by Randy Thao
"We have unearthed the beast that really lies within the center of Aftmantu," grinned Gen. "I would guess that this will be the most challenging part of the entire fight."
"He's half his size now. You don't look too scary now do you?" chuckled Bu. "I'll tank him from here!"
They were correct. Aftmantu had shed off a pile of rubble. It was only half its original size now and didn't look as massive as before, but slimmer in form. The boulders from its arms had fallen off revealing hands. Its head hunched low as the last piece of clay crumbled from its face. Red eyes soon appeared from within its deep eye sockets with a sharper look. It crouched down low and with a sudden swiftness, jammed both hands deep into the ground. It pulled them out slowly spreading its arms to the side like a bird arcing towards the sky. Pulling out, both hands revealed dark purple energy pulsing katanas with red tassels hanging at the end of the handles. A neon purple line drew from the base of the handle all the way to the tip of the swords. Aftmantu then slung itself from an arc position to upright attack mode with extreme speed.
"What the hell!?" exclaimed Bu dashing to the front line.
"Engage!" Dee shouted. Aftmantu came at them so fast that he didn't have time to strategize their next moves.
Shhhhhpew!
Aftmantu loaded its first blow with a left underhand swing following through and finishing above. The strike was so powerful it sent Bu flying off his feet tumbling. Melic jumped in and took main tank. Gen's group all at once sent area damage spells at a ten feet radius around Aftmantu.
"You won't get away from these attacks. Rain of Fire!" announced Gen.
"Tornado Valley!" announced Yin.
"Electric Vines!" announced Cecil.
"Hail Storm!" announced Karry.
"Fire Web!" announced Oman.
Everyone watched as the magnificent spells surround and fell upon Aftmantu. Yet, it stood calm as ever absorbing the damage.
"We got him!" Cecil shouted.
"Huh!?" Gen choked out in shock. "It didn't take any damage!"
What they assumed was right. The black layer of coal started to flake off of its body from the intense heat of the spells. Bright glistening beams of light pierced out from within every cut of its new diamond form.
"Diamond..." whispered Dee.
Derma shot three fireballs from his scepter for a direct hit crashing into its chest. As they made contact, they were absorbed right into Aftmantu's body. Its new form was now capable of absorbing the spells making it immune to magic. Because diamond is already refined to its perfect form, no amount of pressure or heat could cause anydamage to it.
"Spells won't work. It will only help increase its energy and hit points," Derma explained. "If that's the case, we are useless."
"We can take it from here," assured Dee. "Besides, it's only 10% left. All casters, assist those who are doing physical damage. If you have any buffs or healing spells, we could use that as extra support for our healers."
"Right!" they all agreed.
The tanks were taking a beating being knocked off their feet with each blow and switching out with every other direct hit. The physical attacks were doing little on Aftmantu's new form. They could barely scratch the surface. Aftmantu then took an unexpected turn. Dee pulled up the raid options again, not noticing the change in Aftmantu's pattern. To get a sense of how the raid was doing, he noticed that Gen's group was flickering out of sight, first Yin and then Karry.
Dee lifted his head in shock, "What the?!"
It was as if Aftmantu was no longer following the pattern anymore. Like it had a mind of its own. Dee was sure that he had it down, but this was totally out of the question. It had started to attack the supporting casters as if knowing that it didn't have much time left. The aggravation from the tanks had no effect no matter how hard they tried.
"Dee what's going on? None of us can aggravate it. It's only a matter of time before the healers are targeted," Bu cried aggressively chasing after Aftmantu.
"I don't know. I-I don't know. Is this the final perk?" Dee whispered to himself. "If that is the case, this will have to be a full out brawl to the finish!"
"Ah no! Nooo!!" yelled Cecil and with one rapid slash, he was gone.
"I guess this is the end of the line for us. Glad we were able to assist," Gen firmly said. He watched as Oman was hit with a thrust. Oman grabbed the katanas with both hands seeing that it had pierced right through him and perished.
