The water spouts were a problem. The occasional spout or torrent from the captain wasn’t so bad. Steven couldn’t deflect one entirely with a Hand Shield, but he could redirect enough of it to help Markus scrape by. And if worse came to worst, he could shove the man out before he smashed into a wall.
But then things got worse.
Markus caught Captain Bob in the chin with a right hook and another to his chest. Before the captain could finish staggering back, Steven pulled a Hand Shield into him from behind, sending him stumbling into Markus‘s knee.
The captain snarled, and then the whole room began to shake.
Vern immediately smacked the boss with a beam of purple. It was the only thing that saved them.
The sudden slow let Markus and Steven scramble back a few feet before the floor burst.
Pillars of water thicker than Steven‘s legs punched up through the floor and straight into the ceiling without stopping. They kept coming, racing their way towards them.
A spout started under Steven‘s feet, and he called a Hand Shield, pushing off it while using Compass Push simultaneously.
The sudden momentum was enough to fling him clear of the geyser, but he didn’t dismiss his shield in time. It cracked, then broke, sending pain lancing through Steven‘s head.
He landed in a tumble, slamming another shield into his back to speed up his rolling.
He smacked into the wall as the rumbling stopped.
Steven sat up, groaning and rubbing his shoulder. That landing hadn’t been gentle, and the traces of backlash still pulsed through his System, causing his head to throb along with his heartbeat.
Steven took in the room, his eyes trailing over the blasted-out sections of the floor before settling on the boss.
Steven, Vern, and Markus gathered in a loose triangle with the boss in the center. The boss was breathing deep now, his broad shoulders heaving up and down. The motion caused the octopus on his hat to sway and bob, but it kept its yellow eyes locked onto Vern as the captain glared at Steven and Markus.
“Ok, so that sucks. But chances are he can’t spam that. It’d be absurd,” Steven gasped out.
Markus walked back and forth, keeping his Skill running.
“Yeah, that would be patently unfair. Let’s hope the System is feeling merciful.”
Steven’s thoughts raced as he studied the pirate. They could close the gap to the man. Not easily, but they could do it.
They must’ve put enough damage on him to trigger that Skill, so did it trigger every time they got enough hits in, or was it a strict cooldown?
Either way, their plan was the same: close the distance before he could bash them to death with water, then run like hell when the ground started to shake again.
Steven pursed his lips and then nodded. “Ready?“ Markus smiled, and Vern gave a cautious nod. Steven dropped into a runner's stance before sucking in a deep breath.
Salt filled his nose, and images pushed at his thoughts: dark water, a shark's maw, the barrel of a cannon.
Steven narrowed his eyes at the captain, reaching out with his mind, wrapping his focus around his Skills, feeling the Skills pulse against his thoughts like warm coals.
He let that comforting warmth flow through him, pulsing once, twice. “Go!“
He took off, sprinting down the hall for all he was worth. Markus passed him almost immediately, the amber shroud thickening by the second.
A pillar rushed in from the left, and Steven deflected it, angling his shield so the water hit it at an angle. They were still sprayed, but the shield ate enough of the force that they weren’t thrown from their feet.
Steven grit his teeth as the shield began to splinter and crack. He dismissed it before immediately throwing out a second. Water was deflected, and they were soaked, but they kept moving.
Angle it enough to keep you on your feet but not shatter the Skill like glass, simple!
He deflected a third spray and then a fourth, the shields strained to their limit.
Steven tried to toss a shield at Captain Bob, but even considering it took too much of his focus. His next shield came out slower, and the water that hit them had enough force to nearly topple him.
But then they were on the captain. A cutlass swung out for Markus and was blocked by a shield. Markus struck back, catching the captain in the side. Another shield, this time tripping the captain before he could dodge. Another punch, more swings, more shields.
Water began to thunder down on them, and Steven’s focus sharpened. He deflected a torrent from his right, pulled the captain into a punch, then used a third shield to shove Markus clear before two torrents converged on him.
