I groaned in relief as she pulled the armor free, before wincing at the cracked ribs I felt as the armor’s support was removed.
My groan was interrupted by a wet cough, and I spat blood out onto the dusty cave floor before greedily drinking down the potion she brought to my lips. As I swallowed it, I looked over at the fight, realizing that it was rapidly going from bad to worse.
I had to get back in there.
Bane was facing off against a creature that looked like a four-legged velociraptor. I knew they had two arms and two legs normally, but this fucker was built low to the ground and moved as though greased lightning and a hatred of everything had a fucking scaly baby. Cam and Jian were trying to damage the horse-thing while Lydia kept its attention. Barrett was desperately trying to fight the remaining Drow spearman, and Arrin and Stephanos were firing at the Drow Beastmaster whenever he popped his head out of cover to direct his creatures, but they were having fuck-all luck.
I glared at the horse and used ‘Examine’…
Fenris Heavy Automaton
This ‘Fenris’ class heavy automaton battle steed was created by the Gnomish mastermind Glonkill. All Gnomish battle creations are imbued with both magical and mundane control methods, in case of theft.
HP: 1048/2000
Mana Charge: 412/1000
I wracked my brain trying to make sense of the information; clearly, it was a construct, and it was made by gnomes…cool, that’s great…but what the fuck was the control method?!
I looked back at the Beastmaster and used my ‘Examine’ again, growling to myself as I saw little that was useful. The ‘Unknown’ markers on the only really sodding useful bits just pissed me off.
Drow Beastmaster Dalael
The Drow Beastmaster Dalael was dispatched to support the expeditionary force in capturing the fallen city of Mis’rak Ak Thun and was sentenced to death by Kismeth Hatchlings for his part in the assault’s failure. Dalael escaped and was eventually discovered under a false name in the outskirts of the City of Eternal Night. Due to his expertise in Beast mastery he was given a final chance to aid an exploratory force, but was bound to a Rune of control to prevent his escape a second time…
HP: 582/600
Mana: 100/100
Stamina: 112/500
Weaknesses: Unknown
Resistances: Unknown
I shrugged out of the rest of my chest armor, and gestured Miren back to the fight, giving her a weak grin in thanks as I drank down another potion. I gasped as I felt my ribs snapping back into place, my hands already weaving around a small but rapidly building ball of flames. I might not be able to hit the fucker with a Firebolt, and I didn’t have a spell like Magic Missile, which looked like it could be guided in the air, at least to some degree, but what I did have, thanks to fueling it with naked fury in the past, was a mortar.
I’d accidentally created the spell when I was new to the realm, pouring an insane amount of literal firepower into a regular Firebolt spell, overcharging it to a massive degree.
I rolled to my feet, both hands too busy to push with, and I pulled my hands back to my right side, feeling like I was swinging a bowling ball that grew heavier by the second.
I swung it back forwards and threw, the spell faltering as it flew through the air, missing the target I’d set for it by less than an inch as far as I could see, but it still had spectacular results.
The spellform was broken when it impacted the rim of the table the Beastmaster was hiding behind, and as it was on the outward side of the table, most of the explosion went in that direction, hammering into the back legs of the automaton and sending it staggering as flames washed around it.
The majority of the shrapnel and fire damage was confined to the metal horse, but enough hit the Drow Spearman that it staggered him, letting Barrett dodge a blow that would have killed him. The horse staggered back to face Lydia, and one enormous silvery hoof slammed down on the Drow spearman’s leg, turning it to paste filled with shards of bone.
The spearman screamed in pain, and Jian spun past him, his dual scythes flashing out and slicing through his neck, cutting off the cry with a wet gurgle.
I’d been shoved back by the impact, but I was back up in seconds, and charging forward. I didn’t know where the naginata was, but I knew where the last fucking Drow was, and I just prayed that killing him would stop the automaton’s rampage.
The impact of the mortar spell had slammed the table backwards, smashing it first, upright, and second, into shards that had fired all over.
Most of the incredibly hard wood had been caught by the back of the spearman and the horse, but enough had gone in all directions that it’d caused a lot of minor injuries.
One not so minor injury it caused, due to the size of the splinter in question, was to the Drow Beastmaster, who was screaming as he pulled an inch-long fragment of wood out of his right eye. He was braced on one arm, half seated, half laying under the now upright table, frantically patting at his pouches when I arrived.
He looked up just in time to see my boot swipe his bracing arm out from under him and I slid in, grabbing him by the shoulders and yanking him forward. I rolled, twisting him over me and using our joint momentum to bring myself on top of him.
“Surprise, motherfucker!” I shouted at him, before nutting him as hard as I could, then releasing him with my right hand, pulling back and making a fist, which I smashed down into
