by Edward Brody
My heart rate picked back up as soon as the patch notes disappeared, and I heard the first of three beeps.
Beep, Beep, Beep!
Magic surged out of my fingers, and I watched as Rithnar’s spell sped towards Xurrak.
Xurrak turned his palm towards Rithnar and released a spinning ball of red magic into the orc, sending him flying in the air, then quickly tilted the skull tip of his cane towards Mordok’s incoming magic, intercepting the attack.
Mordok’s projectile was somehow consumed by Xurrak’s cane, and for a brief moment, the entire cane glowed, leaving only the eyes of the skull atop the cane glowing a bright yellow. Rithnar tumbled and slid across the ground, but immediately started groaning and trying to push himself back up.
Xurrak laughed, reached behind his back to unfasten the huge hammer latched to it, and the weapon clanged loudly as it fell to the ground behind him. “I’m in no condition to use Urzyla’s Mallet, but I’m better off without its weight. I’ll kill you all even in my crippled state.”
Mordok bent his knees, slapped his hands together, then crossed his arms as he stood up straight. A wave of blue arcane energy rose from under his feet and briefly engulfed his entire body. When the magic disappeared, flames of arcane energy rose from the top of his hands, and two crossed giant swords appeared and floated in front of him. “I’m afraid not, Xurrak. Your life is the only one ending today.”
Xurrak creased his brow, and his parted lips showed his worry.
I rushed forward and lobbed my softball sized Firebomb at him, hoping to end things quickly.
Mordok uncrossed his hands and started running towards Xurrak right as my Firebomb was about to land, but Xurrak once again noticed my attack and swung his cane and almost seemed to catch the bomb with the skull at the top. The bomb didn’t detonate, but instead appeared to be sucked into the skull, then caused his cane to briefly glow immensely bright.
When Mordok was almost upon him, Xurrak rotated the cane back towards the mage, and out of the glowing eyes of the cane a blinding blast of energy and light rocketed out, like the thrusters of a rocket ship.
Mordok stopped as the energy surged towards him, and he crossed his hands, thus crossing the swords, trying to block the blast. The energy hammered into the swords, and Mordok’s feet slid back across the ground from the pressure his swords were absorbing.
Rithnar shielded his eyes as he charged for Xurrak, and when he was in range, he swung his axe for the former king’s head.
Xurrak paused his magic attack when he saw Rithnar closing in, and he stumbled awkwardly when he lifted his cane up to block the blow. The cane glowed with magic when Rithnar slammed into its wood, and when Xurrak quickly yanked it back, trying to catch himself from falling backwards, he reached out with his skeletal hand and swiped it across Rithnar’s chest.
Rithnar roared, stepped back, and rubbed his fingers across the deep scratch that had been left in his chest. Before he could attack again, Xurrak briefly flicked his arms out to his side, and a powerful blast of pressure and flames discharged from his body, both throwing Rithnar back and burning him at the same time.
I gritted my teeth, as I watched Rithnar tumble to the ground, his clothing sizzling from the burst of flames, but I knew that I had no time to help him, as Mordok was closing in for another attack.
I shot an on-cast from my staff, and the sharp shard of arcane energy flew straight for Xurrak’s core.
Xurrak noticed my projectile incoming, but Mordok was approaching from the other direction. Having no way to block both attacks at once, Xurrak chose to lift his cane to block Mordok’s attack, and it glowed as his swords both came hammering down.
My energy shard struck Xurrak in the abdomen, and he yelled loudly, stumbled, and lost his one-footed balance, falling on his back as he looked up to Mordok.
Xurrak kicked his one leg out, trying to scramble, and held his hand up in fear as Mordok lifted his hands and thus also lifted his giant swords high for a final strike.
Hundreds of the fallen rocks that were surrounding us rose into the air as if they were suddenly weightless, and they all started flying around randomly, one slamming into the side of Mordok’s head and knocking him down. His summoned swords twirled and vanished.
“Traitors!” a voice yelled from the direction where we had entered the Gilgaroth’s seal, and when I turned to the voice, another orc was standing by the large boulder we had circled. He was pulling his hand away from a tall totem that had grown out of the ground just a few inches in front of where he was standing. The totem was brown and covered in geometric runes.
