Rune Seeker

Hiral’s second shot was a little more effective, blasting apart the rib it struck in a shower of white bone fragments and dropping the skeleton’s health bar by more than a third. Before a full second even passed, he pulled both triggers again after taking careful aim, more ribs shattering like cheap ceramic. The follow-up shots left the skeleton with barely any of its blue health bar, but it hadn’t slowed in the least, spear slamming into Nivian’s Orbital Shield.

Just over three shots to bring one down? They aren’t terribly tanky, but don’t slow due to injuries. We can handle that.

Even as he thought that, though, Yanily and Seena both cursed. The spearman’s barrage of thrusts had about as much effect as Nivian’s whip did, somehow slipping around bones and between ribs. Seena’s Spearing Roots fared just as poorly, even though a whole thicket of them had erupted out of the ground towards the one Nivian had knocked back.

“Stabbing these things doesn’t seem to work too well,” Yanily said, quick-stepping back and changing the grip on his spear.

A heartbeat later, he flowed back in, spear whirling as he switched to his Dancing Spear Style. Lightning arced along the blade as he swiveled, electrifying the air around him, but the technique didn’t appear much better suited for the opponent. Despite the spearman’s skill with his weapon, the blade seemed to coincidently pass between, under, or around bones more often than not. A small change in tactics quickly had him bashing the haft of his spear into the skeletons, but it drastically reduced his damage output, despite the electricity sparking and scarring the bones.

In that time, Hiral launched two more shots at the skeleton on the right, removing the last of its ribs and dropping its health to zero. Just as he was about to turn his attention to the one Yanily was fighting, he instead did a double-take when the skeleton continued its attack on Nivian. A glance at the blue health bar, and yes, it was empty, so why in the Fallen’s names was it still alive… undead… whatever!?

“Uh… Hiral?” Nivian called, obviously noticing the same thing and blocking yet another spear thrust while snapping his whip at the third skeleton working its way out from between Seena’s Spearing Roots.

“I don’t know,” Hiral admitted, pulling a trigger and blasting the skeleton’s left arm off at the shoulder.

The appendage clattered to the ground, instantly breaking apart into its component bones, but the skeleton it’d fallen from acted like it didn’t even notice. It wailed one-handed against Nivian’s shield, its blows actually coming faster than before.

At the same time he posed that question, Right laid into the skeleton giving Yanily problems. His purple-shrouded fist shredded the undead’s chest cavity, practically disintegrating the bones in the flames and dropping it from full health to nothing in one attack. And, like the skeleton Hiral had shot, the monster didn’t fall. In fact, it acted like nothing had changed, its weapon darting in again at Yanily.

Twisting his weapon around in his dance, the spearman easily turned aside the clumsy attack, then countered with a low sweep of his spear. The attack slammed into the skeleton’s knees, knocking it off its feet. It crashed to the ground, one leg broken. Before it could push itself back up, Seeyela stepped out of a portal at its head, then thrust her twin daggers down into the creature’s glowing eye sockets.

A violent thrash, as if every past muscle in the monster’s body contracted at the same time, and then the skeleton was still. Even the glow from the eyes was gone when Seeyela pulled her weapons free, but then she dove to the side as Right leapt past her to slam a foot into the third skeleton. Like before, his high Str inflicted massive damage on the skeleton, shattering bones, but the thing hardly noticed.

With one skeleton not moving anymore, though, and another stumbling back from Right’s blow, Nivian turned his full attention on the one Hiral had shot. With his Orbital Shield, he pushed a one-handed spear-thrust aside, then shield-blocked his way in. At the same time, the three lashes of his whip snapped low, snagging the skeleton’s legs and pulling them out from under it. The monster crashed to the ground, and Nivian followed it down, putting all his weight and strength behind the shield as it fell on the bony skull.

There was a flare of blue light from under the shield, another spasm of bones bereft of muscle and tendon, and then the skeleton was still.

“Destroy the head,” Nivian said at the same time Hiral made the connection.

Aim, pull. Hiral’s searing bolt shattered the forehead of the third and final skeleton, blue light like a small flame within the skull visible for a moment before it winked out of existence.

Without whatever magic was in the skull, the whole body collapsed to the ground in a clatter of unconnected bones, but Right still went over and stomped once on the skull for good measure.

“I don’t like them any more than I like spiders,” Yanily said.

“Just wait until we find the undead spiders,” Wule said, and Yanily visibly shivered.

“Don’t even joke about that,” Yanily said.

“Lessons?” Seena interrupted.

“Like Yanily would say, they’re squishy,” Hiral said. “Their health bars aren’t long, but it doesn’t matter. It looks like they don’t die—again?—unless we destroy the head too. Both of those ones had zero health, and they kept fighting.”

“I’d say they even got stronger with lower health,” Nivian said. “With one arm, that thing was hitting harder than when it had two.” He pointed at the skeleton on the right.

“Destroying the head puts them down for good,” Wule said.

“Or, more accurately, whatever that blue flame was inside,” Seeyela said. “I went through the eyes.”

