Seeds of Discordia

“A Mud Shaper Hermit Crab?” Liam and Mercer muttered at the same time.

“A what?” Artem and Blair questioned as they readied themselves.

“A Mud Shaper Hermit Crab,” Mercer repeated. “Judging by the name I believe it should have Water and Earth Magical abilities. The shell looks tougher than the ones we have currently fought against. We are going to need to test it to see if we can crack it. Liam, any ideas?”

Liam was slightly taken aback by Mercer. He wasn’t taken aback in a bad way or annoyed that he was taking charge, but just surprised since he hadn’t done this before. Liam quickly thought about how to test it out. After looking at the creature that was still standing there, he started creating ideas on how to test the shell out.

“Blair, can you get into the air and try to hit the top of the shell as hard as you can? Artem, try and get the monster’s attention so it doesn’t focus on Blair when she makes her attempt,” Liam announced. “Mercer, can you buff their Resilience?”

“On it!” Mercer responded as he recreated that same orb from earlier, before playing his song.

Liam felt the effects of the song take hold as the music washed over him. He then turned his focus on Artem and Blair. Artem swiftly ran towards the giant hermit crab. A small Aqua Sphere followed close behind him as he ran. The creature’s eye stalks focused on Artem as he ran. It went to lift one of its pincers as Artem approached striking range.

Using the weight of its pincer, the creature slammed down as hard as it could to hit Artem. Artem swiftly lifted his shield up to block the attack and felt the ground sink slightly as the weight of the pincer came down. After he successfully stopped the attack, Artem swung his mace upwards, barely hitting the jaw. He then jumped backwards as he felt the pincer lift upwards. He dodged the second attack as the creature’s pincer smashed into the ground.

As Artem continued to keep the Mud Shaper Hermit Crab’s attention, Blair materialized her wings, unfurled them, and jumped into the air. Her axe rested on her shoulder as she gripped it tightly. She made her way over the Wave Boss and as soon as she felt like she had a position, she readied her weapon, folded her wings and dived towards the creature. Before crashing into it, she sent some mana into the weapon, causing it to hardened up as rock-like scales formed on the blade, and swung her weapon with all her might over her head and down right onto the rock shell.

A loud thud echoed around them. The Mud Shaper Hermit Crab’s attention shifted from Artem and towards Blair right after the contact was made. As Blair began to move, the Mud Shaper Hermit Crab swung its right pincer in an arc to try and hit Blair. Everyone watched as a line of water followed the pincer’s trajectory. Luckily for Blair, her wings pushed hard enough to miss the line of water.

Liam and Mercer watched as the water landed on the rocky terrain. To their surprise the hard surface softened and sunk down a bit. Before either of them could say anything, the line created from the water rose up into four small balls of mud like substance. As the four mud balls finished rising into the air, their wet spherical form hardened. The Mud Shaper Hermit Crab’s eye stalks followed Blair’s movement before swinging its meaty pincer forward sending the four hard mud balls right at her. Blair didn’t see them coming as she continued to make her way back to the group.

“Crap,” Liam muttered as he watched the hardened mud balls get closer and closer to Blair.

An arrow suddenly flew past everyone and slammed into one of the mud balls. The hardened mud ball exploded upon contact. A stream of water swiftly shot through the air a moment later and pushed the second one towards the rocky wall. Blair’s hearing kicked in as soon as she heard the two mud balls make contact with opposing forces and pushed her wings down, bringing her whole body up into the air right in time for the third and fourth hardened mud balls to fly past underneath her. She turned around and sneered at the oversized hermit crab before dropping down to the ground.

“I didn’t think it would be able to do that,” Blair stated.

“None of us did,” Ariyana agreed.

“We’ll need to watch out for when it uses water. It made those mud balls after the water hit the ground and softened it up,” Mercer stated.

“Good work on stopping the first two, Mercer and Artem,” Liam stated before turning to look at the creature once more. He quickly used Spot Frailty to see if Blair’s attack had any impact on it. To his disappointment, the attack barely did anything. He clicked his tongue before informing everyone, “Mercer, you were right. The shell is a lot tougher. We might need to focus on hitting the same area or areas over and over if we wish to crack the shell.”

“I was afraid of that. What do you think we should do?” Mercer asked.

