World Tree Online: The Order of Epic Grinders: 4th Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  “Anything tastes good with the right spices,” Rock countered. “Just need to find the right cook.”

  In all of our preparations for this raid, we didn’t take into account all the wasted crafting materials. We had a couple of players with ‘Skinning and Tanning’, but they struggled with the dragons. My group had decent levels of ‘Scavenging’ which helped but having Sooty along would have helped so much more. As it was, we were burning a lot of corpses, literally leaving a lot of meat on the bone, spoiled meat, but still meat.

  Olaf barked a laugh. “Good luck with that. Alright, if there is nothing else. Rose, light him up.”

  Rose clapped her shields together and locked them into place and activated her skill at the same time she shouted, “Charging!” Rose blurred and crossed the distance nearly instantly. Her shield wall impacted the large drake, and she was stopped cold.

  The drake instantly looked down at her and kicked at her with one of its large front legs.

  Rose blocked with her Shield-Wall still locked together and slid back a few feet. She separated her shields and shifted back in. She struck with the edge of her left shield into the leg that kicked her. Then the other leg kicked her, completely bypassing her shield, and nearly killing her.

  “Rock, get in there,” Olaf ordered, still holding everyone back from attacking. “Cover that other leg.”

  Rock blurred from view before his shoulder slammed into the leg that just kicked Rose.

  Thankfully, Rose rolled with the hit and came back up onto her feet some distance away. The leg Rock wasn’t tanking had started to move to kick him, just as it had her. Rose activated her charge again, intercepting the leg and saving Rock.

  With both legs covered, the drake reared back its neck and sucked in a great big gulp of air.

  “Breath attack incoming!” Olaf yelled in warning.

  Rose quickly interlocked her shields and raised them over her head. Rock tucked in next to her and raised his shield as well. The flames enveloped them and the ground around them for twenty yards. If any damage dealers had been near them, they would have been quickly toasted.

  As the flames died, one of the drakes legs started swiping toward Rose and Rock. “Heavy, go,” Olaf barked, pointing to the moving leg.

  Heavy moved just as the other two had, activating his own ‘Charge’ skill, blurring from view. He arrived just in time to block the swipe from cleaving through Rose and Rock. It cleanly cut Heavy’s HP in half. After the flame damage Rose and Rock suffered, it would have definitely killed one or both of them if Heavy hadn’t blocked it.

  The drake screeched in frustration. It tried kicking with its legs, left then right, only for one of the three tanks to block the attack. It had a lot of power as evidenced by the damage the tanks took even when they successfully blocked an attack. The only saving grace was that it moved relatively slowly. The tanks generally had enough time to move and block the attacks.

  The drake began sucking in air again.

  “Heavy, out!” Olaf barked. “Rose, Rock, breath attack incoming!”

  Heavy ran as quickly as he could to get out of range of the breath attack while Rose and Rock raised their shields again. And again, when the drake ran out of breath, a clawed foot swiped toward them. And Heavy was there to block the attack.

  “Alright, we’ve got the pattern,” Olaf yelled, a smile splitting his face. “Light it up!”

  We had all been anticipating that moment. The moment when we could unleash hell on the first boss.

  I took to the air once more, smiling as I soared upward. I flipped around and shot back down. As I fell, I noticed a glowing spot on the back of the drake, a weak spot revealed by my ‘Hit Them Where It Hurts’ skill. It was a patch of exposed spinal bone. I adjusted my trajectory slightly and slammed down, unleashing ‘Storm Lance’ at the same time, unleashing holy lightning crashing through the undead monstrosity. The damage it caused was . . . astounding. The red -25,347-HP floating away from the drake due to the critical hit dropped the drake’s HP by almost 6% in that one hit. I immediately leaped again and crashed down with ‘Divine Lance’, hitting for -9,344-HP, and weakening it for my next spell. I leaped again and crashed down with ‘Burning Lance’ for -8,565-HP and adding the damage over time effect. I leaped again, ‘Divine Lance’. I leaped again, ‘Earth Lance’. I leaped again, ‘Divine Lance’. And just like that, I had found a rotation.

