by Shawn Wyatt
Wish stood akimbo and fired Spiritshards at the ape with machine-gun like speed, pelting the monster over and over again. Small, angry wounds marked each point where the magic pierced its flesh.
I loaded a Lightning Shot round into my revolver and pulled the trigger. With the moisture and steam in the air from the melting ice, the Lavaback was in a prime position for added lightning damage. I felt the activation mana surge from me as the shell left the chamber. In the blink of an eye, lightning arced around the gorilla, bright tendrils of energy that writhed and shivered across its body.
And the added water damage from my pistols enhanced the effect further.
Quinn and Bastion stood back, ready to support when needed. Bastion couldn't dodge fast enough, so he stayed clear of the monster's fists. Boris waited, his hackles up, until the root effect wore off. The Lavaback made to move in our direction, but a taunting roar from Boris pulled his attention away.
Bastion cursed. “All that and he’s still over 75%?”
I nodded. “He’s a damage sponge, but we managed to seriously hurt him with that round of attacks. And Rune is still going at it.” The Olympian Berserker remained embedded in the Lavaback’s shoulder. He used one axe as a handhold and battered the monster with the other.
“Same approach?” Evey asked.
“Yeah. Pin him, hit him hard, rinse and repeat until dead.”
“Let’s do it,” Wish said. “I owe him for taking out one of my wolves.”
The battle continued in the same way for ten minutes. The Lavaback, despite its size and immense strength, lacked speed. It landed nothing more than glancing blows. The attacks whittled away its hit points bit by bit, bringing the monster low with every strike.
The moment its HP hit 35%, the Lavaback changed its approach. It reared back and let out a screech that shook the trees around the clearing and made us cover our ears.
The monster continued to screech, stopped to draw breath—and unleashed a stream of hellfire straight from its maw.
I tried to dodge. My skin bubbled and cracked as the searing flames washed over me. I heard screams of pain from my companions, and a quick glance at the status meter showed multiple burn debuffs and varied amounts of damage. Rune was the worst off, just under 20%. He lay on the ground in front of the Lavaback, groaning in pain.
He had taken the brunt of its attack, his plate mail armor blackened with soot. It amplified the heat back onto him and cooked him inside his own armor.
The Lavaback stalked across the clearing, its head on a swivel—looking for its next target, I imagined.
I staggered to my feet and took aim. “Bastion, can you move? We need heals."
The Prophet of Truth grunted from behind me. “A bit scorched, but okay.”
“I’m going to draw its attention. When I do, can you hit us with a group heal? Dedicate a lot of the power to Rune.”
“Got it.”
I squeezed the trigger. My revolver bucked in my hand, the familiar recoil a small comfort in the face of the monster ape. The Lavaback's head snapped toward me with hatred and he took one massive step in my direction.
Bastion sprinted into the center of the clearing, slammed his sword into the ground, and took a wide-legged stance. A flare of golden light bloomed around him and coalesced into a thick fog.
I didn’t have a chance to see what the rest of the spell did. The ape leaned forward and charged. Each step threw up a cloud of dust. A Spiritshard slammed into it from where Wish stood, her clothing burnt and eyebrows missing, but the ape ignored the attack, his entire focus locked onto me.
“An enrage timer on a normal mob,” I muttered. I leapt sideways as the ape galloped past me. It tried to turn and change direction, but its feet skidded and it tumbled into a tree. It wouldn’t be down for long.
Two bullets tore through the air and into the gorilla, knocking off another portion of its HP—and once more drawing its attention toward me.
I took another glance at the battlefield. Bastion stood over Rune, pouring healing energy into the Berserker. Under his plate mail, flesh knitted together and burns vanished under the holy light of Bastion’s spell.
No one had full HP, but the spell had taken everyone out of the red zone. My party prepared their attacks, ready to launch the final volley that would end the monster’s life. All I had to do was keep it distracted.
