AI: Artificial Isekai

The hastily constructed minions prepare to take their first steps, jerking unnaturally in place, like puppets on strings. But before they can engage, Sini releases her clenched hands.

"Domain of Winter."

Every single monster is flash frozen, enveloping their dirty, bony surface in a velvety, white rime. The adds start fruitlessly struggling under the immense power of the spell, unable to even budge the constricting ice. The boss is another story. It cracks its prison with ease, the action again accompanied by the much more unpleasant cracks of its every movement.

For its accomplishment, it receives a prize. A dozen arrows materialize a couple of meters in front of it and continue their flight through, leaving the titan with strategically placed holes in its massive limbs. A leg loses just enough integrity, and the undead topples under its immense weight. The monster does not spend even a moment on the ground as it transitions into a somersault. Bones liquify into a stretched out and almost elastic shape. Then it springs high again, reforming into its previous configuration, but this time, it's taking a long step forward. A thunderous stomp propels it even further as it attempts to sprint to the invaders of its realm. Before it can gather any momentum, arrows appear again, this time from a different angle. The bone monster tries to compress itself, utilizing the same mechanism it used to reform, repurposed to evade. It fails. The arrows curve in their path and hit joints with even more ferocity, searing away chunks of bone. The boss is brought down again.

During all this, Miv is leisurely walking toward the biggest threat in the dungeon, weaving between the fortifications and the restricted monsters with a bit of playful flourish.

As he progresses forward, Sini also joins the fight, having, evidently, recovered enough. When Pemik disassembles, she tries to lock down. They are slowly chipping away at its regeneration, exhausting its energy and mana. Arrows sever, spikes of ice pin. Outwardly, their efforts appear to have no effect. The monster takes the damage without a sound and reflows into its original look through the thorny network of ice. Inwardly—while I can't confirm—I am pretty sure it's being drained, and fast.

As Miv reaches the monster, I make my move. Everyone should be sufficiently distracted. I slowly position out of their fields of view, but in a way that the boss will eventually have sight of me. Not too far, not too close.

Miv's sword starts emitting a light pink aura. Just as the Boss reforms again, he slashes at the air in front of him. If he were closer, the strikes would have hit, instead, beams of pink light transfer the movements, leaving giant afterimages of his attack in the boss' approximation of a rib cage. When the limbs detach after the latest salvo of arrows, the glowing slashes increase their intensity, and the monster falls apart, cut right through.

The boss does not reform immediately. The pieces splash to the ground, and the creepily liquid bone juice spreads out into a shallow puddle. Before the substance can reach Miv—as he was relatively close, even if his attack was somehow ranged—he leaps back, avoiding any unwanted contact. A good decision. The puddle bubbles for a moment, and as those bubbles pop, erupts into a forest of razor-sharp spikes. The top parts of each spike appear to start retracting.

Pemik is the first to notice I am gone, his stealth breaking. When Sini sees him, she whips back round and toward me, or at least where I was last. Miv somehow senses something is wrong, taking his eyes off the impending danger and reassessing the current situation.

In the next moment, the tips are gone. The attack is deafening, as the projectiles shoot through the air, shredding the pillars and walls into rubble. A cloud of the bone skewers is heading directly for me, relatively unobstructed.

Even though my repositioning is perfectly hidden, three things happen simultaneously: Sini somehow locates me through the barriers of rock and ice, covers where my form should be with her open hand and squeezes. A faceted bubble of ice manifests around me. Pemik looses a radiant white arrow that splits into many more, perfectly aligned to impact the incoming attack. Miv snaps his head to my location, his sword blurs, and a multitude of pink crescents propel toward the razor-sharp bones, another pinpoint intercept.

Unfortunately, all of their efforts will fail.

First, I accelerate a select few of the flying bones with my gravity drive, altering their trajectory at the same time. The change is imperceptible but just enough to outrace the two counterattacks. Some of the bones continue on their way, avoiding the arrows and the explosions they generate. A lot less of the bones survive the crescents, the pink light barely missing. Second, I mock panic, startled by both the overwhelming attack and the appearance of something around me—the friendly shield. I clumsily slash with my sword, breaking the barrier just as the projectiles are mere meters away from striking. The ice shatters into chunks, and the bones pulverize those chunks even further. Third, before impact, I twist my body into the optimal position, and as the points start making contact with my armor, the shimmer breaks and the leather begins to give. Upon hitting, I decelerate them enough to embed and cause damage but not go through.

