Rune Seeker

“AROOOOOOOOOO,” the Alpha monkey howled, a tangible wave of power rushing off it and throwing those closest backwards. It howled again, eyes glowing like small suns, and pounded on its chest, more waves of power expanding out with each strike.

“What’s it…?” Seena started to ask, but a notification window appeared in front of Hiral’s eyes.

Dynamic Quest: Update

After watching its loyal friends brutally murdered in the dark street, the Bladed Frenzy Monkey Alpha has found a deep pit of fiery resentment and power within itself.

Survive (and get the citizens to their destination).

Note: That shout was pretty loud, wasn’t it? Do you think anything heard it?

Yanily groaned over the Party Interface, “It just enraged, didn’t it? Like the Troblin Duke.”

“Worse, it’s listed as a Mid-Boss now,” Seena added.

“Whatever, as long as it keeps pounding its chest so I can heal Nivian,” Wule said. “Man, did you try to put your face in the way?”

Maybe Nivian responded, but Hiral was too busy rereading that note at the end of the notification. It wouldn’t be there if it didn’t mean something. What could it…?

Hiral turned back to the other pack of groupies. They were still coming, but not any faster. It’d be at least a minute or two before they arrived, and the quest timer still had four minutes on it. Was the notification referring to them?

No, that didn’t seem to fit, and Hiral lifted his head to look around, then jerked it to the side just in time to evade a rock whipping through the air. What? There, on the roof across the street, was a small, kind of dark gray monkey. Did it just throw a rock at me?

As if in answer to his question, the monkey ripped a fist-sized piece of stone off the building, then cocked its long arm back. Snapping around very much like the groupies’ arms did, the monkey hurled the rock at Hiral as fast as a crossbow bolt, and only his high Dex and Atn got him out of the way in time.

Little bastard! Hiral lifted his RHC and pulled the trigger, the searing bolt blowing a hole clean through the monster’s chest and knocking the thing back and out of sight.

Yip, yiiip, yip, yip started echoing across the roofs, and Hiral looked around to see dozens more of the little gray bastards showing up.

“AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,” the Alpha howled again, the chest-pounding stopping all at once, and it extended one of its long arms out in front of it. It unfurled a thin finger from its fist, then pointed it at the group of NPCs.

“Yip, yip, yip!” the gray monkeys howled in response, and a hail of stones shot from both sides.

Doing the only thing he could think of, Hiral tossed a wave of Rejection out to the left, while Seena reacted on the right with a wall of Spearing Roots. Still, as fast as they were, they weren’t fast enough. A dozen rocks made it through.

Shouts of pain and the breaking of bones erupted from the group of NPCs as stones found their marks, and people fell to the ground.

“Cover them!” Seena shouted, solar energy pulsing towards building another wall, while Seeyela threw up Gravity Wells between the monkeys and the people to pull the stones off target.

The gray monkeys were spread out over several blocks, so it wasn’t like the party could do anything to cut them down quickly.

“How far?” Hiral shouted to Bellina. “How far are the soldiers?”

“You think they’ll help us?” Wule asked, already moving to heal the wounded NPCs.

“No, but the quest doesn’t say to kill the Alpha, just to get them to their destination,” Hiral pointed out.

“Yeah, I think that Alpha might have something to say about getting past it,” Yanily said, and Hiral looked ahead.

Another pound of its chest, and suddenly billowing flames burst out of the bladed protrusions along its forearms, joints, shoulders, and back.

“Great, now it’s on fire,” Yanily deadpanned. “Wonderful.”

“Wule,” Seena started.

“On it,” Wule answered, one of the three elemental balls floating around his head—the fiery one—darting off with a gesture to orbit around Nivian’s head. The tank immediately took on a slight red glow from the increased fire resistance.

“Give Yanily the other one,” Seena instructed, and another gesture from Wule sent the ball of flaming lightning to the spearman.

“Less fire resistance on that one,” Wule said. “Be careful.”

“Anything is better than nothing,” Yanily said. “Plan?”