Steven maintained that delicate dance for a few precious seconds, allowing Markus to attack freely. Then, the octopus joined the fight.
Its yellow eyes narrowed, and it let out a furious chirp. An arm slashed at Steven, and a thin wire of water materialized. It whipped out faster than he could dodge, striking him across the shoulder.
It cut straight through his shirt and into his skin with a stinging pain. It didn’t go much deeper; Micheal’s buff made his muscles dense, but it still hurt.
He ground his teeth together as he kept up with the captain's water, keeping Markus in the fight and focusing on offense. “Vern!“ He growled out. “Slow the octopus for me.“
Immediately, a bolt of purple struck the cephalopod, and its arm, raised to slash at Steven, slowed to a crawl.
The battle heated up. Water started coming faster and faster, and Steven’s shields followed at a furious rate, summoning and dismissing almost as fast as he could manage. The energy cost began to creep in. He was acting in his purpose, defending his friend, but he was summoning a lot of shields.
But the captain wasn’t the only one who was speeding up. Every second the fight dragged on, Markus grew faster, stronger. His punches, which had staggered the captain before, began to toss him about like a rag doll.
Markus started peppering in his second Skill, placing sap to limit the captain's movement. At this point, Steven was pretty sure the torrent storm was on a timer instead of linked to damage; otherwise, they would’ve seen it again.
Steven didn’t let himself think they almost had this.
Which was why he met the prompt in the corner of his vision with a sigh instead of a snarl.
A group has cleared a bar!
Shit! Someone else joined the event.
“Come on! We don’t even get a notification that they joined?“ Steven thought at the System.
“Hey, they’re not in your group. I never said other people couldn’t join in on this event halfway through. Their timing is rather unfortunate, though, Because three bars cleared means…“
Steven ignored the System as the captain laughed, the sound painfully loud. He clenched his fist, and water burst from him, knocking them back before Steven could block it.
Don’t let yourself hit the wall! Steven called a shield underneath himself mid-air and used Compass Push to shove it straight up. It hit him in the center of his back, and while it wasn’t pleasant, it was better than hitting a wall headfirst.
The momentum flipped him forward, and his feet clipped to the ground before he was ready. He tumbled, rolling head over heels before thumping into the wall with a grunt instead of a splat.
Markus and Vern were flung down the hall instead of towards a wall.
Markus had just managed to keep his Skill running, though the shroud covering him had grown faint, nearly vanishing altogether.
Captain Bob stretched, his coat shifting oddly with the motion. It moved slowly, as if… Steven’s eyes widened as he took in the man.
The blast of water he’d sent at them had retracted, shifting around the man in a thin coating that outlined his coat.
Tendrils spun off from him, ripping at the air with unnerving speed. Even the octopus had gotten its own coating, making it seem as if 16 arms wriggled and danced around the captain.
He grinned his broad grin and stared at them. “Well then, lads, let’s get to it.”
Steven pulled himself to his feet with a groan, and then he summoned a shield.
~<>~<>~
Del laid out Borin, The Dread Pirate Cook, with a left hook that knocked him from his feet.
Thankfully, she didn’t get a notification. They couldn’t exactly leave the guy at their backs. His Skill that launched projectiles from cooking pots was as dangerous as it was confusing. But she had been worried that knocking the cookout would count as clearing another bar, making it harder on the others.
But the captain was here, so this bar didn’t count as cleared until taking out the big man and himself.
She confirmed that with the System, but part of her had been worried it was lying.
“Please honey, when have I told you a lie?“ Del opened her mouth to snap back and then paused. The System hadn’t lied to her. Ever. Unless you counted blatantly obvious sarcasm.
“I’m a good and honest overlord… Most of the time.“ Del shook that off and started for the entrance, Micheal, Margie, and the others in tow.
She made it out of Fletcher’s with a new, prompt-filled view.
