Chapter 240
A tick's appendages are made for grabbing, pinching, climbing, and holding on to the flesh they've managed to hitch a ride on. Ticks are not, as a rule, great at running. They're just not built for it, their body doesn't bend and flex quite the right way and there is just no way for them to get in to a steady gait.
Ticks don't run. They can scuttle quickly at times, but not run. They're built for climbing vegetation where they then wait with their legs extended for a suitable host to pass by. Then they grab it with their mouth parts and legs and grip as hard as they can. They use ambush behavior when looking for a meal, not hunting behavior.
Jumping isn't in their repertoire of moves either. Nor do ticks have any wings. They're just not great at chasing things.
Had Jay known any of this he would have been far less horrified as the elephant sized tick, swollen and glossy with a rust colored body, half crawled and half lurched towards them. It didn't look like a normal crawl though. The creature's body looked heavy, almost too heavy for the monster, and the group stood in momentary terror as they all watched it move.
They stood motionless for a brief moment as everyone was too revolted by the creature to take any action. As they watched however the creature still hadn't reached them. It would take a few more seconds.
“It's... a bit slow?” Jay said as the creature continued to heave its bulk towards them.
“I think any of us could outrun that thing,” Aiden said in surprise.
M'redith shook her head, “We don't have to race it though – we have to kill it. Let's hold here and see what it does.”
The group waited as the creature continued to move towards them but made no attempt to attack them. For one thing, it wasn't anywhere close enough to bite any of the party.
The room was a huge circle and Jay had already mentally divided it in to 12 slices, like a mix between a clock and a slice of pie. The 12 o'clock slice was currently on fire. Jay's group stood on the 1 o'clock slice. The monster now stood in the center of the room.
As the monster reached the center of the room one of the four colored bands, the white one, on its body began to brighten and glow.
Jay suddenly saw a red outline on the floor, and it led directly from the monster towards Aiden. Jay's Class Ability Fancy Footwork had triggered, and was showing him where the monster's next special attack would land. Right on top of Aiden.
“Aiden, move!” Jay yelled just as the white band on the tick reached an almost blinding luminescence and a sudden bolt of lighting shot out from it and streaked towards Aiden.
Aiden tried to dodge it and managed to avoid most of the bolt, but it brushed his body lightly as it passed and he was momentarily stunned. He dropped to the ground with a grunt as he briefly lost control over his muscles.
The others watched in shock before they quickly burst in to motion. They had no choice, as the fire next to them began to spread from the 12 o'clock position to the 1 o'clock slice of the arena. The group was forced to move to the side of the arena and stand on the 3 o'clock slice.
M'redith quickly called out, “Spread out so the lightning can't get more than one of us at a time!”
The monster turned and aimed its head towards M'redith and tried to bite at her body as she ran towards it and dodged at the last minute. She twisted her body and curved the path of her sword so that it missed the creature's head and struck it's nearest leg instead.
The monster shrieked and the group all made pinched faces as the high pitched noises were ear piercing.
The white band on the tick appeared to be recharging slowly, its appearance slowly growing in brightness. The green band began to rapidly glow.
M'redith continued to hack away at one of the monster's legs as she dodged its mouth-parts which were, in a word, gross. M'redith tried not to pay too much attention to the moist mouth-parts and focused on the leg she was attacking.
The tick might be big but it also seemed to be more armored than a normal tick would be. It would take some serious fighting to damage it. M'redith had been hacking away at it's leg for some time now and still hadn't damaged it very much.
The green band on its body suddenly shined brightly and the creature pulled back a moment and raised its head. M'redith had a close up view as the monster suddenly vomited green goo – straight at M'redith.
M'redith triggered her Fancy Doppelganger ability without even thinking about it and the group looked on as a field of glitter suddenly appeared in the air in front of the monster just as M'redith disappeared from view entirely.
Almost at the same time she popped in to existence behind the creature and raised her sword.
The tick vomited a green goop in to a thick puddle that took up a three foot area on the floor. The substance mixed with the glitter as the monster spewed it on to the floor.
M'redith struck from behind the creature and cut a gouge in to one of its legs. The field of glitter in front of the creature disappeared as her sword made contact with the leg.
The monster tried to turn but as it did Norri used her Class Ability Control Creature and forced one of the tick's legs to come down at an odd angle and the monster stumbled to the ground. As it scrambled to get back up M'redith continued to hack away from behind it at one of its legs.
