by Lars M.
"That... doesn't sound too bad, though," Lyle objected. "Why don't we just pull 'em into the tunnel here and finish the maggots first?"
I shook my head. "I'm afraid the fly would fit inside. Here, it wouldn't even have to worry about hitting us. It could just bowl us over, and let the maggots take us down."
Darya sounded up. "Then we take out its wings. Fly wings are paper thin. One or two good attacks at the wings, and we would be able to contain it on the ground instead."
"Great idea... except its wings are coated with dark magic." I ducked my head. "Sorry. I don't enjoy this any more than you guys. Anybody else have something? Anything?"
Darya frowned. "Sorry. I've got a handful of decent traps, but not enough to finish the maggots off quickly. And against a flying beast..." she shrugged.
Silence fell as we speculated. I was getting a clear sense of impatience through the bond. What was taking us so long? As for myself, I was drawing a blank. Maybe we could go back to the village, see if we could convince some fighters to come help us...
Arack cleared her throat, causing everybody to look at her. "You're not going to like this."
"Arack..."
"It'll work, though," she continued, the words rushing from her. "You said it yourself, right? The maggots are slow. And they're dumber than Talen after a bottle of Ache. I attack the maggots, get them chasing after me, and you guys finish the fly. Then we take down the maggots together, safe and boring."
"Arack..."
"What? If you're not going to let me help, why did you even let me come? So help me Thracken, I will-"
I spoke over her as she blustered, "Good idea."
She continued her rant for a bit until her head got caught up. "Excuse me?"
"I said it's a good idea. Risky, if the fly decides to go for you, but it's better than anything I can come up with. You guys?"
Lyle shrugged. "If she's up to it, it beats whatever I can think of. Also, I really don't want to leave them here to grow."
Darya didn't look completely convinced. "On one condition: promise not to cut it too close! If things start to go south, you warn us, and Arcangelo and I will fend them off while you guys run for it."
Arack promised and looked sincere enough that I decided to believe her. We talked over our approach a bit further, and moments later, we were standing at the edge of the chamber, waiting for Arack to sneak into position. I experienced a massive sensation of deja vu as we lay in wait, peeking at the monsters from afar. Atlas was positioning himself on the back of one of the pillars, close enough that he'd be able to fire at will, while he'd be out of reach of the maggots. Meanwhile, we had the dubious pleasure of being able to see just how badly they'd trashed the place. Let's just say: Keith Richards would be proud. Where the dwarf brothers and Othell had simply left a negligent mess, with body parts and occult stuff laying everywhere, the animals had completely torn the place apart. Every corpse had been consumed, leaving excretions and other unmentionable piles all over the place. Add to that the dark magic flowing out, and you ended up with something that looked like a poo demon had consumed a barrel of nuclear waste and chased it with a batch of Carolina Reaper chilis. The stench wasn't far off, either.
The maggots were exactly like the ones we'd encountered earlier, with a blue challenge rating. I had no doubt that Arack would be able to outpace them. Still, keeping them annoyed with her and keeping them concentrated in the far end of the room was an entirely different animal. The [Giant Dark-infested Fly] looked like something torn from a nightmare on an insect-heavy night. The animal itself was horrendous enough as it was. The four wings were slightly pointed at the end, and the magic-covered appendages looked sharp enough to cut. The mouth was ringed by a set of mouthparts that looked like curved knives. Dark goo dripped ceaselessly from its jaws. And the body... At first I'd thought it was covered by a carapace of sorts. Now I could see that the entire body, where it wasn't smothered with darkness, was bristling with coarse hairs. My kingdom for a molotov cocktail, I thought. Fire was sure to work well on something as hairy as that.
From behind a pillar at the other end of the chamber, Arack gave us a thumbs up. I took a deep breath, trying to center myself. The success of our plan hinged on the outcome of the next few seconds. "Send him to the Pits, Darya." I whispered as we snuck into the large room, hot on her heels. Eschewing stealth, she scrambled to the first place where she had a clear line of sight on the fly.
From the far end of the room, we heard Arack's voice yelling out cheerfully. "Well, aren't you the ugliest things ever? Let's fix that." A dull thud followed her shout, only to be drowned out split seconds later in a cacophony of keening and buzzing.
