Rune Seeker

Hiral swiped away the notification window, then drew his RHCs from his hips. It was time to do this. Whether they were responsible or not didn’t matter anymore. The threat had just gotten a whole lot bigger.

“Which way first?” Seena asked.

“One of the seals is much closer to the palace, where the Urn is stored,” Odi said. “We should retrieve it second.” He then pointed to the right along the massive wall. “The other seal is the one we should get first, and it’s stored in what was once my laboratory. If we follow this wall for about half a mile and then cut towards the center of the city, we’ll find it easily.”

“Only have to worry about enemies coming at us from one side, too,” Nivian said before looking up the side of the wall. “Unless… Are there undead patrolling the top of the wall, Odi?”

“No, Ur’Thul considers the city full of undead outside these walls security enough,” Odi said. “Not to mention the elite guards within. Still, we shouldn’t dawdle.”

“Straight along the wall?” Nivian asked, taking up position at the head of the group. “You’ll tell us when to turn?”

“I will,” Odi said.

“Modified formation,” Seena instructed. “We need to make sure Odi stays safe, so put him against the wall until we turn. Wule, keep him with you.”

“You got it, boss,” Wule said to Seena, ushering the Lizardman over to join him.

Hiral took up his spot at the back, with Right nearby. Left stayed up with Nivian to give him another set of eyes.

Seena took one last look at the group to make sure everybody was where she wanted them, then gave Nivian the shoulder tap.

The tank jogged ahead, keeping the wall on one side, while the others fell in behind. Hiral’s eyes scoured rooftops, windows, doorways, and alleys as they passed. Where would the undead come from? There were too many options; he’d never be able to watch them all. How would he…?

Movement up and to the left snapped his eyes around to a window on the second floor of a building ahead. A curtain, swaying gently, but nothing else. Still, something about that sent the hair on the back of his neck standing on end.

“Building on the left, second floor,” Hiral said quietly into the party chat. “Watch out for…”

Glass shattered in a terrible crash as shapes burst out of six of the eight windows in the building. Shards of the broken glass rained down at the same time the dark forms hit the street and the wall above the party.

With the party’s strongest presence already at ground-level, Hiral turned his attention—and his weapons—to the monsters standing on the wall. Just like the vampires. Except, these weren’t vampires.

(Elite Undead) Draugr Rager – High-D-Rank

The two undead on the wall had the usual blue-flame eyes, with tears the same color running down their faces, but their scales were the color of an old bruise. Muscles bulged under the rags of rotted clothing, and long claws extended from the fingertips, like those of a large hunting cat. They crouched there on the side of the stone, poised to attack, while their brethren launched themselves at the party.

With the advantage of the high ground, their first attack could be devastating, but they weren’t the only ones with a unique relationship to gravity.

Hiral pulled both his triggers—one for each of the undead—then leapt into the air and threaded solar energy into his Rune of Gravity. Stomach flipping as to the right became down, he twisted in the air to land feet-first on the wall. Then he dashed straight for the monsters, making sure not to look at the disorienting positioning of the rest of the party.

Missing chunks of flesh indicated where they’d taken his first two shots, but the undead hardly looked bothered by it. Well, then… He pulled his triggers again. Two more searing blasts ripped off skin and the muscle underneath, even dropping their health bars by a solid fifteen percent, while he sprinted along the wall towards them. Normally he preferred to stay at a distance, feel them out a bit, but in this case, he had to stay between them and the party. Otherwise, they could simply drop from above.

Close seemed to be their preferred range, too, because both beasts launched at him like arrows. Easily as fast as the vampires, four sets of claws came slashing for him. Hiral kicked off to flip over one pair, an Echo of him appearing in his place—boom—then landed, spun, and caught the next two swinging claws on the raised barrels of his RHCs. The sturdy crystal easily held, but the strength in his arms couldn’t say the same.

Vastly overpowered by the draugr, Hiral’s weapons barely slowed the claws as they swept in for his head, but the barely was just enough for him to duck under the attack. Still, he had to release both weapons to the sheer force of the swings—or lose his fingers—and his RHCs went clattering to the wall, then the street, as Hiral rolled backwards to avoid another attack.

So much for not being able to be disarmed.

The undead was already after him, claws cutting through the rain that fell sideways, and Hiral dropped into the Chord of the Primal Echo. A dodge, a sway, and a spin got him around the frenzied assault, and then his knuckles shone with the Rune of Impact a heartbeat before he drove them into the draugr’s side. The thing didn’t even slow, delivering a backhand slash toward Hiral’s head, but he’d seen, felt, heard it coming. He rolled underneath to leave another echo—boom—and whipped the Emperor’s Greatsword off his back as he charged the other monster.

Which was apparently just what it wanted, as it came in swinging.

