Riftside 2 - Chapter 53

I stood just inside the tunnel, looking at Quarris’ throne chamber. Four crystalline pylons rose in a square formation at the edges of the room, each as thick as a steelhusk tree and easily three times my height. It was the figure seated on the dais in the center of the room that commanded our attention.

Up close, Quarris, the Crystalkin Giant, was terrifying. A monstrous creation of pink and red crystal. Where the other Crystalkin looked and felt odd, his size made him seem… impossible with skin resembling jagged granite, with veins of pulsing light, similar to the weavers. 

Thicker crystal formations covered his body like a warrior's armor, dotted with sharp spikes. Around his forehead was a crown-like circle of black crystal. His face was like an uncaring statue, unmoving and all angular planes and sharp edges. There was no emotion there. No rage, no mercy, no humanity. If he cared in the least about us going through his army, the giant didn’t show it. 

The monster’s hands rested on the armrests of the throne, and his clawed fingers made Arclight's massive paws look like a kitten's by comparison. Quarris sat leaned forward slightly, giving the feeling he could rise at any moment to rush over and crush me if I dared step a foot into the room.

"By the steelhusk of my first anvil," Roq breathed, awe and hunger mingling in his voice. "Look at the size of him! That's not a king, that's a mountain pretending to have a throne! I want, no, I need to see what he tastes like when we smash him to bits."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, rock-on-a-stick," Arclight said. "He may be large, but even prey that size can be felled with the right shot.”

"It is Roq, and you know it, you uneducated ball of fluff! And if you think you can outdo me here, you’re dumber than you look. Which is saying something. This is a job for brute force, not dainty little sharpened sticks!"

"Brute force is for those without finesse. Watch and learn, Roq-for-brains."

I tuned them out. In the face of this monster, their bickering was practically a comfort. I backed away from the opening and returned to where the others waited, their faces expectant.

“Well,” I said, taking a slow breath. “He hasn’t left, that’s for sure.”

Nabeeh raised an eyebrow at me, and I chuckled nervously. 

“He’s big,” I said. “You should all take a peek to see what we're up against. The rest of us stays back and waits for our cooldowns.”Edwin headed down the tunnel first.

“In the meantime, I’m going to say a battle prayer,” I said.

“Oh?” Rowan said. 

“Now and then Ash does. Sometimes works,” Knut said and shrugged. He might not know exactly what I was up to, but he knew by now to provide me cover when I needed it. “No harm. Maybe good.”

“Want to have us join in?” Alex asked, drawing me up short.

“Erh,” I said, glancing at Eryn. “My practice is an internal one. But… I’ll mention you?”

“Thanks,” Alex said.

“Smooth,” Roq chuckled in Eryn’s voice.

“Thanks, over.”

I stored my shield and settled on the floor, facing down the tunnel and away from the team, placing Roq in my lap.

“So… what are we doing?” Roq asked.

“You’ve waited patiently, and Quarris seems content to sit on his throne for a bit longer. I’d like to go into this battle as strong as possible, so let’s do it. I want my new skill.”“Oh, yes! Finally!” Roq said. “I thought you’d never ask.”

“I’m not asking. I'm allowing.”

“Semantics.”

A pause. Then his voice dropped to something almost serious.

“So,” Roq said casually, “You remember when you threw me at the Vanguard, smashing its chest?”

“I remember.”

“That was amazing.”

“It was desperate.”

“No, really,” he said. “The wind in my…everything. The screaming. The spinning. The shattering. The…independence. It was pure joy.”

“You’re a hammer,” I said. “That’s not normal for a hammer.”

“I’m a soul weapon, Ash. Normal is for swords.”

I shifted slightly on my knees to keep up the illusion of solemnity.

“Let’s make a skill for it,” Roq said. “You throw me and I kill whatever I hit. Like a flying vengeance hammer. A much stronger version of whatever that kitty can do. It’ll be fun and deadly!”

“Being disarmed in the middle of a fight isn’t my idea of fun.”

“What if I make it less disarming. What if I… we build a skill where you throw me... and eventually, I’ll come back.”