  I was so lost in my damage dealing and just having fun, that I didn’t hear Olaf’s warning until I saw the drake turn its head toward me. I was standing on its back having just landed again. It was taking a deep breath, intent on cooking me. But I just smiled. “Come at me, bro!” I said with a laugh. As soon as the flames started coming out of its mouth, I jumped again, watching the flames bear down on the spot I had just been standing. I let out a whoop of triumph when I saw the drake had just lit itself on fire. Its skin may have been resistant to fire, but this drake’s hide was covered in tears and holes from the rot and decay of being undead.

  As quickly as the fire breathing began, it ended just as abruptly. Screeching in pain as the fire burned through its body and inflicted significant damage to the point that it was losing 1% of its total HP every second. And then I saw it, another weak spot. And there I was with ‘Storm Lance’ off cooldown. I shot downward, intent on capitalizing.

  “Get it, Jack!” Rose cheered, doing her best to keep the drake’s attention despite the massive aggro I was inflicting.

  I smiled wider, leaping again. This was what I could do with my new class. This was, dare I say it, fun.

  Olaf, ever the pragmatic leader kept his focus on the fight. I heard him yelling, “Tanks, reacquire aggro, his SP and MP won’t last forever!”

  Olaf was right about that. It was something I should have been paying more attention to. I needed to drop aggro fast and recover my SP and MP. These were things I would need to look into as soon as this Raid came to an end.

  When I landed next, I shouted, “Disengaging!” I leaped into the air and away from the drake. I hoped the distance would make it forget about me or at least give the tanks a little time to regain the aggro needed to keep its attention.

  “You’re insane, Jacko,” Pwn cheered as I landed behind his group. “Maybe you’re not so bad after all.”

  I laughed at that. “Thanks, Pwn. You’re still a jerk,” I said as I pulled my canteen from my bag. “But you’re our jerk,” I added then taking my first swig.

  Pwn laughed. “Just wait until we’re in a space where you can’t jump around like a frog out of water. Then my damage will smoke yours.”

  “Whatever you need to tell yourself to get through the day,” I joked back, then swapped canteens to restore my MP.

  “Less chit chat, more pew-pew,” Jelloshot chided the both of us.

  “Oh, blow it out your-” Pwn started but was cut off by the drake screeching even louder. A quick look showed the elder drake just hit the 60% mark and started stomping its feet up and down and smacking its tail on the ground.

  Suddenly, all three tanks were on their backs as were the melee damage dealers.

  “Arch, shield on the tanks!” Olaf shouted urgently as the drake looked to be taking in a deeper breath than usual.

  I didn’t see Arch, but I did see the golden dome spring up over the tanks, completely negating the blackish red fire that suddenly blasted down on them. Then the fire started rolling outward, rolling back on itself before bursting outward, then rolling in again and bursting out even further.

  “Everyone, get back!” Olaf shouted, leading the retreat of the midrange damage dealers and the healers.

  Unfortunately, the order was too late for the melee damage dealers, all of their names suddenly went grey in my UI, signifying their deaths. That was Micaela, Heath, Dawn, Gomez, and Basher. All of them were dead in an instant. The only thing that spared me was landing so far away.

  As the fire continued getting larger, it was decided that even the range damage dealers should fall back. />
  The wall of fire finally petered out around the 50-yard mark. Back at the epicenter, the tanks and the drake were all that remained. But most importantly, it looked like the drake was weakened.

  “Attack!” Olaf bellowed, running back into range, his guns ready to fire. He added, “Healers, get those tanks topped off. Bye-bye, get back in there. I want this thing dead! Now!”

  I took one final swig of water from my canteen and leaped into the air. I didn’t want to waste whatever time we had in attacking the weakened drake, so I didn’t go any higher than I usually did. I came down hard. ‘Storm Lance’ arcing into a highlighted weak spot and the back of the drake’s skull. Weakened boss was no joke. In that one hit, I dealt -57,598-HP. I stripped away 13% of its health in just that one attack.

  “Bye-bye, hit him again!” Olaf shouted, firing his hand-cannon.

