"…did Korbin just fucking bail on us?" Cassi frantically whispered over her shoulder, standing back to back with me and facing the circling Kings guards. The 3 warriors slowly gliding around us were like vultures over a starving animal.
Cassi just hit level 5, at least to my knowledge her class was. However, all 3 of our opponents were level 6, like myself. Not to mention Cassi was level 4 when we got here, which logically means she's putting off her first evolution until after the siege. Meaning we lacked in both power individually and in numbers. Of course, going on the assumption they've spent just as much time training rigorously for the fuck of it, not even knowing some all-powerful intergalactic system would snatch us from our comfortable little world. Skills, real skills, will be our ticket.
The first Kings guard to a make a move was the shorter lithe fellow, adorning finely woven black and green cloth robes that swayed loosely through the air as he quickly darted about. His hand was constantly hovering low at his hip as he scurried around, but he was otherwise totally unarmed. That same rear hand suddenly flung forward as he dashed from Cassi's side over to mine, releasing a long metal blade that ejected out from his sleeve. The blade glided along his palm, hurtling straight towards my head.
Luckily I was his selected target, since I doubt Cassi has a skill like Flow Inverse capable of deflecting projectiles. My eyes narrowed focusing on the dodgy rogues movements before his throwing hand finished its motion, detecting the long daggers' Flow as they sped out of his sleeve. The tip of my lead blade flicked across my face, slapping the end of his metallic mini-spear while activating Flow Inverse. Its path was redirected, the metal shard zooming by Cassi's head and nearly clipping the hooded Mage summoning stone pillars across from her.
The towering fellow wearing thick, plated knights armor seized the moment, charging me from the side. His dark armor was decorated in strange runes and swirling designs I've never seen before. They certainly appeared like relics however, based on the symbols crude structure and jagged aesthetic. The dark oval shield covering half his body almost completely concealed his swinging morning star, Water Step pulling me just out of range of his oversized mace crashing to the floor.
The presumed tank of the Kings Guard's weapon bashed through ground, webbing several cracks along the thick stone floor with a thunderous smack. His hunched over posture post-whiff left his midsection exposed however, which I happily capitalized on lunging forward a Lightning Strike. A surge of relief washed over me realizing this battle wouldn't take too l-
*ting*
Those weird symbols across his armor flashed a bright tan and white hue just before the edge of my twinblade connected. The attack barely left a dirt-smudge on his armor, smacking harmless off his thick protective shell. Meanwhile my bones vibrated from wrist to shoulder as I recoiled from the angry tank. It was like all of the energy was shot right back up my blade, and in turn my arm. It felt like I'd hit a concrete ball going 80 MPH with a metal bat, forcing me to kick off his chest to create distance from another swing of his outstretching Morning Star.
Cassi darted between myself and the magically armored tank chasing after their mage. Several walls of stone kept randomly erecting out of the castle floor in Cassi's path, keeping their mage at arms reach as she pursued. My head whipped around as I felt a sinking feeling in my gut just in time to evade another incoming metal blade, courtesy of their shifty little rogue.
The same metal tossing rogue slid forward on his hip after firing a third projectile for my face, summoning yet another and entering melee with me. His tank comrade quickly was closing from the other side, leaving only enough time to blast the rogues chest with a front kick rather than locking his throwing arm between my chains.
My foot barely hit the floor after launching the rogue back several feet through the air and on his ass, when a giant spiked ball whipped into my peripheral vision. Every muscle in my arms and back flexed hard spreading the blade hilts apart wide, angling the Morning Stars steel ball away from my body between my tightly taught chains. His mace still managed to bend the chains as it deflected away, giving me the jolt of force needed to slip in a counter strike. Another slash toward the tank's neck resulted in a loud tink however, as my blade bounced off harmlessly.
Not willing to get too frustrated with this complete turtle of a man yet, I switched my focus onto the dodgy, metal-tossing rogue who's been intermittently lobbing sharp iron at me this whole fight, and now Cassi as well. Leaning back and sliding out of range of the tank's follow up flurry of swings, my foot pressed off his jagged chest piece while activating Flow Strike. My boot bashed into his chest armor, only I didn't fully extend immediately.
After giving a milliseconds pause to achieve proper footing on the behemoth of a warrior, my leg extended hard, sending the tank reeling back and propelling me at the rogue. His bony hand tucked down to his hip again, which was already an established 'tell' of his next move by now. My boots planted hard into the ground dashing and dodging diagonally, creating an audible squeak as his metal blade whizzed past my face by mere inches.