“Hoshgrim!” Xurrak cried out loudly with frantic eyes and a wild smile.
I ducked and tried to cover my eyes to avoid getting hit by the rocks or pelted with the pebbles that were floating all around, but I got a decent look at the newcomer. He was average sized for an orc and wore a dark brown robe etched with dirty fur that dragged across the ground. Over the robe was a cape with wool shoulder pads, and atop his head was a leather band with tiny skulls and feathers dangling down, partially covering his eyes. His skin was wrinkled and sagging, and his face was unusually flat. He had only one fang jutting out of his mouth, and in his hand was a perfectly straight staff with a bird skull on top, adorned with feathers and gems.
I ducked a large rock that was heading for my face but was immediately hit by another one that smashed into my ribcage, causing me to crumble to the ground.
I groaned, grabbed the point of impact, and tried to stay as low as possible to avoid getting hit again.
Rithnar was crouched, his clothes partially charred, and his skin covered with a black residue. He was ducking, waddling and swatting at stones with his axe in an effort to not get struck, and Mordok was still on his ass but had pushed himself against a large boulder for protection.
“These orcs!” Xurrak yelled, pointing a sharp finger. “They do not answer to the Scourge! They’re with the human! They sided with him!”
“Disgusting traitors,” Hoshgrim hissed.
“You’re the traitor, Hoshgrim!” Rithnar’s axe clanged as he blocked an incoming rock. “You lied to Ergoth about the purpose of the sacrifices!”
“For the sake of our King,” Hoshgrim said as he took a step closer. “And now I will kill you for the sake of the Scourge!” He lifted his hands in the air, and the rocks started flying faster through the air.
Rithnar bashed and swiped two or three stones, before he was finally hit in his hip by one of the rocks and again in the head, causing him to fall and drop his axe. Rocks slammed into the boulder Mordok was pushed against, right above his head, forcing him to sink down until he was flat on the ground.
I laid in a prone position, knowing that standing was no longer an option. I raised my hand to cast a Fireblast at Hoshgrim, but a rock slammed into my hand, stinging it and knocking it to the side. I looked up to my health to see that I lost around 35% before focusing on casting a Fire Curtain in front of Hoshgrim as he strolled closer to Rithnar, whom the rocks seemed to be avoiding somehow entirely.
Hoshgrim paused when the flames appeared in a wall in front of him, but then he slowly turned his head towards me and grinned devilishly. I thought he was going to attack, but he just turned around and took a casual step through the fire. He came out the other side with tiny flames singeing the fur part of his attire, which quickly dispersed, and his body was completely unharmed. It seemed he had a high Fire Resistance, which meant things were going to be a whole lot harder for me.
Mordok jumped to his feet and started channeling, and whilst doing so, took a shot by a baseball-sized rock to his neck. He winced but mostly ignored the hit as six large, arcane spheres formed around his abdomen and started orbiting his body. He lowered his hands and started running towards Rithnar. “Crawl to him, Gunnar!” he yelled.
I wasn’t sure if he was telling me to crawl to Hoshgrim or Rithnar, but thinking the only thing that I’d find if I made it to Hoshgrim was pain or death, I kept my head as
low as possible and aimed for Rithnar as I pulled myself forward on my stomach. Mordok continued to run towards Rithnar, as the orbs spinning around him rose and fell to intercept the largest of the incoming rocks, letting only the smallest ones by.
Rithnar wasn’t far from me, so I was within arm’s length when Mordok suddenly jumped face forward towards Rithnar, and as he was coming down for a landing, he turned sideways and slapped his palms together. An electrified shield made of charged arcane triangles appeared over the three of us, and immediately started buzzing loudly as rock after rock slammed into its borders. The rocks caught inside the magic smashed into the outer edge of the magic then feel lifeless to the ground.
Mordok landed on his shoulder, and the orbs around his body disappeared.
I scrambled to my feet and rushed closer to the orcs. “Are you two okay?!”
They both looked exhausted, but Rithnar managed to sit up and rub his head. “I’m alive for now.”
