Rune Seeker

Unfortunately, their peaceful time in the rain came to a short end, with strong winds and a heavy downfall creasing across the city not five minutes into their flight. Thunder boomed overhead, while lightning streaked between clouds, lighting the streets up almost as bright as the noonday sun for a blink at a time. And, those flickers of movement in the far distance likely weren’t Hiral’s imagination.

The Enemy had returned to the undead city – whatever its name was.

Without waiting for View to kick in, the party quickly dropped to the ground, dismissed their mounts, and scurried inside one of the many buildings. Hiral resummoned Right, while Left and Seeyela scouted ahead to find a route of connected bridges. If their last visit to the city was any sign, they could probably get pretty far by staying inside.

It didn’t take long for the scouts to return, and the party was on the move again, Left in the lead. Hiral kept them going in generally the right direction by using a thread of his own Connection to the one high above like a tether, even though he couldn’t see it. From one building to the next, they moved quickly and quietly, doing everything they could to avoid the Enemy’s attention. Dr. Benza had told them the squids “saw” by using the falling rain, so the party should be safe inside.

Should be.

After the battle with the C-Rank Boss in the Rise of Fallen Reach dungeon, none of them had any interest in stumbling across something higher rank. Not even the experience-junkie, Yanily. Especially not Yanily – considering he’d been killed by a behemoth version of the squids.

So, hour after hour, they prowled from one building to the next. Remarkably, the Squalians who’d built the city must’ve really hated going outside, with vast pedways connecting nearly every structure. In the rare occurrences when the party couldn’t find a way through – or at least not one nearby – Hiral and Left pointed out the closest door, and Seeyela portaled them across the street. It was hard on her solar energy reserves, but it reduced the chances of them getting noticed.

“There’s another big wall coming up,” Seeyela finally said over the party chat, sometime later. “Bigger than what separated the inner city from the outer.”

“Do you think we’ve finally reached the end of this zone?” Seena asked. “We’ve been walking for miles.”

“Could be,” Hiral said, mentally mapping out their journey. “Still, it’s a lot smaller than the first zone we were in. There might be more on the other side of the wall.”

“Should we rest before we cross?” Drahn asked. “At least here we have a roof over our heads and no monsters to worry about it. Once we get to the other side…”

Seena tapped her lips while she seemed to consider the option, then nodded. “Let’s take a look at what’s on the other side of the wall, first. I don’t want to stop now, only to find out we’ve got another dozen miles of the same, empty city when we start going again.”

“Sounds good, Boss,” Yanily said. “I can keep going.”

“With B-Rank bodies, is anybody actually tired?” Hiral asked. He’d worked for… literal days straight on repairing the crystal towers. Even then, his breaks had been more about mental recovery than physical.

“Now that you mention it,” Seeyela said. “No.”

“B-Rank will keep fatigue at bay,” Drahn said. “It won’t eliminate it. We still need to rest, just not as often. If you reach A-Rank…”

“When we reach A-Rank,” Yanily clarified.

“Fine. When, you’ll barely need to sleep at all, unless you choose to.”

“Either way,” Seena interrupted. “It’s good to keep in mind. Once we leave the city, who knows the next time we’ll even have the option. Maybe none of you remember our last trip to the surface? We’ll make the call after we see what’s beyond the wall. Sis, which way?”

Seeyela appeared with a bamf near a doorway. “Up this way. Two more pedways, and we’re as close as we’ll get. Need Hiral or Left to spot the best place to portal to. Doesn’t look like the buildings connect to the wall itself as far as I can see.”

Following the woman, the party quickly arrived at a large picture window overlooking a wide street, and an absolutely massive wall. The thing had to be five-hundred feet tall, and looked to be made of black, stone bricks each as tall as Hiral was.

“The lizards really wanted to keep something out,” Yanily said with a low whistle.

“Nivian and Wule are past the wall,” Hiral said before Seena could ask. “The thread goes straight through.”

“Down there, look,” Drahn said, pointing, and Hiral followed his gesture. White flowers bloomed between the cobblestones despite the pouring rain. And they led straight towards a large gate that stood partially open.

The huge double-doors themselves had to each be thirty-feet tall and twenty-feet wide, and thicker than the length of Hiral’s arm. Like the wall, they were clearly made to keep something out. Except, one of them was slightly ajar. Just wide enough for somebody to slip through.

This is how they left. Wish we knew when.

