Chapter 31 - The ICB: Hubris and a Wombo Combo
“Follow and clear the minions if you can!” Rufian yelled back to his friend. The smoke of the Saturnine Viel made it hard to read Pal’s face, but Rufian was sure he saw a mouth move to cheer him on.
As he ran after the pretentious mage with their stupid ‘I am so mysterious’ black robe Rufian growled to himself.
“Who do they think they are to get away with not wearing the uniform?”
With the speed buff from Pal’s ars he was closing the distance quickly and his fist twitched as he visualised driving it into the mage’s body. Rufian knew from the punches he had already landed that under the robes there was just a skinny body of a person barely half his weight.
Rufian Ramuro 702/702 | Level 1
Strike Enhancer - Fighter / Bruiser
The essentia on the ground was perfectly placed to grab without stopping as he sprinted after his quarry. The level he picked up from the dropped essentia and the creeps he had taken out in the forest were going to help him finish the mage off.
Quickly checking the options he had on the run, Rufian was torn.
Fighter
Strike Enhancer
Bruiser
Ars
Broad Strikes
Multi Strike
Heavy Fists
Attunement
nil
nil
nil
Cooldown
n/a
n/a
n/a
Compatibility
n/a
n/a
n/a
Skill Type
Enhancement
Enhancement
Enhancement
Slot
Wrist, Fist, Arm, Foot, Ankle
Wrist, ankle
Fist
Slot Bonus
n/a
n/a
n/a
Description
Unarmed strikes cause damage in a cone.
Each strike applies effects twice.
[-100% combination damage] Every third strike staggers the target.
He was glad that there was some synergy with the ars he had been gifted. It fit into his generic enhancer class directly so selecting the ars didn’t lock him out of further generic enhancer ars. Rufian was mostly pleased with it and as he ran he rubbed at the ars on his shoulder.
Strike Enhancer
Ars
Lock On
Attunement
████████
Cooldown
45
Compatibility
High
Skill Type
Enhancement
Slot
[Shoulder], [Arm], +modifier+
Slot Bonus
n/a
Description
Target a minion, creep or avatar. Fix the target in place and move towards the target. Knock up anything on the way and deal [75] physical damage when reaching the target.
The big downside was the long cooldown and he was frustrated he would have to wait another 40 seconds at least.
It meant that he would need to run the mage down. The level gave him another little burst of speed as it enhanced his strength and mastery, the physicality of his avatar felt amazing and he was pumped from his first kill and ready for another.
The bruiser ars called out to him. He could catch up to the mage and lock them down with repeated stuns. It would be a guaranteed kill.
As he mentally considered applying the ars a nagging voice tugged at him.
“We are relying on you. They have an advantage in every lane and their tier advantage means that we either win decisively or they beat us out when our diminishing returns- Blah… Blah, Blah, Blah Deep Fist … Blah Blah Blah Blah?” The voice sounded like Seline and Bruchts mixed together.
When they had been talking about the plan Rufian had been excited, he was going to be the key. He didn’t think about what he would be giving up.
Would they forgive him for ruining the plan for a kill?
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Ugh.” He verbalised his frustration. The sound must have carried to Bakano as the mage looked over their shoulder with a disbelieving expression. Their eyes widened in panic as they realised how close Rufian was.
The selection of the ars triggered a surge of essentia that ran through his body and coalesced in a flash of light on his right fist.
In moments Rufian was upon the mage.
His right fist thundered into the robed body and crashed into the mage's slender frame.
Bakano 153/595 | Level 0
Tyrian Gastropod Magus - Wandslinger / Tyrian Gastropod Magus / Control Mage
He was doing about 35 damage flat. Rufian laughed to himself in satisfaction.
Palinus would be thinking about the damage and worried about the number of hits he would need to finish the mage off. Rufian just focused on hitting the mage faster, and harder.
