by Ryan DeBruyn
The tunnel wound through the earth, leading him onward, and his limited vision decreased as less sunlight was available for his Dark Vision to pull on. Still, his clone had a ten-foot radius of view.
His tunnel joined a slightly larger branch, and he deliberated which direction to take. Kneeling, he attempted to determine which one led deeper underground and which one headed back to the surface. It was subtle, but the right side seemed to slightly fall away. Once his clone was on that path, the angle of descent picked up quickly. It was the right direction.
A few steps later, and the path dropped off in a quick forty-five-degree angle. His clone’s cone of vision had decreased again to five feet. He strained his ears to pick up a sound—any sound—that would give him a hint regarding what lay ahead.
He moved his clone to the wall and crept carefully, trying not to disturb the loose dirt and stones. At the bottom of the depression, he found himself looking back up an incline that escalated to a purely vertical ascent. He relayed the layout in cool detachment and ordered his clone to scale the wall using daggers.
His clone made it look easy as it rose to the top of the loose dirt. The daggers served as footholds, and his invisible head peeked over the top of the escarpment. Even in his relatively emotionless headspace, a stab of fear shot through him. Scales as big as small cars greeted him, not more than three feet from his limited vision.
Something felt off. He looked up over the round back of the scales and glimpsed claw marks and bite impressions coating the creature’s body. He used Analyze.
Terror Snake
Master-Constrictor
Level 13
Health points 0 / 2300
Dead
At first, he was relieved. But he couldn’t push the image out of his mind that whatever had killed this mile-long snake was the real threat. Chitter and squeals reached his ears. Far too close. His clone whipped around and encountered a furry face, beady eyes, and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Rocky jumped to his feet, startling himself out of Meditation.
He shook his head, his cheeks making the sound of a motorboat. Shuddering, he said, “It was a—ferret?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rocky stood in front of an entrance that was far larger than the one his clone had entered. Sela had scanned the area and determined that this was the main tunnel that had led to the snake’s corpse.
The group entered the Territory, and a notification informed the Golem Knights that they were unable to capture Territories. According to Epsilon, they were not allowed to damage the Leaders, or the Territory would become uncapturable until a new Leader spawned. That was one colossal wrench in the mechanism.
The army needed to change their plans. Victoria had hoped to use them as the vanguard in the upcoming assault. Now, she was going to play that role, alongside Adam’s golems, and Rocky wasn’t sure it would work. The Knights stood ready to bail them out of trouble, should the creature prove far too powerful for them alone.
The ground trembled again as Sela used her skill and collapsed another branch tunnel. She had already made a near-complete round of the Territory on foot, collapsing underground branches, and the ferret still hadn’t shown itself.
In the time it had taken her to make her rounds, the military, tanks, and golems had felled numerous trees, and the Knights had stacked the wood near the entrance. Following Victoria’s instructions, Sela left small air holes through the collapses so that smoke could travel into the tunnels.
A group of thirteen people stood ready to work at Zippo’s command, all of whom had a fire spell or wind spell. Both were crucial to set the pyre ablaze and push the smoke into the nest. If the smoke forced the creature out of the earth, they would have a fighting chance.
Sela collapsed a final tunnel and stood up shakily. “I am done, but would like a few minutes to catch my breath.”
When Sela signaled, the ‘Fire Brigade’—Rocky came up with the name in the moment—began to cast. Within seconds, thick white smoke flowed into the tunnels, and the felled trees popped and crackled like kindling. The scope of the spellcasters’ power was scary.
Perhaps resistance to elements is much better than I gave it credit.
Sela clicked her earpiece. “Selaphelia. Movement in the tunnels. Get ready. Over.”
A small portion of the military waited behind them. At first, they were going to stack all of their forces at this one entrance, but Sela pointed out that a ferret could dig new tunnels or re-excavate the collapsed ones. A contingent of the stationed military was to warn them if the creature exited elsewhere while attempting to hold it still until the heavy hitters came running. Sela would be able to give them some advance notice if the animal chose a different tunnel.
