Orion rounded the corner of a large house to see a scene of chaos unfolding before them. The walls of the city—and the gate itself—were burning to the ground. Creatures of both fire and water rampaged, a ball of the monsters snarling and clawing to get over one another as they fought to reach something in the middle of the pack.
Beyond the fighting enemies, smaller groups of creatures fought adventurers and townsfolk. They appeared to be holding their ground, but Orion knew that as soon as the writhing mass of creatures killed the thing they were fixated on, the rest of the humans in the square would become beset.
Orion felt an odd sensation flow out from the center of the mass. A new yet familiar sensation pulsed out. It filled Orion’s body with relaxed joy, before realization replaced the feeling with fear. He felt pain and despair radiating from the center of the same source. Instantly, he knew it wasn’t a something the creatures were attacking, but a someone.
It was Gizmo.
Orion’s eyes flicked to his party frame to see Gizmo’s health was almost full, but dropping rapidly. “Arika!” he yelled, but as he turned to her, she was already completing the hand-motion necessary for her instant-cast ability.
Arika’s Invoke empowered Explosion detonated right on the center of the mass, directly under the pain-oozing entity that was Gizmo. Despite their distance and his increased stats, Orion knew to brace himself. Shadow grabbed his arm, gripping him in place.
The entire mass of creatures was engulfed in the blink of an eye, Arika’s leveled-up abilities doing an obscene amount of damage to all the monsters trying to get to Gizmo. As fast as it tore into existence, it was gone, and the blackened form of his familiar flew high to the side, directly towards a wall, a trail of soot and smoke in tow. His eyes flicked to Gizmo’s health again, fearing the worst. Gizmo was still alive, but had a barely visible sliver of red-health remaining.
Orion teleported himself and Shadow closer, then swapped his hulking companion as far as he could towards Gizmo’s eventual landing place. Shadow arrived, activating Silent Speed and tearing off to catch the airborne automaton without a moment’s hesitation. Orion held his breath, unable to do anything but watch as his familiar hurtled towards a stone wall, the impact with which would undoubtedly kill him.
Gizmo flew at a startling speed, but Shadow got between him and the wall just in time to catch the loudly humming payload before he cracked into the wall. Shadow slid, carried by Gizmo’s momentum and eventually coming to a stop as the back of his metal armor tapped against the wall. Gizmo’s hum came to a stop, and Shadow stared down into the automaton’s lightless eyes, willing Gizmo to show any signs of life.
Abruptly, Gizmo’s metal eyebrows withdrew into his head and two windshield wipers popped out to clear his eye-panels of the black soot hiding the vibrant lights of his display panels beneath.
“Oh. Hello, Shadow.”
Orion arrived by their side, the relief at seeing his companion alive almost enough to wash away the adrenaline coursing through his body. Orion pulled a bar of metal out of his inventory and passing it to Gizmo.
“Hey, buddy. How you feeling?”
“Thank you. I am both relieved and strangely disappointed.” Gizmo took a bite of the metal bar, chewing it noisily as his health slowly returned. “I will need more time to reflect on my experiences and draw a proper conclusion.”
Orion tried to rub the soot off of Gizmo’s arm, but it wouldn’t budge. He rubbed his fingers together, seeing that they were now covered in grime. He looked closer out of confusion and saw that Gizmo’s arm was cleaned of the foreign material where he’d brushed it, but his metallic body was the same dark-black color underneath.
Gizmo felt the question and lack of comprehension from his master. “I have been upgraded, Daddy. My body is stronger, more resilient, perfectly air-right, and blessedly water-resistent.”
“Does that mean you can take even more of a beating now?” Arika asked. “I’m happy for you.”
“Indeed. I believe I will be able to suffer significantly more pain before experiencing the sweet release of death.”
“For the love of—the sweet release of death?” Orion groaned as he looked to the sky for support. “What have I told you about listening to Honeypot?”
Arika made a startled noise, getting everyone’s attention.
“What is—Oh my GOD. What the hell is THAT?”
Orion turned to see what she was looking at; a giant serpent made of water slithered its way through the burning entrance to the city. It had the head of a dragon, and its scales appeared to be translucent. Liquid of different shades of blue swirled beneath its skin. The flames that surrounded it licked at its gigantic body, but they didn’t seem to bother the creature in the slightest. The body of the snake was as thick as Shadow was high, and its vicious teeth gleamed as they reflected the surrounding fires and rising sun.
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Orion inspected it.
Prince of Water
As the explosion had appeared, all the defenders and monsters in the square were momentarily distracted, if not entirely blown off their feet. The defenders, knowing that the explosion had taken out the vast majority of the attacking monsters in the square, had recovered first. The moments after the explosion—and Gizmo’s unplanned flight—had resulted in the slaughter of most of the attackers, with groups of adventurers and townsfolk moving to flank other creatures after dealing with their own.
