Riftside 2 - Chapter 54

Here we go! Thanks for your patience :) Chapter 55 should come out later today or tomorrow.

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More and more energy flowed from my core and into Roq as Hammer To The Face charged up, and he glowed a deeper and deeper purple.

“It’s working! It’s working,” Roq shouted in my mind, sounding even more excited than when we took on this mission. “Watch this, you skinny stick thrower! THIS IS WHAT I CALL SPECTACULAR VIOLENCE!”

“Fire!” Edwin said, slashing the air. 

I threw Roq with all my might as Eryn and Isaac loosed their arrows.

“Wheeeeee!”

“You are so childish,” Arclight said.

The purple hammer, three blue projectiles, and Isaac’s shadow trailing arrow, all headed straight for  Quarris’ face.

Eryn’s projectiles hit first, striking him dead in the eye, and splintered.

The giant didn’t even so much as blink or flinch at her attack. 

Isaac’s arrows struck next, hitting his forehead and exploding right below the crown. It didn’t do much more than just chip the crystal. 

“Hahaha!” Roq laughed in mad glee, just before he slammed into the giant’s square jaw.

I’d aimed slightly low, but it didn’t matter because the hammer did barely any damage, simply bopping the giant on the chin, and rocking its head slightly as he bounced off.

“Hah?” Roq said in surprise, dropping to the ground in front of the throne.

Tossing a smith’s hammer onto a granite stone would have done as much actual damage as I did to the giant.

A deep rumble filled the room as the monstrous crystal giant laughed. 

“Interesting tactical choice, throwing your weapon away,” Edwin said. “Hope there’s more to your plan.”

“Yeah,” I said. “That was… underwhelming.”

“Okay. Come back to me.”

I held out my hand, which just felt natural as Eryn and Isaac fired again. Only Isaac’s arrow did any damage, and it barely seemed to be doing anything. 

“Come get me,” Roq said, furtively.

“What? You said you could return!”

“Eventually return. And once we upgrade the skill, I will be able to return on my own. I think.”

“You said you had a different system of retrieval!”

“I do. Your feet,” Roq said, without an ounce of regret. “Now, jog over here, pick me up, and crack this monster open! I want to see what’s inside!”

“Oh…you bloody… idiot!”

“Ash?” Edwin asked. 

Roq was Roq, and he’d done a Roq-y thing. It had happened before and it would happen again next time we got a new ability, piece of gear, or met an interesting monster. I was sure of it, but I wasn’t about to let him get away without any consequences.

“You just lost your satin pillow privileges.”

“NO! You can’t do that!” Roq cried. “That is MY pillow! I earned it! I mean, I’m sorry! I regret everything! I won’t ever do anything like this again!”

“Shut up, you damn toddler of bloodlust and delusions of grandeur!

I took a breath and said, “That didn’t go as planned. Something is wrong.” 

It felt silly to state the obvious, but I was busy ignoring Roq’s pleas of innocence and couldn’t think of anything better at the moment. It’s not like I could put him in my storage to shut his voice off. The idiot was about thirty steps away from me. 

“The skill didn’t work as it was supposed to,” I added.

“I hope not,” the commander said, and by his tone he was definitely not impressed. He held up his hand. “Eryn, Isaac, enough,” he said, and they stopped shooting. 

“Seems it has a high resistance to piercing damage,” Isaac said. “This feels like back when I was a scavenger, missing the target and hitting a rock with a normal arrow.”

“We’ll have to do this the old fashioned way,” Edwin snapped as a command. “And it seems we have to start by helping Ash get his…” 

Edwin trailed off as the giant moved for the first time, the sound of a horrendous crystal grinding on crystal and glass shattering. He shifted on his throne, leaning down towards Roq.

“Watch out!” Arclight said.

“Stay back, I warn you!” Roq said.

The giant picked up Roq, the haft held between the left thumb and index finger. 

“I mean. Suits you for lying,” Arclight corrected. “Next time, do not betray your wielder like that.”

“Oh,” Eryn said. “This can’t be good. What if he throws it back at Ash?”

“Get your filthy paws off me, you crystalline chew toy!” Roq yelled as the giant lifted him up in front of his face. “NO! Bad giant. Put me down! Or wait, toss me back to Ash!”

Quarris opened its mouth and seemingly took a deep breath.

