Elanil, Nura and Gaspard rushed out of the tavern into the square.
A few fishermen frantically ran from the pier toward them, fear on their faces. As they ran toward the dock, they could already see the cause of the panic. Two unusual-looking fish were floundering in the nets. They were large, far too large for the local catch surrounding them, their bodies elongated, their scales silvery, glinting brightly in the sun like steel armor.
Elanil instantly realized—constructs.
A quest window instantly popped up.
Quest: Constructicide in the Valley (regional)
Sub-quest: Flying Fish
Status: Acquired
Description: Save Hamselton from two rogue constructs
Bragging bonuses:
- No hit
- No civilian casualties
- No property damage
- Impress onlookers
Additional Information:
Small-size shoal-herding helper x 2
Type: Construct
Threat Level: Easy
Notable Traits: Flying, Jumping, Sticking, Spinning, [Spawning], [Fish song]
Reward:
– XP (Conditional)
– Loot (Conditional)
– Ringing Springs Valley reputation
“Uh-huh, an easy task,” Elanil muttered mistrustfully, drawing an arrow from her quiver and nocking the bowstring as she ran.
Meanwhile, the constructs had already freed themselves from the nets and, jumping like real fish along the dock, were already moving toward the town square. With each leap, they soared higher and higher, as if about to take flight.
Not all the townspeople had yet realized that something dangerous was happening. Some, on the contrary, had emerged from their homes and shops to see what all the commotion was about. And they found nothing better to do than head toward the pier to find out for themselves.
“Take cover! Now!” Elanil yelled at them. She released the bowstring—it sang low and nice. The arrow whistled through the air and clanged as it bounced off the scales of the first construct.
“Armored,” Nura chuckled to the right of her. “As if we’re surprised, right?”
Finally, pushing off the pier with sufficient force, the first construct soared into the air and spread its fins, which shimmered in the sun like mirror wings. The spectacle was as mesmerizing as it was menacing.
The next moment, the construct swooped down like a flying fish on its nearest victim. The unfortunate soul was foolish enough to head in the direction from which everyone was fleeing in panic. Realizing his fatal mistake, he had already turned and fled as fast as he could. But the construct swooped down on him, mercilessly and swiftly, like a falcon on its prey. Another split second and this morning would be the unfortunate man’s last one...
Elanil’s reaction was lightning fast.
[Knockback Arrow]
The arrow struck the fish just below the gills. The impact jolted the construct mid-flight. Electric discharge crawled across its scales in branching lines. The swooping that had begun to build cut short. The construct dropped and struck the paving stones on its flank, convulsing like a fish in a frying pan.
The second construct skimmed over the outer barrels. Its tail clipped a stack. The top barrel split, and salted fish scattered across the pier.
“You need a separate invitation? Clean the square, morons!” Nura barked at the ones who hadn’t yet retreated to the nearby buildings. It was so loud and resonant that they involuntarily pressed themselves to the ground, probably wondering for a second whom they should fear more—the flying killer machines or the enraged orc warrior with two axes at the ready.
Nura’s cry had exactly the effect she had hoped for. Not only did all the surrounding townspeople instantly run for cover, but the constructs also immediately turned their attention to her. Their fishy eyes rolled in their sockets and focused on her.
Elanil noted how much lifelessness, lack of emotion, and simultaneously cold determination to kill were in those eyes.
The constructs regrouped mid-flight in order to attack Nura. The first had already gained speed and launched a counterattack at Elanil, while the second had just pushed off from the pier. It finally succeeded after slipping twice on the decks, wet with spilled fish brine. Now they both rushed at Nura in a crisscross trajectory.
She dove forward, the constructs scudding over her back, her hair swaying in the airwaves from two steel torpedoes in flight. Her calculations proved correct—the constructs collided with a dull thud and fell floundering onto the ground. The next moment, they both bounced in opposite directions, dodging the blows of the axes Nura brought down on them.
“Look at those nimble bastards!” she shouted.
“Have you ever held a live, slippery fish in your hands?” Gaspard laughed nearby. “You’d be struggling the same way if you wanted to live.”
“Shut up and show me what you can,” she growled, raising her axes in readiness to attack the flying metal fish again.
