NOVEL FROG Chapter 326 - A little friendly competition.
“Ron! Shield on full! Jack, back him up! Steve, we need those orbs, Emily, freeze the fuck out of them!”
Richards voice held steady, despite the perilous odds.
Eric emerged to the stench of coppery blood, animal musk, and ruptured entrails.
He took in the hastily made fortifications and the half dozen giant six-limbed bears with four beady red eyes and massive oversized jaws that had no place in Earth’s own ursine evolution. But clearly that didn’t mean shit when a particularly large specimen smashed through the thick foliage of the nearby forest abutting the clearing, raising itself to an impressive fifteen feet height and roaring for blood as it lowered its paws and charged forward, Ron and a visibly panting Jack bracing their perk-boosted shields to meet it, Yuki suddenly appearing from stealth to hamstring the absurdly fast bear as it managed to slam her over in passing before leaping in the air as Steve desperately chanted his Obsidian spell, Emily’s stream of ice doing nothing to slow the bear’s momentum.
“Sanguis Fulmen!” Eric roared, the air thrumming with the crack and boom of a massive bolt of crimson lightning blasting through the giant bear’s head.
Quickness check made! You have successfully struck: Greater Ursine Abomination!
Finesse check made! You’ve managed to avoid striking and killing any of your friends!
Greater Ursine has suffered Stunning Blow!
Greater Ursine is temporarily incapacitated!
Eric’s teammates needed no more of an opening than that, Ron’s sword glowing a bright red-orange hue as he plunged it into the beast, Jack’s clear exhaustion turning to berserker fury as he plunged his pilum into the creature’s eye sockets repeatedly, even Rich methodically cleaving through all its tendons, lest any last second swipe spell anyone’s end.
Steve and Emily were panting, catching their breath, no doubt mana depleted, and clearly in no hurry, and Yuki was picking herself up and wiping the splatter and gore from her enchanted leathers while cursing and glaring at the now massive corpse she had failed to get a piece of. She then turned her ire to Eric.
“What the fuck, man? You were gone for nearly an hour! I thought you were planning on a simple fucking recon! In and out, asshole, and then we make our call. Because we’re in the middle of Death-Bear valley, up to our hips in creatures trying to kill us!”
Eric winced, noting the accusatory glares in addition to the concerned glances, then bowed his head. “You’re right. I fucked up, I’m sorry.”
Richard’s scowl softened. “At least you’re not too proud to acknowledge that, Contender or no. So what the fuck happened?”
Eric shrugged. “I got in a bit over my head and managed to rupture the rift, then crawled back in before getting lost in the void. After that, I needed a good hour to recover my reserves and sanity… because that was some serious nightmare shit right there.”
The group before him went dead silent, their stares boring into his increasingly heated cheeks.
“Did I hear you correctly, Eric Orcbane?” Steve tilted his head. “You actually managed to rupture a fucking rift?”
“Don’t worry. It sealed itself back up. Though it’s still a bit fragile right now.”
“How? Just tell me how!”
Eric sighed. “By being a cocky asshole even at level nine and discovering a way to combine three separate disciplines in ways that were utterly discordant, then using that discordance to rupture the cords of magic linking the dead to the realm of the living. Only… what worked great for abjuring undead at level 9 sort of tore apart the entire rift at level 59.”
Richard gazed at Eric for long moments. “Eric?”
“Yes, fearless leader?”
“I want you to promise me, right now, that you will never use that ability, whatever it was, when we’re in a rift with you. Can we categorically agree on that?”
Eric blinked, opened his mouth to qualify that stricture, noted the glares, and immediately nodded his head. “Sure. No problem.”
Rich’s glare softened. He gave a satisfied nod. “Fair enough. What can you tell us about the delve?”
Half the party flinched when the roar of rapidly approaching bears could be heard.
Eric nonchalantly passed his friends sandwiches and beer. “Greater Specters around level sixty. Their touch will hurt you, no matter how tough you think you are. Hell. They can even freeze chunks of my flesh off, and considering my stats and who my mom is, I get the feeling that I’m a bit more cold resistant than most.”
He quickly spoke on, seeing their horrified expressions. “The good news is that they’re slow. But they can only be effected by a limited number of attacks, including Qi infused lightning, preferably with ties to Blood magic and Necromantic Abjuration.” He gazed thoughtfully at Steve. “Steve’s Obsidian Orbs might actually be pretty effective, and since he’ll connect you all to the rift’s causality field with his kills, that will hopefully lock you all in for party experience, delve experience, and give you all credit for first-clearing the dungeon with me.”
He turned to Richard as the pair of giant six-limbed bears rapidly closed. “Hell, now that I think about it, they might be particularly vulnerable to your paladin repulsion aura, which is a very, very good thing. We need to do all we can to lock you all in to the field so that when I take out Mr. Boss in the adjoining room, everyone gets at least partial credit.”
Ron scowled. “And why the fuck wouldn’t we join you?”
