The Pinnacle Warrior

The chieftain bound into view, battleaxe slung over its shoulder. Behind it, the pack followed, five brawlers and five rangers snarling and slavering as they rushed into battle. Astrid wanted to be grateful that there weren’t any shamans there to make it significantly harder, but ten level 11 gnolls plus the Boss were going to be difficult to deal with at best. Fortunately, Skandr’d had enough of a heads up to get his lightning curtain prepared. The spell was, of course, meant to deal with the pack as a whole, but it was also key that they get some sort of debuff onto the chieftain as soon as possible. As it threw its head back in a roaring challenge, Skandr threw his hands up in what was almost a mirror of the Boss’s rallying cry. Instead of just screaming for the enjoyment of it, though, Skandr unleashed a wave of electricity that crashed down on the assembled pack of monsters in three waves of blinding light and deafening thunder. He’d thrown a large portion of his mana into the spell, and as the lightning exploded into existence over the assembled monsters, they all yelped in pain as they slowed and stumbled.

One of them, however, didn’t seem to react nearly so negatively as the rest. The chieftain shuddered for a moment before then flashing with a golden light. After it purged itself, all the damage it’d sustained remained, and its fur was still singed, but the tremors thrumming through his body were completely dispelled. Astrid grinned as she sprinted forward to interrupt its charge as it resumed moving towards the delvers. The first of its Skills was now dealt with, the debuff purge. 

It, as far as they’d been told, was a Skill that the chieftain couldn’t choose to use. Instead, when it was first afflicted with a debuff, it would immediately cleanse itself. The Skill was a bad one for their party, given how much of their ability to deal with large numbers of enemies was dependent on Skandr’s ability to slow and weaken the whole pack at once. Fortunately, it wasn’t a Skill that kept the Boss from being affected in the first place, and it had been slowed, from its nearly impossible to stop charge. Now, it was instead much more manageable for the party’s frontliner and finisher. Astrid, with her higher Power and Fortitude than Felix, was the person assigned to begin the fight against the chieftain. The monster raised its axe, the thick, crude iron head definitely heavier than the 4 kilogram head of her own weapon, and swung down at her. As the weapon fell, the monster demonstrated its second, passive Skill.

The axe’s haft and head glowed with an orange light like the brawler’s combo skill as the monster swung down at her. Astrid took a short step to the side while she angled her shield to her left to have the blow skate off and slam into the ground. If she’d weathered the hit directly, she quite possibly would have been injured by the first hit. Every one of the monster’s overhead blows was empowered, drawing on its mana to strike faster and stronger than its body could manage with its raw attributes. Astrid slammed her boot into the gnoll’s hand the same moment that the axe’s head buried itself in the ground. Her attack made solid contact but didn’t manage to knock its grip loose. The monster lurched forward with its jaws towards Astrid’s neck as soon as she did so. She stepped back, out of its range, just in time for Benedict to scream.

“Astrid! The Rangers!”

She cursed to herself as she looked at the backline. Muti was doing her best, but two of the Rangers took the opportunity to put her in their view. Fortunately, Astrid was somewhat ready for the attack, and raised her shield. The arrows, empowered by the second watershed monsters’ Skill, slammed against the mana-blessed iron and exploded into shards of bone. Even so, the shots forced her to lose sight of the chieftain, every second deadly important. On a strike of instinct, she threw herself to the side. As she did so, the chieftain’s second blow smashed into the ground and sent dirt and stalks of grain flying everywhere. Dirt coated Astrid’s legs, but she didn’t let the chieftain continue to build momentum. Felix grunted in pain as he took a couple hits behind her, and the Boss took notice.

“Benedict, save Felix!”

Astrid‘s warning couldn’t have been more timely. The chieftain breathed in so deeply that Astrid could see its chest expand. She threw herself forward with her hammer towards its unarmored chest, but even so, the Boss’s third Skill made its appearance. This howl was different from the rest she’d ever heard from any gnoll ever, and Astrid hoped that all of her allies were ready to receive the next attacks. When two of the brawlers behind her felt the influence of the Skill, they turned their attention away from the desperately fighting and dodging Felix, and instead to her. Astrid heard their steps, and knew what was about to come. She, despite everything else, turned her attention away from the Boss, and instead looked at the brawlers as their arms glowed with the activation of their Skill in conjunction with the Boss’s. Astrid shifted her footing to get further away from the chieftain while she dealt with the two brawlers.

