Otherworldly Trials [LITRPG Adventure]

Her sword was already up by the time the spear came in to stab her. The flames, however, were something she hadn't had the time to properly defend against.

The flames were harsh and cruel, almost as though they tried to burn away the very defenses her body provided, leaving her into the hands of the cold embrace. There, she realized that the flames weren't just burning her–they were evaporating her mana.

Her eyes widened, but grinned as that little surprise didn't stop her from unleashing a plethora of shocks to counter the spear, and to the annoying Warrior she considered her best friend.

"Ain't you a little too excited to see me?" Mikella growled, her Draconian traits flaring.

"What can I say? It's been a while," Myra spoke back, flashing a toothy grin as she pushed herself away from Mikella, spinning her spear into a flourish which also doused the flames.

As usual, Myra carried herself with the same flare as a dangerous firework. Her attunement was going all out which also showed off her splendorous wings made of embers and fire. For anyone else, they would see a chaotic Fire Fairy suddenly attacking one of their number, but after hearing Mikella speak casually, now they only saw an incredible person standing in their wake.

Surprisingly enough, Myra also sported some new duds, now wearing leather armor with a golden red coloring on the edges and silver plated metal bits covering her vitals. There were several accessories worn, including her belt on her bracers, and even a freaking tiara placed over her forehead, which only made her appearance as a fairy so much more pronounced.

Her spear, on the other hand, was fierce. Rather than a simple spear, it was a partisan with a sharp hook on one side, a diamond blade on the other, with the final piece of a giant blade reaching almost a foot long at the top, styled in a way like a flame drifting about.

She's a pretty fairy princess with a giant fuck-off spear. She can dig that.

"I can feel your envy," Myra said, flashing another grin. "Admit it. I look good."

"Oh please, if anything, you look so pretty, you might as well look dainty."

"Hey, those are fighting words, brat."

"Then bring it, bitch," Mikella purposely worded the last word with a pucker.

The two girls glared for almost a second before bursting into laughter and, without hesitation, went in for a hug with as much affection as possible. She was so glad to see Myra again after so long, and seeing her again, still acting like this, was enough to let her be at ease.

"Glad to see you're still kicking," Myra said, her voice filled with as much glee as Mikella felt. "And let me guess–you got even stronger."

"Like you wouldn't believe," Mikella said, separating the hug. "But damn, what was that? Did your fire actually stole my mana?"

"Yep!" Myra said, this time smirking. She had a permanent smile stuck on her face since she arrived. "Not only did my attunement ranked up again, I got some Acquired Skills that make me an abomination to any mage I face."

"Bull-fucking-shit!" Mikella cursed. "You ranked up again? I haven't ranked up once!"

"Bitch, you for real?" Myra this time looked shocked. "In a fancy place like Arcelot, and you haven't found a single treasure to rank up?"

"Not a single one!" Mikella nearly shouted, almost wanting to stomp. "Ugh, this is so unfair."

"I don't want to hear that from you."

Another voice came in, this time rough with a stern tone that reminded her too much of a military commander. But instead of ruining her fun, Mikella smiled to see none other than Piker coming in.

The man appeared as he always did–domineering and intimidating. His large form, only accentuated by his sub-race Ice Giant, gave off an impressive feel. That was only further enhanced by him wearing a full-plated suit of armor decorated to the brim with adjustable plates that seem to bend unnaturally, giving his movements freedom. He had no weapon, but his armor alone was enough to deter anyone from thinking him safe to be around.

Despite all that, he still had the same light-blue cornrow haircut as before, and his face, while still stern, had the softness he usually showed to his comrades. Seeing that shown to her and Zeke only warmed her heart.

"Piker!" Mikella screamed, waving at him. Zeke went ahead to do the things guys always do–they shook hands hard enough for the world to shake as though showing their strength.

"Piker, it's been a while," Zeke said with a grin. "You're lookin' good. Especially with that armor! You look so sick!"

"Thanks," Piker greeted back, shaking his hand firmly. "I'm betting that means I look good. Honestly, I'm glad. I was hesitant to wear this to meet you, but Myra insisted on it."

"And do you regret it?" Myra said, putting on her own teasing grin at him.

"...No, no, I do not," Piker said, facing away from Myra's grin.

Seeing everyone around them looking at him as though he was a paragon of fear and might was enough to convince Mikella that the armor was well-worth wearing. She scoffed at the sight–Zeke was looking at the armor with such want in his eyes.

