Now their main tank was dead, my allies scattered to the other players, whacking anything in sight. The player paladin was attempting to pick up the threat but was having a hell of a time of it, which made me suspect he wasn’t specced for tanking and was actually a damage dealer or healer who had quickly thrown on a shield. If so, this might go smoother than I’d anticipated.
Something didn’t feel right though; something was missing.
That was when I saw Azrael casting. He hadn’t joined the battle; rather he stood still, his hands and arms lost in a purple miasma of energy. Another debuff? Some great attack?
Wait, I thought, where is that damned—
“Colossus!” Reginald cried as the lumbering, multi-bodied monster materialized from nowhere behind Azrael. Once formed, it picked up speed, flailing its gruesome limbs, letting loose a rattling roar from the depths of death.
All my allies were immediately drawn to it. Of course, the colossus must be some powerful tanking minion, perhaps only available to endgame death knights who specced into their minion tree. Its size aside, the amount of mana that Azrael had used to summon it spoke volumes of its power. He’d dropped from 50% to about 20% from what I could tell, yet with my allies too focused on one target I was back to square one.
I only noticed the ball of pulsing violet energy just in time. I twisted away from the magical assault, suffering splash damage as the spell crashed against the wall beside me. This alone dropped my health by 300 points. My world focused upon the enemy high-elf mage for a moment, and I saw the next violet barrage forming into his hands.
I grappled around, barely avoiding the next blast. To my great relief, a received a heal from one of my elite priest guards, bringing me back to full health in an instant.
“Leave him!” Azrael cried. “He’s an ant compared to them. Focus your DPS on the elite healers first.”
With this order given, I breathed a momentary sigh of relief and checked how things were developing down below.
Only Kreeptic and Aurelius seemed to be able to tear themselves away from the colossus. Aurelius would switch to heal an ally or smite an enemy, probably under some ingrained behavior. Kreeptic was just being an opportunist rogue, running to attack a player from behind whenever they turned their back to him. He did it every time, so it was clearly some mechanic.
That gave me an idea.
I spotted their ranger backpedaling from the melee, firing off gunshots as he went. I grappled around until I hung off the wall behind him, praying the mage wouldn’t look up and find me. Wasting no time, I threw a slime vial, timing it to land just where the ranger would next place his feet. It worked. The ranger lost balance and landed on his back.
I sent a bolt into him, but it caused little damage to the level 47 player.
“Kreeptic!” I yelled, hoping the ranger would turn to look for the source of the crossbow bolt.
The torturer spun to face me, but the ranger did not. Kreeptic returned to stabbing at the colossus’ shins.
Cursing, I dropped to the ground, loading another crossbow bolt as I ran.
“Turn around, asshole.”
I’d regened just enough mana to activate Desperate Shot for this attack.
“Kreeptic – Kreeptic!”
The extra damage did the trick. The ranger twisted round to face me, as again did Kreeptic. The ranger looked annoyed, his hand going for a sidearm; Kreeptic’s face broke into a grin, daggers twirling in his hands. Before the ranger could pull the trigger, those daggers were jutting in and out of his back. Stunned by the knives or some ability, the ranger barely moved. I jabbed with my bayonet, before ducking away, in case he managed to get off a shot. His health hit zero soon enough and he lay face down in the slime.
Flukeshoot – level 47 dies – 280
Four of Azrael’s cronies now remained.
Kreeptic winked then disappeared in a swirl of his cloak. I aimed wildly above and grappled out of there, glancing around to watch a fireball hit the spot that I’d just vacated. Close call.
Despite the death of the ranger, the fight wasn’t going well for my team.
With most of the NPCs distracted by the colossus, the enemy mage, monk and recent ranger had managed to burst down one of the priests in the Imperial Guard. Losing the ranger wouldn’t hurt their damage output too much as I could see Azrael swing at the remaining weakened priest, taking a lot of his health off in one attack. The monk spun a kick into the priest’s back, and a fireball seared it a moment later. Azrael struck again. The priest died.
