“Decay?” Icyhot asked just as another burst of black energy erupted from the Fleshmonger, knocking him and everyone else onto their backs.
“I hate that spell,” Rock complained, climbing to his feet first. “Geb, purify this curse,” he chanted, being engulfed in white light for a moment only to frown. “Geb, purify this curse,” he tried again, getting the same results. He asked, “Why can’t I purify this curse?”
“We don’t know,” Olaf answered. “Just deal with it. Everyone, push more damage before it’s too late and he’s reduced all of us to nothing.”
“Ah, a good old-fashioned race against the clock,” Icyhot said with a grin. “This should be fun.” With that the Mage spread his arms wide, within a moment a much larger ball of steam began to fill up the space.
“I always knew you were full of hot air,” Pwn cackled. “Now, when you finish that, give me a damned Mana potion so I can show you what real magic looks like.”
Icyhot snorted. “Ha, how could I refuse when you ask so nicely?” He finished forming the ball of steam and let it fly . . . very slowly.
Pwn broke into laughter, pointing at the slow-moving ball of steam. “And you call yourself a mage.”
Icyhot just smirked. “Wait for it,” he said, then asked, “Haven’t you ever heard that good things come to those who wait?”
“Why wait, when I can do this?” Pwn asked, forming a black ball of flames with the little bit of MP he’d recovered. He lobbed the orb of fire, adding a stack of ‘Void Burns’ to the Fleshmonger.
“Impressive,” Icyhot said mockingly, his large orb of steam still slowly crawling along toward the undead monster.
“Icyhot, stop standing there and cast more spells,” Olaf demanded.
“Can’t,” Icyhot replied shortly. “Everything is on cooldown until my spell hits.”
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Olaf groused.
Micaela meanwhile was just having fun. It was great to have a large group around again. As much as she loved her small group, there was something to be said for a large party. Or guild as it is called in some games. A club. A raid. Or, as in the World Tree, an Order. She moved in and out of the Fleshmonger’s range, striking with Butch, leaping away to throw a fireball with Sundance, sending Shaker to interrupt any spell cast.
“Just trust me,” Icyhot said, trying to reassure Olaf.
“If this doesn’t kill the boss in one hit, I’m going to be mighty disappointed,” Pwn complained.
“By the way, Rose, are you a spellcaster now?” Icyhot asked, quickly changing the subject away from Pwn’s demand.
“No, my armor’s in the shop,” Rose growled.
“Ah, hate when that happens,” Rock agreed, blocking another shot of dark energy with his shield.
“And you know it is way too expensive to have a backup set,” Rose continued to complain.
Rock laughed. “Tell me about it. And when you do need to get your armor repaired, your ungrateful party has the gall to complain about it. ‘Oh, Rock, we’re losing a day of questing.’ Or ‘Oh, Rock, you need to be more careful with your armor.’ As if they have any idea what it takes to be a tank.”
“I know, right?” Rose agreed.
“Whine about your tanking woes later, we’re coming up on 50%,” Olaf warned.
“Any idea what he’ll do?” Icyhot asked, his orb of steam finally just about a foot away.
Olaf fired again. “Not yet. He hasn’t done anything special yet.”
It was then, Icyhot’s steam ball finally touched the Fleshmonger . . . and did nothing. Well, not nothing. The steam wrapped around the undead monster’s body. Icyhot was grinning, “Now, add a little fire,” he said, creating a tiny flame on his fingertip and sending it shooting rapidly at the monster. When the flame hit the steam, it ignited. The Fleshmonger was suddenly wrapped from head to toe in a roiling inferno, its HP began to melt away, dropping rapidly past the 50%, ticking downward, past 45%, past 40%, past 30% until with barely a whimper the flames extinguished and the Fleshmonger was left with a meager 25% of his HP.
“Okay, I can admit,” Pwn began. “That was impressive.”