“Definitely bad,” Edwin said, knowing we were about to lose a soul weapon.

“I am made for one wielder and one wielder only and I give you to the count of—” Roq started. “Actually, never mind! Just DIE!”

The giant’s two fingers shattered as steelhusk spikes shot out along Roq’s haft. Quarris roared and recoiled back against his throne as Roq dropped to the ground.

“NO TOUCHING!” Roq chided, and the giant kicked him, sending him flying across the room to crack against the wall to the right of where we stood.

“Never seen that before,” Alex said.

“Me neither,” I said. “Steel and Scale weapons. Magical beyond belief.”

Knut chuckled as Quarris voice rumbled through the massive cavern, holding its wounded hand up in front of its face.

“Note to self,” Nabeeh said. “Don’t borrow Ash’s weapons. Ever.”

“You!” Quarris’ voice echoed like thunder. “Did cursed Hivemind send you? I will never return! And neither will you!”

We were all stunned for a long moment. The giant had…spoken? And worse, it thought that the Hivemind had sent us? What the hell was going on?

“What do we do?” I asked, looking at Edwin as Quarris spread his arms and let out a deafening bellow.

“I don’t think we can talk to it, Ash,” he said, shaking his head. “No matter how much I’d want to have a conversation, the giant needs to die. If we hold back, our own people could end up getting hurt or dead.”

He was right, and we all knew it.

“I don’t like him. Go retrieve me already!” Roq almost squealed in my mind. “Did you see that? He kicked me! Kicked! My magnificent self!”

“I would have done much worse,” Arclight said with a snort. “He is embarrassing our kind.”

“On your order,” I said and readied myself, ignoring the two for a moment. 

“What do you think? Can you communicate with it? From afar?”

“Yes, but it’s ignoring all my requests. Do you want me to continue pestering it?” Roq said.

“Totally,” I replied and steeled myself.

“Rowan, let’s go kill this bastard,” Edwin said and raised his shield. “Go!” The commander raced right at the giant, flaming sword held to the side. 

“Battle Rhythm, Charge,” Rowan hissed under his breath, and ran off after the commander.

The strangest thing happened before Edwin even got within striking distance when the flames covering his sword suddenly died out. He swung with full force, but his weapon only chipped away at the monster’s right knee. It did more damage than the arrows had, but much less than I’d expected from someone of his level.

“It’s got a debuff zone!” Edwin shouted, cutting at the same spot just as Rowan caught up. “Ash, your passives won’t apply!”

I ran along the wall, heading for Roq  whileIsaac and Eryn shot more arrows at its head, maybe hoping to at least distract it.

“Smash, Cleave,” Rowan yelled, and struck with both swords, hitting the same leg as Edwin. The swords bit deep and light spilled from the wound, and Quarris grunted as if annoyed by their attempts.

“I’m never going back, nasty softshelleds!” the giant said, his voice that same shattering glass as earlier.

“Abilities work,” Edwin yelled so everyone could hear him.

“Get me, get me, get me!” Roq said in a panicked tone. “We’re missing the fight! Go in there and smash, smash, smash!”

“You’re lucky you get to join at all after the stunt you pulled, but we’ll have that conversation later!”

The giant kicked out, its massive foot connecting with Edwin’s tower shield. He angled it and the foot flew past him, then rushed in and struck up at the backside of the knee. 

Rowan seemed to strike at any part he could reach, as fast as he could, to charge his Battle Rhythm. Small chips of crystal fell away, but much too slowly to actually do any real harm in a quick burst.

I snapped up Roq as Quarris leaned forward and swept his arm at the two adventurers. It struck Edwin’s shield head on, sending the commander staggering back several steps. The attack bought us a few seconds, and Rowan used them  to score another quick combo, hitting the arm several times before the giant could pull it back.

Quarris pushed off the throne and finally stood, towering nearly four times as tall as any of us. Knut, Edwin, and myself, we were all tall for our species, but that thing just dwarfed us.

I joined the fight, while Knut had stopped halfway between the tunnel mouth and the giant, seeming content to get a better read on the battle before committing.

The giant held its wounded hand out towards the pylon on its left, and the entire length lit up from the five silhouettes hidden within.

“Weavers,” Arclight said, disgust obvious in her tone.

“Like bugs trapped in sap,” Roq agreed.

