might work against this overgrown lizard. I don’t know what its level is, but I’m guessing high thirties, maybe low forties. High enough that Alexey’s fists, even augmented by Nicholas’s aura, are only barely scratching its thick, armored carapace.

  I slash at its foot, testing my own mettle against the creature just to be sure. My slash ricochets off its skin. My piercing thrust finds no purchase, stopped as though I’d tried to puncture a solid slab of diamond reinforced further by my [Repulsion] barrier. My [Lightning Bullet], even aimed at its softer underbelly, barely scratches the creature, drawing at most a pinprick of blood before its skin scabs over and negates that trifling injury.

  I retreat, allowing the others a chance as I formulate a different plan. My [Glyphcasting] is the only ability I have that’s almost certain to do at least something to the titan. But I’ll get only a single strike with it, so I can’t just fire it off and pray to the goddesses to help me. I have to target its weak point, or create one somehow.

  I pull out my [Modular Blowgun] and look at the last spot remaining. It’s worth a shot. I start etching the glyph of [Sharpness] that I identified and used during yesterday’s demonstration. Though, I quickly realize that this isn’t the exact glyph I want. This is sharpness in terms of cutting, as exemplified by the slashing edge of a razorblade. Here I need the sharpness of a needle, a tiny point tapered down in all directions like that of a hypodermic syringe.

  Unfortunately, I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for; our studies haven’t yielded fruit just yet. I start with the glyph I do know, and then I trust my [Tinkerer] skill to modify it, trying slightly different augmentation runes on both the top and the bottom of the glyph. I try an inverted rune of pluralization, hypothesizing that this might somehow reduce the ‘infinite points of edge’ down to a single, needle-fine point.

  It doesn’t work. It fails to hold my channeled [Ether] properly, dispersing into the air the moment it enters. I quickly remove the rune, trying a different variation, and then a third, all to no avail.

  All around me, my concentration is being tested by screaming soldiers crying out in pain and the stench of oversized chickens smoldering from fireballs and gunshot wounds alike. A pleading medic calls for an injured soldier to hang on as another soldier helps her gather the wounded away from the front. Corpses of the velociraptors pile up in front of us, but they fail to slow the impending tide. If anything, the raptors show some hints of intelligence, leaping onto the bodies of their fallen to leap past our defenses and into the softer insides of our formations.

  Lindsey and the other ranged fighters continue to work to keep them at bay, but we’re still getting pushed back. I flick an [Ether Bullet] at the chicken that tries to blindside me, turning it into a puff of feathers that I finish off with a stab through the neck.

  I fiddle around with the glyph some more, trying different patterns and checking their resistivity to my [Ether]. Any time I reach a new local minimum, I take a mental note to analyze more formally later. I keep cycling around, ignoring the screams for help all around me.

  It frustrates me so, being so… so powerless! Watching as brave men and women fight and die while I’m so unable to do anything more than–

  Why was I reincarnated with such mediocre power? Couldn’t I have– No, Sera! I slap myself out of my spiraling mindset and force myself to focus on what I can do right now, with the power at my disposal.

  Another scream fills the battlefield, followed by the deep bellow of the brachiosaur towering over us. Its tail twitches as its weight shifts slightly.

  “Everyone, hit the ground, now!” I scream out. I suffer a couple of minor injuries as claws rake my exposed arms, but I force myself down despite the pain. My fellow soldiers follow suit, though their wounds are less superficial as needle-fine feathers rain down upon them.

  The vicious tail swipe that follows is devastating to both sides. More overgrown poultry is flung in every direction. The pressure wave alone feels like being crushed by a massive bulldozer, and only by sheer providence do I manage to avoid taking damage from that. My weapons are intact, though I nearly lose the grip on my blowgun as the wind left in the tail’s wake tries to pull me out of my crater.

  A couple hundred raptors continue their assault into the city. Fifty-odd soldiers, including Lindsey, take off in pursuit. Two mechanical beeps ring in the distance, followed by a rocket launching into the air. It explodes as it reaches the apex of its trajectory. Some sort of advance warning being broadcast through mundane means, I have to assume.

  But then I get an idea as a feather falls next to me, scratching my face and drawing blood as it grazes against my skin. I activate [Ethersight] and sure enough, so small I can barely make it out, I see the glyph I’ve been searching for. It is a variant of the previous [Sharpness] glyph, at least in the most abstract way possible. But the inflection is so different, and involves three additional modifying runes Dr. Reynolds and I haven’t yet had a chance to look into yet.

  I draw the rune on my blowgun, and I channel my [Ether] into it. It flows almost perfectly. I adjust the two runes that I didn’t quite draw correctly and try again. This time, the flaws are imperceptible.

  I take a deep breath. Then I fire. The shot is nearly silent, blistering through the air faster than my ability to perceive. It strikes into the creature’s midsection and, to my shock, actually does damage. I fire a second attack from a slightly different angle, and again, the attack connects, sending a small spattering of blood dripping to the ground.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  The creature roars in pain. My [Ether] drops by eighty from each of the two shots. I don’t think it will work, but I launch another shot at the titan’s back right leg, the one nearest me. My attack connects, but unlike before, the hard outer skin and muscle tissue is too dense and rigid for my [Piercing Bullets] to do more than lodge themselves in like cactus needles. Even a follow-up stab with my [Blessed Sword] in the same spot fails to do more than nominal damage, shattering my hopes of incapacitating the monster by grounding it.

  “Damn it, Sera!” Brent says as he backs up next to me. He’s still mostly unharmed, but his stamina is running low and his [Ether] reserves are probably under a third. “I hope you’ve got some bright idea for dealing with this! I don’t know how much longer I can keep up the fight!”

