Avalon Rebirth (8 page)

Darin looked back at Leah. “Did you even have anyone come near you?”

“Of course not. You two did a pretty good job of capturing their attention,” she replied, giving him a thumbs up. “Of course, this was ridiculously tough for the first room of the Cave of Origin. Must have come up with an unlucky draw.”

Darin nodded. The room wasn't unwinnable, of course, merely difficult, but an unprepared team might have been slaughtered if faced with the same situation. Was this all just bad fortune, or was it an omen of something greater? They hadn't faced any of the dungeon's elites or bosses yet.

“Let's just hope those are the only earth golems we face in here,” Darin said.

“They're annoying,” Taji agreed. “Though water and wind golems aren't going to be fun either. Or fire ones.”

“I'll take monsters that we can kill in one hit over swarms of them that take two or three.”

“Speak for yourself,” Leah said. “I like not being shot at.”

“Well, we can see what's ahead,” Erika said. “One way forward.”

Darin couldn't help smiling at her remark. She might be the least experienced of them all, but her enthusiasm was infectious. Both she and Taji had it, in fact, though she was more outright with it. He didn't mind it at all, though. In fact, it reminded him a lot of his early days in Avalon Online, where he was just one small person exploring a vast world with three comrades. It felt almost nostalgic, like a callback to simpler days.

“Right,” he said. “Form up into standard formation again and let's see what the rest of this cave has waiting for us.”

Taji took the lead once again. Darin tried to move up beside him, but the tunnel leading out from the previous previous chamber narrowed quite a bit, only allowing one person passage at a time. They'd have to advance in single file.

“Warn me if you see anything,” he told Taji. “And I'm back here if you need support spells.”

“Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Though I don't think that we're going to run into anything in here until we reach somewhere wider. It's never happened to me before.”

Darin frowned. “That's funny, because I can remember getting ambushed by an elite golem in one of the narrow tunnels. Maybe it was just luck of the draw?”

“Maybe.”

That was the trick of the Cave of Origin. There were so many factors that went into its generation, so much randomization that trying to predict what might be inside was nearly impossible. They could rely on previous knowledge of course, read what other players had discovered on their trips through. They could have a basic idea of what they might face inside, but they couldn't know for sure.

And once in a while, this kind of environment could throw a curveball at them.

Darin was about to say something else when Taji began coughing, stopping and blocking the tunnel with his considerable bulk. For a moment he thought his partner had come under attack, but then purple gas started filtering past him. Darin only had a few seconds to react. He cast Protection Ward, blocking the rest of them from being harmed by the gas, but it was already too late for Taji.

“That's not good,” Taji commented, coughing all the while.

One quick glance confirmed that he had been hit with status effects, lowering his defense. It would wear off, but for now he had less protection than even someone wearing light armor.

“What's going on?” Erika asked.

“Status effect gas,” he said. “Taji must have triggered a trap and released it. And it's the defense lowering type.”

“That sounds like a developer's nasty trick,” Leah said.

“I'm confused,” Erika commented.

“Yeah, me too,” Taji added.

“It's because they probably anticipated something like this, so they created some sort of corridor to force us into a certain way of doing things,” Leah explained. “Standard procedure is to send in the tank first to meet enemies first and take all the damage. But this type of corridor must have been created with that in mind, because there's a trap with gas that lowers defense.”

“So they trick us into sending the tank through the narrow tunnel first, then hit him with magic that hurts his ability to perform his role?” Erika deduced.

“It's worse than that,” Darin told her. “Right now he has lower defense than you or Leah. It'll wear off in about fifteen minutes, but until then he can't properly tank.”

“Can't we just wait for it to wear off?”

“If you don't keep moving forward the cave starts spawning boss-level monsters to attack you,” Taji said. “One of my teams tried that once, believe me. We lasted about thirty seconds before it killed us all.”

“We have to keep moving forward,” Darin said. “And that means we're going to have to switch up formation. Taji, let me and Erika past. Fall back and hang around Leah.”

“Right. Um, how are we going to do that?”

