by Konrad Ryan
Gruff swung his huge shield to block a blast of ice as the fire jet swung their way. Fire swallowed the ice as clouds of steam filled the room, obscuring their vision. It was then the acid hit.
A mist of acid rained from the ceiling of the arena. Tad looked upward as he realized his mistake. He thought the green slime would target the acid balls at them, but the green slime shot its attacks directly into the arena ceiling far overhead. With each acid ball that crashed to the ceiling, raindrops of acid fell onto Tad and his party fighting below. The tiny drops didn’t do a lot of damage individually, but it was like fighting in a rainstorm of acid. Tad could feel his skin sizzle as the acid ate them alive.
“Magic Shield!” Gruff raised the shield above their heads and blocked the acid like an umbrella, the spell expanded the shield to over triple its usual size. “Behind you, dodge, Kid!”
Tad turned directly into a cloud of fist-sized ice chunks. Tad’s newly honed reflexes kicked in as he dodged the attack. His body moved like a ribbon in the wind as he dodged the icebolts. In his mind the execution was flawless, but in reality it was far from it. Even if he couldn’t perfectly dodge it, he could see the attack! Bruises already formed where the two blocks of ice had smashed into his unarmored ribcage, but he’d successfully slipped past the rest of the ice-shard blast. Adrenaline pulsed through his veins; Tad never felt so nimble and adroit. And this was only with six dexterity.
The jet of fire seared into Tad’s back. It knocked him to the floor. His skin sizzled in pain. The dirt floor hadn’t been covered in slime before, but it was quickly becoming so. He rolled to his feet just in time to spin past another shotgun of ice from the blue slime. Tad had never been good at dodgeball in school, in fact he’d almost always been picked last, even after the kid in the wheelchair who had been surprisingly good at catching the balls thrown at him. But look at him now! Tad’s confidence swelled as he dodged the barrage of fire and ice. Spins, jumps, head ducks and even something as simple as just turning sideways kept him out of the reach of the deadly projectiles. Tad’s fury long forgotten, he grinned despite himself. For the first time in his recent memory, he felt alive. Any misstep could spell his doom, but in this moment he was alive and had never felt so aware of it.
It felt wonderful. The sharpness of death made him appreciate life.
Chapter 7
Scar and Blondegirl appeared beneath Gruff’s raised shield. Scar dismantled an explosion of ice with quick motions of his large two-handed sword. Blondegirl aimed carefully, firing an oversized spectral arrow directly into the path of the fire jet spraying their way. The enormous arrow collided with the stream of molten fire, pushing it back until it sank deep into the fire slime, passing harmlessly through.
“Gruff, we gotta do something about that acid rain, Bunta is taking too much damage!” Scar was out of breath, superficial acid burns splashed across his exposed skin, muscle fibers exposed from where some of his skin had completely dissolved. The acid melted his hair in splotches as it fizzled and consumed, making his already gruesome appearance even more haggard. In direct contrast, Blondegirl stood, arrow nocked in her bow, with her hair untouched. In fact, there wasn’t a spot of acid on her and her health bar was full. How on earth had she pulled that off?
Gruff grunted. “Kid, can you kill them?”
Tad shook his head. “They’re too big.” His mana had barely killed the big red slime in the tunnel, and these three were almost triple the size.
Gruff looked at Scar. “I can block the acid bolts as the green one shoots them, but I’ll need someone to cover my back, I won’t be able to watch the ice and fire ones.” Gruff dodged left then right away from twin icy-hot projectiles.
Tad leapt past twin icebolts and landed next to Gruff. “I can do it, I need a shield, but I can cover your back.” He felt a wave of embarrassment shoot through him. What had he been thinking? How had he shown up to a dungeon with nothing but sweatpants and a T-shirt? Even his lost backpack didn’t really have anything useful. He had been woefully unprepared.
“The kid found his legs. Give him your shield, Terrance.”
Scar gave him a doubtful glare, but an insistent grunt from Gruff was apparently all the reassurance he needed as he unlatched his shield from his back. Scar hadn’t been using his shield, anyway. The rough-looking man seemed to prefer his monstrous two-handed sword that was bigger than he was. Another stream of fire flew from the red slime, Gruff dropped his shield to block it, Blondegirl’s spectral arrows apparently on cooldown. Tad’s jaw dropped as Blondegirl almost vibrated in place, dodging the acid raindrops from above. How high was her dexterity to perform such a feat? Or was it a special skill?
