Chapter 100: Storm

Chapter 100: Storm

The night sky above the dome was shockingly clear, with not so much as a cloud to obscure the magnificent vault of the heavens. The moon hung low in the sky, a pale sliver of waxing light, comforting in its presence.

Lying on his back and staring up at the stars, Rain wished that the air within the dome was as clean as that outside so he could get the full effect. The slight haze was noticeable, even at night, simply in contrast to the crystal clarity of the sky. Fires burned here and there in Fel Sadanis and in the Lee, but these were nothing compared to the light pollution of a modern city. The sheer number of stars was utterly breathtaking.

It was just before midnight. Rain had settled on a relatively dry patch of grass near the barrier with the intent of sleeping under the stars, but sleep itself eluded him. Instead, he found himself staring at what was clearly a planet, wondering if it had a name.

Ameliah would doubtless know, but she was asleep, just a few meters away on the other side of the barrier. It was still amazing to him that the cold didn’t bother her. Snow was piled deep outside the magical dome, easily measured just by looking. It was deeper than Rain was tall in places, though the area beneath the sheltering stone pillar that protected the Lee had been cleared, likely with fire magic.

Elsewhere, the snow formed a wall around the city. It blocked the view of the surrounding land, other than to the north-east. There, the river flowed from the mountains to the north until it struck the barrier and was forced to divert, clearing away the snow in the process. It had finally chosen the path to the east, flowing in an ever-deepening channel around the dome until it was once again forced to divert by the stone pillar.

On the other side of the rocky obstruction, past the growing camp nestled beneath it, the river flared out into a sheet of shallow water. Eventually, it would find its way back to the riverbed and continue its journey south to the Badlands, as if its passage had never been impeded.

Rain sighed deeply, thinking of the path of the water and how nice it would have been to just float down the river without a care in the world. It was peaceful out here, alone under the stars with his thoughts. Ameliah was there, of course, but he couldn’t hear her quiet breathing as she slept on the other side of the barrier. Dozer, too, was asleep, having burrowed himself a bed in the mud next to the barrier. Only Rain remained awake, staring at the stars and soaking in the stillness. Time passed, and finally, his eyelids started to droop.

Sometime later, the sudden clang of a bell jolted Rain back to consciousness. His eyes shot open, then he scrunched them back closed in annoyance. It’s one in the morning. Why they feel the need to sound the hour in the middle of the night, I’ll never— Wait, what?

Rain sat up stiffly, looking toward the city. The bell had sounded again, and as he listened, it kept ringing. He flicked on his HUD, having disabled it to observe the stars, but this only deepened his confusion. It wasn’t first bell, let alone second. It was only seven minutes past midnight.

Am I dreaming? He rubbed his eyes, his hands responding stiffly to his mind’s commands. No, not dreaming. What the hell is going on?

Rain looked over his shoulder at the Lee, then did a double-take as he saw the entire camp in silent chaos. Ameliah was gone from where she’d been lying. He spotted her in the distance, standing near one of the fires and pointing into the darkness. People were milling about everywhere, brandishing weapons and torches.

Crimson light flared. A bolt of fire flew from Ameliah’s outstretched hand, illuminating the shadowy form of the object that it struck. Rain recognized it immediately as one of the mushroom men that he’d fought in the Fells, a Fungiform Stumper. The entire thing lit up, and by the growing light of the flames, Rain could see more shadowed forms lurching toward the camp in the darkness.

“Fuck!” he swore, clambering unsteadily to his feet.

His tired, half-sleeping brain had finally shifted into gear, connecting the ringing of the bell to the appearance of the monster.

This is rank shift. Rain looked back at the city, registering that a second bell had started sounding, its dissonant voice unsynchronized to the frantic tolling of the first. A hulking form shifted in the darkness near the wall. And the barrier doesn’t stop it.

He spared one last glance at the silent battle on the other side of the dome, then turned away and sprinted for the city.

Ameliah and Tallheart are there. The Lee will be fine. Fel Sadanis, not so much.

