The numbers crunched in my heads quickly. I figured a party of 5 with a solid tank and healer that was around our current level would be able to handle a Level 20 Colossal. Unfortunately, there were several issues with that equation. For one, the obvious issue was that this enemy was a Level 22. The game would reward Nick with +100% experience for the enemy being 5 levels higher than his own. I would get a +60% experience boost for being 3 levels below T’sk Tikan and I was the highest level out of our party. Those bonuses sounded great, but they were associated with a risk that none of us were comfortable taking. The second issue was that we did not have a tank at all. We had a rogue, two ranged damage players, and a hybrid healer/damage player in the form of Matt. The third issue was Matt himself. He could heal, but he didn’t have anywhere near the capabilities of someone like Theresa who had been playing as a healer since her first spell and class at Level 5. Matt had two healing spells, but only one of which had been leveled up to any significant power.
We needed to run. There was not a chance in hell of us taking down this Colossal without a fatality, and most likely we would all die. I turned on my heels as quietly as I could, grabbing Nick by the arm and gesturing to the other two as we tried to slowly exit the room. None of the enemies had attacked us yet, which I took to be a good sign.
Our squad moved towards the door as I scanned the bleacher-nests. Termites crawled out of the moundlike-structures, each as big as a large dog. Most of them were far from targeting us, but a few were on the gym floor and just ten yards to either side of us. Even without considering the Colossal, how many of the smaller ones could we handle before we got very unlucky or just ran out of energy? We could easily kill 1, but what about 50?
I grabbed the door handle on the left, letting Elsa grab the other. We pushed slowly and, to my surprise, it opened without a sound. We walked slowly, one foot in front of the other. The chittering sounds of the insectoids behind us wasn’t hurting my ability to function as much as the others. My [Resolve] passive was leveled quite high and let me focus when situations became stressful. It seemed to make me a lot less intimidated. I could see the beads of sweat and look of fear on Matt and Nick’s faces though. Elsa, like me, seemed calm.
One foot in front of the other….one foot in front of the other…almost out…just close the doors behind us….
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“STOP THEM!” The cruel whisper of the Skeletal Elite rolled over the streets and filled Graham with dread. The trio was already hosting a number of cuts and bruises from their adventure so far and were in little condition to handle a monster like the one they had happened across. “General Harlan Marrow: Level 21 Elite”.
Cain led the charge away from the Undead. A Giant Termite charged the trio and Cain popped his [Heavy Metal] ability, slamming his shield into the creature and knocking it unconscious. As Graham ran past the Termite, he performed a simple slash of his blade and the Termite immediately died. They could handle those quite easily.
Theresa sent another [Holy Shield] around Graham, who wondered why she had done so. The volley of arrows that assaulted his back answered his question. A single arrow stuck out of Cain’s right shoulder, hurting his ability to lift his sword. Theresa cast several instances of [Healing Light] and Cain began to move normally. Both men recognized that Theresa was far beyond the point of exhaustion.
“CAIN?! Where do we go?” Graham was nervous. This wasn’t looking good.
“The School! We can lose them in there!” Cain looked across the parking lot and saw the building. The Level 21 Elite behind them was accompanied by several Level 19 Elites and Level 17-18 minions. The small army of Undead behind them had been chasing them without hesitation. As they hit the parking lot, they began to slow, forming a tight formation. When the Skeletons finally reached the parking lot, the entire horde stopped entirely. Cain gave a grin. “HA! It’s a Safe Zone!”
Theresa looked at the many half-eaten corpses of Zombies and Skeletons that lie dead on the parking lot and in the nearby playground with a frown. “Cain…I’m not sure we should-”
“Come on! We may not have a lot of time!” Cain jogged directly to the entrance doors underneath a large ‘GYMNASIUM’ sign.
Graham kept his sword drawn and Theresa formed up behind Cain. The three looked back to see the General and his army of Undead stopped and waiting. As he did, two more Skeleton Knights joined the army. Graham had the nerve-wracking thought that they might just get starved out. That immediately became the least of Graham’s concerns as Cain kicked in the door to the gymnasium.
----------------------------
“COME ON! GET INSIDE!” Cain's voice echoed through the gym.
What the hell? I turned around, the door nearly closed behind me, and I saw the other group running right into the back of gym. They weren’t even 10 yards away from the two story tall Termite. How did they not see it?