“Monkeys are getting ready for another volley,” Hiral said, taking shots on cooldown, but almost all the little beasts were armed. It didn’t seem like they’d throw one at a time, which either meant they were waiting for a command from the Alpha, or they simply wanted to overwhelm the party’s defenses. “If we’re going to go, it needs to be now.”

“Okay, everybody,” Seena said to the NPCs. “We’re going to get you past that big monkey while Nivian and Yanily keep it busy.”

“Keep it busy…” Yanily muttered.

“When we tell you, we need you to run,” Seena said. “No matter what, don’t stop.”

“Many of us are too old to run,” Bellina’s father said.

“Then walk quickly,” Seeyela said.

“Three and a half minutes,” Wule said. “I’ve patched up the injuries I can. No casualties this time.”

“Follow the wooden wall on the right,” Seena instructed. “Hug it close—that’ll at least protect you on one side.”

“What wooden wall?” Bellina asked, and then Spearing Roots began bursting out of the ground in a line down the street, solar energy pouring off Seena in huge waves.

Even from a distance, Hiral could feel the sheer amount of energy she was putting into it. Eight feet tall and stretching fifty feet, the roots extended one block, two, three. Then she must’ve bottomed out, dropping to her knees.

“That’s all I can do,” she said, sweat pouring down her face, her shoulders rising as she heaved in air. “Go.”

“C’mon—go, go, go,” Wule instructed, ushering the people towards the wall while Nivian charged to intercept the Alpha.

The big monkey came forward like a flaming tornado to meet the tank, its arms leaving trails of fire as it swung, and a great burst erupted when Nivian met the first strike with his shield. A wave of heat shot past the tank, warping the air, then the next blow fell, and the next, the next, the next. The monkey whirled like a fiery dervish, the bladed arms snapping in the air and pounding on Nivian’s shield relentlessly.

Thorny wood chips flew off the shield from the impacts, charred and black, and then the monkey darted right, its hanging wall of flame seemingly obscuring it from Nivian’s sight. Up and around it swung, whipping its arm in on Nivian’s unprotected side, and its flaming red eyes flared in triumph.

That look of triumph quickly changed to one of confusion as a barrier of energy appeared from Nivian’s Orbital Shield to block the blow. The shield only lasted a brief second—just enough to steal the power from the attack—and Nivian twisted around hard, catching the monkey with a shield bash and then raking his whip across the monster’s chest.

Before the Alpha could get its footing again, Yanily was there, spear driving for the monster’s face. It hooted in anger as it evaded the blow, and that seemed to be the cue for the gray hurler monkeys.

Dozens of arms cocked back as the NPCs reached the wall of Spearing Roots.

“Incoming!” Hiral shouted, throwing out another wave of Rejection.

Left leapt to the rooftop with the aid of his Wing of Anella, and Seeyela began channeling more solar energy. Her previous Gravity Wells sucked a number of the throws off course, and Hiral’s wave of Rejection caught dozens more, but some still got through.

Stones hurtled toward the NPCs like a firing squad, bouncing off wood and road where they missed, but not everybody was so lucky. An older woman took a hit in the shoulder, slamming her against the wall with a pained shout, while another took a child in the leg, the sound of breaking bone somehow crystal clear over the cacophony of the battle. Wule, meanwhile, threw himself in front of a mother and her baby, taking two solid hits to his back, and another to his hand.

Bad as it was, it would’ve been far worse if Seena hadn’t gotten her wall up. Dozens of rocks hit the other side like a heavy rain.

“Keep going,” Wule urged the group, his injured hand cradled against his chest, and a huge burst of solar energy washed out of him and across the group. Smoky energy seemed to linger on the NPCs, small injuries mending as the seconds ticked by.

He used his Terminal ability to add a heal over time to his group heal. Smart, but will it be enough?

The monkeys were already preparing their next volley, despite Hiral outright killing two of them every second. His Killing Spreewas long at the twenty-five-stack mark, but more and more of them kept coming. Left tore through their ranks with his dagger and wing, leaving frozen or dismembered monsters behind him, but as soon as he was past, more arrived.