He pulsed Detection, picking out a disturbing number of signals within the radius, though he could see only a few shadowy forms nearby. Some were clearly slimes, but others he couldn’t identify. Fortunately for him, a Stumper hadn’t decided to smash his head into the ground while he slept. The nearest of those was the first one that he’d spotted, over by the west gate. He ignored the signals around him, activating Velocity and tearing toward the city.

We’re not ready for this! I needed more time!

Old Mazel swirled the dregs of the spiced ale around the bottom of her glass, then downed the liquid with a sigh. She reached to the bottle on the table and upended it, then let it fall to the floor in dissatisfaction when nothing came out.

She set down her glass and heaved herself up out of her plush chair, growling against the protests of her back. Her joints popped and cracked, pain shooting through the haze of the alcohol. The old injury made moving difficult, and it didn’t help that Mazel was not a small woman, far from it.

Mazel Strongarm, they’d called her, back when she had worked as a merchant’s guard. At just under three stride tall, she loomed over men and women alike. Even in the dim firelight of her living room and dressed in a blue linen nightgown, she cut an imposing figure.

Rubbing her eyes, Mazel picked up the candle and shuffled her way toward the pantry, limping heavily. Had her sister been around, she would have made an effort to walk normally. To hide the pain. She hated the way Carnilla looked at her. Hated to see the guilt and pity in her eyes. No matter how many times Mazel told her that it wasn’t her fault, her sister had never forgiven herself for being the one to survive that horrible battle unscathed.

The pair of them had worked together. They’d been a team. Now, her sister was still out there, and she was stuck here, in the ass-end of nowhere, drinking up the coin that her sister sent and feeling sorry for herself.

Mazel paused in the hall outside the pantry, tightening her fists. Then she shook her head sharply, which turned out to be a mistake. She pressed her arm against the wall, then rested there for a few moments, staring at her slippered feet while she waited for the hallway to stop spinning.

Pathetic.

The last thing she needed was more ale. What she needed was a healer. A proper one. One that had the knowledge to break her bones in just the right way so that when they healed, the old injury would be undone.

She sighed deeply and pushed herself away from the wall.

Even if such a thing was possible somewhere in the world, it certainly wasn’t in Fel Sadanis. Perhaps if her nephew became a famous adventurer one day, he’d think of his poor old aunt and find her the help that she needed.

Mazel sighed again. Her sister’s son was a good lad. Strong, like his mother. Awakened, too. The pride of the family. Still, the kind of healing that Mazel needed wasn’t something that a bronzeplate could afford. She never let her weakness show when her nephew was around, either. She didn’t need pity.

No, what she needed was sleep. It was far too late to be up and around at her age and in her condition. Another bottle of ale wouldn’t do anything but worsen her headache come the morning.

She looked at the pantry door, hesitating, then firmed her resolve.

No more ale. But, since I’m here already, I might as well get a little snack before bed. Perhaps a piece of hard cheese. Just a small one. Something to keep the ale company.

She pushed the door open, then froze at the unexpected sound of chitin clicking against wood. Holding up the candle, Mazel saw a large, fuzzy form skitter back from the light, armored legs clicking against the floor. It was a spider, larger than any spider had a right to be. She stared at it, blinking aside the haze of tiredness and alcohol as a thrill of recognition ran through her. Am I dreaming?

Any doubts were settled as the thing rushed for her. Mazel shouted, dropping the candle, the pain in her back forgotten. She didn’t turn to flee, however.

They called her Big Mazel. Old Mazel. Mazel the Fat. Mazel the Cripple. But none of those were who she was.

She was Mazel Strongarm, and she wasn’t afraid of some overgrown bug.

Her thunderous stomp landed atop the spider like the collapse of a mountain, driving its furry body to the ground and sending its armored legs splaying outward. A fountain of foul ichor splattered from the monster, covering Mazel and the contents of the pantry with gore and extinguishing the fallen candle.

“Fuck!” The last of the cheese had been on the bottom shelf.

I didn’t think that through.

Any further lamentation was cut short by the unexpected clang of a bell. Mazel frowned, walking from the desecrated pantry. The ringing of the bell continued as she made her way down the hall, sounding more frantic by the moment.