  “I’m trying!” I say. “I need Nicholas, and anyone else who has some sort of passive buff they can use on me! I’ve got a new technique that can pierce this creature’s hide, but I don’t have high enough stats to bring it down on my own!”

  “Arise!” Brent calls out. Another decrease in his [Ether] follows as his technique takes hold. His breath is even heavier, but the rallying cry gives the ailing soldiers a second wind, helping them to repel the velociraptor surge for a little while longer. A few of the soldiers are starting to hold their own a little better, the accumulated Experience of fighting so many monsters in dangerous situations helping them gain levels quickly. But many more are collapsing, unconscious, dying… Maybe already dead, or at least beyond even the ability of a trained [Healer] to restore them.

  My heart is hardened, but I steel my mind and focus. I pull out two [Ether Canisters], hand one to Brent, and use one on myself to top off my reserves. I throw a few more of my remaining [Ether Bullets] to buy precious seconds against the unrelenting horde as a group of twenty soldiers gathers around the [Knight-Defender] to mount a defense for my retreat.

  I rush toward Nicholas, who already seems to know of my plan. The colonel himself is nearby, engaged in close-quarters combat with the raptors nearby, while Alexey and three others are barely keeping the brachiosaur occupied on them. The grizzled veteran of a dozen wars probably has some sort of [Taunt] skill. Probably used it against those damned apes as well, now that I think about it.

  I feel strength surging within me. My mind sharpens and splits into two, each making independent calculations in preparation for the spell I’m about to calculate. My internal [Ether] channels start to flow more smoothly, filling with Ether both from without and within. I clench my fist and nearly pierce my palm with my fingernails from the force of my grip.

  [You are under the effects of the following conditions: [Focus], [Bravery Aura], [Swiftness], [Toughness], [Ether Surge], [Doublethink]]

  I scratch the glyph of [Light] on my index fingers once more, just in time to greet the dawn’s early light. Three rings of light surround a regular dodecagram composed of four equilateral triangles. Instead of the glyph of [Light] that I used last time, I use the glyph I’ve come to associate with the concept of [Lightning Bolt]. My hope is that even if the bolt itself fails to bring down the beast, the electrical surge will stun it long enough for someone else to finish the job.

  Next I begin drawing the linking runes together. I want to cast a spell I can describe as ‘Bolt of Lightning that Pierces through air and flesh’. Unfortunately, I don’t know the glyph for ‘flesh’, which is going to necessitate wildcards and make the spell that much less powerful and inefficient. [Air] is related to the glyph of [Wind], in the sense that [Wind] is quite literally [Air] and [Impulse] mashed together. A few more runes and I check it with my [Ethersight] to make sure everything is in place.

  My head starts to throb. If not for the [Doublethink] passive allowing me both to maintain my channeled [Ether] and stabilize the glyphs I’ve drawn in midair, my mind would have collapsed from the strain, breaking down my spell and triggering what I can only imagine would be a tremendous backlash. I hope I never have to experience that sensation firsthand.

  I flip on my [Ethersight] and wait for the beast to get closer, then closer still. My arms and chest hurt from maintaining so many glyphs for so long, but I power through the pain and dizziness as my target encroaches. Fifty yards, then forty, and I start seeing potential weak spots in the creature’s forelimbs. Thirty yards and I identify where its core is, but it’s surrounded by too much armored flesh to be a good target. Twenty-five and I see my mark, a sub-core just beneath what I have to assume is its liver. The tissue surrounding it is softer underbelly flesh rather than the chitinous carapace surrounding most of its body. I just hope my attack is enough.

  I let loose my bolt, crackling purple with raw Etheric energy. I’m flung backward, colliding against a nearby tree that cradles my weakened body as I tumble to the ground. But I end up better off in the exchange, despite my spinning vision as I try to force myself to sit upright

  The brachiosaur roars, then spasms as my lightning tears through its body. Its muscles twitch and convulse. Velociraptors stop attacking and begin dispersing in every direction, while the few dozen soldiers still able to fight gather around their titanic partner. They disperse alongside as the creature’s knees buckle and the entire saurian flops onto the ground.

  Its neck lands only a dozen or so feet away from me. I instinctively rush to my sword, worried that it’ll still try to fight despite the severity of its internal injuries. But I’m able to finally relax, if for only a moment, as the System notifications start pouring in.

  [Your party has slain 1,475 Lesser Velociraptors (Levels ranging from 12 to 20). You have gained a boosted 484 Experience.]

  [Your party has slain 18 Velociraptors (Levels ranging from 21 to 23). You have gained a boosted 1,400 Experience.]

  [Your party has slain a Brachiosaur Titan (Level 34). You have gained a boosted 23,500 Experience.]

  [You have gained enough Experience to reach Level 23. [Vitality} +1, [Mind] +1. Please assign free stat points (4 remaining).]

  I assign two points to [Vitality] and two points to [Mind]

  [Level: 23; Experience: 83,160; To Next: 3,815]

  [Maximum Health increases by [Vitality] x2 + Current Level + Rand[1, 3] = 135]

  [Maximum Ether increases by [Mind] + Current Level + Rand[0, 2] = 92]

  [Current Stats: [Health]: 1,241 / 2,005 ; [Ether]: 97 / 1,236]

  [Current Stats: [Strength]: 25; [Speed]: 25; [Vitality]: 55; [Mind]: 69]

  [Your [Glyphcasting (Rank I)] has upgraded to [Glyphcasting (Rank III)].]

  [Passive Status effects: [Focus], [Bravery Aura], [Swiftness], [Toughness], [Ether Surge], [Doublethink] have expired.]

  I take a deep breath. As much as I know an [Ether canister] will dissipate my lightheadedness, I refuse to use one now that the immediate danger has expired. But I know there’s more work to be done, so I hobble back to my feet, shake off my injuries, and ready myself for the painful morning I know will follow.