Darin sighed. “Can you crouch down?”

“Yeah.”

“Sorry about this,” he said, and tried to scramble over Taji.

The climb wasn't exactly smooth, especially when the shaft of his halberd caught on the wall for a moment. Darin slipped and plummeted forward, face-planting onto the tunnel floor. He heard the others laughing over the telepathy link.

“Smooth moves,” Leah said. “Such a great example to everyone else.”

“You know what, why don't you walk in front?”

“Oh I would, but I imagine you'd still want me here in one piece at the end of the dungeon.”

Darin got up in time to see Erika vault over Taji and land smoothly.

“See? She can do it just fine.”

“She also has lighter weapons and armor,” Darin grumbled. He turned forward. “Well, come on. This dungeon isn't getting any smaller while we stand here.”

They had barely started and already the Cave of Origin had them on the back foot. Darin's character build could perform many roles, but it couldn't do them as well as a specialized player. He couldn't take nearly as much damage as Taji could absorb, and he didn't have the proper magic to augment his abilities either. At best he could continually heal himself, but that meant not being able to care for the rest of the party.

Changes were in order. The Cave of Origin was meant to test whether a team was ready for the big stage of the tournaments. That meant being able to both fight under ideal conditions and to be able to switch their tactic when needed. They never knew what kind of challenge they would face when they built their teams, so they had to be able to improvise. No one wanted to watch a horribly outmatched squad stumble about as their foes ran circles around them.

“We're going more offensive this time,” he said. “Taji, once we get into a fight use Stone Skin to make sure you stay alive and pick your spots. I don't want to lose you before we get into the tougher parts of the cave.”

“Got it.”

“Wouldn't it be better to have him just stay back?” Leah asked. “With Stone Skin activated he's not going to be doing much damage anyhow, and he's still going to have less armor than you. I'll use him as a guard.”

“OK, we'll do it your way. Erika, you're going to have to wade in with me. We'll be attacking aggressively, but we have to stay alive and keep any enemies from getting back to the second level.”

“I'm guessing that means making heavy use of Wraith,” she said.

“Yeah, that's probably for the best. And keep an eye on your health bar. If I'm tanking I'm going to have to focus most of the healing on myself. Let me know before you absolutely need it, otherwise I might not be able to help you fast enough.”

“Got it.”

“And you're going to have to pull us out of the fire as usual,” he added, glancing back over his shoulder.

“Was already planning on it,” Leah answered.

The corridor began to widen, and Darin prepared for what might lay ahead. More golems, probably. The cave might be unpredictable, but the monsters inside usually stayed consistent with a constant theme. It was where and how they were placed that made it a challenge.

Once again the chamber was empty as they stepped inside, but Darin wasn't fooled. He looked around, waiting for the enemies to show up. There had to be another passageway where they would appear from. Or maybe there was something else going on here. The game's designers were quite good at that, putting in little tricks that seemed minor but could dramatically change the complexion of a fight. Now if they-

“Above!” Erika shouted out.

Darin turned his head up in time to see a massive number of golems drop down from the ceiling. He counted dozens, scores of them, all with fire markings emblazoned across their bodies. The lines glowed a shade of flickering orange-red.

“OK, we're going to have to take them out quick,” he said.

Fire golems didn't have the defense of their earth counterparts, but they could deal out far more damage. A few of them weren't a threat, but the numbers amassed before them could add up to a lot of damage. And that was just the grunts. If there were any elites…

He had to dodge to one side as the first few golems sent fireballs streaking toward him. Darin jumped, then dove and rolled as more and more unleashed their attacks.

“Shoot them,” he said over the telepathy link. “Preferably with Force arrow.”

“Got it.”

They didn't have time to mess around. Darin figured that he and Erika could dodge the shots and take a few without much problem, but if the monsters started to hit Taji then he could be a goner. They needed him once the status effects wore off.