My hands twitched with excitement after closing in on the rogue, reaching near striking distance when a giant stone wall manifested in front of me. My hands extended out, slapping the stone hoping to slow my impact and avoid slamming into it head-first. The tank I'd left behinds' heavy thumping steps announced his full speed charge from behind. Deciding to take a gamble on my speed, I waited for him to start swinging his Morning Star so I could kick off of his chest and create more distance again. Panic shot through my nervous system realizing he wasn't going to stop his sprint for some overhead bash, inserted leaning into his shield bash.
The monstrous tank of a man blew completely through the stone wall behind me as I leapt and rolled out of his path, the tank stumbling over the crumbled rocks as he slowed. The rogue however was down on a knee, clutching his side with heavy breaths and remaining completely clueless to my whereabouts. My feet glided across the stone floor sprinting after the him yet again, hoping to even out odds sooner than later. Of course, another wall of stone shot up in front of me, now between both warriors and myself. A flicker of rage toward this damned stone mage who wasn't even fully focused on me. They'd instead been evading Cassi effortlessly creating rock platforms to jump onto, all the while casually defending their comrades from afar.
Fucking hate mages.
Officially fed up, I abandoned the two asshole Kings guards to help Cassi deal with the mage, who's proven the largest royal pain out of them all thus far. Cassi clearly shared my frustration having been chasing this slippery mage for the entire duration of the fight by the furious expression smeared across her sweaty face. The mage must've caught a glimpse of me closing in from the corner of her eye, as she quickly launched a large jagged rock towards me with a rigid wave of her staff before I could even consider closing the distance.
Dodging to the side, I continued across the training area our fight was quickly spilling out into. Cassi started closing in on the mage peeling around a practice dummy when a rock slid directly under her foot, causing her to slip and slam onto her back with a hollow metallic thud. The mage smirked under her tan hooded robes as she retreated further into the training grounds, leaving several walls of stone in her wake. My eyes darted across the stone floor trying to evade the barrage of stone walls emerging from below.
Dodging around another wall, a thin metal shard clanked off the stone, just barely missing my skull. An actively flaring temper had completely removed any sense of tact, however that narrow miss revived my sense awareness over our situation with these annoying fucks. The mage was way too at good utilizing their defenses to support their comrades while simultaneously creating distance for us to quickly deal with anyhow. But, they had to be running low on mana by now. For now, I have to let Cass keep them busy. Exhaling a disappointed sigh at understanding my role, my feet skidded across the stone as I dashed back toward a voluntary 1-on-2.
The wide-eyed tank was the first to meet me, and by quite a margin as he'd never given up his charge regardless of the distance I'd created. He morning star swiped across his body, swirling into an overhand slam accompanied by a guttural war cry. Not fully interested in disheartening metal noises right now though, I feigned a lunging strike goading him to counter my attack. Lurching back and watching his Morning Star glide by my face, I shuffled around the hulking tank, slapping his head with the flat side of my blade as I passed.
His angry growl quickly faded behind me while continuing straight past the large man for my true target; that pesky ranged rogue. The man's body language had long devolved from wiry and oozing confidence to nervously uncertain rather rapidly throughout our battle, nearly freezing up the last time I made my push. His hand stuttered at his hip before launching into motion, firing a rapid barrage of long metal blades at me.
The sheer quantitative fuck-ton of sharpened steel flying out from both of the mages hands forced me to divert my path around him entirely. The blade ant my side facing him flicked about frantically deflecting as many metal blades as I could. Two blades flew in simultaneously, allowing me to block one while the other grazed my shoulder. The forced stills caused me to spin out mid-sprint, forcing me to slow down and gather my footing. Every muscle tensed hard while I braced for becoming into a human pincushion.
Peaking between my arms covering my face however, the rogue was back down on a knee, only with both hands against the floor looking utterly exhausted. No doubt he's hit mana exhaustion, probably having ignored the pain running out while frantically casting those steel blades. His tank companion didn't have time to cut off my approach now, nor did a stone wall rise between us before 2 Flow Strikes pierced through the rogue's back, blowing a small hole through his body with the second strike.
*ding*
*ding*
A surge of warm euphoria washed over my entire body while removing my blade from the rogue's spine, the double notification pings bringing a suspicion that I just leveled up. Heavy thumps of boots slapping stone snapped me from my trance, gliding back on my heels to avoid the tanks reckless rampage. My body lurched back, his mourning star smashing into the stone and spraying shards of rock up in front of me.
My fist smashed into his face guard, blade in hand. Pain shot through my knuckles and wrist, but was minor compared to the opening the tank's head snapping back so violently provided. Timing his approach, my foot flew up, smashing into the tanks wrist hard.
