Continuing to fall directly at him while he struggled to get up off the ground, James closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable strike. He had lived a good life. In the end, he had even helped people. His life had meant something. He could finally be at peace and let all his worries drift away like a leaf on a river.
A metallic clang suddenly woke him from his thoughts, and he opened his eyes to see what had happened. Derek had placed himself between the axe blade and his prone form. His arms were crossed in front of him catching the blade of the axe on the bracers of his battle armor.
"Move your ass!" Derek said through gritted teeth at him.
No sooner had James scrambled out of the way, than Derek was tossed backward with an additional exertion from the Chipmotaur. It roared its displeasure at being deprived of its kill. A switch clicked somewhere and Percival's voice came through a speaker in the room.
"Ohhhh, that was pretty close. You are going to have to be faster than that to beat Mongo." Percival said through the speaker.
Looking up at the room, Tom noticed that the room was two stories tall, and on the right side of the room near the ceiling was a window. It was blacked out and all Tom could see was a shadow. A light flicked on and Percival could be seen in the window ginning down evilly at them, holding a microphone in one hand.
"Hehehehehe. Mongo was created to cause the most devastation possible and he's practically invincible!" Percival cackled from his room overlooking the laboratory.
James pointed his gun at the man and fired a shot at the window. The bullet bounced off the surface not even scratching it.
"Ah, ah, ah. Unbreakable glass. Your puny projectiles won't work on it." Percival taunted them as he danced back and forth with glee over his assumed victory.
"I don't like that guy," Tom said staring at Percival in the window as he made a complete fool of himself.
Mongo let out another roar of challenge and the team rallied to the fight. Tom summoned Bron and gave out quick orders.
"Bron, Kevin, and Kirsten! Get over there and keep that thing busy! Derek, Need you to help tank since you can take a hit like that with your shiny new armor. James and Kiera, see if anything will pierce its skin. Jay, attack the weak spots. I'll follow you all with as many different strategies as I can." Tom shouted to each of them.
As they heard their names, they formed into teams and jumped into the fray. As the others began to move, Tom shouted out a bellow of challenge to the beast.
"COME AND GET SOME YOU FUGLY SON OF A BITCH!" Tom yelled as loud as he could at it.
It heard his call and turned to look at him. When they made eye contact, Tom used Fear on the creature. He received a prompt for his trouble.
Mongo cannot be affected by Fear
Due to having activated its rage ability, Mongo can no longer be affected by most status effects. Fear has failed.
"Dammit!" Tom cursed to himself as he moved to try another tactic."It's got a rage ability! Be careful!"
Kevin and Kirsten rushed the huge creature at the same time, greataxes gleaming as they sliced through the air. Kirsten struck first and Mongo blocked the strike with his axe. Rotating her body slightly, Kirsten used the force the Chipmotaur put on his axe to try to force her down to throw it off balance. As she shifted the beast noticed Kevin rushing in behind her and was unable to move to defend.
Activating his sunder ability with his new mithril greataxe, Kevin slashed across the creature's body, drawing a thin line of blood with the blade. Mongo roared in pain and anger at being hurt, something it appeared to not be used to as it seemed surprised by the effect.
"It can be hurt! Kill it!" Tom said, activating his tattoo of strength and rushing in.
Using his sword's dark inferno ability, Tom sliced at the creature's exposed back. The fur on its body caught fire and began to spread. It bit deeper into his back than Kevin's slice had, and there was a sizzling sound as the skin around it burned.
Rearing back on instinct to the pain, the creature pushed Tom off of it and sent him sprawling onto the ground. Turning in a flash to find the source of the pain, Mongo saw Tom on the ground and charged, lowering its head to gore him. Trying to roll out of the way of the attack, Tom almost made it out of the way, but got caught in his side on one of the horns and was lifted off the ground and into the air.
Tom flailed around in the air, struggling to keep a hold of his weapon. As he began to descend, he could see Mongo standing beneath him, ready to catch him on his horns. From the left, a greyish blur rammed into the monster, knocking it sideways and allowing Tom to fall straight to the ground with a thud, knocking the wind out of him momentarily.
Derek had recovered and tackled the monster. They were now struggling in a heap on the ground, and Derek was losing the battle. Rolling around on the ground, Derek ended up on the ground, Mongo sitting on top of him. He began to rain blows down on Derek's head, the axe he once held lost during their struggle.
With his hands over his face to protect himself from the punches, Derek struggled to get the creature off of him. Suddenly, from the shadows behind Mongo, Jay appeared and jammed two of his daggers into the back of the beast. He struck low, aiming for the kidneys, and scored a critical hit. The bellow that the Chipmotaur let out reached a new pitch from the pain of being struck in a vital organ.
Jay released the daggers and jumped back as Mongo swung around to strike at him with a fist. Derek used this moment to roll the beast off of him and quickly regained his feet.
"This is for James!" Derek yelled as he gave the monster a swift kick to the tater sack after it had been thrown off of him and onto its back, driving the daggers even further in.
Mongo's whole body spasmed as Derek's metal-clad foot struck home, and curled into a fetal position rolling to his side. He recovered much more quickly than expected due to his rage and stood to his feet. turning to charge at Derek, Tom moved in with his sword and jammed it into his side. The Chipmotaur was caught off-guard and was thrown to the side, Tom landing on top trying to drive his sword deeper. Derek pounced as well, pulling his mace out of his inventory and bashing the creature in the nose.
