by Nikita Thorn
Swinging his Hikari at the nearest leg, he hit it away with Sweeping Blade before it could disperse a pair of ryoushi. The knockback effect was much more effective when the leg was raised off the ground.
Around him, the group was doing their best to damage the beast. A ryoushi’s high-level Explosive Shot burst against the monster’s belly, chipping some of its protective exoskeleton, while another samurai let out a Battle Shout, filling Seiki and the people in the near vicinity with an influx of extra strength. Seiki looked around for his friends. He caught a glimpse of Ippei somewhere, but the monster’s rapid attacks were keeping most of his attention.
Another spidery leg stabbed out, and a man in front of Seiki rushed out to Parry. He was perhaps a little under-geared, and the impact sent him sprawling into a nearby ryoushi. With a cry, both of them lost their footing and landed on top of each other.
Seiki burst forward with a swerving Slide, and grabbed both men by their arm and collar just as the beast lifted its leg to stab down directly at them. The ryoushi cleared the range of the attack. The swordsman was less lucky, and the bladed tip of the monster leg slashed across his back. The rest of his fate was unknown, as Seiki was forced to reposition himself once again when more spider legs rammed down around him.
“Seiki!” cried a familiar voice from the ryoushi he had managed to save.
Satoru [Level 18], one of the self-proclaimed outlaws, scrambled to his feet and grinned. “Hey, didn’t expect to see you here. And thanks for that.”
Seiki grinned back in delight. “It’s been a while.”
Satoru had quickly recovered from the near-miss and was already readying his bow. His arrow magically became three and he scattered Rapid Shots at the beast’s belly. “So you haven’t been out the East Gate much?”
“No, uh, I’ve been catching up on War Games.”
“Makes sense, considering your friend.” Saturo turned and shouted, “Hey, It-chan! Look who’s here!”
Seiki followed his gaze and spotted the ninja girl. Itsuki [Level 19] was now dressed in tight-fitting purple and white leather, with the lower half of her face hidden behind a leather mask.
“Who’s this?” Itsuki playfully lifted her brow. “Is it your new— Ow, hey, hey,” she cursed as the corrupted beast almost sliced her in half with the claws at the end of its leg. Leaping out of the way, she retaliated with a hail of thrown daggers.
Even Itsuki’s attacks did not appear to be doing much damage, but at least the monster’s health was decreasing from each miniscule contribution, slow but steady enough.
“Is Renshiro here?” Seiki split his attention between avoiding the demonic beast and scanning the crowd for the outlaw ronin. Backing away to get out of range of the nearest arachnid leg, he repositioned himself at a decently safe spot. “I sent him a few messages a while ago.”
“No, he’s not on. And he would probably flip if he found out we’re doing a Festival Achieve.” Itsuki laughed as she turned to her outlaw friend. “You know, we can just tell Ren-san we’re visiting Seiki in the City.”
Seiki was not sure what she meant by that. “So, did he get any of my messages?”
“Ren-san now has his pigeons disabled at the post office.” The ninja girl tossed out another attack. Her Shurikens hit with an unusual acidy hiss, but Seiki was in no mind to take extra note. She made a face. “Yeah, I know. It’s a real pain.”
“Why?”
“Well, ‘cause tracking paranoia… okay, it’s moving again!” Itsuki cried out as the beast jumped once more, this time twenty feet diagonally ahead. It obliterated several abandoned festival stalls as it landed.
Once again, the sudden sunlight burnt hot on his skin, activating the curse and vaporizing about a tenth of his health. Saturo and Itsuki were already running, and Seiki rushed ahead to keep in range of the monster. Next to him, a Level 14 ryoushi—who did not have health to spare—collapsed onto the ground amid thick black hissing smoke.
“Anyway, how can I talk to Renshiro?” Seiki asked as soon as he reached the safety within the shadow of the beast. “I need to ask him about…” He paused as he realized that it was probably not wise to be shouting out a conspiracy theory about the most powerful clan in the game in the middle of a public event. “Uh, it’s really important.”
