Dragged into Another World's Apocalypse - A LitRPG Story

More monsters came from all directions. They had probably noticed the group because of the vibrations their fighting had made in the sand. The enemies ranged from scorpions to jackal-like beasts with scales instead of fur, camels with glowing red eyes and sabre-like front teeth, and small desert foxes that clearly had some kind of stealth ability since Arianna could only sense them, not quite see them. A wave of sand-coloured spiders, each the size of her head, scuttled closer, while beneath the dunes, around five large somethings slithered toward them.

Arianna glanced at their fox companion, who so far hadn't joined the fight. The fox was staring intently at the oncoming monsters.
"I think we'll need your help now," Arianna told her. "There are too many enemies. But… are you okay with fighting other foxes?"

The fox huffed, covering her nose and eyes with one paw, then shook her head, yipped, and grinned. Clearly, she didn't mind fighting those of her own species. But her mannerisms had grown strangely human-like in the short time she'd been with them. Arianna barely had time to think about it further before a system screen appeared in front of her:

[You have triggered the Stampede. Hold on for 60 minutes.]

Groans rose from the party. Overcoming the Stampede was one of the listed objectives when they entered the dungeon called Sahradi. The first was to gather the desert flower, the second to overcome the Stampede, and the third to kill the Turtle of the Oasis. Only the third would reset the timer, but accomplishing either of the other two would allow them to leave.

Arianna had no idea how they had already triggered the Stampede. She looked towards Cassis, who shook his head. He also didn't know. Was this another ripple effect? Would the Stampede be triggered for anyone coming through that gate right away? Or was it because the pebbles, her and Cassis, had come here?

Benny quickly sent her and Cassis a party invite, and the group fell into formation, circling their more vulnerable members, Marcus, Elena, Joseph, and Nadine. Ideally, Arianna had wanted to stay in the middle with them, focusing on healing so the others could level faster and she wouldn't draw the exp unnecessarily. But with enemies swarming endlessly, that plan was impossible. She had to adapt.

This was her kind of fight: chaotic. Perfect for her class. She could function as a tank, taking hits that others wouldn't survive. Then, because of Force Absorption, she would gain the mana to heal herself instantly. She only wished her Pain Resistance would rank up someday because, in truth, she hated getting hurt.

Immediately, she went through the different blessings she could give out, deciding on Courage as it enhanced people's fighting abilities overall instead of just one area. Then she let out a warcry focused on offence. Now, everyone would pack more of a punch.

Lastly, she asked the group whether she should use her Water Barrier to protect everyone or just the mages and rangers. With its recent upgrade, she had finally managed to let objects and mana pass outward through it, though attacks lost some of their force. The warriors refused outright; their damage would suffer the most. The rangers and mages didn't like the drawback either, but they knew they would be in much greater danger without it. So Arianna summoned a cube-shaped barrier instead of a dome around the two rangers and two mages. This one would protect from below as well. Too many things were moving under the sand for her to risk leaving them exposed.

"Everyone else, be careful too," Cassis warned. "The things below the sand move like worms. They could burst out from underneath at any moment."

Then there was no more time to talk.

The monsters reached them, and battle erupted on all sides.

Cassis was immovable, felling enemies with cold precision. Danielle countered each assault, her shield intercepting blows before she spun into punishing strikes. She often had to defend against multiple foes at once, but held up well, gathering only small scrapes Arianna could heal later. Luke, by contrast, fought aggressively. He struck one enemy, then another, then returned to finish the first, whittling several down at once and leaving them no openings.

Helen vanished into stealth again, weaving through monsters unhindered and striking from behind, circling around Benny who, at only level 8, was their weakest frontline fighter. He was holding on, but Arianna saw the strain. The other warriors were at least level 13. The difference showed. Without Helen's help, he wouldn't have been able to hold on.

Joseph and Nadine loosed arrows in steady rhythm. Nadine, with her sharpshooter focus and extended range, covered the frontlines with precision. Joseph's attacks lacked power, but he adapted quickly, aiming to cripple enemies so the warriors could finish them more easily.

Elena hurled fire missiles, aiming to blind enemies, while Marcus kept a sharp eye on the battlefield. In gaps between allies, he summoned earthen spikes, like the bear had done in Belaney Park. The radius wasn't wide, but it was enough to make the camel-like beasts stumble into the deadly points, to make the scorpions and scaled jackals contort into unbalanced forms, making it easier for the warriors to kill them. The spell drained him quickly, forcing him to meditate after every cast, but it was far more effective than simple magic missiles and slowed the monsters' approach. Arianna approved, and saw Cassis nod to his father.

Meanwhile, the fox was a blur, darting at enemies, ripping throats out, or slashing bellies open with fire-cloaked claws. Arianna had trained with her, refining her mana control until she no longer wasted energy, only conjuring the flames at the moment of impact. The fire burned hotter than ever now, nearly white with a yellow undertone. The fox had grown stronger in her abilities. After this fight she would have a feast and finally level again.

