The Pinnacle Warrior

“Yes! That’s how you do it!” Skandr’s voice made Astrid laugh as she followed up on her attack. As the chieftain had reared back to use its Rousing Howl, she’d crushed its throat with her hammer. As it wheezed and stumbled, unable to react, she continued the smooth flow of her attack. This chieftain, different from the one they’d fought the day before, wielded only a simple gnarled club. While Astrid pressed forward, it swung down at her while trying to catch its own breath, but since Skandr had already let his lightning javelin loose into its chest, it was far too slow to deal with her aggression. With almost clinical precision, Astrid dismantled the beast’s joints with devastating blows, leaving it open to a killing blow as it tumbled to the ground with pained groans.

Unlike on higher floors, the party wasn’t about to put themselves in danger by trying to keep second watershed monsters alive just to give their lower leveled members a little bit more experience. On the Boss floor, they were out for blood. Astrid used her waist, back, shoulders, her whole body to smash a killing blow into the base of the monster’s skull, leaving it dead on the ground as she whirled to face the two brawlers that still stood attacking Felix. Her armor clanked together as she moved even before seeing anything.

Despite what Astrid had declared to Felix the day before, he was holding the axe while fighting. Even though he wasn’t using it to attack, which was something that Astrid had refused to compromise on and Muti had agreed, but he was using the weapon only to practice how he might use the haft to turn away strikes and just be familiar with moving with the weight. As Astrid turned her attention towards him, she saw as he turned away a strong punch flying towards his chest with a twist of the axe’s haft. The monster continued attacking, and Astrid saw the moment in which Felix wanted to turn the blow into a counter with his weapon, but he did what he’d promised to, and instead continued dodging as the monsters pressed their advantage.

“I’ll leave the second one just for you!“ Astrid declared as she whipped forward and crunched her fist into the ribs of one of the brawlers just under its shoulder. Bone crunched under the hit, and the monster folded towards her as she raised her elbow before smashing it into the gnoll’s ear. The monster stumbled, stunned, before Astrid raised her shield and battered the creature back. Off-balance, it died to a final follow up swing of her hammer.

“You mean you want me to use my axe on this thing?“ Felix verified as Astrid turned to check on Muti. The Barbarian wasn’t nearly so wounded as she’d gotten the first time they’d fought the Boss, having adjusted her usual strategy for instead attacking individual rangers before ducking back into the fields for a short time to get closer to her next target.

“Yes. Just know that there will be consequences if you screw something up.”

“Yeah, I didn’t need that reminder.” Felix chuckled as he took two steps back from the monster and then stepped in as the brawler overcommitted to a heavy overhand blow. The blade of the axe cut through the space between the gnoll’s ribs and hip, slicing nearly deep enough to see intestines. Felix settled into his stance as the hemorrhaging monster seemed to finally consider him to be a threat. Astrid didn’t pay attention to his fight any longer, instead going to assist Muti while one of the rangers prepared to shoot her in the back.

That one of the two remaining rangers turned towards Astrid, aiming its bow instead at her as it began glowing. The Warrior ducked behind her shield as she stowed her hammer on her belt. There was a brief scream of the arrow in the air before she felt as the Skill-enhanced arrow smashed into her defenses. With that little bit of distance that she could close while the monster took a steady stance and shot her, Astrid got into melee distance with the monster. It rushed back, faster than her, but far from fast enough to escape entirely from her retaliation. Astrid took a fist-sized stone in her hands and hurled it at the ranger’s back. The thud of the stone against flesh filled the air, and the gnoll’s shoulder jerked as her projectile struck true and it yipped. She’d been aiming for its back, but any contact was contact, and Astrid continued to menace the creature in her pursuit.

The ranger continued its flight, but Astrid scooped another stone from the ground and hurled it again. The monster dodged out of the way, ready for her attack. It hadn’t been paying attention to what was happening to its companion. Muti, left to her own devices, had quickly dispatched the other ranger before stealthily making her way closer to Astrid’s dueling ground. It dodged straight into Muti’s grasp, where she stabbed it quickly in the side, the sword passing entirely through its body in one quick movement. She pulled it free, just to continue delivering more blows to the mostly dead monster with a manic smile on her blood spattered face.

Astrid nodded, her job done with the ranger, and turning back to the Bodyguard who continued fighting against the last living brawler. The Warrior left the party with a quick thought, watching the man continue his assault against the gnoll. Their attributes were basically matched, with the brawler being in the second watershed, while the Bodyguard was level 9. Regardless of how monsters would be comparatively stronger in higher tiers, at this point, the brawler had already used its single Skill and was now fighting against a tired, but not exhausted enemy Felix.

