Riftside 3 - Chapter 16

I ran for the Steel Scrambler, a savage grin spreading across my face.

“Armor break.”

Roq glowed red. 

“Lan!” Roq said. “Back off. Stay! Disengage! This is my kill to finish!”

“No!” Lan shouted. “Wait!”

With its claw busy trying to right itself, I leapt up onto its upturned underbelly. There was the circle of five holes from my steelhusk spears. 

I brought Roq down with a mighty hammer blow and punched through the armor, and thrust my warhammer into it, crunching through the thinner plating, and letting him sink deep into the monster’s innards.

“Crab cakes!” Roq cried in pleasure as I dodged a leg-kick from the crab.

“This isn’t over!” Lan yelled, and I heard her skidding to a halt just below the monster. 

I swiped out Blisterbrand and the head burst into fire. 

“Roq, you better make this count.”

I swung it like a smith at the forge, smashing it against the haft of my embedded warhammer. 

The impact of Blisterbrand against Roq’s haft sent a concussive boom across the clearing and drove Roq deep into the Scrambler’s guts and the monster shuddered. If it could sweat, I imagined that it did so right then.

“Now. Go Primal.”

“You don’t have to say that twice!” Roq said as I hopped back off the monster, getting out of possible harm’s way.

Black smoke poured from Roq’s entry wound followed by a geyser of guts that poured through the hole I’d just made. 

Horrible sounds came from inside the beast as Roq started carving and devouring. The Scrambler’s legs, which had been flailing, began spasming violently. With each convulsive kick, fresh goo burst from the beast, drenching the ground and making me step back. It was just disgusting. 

I stood next to Lan, watching the grotesque display with grim satisfaction. She thrust forth her staff, and a heavy water spout slammed into the oversized crab. But instead of doing any damage , it just power-washed some of the gore away. 

“Thanks for cleaning up,” I said. 

“This is just a bad matchup,” she snarled, as if to excuse her spell’s ineffectiveness. The words were a flimsy shield for her frustration. “You’ll see what I’m capable of.” 

“Not if you think you’re a solo adventurer in my party, Lan. You better remember this moment.”

She cast a water bubble around the monster's head, aiming to drown it, but it was useless. A few bubbles came from its mouth, but it didn’t last long enough to even do any kind of damage.

The Scrambler’s struggles lasted for about twenty seconds, maybe thirty. It was an eternity of thrashing and the sound of something large and furious breaking things from the inside. Then, with one final, shuddering tremor, it went still.

“Monster piss,” Lan said, looking grumpy. 

A wisp of black smoke drifted out of the hole, a final, satisfied sigh.

“Hah! Level forteen!” Roq said, triumphant and smug. “So juicy! So… crunchy! A meal fit for a king!”

“Congratulations.”

I looked around, and only Shay and Felix were still fighting, dealing with a few remaining Steel Scuttlers, while Eryn was kneeling by Garret’s side. 

“Oh! I feel energy in my steelhusk!” Roq added. “I can get a new skill! But… No! You must help me unlock it, Ash. Quick. Come get me now. Let us find out what new wonder I am about to bring to your world!”

“Later, Roq. If you need my help, like with the breakthrough, then we’ll do it when we are back.”

“Unfair.”

The new mages, Wade, and even Ahsan just stood and stared at the mangled carcass, their faces a mixture of shock, awe, and a little bit of nausea. From their perspective, I had hammered my weapon into a red-rated monster, which then proceeded to tear itself apart from the inside out.

“Alright, cleanup!” I commanded and twirled Blisterbrand, nearly hitting Lan with drops of acid. “Finish the Scuttlers!”

Working with Knut, Ahsan, Shay and Felix, we crushed the remaining smaller crabs. 

“That’s a hell of a hammer, Ash,” Felix commented, wiping his mace clean on a tuft of grass. He eyed Blisterbrand with a warrior's appreciation. “Never seen crystal that tough.”

“Thanks,” I said, jogging over to Eryn. “Steel and Scale, you know.” 

“Hey, what about me? Don’t leave me behind! I will come out in my primal form, you bad, bad biped!”

Garret was unconscious, his face pale. 

“He’s stable,” Eryn said as I approached, her voice low and steady despite the carnage. “But he needs a healer. Now.”

I winced at his current status. One foot was gone below the knee, and his left hand was a mangled ruin. As adventurers we were tougher and better at killing, but even a simple monster had the potential to severely wound us given enough time. Equipment and skill was equally important.