Mazel wasn’t an adventurer, but she’d served as a guard and traveled far and wide. She recognized a Coal Lurker when she saw one. The monsters were level two, weak on their own, but deadly because of the way that they swarmed. How one had gotten into her pantry was a mystery, but that wasn’t important right now. Whether it had spawned in the sewer and found its way in somehow, or if the rumors of rank shift were true, it hardly mattered.

Where there was one Coal Lurker, there were always more. She had work to do.

Stopping in front of the fireplace, she reached above it and pulled down the spear that was hanging there, collecting dust. She swung the deadly weapon in a practiced arc, slamming the butt against the ground to steady her stance. Despite the pain, the motion felt good. It felt right.

Mazel Strongarm grinned in the firelight. “Now, where did I put my armor?”

Shouts of terror and the clamor of combat greeted Rain’s ears as he approached the city. He’d slipped on his helmet during his run, anticipating that he would soon be in the thick of it. Light poured out through a crack in the wooden gates, which had been partially closed for the first time that he could remember. The pair of Watch officers who’d been standing guard earlier were nowhere to be seen.

Rain skidded to a stop, dropping Velocity as he slipped through the crack in the doors. It immediately became apparent why the gates hadn’t been closed completely. The Watch officers were a little busy at the moment.

The Fungiform Stumper that they were fighting roared, swinging its club-like arm down toward the man standing in front of it. Rather than dodging back as Rain expected, the Watch officer stepped inside the blow, taking the opportunity to leave a deep gash in the Stumper’s side with his sword.

There was a flash, and a bolt of arcane lightning slammed into the monster’s back, causing it to roar again and turn from the retreating swordsman. The Mage responsible stood his ground, pelting the monster with bolt after thunderous bolt as the Stumper charged toward him. Each hit chipped off another small chunk of the creature’s ridiculous health pool, which was already down to half. There was another Stumper nearby, lying dead where it had fallen. A few other, smaller monsters that Rain couldn’t identify were scattered around, burned beyond recognition.

“Get the door!” shouted the officer with the sword, glancing at Rain for a moment before taking the chance to stab at the Stumper’s back while it was distracted by the mage. Rain was already moving, having come to the same conclusion as the officer had. The square inside the gate was lit by torches, while the area beyond the walls was not. Thanks to Detection, he could feel monsters headed toward them from outside, drawn by his passage. Even more would be spawning by the minute.

The heavy wooden doors slammed shut with a boom as Rain pushed them closed, then he began looking for the drop bar. He spotted it nearby, a thick wooden beam leaning against the side of the guardhouse. “Shit,” he hissed under his breath. The thing was massive.

Glancing back at the continuing battle, he dragged the beam down, letting it fall to the ground with a thud. He hauled it toward the door, one end dragging on the cobblestones.

A splatter of impact and a slight wobble told him that something, likely a slime, had thrown itself against the gate. He cursed, pinging several more times with Detection. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any more Stumpers in range, at least for the moment. The number of other signals coming from within the walls was hardly comforting, however.

Rain struggled with the beam, even his boosted strength insufficient to easily lift the heavy piece of lumber. He grunted as he straightened his legs, dead-lifting one end and jamming it into the bracket. Lifting the other end was harder, as he had to negotiate it around the second bracket before he could get it into place. By the time he managed it, the Stumper had succumbed to the combined onslaught of the two officers.

Rain turned, panting from his run and the struggle with the beam. He let himself lean against the gates, waving at the two officers standing by the downed Fungiforms. It wasn’t the same pair that had been here when he’d left earlier. The two monsters, on the other hand, looked exactly the same as those that he’d fought in the Fells. Fungiform Stumpers were around three meters tall, and had wide bodies supported by massive legs. Their arms were like tree-trunks that hung nearly to the ground, and their red mushroom-caps were patterned with glowing orange spots, though those had faded to a dull brown now that the monsters were dead.

The respite didn’t last long enough for Rain to properly greet the officers, let alone for him to catch his breath. The sound of rapid footsteps heralded the arrival of a small group of people, sprinting toward the now-barred gate.

“Help!” the leader of the group cried, a ruddy-faced man hauling a small child by the hand.

“They’re right after us!” said the woman next to him, flanked by what was clearly the rest of their family.

