Nova terra kingbreaker t.., p.15
Nova Terra: Kingbreaker (The Titan Series Book 3), page 15
“The real problem, though, is [Holy Strike]. Their one attack ability stacks, allowing a group to deal huge spike damage.” Mina joined the group, her face serious. “One [Holy Strike] is almost worthless if it isn’t being used against an undead or devil, but once you reach master level, there is a hidden trigger that allows multiple players to combine their [Holy Strike]. Two players working together will triple the damage, three players get six times the damage, and it only goes up from there. On top of that, when you hit five players it also applies a burning effect. They are gross when they team up.”
“Huh, that sounds really dangerous.” Thorn scratched his head. “If we go up against them, we will have to try and disrupt them. Anyway, no sense in worrying about that now. Let's talk about how we're going to enter the mine.”
Organizing all of the players in the three guilds into equal groups, WhiteCloud, Asher, and Thorn each took command of one group and entered the mine. Thorn and the Titan squad took point, pushing forward into the mine while the High Castle and Aurum groups followed behind. It took a while to grind their way through the tightly-packed dwarves at the entrance, but after an hour and a half of heavy fighting, they broke through to the other side.
Once they passed the mine's entrance, they found themselves in an area with branching tunnels. The mine tunnels were barely large enough for Thorn to stand up straight and not nearly wide enough for him to swing his tetsubo, so he swapped it out for his arbalest and joined the support players in the back. After looking around, a scout from the High Castle team reported that the High Castle dungeon team had marked the path that they traveled and led them down a tunnel to the left.
“We’ll take a turn up front,” WhiteCloud volunteered, earning himself a look of approval from Asher and Thorn.
Thorn signaled for the Titan squad to step back, and the High Castle team advanced to take their place. Due to their low numbers, the High Castle team was comprised of a mix of players from all three guilds. As they begin to clear the way forward, the Titan squad moved to the back of the group to rest.
The group advanced deeper into the earth. At times, the passage would narrow, forcing the group to move forward in single file. Occasionally, Thorn even had to pause to widen the path, due to his size. After they had traveled for two hours, the slow trickle of dwarves heading towards the surface stopped, and the High Castle team, which was currently at the front, called back that they could see an open space.
The narrow passageway opened into a huge cavern. Close to a quarter of a mile across, the ground was rough, and faintly glowing plants and fungi dotted the room. Large stalactites hung from the ceiling, looming over their heads like the teeth of a giant beast waiting to crunch shut. Spreading out as they entered the cavern, the three teams looked around. It was as if they had entered a massive, shadowy world. Mina poked Thorn in the side and spoke in a whisper.
“I don't like this place.”
“Yeah, it's not very cheery, is it?” In the low light provided by the glowing plants, Thorn could make out a well-worn path curving its way through the cavern.
*ding*
Yo. The Silver Guard arrived. 50 players. We are following in behind them, but we’ll have to keep our distance to avoid getting caught.
Replying quickly, Thorn dismissed Jorge’s message, his mind whirring. After a moment, he looked around, his expression unchanged.
“Let's push forward.”
Once again, the Titan squad took point, advancing across the cavern floor. Despite the size of the group, everyone was subdued. The only sound was their muffled footfalls. Halfway across the cavern, Mina heard a skittering sound and spotted a large insect with countless legs creeping behind some rocks.
Stifling a shriek with her hand, Mina thrust her wand out and cast a spell, dumping a ton of snow on the helpless creature’s head. All three teams, startled by the sudden attack, took defensive stances, looking around warily for enemies. No one was able to spot anything, and after a moment, Mina sheepishly admitted what had happened. Rolling his eyes, Thorn patted the short witch on the head.
“Please don't tell me that you are going to do that for every insect we come across down here.”
“No, no, I'm good.” Mina patted her chest in relief. “I was just startled.”
“Good. Keep it together,” Asher said as he walked over to Thorn. “Looks like it wasn't anything, so let's keep moving.”
“Yeah, she can get a little bit trigger-happy.” Thorn smirked as he waved to the group. “The path looks like it ends at the base of that pile of stones. Split up and see if you can find the exit.”
The three teams split up and began to comb through the cavern. With his height, Thorn had no trouble seeing over the plants and rock piles, and his night vision made the low light conditions a non-issue. Wandering around a large pile of rocks, Thorn was looking at a large pink and yellow mushroom that was puffing out jets of phosphorescent blue mist when he began to hear shouts from across the cavern.
“[Avalanche!]”
Standing up, Thorn looked over just in time to see Mina summon her three frozen orbs.
“Mina, what are you doing?”
“[Raging Blizzard!]” Not stopping to answer Thorn, Mina began casting ice spikes as fast as she could muster. Shards of ice ripped through the air, smashing into the ground and sending slivers of razor sharp ice flying. Mina accelerated backward, sliding over the ground and ramping off of a small bump. As she flew through the air, she spun around and pointed her wand. “[Sub Zero!]”
