The sky darkens with the giant’s power-up, a crimson berserker aura swirls all around him. If Bruiser hadn’t already announced it, the game did it for him: Shit just got real.

  With a cinematic roar, the giant slams the ground with his club, sending all three of us flying into the air. Time seems to slow as I near his eye level, and I can clearly read his intent in his dull little eyes. I move my shield up barely in time for the—

  Wham!

  [-357 HP]

  With his club he sends me flying like a baseball, cartwheeling through the air. A thousand feet whiz by before I fall with a heavy thud.

  Shit! I scramble to my feet, running back at full speed, heedless of my health. Shit, shit, shit! Without their tank, the other two will fall off the map!

  Running at full tilt, my in-game vision seems to zoom in on the conflict ahead, so I catch every detail. The giant’s chasing Sherbie in circles, who’s been reduced to a panicked sprint, screaming like a girl in his battle damaged clothes. He’s just far enough ahead to avoid being crushed when the massive club comes crashing down, but once more the blow sends shock waves through the earth I can feel even from this distance, and Sherbie goes flying up into the air.

  Hell! He won’t survive that hit!

  The giant’s hauling back with his club, about to send Sherbie flying, when I spy the figure of Bruiser jumping in out of nowhere. He’s high, he must have climbed one of the larger boulders to spring his surprise attack. In the distance, I hear his cry:

  “FLYING ELBOW ATTACK!”

  He hits the giant in the back of the neck and knocks him for a loop. For a minute he just stands there, stunned, and I’m recalled to two of Bruiser’s skills which I remember noticing before.

  [Precise Strike level 9: Your well places strikes can inflict serious damage.

  When striking an opponents weak spot: +30% Critical Hit Chance]

  [Concussive Blow level 5: Your precise heavy punches can incapacitate your target.

  Critical Hit Stun Chance: 30%

  Stun Duration: 1.2 seconds

  Cooldown: 9.6 seconds]

  Hitting an opponent’s weak spots has a 30% critical hit chance, and crits have a 30% stun chance. Both skills have to activate at the same time for this to work; fortunately it happened at just the right moment.

  By the time the giant shakes himself from the stun attack, he’s already caught in my aura. But I’m dismayed to see his health has regenerated by at least 10% while I was knocked away. It seems along with a strength boost, he’s received a regen boost as well. And now, in spite of my powerful aura, his health isn’t draining at all. Worse, my aura doesn’t negate his healing because he is a boss, so all I can do is counteract the regeneration.

  “You’re doing great, Big Dog!” Bruiser calls from where he’s already climbed halfway up another boulder. “Just keep him busy for me! I’ll do the rest.”

  Right. Keep the berserking giant busy. No problem.

  That’s when the giant shows another berserker skill, snatching me up by the feet with enough strength to crush my legs. Even with the pain simulator turned down and no basic bodily functions to worry about, I still feel like I might pee my pants from the pain. Then he begins to slam me repeatedly into the ground, smashing my face and shoulders against the rocky earth.

  Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

  Heals would be nice right about now, I think, but Sherbie can’t get close enough to use Rejuvenating Touch. The best he can do are long distance over time heals, but it won’t be enough. My only consolation is that the entire time the giant’s busy smashing me around like a rag doll, Bruiser’s been going to town with kicks and punches on his back end.

  “Take this! Exploding Macho Backbreaker! Yuh yuh yuh yuh yuh yuh!”

  Good. So long as the giant stays caught in my aura and can’t regenerate, Bruiser only needs another twenty seconds, I estimate. So long as he stays focused on me, caught in my aggro—so long as I manage to stay alive!

  Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

  [HP critically low!]

  When the giant finally ends his attack by hurling me to the ground, I’m dazed. There’s dirt, blood in my eyes, and my head is pounding. Fuzzily, out of the corner of my eye, I’m able to glimpse my HP bar.

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  73 HP remaining.

  This is it, I think, struggling to my feet. I already know my comrades won’t survive a beating like the one I just took. If I can’t survive this next hit, we’re all finished.

  As for my opponent, the giant’s health is falling rapidly, and all his attention is still fixed on me. For all his incredible power, Bruiser still hasn’t managed to out-damage my aggro.

  Just a little more, I think, somersaulting out of the way as the giant’s club comes crashing down to smash into the dirt right on my heel. Just a little more!

  More blows. They rain down all around me like meteors; even with my high Agility score, I can’t dodge them all. Without my insane regeneration I wouldn’t stand a chance.

  [-87 HP]

  Green light surrounds me. Sherbie’s throwing on more overtime heals, still unable to get close enough to really help me. Better than nothing.

  Bam!

  [-191 HP]

  [HP critically low!]

  His club whips around and catches me in the side, sending me flying twenty feet—or at least it would, if he hadn’t caught me in his other meaty fist.

  Not again…

  But to my surprise he doesn’t slam me into the ground. Instead he holds me a moment, dropping the club from his other hand. He grins down at me even as his health bar sinks into the red from Bruiser’s relentless attacks.

  This is it, I realize with a sinking feeling. There’s nowhere left to run; I’m not going to survive this one.

  “Come on, Bruiser!” I yell at the top of my lungs.