The green band on the monster's body was no longer glowing brightly and was now dim, but was becoming brighter by the minute. It seemed that each ability took an unknown amount of time to recharge before the monster could use it again.
After it stumbled Norri approached it's head and attempted to attack its mouth-parts but with little success. She just wasn't able to do enough damage with her staff, even to the delicate mouth-parts of the monster.
The tick swept Norri off her feet with one leg and sent her tumbling across the arena with another leg.
Norri hit the ground hard and rolled a bit and dropped her staff. She lay motionless on the floor in a heap.
Aiden quickly turned and sent a glassy green bolt hurtling towards her body. His Physician's Blast struck her with two bolts while the third went careening crazily towards the wall. The two were enough however and melted in to her body quickly. A few moments later she pushed herself back to her feet, shook her head to clear it, and picked her staff back up.
She aimed a grin and a wave towards Aiden who nodded in reply before turning his attention back to the monster.
Norri ran back towards the monster which had by that time managed to get back to its feet and now faced M'redith.
The three o'clock position of the arena began to catch fire and the group scrambled to run to the four o'clock slice. It was starting to get hot in the arena but not smoky. The somewhat invisible barrier above them appeared to let the smoke out rather than trap it inside. Still, there was a lot of fire by that time, and the heat was quickly rising.
Jay felt useless. That tended to happen a lot during combat. If M'redith wasn't able to damage the monster then there was absolutely no way that Jay was going to be able to do so with his wooden staff. Jay was relegated to the role of observer and instead focused on not getting hurt while looking for a way to kill the boss monster.
Carly hung back as well, but seemed to be handling the situation poorly. Her eyes were wide with terror and the adjacent fire didn't seem to be helping things either. She was still trying to contribute to the fight, but wasn't helping very much due to her mental state.
She'd used her only Class Ability to conjure a six inch yellow star above them. The star floated towards the tick but hadn't been aimed very well. The star missed the creature and exploded on the ground to the side of the monster. One hundred tiny stars popped in to existence before they too exploded.
The explosions did nothing to hurt the tick, but Jay noticed that the tick shied away from the explosions as if it was aware that the stars should be avoided. It scuttled awkwardly to the side as M'redith continued to hack at its leg.
The group was again forced to move as the four o'clock slice became fully engulfed. They barely managed to outrace the flames and the tick shrieked and took a step back away from the fire which had by then covered more than a third of the room.
The flames were ten feet high, higher than a person, almost as high as the massive tick. A red band around the tick began to brighten and glow.
Jay glanced around quickly and waited for his Class Ability Fancy Footwork to trigger again.
Fancy Footwork (uncommon) – During combat when any enemy prepares to use a special ability the area of that ability's effect will be highlighted on the ground in red. The highlighted portion is only visible to the caster and indicates where an ability will do damage once it completes. Once the ability executes the highlighted portion will disappear.
Jay didn't have to wait long, and a red line appeared between the monster and Carly, who was staring at the approaching flames and not the boss monster.
“Carly, dodge!” Jay yelled but it was no use. Rather than dodge, Carly instead looked up and towards Jay. She stood directly in the path as a ball of fire was summoned in front of the boss and streaked outwards towards Carly.
She took a direct hit and went down with a strangled cry. Aiden ran for her along with Jay while Norri and M'redith tried to hold the boss's attention.
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The arena around them on their slice caught fire and things began to unravel.
Slices 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 were now on fire, and Jay and Aiden were forced to drag Carly from the 4 o'clock slice and on to the 5 o'clock slice. They were all covered in sweat and were perspiring profusely thanks to the heat. Sweat ran down their faces and in to their eyes where it stung and they were forced to blink it away or wipe at their eyes with the backs of their hands.
That was when M'redith landed a lucky blow, right on one of the more delicate mouth-parts of the monster.
The creature shrieked and leapt back, away from M'redith, and landed in the fire. It screamed so loud that the noise was physically painful. The creature quickly scampered out of the fire but M'redith was there and waiting for it. She continued to try and hammer away at the mouth-parts and the monster was forced to defend itself.
The monster had already thrown one of their group across the room and decided that it would attempt to do the same thing to M'redith, who appeared quite tiny to the massive tick. It whipped one leg towards M'redith and made contact.