“Thor’s hammer!” Sela exclaimed and turned to look at Rocky as her face paled. “The footfalls of one creature just turned into three. Two tunnels are being dug simultaneously, and something is coming straight for us.”
“Explosive pinecones.” Rocky swore—heard what he had said, and tamped down his anger at the system. He was sick of its censorship but now was not the time. “Sela, that must be the mutations. Can you guide Azoth to one and fly to another?”
She made a face that told him she wasn’t sure. He jumped on Azoth’s back and shouted, “At least try. I don’t want to leave any of the groups without support.” Sela nodded, and Azoth back-winged furiously, adding his gusts to that of the casters.
Rocky clicked his earpiece. “Rocky here. Adam, Zippo, and Victoria, cover this entrance. If any group dispatches an enemy, help the others.” He forgot to say over and didn’t bother correcting himself. Of the two errors that were rattling in his mind, the radio etiquette issue was secondary. How had he been stupid enough to assume only one powerful enemy creature was below?
Now, his false assumption endangered his military and his friends.
Damn, damn, damn. Maybe, Azoth and I can take down our enemy quickly. Sela is going to be entirely by herself—do I help her first, or Zippo and Victoria?
Azoth stayed aloft, circling the area in scouting patterns. From the sky, it was easy to distinguish the exits. A trickle of white smoke leaked from each, creating small streams of cloud-like white rising into the sky all over the Territory.
Rocky glanced down. Tao ran along through the sparse trees, following Azoth’s flight. At least they had the backup plan.
Azoth dove, and Rocky white-knuckled the saddle. Not being able to hear his pet was making it extremely difficult to prepare for these moments.
What had Azoth reacted to?
Fighting against the forces of the descent, Rocky tried to search the ground as wind buffeted his head. It proved to be impossible to get a good view of anything other than the sweeping landscape. He would have to trust that Azoth knew what he was doing. He tucked into Azoth’s back as deeply as he could and held on for the ride.
Objects whooshed by him, and the noise alerted him to their low altitude and impending collision. He took a deep breath before the air was ejected from his lungs. Azoth must not have struck squarely because, while most of the momentum of the flight dumped, not all of it. There was a jarring half-stop, followed by a slow coast to a halt.
Rocky rolled out of the saddle. Something hissed and barked. He managed to orient himself as Azoth closed his wings before getting broadsided by a long, brown ball of fur. A boom reverberated out from the impact, and Rocky winced at the sheer force behind the blow. The two became a rolling mess, and he couldn’t distinguish where the furry ferret ended and the black feathers began.
The posted military, with accompanying tanks, moved forward in formation.
His radio crackled and the steady beat of “Contact. Contact. Contact,” filled his ears.
He grinded his teeth—the other three enemies must have exited in near unison. They had to defeat their creature quickly if they wanted a chance to survive. Or should he order the knights to engage?
Rocky needed to separate Azoth from the ferret, or he and the ne
arby military would be useless. He used a quadruple stack of Dark Mend on his pet and summoned his Shadow Clone, exhausting the majority of his Ether in a single moment. He chugged an Ether Draught and gained the Debuff for excessive use.
His clone arrived, facing away from him toward the fight. Rocky ignored the full moon in the middle of the day and ran to assist the tangled ball of flying feathers. He managed to get approximately ten feet away before he entered Stealth. Closing in, he tried his best to time his strike properly and thrusted his weapon at a patch of brown fur.
The tip of his sword scored home and ripped back out, thanks to the momentum of the tumble. The ferret didn’t react at all, and he assumed that his sword felt similar to Azoth’s claws or teeth.
How could he disentangle the two?
His clone exited Stealth and ran its two daggers down the ferret’s side before being flattened beneath it. The ferret squealed, and Rocky hoped that stacking damage would be enough. He struck at the ferret at every opportunity. The vicious boss reached its pain threshold and kicked off of Azoth, rolling away.
