Draconautis looked on with glee as James screamed and writhed in agony. With the degree of control he now had over his real life body, he tried to reach up and grab the headset, but his hands were moving in slow motion. He knew that before he grabbed it, he’d be dead. Draconautis continued to laugh, raking his claws along the metal platform that looked remarkably out of place in this meadow.
SUFFER, JAMES. SUFFER LIKE YOUR PATHETIC FAMILY DID BACK O-
A sword went straight through Draconautis’ tongue before it could finish the sentence. It looked back to see SoulArmoury standing behind him, the elven woman James saved resting on the ground next to him, an impossibly thin but tactile blade in his hand. Draconautis grabbed the sword out of his head and his mouth quickly regenerated.
WELL ISN’T THIS A PLEASANT SURPRISE?
SoulArmoury rushed forward faster than James could see, leapt over Draconautis and tried to reach out and grab James. While it still held James in place, the rest of Draconautis’ tail swung around and whacked SoulArmoury out of the air, sending him flying away. He hit one of the floating bodies, halting his momentum as it drifted back slowly through the air. He landed on the ground again and ran back towards Draconautis, but hands sprung out of the soil and held his ankles in place.
YOU TRULY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DIE DO YOU? YOU LIVED FOR SO LONG ALREADY, AND NOW YOU’VE SOLD YOUR BODY TO KEEP FIGHTING. EVEN WHEN YOU’VE LOST YOU REFUSE TO STOP.
“We haven’t lost yet.”
SoulArmoury stabbed a sword into the hand next to him, but it didn’t seem to respond to pain at all. As such, he pulled a warhammer out of his armour and crushed the hands, pulling himself free. The flowers around him turned their petals into teeth and tried to bite into his feet, so he created a metal platform that he stepped up onto to avoid them. Draconautis’ tail flew towards him, but SoulArmoury swung his warhammer and sent the spiked end flying. He turned to see where Draconautis was as the monster leapt towards the girl who was still sleeping peacefully among the flowers.
SoulArmoury leapt off the platform, travelling far further than the force of his jump should have allowed him to, and stabbed Draconautis in the back with a new sword. The monster’s arm bent in a way that would probably break its bone to try and reach him, but SoulArmoury jumped off Draconautis’ back, pulled the girl over his shoulder and dodged the creature as it went to bite him.
He ran back towards the metal platform, but the distance between him and the statue suddenly seemed to be infinite: he was barely moving an inch. Draconautis leapt at him, but SoulArmoury whacked his face with a warhammer again. He kept running forward. Distance luckily returned to normal, and he eventually reached the metal disk to see Draconautis continuing to rush him down despite having most of its face caved in.
“Wait for it…” SoulArmoury muttered, laying the woman’s body onto the ground next to him. As soon as Draconautis was on the platform, SoulArmoury stabbed his sword into the metal platform, which suddenly shone with blue light. For the first time since he had been awoken, Draconautis looked scared.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
“Getting us out of here,” SoulArmoury replied, smirking, “and that includes you. Kezodora has a load of tech your overlords wouldn’t want players to get their hands on, and it naturally interfaces with the Soul Armoury. You know where I’m going with this, right?”
IT WON’T SAVE JAMES. THE PROTOCOL DOES NOT NEED ME. HE WILL DIE EITHER WAY.
“He has friends, you know. They’ll get him out in no time. That’s the most important thing you need on a great adventure. Especially one to kill a Dark Lord.”
Draconautis growled and ran, trying to get off the platform, but vines sprung out of the ground, encircling the monster, stopping them from running. Draconautis turned around to see the elf girl on her feet, her hand raised and glowing with green energy. The monster leapt towards the girl, but a large venus fly trap sprung out of one of the vines and proceeded to grab the dragon in its jaws, slurping up its tail like spaghetti. Draconautis tried to cut through with his claws, only to discover the interior was less like a plant and more like a thick hide.
“Still got it,” the girl muttered weakly. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at James. “See you on the other side.”
The three vanished in a flash of blue light. The last thing James heard was Draconautis’ screams. Of course, he was barely in a position to think as his body continued to burn from the inside out.
Termination Protocol
3 minutes remaining
>>>
Grey and Patrick both leapt out of the window, falling into a conveniently placed pile of hay to break their fall. Patrick ran out and chucked a fireball at the Crystal.
Trident743
Firebolt
----
Teleport Crystal 4
310/400 HP
----
Trident743
170/250 Mana
“Well, that’s a hell of a lot more health than I was expecting,” Patrick said.