The Fleshmonger didn’t look perturbed by the sudden loss of life beyond a deepening frown. “I suppose,” it rasped, “I shall take my pound of flesh now.” Much like the ability that the Fleshmonger used to give the adventurers the ‘Decay’ debuff, a band of energy snapped outward from him. Except this time it was sickly green, and it didn’t knock them from their feet. Instead, the energy washed outward then sucked back in. And when it did, the Fleshmonger seemed to grow larger and was still growing even as the monster punched at Rock. The Dwarf raised his shield in time to block but the hit still sent the tank skidding back with almost half of the tank’s HP gone. “Much better,” it rasped, it’s body bulging again, growing to the point that it tore through the robes it was wearing. “Now . . . you die,” he hissed, suddenly charging Rock, a glowing black fist reared back to strike.
Rock grimaced, raising his shield to take the broadcasted attack. The black fist hit the shield sending Rock to his knees and taking his barely recovering HP down into the red. It was luck there was a second tank.
Sergeant Butters charged in, his sword flashed out, cutting at the heel of the Fleshmonger. The beast dropped to a knee, if only for a second before the wound closed. Still, it was enough for the Sergeant to get its attention. “Ha, I have fought bigger,” he taunted.
“The ‘Decay’ is gone,” Micaela said, trying to figure out what happened. A look at the Fleshmonger and the new buff it sported answered all her questions.
Pounds of Flesh – Power stolen from the flesh of your victims. All stats boosted by 87%
“Ah, that’s not good,” Olaf commented. It was never a good thing when the boss you were fighting suddenly got tremendously stronger. “Use any cooldowns you’ve got now. Kill him fast. Big heals on Rock or Sergeant Butters as needed.”
Micaela was suddenly forced to be much more careful whenever she moved in to hack and slash at the Fleshmonger. The thing was suddenly much faster and changed targets very quickly. It almost killed her the first time she attacked up close.
Worse though was the buff. It kept getting stronger. Every time that fist coated in dark energy struck someone, it increased 2-3%.
“Must kill faster,” Olaf said, having done the quick math.
“5%,” Rock called out followed by a call of, “Switch,” telling the Sergeant to swap aggro with him. Not that Rock could hold onto the Fleshmonger for more than a few seconds with how quickly the undead thing was getting stronger.
“Do another one of those steam ball things and light him on fire,” Pwn shouted toward Icyhot, sounding a little panicked.
“Ah, can’t, sorry. It’s a once-a-day thing,” Icyhot said, throwing out smaller balls of steam.
Micaela ignored the banter at this point. She needed to stay focused. One little slip up could get her and everyone else killed.
“3%, switch,” Sergeant Butters cried out.
Rock got right into the fight again, swinging his cane like a club and using his shield to block everything he could.
“Die in a fire,” Pwn cried, sending another black ball of fire, bottoming out his MP once again.
“Do you ever say anything different?” Rose asked, casting her own spells.
Pwn shrugged and asked, “Why mess with what works?”
“Focus!” Olaf bellowed angrily, firing both hand cannons at the same time.
“I like ‘die in a fire’ myself,” Dixie said, rapidly shooting tiny balls of fire from her two pistols.
Duncan was moving about the tanks, carefully applying bandages where he could or casting spells if he needed to. The Dwarf focused completely on healing the tanks and avoiding the Fleshmonger.
Arch drew back her bow and aimed skyward, casting her healing arrows into the sky just once more.
Dawn struggled to attack in melee range, frequently moving in to gore the boss then fle
eing.
“1%, switch,” Rock ordered, letting the Sergeant step in again.
Michaela grinned, with the addition of Icyhot’s group, this boss was in the bag. She sent a quick thought to Butch and Sundance, let’s finish this, guys. She jumped in again and swung both axes down. It surprised her when both axes glowed fiery red and howled before slamming into the Fleshmonger’s back taking away all but the last drop of its HP.
Micaela was about to swing one last time to finish it off when a single glowing blue blade sliced downward, ending the bosses life, and drawing all eyes upward.
“Jay! You stupid birdbrain!” Icyhot yelled, glaring up at the sky, then added, “Not again!”
A small Birdman glided down from the sky. He was far too well dressed compared to the rest of the rough looking adventurers. He wore black slacks, a nice white shirt with a subtle herringbone pattern, and a patterned gold vest, all in pristine condition. They even looked as though they had never needed to be repaired. The Birdman himself looked completely unruffled as he cocked an eyebrow and asked, “You wanted me to fight more. Well . . . I fought.”