A violent crunching could be heard as one of the creature's legs fractured as it struck M'redith. M'redith was not thrown through the air, she was not tossed across the room, she was not even lightly dislodged from her fighting stance.
M'redith's first Class Ability – Giant Frame, made sure that large monsters wouldn't be able to just toss her around. Giant Frame treated her body as if she were a giant in combat, and so the monster had basically struck an immovable object with immense force. All that had done was fracture the monster's leg and it was now a bit unsteady as it attempted to stand on the injured leg.
The leg wouldn't support its weight and the creature stumbled whenever it tried to use it. The monster finally gave up and drew the leg up and towards its body as it attempted to focus on using its remaining, working, legs.
Slice 6 of the arena suddenly began to catch fire and Jay dragged Carly to the next spot as Aiden followed behind him and continued to cast healing on Carly. Norri remained with M'redith. Norri used her Control Creature ability to make the boss' movements work against it while M'redith attacked the monster's mouth-parts.
“We're running out of time! We can't damage it, we have to get it in to the fire!” Jay yelled as he depositing Carly on to the floor only somewhat gently. Aiden leaned down and went to work casting Patchwork healing on her.
M'redith didn't turn but Jay could see her head nod. “I think I know just the thing! We need to get it back in to the fire though!” she yelled.
Jay watched them fight the creature. It was being extra careful to keep away from the fire. Jay's thoughts were interrupted as the fire spread once again to slice number 7. Jay leaned down and dragged Carly to the next spot, the 8 o'clock slice. More than half the room was on fire.
“I think the fire is picking up speed!” Jay yelled while Aiden continued to try and heal Carly. Jay didn't let go of Carly but prepared to drag her to the next spot. He was exhausted. Carly might look little but she weighed a lot – or at least that was how it felt to Jay at the time.
The fire this time barely waited before the next slice, number 8, was fully engulfed. Aiden paused his healing to help Jay drag Carly all the way to the 11 o'clock position. That spot was somewhat of a distance from where they were but it was better than moving Carly a little at a time.
Slices 12 through 8 were now all on fire and only slices 9, 10, and 11 remained clear of the flames. Three quarters of the arena was on fire and the heat had become sweltering, almost painful.
The tick wasn't doing too well in the heat and was making high pitched keening noises that grated on the group's already frayed nerves.
Norri had been paying special attention to the monster's movements, specifically, its legs. She'd figured out the pattern it used to move and thought that she had stumbled on to something.
“I think I can trip it! I need help though! How are we going to keep it from just crawling out of the fire?” Norri yelled as the fire raged all around them. Smoke and ashes rose in to the air all around them
M'redith replied, “I have something for that! Just say when and I'll try to push it back!”
The monster was in the center of the arena and was surround on all sides by flames except for its front, which face M'redith.
The 9 o'clock slice began to burn – thankfully Jay had already pulled Carly over to the 11 o'clock slice where Aiden was still working on healing her. She had taken quite the hit and a quick heal wouldn't be enough.
Only the 10 and 11 o'clock slices now remained clear of fire.
“Do it fast! We're almost out of time!” Jay yelled helplessly.
As he spoke the blue band around the monster began to glow rapidly. Jay's Fancy Footwork ability triggered and he could see a red line on the floor leading from the boss and directly towards Carly and Aiden.
They would be caught in the blast and there was no time to move them. With a grimace Jay prepared himself mentally for what he would have to do and he quickly stepped on to the red path and put himself between Aiden, Carly, and the boss.
A sudden spray of frost shot out from the monster and raced towards Aiden and Carly. Jay managed to step in front of the blast just in time and was struck by a icy blue bolt.
Jay was instantly frozen from the chest down and couldn't move. Thankfully he had set his feet in to a stable position before he had gotten hit or he would have gone crashing to the floor. The ice made crackling noises but didn't hurt.
Aiden looked up in shock and made to run towards Jay who shook his head. “Don't! Focus on Carly, I'll be fine!”
Aiden nodded once and returned to healing Carly.
Jay hefted his staff and began to use it to break the ice off of his body a little at a time. He'd never get out at that rate but he felt like he had to do something.