“Get behind us,” said the sword-wielding officer. “In the guardhouse, there’s—fucking depths!”

A tumultuous swarm of spiders flowed around the corner after the fleeing family like a wave. They ranged in size from ‘big-ass tarantula’ to the significantly more alarming ‘what the fuck is wrong with your dog?’. The system identified the big ones as level two Coal Lurkers, and the smaller ones as Coal Lurker Broodlings, also level two, but a swarm type.

“Ander, Lightning Wave!” the officer said, turning tail and joining the terrified family in flight.

“Not enough mana!” the mage shouted. “Stop running toward me, damn it! You’ll have to turtle!”

“No!” Rain shouted, rushing forward. “I’ve got it!” He passed the family, charging directly toward the wave of spiders. At level two, these were nothing compared to Kin. Also, he’d been primed by a lifetime of video games for this moment. It wasn’t a question of if he would run into giant spiders, only when. There was no time for fear, only action. He could think about all of the horrible scrabbling legs and dripping fangs later.

Refrigerate blasted out from him in a sphere, creating an expanding cloud of snow as water froze out of the humid air. Rain’s armor shone with the blue light of mana interference, but he didn’t even notice as he waded directly into the oncoming swarm.

A cascade of dings overwhelmed his hearing as the system presented him with a torrent of kill notifications. It would have been over in an instant, had the bodies of the dead and dying spiders not shielded their fellows somewhat from the spell. Nevertheless, the entire swarm was frozen solid in less than ten seconds, the spiders collapsing to the ground with a clatter like river stones falling on a tile floor. Only once the spiders were all dead did Rain notice that their legs were armored with some sort of hard shell. They didn’t appear to have fangs, either, but rather, a suction-cup-like mouth in the center of their fuzzy heads.

They had the eyes, though. Plenty of eyes.

Rain shuddered.

“Damn,” said the mage. “Nice work. Hey, what’s this now?”

“Mana,” Rain said, not even looking in the direction of the mage to see the blue rings. “You, man in the green shirt,” he said, pointing to the ruddy-faced man who was still holding on to his daughter protectively. The family had huddled together near the gate, terror and relief warring on their faces.

“Y...Yes?” the man said.

“Grab some torches. The monsters are spawning in the dark. We’ve got to light up the city. Be careful, though. A fire is the last thing we need.”

“In the guardhouse,” said the sword-wielding officer, pointing. “We’ve got a bundle of them. Not enough for... Fuck, nowhere near enough, but it’s a start.”

A scream echoed through the square as a woman entered from another street, seeing the pile of frozen spider things.

“It’s okay!” said the mage. “They’re dead.”

The woman hesitated, then looked behind her and ran forward. A pair of slimes oozed out into the square after her.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.

Rain frowned, reaching to his belt and snapping the Quickstaff open as he marched toward the oncoming slimes, his boots crunching through the frozen spiders. He wasn’t about to drop Essence Well just to deal with a pair of slimes.

“Get the torches,” he said firmly. “We need to move. There’ll be more coming, and we don’t have any time to waste. Torches, candles, anything you can find. Spread the word to everyone who joins us.”

“You heard him,” the mage said, steadying the panicking woman and guiding her over to the others. “We stick together. We’ll head to the southern stronghold.”

Rain slashed one of the slimes out of mid-air with the staff as it leapt for him, easily bisecting the gelatinous creature. He held off on Purify, even though he’d been splattered by the dying slime. He’d be needing his mana for more important things, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before he was covered again. The second slime shared the same fate as the first at the hands of the swordsman.

“You must be Rain,” the grinning officer said. “Category three, fucking hells. Those Lurkers didn’t stand a chance.” He pointed at his chest with his thumb. “Name’s Cale.” He nodded to the mage. “That there’s Ander.”

Rain nodded to the man, distracted by a sudden thought. The slimes had reminded him that he’d left Dozer outside. The link had grown hazy with distance, so he had to concentrate to bring it into focus. Once he grasped the connection, the only thing he could do was to shake his head in disbelief.

How the hell are you still asleep?

“Die, ya spongy fuck!” Carten roared, slamming his shield into the Fungiform Stumper. There was a sickening crunch of impact, though not from either Carten or the mushroom man. It came instead from the unfortunate Coal Lurker that had been clinging to the metal shield.

