Fractured Spirit (Alpha World Book 5)

by Daniel Schinhofen

  Before Alburet followed the others in, he dismissed all of his minions. “I’ll summon you back in a minute,” he said as he dismissed Stacia. He remembered the number of bosses that had a mechanic that penalized a group if minions were out by increasing the boss’s health.

  He was the last one into the clearing, and as he walked past the trees a wet slapping sound came from behind him. The pathway was now blocked by thick strands of webbing. He quickly began to summon his minions back as well as Copy them.

  “More food for my pretties,” came a clacking voice from above them. “It is so kind of you to come willingly into my larder.”

  “Come on down here and let’s see who winds up getting eaten,” Gerald called out.

  A clacking laugh echoed down to them as Alburet finished summoning his minions. “It isn’t that easy. Food first goes to my young, so they eat and grow strong,” the Queen hissed.

  As the words hung in the air a horrible noise came to their ears. Hundreds of spiders each the size of a human hand began rushing in at them from all directions. “This doesn’t look good,” Marysue said.

  “Be ready to heal us,” Alburet told her as he waited to use his Fire Burst to flame the area around them. “Bob, do what you can. Tiny, get ready for area taunts.”

  Fire Bursts went off in two directions, instantly clearing swathes of the swarm that came at them. As the spiders closed to within a few feet, Tiny stepped forward and triggered his Savage Roar. The spiders closest to him instantly turned on him.

  Bob switched to those targets as Fluff began to spin in a circle, triggering her Whirlwind ability. She crushed dozens of spiders under her, but still more closed on the group.

  As the spiders got to within a foot they began to leap into the air to land on people. As their little bodies were airborne another Fire Burst flashed into existence from Alburet. The wave of fire instantly charred the small bodies into dust as 620 fire damage hit everything within twenty feet of him.

  Marysue cast Light’s Burst, which did immediate healing then another smaller burst a second later. The spell healed a big chunk of what Alburet had just inflicted on his friends. “I thought you were going to do that,” she commented. “You don’t use that spell often.”

  “I don’t want to make your job harder,” he replied as the rest of the spiders were killed by Bob and Bob Jr.

  As the last spider died a horrible screech came from above them, “My babies, my precious little ones. How dare you! I’ll rend your flesh from your bones myself.” A large shadow moved above them, plummeting down through the webbing.

  The Spider Queen was like the Mutated they had fought before. She had the body of a humanoid at the fore, with a spider’s body flowing behind her, a spider centaur as it were. She differed from the Mutated in the fact that her face was mostly human, only the compound eyes and mandibles showed her spider-like nature. Tiny Jr. didn’t move fast enough and got slammed into the ground by the Spider Queen when she landed on him.

  Before anyone could react, the Spider Queen let out a shriek and leapt back twenty feet, a small dripping wound visible on her abdomen. Tiny Jr. stood up from the ground, his weapon bloody. “She is heavy.”

  Bob and Bob Jr. landed, having finally run out of flight time. The group gripped their weapons as the Queen hissed at them, “You think you can defeat me? I’ll…”

  Gerald cut her off by using Charge, zipping to directly in front of her, his sword flashing in the dim light. “Oh shut up,” Gerald said as he slammed his shield into her face, attempting to stun her.

  “Foolish food,” the Queen snapped, unaffected by the stun. “Come my pretties, and feast with me.” Two Mutated Webbers dropped down from above at her words.

  “I have them,” Tiny and his Copy rumbled as each engaged one of the mobs.

  Karen, Fluff, and both Bobs all ganged up on the one Tiny Jr. was tanking. Alburet covered his weapon in flame before he jumped on the one Tiny was fighting. Stacia joined him, the limited room around each mob making it hard for all of them to gang up on just one. Alburet chuckled when the other one fell first; even with his gloves they could now out damage him.

  When Fluff and Karen shifted over to join them Stacia stepped out, to allow them more room around the mob. “I will help kill any adds tha’ join in, otherwise I will stay near Marysue,” she told them as they finished killing the second Mutated Webber.

  “Tiny, both of you stay back as well, in case the adds go for Marysue first,” Alburet advised the Destroyer as the others all raced forward to join Gerald on the Spider Queen.

  “Yes, master,” Tiny rumbled as the twin Destroyers took up station to either side of Marysue.

  “You might slay my precious children, but you will never kill me,” the Queen spat at them. Her hands glowed a sickly yellow, the color expanding to wash over each of them. “Know your rightful places as lesser beings.”

  Alburet felt his body weaken as the yellow color washed past him. His eyes flickered over to his status bar, finding the debuff quickly as it was outlined in yellow. The debuff was Queen’s Mutation, it reduced all of their stats by 25%. “What the fuck,” he muttered as he slammed his weapon into the Queen’s side again. As his weapon connected he felt a burning pain briefly fill his body.

  “Cleansing,” Bob informed them as he and his Copy used their new ability to cleanse the debuff away. It did cost each person 1% of their life, but their stats went back to normal.

  “I could have done that,” Marysue told the Imp. “But it doesn’t cost them much health and is good practice for the more mana-intensive fights.”