“New event. Due to some little rascals in the Cook voting for this event to start earlier, it is. They have decided on an immediate activation, as well as an increase in difficulty at a proportional increase in reward. Since this event is now stacking with a second event in this zone, they will modify each other and increase their difficulty even further.”
“Vote! How come we didn’t get a chance to vote?“ Micheal shouted.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“You guys didn’t get a say because you weren’t the ones who found the event trigger.“ The System chuckled. “The bozos upstairs did that, and it seems they’re already regretting their decision. But hey, what can you do.“ The System’s usual dry nonchalance took on a slightly malicious edge as it chuckled. “Have fun, honey, this one’s a doozy.“
Del glanced at Micheal as the prompt faded. “Well, that was ominous.“
Margie grunted. “If I have to hear one more fucking word in the Japanese language, I’m going to set something on fire!“
Vanessa stared at Margie. “What?“
Margie shook her head, her gray braid swinging with the motion. “Never mind that, let’s go help the-“ Margie didn’t get to finish her sentence as a tide of frantic, furious shrieking drowned her out.
~<>~<>~
The fight went from bad to worse for Steven. He was already straining himself to keep up with the bouts of water and the captain's sword. The man’s watery cloak stepped things up another level entirely. It absorbed Markus‘s punches, eating up most of the impact and letting the captain amp up his aggression.
That wasn’t too much on its own, but the captain's cloak didn’t just block. If Markus weren’t actively pressuring, the pirate tendrils would lash out from the cloak, forcing Steven to split himself even further.
Hypothetically, if Steven had enough focus to attack the captain without letting a pillar of water take him or Markus in the gut, he would’ve been able to do something here.
While the captain’s cloak could absorb Markus‘s hits, that was taking all of the Skills bandwidth to do so. The water thickened and bunched wherever Markus’s fist was heading, putting as much of its mass into blocking the old man as it could, which meant the rest of the captain was relatively unguarded.
But the cloak seemed to have a mind of its own. The captain's torrents never slowed for more than a handful of seconds, so neither had Steven.
And worse than all that, the octopus hadn’t even rejoined the fight yet.
Steven blocked a pillar of water before it could take Markus in the back, his shield hovering on the edge of breaking.
At the same time, he deflected a sword swing before it could catch Markus in the side and then threw himself into a roll to avoid a lashing tendril the octopus sent his way.
Steven finished his role, using one shield to help hurl himself to his feet while blocking another torrent from the right.
Vern held himself in reserve, throwing out a slow to either save one of them from taking a hit or to let Markus land one.
It was stretching Steven to his limit, but while he was being pushed, Markus had been free to advance.
Amber light blazed around the man as he flowed after the captain in a mesmerizing dance. Fists seem to come at the pirate from every direction, forcing the cloak to rise and contort to block him. Anytime the captain tried to back up or get fancy with his movement, a kick nearly took him in the head.
And while the cloak was absorbing Markus‘s blows, that would change. Every couple of seconds, Markus got a little faster, his punches hit a little harder, and he grew closer to breaking through the boss's watery shell.
Markus had to be getting close to a full meter at this point, and Steven felt confident that they could win this fight when that happened.
The question was, could Steven protect the man long enough for him to get there?
They kept up that dance for another minute that felt like an eternity before a prompt popped up in the corner of Steven‘s view.
New event! Through a vote, the second event will start early and with increased difficulty. Rewards will scale accordingly. Since there is already an event in progress, the two will now merge.
“Have fun with this one. I know I certainly will. Also, what’s your opinion on lots of very small things with pointy teeth?”
“Mother fuc-”
Before Steven could even finish the curse, a swarm of screeching bats blasted down through the holes Captain Bob had punched in the ceiling.
Steven got one look at them, at their mouths full of extremely pointy teeth, then summoned his Anchor Shield.
~<>~<>~
Micheal sprinted down the hall, flanked by Noodle and Carla. They were at the back of the group, with Margie in the middle and then their tanky compatriots leading the charge.
