by Domino Finn
I spun defensively, keeping a bead on the lizard's stride, predicting where it'd be ten seconds in advance. Azzyrk was five deep behind my attackers. Not bad. When I found an opening. I first swung a few lazy strikes. Just another day at the office, batting weapons away. The goblins shrieked and taunted me.
Then I came at them with a doozy.
The next half-hearted swing straightened in my grip. I braced the butt of the spear to extend my reach. Without blowing my skill, I punctured a goblin's neck. Not too deep—I didn't want to overcommit. I threw the spear tip sideways, ripping his throat open and shoving the shaft into the next one's chest. I missed the neck this time but the body hit was solid. The spear sunk as I pressed ahead.
Two goblins down. One dead, one badly wounded. That left an opening in the line, right between them. I yanked the spear backward and moved my grip up its length, holding the point closer to my body. I triggered dash and skidded through the goblin ranks, past the dying two and the next pair. The third and fourth rows hadn't considerately given me a clear path, so my dash ended as I nailed another goblin. The iron tip went straight through him, caught an unlucky imp who happened to be leaping behind, and finally dug into the flesh of another goblin. My weapon was now weighed down by three flailing pagans.
Crown Unlocked: Monster Kebab
Skewer at least 3 humanoid monsters on a stake.
1000 XP awarded
As I kicked the dying creatures off my spear, the rest of the company caught up to my quick strike. The horde closed around me. A dagger stabbed my side. A few slashes grazed my back. The general's lizard was converging on the target position but slowing in the face of danger.
It was now or never. I triggered tornado spin.
In the tight quarters, half my spear extended in front of me and half behind. I suddenly twisted, a vortex whirling too fast to count the revolutions. Both ends of my spear blew the horde away, bashing and chopping for massive damage. The entire attack took only two seconds. When it was done I stood in a wide stance in the middle of the pagan army, two yards of clearance in a full circle around me. Bodies littered that space. The goblins on the edge of my death circle reared in terror.
On cue, the general's lizard strolled into the edge of the space I'd created. It tried to turn to safety, but it didn't have that kind of maneuverability.
"Hey," I shouted, "Azzhole!"
The goblin general's eyes widened. He was only ten feet away. Only partially obscured by a single goblin.
I canted my spear upward toward the mounted general. My dash was still cooling down, but I'd saved deadshot just for this.
A debilitating blow struck my body. My head jerked sharply with whiplash as I flew sideways, bowling over a line of pagans.
Critical Hit!
44 damage
Shock!
You are in shock. You may not use skills for 60 seconds.
Goblins cushioned my fall. I landed mostly on my feet and facing the new threat.
A sickening gray face with a long nose glowered at me. The troll was back, standing nine feet tall, its frame both malnourished and well-muscled at the same time.
[Troll]
240 Health
I spat blood as Azzyrk disappeared into the mass of his army. Safe in the herd.
My side was pounding. I'd have a huge bruise in the morning. Small miracle that nothing was broken. A bigger miracle would be taking on the troll at half health without skill usage.
Step one was utilizing an advantage enemies in Haven didn't have. I downed a health potion. My life bar crawled back up but the shock effect was still active. To make matters worse, I'd leveled past the point that health vials were useful. The additional 40 health wouldn't max me out. If I survived this, I'd need to start investing in better supplies.
"Human bonessss," hissed the troll. He sounded weak, like a cute, psychopathic grandpa. "I will boilsss you in a sssstew."
"I'll die first," I said. Then I paused. "Wait, that came out wrong."
The troll stomped closer. His gray skin was damp and covered with warts. His orange hair was mangy and moldy.
"Leavesss him to me, noisy brotherssss," he said.
The other pagans gave him ample clearance. Without another hint of pretense, the troll hammered a fist downward.
I recoiled backward as he pounded the goblin I'd been standing on. I could've run, but this was an ideal time to counter. I charged forward with my spear. The iron had trouble against his leathery flesh, but the resistance eased as I punched through.
Instead of doing his best goblin impression and screaming like a bitch, he punched me again.
I tumbled to the ground without my weapon. The hit wasn't critical. I'd seen it coming and he wasn't able to wind up. He'd reacted instinctually to ward off pain. Whether he showed it or not, his health bar didn't lie. It wasn't much, but I'd damaged him.
The troll pulled my spear from his chest and turned it on me. "Thissss is the great pagan killer?" he chortled.
His health bar flashed and slowly refilled to maximum.
"Uh..." was all I could say.
He stabbed forward with my weapon. You don't expect a nine-foot-looker like this to be so fast, but he was. I jumped backward and waited for my shock to wear off. Luckily, the surrounding pagans weren't joining in. None of them came at me.
"Talon! Get down!"
I barely had time to respond to Izzy's voice when a hail of spikes flew over my head. They riddled the troll, pounding him and opening up his flesh. He covered his face and patiently waited for the onslaught to end. Then he smiled as his health bar fully regenerated.
"You've got to be shitting me," I said. "OP."
Overpowered was right. Here was a creature with tons of health. By the looks of it, a great crit might be able to take him halfway down. But he completely healed in seconds without requiring action on his part.