Seeyela was… was… What was she doing?

“Seeyela?” Hiral asked.

“Almost… ready…” she said, her hands out again.

“You’d better be—here it comes,” Hiral said as a hundred monkey arms cocked back in unison.

“NOW!” she screamed, her left hand slashing across left to right, and a curtain of black rolled down the length of the three blocks as the monkeys let fly.

Another slash from her right hand dropped a matching curtain, but this one behind the monkeys, and the fusillade of rocks hit her black shroud… then vanished and shot out of the other black curtain.

Directly into the backs of the unsuspecting monkeys.

The little bastards died in droves, their own thrown stones shattering skulls or maiming their narrow limbs. Unfortunately, Left didn’t fare much better; half a dozen stones slammed into him, and the double vanished in a puff of solar energy.

As soon as the tattoos appeared on Hiral’s skin, he activated Foundational Split, and Left peeled off him to reform at his side.

“You okay?” Hiral asked.

Left blinked and gave himself a shake, then nodded. “Oddly, I’m getting used to dying.”

“Not the best hobby,” Hiral said.

“Sorry,” Seeyela said weakly over the voice chat.

“It’s fine,” Left responded before Hiral could say anything. “Your tactic worked. You’ve bought us the time we need to get the NPCs past.”

And Left was right—most of the NPCs were now past the furious Alpha, who kept getting blocked by Nivian. The tank was burned and bloody, but between him and Yanily, they were keeping the Mid-Boss contained. No way they’d be able to defeat it alone, from the looks of things, but that wasn’t the goal.

“Left, help Seeyela. Right, Seena,” Hiral instructed, the two sisters completely out of solar energy and barely moving. Sure, the hurler monkeys weren’t a threat for the moment, but more would come. “I’m going to help keep the Alpha busy.”

With that, Hiral ran ahead, reading the flow of how Yanily and Nivian danced with the Mid-Boss, then began pulling his triggers. With twenty-five stacks of Killing Spree,Nature’s Blade, and One-Man Army, the searing bolts of Impact slammed into the monkey and began shaving away its massive health bar.

Between Yanily and Nivian working to stall it, they’d barely taken off fifteen percent. Now, though, with Hiral’s help, they began to change their tactic from delaying to hurting.

Despite moving forward, Hiral made sure to stay well enough back to keep his One-Man Army buff active—the damage bonus was pretty significant, after all—and pulled his triggers on cooldown. Threading the shots between Yanily and Nivian as they struck and defended, he kept the bolts coming while trying to predict what the Alpha would do next. Interestingly, the energy portion of his blasts seemed to do little actual damage—Must have resistance to burns, which makes sense, considering the flames—but the Impacts couldn’t be ignored.

Roaring in fury at the annoying bolts, the fiery monkey lashed out in a whirling flurry to blow Nivian away, but roots grew out of the ground at the tank’s feet. Taking hit after hit from the lashing, whip-like arms, Nivian even brought his Orbital Shieldinto the mix, taking a string of lashing strikes for its full six-second duration while Hiral peppered the Alpha with shots, draining its health bar.

And, in that short window, Yanily smoothly shifted behind the Mid-Boss, fully flanking it. Seemingly completely unaware of the spearman at its back, and its fury expended without getting past Nivian, the Alpha took a step back and roared. Which lined it right up for Yanily as he stepped in with his Dancing Spear Style. The first two lightning-fast strikes did little damage, but they set him up for his next move as he planted his feet.

Weapon to his right, blade pointed towards the ground and his hands spread wide on the haft, Yanily stepped in and pulsed with solar energy. The Alpha began to turn from the stinging pain at the same time Yanily brought his spear around in an arcing uppercut and pushed energy into the Runes of Rejection in his boots.

Blade and spearman both shot up into the air, a line of flaming blood trailing behind as Yanily was suddenly fifteen feet up and spinning his spear over his head. He hung there for a second, getting the weapon into position, then issued another pulse of solar energy—this time into the spear—and plunged back down like a falling star.