So here they were, trying to find the balance between charging headlong into fights and waiting too long and allowing tough enemies to spawn and kill them. They couldn't just hold back, and they couldn't just press forward. It needed to work in tandem. And that meant…

He saw a blue arrow streak into the midst of the enemy and impact on a golem. An instant later the shockwave ripped through the rest of them, shattering them all like porcelain dolls caught in a tornado. Darin had to shield himself as the blast rippled past him as well, watching his health bar decrease once again. As the wave faded away he cast heal on himself and Erika.

One shot. One shot had managed to destroy them all without a second thought. That was the nature of grunts. Sometimes they looked far more powerful than they actually were. At this point, effectively down one team member, he would take it.

“OK, good enough. Let's-”

“Um,” Erika interrupted him.

“What?”

She was looking at the ceiling again. “What about those?”

Darin craned his neck upward and had to bite back a curse when he saw what she was looking at. Three huge figures suddenly dropped down from the ceiling and stood before them.

They were fire golems, but they were much bigger than the grunts they had just faced. Darin knew they were elites, with offensive and defensive boosts to match. They weren't just going to fall down to one attack like the weaker hordes had done.

And their previous strategy wasn't going to work anyhow. Leah had already fired off her destruction spell, and it would be several minutes until she could use it again. There were other spells, but…

But at this point they needed everything they could get against a group of powerful monsters. With one of their own number severely weakened the team might be outmatched at this point.

Their challenge might end right here.

L
eah drew back her bow
, aiming for the magical seal on one of the golems. She hoped she could take it out in a single shot, since the target was much bigger…

But the creature swatted the arrow aside like it was a gnat. For all intents and purposes she shouldn't have even bothered to fire. If Leah's quiver wasn't endless it would have just been a waste of projectiles. As it was the only thing the unaugmented shots were good for was as a distraction.

And while it was bad enough fighting one elite, fighting three was infinitely worse. She had to keep her eyes on all of them at once, otherwise their powerful attacks could find their mark. And…

“Watch it,” she warned the others as another golem began charging up an attack. Leah watched it carefully, wondering where it would aim.

The monster fired. A brilliant orange beam streaked toward her. Leah had to dive headlong to one side and throw herself flat to avoid being incinerated. As it was she could feel the heat of the beam pass by her.

It took her a moment to regain her bearings and push herself back up onto her feet.

“You OK?” Taji asked through the telepathy link.

“I'm fine. But don't get hit,” she warned. “That's more than enough to ruin your day.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

Leah guessed that the beam wouldn't be a one-hit kill, but she didn't want to find out either. At the very least it would shave off a good chunk of their health. And with their ability to fight back limited at the moment they couldn't afford to spend time healing or regrouping.

She drew another arrow from her quiver and nocked it, simultaneously casting the Crush spell on the arrow as she did so. Once the projectile impacted on the target it would work almost exactly opposite of the Force spell, pulling inward instead of pushing outward. The motion was almost like compressing something inside a fist, hence the name Crush.

Leah drew back her bow again and sighted in on the target, once again aiming right for the magical seal. If she could just hit it, or even get close…

The arrow zipped through the air toward the golem, but the monster moved its arm to deflect the shot. This time the shaft impacted…

The creature reeled as the crush spell took effect, shattering the arm and doing a bit of damage to its body as well, but it was still alive and kicking. And more importantly she had just used one of her precious spells for little gain.

Leah's mind raced as she tried to come up with a new solution. Fire Blast would have no effect on a fire type monster. Force arrow was still recharging, and she just used crush. The water spell she knew could only be used at close range. Gale would do little good against a golem that was firmly anchored to the ground, and it didn't work well with arrows. And so-

She didn't have time to think any further. The second golem charged up its own beam and fired at her. Leah dodged aside again and rolled to her feet.

“Anyone have any ideas?” she asked. “I'm out of good spells to try.”

“We'll try to distract them while you recharge,” Darin said.

“Maybe I'll try the trick I used on the ogre,” Erika added.

Leah frowned. “Careful with that one. The ogre couldn't fire beams out of its eyes.”

They might not have any other choice at this point. Her arrows were useless if they weren't charged with magic. The golems could simply deflect them with no ill effects.