Mordok groaned, patted his ribcage where he had been hit by a rock, and pulled himself back to his feet. His eyes scanned his shield, which was discharging electricity into rocks again and again each time they hit. It sounded intense, like a wild power line downed in the middle of a lightning storm. “There’s no time to talk. This won’t hold long.”
“What do I do?” I asked.
“Do what you can,” Mordok said as he closed his eyes and started to channel. “Get ready for the shield to come down.” A blue triangle surrounded by orbs appeared between his hands and started rotating. He was getting ready to release one of his most powerful attacks.
Knowing that Hoshgrim was resistant to fire, I wasn’t sure if I should focus on attacking him with arcane or if I should focus my attention on Xurrak. Hoshgrim was standing with his arms crossed, looking angrily at our protective dome, and Xurrak was getting back to his feet.
I held my staff up to prepare an on-cast right as Mordok’s shield suddenly disappeared.
“Down!” Rithnar yelled.
I had expected that Mordok was going to unleash his attack on Hoshgrim, but at the last moment, he turned and thrust his spell at Hoshgrim’s totem. Hoshgrim’s eyes went wide as the spell whizzed by him and he turned as it passed. I took the opportunity to hold my staff out and tried to aim an energy shard at him, but a rock hit the tip of my staff, causing the shot to fly across the room and slam into a boulder instead.
Mordok’s spell powered through the stones flying in the air and eventually slammed into the totem, tearing it to pieces on impact. All the stones in the air suddenly fell, and all of us, including Hoshgrim, ducked to avoid any of the stones crashing onto our heads.
It was a relief to have the stones out of the way, but the relief was short-lived when a now-standing Xurrak caught Mordok off guard with a large blast of his swirling red energy, right to the side of his head. It was powerful enough to send him flipping sideways and caused his head to bounce off the rocky ground as he toppled over.
“Oh shit!” I yelled loudly.
Rithnar roared and started charging towards Xurrak.
With Rithnar heading for Xurrak, I focused my attention on Hoshgrim and first fired an Arcane Missile at him, which slammed into his leg, then followed up with an on-cast, which he managed to dodge.
Hoshgrim grabbed his leg, gasped, then quickly stood up straight and took a deep breath. I lifted my staff and pulled it back in preparation of an Arcane Slash, but the shaman leaned forward and started blowing into the air as if he was blowing onto a hot bowl of soup. An unnaturally strong wind exited his lips and pounded into me.
His wind was so strong that I had to squeeze my staff to prevent it from flying out of my hands, and the more he blew, the stronger his breath became. I held my hand up to block my eyes from the attack, leaned forward to balance myself, and tried lifting a foot to walk against the air current. When my foot left the ground, I immediately lost my stability and fell backwards and onto the ground.
Hoshgrim’s wind attack continued to hammer into me, and I rolled and slid roughly across the ground. My fingers scratched across the hard, gravely floor as I tried to gain some traction, but I continued to slide further and further back. When I glanced behind me, I realized I was getting closer and closer to the Gilgaroth.
I let go of my staff so I could use both hands to hold on for my life, and when passing by a particularly large rock, I grabbed it for extra weight. It was no use as the rock rolled a bit from the air pressure, causing me to lose my grip and continue my slide towards death.
When I glanced back again, the Gilgaroth watched curiously as my body rolled closer and closer to its extended hand, and it blinked several times as the air from Hoshgrim’s attack seemed to irritate its eyes.
“Rithnar!” I yelled out instinctively. I looked over to see him swinging his axe at Xurrak as the former King was leaning against a rock for balance and using both hands to hold his cane out to block.
When Rithnar heard my voice, he turned to me, and Xurrak extended his arms out to his side and released another circular attack of pressure and flames from the core of his body, which burned Rithnar again and sent him flying.
When I was only a few feet from the Gilgaroth’s hand, I grabbed another, bigger rock this time and was finally able to stop myself. Hoshgrim continued to blow for a few seconds longer, but when he realized I was no longer moving, he stopped and started marching forward.