“That’s our exit,” Seena said. “Good eye, Drahn.”

The tracker just grunted at the compliment.

“Seeyela, can you get us down there?”

“Yeah, but maybe I should go take a look first?” Seeyela said. “We don’t know what’s in there.”

“All the more reason we should go with you,” Yanily said, the fingers on his spear dancing in anticipation. While killing the ants by the hundreds had been a good time, it apparently hadn’t satisfied the spearman.

“Yan’s right,” Seena said. “Better we’re all with you if it comes to a fight.”

Seeyela just shrugged. “It’ll be a thin portal, right up against that opening so we don’t have to spend any time in the rain. Move quick.”

“Got it,” Hiral said, reabsorbing the doubles so they wouldn’t need to take the portal themselves, then drew his RHCs. The runic circles from Piercing Shotwere still on the barrels. They must not have a duration before the expire. Or it’s just really long.

“Everybody ready?” Seeyela asked, and she got four nods in reply. A second later, a curtain of darkness unfurled in the air.

“Go,” Seena said, tapping Hiral on the shoulder.

Without waiting, he darted through, immediately activating Foundational Split and lifting his weapons. Right and Left appeared on either side of him, while the rest of the party funneled through the narrow portal. Thanks to the near-constant darkness of moving through the buildings – along with the magic of the Coat of Ur’Thul’s hood – Hiral’s eyes didn’t need to adjust to the cavernous gloom of the tunnel he found himself in.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Stretching nearly a hundred feet ahead of him, the large passage inside the even larger wall stood empty except for the boulder that’d smashed through the far gate, and now rested in the middle of the roadway. Lightning flashed through the broken doors on the other end, and multiple balconies lined the upper levels of the passage, revealing what looked like a pair of heavy ballistae on each one. There had to be forty of the weapons in the tunnel alone, at slightly different heights, giving each a clear line of fire at that far entrance.

“I don’t think we’re going to find more city on the other side of the wall,” Hiral said quietly into the party chat.

“Yeah, they clearly didn’t want something coming through here,” Seena said.

“Something strong enough to hurl a boulder that big through the gate,” Yanily added.

“That is a pretty impressive rock…” Hiral started, staring at the boulder.

Until Viewsuddenly popped a notification up in front of him.

(Wild-Boss) Reinforced Runeoceros – Unknown-Rank

“Actually, I take that back,” Hiral amended, even as the bulky not-a-rock began to shift in front of them. Four, thick, plated legs pushed a heavy body upright, while a head like a fortress turned in their direction. Now standing, the thing had to be fifteen feet tall, and more than half-that wide. A long, curved horn extended from the end of its snout, while two more matching horns adorned its shoulders.

A great snuff blew dust out of its nostrils, and one foot began pawing at the cobblestone road.

“Don’t think it’s happy we woke it up,” Yanily pointed out.

“And it’s Wild-Boss, whatever the hell that is,” Seena said. “I’d guess we’re in for a fight.”

“What does the name mean?” Seeyela asked, and they got their answer a second later.

Light scarred the air at the tips of the monster’s three horns, quickly resolving themselves into glowing symbols. No, not symbols – runes.

Runes of Impact, to be exact.

Then the thing charged, rocketing forward at unexpected speed thanks to the formation of additional runes behind it. Runes of Rejection. It was stealing all of Hiral’s tricks!

“Don’t let it hit you!” Hiral shouted to the others.

“You don’t say!?” Seeyela shot back, then vanished with a bamf.

Bursting to the side on his own runes narrowly got him out of the way, and Hiral pulled both RHCs’ triggers. Hauling on the bolts and then spitting them out at increased potency, the three runic circles turned the strong shots into outright impressive blasts that actually had enough recoil to kick Hiral’s arms up. Even then, the twinned bolts smacked into the beast’s side but didn’t slow it. At least the long health bar above its head had the decency to drop a percentage point…

The others didn’t fare much better in the brief attacks of opportunity they got while diving out of the way. Yanily’s lightning sparked across the thick, natural plating covering the monster from literal head to toe, but did little more than make angry noises. Seena’s fire washed off that same armor without blackening it, and Seeyela’s paired crossed bow bolts plinked where they hit before falling uselessly to the ground.

