The True Enemy Revealed

by Jason Cheek

  My mind went into overdrive as I tried to understand the pluses and minuses of their special ability as I rolled in the direction of the last player who was still spraying the far side of the room with fire. The idiot was roasting his friends alive thinking I was still in the middle of their scrum. From his actions and that of the others, I figured the Flame Shields stopped all magic and physical damage to an extent. At least, until enough damage was inflicted to overwhelm the spell barrier and take the shield out. Once that happened, the player lost his attack and defense capabilities until he recast the initial spell. No idea if there was a cooldown there or not though, I mused questioningly.

  The other thing I noted during the fight was that as long as the Flame Shield was up the wielders had access to various fire attacks. No idea yet on their range, but, up close and personal, the Flame Strikes were deadly. From how the five were fighting together with AOEs, I figured they were probably immune to the each other’s attacks as long as their shield was up. Although, once it was down, they could obviously be hurt by each other’s Flame Strikes just like anyone else.

  All of that went through my gamer mind in the blink of an eye. The analysis ability I had was a skill I’d honed over the last decade figuring out the strategies needed to take down new game bosses over and over again. While that didn’t sound like anything special to many gamers and non-gamers alike, it was an ability that few people had. It took a certain mindset to figure out boss take-down strategies in the middle of combat. One that few gamers ever bothered to acquire. Most players were happy to use strategy guides and notes for how to take down a difficult boss or complete a game.

  While one side of my game brain analyzed the enemies’ abilities, the other side focused on spreading out my attacks to keep the other players’ attention directed at me as I rolled into a crouch and whipped the Black Coral Iron-reinforced Defender off my back. As the PKer’s flames bathed me in a fiery inferno, Helgath was already on the move. As my Ice Barrier failed in the fiery deluge and the skin on my face began to boil away, she launched herself at the Dread Pack player who was attacking me. Triggering Backstab, the Half-Orc leaped onto the man’s back and struck the Flame Shield with both her daggers as her skin began to burn.

  Unfortunately, the dual-Backstab strikes didn’t do enough damage to take out the Flame Shield. Still, it had to have been close to failing, since Helgath’s strikes should have at least done up to 400 points of damage with her special attacks. Insta-casting Ice Barrier, I let the flames engulf me as I lunged at the Dread Pack player, hammering the shield’s iron-reinforced edge into his nose as Helgath once again triggered her Backstab attacks. As my Shield Strike burst through the man’ Flame Shield, her blades punched through his armor and into his back a split-second later. Not finished, I followed up with the Dark Blade of Lord Kayden, thrusting the black blade up under his armor and into his gut as the man screamed in agony from the brutal attacks.

  While we both got good hits in on the asshat, the melee attacks barely did a total of six hundred points of damage together. Not that I was finished, but still, melee attacks just didn’t compare to magic attacks. As the man lurched away from me squalling like a baby, I Shield Bashed the bastard in the face as Helgath rode him like a cowgirl on a squealing pig, hammering her blades into his back again and again. Seeing the blacked skin on her face from the Flame Shield’s burning aura, I hit us both with another Regeneration just as a harsh voice rang out behind me that made my blood turn cold.

  “God dammit, why won’t you just freaking die?”

  Before I could even turn around, a massive explosion hit me in the center of the back, ripping nearly a thousand Hit Points away as I was blasted off my feet from the shock wave that shook the entire tower. Flames shot up the tower’s stairwell as I howled in agony. I could feel the flesh being cooked on my face as I was surrounded in a raging inferno. If not for my Black Coral DarkCuirass and the Helm of Inaxidor, I would have looked like the rest of the Dread Pack team members who were doing good impressions of living Roman Candles.

  Thankfully, our HOTs continued to work even as we fought and took damage. Already, the skin on my face was starting to heal while Helgath’s Hit Points were bouncing up and down like a yoyo as she staggered out of the flames. Climbing to my feet, I reeled gasping for air when I noticed that I was holding onto the latch of the iron-bound door to the outside of the tower. Arrows from higher up in the tower rained down from above, driving the PKer back as his Flame Shield winked out just as I flipped the latch and threw open the door. As I gasped in a lungful of fresh air, a silver blur lunged past me.