The kick launched Azoth backward, and he collided with a tree. The spruce groaned and splintered as it crumpled away from the impact. Silence reigned for a moment, and then the ground shook with the thump of the felled tree.
Azoth rose to his feet and shook himself. Even with the stacked Dark Mends, his pet looked rough. His tail was broken, and he seemed hesitant to place weight on one of his back-lizard claws.
Rocky turned back to the ferret. Red blood covered its fur, and it radiated menace and outrage. The military opened fire, stopping the beast from engaging Rocky and Azoth for a second round. Rocky charged at it and Analyzed the boss on the run.
Podo
Mutation 2
Master-Beast
Level 42
Health Points 2100 / 3340
Territorial Leader
The creature’s damage mounted and its wounds continued to bleed health as more ionized bolts struck. The beast crouched low, preparing for Rocky’s attack. It curled its tail around its body, reducing the effectiveness of the military’s strikes. Rocky sneered and channeled his frustration into a loud war cry.
His scream was more for show than a declaration of battle. The longer he held its attention, the more bolts would meet their target. He stopped short and set up in his Seraphim Sword stance.
The ferret shifted its attention to the military.
“No. None of that!” Rocky screamed, stepping forward and slashing out. His sword connected with the black wet nose of the ferret. The blow was akin to a paper cut, but it drew its attention back to Rocky. He engaged Dark Cloak and stepped back into his neutral stance.
The ferret took a single step and attempted a circling maneuver. He stepped into its path, slashing it again. The creature flinched and hissed at him.
This tactic wouldn’t last long, but it didn’t have to. Rocky chugged another Ether Draught and added another stack to his Debuff.
With the new Ether, he stacked his sword with Dark Blade and held it on the edge as he continued distracting the beast. Azoth limped over and roared at the ferret. Its attention diverted for a moment, and Rocky caught it with another slash, leaving behind a trail of Dark Smoke in its light wound.
The ferret bunched its legs and focused on Rocky.
He fought against his urge to curl in on himself, and instead held his sword form and swallowed his nerves. He checked his Ether pool. The creature pushed off the ground, and he performed a rising strike, releasing the four stacks of Dark Blade.
Be enough.
The vertical slashes collided with the beast’s snout, pushing it back and eliciting a screech. The blades didn’t have the power to bisect the Territorial Leader. Still, they ripped away fur and skin, causing a mist of blood as the shrieking rage of the rat-like creature intensified. The ferret’s back claws held, faltered, and finally lost to the spectral blades.
The creature slid backward slowly at first and then sped up until its back collided with a tree. Rocky relaxed his stance as his blades, and the continued barrage from the military, finally dropped the creature. Once it died, its inherent Ether fled, and his blades flew through the corpse, the tree, and hummed away in a swathe of destruction.
Rocky wanted to sit down and rest, but he couldn’t. He clicked his radio. “Rocky here. One down. Report in.”
He pulled two Health Potions from his Bag and walked over to Azoth. “Head up, buddy.” He poured both into Azoth’s maw. Some of the potion leaked out, but he managed to send most of the liquid down his throat. Azoth wouldn’t be flying soon, but the potions would help realign the bones in his wings.
“Main force. Engaged.” It was the only radio response he received, and his stomach dropped. He checked his party screen. Zippo, Victoria, and Adam’s health were doing well. Sela was alive, but her health was dangerously low, sitting just below half.
“We’re going to Sela.” He hoped his pet got the message and could sense Sela like he could sense Rocky. “Tao, you’re with us. Is one of your brothers already with Sela’s group?” Azoth took a moment to orient himself and then began to run.
Tao nodded as he shouldered his sword and sprinted after Azoth. At least he could radio to one of the Knights to save Sela if he couldn’t make it in time.
“Go help the main force,” he shouted over his shoulder at the military.