The ferocious chittering of the insects filled the air. For whatever reason, they didn’t even seem to see it.
“Cain? Cain!” Theresa backed up to the door.
Cain’s eyes went wide. I saw his eyes do the same maneuver as mine as he traced the leg of the Colossal up to its massive several-meter long, thick mandibles. “Oh…man. Really?”
The Termites headed towards the trio. Several dozen Level 15 creatures crawled towards them with a hunger that I hadn’t seen before. I guessed that the Termites get more aggressive the closer you are to a nest.
Cain turned on his heels, attempting to open the door. The door wouldn’t open. “Graham! Graham help!”
Graham immediately began pushing on the other door, it too was not even budging.
Elsa sent a deep breath of air out of her nose. “It’s enchanted.”
“What?”
“Enchanted. I have [Magic Detection]. Whatever they were running from must have locked the door behind them. It was a trap.”
“How can Termites cast magic?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think they did. It must have been something else.”
Nick sighed. “Rock and a hard place, huh?”
I watched as the Termites closed in on Graham and Cain. If I did anything, I was putting the lives of all four of us in danger too. If I didn’t do anything, I would watched 3 of my original 4 team members get eaten alive by bugs. It was time for an executive decision. I took careful aim, raising my right pistol and aiming at one of the Termites closing on the trio, and fired. The Termite dropped dead.
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The furious hissing and chittering turned in our direction and a dozen Termites headed our way. Graham summoned his [Spirit Blade] and Cain used [Taunt], drawing in the Termites near him.
I made eye contact with Graham and he gave me a grin, realizing that we were there to help. I gave him one back. “Nick! Pillars and Phoenix…let’s get it going.”
In an instant, fire erupted over the gym. Termites began burning, starting to roast like marshmallows on a campfire. Matt sent in his [Vine Flurry], striking at several of the Termites on our left side. I turned to see Elsa had vanished. Had she just left us to this fight by ourselves?
I scanned the bleachers before I saw a nearly invisible shadow on the right side near the the top of the nest. Elsa waited until a Termite emerged from one of the large tunnels and then came into full view, striking with a critical hit and executing the bug.
I fired a [Multi-Shot] that sent two Termites to their graves and wounded four others. The chittering sounds of the attacking bugs became dwarfed by a large booming hiss. The Colossal was awake.
I immediately threw my [Ranger’s Mark] on the monster and fired my [Multi-Shot] at it. The beast barely flinched as it's booming hiss began to sound more like a roar. It took stock of the situation before charging at my group and I. As the beast closed, Nick threw down [Ring of Fire], causing T’sk Tikan to stop in its tracks.
The Termite Colossal screeched and I saw its mandibles twitch in and out of its maw. What was it doing? The sudden green ball of acid flying at us answered my question. We dodged just in time, but Matt was scraped by the burn. He was hurt, but still had a green profile.
Elsa was busy taking out Termite after Termite. That was where she was best right now. I watched her as her blades moved with an agility that was impressive even to me. We both were DEX/AGI focused classes, but my stats allowed me to shoot fast and accurately while hers allowed her to do impressive displays of acrobatics and melee combat as she sliced bugs limb from limb.
I looked over Nick’s [Ring of Fire] and the smoke it was producing to see Cain was holding his own as he tanked a half-dozen of the Termites by himself. [Holy Blasts] from Theresa and the green ghost of Graham’s [Spirit Blade] slowly wore down Cain’s assailants bit by bit.
I aimed my pistols up to T’sk Tikan and took a breath. These [Multi-Shots] were taking a lot out of me, but I was doing my best. I fired a [Multi-Shot] directly into the creatures face and grinned. 6 critical hits! With [Ranger’s Mark] applied, I just landed the equivalent of 27 regular shots on the Colossal. I was weak and nearly out of energy already, but I watched the Colossal’s profile dip into…wait…what? The bright green profile of the Termite meant it was still in its upper third of health. How had that not even budged the damn thing? What the hell do we do?
I backed up slightly. “Clear a path to Graham and Cain. We need to run.”
I waved at Elsa, catching her attention in between kills. I pointed to Cain and Graham and she nodded. I hoped she understood the message well enough, and it seemed like she did as she used [Stealth] again and began to move towards the trio. The Termites around her hissed in confusion.
