Aries Floor 2, The Emperor’s Ascent - 9:22 AM
When Trevor started running, I followed after him. The Rust Wolf Father’s eyes turned towards us when we jumped over the lava river, and he shifted. His attack came fast, looking to surprise us rather than deal as much damage as possible. I Constructed a platform in front of my ally that he could jump off, doing the same with my Force Field.
His reaction to it was, thankfully, quick. We leapt at the same time. His Strength was clearly higher than mine and he gained more ground than I did. I had to tuck my legs in to avoid the branches of the enemy’s impromptu club, but snagged it with the Cable Conglomerate. It felt like my arm was going to be pulled out of my socket as I was jerked off in a new direction.
I Constructed another platform for Trevor, allowing the Slugger Savant to gracefully jump one more time before bringing his bat high above his head. The Rust Wolf Father wasn’t in a position to defend, but his hand moved to counterattack. I used Drop on my ally’s bat just as it collided with the boss’ chest.
Surprised by the amount of force behind the Slugger Savant’s attack, the Rust Wolf Father stumbled backwards into the trees. His chest had a small crater in it. Some cracks appeared as he moved, but they didn’t spread nearly as far as either of us would have liked. Trevor landed at the enemy’s feet. A swift kick punted him towards the lava, but he managed to stop himself before he could flip into the river, rubbing his chest where he had been hit.
I jumped from the stone pine tree and grabbed Vermon’s Smash Stick with both hands. Once I was eye level with the beast, I activated Crash Test, yelling out the name so Trevor could see what it was all about.
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[[Skill]]
Crash Test
Pick a direction adjacent to the ground and move up to Dexterity*? feet in that direction at twice your fastest speed. If any objects are in your way, you violently burst through their space, knocking them away or breaking through them. This deals damage equal to Strength*4. If an object you hit stops you, then you also take that damage. After using this skill, you cannot use it again for 1 hour.
<<<>>>
Colliding with the Rust Wolf Father head on was a terrible idea. Its Strength far eclipsed mine, and it was currently pushing itself out of the forest. Instead, I used the forced movement to deal extra damage. When I flew past its head, I swung the Smash Stick with Orbit to help stabilize it.
Several of the boss’ teeth flew out of its mouth as I got it good across the muzzle. I Pulled them to me and into my inventory as Crash Test stopped and I started falling into the forest. A quick Force Field allowed me to bounce off of it. I switched to a vertical one and stood in the sky, looking at the results of my attack.
Spiderweb cracks covered its head, but it would take more than a few good hits to bring it down. Stone creatures, bosses especially, had hit points for days and the damage they sustained almost always looked worse than it actually was. The Rust Wolf Father shook off the blow before howling again in anger, turning to face me.
“You call that a hit?” the Slugger Savant yelled, sounding cocky. “You gotta take this asshole head on if you want to do it right!”
“Let’s see you do better, then!” I called back. He smirked up at me before turning his attention back to the boss.
On the ground, Trevor started his swing and activated Crash Test, following my lead. He put what he preached into practice and headed directly towards the Rust Wolf Father with no fear in his aura.
It took him less than a second to clear the gap between him and the boss, and his bat slammed into the monster’s shin. Trevor rebounded, flying backwards and taking damage just like the skill dictated, but a huge chunk of stone had been shattered in recompense.
The Rust Wolf Father’s foot dug into the ground as it had been pushed back a couple of feet from the blow, and he turned from me to look at Trevor. That was something that really put his Strength into perspective; he hadn’t been able to avoid taking the backlash damage, but he still pushed this huge stone creature backwards at least a little bit.
And now it was looking away from me, which was a terrible move. With an unnecessary gesture, I activated the new ability on my Trench Coat of the Mad Captain. One by one, every glowing point of the Starstone Constellation grew brighter. It had been a little hard to see as they were dim before, but now my fake Angelic wings were on full display for everyone to see.
Not only was it impressive, but the boost from Twins In Battle brought my total projectiles from 17 to 21. Each one arched around my body in the same sequence in which they lit up, heading straight for the boss. They screamed as they whistled through the air, sounding like bottle rockets as they shot towards the Rust Wolf Father’s face, trailing stardust in their wake.