“Keep attacking, I’ll cover you,” Grey told him. An orc rushed towards them, and Grey promptly sucked the life out of it.
Skibabylon
Draw Pain
----
Orc 76
0/60 HP
As the orc’s body collapsed to the floor, Patrick threw another energy bolt at the oncoming surge of greenskins, but one of them blocked the attack with their axe and tried to decapitate him. Patrick dodged under the axe, but the orc smashed the handle into his gut. Patrick threw an energy bolt at the orc’s chest point blank before taking another shot at the crystal.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Orc 75
30/60 HP
----
Trident743
Firebolt
----
Teleport Crystal 4
220/400 HP
----
Trident743
150/250 Mana
“This thing’s gonna take forever,” Patrick said.
“I can’t do enough damage to matter,” Grey said. They aimed their healing beam at Patrick, ready to support them, but another orc ran at them, axe held high. Grey ducked under the axe swipe to bash them in the back of the head with their staff.
Orc 77
0/60 HP
----
Trident743
155/250 Mana
“You just sucked the life out of someone!” Patrick shouted. “You can sure as hell do enough damage!”
“Someone, not something. I don’t think it’ll work on crystals,” Grey said. “Can you drain life from something that was never alive?”
Patrick continued to dodge the orc who was attacking him as he waited for his cooldown to come back. Eventually, he got bored, and created a cloud of daggers in the middle of the street, slashing at the orcs that were rushing at him. He then turned around and blasted the Orc’s head off with an energy bolt.
Orc 75
0/60 HP
----
Trident743
150/250 Mana
Grey blocked an orc’s attack with their staff, only for another one to slice his axe into their shoulder.
“Fine then, more fire!” Patrick growled.
The crystal began to crack as the fireball slammed into it. Patrick turned around to see a horde of orcs running towards them, bleeding from the knife cuts. He tried to dodge the axe swipes, but one of them lodged itself in his chest. The orc smirked as Patrick struggled to pull the axe out. Grey raised his staff, ready to heal him, but the staff was kicked out of their hand by another orc. Patrick swung his hand limply over his shoulder and shot out one last fireball at the crystal.
Trident743
Firebolt
----
Teleport Crystal 4
40/400 HP
----
Trident743
110/250 Mana
“C’mon, just die already!” Patrick screamed. “If we don’t…James…”
Then another axe slammed into his back. Patrick collapsed to the floor, sliding off the axehead, and letting go of his staff.
Trident743
0/150 HP
Available Revive Time: 3 minutes
“Patrick!” Grey kicked the orc who killed him in the back, but more of them swarmed them. Grey tried to throw an energy bolt in a desperate attempt to destroy the last crystal, but before he could, an orc sliced off his hand.
Skibabylon
100/200 HP
They grimaced but kept pushing through, trying to reach Patrick, to use a revive, but the orcs shoved him back and smashed him in the gut with an axe blade.
Skibabylon
50/200 HP
They staggered back in shock, slowly realising there was nothing they could do. An orc kicked them in the chest and they collapsed onto the floor, ready for the horde to overrun them, completely helpless.
Skibabylon
10/200 HP
“James,” Grey muttered, “we’re sorry. We did our best.”
Gungnir
Shotgun
----
Gungnir
Shotgun Ammo
0/6
----
Teleport Crystal 4
0/400 HP
----
Teleporters Remaining
0/4
----
Objective Completed
The orcs looked around in horror as their final teleporter vanished. They had been so focused on Grey they failed to notice the gunslinger who had staggered down a nearby street and taken a potshot at the crystal. As the teleporter collapsed, the orcs screamed in horror as they began to crumble to dust. Gungnir staggered over to Grey and collapsed next to them, face down in the dirt.
“I’m never doing this raid again,” Gungnir grumbled.
Grey rolled onto their back, looking up as the sun began to pierce the smoke and floatstone covered sky, and smiled.
“Don’t worry,” they said “It’s over now.”
Gungnir Stats: Level: 8 VIT: 30/200 STR: 30 DEF: 5 DEX: 25 SPL: 5 INT: 0
Lambda Stats: Level: 8 VIT: 0/150 STR: 15 DEF: 5 DEX: 10 SPL: 25 INT: 0
Grey stats: Level: 8 VIT: 50/200 STR: 15 DEF: 15 DEX: 15 SPL: 30 INT: 1 Healing Pool: 400/600
Patrick stats: Level: 8 VIT: 0/150 STR: 35 DEF: 10 DEX: 20 SPL: 25 INT: 1 Mana: 170/250