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One spike hits my gut, another hits my right lung, and a third pierces my heart. The force of the three hits staggers me back a step. I lose grip of my sword, letting it drop down. The rest of the area attack destroys Sini's constructs and reaches the Rangers. The projectiles just plink off of Miv and Pemik, while a wall of ice swallows the ones intended for Sini. All three Rangers stop, thoroughly stunned by what just happened.

I slowly raise my hands. The increasingly heavy limbs are trembling in shock. A wheezed-out breath coughs out some blood. My left arm wraps around the projectile inside my heart.

Miv yells out, "Don't!"

I yank the piece of bone and fall to my knees. The bloody projectile slips from my hand. After just a few seconds, I pitch forward, and without even an attempt to catch myself, hit the ground.

Something breaks behind Miv's unreadable eyes. The small glaciers start shining in a crimson light, like two pieces of coal have just reignited deep within the ice. He makes a disinterested slash, a mere afterthought. A red streak connects the arc of his sword with the now fully reformed boss. The monster slides apart, split into two. Before it can even try to make another move, a blinding, white arrow impacts. The result is a devastating explosion, followed by another and another, as Pemik unleashes arrow after arrow.

As Miv starts running for me, he bellows out, "Sini, move!"

The primal command breaks her out of her stupor, and she melts away, instantaneously appearing next to my prone form. Miv reaches me moments after, and at the same time the bombardment stops. I detect a gate's appearance somewhere in the settling dust cloud.

Sini and Miv drop to their knees, my body is between them.

Miv continues issuing out instructions, "Turn him over." They grip me together and carefully reposition me. "Potions." They both take out bottles of clear liquid and start pouring them over my wounds.

Pemik lands next to us but keeps his distance. There is pure dread on his face.

Sini whispers out, her voice cracking, "He's not breathing."

She places one hand over my gradually regenerating chest and the other over my mouth. I feel air inflating my lungs and my blood start circulating.

Miv commands, "Gate. Ward." There is no room for discussion in his eerily flat tone.

We teleport away and appear next to our reward for beating the boss—the way out. Miv gently carries me through, while Sini is trying her hardest to keep my dying body sputtering along. Another teleport, and we appear in a large room.

"Help!" all three yell out.

Two people in red robes are momentarily surprised by our sudden materialization, but upon comprehending the situation, start rushing for me. Miv spots a nearby gurney and lays my still form on top. As one of the robbed individuals also places his hands on me, he addresses Sini and Miv in a calm and composed manner, "Step away. Give us room to work." They both comply, joining Pemik, who is standing a few meters away.

The first man, Limio—sorry about our first meeting being like this—shares a quick glance with his colleague, Troynn—apologies as well.

The two Guild Healers continue the artificial respiration and cardiac output. Their efficiency and control are incomparable to Sini's desperate attempt. At the same time, my wounds start glowing in a soft, green light, hastening and supplementing the potions' lingering effects manyfold. During that, they proceed to delicately pull out the two remaining spikes.

Once I've been fixed up enough so I am not leaking blood, Limio asks a question, "When did you start life support?"

Sini is the one to answer, "Right away."

"Are you sure?" he asks again.

Miv growls out, "Yes, she's sure."

After a few minutes of magical healing, most of my internal injuries have also been sufficiently mended. These guys are good. And luckily, they don't find anything weird about my shell. I was relatively sure that detection would be impossible, having collected a staggering amount of data about healing and— Troynn gives a brief nod to Limio, pulling me out of my thoughts.

As the remaining damage to my heart is being fixed, I feel it start getting moved by some unknown force, simulating proper activity. After a few seconds, I feel it start beating on its own and the magical force gradually receding. Right about when a normal person would regain consciousness, I shoot upright and take a deep breath, frantically looking around.

The two healers raise their hands, attempting to appear unthreatening.

Limio tries to further calm me down, "Everything is okay. You are in the Healing Ward."

I visibly relax, but my eyes are still roaming the room. Then I spot the Rangers. They meet my gaze. Sini's eyes are a little wet, but she smiles, relieved. The two brothers appear relieved as well.

"What happened?" I ask.

A deep voice interrupts any response they might have had, "What happened, indeed."