Carten was swarming with the things. They were everywhere, trying to climb down the back of his armor and into his beard. Fortunately for the Coal Lurkers, Carten had bigger problems to deal with. The spider-like creatures were an annoyance, completely unable to harm him thanks to his base Force resistance. The Stumper was another story.

It swung both of its arms down at him in an overhead smash, and Carten slammed his shields together, raising them above his head. The blow crashed into him, the force pressing his feet deep into the dirt of the courtyard and making his teeth rattle. He took no damage, but his shields weren’t going to be able to stand up to this forever.

“My turn!” Carten yelled, smashing the creature’s leg with a Shield Bash. Carten didn’t see health bars, but he could tell with his intuition that the thing had barely even felt it. It roared in anger, its spots glowing as it prepared to use its magical attack.

“Piss in a bunghole! Not that shit again!” Carten griped, crushing Coal Lurkers beneath his feet as he scrambled to get some distance. He’d already been caught in the cloud of spores once, and it was far from pleasant. He’d lost a quarter of his health, even with his Chemical resistance taking the edge off.

For the next few minutes, he ran in a circle around the incensed Stumper, waiting for the spores to clear. As he did, he made sure to get some good smashing in on the spiders that were crawling all over him. “Damn shits! Leave me beard alone!” he roared after a particularly big one got tangled in the coarse black hair. I need a damn faceplate.

Once the spores were gone, Carten found himself with the same problem he’d been struggling with for the past twenty minutes. The Stumper slammed its arms down on him, and he blocked. Neither took any damage. Shield Bash. Again, no damage. Rebound worked, turning the monster’s strength against itself, but the stamina cost was too high for repeated use. He’d never win that way, and he did want to win. Running wasn’t an option, not when Velika might be watching.

Damn it! If I only had Bramble Armor, I could make some progress. Damn level cap!

There was a sudden roar from behind him, and a second Stumper lumbered in through the open gate.

Carten pushed aside the first Stumper’s arm, it having tried to grab him. He slammed the edge of his shield down onto its sensitive foot, just to make it stumble back and give him a little room. Only then did he turn to face the second Stumper.

He grinned. “Fuck, took ya long enough!”

The second Stumper roared, not slowing its charge. Maneuvering himself between the two mushroom men, Carten waited, then rolled out of the way. The sickening crunch of broken Coal Lurkers was followed by a colossal thud of impact. The two Stumpers crashed directly into each other, collapsing into a tangle of spongy limbs.

Coming up from his roll sticky with spider guts and dirt, Carten surveyed the aftermath. “Yeah!” he roared, pumping a shield in the air.

The collision of the Stumpers had knocked off small, but not insignificant quantities of health from both of them. Carten banged his shields together in satisfaction, then beckoned. “Come on, dumbasses! If I can’t kill ya, I’ll make ya kill each other!”

Velika sat on the edge of her windowsill, her legs dangling out into the open air as she watched the spectacle below. She smiled as Carten managed to trick one of the Fungiforms into uppercutting the other one right in the sensitive gills of its cap. She reached into the bowl of walnuts sitting beside her on the ledge, crushing one and sorting through the bits of shell before popping the meat into her mouth. She’d wait a few more minutes to make sure that he really had it under control, then she’d go have some fun of her own. It didn’t look like there’d be anything out there worth her time, but even a lopsided fight had a certain appeal. Hells, she might even save a few people if she felt like it. It wasn’t like it mattered, one way or another. Not in the long run.

“Hurry up!” Myth shouted, standing in the archway between the workroom and the front of the shop. He was looking warily out at the dark street through the open door, a bulging pack strapped to his back.

“I am moving as quickly as I can,” said Reason, still rummaging around in the workroom. The urgency of the situation and the fact that the two of them were alone had the chemist speaking normally for once, though his words were clipped.

“All that stuff won’t matter if we’re dead!” Myth hissed, looking back at him. “We need to get to the stronghold now.”

“I disagree,” Reason said. “This stuff is more important than our lives. If we can’t refine chem-crysts, the city is going to run out of evertorches. We must consider more than just this first night.”

