The Mountain Valley War
Page 62
I came out above all the fighting and was on the highest of the catwalks, exactly where I needed to be. I kept my ‘Stealth’ active despite the cost to my SP and the slow movement. The last thing I needed was for that Crossbowman Captain to spot me and shoot me while I was up there.
As I got closer to the Bard, I started to feel dizzy and stumbled back a few steps, the feeling vanishing instantly. I tried again only to feel the same dizziness. I retreated again. His drumming wasn’t going to let me get any closer on foot, even with Heath’s guitar strumming below us. I leaped at him, crossing the distance easily.
In hindsight, it might not have been the best idea. It didn’t occur to me that I would feel the effects of the drum while traversing the distance, that the dizziness would make stabbing him with my spear almost impossible. Instead of stabbing him, I slammed into him bodily, ending the drumming and sending us both rolling along the catwalk. Thankfully, as soon as the drumming ended, so did the dizzying effect.
I rolled away from him and back to my feet. He wasn’t as nimble and climbed back to his feet more slowly, using the handrails of the catwalk to pull himself up. He was short. Not a Dwarf or a Gnome. He had large ears and eyes that didn’t fit with the small nose. Then the light reflected the right way and I saw his skin was a dark green, not the brown I thought at first. He was a Goblin.
I attacked before he could get his bearings, spearing him in the gut. Then he did something unexpected. He grabbed my spear shaft, preventing me from pulling it free.
“What are you doing?” I asked, trying to shake him loose.
“I can’t kill you,” Intheair said, his voice gravelly. “But I can slow you down,” with a heave, he pulled himself further down the shaft then snapped at my throat with razor-sharp teeth. I jerked away and lost my balance as I stepped on something round, a drumstick, I think. Not that it mattered, it was enough to tip the both of us over the edge.
I’m not sure how I maneuvered myself in the air, but I ended up standing on the Goblin on the way down and trying to pull my spear free before we hit. I also activated ‘Recoil’ my newest ‘Body Control’ skill just as we hit the ground. I took -702-HP damage. I lived! I wanted to celebrate, but I seemed to have drawn a small audience of healers and spellcasters.
“Focus, people!” Olaf yelled, firing his only remaining hand-cannon at a Heavy Guard, staggering him as his shield caved in. Olaf then followed up with his maul, knocking the Dwarf off his feet then smashing the heavy weapon down on the Dwarf’s skull.
It seemed the look on Olaf’s face encouraged the spellcasters to get back to work or they would be next. I couldn’t blame them. I would have done the same.
“At least you lived this time,” Olaf said, smirking a little.
“Hey, you wanted the Bard dead, the Bard is now dead,” I replied.
Olaf shrugged. “I think Heath was having fun countering him. He’ll probably have words for you.”
“Sure, but . . . Rose doesn’t need to know about this, right?” I asked, casting a ‘Beginner Heal’ on myself.
“Sure, sure,” said Olaf, chuckling. “Now, back to work!”
“Before I forget, I saw the Captains,” I said.
“What have we got?” Olaf asked.
“A Crossbowman, she’s the one picking people off. The other was a Combat Medic, I think,” I said.
“Great, just what we need,” Olaf complained. “Oh well, nothing for it right now, mate. All we can do is just keep fighting.”
“Once more into the breach,” I said, leaping back into the fray.
It didn’t take much longer to sweep up the remaining Heavy Guards and Medics. The Archers took longer. They died easily enough but there were a lot of them. Then, as soon as half of the Archers were dead, a loud whistle rang out from the back of their formation. Suddenly, all the Archers scattered, sprinting for the walls, opening the entire space for the two Captains to step up.
Siege Status
Inner Gate 1:
0/7,500
Inner Gate 2:
0/7,500
Soldiers:
48/150
Officers:
2/2
Fight the waiting soldiers!
“Damage dealers, keep to the Archers. Tanks, split these two up if you can,” Olaf’s orders were loud and clear.
“Split us up, will you?” the Crossbowman asked, her words slightly slurred. “That is me husband . . . you are talking . . . about.” She hiccupped.
I looked past her to the Medic who was shaking his head. I also noticed there was a keg setup behind him that I hadn’t paid attention to before.
“Rose, on the Medic,” Olaf said, as if he understood something, his voice sounded . . . off. “Healer’s, I’ll be range tanking the Crossbowman, Captain Leonie if I’m not mistaken.”
“Oh, have you heard of me? I . . . I have no idea who you are . . . Major,” Captain Leonie replied.
“I’ve heard of you. I’ve heard you like to kill children,” Olaf said. I think I now understood what I heard before. There was malice in his voice. Somehow, this had become personal, something from a briefing he must have gotten that I didn’t. Either way, he seemed determined to tank her, something I normally wouldn’t recommend, but Olaf was strong and capable. I only now noticed, despite being torn and broken in places, most of his armor was now chainmail. Something his ridiculous strength made possible.
“Better dead than raised by traitors,” the Captain said coldly, suddenly very sober.
Olaf didn’t say any more, he just fired. It was as if the whole room unfroze and came back to life with a roar of action and death.