Fortunately, the two monsters were still slowed by Skandr’s lightning curtain, and Astrid could take the first one’s combo skill on her shield. With the chieftain’s Rousing Howl making every hit of the combo even stronger, though, Astrid was knocked off balance from just the first gnoll’s attacks. The first two fists slammed her shield against her shoulder, while the third was an unexpected wide hook that caught her in her opposite right shoulder. As Astrid tried to gather herself, the other brawler got past her guard and slammed three wicked bone-studded fists into her kidneys. Astrid’s vision flashed as the pain threatened to make her black out, the chieftain’s empowering Skill applying to every single hit from its subordinates. Worse still, the Boss itself still hadn’t made its empowered attack either, and Astrid didn’t have the time to worry about Muti and Felix while they dealt with the monsters. Even though she hadn’t been as injured as she usually was when she used it, Astrid needed the clarity of thought Quick Recovery would bring. She activated the healing Skill and felt her ribs and insides rearrange themselves as the chieftain’s next strike, empowered by its passive and active Skills, screamed towards her head.

Unable to dodge and boxed in by the two brawlers, Astrid raised her shield and forced herself to simply weather the blow as she tried to angle the attack enough to survive what was coming. The axe struck like a meteor against her shield and knocked her to one knee. The Boss wasn’t alone, and its brawler subordinates came in, their fists smashing against her back and sides while Astrid swung her hammer to try to get some measure of space from her assailants. There wasn’t much she could do in that moment to defend herself, and she felt her bones creak in protest as the gnolls set on her while the chieftain neglected to take advantage of its passive Overhand Blow Skill. Instead, it took a heavy swing from the side and knocked her shield away from in front of her. Astrid’s wrist twisted and her bones cracked as she screamed in pain and anger while her wrist snapped from the unexpected blow. Her anger did nothing for her as she was forced to roll to the side to keep from having her head smashed in. Even with her newly broken wrist, Astrid would continue fighting, and she stood up on shaking legs as she resettled her grip on her hammer.

The first brawler to come forward was expecting the more defensive Astrid that she had been so far in the fight. That’s not what he got. He got Astrid the finisher, and she screamed as she ignored the agony of her broken wrist when she parried its first blow. Her eyes shed unwilling tears of pain as she threw her weight into the hit on her broken wrist. Then, with a twisting of her hips and entire body, she sent her hammer into the base of its skull. Whether by luck or skill, it was a killing blow, and the dead brawler’s body fell to the ground with a kill notification. Two enemies left.

The Boss filled the gap, keeping Astrid from refocusing on the more fragile brawler. Astrid raised her hammer, but before she could engage with the monster, Skandr’s trembling voice came from behind.

“Duck!“

“Finally.” Astrid grunted as she squatted and ducked to the side. Skandr’s spear of lightning crashed into the chieftain’s chest and knocked it three steps back. Then, though it’d stopped itself, it remained unable to control its legs and the Boss fell to a shivering knee. Astrid didn’t pay attention to the remaining brawler or rangers that looked at her. She knew there’d be some measure of a price to pay for it, but the Boss needed to die immediately. She raised her hammer and pulverized the gnoll chieftain’s skull. It fell with a thud before her feet, and Astrid roared in approval as the kill notification flashed in her eyes.

Gnoll Chieftain Boss slain. 60 experience gained, split among party.

The remaining brawler seemed to think better of closing in on her, and Astrid took a glancing blow from an arrow as she refocused on the battlefield as a whole. The fight wasn’t over, Muti fighting in the background with a half dozen arrow shafts sticking out of various parts of her body while Felix still beset by two more brawlers. Something that Astrid hadn’t realized was happening was Benedict with two brawler corpses in front of him, blood pooling from their facial orifices as the Bard swayed where he stood. It was easy to forget what his attacking Skill could do, given that he could keep the sound from hitting anybody but his enemies. Taking in their measure, the Bard and Lightningmage were obviously exhausted and unable to muster any more mana for their Skills. Felix was locked in combat with the other brawler, and seemed to be on somewhat of the losing side.

Astrid forced down the jolts of pain as she went back into battle against the brawler that’d regained its courage. It was shaking off the remnant of the influence from Skandr’s lightning, but in a one on one, especially since it had used its combo Skill already, Astrid could deal with it without too much issue. She hurried to cripple the monster’s legs, leaving it thrashing on the ground as she stepped forward and dealt another blow to the other brawler when it was too focused on Felix to protect itself from her. It fell, yelping just like its companion. Then, she hurried to help Muti with the last two rangers.