“We can come back later! Besides, there’re other chemists who—”

“Keep your voice down,” Reason said, still working to disassemble the sensitive equipment on the worktable. “Listen.”

Myth listened, hearing scraping coming from the storeroom. Something was in there. More Coal Lurkers? There were already a few of them trapped in the upstairs bedroom, easily topping the list of worst possible ways to wake up. The spider-like creatures weren’t venomous, or even that dangerous, short of a full swarm, but still.

The group moved out, Mlem still arguing with his daughter as if he had not a care in the world and was just out for a late-night stroll. Rain urged him to keep quiet, but Mlem barely lowered his voice, which made Rain grit his teeth in frustration. Every awakened I meet is out of their fucking gourd!

Amazingly, the group made it down the street without anything more significant than a few slimes coming out to meet them. Rain let the unawakened deal with them, keeping alert for more serious threats. A palpable wave of relief washed over him as they rounded the corner where the light was coming from, seeing a massive barricade of broken furniture with a bonfire blazing in front of it. There was a cry of alarm from the group of club-wielding workers guarding the barricade, then excited shouts as they recognized him. The civilians around him broke, running for the safety of the light. Rain moved to join them, but stopped after a few steps, frozen. He turned his head, looking back the way they had come.

It seemed as though something had heard them after all. Something that hadn’t been there before. His eyes searched the darkness, picking out the distant form of the freshly-spawned Fungiform Stumper. It was moving slowly but determinedly in their direction, picking up speed as he watched.

Rain felt the sudden presence of a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see Mlem standing next to him, pack removed, scimitar drawn and held at the ready. Ava was standing beside him, holding the torch in one hand and a dagger in the other with a fearless expression on her face.

“Shall we?” Mlem said, nodding to the oncoming Stumper.

“Yes, but just us,” Rain said, flicking his eyes to Ava and giving Mlem a significant look.

Mlem jumped, turning to see his daughter standing there. “Ava, go protect the others,” he said, pointing to the barricade with the scimitar.

“I want to fight with you!” Ava said, shaking her head.

“Ava,” Mlem snapped, his tone suddenly serious as the monster lumbered closer. “Rule 1.”

Ava hesitated, then took a step back. “Fiiiiiiine,” she said, disappointment clear in her voice.

What the hell is wrong with this kid? She WANTS to fight a giant mushroom monster? Rain shook his head and walked out to meet the oncoming Stumper.

Rain had started collating monster information in little custom dialog boxes a few days ago. The system didn’t help with this in any way; he was brute-forcing it by manually adding text to blank panels. It was time-consuming, but it got a little easier with each one that he made, and it helped him order the ridiculous quantity of information that was bouncing around in his head these days. The one for the Fungiform Stumper appeared with a thought, but Rain barely even glanced at it before he dismissed it again. The mere act of summoning it had been sufficient to bring the information straight to the front of his mind.

Fungiform Stumper

Class

Fungiform

Level

11

Aspect

Chemical

Bounty

1650 exp

3-15 Tel

0-2 chem-crysts

Health

~12,000

Physical (Force?) Resistance

Considerable

Does blunt/slashing matter?

Cold Resistance

~80

Heat Resistance

Unknown

Suspected weakness

Physical Attack

Blunt. Slow.

Extremely powerful.

Don’t get hit!

Spore Cloud

Effect unknown

Purify mitigates

Description

Three-meter tall mushroom guy.

In Soviet Fel Sadanis, Goomba stomps you!

“How’s your Heat Resistance?” Rain asked, glancing at Mlem as the pair approached the oncoming Stumper. He felt surprisingly calm.

“Middling,” said Mlem. “Short of a direct hit, I should be fine.”

Rain nodded. “I’m going to try burning it. Just scream in agony if the mageburn is too much.”

Mlem laughed. “Just don’t singe my mustache.”

Rain snorted, then his face became serious as the monster roared, a deep bass thrum. It was nearly upon them. “Don’t attack it yet,” Rain said. “I need to test its resistance.”

“Very well,” Mlem said. “I’ll just distract it until you’re ready.” He darted forward, dodging smoothly under the lumbering swing of the monster and spinning past it. “Yaaaaah!” he shouted loudly, waving his torch over his head.

