by Cheek, Jason
With each second that passed the strength was returning to my abused body due to my high Spirit enhancing my natural healing ability. Though my hands and ribs had fully recovered, I still winced in pain as I used the broken spear shaft to climb to my feet. Up till now, this was the worst I’d ever been beaten up in-game, unless you counted the Meteor Strike that hit Telrain. In truth though, that had been a special situation.
A concerned frown came to my lips at the dark blood that squirted out from around the egregious wound in Neysa’s chest as I gripped the shaft of the spear with both hands. Neysa’s hit points had once again started to plummet as soon as the Regeneration spell had run its course. That meant, I’d have to work fast. Steeling my nerve, I gave a hard yank hoping to remove the spear from her body in one go.
Unfortunately, that proved to be harder than I’d have thought as I forced the spear back out of the wound. While blood continued to spray from the wound, I felt the jagged spearhead catch on one of her ribs on the way out. Sadly, there was no time left to take it this slow as I watched the seconds ticking down on her debuffs. Murmuring a soft apology through our link, I pushed the spear back in far enough to get around the obstruction and twisted the shaft. Hoping that would be enough, I braced my knee against her blood-soaked chest and yanked the spear out of her body with one final heave. When the spearhead finally pulled free from her body with a sickening sucking pop, I twisted around to find the spear's owner while Neysa’s life blood splattered across my face and chest from her gaping wound.
“Hey asshole,” I said to an Orc glaring up at me not a yard away, as a wicked snarl came to my lips. “Suck on this.” As the words left my mouth, I jabbed the point of the bloody spear through the Elite Warrior’s hate-filled eye.
Turning back to Neysa, I hurriedly straddled the Silver Dire Wolf’s massive body. Reaching around her, I clamped my hands over the large wounds in her back and chest. Doing my best to slow down the blood pouring out of her body, I immediately cast a Regeneration spell as my head swam from the sudden drop in mana. Seeing that I still had eighty-seven mana left, I gritted my teeth and began casting Mend Bones.
This time, I struggled with the spell since my mana was still below a hundred. Lying with my face pressed up against Neysa’s side, I could feel the terrible wounds beginning to close up underneath my hands as the flow of blood was reduced to just a trickle. As the countdown timer hit ten seconds for my girls’ debuffs to wear off, the Mend Bones spell that I had cast completed its cycle as I puked from my mana bottoming out.
Squeezing my eyes shut against Neysa’s panting flank, I did my best to stop the dry heaves wracking my body as I watched the Silver Dire Wolf’s hit point bar finally turn yellow and continue to improve. Letting out a sigh of relief, I slid down Neysa’s side as my girls’ debuffs timer clicked down to three seconds. Finding the Vampiric Bastard Sword of Slaughter’s hilt nearby, I pulled the blade over to me as I climbed to my feet swaying from side-to-side as the debuffs’ timer hit zero.
Immediately, my raid mates and the surviving Orcs began rising across the battlefield. Not the worse for wear, Fylreh rolled to her hooves with an empty quiver. Shouldering her bow, she smoothly drew her scimitars as Neristhana rose to her shaky feet next. The usually squared away Gnomeling looked like complete crap. The blood and gore that had soaked her from head to toe was now acting like glue for the dust and dirt that was leftover in the air from the explosion. Not that Helgath didn’t look just as fresh as she struggled to her clawed feet. Though, I swear I saw tears of joy in both of their eyes as Neysa rose to stand next to me with the worst of her wounds now fully healed.
‘I couldn’t reach her in time,’ Helgath took on a pained note, as she rushed over to wrap her slim arms around Neysa’s neck in relief. The emotional guilt at not being able to do more to help her soulmate was clear in her tone. Understanding where her fear was coming from, I pulled the Half-Orc into my arms as she stood back up.
‘Not another word,’ I mentally said, as Helgath’s body stiffened at my touch. ‘You did good.’
