The pink mist faded. [Hallucinogenic Spray Duration End]

  I couldn’t tell how long the Area of Effect attack lasted, but the minotaur and the centaur were still on the ground, flinching and twitching. [Veliyarix] crept toward them, its multitude of tiny legs tiptoeing closer, carrying its massive bulk with slow, inexorable weight.

  I doubted my [INTIMIDATE] would influence it. As the AoE vanished, I raised my spear and roared a challenge. It might not do anything to the monster, but it did something to me. My digital blood surged. Muscles warmed. Hunger for violence soared. It didn’t take much.

  Unsure of what might be in the pool of water, I trusted the enemy’s AoEs even less. I charged close to the edge of the pool, dashing past the slurmopillar’s head. The thick, worm-like antennae flicked the air, and as it turned, and a blade lashed out like a tongue from between weird vertical lips, pointed and curved, red as blood.

  Of course it had a weapon in there that was scarier than fangs.

  I ran faster. The thing’s ribbed body glistened with slime, way too slippery looking to climb. [Veliyarix] was easily twice my current height. I’d never stabbed anything with Ro’Fatoft before, and Alga’s warning echoed in my head as I gripped the haft with both hands. Do no shame to Ro’Fatoft, or I will kill you myself. I’d paid for upload training to complement what Old Fang taught me. I had the theory and some practice, but for a split second, I wondered. Would I do shame to Ro’Fatoft? To Nujol?

  As the monster’s head ponderously turned my way, I slashed with the bladed edge of the patarshan. [Hit: -6 -2 Cold]

  This would take a while, until my [DAUNTLESS RAGE] and [FURYGUARD] proc’ed off danger triggers. The monster’s body curved away as it folded itself in half to follow me, tiny legs dipping into the pool at the center. Blue plasma bolts and silver arrows streaked overhead.

  Jake: “Look out, Dath!”

  I glanced back. Weird fleshy tubes extended off the sides of its head, reaching out for me. No way it could touch me with those tubes. Too short. I slashed at it again as I ran along its side, heading toward the tail end. [Hit: -6 -2 Cold]

  Jake screamed in party chat, “Snot cannons!”

  Twisting, I planted a foot to leap for the water. The way Jake screamed suggested badness. Then, two things happened at once. A stream of clear, sticky goop shot from the two cannon-like things on its head. The streams shot wide, one slapping my leg, rooting me to the ground. I stumbled, catching myself with my spear. Face first wasn’t how I wanted to hit the water while anchored in place. My greaves and leather pants spared me from feeling more than the impact, but visceral disgust rolled in my stomach. At the same time, the sharp sting of a dart hit my upper arm. [Adrenal Surge Injection]

  Elora: “Ew!”

  The clear goop dried with freakish speed, fusing my leg to the ground behind me by a stiffening thread. Now in real danger, [DAUNTLESS RAGE] stacked with the [Adrenal Surge Injection]. I bellowed in defiance and tore my leg from the trap. Armor and part of my pants tore away with the hardened slime. [Dmg: -3] The monster’s head raised, mouth yawning, the slashing blade came down on where I’d been. The feelers waved, searching for me.

  I sprinted for its tail. A searing rain of fire fell again, one of the little fireballs burning down from my shoulder to my elbow. [Dmg: -5] The pain was bright and welcome. It fed my Rage.

  My minimap showed the other groups converging.

  A volley of arrows arced from Team Blue to thunk into [Veliyarix] for [Hit: -4x3]. I swiped Ro’Fatoft at the tail tip for a pathetic [Hit: -1 Cold -2 ].

  I raced another dust devil away from [Veliyrix], the funnel of jungle debris skimming past me, then pivoted to face the boss again. From the water, skeletons rose, coated in bright green algae, and marched toward the monster.

  [Veliyarix] fired another twin stream of goop. The fleshy cannons wavered to spread the strings, adhering the summoned minions to the spot at the edge of the pond.

  The feelers twitched, and the mouth opened, the blade slashing down. Acid dribbled off the blade. Algae and bones dissolved.

  Frag’s push hit my HUD again. [Tactical Instincts: Hostile Presence] A shimmer in the air near me gave way to a dual flash of blue steel. Slashes appeared on the slurmopillar’s hide. [Hit: -4 Warp -2] [Hit: -3 Warp -2] His illusion wavered. The satyr with the cloak and daggers appeared, then blinked away.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  An armored dwarf woman came screaming out of the brush with her braided beard swaying, axe already in motion. [Hit: -6 Necrotouch 5s] I dashed around the other side of [Veliarix] to stab into its flank near the back. Before I got to my target, the thick tail swiped me off my feet. I watched my HP drop by 10, then crashed down on top of thick jungle undergrowth for another -1.

  I got up, red rage clouding my vision. I roared, not to intimidate, not to pump myself up. Anger erupted, volcanic, coming out in a wordless sound that shuddered the leaves around me. I thrust to my feet, gripped Ro’Fatoft tight, and charged. [FURY GUARD +25 STR]

  I drove the spearhead into the slurmopillar’s side and tore it out with vicious pleasure. [Hit: -8 Cold -2] Slamming it back in, ripping it out, and again, and again, losing sight of the numbers flashing across my HUD. Frenzy had me, and I embraced it. The monster’s blood oozed—clear, pale yellow, coating my spear, spattering across my face and chest plates every time I yanked my spear back.