I started to scramble to my feet to find cover, but as soon the base of my foot hit the ground, Hoshgrim stopped and blew again, and the air seemed even stronger than last time. I tumbled backwards and to the ground, rolled, and found myself right beside the Gilgaroth’s hand.
Hoshgrim stopped his attack, and I turned my head to the Gilgaroth.
The Gilgaroth stared at me for a moment before its lips stretched into a sinister smile. My eyes went wide when its enormous hand lifted off the ground and moved until it was right above me.
“No, no, no….” I muttered rapidly and held up my hand in vain, as if that was somehow going to stop me from getting smashed. I looked towards the Gilgaroth’s eye, hoping it had heard me, hoping it would answer my plea, but just as I was turning my head, its massive hand came thundering down with a speed and power that would send anyone or anything straight into the void.
Chapter Fifty-Three
2/23/0001
Boom!
The whole room shook as the Gilgaroth’s hand slammed on top of me.
My eyes were squeezed tight, and my jaw was clenched in preparation for the pain of death, but strangely I felt no pain at all. I had sensed an incredibly strong pressure when the hand smashed the ground, but my body didn’t feel broken or even scratched.
I parted my eyelids as best I could, and while I couldn’t see much in my smashed situation, I could see a bit of shimmering light emanating off my skin.
My Absorb One Physical spell!
I had been fighting for so long that I forgot that I still had the spell effect active, and as I recalled all the damage I had taken thus far, it had all been magic. The Gilgaroth’s slam was the first direct physical attack that I had taken since I cast the spell on myself. I couldn’t believe it, but the spell even absorbed a smash that would’ve one-shotted just about anyone.
When the Gilgaroth’s hand started rising, I lay still for a moment, not wanting to draw the Gilgaroth’s attention to any movement that might make it react too soon. I shifted my eyes to the side and saw Hoshgrim walking away, and when I felt the monster’s hand was high enough that I could scurry out of it, I pushed myself up and half crawled, half ran for my life.
The Gilgaroth made an audible, grunt that almost sounded like ‘Huh?’ when it saw me running out from its grasp, and right as I was slipping out of range, it extended its fingers and slammed its hand down again, its sharp claw catching the very edge of my robe.
I yanked fiercely at my robe and turned to see that the edge of its claw had clamped down on a good chunk of cloth. Desperate to get away, I raised my
arms and bent my knees, so that I slipped out of the bottom of the robe. I held firmly onto my unburdening bag and dashed away before ducking behind a nearby large boulder.
The Gilgaroth slammed its tail against the side of the wall and roared loudly as it lifted my robe up high with its claw.
I peeked around the rock to see Xurrak standing over Mordok with the bottom of his cane jammed into the mage’s chest. He stopped to look at what the Gilgaroth was doing, and Hoshgrim turned around as well.
Hoshgrim grinned and laughed. “Finished your meal already? Don’t worry. I’ll give you these two to chew on as well.”
The Gilgaroth roared again and threw my robe towards Hoshgrim.
When the rumbling stopped, Xurrak smirked and wrinkled his nose. “Wait ‘til I get enough strength. I’ll find a way to somehow kill that ancient beast and use its experience to regain my levels.”
Hoshgrim smiled and turned back towards his King. “For the Scourge, my King.”
Xurrak lifted his staff and slammed it down on Mordok’s chest again. “I’ll make you die a slow, slow death, traitor!”
Mordok spit blood and coughed.
“Don’t kill him yet,” Hoshgrim said. “Their fresh limbs can be used for my necromancy spells.”
“Yes…” Xurrak hissed as he looked down at Mordok and smiled. “Maybe you can help your King after all.”
“I’ll die without a King!” Mordok spat.
Xurrak lifted his staff and slammed it down again, causing Mordok to groan and cough violently.
I wasn’t sure what to do, but I needed to act fast. Rithnar was on the ground, covered in black but he was slowly scratching his hands against the ground as if he were still barely alive. With both orcs unable to do much, I was left to take on Hoshgrim and Xurrak alone somehow. My first thought was to summon Sora, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to risk using my pet in such a dangerous situation. It also seemed possible that she could appear in range of the Gilgaroth and immediately have her life taken from her.