  “It takes a decent percent of mine, but with two of me it isn’t horrible,” Bob replied as he brought another Fire Blast to his hand.

  “She’s about to hit half,” Gerald informed them as he blocked another swipe of the Queen’s clawed hands.

  Another round of attacks later the Queen’s life hit half. As soon as her health dipped below the 50% mark the Spider Queen let out a horrific scream which knocked all of them to their knees, clutching at their heads. “No! How dare you resist? Food should know its place!” A thick strand of silk flew from her spinnerets up and into the overhanging webbing. The Queen scuttled up the strand, disappearing into the tangled webbing and branches above them. “You will know despair before your end,” she hissed.

  “What is it with bosses and stun mechanics so they can change phases?” Gerald complained as he shook his head clear.

  “It makes it so the transition can go cleanly,” Fluff told him, her voice gruff. Her skin was still red from her Rage ability, which normally would have faded by then. “The Frenzy ability is nice,” she said, her claws flexing as she looked overhead, waiting for the next mob to appear.

  A moment later the sound of hundreds of small spiders caught their ears. “Group up,” Gerald called out needlessly as the others were already rushing to the middle of the clearing.

  “Think it’s going to be just like the first half?” Marysue asked.

  “Doubt it,” Karen replied.

  “Here they come,” Alburet said as the small spiders came rushing at them like before. This time four of the Mutated Hunters came with them, already casting their debuff at the group. “Bob, focus on killing the Mutated ones. I’ll burn the little fuckers when they get here.”

  “I’ll get ready to heal us,” Marysue added, knowing that they would take a fair amount of damage from Alburet’s spell. As the spiders closed, Marysue tested another of her abilities, Holy Armor. A small flash of light surrounded Marysue briefly. When it dissipated she was wearing a faintly shimmering set of full plate armor. “Oh, I like the effect,” she said, distracted briefly by the way the spell looked.

  “In five seconds,” Alburet called out to her as the spiders continued to close on them. “Tiny, as soon as these little ones are dead, pick up two of the Mutated. That way the damage is split with Gerald.”

  Tiny grunted his response as he waited to move. “I will take the left most two, Gerald,”
Tiny called out.

  “Good plan,” Gerald agreed, having already been thinking about taking the other two.

  Bob had landed a couple of Fire Blasts on one of the ones to the right as the Mutated Hunters closed in behind the swarm. “Can I area kill them, when they group up?” Bob asked.

  “Be mindful of your mana,” Alburet reminded him just as he finished mentally casting the Fire Burst. The wave of fire swept out from him, injuring his friends but obliterating the swarm. A half second after the fire vanished a ring of golden light healed them, thanks to Marysue.

  Tiny winced as the healing circle washed over him, but since he hadn’t taken any damage from the fire he was still okay. “For the master!” Tiny and his Copy yelled in unison as they charged their targets.

  They were far slower than Gerald, who used his Charge ability to appear before the other two. He stomped the ground, causing a ripple in the air and stunning the other two he was tasked with taking. Gerald started to build his aggro as the damage dealers rushed along behind Tiny to help him first. Tiny used his new area taunt, Savage Roar, to gain the attention of the two before him as he started to back towards Gerald.

  “Bringing them together,” Tiny advised the group as he began to position the monsters.

  Fluff and Karen held back, not wanting to pull aggro from Tiny as he moved the monsters. As the four monsters were brought into a group, the damage dealers jumped in on them. Karen took one, Fluff another and Stacia attacked a third, while Alburet took the last one. As they spread out to inflict damage more easily, Bob and his Copy threw Fire Burst after Fire Burst into the melee. Bob’s Fire Burst, unlike Alburet’s, didn’t hurt friendly targets.

  It wasn’t long before the quartet of Mutated Hunters fell to the onslaught. As the last one dropped, the Queen could be heard above them again. “So be it. I’ll use every last child if I must. I see now you weren’t food after all, but instead pawns sent to kill me.”

  The Queen could vaguely be seen as she scurried around the webbing above them for a moment. When she didn’t drop down right away Gerald frowned, “Why the pause?”

  “Maybe to give a normal group the chance to regain some mana?” Alburet suggested.

  “Sounds reasonable,” Marysue agreed.

  “Yeah, but it means this takes longer,” Karen sighed.

  As Karen sighed, the Queen plummeted down into the clearing again. Clinging to her body were hundreds of spiders. “Now let’s see you survive,” the Queen hissed, as four Mutated Webbers dropped down from above as well, surrounding her. “Kill them and feast, my children. Let none escape!”

  “Tiny, you take the adds,” Alburet called out. “Bob, AOE the Queen. Burn those little fuckers off her.”

  The group started towards the Queen, who began to cast her debuff again. “Let us end this,” she hissed at them.

  “I’ll cleanse the debuff,” Marysue advised the group, so Bob knew it was taken care of.

  Tiny and Tiny Jr. split to either side, using Savage Roar to taunt the Mutated Webbers to them. As they pulled the adds away from the boss Bob landed twin Fire Bursts on the Queen, burning the spiders off of her with little effort. “You’re naked now,” Bob cackled.