The pain in my shin from bashing into metal gauntlets definitely outweighed that from the punch, however it proved just enough to force the tanks hands open. His heavy mourning star clattered to the floor at our feet. The tanks lack of training glimmered along his wild, wide swinging punch. The bad form was slow, making for an easy evasion stepping under his massive fist.
The towering tank's rear leg was still in the air from having committed so hard on that punch, when I slipped my foot just behind his ankle and hooked it around. Yanking my leg l back, the tanks leg ripped out from under him as he crashed face-first onto the stone floor.
"Ah FUCK!" Cassi's angry yell diverted my attention, looking back to find her forcing a dislocated shoulder back in next to a pile of dust and broken stones.
Shit, she got hit.
Finally having evenly matched numbers was way too comfortable for me to let go to waste because my friend decided to die. I turned and launched toward the mage, who was still throwing up walls and jagged stone to avoid being closed in on. Cassi saw me coming, and weirdly decided to run further around the mage.
My pace quickened seeing the mage raising her staff, multiple chunks of stone ripping up from the ground and hovering beside her before flying at me one by one. The jagged earthy projectiles were much smaller than what the mage's I'd dealt with earlier could conjure though, these ones being the size of a football rather than my entire torso.
The Flow on projectiles in general have proven pretty easy to read, which made dodging the barrage of stones a breeze. The mage followed with another earthly volley, their arm waving more aggressively this time. Then another. Her face reddening and contorted angrily under her loose fitting hood, watching as I dipped, dodged, and slashed away all of her ranged attacks. She lifted her staff for another round of rock-toss when her body violently thrusted forward chest first.
Cassi certainly took her time sizing up the mage before pouncing on her from behind. Clearly, the mage was none the wiser to Cassi, who capitalized with a flying front kick to the mages spine. The impact of the kick echoed as the mage hurtled forward before crashing hard to the floor, rolling into a scorpion pose.
Coincidentally, the kick brought the mage tumbling straight to my feet. The lumbering tank I'd swept earlier was still chasing after us with reckless abandonment, forcing the finishing blow to be rather unceremonious. Both of my blades danced with blue light plunging into the prone mages body twice in succession. A spray of the unfortunately familiar red mist nearly hit my face as I dashed away, narrowly avoiding tanks shield bash.
Clearly the big fellow expected to land that attack, not even noticing he'd absolutely trampled the mage along his path. At least, not until after his weight fully shifted onto her back, a disgusting cacophony of cracks drawing his childlike attention to her crushed corpse under his boots. The dim witted giant arched his head toward the ceiling letting out a rage filled guttural roar before sprinting toward us yet again.
I shuffled and dodged away from his wide arching swings until I could get past him, hoping to get his back turned to Cassi. The over armored meathead fully obliged, fighting as if his purpose was absolutely smacking my head off. Once I had him turned around, my pace sharply rose counter attacking in and out of range.
None of my strikes broke through armor, but all of them equally pissed him off to no end. Over his shoulder, Cassi was closing in looking to land another devastating flanking attack. Energy pulsated around my blades launching a Lighting Strike forward. My other palm slammed into my wrist, Flow Inverse activating sending the energy into a kick to the behemoth's chest.
The tank's body lurched back, sending it straight into Cassi's foot barreling into his spine and increasing the force of impact. He stumbled forward hard, barely keeping his balance. My fist flew toward his head, however his arm flinging up at the last second to catch his balance blocked my angle. Adjusting my elbow lower turned the head shot into hook to the rib.
My knuckles ricocheted off his impregnable armor, throbbing just enough to distract me. My arm barely lifted in time to take the brunt of his gauntlets slamming into me. The tank blindly swung out with a backhand, still launching me a few feet away exhibiting the man's incredible strength.
Cassi pressed forward, hoping to get a grasp on his wrist for some kind of hold leaping over his shoulder. The tank flicked his arm down hard as she clutched onto his arm, slamming Cassi straight down to the floor with a loud thud. I barely had time to land a sprinting front kick to his ribs to interrupt his stomp aimed for Cassi's head.
Speaking of , Cassi was out cold. Her chest was rising still, indicating she's still alive and allowing me to focus on the tank clambering to his feet after I'd kicked him over. I resolved myself to keeping between him and Cassi, hoping she'd wake up sooner rather than later. Surprisingly, the tank started casually walking toward me.
"Just me and you, little man. Better hope she's dead. She'll wanna be." The giant man sneered through a malicious grin, yellow jagged teeth showing through his face guard.
