“That thing smells disgusting,” Olivia complained.
Bunny immediately corrected, “Everything about that slug is disgusting.”
We were currently in the middle of a large swamp, using islands and land bridges to get around with minimal difficulty. All around us was a thick green muck, covered with so much scum and algae that you couldn’t really see past the surface except in a few scattered spots. And even there, in the clearest spots, you couldn’t see more than a few inches down.
The ’slug’ that Bunny was referring to was our latest monster, an enormous blob that had to be twenty feet across. It was a slimy mass of green algae, which was so thick that I couldn’t tell what color the thing actually was beneath it, and it had simply risen out of the muck where it had been hiding, completely submerged.
A horrific stench filled the air, one which was even worse than the already nasty smell of the swamp itself. It smelled or rot and decomposition, with a sulfurous edge that made the hairs in my nose want to curl up.
“I can’t get close,” Turtle yelled out. “Not when it’s in the water like that…”
“I sure as hell ain’t swimming to it,” I said, firing an ‘Invocation of Spite’ at the monster. “It looks like we have to kill it at range.”
A slimy black tentacle suddenly burst out of the water and wrapped around my ankle, yanking me off my feet and pulling me towards the muck. Ramirez reacted in an instant, fast enough that I almost would have thought that she’d had a few points slotted into agility. Her spear came down on the tentacle and severed it, which released me from the monster’s grasp.
“Thanks,” I said as I quickly got back to my feet.
“Watch out for hentai shit,” Bunny called out.
“But that’s my favorite genre,” Ace joked.
More tentacles emerged from the water and reached for us, though the monster had already lost the element of surprise. Turtle’s sword came down on one tentacle while Sir Fluff sliced at a second. My own dagger cut through a third right before it could grab Ace.
“The monster,” I reminded everyone. “We still need to kill it.”
“GET THE SLUG!” Bunny ordered.
Her rabbits, including Sir Fluff, stood at the edge of the land, looking down into the muck and then out at the monster. None of them made a move to go into the water, which seemed to frustrate Bunny, though she didn’t order them to continue.
“Focus on the tentacles,” Bunny told her pets, who immediately shifted gears and attacked the new batch of tentacles.
Olivia and Ace both attacked the monster at the same time while I focused on the tentacles until my ability recharged. Between, me, the rabbits, and Turtle, we were doing a good job of keeping the tentacles under control.
Ramirez dropped her spear and shield and switched over to her crossbow. One bolt hit the monster, then another. Black ooze began to leak out wherever it was hit, but not enough to indicate a serious injury. As far as I was concerned, that just meant that we had to hit it even harder.
Our fight took forever, far longer than any other fight that I’d been in. It was a fight of attrition, with us hitting the monster as often as we could at range while fighting off the tentacles. We couldn’t do much damage with any one attack, but over time, we started to bleed it down.
“Death by a thousand cuts,” I muttered as I fired another ‘Invocation of
Spite’ at the monster. That was the tenth one I’d used in this one fight, and it was really taking a toll on me. I was shaking and exhausted, but that didn’t stop me from continuing.
“We’re almost there,” Bunny said.
Olivia grimaced and fired another arcane blast. “My staff is completely drained. I won’t be able to attack as often until I can recharge it.”
The giant blob was deflating like a balloon with a leak. It had dozens of holes punched through its body, each of which was leaking that nasty black goo that seemed to fill the thing. Now, it was about a third of its original size, with its mass sunken in and floppy. Tentacles were still coming at us, but not nearly as many as there had been.
“Damn, that hurts,” Ace cursed.
His arm was covered with blisters where one of the tentacles had grabbed hold of him a minute earlier. Turtle had immediately cut the tentacle free, but the mucus that covered the tentacle had left a nasty reminder.
“This is my last bolt,” Ramirez warned us as she fired a final crossbow bolt at the monster. “I’m out.”
Another small hole appeared in the monster’s body and even more of the black goo leaned out. The monster blob began sinking and rolling over, revealing its bottom side, which was a solid mass of tentacles, making me think that this thing might be like some sort of giant jellyfish.
“I can’t keep doing this much longer,” Ace said with a grimace as he opened fire with two more blasts from his scepters. He winced at that, though from the pain in his arm or from exhaustion, I didn’t know. “I’m about tapped out.”
“We all are,” I said.
The monster twitched and flailed a little more before finally going still. Black ooze poured out of its body and filled the swamp around it, enough so that I could no longer even see the green scum that had covered the surface before. When it finally stopped moving entirely, a popup appeared in front of me.
YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 10
I let out a sigh of relief and immediately brought up my stat screen.
CLASS: INVOKER
LEVEL: 10
FREE STAT POINTS: 1
FOCUS: 10
PERCEPTION: 7
PRESENCE: 10
STRENGTH: 7
VITALITY: 11
DEXTERITY: 6
AGILITY: 7
TALENTS AND AFFINITIES:
-PRIMAL MAGIC
--DIVINE TYPE
-KNIVES
ABILITIES:
-INVOCATION OF SPITE
I quickly scanned my stats before adding the free point into vitality. With the way I was feeling, the extra help would be more than appreciated. I felt the effects almost immediately.
“I have a new ability,” Olivia announced triumphantly. She stared off into space, obviously examining her status screen or one of the popups. “Actually, I have a choice of three new abilities to pick from.”
“That’s awesome,” Bunny said excitedly.
Ramirez dropped to her knees in exhaustion but looked up at Olivia curiously…and with a bit of jealousy. She seemed a bit frustrated, probably due to having not unlocked as a player in spite of what we’d just gone through.