The spell had barely been released when she activated her blink, appearing fifteen feet away as scything mandibles cut through the air where she had been moments before. Realizing something serious was going on, Thorn’s voice boomed through the cavern, causing the stones on the floor to jump.
“Form up!”
“You heard him.” Without waiting to figure out what was going on, Asher yelled to his group, and began to sprint toward where Thorn stood. Across the cavern, WhiteCloud’s team looked to their leader, who hesitated for a moment, his eyes darting to a half hidden opening in the cavern wall.
*BOOM*
The loud sound drew his eyes back to Mina’s fleeing figure. Through the cloud of ice crystals, WhiteCloud could barely make out a huge armored figure weaving in the air, thousands of small legs wriggling in and out of sight. From what he could make out, a forty-foot monstrous centipede was chasing Mina back toward Thorn’s party.
“Are we going back to fight?” One of the scouts asked, his eyes fixed on the massive centipede that was pursuing Mina.
“No. Let them fight it. It should keep them tied up while we meet up with the rest of the team. They said they can see the fortress already. Let’s go.” Without another glance, WhiteCloud led his small team into the hidden cavern.
In the center of the cavern, Thorn focused on the giant centipede that was barreling toward them. Imposing armor plates covered the arthropod’s back and sides, creating a low grinding noise as it rushed after the fleeing witch. Lunging out of the cloud of ice, the centipede sent it’s scything mandibles snapping toward Mina, who blinked away again. His guildmates gathered up around him, Asher arrived next to the Titan squad, which had formed up in front of Thorn. Grimacing at the incoming monster, Asher commanded his group to join Thorn’s. Quickly getting into position, the tanks rushed forward to intercept the enraged insect.
Another blink brought Mina to safety behind the tank line, where she hid behind Thorn.
“Ugh, gross, gross, gross.”
“Are you okay?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Ew, that thing is so disgusting.”
“What happened?” Looking at the monster, Thorn tried to figure out where it had come from.
“Ummm. I might have killed one of its kids or something,” Mina said, sheepishly.
“Hey, let’s deal with it before we all die, huh?” Exasperated, Asher pointed toward the tanks, who were being tossed all over by the rampaging beast.
“Haha, right. Support, keep the tanks up. Let’s do this,” Thorn called out, striding forward. Fixing his helmet on his head, he summoned his tetsubo and rushed toward the giant monster, Mina skating forward behind him.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Archers, target its weak points! Mages, do your best to slow it down! Make sure we keep those tanks at full health in case it has a rage ability.” Rather than follow Thorn and Mina forward into the heart of the fight, Asher took command of the back line, shouting out orders in rapid-fire succession. With a practiced eye, Asher began to assess the battlefield.
Smashing his way across the floor of the cavern, Thorn could feel the burning excitement taking hold of him. Roaring, he launched himself into the air, lifting his tetsubo over his head. But before he could strike, the giant centipede's tail appeared in front of him, lashing him out of the air. Thorn went tumbling, a grunt slipping from his lips as his large armored form smashed through piles of rocks and completely squashed a giant mushroom. Extricating himself from the sticky mess of glowing fungus, Thorn shook his head and stood up.
Standing among the support players, Asher called out orders to the tanks.
“Set up a taunt chain starting from the left and taunt on my order! DPS, rotate on my command until agro is established. Zeno, you are first!” Asher kept his eyes tightly fixed on the giant centipede. Seeing an opening, he shouted, “Taunt!”
Zeno, a barbarian dressed in fur-lined steel armor, slammed the butt of his double-sided axe into the ground, activating his crowd control ability. The shockwave from the strike flowed outward, sending glowing yellow chains shooting out of the ground to tie down the centipede. With a hiss, the centipede tried to retreat, but the flying chains were too fast, wrapping around it.
The ability infuriated the monster, drawing its attention for a second. The centipede locked its multitude of eyes on Zeno, making him gulp. The chains had barely finished wrapping around it when the centipede shook its body, shattering the chains and breaking free from the restraint. Asher's voice rang from the back line, and Zeno jumped backwards, barely evading a pincer strike from the centipede. Furious at having missed, the centipede reared back its head to strike again.
“Next tank, taunt!”
A tank to the right of Zeno smashed the pommel of his sword on his shield, producing a sharp *klang*. As if by magic, the centipede’s gaze swiveled to fix itself onto the offending shield, and without hesitating, it lunged forward. Just as it looked like the centipede’s giant mandibles were about to cut the tank in half, a translucent sphere of reverberating sound appeared in the air around the warrior's body, blocking the monster’s attack.
“DPS, on!” Asher called out, and all of the ranged attackers began to pepper the monster from afar with spells and arrows. The melee DPS dashed forward, swinging sharply at the centipede’s thick carapace. On the count of three, all of the DPS stopped attacking, and Asher called for the third tank to draw the centipede’s attention. In fascination, Thorn watched as Asher took hold of the tempo of the fight, perfectly timing his orders to keep the monster busy while creating opportunities for the damage dealers to strike.
