Ronia kept firing arrows while I fired Ice shards from afar with Herald and Ray covering us from any incoming goblins. The ogres in the nearby vicinity had all been wiped out with only the occasional ogre and goblin group popping out of nowhere. The splitter looked like worse for wear but was showing the adventurers that it wasn't a pushover. It suddenly grew over 3 dozen orbs and fired them off of its body like a shotgun. The orbs mostly missed people and slammed into walls, with only 2 hitting people. They didn't crack though, Instead, they had grown flesh on them midair, therefore cushioning the impact and letting them stay safe. They quickly started forming into Horbrot and this sent a slight panic into people as they desperately tried to smash the crystals. The Horbrot Splitter raised its massive front paw and clawed at a paladin nearby. The poor knight had his armour shredded with 4 claw marks running through its chestplate. The knight crumpled to the ground with blood seeping from his armour. The healers quickly got to work but they soon shook their heads as he breathed his last despite their best efforts.
This renewed the vigor of those fighting as well as incite some fear into everyone. Everyone needed to be careful or they would end up like the dead paladin. I fired another ice shard and looked at the party then said "What do you guys say about us shredding the rest of the goblins here. We can help free up some more adventurers to fight the Splitter." Ronia looked hesitant while Herald and Ray had determined faces. Herald responded with "Great idea. We can't be sitting here on our asses slowly chipping away at the goblins while those guys die fighting the boss. Lets do what we can to help." With that we set off on our goblin hunt.
We kept moving to groups of goblins and people fighting them to help free them up. We fought 19 goblins as we helped a team who were in a sticky situation. They said their thanks and moved back to the aid station to get medical attention. We kept moving across the battlefield and helped out any groups nearby. Other groups started to catch on as they say us work and started to do the same. Eventually there were several cleaning groups working to help others who were in a tough spot. Those that got helped would then head to the aid station or move on in a group to help others. We kept this up for another 10 minutes while I kept cleaning up the corpses as we walked past. I so wanted to turn the goblins into zombies and unleash a counter horde but that wasn't a viable strategy.
...
...
...Or was it?
I had gotten an idea and kept killing goblins with my sword while firing ice shards at the Splitter while I hammered out the details of my plan. I didn't want to get caught under any circumstances or I would effectively get executed by the sheer amount of adventurers here. Fighting a war on 2 fronts was not a fun proposition. I looked back at the intense battle with the Splitter and saw another 3 adventurers lay dead on the ground. One had been mauled to death by several Horbrot while the other 2 bore large gashes from the Splitter itself. The Splitter in question had large chunks torn out of its back and legs but was still fighting on without a care in the world. It mass fired 3 dozen orbs again but this time over a dozen were wiped out before they even left the Splitter. The resulting chain of explosions was loud. It sent meat and blood flying everywhere. The Splitter collapsed, no longer being able to stand properly.
Samuel took this opportunity to give some orders. "Nows our chance! End this thing once and for all! Use everything! [Greater Cleave]!!" A massive greatsword swung through the air and sliced right into the Splitter's neck. It didn't get that far as it was stopped about a quarter of the way into its neck, but this incited the whole group of adventurers into action. Like a swarm of angry bees everyone violently attacked the Splitter, sending a torrent of spells onto the battlefield and Splitter itself. Other adventures used any skills they had and tore groups of goblins and Horbrort apart. The Splitter was similarly having chunks of its flesh being slashed and hacked away.
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It roared indignantly and tried to stand but failed to do so. It then chomped at nearby adventurers but also failed to get anyone. The thing roared in pain and fury once more as it's regeneration was slowly but surely losiing the battle of attrition. It started to make more orbs which slowed down its regeneration, only this time it wasn't just 32. It's entire body was covered in them. There were probably a hundrd to two hundred of them on it. The Splitter then dropped them all off at the same time. A torrent of orbs flew off of it, slamming into several adventurers as they were let loose. The Splitter looked like it had started to wither as it started growing more orbs and covered its entire body a second time.
"It's planning on killing itself by making a massive horde of Horbrots! Finish it now!" I yelled as I fired several ice shards at orbs. They cracked and broke apart but didn't explode since they had already started forming into Horbrot. Everyone here stopped what they were doing and aimed at all of the orbs, letting loose everything they had. I turned to the Horbrot and fired off a dozen ice shards and popped another mana potion to subdue the mana deprivation symptons. I care and kept firing as my mana pool was refilled partially and kept firing more ice shards. 7 of the shards slammed into orbs flying through the air, breaking them apart while 3 slammed into goblins. The remaining 2 hit orbs on the Splitter, cracking them. The Splitter as in the process of prepping them for launch when I saw the orbs detonate. If the previous set of explosions from the orbs was big, this one was massive.
All I heard was "BRACE FOR IMPACT!!" before all the orbs detonated at once in a mind jarring cacophony of violence. The ground shook from the sheer amount of explosions. There was debris flying everywhere with blood and meat quite literally raining from the sky. There was a ringing in my ears as I got up from wher the explosions shockwave had sent me flying. I looked at the Horbrot splitter and was absolutely mind blown. "The things still alive?!"
The Horbrot Splitter had had almost all of its meat violently torn from it and even showing some bones in certain places, with several internal organs torn to shreds. And yet despite this it was still breathing and regenerating its wounds. It had regenerated about a quarter of its wounds at this point, covering up most of the bones that were showing. A single adventurer near the Horbrot stood up shakily. He walked to the Horbrot Splitter as everyone stood or lay in silence. The monsters nearby had all been killed completely by that explosion except for the Splitter itself. The man walked to the regenerating Horbrot Splitter and stood before it's face. He raised his mighty greatsword and held it there for a second before plunging it into the monster's skull, sending it deep until its hilt was left. The monster shook for a second before it finally died.
Silence reigned supreme on the battlefield as everyone soaked in what had just occurred. Then seemingly all at once all of the adventurers screamed out in victory. Some roared and some cried, while others simply screamed due to the fact they had lived. They had won. We were alive and kicking and had kicked that monsters to kingdom come and lived to tell the tale. No one said anything about the fact that the city was still under siege by a corrupt mage or the fact that around half of the adventurers here had died from the monsters. People simply basked in the feeling of being alive.
I on the other hand was inching towards the Splitter while everyone gathered the wounded after coming off of the high of victory and tried to save as many people as possible. I had a plan and it involved that Horbrot Splitter's corpse to complete. It was going to be a very useful ingredient in a plan to counter the corrupt mage's plans. He had wanted to kill me and everyone here? Well I was going to give him a rude wakeup call with a present of my own. I finally got to the corpse and put it in my inventory before sneaking off into an alleyway away from the battle. Once I made sure no one was nearby I started to pull out the corpses of all of the goblins and ogres I had picked up and got to work. This was going to be fun.