“Astrid, would you please come closer?“ The calm way in which he asked was strange, considering the fact that he was actively fighting against a monster, but Astrid did as Felix requested.

“Now what?”

“Just stand there, if you would.”

“All right?”

Astrid stepped closer before standing and looking at the monster that panted, bleeding between the two delvers. Looking at the brawler, it seemed to be debating between continuing to fight against the delver that’d cut it with the axe, or the other one that walked forward and just stood there. It seemed to decide that Astrid was the softer target, and threw itself at her, its own blood leaving a trail behind it. Astrid started to raise her shield, but then Felix used a Skill Astrid sometimes forgot he had. With Guardian’s Rush, Felix threw himself forward and closed in on the gnoll much faster than it’d expected was possible. With his Skill giving him an even greater speed than usual, his axe sailed down in a strong cut that sliced from its right shoulder down to its left hip. Nearly bisected, the monster fell, dead.

Felix grinned as he rolled his shoulders and looked at his axe with a strange fondness. The weapon was coated in gnoll blood, but he hadn’t been visibly wounded at all. Astrid knew that he’d taken a couple hits from the brawlers, but none of the attacks had managed to draw blood, so it almost looked like he’d been able to get out of the fight entirely unscathed.

“I will not strike you because it was successful, but do not hunt before you can track!“ Muti strode forward and interrupted Felix’s excitement as she growled at the Bodyguard while she said as much. Although they were all generally familiar with her returns of phrase, Astrid found herself smiling a little more at this one her companion used now.

“Humans usually say ‘run before you walk’, but I think I like your saying better.” Astrid chuckled as she explained.

“Yes, it is better. One is unable to run before they can walk, but one is able to attempt to hunt before they can track.” Muti’s eyebrows narrowed as she explained it as if to a child.

Astrid shook her head at the Barbarian who took every turn of phrase literally, instead focusing on the rest of her party. Compared to the first time they fought the Boss, they were much better prepared, with Skandr focusing on using spells faster to keep the monsters from gaining momentum. Just that shift allowed the party to keep the momentum from shifting against them so heavily that Astrid and Felix were tied up just trying to keep themselves alive while the others struggled to give them support. 

“Are we ready to make our way up to town again?“ Astrid rolled her shoulders as she asked, her neck tight from nerves that slowly faded while she stood among the bodies of her enemies.

“Yes, we should get some time to consolidate what we’ve learned about the Boss fight, as well as get some second opinions from others who’ve cleared the branch as well.” Skandr spoke up before anyone else, his face focused on something different from what Astrid herself was thinking. There wasn’t any way to tell what it was that he was thinking about, but Astrid could tell that his mind was elsewhere. She didn’t care to interrogate him about wherever his mind wandered, and instead looked to the rest of the party.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it would be better for me to take some time and just familiarize myself with the stances and forms of using my new weapon.” Felix looked at the axe as he said it, his hand nestled up against the place where the haft and the head met. Holding it like that, it was almost like a sharp set of knuckle dusters, something that Astrid had heard about some Pugilists using. Strangely, neither Markus nor Tristan had any weapon beyond the wrappings on their fists, though it was obvious that Tristan’s were some sort of equipment, given they didn’t fall apart as he lit them on fire and punched through enemies at the Steel tier.

Astrid shook the thought from her head as the other members of the party expressed their own willingness to return to town. Near as Astrid could figure, it was probably mid morning, so if they made their way up soon, killing a couple packs on their way, they could still make it to Kznietch without missing dinner in town. She only realized that she missed warm, fresh meals when she had no access to them at all. Before, she’d lamented the loss of Ahna’s baking, but now she just wanted something warm instead of rations and trail snacks

“Then let’s get going.“ Astrid declared as the party expressed their own willingness to return. Muti promised firm instruction to Felix, who accepted it with a sigh, finally showing some measure of reluctance to continuously practice with her. Astrid smiled as she led her party away. After all, there were monsters to kill, and there wasn’t anyone else around who was willing to do it.

***

Marchioness

“I beg your forgiveness! Please, please, I don’t want to be thrown away! I love you! I’ll do whatever you ask!”

“Take her away. If she can reach Iron without my assistance, she can be accepted back into the fold.” The Marchioness dismissed the sniveling failure as she turned to the failed Scribe. The… Pharmacist? What was the girl’s Class? It didn’t matter, not really. She was one of only two survivors from a team of five that out-leveled their opponents and ambushed them, only to end up completely routed? An embarrassment. She turned her ire towards the Scribe. He remained prostrate before her, bowing and groveling without saying a word. At least he knew his place.