“As you wish, my lady,” he gave her a gallant yet mocking curtsy.
His antics didn’t go unnoticed. The constructs apparently reacted to any strange movements or loud sounds. But this time, they separated.
The first construct leaped high, reaching the level of the second-story windows of the nearest building and stuck to the wall as if with a suction cup. Elanil saw someone hastily draw the curtains in the window. As though that would stop the steel-mouthed fish from breaking in and wreaking havoc on the inhabitants.
But the construct had no interest in anything but Gaspard. After its eyes focused on him like two telescopic sights, it detached from the wall and launched itself into a nosedive. The bard met this with the most irritating of his complacent smirks. If the construct had any emotions at all, it would have long ago exploded from indignation. Gaspard was only inches away from being hit. The fins, aimed at him like two blades, were about to cut his neck. Then suddenly the bard disappeared. Simply vanished into thin air. Elanil blinked several times to make sure she wasn’t imagining it.
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Such sudden loss of target from sight apparently greatly perplexed the construct. It attempted to turn mid-flight, but the speed and momentum it had gained made the maneuver extremely clumsy. This caused the fish to hit the ground again.
No, it wasn’t the construct that had fallen, Elanil realized. Something had brought it crashing down. Or to be precise, someone. In the still-low morning sunlight, something glittered with an elongated glint. And then, some invisible force had tossed the construct up and hurled it just as powerfully to the ground.
For a moment, Gaspard’s silhouette flickered beside the construct’s head, then vanished again. The fish snapped forward, fins scissoring through empty air. Gaspard reappeared behind it, his daggers already descending. The strike landed between the scale seams near the propulsion joint. The edge bit shallowly. He withdrew before the tail could whip around.
“What was that?” Nura also witnessed Gaspard syncopated disappearances and appearances.
“[Elusive motives],” Elanil realized.
“Are you satisfied, my lady?” Gaspard reappeared just behind Nura causing her to startle.
“Damn, Gaspard! Don’t do that!” she yelled.
“Do what? Fighting fish, or teasing a timid orc lady?” he giggled.
“Now I’ll show you who’s timid here!”
[Boomerangs]
Both axes tore from her hands as if they had acquired wings of their own. They immediately rushed toward the constructs, both like homing projectiles. One slammed into the second construct’s metal muzzle with a dull thud and threw it back
The other flew past the first, which managed to avoid the collision at the last moment. But its luck was short-lived, for on its return flight, the axe struck its tail. Already traumatized by Gaspard’s merciless assault in stealth, and before that by the electrical discharge of Elanil’s [Knockback Arrow], the flying fish was further damaged by this collision. Now its tail was tweaking convulsively. Apparently, something glitched in its flying mechanics.
“Let’s finish them off one by one,” Elanil suggested. “This one’s already not feeling well.”
Gaspard nodded and was about to attack the twitching fish on the ground, when it nimbly leaped back a few steps. His daggers whistled through empty air. Meanwhile, the construct began to swell and contract. It seemed to be like forge bellows or, more likely, like a porcupinefish, undecided whether to assume the form of a spiky ball or not.
Ceasing its spasms, the steel fish opened its mouth wide, its eyes bulging, as if only now realizing it was a fish out of water. The next instant, a volley of tiny steel grains of roe flew from its gaping maw like shrapnel. All in the direction of Gaspard, who had found himself dangerously close to the [Spawning] impact area, deceived by the construct’s seeming helplessness.
Again, Elanil reacted with lightning speed.
[Protective Shield]
Casting the spell on Gaspard, she wasn’t sure what effect it would have, as this was her first time testing its capabilities. A translucent halo formed around the bard, glowing like a golden aura. The roe-bullets, reaching this incorporeal shield, exploded like small firecrackers with the sound of bursting chestnuts. The shield absorbed all the shrapnel, but in doing so, it depleted itself. The golden glow around Gaspard vanished.
Elanil expected the bard turning to her and offering some sort of ironic compliment, or a bow of gratitude for saving him from that artillery barrage. Far from it, he didn’t even bat an eyelid, as if Elanil’s move was a tactic many times rehearsed and discussed. With one lunge, Gaspard thrust the dagger into the fish’s mouth, which it hadn’t managed to close after [Spawning]. He twisted the hilt so that the blade firmly secured the gaping hole leading into the construct’s guts.