“Three different abilities,” Olivia mused. “Three different energy types.” She began to grin. “For some reason, I have a very good feeling about one of them, so I’m going to pick it and…”
A moment later, Olivia began laughing. “What?” Bunny asked. “What is it?”
“It looks like good news,” Turtle offered.
“Oh, it is,” Olivia agreed, looking rather smug. “I just unlocked a new subtype affinity.” Her grin broadened. “I have a specialization now.”
“Congratulations,” Turtle told her.
“Yeah,” Bunny agreed. “Congrats.”
“Awesome,” Ace agreed.
I nodded my own approval and said, “Good for you.” Then I moved over to a semi-dry spot of land, one that wasn’t covered with tentacles or black monster blood, and I took a seat. “Smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em.”
We rested for a good half hour before it was time to get up and start moving again. All of us were still sore and tired from that fight, especially Ramirez, who didn’t have any extra stats to help her, but it wasn’t safe to remain where we were.
As we left that location, I noticed that Ramirez had left her crossbow behind. I didn’t blame her for that in the least. All of her ammunition had gone down into the muck when the monster sank, and there was no way she was going to try recovering those bolts. And without crossbow bolts, the crossbow itself was just extra weight to carry around.
“So,” Ace asked Olivia as we walked. “What is your new ability. You didn’t say?”
“I suppose I didn’t,” Olivia responded a little smugly. “If you tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine.”
Ace chuckled at that. “Touche.”
“Wait,” Bunny called out, suddenly looking serious.
“What is it?” I asked. I looked around but didn’t see any immediate threats.
“There’s something ahead,” Bunny said, tilting her head as if to listen. “I’m hearing a lot of movement…”
Ace looked around, then said, “I don’t hear anything…”
Bunny let out an exasperated sigh. “I’ve been slotting points into perception lately. I figure, if I’m not fighting directly, I should at least improve my ability to spot danger.”
“Good thinking,” I told her with a nod of approval. Bunny flashed me a quick grin before looking back ahead of us.
“Do you know what it is?” Ramirez asked.
The summoner shook her head. “Nope. My perception isn’t that high yet.” Then she chuckled. “But there is a way to find out.”
With that, Bunny gestured, and the three horned rabbits ran off ahead of us. At first, there was no problem, but a minute later, we found the threat. Dozens of small creatures began emerging from the muck around us and climbing onto the dry spots. They were small, no longer than six inches long, resembling piranhas with legs. And they immediately pounced on the horned rabbits, destroying them in seconds.
“Those things look hungry,” Ace said with a grim expression.
“What big teeth you have,” I commented, noticing the oversized head and jaws which seemed to be overstuffed with sharp teeth. “I do NOT want to get bit by those things.”
Just as everyone was preparing to fight, Olivia called out, “Wait. This is the perfect opportunity to test my new ability.”
“Go ahead,” Turtle said, though he stepped up close to her and kept his shield ready. “But do you mind sharing what it is first?”
Olivia held out her hand and then there was a pulse through the air, a wave that spread out in front of her and hit the approaching monsters. It hit the monsters like a shockwave, sending all of them flying back. Half the little monsters were injured if not dead.
“What was that?” Ace asked in surprise.
“My shockwave,” Olivia answered smugly. “I have a new specialization in force…which means that this ability is stronger than it would be otherwise, and so will any of my future force abilities.”
“Very impressive,” I said.
I looked at the remaining monsters, thinking about using an ‘Invocation of Spite’, though I decided against it. Going through that kind of pain and stress wouldn’t be worth it against one of those little guys. And unfortunately, my ability could only hit one target at a time, which was a problems in situations like this.
The rest of the monsters rushed at us all at once, a swarm of slimy little bodies and sharp teeth. Each one was easily killed with a single swipe of a sword or smack of a mace, but there were a lot of them.
“It will be awhile before I can use that one again,” Olivia said with annoyance.
“And what were your other options?” I asked curiously.
Olivia fired an arcane blast and hit a good half dozen of the little monsters, killing all of them. Then she stepped back and swung her staff, hitting another of the monsters that had come within reach.
“One ability was call lightning,” Olivia answered. “I’m not sure exactly how that one would have worked, but I have a feeling it would have been powerful. The other one would have been wall of heat.”
“Both sound interesting,” Bunny said. Her eyes were on Sir Fluff, who was dancing around, using his sword to kill one monster after another. “But it’s always best to go with your specialization, if you have one.”
Olivia nodded at that. “If I hadn’t had such a good feeling about the shockwave, I would have definitely gone for the call lightning.”
“These things are annoying,” Ramirez commented.
Ramirez stood back with her shield up and her spear in hand. Monsters kept leaping at her, only to be blocked by her shield. On the other hand, she wasn’t having much luck with actually hitting any of them with her spear.
“Enough of this,” Ramirez snarled, deciding to change tactics.
Instead of attacking with her spear, she simply swung her shield and focused on smacking the monsters with that instead. It worked. She’d already been killing more monsters with her shield than her spear anyway, so she just leaned into that.
The fight ended a short time later. There’d probably been hundreds of the little monsters, but they’d been small and easy to kill. I was just annoyed that I’d been limited to one at a time, playing whack-a-monster with my mace rather than being able to do more.
“I can’t wait to get out of this swamp,” Bunny abruptly announced, looking down at the mass of dead monsters that now surrounded us. “This place is disgusting.”