"…yeah, I'm gonna enjoy this way more now." I shot back after having processed his sinister attempt at mind games. He clearly wasn't one for banter, now dropping his vile smirk and attacking wildly.
Launching forward, my foot slammed into his shoulder with a Flow Inverse. His winding swing stopped dead in its tracks, however he was hardly affected by sudden halt of momentum. Instead, he punched at me with his free hand, which I dodged and caught between my chains. Lightning surged through my weapons into his armor before I quickly unwrapped the chains from his gauntlet and retreated.
The surge clearly hurt him, his quivering vocalizations during the shock giving plenty of evidence to that. His hips began loading up with Flow however, indicating I was about to get tossed like Cassi did, and his swinging arm that grappled at air only confirmed my assessment.
In truth, I didn't need to use so many abilities in one go, but I couldn't give him an angle to Cassi. Not until she could defend herself. His reckless onslaught of attacks continued, as did my liberal use of mana to defend and counter strike to save face. I felt myself tiring, knowing damn well that wasn't due to my endurance getting low. Quite frankly, I wasn't sure I could use all of my stamina in one sitting.
Feeling my mana clock ticking, Cassi was still adrift deep in dreamland while I desperately fought to keep this metallic bear of a man at bay. He showed no signs of slowing, his rage and glowing insignia decorating his armor rendering every strike utterly useless. There had to be a way for me to beat this guy.
My mind raced with solutions as I dodged and redirected his blows, leading to a wide angled, air-stealing hook to my ribcage catching me off guard. The tank's falling morning star triggered a shift in my stomach, my legs obliging carrying me out of the way with a Water Step.
Without missing a beat, the tank lifted his weapon again, headed straight for Cassi's incapacitated body. Against my throbbing ribs' better wishes, I sprung toward the tank as quickly as I could.
Focusing on the Flow channeling along his strike, a sobering realization quickly dawned I couldn't just shove him away this time. The force behind this strike meant his weapon would still follow through, moving the user wasn't going to cut it.
Wait.
The Flow continued working along his shoulders, now traveling down his arm flickered a light white glow as I approached. My arms screamed in pain swinging one of my blades upward, my eyes locked onto his Flow. The familiar flash of Flow-energy ignited in front of me in a network of lines surfing along his body, connecting to his large Morning Star. My sword impacted under his wrist cuffs as they slammed his weapon down.
The typical arm-shattering impact hitting the tanks armor never came, instead replaced by a sensation similar to slicing a brought hot butter as our clashing Flow flashed on impact. His hand flew through the air fully detached from his arm, the morning star still firmly in its grasp. Seeing it clang to the floor safely away from Cassi, I forced my body forward with another Lightning Strike aiming straight for the tanks nub while he stared at it, frozen in shock.
The tank had just started screaming when I'd impaled my blade deep into his arm wound. Blue light erupted from his gauntlet, blood accompanied ripped chunks of skin and bone pooling out from it. My towering opponent smacked me hard with his shield, launching me across the room, my foot just missing Cassi's unconscious head as I rolled past.
Looking up, the man was screaming a bloodcurdling screech while staggering around, his arm oozing red liquid all across the training facility. The man's knees began to wobble and waver, as did his bellows, before finally dropping to his knees and collapsing onto his face. Not willing to get out of Flow just yet, I immediately kipped up and hurried over to Cassi. I'd wrapped my arms under her back and knees started and lifting when she lightly wriggled, then elbowed me in the sternum hard and forcing me to drop her onto her back.
"Fucking ow Cass. Quit fucking around, we gotta help Korbin?!" I snapped at Cassi clutching my already sore stomach. Cass frantically glanced around the room from the floor, her eyes growing more and more relaxed with every kings guards corpse she found. There was no time for celebration, the mission wasn't over yet. Knowing Cassi was safe, I left her to decide whether to join us or not and darted for the ladder Korbin skipped chasing after Nathaniel.
After climbing up and sprinting down the direction I remember seeing Korbin sprint through, sharp clanging steel guided my way until finally finding an exit from the castle. As my eyes adjusted to the sunlight sprinting out the door, Korbin's figure came into focus catching the dual-bladed King's guards descending wrist. Korbin twisted around the final Kings Guard cranking his wrist in one fluid motion, forcing the guard to contort his body awkwardly and drop his sword.
The King lurched from behind a pillar with a long, jagged dagger in hand making a beeline towards Korbin. Korbin had just slashed the last Kings guards throat using some random, bloody sword in his other hand when a loud thump echoed off the tightly packed buildings' walls. Behind Korbin stood the great King Nathaniel, his eyes rolled back into his head with blood dripping down his hairline. A metal ball attached to an incredibly large chain was embedded into the back of his skull, holding him up like a puppet on a string.