Rain’s concern for Mlem faded the moment he saw the man move. Mlem was middle-aged, bald, and had a bit of gut, but he had clearly seen combat before. The way that he danced casually past certain death spoke volumes. He’ll be fine.

Pulling up the skill card for Immolate, Rain focused on Channel Mastery and tweaked the settings until he was catching the monster with the heat aura at precisely ten damage per second. He kept the range as wide as he could without hitting the buildings on either side of the street, which meant he had to stay closer to the monster than he would have liked.

Immolate (10/10)

9-10 heat (fcs) damage per second to entities and environment

Sufficient damage causes ignition

Range: 2 meters

Cost: 2.5 mp/s

He left the spell there, watching the monster’s health bar and following after it as Mlem led it away. As he’d expected, the bar wasn’t moving. The air around him was uncomfortably warm even after barely five seconds, but it was as hot as it was going to get at this level of the spell.

Heat resistance is at least ten.

Rain doubled the intensity of the aura, bringing it up to 17-20 damage per second. He waited a few seconds.

Still nothing. Damn, I’ll try for 30, and if that doesn’t do it, I’ll use a bigger step.

“Are you done yet?” called Mlem.

“Just hold on,” Rain said, increasing the aura to 26-30 DPS. This time as the air warmed, he saw a flicker of change on the monster’s health bar. It didn’t react to the damage, and the bar only looked a pixel or two off full, but it was there, and it was real.

Rain smiled, dropping the aura.

Confirmed, they’re weak to Heat, or at least, weaker to Heat than they are to Cold. I’ll pencil it in at 25 flat resistance. If I don’t use Channel Mastery, that should be 175-200 raw DPS. After its resistance, 150-175. At 12,000 health, it will take—

“Depths, Rain, what are you doing over there!?” Mlem shouted, skittering away from the monster’s earth-shaking stomp. “I don’t mean to rush you, but as slow as this guy is, I can’t just dodge him all night. We’ll be in trouble if something else shows up.”

“You’re right, sorry!” Rain shouted, closing in. Knowing the monster’s resistance would be important in the long run if he wanted to conserve mana, but he already had the information he needed. He could work the rest out while he fought. The Stumper roared, and Rain had to wait for the noise to stop before speaking again. “Start attacking! I’m going to open up on it. Let me know if it gets too hot.”

“Here goes!” Mlem shouted. This time after the Stumper swiped at him, he retaliated with a smooth, sweeping cut, tracking a line along its arm before he darted away. The Stumper howled in pain, losing a decent sliver of health. Either Mlem’s sword was enchanted, or he’d used some skill to add damage to the strike. Probably both.

Rain set his questions aside and let Immolate off the chain.

Immolate (10/10)

175-200 heat (fcs) damage per second to entities and environment

Sufficient damage causes ignition

Range: 2 meters

Cost: 50 mp/s

His armor glowed red in the darkness beneath his cloak, and the Stumper bellowed in agony as the magic washed over it. It whirled away from Mlem, sending its spongy fist straight toward Rain as soon as it spotted him. Rain dodged away, and Mlem took the opportunity to stab it viciously in the back of the leg. His strike took off even more of the creature’s health this time, easily matching the cumulative damage from Immolate over the last few seconds.

Rain kept up the aura, sweat rolling down his face beneath his visor as scalding air pressed in on him. The air temperature had already reached a peak and stabilized, but the heat was finding its way in through the gaps in his armor, and the metal itself would slowly be warming.

Ten seconds.

Twenty.

Thirty.

Still, Rain didn’t drop the spell. He was keeping an eye on his own health, in addition to the Stumper’s. He had only taken a point or two of damage, his equipment and his own resistance to Heat sufficient to protect him, at least for now. Mlem, likewise, hadn’t complained. He had switched his stance and started chopping at the monster’s legs like a woodsman, only taking breaks to dodge the creature’s retaliatory strikes.

As the monster’s health neared zero, it suddenly burst into flames. Mlem shouted and jumped back as the burning monster went mad, flailing its arms wildly. Orange light flashed from the spots on its cap, visible even through the brightness of the flames.