  Turning around, I was just in time to see the man being tackled to the ground by the Silver Dire Wolf. He’d been close to death after taking the volley of arrows from my Shadow Scouts who were hurrying down the winding staircase to come to my rescue. Not that Neysa took any chances as her fangs ripped out a chunk of the man’s throat. Blood sprayed out across the room covering everyone as the PKer let out a gurgling scream.

  Not that it mattered any as the man was snatched up by the ruins of his throat and shaken back and forth like the rat he was. I heard a loud crack as the man’s neck snapped, before she flung his lifeless corpse across the room like a ragdoll. More arrows rained down ending the lives of the surviving Dread Pack members as my troop of Shadow Scouts leaped down the last flight of stairs into the main room. Seeing everyone’s singed armor and terrible burns, I quickly hit everyone with a round of Regeneration, myself included, as Helgath made her way over to me in relief. Gykac was just making his way over to me with a grim smile on his face, when a commotion outside drew my attention.

  Turning around at the commotion, I saw a group of seven of the Dread Pack players respawn on top of the zombies holding their gravestones. Three of the players even managed to ‘Flame On’ with the last bit of the Mana they’d respawned with. The rest of the level 32 and 33 PKers quickly discovered the truth of what they now faced with only a sliver of their health and mana leftover from dying as the pack of zombies threw themselves at the players in a feeding frenzy.

  I almost felt sorry for the bastards that had managed to get their Flame Shields up, since they had enough health to truly experience the horror of a horde of zombie claws and fangs ripping them apart. Almost, because I could still clearly remember the bodies of the women, children, and men that had been haphazardly cut down in the city’s streets. Zocuth was just getting his Shadow Scouts into position by the time the last player’s dying screams ended in a choking gurgle. Seeing everyone starting to relax, I began snapping out orders as I mentally commanded my zombies to collect the black gravestones in the tower.

  “Okay everybody, the fun’s not over yet. If those guys were able to catch up to us, the rest of will be hitting us soon. Everyone make sure your zombies are on guard. You’ve got sixty seconds to determine if your pets are holding old gravestones or not. If they are, swap them out for the new ones. Fylreh!” I called out through local raid chat, “toss down those four gravestones from the stairwell.” I clapped my hands loudly to emphasis my words.

  “Come on, let’s get moving people!” I shouted out encouragingly. “We need to be moving in sixty seconds!”

  Taking my own advice, I sorted through the new and old gravestones and had my zombies toss what was needed and collect the new. I’d finished the task by the time Fylreh had gotten the last gravestone tossed down from above. Zocuth was in the process of having his squad’s zombies collect them up, while Gykac’s scouts were done looting the corpses and were making their way back up to the outer wall.

  Getting a quick bloody hug and lick from Neysa, I told her to be safe as she rolled her eyes at me. For a second, I just stared at her. Honestly, I didn’t even know what to say. I’d never before had a dog in the real world roll their eyes at me. ‘Are you really comparing me to a dog?’ the droll thought knifed through my head as I mentally sighed in response. Sometimes, telepathy wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be. Bumping up against me ha
rd, Neysa’s tongue lolled out in a laugh as she bounded off further down the wall.

  Shaking my head, I glanced down at Helgath who hid a smile at our antics and snorted, saying. “She’s not the one repelling down towers without even knowing what they’re doing.” Ignoring the Half-Orc’s comment, I headed after Gykac as I began updating the raid’s command channel about what I’d learned of the Flame Shield. By the time I’d reached the top of the wall, Zocuth had his people moving. Giving Fylreh a silent nod to thank her for the overwatch support, I raised my voice.

  “Let’s move out!” As we headed off down the wall, a series of fiery explosion suddenly ripped through the lower section of the city near the docks. Seeing everyone’s startled looks, I grinned picking up the pace. “Looks like Thomas just turned up the heat!”