Satoru grinned. “Come with us after this. We’re just dipping in to work on the Achieves.”
“And easy loot,” Itsuki chimed in.
Seiki dodged gigantic legs crashing down as the beast suddenly spun. People screamed while the Kogumo caught several players in its jaws, shook them a few times, before flinging their limp bodies aside. The monster was around half health when Seiki managed another few energy-less strikes on its legs, most of which glanced off without doing much damage to its hard exoskeleton. He diverted half his attention back to the conversation. “I have something kinda important to do after this. How can I find you later?”
Itsuki was using Shadow Strikes to avoid the attacks, making her appear and disappear at will. “Thanks to Ren-san, we’re all off pigeons until after this Dish Mansion run.” She let out an annoyed scoff. “Yeah, it’s a real pain. So, actually, you can do us all a favor and tell him it’s a stupid idea. It’s like he wants to live in the dark ages or something.”
Despite not knowing why anyone would ever wish to disable post pigeons, this at least explained why his messages to both Renshiro and Miya had gone unanswered.
“We’re camping out in Lower Haruzawa,” said Satoru. “Come find us.”
Seiki tried to commit the unfamiliar place name to memory as he dodged another incoming attack. “Do you have a minute after this?”
He did not get to hear Satoru’s answer. The Kogumo spun, and Seiki suddenly found himself staring into a gaping jaw at least six feet across, flanked by multiple red-glowing eyes, all locked on him.
All other thoughts drained from his mind, Seiki yelped as he pulled up his Hikari to Parry, almost out of instinct. He slammed energy through both his arms and down the length of the silver blade, blocking the descending fang right before it could pierce him right through. The ability activated in time, and the impact shook through his whole body. A violent burst of force threw him to the side, squeezing air out of his lungs. Seiki had twisted the blade so as to have some control over the angle of the knockback, but there was no way to be precise. Landing on his side, he skidded several feet across the ground, taking down a few unfortunate players in his path. His arm guard warded off most of the damage, but he could still feel a patch of numbness across his right side as he came to a stop.
Unsurprisingly, his energy had drained to zero. The bite would have been fatal. Uttering a quick apology, Seiki untangled himself from those he had crashed into. The Kogumo had managed to grab a few more people in its jaws, and Seiki ducked to avoid the lifeless bodies tossed his way, which thudded down around him like sacks of flour. He scrambled to his feet, only to realize he was not out of danger. The spidery legs had not let up their attacks, and one slammed down directly where he was. Hastily trading a fifth of his health for energy with Blood Rush, Seiki activated an ill-planned Slide, wincing as more numbness spread through his back as the arachnid leg glanced off his armor.
The move did save him, and when he managed to find his footing again, he noticed a glimmer of something golden on the ground in the midst of broken tiles and wood.
At first glance, it looked like a tiny Jade War Card, but one that glowed in a rich hue of honey yellow.
Before he could make out what the inscriptions said, an arrow shot at the tile, shattering it into golden dust. Satoru was standing a few feet away, grinning. His bow already had another arrow nocked in it, its tip glowing faint yellow.
“Power-ups.” Satoru explained as he aimed his shot at the spider leg. The arrow unleashed an unusual burst of gold light as it found its mark.
A Tile of Vigor has been shattered! 10% of your maximum energy has been restored!
The
bout of energy was a welcomed surprise. It seemed that the boost was an area effect that benefited all players in range. A samurai girl nearby suddenly exclaimed “Nice!” before turning her Sweeping Blade into a Swerve Cut at the last second, the extra energy allowing her to slice off a chunk of the protective shell on the nearest leg.
Seiki gazed around the ground. Partially buried in the rubble near his feet was another tile. Slightly different from the first, this one glowed serene white and was labeled a Tile of Longevity. Copying what Satoru had done, he crouched down to hit it with Focused Strike.
Your Hikari’s Focused Strike has absorbed the power of a Tile of Longevity. Unleash it with another Focused Strike.