Two more bullets did the trick. The Lavaback charged me, but a volley of arrows and spells in its back made it stumble, fall, and lie still. The light faded from its eyes.
I sat down on the ground with a sigh. “Well done, everyone. That was tougher than I expected.”
“Tougher than you expected? Ren, it was literally called a Lavaback. Did you think it would be easy?” Evey’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
“I had faith you could do it! I just didn’t expect that fire breath attack. Or that phase change.”
“Neither did I,” Evey said. “If that’s what normal monsters are like on this island, what are the ones guarding the quest items like?”
Chapter Twenty Seven: Golem
“You just had to ask,” I groaned. Dozens of small, semi-rounded rocks lay scattered across the ground between us and the weathered entrance to the temple. I almost stepped on one close to the edge of the trees before it rolled away and let out a high-pitched warning cry.
“What do you think they are?” Evey asked. She poked the nearest rock with a stick. It moved to avoid her, rolling to the left and right. “They seem intelligent, or at least aware.”
I scanned the clearing for any sign of a trap. The forest had grown eerily quiet after we defeated the Lavaback, and I waited for the other shoe to drop. But the clearing lay empty of any obvious danger.
Except, of course, the rocks. The trees stopped well before the temple steps, but the rocks lay in piles every three feet. “I have no idea,” I said.
“It’s totally a trap.” Wish petted the head of one of her Spirit Wolves. She had resummoned the one that fell in battle as soon as the fight was over.
“I agree,” Bastion said. “They might explode.”
Evey paused midway through poking the rock with her stick. “Right. I hadn’t thought of that.”
I bit back a laugh. I doubted the rocks would explode, but semi-intelligent rocks in front of a temple could not be good news. “I don’t think they will,” I said. “But there are so many of them. Can anyone get a read on what they are?”
Around me, the party members shook their heads. “All I get are question marks when I focus on the rocks,” Rune said.
“Quinn? Any bit of lore or knowledge you picked up about this place?”
The Swashbuckler shrugged. “I’m as confused as you are.”
I sighed and drew my pistol. “Well. We can try to find a way around them, or we can tackle the obstacle head-on and see where that takes us. Everyone topped off? Mana and health?”
“Are you sure this is the best approach?” Evey asked. “We could try to rig a system to carry us across. Or try to step our way through.”
“And if someone tripped or fell, we would be in the middle of the entire group with no easy escape route. If we start the fight on our terms, we can run if needed. Besides, you were the one poking it with a stick.”
Evey leveled a glare at me. “I wanted to see what it would do.” She rolled her shoulders and pulled an arrow from the quiver on her back. “Shoot it already.”
I squeezed the trigger. The shot rang out and slammed into the rock with a sharp crack. The stone exploded into a cloud of dust.
After a moment, Rune spoke. “Nothing happened. Guess they are just rocks.”
An eerie crooning sound started in the center of the clearing and spread to the outer edges. The stones rolled backwards and forwards and then backwards again, then on top of one another to form clusters. Those clusters joined with others to make even larger groups.
“Ren?” Evey’s voice held a note of uncertainty. Already the rocks towered over our heads. “
What’s the play here?”
“Run.”
I darted into the forest, and I could hear the others close behind. Whatever formed out there in that clearing was big, and I didn’t want to try to fight it head on. Even if that had been my original plan.
We plunged through the undergrowth into a denser part of the jungle before pausing to catch our breath. The sound of stone grinding against stone was audible in the distance. I looked back over my shoulder. “Everyone okay?”
I received a bevy of thumbs-ups and nods. “Why did we run from that? We could have taken it,” Rune said.
The moment the stones began to roll together, a sick feeling had formed in the pit of my stomach. “I think it’s a golem or a construct of some type. The way the stones started to come together makes me think it’s a single entity rather than a swarm. And golems tend to be strong.”
“Yeah, axes aren’t effective against rock,” Bastion pointed out. “So what’s the plan? We have to get past that thing to get into the temple.”