For the majority of Helgath’s life as a slave, death had been a constant companion. The knowledge that she and Neysa would respawn at the nearest graveyard if killed still hadn’t fully taken root in her conscious thought. That, and just like me, it had pained her to see our soulmate enduring such agony. Looking up as Fylreh and Neristhana slaughtered several severely wounded Orcs on their way to join us, my dry voice croaked out loud.
“All of you did an amazing job.” The conflicting looks in both women’s eyes said that they felt differently, but before either of them could express their feelings on the subject, a guttural voice spoke up behind me.
“No maettr die magik ur Chofe-ka hab, Slave Lord,” the brutal looking Orc snarled at me in broken common, “all vil fall tu die tribes.”
The title the scarred Orc used to address me made me pause, until I realized that both Helgath and my slave runes were visible due to our damaged armor. Not that it particularly mattered one way or another as the twenty surviving Orcs nervously clustered together behind their impromptu leader. I easily translated their excited guttural words as they fearfully argued amongst themselves about whether or not they could hold off on attacking without losing their position within the war party. In their current injured state, the only hope they truly had for survival was waiting for the rest of the horde to come to their aid, which, I figured, was the only reason the scarred warrior was stalling for time.
“Those are brave words for a bunch of Chofe-ka afraid to fight a pair of slaves and their companions,” I said in perfect Orcish. “I wonder what your War Leader would say about that?” Having a humanoid that could understand and ridicule them in their own language brought bellows of outrage from even the most injured within their ranks as a cruel smile formed on my lips.
“Don’t worry,” I said, pausing as the golden outline of a Regeneration spell suddenly shimmered to life around me. Through our soul link, I could feel that Helgath was buffing our party in preparation for the coming attack with her remaining mana as I used the toe of my boot to kick the Vampiric Bastard Sword of Slaughter up high enough to snatch it out of the air.
Even though I was somewhat afraid of using the two-handed blade, I choked down the concerns that welled up inside of me as I held the shimmering iron blade before me. While the Vampiric Touch effect on my mind made me somewhat nervous, I wasn’t about to give up using such a powerful tool in a fight for survival like this. Besides, after Julie’s mind games, I’d never let anyone or anything control me again. None of those concerns showed in eyes as I continued nonplussed. “You’ll be dead before any of any of you have to worry about that.”
“Let’s take these assholes out and get the fuck out of here,” I said in common to my companions, before charging forward as the sounds of renewed battle came from either side of us. Even though I’d been speaking Orcish, Fylreh and Neristhana immediately launched themselves after me as I drew my sword back over my shoulder to strike.
The confused outrage disappeared from the Elite Warriors’ eyes as they brought their shields up defensively before them and readied their weapons. Luckily, the distance between us gave the Orcs little time to form up as I slid to a stop while bringing my two-handed sword around in a wide swing. As the Elite Warriors’ shields raised up to block the strike, I dropped the blade down in a low sweep before me at shin level.
The switch up caught the three Orcs in the front by surprise as the iron blade tore through the meat of their lower legs with its magical sharpness. The strike crippled the two Orcs on the outer edges, while the middle Orc keeled over in agony as I amputated both of its clawed feet. At the same time, both Helgath and Neristhana leaped through the sudden opening in the Orcs’ battle line, while Fylreh and Neysa slammed into the injured Orcs shields to bash them into the Orc Warriors behind them.
In their weakened state, it only took a solid blow or two to finish the Orcs off. As the three Orcs crumpled to the ground, th
e Vampiric Touch energy flowed up into my arms and filled me with a feeling of invulnerability. With a wordless cry, I brought the heavy blade around and lunged for the next Elite Warrior in front of me as Helgath attacked the Orc’s partner. While we went low, Fylreh’s scimitars flashed over our heads, forcing the Orcs to defend against her blades as we shoved past their shields to rip their guts open.
