Rune Seeker

Despite the pain and stiffness gradually receding thanks to his High-Speed Regeneration+, Hiral made good time down the tunnel leading the same way the Ruby Lioness had gone. And the one leading in the same direction the strands of Connection with his doubles went. Stone arches and hanging plants blurred on either side of him with each Rejected step taking him further and further. Coupling the powers with Gravity made it so he barely needed to touch the ground to keep rocketing forward.

Barely…? Do I even need to…

Hiral’s thoughts trailed off as he sensed an exit to the tunnel ahead of him, and a large room on the other side of it. Slowing to a more reasonable pace, his body was in better shape, but definitely not perfect. On the other hand, his Coat of Amin Thett had already completely mended itself – Li’l Ur wasn’t kidding about the quality of its self-repair magic.

He shook his head as he imagined the little lich’s look of disappointment he wasn’t dead yet, then put the chuckle aside as he strode from the tunnel. Like many of the other ‘clearings’ he’d come across, this new room still had the towering stone archways high above, blocking out almost all the rain aside from where it pooled and fell in sheets. Where the water landed, it streamed off and down side tunnels, but they weren’t what attracted Hiral’s attention.

No, that lay firmly on the massive lion sitting on an elevated stone on the far side of the room. Pitch-black hair covered everywhere other than its ivory-white mane, while intimidating claws flexed into the stone at its feet. A quick look off to one side showed a collapsed tunnel with ample evidence of how efficient it could be with the claws.

The same collapsed tunnel Hiral’s thread of Connection with his doubles led into. Hopefully they made it.

He didn’t have time for that concern though, with a name above the lion’s head appearing to his View ability.

(Mid-Boss – Chimera) Ebony Lion – Unknown Rank

Another Mid-Boss already? And, if the Ruby Lioness was hurling fire at him, what would this beast in front of him be using? Apparently, nothing immediately, the great beast – easily twice as big as the lioness – lazily looking in his direction. It wasn’t attacking? Why? Actually, for now, that didn’t matter, every second passing giving his body a little more time to rebuild itself from where it’d been torched.

Happy not to provoke the monster yet, despite the timer counting down, Hiral kept his eye on the big cat even as his sensory domain alerted him to others entering the clearing. His head immediately snapped to the side at the familiar presence, Seena and Drahn exiting their own tunnel. The tracker was limping – again – with blood running from tears across the back of his calf. Seena, meanwhile, had matching wounds on her left arm. Crimson bubbled through her armor, and Li’l Ur seemed to be pacing back and forth nervously on her shoulder.

“Seena,” Hiral said, forcing himself not to shout at the sight, and slowly eased in her direction. One eye stayed on the lion to make sure it didn’t rush to attack, but it didn’t seem to care about them. “You okay?”

“More annoyed than hurt,” the party leader grumbled, but looked relieved when she saw him. “We ran into a Mid-Boss. It got away before we could finish it.”

Hiral narrowed his eyes at that. “Me too. A lioness?”

“Yes,” Seena said, clearly suspicious.

“It’s not just you,” a new voice said, and Hiral nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Seeyela?” he asked, turning to find her standing right behind them, even though he couldn’t sense her within his sensory domain. It was definitely on, and present where she was. Except, somehow, it seemed to slide right off her without any of the pressure he expected back.

There are ways to slip through the domain. That’s good to know. Terrifying, but good to know.

“Mine got away as well,” Seeyela said. “It shouldn’t last long with all the venom I loaded it up with, but I haven’t gotten a notification yet.”

“Sis, you’re hurt?” Seena said, pointing to a series of gouges torn across her hip. Though, even as Hiral watched, the blood that seeped out didn’t stain the armor. In fact, it didn’t even look like it stuck around, blending in with the color of the armor itself.

“It’s not too bad,” Seeyela said. “Any sign of Yan yet?”

As if her question was a cue, the spearman and Gran emerged from the final tunnel, Yan grumbling the whole way. “Stupid cat stealing my experience…”

“Stop whining,” Gran was saying. “We got plenty of experience from the little ones.”

“But no achievement!” Yan countered, only then noticing the Ebony Lion on the far side of the room, and the rest of the party nearby. “Hey guys. Oooh, those look like they hurt.”

“Yeah,” Seena said. “Gran, anything you can do about this?”

The hooded woman looked from the big lion to them, then back again. “What about that guy?”

“Doesn’t seem interested in us yet,” Seena said. “Could you?”

“Before she does,” Yanily interrupted with a hand up. “She’s not attacking you.”

“What does that even…?” Seena started, until Gran flicked a hand to toss a foot-long, crimson needle into the party leader’s side. Yarn of the same color connected the needle to Gran’s hand, and a pulse of solar energy rolled off the woman. Down the thread and straight into Seena in the time it took to blink, the woman’s arm visibly began to mend.

Two more tossed needles – getting small grunts from Drahn and Seeyela – and their wounds likewise began to close.

“I see what you mean, Yan,” Seena said, looking down at the needle. “That wasn’t…”

“Incoming!” Hiral said, his sensory domain triggering as four new additions vaulted down from the maze of stone arches to land beside the Ebony Lion.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Party members instantly raised their weapons in readiness for an attack, but instead, the four lionesses each nuzzled up against the big, black one. Injuries of all kinds ravaged their bodies. Most of the hair had been scorched from the blue one, while another – the color of sand – had stomach-turning green veins criss-crossing its body. Even a quick look at it made Hiral wince. The red one he’d fought looked like most of the bones in its chest were little more than powder loosely held together by muscle and flesh, while the final, green one had more holes in it than a pincushion.