Tad took the shield from Scar expectantly, waiting for a new skill or spell like when he’d taken both the wand and the healer’s crook. But nothing happened. Tad fumbled with the straps before he secured it to his arm.
“I’ll block the acid blobs from reaching the ceiling. Kid, your job is to block any ice blasts or the jet of fire if they get shot my way. Dodge the rest. Terrance, Becca. You’re on support duty, distract that buggy-bastard so Bunta can do his work. Go!” The command contained the force of will, possible only from a dungeon leader determined to keep everyone alive.
Everyone disappeared as Tad struggled to keep up with Gruff. For how big the man was, he sure was nimble! Armed with a shield, Tad blocked the fists of ice he couldn’t dodge. A glance at Tad’s health bar showed the acid and attacks had eaten his health down to half.
As they reached the green slime, Gruff leapt thirty feet into the air to backhand a huge blob of green ooze back toward the floor with his enlarged shield. Tad watched in awe. What stat let you jump like that! Tad turned, he had a job to do. From this angle, he could see both the red and the blue slime as they sprayed the entire room with blobs and bolts of fire and ice, trying to hit anything that moved. Despite their constant spews of slime, fire, and ice, the slimes didn’t shrink. They wouldn’t deplete themselves.
Gruff leapt again, smashing a new blob back toward the green slime as it sprayed across his shield. Gruff landed, eyes focused on the giant green slime, he watched, as if waiting for the telltale bubbles that preceded a slime launch. His eyes focused like a hawk mid-dive. Tad scanned the room, trying to filter out which of the many attacks would hit Gruff. Two clouds of shotgunned ice sprayed toward Gruff’s back. Tad sprinted into position. His body felt so light! Ice shattered across his shield, the strength of the attack sent him flying across the room. Unable to block the second ice attack, it careened into Gruff’s back and knocked him from his feet. A blast of green slime slipped past and crashed into the ceiling above. The acid rain began. The momentum from the blocked ice attack sent Tad rolling just inches away from the giant green slime. A slimy-green tendril whipped out and grabbed his leg and pulled him inward. Panic rose in Tad’s chest. It would dissolve him in seconds.
“Firebolt!”
A jet of hot-white flame melted the tendril, Tad scrambled away from the huge green blob. Up close, he realized just how big the slime was. It was as big as his entire living room! Gruff landed next to Tad, having successfully blocked another slime bolt. With each blocked attack, the acid rain lessened. Only drips from the ceiling remained. Tad leapt into the way of another icebolt headed for Gruff. The impact threatened to rip his arms off. The sheer force of the icebolts was mind-boggling! How could Gruff block huge jets of acid-slime when Tad could barely block much smaller attacks?
Even though Tad was now fast enough to get in place to block or to dodge projectiles himself, stopping them was another matter. The jet of fire smashed into Gruff’s backside.
“Get it together, Kid!” Gruff growled.
How! He wasn’t strong enough to do this. Each time he blocked a projectile, it sent him sprawling fifteen feet backward! His arms were already numb from the first impact. Tad was out of position as a double-sized ice cloud shot directly toward Gruff’s defenseless backside. Tad sprinted as fast as he could and brought up his
shield just before the cloud of ice made impact. The force of the blow threw him back hard, directly into Gruff’s back, the air crushed from Tad’s lungs.
Gruff smiled over his shoulder. “Nice one, Kid!” He leapt into the air.
He’d done it by accident, but he’d blocked the attack without being tossed across the room. If he waited until the last moment before the attacks landed, Tad could borrow Gruff’s strength to stop himself from flying. Eyes strained as he watched for the next attack. The room was full of chaos as fire and ice shot through the steamy air. On second glance, Tad realized there wasn’t a pattern to the ice slime’s attacks, instead dozens of ice blasts fired out each second across the battlefield. The fire slime was different. It swung its flamejet from Scar to Blondegirl to Gruff and then to Tad. In that order. He got into a rhythm, as he got a feel for when the fire jet would land.