I made eye contact with Graham and waved him over. He very clearly gestured to the now 8 Termites that had crawled over a small hill of their dead allies corpses to attack Cain. I waved him over again and Graham rolled his eyes. I turned to Nick. “We’re gonna need fire.”
"Alright...but I'm starting to run low, J." He erupted pillars along the gym floor, forcing T’sk Tikan out of the middle of the gym and towards the right side. With the left side much more open now, I moved forward. A Termite charged me, and I narrowly turned out of the way. As the bug jousted past me and turned to make another pass, I fired a bullet right between its eyes and watched it drop.
I heard a small bell sound behind me. Nick gave a grin. “Leveled up!”
Matt ran forward next to me. “Uhm..I…uhm…what do I do?”
“Follow me. Use the vines to keep them off me.”
He nodded and used his [Vine Flurry] along the left side nest. The disruption to the mound caused several Termites to emerge and charge at me. Matt’s vines wounded them enough that a single regular hit from me sent several of them skating down the nest to lie dead on the gym floor.
I looked to see Elsa joining the trio, beginning to slice at the Termites assaulting them. The roaring hiss of Tikan shook the gymnasium.
Matt and I cleared our way to the trapped four. I took a deep breath as I got to point blank range against the Termites attacked Cain. I raised my pistols and fired a [Multi-Shot], critical hits abounded and the creatures hissed and died. “Let’s go!”
They gave a nod and crawled over the bodies of the dead Termites as they followed me. The smoke from Nick’s fires stung our throats and eyes. I could feel my Dexterity getting lower.
We reached the entrance of the gym after several infinitely long seconds of dodging balls of acid and large mandible attacks from T’sk Tikan as the Colossal slowly tested the weakening [Ring of Fire].
The 7 of us took stock at the gym entrance and, after a very quick headcount, bolted for the exit. The Termite Colossal behind us screeched as the [Ring of Fire] went down and charged after us, busting the door frame to the gym and leaving a massive hole in the wall.
We ran down the endless maze of locker-lined hallways as we heard the sound of the massive creature destroying everything in its path as it followed us.
Cain’s blonde curls were stained with blood, but his yellow health began to slowly turn green as Matt and Theresa funneled energy into him. “How the hell is it following us? It's gotta be too big to know where we're going!”
We weaved in and out of hallways, making random turns where we could. Still, the Colossal seemed to always know where we were.
Elsa was panting like the rest of us, but she hadn’t even been scratched. “Must be scent detection.”
We made it to an exit door and pushed it open to find it locked. “Fuck!”
Elsa shoved me out of the way and knelt down in front of the door, working on it with her [Lockpicking]. The distant screeching and sound of metal being flung out of the way got louder. “Elsa….”
A loud roar was accompanied by the sound of vengeful chittering. “Elsa!” As she used her [Lockpicking] skill, she wasn’t even flinching from the terrifying sounds around the corridor. I realized she must have had a [Resolve] level even higher than mine.
The monstrosity suddenly appeared around the corner, roaring as it saw us. The saliva dripping from its massive mandibles hit the ground with a sizzle. Acid. “ELSA!!!”
She grunted in annoyance and finally shoved the door open. We all bolted through, one after the other. By milliseconds, we made it out the door and out of the way as the ball of acid flew past us and landed in the parking lot in front of us.
We sprinted up the parking lot, away from the school as the beast emerged. We turned, seeing it in its full glory. T’sk Tikan stood almost as tall, if not taller, than the building. He looked more like a slug with legs than a Termite. The giant mandibles were as long as I was and the sickly yellow-tinted paleness of its flesh was lined with green stripes from the blood flowing out of its bullet wounds. The creatures crimson eyes were focused, but not on us.
As I around, I saw what could only be described as an army. “General Harlan Marrow - Level 21 Elite” was surrounded by at least 60 Skeletons and Zombies, as well as several wooden war machines that looked similar to massive, stationary crossbows. It felt like facing down some perverted horror version of a Roman Legion.
The confusion of the situation was compounded as a system notification appeared.
[Diplomacy] has advanced to Level 2!
I closed out of that message only to receive another.
You have advanced to Level 20! Please open your Profile to select a new Active Skill!