“Guys. Do you really think all I’m good for is bashing things with my axes? Give me some credit,” Rune said. “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.” He reached into the pouch at his belt, the one item that all players had that defied any laws of physics, and drew out a pickaxe. “I took up mining as a profession back on Toris.”
Rune shrank from the look Wish threw his way. “I have observations,” she said, no hint of emotion in her voice. “First, you chose mining as a profession on a world with no mountains to speak of or rocks larger than a baseball. Second, what trick do you have up your sleeve? Do you intend to mine a golem?”
“Mining has always been a good choice in MMOs!” he argued. “But no, I don’t plan to mine the golem. Not exactly. But this will deal a decent amount of damage to it since it’s made of rock.”
“Evey, can you scout ahead?” I asked.
She nodded, stepped into the leaves, and disappeared. I shook my head; I would never get used to her Forest Walk ability. After a few minutes, she returned. “Looks like you were right. Definitely a golem. Hefty, too. I couldn’t get a read on its HP, but it’s a level 30.”
I fought to hide my surprise. “Great.” A level 30 monster would be the strongest foe we had gone up against yet. The level 28 Lavaback had almost wiped us out. I didn't relish the idea of fighting something two levels stronger than that. “Let’s figure out a way to take it down. What did it look like?”
“Pretty standard. Two legs—thick, but no kneecaps—and a large torso. The monster didn’t have arms, exactly. There were protrusions all around its body.”
I tapped my finger against my chin in thought. “Could you make out any of the smaller stones on the monster?”
Evey nodded. “You could pick them off on their own. They hadn’t fused together, if that’s what you mean.”
“Might be some type of healing ability involved with that,” Bastion said. “We can knock rocks off, but how long until they reform?”
“Bladed weapons are out,” I said. “So are teeth and talons. That means half of our attack power is gone from the start. Anyone that can deal blunt or spell damage can fight the golem head on, but everyone else will have another job to do. Evey, how mobile was it?”
“Not very.” She grimaced. “It moved with huge, exaggerated steps. Like I said, no kneecaps. But despite that, it was still fast. What are you thinking?”
“It has to have a weak spot. If we find that and then take out a leg, it will give us a chance to deal a lot of damage to it in as little time as possible. We’ve got to fight smart on this one.”
We spent the next ten minutes talking strategy while the distant thud of the golem’s footsteps shook the ground under our feet.
I crouched in the undergrowth at the edge of the clearing. The temple’s entrance lay fifty feet ahead, but the golem patrolled a route back and forth in front of it. The golem had rushed toward a rock thrown at the entrance. Running past it was out of the question.
The only way into that temple was to through the golem. My party hid in thick clumps of leaves around the clearing. Wish and Evey waited opposite of me. Evey had once again activated her Forest Walk ability, which meant she was nigh invisible. At the far end of the clearing, furthest from the entrance, Boris and Nova prowled the jungle with Quinn. The Swashbuckler had not been keen on the idea of being alone with both of the animals, but his rapier would be useless in the fight.
He would be a distraction. Bastion bid between the rest of the party, ready to heal anyone that went down in the fight.
“Are you ready?” I whispered.
Rune knelt beside me under a huge leaf and nodded. “I’ll aim for the leg that’s most damaged.” It had been a painstaking process to sneak to this side of the clearing with his plate mail jingling the entire way.
“Let me get a few shots off and see what happens first. Wait for my signal.”
“You got it, boss.”
I rolled my eyes, but Rune just grinned. He had come to enjoy teasing me about my role as the de facto party leader. But ever since that first raid, everyone had looked to me to make decisions.
Just as they did now. They waited for my signal to start the attack. Trusted me to guide them through a fight that could end in our deaths.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and willed my heartbeat to slow. No matter how many times I found myself in combat, the rush, the exhilaration, and the fear remained the same. “Let’s do this,” I said.