With no hesitation, Gen was next. It rushed with lightning speed while ignoring all damages being taken. Gen just stood his ground awaiting his fate. Aftmantu turned the two katanas downward in a stabbing motion and leaped high in the air. As it was coming down, it appeared that Gen had another trick up his sleeve. Aftmantu had triggered one of Gen's traps. The only counter he had against physical damage causing enemies or players. Traps, even though they are set with a spells, do physical damage not magic. In an instant, the trap activated and knocked Aftmantu back with an explosion dealing huge damage along with a fifteen second stun effect. Gen quickly started casting another trap as quickly as he could.
"Now, full offense!" ordered Dee. "Give it everything you've got."
The whole raid gathered using up every drip of energy pulsing through their suits to deal as much physical damage as possible. Healers and casters equipped their secondary weapons in order to contribute in hopes that it would be enough. A beeping alert sound caught Dee's attention from his view. It signaled that the stun counter was down to five seconds.
"Everyone back away. It's breaking out of the stun!" warned Dee, but he could see that Gen was not moving. He was still chanting a trap spell. "Gen, move out of the way! You're not going to get it in time."
Everyone scattered out as quickly as possible. Aftmantu was no longer wobbling about. It shook its head and in anger, slammed both fists with katanas in hand on the ground and continued to pursue its original target, Gen. Dee tried everything he could to stop Aftmantu, but it was no use.
"Sword Meteor Dance!" announced Dee, but Aftmantu just ignored the damages it was taking. "Come on! Here! Over here! Ah! Hah! Urhhhh!" struggled Dee as he slid, sliced, slashed and swiped with all he had.
Aftmantu lunged swinging the katanas horizontally and splitting Gen in half right before Dee's eyes. Gen's upper body slowly tilted to the side. At that moment, Gen completed his spell, but it was too late, yet a smile fell upon his face, and he winked at Dee as he perished away.
"Gen!!" shouted Dee. Aftmantu's health had dropped to two percent. Dee's eyes grew big at the opportunity. It was time to end it.
Chapter 29 - The Real Battle
The lava, which flowed so freely drizzled to a trickle. The ground shook a mighty vibration throughout the cavern. In that moment, they all had shifted gears to an all offense, do or die. There was nothing left, but plow through the last 2% of Aftmantu's life. Everyone came charging emptied of everything in their inventory. It was so close, yet so far from over.
Not only were they on their last straw, so was Aftmantu. After removing Gen out of the battlefield, it carried on, but because everyone was coming to it rather it chasing each player down, the raid members were being wiped right off Dee's raid view. Lilli, Bone, Akira and now Lei.
"Come on guys, we're almost there!" cried Dee gritting his teeth. "Just a little more...."
With the swiftness of Aftmantu's katana attacks, Amy, Melic, Sunny, Ponto and Jessie perished within seconds of each other. Dee watch the raid member's faces fall into hopelessness with each perishing body. What seemed like the closing of the battle was now far from it. Aftmantu took out Chuck, Dobson, Fero and Dubby by stepping and hammer fisting them into thin air.
"I'll take you down with everything I have you monster!" shouted Tim as his axe met dead on against the diamond surface.
"1%, 1%!!!" Dee updated as he rushed to the front lines. Dee could see that cracks were starting to form at certain places on its body. He raced up the side of its arm jumping higher and higher up to the top. Takin
g out his sword, he knew this would be the final blow. "One more time! Sword Meteor Dance!"
Aftmantu noticed him and in that instant shook Dee like a wild bull sending him off into the distance, his sword flying in the opposite.
"Dee!" Mara exclaimed. She made her way as quickly as she could to get to him.
"No Mara," Dee struggled to say. He could barely speak. The fall had knocked the wind out of him. He pulled up the raid view and there they went, the rest of them blinking off screen. "How can this be?"
Mara finally arrived as he fell back into her arms. She too knew as well as Dee that they would be joining the rest very soon.
"We tried right?" smiled Mara, her eyes suddenly feeling weak.
Showing no mercy, Aftmantu came at full force with its katanas glowing with intense neon purple absorbed from those who have already perished. Failure meant that they would have to repeat all their efforts over again. If loyal, a raid group would give it another try. In most cases, it wasn't worth another try. For now, Dee and Mara have accepted the fact that not all raids are victorious on their first try. Mara wrapped her arms around Dee as the towering shadow of Aftmantu fell over them.
