Raid Boss Incoming.
Jennifer’s heart sank. That sounded bad.
She looked on as the ash gathered, turning into the last piece of paper falling from the sky. This one was far bigger than all the previous papers. It was larger than Jennifer.
The mayor and his team were on her right, while a new team that she had not seen before stood on her left. They seemed to be some kind of lizard folk. Slightly shorter than Jennifer, the lizard in front had dark gray skin, which was more like a hide with folds, giving it an armor-plated appearance. He had a large, thick looking shell on his back with spikes coming out of the sides. Powerful arms, as thick as Jennifer’s thighs, flexed and swung a war hammer with a mini jet engine on one side. The lizard man also had a tail with a bulge on the end.
The second more attractive dinosaur wore clothes that accented her features but gave her no protection from the battle. She had an exotic curved bow but no arrows.
A colorful bird-like creature that stood on two legs was the third member of their party. It had a flat snout, short forelimbs with oversized hand-like talons, and a large sickle-shaped claw on each foot. Its feathers were royal purple, and he had a matching pointed wizard’s hat and a staff that was illuminated with gold on one end. He also had a long cap that came down over his shoulder, being held in place with a golden rope. Under the snout of this hung a fake beard that looked taped on the sides, leaving a gap under the mouth.
The last member of the team was a head taller than Jennifer, wearing thick, black body armor that looked like it came off one of the beavers. Black metal armor encased his legs and arms. This one seemed to be the tank of the group, who was able to take the most damage and be on the front line. He had three horns and a large shield-like crest growing out of his head along with a beak-like mouth. This triceratops lizard man was armed with a thick white shield of unknown material and a sword that Jennifer would have trouble carrying with both hands. He was also taking practice swings.
Jennifer focused on her breathing, trying to remain calm when she turned her attention back to the falling piece of paper that would be the raid boss. Time slowed again as she watched the page fall. Having no idea what to expect, fear creeped into her heart. It was too much. She was exhausted and could not keep the self-doubt from racing through her mind.
The longer the paper took to fall, the faster her heartbeat.
When the page finally landed, a dozen strange birds burst out of the ground. They were large webbed foot creatures covered in light brown feathers, where each row of feathers was marked by a white line. Their necks were black, long and elegant, ending in a snake’s head. Many of the birds hissed a warning.
Jennifer whispered to herself, “Cobra-chickens.” She had never seen anything like these birds before. Some forgotten memory told her these avians were to be feared.
From inside the birds’ circle, a metal creature clawed its way out of the ground as if it came from the underworld itself.
As the final boss pulled its head out from the hole, relief washed over Jennifer. Behind a clear protective layer on the head was a beaver with an eye patch. The raid boss seemed to be just another beaver. A beaver that was wearing exoskeleton power armor and a greatsword with leaves spinning around it. But still. She had been worried that something even more monstrous than the cobra-chickens was going to come out of that circle.
Kevin was the first to charge, taking out one of the cobra-chickens with his glowing blue fangs before attacking the exoskeleton. The beaver swung its sword to meet Kevin straight on. The leaves that spun around the sword cut like razors before the sword sliced into him. The blade passed through the great forest wolf’s body as if he was nothing but air.
Kevin was gone, the system removing the remains. Kevin’s goblin also vanished. The battlefield went silent.
Jennifer stared dumbfounded at where Kevin had been. He was tough, so going down like that stunned her. She now realized that the bigger threat had to be the beaver, but she still felt more terror looking at the cobra-chickens.
The mayor’s voice got Jennifer moving again. “Tanks up front. Damage dealers attack at range. Focus on the add-ons first. Melees be careful!”
Jennifer was confused at the word use of tanks. She looked around. A few potential candidates stood among the defenders that fit the description. One was a female humanoid in a uniform, sporting high heels and a backpack. Her feet never touched the ground. She floated in the air with two ship hulls each having a naval cannon protruded from her backpack on either side. She was a mix between a girl and a ship, and yet there were no actual tanks. The defenders could have really used one.