Darya ignored all of the noise, focusing on her target. A brief touch of magic light whirled around her arrow as she raised the bow, pulled, and released with a grunt.
I held my breath as the glowing arrow sped toward the giant fly. The fly had jumped into the air with surprising speed and was already homing in on Arack. My spirits sank as I realized the projectile was off target. If we didn't manage to divert the fly, this plan was doomed from the start. Every single one of my spells would be out of range. I prepared to sprint forward to pull the beast’s attention toward us.
"Wait." The relaxed tone from Darya stopped me in my tracks. My hope soared as the arrow veered off course to follow the hairy giant. With an imperceptible sound, it bored right into the hindquarters of the airborne fly.
A high-pitched buzz arose from the fly and its wings beat with greater intensity as it swerved, refocusing its attention on us. "Amazing. You're incredible, Darya."
Her eyes were focused on the monster, but as she pulled back a second time, a feral grin adorned her face.
I jumped into motion as well, readying myself and yelling. "We've got this. Lyle forward, get ready." The armored tank approached the vermin, taking his place well ahead of the rest of us. A second arrow flew true, slamming into the fly’s thorax, burrowing its way deeper. The fly buzzed forward, its erratic course set for Darya. The moment it passed by the pillar where Atlas hid, I sent a mental instruction. Attack.
There was no way the chameleon could miss from that distance. Atlas scampered back to the other side of the pillar, hiding, as the poison wad flew straight into the back of the monster.
Once it crashed, Lyle would be able to pound on it, and afterwards, Lyle, myself and Atlas would take turns stun-locking the damn thing until it was down. Except the spell didn't take. Perhaps it hit a magic-covered spot. Perhaps the fly merely resisted the attack. Regardless, the thing didn't even register that it had been struck. I sent out a hurried Stun Blast, making sure the cone was angled high enough that it wouldn't hit Lyle.
This time, it didn't fail. The wings of the beast stalled, and it rapidly lost momentum. It seemed like the ugly insect was going to crash land, and Lyle started running towards the impact zone. Just before impact, however, the fly started beating its wings again. The movement was stuttering and uncontrolled, but the fly did briefly manage to avoid the imminent crash and change course. Straight towards Lyle. The brawny knight barely had the presence of mind to raise his shield before himself, let alone plant his feet. We could only watch as the out-of-control monster careened into him. The impact flung his body back, and he went sliding across the floor.
There was no time for conscious thought. Lyle was down and hurting, but I couldn't see whether he'd been seriously injured or not. "Darya, pull him to safety", I yelled and went on the offensive. The giant fly was stumbling to its legs. From its halting progress and shaky movement, I could see that the stun had taken, but the bug had clearly resisted some of the effects. I ran straight at it. The moment it started to get up, I blasted it with a Sonic Push from the side, flinging it back down to the ground. While it was downed, I opened a Stream of Songs, hosing it with magic damage from up close. "Crowd control? Try pest control," I muttered.
Seconds later, I switched tack. The beast was stumbling back up, regaining its senses quick
ly, and there was no frigging way I'd be able to take it down in time. I scrambled away, engaging my Veil of Sound and telling Atlas to attack. Attack, already! The buzzing was loud enough that it felt like my teeth were vibrating from it. I looked over my shoulder to see a hairy foreleg fill most of my vision and jumped desperately to the left. Once again, my crappy agility failed me. Pain tore through my leg as it was ripped from under me, along with two thirds of my health, and I fell to the ground, hard. I rolled over to see the hairy insect standing right above me, ready to pounce. I prepared myself to at least send a final Sonic Missile down its throat.
As the beast jumped at me, I released the Sonic Missile and closed my eyes. I had no interest in having the final image before respawn be that ugly bastard. Picture my surprise when nothing hit me, except for a confusing medley of sound. Seconds later, Darya's voice growled at me, "Move it, will you? Lyle needs help." I scanned the chamber in confusion. An arrow whizzed past me, and I followed its path to be clued into what had just happened. Lyle was picking himself up from the floor, hefting his shield and mace. The ugly insect was several meters away, on its frigging side. Apparently, Lyle was a firm believer in the 'eye for an eye' philosophy and had rammed full tilt, shield-first, into the airborne fly, tossing it away.