Eryn had already applied two tourniquets, stopping the flow of blood, but the clock was ticking on saving his limbs.

“Alright, listen up!” I called, my voice cutting through the post-battle haze. “Garret’s hurt bad. Who else? Tell me quickly, because we’re moving out soon.”

Felix bled from a few gashes on his legs but he waved off any concern. 

“Just scratches. A good story to tell, nothing more. I’ll live.” 

No one else seemed to have taken any serious damage, which was a minor miracle considering everything.

“My shoulder,” Knut said, joining me, rolling the joint with a wince, though a grin split his face. “I fear it is a grave wound. It will require extensive, personal, and prolonged examination by our beautiful doctor.”

I shook my head, and despite the gravity of Garret’s wounds, found a great relief at the victory. We had taken down a red rated threat, and we would all live to tell the tale and reap the rewards. 

The new mages were all nursing splitting headaches. 

“I feel like I tried to drink a lake through a straw,” Jessica complained, glaring at Lan, who seemed completely unfazed by her mana expenditure.

“What about the loot?” Wade asked. 

“Anyone have a Tier Four storage upgrade?” I asked. They all shook their heads. 

I tried swiping the Scrambler into my own storage, but it was useless. 

“Riftrot. Okay, new plan. I’ll come back with Commander Edwin for the main carcass. We’re taking the Scuttlers.”

“What’s the loot situation?”

“There’s a delicious energy coming from the Scrambler,” Roq said, and gave a burp. “Tastes of Class Gem. And I can sense ten Mind Gems among the dead Scuttlers, but there’s so many that telling you which ones is… difficult without pointing.”

“Everyone, fill up on the Steel Scuttlers. We’re bringing them all!” I announced. “You’ve got one minute to loot and then we leave. I’ll carry Garret’s share.” 

I met Nabeeh’s gaze, and she raised an eyebrow. 

“Pick whichever carcasses you want,” I added.

She gave a slow, single nod of approval, a silent acknowledgment that I was upholding my word to her about not messing with the loot when we were in raids.

I went to the Scrambler’s carcass and expected to have to deal with a gory mess, possibly needing to go inside the beast to find him, but Roq’s haft was sticking cleanly out of the wound. With a firm tug, the warhammer came free.

“Remind me to never, ever piss off Ash’s hammer,” Jeff said to Jessica as we filled our storages. “That thing is pure terror.”

She just fanned her face. 

“Are you kidding? I think I’m in love with it.”

“She has good taste,” Roq said.

“Time’s up!” I said. “Let’s move!”

Eryn had stored Garret’s limbs, and Knut lifted the tank as if he weighed nothing, despite his previous complaints of a sore shoulder, and we began a hurried trek back through the forest.

It didn’t take long for Lan to storm up beside me. 

“That was my kill! I didn’t get any experience from those little ones.” Her voice was sharp.

“You’ll get your kills when you learn to fight with this party, not against it,” I said calmly, not breaking my stride. “Until you share your skills and coordinate with the team, you’re a liability. A leader feeds the pack, not just one wolf. You want kills? Show me you can protect the pack first. That's how you earn your share. Besides, you’ll have your portion of the Mind Gems we earn.”

She scoffed, a sound of pure derision. 

“Mind Gems are so inefficient. I came here to slay and kill.”

A smirk touched my lips. 

“Good thing you’re a water mage, then. You can cool off.”

She glared daggers at me but fell silent, dropping back into formation, staff clutched close.

The trek back to Sentinel Station was anything but boring, as Wade dramatically recounted his bait run as we jogged, and the story kept swelling, turning his panicked flight into a legendary act of bravery in the retelling. It helped my worry for Garret. Somewhat. 

When we finally arrived at the station, it was a whirlwind of controlled chaos.

“Shay, Barabbas, Ahsan, go find Commander Edwin, bring him to the medical tent. Now! We don’t want to risk something happening to that carcass.” I said. “And Nabeeh, just go with them,” I added, knowing she would relish the excuse to interact with the commander. She gave me a grateful, wicked smile before taking off.

I followed Knut towards Katherine’s medical tent.

“Justin, Jessica, Jeff, Nina. Meditate. Riftside. I want you back at full mana in case the monsters decide to retaliate. Go.”

They scattered, following orders without question. 