  ***

  “They’re right behind us!” Kenzie’s urgent voice rang out in Thomas’ ears as the sexy rogue sprinted all out. “And they’re pissed as hell.”

  “How many took the bait?”

  “Looks like two other collection teams joined in on the hunt,” the woman grunted as a fiery explosion blew out fire and rubble in front of her from a near miss. For a moment, she had flash backs of dodging mortar rounds while running patrols in Kandahar when she’d been doing her tour in the sandbox. “Call it fifteen in total. All of ‘em are lit up like Christmas trees.”

  “Too bad we’re not pulling this assault at night.” Thomas snorted at the thought.

  “You’re telling me,” Kenzie’s natural sarcasm was instantly back as Thomas bit back the grin that came to his lips. The tough as nails marine always did her best when the rubber hit the road. “The first volunteers should be coming around the corner in ten seconds.”

  “Volunteers?” Thomas asked with a snort. “Kenzie, you really need to look up the meaning of that word. Being told you’re being used as bait is NOT volunteering.”

  “Whatever,” Kenzie spat, ignoring the interruption. “From what we’ve been seeing, figure a minimum of five hundred points of damage each to take down their Flame Shields. Also, I’d place that mortar blast of theirs at a max range of twenty yards.” She reported, her voice turning uncharacteristically grave as another explosion rocked the street in front of her. “Just be ready for us.”

  “We’ve got you,” Thomas said reassuringly, doing his best to keep Kenzie calm. They all had certain buttons that gave them flashbacks more than others. For Kenzie, it was mortars. From the sounds of the approaching explosions, the coming battle wasn’t going to be a walk in the park like the others they’d had.

  Like the others? Thomas mentally snorted in derision at his choice of words. Easy like what, taking on a Sea Orc mini-army or stopping the Sekolahians invasion and taking on the High Priest? Thinking back to that twenty-seven foot long Great White shark, he chuckled darkly. Star never seemed to get a break on encounter rolls. The man seriously had the worst luck whenever the shit hit the fan. And to think the rest of them volunteered to be in on this action, only a marine would call this fun.

  All joking aside, the only thing Thomas could do was hope that the trap he’d managed to set before the enemy got into position would do the trick. If not, they were going to get their asses kicked plain and simple. Well, not from this small group, but from the main force right behind them. Pushing the negative thoughts away, he switched to his group’s local raid chat and calmly called out to his gathered forces. “Okay everyone, stay sharp. We’ve got civilians incoming in five seconds. Do not attack … I repeat, do not attack.”

  Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, a group of terrified civilians came running around the corner into the intersection. Most were women and children, but there were a handful of men in the group. A quick count as they ran past gave him eighty-nine civilians. Seeing Trent Carnell, the Team Leader that Assault Leader Dell had assigned to him, raise his eyebrows in surprise, Thomas just shrugged.

  “She must have picked up a few more civilians along the way.” As soon as the words left his mouth, the booming sounds of another pair of explosions rang out close by as Unalia stepped out into the middle of the intersection. Parts of her armor were still burning and her hair was visibly singed from the near miss as she raised her bow and took aim. Suddenly, her hand blurred as she sent an arrow-burst up the avenue.

  Next, Neristhana came into view as she sprinted around the corner, before flattening herself against the wall as a deafening explosion rang out. Immediately, stones and debris rained down across the intersection. Unconcerned, the ranger continued her deadly barrage as a death scream ripped from someone’s lips. Tinyr appeared on the far side of the intersection a second later, booking it as fast as his legs would go.

  Seeing Unalia standing out in the open hammering the PKer’s with her arrows, he anxiously looked up the street before angling his flight in her direction. When he was almost on top of her, Tinyr leapt at her in a dive-tackle that sent them both sprawling to the ground as a flaming ball crashed through the space she’d just been standing in a second later. This time, Thomas and the twenty soldiers standing next to him were covered in debris as the missile created a small crater in the cobblestone road. As the troopers nervously shifted around him, he saw Assault Leader Dell, on the other side of the intersection with another twenty swordsmen, unconcernedly draw his blade and offer him a salute.