Even if the boss was looking away from me, the attack was not a subtle one and he easily became aware of it. The Rust Wolf Father raised his arm to protect his face from the screaming mass of pain heading his way. Its body pivoted, swinging the tree with its other hand towards me. I let the Force Field I was standing on disperse and fell out of range of the frankly lazy attack.
The Starstones exploded on collision, leaving dents in the stone creature. The fire damage half of the projectiles did nothing, but the bludgeoning damage equal to my Willpower still landed hard. While the Rust Wolf Father protected his head, his arm was not built to take such abuse.
Cracks spread across the boss’ appendage before the whole thing fell at the elbow. It landed next to Trevor, causing him to abort his latest attack while causing a plume of dust and dirt to rise from the impact.
The Rust Wolf Father reared back and howled again as a few remaining Starstones struck his head now that it wasn’t being guarded. Before, it had been a chilling sound, but there was something new to it. Now, the dread was laced with fear as its hit points rapidly lowered. It attempted to force this feeling on the rest of us.
My high Wisdom stat did well to throw off the mental attack. Trevor shook as it affected him normally, but he was still full of fighting spirit.
“Is that all you’ve got, ya bastard!” he taunted, voice wavering.
He jumped onto the fallen arm, planted his feet, and swung. His bat grew larger past the grip, to a size more fitting a Roman pillar before it struck the same leg he had before. The Rust Wolf Father took the blow, but stepped aside and continued swinging the stone pine tree.
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The makeshift club had missed me entirely, but the boss put its momentum to good use. Trevor put both hands on his bat, which returned to normal size, and used it to block. The two weapons collided, and the Slugger Savant was sent flying, but it wasn’t towards the lava this time. The Rust Wolves swarmed him as he landed in their midst.
Even though they tried like hell to go after his metal bat, I wrapped it in a protective Constructed sleeve to keep it from rusting. It was probably more powerful than it looked given that the man’s Patron was Gemini, but I wasn’t going to leave that up to chance. Trevor kicked, swung, and punched his way free from the swarm as I turned my attention back to the Rust Wolf Father.
His giant club was swinging back at me, likely to try to keep me at a distance that worked for him, and I jumped backwards, landing on another Force Field a safe distance away. The force of the wind was almost enough to send me backwards, but I managed to grab the defensive barrier and keep myself steady.
In the corner of the Rust Wolf Father’s vision, another oversized rock pick was Constructed. It fell straight for his head, point first. The boss ducked out of the way before lurching forward, grabbing it with his teeth.
Letting it partially disappear, I left the head of the Construct available and Pushed it straight into the back of its throat. The boss stumbled, trying unsuccessfully to clutch his throat with his now missing hand.
<<<>>>
[[Patron Message]]
Only a few more sheep to go, Ant. Jeff has one and it doesn’t look like he intends to put it in the pen until you’re finished, but this is your head’s up. The defenders are getting battered back there.
<<<>>>
A quick glance back showed people scrambling to fight off the Rust Wolves and save the Steel Merinos. The monsters were swarming quite quickly now, and the teams were working together to stop the unending tide.
“Think we gotta finish this up!” I yelled to the man on the ground. “Everyone’s getting tired from being swarmed!”
“Yeah, I hear you. I got something he’s not going to like,” Trevor loudly replied as he made it back to the fight. He was panting and injured, but still ready to go. I matched his energy by climbing higher into the sky.
The Slugger Savant swung at the air, hitting nothing, and began spinning like a top. He became faster and faster until he would become a blur to normal senses. Once he began moving, he left a trench in the ground from the force of it.
“Yeah! Spin to win!” I cheered.
Even though the Rust Wolf Father knew we were both threats, one was coming from above while the other below. I was out of reach, so I wasn’t its next target. Pulling the stone pine tree back, he swung it at Trevor. The two collided head on, but there was only one victor.
I laughed as the spinning man tore through the pine needles, branches, and even the trunk itself. The Rust Wolf Father looked at the much smaller tree it now carried in confusion just as Trevor surged towards its leg. The sound of the metal bat on stone was viscerally satisfying as he started smashing through with sheer force alone.