Not wanting to throw off the rhythm that Asher had established, Thorn switched his tetsubo for his arbalest, joining the ranged attackers in sending bolts toward the centipede every time Asher called out for damage. Even though most of the tank’s abilities could only hold the monster’s attention for a few seconds, the rapid rotation of the crowd control abilities and taunts kept the giant centipede disoriented enough that it could never mount a large attack.
As they repeated the rotation, Thorn was drawn into the rhythm of the fight. A tank would taunt, pulling the giant centipede’s attention, and in the brief seconds before it reoriented itself, the DPS would strike. Wave after wave, the attacks hammered its carapace, chipping away at the monster’s impressive armor. It didn't take long before the mighty monster fell, worn down by the relentless damage.
Quite impressed with the way the fight had gone, Thorn slapped Asher on the back, nearly knocking him over.
“That was awesome. Really impressive control of the battlefield.”
“Uh, thanks? I guess?” Seeing Asher's confused look, Mina rolled her eyes.
“Pay no attention. Our boss is just a giant noob.” Now it was Thorn’s turn to be confused. “Thorn, that was just a standard dungeon battle. Probably not even a mini boss.” As realization dawned on Thorn’s face, Mina continued. “I forgot that you have never seen the way normal people fight. No one else in the game can just rush in and crush everything the way you do. We have to use tactics and strategy like the ones you saw here. Literally every elite player in the game knows this rotation. And this is only one of the standard rotations.”
“Well, anyway, I was impressed.” Unashamed of his lack of knowledge, Thorn gave Asher a thumbs up. “You will have to teach me about these rotations. I feel like it would be really helpful to understand how you know when to taunt and when to attack.”
“That just comes with time. You have to observe the monster and figure out their pattern. In this case, it only had two real attack vectors. Head and tail. Most monsters telegraph their moves, so if you can spot the sign that they are about to attack, you can taunt to interrupt them. The strategy we used here only works with multiple teams, because you need enough tanks to pull aggro for the constant interrupt. It was also easier since this monster wasn’t a boss and didn’t have a rage ability.”
Talking while they worked, Asher and Thorn gathered the group together after they had finished looting the giant centipede. Thorn pointed toward the side of the cavern where WhiteCloud and the High Castle team had disappeared.
“WhiteCloud was over there when the fight started. It is pretty safe to assume that he found the exit and is on his way to the fortress.” Everyone followed Thorn’s finger but did not see anything but a dark wall.
“How do you figure?” Asher asked.
“Well, first of all, WhiteCloud lied about not being able to send and receive messages. I would guess that means he probably knew that the giant centipede was here and was waiting for someone to stumble on it before making his escape. Second, if he was still in the cavern, he would have come out by now.”
“That makes sense.”
“Let’s concentrate our search near that wall. I’m sure we’ll find the passage there.”
After a brief rest, the two guilds made their way to the wall of the cavern where WhiteCloud and his men had disappeared, a quick search revealing the passage. The entrance to the tunnel was hidden behind a small outcropping of rock, and it was only when a player stood directly next to it that he could see it.
“Slimy...” Asher cursed under his breath. “I bet WhiteCloud knew which way to go all along. He is probably already at the fortress by now, trying to get a leg up.”
“Don't worry.” Thorn’s voice was slow and calm. “Even if High Castle got to the fortress already, I'm sure we'll be able to catch up. I know that the quest only says we need to find the fortress, but given that all the stone dwarves have been aggressive, I am willing to bet that we’ll have to conquer the fortress to advance. The chance of High Castle being able to take down a fortress of stone dwarves with just a dungeon team is slim to none.”
“But what about the Silver Guard?” Mina cast a worried glance to the entrance of the cavern.
“Since they're here, we might as well use them.” Thorn chuckled. “I told Jorge about the hidden entrance and asked him to try and lead them to us. Peacefully. Since they've come all this way, they might as well help us take down the fortress, right?”
“Do you really think they'll help us?”
“Sure, why not?” Thorn shrugged. “Either way, it won't hurt to ask. If we are going to fight, then we should just get it over with so we can get on with taking down the fortress.”
Asher looked skeptical, but he didn't say anything. Gathering their teams together, the Aurum team led the way into the earth.
Less than 20 minutes later, a well-ordered group of silver-armored players entered the cavern. Seeing the devastation wrought by the giant centipede, the Silver Guard stayed in formation, looking around carefully for any sign of an enemy. The cavern was silent, all the small creatures that inhabited it scared off by the fight against the giant centipede. Unable to spot anything out of the ordinary in the dim conditions, the leaders gathered to discuss what to do next.
“Oi, the exit is this way.” Instantly the Silver Guard were on high alert, spinning to face Jorge, who had just stepped out from behind a blue glowing mushroom, his hands resting on his daggers. Stretching one hand out, he activated his Guild insignia, the symbol for Nova Luna appearing above his palm. “My boss told me to wait for you, so I can show you the way down.”
