Perla Online, Book One: Toris (A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure)

by Shawn Wyatt

  "Silence, humans!" Spedis turned its head up and screeched, and my body froze. The demon charged.

  Its stun wore off just in time for LeeRoy to bring her shield up, but the force of the impact made her skid several feet backwards. She lowered the shield and whistled. "It hits hard, guys. Be careful."

  Spedis lashed out with its beak and missed, and practically exploded from all the spells that hit it at once. The Spellweavers had launched a volley of spells at it, a combination of fire and ice. The Frost Shard spell had a secondary effect that slowed the target. Icicles formed around Spedis' talons and brought its movement to a halt, which gave Rune, P!xel, and Awesome_Atom the chance to catch the demon.

  The three Beserkers hit it from different directions and carved flesh from feather with their dual sword-and-axe attacks. P!xel shouted a battlecry and his eyes flashed red as rage overtook him. His strikes increased in speed and power. Though Spedis swung his head around and batted P!xel away with its beak, the Beserker took minimal damage and charged once more.

  I loaded two Freezing Shot shells and fired. "Keep him out of the air," I shouted. "Use what crowd control abilities you have to slow him down." Spedis' had dropped by 10%. He continued to attack with his beak. LeeRoy blocked the strikes with her shield. When she would take a hit, Cathbad would pull Spedis' attention and tank the attacks.

  Cathbad's tanking strategy involved more dodging the attacks and absorbing the damage than anything else. His massive pool of HP meant that even if he got hit, it would take more than one or two attacks to put him in danger. A good healer could keep him going indefinitely. And Bastion was nothing if not a good healer.

  The raid's HP and mana gauges played like an audio waveform in the corner of my vision. Almost no one took hits except for the melee DPS and the tanks. When mana dropped too low, IndianaCohones or Finn would use Aura Song to restore it. The two swapped out on who used the ability to ensure we had a near-constant flow of mana.

  I made note of how well it worked. In future raids, a third Balladeer would be better use than the extra DPS, if only to ensure mana supply. Because of those two, the casters in the group could attack freely without fear of running low. More importantly, healers didn't have to hold back.

  Spedis' HP dropped to 85%. It clenched its talons and broke the crowd control, then spun its body like a whip. The tanks and melee DPS were knocked back, and the demon raised its head to the sky again and screeched. My body froze once again. I couldn't even speak.

  The demon locked its eyes on MeWantPizza and jumped to where the Djinn stood. He landed a savage blow with his beak and picked the man up from the ground before he slammed him back down, then jumped to his original position. I watched in horror. With the stun still in effect, no one could move. The debuff icon hovered next to my nameplate. The seconds ticked down.

  2.

  1.

  The moment I could move, I loaded two more Freezing Shots and blasted Spedis. "Someone check on him!"

  MeWantPizza's HP had been knocked to 6%. LastRites, his group's healer, hammered the player with healing spells at the cost of most of his own mana. Even though his HP had been brought back up, Pizza remained unconscious, and LastRites called out to the group. "He isn't waking up!"

  I fired another bullet. "You still feel pain in here," I shouted. "His body may be healed, but his mind is in shock. Drag him out of the way and get back to your group!"

  LastRites nodded, slung the unconscious Pizza onto his shoulder, and deposited him in a corner.

  "Why did Spedis target him?" LeeRoy asked. She braced against her shield and absorbed the force of the monster's latest attack. "He wasn't a tank. He had barely even attacked."

  "I don't know," I said. She was right. I had to figure out the mechanic before it happened again. Spedis had used that ability at 85%, so his next use would be at 70%. Probably. And at the rate the DPS leveled their fury against the demon, I had maybe thirty seconds to figure it out.

  Pizza wasn't a support class. He was DPS. But his utility had been limited in this fight due to his inability to stealth. He hadn't provoked the boss in any way, had not drawn its attention.

  That was it. He was lowest on the threat table.

  "LeeRoy, can you handle this guy on your own?"

  She nodded. "I think so, long as Jenkins keeps me healed."