That was when I started diving, using all four applications of Drop on myself and my Smash Stick to reach terminal velocity. Wind whipped my clothes and whistled through my ears, and I could see in the distance that Jeff was holding onto the last Steel Merino just as Sara said. Everyone who wasn’t fighting was watching us now, waiting for the boss battle to be over before we won the scenario.
No point in taking things slow, then.
Using Orbit to spin, I got a little more force behind my swing before the Rust Wolf Father looked up to see me. His leg buckled as Trevor destroyed it, causing him to fall directly into my path. I Constructed a spike just above where I planned on striking.
Vermon’s Smash Stick broke on contact from the sheer force, leaving perhaps 60% of it intact. A part of me cringed at that; the club had come in handy time and time again, and I was feeling a little more sentimental than I expected seeing it break. However, the damage it had done to the boss was much, much worse.
The spike damn near broke as it was slammed into the Rust Wolf Father’s head. Wide cracks shot out from it as I Constructed a slide to redirect my momentum. It wasn’t much, but I came in at an angle instead of hitting the ground head on, causing a plume of dirt and debris to fly into the air. The Rust Wolf Father laid completely still after it hit the ground, down but not out of hit points just yet.
My body protested as I stood up, my legs wobbly. Even though my sudden stop was painful, I still Pulled the loose teeth towards me to toss into my inventory. I wasn’t sure how long it would take for Jeff to throw the Steel Merino into the pen, but I wasn’t about to risk it.
“Not bad, Trevor!” I called as the man stopped spinning. “I’m looking forward to seeing what else you can do in the future.”
The Slugger Savant didn’t look dizzy at all despite everything he had just gone through. I knew he had blown a long cooldown skill for this, and it had been fun to see. He eyed the boss with suspicion before giving me a thumbs up, which I returned. “Same you, Anthony. I’ll be waiting for you at the safe zone.”
“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” I shot back with a laugh, turning to walk towards the boss.
The Rust Wolf Father moved only a few inches as if flinching away from me. That simple action caused the cracks in its skin to become longer and wider. I let the spike disappear and the damage became too much and the oversized boss completely crumbled, its hit points finally depleted.
<<<>>>
[[Notice]
You are no longer under the effects of the Twins In Battle buff.
[[Victory!]]
You have defeated x57 Rust Wolves; +285 points.
You have defeated x11 Alpha Rust Wolves; +165 points.
You have contributed in defeating the Hidden Boss [Rust Wolf Father]; +450 (800) points.
[[Emperor’s Ascent Aries Quest 2 Complete]]
Not only were you able to save all 100 of the Steel Merinos that had escaped, but the team of Gemini and Sol Ligatus were also able to summon and defeat the Rust Wolf Father. The other factions have some big shoes to fill if they want to show off like Anthony and Trevor!
Congratulations, Gemini and Sol Ligatus!
Reward: 1,000 points, 500 points to Emma Deware, Hank He, Kyle Byers, Tom Dials, and William Thompson.
[[Patron Quest Complete!]]
Excellent work, Anthony! I’m glad to see you made a new friend in all this. The Patrons in the chat that were watching seemed impressed, and they’re ready to see what you and the guild can do from here on out.
Not everyone is on board, though. Remember that it’s going to take a lot of effort to get enough of them on your side that the administrators become too nervous to try something against you. So long as you keep that in mind, you’re going to be okay. I believe in you.
Reward: 15,000 points.
<<<>>>
Snapping away the notification, I gave Trevor an upward nod. “See you on the other side.”
Before he could respond, a flash of light relieved us of the heat of the area, and we were once again standing on the mountain path. Bethany quickly pulled out some tea and started handing it out as Ash rounded on us.
“You got me some teeth, right?” she greedily demanded.
Amused, we started emptying out our inventories. Even though the Rust Wolf Father didn’t have any drops, his teeth were still a big get, and I looked forward to whatever monstrosity she was going to make with them.
“Alright, take five, then we’re back at it,” I said, taking a moment to sit on a step myself. The break was well earned.
Dungeon Inspector! It comes out on March 17th, and the reason I've been doing so many shoutouts is to prepare for the launch. I'm really excited!