So much for him being relatively weak as an individual.
I was down to four allies and now had no more dedicated healers. Azrael still had his colossus tank, his paladin off-tank and a priest healing the group, as well as keeping the colossus topped up. My one glimmer of hope was that their priest was quickly running out of mana, though I was screwed if his potions were off cooldown.
Azrael was lost in the mix of the battle so I couldn’t get a clean shot to use the Sanctified Blood of the Old Ones.
My best hope right now was to interrupt the priest’s casts long enough to allow Aurelius and Reginald a chance to kill the colossus. I grappled over, as close as I dared, and hauled myself on top of a stag head statue. Lining a shot, I fired, hoping for a knockback. I didn’t get it, but I did hit the priest which caused his latest heal to slow in casting. I hit him again, slowing it a little more before he could release it.
My third arrow triggered the knockback effect and sent him staggering. The colossus’ health was falling at a more pleasing rate. If I could keep this up a while longer—
A huge red eye with a black cross for a pupil flashed in front of me, before etching onto my body. Out of instinct, I tried wiping it off but my efforts ended in obvious failure.
Gaze of the Toothed Cloud
Darkness envelopes you, and the swarm fixates upon you. You can’t see them, but they will find you.
Duration: 15 seconds
That didn’t look like a monk or mage ability. Sure enough, I saw Azrael was casting again. A black cloud gathered over his head and creatures began swopping out of it in droves.
To call them bats was a disservice to the real animal; these were zombified, long-fanged hellish bats. Their wings beat heavily in the air and they were all looking right at me. To make matters worse, the black cloud that they’d all emerged from didn’t vanish; instead, it glided at top speed to collide with me before I could blink.
I went blind. Just how big was this effect? If I fell, would I emerge from it or would it follow me? And could I risk the fall damage?
Screeching mixed with beating wings. The bats would be on me soon.
Yet I began to see outlines faintly through the blackness, the shifting of a hundred wings blurring like hummingbirds. I could see, barely, the outlines of the players and NPCs as they fought.
Thank you, Night Vision level 6.
With a sliver of vision came equal hope.
I took a vial of slime and poured what little mana I’d regenerated into an air rune to vaporize it, then contained this gas within the vial and slotted it into my launcher. My potions were off cooldown so I drank one to bring my mana to full.
All I could do was pray as I leveled the crossbow and closed my right fist.
I fired the gas cannister, charged all 1200 mana into the fire rune and released. A boulder-sized ball of white-hot flames hurtled from my hand.
Fireball hits!
1500 fire damage
Empowered: +20% damage (+300 fire damage)
+ 8.8% from gear effects (+158 fire damage)
Type bonus +25% vs Undead (+490 fire damage)
Total: 2448 fire damage
Heat, light, wind and an ear-splitting crack hit me all at once. The explosion blew away the darkness, and I could see the swarm engulfed with flames that swirled along every tendril of the vaporized slime. This attacked them for a second time, meaning I’d hit the bats for close to 5000 damage in one shot. The beauty of my s
lime. An AOE attack in itself would not rival the damage of a single potent attack, and when combined with the slime… well, I reckoned a hot-fix patch would be applied by the devs if they caught wind of this.
Bits of fried bat fluttered down. A few remained whole, sporting burning fur and wailing death screeches. I let them get in close, then launched a well-placed grenade in their ugly faces, finishing them.
Panting, I grappled away from my position before Azrael could redirect his mage onto me. Finding another vantage point, I checked on the battle. Without my interrupts, the enemy priest had brought the colossus back to full health, though he was all but out of mana now and must have already used a potion. Azrael was totally out of mana too, but used a potion to regain the majority of it.
Reginald, Kreeptic, Aurelius and the last generic guard were all losing health with no sign of regaining it.
I wasn’t going to win by attrition. I couldn’t outplay experienced players on my own like this. There really was only one choice left.
