Dalen shot up out of his bed as words rattled through his sleep-addled brain.
“Dalen! ~~~ar~ un~er atta~k!”
“What?! Who?!”
“Invisib~~”
“Invisb… What?” Dalen staggered to his feet as a slight breeze moved his tent flap open. His was so bloody groggy.
“Duck!”
A pained grunt from outside and the warning in his mind finally kicked his brain into gear and without thinking he dropped and the sound of something heavy and metallic parting the air above his head urged him into a dive.
Dalen fell into a small table that was covered in half-finished bombs and potions, knocking half of them off onto the ground and filling the tent with acrid smoke. Dalen took a breath before it had spread too far but otherwise ignored it and turned around to find a tall man wielding a mace where there had been nothing but air before.
[?????? | Stalker 41 | Human]
The man was wearing the white and gold of Dhinir and looked almost as confused as Dalen felt. Dalen reached for his belt and growled when he realized he left beside his bed and the man stepped towards him raising his mace.
Thinking of nothing better to do, Dalen turned and with one arm swept all the various alchemical ingredients and half-finished bombs off the table towards the man. Then dived through the tent flap and onto the ground.
He must have left something volatile on the table since the moment he landed the tent vanished into a bowl of purplish flame and the man stubbled out screaming as his flesh peeled away and a strange stick substance prevented him from patting the flames out.
Dalen almost felt bad when the man fell screaming to the ground, almost.
You have slain [Alanda Jenta | Stalker 41 | Human]
Dalen turned away from the burning man and saw Leo tear an arrow out of his chest before swinging his blade in a wide arc sending a wave of fire into the cover of the jungle, setting it all alight,” We are under attack!”
Three figures appeared all at once around Leo, their weapons already moving to strike him before he could turn on them. Leo wasn’t helpless, however. A sphere of flames roared up around him and hammered into the men trying to flank him. One of them died before hitting the ground, his corpse tightening as it continued to char. The other two stepped backward and vanished.
“Gods, how many are there?!” Dalen thought as he withdrew a bomb into each from his dimensional storage.
Dalen’s Fire Flask [Uncommon]
Dalen’s Blast Ball [Uncommon]
Paranoid Dalen turned back to the tent and it was lucky he did. The billowing smoke from the tent filled the area between Melisia’s and Leo’s, but patches within remained disturbingly clear, disturbingly human-shaped.
“Melisia! You better fucking be a wake!” Dalen yelled as he tossed both bombs. The first landed in the middle of them clear patches in the smoke and spewed fire in all directions, quickly spreading up the moving forms of the invisible attackers. Grunts of pain could be heard for an instant before the second landed beside Leo’s tent and a sound like a thunderclap deafened him and everyone near him before sending shrapnel into the approaching attackers.
You have slain [Christof Berlan| Rogue 32 | Human]
You have slain [Ellian Fal | Fighter 35 | Human]
Two legless forms materialized out of nothing as they flew from the ground and fell in a broken heap. But two other shapes either were lucky enough to avoid the shrapnel or they just didn’t care.
Melisia stepped out of her tent still wearing a sleeping gown but blue power revolving around her hands and scowl on her face made her look more intimidating than unprepared. Her eyes flashed white-blue and her hands fell sending both bolts of blue power to spear the last two attackers in the smoke.
Another white-gold-clad man appeared as the blue bolt blasted a hole in his chest and fell to the ground but the other one only grunted as he reappeared and only his forearm had received any damage.
[??????? | Witch Hunter 65 | Human]
Dalen backed away as the man charged toward them and took out another two bombs. He didn’t dare use his potent explosives at this close range so as they left his hand he turned and closed his eyes. The space behind became as white as the sun and the man gasped, his retinas burning. They had practiced this during the journey so Melisia had protected her eyes as well so before the man could recover another two bolts curved through the air to take him in heart and skull.
You have assisted Melisia in slaying [Marvin Goe | Witch Hunter 65 | Human] experience awarded.
“Comprehend the Astral Threads allows me to see the skill concealing them! There is an Illusionist nearby!” Melisia yelled as she let loose another duo of bolts through the smoke cloud to arc around the burning tents.
Dalen couldn’t see shit but he wasn’t going to just stand around, “Might as well make sure there isn’t any out the back.” He drew two more bombs.
Dalen’s Big Boys [Rare]
These bad boys will ruin someone’s day… And everyone else’s within 20-30 feet.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
He tossed them in a high arc into the trees on the far side of the ruins, his strength wasn’t great but it was plenty to make the distance. The jungle edge disappeared behind a wall of flames and another ear-wrenching crash. Dalen hadn’t had a chance to test these ones yet but the anger imbued into them certainly seemed to help.
You have slain Human Fighter x 5
You have slain Human Priest x 2
You have slain Illusionist x 1
“Fuck! How many are there?!” Dalen yelled but as the notifications passed him by, another half dozen Dhinir worshippers appeared. All of them ran towards him.
“Well done! You got one but some are still invisible!” Melisia yelled over the roaring flames now starting to spread all around them.
To the side, Leo hacked through the last of his attackers and leaped through the air to land beside them and swing his blade towards the charging men. One of them must have been a mage since a wall of blue mana appeared to divert the wave of fire before two holes appeared on its surface and two of the other attackers crouched down and fired crossbows through it, aiming at Dalen and Melisia.
