by Aaron Oster
He needed some breathing room to be able to take the Mana Herbs, so he thrust his staff forward, slamming it into the Shtainerzeid’s midsection.
You deal: -0 Damage to Shtainerzeid (Blunt).
“Fuck!”
Damn you, pitiful Strength score!
Even with the modifier his staff gave him to blunt attacks, his Strength wasn’t enough to even inflict a single point of damage!
Sam dropped to one knee, then used his Mana Shot with what little MP had regenerated. This close, the effect was quite devastating, and the monster was thrown back. Sam wasted no time, popping the Potent Mana Herb+ into his mouth, followed by a Healing Herb of the same type.
That flurry from the monster had taken him down to less than 70 out of his 350 max HP, and he was not comfortable with that. Just another couple of hits from the monster and he’d have been toast. The Shtainerzeid wasn’t down for so long and it retaliated, firing a cloud of gas outward once again.
Sam’s MP hadn’t yet recovered enough for him to block any attacks, so he was forced to take the hit, dropping his HP by another 60 points. It ticked up again by 15 as the Healing Herb continued its work through his body, and Sam breathed a sigh of relief.
Now the Shtainerzeid was on him again, not relenting in its attacks, and this time, Sam knew he couldn’t afford to take even a single hit. His Mana Flare staggered the monster, and his Mana Burn forced it back a couple of steps. And with that, he was tapped out again and waiting for the herb and his regen to restore him.
He would have screamed in frustration, had he not thought it would cause his already low Stamina to drop as well, leaving him totally defenseless. As it was, his life expectancy was not looking good at the moment.
“Sweet baby Chief, have mercy on us all,” he muttered, for some reason imagining the massive and ugly Chief in a diaper and wearing a frilly baby bonnet.
Oh, the weird shit you think of when you’re about to die. Ugh, that as my last thought?
The Shtainerzeid loomed before him once again, its claw-like hand raised and a grin of triumph stretching over its disgusting face. Just then, Gordon, in his massive beast-form, slammed into it from the side, pinning it to the ground and savaging its face.
“Trope, you dependable bastard!” Sam cried, immediately reaching for another Potent Healing Herb, one of the regular ones this time.
His HP shot up by a full 100 points on the spot, and Sam reached for a similar Mana Herb, popping four into his mouth at once and bringing him up from near empty. It continued restoring itself, due to the other herb and his regular regen, and he was happy to once again have some gas in the tank.
“Don’t just lay there,” Emma said, running past with a grin on her face. “You should probably contribute, even if it’s just as a chew toy!”
“Screw you!” Sam called back, rising to his feet but not attacking.
He needed a breather, and the others should handle the monster without him for a bit. He had almost just died, after all!
The Shtainerzeid staggered away from Gordon, then opened its mouth to roar again.
“Nope,” Sam yelled, firing a Mana Shot directly down its open throat.
The monster gagged, dropping to one knee, and Emma, Gordon, and Barry all took the opportunity to hammer him with massive attacks. Gordon tore into his spine, using the power of his increased size to cause massive damage. Barry used his exploding poop, though didn’t cause collateral damage this time, and Emma, after charging up her attack, slammed her sword down between the monster’s shoulder and neck.
The Shtainerzeid’s HP dropped below half after this attack, but that seemed only to make him angrier. It let out a roar then, though it was more of an enraged roar than its usual petrifying one. It knocked all three attackers back, then its body glowed red. Sam hadn’t seen this before, but he had a feeling that it wouldn’t be a pleasant experience if any of them were hit by it.
His Mage Shield flared up around him. “Get back!”
The Shtainerzeid slammed a bony fist into the ground, and thousands of sharpened, black roots fired up from the ground in a twenty-foot radius, catching everyone, including him, in its area of effect.
Shtainerzeid hits you for -224 Damage (Spiked Roots).
“Ow!” Sam yelled, feeling the roots slip straight through his shield and slam into him.
It looked like this attack was not mana-based as he’d first thought. The others had sustained massive damage as well, though seeing as they’d mounted a defense, while he’d just stood there, they’d taken less than he did.
I’m lucky that I’d eaten those herbs, otherwise…Sam shook himself, forcing the thought down as the Shtainerzeid’s attack came to an end, and he slumped forward, breathing hard.
The recoil!
“Attack him now, while his guard’s down!” he yelled, targeting the nasty creature and unleashing his Over-Burn.
Emma was on her feet again, blood streaming from a plethora of wounds as her sword glittered, arching through the air in rapid slashing movements. Small chunks of the monster’s HP began to vanish, and when Gordon ran in, his large form now gone, yet more damage was done. Baron Von tweet attacked from above, dropping his explosive missiles down and Sam attacked at a distance, alternating between Mana Shot and Mana Burn.
They managed to whittle the monster down to 30% of its health before it recovered, and when it did, both Emma and Gordon jumped back to avoid the retaliatory attack. It was a good thing they did.
The Boss roared, slamming both his bony fists into the ground and tore up two massive chunks of earth.
“Holy shit! How strong is that thing?” Emma exclaimed as the monster hurled the oversized rocks at them.