I brought out the Sanctified Blood of the Old Ones and coated an arrowhead with it. Azrael had moved to engage the guard NPC, so I waited until he stopped moving, then took aim.
One shot to save Ellie. One shot to save myself. One shot to save the world.
I fired.
Dripping golden liquid, the bolt left the crossbow with a sharp twang. It soared, and my aim was true. Yet, whether Azrael sensed the danger or the colossus was well programed to defend its master, somehow the monstrosity stepped to block the shot.
“No!”
The colossus paused dumbly as searing holy damage burned every inch of it, melting away the undead filth in seconds. It collapsed in a molten heap, dead. But its master was still very much alive.
Azrael looked up to me, wide-eyed, and I think, impressed.
Slack-jawed, I remained crouched on my perch, debating whether I should just throw myself down for a quick death. I met his gaze, but seeing his satisfied smile changed my mind.
I decided if I was going down, then it would be fighting.
Oblivious to my turmoil, my allies rejoiced at the defeat of the giant, running for new targets. Aurelius made a beeline for Azrael’s priest. After tanks, healers generated the most threat, so it was little wonder the Emperor had picked the squishy clothy for his next boss powered attack. Aurelius’ sword hit the priest clean across the chest, sending the player spinning away, dead before he hit the floor.
Noobmonkey – level 45 dies – 270 EXP
Three cronies left now. Azrael swiftly evened the kill count by polishing off my paladin guard. Three allies left. If nothing else, I could be proud that I’d brought it this close.
“Pick up the boss,” Azrael cried to his own paladin. “The rest of you, kill this Crusader.”
The poor paladin player clumsily raised his shield and ran for the Emperor, screaming harshly – likely a taunt ability. It worked but Aurelius continually glanced to the other players, indicating that the paladin was struggling to hold his attention.
Kreeptic was missing: he’d probably vanished to spring some ambush. Reginald, on the other hand, had decided that Azrael was the biggest threat. The two exchanged heavy blows, shadow and light flaring in equal measure.
There wasn’t much I could do to help without more mana and I knew I’d get killed instantly if I jumped down now, which wouldn’t be much help either.
Reginald fought like a goddamned hero, dodging sword strikes so closely that he lost one half of his brilliant moustache. He twisted from one enemy to the next, landing a hammer blow on the monk before turning to clash with Azrael again. Yet with three players beating on him, he didn’t stand a chance.
Azrael stepped behind him and started channeling a new spell, a coarse vibrating line of shadows which gripped Reginald in place while simultaneously draining life. The crusader’s health fell while Azrael’s rose. The monk couldn’t help himself, soaring in high overhead in some over-the-top diving kick.
Incredibly, unbelievably, Reginald caught the monk’s foot clean in mid-air, holding him in place. Golden wings sprouted from his back, stretching wide as an eagle’s. A new icon bobbed above his health bar.
Seraphim
Upon receiving a blow that would otherwise kill you, you gain a momentary blessing of the afterlife here on the mortal plane.
Damage taken reduced by 100%
+50% Might
+50% Reflexes
Duration: 5 seconds
It was some kind of last stand move, and a bloody awesome one at that.
Veins bulging from the effort, Reginald held the monk up high, while Kreeptic emerged from his shadows to ambush from behind. Reginald slammed the player into the floor, then raised his hammer.
Seraphim wore off before he could bring the killing blow but even a regular hammer to the gut still hurt and Kreeptic finished the monk off.
Onekickman – level 45 dies – 270 EXP
Azrael’s swearing could have shocked a wizened whore. He ran Reginald clean through before stepping towards Kreeptic. The torture master couldn’t hold up against a plate-armored foe.
Across the hall, the paladin off-tank collapsed, his blood soaking the ground beneath him. Emperor Aurelius stepped over the body, a pained but determined look upon his face, and advanced on the high-damage dealing, high threat generating mage.