Micheal shuddered as the screeching behind them grew louder. He hated bats. It was an odd phobia for an Alaskan; they had bats technically, but you rarely saw them.
Micheal knew, intellectually, that there was nothing to be afraid of, for the most part. But the side of the little leathery, furry things always disturbed him.
So when a shrieking, writhing column of them blasted towards them, he about shit his pants.
Thankfully, the System hadn’t made that pillar of awful an event objective, so they were free to flee like mice.
Micheal comforted himself with the knowledge that his Skill wasn’t active. If he were in direct danger, he would really be moving.
Micheal glanced at Carla as they ran. The goth looked unperturbed, her makeup pristine, her hair completely untouched, as if she had just left the salon.
He was still trying to keep the thought in his head that there was a good reason she hadn’t done anything yet, but it was harder to hold onto that when something as unreasonable as a swarm of monstrous little bats was chasing after them.
“I don’t mean to pry,” he shouted over the shrieks. “But what do you do? Like your role in fights, I mean.“
She opened her mouth, and the twinkle in her eye warned Micheal. “I swear if you say a lady never reveals her secrets!“
Carla grimaced. “Ba! Come on, man, that was a perfect opportunity to use that line!“
“I know it was, which is why I said something: don’t go for the low-hanging fruit when we’re sprinting for our lives.“
“Shouldn’t that be a perfect excuse for the easy joke? You can’t expect somebody to come up with original material at a time like this!“
“Disagree!“ They were cut off as a nearby elevator dinged, and the bats went quiet.
A figure stepped out, and Micheal skidded to a stop.
The figure was tall, upwards of 6 feet, with a rich red cloak accented with black at the shoulders. It covered their entire frame, trailing down to the floor.
Micheal took in the cloak, the figure's unnaturally stiff posture, and then begrudgingly pulled his eyes up towards their face.
It was an androgynous man or woman? He couldn’t tell, but they had high cheekbones, a delicate chin, and striking red eyes.
Silver hair spilled around their shoulders, and they examined Micheal and the others like they just encountered a novel and unwelcome variety of stain.
The figure opened its jaws to reveal a mouth filled to the brim with pointed teeth. It hissed and raised a hand tipped with five razor claws, each one dripping with blood.
Cisco Velendry, Lord Of The Hissing Horde, Event boss.
“This is fortuitous, when you consider it Damsel. This event is simple: slay the vampire, and it’s over! Just have one of your knights destroy them in exchange for your hand in marriage!”
Before Micheal could tell the system to fuck off, the vampire opened its mouth further, its jaw unhinging as its hiss turned into a shriek. Then, it flung itself at them in a flurry of bashing teeth and swarming bats.
~<>~<>~
The good news was that the bats didn’t discriminate. The bad news was that the bats didn’t discriminate.
Dozens of tiny mouths latched onto Steven's skin, gnawing and biting at every chance they got.
He tried to hold back his instinctive revulsion and keep his head on straight. It wasn’t easy when you could feel teeth digging into you, but with Micheal’s buff and his Anchor Shield absorbing some of the damage, the bats could barely break his skin.
Their mouths were still uncomfortable, as well as horrifying, but they weren’t doing much damage.
Unless they’re poisoning you.
Steven pushed that awful thought I far away and focused on the captain.
The bats swarmed him, dunking themselves into his watery armor to bite at his skin. They were having a surprising amount of success.
Markus had never stopped attacking. The old man hadn’t even hesitated at the sight of the little vermin sticking to the captain like glue. Which meant Captain Bob’s armor was never able to focus on the bats.
Vern had immediately thrown out a wave of slows which froze the bats in his half of the room in place. He was safe, but Steven was guessing he wouldn’t be much help if he had to keep using his Skills on the swarm.
Not that Steven blamed him; he had Micheal’s buff, and Steven's shield would protect the man, but he didn’t know that.
So, while Steven was getting bit in a dozen places, the fight had started turning their way.