Light raced from the pylon and across the floor towards the giant.

Ming ran from the tunnel opening, trying to head it off, but she wouldn’t make it there in time. 

I activated Smash, and felt my core drain nearly dry. For its impact, the throw had been a horrible mana investment. That just went to show that we humans really didn’t know better than to repeat our own mistakes over and over again.

I entered the debuff field that surrounded the giant. And immediately felt some of my strength drain away. 

“We have just lost my passives,” Roq said, sounding just as pissed as I was.

My equipment suddenly felt heavier and my movements more sluggish. In the back of my head I noted that the passives hadn’t disappeared when I threw him, it was only when I got in range.

“Time to show them who’s boss!” Roq said and I struck as hard as I could at Quarris’ right leg. Pain shot up my arm as the hammer met crystal and barely chipped away a chunk the size of my palm. It reminded me of my first fight with a named variant, when I took an axe to Roq’s neck.

I’d need a dozen hits to do any kind of real damage, and that was with Smash. Just like Edwin had said, both Roq’s and my Hammerlord passives seemed to do nothing. A thought crossed my mind then. It wasn’t me who was powerful, it were his abilities that allowed me to do what I did, and it damned hurt my pride.

Right before the light reached Quarris, he stepped back to get some distance from us, Ming touched her staff to the ground and cast Lightning into the crystals. It shot off along whatever magical network lay within the crystals. Oddly, there was no explosion, and before it collided with the pylon’s light, it veered off on a complex route away from the center of the room until it dissipated. 

"Spark me sideways!" Ming cursed. “That damned spell hit none fried nothing but my dignity.” She chased the light, but wasn’t having much luck. “The network is too random!”

The pylon’s magic reached Quarris’ leg as he swiped at Rowan. The nimble fighter dodged, letting one sword trail along the hand, throwing up crystals with the swipe. The giant lit up from within as if it had swallowed a piece of the sun and fresh crystal grew to heal its wounded knee and the fingers Roq had destroyed. 

A low growl started in the giant’s chest and steadily grew stronger. 

“Any time now, Ming!” Edwin said with a hint of urgency, followed by “Expand.” 

The commander’s shield grew. 

“This is embarrassing,” Roq said while I hammered a fresh chip in Quarris’ right leg, not wanting to risk repositioning to the left one. “You know I usually hit much harder than this! No? Tell me! Tell me that I’m better than this!”

“And my arrows are not supposed to be ineffective,” Arclight said, sniffing like a sad kid. The two really knew how to act up. “Our wielders have simply made a poor choice in prey.”

The giant pulled his leg back and lined up a kick. Rowan and I moved to the sides, leaving Edwin alone in front of the giant. He just stood there, screaming a challenge to the giant.  

“Bring it, you lump of crystal!”

One of Eryn’s arrows pinged off Quarris’ face and fell to the ground next to him. The giant kicked.

“Shield Bash,” Edwin snapped, lunging to meet the oncoming charging bull of a foot, his towering tower shield glowing red.

Quarris’ foot shattered on Edwin’s shield, but it sent him flying over thirty feet back and into the wall. His head snapped back and hit the wall, but had his helmet on luckily.

“Idiot!” Alex called. “That’s not how you make my job easier!”

The giant reached out to catch itself on the throne, the jagged edge of its ruined foot scraping on the ground.

“Armor Break. And tell me what you… taste, you untrustworthy piece of steelhusk!”

“Fine! But if I help secure the win, I retain my satin pillow rights!”

Roq glowed red as I smashed him into the knee of the giant’s good leg, doing the same amount of damage as Smash had. Rowan was laying into the damaged leg’s knee, chipping away larger chunks with every new attack. 

The plan was simple. If we couldn’t kill it from afar, we would bring it to the ground and chop its head off or destroy anything resembling a heart. 

“It will help your case.”

“I’ll take it. And it tastes… solid. Unlike the Strikers or Weavers, there’s no hollow space inside to make it brittle. It’s not covered in armor, it’s just solid crystal.”

“It’s not the armor that makes it tough,” I called. “Added damage and armor penetration abilities did equal damage!”

“But, maybe… let me taste some more.”

With the arm on the throne, Quarris once again reached toward the pylon, and it lit up. 

“Want me to try some fire spells now?” Nabeeh called. 

