Back above ground, the blue serpent recoiled from the attacks, slithering back out of the western gate until only its head remained peaking through the breach. It tilted its head back-and-forth, looking for more incoming attackers. Some scales on the bottom and top of its head had been damaged, and light-blue liquid oozed from the small wounds.

Shadow set down Gizmo, then walked over and tugged on Carl’s arm, freeing him from his self-imposed prison between the lamp pole and the house.

“Thanks for the assist, lad.” Carl parted the hair hanging over his face with his gauntleted hands to peer out at the serpent he and his brother had launched themselves at. “Ugly fucker, aint it?”

“Like you can talk, you overgrown broom.” Dave brushed himself off as he half-walked, half-waddled over.

“Oh, I’m ugly? You look like a sea-sponge bumped uglies with a donkey, then caught whooping cough and shot you out prematurely in a coughing fit.”

“You kiss your mother with that mouth?”

“Aye, and yours.”

“They look exactly the same, right?” Shadow whispered to Orion as the brothers continued to bicker.

Orion nodded. “Exactly the same.”

“Oi! We can still hear you whelps over there.”

“Hang on…” Dave said, then pointed to Arika, who was making the necessary motions to cast an ability. “What’s she doin’? You got the fever or something, lass?”

“Oh, her?” Orion asked. “You’ll see in about fifteen-or-so seconds, according to my count.”

“Hey!” Shadow yelled at another adventurer—clearly a tank—who was slowly advancing toward the serpent that was still watching from between the burning gates. “Get back!”

“Why?” the man yelled back. “Trying to get all the credit?”

“Because she…” Shadow gestured to Arika. “Will turn you into giblets in about five seconds if you get any closer.”

The man looked at Arika, and recognition washed over his face. He paled.

Huh, Orion thought. Arika’s reputation is actually beneficial for once…

After a moment’s hesitation, the man turned and ran. The loud clanking of his metal armor drew the serpent’s attention, and it turned its head to see the man fleeing.

Orion used the serpent’s distraction to cast Time Bomb. He’d been waiting for the perfect moment, not wanting to draw its attention out of Arika’s blast radius too soon. The clanking of the fleeing suit of armor was just what he needed. Orion felt the ability take hold, and half-a-heart-beat later, Arika finished her cast.

The fleeing tank took five very loud steps before the head of the serpent became the epicenter of a tactical nuke. The remainder of the wall was blown outwards from the explosion, chunks and splinters of wood sent hurtling in every direction away from the ability. It blew the man who was running for his life forward, his hasty withdrawal leaving him off-balance when the wall of force hit his back. He skidded across the ground on mostly his shield, but also partially his head. Orion winced at the awkward fall.

As the flames and smoke cleared, the serpent remained. It was alive, but thrashing as it curled its body around itself over-and-over. Glimpses could be caught of the head, which was black and charred despite being seemingly made of liquid. Orion realized it was rubbing its head against other parts of its body in order to cool down its burning skin, causing great gouts of steam to rise along with a chorus of hissing.

“What are you morons doing?”

Orion looked at the person speaking to see Captain Blanc getting helped to his feet by what looked like a healer.

“Shoot the damn thing!”

A silence lingered after his words, followed by the whistle of projectiles launched at the writhing leviathan from afar. Arrows, bolts, magic attacks—and even a shovel that didn’t quite make the distance—flew towards the injured serpent. Orion looked for the source of the shovel and found an old townsman shaking his fist at the creature from a safe distance.

The creature uncoiled itself and hissed as it made its way toward the defenders, its face falling apart. The once translucent scales were now covered in black spots, and blue blood spilled out from between charred cracks in the scales. The telltale light of Orion’s execute was also leaking out, representing a large amount of damage pooled by Arika’s Explosion and the other defender’s attacks. One eye was milky, the other clouded and bleeding. Projectiles struck into the creature, and it started resembling a pincushion more than a serpent.

Still, it advanced.

Gizmo took a step toward the monster hesitantly, and Orion could feel trepidation flowing from their bond. He had felt true pain and the fear of death for the first time, and he had come out changed in a fundamental way. Orion suspected the source of his fear was the steam still rising from the scorched parts of the serpent’s body.

He stepped forward, putting his hand on his familiar’s head.

“You can do it. If you get in trouble, I can get you out, so try not to worry about it. Besides, you’re more airtight now, right?”

Gizmo hummed in trepidatious thought.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

“You are indeed correct. I will have to do testing to be sure.” He turned spherical and rolled toward the monster with all the haste his heavy body could muster.

He arrived before the serpent alongside the tank from earlier that had been sent skidding. The tank used an ability to draw its attention, and the giant serpent snapped at him with its open maw. Chunks of wood and metal flew off his shield, and the heavy blow pushed him back several meters.

Gizmo glanced back at his Orion, and seeing his master looking, jumped directly onto the steam trailing off the back of the attacking serpent’s head. As soon as he jumped, he regretted his decision.

The downside to Gizmo’s increased processing speed reared its ugly head again. He had a significant amount of time to consider his questionable life choices while he sailed toward the waiting fountains of steam.

His entire body entered the largest source of steam, and Gizmo expected the searing heat to ravage his components as it did last time. He braced for the agonizing pain, the soul-searing feeling of steam entering his body—but it never came. Oh, he felt pain, to be sure, but it wasn’t the agonizing pain of internal damage; it was the familiar, comforting pain of his external body being hurt.

Gizmo turned to Orion in obvious delight.

“You were right, Daddy! It hurts so good!”