They were large, which made the Shtainerzeid’s moves predictable and anyone with high enough Agility could easily get out of the way. Unfortunately for Sam, his was abysmal.
“Down!” Emma yelled, tackling him from the side as one of the massive boulders came whistling towards him.
They both managed to avoid the brunt of the attack, though they were caught by the backlash of force generated by the boulder’s fall.
“Freaking hell! Just how many attacks does this thing have?” Sam complained as Emma got off him.
He targeted the monster with his staff once again and unleashed his Mage Bolt. Seeing as none of the others were nearby, he was confident he wouldn’t hit them. The sizzling bolt of mana flashed across the distance between them, catching the Shtainerzeid just as it was lifting another boulder above its head.
The monster spasmed, making it lose its grip on the boulder, which in turn squashed him flat.
You deal: -688 Damage to Shtainerzeid (Crushing)(Massive Critical).
Shtainerzeid dies!
“Well,” Sam said, blinking in surprise at the sudden and unexpected end to the battle. “That was anticlimactic.”
16
BOSS DEFEATED!
Congratulations! Your party has killed the Shtainerzeid!
Rewards: +7,945 XP, Shtainerzeid’s Loincloth, Elixir of Lesser Strength (X2), 100 Gold Coins
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have cleared a Special Dungeon: Vaald of the Shtainerzeid.
Rewards: XP Doubled (+302,844 XP), All Items gained X2
LEVEL UP! (X2)
Congratulations! You have reached level 24! You have 10 new attribute points to distribute.
Would you like to distribute them now?
Yes/No
ABILITY RANK UP!
Congratulations! Your Mana Flare ability has advanced from Beginner to Intermediate!
Mana Flare: Send out a burst of mana in a sphere around you.
Level: Intermediate 21 (97%)
Damage: 21-29
Cost: 60 MP
AOE Range: 10 Ft
Cast Time: 2 Seconds
Cooldown: 10 Seconds
Effect: +30% Chance to Stagger opponent
ABILITY RANK UP!
Congratulations! Your Mage Bolt ability has advanced f
rom Novice to Beginner!
Mage Bolt: Fire a branching bolt of mana.
Level: Beginner 12 (19%)
Damage: 30-50
Cost: 160 MP
Range: 25 Ft (Branching)
Cast Time: 2 Seconds
Cooldown: 5 Minutes
Effect: +35% Chance to inflict the Stunned debuff for 30 seconds
ABILITY RANK UP!
Congratulations! Your Over-Burn ability has advanced from Novice to Beginner!
Over-Burn: Create an explosion of fire in a targeted area
Level: Beginner 11 (41%)
Damage: 30 - 70 (+19 - 27 Burn Damage)
Cost: 160 MP
Range: 14 Ft (AOE)
Cast Time: 3 Seconds
Cooldown: 2 Minutes
TITLE GAINED!
For performing a special action, you have gained a new title!
Shtainerzeid’s Bane
Effect: +10% Damage against Enraged monsters
Secondary Effect: All Pal-Tees will refrain from any and all rock throwing when you are around
“I think my brain is about to explode!” Sam cried, dismissing the overload of information.
As soon as one window was dismissed, another took its place. Had Sam known that killing the Shtainerzeid would give him this much in the way of progress, he might almost have wanted there to be another one. Almost.
Emma was staring off into space and tapping at the air, as were both Gordon and Barry. It seemed they were busy, so he decided to turn back to his own notifications. Before he did, he saw a very noticeable change happening to the forest around him. Even as he watched, the last of the fog was vanishing and the trees began brightening in color to a very normal shade of brown.
Leaves began sprouting rapidly, and the moonlight shone through for the first time since they’d entered. The stench of death was vanishing as well, and the fresh scent of pine soon filled the air. The small pal-tee child came creeping out of the massive tree, which was rapidly shifting into a healthy-looking, and not at all creepy, forest giant.
“Well, that’s realistic,” he muttered, rising to greet the small child whose pants were still very much wet.
“Is monster kone?” asked the little boy, with the strange pal-tee accent.
“If you’re asking if the Shtainerzeid is dead, then yes, it is,” Sam replied, marveling at their strange dialect.
The boy’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. A wide, gap-toothed grin spread across his face. He let out a laugh and ran forward to give him a hug.
Sam let out a very unmanly shriek and jumped up, narrowly avoiding the pee-soaked smelly child.
“As much as I appreciate the gesture, I’m not really the hugging type,” he quickly said to ward off any further attempts.
“I can’t believe we did it!”
He turned to see Emma approaching, still looking battered up and bloody. She had a huge grin plastered on her face, and seeing as she’d probably gained a couple of levels as well as some more items, he understood her perfectly.
“Yeah, neither can I,” Sam replied truthfully.
“Even with the Elixir I took before we started, I thought I was a goner for sure,” she continued.
Sam face-palmed.
The Elixir! I can’t believe I forgot about that!
“What’s wrong?” Emma asked, giving him a worried look.
When he explained, she face-palmed as well.
“No wonder you were running out of MP so quickly! I thought your ability costs might have increased or something, but this makes much more sense.”