I was moving again, attacking the Archers that lined the room and firing at anyone that moved. Unfortunately, there was no surrender. Every one of the Archers had the ‘Bolster’ buff from the two Captains. Spreading the Archers out might have worked if everyone focused on the two Captains. As it was, it didn’t take long to take out the scattered Archers. They didn’t have the support of a formation. They couldn’t force an approach vector that had us coming at their fronts. Their sides were exposed, and we made them pay for it.
“Medic first,” Icyhot yelled once the last Archer dropped.
I didn’t agree with the call but Icyhot was clearly the second in command among the players. I would have gone after the Crossbowman first, she was the most damaging and so long as the Medic was separated from her, he couldn’t heal her. I was honestly a little worried about the way she said he was her husband. Would she fly into some kind of rage if we killed him?
“We should split the damage dealers,” I said, running up next to Icyhot. “Ranged on the Crossbowman and melee on the Medic.”
“Why ranged versus ranged?” Icyhot asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m sure Olaf has his reasons. He seemed to know something about her that made range tanking her the smart thing to do,” I explained. “And melee fighting on the Medic should mean more interrupts.”
“Alright, we can try it,” Icyhot said. “Melee fighters to the Medic. Ranged damage dealers spread out and start burning down the Crossbowman.”
And just like that, Icyhot turned back. With a giant grin, he unleashed a fireball the size of a beachball that impacted the Dwarven woman in a flash of fire and light.
I would have loved to keep watching all the spellcasters work, but I had my own fight to get to.
“Lass, it is just a little needle, I promise, a little pain and you will drift off nice and peacefully,” the Medic said. He had a pistol in one hand and a syringe in the other. The pistol was the oddest I had ever seen due to the bayonet on the front.
Rose scowled at him, moving her shields quickly to intercept the needle and getting shot and then stabbed in the side as a result.
As usual, I leaped into the fight, clearing the distance and spearing the Medic in the shoulder with all the strength I could muster and triggering a ‘Ligament Rip’ as I tore the weapon free.
“You’re late . . . again,” Ro
se complained.
“Sorry, but don’t you know? The hero always shows up at the last second to save the day,” I joked. It wasn’t my best material, I’ll admit.
“Jack, we really need to work on your witty banter if we’re going to date,” Rose teased me.
“Yeah, yeah, what’s the deal with the syringe?” I asked as Rose blocked the needle and not the gun.
“Thunder Tom blocked the bullet instead of the needle,” Rose said, her eyes flicking over to a dead player a few feet away.
“Oh, instant kill?” I asked.
“No, just puts you to sleep then he delivers a coup de grace to the back of the head and it’s game over,” Rose answered.
Okay, that was seriously overpowered.
“I’ll see what I can do about the needle,” I said, aiming my next strike for the shoulder of the arm holding the syringe.
A dozen more melee fighters joined in the assault. I didn’t realize how much faster I had gotten to the Captain than the other players. But with the extra damage, all of us focusing on that one arm, shifting in and out of range to take our turn to attack, we very quickly crippled it. It allowed Rose to block the gunshot this time. We quickly dropped his health after that, hitting the 50% mark and ready to charge ahead.
“Rowdy brats,” the Captain said, dropping the gun and pulling out another syringe. Rose moved her shields to block but the attack never came. The Captain jabbed the needle into his own neck. “Now, you all die!” he shouted as his skin turned purple then green before finally settling on neon blue with black veins. Then he began to grow, his armor bursting at the seams as it became far too small for him. When he finally stopped, he had the remnant of his pants preserving his dignity and a leather helmet on his head that stretched to fit. He stood just slightly taller than me, but his hands looked large enough to be able to crush my head in one of them.
And of course, the ‘Crippled’ debuff on his arm was gone, thankfully that was all that healed, or we would be in real trouble. I couldn’t imagine fighting the Captain in this form if he was at full health, especially after his first hit to Rose’s shields stripped away 75% of her HP in an instant.
“Tank swap,” Rose yelled quickly.
A
“Focus on blocking,” Rose warned him as she fell back to heal.
“Damage dealers, focus on the joints,” I shouted, hoping we would be able to cripple him again. I struck at the back of the knee and fired off my ‘Ligament Rip’ again, making him bleed and more susceptible to damage. Only for the skin to cover over immediately and the bleed to vanish with it. I tried again and got the same results.
“Bleeds don’t work,” I said. “Focus on pure damage!” If I couldn’t cripple him, then I would try to slow him down another way. I cast ‘Edda of Light and Dark’, hopefully, the haste and slowing would work, especially after it used most of my remaining mana.
Edda of Light and Dark
Level: 55
Experience: 13.43%
Spell Duration: 10 minutes
Spell Cast Speed: Instant
Spell Mana Cost: 1,575
Spell Effect (Active): Your next attack will slow your target attack speed 3.75% and increase your attack speed 3.75%. (Stackable x10) (Personal use only).
I hit him, the slowing debuff held for about a second before it vanished. I cursed. There was one more thing I wanted to try, I cast ‘Beginner Holy Fire’. It ticked once for -133-HP then vanished.