She looked up at the monstrosities and their magic seals, standing there almost tauntingly. It was right in front of them. Just one hit in the right spot and they could slay the monstrosities. But knowing that and actually doing that were two very different things, especially when the golems had their own defensive abilities.

Another beam streaked toward her. Leah dove to the side again and let out a yell of frustration.

“Are you OK?”

“I'm fine,” she said tersely. The monsters were targeting her, probably because she was dealing out the most damage.

Normally someone with defensive magic could cast challenge call to draw the enemy's attention, but if Taji tried it at the moment it would essentially be suicide. Thanks to the gas he had all the weight of heavy armor without any of its protection, and he probably couldn't dodge the beams.

She saw Erika cast Sky Walk and then move forward in a blur, closing the distance on one of the golems with Flash Step. It looked like she might score a hit…

But the creature swung its hand around, and in an instant she was falling, her health in the yellow. Even Flash Step's pure speed couldn't evade something so massive.

Leah nocked an arrow and fired, though at this point it did little good. She checked the timer on Force. Two more minutes. At this rate they weren't going to live that long.

“The beam,” Taji began to say, just as another attack flew toward her. Leah gritted her teeth and rolled to the side, coming back up with another arrow nocked in her bow.

“What about it?” she asked, firing her shot.

“Right before the golem fires the beam it freezes in place for a moment,” Taji said. “That might be a window to get a shot in without it trying to deflect the arrow.”

“Got it,” Leah replied. Whether that information was actually useful was seriously in doubt. Taji could be correct, but it only gave her a second. If she missed or didn't manage to kill the monster she'd be right in the path of the beam, and at this point she had barely dodged some of the shots.

“I don't know if I can do it,” she said. “It's really chancy.”

“The only other thing we can do is hold them off and wait until your force arrow recharges,” Darin said, “and we might not have enough time.”

She knew that very well, but Leah still had doubts about her shooting skills. The drop-off from A-rank to D-rank was vast, and she wasn't certain she still the precision needed for the shot. Larger targets were fine, but…

But with these golems the seals weren't that much bigger than the ones on their smaller cousins. It might present a relatively stationary target, but Leah would have to pull off the shot under pressure. If-

Leah saw one of the golems lift its foot and stomp downward, narrowly missing Erika with its strike. As it was the shockwave still took out a chunk of her health. The golem she had wounded with crush lashed out with its good arm, smashing the floor of the cave and forcing Darin to dodge as well. And the third moved into position, likely preparing to fire off another beam.

Leah took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She'd do it. She had to, otherwise they were stuck. Waiting for her abilities to recharge meant very little if half the party was dead before they could be used.

She drew an arrow out of her quiver and nocked it, then pulled back the bowstring in one smooth motion. Leah watched carefully as the third golem stopped in place and began charging up its beam attack. Her first instinct was to fire as soon as she saw the ball of energy begin to form, but she held off. If she fired too soon then the monster would move to deflect her shot.

Leah waited. She waited, watching the ball of energy grow bigger and bigger by the second. If the arrow didn't connect she was going to be little more than ash in a few seconds. Even if it did there was no guarantee the creature would fall in one hit. And…

She purged the thoughts from her mind, focusing in on her target. The world around her seemed to disappear. The cave, the rest of her teammates, the golems, everything else was gone. Leah was in her own little world with just her bow and the ball of light in front of her. And behind that ball of light lay her target.

She fired.

The golem jerked backward, almost like it had been shot in the face with a cannon. The beam of energy didn't face away, but as the creature let loose the orange-red light impacted on the ceiling, safely away from everyone else in the party.

Leah drew another arrow out of her quiver, wondering if she needed to make another shot to kill the beast. In a moment she drew back her bow, but then let it slacken. Another shot was completely unnecessary.

The golem fell forward, almost like it had stumbled onto its knees. In the blink of an eye Erika charged forward with Flash Step, landing a leaping blow with her rapier right in the creature's magic seal.

The golem crumbled into dust, but its comrades still fought on. Leah had to dodge another beam, rolling to her feet and nocking an arrow as she completed her roll. They weren't out of the woods yet, but now they were getting somewhere. Now she knew they could fight back and win.