“You stole the last hit,” Icyhot complained, then added, “Again.”
Jay didn’t appear to care. “And your point is . . . what again?”
“Be in the fight from start to finish,” Icyhot said, talking with his hands, emphasizing one hand as the ‘start’ and the other as the ‘finish’.
“I did buff you all,” Jay said. “That was at the start . . . well, the start from when you decided we should jump in to help.”
Rock growled, “You know, Jay, if your buffs weren’t amazing, I would pluck you, one feather at a time, until you were bald. Then I would dip you in tar and give you back all your feathers.”
“And yet you don’t,” Jay said, waving away the Dwarf’s anger.
Looking away from the bickering to check on the status of her friends and husband, Micaela saw all of them looked downright exhausted. Even Sergeant Butters sat heavily upon the ground taking great gasps of air.
Then seeing Jay and Icyhot were about to start bickering again, Micaela interrupted, “Jay, good to see you again. How are your clothes sales doing?”
Jay preened and grinned excitedly. “Simply amazing, I tell you. Simply amazing. I was featured in World Tree Couture last month. They call my clothing both stylish and functional. Apparently, I am now the must wear for any cloth wearing adventurer who wants to look good and be powerful at the same time. Even the Human King has bought an outfit from me. I’ve got a backlog of orders you would not believe. But of course, you get priority as do any members of the order. That’s why we are here, right? To join your Order.”
“Absolutely,” Micaela gushed excitedly. “I should have the Order House finished tomorrow. Ooh, I need someone to design a coat of arms. Think you would be up for it?”
“I would love to, what did you have in mind? Let’s talk colors,” Jay said excitedly, hovering next to Micaela.
“I’m thinking of something with a bull or Minotaur. Something classic, maybe black and white,” Micaela said, starting to lead Jay back into town.
“Babe, we’ve got loot,” Olaf shouted, drawing Micaela and Jay both back.
“Oh, right,” Micaela said with a cheeky grin. “I forgot about that.”
Jay sighed, “Ah, loot, I suppose if there is a buff spell, I ought to try to get my hands on it.”
Micaela rolled her eyes at the Birdman. In doing so, she noticed a few flashing notifications in her peripheral. There were the usual stats increases and spell and skill level up notifications. But there was also a new skill.
Skill: Spirit Synergy
Rank: I
Level: 1
Experience: 0.00%
Description: When your spirits are working together, they have a chance to enhance their power to create something more powerful.
Required Materials: Two or More Spirit Totems
Subskill:
Howling Blaze (Active): Butch and Sundance have a 0.50% chance to synergize when attacking in unison, effectively sharing Butch’s power and Sundance’s fire to increase the damage of both totems’ attacks.
A grin split Micaela’s face as she read the description. She knew she was going to need to work on increasing the skill’s level, but she also wondered what her other spirits might be able to do if they were to synergize. Now, she really couldn’t wait to finish the Order house so she could get back to adventuring with her husband and friends.
“Alright, Tattered Robes of the Void, Pwn, I’m pretty sure this is for you,” Olaf said, holding up a torn and tattered looking cloth.
Pwn eagerly took the robes, “Nice, always good to get an upgrade.” Pwn equipped them and immediately looked very much like the Fleshmonger after he transformed . . . but skinnier and shorter. The robes hung in tatters around his waist while his upper torso only had a white tank top. “I think it’s time for a new shirt,” Pwn commented to himself as he looked down at his new look.
“I can help with that,” Jay said, quickly flying over and inspecting the Void Mage carefully. “I think a nice black collared shirt with some silver runes . . . or better, purple. Yes, purple runes for certain.”
“Moving on,” Olaf shouted over Jay and Pwn’s clothing discussion. “Potion recipe, anyone an Alchemist?” Olaf asked.
“Baby is,” Rose volunteered. “I can take it for her if no one else is.”
“As it happens, I am,” Dawn said, having shifted back into her elf form. The High Elf was as pale as the first time they had met her. Her outfit seemed to be a hodgepodge of different brown, black and grey leather armor pieces, not entirely unlike her chimera form. It kind of reminded Micaela of the old-style urban camouflage from her military days.