“Shield of the Phoenix!” Leo grunted, his mouth glowing suddenly with orange flames. Before the bolts could hit a bubble of bright orange flame surrounded both Dalen and Melisia destroying the bolts on contact.
Dalen drew another bomb, this one was one of the ones he didn’t dare keep in his belt,” Leo another wave at the signal!”
Dalen’s Don’t Drop! [Uncommon]
Put this down carefully!
Dalen threw the bomb as hard as he could at the mana wall.
*crack*
*BOOM!*
The bomb detonated on contact without any fire this time, only concussive force. He had aimed at the hole but missed, though even with a miss the pressure wave of the explosion knocked the mage off balance and the mana wall tilted and shattered as Leo’s next wave of fire crashed over them.
You have assisted Leo Brightwing in slaying [Marvin Lend | Archer 54 | Human] experience awarded.
You have assisted Leo Brightwing in slaying [Hendrik Lanster | Archer 51 | Human] experience
awarded.
You have assisted Leo Brightwing in slaying [Kayla Torl | Abjurer 57 | Human] experience
awarded.
Level Up!
You have assisted Leo Brightwing in slaying [Lekan Vando| Fighter 46 | Human] experience
awarded.
As the fires died down the three of them backed away while Dalen tossed two more of his Big Boys over top of the clearing smoke. Mana shields and the shouting of several men and women activating buff skills sounded across the burning ruins before the detonation. Dalen grimaced after only killing one fighter with his last volley.
“Hey! You crazy old bat. We could use a hand up here!” Dalen yelled down at the ground.
A powerful voice boomed through the ruins and the attacking followers of Dhinir paused,“ Pathetic!”
At the side of the clearing where Leo had been originally fighting stood a huge man in gold and silver plate mail and a pure white tabard. Dalen recognized the man immediately and the hairs on his neck almost jumped off.
[Servat Bain | Paladin of Dhinir 120 | Human]
“Get behind me!” Leo yelled as he stepped forward,” Why are you here Paladin?!”
The paladin’s scar-covered face lightened as he smiled, the scars were pulled tight,” You have been marked for cleansing Leo Brightwing… All who have been in contact with The Freak must be cleansed. Our Lord demands it.”
“Why? What has Kalum done to deserve so much hatred from your god?” Leo asked.
Dalen could tell he was stalling but he wasn’t about to stop him. Dalen spent the time scanning the area for good bombing points.
“It is not for me to know, heretic. I follow my lord’s will as all should have long ago,” Servat Bain drew the warhammer from his side, and without even looking Dalen felt a sudden weight across his shoulders. Servat raised the hammer into the sky,” In the name of Great Lord Dhinir, Lord of Conquest, and Lord of Victory. I will smite those that oppose him.”
The air around him crackled and golden arcs of light danced around his warhammer. Then his armor began to glow with the same golden light and the weight on Dalen’s shoulders increased.
“Elendria! Now is the perfect time for a last-minute save!” Dalen yelled again into the ground,” Where the fuck is that woman?”
The paladin moved and the ground beneath his feet shattered Leo dashed forward. A fiery shield appeared around him and he roared as the flame around his sword doubled in size. Blade met hammer and the area exploded into a chaotic sphere of golden light and orange fire. Both Dalen and Melisia were knocked off their feet by the clash and barely recovered in time to send several attacks and bombs toward the coming followers.
A bolt pierced Dalen’s thigh as he went to throw a bomb, the hit throwing off his aim making him blow up a tree instead of a mage. Dalen spared a look for Leo and it wasn’t good.
The paladin evaded each of Leo’s strikes with ease and simply ignored most of his flame attacks, each one doing nothing more than making the paladin’s golden armor brighten slightly. Whereas each strike from the paladin through Leo of balance or completely off his feet, sending him tumbling away.
He was bleeding between the gaps in his armor and each time he got up he moved a little slower.
“Melisia! Help Leo!” Dalen yelled as he pulled two more bombs.
She nodded and ran into range for her healing skill while Dalen threw a bomb at his feet and a dense cloud of thick gray smoke burst outward. Then he activated his “skill”.
Without thinking about tactics or waste he started throwing for his fucking life. As fast as he could draw them Dalen was hurling bombs at random angles toward the enemy as crossbow and mana bolts were fired back into the smoke all around him.
Flash Bombs, Big Boys, Sharp Surprises, Flame Flasks, and Smoke Bombs were flying everywhere. The sound of Leo's battle was completely dwarfed by the utter chaos of the ruins. Screams of blinded men catching fire and panicked mages trying in vain to block or redirect bombs while blinded by the smoke barely broke through between each detonation of his Big Boys and Sharp Surprises.
“This is fucking insane!” Dalen half laughed half screamed as danced around like a madman tossing everything he had. Kill notifications came flooding in but he didn’t stop. The ground shook as the terrain all around him was destroyed by his custom “skill”.
Then he ran out…
“Fuck!” Dalen dived to the ground as a Knight finally made it through the smoke and carnage of his bombs. The Knight was fast and he rounded on Dalen before he could even get to his feet.
“Oh my, Scrawny. You might be more crazy than me!” Cackled Elendria.
Then the world around him disappeared.