Gacha Leveling

Ffyr carried Matthew by his arms and flew him to the house where Sarah and the others found the Marilith.

The sight was gore. Bodies laid scattered everywhere and the smell of blood was strong. It was an image that traumatized Matthew once, but now was a common vision for him.

He found the body of the Impiomancer that summoned the Marilith not far away from the house. Signs of fighting with the Valhalla Riders were everywhere.

Matthew checked the body for clues then he took a second look at the house. After that he looked for the Marilith’s body. From destruction wrought all around, Matthew could see how the fight went.

He smiled. They fought well.

The Marilith had nothing unusual in her body. It all pointed out to be just that. A man who summoned a powerful demon in the middle of a residential suburb.

He took one last look at the house where it all started. Why this house? The houses around it were a bit broken down, but that was because of the fighting against the adventurers. Why this house?

"What’s up with this place?" Matthew questioned out loud.

"What is it?" Ffyr questioned him.

"Why this house? What were they doing here? Why didn’t they attack the other houses nearby?"

"You think there’s something special about this place?" Ffyr asked.

"Probably." He said. "I think."

"Anyway. Let’s go check on Sarah." He said in a defeated tone.

They walked to the place Eric’s guild was making as base. Cars and a lot of motorbikes surrounded the place. People came and went in parties, patrolling the streets. Many of those Matthew recognized as Valhalla Riders’ members. But some were either new or freelance adventurers who came to help.

As soon as Matthew entered the place, Sarah jumped on his arms and hugged him hard.

"How are they?" He asked while patting her head.

"Eric is surprisingly upbeat." Michael said. "Sis told us he’s already joking about not being able to ride his bike anymore. Ness woke up, but she’s still not fully conscious. The doctors said she hit her head hard and there’s something about pressure in her brain... I didn’t understand, but it seems she’ll be well after surgery." The archer then gave a pause. "Sebastian... His body is not responding well. He got out of surgery and the doctors said they did everything they could. But the kid lost a lot of blood. Even getting transfusions isn’t enough. His signs aren’t improving at all."

Matthew looked at Sarah whose expression was something he never saw before. A deep sadness and unfocused eyes.

"Hey, Sarah." Matthew called to her, trying to cheer her up. "I bet that Sebastian leveled up from the fight."

"And?" She asked him, confused and annoyed by the silly statement.

"Why do you think Eric was still awake and Ness and Sebastian were down after the fight?" He asked her.

"Because he wasn’t hurt as badly?" She said sarcastically. "That thing tore open Sebas’ insides." Sarah got angry at Matthew.

"Michael. Do you know Eric’s HP?" Matthew asked.

"It was over 130, the last time he shared." Michael responded.

Matthew took Sarah’s hands and said looking at her face.

"If he increases his HP, he might survive this." He said to her.

"But... He’s unconscious, he can’t level up." Sarah protested, refusing to have hope.

"You know you don’t need your hands to fiddle with the system. You can pick your stuff mentally, it’s just harder to do it than using your hands on the screen." Matthew explained. "When I was in the same position, Ffyr took my consciousness to her Oneiros. Paula is a Somniomancer, perhaps she can talk to him and, inside his dream, he could level up and save himself. I think."

Sarah blinked three times, slowly regaining life in her face.

When Michael picked up his phone to call his sister, Sarah attacked him, taking the phone away from him and bringing it to her ear.

"Paula! Quick! You need to talk to Sebas! Tell him to level up! Put everything he can in HP! Quick!" Sarah screamed as soon as Paula answered.

While Sarah repeated the idea over and over, Matthew pulled Michael to the side.

"Are you in contact with other guilds and adventurers around town?" He asked.

"Some, yes. The Winding Foxes and the Trailblazers are keeping in contact constantly." The archer said.

"Any of them faced a powerful demon in the suburbs, away from the center, like you did?" Matthew questioned.

"The Foxes did. Amara said they fought a Baalor. They were even asking Eric to help them, but... Well."

"Is it still alive?" Matthew asked with wide eyes.

"Yes. They said it only attacked if they got too close. As if he was defending something."

"Tell them I’m coming. Give me the address." Matthew said, rushing off.

As Michael sent him the location through their phones, Ffyr gave a quick hug to Sarah and ran after him.

"You think the demon is holding something?" Ffyr asked him while taking flight carrying him by his hands.

"A Baalor would never leave women alone, unless they’re either stronger than him or if someone stronger gave him an order. If he’s guarding something, we need to know that." Matthew reasoned.

Ffyr nodded and used her wind spell to boost her speed in the air.

Amara was the leader of the Winding Foxes. She was a level 29 Aeromancer. Her guild was even smaller than Eric’s. The suburb she was protecting was actually her own neighborhood. A very small gated community south from where Michael and Sarah were.

Matthew landed in a loud band on the floor, scaring all the adventurers who quickly raised their weapons.

"Are you, Matthew?" A late twenties black woman with long curly hair tied in a ponytail, wearing white robes and a cloak made of fox fur asked.

"I am. Michael told you I was coming?" He asked.

"Yeah. But I also recognized you from TV. You are the guy that reached level 40 at 20 years old!" She exclaimed, pointing at him with a silk fan made from silvery daggers.

"I am. And this is my familiar: Ffyr." Matthew answered. "Where’s the Baalor?" He went straight to the point.

"He’s at the old lady Rosa’s place. A couple of houses down that way." Amara pointed. "Can you give us time to prepare?"

"There’s no need. Focus on defending this place. I can take the Baalor with Ffyr." Matthew said, already turning around and walking towards the place Amara pointed.

"He’s so handsome." One of Amara’s guildmates whispered, but he could hear her.

The Winding Foxes was an all female guild. Many female adventurers preferred to join one of those to avoid harassment from some male ones.

Feeling the girls’ eyes burning his back, he felt a bit overconfident after hearing them compliment him.

"He’s so cool."

"I wonder if he has a girlfriend?"

"He’s a bit scary... That’s hot."

Ffyr slapped the back of his head when a smile crept in.

"You have a fiancee!" She admonished him with a smile.

Matthew chuckled.

"Sorry."

"No need. It’s normal." Ffyr smiled widely at him. "It’s good to see you smiling. You were getting scary. Like you used to be back in hell."

Matthew looked at his hand that was a bit sore from clenching his fists for so long. Ffyr was right. Just because he didn’t have demonic mana in him anymore, it didn’t mean negative emotions couldn’t affect him.

He looked at Ffyr who walked looking around at the flowers of the houses of that gated community as if she was just having a leisure stroll. Sometimes he forgot she had a part of his soul with her.

"Hey, Ffyr." He called her.

"Yeah?" She looked at him curiously.

"Thank you. For getting mad at your mother for me. For always being there." Matthew had a bittersweet smile on his face.

"Don’t say those things in a situation like this. How was it that Sarah called this kind of stuff? Death Flag?" Ffyr admonished him. "It brings bad luck."

Matthew laughed.

"But that’s the thing, Ffyr." Matthew said, pulling her behind him and stepping forward with his guns in his hands. "I think that flag was already raised when they took Uaithne. Can’t you feel it? There’s something really wrong in the air."

At that moment, the Baalor came out calmly walking out of a house. It was biting at a woman’s arm as if it were a chicken wing. It carried a single axe in his other hand and his dobby was covered in a black and gold chainmail.

"I don’t know. It’s all I can feel ever since we made our pact." Ffyr joked, stepping to his side.

The Baalor threw the body part onto the lawn and laughed at them, challenging the duo with his hand.

"Let’s make sure all these flags amount to nothing." Matthew said while opening fire at the Baalor.