Rain dropped Immolate and joined Mlem in getting as far away as possible.

The explosion that followed was underwhelming, more gasoline than C4, but it nevertheless ended the fight. The last of the Stumper’s health vanished, accompanied by the ding of a kill notification as its burning body fell to the ground.

Your party has defeated [Fungiform Stumper], Level 11

Your Contribution: 47%

0 Experience Earned

“Well,” Mlem said, edging around the smoking pile of mushroom flesh. “That happened.” He moved next to Rain, staring at the flames. “You have got to have one of the strangest fighting styles I’ve ever seen. You just stand next to things and wait for them to die? What the hells is that? Where is your sense of flair?”

Rain shrugged. “It isn’t about looking impressive. It’s about winning. Besides, I’m not much of a fighter.”

Mlem laughed. “Ah, well. If it works, it works, but it’s just so...boring. Also, you didn’t win. I won. Fifty-three percent.”

Rain snorted. “It wasn’t a contest, Mlem.” He started chilling the pair of them down with Refrigerate, just to take the edge off.

Unexpectedly, someone started clapping slowly. Rain whirled, seeing Val standing behind them, a broad grin on his face.

“Not bad, Rain,” Val said, crossing his arms.

“Who the hells are you?” said Mlem.

Val laughed, shaking his head. He reached into the neck of his jacket and fished out his bronze Guild plate, dropping it to dangle freely on his chest.

“Val,” Rain said, narrowing his eyes. “Were you there the whole time?” Detection had told him that there’d been people around, but he hadn’t exactly had time to search for anyone specific or keep track of them during the fight.

“Yup,” Val said, grinning as he summoned his Lunar Orb. “I wanted to see how you’d do, and I’m low on mana anyway, which is why I came looking for you. I’d have helped if you needed it, so don’t give me that look.”

“Clearly, you two know each other,” Mlem said, sheathing his sword as Rain tried to decide whether he was mad or relieved. “Shall we discuss this back at the bathhouse?” He wrinkled his nose. “The aroma of burning Fungiform leaves much to be desired.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Rain said tiredly. He could have used Purify to deal with the smoke, but it didn’t appear to be toxic, the fire likely having neutralized the spores. Rain shook his head, activating Essence Well to send Val what little mana he had left. “I’m worried about the workers.”

“I’ve saved a few of them,” Val said, a more serious expression settling onto his face as he fell into step beside Rain and Mlem as they made their way back to the barricade. He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the smoking remains of the Stumper. “You won’t believe how they’ve been trying to handle those. They’re crazier than I am.”

Tallheart grunted as the Stumper slammed its arm into his back. He skidded from the impact, his boots leaving deep furrows in the earth. With a frown, he turned to face the monster, narrowing his eyes in annoyance as it swung at him again.

Raising his arm, Tallheart caught the creature’s downward swing with his hand, his gauntleted fingers digging deep into the spongy flesh. The monster roared in pain, but Tallheart didn’t stop there. He pulled, dragging the monster down so he could ram his other fist into its shoulder. Once, twice, three times, he struck, blasting through the creature’s health and weakening the joint. He ripped the arm free, the monster spinning away and falling to the ground. Without hesitation, Tallheart transferred the mushroom’s arm into his other hand, then brutally battered the creature into the ground with its own limb.

No active skills were involved. Tallheart had none suited for the task, nor did he need any. It took less than five seconds to reduce the monster to a pulpy mess using brute force alone.

Tallheart held up the remains of the arm, then took a bite, chewing speculatively as he tossed the rest away. Fungiform was a delicacy, but he preferred it roasted, and this wasn’t the time to be eating. He shook his head, then reached to his belt to retrieve his hammer from the loop at his waist. He had a job to do.

With a single blow, he felled the elm tree that he’d been considering before he’d been interrupted. He waited for it to fall, then lifted one end and began dragging it, his feet churning up the earth beneath the snow as he fought for traction. Leverage is always the issue.

Things became easier once he got the tree free of the forest and could maneuver it up onto his shoulder. He plowed a wide furrow through the snow, heading back to the Lee, unconcerned by the monsters that lurked in the darkness.