“Did you know the magic was in there?” Seena asked.

“No, but stabbing things in the brain is usually pretty inconvenient for them.”

“Of course, why didn’t I do that?” Yanily asked himself.

“Speaking of which, stabbing and slashing didn’t work very well on them,” Hiral said. “Blunt force trauma was much more effective. Right, Nivian, and I are the best suited for dealing with them.”

“You are, but the rest of us will help where we can,” Seena said.

“I’ll stab them in the brain next time, like Seeyela,” Yanily said.

“Don’t think they have brains,” Wule said, poking through the shattered skull Right had stomped on.

“Fine, I’ll stab them in the blue, glowy flame-thing,” Yanily corrected.

“Your fire would’ve probably taken out the whole group even before they got to us,” Hiral said to Seena.

“Probably,” she agreed. “I’m just worried about being too flashy. Don’t want to attract attention, if you know what I mean.”

“Sounds like you need a fire ability that isn’t quite so explosive,” Hiral said.

“I do…” Seena said, narrowing her eyes at Hiral. “Are you trying to play the PIM system?”

He shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt. You do need something like that here.”

“Yeah. If I was on my own, I’d be in a lot of trouble.”

“Good thing you’re not on your own, then,” Nivian said. “We moving?”

“We are,” Seena said, and the party continued into the next building. “How many more skeletons are in here, Left?”

“I didn’t do an accurate count, but there was at least one more small group on this floor when I passed through before,” Left answered.

“And there they are,” Hiral said, four more skeletons rounding a corner at the end of the hall. “May I?”

“Do it,” Seena said.

Hiral lifted his RHCs, took aim, and pulled both triggers. Killing Spree blinked in the corner of his vision, quickly jumping from three to five as two of the skeletons’ skulls burst apart, and another notification blinked. He’d deal with that after. Two more pulls, and the other two skeletons dropped to the ground just as they started charging.

“If they keep coming at us a few at a time like this, Hiral has it handled,” Wule said.

“Don’t jinx us,” Hiral said, pulling up the other notification.

Racial Growth: (Undead) Skeleton – Level 2 – 5/10 – Current Bonus = 5%

“Did you all get the Racial Growth bonus?” he asked, and the others’ eyes glazed over for a second before they nodded. “Looks like it’s separating different kinds of undead, so I bet we can expect more than skeletons.”

“It’d be a little unfair if we could get you to farm these easy skeletons to build up enough of a Racial Growth bonus to take on one of those A-Rank Shambling Graveyards,” Seena said.

“The skeletons aren’t very good experience anyway,” Yanily said.

“You’ve been spoiled by Elite experience,” Seeyela said, elbowing Yanily gently in the arm, but the group continued down the hall.

“We’re getting close to the pedway over the first horde,” Left said, his voice quiet. “They stirred slightly when I passed over, but I don’t know if it’s because they sensed me, or if it was just coincidence.”

“How big was this horde?” Hiral asked.

“At least one hundred,” Left said.

“Don’t expect me to shoot that many,” Hiral said, and the others nodded. Even if the skeletons were relatively easy to kill with headshots, the sheer number could overrun the party.

“Seeyela, can you go take a look?” Seena asked, and her sister nodded, jogging ahead and practically vanishing in the shadows as her armor blended in.

“Never would’ve pegged her as going scout,” Nivian said quietly.

“If we do end up having to deal with a horde, the two of you will be the biggest contributors,” Hiral said to Seena. “Between her hydra-spitting Gravity Wells and your fireballs…”

“Yeah, we know,” Seena said at the same time her sister reappeared. “We talked about it before we left the tunnel. Like I said earlier, though, flashy.”

“Definitely a horde under the pedway,” Seeyela said. “They’re shuffling, but I can’t tell if they noticed us or anything. They didn’t look like they were going anywhere. Do look super creepy in the rain when the lightning flashes, though.”

“How far until the next horde after this one?” Seena asked Left.

“Six buildings. This next building had some residents in it, though,” Left explained. “Not many, but a few.”

“Hiral, you ready for them?” Seena asked.

“You bet,” he said, and the party moved quietly up to the pedway, rain pouring through the windows on both sides.

Almost instinctively, the group separated to the sides, carefully leaning out to get a look at the horde below. Part of Hiral knew it wasn’t a smart move—what would happen if one of the undead just happened to look up?—but he also couldn’t deny his own curiosity. And, since everybody else was doing it…

Hiral slowly leaned over the windowsill—the cold rain immediately soaked the back of his head and his shoulders—and looked down at the horde directly below him. Like Left had described, there had to be more than a hundred of the skeletons below, their bones glistening white in the rain, and specks of blue for eyes glowing on the sides of their lizard-like heads. They were clustered together quite tightly, almost like they were all trying to hide from the downpour under the protection of the pedway above. Spearheads reflected lightning as it flashed, and the occasional clatter of bone on bone sounded dully over the thrumming rain.