In between blocks, Tad scanned the raging boss battle. If he’d thought the slimes were rapid firing, they were nothing next to Blondegirl. Her spectral blue-green arrows flew from her bow like a machine gun, toward the mosquito boss, which was still frantically trying to slap Bunta from the air. Desperation and rage filled its buggy face as Blondegirl’s arrows found their target. With a screech, the boss switched targets. It dive bombed straight toward Blondegirl, ready to skewer her on its razor sharp needle-nose when out of nowhere Scar fell from above, his giant two-handed sword smashed down on top of the mosquito’s head with practiced precision as purple ichor splurted from the crushing wound.
The mosquito screeched in fury, as its health bar dropped below 75%. This time it turned its fury toward Scar, but purple blood sprayed from its eyes. Bunta’s invisible attacks were faster than lightning. The mosquito boss flung its arms toward its eyes to protect itself, once again slapping wildly at the air in front of it with its musclebound arms. Scar and Blondegirl both long forgotten. Any misstep could be fatal for the three walking this tightrope of death, but they shored up each other’s weaknesses, and controlled the boss with well-timed attacks. Their coordination was incredible. This wasn’t their first bug hunt.
Tad redoubled his efforts. If they stood in the line of fire to protect each other, so could he. Tad darted between the flamejet and Gruff a split-second before impact. Back to back, the fire crushed Tad into the back of Gruff’s heavily muscled torso. Tad’s shield grew red hot as his arm flesh cooked, but there was nothing else to do. Black spots swam before Tad’s eyes at the intense pressure as Gruff leapt away to block another acid bolt. Tad danced between fire and ice, preparing himself to once again block the next attack. Another glance at his health bar now showed him below thirty-five percent. Even with the shield, he was taking damage as he blocked each attack. The ice crushed, and the fire burned. But in the heat of battle he couldn’t think of any better option and found himself sandwiched between Gruff and a cloud of deadly ice once more.
Ribs creaked, head pounded, and legs trembled each time Tad blocked a bolt. His mind became fuzzy and his eyes overstrained as he sprinted from bolt to bolt. He missed a few here and there, but Gruff’s health bar was still easily over 60%, much higher than Tad’s own health.
*Warning! Meztlegoph the Mosquito Conqueror has cast ‘Speed of the Conqueror.’ Warning!*
Suddenly the female voice spoke with perfect clarity in Tad’s mind. His fuzzy thoughts cleared instantly as dread overtook him. Tad never heard a voice from his leveling program before. Whatever it was, it had to be bad!
What? Tad watched with dread to where the mosquito hovered in place. An aura of ethereal green wind swirled around the Boss. The boss’s health dropped below fifty percent. The three giant slimes that had been blasting spells everywhere went suddenly still and dormant, the blobs and bolts of slime ceased.
The mosquito’s gorilla hands were a blur as they snatched something out of the air. Fear gripped Tad’s stomach as a surprised-looking Bunta struggled to get free from the mosquito’s grasp, only his head visible from the opening of the monster’s fist. Abruptly the mosquito disappeared. One moment it was there, the next, it vanished. Tad’s ears found the mosquito before his eyes caught up to the noise. It was directly above them.
The mosquito’s wings buzzed above the giant green slime, its needle-nose sunk deep into the slime’s center as it gulped the green fluid; the slime decreased in size by half. The mosquito extended the fist holding Bunta directly in front of its needle-nose and sprayed a torrent of green sizzling acid. The gorilla hands seemed immune to the corrosive liquid. Bunta, however, was not. Instantly, his health bar dropped to zero. The acid removed Bunta’s hair and skin. Parts of Bunta’s flesh dissolved completely, the skull beneath exposed.
The mosquito’s gorilla hand casually released Bunta as the green aura surrounding the mosquito conqueror disappeared, returning to its normal speed. Bunta’s limp body fell toward the green slime directly beneath him. Tad watched helplessly as their only hope plummeted toward his imminent demise.
But before the slime could envelop Bunta, Gruff was there. Crouched horizontally, fifteen feet up, he sprang from the wall, his thick quads contracted like coiled springs. Like a rocket, he shot through the air and snatched Bunta’s limp body just before it fell into the green slime.
“Becca!” Gruff had never sounded so desperate.
Gruff threw the body of Bunta in her direction, even in midair. Gruff crashed to the ground, tumbling across the slimy dungeon floor. He rolled to his feet where he charged over to Blondegirl.