To my right, Neysa sprang forward to bash the Bronze Spiked Shield before her back with both dinner-plate sized paws. As the force of the blow made the Orc before her to reel back, Neristhana drove her Leeching Hand-Axe of Severing deep into the Orc’s side. As the Warrior’s hit points began to flash red, the Silver Dire Wolf struck again low. Snatching the Orc’s forward leg in her crushing jaws, she yanked with her whole body to pull the Elite Warrior off his clawed feet. Batting a flailing arm with another swing of her hand-axe, the Gnomeling leaped into the air to bring her blade down in a two-handed swing into the panicked Orc’s neck to finish him off.
It really wasn’t much of a battle. The only reason these Orcs were going down so easily was due to the severe damage they’d taken from the blast and that they’d been separated from the rest of the horde. It also helped that they didn’t have any Shaman healers. Nonetheless, not a one of them chose to flee certain death. While that was convenient for the current situation, at the same time, it was quite worrisome. If the entire invasion force acted like this, we were in for a hellish battle. Even a fighting retreat wouldn’t be easy, I thought, as my mind began chewing on the problem. We were just cutting down the last of the Orcs, when another wave of a hundred Moonshine elementals suddenly passed through our ranks on their way for the main horde.
“That’s not what I think it is?” Fylreh nervously asked, as her eyes widened in fear. Not that I blamed her. The explosions had been like nothing I’d ever experienced before and I knew what they were. How would something like that come across to a nomad Centaur who’d never seen devastation like that before?
“By the Dark,” Neristhana swore, as she watched the line of glowing elementals speed by. “I’m beginning to hate those things.”
“I doubt they’re going be a problem in the near future,” I muttered under my breath with a frown. Would V-MMORG completely nix them or just gimp the strength of their explosions?
“The future is not what I’m worried about,” Neristhana said, as her lips turned down into a frown.
“Good point,” I agreed, as Helgath took her regular place on Neysa’s back. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“Alrighty people,” I called out, after switching to raid chat. “It’s time to fall back to the rest of the raid!”
There were a few battles still going on, but the groups closest to those on-going fights quickly took down their Elite Orc Warriors as we began running for the slope to the Palnisdale side of the pass and the rest of the raid. Before we’d even gone twenty yards, there was another deafening explosion behind us as the front of the approaching horde was blasted apart. Even at a hundred yards away, the pressure wave washed over us with a surprising amount of force. While I was glad that Domenic had managed to develop something so devastating, a sinking feeling began to form in the pit of my stomach when I saw him stopping his warriors from falling back as planned.
“Fuck my life,” I swore under my breath as I redirected our flight towards my friend.
Already, his two hundred and sixty-seven troopers were starting up another cast of what could only be Moonshine Elementals. A quick glance over my shoulder at the closing Orcs made me realize that the last explosion had done little to slow down their advance. Even as the dirt and debris were raining back down to the ground, the front of the horde was already passing through the devastated area. The reason that was happening now was because the main raid had fallen too far back to support us with their Enhanced Shadow Bolts.
“What’s wrong?” Neristhana asked, as Fylreh’s ears perked up at the question, while my soulmates began pawing through my thoughts.
“Domenic is too focused on the XP they’re getting and not the changing tactical situation,” I grunted out unhappily, “or following the plan.”
“A minute is a long cast on a battlefield,” Fylreh agreed, as her ears flattened in annoyance.
“Did you see that shit?” Domenic crowed out excitedly, as we came running up. “I just shot up three levels!”
“That’s great dude,” I called back, as we came to a stop in front of him. “Now how about we follow the plan and get the fuck out of here?” If I’d calculated right, they still had thirty seconds left to complete their summons.
“Are you kidding me?” Domenic incredulously asked, as his hands continued the complicated cast. “I’m going to show them the power of a fully functional Death Star!”
“Dude, look how close they are,” I angrily demanded. “The last Moonshine Elementals didn’t even slow down their advance.” Seeing the confused look on my friend’s face, I tried to get him to listen. “The whole point of our rush was to give the rest of the raid a chance to fall back to the Palnisdale pass so we could safely withdraw. If you don’t fall back now, you’re going to get your ass overrun and your people slaughtered by either the Orcs or the Chaos Storm Alliance raid.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Domenic demanded, as he dug in his proverbial heels. “Do you know how far behind in levels we are compared to everyone else?” Seeing the growing frown on my face, he tried another tact.