  "Okay. Cathbad, drop your aggro. Shift it all to LeeRoy."

  He roared and shot me a confused look.

  "The boss targets the person with the least aggro. Dump yours and stop attacking. You want him to target you when he uses that ability again."

  Cathbad nodded and sprang back, putting distance between himself and Spedis. The monster's HP had reached 76%. Now time to wait and see.

  At 75%, Spedis curled in on itself and wings burst from its back. The creature sprang off the platform and into the sky, each beat of its wings taking it higher. It flew to one side of the balcony and stared, then brought its wings forward. A gust of wind slammed into me. Tables and chairs slid off the edge of the balcony and to the ground far below.

  "It's trying to blow us off! Everyone hang on to something!"

  The melee fighters drove their weapons deep into the wooden floor the balcony and held on. Others grabbed onto the railing. Boris jumped in front of Evey and dug his claws into the wood, and she took shelter behind his bulk. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw LastRites move.

  MeWantPizza.

  His unconscious form rolled toward the edge of the platform. LastRites leapt toward him, but did not catch him in time. Pizza rolled over the edge of the balcony.

  LastRites jumped after him.

  Spedis' attack ended and the monster dropped back down to the balcony, his wings spread wide. I dashed to the edge where they had gone over.

  LastRite's hung on to the balcony with one hand, his other hand on Pizza's belt. The unconscious man swayed in the wind. "Help me up," he said. "He's too heavy to lift."

  I dropped to my stomach, wrapped a leg around the rail, and reached for Pizza's belt. I pulled the unconscious player up and onto the balcony. LastRites pulled himself back up. "You're an idiot," I said. "You realize that?" I peered over the edge. Though it was just a forty-foot drop, huge brambles with ten-foot spikes covered it. Anyone that fell would be impaled.

  "I'm not going to let a member of my party die," LastRites said. "Even if that means diving over the edge for them."

  The battle had resumed behind us. I reached into my pack and grabbed a length of rope. "Get to your party," I said. "They'll need healing. I'll handle this." I looped the rope through Pizza's belt and cinched it around his waist, then tied the other end to the balcony. He would need to be cut free after this, but at least he wouldn't roll off again.

  Spedis had used his gust ability at 75%, so we probably had it to look forward to at 50% and 25%, too. I rejoined my party and fired another few rounds at the owl. His attack rotation now included his wings. He used them as enormous feathered battering rams. Though LeeRoy braced herself, the demon still knocked her around with each of its attacks.

  The monster screamed in fury, and a glowing blue wolf leapt from its head. I glanced at Wish. She had summoned her four spirit wolves and now used them to bite at the monster from each side, and the wolves were agile enough to move constantly. I hoped she didn't plan to try to capture this thing's soul, too.

  Spedis' HP hit 70%. It knocked the fighters back once more and sent one of the four wolves tumbling over the side. It reappeared next to Wish.

  "Come on," I thought. "Focus on Cathbad." The monster's screech had once more frozen my body. I was getting really tired of that stun.

  The demon's eyes locked onto the Terrawalker. Cathbad stood, body braced and teeth exposed in a wicked snarl. Spedis leapt across the players and landed on Cathbad, but he dodged the worst of the blow and lashed out with his claws. Spedis was unable to lift him in his bear form and screeched in fury, but returned to his original position.

  "Good job," I said. "You interru
pted his attack. Get ready to do it again at 55%."

  Cathbad nodded. Bastion knelt beside him and cast a healing spell.

  The demon maintained his attack pattern all the way down to 55%, when he stunned us and leapt once more. Cathbad dodged the attack entirely this time and dealt back a critical hit that stole 3% more HP from Spedis.

  "Nicely done!" I said. Its HP now sat at just 52%, and I braced for the next gust attack. "Get ready!"

  As expected, Spedis flew into the air, but to the other side of the platform. The attack lasted longer than before, and I saw several players lose their footing and tumble toward the edge.

