Chapter 10: Cheating with Physics

Chapter 10: Cheating with Physics

Cronk started to take a step towards Milo. Milo was calculating his chances.

Assuming Cronk had the same density as normal mushrooms, the cap on his head was at least 600 pounds. Cronk had to weigh more than a ton, and with how tough he looked, maybe two. A punch or kick from him would probably kill Milo outright, or break enough bones he'd wish he was dead. His danger sense was screaming at him, telling him to run fast. Too bad his carefully planned escape route was closed off. Stupid of him to only have one way to flee.The origin of this chapter's debut can be traced to N0v3l--B1n.

Time seemed to slow, Cronk barely moving...

Through the use of your skill: Danger Sense, and logical thinking, you have assessed a foe and your chances of winning a battle against him.

You have an open tertiary slot, would you like to gain the skill Identify? This will give you basic information on foes near your level, and the threat level of foes above you. Also useful in determining the nature of objects and crafting materials. Y/N?

Yes! Useful skill, how bad was he outclassed?

Cronk, Guardian of the Cave! Elite level 4 Boss

A large myconian guardian. 8' tall, 1 ton+ weight. Seismic stomp attack.

You have less than a .01% chance of defeating this foe in a straight-up fight.

Option 1: Stay in small area to be dug out or buried alive.

Option 2: Trade punches like a real man, and die on first punch.

Option 3: Play 'dodge tank', never get hit, whittle him down bit by bit.

The cart was about two feet from the edge when Cronk once again got bored and stomped on the ground. Milo exertions and Cronk’s stomps had slowly loosened a certain rock near the edge. Milo was pushing against the rock for leverage when Cronk sent a small shockwave up. The combination was enough to send the rock down into the shaft, and Milo onto his belly. The 50-pound rock hit Cronk on his cap and sunk in deep, doing some damage. Enraged, the monster stomped again, looking up at the violator of the cave. He added another couple of stomps for emphasis.

Several things happened, starting with the whole shaft groaning ominously. Next, the large coil of cable started to slide towards the edge. Milo had just staggered up and tried to stop the cable by stepping on it. This just ensured that his foot was in a loop of cable as it went over the side, jerking him off his feet and dragging Milo along with it. Milo found himself hanging by one foot about half-way down the shaft.

The angry mushroom man looked up at Milo and their eyes met. Cronk smiled as he went to grab the cable. Milo just managed to get his foot out of the loop before the line went taunt and Cronk heaved. Milo held on for dear life as Cronk jerked and pulled on the rope trying to dislodge him. Milo didn't like this at all, and when he got the chance, he leapt to the side of the shaft when a large boulder offered a decent hand hold. Looking down at Cronk, he saw the myconid guardian was no longer pulling on the cable. It had gone slack.

Cronk had managed to pull the ore cart to the edge and then pull it in. The cable fell and pooled in loops around Cronk's legs as a couple tons of steel cart and rock sped towards it. Milo hugged the side of the shaft and felt the ore car just miss him. He wasn't in the clear though, the rock he was on shifted a foot, nearly coming loose from the wall, and pitched him into the shaft.

From below, he heard a huge bellow of pain and the strange sound of something heavy hitting something much softer, somewhere between a 'splat' and a 'sploosh'. A large mass of smushed shroom parts spattered against him in mid-air, and a second later he landed feet first on something soft and spongey that didn't quite break his fall. The air was full of mushroom spores and he was splattered in the gooey remains of the Cave Guardian. He staggered a bit away from the impact site and started cleaning himself off.

Congratulations! You have singlehandedly slain Cronk, Guardian of the Cave by cheating with physics!

For slaying Cronk, Guardian of the Cave, a level 4 Elite boss. The normal reward of 10 Core Skill Points is increased to 15 since you accomplished this without the help of a group.

You have earned 500 Boss experience. Boss experience may be divided as you wish between the skills used to kill the creature. An equal number of experience will be applied to the stat associated with the skills chosen.

Skills used: Mechanic, Fleet of Foot, Acrobatics, Climbing.

The following core skill lists are available to you: Generic, Scout, Racial.

The Myconid Collective has taken notice of your actions. Your status has been updated from annoying to minor threat.

Just to be on the safe side, Milo downed half the tonic hairy had given him. He was a bit light headed after that fight and had inhaled a lot of spores. He searched the area where Cronk and the ore car had met up. Rocks and ore were scattered everywhere, but some of it was still in the cart. Three large fist sized chunks caught his eye. One was steel colored and looked to be solid metal, the other two a ruddy red-gold. There was also a mining pick that had been covered by the ore. The pick would come in handy, the ore he tossed into his backpack.

He kicked through Cronk’s remains in the off chance the big shroom had some type of treasure, but all he found was a strange ball of vegetable matter, heavy and shiny. It identified as "Earthen Heartshroom". That also went into his pack. He was too tired to continue. Time to log out and see what was going on in Section E and maybe look at the forums some. Getting back to Harry could wait for a bit.