Sam nodded forlornly, thinking about how much easier the battle would have been had he drank the Elixir of Multiplication. In a nutshell, it would have given him a 50% boost to the attribute of his choice for a full 30 minutes. That would have given him a whole 500 MP extra on top of what he already had.
“Oh, well. At least you’ll have it for next time,” she said, giving him a once over.
“Actually, I have two, seeing as our rewards were doubled,” he replied.
Emma’s eyes widened in disbelief, but she dug into her bag and found another vial.
Checking his own bag, Sam found that he now had two of the precious Elixirs. Sure, the battle would have been easier had he taken it, but now he’d have a second. Besides, he had managed to survive without it.
“You seem to be getting cuter by the level,” Emma said, snapping him from his thoughts.
“That would be the Charisma increases,” Sam replied, eyeing her nervously. “I get 3 points with every level, and seeing as I jumped to 24, my Charisma is now at 48 points.”
“Forty-eight? Mine is only at 22!”
Now it was Sam’s turn to be surprised. She was that hot and only had 22 points in Charisma? That just went to show that good looks still played an integral role in this world, even with lower Charisma. Back on Earth, he’d been average looking at best, so it figured that he’d need a lot more help to look better here than Emma did.
“If the two of you are quite done messing around, I should like to leave this forest and get some proper rest. It is already half-past ten, and I am exhausted!”
They both turned to see Gordon walking up, stick clutched in his jaws. Barry glided just above him, seemingly too tired to even make a comment of his own.
“Right. Let’s go see what sweet loot that stinky creep left for us,” Emma said, flashing him a grin.
“Did you get a special title, too?” Sam asked as they made their way over to the pair of chests, one of which glowed in his vision.
“Yup. Gives me a bonus against Enraged monsters and stops pal-tees from throwing rocks at me.”
“Guess we got the same one,” he replied.
“We all received the same title,” Gordon cut in. “After all, we defeated the same monster and, as such, were rewarded in kind.”
“If all our items doubled, does that mean you got a second collar, Gordon?” Sam wondered.
“Indeed,” the dog answered, pulling the second collar from his storage. “Though seeing as how I cannot wear this second collar, I shall sell it and use the profits to find myself a superb rawhide bone!”
Sam watched as the dog got a dreamy, far-away look in his eyes and began to drool around the stick in his mouth. The collar vanished into thin air once more, but Sam knew that it was going into Gordon’s storage, something which he desperately wished to have. If he’d had his own personal storage, none of his items could have been stolen back in Shtut.
Nothing you can do about it now, so get over it already, he admonished himself.
He stopped before the glowing chest, immediately forgetting about the unpleasant incident and giving his loot his full attention. Cracking the lid, he saw an assortment of items and quickly used Inspect to get a sense of what he now had.
ITEMS FOUND!
Name: Shtainerzeid’s Loincloth (X2)
Durability: 85/85
Rarity: Rare
Quality: Sturdy
Armor: +9
Effect: +100% Increased duration to Fear, Terror and Dread Debuffs
Restrictions: Level 10 Rogue
Name: Elixir of Lesser Strength (X4)
Durability: 25/25
Rarity: Epic
Quality: Enhanced
Effect: Bestows a permanent +1 to Strength attribute
Name: Gold Coins (X200)
Sam was thrilled, not about the loincloths — those were pretty much useless — but the elixirs were perfect and exactly what he’d been hoping for! He hadn’t even been aware that there were items that could permanently increase attributes, but now that he knew, he was definitely going to be on the lookout for more.
Popping the cork on one, Sam immediately downed it, gagged on the horrible taste, then chugged the next one. His eyes were nearly watering as he drank down the last Elixir, but as soon as he did, he felt new strength flood his body. Up until now, any act that a normal human being could do, like lift a rock without collapsing, had been beyo
nd him. Actually, even getting said rock off the ground would have been challenging.
Squatting, Sam fitted both arms under a medium-sized rock, one that would have been impossible for him to lift before. His arms strained and he managed to get it a whole foot off the ground. Then his Stamina ran out, and he collapsed face-first into the rock.
“Fuck! You! Overlord!” Sam yelled, face still pressed into the rock which had once again defeated him.
“You alright?” Emma asked, crouching next to him. “That looked like it hurt.”
Sam couldn’t even so much as turn his head until his Stamina regenerated.
“Got ahead of myself and paid the price,” he mumbled.
“Why would you try and lift that rock? You don’t have the Strength for it.”
“Elixirs gave me a boost,” he muttered, finally having the Stamina to push himself up.
Emma winced as she saw the nasty bruise and his bloodied nose, but Sam was just too tired to care.
“Let’s just go,” he said, pinching his nose to try and stop the bleeding. “We still have a quest to complete and I want to get some sleep.”
Emma nodded, hiding a smile, and turned to the small boy who was just standing there, staring up at the sky with his mouth hanging open. His face was set in a blank expression, and a line of drool ran down his chin.
“These things really are gross,” she commented, poking the kid with a stick to bring him out of whatever stupor he was in.
The child jerked, then looked around in confusion.
“What’s happenink?”
“We’re taking you home,” Sam said impatiently. “Now come on, let’s go.”