“Because I have absolutely no idea what a Boss-tier Specter will do to me, but I’m pretty fucking sure it will one shot one or all of you, and that’s not something I feel like dealing with right now.”
His casual comment caused even Ron to pale.
“I’m totally cool letting Orcbane do his thing and chilling in the next room,” Ricky quickly said. “So, what are we waiting for? Bears are closing in!”
Eric shook his head. “You guys have been pushed just like I was, and shame on me for not making sure this area, at least, was clear of hostiles before practically abandoning you. So eat your sandwiches, drink your beers, recharge your energy, and I’ll take care of the bears until we’re all at peak once more. Fair?”
They all exchanged looks, and strangely relieved smiles.
“Sounds good, Eric. Solid plan,” Rich said.
Yuki smirked, eyes twinkling. “You so sure you can take on all those ursine badboys yourself, big guy?”
Eric grinned right back. “You looking for some competition, Yuki Li?”
She chuckled throatily. “Maybe I am. But we both know how that will go.”
Her eyes widened when he casually handed her a Mark II arcane blaster rifle. “Here. Let’s even things out a bit.”
She gave him an incredulous look. “Shit, do you have any idea how illegal those things are?”
Eric snorted. “More Terran Counsel bullshit? Rules deliberately designed to weaken us in whatever way they can, using our own culture’s pretext to get us to willingly hinder ourselves, when we should all be uniting together and declaring all out war on goblin lawyers and orc soldiers alike.” He smirked and shook his head. “So sorry, I didn’t get any counsel memos. And even if I did… Master Criminal perk and spoils of war, baby. Those fuckers can’t touch me.”
Yuki’s gaze turned solemn. “But they can touch me.”
“Which is why we’re in the middle of an Orange-tier territory that frightened off even our Seer friend who now has a vested interest in people not looking our way.”
Yuki’s eyes narrowed. Then her smile blossomed into something truly beautiful. “Fucking hell, you’re right. Blaster skill, here I come!”
As if on cue, the first ursine horror burst from the trees.
The air lit up with a flare of plasma, and the bear crashed to the ground, a massive crater where its left eye was.
Jack glared at her. “After all the skill ranks I earned and perk points I invested? Seriously?”
Yuki smirked. “I have class synergies in terms of Sense Weakness, Critical Strike, and Fatal Blow. Not to mention years of honing my skills in Uncle’s underground dojo and gun range. And that fucker wasn’t over level 45. Unlike the 70th level monster we just took out. And it’s a tier 2 felony to get caught with these magical blasters... unless, of course, we decide to go to war with the entire UFN, like Eric here clearly wants to.”
Eric shrugged. “I’m just saying...”
But Jack just glared, wiping away the last of the sweet sauce from the sandwich he had happily devoured. “Okay, that fucking fantastic pulled-pork sandwich hit the spot, so I’m in this game too. Fuck if my spears are outplayed by some cheap ass goblin sniper rifle!”
Eric grinned and sat back down, crossing his arms behind his head while enjoying the show of Jack versus Emily, both agreeing to take one side of the field, both of them more than capable of one-shotting any bear under level 50. The tougher bears, however, were a different story. There, Jack’s dual nodes shined, the first pilum crippling and causing multiple negative status effects, including perforated organs and bleeds, before falling to the second pilum almost always… whereas Yuki’s perks only synergized perfectly for a perfect first strike. After her first shot, with the too smart ursine horrors then weaving and juking, Yuki needed to expend three shots or just switch to her naginata to finish it off. And since Eric made it clear she wasn’t getting more ammo…
“I win!” Said a panting Jack, eyes bright with satisfaction thirty minutes later.
Yuki, good sport that she was, clapped his shoulder and shook his hand. “You crushed it. Nice job, Jack.”
He chuckled ruefully. “And you came so fucking close it wasn’t funny, while not wasting any nodes at all.”
Yuki shrugged. “Illegal weapon, limited ammo. It was fun and got me some cross-class skill ranks. It’s not my focus, but at least I’m now confident that I can pop a goblin sniper at a mile out almost as well as he can pop any of us.” She gazed at the way Jack was holding his weapon with what even Eric thought of as an Olympian’s unconscious grace, then smiled in approval.
“And Jack, here’s another thing. Popping those bears with a Tier 2 mana-tech weapon didn’t do shit for my experience pool. Only the ones I finished off with my naginata. And just by the way you move, I can tell that all the experience you’re shunting to avoid hitting Level fifty went right into leveling up your badass javelin skills.”
Jack’s satisfied grin made it clear that she was spot on. “Damn right! I am so glad I was able to lock myself out of fifty. I can literally feel my skills blooming like never before!”
Eric smiled, relieved to see everyone dipping their heads in agreement, even Ron, making it clear that no one was playing the fool and rushing the levels with an inferior class.
“Alright, we done showing off our bear-popping skills? Great. Let’s head in and check this place out for ourselves.” Richard nodded Eric’s way. “I assume you don’t mind leading the charge?”
“No problem at all,” Eric said, entering the rift once more.