He needed no more instructions. Seiki spun around and stabbed his Hikari into the beast’s exposed throbbing flesh under its chipped armor. White light burst from the point of impact, sending a strangely warm sensation up his arm and through his body.
A Tile of Longevity has been shattered, restoring 50% of your maximum health and 10% of all other players within 10 feet of the target.
In a pleasant flood of warmth, his health rebounded, just as the spider leg lifted off the ground. Seiki yanked back his sword before it slipped off his hand, but not quite fast enough. The leg swept, flinging Seiki through the air. He yelped, somehow managing to land on one foot and one knee, and he pushed energy through his Slide in the opposite direction to stop the momentum.
“It’s like Uno.”
Seiki glanced up. Itsuki had appeared beside him, her eyes watching the monster.
“Sorry, what?”
They both had to scramble out of the way as the Kogumo stomped down with three legs, kicking up dust between them.
Itsuki let loose a bout of Shurikens at the ground, and Seiki saw that she was aiming for one of the hidden tiles. This one was rosy pink in color.
“Uno. You know, Uno,” she said again. “As in not-Japanese Uno!” She tossed out more Shurikens, exploding another tile with a red burst on the ground, causing a nearby samurai to grunt in frustration as she had beat him to it.
“You can stack,” Itsuki giggled as she turned to Seiki to continue her flawed partial explanation of how it worked. She launched a hail of metal stars at a crack in the beast’s exoskeleton on its stomach, which was dripping dark blood. Two rapid bursts of reddish light exploded in the wound.
A combined Tile has been shattered! 5% of your maximum health has been restored! All ability lockouts have been reduced by 1 second.
All ability lockouts have been reduced by 2 seconds.
“Like that,” said Itsuki.
Seiki glanced at the beast’s label again. The Kogumo’s health was below a fifth now, with the damage ramped up from the boosts. With a sudden vicious roar, the beast started to sway from side to side, its eight legs smashing, sweeping, striking in random directions. Melee players who had been running in to activate their power tiles bore the brunt of the increased attacks, and a few of them got crushed under the thrashing spider limbs.
“It’s going berserk!” cried a voice.
The attacks increased in both speed and viciousness, and one leg lashed out, sending two players flying. Seiki ran to the side, dropping low to Slide under the two front legs as they suddenly swept inward. The claws whisked over his head, missing him by a foot. Other less fortunate players were now trapped between the legs and the beast’s jaws. As they yelled out in alarm, someone frantically shouted, “Stack Brace, now!”
The Kogumo’s bite closed on the group in a brutal collision of metal and fangs and panicked cries. Half the people dropped to the ground, either dead or too injured to move.
“This is the last stage,” someone yelled. “We need to burst!”
From the rear end of the Kogumo, a man was galloping in at full speed. The rider was Level 29, clad in a formidable-looking set of metal-enforced black leather armor. His clan name was unfamiliar, but Seiki could spare no attention to read it, since his gaze was fully drawn to the black mount. The horse seemed to be running over fire, its hooves striking up fiery sparks whenever they hit the ground. Its jangling bright copper-colored tack seemed to be designed specially to match this effect.
A spider leg shot out at the rider, and the man grabbed his dagger to block, easily stopping the leg in mid-air as if it had hit an invisible wall. Seiki could only guess that was a one-handed Parry, which he had never witnessed before.
“Get in range!” yelled the galloping samurai. He skillfully swerved around two more legs, then ducked low to avoid another, before straightening up once he cleared the beast’s body. That kind of showing, coupled with the quality of his gear, gave him automatic authority, and players parted to make way for him.
With half his face hidden behind a black helmet, the man lifted his sword, holding it high like a revolution flag. The long straight blade radiated a fierce flame of gold and red and black.
“Come in now!” he shouted.
The samurai’s Mounted Strike slashed across the beast’s neck. A bright, multi-colored explosion burst from the point of impact.
A combined Tile has been shattered! 10% of your maximum energy has been restored!