  I didn’t hesitate. I leaped up again, 5-seconds up, 5-seconds back down, and sending a ‘Divine Lance’ shot to the same highlighted weak spot. It didn’t hit as hard as my ‘Storm Lance’, but I would still happily take -49,991-HP damage.

  “That is so broken,” I heard Rock complain before I went up again.

  I was doing everything I could to put out as much damage as possible while the boss was weak. There was no way I wasn’t going to push myself now, especially if that weak spot wanted to stay highlighted while the drake was weakened. I only got one more hit in with ‘Burning Lance’ before the boss recovered. And by then, it was too late. We had put out so much damage in the roughly 45-seconds it was weakened, this fight was as good as over. It had just 21% of its total health remaining.

  I leaped again. While I was in the air, I saw the boss’s HP cross the 20% mark. I also saw it start stomping its feet again. But there was no barrier appearing over the tanks. In fact, it looked like they were also trying to run for it. I was about to use my ‘Zephyr of the Open Field’ to get clear while I was still in the air when I saw something unexpected. The top of the drake’s muzzle was highlighted. In fact it was flashing red as opposed to the usual constant pale glow.

  I knew I should have gotten clear. We could have continued trying after this next event and while the drake was still in a weakened state. But that meant sacrificing the tanks. But it was flashing red now, wasn’t it? Decision made, I redirected, aiming for the flashing red of the drake’s muzzle. I slammed down, spear first with ‘Storm Lance’ surging forward and starting some kind of chain reaction.

  The drake’s mouth slammed shut just as the flames were about to catch up to the tanks. It’s cheeks bulged, glowing fiery red and electric blue. The neck started expanding and lighting up with the same red and blue until it reached the drake’s chest. The drake went still as the expansion ended and collapsed inward only to expand again and explode.

  I was sent careening through the air, caught in the shockwave. I was barely able to control my landing and transfer the impact damage into the ground.

  When I looked up from my fall, I saw it clearly. The elder drake had fallen. The players were cheering raucously. The first boss was beaten.

  Olaf let them cheer for a minute before he began barking orders to resurrect the melee fighters, replenish mana and stamina. Instantly, everyone got to work.

  “Bye-bye, get over here,” Olaf bellowed, grinning from ear to ear.

  “Way to go, Jacko,” Pwn said with a nod. It almost seemed . . . friendly. “Though maybe next time, you don’t get the rest of the melee killed, yeah?” That was more like him.

  I jogged over to the waiting Olaf. “You rang?”

  “So . . . you are . . . how should I put this?” Olaf wondered aloud. “You are . . . ridiculous,” he said with a laugh. “I mean, did you see you up there . . . never mind, you couldn’t have seen yourself. Let me just say, that was quite possibly the most amazing damage dealing I’ve ever seen.”

  I felt my cheeks heat up with a blush. That was a lot of praise coming from the big man. “Anyway, I want to make sure you’re rewarded, and we’ve got loot, mate. We’ve got a lot of loot,” Olaf said with a laugh and a clap of his meaty hand to my shoulder.

  “Hey, no special treatment,” I said. “You don’t want people thinking you play favorites.”

  Olaf looked at me like I had grown a second head. “Bye-bye, you clearly don’t understand what you just did. If I don’t reward you, players are going to question whether or not I’m fit to distribute loot. Now, I’m not saying I can give you everything, but I promise, you’ll be well rewarded.”

  I frowned. I didn’t feel like I had done so much. I just . . . did what I was supposed to do. I reluctantly accepted.

  “Alright, I’m going to go sort through the loot and figure out what we should be prioritizing. I’ll be speaking with Rose, Duncan, Mic, and Icyhot to see how they rank everyone’s performance. Not having damage and healing tables is going to make performance analysis a pain,” Olaf complained, walking toward the corpse of the drake where I saw the three tanks working in concert to keep everyone back.

  I saw I had several flashing notifications in my periphery begging to be reviewed.

  You’ve learned ‘Hit Them Where It Hurts’ subskill ‘Deathblow’

  Skill: Hit Them Where It Hurts

  Rank: I

  Level: 29

  Experience: 18.11%

  Description: Combat and life or death battles have taught you how to aim carefully for any vulnerabilities in your opponent.