  “No, not the last of my children,” the Queen raged as the swarm was turned to dust. Her body began to glow red and she swelled to almost twice her original size.

  “Oops,” Bob said as he began to cast Fire Blasts.

  The yellow wave of her debuff washed out at that moment, this time tinged with red. As it washed over the clearing everyone felt much weaker. The debuff had changed, becoming Lament of the Spider Queen which removed 50% of their stats. Karen dropped her weapons, and Gerald’s weapon and shield both landed on the ground as their strength and agility dipped under the threshold needed to wield them.

  “Oh hell,” Gerald said as he ducked under the Queen’s first attack. “I need help.”

  Marysue landed a cleanse on him first, allowing Gerald to snatch his weapon and shield off the ground. He took two hits from the Queen before he got his shield back into place. While Gerald got ready to tank the Queen again, Karen felt a brief burst of flame course through her as Bob Jr. used his ability to cleanse her of the debuff, allowing her to reclaim her daggers.

  “Thanks,” the duo cried out in near unison as they went back to doing what they needed to.

  “I’ll cleanse the rest, Bob,” Marysue called out.

  “Okay,” Bob said as he focused on helping kill the Mutated Webbers.

  The group hadn’t let any of the Mutated Webbers live long earlier, using stun abilities to keep them locked down. This time was different as Tiny had already used his ability to stun the ones he was tanking. The trio of damage dealers had only been able to kill off two of the mobs when the remaining two suddenly had green glowing hands. Small pulses of green energy washed over the group, along with a new debuff: Sickly, which took away twenty Constitution. The debuff hit everyone but Marysue, Gerald and the two Bobs.

  “I’ll deal with the debuff,” Marysue informed Bob, so he would continue to focus on damage. Tiny Jr. turned with the others to taunt one of the two on Tiny off of him. They ganged up on that one before finally collapsing on the last one.

  Gerald had been mostly defensive during the fight, focusing on making Marysue’s job easier as no one was trying to out aggro him. When everyone finally arrived at the Queen, Gerald went from mostly blocking attacks to making sure he kept the focus of the boss. “What took you all so long?” Gerald joked, as the fight had been easy.

  “Sorry, had to call an exterminator,” Karen snickered.

  Fluff sank her claws in without apparent effort, tearing chunks from the Queen’s body. “I really like Piercing Strike,” Fluff growled, “ignoring half of her armor is very nice. It’s too bad about the short duration and the long cooldown.”

  Stacia sat back with Marysue, as she knew she wouldn’t be able to get close enough to the Queen. “Is it hard to keep up?” she asked Marysue as she watched the others.

  “No. Even enraged, her attacks haven’t been doing enough to make me worry. Gerald’s health pool is several times what a level twenty would have.”

  The two of them watched the swirl of bodies around the monstrous insect. “I do nay think I could have helped much,” Stacia sighed. With Gerald, Fluffball, Karen, Alburet, and two Tinys, the area around the Queen was pretty well claimed. Bob nodded in sympathy, having to aim high to even have a chance to hit the mob.

  The Queen was out of tricks, though, and the fight ended anticlimactically after another minute. When the Queen slumped defeated, there was a brief round of laughter at how easy the fight had been.

  “Well, we did out class her by forty levels,” Gerald reminded them.

  “With all the extra abilities it was much easier,” Marysue agreed.

  “Do we want to walk back or Homestone to Stormguard and portal back to the fort to turn in?” Karen asked.

  “Portal works,” Alburet said. “Then we can Homestone back again and hit the Langistor Island before we call it a night.”

  Karen and Fluff readily agreed to that idea. Marysue paused before she also agreed to the plan. “Seems we have a majority,” Gerald said. “Okay, meet at the portal guild,” he pulled his Homestone, ready to trigger it.

  Alburet touched the Queen, looting the corpse, “Okay, now we’re good to go.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  They dispatched the Langistor Queen with ease only minutes after they had gone to Langistor Fort. After looting her body, they used the flickering rune they found to portal themselves outside the Fort. Before Alburet used the portal, he dropped the Copies of Tiny and Bob so he could have Kitten out with them.

  “That fight was just as sad as the Spider Queen,” Karen muttered.

  “The Armor Shred Ability she had made it different,” Gerald told her. “At least from my view point. At level that fight would get interesting. Well, unless you had a Summoner along to tank swap with.”

 
“Tiny does make fights like that easier,” Alburet laughed as he clapped Tiny on the back.

  “I do my best,” Tiny rumbled.

  “Tiny I’m going to start calling your Copy TJ, just so you know when I call things out in combat. Bob, yours is going to be BJ, which is fitting on a few levels,” Alburet told his minions. “So you know they next time they’re with us.”

  Karen laughed, “BJ, oh gods.”

  Even Fluff gave a small giggle, “That isn’t right.”

  Stacia smirked, “I be sure tha’ when he be with his wives it be accurate.”

  Rolling his eyes, Gerald sighed, “Can we go turn in the quest and call it for the night?”