"Woo! Nice one, Lyle," I yelled. I wouldn't be able to handle another hit, an agility debuff was taunting me from the edge of my vision (like I needed it), and I was hurting everywhere, but we were finally where we wanted to be. Judging by the wobbly movements of the fly, Atlas had finally managed to stun it, and I started dealing out damage. "Back to the original plan. Keep it on the ground," I shouted. Even as I called out, the insect tried to take off. A well-timed Sonic Push ruined its plans, along with its balance, allowing Lyle the opportunity to get a two-handed bash in. The moment the fly regained composure, I let a Stun Blast fly, and suddenly we had a rotation going. Darya did an inordinate amount of damage, and I roared in satisfaction as one of the two giant eyes closed for good from a particularly well-placed shot.
We were slowly grinding the bastard down. After a handful of adrenaline-fueled minutes, we'd whittled the monster's health down to about 40 percent. Darya and I were popping out every other second from behind pillars, taking potshots at the fly. I was doing alright mana-wise, even though I'd started limiting my damage output in favor of saving for stuns. In between spells, I managed to spot Arack at the other end of the chamber. She was laughing. The crazy kobold was howling with laughter as she slid between two maggots, flinging a throwing dagger into one of the snarling mouths. A single maggot already lay dead at one side of the chamber. I tore my attention back to the fly, shaking my head. Maybe we should've spent more time worrying about ourselves.
I had barely had that thought when the fly switched its approach. Until now, it had remained almost stationary. With its movement suppressed by the constant stuns from Atlas, Lyle, and me, it had limited itself to walking and small jumps, assisted by its wings. This time around, however, it backed away, only to jump straight at Lyle, flapping full force with its wings. The knight was prepared and managed to deal a massive blow to the head, caving in part of the skull. Even so, he was unable to arrest its momentum, and the beast continued straight overhead, stabbing straight down with its razor-sharp forelegs as it passed. I was ready with a Sonic Push to keep it away from Lyle, but our tank was not what it was aiming for. I debated keeping it off-balance anyway, but with Lyle unable to distract it, there was no way we'd be able to keep it from gaining flight. Even as I stressed over the possibilities, the beast ignored another arrow that impaled its thorax and took it down to quarter health. Instead it chittered angrily and became airborne. I glanced at Lyle, who was fighting to get to his feet. It looked like the fly had rattled him, and he bent over, holding his stomach. Nervously, I called out, "Darya - what do we do?"
Her growled reply wasn't much help. "Let me think!"
The fly flew in an erratic half-circle, dodging and weaving to avoid our attacks. Unknowingly, its course took it far from Atlas, and his shot missed by several meters. "Darya?" I could hear the panic in my own voice, but I was really unsure what to do. Move forward? Backward? Even a glancing blow would finish me at this point. Lyle was slowly limping towards us, but from the pain on his face, it wasn't looking good.
Darya spoke up. "Okay. I've got this." She hit the pillar with a hand and then ran towards the creature. She shouted, "When I say when, you lift me up. Hear me?"
"I've got you!" I called back. She was long gone, though. The fly was speeding up, zooming in on her at a terrible pace. Its mouth parts were opening and closing in anticipation of an afternoon snack, goop flying everywhere. She glanced behind her while running, once, and sent a hurried arrow at the insect. The fly dove at her, chittering, and she swapped her bow with a dagger, yelled "NOW," and jumped. Focusing every iota of my concentration, I summoned a Sonic Push right beneath her.
It's really easy to get anthropomorphic in situations like these. You're emotional, stressed, and hoping for things to turn out a certain way. Even so, I felt certain that the reason that the fly's mouth hung open was due to it being completely flabbergasted. It was moving in for the kill, all limbs focused and dedicated to the finisher, when suddenly Darya disappeared from view. Her upward motion launched her clear over the head of the monster, and in mid-air, she twisted, lashing out with a furious stabbing motion at the base of its wing.