“Our missing Mid-Bosses,” Hiral said what was on everybody’s mind. Then his eyes widened as he noticed their health bars and the Chimera tag beside them. “Oh shi…”

He didn’t even get to finish his curse as a wet schlurp – like dropping a bag full of rotten fruit – echoed across the clearing. Before even Hiral had a chance to react, the bodies of the four lionesses sloughed onto the bigger, black one, stretching across it as it rose.

No, not just rose – as it stood. And not like a lion should. Instead of lifting itself up on its four natural legs, it pushed its back legs under itself, then stood on two, bipedal limbs. Where it’s feet would’ve been, the blue and yellow lioness heads snarled, while their bodies supported the beast as its legs. Pops and snaps echoed from near the top of the new monstrosity, its shoulders rolling and twisting until its front paws now hung at its sides. Red and green flesh crawled up, reforming into thick, muscled arms with more lioness heads in place of fists.

At the very top – easily fifty-feet in the air – the white-maned lion’s head snarled, and then all five lions roared at the party.

Hiral and the others staggered back under the sonic attack until he countered it with his Rune of Dreaming. Another second to get View to activate, and he could only shake his head.

(Mid-Boss – Chimera) Chimeratron – Unknown Rank

He didn’t even have time to question the name before another notification filled his vision.

Dynamic Quest – Beast Wave: Update

Chimeric Interlopers slain: 316/316

The walls have been breached!

A catastrophic mistake by the defenders has led to an entire flank being exposed. Chimeras surge towards the opening, sensing the weakness.

If the remaining champions are overwhelmed, monsters will flood into the city, laying waste to it and its citizens.

Key Defenders Remaining: 530/590

Predator Defeated Chased Off: 1/1

Evolved Predator Defeated: 0/1

Approximate time until the Hanging Gardens is lost: 28 minutes.

Thanks to the magic of the notification windows, Hiral didn’t need to read it to know what it said – at least at a cursory level – though his eyes did snap to the number of remaining defenders. They’d already lost ten percent of their force in four minutes. While it said they had twenty-eight minutes, the math didn’t agree. If they waited that long, there’d be nothing left to save.

“We can’t play around here,” Seena said, voice going straight to party-leader-mode. “Yan. Drahn. The three of us are saving our domains for now. From the sounds of what’s happening, they’ll make a bigger difference if we’ve got to defend a wall from an army of Chimeras. Hiral, where are Left and Right?”

“Sent them ahead to help the wall,” Hiral said, eyes turning to the giant Chimera as it seemed to have had enough waiting.

Towering above the party, it took its first step off the raised stone. As soon as the Citrine-Lioness-head hit the ground, a line of earthen spikes rushed towards the party.

“Scatter!” Seena said, her and Hiral going right, while the others went left. Thanks to the distance they’d had between them, the spikes were easily avoided – though they did crash into a stone pillar with the force of a runaway carriage. “Don’t bring them back unless you need them,” she said, going back to the earlier topic while the group spread out.

“Understood,” Hiral said, RHCs up and taking aim. The damn Chimerawas so big he couldn’t miss. Two pulls of his trigger proved him right, the searing bolts of Impact getting hauled through Piercing Shot+ to thunk into the Mid-Boss’s side. For all the good they did; the health bar high above barely even twitching.

Yeah, that’s not good.

And his attacks weren’t the only ones landing with less than impressive effects. Chain Lightning+ blasted up and down the Chimera, tearing chunks off as it went. Which was all well and good, until those chunks got filled in by nearby blood and flesh to repair them. Drahn’s Explosive Arrows had a similar effect, though he alternated them with his Pollen Poison. Thanks to the strange makeup of the Chimeras, Hiral couldn’t clearly sense if the poison was working.

“What about me and Hiral?” Seeyela asked, hand-crossbows tossing out small darts on cooldown. Far less visually impressive than what Yanily or Drahn were doing, the poisons they inflicted would already be stacking up.

However, before Seena had a chance to reply to her sister, the Chimeratron’s other – cobalt – foot came down. And this time, instead of a line of spikes, a literal wave of water gushed up from the ground. Five feet tall in a heartbeat, it swelled in the direction Yanily and the others had gone.

“And me without my swimsuit,” Yanily said. Despite his flippant words – or maybe because of them – that wasn’t all he did. Quickstepping out in front of the others, Yanily spun his spear once, twice around his body, then lunged out with both hands. Hiral almost had time to wonder what stabbing a wave would do, but then Yan’s weapon struck the liquid.

The thing didn’t part like he’d punched through it, or explode into a shower. No, somehow, the wave seemed to get stuck on his spear, and as he continued his swing, the water trailed behind it like a flag. With each rotation of the weapon, the volume of water lessened and lessened, though he had to stand still to keep it moving around him.

“Hiral!” Seena said, seeing the Mid-Boss turning its attention to the stationary spearman. “Keep your arena of fun and death for later. Let’s see your new buff now. Rest of us, get its attention.” As she spoke, she launched her own barrage of Fireballs at the giant’s back, flames exploding outward on contact to stain the room orange.

Hiral didn’t wait to see how effective the attack had been, blasting off on a burst of Rejection towards the conflagration. Then – midair – as soon as he had everybody within range of his new buff, he activated Resonance of Heroes. Solar energy pulsed off him in a sphere, buffing his allies as it reached them, but he wasn’t finished quite yet.

Once again fighting side-by-side with his friends, Hiral reached out with the scarves trailing behind him even as he hit the ground not twenty feet from the Mid-Boss. Microbursts of Attraction and Rejection controlled his skid along the dirt, while he focused on his allies’ attributes and activated Increase. Empowered by the Edict of Increase, he felt the powerful aura settle over the area, his concept of his friends ‘being more powerful’ transmitted through the Connection of his scarves.

That has to be at least another twenty percent to their stats.

And, as crimson and jade lioness heads turned in his direction – energy pooling between their snarling teeth – he’d have to hope it was enough.