“You… were an experiment. That you were able to hold off an enemy party of your same tier as long as you did was a testament to the viability of your Class. However, you are a failure.”

“No, my goddess, I would never fail you! I’ve lived for you! I’ll continue to live for you!”

The weakling groveled, hoping for some measure of mercy, but he knew it wouldn’t come. There was never mercy given to failures, and he was one of the highest order. He’d already been warned that he was failing to live up to expectations, and then he revealed himself and got his keeper killed?

“There is no reason for me to allow you to live. You were useful to me when we experimented in gaining you your Class. Then, you became useful because you managed to reach into the administrative levels of the Guild. Only because of where you were did I care about you, and you lost that position in a desperate bid to capture five Bronze tiers? With such gross incompetence, I can’t trust that you haven’t led the Guild to me, and worse still, there was no benefit in what you were looking to do! I’m glad to have learned the path to grant greater strength to my Scribes moving forward, but you are a liability.”

“Oh, please! My goddess! Please, show mercy!”

His desperate pleas fell on deaf ears as the Marchioness pushed into the mental link between herself and the terrified man prostrate before her. With his level and tier, it took more than conscious thought to sever the connection, but less than five seconds later, the man’s face began to sink in on itself as the moisture left his body in a fast expulsion of gas. One minute later, the corpse was reduced to skin covering the remaining skeleton, but still the thing that the Marchioness was waiting for hasn’t appeared. Finally, the corpse’s equipment appeared on its body, heavily enchanted “regular” clothes with special precautions taken to make them hold up as ordinary even to specialized scrutiny. Nearly a full minute after that, a thick tome fell into existence above the other equipment and plummeted down against the skull. The remains of the man shattered under the weight of the book, and the Marchioness gestured for her Maids to take care of the mess. Without having to ask, the Butler stepped forward, grabbed the book, and held it for her to examine.

Again, without having to ask, he flicked through the pages for her to observe. A good Butler always understood his lady’s needs. As a new Adamantium tier, she needed to better accustom herself to all of the changes in her body from the latest Class evolution, but her attributes were more than high enough to read the entirety of each page as it was flicked in front of her eyes. About halfway through the book, she held up a hand and the Butler returned to the page she had been interested in.

“Interesting. What news do you have of this?“ She demanded of the Butler.

“Nothing as of yet. I shall investigate, we will have an answer for you by the end of the day.“

She flicked her wrist in dismissal, and he bowed deeply before striving out of the room. Yes, Assassin Butlers were the best kind of Butler. They always had the best answers. 

***

“An irregular Boss? Great! I was hoping for another before we move on!” Felix laughed as Muti let the others know about the current state of the fifth floor. The party’d decided to do one final clear of the fifth floor before they left for the next Dungeon branch, and after they’d lost a fight to an irregular Boss three weeks ago after Felix and Benedict hit level 10, they’d all been wanting another opportunity to get revenge. The Boss as an irregular was so many times more difficult that they’d been forced to run away with their tails between their legs, even with their weeks of experience wiping out the Boss floor entirely. 

Now that every member of the party had passed the benchmark to level 11, it was time for their revenge. After all, the shift to irregular had come with a hidden condition that they hadn’t expected—instead of having 50 “points” to get additional gnolls on the floor, as an irregular, the Boss gained 75, and that basically guaranteed an extra shaman that’d accompany the chieftain. That addition to the floor’s difficulty’d been the kicker that’d nearly killed Felix. With a bloodlust aura boosting the brawlers, he’d taken too many hits and was forced to disengage. With that, the party quickly fell apart, Astrid needing to hold the line while the others extracted and she rushed away, only Quick Recovery allowing her to continue fleeing long enough to survive. 

“You sure that you should have taken Guardian’s Rush as an upgrade instead of Axemanship?” Astrid asked as she tamped down her nervousness. Despite the growth in levels and preparedness, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was an ill-fated attempt at delving.

“No way to change my choice now, anyways. I want to get to Iron with all Bronze Skills, so this was the only choice I had. Plus, I know what I’m doing with the axe now, and we’re all a bit better equipped now.” Felix’s confidence helped a little, but Astrid continued to be tormented by her twisting stomach. 

“At least you have the option.” Skandr sighed. He’d continued experimenting with his spells, growing more and more proficient by the day, and with Klara demoted to assistant Guild representative, she had more time to give spellcrafting lessons, which he religiously attended. Lightning curtain and javelin both could be channeled in a mere four seconds now, and that was fast enough that while the chieftain closed in, Astrid only needed to parry a few of his attacks while he shrugged off the effects of the lightning curtain. Then, the javelin would approach, and she could dispatch the monster. 

It would go according to plan, right?