One of the two remaining monsters was locked in mortal melee combat with Muti. The Barbarian threw herself maniacally at her enemy with swords flashing, her face in a rictus. She’d managed to disarm it of its bow, while the other one was turning its attention to her. Fortunately, Astrid got there in time before the other gnoll shot her point blank, as apparently several had already managed to do. Astrid, too tired and sore and in pain to be particularly careful, threw herself at the gnoll and crushed its upper arm with her hammer. Bone crunched as it yipped and turned towards her with its jaws agape. In a fight like this, the ranger was so completely out classed that Astrid quickly dealt the killing blow to the beast. As Muti did the same to the other one, Astrid unwillingly fell to a sitting position on the ground. Her chainmail rattled together as she groaned and allowed herself to lay down.

“Everybody, leave the party so our two little ones to get their extra experience.” Astrid forced a smile on her face as she said it, allowing Felix to shake a fist in her general direction as he fought to keep his own feet.

Felix didn’t say anything to Benedict, merely taking his knife and dispatching every single one of the still-breathing brawlers with a measured stab through the eye and into the brain. Once the final monster was killed, the rest of the party joined Astrid in her exhausted state on the ground.

“Everybody, go ahead and take your draughts. We still have 12 hours before anything else will spawn here, so we can take as long as we need to get moving.” Astrid didn’t say anything more, pulling out a draught herself and quaffing it in one quick motion, though doing so made her left wrist pang. She hissed pained breaths through her teeth as she fumbled with the straps on her arm and finally freed herself from the shield. Once she was done, she settled herself more comfortably on the ground with a sigh as she fumbled with her helmet’s straps before pulling it off. Finally ready to recover, Astrid pursed her lips. All of that journey, and only for this mediocre amount of experience? They’d walked something like 30 kilometers and killed 20 gnolls for it. That was less than she’d been killing on the first floor.

“You know,” Benedict mused as he forced himself into a sitting position, “that didn’t go as badly as I’d feared. I mean, the second our idiot Bodyguard opened his mouth, I wondered if it was going to be him dead at the end or the rest of us. Honestly, you’re gonna spout that kind of idiocy in the Dungeon?”

“I’m not allowed to be excited about gaining a level?” Felix’s voice lacked his usual energy as he lay in the field.

“Not when you’re talking like you’re looking to raise flags! Yeah, I get stage fright, but I’m still a storyteller! I know what tempting fate is and means, and you must be an experienced courtesan, given how you were trying to allure fate to strike us down! You don’t say that kind of chicanery and expect to come out alive on the other side! So, yes, I’m grateful that it looks like there wasn’t even any maiming while you’re on my list.”

“You should speak for yourself.“ Muti grumbled as she came closer. Astrid only then realized that the Rogue was the only one of the five who hadn’t laid down, and it wasn’t because she didn’t want to. No, Muti’d been stuffed with so many arrows that she couldn’t lay down without somehow driving one of the shafts deeper into her torso.

“Oh, Duchess above. Here, take this.” Astrid reached into her pouch before pulling out and offering a potion to her ally as she looked over the seven arrows piercing Muti. “How close are you to passing out??”

“I am conscious.” Muti answered without giving a real answer. Astrid shook her head before a question occurred to her.

“Are these arrowheads barbed?” As she asked as much, she looked for the nearest ranger corpse. Its quiver remained, and when she pulled out an arrow to inspect the head, there were small protrusions, but the head was more a bodkin point than anything else. The long, thin head was well suited to punching through armor, but they could be drawn out easily enough. Astrid set about pulling each one free, bracing Muti when she grunted in pain from the treatment. The worst was one that had managed to punch all the way through Muti’s side, the head sticking out behind her. Astrid broke the shaft as close to its entry point as possible before she pulled it through, the crimson streaking the shaft making her stomach twist. Once she was done, Astrid made the Rogue swallow the potion, which she did without complaint as she settled onto the ground with pained noises.

“So. We brought enough food to be here for a few more days. We sticking around for this all to respawn and try again tomorrow?” Skandr’s tired voice came after they’d all laid in silence for several minutes.

“Let’s talk about it. And, while we’re at it, let’s talk about what we’ve learned about how we all screwed up, shall we?” Astrid’s response was met with groans, but every member of the party quickly chimed in with how they’d messed up in their part before they’d come to the conclusion that, if Benedict could get them all to fighting condition, they’d get up to the fourth floor before they rested for the night, and then challenged the Boss again after a full night’s rest.

“Then, without any further ado,” Benedict chuckled as he held his flute up, “it’s naptime. I’m out of mana, and can’t heal anyone right now.”

They all laid down with groans at that, but it was a blessing to get the rest they needed, and together and safe. Astrid closed her eyes, the sound of the fields waving in the wind filling her ears.