Then again, she also thought the armor looked cool. Not that she would replace her outfit for full-on armor. Even with all the enchantments in the world, she would find such a thing so damn stuffy to wear.

"God, you guys look good," Mikella said, turning to Myra. "Okay, so Val kept her promise–now tell me; Who else became Journeymen back in Eve Glade?"

She was turning over in her sleep whenever she thought about who reached Journeymen. She had a few guesses, but it was really a shot in the dark. The way Myra looked at her as though she held the greatest bait imaginable and was just swinging it in front of her grated her gears a lot, but eventually she caved when she had the most goofiest grin imaginable.

"You'll never guess it–Jackie became a Journeyman!"

Mikella screamed in delight. "I knew it! I thought he was gonna stall a little, but I knew he would be one!"

Hearing Jackie of all people, Myra's childhood friend, becoming Journeymen was the kind of news Mikella was waiting for. Every single one of the soldiers deserved to reach higher stages, and Jackie was definitely the hard-working sort that would push on through.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Seeing the look of pride on Myra's face also proved that she enjoyed the news just as much as Mikella did.

"Yeah, he really pushed for it when you guys left. Lit a fire under his ass so hard that he was the first one before a whole number of Journeymen popped up. After that was Basil, the explosion guy, Nina the beast tamer, and Cacia the ice healer. You remember them?"

"I remember Nina and Cacia… but, uhh, Basil?" Mikella tilted her head.

"The guy you beat up when you first met him," Zeke reminded her. "He also kept challenging you all the time?"

"Oooh, that guy," Mikella nodded slowly. "Good for him."

"Oof, poor guy. Did you even know he had a huge crush on you?" Myra said, grinning while chuckling. That got Mikella to raise her brows.

"Seriously? Huh. That does explain why he kept challenging me."

"He'll never recover from this," Piker said, his head shaking ruefully. "We need to keep this from him. Hopefully he'll move on."

"Fuck that, I wanna crush his ego when we get back," Myra said, a hint of evil in her eyes. "I still owe him for that win against me that one time."

"You're still holding a grudge against him?" Piker asked. "That was ages ago. Move on already."

"Never!"

Mikella chuckled as Myra and Piker spoke, truly wanting to know what happened while they were away. It made it clear to Mikella that while their lives were pretty exciting, the others also went through various trials to get stronger as well.

"Claaaaaaraaaaaa!"

A high pitch voice shouted at the top of her lungs, getting everyone's attention. But to Mikella's ears, it brightened her up even more than meeting Myra and Piker.

Looking back, she saw an adorable, blond-haired girl running at full speed, her arms waving up and down as though trying to flag down a ship across the sea.

Hearing her, Clara faced her with an equally beaming smile.

"Aaaanaaa!"

Shouting the same way, Clara shouted and ran towards her, and before anyone knew it, shared an intense bear hug rivaling that of Mikella and Myra. They jumped about, giggling while saying all kinds of things that, quite frankly, were too fast for anyone to keep count. At least Zeke raised his brows trying to figure out the nonsense each of them were saying.

"Clara! Tell me everything! Everything!" Ana shouted, looking Clara up and down. "What've you been doing? Where's that Zoan? And I heard we're going to the same school together? Explain!"

"I will, I will!" Clara giggled, calming down the jumping Ana with an eager smile. "I'm doing great. Zoan's asleep right now, and yes! When I heard you were coming with me, I was so excited, I couldn't sleep!"

The girls kept talking to one another, and Mikella was certain they had their own stories to tell. She would love to hear it, but she knew there was a better place and time for an older sister to interrupt two good friends' reunion.

It was nice to see Clara so excited to see a friend after so long. It broke her heart to separate them, and now she hoped that it would never happen again. Even if it was just for a few months.

But when she noticed Cloud and Val still on the other side, she frowned. "Hey, what's their hold up?"

When Myra and Piker turned to find the lords back there, each of them shared a frown that seemed to resonate with their cores somehow.

"Ugh, are they making trouble again?" Myra groaned, her shoulders slumping. "They've been bitching the entire way."

"Ugh, Mikky, Zeke–please tell me the otherworlders here are pleasant to be around."

Hearing Piker say that got the two to look at each other, concern on their faces.

"Just how bad are they that they got you questioning our entire species?" Zeke said, and that honestly got Mikella to wonder if they were a race or species, considering their otherworldly status.

