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Chapter 34: Spell & Sword Round 2.3
🕑 Added 2023-08-28 14:59:02 +0000 UTC“Didn’t we all agree to forego new skills and improve our current ones until they were level ten?” Sarah asked with a clenched jaw. This was the first time Rick had seen the soft-spoken fire mage get hot.
Alex held his hands up defensively, “I truly couldn’t have passed this up. Did anyone else pick a new skill?”
“No, we’re not pussies,” Diane stated calmly.
Pablo cleared his throat, “I also had one that I couldn’t pass up.”
“I hate you guys,” Grady said. “I upgraded Power Swing and I haven’t even needed it yet.”
“What did you pick, Pablo?” Alex asked, trying to get the attention off of him.
“Reconfigure. If my dolls get blasted apart, I can use the spell and they’ll put themselves back together. Although, at Level 1, they’re barely better than broken,” Pablo said.
Sarah sighed, “Fine, I don’t blame you. That’ll save us all a lot of time instead of waiting for you to build more or spend on resources.”
“What about you?” Pablo asked Alex.
“Uh, Arcane Harpoon. I can pull enemies toward us if my Arcane Spear impales them,” he stammered.
The group looked at him with dead eyes.
“That’s what you broke our rule for?” Sarah asked, throwing her hands up in the air.
“It will help Diane and Grady!” Alex defended. “Especially if we’re fighting any ranged or fast enemies.”
Diane scoffed, “Dumbass.”
Grady smiled, glad to not be the one at the receiving end of Diane’s scalding remarks for once.
Rick listened in but didn’t tell Billy. Alex was right. Billy could easily kill the two melee fighters, even before Pablo’s dolls got to him. His bullets were also much faster than Alex or Sarah’s spells so Billy could also pick them off too. But, if Alex snagged Billy with one of those magic harpoons, then Billy was screwed.
While the group did well against a couple of wolves and the lizardfolk, he wondered how they’d do against Billy’s more modern weaponry. They seemed more well suited for what Rick imagined as ‘classical dungeon diving’ by video game standards.
Alex looked to Sarah for help. She lifted her hands and arched her eyebrows, “Hey, don’t look at me. I agree with Diane for once.”
“Fine, let’s just see how much experience these things give and move on,” Alex huffed and stomped through the stream toward the bargle herd.
Grady raced to take the lead ahead of Alex. “What’s the plan? They look harmless, but what if they swarm us?”
“That’s what Sarah’s for. She can just torch the area and we can make our escape.”
“Fair enough,” Grady said, patting his belt to make sure the magazine was still there.
The bargle herd didn’t exactly run away from the group, but they were clearly avoiding them. They still got closer, but not close enough for the animals to panic.
“Let’s see what that Power Swing can do, Grady. I’m going to harpoon one and pull it to you,” Alex explained.
Grady nodded and got in a fighting stance.
Alex licked his lips and narrowed his eyes. He held his wand out and activated his harpoon skill. A similar arcane spear shot out with a tether that was only visible to Alex and Rick who was observing as always.
The spear struck the bargle in its right flank and Alex yanked his wand backward. The animal shot through the air directly like at Grady like it was shot out of a cannon. The bargle made a far louder version of a squeaking guinea pig.
As the bargle flew, Grady preemptively used his Power Swing. His sword cut through the flying bargle as if it weren’t even there, lopping off its head. A shockwave shot out, ripping the grass and earth in its path. The body of the animal never slowed down and slammed into Grady, knocking him on his ass.
“Damn Grady. That’s actually pretty badass,” Diane said as the herd squealed and ran off in all directions.
Alex took a knee and placed a hand on the bargle’s body. His eyes went vacant for a moment as he was checking the Shop. “Damn. We can’t sell it.”
“No shit,” Rick commented as he observed. The bargle body should disappear once it respawned. Rick didn’t feel bad either. If he wanted, he could solve their hunger problems outside, but he’d need a lot of Energy. Making a mental note, Rick promised himself to bring it up to Jimmy. It could be another nice source of income for them.
However, the group did give him an idea. The bargle genetic makeup was in his registry. ‘Let’s see if we can make some steak out of these bad boys,” Rick said and focused on his registry. He took a bargle and mentally went through the process of slaughtering an animal and making cuts of meat then simply produced a cooked version of it.
It looked fine to him so he added seasoning that he’d absorbed from the mountains of trash that he had sifted through. Making five plates, he plopped them down in front of the group.
Diane’s eyes were also vacant, “Did any of you get experience? I don’t think I did.”
Sarah shook her head, “No, I don’t think these creatures give any, but look at this.”
The group looked down at their feet and in front of each of them was a steaming plate of bargle steak. Alex bent down, picked his plate up, and grabbed the steak with his hand. They didn’t have utensils and Rick didn’t bother to waste the Energy in supplying them.
“Thanks… dungeon. Or, Rick?” Alex stammered and took a bite. “Oh, wow. This is great stuff. Thanks again,” he said and began to ravenously devour the meat. The rest of the Spell & Sword followed suit.
Rick was proud of himself for that one. The view count had dropped after the chest only gave them a magazine, but now, nearly a billion people had seen that Rick could make food for them. If food was a problem, people would be lining up to be Challengers for a bite of steak.
After the group was done eating they sat there for a moment, savoring the best meal they’d had since the integration.
Finally, Alex stood up, “Everyone ready to move on to the next area?”
“After that meal? Fuck yeah,” Grady said with a smile.
Even Diane wore a genuine smile as they made their way to Billy’s area.