Nametags and health bars popped up over individuals within the group as Hiral looked, but they all seemed to be the same, and he ducked back out of the rain.

Seena nodded at the others without speaking, then gestured twice quickly towards the next building, prompting Nivian to take the lead.

Hiral followed behind, RHCs at the ready, and peered at the wall on the left as he exited the pedway. Where the last building had seemed like just a place to walk through, only the occasional side hallway leading deeper into the building, this one looked like a row of shops. Large picture windows dominated the wall on his left, counters standing beyond and even the occasional chair still surviving.

“Is that a pastry?” Wule asked quietly, pointing at a small wooden sign hanging above one of the doorways.

“Looks like one,” Yanily said just as low. “Hey, Nivian, why don’t you ever make pastries?”

“Not now,” Seena said, hushing the others, and their mouths closed before any more words escaped.

Hiral, for his part, checked the other signs. Wule was right about the first—that was almost definitely a pastry of some kind—while the next one also looked bread-related. After that, there was vegetables, then the head of a Spined Great Tusk—so, meat?—and the last one was a cup with steam rising from the top.

The Lizardmen had cafes and pastry shops? This isn’t what I expected. A clatter from within the café interrupted his thoughts as he passed.

Raising his RHCs into the darkness, the thin light of the glowing roots throwing more shadows than light, it seemed, Hiral paused in the hall and stared at the darkness. The others, noticing his stop, slowed as well, immediately going on the defensive.

“Hiral, what did you…?” Seena started, but twin orbs of glowing blue appeared in the darkness, and Hiral pulled a trigger.

His shot was a little off-center compared to before, but it still punched through an eye socket and dropped the undead to the floor in a clatter of bones that apparently took a pile of dishes with it. Ceramic shattered in an echoing cacophony in the previously quiet hall, and the following tinkle of it rolling on the floor lingered for several painfully long seconds.

“Sorry,” Hiral whispered to the others with a wince.

“Maybe nothing heard it,” Yanily offered.

A skeleton rose so abruptly just inside the café window Hiral actually jumped back before pulling the trigger and blasting its head clean off its shoulders. Another clatter of bones on the floor, but, was that it?

More sets of glowing orbs appeared within the café. One, two, three, and from the shuffling sounds down the hall behind them, the other stores hadn’t been empty either.

“Left?” Hiral asked, taking aim and removing a pair of glowing blue orbs.

“Nothing moved within the shops when I passed through,” Left said. “I should’ve looked more closely.”

“Done is done,” Seena said. “Let’s take care of this quickly.”

Hiral put down another skeleton, his Killing Spree ticking up with each shot—only one set of eyes left in the darkness of the café—but a dozen of the undead streamed out of the shops behind them. These ones weren’t carrying spears, but instead long knives or other kitchenware. Two of them had frying pans, one had a rolling pin, and a smaller one near the back had a fork.

“See, forks,” Yanily said. “I knew it.”

“Seena, it might be time to start getting flashy,” Hiral said as the group of undead turned its attention on the party.

“Yup,” Seena said, a ball of fire already floating over her hand. Without waiting for the other three to swirl to life, she cocked her arm back and threw the fireball past Hiral. It soared between the first two skeletons that’d come out of the meat shop, then hit the floor in front of the vegetable market.

Whoosh. The explosion of flame completely obscured the skeletons as the blast ricocheted off the floor and ceiling, but also shot out through the window in a sizzle of steam.

Hiral killed the fourth and final skeleton in the café, then did a quick check on his Killing Spree notification. The buff had reset while they were in the pedway, but it was now back at 15, which meant Seena had killed all—or at least most—of the other skeletons with the one attack. The flames vanished a few seconds later, steam and heat lingering in the air while small kernels of flame stubbornly clutched at the charred roots.

Only one skeleton remained standing, a glowing-hot frying pan in its hand, its bones blackened from the blast. All around it, scorched bones lay scattered and broken, obviously blown completely apart by the explosion. Blue flickered within the lone monster’s skull, and suddenly it charged forward—despite having an empty health bar—straight towards Hiral.

Yanily smoothly slid in between them, his spear flickering with electricity as it moved, and one clean thrust pierced through the eye socket and out the top of the skull. Just like that, whatever was keeping the skeleton together failed, the bones dropping to the floor while Yanily held the skull up on the end of his spear.

“Right in the brain,” Yanily said. “Er, glowy blue flame-thing.”

“Thanks, Yanily,” Hiral said.

“Can’t let you and Seena have all the fun,” Yanily said. “And now we’re into Racial Growth level three, so these skeletons don’t stand a chance. Go on and send a horde. We got this.”

Hiral took a quick glance at his status window, and just like Yanily had said, their ability had gone up a level.

Racial Growth: (Undead) Skeleton – Level 3 – 11/50 – Current Bonus = 10%

“Speaking of the horde,” Seeyela said, jogging up the hall the party had come from, “I went to check on them after Seena’s blast, to see how they reacted.”

“And? What did they do?” Seena asked.

“I don’t know,” Seeyela said. “They’re gone.”