“[Exploding Arrow]!” he commanded.
Elanil raised the bow, took aim, and fired. The arrow, crackling and throwing fiery sparks in all directions like a falling meteorite, flew past the dagger, its burning fletching gently caressing the cold blade, struck the fish squarely in the throat.
Gaspard knew the blast’s area of effect—their attempts to start a fire with this skill told him he was dangerously close to the epicenter. So, he dropped the dagger, which, lodged in the construct’s mouth, had kept the scaly steel machine’s vulnerable point exposed the entire time. The arrow exploded inside and tore through the steel body along the belly, as if it had ripped open the entrails with a precise cut in search of roe or milt.
One enemy down, but it was too early to rejoice—the second construct had taken advantage of their distraction while finishing off the first. Just like its accomplice did earlier, it attached itself to the wall of one of the buildings and, like a fish out of water, began opening and closing its mouth wide. It was probably preparing to unleash an artillery barrage of steel roe grains, too. But it resorted to a different weapon.
The air seemed to be growing heavy, viscous, almost tangible. Elanil felt low vibrations run through the ground. The construct turned its muzzle in her direction, boring into her with a lifeless metallic gaze.
Without waiting to see what this killer-fish had in mind, Elanil jumped aside, avoiding a possible attack. What it could be, she didn’t yet know. But she soon became convinced her instinctive actions did not deceive her. Where she had stood a second ago, the paving blocks turned inside out. It looked like a huge, invisible plow had raked a strip across the square, away from the fish on the wall. The invisible force, tearing everything apart in its path, plowed diagonally across the square and crashed into a bakery at the other end of the square, shattering the glass in the windows and collapsing part of the fa?ade.
“So that’s what [Fish song] sounds like,” Gaspard chuckled. “Not very harmonious.”
“Still better than your trills,” Nura teased him.
“Everyone offends the poor artist,” he theatrically whined. “Let’s think about how to convince this tenor to shut up forever.”
Nura launched her axe at the fish, but it only clanged against its scales, causing no significant damage.
The construct turned its head from Nura to Elanil, then to Gaspard. Its eyes rolled frantically. It was in no hurry to descend from the wall. It had likely learned from the experience of its less fortunate and therefore defeated comrade. Its metal body convulsed a few times, like a gag reflex, and then fired a volley of explosive roe at them. The party easily dodged the attack, and the grains scattered harmlessly across the area.
“We need to take it down before it recharges its [Fish song],” Nura grumbled.
It dawned on Elanil that they’d completely forgotten to test one ability. She glanced to the east. The sun shone brightly in a nearly cloudless sky, but the shadows were still morning-long.
“Nura! Look at the shadows!” she prompted.
Nura’s face lit up, her eyes wide with amazement as if asking why she hadn’t thought of it herself.
[Shadow Fight]
The fish-like shadow separated from its host. It was long, several times larger than the construct casting it. Baring its pelvic fins, the fish, woven from darkness, slammed into the construct, causing it to lose its footing and fall to the ground. Immediately, the shadow did what those mechanical bastards had done many times before—it dove down on its prey like an osprey fishing its prey.
Despite the shadow’s seemingly intangible appearance, the force of its impact was impressive. A clang of steel on steel—and a multitude of armor scales fell off the construct’s ribs, revealing its insides.
This was just what Nura needed. Her axes fell like a smith’s hammers on the suddenly discovered weak spot in the enemy’s body. Like chopping an onion, she rained blow after blow on her foe.
“Ehm, Nura, sweetheart, it’s not moving anymore,” Gaspard cleared his throat. “You can curb your bloodlust now.”
It took Nura a few more seconds to realize what he said. She landed a couple more blows before she saw that the construct had stopped resisting and was simply twitching under her blows. She froze, breathing heavily, her hand, holding the axe raised to strike, slowly lowering. Beside her, the construct’s shadow summoned to their side silently dissolved into the morning air. The ability’s effect ended.
For a moment, silence reigned in the square. Then enthusiastic cheers and applause erupted.
Elanil looked around—the townspeople warmly welcomed their saviors.