“Dump your threat,” Azrael told him, but either the player didn’t know how to or didn’t have an ability to do so, or simply ran out of time. Aurelius caught him and dispatched the cloth-wearing mage as readily as he had the priest.
Phantasm – level 44 dies – 265 EXP
And that was that. No more cronies remained.
It was just the Emperor and Azrael. And me, but I was pretty useless without a ton more mana. Glancing at my experience bar, I winced.
Experience: 8417/8650
I was so close to a level up. Just one more kill would have done it and I’d have recovered all my mana back. It was cruel.
All I could do was watch with bated breath. Hope kindled lowly in me. Surely, no matter what Azrael’s gear was, he couldn’t solo a boss; that’s not how these things worked. I gritted my teeth, all the same. The Emperor’s health wasn’t exactly at full, nor was his mana.
He just had to bring Azrael low enough so that even I could finish him.
The pair approached each other, meeting between the crystal orb and the huge stained-glass window. Within the dancing light from the glass, they circled each other, stepping artfully around like old rivals before clashing blades.
Aurelius landed the first hit and the damage he dealt made me think he would win this handily. Yet Azrael had one final gambit to play.
Leaping back, he raised his over-sized sword straight above his head, protected by some dark forcefield, while beams of sickly light emanated from the tip of his weapon, streaming out to touch the corpses in the hall. Bodies of players and NPCs alike, began to rise, reanimated by Azrael’s spell.
I checked the icon over the head of a re-animated Reginald to see what was happening.
Service of the Damned
You failed in life and now serve a superior power. Perhaps the person that killed you, which is only fitting.
All stats reduced by 60%
Duration: 1 minute or until reanimated minion dies
Azrael’s mana took another beating as the corpses rose to serve him. Even with their reduced power, they’d be extremely useful to him, soaking damage or distracting the Emperor. They weren’t, however, fast-moving minions, and could only lumber solidly towards Aurelius; but if they all got to him, he’d be in trouble.
I could no longer sit back and hope for the best. I slammed three slime vials into my launcher and blasted them to either hit the zombies or impede their paths. I loaded three more and fired again, then followed with grenades. Fire blazed, dealing extra damage to the undead, which was powered further by the slime.
One of the zombie priests died under the strain but they were the wea
kest minions. It was harder to aim from a distance, so I grappled in close, squatting on a protruding stone dragon head to the left of the stained-glass window. I hit the zombies again, and again, launching grenades with one hand while throwing slimes with the other, using everything I had left.
But I was still only level 13 trying to kill enemies that were simply beyond me.
When I ran out of items, the floor on this side of the Hall of Makers was covered in green goo or patches of burning slime. Half the minions reached their target and began to claw at the Emperor, while Azrael followed up with his own attacks.
I’d played my last hand.
And Aurelius went down.
I blinked, not fully registering what had just happened. I was so dazed that I only just noticed Azrael looking at me, a ball of shadows gathering at the tip of his sword. At the last moment, I fired the grappling gun, the hook latching onto the other side of the hall. I began to retract—
The passing shadow ball clipped me mid-flight. Glass shattered, the hook dislodged, and I fell. Hard floor and shards of glass rushed to meet me. I’d never fallen like this in real life, so far or so fast; the only reason I survived was because it was a game, and even then, I’d nearly died.
For a moment, I lay there, unable to move. My health had dropped to just 30 points and everything hurt; hurt so much I wanted it to be over right there. A hot light spilt in from the window on my left. Not for the first time, I wished this game was a little less real.
Coughing blood, I lifted my head and twisted upwards to my right. I tried to steady myself with my right hand but found only a cold gelatinous gloop there. My hand went out from under me and I was forced to try again. Glass fell off me. There was a lot of it. Azrael’s attack must have shattered the window higher up.
The villain himself was staggering forward, suffering from debuffs and wounds left by fighting a boss alone. His remaining minions tried to head my way too, but they slipped on the slime. I may as well have upended Kreeptic’s entire cauldron from the way the floor was covered.
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