Kabooom!!
An explosion of bright lights lit up their faces as Aftmantu the Cave Dweller was propelled back crashing to the ground. It lay on its back struggling to lift its arm. With one last effort to stay alive, its last breath left him shattering into a million pieces like a broken mirror. Dee and Mara could feel their energy returning to their bodies. All around them, balls of yellow glowing shapes appeared. One by one each and every one who had perished returned to life. They stood looking at their hands wondering what was going on. When they saw Aftmantu in pieces, they all rejoiced and hugged one another jumping with joy.
Mara helped Dee to his feet as they stood in awe. "We did it Dee!" shouted Mara.
"Yes, we did," replied Dee.
"Woohoo!!" Bu hollered as he danced around in circles. Jessie waved her hands in the air chasing along with him.
Derma approached Gen from behind. He cleared his throat rather loudly to get his attention. "I saw what you did back there. Thinking of others. Not something you usually do."
Gen raised an eyebrow saying, "If there would have been enough time, I would have casted the spell on myself. Besides if anyone could figure out what the hell is going on here, he could."
"Very well done," smiled Derma. "Well done.'
Dee looked over at Gen nodding in respect for his quick response. He realized after the fact that Gen had cast the spell not on himself, but for him. Gen knew that his trap spell took time. Casting it on himself would have been of no benefit as the blow had already made contact to his body. Therefore, he placed it on Dee who still had a chance. They all walked over to the pile of shattered diamonds. It sparkled and glistened before their eyes.
"What now?" Mara questioned as she gazed upon the pile of diamond. Everyone looked at one another shaking their heads and shrugging their shoulders.
All of a sudden the rubble perished into a cloud of energy dispersing equal amounts to all members of the raid. Their white suits along with their armors pulsed with glory. Once it had cleared, a spread of loot lay before them. Dee took a step forward, but before he could do anything, Mara had made the first move.
"Oh this looks nice! May I?" she asked nervously.
Dee looked back at everyone and seeing that no one objected he said, "It's yours." He set focus on the item. It read, "Saturn Moon Ring".
Dee had no desire for any of the items. He knew that they would be leaving this place, and the items would be of no use. Looking through the list and the items on the ground, nothing looked out of the ordinary. Swords, armor, special items and a ton of met-coins to split among them all.
"She said it would be here, but where?" Dee whispered to himself.
"Have you found what you were looking for?" asked Derma.
Dee shook his head slowly and replied, "I don't see it."
"What now?" Tim questioned. "I trust you would have an answer for us. Looks like we're left in the dark once again."
The other players moaned and commotion fell among them all. Bu and Jessie were disheartened to see the disappointment on everyone's faces. As soon as the loot was split among the players, the lava flow came to a sudden stop. The back wall where Aftmantu came from broke open with an intense vibration. The marvelous landscape stood before them. Huge rocks and boulders came crumbled to the ground. It started to shake beneath them, and the mountain came to life. The Nanobots were moving and changing the area right before their eyes. The scenery of the landscape spread wide open exposing the vibrant colors as far as the eye could see. The floor before them took shape into a round golden platform like that from the day they set foot in front of Adrenaline Corp. A portal gate rose from the middle of it. When it was fully erected, a blue shade of energy filled the inner gate. Everyone watched with anticipation. Then a familiar face appeared from within the portal. First his legs came into view and then the rest of him revealing a royal blue suit.
"Mr. Montgomery!" exclaimed Bu.
Nye Montgomery came out and walked towards the edge of the platform facing the players. He had a big smile on his face applauding as he came.
"Congratulations players of RTU. You have managed to reach the end. I am quite impressed with your efforts to work together to accomplish such a task. This also has provided us with great information to improve game play experiences for new players. What you have done is just the tip of the iceberg," spoke Nye.
Everyone's eyes were locked on to him with confusion. Derma made his way towards the front of the platform.
"You mean to say that this was still the beta version of RTU?" questioned Derma,
"Sort of," replied Nye. "As we speak, there are more worlds being created to accommodate the amount of players in the very near future."