The monster screeched and tried to switch direction mid-flight, only to discover that its left wing refused to operate. The end result came as the massive insect tumbled to the ground side-first, sliding through the black goop to crash straight into Darya's pillar in a massive din, only meters from me. I wanted to look for Darya - in no way was that landing going to end well. Except... I'd never get an opportunity like this again. Activating High Tide, I shot a Stun Blast straight into the downed monster and proceeded to hit it with everything I had. A Sonic Missile followed a Sonic Wave, slamming straight into its ugly face before it had managed to regain its bearings. I switched straight to a Stream of Songs, abandoning every thought of mana preservation as I emptied everything I had into the monster. Midway through, Lyle dragged himself over, kicking the bottom end of his shield into the fly's battered face and proceeding to pound the hell out of it. The fly lay damaged, sightlessly attacking, unable to regain its bearing at the unrelenting waves of attacks that threatened to end its life.
My spell fizzled out with a dirty, prolonged 'flerp' sound, and I found myself weaponless, blinking the perspiration out of my eyes. So goddamn close. The health bar had all but disappeared. Lyle threw caution to the wind and laid into the monster with no thought for self-preservation. His health was already at a third; any second now, one of the monster's flailing limbs was going to connect and end him. For want of something better, I equipped my old one-handed spear and prepared to charge in. I took a deep breath - only to halt my suicidal charge at the last moment. I stared in surprise at the grisly sight of an arrow sinking into the neck of the giant fly and burrowing itself even further, until the feathers were the only visible thing. With a mighty sigh, the fly lay still, and a huge puddle of black goo spread from the corpse.
Lyle and I backed away, staring at the puddle and then each other with huge eyes. Then we started laughing. I couldn't help it. That had been too close. A hoarse voice approached us. "Hey." Darya looked pretty battered. Her braids were in disarray, and her arms were a mess of bruises from the impact. Her eyes were filled with resolve, however. "Let's rest when we're dead, yeah? We don't want Arack to have all the fun." Lyle and I nodded and hurried to assist her.
We made it. It wasn't pretty, and it sure as hell wasn't fast, but we actually killed all the maggots. We went back to the original plan and pulled a slow retreat, using stuns to keep the maggots from becoming overwhelmingly dangerous. Once in a while, Lyle would swoop in after a Stun Blast and bash away to his heart's content. Otherwise, it was a mess of arrows, daggers, and glacially slow mana and vitalit
y regeneration. We were almost back to the entrance when the final stinking beast fell to the ground after mortal contact with Lyle's mace.
By unspoken agreement, we left the place before crashing to the ground amidst groans, complaints, and sighs of relief. We spent a while just breathing the fresh air and enjoying the rays of the afternoon sun.
Lyle was the first one to regain his speech. "I can't believe we made it. That was too gods-cursed close. Beren must have been on our side."
Darya giggled. "Yeah, gravity definitely wasn't on your side."
I snorted in laughter at the unexpected comment. "Darya!" I exclaimed, "Don't make fun of Lyle. It's not his fault. " I waited for a moment before continuing, "He simply forgot that people are supposed to swat flies, and not the other way around."
"Hey! You're all terrible people and you should be ashamed of yourselves." That just made us laugh even harder, and even Lyle joined in after a bit.
I plonked my head back down and spoke to the clouds above. "Seriously? You were all amazing. Pride of place goes to you though, Arack. I can't believe you did it - and not a bloody scratch on you."
Her voice bubbled with excitement when she spoke. "I know. I was like a leaf on the wind, teasing them, forever just out of reach. Em - and throwing daggers. By the way, Uncle, I'm going to need some extra clay balls."
"Used them all already? Well done. Well done, indeed. I'll do you one better. I'm spending the evening crafting - and I'll make sure that you're fully stocked." With the day's activities, I had no doubt she'd already leveled up her Throwing skill even more. That and her impressive agility, and I had no problem arming her to the teeth. Add one hyper-agile kobold grenadier to the team, please. I cleared my throat noisily. "However, if that's to be a possibility, it means that we need to get moving and finish this."
Groans sounded from all around.
"Yeah, I know. I prefer to actually be able to breathe. Still, don't tell me you guys aren't curious to see if there are some materials worth a damn down there."