Arianna herself had no fixed fighting style. Sometimes she blocked attacks with her water shield, shifting its size and position, all over her body, at will. Other times, she parried with her mace, bludgeoning foes. And sometimes she simply took hits head-on, letting Force Absorption feed her mana while Body Reinforcement kept her standing, only to heal herself immediately afterwards. She flowed between patterns as needed: circling the barrier cube, protecting the backline, healing the front, and watching the battlefield. Her barrier could take a lot of damage but this onslaught of monsters was too much for it. It would break if they let the monsters at it without thinning them out first.

Cassis occasionally shouted advice to adjust fighting styles, helping allies improve mid-battle. His calm focus amidst the chaos impressed Arianna, making her think about the other timeline, when Cassis had been the one desperately fighting, not yet a master of his sword. He had come so far, trained so much, and now instead of keeping his hard-earned knowledge to himself, he used it to help his team improve. She was happy he had finally accepted being in a party again.

The Stampede timer ticked down.

Ten minutes in, the first major injury struck.

Without warning, the sand beneath Luke erupted. A massive worm burst out—dark brown, headless, its circular maw lined with rows of glinting teeth. Its mouth was wide enough to swallow his whole leg. Luke screamed as it clamped down on his foot, dragging him into the sand.

Other monsters surged forward, pressing the attack.

Arianna was already moving. Nadine fired arrow after arrow at the beasts clawing at her husband, while Luke, on the ground, fought desperately to fend them off, even as the worm pulled.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Danielle sprinted to his side, shield slamming into scorpions while she hacked at the worm's mouth.

Arianna dove straight into the thick of the monsters, drawing their attention away from Luke, taking their attacks with her body and shield, while Danielle continued to hack at the worm still trying to devour his leg.

Danielle was finally making headway, injuring the worm enough that it spat out Luke's badly mangled leg. Arianna winced at the sight. Luke was pale and sweating, but he didn't utter a word. He refused to draw more monsters towards them with his screams. Arianna nodded grimly and sent a heal his way while still fending off the monsters swarming her. Meanwhile, Danielle pressed the attack, pinning the worm above the sand with her shield until she finally managed to kill it.

Over the party chat, Helen's urgent voice cut in: "Benny's hurt. Ari!"

Arianna answered instantly, throwing a stronger heal toward Benny, who clutched his side where a scorpion's stinger had punctured him. For good measure, she added a Neutralize Poison spell. Those scorpions definitely carried venom. The double cast drained her; healing from this distance without assessing the injury directly was costly, and she was still hemmed in by her own group of enemies. But as their blows struck her, Force Absorption gave her more mana to work with, and she extended her advanced mana pattern into her head and arms. She still left out her legs, hoping to avoid an overload inside the dungeon.

Judging by the endless wave of enemies, she wasn't sure if her plan would hold.

Cassis circled near her barrier, cutting down monsters that got too close. The water barrier was weakening, its surface shimmering under constant impacts, especially from below. Most of the warriors had already broken formation to help their injured comrades, which left the barrier exposed. Arianna clenched her jaw. She could handle almost anything, but worms had always disgusted her. She didn't even know why. The wriggling, the way they moved, it turned her stomach. And these things were far worse than any normal worm. Shuddering, she crushed another monster with her mace.

The fox darted beside Cassis, guarding the barrier with fierce efficiency. Luke was already back on his feet, joining the fighting. Danielle returned to her position, and Benny, pale but healed, pressed on with Helen's assistance. Four more worms still slithered beneath the sands.

One burst up right under Cassis. But he had anticipated it, leaping clear before impaling the creature on his blade and cleaving it apart with Fire Blade.

The battle raged on. Thirty minutes in, the tide wasn't slowing. Injuries mounted, forcing Arianna to heal more and more frequently. When another worm erupted beneath Benny, this time aiming for his head, Arianna's heart lurched. He wouldn't survive that kind of wound. Too far away to reach him, Arianna acted on instinct. She poured mana outward, and a water shield materialized in front of Benny's head just before the worm struck.

The impact rattled her. She had never cast a shield at such a distance before. Before she could feel surprised, however, new monsters attacked her.

There was no time to think about it. Helen's blade, flaming with Fire Blade, sank deep into the worm while Benny stabbed desperately with his sword. He avoided using Wind Blade. The worm carried an earth affinity, and that would weaken him. Instead, he stuck to simple, effective strikes with Stab and Slash. Helen, with her elemental advantage, drove the flame deeper until the worm writhed violently and collapsed.

The fight dragged on. Arianna fought with every part of her body. She stomped spiders under her boots, then had a sudden idea: she leapt up and formed a water shield beneath her feet, crashing down with it to squash the scuttling swarm.

The backline continued their support, though every few minutes one of them had to stop and meditate for more mana. Their spells and arrows cost a lot of mana but could also do a lot of damage. Injuries stacked up faster and faster, and Arianna's mana reserves dropped lower and lower.