Eryn and I went with Knut into the medical tent. Enar was there, dutifully organizing supplies, and his face lit up when he saw us.

“Ash! You’re back! How did the–” His words died as he spotted Garret, and his face went white as he took in the sight of the mangled limbs. 

“Monster balls,” Katherine said as Knut carefully laid Garret on a cot, and Eryn swiped out the severed hand and foot and placed them on the side table.

“Well, your friends will be nothing if not good help in your training,” Katherine said. “Tell me what you see, Enar.”

Enar just stood there, frozen in shock. 

“Breathe, Healer. Then work,” she commanded, her voice firm but not unkind. “He needs you.”

Enar took a shaky breath and placed a trembling hand over Garret’s chest. A soft, golden light emanated from his hand and the duo started their wondrous work.

A few minutes later, Edwin strode in with Nabeeh and Shay. 

“Report, Aldrich.”

I gave him the concise version. Scrambler down, Garret critical, rest of the raid with minor injuries or mana exhaustion.

“Excellent job,” Edwin said, smiling. “But why call me here for that? Surely it could have waited til you arrived at the guild?”

“I need to borrow your spatial storage, Commander. For the big one.”

Edwin chuckled, a rare, genuine sound. 

“Ah, I see. I’ll rent it to you.”

“For what?” I asked, suspicious.

He winked. 

“A beer at the Timberline. And maybe I could borrow…your friend here for a bit, too?” he said and nodded at Nabeeh.

“Done,” I said with a grin. “Knut, Eryn, stay with Garret. And Lan…” I glanced around and spotted her over by the wall, sitting in the shade. Her staff was planted before her, its purple orb glowing ominously. It looked like she was talking to it. 

“Ready for some exercise then, Commander?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at Edwin. “About time we see if you can keep up with the new generation.”

Edwin just laughed, a full-throated, challenging sound. 

“Don’t let one successful raid go to your head, kid. And sure. I’ll race you, but do it with weapons out.”

Then, without another word, he broke into a full, blistering sprint towards the gate.

“Riftrot!” I cursed, and quickly dumped the Scuttler carcasses from my storage. “Wade! Take care of these!” I shouted at the crossbowman, who stood flirting with a female guard, before setting off after the madly sprinting commander, Roq already in my hand.

No matter how hard I pushed my enhanced body, I just couldn’t catch up. 

“Thought you youngsters were supposed to be fast!” Edwin called back over his shoulder, a grin in his voice that belied his pace.

“Thought you old-timers were supposed to be conserving your energy for yelling at people!” I shot back, laughing and revelling in the sheer physicality of running full tilt and how it cleared my body and mind of the stress of the raid.

“Tell him his form is sloppy,” Roq chimed in. “He runs like a frightened grok-lizard. All clonk and no dignity. A king, such as myself, would glide.”

“You’d waddle, and you know it.”

I burst from the treeline into the clearing a few steps behind Edwin, me having been forced to give him directions.

The Steel Scrambler’s corpse dominated the landscape, and was a monument to our victory. Its polished shell was pitted and scorched, and flies the size of my fist surrounded the gaping wound in its underbelly.

“By the bells, that’s a big one,” Edwin said, slowing down. He walked a circle around the beast and tapped its side with his gauntlet. “You didn’t just kill it, Ash. You violated it.”

“Roq wanted to be thorough,” I said. “Couldn’t help it that the crab didn’t want to die peacefully.”

Edwin swiped the entire thing into his spatial, and we headed back, not wanting to risk getting caught by anything else, even if we’d likely be able to outrun it. 

I enjoyed the jog back to the station even more, chatting with Edwin and recounting the raid and getting some advice. 

We returned to Sentinel Station and the medical tent to find Garret sleeping, his leg and hand reattached. He would probably be out for a while and done with tanking until his limbs had resettled, but that was the price we paid.

Enar looked up as we entered, a weary but genuine smile on his face.

“Go ahead,” Katherine said.

“He’s going to be fine, Ash,” Enar reported. “Katherine says he’ll keep both limbs. He’ll be on light duty for a while, but he’ll walk and fight again.”

“You did good, Enar,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Thank you. Doc, thank you as well. I would have hated to lose a friend.”

“I’m so glad I got to help,” Enar said, and the doc just nodded. 

“Now, where is that big oaf of a northerner? He needs some closer inspection,” Katherine said.