  Vines burst out of the wood and tangled around each player near the edge. I looked around. Pronstar had her eyes closed and palms laid flat on the wood. When she opened them and saw the result of her spell, she smiled. The vines had grown high and thick enough that no one would fall through them, and they ringed the edge of the platform. Hoppers had been caught in the vines, and the rabbit chewed angrily at them to free himself.

  "Sorry," she said. "It's a crowd control spell. I just realized it might have other uses."

  Spedis screeched and flew a circle around the platform before it landed once more. The demon's pattern changed every 25%. I took the lull in combat to load a Desert Bullet into each pistol. I wanted to burn the beak off its face, but I would not fire until I knew what the new attack pattern looked like.

  The monster didn't change its attack. It focused on LeeRoy, and though each blow now dealt more damage, there seemed to be no change in the pattern. I fired one shell, then the other, and felt a bit of satisfaction as both hit home. I hoped the flames went straight up its nostrils. The fighters burned it down to 40%, and I braced for another screech.

  None came. The creature made no indication that it would use the stun again. Did the ability cut off at 50%? Or did the lack of the attack mean something else? I fired another shot and did the math in my head. The next 15% decrease would put the monster at 25%.

  At the same time as its gust. It meant to blow us all off the platform.

  "It's going to stun us before it uses the gust attack again!" I shouted. "Everyone find something to hold on to, and fast."

  I fired shot after shot. Until the attack triggered, I could do nothing more than try to kill this thing. Finn used Aura Song and restored everyone's mana. When Spedis hit 30%, Evey stopped her attacks. She pulled out a single arrow, nocked it, whispered a few words under her breath, and waited.

  The demon hit 25%. He batted his wings to take off, and opened his beak to shriek.

  Evey fired.

  The stun hit everyone at once. My body froze with my arm still extended, finger half-squeezed on the trigger. Spedis brought its wings together just as the arrow hit it.

  It pierced its wing and pinioned it to its body. The creature screamed again and batted its wings, but the stroke spun it in mid-air and sent it plummeting toward the ground. I heard the impact, a sickening crunch, from the balcony, and the stun ended.

  Several heads turned toward Evey in amazement. She sighed. "I'm glad that worked," she said. "I knew it could pin a monster to the ground. I hoped it would do the same to its wing."

  "Brilliant," I said.

  "So...does that mean it's over?" Jenkins said.

  I shook my head. "No." Spedis still had 9% HP. The monster burst up from the ground, a ragged hole in its wing where it had ripped the arrow free. It screamed in fury and launched a rage-filled attack at LeeRoy with its beak. The tank absorbed the blow with her shield and struck back.

  The raid opened fire with spell and sword and bow, and the monster fell to the balcony with a crash, its HP at zero.

  Light bloomed around Evey, Bastion, and myself, as well as several other people.

  Level 20.

  I slumped to the ground. "It's over. We killed it. Everyone still with us?"

  Whoops and hollers went up from the raid group. This was the first "official" boss we had killed in the raid, and excitement ran strong through the group. The din was enough to stir Pizza to consciousness. He raised his head and struggled against the ropes. "Ouch. What did I miss? Why am I tied up?"

  "It's a long story," I said. "But for now, we won."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: REVENGE

  The fight against Spedis left us bruised and sore. I called an audible and told everyone to take a half-hour break before we continued forward. Every room on the second floor had been cleared, so we didn't need to worry about something sneaking up on us. All that remained was the staircase up to the third level.

  I examined the ability I received when I leveled up.

  Bombardment

  You love the smell of burnt Kobold in the morning. A single skyward splinters and rains down in a vicious explosion, damaging all targets in a 30 foot radius.

  AOE attacks were always helpful, and the best part was that it didn't require any additional shells. One would activate the spell. If I combined it with my Double Shot passive ability, I had a chance to fire two of those attacks. Not always reliable, but it could be handy. I distributed the stat points I earned and sat back to review my stats.

  16 STR

  160 lb. Carry Capacity

  45 DEX (+13 Equipment Bonus)

  +58% Accuracy

  35 CON (+10 Equipment Bonus)

  450 HP

  23 INT

  230 Mana

  13 WIS

  29.5% Mana Regen

  5 LUCK

  Unknown

  I had gotten much stronger since level 10, and the stat bonuses from my new equipment added a nice buff.