When her barrier began to falter, she grimaced and spread her mana pattern throughout her entire body. The rush of mana made her feel like burning herself alive from the inside. She layered a fresh barrier directly over the old one, releasing the first just as the second took hold.

Mana surged through her, threatening to overflow. She channelled it all into Body Reinforcement, into Bludgeon, into her water shield, into stronger heals, into another war cry that rippled through the party and bolstered their attacks. She couldn't let the pattern drop now; if she did, the crash would be brutal afterwards: feeling like she had a hangover, body like lead, muscles screaming worse than after the hardest workout of her life.

Across the battlefield, Cassis grimaced, pushing his own pattern deep into his head and arms. He had told her once how badly it hurt, the headaches it caused, but he didn't falter. He only pushed harder, sprinting through the battlefield, Fire Blade flashing with every strike, Flame Burst burning enemies whole.

The fighting raged on until, at last, the final second of the system timer ticked down. Helen delivered the finishing blow to the last monster, a sabre-toothed camel.

The desert looked like a battlefield from a nightmare. The sand, once bright red with blood, had turned an eerie black. Not all monsters bled red, some bled green, blue, yellow, or even purple. The whole colour palette. Mixed together, the colours soaked into the dunes and left the ground dark and grim. Corpses lay strewn everywhere, some impaled on Marcus' earth spikes, others broken, others whole. The bright splashes of unnatural blood against dead flesh gave the scene an almost surreal, haunting beauty.

Everyone was breathing hard. Arianna still had her mana pattern running, hesitant to release it. Then, a crisp system message appeared:

["Congratulations! You overcame the Stampede. For tonight, the surrounding area will be safe from all monster attacks."]

Relief washed over her. She sent one last round of healing across the party, followed by Neutralize Poison for good measure, then finally let her pattern go. The release hit her like a wave. Her body sagged, and she collapsed onto the ground without caring how filthy it was. She was utterly spent.

The fox padded over to her, fangs still dripping with blood, and gave a wide, toothy grin. Clearly, she had enjoyed the fight. Cassis wasn't far behind. He crouched down next to Arianna, grimacing, probably from his own pounding headache. One by one, the others drifted over too. With her pattern gone, the water barrier had collapsed, leaving them all exposed together.

The group was bloodied, filthy, and exhausted, but wide grins lit their faces. The experience had likely levelled them all. Normally Arianna would have asked, but right now she was too tired to care.

Cassis placed a steadying hand on her shoulder.
"You should rest a bit. Can you stand? Let's move to a cleaner spot and make camp."

Everyone agreed. Arianna tried to get up, but her body refused. Everything felt impossibly heavy, as though the ground itself was pulling her down. Helen frowned, concern etched on her face, but Arianna didn't even have the strength to reassure her.

Cassis explained instead.
"Arianna overloaded on mana. This is the aftermath. She's exhausted and will feel like she's got a hangover mixed with workout cramps."

Elena's eyes widened with worry, but Luke nodded knowingly.
"Yeah, I know the feeling. Arianna's mana hits… different. That one time she juiced me up, it felt like I was flying. But the crash was brutal."

He grinned through his exhaustion.
"But I'd like to try it agai—"

Nadine silenced him by slapping a firm hand over his mouth.
"Not try that again," she said sternly.

Luke nodded enthusiastically behind her hand.

Marcus and Danielle each reached down, offering Arianna a hand. With their help, she managed to stand, groaning at the effort. Cassis rose beside her but swayed, pressing a hand to his temple.

Marcus' brows furrowed.
"Son, did you overload too?"

Cassis let out a short laugh but instantly regretted it, clutching his head.
"No way. I just forced my mana control too far. The headache's killing me. Arianna's the one who actually drew in so much mana that it overloaded her. She had to burn insane amounts of it just to keep herself from feeling like she was on fire inside."

The others looked worried, but Cassis waved them off.
"Don't worry. That won't happen to any of you. This is an Arianna-only problem. The rest of us still struggle just running mana through our natural pathways. She's already replicating an advanced water mana pattern for clerics through her entire body. We're nowhere near that level."

To Arianna's dismay, the others visibly relaxed. Even the fox nodded sagely, as if agreeing with Cassis' assessment.

I'm not strange for being able to do this, she thought stubbornly. I'm not some kind of freak or a genius. If I can do it, then others can too. They just don't believe it yet.

With everyone lending a hand, they moved away from the battlefield and began setting up camp. Arianna was grateful when they let her rest instead of forcing her to help. Even Cassis was too drained to butcher the monsters for materials.

Only the fox kept busy, nudging Marcus insistently toward certain corpses, mostly the sabre-toothed camels. After a few tries, he figured out what she wanted: he was supposed to store the bodies in his inventory for her to eat later.

Arianna managed a faint smile. That fox really was too smart. She didn't have an inventory herself, but she clearly understood that humans did, and had no problem demanding they use it for her benefit.