Jennifer had no idea what an add-on was, and she was no damage dealer. The triceratops lizard man rushed into melee range, ignoring the cobra-chickens, and flashed red and blue lights on the top of his shield. A siren sounded from the shield drawing all eyes to him. The head of the exoskeleton turned to face the triceratops. It was clear he wanted the boss’s attention, and he was getting it. Jennifer cast her Force Field on him.
The raid boss’s leaf sword came down in an arc of destruction but was blocked by the triceratops’s shield. Jennifer’s bubble popped like a balloon before the blade even reached it. The mayor appeared on top of the exoskeleton in a blinding flash of light, bringing a violet colored arc of electrical strikes down onto the boss.
Sarah shot at the cobra-chickens, as did most of the remaining town protectors.
The wizard hat wearing lizard man group cast a high-speed, small meteor at the beaver’s exoskeleton.
An elf with dark wooden skin rushed past Jennifer. The elf’s skin was not just dark but wooden like, having the appearance of having grown out of wood found in dark forests. Her pointed ears overlapped with her short black hair. She wore a red pullover with a logo of a black handprint on a black dress. The elf laughed with a disturbing hint of insanity, and shouted, “Pop quiz.”
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Her power was aimed at the cobra-chickens, who were suddenly sitting at a desk and hunching over with trembling muscles.
“Nightmare quiz. Power of the substitute teacher. Recess is canceled. I am calling your parents.”
The words alone made Jennifer’s spine shiver with fear even though the powers did not affect her, but she wished to avoid substitute teachers like this wooden elf in the future.
Mentally shaking herself, she did not feel useful to the events happening around her. She felt the need to do something, Jennifer recast Force Field on the triceratops, but she knew that was little to no use. The cobra-chickens had all been taken out, leaving the defenders to focus on the boss who was attacking the triceratops. Whenever the beaver sword met anyone other than the Triceratops, it would end that defender’s time on the battlefield.
Jennifer did not want to think about where the defender went or who they would be leaving behind. She was saving others by being on this battlefield, but it hurt even letting her mind wander in that direction. She just needed to keep moving like the musician’s song. She was low on stamina and mana. Her summoned skeleton was down to less than twenty-five percent health, Woozle was nowhere to be seen, her spider was still on her shoulder, Kevin was gone, Large Soup Bowl was attacking and vanishing as fast as he could, and Sarah shot her gun and laser as fast as she could.
With the barnyard serpents out of the way, the final one falling to the unannounced tests, the remaining teams attacked the beaver’s exoskeleton, but it did not show any signs of slowing down.
The triceratops’s shield cracked with a metallic noise that rang out over the battlefield. They were losing again. The defenders outnumbered the raid boss forty to one. But their forty had been fifty not long ago, while the beaver showed no signs of being defeated.
Jennifer stepped back then took a second step. Being out of the danger zone, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She needed a moment to think. Giving up was not an option to her.
Opening her eyes, she looked for a weakness. The beaver’s primary attack was with its sword. However, Jennifer noticed a weaker and much slower punch came from the other arm. Both attacks were telegraphed, easy to see when it was coming and where it was aiming. She watched the raid boss make another attack and realized that the upper body of the exoskeleton must be on a swivel. If Jennifer could somehow stop the mechanism from swiveling, the exoskeleton would not be able to attack.
The mayor was still on top of the power armor, riding the beaver like a rodeo cowboy , continuing to bring down the lightning on the external covering of the raid boss.
Jennifer examined where the waist would be on the exoskeleton, but she saw no way to get in and stop the attacks from that point. Looking for another weak point, she noticed the punching arm was the counterbalance. If she caught that punch, they would be able to stop the attack, but then what? Even if the beaver’s arm was stuck, what else could she do?
The right side of her mouth curled into a smile. “When in doubt, go for the knees!” Jennifer was now the woman with a plan.