Meanwhile, Norri said “NOW!” and M'redith attacked with a ferocity that surprised even her. The tick was caught off guard and went to take a step back but there was nowhere to go but the flames. As it attempted to move Norri used her Control Creature ability to freeze two of its legs while she used her staff to trip up a third.
Right as she did so M'redith body checked the creature as hard as she could. The creature was off balance and M'redith's check was the last little bit needed to send it crashing down and in to the flames.
It began to scramble wildly and tried to right itself.
“Get back!” M'redith yelled as reached for a small gray leather pouch. She tore with her hands at the drawstring and hastily withdrew four square stones shaped like six sided dice.
Jay instantly recognized them and smiled, even as he was encased in ice.
M'redith threw the stones at the floor in front of the creature and as the stones struck the floor there was a furious crash and rumble as the floor split and four massive stone pillars rose out of the ground.
The pillars were six feet high, two feet across, and were a deep black reflective material that looked as if it would be difficult to damage. Most importantly, the pillars were spaced a few feet apart – nowhere near enough space for the creature to crawl through. The pillars were also too high for the creature to crawl over – and as it attempted to do so Norri and M'redith would attack the limb and force it back in to the flames.
Their ears hurt as the creature screamed in its death throes. It just went on and on as if the creature would live forever.
A wet sounding explosion was heard as the temperature of the boss monster's body reached boiling point and its fat bulbous body exploded, showering the arena and its occupants in viscera and blood.
“Eww!” Norri said reflexively.
Aiden sighed and sagged in exhaustion as he ran out of mana.
M'redith wasn't about to let him rest however.
“Everyone up! Gather round! We still have to find a way out of here!” M'redith yelled as the group gathered on the 11 o'clock slice. As the did so the 10 o'clock slice caught fire. They stood in a small slice of the arena, the only part that wasn't currently on fire.
They could see the boss' body rise in to motes of light in the middle of the flames. M'redith's pillars still stood – they would remain for another fifteen minutes.
As the boss' body disappeared a sudden 'click' could be heard from behind them at the tree's edge. They all moved to investigate and found that a trap door had appeared.
M'redith didn't have to ask and Jay quickly checked it for traps and shook his head. “Clear, lets move!” he yelled over the sound of the fire.
M'redith yanked open the trap door and was surprised at what she found. There were no stairs.
“What is that?” Norri asked excitedly.
Jay shook his head. “I'm pretty sure that is a slide. Looks like we've found our way out of here,”
M'redith smiled and waved everyone on. “Go, go, go!”
Norri went first and slid quickly out of view. Then it was Jay's turn. Jay sat down and scooted forwards until his body began to move.
He quickly picked up speed and hurtled down the slide. They must have been multiple stories in the air by then and the slide took him outside of the tree and down the side of it in a long winding path. The wood was polished to a mirror finish and was smooth as glass. Jay slid along it as if there was no friction and he could quickly see the end approaching.
He shot out of the slide at tremendous speed and landed in a pile of leaves and soft earth with a heavy thud. He quickly stood up and joined Norri at a small gathering area a few feet from the slide.
There were wooden benches and where an unlit fire in the middle would be in the middle was instead a polished white pedestal.
Aiden was next, then an unconscious Carly who Jay helped Aiden carry to the benches area. M'redith joined them right after and the group gathered on the benches just as Carly stirred and groaned.
Aiden grinned, “Oh good! You're awake again. We made it, just so you know.”
Carly didn't speak, she was covered in patches from Aiden's healing and looked like a mess.
They all did. They were covered in... stuff. Gross stuff, and a lot of it. Washing all of it out of their hair alone would probably take a long time and a lot of effort.
“Well that sucked,” Norri said.
Carly groaned in agreement but didn't move otherwise.
“It wasn't that bad,” Jay tried to insist but Norri wasn't having it.
“We didn't even get a reward!” she said.
M'redith pursed her lips. “Hey, that's right! We had to leave before we caught on fire.”
A sudden tinkle of chimes filled the rest area at the bottom of the tree in the jungle and on the podium in front of them a gleaming rust-red treasure chest appeared.
“Oooo!” exclaimed Norri as Aiden grinned. “Now that's better!”
Everyone was very carefully not speaking or even alluding to Carly's behavior in the fight. There was a time and place for that – after they had returned to the Guild safely.
“Well, who wants to pass out some treasure?” M'redith said with a smile in an attempt to cheer up the group.