  Bastion and Evey had their eyes closed. When Bastion opened his eyes, I asked, "What skill did you get?"

  He grinned. "Holy Shield. It gives a pretty significant HP shield around the target and all nearby allies. You?"

  "An AOE attack. A proper one, finally. My single target damage is ridiculous, but I've felt useless in groups so far."

  Evey opened her eyes and said, "Whoa."

  "What is it?" I asked.

  "The new ability is called Bestial Rage. It ups both mine and Boris' damage by 25% for 10 seconds."

  Bastion whistled. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

  I grinned at them both. "So I guess that solidifies our position as the three strongest players on the server?"

  Evey nodded. "I think so. Now let's put that to use and head out of here. I suddenly don't care for balconies so much."

  While we had taken care of stats and skills, the other players had looted Spedis. Line had taken its talons to turn into daggers, and the other players had plucked the feathers from its fallen body. The players that could make use of them took the majority of the feathers. LanParty, the other Beast Tamer Wanderer, set a bundle of them in from of Evey. "Here you go," he said. "You asked if they'd make good fletching. Looks like they will."

  Evey laughed. "Thanks," she said.

  When everyone had looted their share, we set off once more, our sights set on the third floor. The map the man had given me ran out on the second level. The indicator for the third level just an an arrow that pointed up. I paused at the door. "I don't know what lies beyond this point," I said. "We're going in blind, so everyone stay alert."

  LeeRoy and Cathbad opened the door together. There were no stairs, but rather a circular platform lit by windows spaced evenly along a shaft. Bastion looked up. "An elevator?"

  "That's what it looks like," I said. "But there are no winches. What pulls it up?"

  "No clue," Bastion said. "But that seems to be the only way forward. We checked the rest of the floor, right?"

  "Yeah," I said. I did not look forward to this. I really hated elevators. "Let's go."

  The raid shuffled onto the platform. When the last person had stepped across the threshold, the platform rumbled and began to rise.

  "This may lead to the top of the landing. If so," I paused. "That's where the Waldgeist will be. That's where the final fight will take place."

  Everyone nodded and
double-checked their weapons and spells. This might be the last chance we had to be ready for the battle.

  The raid group remained silent, each person lost in their own thoughts. Around halfway up the shaft, the platform rumbled. A few players cast around worried looks, but no one said anything.

  I could see light from the top of the platform when the elevator ground to a halt. The shaft we ascended had given way to thick brambles and tree branches, and the platform had come to a stop level with a notably large branch. The wind blew the branches in the distance. I glanced around the edge of the platform and half-expected to see a monster of some sort crawl up with us.

  The rustle of leaves grew louder as the wind blew harder, and I heard Bastion curse under his breath. "What is it?" I asked.

  He wasn't looking at me. His gaze had locked onto the branches in the distance. "It's him," he breathed. "That's the one that killed Kalia."

  Evey shot a surprised look at me and moved to stand in front of him. Bastion held up a hand.

  "It's okay," he said. He took a deep, shuddering breath. "I'm okay. We go as a group. But," and he turned to face everyone at this point. "I get the killing blow." The flames of his sword flared as high as he was tall.

  The silhouette of the tree was clear now. It crept along the branches, its roots a collective pseudopod that propelled it forward. I focused on its nameplate.

  Jubokko. Level 29.

  Bastion and Kalia had encountered a level 29 creature on their first day in Perla? I felt a pang of sympathy for my friend. The tree monster bore a scorched mark on its side, courtesy of the sword that Bastion now wore.

  It turned, and for the first time I saw the face Bastion had told me about. Its face widened into a twisted, sadistic grin, and the Jubokko spoke in a voice slowed by time. "Bastion," it said. "I had a feeling I would see you again."

  Bastion drew the sword from where he kept it sheathed on his back. "I had hoped we would meet again. I've got some unfinished business with you."