"Unfortunately, you're gonna know real soon. Here they come," Myra said, her lips pursing as the lords, their eyes already showing exhaustion beyond measure, arrived with two new people–this time, showing people that Mikella and Zeke had never seen before.

"Goddamn, what a piece of shit house is that?"

A rather rude voice commented, showing it belonged to a man stepping in with a gait that Mikella can't quite put a finger on. He wore what looked like leather armor, but there were accessories like rings and bangles that jingled with each step, as though his very presence required constant attention. He had short cropped hair with what looked like a mohawk of sorts at the middle, showing several rings on his ears and the bridge of his nose while staring at the house in disgust.

The other one was female, and she looked rather flashy just as the guy. With a constant resting bitch face plastered on, she wore what looked like the basic robe for mages back in Eve Glade, but she took it upon herself to practically bedazzle her robe, showing several gems encrusted to the hems of her robe with several belts to show off her curves. She had long black hair with purple highlights, wearing ribbons that hung her hair to the side like a ponytail with a bit of a curl at its end.

Seeing them, Mikella had no other options but to definitely consider them otherworlders. Hell, she wouldn't even blame their own otherworlders if they thought of them as aliens themselves. Unfortunately, she also knew well enough how these people act.

Considering her side of the state, she saw various kinds of ratchet or delinquent like teens, and these two are totally them.

"You're telling me this is where the otherworlders are living in? You gotta be shittin' me, Cloud!" The boy said with a hint of disgust directed at Cloud, one eye narrowed at him as though he held him responsible. "And it's so goddamn small!"

"Seriously, it's so tiny," The girl said, one corner of her lip raised. "And why does it stink like sweat? What is this, a run-down gym?"

Mikella actually had the urge to teleport there and knock her out. She managed to hold herself back, but after seeing the hurt look on Zeke's face, she reconsidered her tactic.

It was an emergency housing that Zeke created for the otherworlders. Considering that he did this practically for free, nobody complained about having a place to live. Sure, it wasn't impressive visually, but that didn't matter when it was the only roof available over your head. To hear these two insult the housing he made got Mikella's insides to boil, but she held it back down.

She just had to consider these two like special kids–the type that likes to eat glue and hurt themselves somehow despite baby-proofing the entire room they were in.

"Henry, I would appreciate it if you didn't insult my friend's house," Cloud said, a bit of an edge in his otherwise cool voice. "You'll be living there from now on, you know."

"Oh, hell no!" Henry, the rude boy, snapped back at him. "I ain't staying there. No fucking way. It looks like shit!"

"I would literally die if I sleep there," The girl said, her fingers curling as though the idea haunted her.

"...Once again, I don't think that's how you use the word 'literally', Ava."

Val, on the other hand, looked ready to throw in the towel. She had never seen this woman look this defeated when correcting Ava, the name for the girl who looked bored despite meeting new people.

Mikella had more than enough common sense to figure out why they were so hard to deal with. Seeing them act this way despite being in this situation made her think that the gods planted them here just to mess with Mikella and Zeke personally. She was sure of that. Was Zoan somehow responsible?

Nah, even she had a good head on her shoulders. After all, she wouldn't want to be around them just as much as they did.

"You got a lot of damn nerve to talk like that," Myra said, approaching them with her hands on her hips. She stared at them as though she was ready to send them to jail right then and there. "You're lucky that we didn't put you in prison after all the bullshit you tried to pull. Instead, our good friends here decided to help you regardless. You should be on your knees thanking them instead of bitching."

Instead of insulting them back or saying anything, the two just ignored Myra, looking away. That only got her to chuff out air like a boar unsatisfied at the sight, but that got Zeke to raise his brow.

"What did they do?" Zeke whispered to Piker, getting him to respond the same way.

"They tried to… 'take over' the town," Piker said, his own words somehow confusing him. "It was pretty messy. They had skills that caused a bit of damage, but nothing too severe."

"They what?!" Mikella whispered, though it was loud enough to be heard around them. "They tried to take over Eve Glade? How the hell did they think they could do that?"

Piker only shrugged. "They didn't have Identify at the time. They didn't have Classes before they ended up near our city."

"And they thought they could take over the town… with lots of Journeymen on hand?" Zeke asked slowly, raising his brow further as though it could fly out of his head.

Piker only shook his head, unable to answer that. Mikella could only really think of one thing.

"I am so not dealing with this," She said, regardless of the circumstances.