Blondegirl wrapped her arms around Bunta’s waist midair as Scar caught the two of them from behind, killing their momentum and pulling them to the floor with strength of which a civilian could only dream. Blondegirl pulled something from the pouch at her side. It gleamed golden in her hand. She brought it to Bunta’s lips and his eyes shot open. His limbs and body shook violently and he gasped in pain. The muscles on his face regrew around his exposed skull as they knit together, mystical blue lines zigzagged through his freshly grown skin and his health bar smoothly jumped to 10%.
“Heal Other!”
*Target is out of range.*
Tad ran. Blondegirl glowed with healing power, but Bunta’s health inched almost imperceptibly. As he ran, a disturbing thought came to Tad. Something was off. Despite being the most vulnerable since the fight started, the boss was gone. It was not attacking them. So where was it? His ears were the first to find it. The high-pitch buzzing sound drew his eyes to the arena ceiling. Realization at what was happening hit Tad so hard he felt like he was about to throw up. The mosquito had flown to the top of the cavern, where it was putting the finishing touches on a giant egg sac. The surface of the egg sac rippled with movement. Finger sized needles penetrated the outside of the sack. Tens of thousands of wriggling hand-sized mosquitos were stabbing the outside of the egg sac hungrily. Tad cast his spell. The red glow of his hand intensified.
Tad screamed with all his pent up fury he’d forgotten. With both hands pointed at the egg sac, Tad cast his remaining eleven mana into their only hope.
“Firebolt!”
A pillar of fire flew from Tad’s palms. Spell after spell the molten fire roared in the air toward the egg sac. The boss mosquito flew into the path of the blazing inferno, prepared to take the hit to save her children.
But Bunta was having none of that.
For just an instant Tad’s eyes caught the image of an acid-burned Bunta soaring through the air at untold speeds as he crashed into the boss, feet first. The mosquito smashed into the opposite wall of the arena, far out of the way of Tad’s massive firebolt.
The firebolt flew true, just missing Bunta as he fell helplessly toward the ground, all his momentum transferred to the Boss. The supersonic scream of ten thousand baby mosquitos filled the cavern as they cooked alive. Everyone stood paralyzed and slammed their hands over their ears to block the bloodcurdling supersonic shriek. Everyone but Tad. He ran as fast as he could toward Bunta, grasping Bunta’s arm.
“Heal other!”
Blood er
upted from Tad’s eyes and ears as the world went quiet and red. Tad felt his health ripped from his chest as it poured into Bunta. Healing intensified the pain the longer it went on. Blood burst from his nose and then he fell to his knees and vomited blood, but he refused to stop. Bunta really was their only hope. No one else could have forced that behemoth of a boss out of the path of Tad’s spell. Tad stopped and almost blacked out. His health bar showed only ten health remained. Bunta gave a nod in Tad’s direction as the health bar above his head climbed from 10% to 18%. Tad gasped for a breath that felt like it would never come as he wiped the blood from his face. He’d spent thirty health of his own life healing Bunta for 120 health. It wasn’t a lot, but it was all he could give.
Bunta’s warm voice rang out. “I won’t waste this.” He disappeared.
Blood clouded Tad’s eyes. He searched for the boss where he knew Bunta would be. He finally found it. The boss flew directly at Tad, bug-eyes filled with a mother’s madness. Bunta hung onto one of its wings, his hands blurred as he frantically chopped at it with his daggers. At the last second, Bunta’s dagger sliced through the wing with a tremendous snap, causing it to veer off course. But it wasn’t enough. A powerful gorilla arm the size of a tree trunk reached out hungrily toward Tad. Tad tried to move, but the boss was too fast. Tad was bug meat. The huge meaty fingers and palm stood directly in front of Tad, like a wall of flesh. Flesh about to encircle him, squish him.
Tad always thought he would be afraid when it came time to look death in the eye. But he felt calm. Serene. He protected his teammates from the thousands of baby mosquitos. He enraged the boss until it blindly attacked him despite the other dangers. He still didn’t have the strength to protect himself, but he had protected others. That had to count for something.
Tad did that. The loner, the loser who had been beaten in the bathroom before his rebirth. The kid who had been afraid of going back to school to face his tormentors. Just what had he been afraid of? Nothing could be scarier than what was happening right in front of him, and yet he wasn’t afraid. Tad broke out in a smile and he laughed. He laughed like Brad in the washroom. He was ready for death.
