Doing what I can

Approaching the monster is like I’m in a real-life kaiju film, walking towards something that is so comically larger than me that it feels unreal. It doesn’t matter that it treats me like a stone—one accidental stab of its foot, one wrong turn and it’s just as deadly. We run towards the barn which it has already rolled over. I put my hands on the rubble and concentrate.

“Appraisal.”

[Barn]
Type: Building
Attributes: Earth
Durability: 5/70
Age: 25 years

I look around. Some low walls and a few beams are still standing, but the building can’t be called one anymore. This structure is much larger than the wall, but I can’t distrust my new powers now.

“Manipulate durability +10.”

[Confirmed. Durability 15.]

As with the wall, the rubble disappears momentarily and reappears in a more assembled form. It isn’t a whole building yet, but the shift still knocks the wind out of me. Shit.

“Manipulate durability +10.”

[Confirmed. Durability 25.]

“Yes!”

The building shifts again and while it stands, I also black out for a second. Karina holds me while she stares up at the reconstructed barn in awe. It’s not perfect, but it’s building enough to be torn down again.

“How are you doing that?”

“I’m a hero. Come on.”

My legs are shaky, but we have to continue. The centipede slowly and methodically takes apart even the silos and the wells. We circle around the central plaza and come to the workshop, which is still burning from the overturned forge. I repeat the process. This time, I add 20 durability immediately and feel the drain like a bout of sudden fatigue, which tells me to go to sleep immediately.

[Congratulations! Hiroyuki Satoyama has reached Level 6!
Stamina +10£
Intelligence +5
Please distribute (5) skill points]

Why doesn’t this work like in the games? Doesn’t everything regenerate upon level up? What a shitty system.

“Yuki, are you alright?”

“I have to be. Let’s go on.”

Suddenly, dark fog descends from above as the centipede rumbles. Sparks light up the falling darkness. The others have begun their attack, but we can’t know how long it will take.

“Come on.”

Karina follows me to the next ruin. It’s almost too dark to see the structure now and the fog crawls over my skin like a physical presence. I put a hand on my chest and renew the blessing, the scratchy feeling in my throat dissipating.

“Again. Appraisal. Manipulate durability +20.”

[Confirmed. Durability 22.]

The building flickers back into existence. My consciousness does the opposite thing. I hold on to the wall so I don’t fall over. My stomach is turning. Above us, something explodes and debris rains down—small charred particles. It smells horrible. Karina drags me away, just as the building I’ve just built back up crumbles down once more. She pulls me away from the collapsing wall.

“Too close! We need to rebuild one further away so it’ll have to travel to get there.”

“With those large feet, it’ll only take two steps.”

“Two steps more than these ones. Come on!”

My legs feel like jelly, but I run after her. There is really no choice. She is right. If we want to keep the creature here while the others figure out a way to bring it down, we need to keep it occupied. If it can raze everything in one swoop, it’ll move on before long. We run in the direction Nono had said her relatives had gone off to. Her brother too. Out here is a pasture, most of the sheep having fled into a corner of the large area, pressed up against the fence. Some of them have been crushed by the centipede, charred carcasses lining the deep holes where its legs have stabbed the ground.

There is also a large barn, which likely houses the sheep during colder times. It’s been burned. I don’t know if my powers can restore what had been burned and not only toppled, but I will try. The ground beneath our feet is bumpy and we have to evade the furrows left by the centipede, but we make it. The air around the barn is horrible, but suddenly a mighty gust of wind blows away the dark fog, rustling all the trees in the vicinity. I know it can only have been Safrim or Gale. I haven’t seen the cat in a while, but I know he’s watching over Karina, so it must have been him. From the look on her face, she chalks it up to one of her bouts of luck and drags me forward.

“Appraisal. Manipulate durability +30”

The barn is huge and it’s thoroughly burned down. Putting this many points in it at once may be necessary to restore it.

[Confirmed. Durability 30.]

I fall to my knees as the building flickers once, twice, and it stands again, pretty much intact. Thank goodness. I can only hope the centipede realises that there’s something more to raze out here.

“Are you alright?”

“Just tired. I’ve never done so much magic in such a short amount of time.”

“You’re doing amazing. Look.”