“Don’t you get it? If we knock out enough of these fuckers we’ll be able to meet there invasion head-on,” Domenic insisted, as he eyed me critically. “If you don’t believe me, just look at your Character Sheet. You just hit level forty.”
“While the extra level is great, it’s not the plan for a reason,” I said with a shake of my head. “You want to try that once we’ve reached the pass, no problem. Maybe you can get in some extra kills while they’re fighting each other. Doing that shit out here in the open is just plain stupid.”
As soon as the words left my lips, I knew that Domenic was going to tune me out. Look, it’s not like I didn't understand where he was coming from. Reaching level 40 was cool as hell and this technique would’ve been a great way to power level if we were behind some fortified walls and didn’t have a massive raid of players after us. Doing that on an open plain with an unending horde of charging Orcs seeking to rip us apart on one side and a raid of pissed off players that could attack us at any time on our unprotected flank was a freaking death sentence.
Not to mention, I was sure that after not getting much in the way of levels for the last week and a half, Domenic was jonesing to catch up, especially after seeing how high everyone else’s levels were in the guild. If that wasn’t enough pressure to shine, the whole push to earn more in real life money wasn’t helping him think clearly either. It almost made me regret having Mike use that as a lever to get Domenic to listen to reason.
“Dude, I can’t believe you’re not going to back me up on this,” Domenic said in exasperation, as the Moonshine Elemental suddenly formed from the open flask that he had in his hands. At any other time, I would’ve been interested in seeing how the summoned creatures were formed. It honestly reminded me of a genie popping out of a lamp which was kind of cool.
“How many times do you think these Orcs are going to fall for the same trick? How long do you think it’ll take for Evil Sandra and her people to show up?” I seriously asked, as Domenic looked away refusing to meet my eyes. Nonetheless, I continued trying to get him to listen to reason. “I already told you we can try this at the mouth of the pass. If that’s not good enough for you, than this is all on you.” Nodding to my team, I turned back to Domenic. “We’re out of here.”
As we ran, I felt Helgath’s slim fingers wrap around my upper arm as Neysa paced me. I honestly wasn’t trying to be an asshole. The last thing I wanted was to have another fight with Domenic after everything that had happened. At the same time, I wasn’t going to let him wipe out the raid just
because he was being too stubborn to listen to reason. We didn’t get more than twenty yards away, when an immense explosion rang out behind us.
Turning around in shock, I was surprised to see that the entire line of Moonshine Elementals had suddenly just exploded well before the horde’s lines. The force of the initial blast blew Domenic and his Half-Dwarves off their armored feet as their whole defensive line disappeared underneath the edge of a wave of flames and debris. The intense shock wave even made my team and I stagger from where we stood as an immense cloud rose up into the sky before us.
While my team and I were thankfully out of the immediate blast radius, the shock wave still gave us a Disoriented and Deafened debuff that had a DOT effect as blood started trickling from our ears. Thankfully though, this time the effect only lasted for ten seconds and didn’t come with a stun effect. As I waited for the time to count down, I quickly glanced at my raid interface to see how fucked up Domenic’s people were.
It was pretty fucking bad. Nearly a third of them had lost their lives, while the rest were hovering between two to three percent health. Checking over my mana, I’d nearly recovered twelve hundred points back. More than enough to spam out a few Healing Breezes at sixty mana. As soon as the debuff ended, I began spamming the spell up and down the collapsed line of Half-Dwarves as I began heading back down the slope.
“I thought we were leaving the pompous fool to his fate,” Neristhana asked, as the frown on my face deepened.
“So did I,” I said, letting out a heavy sigh. “Let’s see if this helped to give him an attitude adjustment or not.” We’d nearly reached Domenic’s group, when Fylreh called out.