5% of your maximum energy has been restored! 5% of your maximum health has been restored!
5% of your maximum health has been restored! You have received an additional 2% chance to dodge in the next 10 seconds!
You have received an additional 5% chance to dodge in the next 10 seconds!
You have received an additional 2% chance to dodge in the next 10 seconds! All ability lockouts have been reduced by 1 second.
All ability lockouts have been reduced by 1 second. 10% of your maximum energy has been restored!
The notifications were too rapid to parse. The initial burst of buffs had given more people time to activate their power tiles, and, like a chain reaction, they all activated on top of one another in rapid waves. Seiki nearly gasped as energy, health and strange vigor coursed through his veins, putting everything at his disposal all at once.
Rushing in with the rest of the now-invigorated crowd, he stabbed the nearest leg, unleashing his combination of sliding Focused Strike and Upslash, before swinging out his blade as another leg threatened to slam into him from behind. Around him, the players went into a hacking frenzy.
With a constant influx of perks, Seiki freely spent all his resources. There was no need to plan. His lockout countdowns were dropping steadily by a few seconds at a time, constantly putting all his abilities within reach.
A deafening crack broke his trance. To his right, one of the spider legs had collapsed. Glancing upward to catch the beast’s label, he found its health bar fully depleted. Another leg snapped, like a broken branch, and the beast started to topple.
Seiki’s eyes widened as he realized what was going to happen, and he ran, slid, ducked low and pushed down all his energy to speed up as the Kogumo started to break apart right on top of him.
His surroundings darkened. Another leg broke under the weight of the dead beast, and the monstrous torso crashed down, leaving barely any room left under its massive body. Seiki activated his second Slide, aiming for the triangle of light in front of him, wondering if he would make it in time.
On the ground, he noticed, almost too late, a gleaming black stone tile.
Desperate for just about anything, Seiki stabbed the tile with a hasty Focused Strike as he shot past it. Then he did something he had never done before; he twisted his body so that he faced upward, pushed energy down his sword arm to activate another Focused Strike, before forcing additional energy up his left arm and yanking his Hikari to Parry—just as the remain of the beast crashed down over him.
A Tile of Protection has been shattered, giving you an extra 20% chance to dodge and 5% for all other players within 10 feet of the target for 8 seconds.
An invisible force grabbed him from all different directions, and Seiki felt like a stray stone cast from a slingshot by an unskilled h
and. Something icy scraped down the length of his leg, and after a confusing glimpse of complete darkness he was suddenly in jarring sunlight. He hit the ground at a bad angle and slid to a numbing stop against something hard and crumbly. It took him a moment to catch his breath, wincing as he found himself hanging onto a sliver of health.
As the world slowly faded back into focus, Seiki finally remembered where he was and what he had been doing. Having been so engrossed in the task, it was a little disconcerting to find himself in the middle of a wrecked Trade Street, but the feeling of being completely lost in the moment was a familiar one, and something he welcomed.
Unsure what had happened with his last two moves, he slowly looked up. Around him were broken debris from a familiar shop wall, some of which had collapsed over the lower half of his body. In the middle of the street, the Kogumo was now a massive black corpse on the ground, its broken legs sprawled in every direction. Its multiple eyes had shriveled, and were silently giving off a strange purplish fume. Around the monster, dead players, caught in the final round of ramped up damage, started to automatically disperse into white smoke. They would presumably revive somewhere near, but Seiki was in no condition to find out at the moment.
He scanned the crowd but could not locate any of his friends.
A shadow loomed up beside him. “You actually survived that?”
Seiki glanced up at the speaker, who turned out to be a tall swordsman in Shinshioka armor from a clan with a very long name that Seiki did not feel compelled to read.
“Barely,” said Seiki, then he coughed, at the moment realizing that one side of his lungs was probably not working.
The man laughed. “Could have just died and rezzed there, you know.” He gestured toward something else out of Seiki’s field of vision that Seiki again did not bother to look at. The man then shrugged and picked something up from the ground before whistling to his horse.