The punch didn’t slow the mage as they kept running directly under the tower. It did cause a blast of energy to flow past the mage, with nothing behind them but the empty lane all the cone of energy did was flap the mage’s robes around dramatically.
A left jab straight to the mage’s back did a little bit more damage with the combination damage stacking slowly. A more academic mind would be aware that he would need to land another 3 punches to finish the mage off, Rufian just punched again.
Their sprint had taken them to the edge of the Saturnine Veil and as Rufian recovered his footing from the punch they plunged through the wall of smoke that marked the end of the speed buff. Rufian stumbled slightly with the change in speed but managed to keep running.
Now it was a more even foot race.
With his superior physical attributes Rufian was confident of catching up again for at least one more punch, but he was running out of space. Ahead they were nearly under the tower, and the fourth wave of minions approached from behind it.
Groaning with effort Rufian ran as fast as he could, he had taken some damage from minions as he had been chasing after Bakano, but he could afford to take one tower bolt. If Bakano had their rooting ars ready entering the tower range would be absolute suicide.
Mere meters out from the tower Rufian got in range for a punch and begged the powers of the underworld to empower it.
The straight right hit Bakano in the spine, it hurt Rufian’s fist a little and the mage quite a bit more as they jumped a little bit and put their hand to their back.
It wasn’t enough, and they both knew it.
Turning and grinning at Rufian the mage stood just under the tower's range with their wand at the ready.
“What’s the matter? Are you scared of the little tower?” Bakano asked glibly, their eyes twinkling with a sense of smug superiority as they drawled at Rufian.
As the minions began to stream past the mage they started to target Rufian.
“RUN RUFIAN!” Palinus’s voice came from behind him. The veil must have lifted giving his ally a prime view of the standoff.
A grin lit up Rufian’s face.
Sensing the danger too late Bakano turned to run.
*Thump* Rufian’s right fist struck the melee minion with a meaty whack,
*Whomp* The blast of energy from the Broad Strikes ars echoed the strike.
The blast hadn’t done quite enough damage as Bakano continued to flee with a single digit of health.
But Rufian hadn’t waited to check the damage.
*Thump* Rufian’s left fist struck.
*Whomp* The blast of energy from the Broad Strikes ars echoed.
“-An enemy has been slain!-”
“Woo! Good Job Rufi!” Palinus was quick to celebrate the kills in the team chat.
“Amazing work!” Seline chimed in, before dampening the mood. “You need to keep going, we need support down here soonish too.”
Rufian sighed, it seemed like she was never satisfied. He didn’t know what Palinus saw in her.
Quickly finishing off the minions with Palinus and helping himself to some essentia beads, Rufian brushed his hands off as if finishing a shift of manual labour..
“Well, I'm off. Have fun!” he said to Palinus as he ran towards his next target.
It was a quick run to the top lane.
Peeking out from the brush where the gap in the middle of the forest met the top lane, Rufian watched with a thumping chest as Bruchts battled.
The fight was going poorly.
Agrippa Fulistinum 699/712 | Level 1
Aegis Legionnaire - Swordsman / Guardsman
Bruchts 420/616 | Level 0
Runebound Warden - Swordsman / Defender
As he watched Rufian got a sense for why Bruchts was down on health and behind on levels.
Every time his big blonde ally would get close Agrippa would switch from herding the minions to blast out with a shield attack that pushed Bruchts away. The allied minions would focus on Agrippa for a moment but the ars gave him a bubble shield that protected him from the attacks and let him walk out of range.
It meant that Bruchts was being zoned out, and it also meant that the lane was stalled expertly in the middle of the top lane while Agrippa took all the essentia.
“Why are you letting that little guy bully you?” Rufian asked jokingly in the team chat.
With a dark look Bruchts nearly give Rufian’s position away by looking towards the forest. He put his finger in his ear to respond and there was a delay as his normally unflappable friend paused to collect his visible frustration.
“His ability is too good at sustaining him in the lane… and mine is only good for a one off fight.” Bruchts whispered back, “ Besides, he isn’t that small and his shield is twice as big as mine!”