"OP AF," I added.
He stomped toward me. I backed away. My retreat wasn't getting me any closer to the wall, but I couldn't risk getting near this thing. As I stepped over a goblin corpse, I scanned the ground for loose weapons. Nothing doing. I sighed and drew my whittling knife. Maybe the troll had some pencils that needed sharpening.
He sneered and stood to his full height, taking large steps to close the distance between us.
Two crossbow bolts sunk into his belly.
He barely flinched at the small things. As with the ogres, he took them like a champ. But the corrosive liquid pumping into his system twisted his face in rage. Smoke rose from his belly like a science experiment. The troll let out a brief squeal.
I lunged past my spear and slammed my body into his. The knife sank to the hilt, which isn't saying much. Before the troll could pound me, I yanked the spear from his grip and rolled away, flipping the point on him. He recovered too quickly for me to strike and kicked forward. I had to retreat again.
After all that, the troll had lost a fifth of his health. I waited for it to heal but nothing happened. It must've been the DoT. It was fighting against the troll's regeneration. We'd need about a thousand more acid bolts, but we could do it.
"Killsss the archer!" snarled the troll.
Pagans produced bows and slings. A warlock cast a fireball, and from all the way down here I could see Kyle smile. I was just regaining my feet when I realized my predicament.
"Oh, crap!"
I dove to the ground as Kyle expertly deflected the fireball toward us. The scorching flames roared past my head as the troll watched in deflated disbelief.
The fireball engulfed him. Something about his oily skin took to the flames. The orange mass rushed over his body. The giant troll writhed and buckled to his knees. I sprinted toward him and vaulted.
Not my vault skill. I was still in the final seconds of the shock effect and I couldn't risk waiting. So I jumped with the assistance of my spear to the best of my natural ability. It didn't look cool and I landed a bit wobbly, with a boot on each shoulder—but I did it. With two hands, I
heaved my spear down into his skull. It answered with a satisfying pop. A straw in a coconut.
Critical Hit!
You dealt 84 damage to [Troll]
I leapt head over heels backward to the ground, my boots singed and smoking and me doing a cartoon dance to put them out.
Between being brained and burned, the troll's life bar had been obliterated. But he wasn't dead yet. He held on, clawing at the bloody dirt. Another two special deliveries from Kyle plunged into his side.
"Boilsss you in my sssstew..." he said weakly.
The fire and corrosive continued draining his life and preventing his regeneration from kicking in. I walked up to the slobbering troll and drove my spear into his mouth. The abomination slumped to the ground as his skin turned to ashes.
BWOOOOOM!
You have reached Level 6!
My breath heaved in and out. I bent over, hands on knees. My health and spirit maxed with the blue fire. The quick level was surprising, but it hadn't just been the troll. Crazy XP flooded in due to the battle. Kyle and Izzy were likely seeing similar gains. I took a breather as an entire line of pagans stared at me in awe.
I gathered my confidence and stood tall. Goblins and imps backed away. An ogre watched warily from a distance.
I tightened my grip on the spear and took a menacing step toward the entire pagan army.
They stepped backward.
That's right, motherfuckers. I was caught up in the rush of power and strode toward them.
Their jaws dropped as they stared upward, faces shining with eerie light.
My brow crinkled.
Slowly, I turned around to see what the army was staring at. I had to look up and squint, but there it was: the most beautiful and devastating thing I'd ever laid eyes on.
An angel hung in the sky, clothes flapping in the wind. Above his head was his name in golden letters: [Decimus]. And among an entire battlefield of individuals, he was focused entirely on little ol' me.
0500 Halo
Decimus was a sight to behold. Strips of white cloth hung over his shoulders and around his waist. His arms extended upwards, each with a golden vambrace and silver sword. His hair was cut short and black, his jaw chiseled. Decimus was both the perfect human form and perfectly uncanny. A doll. Too precise to be real.
Statuesque even, which wasn't all that surprising since he'd once been a statue.
His eyes were wrapped with a white blindfold that didn't seem to affect his awareness. The angel's gaze, if you could call it that, remained on me as he descended. He lowered down to the battlefield, his bare feet gently padding the ground, all the while pointing his two swords skyward.
Despite being bathed in a golden aura, the pagans grew bold at seeing the enemy so close. On their level. The army surged, converging on us both.
Without turning to face them, the angel waved a sword at their line. Every other man ten rows deep was instantly decapitated. Heads bounced and rolled across the battlefield, still fixed in anger. They hadn't even had the opportunity to be surprised.
A tenth of the pagan horde's total ranks, decimated. The angel lived up to his namesake.
Amidst their crumpled front line, the rest of the goblins didn't need further instruction, but their general gave it anyway. Azzyrk slithered in on his lizard and regrouped his men. "Leave the angel be!" he ordered. "The pagan killer will receive his judgment. Leave the angel be!" The general pointed to Orik, smashing against the wall, siege engines following close behind without resistance from the harried defenders. "We go for the wall!"
The pagans cheered and rushed past us, kicking the heads of their fallen. I stared at Decimus, hand clenched on my spear.