“Get ready to web someone,” Jennifer said to her spider as she started to run up to the triceratops lizard man. He was by far the most likely one to fill the role of the rock, while everyone else was going to be the hard place.
The shield of the triceratops was broken in two, but The lizard man was now taking the attacks on the remaining part of his shield. She rushed up next to him and yelled her question between the swings of the sword. “How strong are you?”
He shouted, “I am the strongest!”
He was either an egomaniac or their best shot. “Drop your shield and catch the next punch.” She instructed the prime defender while miming what she wanted done.
The triceratops gave her an are-you-crazy look.
She was not going to let any doubt play on her face. “You got a better idea?”
The triceratops deflected the sword blow, threw down his shield, and caught the arm of the boss.
“Rover, web them together!”
As he did, the triceratops eyes went wide in panicked confusion followed by the dawning of recognition. The lizardman and the beaver were now in a contest of strength, neither able to move but both struggling. The mechanical augmented monstrosity only took steps when it was not attacking. There was only a binary option, move or attack. Both of these options used many of the some components, much like how people only need to bind the wrists or a person to stop their arms. Now the beaver was trying to step back as the triceratops was trying to hold it in place.
The defenders were all attacking wherever they could. Most of the attacks landed on the armor where it was thickest.
Walking with purpose and far more confidence than she felt, she moved over to the beaver. Jennifer made eye contact with the mayor as he was raining down lighting using his own body as a conduit. Her actions made him stop attacking and watch her.
Now or never. This was going to work, or they were going to lose. Jennifer only had one weapon, a mop. She was going to have to use her weapon in an expert manner for this to work. She stood right in front of the exoskeleton and could see the milky black eyes of the beaver. There was fear in those eyes. This was working.
Jennifer rested the tip of her mop against the inner elbow of the raid boss’s exoskeleton outstretched punching arm. Where a hinge was locked in place until the last moment of the attacks were delivered. Jennifer looked up at the mayor and nodded. After she got out of the way, everyone on the battlefield attacked that spot. Jennifer rushed back to the triceratops and waited for the next part.
Seconds is all it took before bits of armor fell off from the battle damage. The lizard man, wielding the jet hammer, broke off the exoskeleton’s arm.
The triceratops lizard man still held the exoskeleton in place on the still attached arm. As she hid behind the lizard man, Jennifer pointed at the left knee gear using the tip of the mop again. The survivors took the prompt and attacked the knee joint. Again, the lizard man and his rocket hammer struck the last blow, and the leg broke off at the knee joint.
The exoskeleton could not make any attacks while missing its primary attack weapon having its punching arm held in place and now missing one leg. Jennifer dashed out from behind the triceratops lizard man and pointed at the shoulder joint that connected to the remaining arm with her mop.
Again, the remaining defenders knew what to do, they laid on all they could with arrows, lighting bolts, and throwing axes. After a short pause, the melee defenders lined up for a turn, each using their most powerful attack. This gave the range users time to reload or recover mana.
“Ninja attack.” Sounded out as the arm broke off the mechanical body.
Something moved inside the exoskeleton.
She took in a deep breath, holding it in anticipation.
The wreckage broke off in small parts, and rained down from the beaver’s body as he left the protection of his machine armor.
A chorus of battle music played from the same place that had signaled the stages of the raid, and the sky went a few shades darker.
The beaver wore the familiar padded, black body armor and carried a cannon, which looked like it belonged on a pirate ship.
The music sounded as if it was sung by a choir in an ancient language, a route tongue language, with easily pronounced words. Most of the words ended in an “us” sound.
She glared and marched up to the beaver. “Surender now!” The words came out as angry as she was, loud and hot. She held her mop ready. Time slowed as the other defenders readied themselves, many looking exhausted. Jennifer assumed others were hoping the raid would be over after defeating the exoskeleton. Jennifer held her breath, trying to steady herself on her feet, waiting for the beaver to either comply or attack.