The golem walked toward the other side of the clearing. It had no “back” to speak of—only more rocks jutting out of its round torso, support by twelve-inch-thick legs. A walking tower of volcanic stone, twenty feet high.
I looked for any crack or chip in its body, any spot that might indicate a weakness. Its legs were the obvious targets.
The golem stopped in place as my bullet slammed into its right leg, the Freezing Shot sending ice up and over the limb. Its torso spun in place, but it made no move toward where we rested.
HP meters appeared over both its legs, its torso, and over every one of the protrusions on its body. Dozens upon dozens of hit point bars flickered to life surrounding the monster.
“Rune? You see this?”
“Yeah. Looks like each segment is an individual target. That could make this…difficult.”
My first shot had frozen the leg and held the golem in place for—but it also froze the stones in place. I aimed and fired again, watching another Freezing Shot slam into the same leg. “The first shot had already started to melt. This one will freeze it again and dislodge the stones. I hope.”
“Look at you, using physics to win a boss battle. A testament to skillful game design.”
I rolled my eyes once again at Rune. Now was not the time for jokes. The moment the root effect wore off, the golem lurched in our direction. It moved slowly, as if unsure of where we were.
The creature wasn't observant, but with the amount of defensive ability it had, it didn’t need to be. It could just pummel its foes into pulp.
A thin layer of frost crept out of the forest from the other side of the clearing and raced across the ground, silent in the wake of the golem’s footsteps, until it surrounded the creature and began to creep up its legs.
“Now!” I shouted.
Rune raced from cover as I fired two more shots. I had loaded two Desert Bullet shells into my guns, and they impacted in seconds of each other. The ice around the golem’s leg superheated and exploded into steam, and the HP meter on that leg dropped by a quarter.
Rune used his momentum to bring a savage, heavy blow down on that same leg with his pickaxe. The first strike knocked off 10% of its HP, and every subsequent blow dealt another 5%. Rune struck three times before the torso began to spin and turned each of the rocky protrusions into a battering ram.
The Berserker leapt back out of the way just in time. “That’s enough!” I shouted. “Fall back for now.”
I readied Bombardment. The moment Rune was ou
t of range I activated the spell. Explosions rained around the golem and caused severe damage to the torso. The ability outright destroyed seven of the protrusions. But there were dozens more to deal with, and the force of its spinning body had protected the legs from any damage.
The golem had almost full HP. The rocky protrusions had taken damage, but the right leg remained the primary target. A screech from high above was the only warning Nova gave before the falcon dove toward the golem. She pulled is attention away from Quinn and Boris' hiding place.
If that leg gave way, the golem would topple—and would be a much easier target to take down. I glanced to where Wish sat crouched in the bushes and nodded. Her hands moved through the intricate motions for Frostfield, and ice once more crept up the golem’s leg.
I followed her spell with another Freezing Shot. The ice had brought the golem to a halt. The eerie crooning had returned, but a note of rage undermined the sound. The monster knew it was stuck.
I fired another Desert Bullet at the creature’s leg, waiting for the explosion of steam, but the heat wasn’t quite enough.
And I didn’t have another shell to follow up with.
Bastion sprang from his hiding place in the bushes, sword drawn, and brought it down hard on the golem’s leg. Flames roared from the blade and burned through the ice. Steam exploded from the strike.
The blast sent Bastion tumbling head over heels and knocked off 15% of his HP, but it finished off the golem’s leg. The rocks burst apart. The massive creature tottered in place on its remaining limb. Unbalanced.
Boris sprinted forward with a roar and slammed into the golem, knocking it away from the party. The monster leaned, toppled, and fell to the ground.
Now was the time to strike.
Chapter Twenty Eight: Riches
I launched another Bombardment in a tight circle. The explosions overlapped and blanketed the golem in fire. Rune waited for the smoke to clear before he darted in with his pickaxe and hammered the protrusions. Wish launched a cascade of Spiritshards into the golem’s torso.