[Decimus]
Unique Angel
??? Health
He zeroed in on me through the blindfold. "Talon," he said with a radio-friendly voice. "You are in violation of the terms of service. You will be expunged from Haven."
After my change to the beta flags, I wondered if it was still possible. My profile now resided in permanent storage. Could I really be deleted for good?
If anyone could do it, I had no doubt this angel could. His resoluteness, his might, was omnipotent.
"You're fighting against yourself," I pleaded. "I'm defending the city."
"The defense of Stronghold is not my purview," he said plainly. "Men die. Cities fall. My programming bars me from interfering with the game."
"It's not a game," I grated. "This is my life."
His lips tightened. "Your life is precisely why I'm here."
The angel stepped toward me. Kyle's crossbow clicked in the distance. The glass bolt popped against an invisible orb surrounding Decimus. Just like the soulstone.
"Okay," I reasoned. "You can't interfere with the game, right?" I backed away from the approaching angel. "By killing me, you'll be affecting the game. This battle, the fate of Stronghold—you'll be altering it all."
"Men die," he repeated. "Cities fall."
Jeez, he really did sound just like Lucifer.
"It's not just the city," I urged. "It's the Pantheon. If the pagans break in, they'll take control of Haven."
"That doesn't violate my edict. I do not exist to enforce control of the simulation; I exist to bring it balance."
I grumbled. This wasn't getting anywhere. I hefted my spear and triggered dash and deadshot together.
Nothing happened.
I tried again but the skills were in cooldown. I'd spent their spirit cost and they'd been used up, but they hadn't activated.
Decimus stepped into range. His sword flashed. I dove away but he clipped my arm.
Critical Hit!
65 damage
I fell to the floor and rolled to my feet. My health bar read 76/141.
Impossible. That had been a glancing blow. No way it deserved a crit. I chugged another healing potion but was answered only with an error sound. It was too soon to dip back into the well. It didn't heal me in the slightest.
I backtracked as Decimus swung with his other arm. This swipe only caught a piece of my boot.
Critical Hit!
65 damage
I buckled to my knees. 11/141. I wasn't fast enough. I wasn't gonna make it.
My skin tingled. A massive aura of white suddenly enveloped me. This was it. My final bow.
I was being deleted.
I panicked until I noticed Caduceus atop the wall waving a [Holy Rod].
Greater Holy Light!
For the next 30 seconds, you have the ability of Greater Regeneration.
My health rocketed up much faster than a mere health vial could muster. I wasn't sure it was fast enough to stave off the angel, though. Before I reached 65 health, Decimus slashed at me again.
This time I spun and triggered crossblock. It worked. My spear parried his sword. Despite nearly jarring my weapon loose, the deflection didn't slow him down. He merely turned with the momentum and sliced his other sword across my chest.
Critical Hit!
65 damage
I tumbled backward. I wasn't dead. My health flashed down to 9 from the hit before greater regeneration pumped it up again.
Fucking cheater. Decimus was throwing undeserved crits left and right. My health steadily filled but, even with the buff, I wasn't a tank. I couldn't keep absorbing everything he had and stay breathing.
On the wall above, Izzy's face filled with worry. She cast an attack but her spell fizzled out. "What the?" she worded.
The angel was protected against physical attacks by a golden aura. Offensive skills couldn't be used against him. His dual blades were enchanted with 100% chances of criticals. This was getting very bad, very fast. The only think I could be thankful for was that he couldn't just swipe his arm and cut me down as he had the goblin army. Maybe he didn't have that power against players.
Limits. If he had that one, there had to be others. That meant there was something I could do.
I lengthened the spear in my grip to fend off his attacks. He came at me
with an even pace. Never slowing, never relenting. Once again I blocked the first attack but got hit with the second.
Critical Hit!
65 damage
Down to 3 this time. Decimus was simply too fast to avoid.
The red robe on the wall rushed to my aid. Stigg added a buff to my arsenal.
Berserker's Frenzy!
For the next 30 seconds, your physical skills do not require cooldown.
I was at a third health already. My greater regeneration was cranking hard, but it wasn't fast enough to overcome the angel's onslaught. One more hit in the next several seconds would kill me. My last health potion might not be completely useless, depending how much time had elapsed since the last one, but it would also lower my defenses, practically guaranteeing a follow-up hit. Then I'd be left lower than before, in the same position as now.
One hit and I was dead. I had to hope the berserker's buff would be enough.
Decimus swung, content to continue the tactic until I defeated it. I knocked his sword away and he mechanically moved in with his other weapon. Too fast to dodge by normal means.
I triggered dash. This time, I was careful not to use it as a charge. That would fizzle out for sure. A slanting dodge? Well, I wasn't sure it would work. If it didn't, I was a goner. But it was a defensive move, and crossblock was working out. I slid across the dirt and slipped under the angel's weapon for the first time.
I was behind him now, more or less, standing back to back. Now standing within the angel's orb of protection, I reversed my weapon and thrusted it at his exposed back. The weapon struck true. Unfortunately, it glanced off nothing but white silk. The blow was deflected without causing a single point of damage.