Markus sent blow after blow into Captain Bob as the bats swarmed the man from every angle.
The pattern continued: torrents flew, shields blocked, and bats screeched.
Then, another prompt popped into the corner of his view.
Another bar has been cleared!
Oh, come on!
Blue light surged over the captain, followed by a weight that pressed against Steven, nearly causing him to miss a step.
The captain laughed like a madman. Then, the water began to rise around them.
“Ah hell.”
~<>~<>~
Del was no stranger to helplessness. It had been her constant companion alongside Reagan and the other members of the Red Hand. And for much of her childhood, it had clung to her like a disease.
The vampire, for the first time since they fought Bullwinkle, rekindled that feeling.
She layered three charges of her skill onto herself as she raised her arms.
The vampire blitzed across the room and slashed down at her with talon-like nails.
Through Micheal‘s buff, through her own Skills, and a body that had been tempered through two Thresholds that blow landed, and her guard broke.
Her arms were blasted to the side, pain throbbing through her forearms as she staggered back.
If it weren’t for a quick shove on Micheal’s part, sending the vampire staggering the barest inch to the side, the monster's follow-up swing would’ve taken her guts out.
Noodle darted at it from the side, Buford rushed at it from behind, and Del gathered herself, ignoring the burning pain in her arms to swing it at the boss for all she was worth.
The vampire leaped straight up, clearing their swings with contemptuous ease as its claws dug into the ceiling. With a flex of its core, it flung itself to the side, sailing through the air with more speed than the simple motion should have given it.
Del sucked in a ragged breath as she glanced at her forearm. There was a bloody rent down the middle of it, crimson blood trickling down her tan skin as she watched.
The vampire locked eyes with her, and its mouth curved into a cruel smile. It took a deep breath, savoring the scent, and then things really got out of hand.
The world became a blur for Del, looking back on that fight. She wasn’t sure how she survived the following second. In her memory, it was just flashes of motion and grunts of effort. Her Skills burning through her the instant they ticked off cooldown as the vampire came at her again and again.
Screaming, Vanessa‘s hammer whistling through the air, Buford snarling.
All of it melted together in her mind to form one great big cacophony of violence.
But she remembered the next part clearly, her against the wall with a vampire's talons shoved straight through her shoulder.
Agony swept through her, the pain pulsing out with each panicked heartbeat.
The vampire's beautiful face drew closer to her, and with his mouth closed, it didn’t look like such a monster. Except for the fact its fucking fingernails had her pinned to the wall.
The others were in the distance. She could hear them screaming, could make out the thunder of footsteps. They were too far away. How had the vampires separated them? What happened?
It opened its jaws, revealing those rows of hideous teeth.
Oh… Am I going to die?
The part of her mind that hadn’t been scrubbed clean by the pain told her that that wasn’t quite right, but she couldn’t figure out what it meant by that as those jaws inch closer.
Del steeled herself for one last try, gathering up-
The ground rumbled beneath them. The vampire paused, ruby-red eyes flicking down. Then, the floor erupted as a wave tore it apart. Del was flung to the side, bouncing along the wall as the vampire was thrown back in the opposite direction.
She had layered enough charges on herself that getting slammed into the wall over and over didn’t even hurt, which made the way the vampire toyed with her even worse.
She kept her senses about her as she was tumbled and tossed through the hall, and it was because of that she was able to see Steven, Markus, and Vern fly through the air, carried along by the wave before being deposited onto the floor with a wet plop.
The wave crashed into the far wall before dispersing, the water vanishing into thin air.
Steven groaned and looked around at the scene. Dead bats littered the floor, and the vampire was staring at him like a dead rat that had been dropped in its soup.
Steven took in Del’s appearance, her bloodied arm, the holes in her shoulder, then his eyes turned back to the vampire, to its hands stained with red.
“Ah.“ Steven grunted out. Then he slammed a shield into the vampire's face.