  “MAXIMUM MACHO STRIKE!!!”

  While Bruiser is busy executing his finishing move, the giant brings his other hand up to clap me between his palms like a mosquito. I’ll be splatted!

  In a crazy last-ditch effort to mitigate some of the damage, acting purely on reflex, I throw my sword and pull out a second shield with my left hand. And not a moment too soon.

  CLAP!

  [-99 HP]

  [HP critically low!]

  What happens next is a blur. I only know my ears are ringing, my head is fuzzy.

  Drop! I hit the ground with an oof. Someone’s running over to me. Green light. Through the haze of voices, I become aware of a system message.

  [Hidden quest unlocked.

  Would you like to accept this quest: The Bastion of Highwall?

  Reward: Subclass: Bastion]

  I sit up abruptly, causing both Sherbie and Bruiser to jump.

  “You’re alive!” Sherbie cries, throwing his arms around me. Bruiser is laughing and clapping my back, but I ignore them both to read the details of the system message.

  [Hidden Quest: The Bastion of Highwall

  Visit Kirin the Defender in Highwall to master the secrets of the dual shield wielding technique.]

  I’m curious. This Bastion subclass, it will allow me to dual wield shields in combat? I try pulling out a second shield, but after a moment it falls uselessly from my grasp. I guess the game won’t let me equip the second shield without getting this subclass, though it did allow me to defend one single blow from the giant. Having two shields would essentially double my survivability. As a tank, I see literally no drawbacks here…

  Guess I’ll have to plan a route to Highwall at some point.

  “For a minute there I was worried you wouldn’t be able to pull it off, but you hung in there, Big Dog. I’m impressed.”

  “I’m the one who’s impressed,” I say, rising to my feet. “How the hell did you ever manage to get that guy down to 30% HP on your own?”

  “It’s easy. I just didn’t let him hit me. His moves were pretty predictable and slow. Chump like that wouldn’t last a minute in the Octagon,” he says decisively. “Without the gimmick of his monster stat boost at the end, I could have soloed him easily.”

  This guy’s a veteran for real, I think, my respect for Bruiser renewed. He knows how opponents move from real world experience, at least in melee. He didn’t get 398 straight PVP victories by coincidence. Heck, he might be the top PVP player in all of Tetra Chronicles, and somehow, I managed to get him in my guild. Is this what it means to have +2 Luck?

  On the subject of luck, I should check the giant’s loot. A ten person raid boss, I’ll bet he’s got some sweet treasure stashed around here, somewhere. Maybe I’ll even get a rare item, though I’ll potentially have to split it somehow with my party members.

  Bruiser lights up a cigarette and we all go to search for the giant’s treasure. While we search, Sherbie asks our new team member, “How come you’re shouting all your moves during combat? Doesn’t that slow you down?”

  “A bit. I’m not used to playing with other people. I guess I’m still sort of putting on a show for you guys, you know, the way I do for the MeTube.”

  “You didn’t yell like that in the UFC did you?” I ask.

  “Hell, no.”

  “Then maybe you ought to save it. You know, for the cameras.”

  “Eh, maybe,” he says, puffing lazily and scratching his neck beard. “I’m kinda in the habit of doing it now, though, so… Besides,” he adds with a grin, “it makes it fun.”

  Guess I can’t argue that.

  Just then, Sherbie waves his arms, gesturing inside a large cave.

  “Found it! Over here!”

  Bruiser and I run to catch up with him. Inside the cave reeks with the scent of stale blood and rotten meat. Fur and bones of all sizes litter the cave floor, and a single greasy torch burns on the wall, illuminating the hellish scene with eerie flickering light.

  “Remind me to get out of here fast,” I murmur to Sherbie as I approach the primitive chest at the back of the room. “I don’t want to be here when that thing respawns…” But Sherbie doesn’t seem to hear me.

  “Do you see that?” He points to a plank leaned against the wall, where a single initial has been slashed in as though by a sword.

  ‘N.’

  “Do you think maybe the board got moved?” Sherbie asks, and he turns it on its side so it reads ‘Z.’ “Zorro,” he says reverently. “Zorro was here!”

  “Its not Zorro,” I say, turning the board back. “It’s ‘N.’”

  “Who’s N?”

  Bruiser steps up to fill Sherbie in on the lore so I don’t have to.

  “Haven’t you heard the netizen’s rumors? There’s a player out there speed running the game, getting to as many rare chests as he can before anyone else. He leaves his marker just like this.”

  “Whoa,” Sherbie says, definitely impressed. “That’s totally cool! But that means ‘N’ was here.”

  “Yeah. Looks like he beat us to the chest,” I say, a little irked. “It’s rumored these chests’ first drops give higher-tiered loot. Hence the push to open as many of them as he can before anyone else.”

  “No, I mean, he beat the giant before us,” Sherbie says, and Bruiser seems annoyed that he’s belaboring the point.

  “No shit, Sherlock.”

  “By himself, I mean, or else there’d also be the names of his party members carved into the board,” Sherbie says, and Bruiser and I exchange glances.

  “Yeah,” I say, and I can feel a slow spreading feeling of cold start in my gut just imagining a player that strong. “I guess N soloed the giant.”