The King's body flung back violently as the spiked ball dislodged, while Korbin dropped the last King's guards corpse from his hands. Walking quickly around the building blocking my view, I chuckled watching Lonni's flail still reeling in the spiked metal ball along its comically extended chain. Behind him stood the rest of our soldiers and Steve, all looking a little banged up but all looking to be in relatively good health.
Cassi's familiar footfalls slowed their crescendoing rhythm behind me, walking straight past me as she immediately started processing the scene we'd just walked into. Korbin strolled straight between us heading toward the soldiers, raising his axe high in the air. Our soldiers cheered and laughingly embraced one another at our arguably flawless victory. Not one casualty suffered, not even the new guy from the Castle Pylon suffered any egregious wounds. Korbin spoke proudly addressing our success.
"Today marks our greatest victory yet ladies and gentlemen. Revel in the fruits of your efforts and prepare to feast tonight, you've all earned it!" The soldiers erupted once more in cries of victory before Korbin calmed them down motioning his hands.
"But, this is only the beginning. Rest well tonight, for there is much more earth left to conquer, and levels for the lot of you." Korbin said with a sly grin, the soldiers literally barking while punching their fists in the air. Realizing how cold I must've came off to her not but 2 minutes ago, I turned around to face Cassi.
"Hey Cass I didn't m-"
"Sorry for el-" Cassi said, both of us pausing to let the other speak. We both After a few seconds of awkwardly mouthing the beginnings of a word, I decided to take initiative.
"Me first, that wasn't cool of me just dumping you off back there. I just didn't want to risk losing anyone, and Korbin, Lonni, and with our entire army was unaccounted for." I said, wincing at how ridiculous it sounded out loud.
"No no, it's fine I get it. Besides, you ended up taking down that monster of a man while I was out cold, I owe yuh." She said with a reassuring smile.
"Twice. That's twice I saved your skin." I teased, internalizing my sigh of relief that she wasn't pissed.
"And I paid you back when you tried to fight an entire army by yourself. I'll get you back real soon, don't you worry." She shot back through a devious smirk before leaving to have a word with Korbin. Lonni was still celebrating with the soldiers when I spotted him again, and I had to give flowers where they're due.
"Lonni, BROTHER?! What the fuck was that?!" I hollered at him through a wide-eyed grin. His face grew beat red before responding to my unbridled excitement in kind.
"I KNOW RIGHT?! I've been working on that shit nonstop dude, this was only the third time it ever even worked!" He announced with childlike vigor. I took a moment finding it kind of alarming he whipped that wildcard of a move out at a time like this but, it worked didn't it? Who am I to judge, honestly?
We excitedly discussed the battle, at least our shared perspectives of it. Apparently Lonni went on a bit of a rampage seeing one of our guys nearly get his head lopped off if it hadn't been for Steve's intervention. I cursed my luck for having missed another Lonni-Lashout. Speaking of my favorite sea serpent though, Steve had already found some shade under the castle to take a coiled nap in. No doubt he must be drained from fighting in this heat for so long. Better I let him get his beauty sleep now, while he can.
"Tom, you and Cassi are coming with me to claim the Pylon. Don't feel like fighting a group of extra super secret Kings guard Elites or some bullshit alone." Korbin said in an annoyed tone. He had to have pushed himself today too, as I was right there with him in terms of being absolutely fed up with duals for the day.
Me and Cassi both followed him back through the tunnel descending into the lower levels, where this Nathan freak decided to stash his Pylon gem. Korbin had just rounded a second obnoxiously large throne beside the Pylon gems caliper stand when his head lunged around the back of the chair. Begging cries almost immediately followed, and for a moment I thought Korbin had discovered a child.
"W-wait please! I can help you, I-I'm not a soldier!" The voice frantically pleaded. Walking around the throne myself revealed a red, curly haired man. His face was peppered in freckles, and he looked to be somewhere in his late 40's. His whiny tone however, resembled that of a terrified little boy.
"Yeah, I can see that. What can you do?" Korbin asked, standing back from the man now. The fellow stood up, brushing the dust from his clothes.
"Two things. One, I'm a cartographer. I was already in the works of getting this entire region fully mapped, and would be more than inclined to assist you, your grace." The man offered with a courteous smile, his entire mood shifting from terrified to confident and distinguished in a blink. I already hated him.
"Hm, that's actually quite useful indeed. What was the second?" Korbin asked, crossing his arms now curious. The man's eyes narrowed, grinning wide with his pearly white teeth before responding.
"I can show you how to make the birdies up there work for their worm."