“Go for it,” Edwin said from where he was getting back up to his feet, groaning.

“Immolation,” Nabeeh said, and a crackling resounded from within the monster.

Quarris swiped for Rowan with its other hand, trying to swat him out of the way as if he were a fly. The fighter was too quick and dodged easily. 

“Smash,” the warrior said, and sliced through three fingers. They clipped him as they fell, sending him off balance.

Then Knut was finally there, his mace glowing green as he struck at the monster’s leg with me, taking out another chunk. As it fell away, he roared.

“Die mountain man! Weakling!”

Ming reached a spot where the light flowed through the floor and placed her staff against it.

“Shield,” Alex said, and that golden glow lit up around Ming. She was thrown away as the floor detonated, her magic racing up to the pylon. It blew with the force of a dozen glowcaps, stopping the light right before it reached the monster.

I heard Eryn scream in pain as crystal splinters pinged off my armor and helmet, followed by Isaac’s grunt and Alex shouting.

“Ming!”

“Fire Trap,” Nabeeh called. From the sound of her voice I guessed she hadn’t been hit by the explosion or debris.

“You alright, over?”

I slammed Roq against Quarris’ good knee, again and again, while flames shot up underneath its damaged one, cooking the crystal. Whether the spell did any damage, I didn’t know, but together with Knut, my hits were slowly adding up. Despite his great size, the giant was too slow and every time it struck, we got extra time to keep attacking.

“I’m alright,” Roq relayed from Eryn. 

“She’s wounded, but able to fight,” Arclight added hurriedly.

The boss waved one hand at me, striking Knut’s shield and forcing me back, then reached for another pylon with its other hand.

I glanced around and saw Alex running to help Ming. She tried to rise, blood running from a cut on her scalp.

Edwin had nearly made it back to the fight when the light reached Quarris, and just as with the Vanguards when the light reached them, crystalline armor and equipment grew directly onto the giant.

A closed helmet formed around his head, a cuirass covered his chest, greaves his legs, while a long spear and a round shield appeared in his hands. They were all made from bright green crystal that glowed so strongly I had issues keeping my eyes focused on the monster. 

Quarris slammed the shield down in front of Knut, Rowan, and I, pushing us back and out of reach. Then it flipped the spear in its grip and threw it straight at Ming.

I jumped as it did, swinging Roq, hoping to crack the weapon, but I came up just short, and followed the weapon with my gaze.

“Aegis Reach, Pulse Ward! ” Alex said, his voice strained. 

A dark line of magic appeared in the spear’s way, seven feet long, three high, and half a foot thick. Behind it, in front of Ming, was a shimmering circle in the air, like the haze on a scorching hot day, the size of a regular buckler.

The spear hit the Aegis Reach wall-like defensive wall and crashed right through, barely even slowing down. Then it reached the Pulse Ward and slowed down , before it plunged into Ming’s chest. 

She didn’t scream. She just grunted and collapsed.

Alex however, did scream. 

“Rapid Mend!”

He dropped down next to her, his hands glowing a colorful golden.

Rowan stowed one sword as he jumped and grabbed the edge of the giant’s shield, while Knut hammered away at the front, and Edwin was running to get around it.

Then Ming flopped an arm down in the direction of the pylon and lightning shot from her and into the crystalline floor. Unlike her previous cast which didn’t touch on the light and had ended up dissipating, this one went in a straight line, as it punched through whatever lattice work existed within the crystals, until it reached the pylon, and then exploded. 

Unfortunately it didn’t chain-link into the giant, but the buffed equipment vanished into dust, leaving him staggering under the sudden loss of weight.

“You and Isaac focus on destroying the other pylons. The debuff zone is only close to Quarris, over!”

“Destroy a damn leg,” Edwin called, and I struck faster. 

“Any insight on how to kill it yet?”

“Not without my passives,” Roq said. “I’ve tasted its insides, and we can crush it, but we need more power!”

I smacked the leg as fast as I could, but it felt like hammering with a chisel against a mountain.

Then Eryn hit one of the two remaining pylons, piercing it with a single arrow. Cracks spiderwebbed along its length from the point of impact. It was followed a moment later by one of Isaac’s, blasting apart the top third. 

For a moment, the flames of Edwin’s sword flickered back on and I felt my power return, then it was gone again.