* * *

L
eah let
out a sigh of relief as the last golem toppled over and crumbled into dust. Just three elites in this room, and they had almost killer her more than once. Even after taking out one and damaging another they were still dangerous, and one had almost managed to fry her with a random beam.

“Everyone still in one piece?” Darin asked.

“I'm fine,” Erika said cheerfully.

“Still in one piece,” Leah said. “Though at times it got pretty close.”

“I'm fine too,” Taji said. “Though I didn't do much. They didn't even target me, so it's not like I was even useful for that.”

“Hey, another pair of eyes is always useful,” Leah said. “I was too busy trying to dodge the beams and get off shots to notice the attack patterns. Thanks for that, by the way. We'd probably still be fighting if you didn't notice that.”

“Thanks.”

Darin cast healing over everyone in the party. “OK, we can't stay here. We have to keep moving. Same formation as last time, though hopefully when we get into the next encounter the poison gas will have worn off. That way we can go back to our original formation.”

“How much longer do we have left?” Erika asked. “That's two tough fights already. Aren't we up for a breather, or is it just going to keep getting harder and harder?”

Taji shrugged. “This is as bad as anything I've faced in here, and I had to make a run through every time I switched teams.”

Leah looked over at Darin. “Might have something to do with us. The cave does scale to the players going through, so having two high-level fighters going through might increase the difficulty.”

“We're still D-rank,” Darin said, “and this is still pretty difficult regardless. And does it really matter? The only way out is if we win or we get killed in the process.”

“Then let's get going.”

They moved through the next series of tunnels, encountering a few fire golem grunts that were easily dispatched with one hit. That might be their reprieve, and they still had to fight their way through. It wasn't hard, but still, Leah could see Darin's point. For the moment it seemed like everything was conspiring against them. Some unseen hand was throwing every obstacle possible in their path.

But that was just her being paranoid. Of course there was something controlling this entire thing. The world around them was just a construction of ones and zeroes, pumped into their brains and interpreted into data they could understand. A program was determining those numbers and randomly selecting when and how they would trigger. It seemed real but it was all artificial.

“Another chamber,” Darin said over the telepathy link. “Looks like this one has high ceilings. And there's stalactites hanging from the ceiling too. Taji, move up-”

“Don't go in there yet,” Leah interrupted him. “Wait for me to move up to join you.”

“Do you have another plan?”

She didn't respond as she walked up to the front of the group and looked through the doorway. Sure enough there were stalactites and rock outcroppings hanging from the ceiling, a whole bunch of them. Leah didn't see any enemies inside, but she thought she knew why.

“What are you doing?” Taji asked as she drew an arrow out of her quiver.

“Testing something.”

Leah drew back her bow and fired into the midst of the ceiling, trying to stir something up. Sure enough, a winged golem dropped down from the ceiling and flew around for a few seconds before returning to its roost.

“Air golems,” Darin said.

“Air golems with a bunch of places to hide,” Leah corrected him. “This is going to make it really hard to fight them off. They'll swoop in and attack, then go back up into the rocks on the ceiling to hide. I can't aim like that, and the rest of you are only going to be able to hit them when they dive down.”

“We'll just have to be quick,” Erika said.

“Yeah, that sounds like way too much of a chance,” Leah said. She drew another arrow and nocked it.

“Don't want to go in and fight?” Darin commented.

“Yeah, screw that.”

Leah cast Force arrow and sent the projectile streaking toward the ceiling. A moment later the shockwave ripped through the hanging rock formations, destroying large chunks and sending others plummeting toward the cavern floor. Air golems scattered everywhere, some badly damaged and unable to fly. Others were smashed into the ground by the falling debris.

“Keep an eye out in case they try to come get me,” Leah said. She targeted one of the large rock columns and cast Crush on the next arrow. The impact pulverized the facing on one side like it was an aluminum can being crumpled up in a fist. The stone structure tilted to one side and fell, taking out several more stalactites with it.