I was quiet for a moment. With Ironburst I had a good area of effect spell. And anything close enough to hit got smashed up good with Smash or Armor Break. Having some range could be good. 

I thought back to the Weaver who had nearly smashed a spike through Eryn.

“What if I miss?”

“You won’t. But even if you do, we will reunite. Eventually. I’ll be a blood-soaked flying hammer of vengeance!”

“What are the choices with this skill?”

“We can go with a shorter cooldown and less damage, or a longer cooldown and more power than anything a stick and string can do.”

“Doubtful,” Arclight interjected.

I ignored her.

“Definitely higher damage. I don’t want to have to keep throwing you. This isn’t to start a fight, it’s to finish one. If that’s not possible, let’s make another skill.”

“No, no, that’s all fine,” Roq said quickly. “I’ll crank up the power to maximum, and damned be the cooldown, and mana cost and… well, let’s see what happens, shall we?”

“Alright. I--never mind. Go ahead. You did well last time.”“Done,” Roq said, eager to show off. “You release with intent, and your hand becomes the anchor. I’ll return eventually.”

“Hold on. Why do you keep saying eventually?”

“I won’t be able to return exactly at once.”

“How long are we talking about?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“Many factors. But don’t worry about it. I promise it’ll be worth it.”

“Ohh, no you don’t. I need details, Roq.”

“Fine. When the skill is fully upgraded I’ll be able to return within a second. Before then it’ll be a different system of retrieval and will take longer.”

“Okay, so you mean when we can upgrade this skill to its next rank? Like when we hit level twenty or thirty? And then you’ll be able to return faster?”

“Yes.”

“And what about now? And hurry up, Roq. The others will be waiting.”

“Depends on distance and such. If you throw me down an infinite hole, I’m not sure I could return. If you toss me, say, over there to Edwin, it should be a few seconds at most.”

“Alright. That’s not too bad.”

“And… the system of retrieval will improve with levels as well. I’ve got some great ideas. The best, really.”

“Fine. Just do it, and Roq?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t make me regret it. Also, keep it quiet. No dramatics.”

“Define ‘quiet.’”

“Roq.”

“Fine.”

I clenched my teeth and stayed still, not daring to twitch. To the others, I was just praying. In reality, I would be opening myself up to another one of Roq’s surges of raw power mixed in with absolute agony.

A deep hum began in my chest, like a forge coming alive.

The energy didn't rip through me this time like it had with Ironburst. Instead, it coiled, gathering in my spine and pooled near my shoulder, down my arm, to my wrist.

“I’m tuning the skill to your motion, making your aim better than any archer,” Roq said.

“You’re doing better. It doesn’t hurt as bad as last time.”

“I know,” Roq said, sounding smug. “Told you I’m learning. Less screaming, more hammer-time. Also, that’s the preparations done. I’m going to start now.”

The pain intensified, turning sharp and focused, like every tendon in my arm was being etched with runes by a red-hot nail. 

“Nevermind! This sucks!”

“That’s because doing this is new to me,” Roq said. “I’m taking part of what Arclight does with her arrows when Eryn holds her draw, and creating a way to charge me up. A kind of feedback loop within you. Flexible, so you can decide how hard to throw me.”

I kept perfectly still, lips moving silently in mock prayer. Sweat ran down my back, but I didn’t flinch.

“Almost done,” Roq said. “All that’s left is adding in some extra fun for the moment of impact. I’ll need to nearly drain you of all mana right now to do so, though.”

“Will it kill me?”

“Probably not, and it’ll be worth it. Trust me.”

“Wait, probably? That’s a big ask.”

“You trusted me to stop your heart last time.”

“I most certainly did not trust you. You just went ahead and did it!”

“Details. Look at how you can show off now, mister ‘I can use Iron Burst and impale monsters all around me and look cool while doing it’!”

A surge of energy flowed through me, like a spike driven from my right palm and into my shoulder. I grunted under my breath but didn’t cry out as it faded swiftly. 

My heartbeat steadied and my hand tingled. 

“All done?”

“We are ready. Throw me, Ash. Let me fly.”

I opened my eyes, took a slow breath, grabbed Roq, and stood, brushing imaginary dust from my knees, and checked my stat sheet.