“What was that?” he said. 

“I felt my power returning!” Roq said. “Great destruction! Hit it again, you string-bent weapon of long distance stick throwing!”

“Your appreciation is… appreciated, rock-on-a-stick,” Arclight said.

With the shield gone, the four of us had spread out around Quarris in a half circle, and were chipping away at its legs, unable to reach anything taller. 

It kept focusing on Edwin, though whether it was because he used Taunt, or it was angry for how he had destroyed its leg earlier, I didn’t know. Maybe it considered us just as nuisances and him as the real threat.

Suddenly, it simply sat down, and as it did, reached out for both Knut and Rowan, catching the northerner’s shield. It swung him like a toy, his arm stuck in the straps, to slam into Edwin, and sent them both tumbling. 

The ground shook as he landed, and I almost fell, losing my balance for a second. Our back line yelped and shouted, stumbling or falling. Chunks of crystal fell from the ceiling, and one of them almost crushed me, but one did clip Rowan. 

He slashed at it with his blades and I could see him fall to his knees for a moment.

I figured this was a good chance as any, and ran up alongside Quarris’ leg, shortening my grip on Roq so the Woodweaver spike was further down, and pressed it against the crystal.  It left a groove. 

“I like the way you think!” Roq said. “Grip me hard and plunge me deep into the monster’s back!”

I groaned, but he had grasped most of my plan. If it took long enough to rise, maybe I could use Roq’s spike to somehow get up on its back and then shove Roq backwards into its brain.

But it twisted sideways, towards me, rolling onto its belly. Oddly, the giant didn’t seem to have any special abilities and focused purely on attacking with its body.

My cloak wrapped around me in a cocoon as its other leg came crushing down, slamming me into the ground. Hard.

“He’s fine,” Roq said, talking to Eryn. “Taking a nap in his little cocoon.”

I twisted in the complete darkness, unsure which way was up and which down, trying not to panic as my limbs squeezed tightly against me, and my shield dug into my hip. The cocoon only reduced damage from one single instance, which means I could be crushed if he rolled over further. 

“Activate spikes?”

“You want less space? Because that’s how you get less space,” Roq said. “Just hold on. The rocky boy wonder is crawling, reaching towards the undamaged pylon.”

I tried to activate Ironburst around me, hoping to lift the giant and buy myself some space, but my core came up short. I didn’t have the mana. Hammer to the Face had cost too much and now I was barely able to use an ability here and there. Damn Roq and his idiotic ideas.

“This shot should do it!” Arclight said, and I heard an explosion, then something crashed down on the ground. 

“My sweet, sweet power!” Roq squealed. “I am powerful again!”

My strength increased and returned to full as the debuff zone disappeared.

“Brutal Momentum!”

Rowan’s voice sounded right next to me, and I heard crystals shattering, and suddenly the weight on top of me disappeared and the cloak retreated.

The warrior had chopped the leg in half, freeing me. 

I rose as he ran for the giant’s back.

“Hurry!” Roq said. “Go get the kill! Don’t let them finish it or I will never forgive you!”

“Let’s focus on survival, asshole! I don’t have any mana because of your stupid throwing skill! .”

The remaining pylon was lit up, its light rushing across the floor towards Quarris. He reached a long arm toward it.

One arrow hit, chipping off a bit. Nabeeh’s Fireball struck it next, but did less damage. 

“Stop the light!” Edwin shouted, running past me. 

“Lightning Wall!” Ming yelled dramatically from behind me, just as the giant touched the light.

A globe of energy covered Quarris, for a split second, before shooting outward, tossing the four of us away.

Where the giant had been a heartbeat ago, now lay a crystalkin half its size, but whole, and by its side was a spear and shield. It was as if it had used the excess material of its body to reforge itself into a smaller but more powerful size. 

Thunder boomed through the cave as eight bolts of lightning struck down in a line, two of which hit the glowing pylon. It might not have been cast into the crystal, and maybe it only reacted the way because Isaac and Eryn had damaged it with their arrows, but the pylon exploded, blowing a hole through the wall behind it. On the other side lay a dark tunnel leading…somewhere.  

Quarris grabbed its weapons and ran for the tunnel, taking long, ground-shaking strides to get away from us.

“Hiya!” Roq yelled. “Go after it already!”