Azoth had grown larger still and was nearing three quarters the size of his mother, Skandranon. It usually wasn’t this apparent, but running beside Tao, the size increase was evident. Azoth raced directly through a tree in front of him.
Rocky dodged around the fallen trees and splintered wood as best he could.
They sprinted for a few minutes, and he continually glanced at Sela’s health bar. It remained steady and Rocky hoped that was a good sign.
The sound of ionized tank fire and angry squeaking was the first sign of combat. Azoth blew up a tree, and through the wood shards, Rocky saw the battle.
Sela was in her raven form and dove at the ferret, dragging her claws through its fur. The ferret attempted to tear the military apart while simultaneously keeping an eye on the large raven. The strewn bodies wearing military fatigues told him it was having some success.
His mind fuzzed, and he bellowed a war cry. He wasn’t sure if he knew any of the dead, but these were his people.
As he entered range, he Analyzed the second ferret.
Kodo
Mutation 1
Master-Beast
Level 42
Health Points 1400 / 3340
Territorial Leader
Rocky poured another Ether Elixir down his throat and screamed in anguish as he began using his Pool. He entered Stealth on the run and increased his speed. His vision narrowed as he charged the edge of his Soul Blade with the Dark Blade skill. He had likely used too much Ether in the last few days, and he was bearing the brunt of that now. Darkness closed in as he fully bottomed out his Ether Pool. He bit his lip hard and tasted blood.
The self-inflicted pain pushed back the black.
Rocky approached undetected. The beast was too distracted by Sela and the military to notice him. He jumped at the ferret’s exposed side, leading with his sword, While Azoth attacked its head. They made contact with the beast.
Rocky’s sword sunk into its flesh to the hilt. The collision, paired with the strain on his brain, overtook his will. A spike of intense pain tore through his mind, and he released his Dark Blade skill. He had just enough time to register a different effect than usual.
The darkness, moments before confined to the edge of his vision, closed in sharply. His eyes rolled up, and he crumpled into the side of the ferret like a fly hitting a windshield.
Chapter Twenty-Four
He groggily opened his eyes to see Azoth staring down on him. His pet curled up around him, enveloping him in walls of feather-fur. The last thing he remembered was pain, and then darkness. He glanced hurriedly around, searching for a
threat.
He seemed to be alone and the radio was silent.
He clicked the earpiece, and asked, “Rock here. Report?”
He sat up and almost jumped out of his skin. Tao sat nearby, cross-legged and Meditating. “That was quite the attack, young Knight.”
Is he referring to my new class?
Sela’s voice came through his earpiece. “Selaphelia Ardensai here. All three bosses are vanquished, Rocky. Just cleaning up and healing the wounded. How is your Ether? Over.”
He clicked the button and released it three times, notifying Sela to change over to the third channel on the device. He changed his channels and said, “It is back close to full, but I have a debuff called ‘Raw Ether Channels’ that is decreasing the total Ether Pool significantly. Plus, I have a splitting headache. How did we do?”
“The fight went worst in my sector. I couldn’t face the creature head-on in my cat form. It was too fast. I chose to try to hold its attention as a raven. The only reason it wasn’t a complete disaster was my Leadership Aura. It was a good thing you and Azoth arrived when you did. Victoria’s group had minimal casualties, mainly due to Adam’s newest golems. Their ferret was the strongest of the three we faced. So, I would say it was the primary Leader and their fight went very well. Can you check that area for any survivors we missed, and loot the corpse?”
Sadness swept over his heart, and he forced himself to rise, despite his pounding headache. “Affirmative.” He and Azoth began hunting for survivors. He found four dead bodies, three disabled tanks, and one badly wounded survivor. He used a double-stacked Dark Mend to stabilize the woman and forced a Health Potion into her mouth. The use of Ether made him feel sick, and the timer on his Debuff jumped back up. Rocky massaged the woman’s throat to ensure she swallowed the potion. The paleness of her face gained a couple of healthy shades back, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