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Tears formed in the beast's eyes as it thrashed under the two fighters. Kevin and Kirsten jumped on the creature as well, and the fight to subdue the creature took a chaotic turn. Struggling to hold Mongo with his tremendous strength, James couldn't get to it to help and Kiera had been left with no option but to buff the party. She sang a fast-paced song about the might of heroes which buffed the party's strength.
Moments later, power began to roll off of Mongo as he continued to try to break free. Suddenly a wave of energy erupted from the creature and Tom, Derek, Kevin, and Kirsten were all blown off of the monster. Landing hard, each one rolled to try to get back to their feet.
Mongo now stood and a visible red energy radiated off of him.
"Oh, you've gone and done it now. This is my creation's ultimate form! He is pissed and ready for action! Prepare for the power of the Raging Bull and hungry chipmunk style!" Percival called from his safe room.
With a flash of movement, the creature was in front of Derek and punched him in the stomach, lifting him off his feet and across the room.
"Holy shit! I didn't even see it move!" Tom said in awe at the capabilities of the creature.
"Then it's time to slow him down!" Jay said pulling his Kama and chain from his inventory and beginning to swing it above his head.
The creature blurred again and this time grabbed Kevin, lifting him over his head to throw him. Jay released his chain and it flew around the monster's legs. Tom grabbed the chain with Jay and they both used every ounce of their strength to pull. Tightening around its legs, the creature wobbled as they were forced together and it began to fall.
Kevin fell to the floor out of his grasp as the Chipmotaur put its hands out in front of it to stop its fall. The momentum of the pulling had ripped its feet out from under it though, and it smashed to the ground. Pouncing again, the entire team dove at the monster with weapons raised this time, not bothering to try to wrestle it into submission.
Stabs, cuts, and blunt force trauma met the creature's wails of pain and wild thrashing to try to get the upper hand. Managing to toss each fighter off of it, Mongo slowly got back to its feet. Bruised and bleeding from the beating it had taken, it let out another roar of defiance as it moved to attack Kevin this time.
Its movements were slowed though and it walked with a limp. Kevin was reeling from a punch to the face and trying to scoot backward on the floor. A wild scream sounded from behind Mongo as Kirsten leaped onto its back.
"You leave him alone!!!!!" She bellowed, biting, scratching, and punching the creature in the head as she pulled on one of its ears.
Mongo tilted to one side as the force on its ear dragged it away from Kevin. Arms flailing wildly, eyes closed from the blows raining down on its head, Tom got back to his feet painfully, holding his still wounded side, and forced himself to charge. Pulling one of the knuckle dusters from his bag, he ran straight for the front of the monster.
With its eyes closed, Mongo couldn't see Tom coming. Dodging under one of his flailing limbs, Tom reached and jammed the knuckle duster up under its chin with both hands. It pierced straight through its skin and into its skull. Body going rigid for a moment, it swayed back and forth before falling to the ground, dead.
Kirsten continued to beat on the creature's head even after it died yelling about all the things she would do to it for daring to hurt Kevin. Everyone else let out a collective sigh of relief at the victory.
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!! MONGOOOOOOO!!!!!" Percival shouted from the safe room, a hand pressed against the glass as he wailed at the loss of his pet.
James began to walk toward the doorway that Percival had gone through. The others just let him go and began to work on healing each other. Soon, James appeared in the window, and for a moment, Tom could hear Percival begging for his life. The light went out in the room, leaving them with no visual of what was occurring. A thudding sound was heard through the microphone as it fell to the floor, followed by screaming sounds as James went to work on the Mad Scientist.
"Should we do something?" Derek asked.
"Like what? Tell him he can't kill the guy we are most likely in here to kill?" Tom asked, looking up at Derek from the sitting position he had taken on the floor.
"Like not let him torture the guy first, maybe?" Derek said as another scream came from the speaker.
"Nah. Let him work it out. It's probably good for him to get this out of his system on someone who is System created. Also, that fucker has it coming." Tom replied.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Derek said as he moved to see if anyone else needed help with healing.
Kirsten had stopped beating the dead creature and was now huddled with Kevin looking him over for serious injuries. Kiera had moved to watch for more monsters with an assault rifle, and Jay was leaning against a wall cleaning the daggers he had removed from Mongo's back.
Eventually, all went quiet in the room and a vending machine appeared at the back of the room on the far side across from the doorway upstairs.
"Guess he is finished now. Time to get some loot." Tom said standing up and walking to the vending machine.
James returned from downstairs and took his turn last to pick one item from the machine. He didn't say a word as he picked his item and even stored the can in his inventory without opening it.
"You doing okay?" Tom asked him as the vending machine returned to normal not allowing for additional free selections.
"As well as I can be. That was a bit cathartic though, so I'm doing alright." James replied not looking at him.
"We're here for you. Anything you need, just tell us." Tom said putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks. And I know you are. I need to rely on you all more. I just don't like to relive those memories." James explained, the struggle with his emotions clear on his face.
"No one does. But burying it beneath a bunch of jokes won't help either. You gotta let it out to heal. Just like you have to change the bandages on a wound or it'll fester." Tom offered, trying to console his friend while also wanting to make sure he wouldn't break under the pressure of his emotions.
"I promise to do better. But there are still gonna be jokes." James said smiling slightly.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Tom smiled in return, unable to help himself.
"I think it's time to get back to the guild. We need to make sure everything is going okay and keep preparing for the war." Derek said.
"You just had to go and bring that up again. Fine. But I have to stop at the entrance again. Azroc's orders." Tom replied and the team began their return to the entrance of the dungeon.