  Skill Effect (Passive): Striking the weak spot of an enemy increases your chance of dealing a critical strike by 12.90% and increasing any damage dealt by 12.90%

  Subskills:

  Deathblow

  Skill Effect (Passive): You have a 0.29% chance to spot a critical weakness that when struck will kill the target instantly.

  Well, that’s a ridiculous skill. Though having a less than 1% chance to kill an enemy instantly countered just how powerful it really was.

  Hidden Quest: Deadliest Dragon Hunter – Completed!

  You killed a boss of the dragon family and were personally responsible for dealing more than 50% of the total damage.

  Reward: +250,000-Experience, Title: Greater Dragonslayer

  Ooh, hidden quest, and a new title.

  Congratulations! You’ve reached level 29!

  +1 to bonus Holy Spells, +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +2 Intellect, +1 Charisma

  That was unexpected. I knew I’d gained a lot of experience from the sheer volume of monsters, but I didn’t realize I was close to leveling up.

  Title: Greater Dragonslayer (Increase damage against dragons and those related to Dragons by 25%. When you slay a dragon or one related to dragons, you have 0.05% chance to receive rewards unique to your race or class.

  Okay. I have received some enormously powerful and exceedingly useful titles in the past. None of them compare with what I just got. Greater Dragonslayer was amazing. Not just because we were about to enter a tower rife with dragons where any boost to my damage was welcome. No, it had more to do with the miniscule chance that any dragon we killed had a 0.05% chance to drop a reward unique to my race or class. I didn’t even know such things were possible. I immediately activated the title. I didn’t care how jealous anyone got because I got the title, it was too bad for them. Except that I saw almost everyone now had a Lesser Dragonslayer title. I knew the Child of Issara title would do more for me for my level and stat gains, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity that Greater Dragonslayer afforded me in the upcoming tower.

  Unique! Unique! Unique! I don’t know how many times I repeated it in my head but . . . Unique! Just one unique reward for my race or class would make it all worth it, no matter how mundane it might seem to others.

  I was finally pulled out of my daydreams when Olaf called for everyone to pay attention. “Gather around, everyone, gather around,” Olaf started. “I know you’re all eager to see the loot and we’ll get to it in a minute. First some business. Now, something Mic and I decided before we even formed our Order, was that
we want to make sure we acknowledged the MVP of each boss fight. I doubt any of you will disagree that the MVP award for this fight goes to Bye-bye Jacko.”

  I was surprised when there was clapping and cheering including several people patting me on the back in congratulations.

  “Now, being MVP isn’t just about getting the pat on the back. Again, Mic and I talked about this at length. So, not only do you get a pat on the back. You get first choice of loot from that boss. Think of it as incentive for all of you to try harder,” Olaf shouted over the cheers and excited whispers.

  Olaf let the players talk for another minute before he waved everyone quiet. “Alright, to the three alternates, Icy Frost, Fiery Blaze, and Gomez Drac, you will all get a shot at the loot from this boss. But as soon as we move inside, I need the three of you to make your way back to the Flatlands Camp and let Sergeant Butters and the others know we’ve made it inside. Please be patient, I promise, you’ll get your turn to raid with us, if not in this raid then in a future raid.”

  I didn’t realize Fiery and Icy were alternates, but I suppose it made sense, they were two of the last players to join the Order.

  “Okay, at long last, the moment you’ve all been waiting for,” Olaf said, pausing for effect. “The loot!”

  Everyone cheered excitedly.

  “We’ve got twelve drops, all mystic quality armor and weapons, or skill and spell scrolls,” Olaf announced, getting yet another excited cheer from the players. “Now, we’ve done our best to categorize what dropped, based on roles. Obviously, a two-handed ax can only really be used by one person. However, if that person decides there is something else, they want more, then the ax goes into the Order vault. There it can either be purchased by another Order member at a reasonable price, or after 90-days it will be sold in the Root City auction house to help fund the Order. This is just an example. I’m not saying an ax dropped.”