Claws and crystal met once, twice, three times in quick succession, the undead’s natural weapons apparently durable enough to turn aside Hiral’s sword, then the other joined in. The music dancing between the raindrops grew discordant to Hiral’s ears, the two undead attacking like feral beasts without caring who or what they struck. Over the next few seconds of wild dodging and parrying, the monsters inflicted more damage to each other than Hiral, but they still didn’t slow.

If anything, they grew faster and stronger, and their claws got closer and closer to catching him. Reduced in weight, the greatsword went out wide to one side to bash aside an attack before slamming it back in the other direction to deflect the follow-up. No time to spare, Hiral immediately brought the wide blade in front of him like a shield, the claws literally sparking as they dragged across the crystal. The force of the swing sent him skidding back on the wet wall.

Neither of the undead had more than twenty percent of their health bars left, but their nonstop assault left him no openings to throw out attacks of his own. And even if it did, he still needed to destroy their heads.

At least they’re completely focused on me.

No sooner had he finished that thought than the monsters burst forward again. There were no tactics between the two, no coordination or teamwork—just raw, wild attacks. And they came in hard.

Hiral did everything he could to keep them off, sword blazing with energy as he reduced it to the minimum necessary weight to turn aside an attack while keeping it moving as fast as possible. Bursts of Rejection bought him an extra second here or there, one Lost Echo tore away another ten percent of health, and he even scored a Searing Pain debuff.

Except the things completely ignored pain, and Hiral was put back on the defensive.

“Hope this helps, Hiral,” Seena said via the party chat, and a pulse of solar energy washed over him.

You have been buffed by Lashing Vines (Fire-Attuned).

Vines will make independent attacks to enemies within range for 32 minutes.

Hiral barely had time to glance at the notification window with the furious attacks coming his way, but he couldn’t ignore the two whips of flames that lashed over his shoulders. Where the vines had been more natural-looking before, the thorns had been replaced with small, fiery shards, and the rain sizzled when they passed.

Focused on Hiral and his sword, each of the draugrs took a barrage of attacks from the vines as they attacked, their skin searing and spitting at each hit. While they didn’t seem to care at all about the extra damage, they didn’t completely ignore the vines either, their claws lashing out to meet them.

And, in that brief second, Hiral exploded forward with a burst of Rejection under his feet. Rain blasted outward from the lunge, and his greatsword came up and over to cleave straight through one of the draugrs from head to crotch. The thing almost looked surprised as it split down the middle, its two halves falling in separate directions. Whatever magic kept it anchored to the wall seemed to fail with its death, and those two pieces fell to the road on either side of Odi below.

A pulse of energy flowed out of the falling undead and into Hiral, his One-Man Army+ triggering and topping up his health and solar energy. Judging by how good Hiral felt, the monster was no slouch in either department, but he didn’t have much time to enjoy the rush.

Dodging back just in time, he evaded another claw swipe. Boom. The Lost Echomade the draugr pay for missing, and Hiral was already lunging back in while pulling with his Rune of Attraction. He hadn’t used the rune at all during the fight, and the undead stumbled forward while Hiral dropped to his knees and slashed at the undead’s legs. The energy blade sheared right through the draugr’s ankles, the whole thing stumbling forward as it fell. Then it, too, lost the magic keeping it tied to the wall, and it tumbled sideways to crash to the ground beside the first one.

This draugr wasn’t dead, though, and its head turned at the backs of the party members it had landed between.

Oh, no, you don’t. Hiral leapt from the wall sword-first and reoriented his gravity. Another stomach flip, and he drove his sword straight through the draugr’s head at the same time he hit the ground, more solar energy rushing into him from the kill.

“Sorry about that, Odi,” Hiral said, pulling his sword out of the ground where he’d buried it in the stone and turning to the rest of the battle. He needn’t have bothered; a combo from Yanily and Right put the last draugr down for good. “Thanks for the buff,” he said to Seena.

“No problem,” she said. “Looked like you needed something a little extra… while you were fighting on the wall. What the hell?” She flashed a quirked smile as the party closed ranks and kept an eye out for more undead.

“Seemed the best way to take them on,” Hiral said with a shrug, sheathing the sword on his back. Then, with a pull of Attraction, his RHCs slapped into his palms.

“Good to know you can do that,” she said, a slight slant in her voice suggesting he should’ve mentioned it sooner.

“Just occurred to me to try,” he said.

“We should keep moving,” Odi said. “The Ragers don’t usually roam all the way to the walls. Ur’Thul must be aware of your presence within the palace.”

“Everybody good on solar energy?” Seena asked. “Wule, patch up the injuries while we move. Everybody else, Cycle if you need to.”

“Not in bad shape, thanks to our efficiency boosts,” Nivian said. “Thirty-five percent is huge.”

“True,” Seena said. “Don’t get cocky, though.” She gave the tank a tap on the shoulder, and the party moved back out.