“It’s not the size-” Vesuvia started joking before getting cut off. Rufian imagined Silene slapping her, or giving a look that promised a slap.
“Are we doing this?” Bruchts asked impatiently.
“Yep, 3 count and go.”
As he gave the order to go Rufian quietly shuffled to the edge of the patch of brush and got ready to charge.
The gank in middle lane had been lucky, but this gank was planned out and they had an unstopable combination of ars. It was something they had learned about in training, but he never expected to be able to do, the trainger had called it a wombo combo. He was pumped, even if it sounded like a dumb name.
As he waited a heartbeat he started moving as Bruchts stepped away from him and towards their target, drawing Agrippa’s attention as Rufian emerged from the bushes.
Agrippa predictably launched his ars at Bruchts, pushing him away. With the ars on it’s short cooldown Rufian committed.
Lock On quickly flashed through it’s calculus as he triggered it with essentia. His fist shot up towards Agrippa and he began to move, slowly at first but with gathering momentum that dragged him off his feet and through the minion wave.
His fist blasted into Agrippa’s shield and knocked the young man up in the air.
While Rufian had been sailing through the air Bruchts had begun to channel his ars.
On the ground a ring of blue, green and black stone began to emerge through the lane. It was emerging from the as if it was made of ice and melting in reverse, it was forming quickly on the scale of ice but ridiculously slowly to Rufian’s eye.
The minions surrounding Agrippa were the first to be affected by the ars, their attacks were all slowed. Even the bolts of bone flying through the air from the ranged minions travelled slowly.
As Agrippa reached the zenith of the knock up the slow affect took hold on him as well, slowing down his fall to give him an odd floating affect.
Neither Bruchts or Rufian waited as they began to attack their target furiously.
As they struck they also moved around to cut the Defensive specialist off from retreat.
While his movement was slowed it was evident from his eye twitching left to right that the legionnaire had his full faculties and was calculating how to escape.
The bubble of the shield ars popped after Rufian’s second punch and as they started to deal some damage to the young man he finally hit the ground. With impressive agility but still in an odd slow motion the boy spun towards his tower and hopped into a run. His shield held beside him and trying to fend of Rufian’s punches.
He took two strides and was nearly out of the circle of stone before the ars finally triggered completely.
With an uncomfortable grinding sound of stone moving against stone the circle of stone erupted in hundreds of shards of razor sharp turquoise stalactites. They stabbed into Agrippa’s legs and lower body with dozens of stab wounds all at once causing the renowned tough guy to yell out in pain.
Agrippa Fulistinum 302/712 | Level 1 [Slowed], [Hobbled]
Aegis Legionnaire - Swordsman / Guardsman
With the hobbled effect applied on top of the slow, the young man was not moving fast at all as he grimaced in pain and made every effort to run.
Sympathy had not been considered as Rufian worked with his fists. With the added damage of Bruchts’ wooden training sword they were able to take down the avatar’s health quickly. The slow affect expired quickly but the hobbled effect remained for long enough to finish Agrippa off.
“-An enemy has been slain!-”
“Wow, nice! Who would have thought we could take a 3-0 lead?” Palinus’s voice came through the team chat.
“We have just capitalised on their hubris, and the kills will only really put us on an even playing field.” Seline replied, “Vel and Marnus are team talking. It looks like they are changing things up... they have left the lane.”
“Oh,” Bruchts mumbled. “We kind of planned for this, but are they really going to play into it?”
He wondered out loud to Rufian.
“They have been pretty dumb for a supposedly good team so far!” Rufian replied. “I think they just underestimate me,”
With a laugh Bruchts shrugged off Rufian’s usual braggadocio.
“Good luck then!” He said, looking at the tower with a complicated expression.
“You too.” Rufian smiled and cracked his knuckles as Bruchts ran off into the forest. Things were going perfectly, just as he planned.