  Another little fireball seared my back. An arrow sank right next to me, blooming some kind of purple Hex energy. I stopped caring about getting hit. All that mattered was destroying what was in front of me. I felt a sting on my neck as a dart fell away. I kept going.

  [System Alert: Veliyarix 70%]

  My spear struck the worm. It skidded along the opalescent sheen as its slimy skin hardened. I let out a string of orcish curses and stabbed harder, aiming for the dips in its skin, where the ridged plates connected.

  It moved at a quarter of my speed and couldn’t hit me with its spray attack if I hung around the back. I dodged under the swing of its tail [Perfect Dodge] and went pondside, where I’d be better protected from the other AoEs by the slurmopillar’s bulk.

  [Hallucinogenic Spray Duration: 10s]

  I backed off, sucking in air as the field near its head went pink with mist. A Reptilian Monk backflipped out of range. The minotaur and the centaur had both gotten to their feet, just in time to be caught again, collapsing in the cloud. I twitched a grin—until a big red demon with a scythe at the edge of the cloud pointed at me.

  [Chaos Shift Attack]

  The pink mist around the demon vanished—and reformed around me in a swirling fog bank. I stumbled back, away from the mist, hand clamping over my mouth and nose, but it tingled over my skin. [Dauntless Rage Mitigation: -15 seconds]

  No fair. Redirect isn’t an attack? I went down with a jab of indignation in my stomach.

  I felt the ground hit, and my HUD jarred, then glitched, swirling green. Nausea rolled over me. On my back, I stared at the canopy above, limbs numb. My heart made my eyeballs throb. My mind dulled. Rage trickled away. The timer ticked down. When it hit zero, my senses returned, and with them my aggression exploded back into place. I rolled to my feet and snarled, lifting my spear. Dick move, Tank boy. I won’t forget it.

  Fire fell from the sky. Wind tore at [Veliyrix], and plasma, arrows, and daggers found chinks in its armor. It was on a slow, inevitable burn downward.

  The ground was littered with snot strings, some resin-solid, some still glistening and wet. I skirted them, weaving around to get ahead of the worm again. The big red douchebag with the [CHAOS SHIFT ATTACK] got snagged in a streamer of mucus. I smiled viciously. Elora’s [TANGLE] lashed around the slurmopillar’s head, pinning the body in place. The tail was beyond the reach of her spell, but it was enough.

  All twenty of us bore down on it with blade, spear, spell, and missile.

  [System Alert: Veliyarix 50%]

  My HUD flared red. [Veliyarix] shuddered. Cracks spiderwebbed across its hardened skin. I drew back a step and turned, but it was too late to run.

  The carapace exploded. Shards of shrapnel burst off it as the armor shattered and blew apart in a violent shockwave. A razor-sharp slash cut across my cheek. Something hit and stuck in the base of my neck beside my spine. Another sliced into my thigh and lodged. My muscles clamped around it. I tore out the one in my neck and flung it aside. White-hot anger bloomed beside the thorns of pain. I saw no numbers, only blood.

  [Veliyarix] had gotten bigger. Its body reared, showing more mouths with blades on its belly. It spat acid and fired a barrage of mucus strands from a second set of cannons. I skittered out of range, leg screaming, acid splashing at my heels. Super.

  I tossed the shard and pulled the one out of my thigh. My cheek was hot with blood. My armor was slick with it. I turned to face [Veliyarix] once again and charged. On my HUD, Elora’s [BLAZE PATH] cleared a line through the sticky strings all over the dirt.

  I sprinted to throw myself at the worm, spear first. The skin was more resilient this time, rubbery instead of armored. Resilience had gone up. [Hit: -6 Cold -6]

  [Recurring Vulnerability Pattern Detected] Frag’s push slid past my fury, a signal through static. The slurmopillar moved faster, more erratically, but when it spat acid from its multiple mouths, its core was revealed. A glow near the ground appeared when [Veliyarix] rose to spray gouts of acid and liquid rope at us.

  “Focus fire on its belly when it does the acid attack!”

  After that, landing melee hits got tough. The other teams noticed us holding fire until the core flashed. By the third spray, everyone with a ranged attack was aiming for it.

  I had no ranged option, so I stayed close, dodging and thwacking at it with Ro’Fatoft until [Veliyarix] dropped back down and whipped its body like a tantruming worm.

  An idea formed.

  I darted into position, planted my spear butt into the dirt, and braced it with a foot. Veliyarix’s flank smashed down onto it, its own weight driving the blow deeper than I could have. [Hit: -10 +2 Cold] The shaft bent, and I panicked. The monster’s body slammed into me and sent me flying into the pond.

  I broke the surface, spitting algae, still clutching Ro’Fatoft. I glanced at the spear and found it unbroken, to my relief. Alga would kill me all over again if I broke it.

  [System Alert: Veliyarix 10%] [PvP Enabled]

  Time for the shitshow.

  -ARCHIVE-