Pablo’s healing dolls found their perches on the party’s shoulders. As they got close to the arch, a barrage of bullets flew through. Diane brought her shield up in time, but Grady was caught off guard and hit twice in the stomach before bringing up his shield.
Alex blindly fired two arcane lances through the door and the group ran for cover out of the archway’s line of sight.
“Fuck, why me?” Grady asked as the doll injected him with the healing potion, closing his wounds. The magic bullets dissipated within. “These dolls are amazing,” Grady breathed in relief.
“So what’s the Plan?” Sarah asked.
“Pablo, can your dolls climb over this wall?” Alex asked, motioning with his hand at the twenty-foot wall of grass and earth.
“If they can’t, I can probably throw them over. But they might break,” Pablo said with a scowl.
“I want them to already be in place, hidden behind those wolves and the guy with the gun, before we go in,” Alex explained.
“Alright, let me check,” Pablo said and commanded his six knife-wielding dolls to climb the wall. The dolls clattered to the wall and began climbing up fairly easily. Their little wooden hands dug into the earth and grass and quickly ascended. The pinatas had no way to climb, so Pablo didn’t even try with them.
“Perfect,” Alex said. “Ok, Sarah. Do you think you could climb up too?”
She pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, “Maybe, but even if I get up there and start casting spells, I’ll be a sitting duck. If he didn’t have a gun, I’d be in.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” Alex said. “Obviously, we’ll need Grady and Sarah to go in first side-by-side, shields up. But those fucking wolves will be waiting for us while we’re getting shot at.”
“I can spread a ring of fire around us as long as Grady and Diane keep me covered. Then Pablo can send his dolls to attack the gunman. Once he’s taken care of, we focus on the wolves?” Sarah asked.
“That’s a good plan, Sarah. The wolves might still jump through the fire, so we’ll need to fend them off somehow,” Alex said.
“I can throw my pinatas over their heads and blow them up, or at the very least, distract them,” Pablo chimed in.
“Love it. Grady - Diane. Any thoughts?”
“Nope. Just stay behind us. If you get shot, that’s on you,” Diane said.
As Rick observed, he felt a tinge of anxiety. The view count had been climbing back up. News must have spread of the looming battle. If the Spell & Sword died after all of this, he might have a hard time drawing more Challengers. On the other hand, he hadn’t leveled in a long time and desperately needed the CP. Of course, Rick was always interested in a long-term investment and genuinely hoped they’d pull through in one piece.
The group got in formation and made their way to the arch. “Keep your eyes open for any other traps,” Alex said from behind Grady.
The bigger man nodded as both he and Diane moved through the arch, shields up. Immediately, Billy began firing. The bullets thumped into the shields but didn’t pierce it.
As predicted, the wolves surrounded the group and Sarah started channeling her fire from both hands, creating a barrier between them and the wolves. Her mana drained fast.
Pablo ordered his dolls that had climbed the wall earlier to charge Billy. He then chucked a pinata at one of the wolves. It detonated and took a big chunk out of it. Of course, the wolf wouldn’t die until the rest of them did so all it could do was whine and growl.
Alex shot an arcane lane at the gunman, but it ricocheted against a barrier in front of him. “He’s standing behind some kind of glass,” Alex announced to his team. “Move forward!”
The group advanced and Billy was forced to turn and fend off the dia de muertos dolls. He punted one a good distance away and shot the others with deadly accuracy.
The brief struggle was just enough to force Billy to step back and out from behind the protection of the bulletproof glass. Alex didn’t waste any time and fired his harpoon. The shot wasn’t perfect, but it impaled Billy’s left hand, forcing him to drop one of his guns. Alex yanked and Billy flew through the air much like the Bargle. The difference was that he still had one gun and managed to pull the trigger before getting within sword range.
Grady had already readied himself to swing, lowering his shield a bit. He saw the gun go off and turned his head. The bullet tore through his lower jaw, making the big man collapse, rapidly losing blood.
That’s when the wolves decided to risk it through the fire. They leaped as one from every direction.
Diane stabbed Billy through the back as he fell from the air and whirled around with her sword, clipping one of the wolves.
Grady’s healing doll stabbed him with the healing syringe, but the wound was too large to stitch together completely.
Pablo ran for his life back to the archway while Sarah, nearly out of mana, shot small puffs of fire at the wolves in hopes of catching their fur on fire.
Alex desperately shot arcane spears, impaling the wolves, but they barely slowed. One closed in and lunged. Alex was forced to bring his arm up and the wolf latched on and viciously shook its head.
Suddenly, the wolf felt lighter and its head fell on Alex’s chest. Its grip didn’t loosen on his arm but Alex pried it loose by jamming his wand down its throat. He scrambled backward as his doll injected him with a potion. The wolf’s head snapped on the ground but without its body, it couldn’t move.
Diane stood over Alex and kicked the wolf’s head away before going to aid Sarah. She walked past the wolf that Pablo had partially exploded and it surprised her by snapping at her ankle. The teeth didn’t get through her Level 3 Thick Skin. She scoffed and stabbed it through the brain and kept moving.
Sarah was holding the last two off by singeing their fur and noses if they got too close.
Diane charged them and bashed one with her shield. With a quick lunge, she stabbed the other through the throat.
Sarah spent the last of her mana on engulfing the final one in flames before she collapsed and puked.
Diane finished it off with a fancy twirl of her blade, making sure to strike a pose for the broadcast as she flipped her hair out of her face and placed her foot on the dead wolf.
Alex had found Grady and was covering him with a healing potion. It stopped the bleeding and Grady was still alive, but unconscious.
Pablo poked his head back in from the archway, “Good job, guys. We ready for the loot?”