4. NAME: Hammer To The Face!

TYPE: Active

DESCRIPTION: Charge mana into your weapon and throw it with explosive power. The longer the charge builds, the more kinetic force the weapon will deliver. Deals massive single-target damage on hit and has a chance to stun or knock back the target. Deals extra damage to armored targets.

Mana Cost: 40

“All good,” I said. “Luck will be with us.”

“Will you be trying the skill now?” Roq relayed from Eryn who had heard Roq’s side of the conversation and knew what we had been doing.

“No. I don’t know how long the cooldown is. I’ll save it for the fight, over.”

“Ash?” Edwin said, resting an arm on top of his shield, helmet in hand. He swiped away a water skin. “What’s the plan for the fight?”

I looked around at the gathered adventurers, thinking of the fight to come and the ideas I had.

“Well,” I said. “Thank you for the trust so far, Edwin. I appreciate being allowed to lead the raid. But let’s be honest, this fight is something else entirely, and I think we’d all learn more from getting to watch you in action. So, want to take over?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Edwin said, nodding. “Quarris is likely to attack the moment we step into the room, or at least damage him. But, we’ll verify that. Meaning we’ll start by striking from a distance while everyone else stays inside the tunnel. If he’s happy to just sit there and glare while we rip him to bits from afar, then all the better.”

“Hear, hear,” Alex said. 

“More realistically, we’ll be forced to engage . I’ll do the main tanking, working to hold his attention and keep him in the center of the room. Knut, you’ll be the off-tank, in charge of intercepting if he knocks me away, which will be a real threat here, or if he simply ignores me.”

“Keep big rocky man from squishy party members,” Knut said. “Understood.”

“Ash and Rowan, you’ll go in with me and knock out one of his legs. The bigger they are, the more satisfying the crunch when they fall to the ground.”

The commander and Rowan shared a smile.

“Isaac and Eryn, go for the eyes or any weak spots we discover. From our reports and seeing how similar the light inside him is to the Weavers, expect spells.”

“What about me?” Nabeeh asked. 

“While I can’t see any extra monsters,” Edwin said, “That doesn’t mean there are none or there won’t be none. Save your spells to deal with any new threats.” 

He held her gaze, and to her credit, Nabeeh didn’t protest about a potentially ‘boring’ job, she just nodded.

“And Ming,” Edwin continued, “You’re still the soul weapon in our spatial storage. As soon as Quarris casts a spell, if it works like the Weavers, get to it and do your thing. If we’re lucky it’ll blow the entire thing apart.”

“What of the pylons?” Ming asked.

“We will have to see what they do first,” Edwin said. “Our strategy is to hit Quarris fast and hard to bring him down. The shorter the fight, the less time he has to try and kill us. Ash, Rowan, Isaac, and Eryn, don’t save any of your skills. Alex, Ming is your preferred target.”

“After you,” Alex said, nodding.

“No,” the commander said. “She is the first priority, period. Understood?”

“Yes,” the healer said, crossing his arms. “Understood.”

“For Noros,” Edwin said.

“For twenty-five glittering mind gems,” Rowan added.

“About time we got some loot,” Ming chuckled.

This was the moment I’d been waiting for since the first time I saw the giant.

We put our gear back on and lined up just inside the tunnel.

The giant stared at us, but didn’t move an inch.

“Ash, can you hit it with your ground spear ability from here?” Edwin asked.

“I’ve got something ranged ready, yeah,” I said with a smile, hefting Roq.

“Use that with the initial volley then,” Edwin said. “Archers, ready your best shots.”

I prepared to unleash Hammer To The Face on Quarris the moment Edwin gave the signal.

“Three,” Edwin said, starting the countdown.

Eryn took one of the Steel Scuttler arrows and drew back, holding, letting Arclight charge. “Snipe,” she said, and went completely still. Then the arrow glowed blue, indicating Prism Shot. 

“Two.” The commander’s sword lit up and his expression turned almost feral. He wasn’t doing this just to save Noros or help us, no, he enjoyed a good battle.

“Explosive Shot, Armor Penetration,” Isaac said, preparing to shoot.

“One,” he said, lifting his sword. It was on.