“Sorry, Rose,” Olaf apologized as he tossed the recipe over to the shapeshifter.
“It’s Baby’s fault for not being here,” Rose said with a shrug.
Olaf went back into the sack that dropped when the Fleshmonger died. “Okay, Valkyrie’s Winged Circlet, I’m guessing this is for Arch.”
“Yes, please,” Arch said excitedly, flying forward to accept the silver circlet. It was a simple band with two silver angel wings. She immediately equipped the circlet, and the wings popped out of her hair but otherwise the circlet was invisible.
“Gauntlets of the Pharaoh’s Guardian,” Olaf said, frowning in confusion as he lifted out a pair of wooden gauntlets. They were shaped like plate gauntlets but made of wood. “Wooden gloves, don’t see that every day.”
“Those would be for me,” Rock said. “A gift from Geb, hand them over.”
“Hey, maybe I want them,” Rose said with a smirk.
Unfortunately for Rose, Rock smirked right back. “Go ahead, pick them up Vampire Dark Elf, see what happens,” Rock offered.
“Hmm,” Rose hummed, she pursed her lips and studied Rock before frowning, “Then again, I like my armor. You can have those.”
“Probably for the best,” Olaf said. “Apparently, they have the Pharaoh’s Curse on them. Only a follower of the Egyptian Gods can wear them.”
Rock’s smirk deepened as he took the gloves from Olaf.
“Don’t smirk,” Rose said with a scoff, which only earned her a chortle from Rock.
Olaf lifted out a single large scroll, much larger than any scroll they had encountered before. As soon as the scroll cleared the opening, the sack vanished into nothingness. “Last up, we have a scroll. A large scroll that seems to hold two spells. Decay and Absorb Decay, sounds like Dark magic to me.”
“And they sound like they were both meant for me,” Rose said eagerly. “I do use Drain spells already and absorb sounds similar enough.”
“Any objections?” Olaf asked, looking around. Pwn seemed to contemplate it for a minute before shaking his head. When no one else said anything, Olaf tossed the scroll to Rose.
Rose opened the scroll immediately, causing it to crumble to dust. “Decay is just like it sounds, although this versio
n only reduces a single target’s stats by 1% for 10-seconds. I can then use Absorb Decay to basically steal that 1% for 30-seconds,” Rose explained excitedly before frowning. “Not fair,” she complained. “I can only absorb stats from a single target and Decay doesn’t stack.”
“That is still very overpowered,” Icyhot commented. “And you might be able to absorb from multiple targets as you level it up, same for stacking the Decay.”
Rose couldn’t help but agree, “That’s true enough.”
“And as a tank, that’s quite the boost if you’re talking about fighting a dungeon boss or raid boss,” Rock added.
Sergeant Butters seemed to finally recover from the fight and addressed everyone present. “I cannot thank you all enough. Thanks to your efforts, Hurligville will survive to see another day.”
Quest Alert: Undead Retaliation (Recommended Level 8-15) – Completed!
The completion of new defenses has spurred the Undead to test them. Defend Hurligville or die trying. Eliminate all Undead or hold them off for 45-Minutes
Reward: 50,000-Experience, Undead Horde Invasion delayed additional 24-hours if all Undead eliminated (73/73)
Micaela smiled in relief. Not only was the quest completed, but she had earned Hurligville an extra day to prepare. And then there was the next system message that followed.
Congratulations! You’ve reached Level 24!
+3-Strenght, +1-Stamina, +1-Endurance
Micaela grinned. She was catching up to her husband . . . slowly. She just needed to keep grinding away at it. And completing her Order House would be the first step to really get things moving forward.
“Now, do not rest on this one victory. There are more battles ahead,” Sergeant Butters said, bringing Micaela down from the rush of excitement that came with leveling up. “Enjoy this victory tonight, rest and get back to training tomorrow. It will not be long before the undead come back for more.”
“Alright, let’s go celebrate,” Olaf said, getting everyone to move with the exception of Micaela. She still had a lot of work to do if she wanted to finish the Order House by the following day.
World Tree Online: The Order of Epic Grinders: 4th Dive Page 31