The centipede has its head turned towards us. It is… frozen? Slowly it turns its head to the main farm, then back to us. It looks so much like that one meme I remember from my days of endless doom scrolling, I have to involuntarily laugh. Then, a shadow flies at its head. An explosion, then a flash of lightning. The others have used this moment of stillness for another attack. The centipede screeches as one of its antennas is blown off and a part of its carapace falls to the ground. The parts dissolve in black dust before they even hit the ground.

“Let’s go. Another one.”

Karina nods at me and helps me up. As I scan the grounds, I spot Gale on a boulder in the distance. He looks at me intently and I know he’s scouted the way ahead.

“Karina, there’s Gale! Let’s follow him!”

She looks over and is evidently relieved to see her cat alright.

“He’s always been more intelligent than the regular house cat,” she says proudly. “Come on.”

We stumble across the grassy hill until we reach Gale. He meows at us and accepts a pat on his head from Karina. Then he jumps on the path and runs ahead. We follow him until we reach a stream, into which a mill building has collapsed. Right.

“Appraisal. Manipulate durability +15.”

[Confirmed. Durability 35.]

The foundations of the building had still been intact, it seems. In front of my eyes, the water wheel rises up and most of the mill building stands once more. I hear the wheel turn and the splash, splash, splash in the water.

Behind us, the centipede makes an unholy noise.

“Is it angry?” Karina asks.

“I hope it is, because I am angry too,” I reply.

The ground starts vibrating… and then stops. One last rumble as the centipede drops, crushing half a forest. I see two guards jumping up on the creature, Poru hanging in between them. Then there’s a flash which blinds me as if I was looking into the sun.

The centipede is no more. I sink to the ground, exhausted, relieved. My hands start shaking and somehow there isn’t any air anymore. I breathe faster and faster, but it isn’t coming… My legs shake too as I fight for breath, my head is swimming, my finger cramping, my…

“Easy. Close your eyes. I’m here.”

Karina’s arms close around me and the cold shakiness is replaced by gentle warmth. I lean fully into her and try to control my breathing. Between her murmured encouragements and the broad strokes across my back, I calm down eventually.

“Better?”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t. Never be sorry for this. You’ve done amazing for someone, who’s never faced demons before. Admirably. You’ve saved us all.”

“Yuki! Karina!”

I look up to see Nono rushing towards us. She is evidently battle-worn, her clothes dirty and torn, but she is smiling when she reaches us.

“You did it! How did you do it?”

“I’ll explain later,” I say, both because I still need to construct a believable half-truth and because I am hesitant to reveal too much to a person who might tell everything to our enemy. “I’m exhausted.”

“Of course. Come, let me help you.”

Between Karina and Nono, I manage to stumble back to the center of the farm, where all the survivors stand amidst the rubble. But I don’t see ruins anymore, I see possibilities to rebuild and come back. I rub my hands, instruments of wonder that they are.

“We’ve held the line, everyone. For the first time in years, we managed to hold the line. You and you, go to the next garrison immediately and tell them they don’t need to construct a new frontline at the river. We need to return to the old frontline and reinforce it. Bring the troops here. We will clean this place up until they arrive and then we move forward together. Don’t forget to tell everyone that the Hero of Light is on our side and has worked a miracle today!”

The guards salute first Safrim and then me. I only manage a nod, as fatigued and surprised as I am. I turn to Safrim.

“How did you do it? How did you defeat the centipede?”

“We encountered these creatures before. They have a weakness. If you can attack them at the seam between their plates, you can pry them off and damage the body directly. From there, it’s easy to bury into the flesh and reach the core. Only this gap is very hard to hit. When the centipede stopped in its tracks, we finally had the opportunity to aim properly.”

“Yuki confused it by raising buildings at opposite ends of the farm. It didn’t know what to do then!” Karina says proudly, as if it hasn’t been her idea in the first place.

Everyone looks at me with a thousand questions in their eyes, until Safrim breaks the silence.

“Let’s find a place to camp for the night and get proper rest. The farmers will return tomorrow. Until then, you and you go and prepare dinner.”

“I’m going to help. I know where everything is stored,” Nono says.

I watch her go off with two guards, vanishing behind a half-destroyed building. Once again I wish I was wrong about her.