Only Drahn’s pollen attack didn’t seem completely pointless, staining the Runeoceros’s flank green as it rampaged by, while Left and Right didn’t even have a chance to attack. And then it was past them, the wake of its charge creating a vacuum that nearly pulled Hiral off-balance. Just how…

GOOOONG, the monster slammed into one of the heavy, metal gate-doors with enough force to tear the hinges from the stone and make the whole wall shake. Another terrible groan of metal, and the door twisted to the side, lodging itself against the other door, but still barely staying connected to the wall. Just connected enough, in fact, to prevent the party from getting back out the way they’d come. Of course.

Will the Enemy hear that?

Actually, they had more immediate concerns than whether or not a squid would show up, the rune-powered monster already turning from where it had battered the door. Like it hadn’t just run head-first into an object hard enough to break the unbreakable, it narrowed its beady, red eyes at the party. It was actually pissed off they hadn’t let it flatten them.

Too bad.

Hiral pulled both triggers again, the runic circles practically tearing the bolts away from the barrels. They cut through the air so fast it almost looked like long beams connected him to the monster’s face, before it jerked its head back at the impacts. Another percent vanished from the health bar, and then Right was at its side.

Purple flames shrouding his fist – the monster somehow didn’t even see him coming – and he darted in and set his feet. Braced like that, he twisted at the hips, putting his whole body into the powerful swing as Meridian Lines flared along the right side of his body.

Not to be outdone, Left slid in opposite, a trail of hanging water from his Dagger of Sath painting the air with its infernal purple. The Touch of Night coated his body in shadows, leaving only coal-red eyes to glow above a sharp-toothed maw made of pure darkness. And then, as if they’d planned it – which they probably had – the two doubles simultaneously struck, crushing the monster between them.

WHAAAAAM, Right’s fist hit with a horizontal column of purple flame.

SCHING, Left’s dagger drove into the armor, before the trail of water rushed ahead to explode at the point of impact.

Once again, the massive wall around the party shook at the sheer intensity of the impacts, dust and small stones raining down from above. Between the two titanic blows, the Runeoceros had to…

… have not noticed it at all?

As the infernal purple cleared from the attacks, the beast stood tall between them, not even phased.

Hiral had been wrong before about the monster not noticing Right sweep in from the side. It’d known the double was there – it just wasn’t concerned.

“How thick is that shell?” Seeyela asked.

“Think its armor, not a shell,” Drahn said, peppering the Wild Boss with a pair of his pollen arrows.

“Does it matter what it’s called?” Seeyela asked, vanishing with a bamf to reappear on the beast’s back. In one smooth motion, her daggers came out in her hands – intimidating green venom dripping from the points – and she drove them down mercilessly between her feet. The damn thing’s back was so big, she couldn’t possibly miss, and she didn’t.

She also didn’t manage to pierce the monster’s defenses, her daggers scraping uselessly across the hard surface.

“What the hell?” she started to ask, only to get thrown from her feet as more Runes of Rejection flashed to life behind the beast.

The thing rocketed in Hiral’s direction, so fast it wasn’t even bothering to move its legs. It was actually flying directly at him, like a massive spear with enough weight and speed to crumple most castles. And Hiral was significantly less durable than a castle.

Good thing he was also significantly more mobile.

His own Runes of Rejection vaulted him out of the way, while he reactivated Piercing Shot+ on both his weapons. A pull of each trigger blasted a pair of bolts into the Wild-Boss’s side, and then Hiral was clear, just in time.

Another titanic impact cratered the heavy, stone wall, raining more debris from above as everything shook. Large chunks of carved stone clunked to the ground as the monster extricated itself – it’d buried its own body up past its shoulders from the charge – while the party rained attacks on it from afar.

Hiral’s bolts of Impact joined in with Chain Lightning+ and Seena’s fireballs. Gravity Wells opened on each side of the beast, three-headed hydras emerging from each to spit elemental death at the target between them. All the while, Drahn nailed the Wild-Boss with Pollen Poison after Pollen Poison. The storm of damage completely engulfed the section of wall, sending sparks of electricity crawling along the walls and floor before they melted beneath the flames.

Every zero-point-two seconds, Hiral pulled the triggers on his RHCs – quietly relishing how short the cooldown was now – and activated Piercing Shot+ after every second blast.

Like that, the party got a solid ten seconds of uninterrupted damage in before a section of wall above the impact point finally collapsed as the Runeoceros pulled itself free. A great shake of its head cleared dust and small rocks that’d gotten lodged along its plating, and it stomped the ground as it turned again to face the party.

After everything they’d hit it with, it was still sitting at almost ninety percent of its health.