Mostly free of distraction, the hissing of flames meeting the serpent’s body drew all of their attention. A silence spread over the square, all the adventurers and townsfolk staring at the presumed boss.
Orion glimpsed the rest of the serpent’s body as it slithered deeper into the gate, seeing the rest of its form stretched far back out of the city. A tongue flicked out, tasting the air, and the serpent immediately focused on Orion and his party. It drew itself up, towering three meters in the air as it coiled itself back, ready to strike.
A loud clunk rung out through the air and broke the silence, startling both Orion and the serpent. For a moment, Orion was confused, not knowing the source of the sound. Then, a mass of hair and metal struck the serpent from the side with blistering speed. The serpent was caught off guard, and the human projectile slammed its head down into the ground, hitting with a loud thump.
Another clunk rang out, and a moment later, a second mass of hair and metal smashed the serpent’s head into the ground again. Orion couldn’t help smiling as he gazed upon the two projectiles.
Carl and Dave joined the fray—evidently under the effect of Carl’s hair-growth tonic.
They both landed in a considerably ungraceful fashion; Dave bounced off of a roof and down to the ground, and Carl got lodged in the gap between a light-pole and a house right next to Orion.
“I wish Honeypot were here,” Shadow said. “He would have really enjoyed that.”
Arika snorted.
“Thank the Creator he isn’t. It’d only inspire him.”
***
Honeypot sneezed violently—the musty air of the sewer was finally getting to him. He rubbed his nose, trying to banish any further outbursts that could give away their position.
They rushed through the sewer as fast as they could, Tallon and Vasen both dragging the unconscious Seren behind them. The poison from the urchin had set in fast, causing him to sway and stumble after mere seconds. He’d become increasingly belligerent, until the point he showed aggression towards Fener, and Tallon gave him a friendly bonk on the noggin with the butt of his crossbow.
Even if the urchin’s venom hadn’t found its way into Seren’s bloodstream, they probably would have beaten a hasty retreat out of the sewers. Getting pincered by the urchins had been a wake-up call, proving that not all the creatures they herded could be waylaid by the poisonous treats littered throughout the tunnels.
Honeypot spared a glance towards the friendly party’s tank, his pale, sweaty skin adding even more urgency to their travel. They had to find a healer or spellcaster who could deal with the debuff—if they couldn’t, he would surely die.
Fener had a healing spell, but it wasn’t strong enough to deal with the urchin’s poison. Because it was a less powerful spell, however, it was on a relatively short cooldown, meaning she could stabilize his health every time it dipped into the red.
A noise from behind them caught Honeypot’s attention, and he turned to see something that made him pucker. The body of something large and green was slithering across an intersection behind them. The thing hadn’t noticed the adventurers, thankfully continuing straight instead of turning left and towards them. He stood in silence as it continued moving, its tail eventually disappearing out of sight.
He turned around with wide eyes to see that everyone else had heard and witnessed what could only be a giant serpent. Without a word said, they took off in the other direction as quickly and quietly as possible. Treyu and Vale jumped in to carry Seren, so there was a man holding up each limb.
Honeypot checked his map, seeing that they were nearing the destination he had planned. He closed his interface, focusing once more on the surrounding sewer. He looked for the telltale rungs that would lead them up and onto the streets above, desperately hoping to spot them soon.
Instead, he spotted the head of the giant serpent as it emerged from an intersection in front of them.
They skidded to a stop, fear causing the group’s collective feet to become frozen in place where they stood. The serpent’s tongue flicked out, tasting the air as it stared at them with malevolent* intent. It let out a long, drawn-out hiss, and its reptilian eyes locked onto them.
Honeypot inspected its name.
Prince of Growth
With one arm, Tallon slowly removed his crossbow from his back and placed it over the other arm that was holding Seren, stabilizing it. He moved his head down to the sight cautiously, not wanting to spook the creature into attacking. Seeing what he was doing, Vasen, who was also at the front, started doing the same.
Without warning, the hissing stopped, and the battle begun.
The serpent moved toward them as fast as it could in the cramped tunnels, darting forward with terrible speed. Tallon and Vasen pulled the triggers on their explosive-laden launchers. The former flew true, striking the serpent right below the eye and causing a startled hiss to sound. The latter struck the wall between them and the attacking serpent, causing a hail of dust and debris to rain down and block their vision of the creature. They turned down a side tunnel as fast as they could, Seren in tow.
Honeypot checked his map as they ran, trying to find the nearest way out of the sewers. He didn’t care where they emerged anymore, as long as they weren’t trapped down here with that overgrown worm.
“Tallon?” he asked.
“What?”
“You may have been correct in your assessment,” Honeypot huffed.
“What assessment?”
“That the sewers are a death trap, and that maybe we shouldn’t be down here.”
“I know I was, you honey-tongued prick! Now get us the fuck OUT!”