"We get it. Now, how do we return home?" demanded Dee. Everyone set their attention on Dee, because they too wanted to return home.
"Ah, Dee Rogers. That's not the way to ask is it?" replied Nye.
Tak...crumble...crack.. Swoosh!
From above, it cast a shadow upon the players as it came towards Nye Montgomery at full speed. In a blink of an eye, CLANK! A player in black armor with red patterns appeared before them locking swords with Nye Montgomery. With one push, the mystery player flew back off the platform leaping behind Dee and his raid.
"Keeper?!" gasped Dee.
"When did he...?" exclaimed one of the other players.
"Who's that?" questioned Tim. "To see that he was daring enough to attack Nye Montgomery speaks volume."
"Dee, what's going on here?" Derma asked. "Does this have anything to do with what you were looking for?"
"Yes, within Aftmantu lies the secret to Nye Montgomery's true purpose of RTU. She...." spoke Dee.
"She?" interrupted Derma.
"Yes she, she holds the answer to where it may be," explained Dee.
A grin had fallen on Nye's face. "Keeper, Keeper."
Keeper pulled off her helmet, and her white hair fell on to her shoulders. "Long time no see. Are you surprised?"
"Not one bit. I'd figure you would show. You're a hard person to find. Are you finally giving up? Is that why you are here?" Nye prodded. "Thanks to Dee, we knew that he would bring you to us just as planned."
Keeper walked towards Dee and when she got to a bout a three feet away, she held her hand out towards Mara. Dee stood in confusion.
"Mara? What's going on," asked Dee.
"I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't. I did it for you," Mara replied. She lifted her hand up and pulled off the ring. Keeping her promise, Mara dropped it in Keeper's hand.
"Thank you dear. As agreed, it's done," Keeper closed her hand over the ring. Grey dust seeped through her fingers and swirled about. From her palm, constructed a scroll.
"Mara, why did you...? You don't know what you have done," Dee whispered to Mara.
Mara pulled off he
r mouth mask and tossed it away. Her face had been restored. Her skin clear and slightly blushing.
"I'm sorry to do this behind your back, but I needed to get my hands on it without much distraction. Just like Adam and Eve, I knew she would give in," said Keeper confidently. She then turned to Nye. "Let me through, and I will hand this over to you."
"Hahaha! What can you possibly offer to gain your freedom?" laughed Nye.
"The secret to RTU!" cried Keeper now with a stern look on her face.
"Lies, your bluffing!" responded Nye.
Keeper then took the scroll and unrolled it. The digital letters appeared from the bottom and moved upwards on the parchment as she read.
"Project Revolution Tyranny of the Universe will be termed under Robotic Transfer Universe (RTU) in order to pass as an MMO for testing to perfection..." read Keeper.
As Keeper continue to read, Nye's face grew more and more in distress. It appears what was being read had hit a cord of truth. He rubbed his fingers in balled fists with uneasiness. Dee and everyone else looked at one another now realizing that the great Nye Montgomery had alternate plans and that RTU was a cover up for his world, no, universal domination.
"Shut up!" shouted Nye. "Give that to me now!"
"Let me pass, and it's all yours," repeated Keeper.
"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. I'll have to take it by force then! Armored Guards!" announced Nye. Suddenly on the platform, smaller black portals erected as Adrien and his Armored Guards came through one by one. "Go and retrieve the scroll!"
"You want a fight eh?" Keeper placed her helmet back on. She turned over to Dee and his raid. "If you want out, I suggest we help each other. He's in my world, and all the game rules still apply. This is the only direct portal that will lead us back to Adrenaline Corp. It's why I waited until now. All of you were just guinea pigs Nye used to lure me out. What better way to find me than have actual players search every inch of RTU?"
Dee lifted his hand up in the air. He made a fist as his thumb rubbed back and forth. His eyes still locked with hers. What Keeper said was true, and the only thing that stood in their way out was Nye and his armored guards. Were they really going to go up against Nye Montgomery, the creator, himself? Who knew what Nye would do to keep things quiet after what just happened. Everyone waited for Dee's command.