  Meeting the professional warrior’s smile with one of his own, Thomas drew his blade and returned the salute as he called out confidently into raid chat. “Groups one and two, ready your spears and prepare for battle. They’re almost on top of us.”

  A second later, Kenzie flew around the corner going full tilt. Seeing Tinyr and Unalia climbing to their feet in front of her, she grabbed them both by the scruffs of their Cuttle leather armor and hauled them after her at a flat out run. Seeing Thomas and the line of troopers in front of her, she hurriedly reported that there were only fourteen left. As she plunged through the line of spears, the four PKers who were chasing her tore around the corner. Six out of the seven in the lead still had their Flame Shields up while the seventh obliviously stumbled around the corner looking like a pincushion as he struggled to remove an arrow from his cheek, when Thomas voice cracked like a whip.

  “Attack!” Instantly, a virtual wall of twenty jagged Orc spears flew into the Dread Pack members at nearly point blank range. Only two of them actually did any damage, as the PKer struggling with the arrow fell back howling in agony from the two spears piercing his chest. Two of the Flame Blasts the men had prepared were sent astray from the shock of the sudden confrontation, while the last four blasted into the line of shields that his troopers had thrown up as the last seven members of the impromptu raid came whipping around the corner.

  Without waiting for orders, his men released another wave of spears at the enemy as the PKers raised their hands and fired. Within the blink of an eye the Flame Strikes smashed into Thomas’ troopers just as a new wave of spears slammed into the Dread Pack members’ backs. As shouts of alarm rang out amongst the shocked players, their Flame Shields winked out one after another as Assault Leader Dell drove his swordsmen into the PKers’ ranks.

  The meaty sounds of swords and axes chopping into flesh filled the air even as Thomas called out the order for his own troopers to charge. Five of his swordsmen were down, writhing on the ground in agony as the rest of his men charged into the scrum with a shout. Before his blade could cut into the first PKer, Thompson was already healing the wounded with his Light magic.

  Driving his sword into a Dread Pack member’s chest, Thomas Shield Bashed the man to the ground and used his sword to pin the player’s head to the cobblestones. Shouldering his shield, he whipped the Mortician’s Sword Cleaver from his back as the man clumsily fumbled at the blade sticking out of his forehead. Lifting the massive two-handed cleaver over his head, Thomas triggered an Execute, beheading the man in one fell swoop. Quickly looking around for another target, a wolfish grin split his lips as he saw the last of the Dread Pack mem
bers being cut down by his men.

  “Excellent job, everyone.” Thomas said happily clapping the closest troopers next to him on the back. “Now let’s loot so we can get into position for the main attack.” Getting a chorus of affirmatives from the troopers under his command, he began collecting his weapons when Assault Leader Dell stepped up to him with a shit eating grin on his face.

  “Sir, the last group sent to take control of the graveyards reported in that they were in position just before we commenced the attack,” the serious man reported in excitedly.

  “Out fucking standing,” Thomas replied excitedly. While not exactly thrilled to being called “Sir”, in his current situation the title fit. “That means none of those assholes will know what happened to their people. Any update from either Star or Scout Captain Dherler?” Shifting uncomfortably at the casual use of his liege lord’s name, Assault Leader Dell replied smartly.

  “Scout Captain has cleared a large portion of the wall, but has run into some stiff resistance that he says he’s handling. Sub-Leader Eevro reports that they’re nearing the main gatehouse.” Getting a nod from Trent that they were ready to move out, he signaled for the Team Leader to lead the men out as he and Dell followed. “Sub-Leader Eevro, that’s Zocuth, correct?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “So, Star’s group didn’t run into any resistance?” he asked, somewhat surprised, under his breath.

  “No, Sir. From what the Sub-Leader explained, they ran into heavy resistance.” Assault Leader Dell uncomfortably ran a hand through his hair. “As per the Dark Elf, he’s been using some odd methods to clean those rats out.” Seeing Thomas’ questioning look the professional swordsman held up his hands to stop any further questioning.