“He’s damage over time and debuff immune!” I shouted, warning everyone. This made the fight more difficult and definitely slower but still doable. Provided we didn’t run out of tanks, our fourth one just stepped up. It seemed each tank could only take a single hit before needing to switch, assuming they survived that hit. The third tank missed the block and was crushed in an instant.
“This is going to get ugly,” I said, my spear lashing out and doing as much damage as I could as fast as I could. I didn’t have the mana to do anything big, so I relied on my skills and hoped I wouldn’t run out of SP before we defeated him, at least the ‘Edda of Light and Dark’ buff to myself still worked. My normal attack speed using the spear two-handed was one attack every 1.80 seconds. With 10-stacks of the ‘Edda of Light’ buff, my attack speed was 1.13 seconds between attacks. That was a lot of spear attacks and a lot of SP draining quickly.
I lost myself in the rhythm of the fight, trusting the tanks to be able to swap when they needed to. At the 5% mark, something strange happened. It looked like something started bubbling under the Captain’s skin.
At first, I thought he was going to explode. Instead, he began shrinking, the raging bulky form quickly receded until only a frail elderly Dwarf remained, panting. Willing himself to stand up.
“So . . . close,” the Captain panted. “Oh . . . well . . . good . . . luck . . . in . . . your . . . next . . . life,” he said, grinning the whole time. Suddenly he fell backward on to the ground dead. Nothing happened.
“Was that it?”
“Why did you have to say that?” Rose bemoaned, hanging her head.
As if the corpse heard the question, the body puffed slightly then rapidly deflated, spewing blue gas that quickly spread all around the Captain’s body. And of course, we were all standing in the cloud’s radius.
“Don’t . . .” someone tried to say something only to go silent as the sound of a body hitting the ground followed.
Several others decided cursing was the best thing to do in this situation followed by their bodies hitting the ground. I didn’t know if they lived or died, I just knew they were out for now. I was holding my breath, trying to see how far the cloud reached. I leaped, trying to make it out of the cloud and I did, barely. And then I felt someone impact me in the back and send me skidding forward.
“Good job, Jack, I was able to use my ‘Charge’ on you to get out of that mess,” Rose said, sounding far too pleased after knocking me to the ground.
“So, next fight?” Rose asked, looking at the remaining Captain.
“After you,” I said, motioning for her to go first. That turned out to be a mistake.
Rose ran until she was in range for her ‘Charge’ skill. She blurred from view then exploded into the air as something detonated under her feet. She landed painfully on the other side of the Captain then triggered another explosion and was killed.
“Don’t get near her,” Icyhot warned. “The ground around her is booby trapped. She puts pressure mines under you at random, so don’t move or you can get blown to hell just like the others.”
I cursed. Rose was going to be so angry when she got resurrected. That was if we could even finish the rest of this fight fast enough. Rose would be even angrier if she was forced to run back from the graveyard. My mana hadn’t recovered much from earlier and now the spell I spent so much mana on was useless because I couldn’t physically hit this Captain.
I did the only thing I could, I cast spells. With my lack of mana, I needed to be picky. That meant using ‘Beginner Holy Fire’ to apply the damage over time effect, and ‘Beginner Holy Shock’ to stun her at just the right moment. That ‘Meditation’ practice with the skill proved to be very useful in helping me to pick my moments.
When this Captain died, she just died. There was no final attack to spite us. I breathed a sigh of relief, then all the bombs went off and half of the remaining players died.
“That was awful,” Olaf complained, sitting next to me after Micaela resurrected him.
Baby resurrected Rose who looked very sour to have died, especially in such a spectacular way. I smiled at her, which seemed to actually soften her a little as
she smiled back at me as if relieved. Did she think I was going to be angry with her? I suddenly realized that must have been what it was like for her when she saw me do something spectacularly stupid. I knew it didn’t affect me the way it seemed to affect her. I knew this was a game world with game rules and that even if we failed to resurrect her, she would respawn. I supposed if I had forgotten that for even a second, I might have panicked, maybe lost my cool and gone on a rampage that left the province a smoldering crater, but I didn’t. I was about to get up and go talk to her when my UI updated.
Siege Status
Inner Gate 1:
0/7,500
Inner Gate 2:
0/7,500
Soldiers:
0/150
Officers:
0/2
Outer Gates Captured!
It was quickly replaced with our next objective.
Siege Status
Barracks:
N/A
Soldiers:
200/200
Elite Soldiers:
20/20
Officers:
4/4
Clear the Barracks!
That was about as ugly a picture as I could imagine, I didn’t want to even think about fighting against four Captains. And what were Elite Soldiers? At least they weren’t coming for us.
I should have known better than to think that as a horn sounded from deep in the city. Then a return horn sounded from the gates behind us. Did we get surrounded at some point and no one told me?
It was a minute before I heard the thundering of boots marching in unison from outside. Slowly but surely, all the Hammerton soldiers filed into the outer gate area and began forming orderly columns. Then a chariot entered with the entire command staff, including General Hammersmith in full battle regalia, his dark armor was impressive.