No novice to battle, the Alpha moved to take a step away in that split second Yanily hung paused in the air, but a thorned shield to its back kept it from going anywhere. Panic flared across its face as the spear rocketed towards its eye, and all the monkey could do was shift its head to the side.

The serrated edge of Yanily’s purple-bladed spear tore a vicious gash down the side of the monkey’s face before burying itself deep in the monster’s shoulder. Purple flames exploded out of the wound, tearing it even further, and Yanily’s feet connected with the monkey’s chest.

Then… he just sort of dangled there.

“Huh…” Yanily said over the voice chat before one of the monkey’s whipping arms slammed into him from the side.

The spearman grunted in pain as he got launched away, his weapon left protruding from the Alpha’s shoulder like some kind of planted flag. Twenty feet distant, Yanily hit the ground and rolled, finally stopping when he collided with a building on the side of the street, then pushed himself into a seated position and shook his head.

The hydra armor took the worst of the blow.

The Alpha, meanwhile, reached its left hand gingerly towards the spear embedded in its right shoulder up to the haft. Its other arm hung uselessly at its side. Yanily’s attack had dropped it to just under a quarter of its health and disabled one of its powerful arms. Now we just need to finish it.

Nivian’s whip tore down the monkey’s back before it could do anything about the spear, then a second time when he didn’t seem to get its attention. Finally, the monster turned to the tank, Hiral’s shots continuing to drop its health, and attacked Nivian with newfound fury. Flames erupted in giant gouts with every strike, transforming the street into an inferno that melted stone and set Nivian’s wooden armor to smoldering.

Even with Wule’s fire resistance buff, it was a bad match-up for Nivian, and though Hiral’s shots would eventually kill the monkey… would they do it before Nivian fell? Too risky. He needed to do something more definitive.

TheEmperor’s Greatsword could probably end the fight with enough multiplied gravity, but there was a limit to how much he could toss it with, and that wouldn’t be enough. And no way he could get close with the absurd heat the monkey was generating.

Even after two more shots, the monkey’s health wasn’t dropping fast enough. What could he…?

A tickle at the back of his head, and Hiral turned to look at the ring hanging behind him. The script running through the crystal was all glowing now, and that draw for energy in the empty space was stronger than ever. The draw… almost pleading, like it needed an outlet for the energy.

And there it was again, that feeling of energy, and yet it resisted his solar energy when he offered it again.

What do you…?

Energy. Not solar energy.

The Rune of Energy.

Of course.

Hiral almost facepalmed, but the click in his brain as he understood urged him to let his instincts take over. Quickly sheathing the RHC in his right hand, Hiral raised his arm above his head, the strange ring floating up with the motion until it hovered just beyond his outstretched hand. The feeling of the draw—that of a whirlpool sucking in energy—grew even stronger, and Hiral pictured the empty space within the ring. Then he imagined the Rune of Energy forming in that space—and it did.

Without looking, Hiral’s high Atn painted the picture for him, the Rune of Energysearing the air as it drew itself within the ring. Stroke after stroke, the rune completed, bands of energy arcing from the ring around it, rolling it into a ball of condensed power. The force continued to build as the ring drained its collected solar energy into the forming ball. One heartbeat, two, and it was done.

Hiral eyed the Mid-Boss, barely a second having passed since he’d lifted the ring above his head, then thrust his hand forward and gave the ring the release it demanded. The small ball within the ring, barely larger than Hiral’s closed fist, exploded into a beam two feet wide that roared like bottled thunder.

Maybe the Alpha had some kind of resistance to the heat component of Hiral’s RHCs, but this new beam was like a sun compared to a candle. The blast closed the space in the blink of an eye, hitting the monkey as it slammed its arm into Nivian’s shield yet again, and then it was past, the monster not even twitching.

Except, where the beam had passed, that part of the monkey was gone. Everything between mid-chest and upper thigh simply ceased to exist, and the Alpha didn’t even have a chance to realize it was dead before its pieces fell to the ground.