Orion shuddered at Gizmo’s words as entirely too many heads turned to look at him. Gizmo’s cheerful voice had been heard throughout the square, and more than a few disgusted looks were now being directed his way. He locked eyes with Captain Blanc—even the stalwart Captain took a moment of his precious time to shoot a look of sheer disappointment Orion’s way. He averted his eyes, choosing to focus on the fight before them and hoping the rest of the defenders followed suit.

The serpent, uncaring of the automaton dancing within the steam on its head, attacked the shield-bearing tank again. His shield fell apart with the blow, and he was knocked down to the ground as he let out a pained grunt, pinned between the Prince’s head and the ground. Gizmo jumped down and to the side, then taunted without a moment’s hesitation. The snake turned its massive head away from its previous target and turned its sights on him.

The light of Orion’s execution was welling more from within with every ranged attack that hit, and he could tell that the secondary effect of Time Bomb was about to detonate. He turned to look at Shadow, who was ready and waiting. Orion nodded and swapped the eager Warrior just above and behind the creature’s head. Shadow appeared soundlessly above the giant snake, his two-handed sword held overhead.

He swung down ferociously, activating Vicious Blow as his beautiful sword sliced down into the snake’s skull.

“Gravity punch!”

The blade penetrated scale, body, and bone beneath, biting deep into the top of the condemned monster. Shadow, Gizmo, and the other tank were all consumed by the light flooding out as Shadow’s strike triggered the execution.

Orion covered his eyes as soon as he felt the ability triggering, also moving in front of Arika to shield her as much as possible. The light subsided, and Orion looked back at the serpent to see its body withering. Shadow rubbed his eyes and stumbled—he’d forgotten to protect his vision in his elation that he could once more use a finishing move on a worthy creature.

Shadow started to regain his equilibrium and blinked rapidly as his vision also returned. He looked down, and a smile of the purest joy spread across his face.

“There’s loot!” Shadow bent down and picked up the purple-glowing bag at his feet. A moment later, his face fell, and he groaned.

“What’s wrong?” Arika asked, rubbing her eyes.

“It’s a shield. All that work, and a sweet finishing move, all for a shield.” He passed it to Orion, who inspected the item.

Princely Scaled Shield

Epic

Shield

Armor: 10

Strength: +5

While your weak, oddly pale body could use the protection, I seriously doubt your noodle arms have the requisite strength for such a regal item.

Orion looked at the adventurer that rushed in and helped tank the vanquished monster. The man was getting tended to by the healer that helped Captain Blanc earlier, and three of the ranged attackers were milling close by while his wounds were taken care of. His shield lay to the side, annihilated.

Orion squinted to ascertain the man’s name, ignoring etiquette given the situation.

His name was Silas, and he belonged to the party: Brew Crew.

“Could you carry that for me, Shadow? I think I know who deserves it…”

Shadow got the other party’s attention by setting the shield down heavily next to them.

“That thing dropped this,” Orion pointed to the shield, “and we think you should have it.”

“Me?” The man winced with pain. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the upgrade… but all I did was get smacked around by that thing. Are you sure?”

Orion shrugged.

“You were the only tank here to rush in and actually help block that thing’s attacks.”

“Yeah, and I almost got myself killed by running into whatever-the-fuck your Mage just did.”

Orion let a bit of his annoyance from the day show.

“Look, I appreciate the humble attitude, but we really don’t have the time for it. You can use that shield to block more monsters and potentially save people. We’re leaving the shield here, you’re gonna take it, and we’re all gonna go kill some more things. Deal?”

“He’s right, Silas,” the healer, named Mecina, said. “Just say thank you.”

Silas grunted. “Alright. Thank you.”

He put his hand out to take hold of the shield, and Orion smiled—he knew Silas had inspected it by the shocked expression that made its way onto the man’s face.

Captain Blanc took control of the situation as the rest of the defenders milled around, looking lost now that there was nothing left to fight.

“Right! Listen up! You, Monch!” He pointed to a man that was standing with another four people—presumably his party. “By the way your ass dodged every bit of fighting, can I assume you are fast?”

“Uh. Yes, I’m quite fast. My class is Monk—”

“Don’t care!” Captain Blanc interrupted. “Your job is to stay here, and run and find someone if another boss monster comes through the gates! Understand?”

Captain Blanc turned to Orion, not waiting for his newly appointed scout’s answer.

“You! Can I assume by that giant plume of smoke coming from the north that everything your way has gone to shit?”

Orion briefly explained the slowly advancing boss they had seen, along with why they’d left it to come bolster the attack here.

Captain Blanc didn’t miss a beat as he continued to dish out his orders.

“Slow is fine. We ignore that for now. I haven’t heard a thing from the south, which is a fucking problem.” He snapped his fingers at Orion. “You go down there. Find out what’s happening.”

“We can go with them, too.” Silas got to his feet, hoisting the shield up and feeling its weight.

Captain Blanc spun on him.

“No, you will-fucking-not! The rest of you are coming with me to the center of town to defend the non-combatants. The town has fallen, and the new objective is to keep as many as possible alive. We collect them, and bring them to the west now that the serpent the size of a house has been killed almost single-handedly by the team you think needs help.”

Silas flushed red, but said nothing to challenge the irate captain, accepting his words.

Orion agreed, and they promptly left toward the southern gate.

It was no more than two-minutes later when one of the sewer grates—along with about half-a-tonne worth of stone that had comprised the street surrounding it—was blown into the sky right in front of them. They paused in their travel, preparing themselves for an attack.

A figure poked their head out of the hole and looked around, causing Arika to let out an audible groan.

“Oh, hey guys,” Honeypot said with a cheerful smile. “Lovely day out here, isn’t it?”