Liam thought about it. So far he really didn’t know all of their improvements or new spells. Since he was also limited with the restrictions placed on him by Uncle Naro he couldn’t really  think of leading or strategizing with everyone without having all the facts. He did notice something though. It had looked like Mercer had a better grasp on everyone’s new skills and ability. If that was the case then he needed to do what he felt was right.

“Mercer, take the lead on this,” Liam announced as the Mud Shaper Hermit Crab started to move once more. Artem and Blair took the front once again, parrying the strikes as it got closer to them.

“What?” Mercer questioned as he, Ariyana, Avery, and Roman looked at him.

“I’m not fit to lead this fight right now. I am ashamed to say it, but with the limitations placed on me, I’m basically back to zero and have to readjust everything,” Liam stated. “Mercer, you have a better grasp on things with everyone here. I’ll just get in the way since I’ll have to fight up front.”

Mercer looked both surprised with the assessment and conflicted. While he did ask the others their new skills and abilities and how they worked, he had believed Liam did the same just like back in the Tutorial Area. He hadn’t taken in the fact that since Liam was learning a new fighting style to help create the illusion that all he could do was use crafting abilities, that he didn’t take the time to take in everyone else’s new skills and abilities.

He wanted to refuse, but after looking into Liam’s eyes he could see that Liam had complete trust in him. He looked at the others who were still there and saw the same in their eyes. With a gulp he said, “Alright, I’ll do it. Since I have Perception of the Control Tower as well I think it would be for the best.”

Liam nodded as he smiled.

“Alright then,” Mercer shouted as he looked back at the creature. “We need to either shatter that shell of its or get underneath and do some damage. Roman, try and use Stone Spike whenever you can. If you get the chance, try and blind it with Sand Gust. Avery, see if you can land some Fireballs or a Fire blast on it. If you can land them on the same spot then do it. Ariyana, use Pod Shooters on the left wall and do the same. After that try using your Leaf Projections in areas that will help Avery land increased damage. If there is a need use Mirage and Misdirection when needed. Same with you Roman.”

“Got it!” Avery, Roman, and Ariyana yelled out as they split to do what they were told.

Mercer turned to look at Liam and asked, “Any ideas on how you can contribute to the fight?”

Liam stared at Mercer as he thought it over. “Right now all I can think is to use my hammer to chip away at spots of the shell and use Spot Frailty to see where parts are starting to lose durability.”

Mercer brought a hand to his chin. “Is that all you can do?”

Liam looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t really know all you can do and what skills or abilities you have from the crafts. Spot Frailty is a Blacksmithing skill you picked up right? Is that all you can use?” Mercer asked.

Before Liam could answer, they heard a shout coming from the front line. The shout brought their attention back to the fight as they saw the Mud Shaper Hermit Crab start to foam from the mouth. Confused they watched as the bubbles start to grow bigger and bigger before they floated away from the creature’s mouth and towards the two defenders.

“Get away from those bubbles!” Mercer shouted, making everyone stop what they were doing and move backwards. He didn’t know why the Wave Boss decided to spit bubbles the size of a basketball, but he didn’t want to take the chance of them being too dangerous.

Not too long after Artem and the others moved farther back from the floating bubbles did one slowly go down and land where Artem once stood. The bubble popped and a layer of liquid splashed out causing a circle of rocky terrain to soften and sink.

“Shit, it wants to create more of those mud balls,” Mercer swore as he knocked an arrow and fired it at a bubble. He did this several times, popping several bubbles before they could make their way towards the ground. The bubbles exploded as the arrows sailed through them. however, more than half of them sent a light liquid to the ground. The liquid that touched the rocky terrain wasn’t as big as the one from earlier, but it was still big enough to be the size of a baseball.

Mercer cursed as he noticed this. “Fuck, it looks like no matter if we pop them or allow them to hit the ground they are still going to give that creature the chance to make more mudballs.”

Liam didn’t pay attention to what Mercer had said. Instead his focus was on the spots the other liquid had fallen upon. Instead of them landing on the ground, they had hit the Wave Boss’s rocky shell. To Liam’s surprise, much like the rocky terrain, the spots that landed on the shell also softened and sank in a bit.

Liam activated Spot Frailty and noticed the areas that were hit with the liquid that came from the bubbles had changed from dark green to a light yellow. Not only that, but a notification had suddenly appeared.

[Focus Point Gathering Craft Skill – Mining Strike Accuracy suggested. Activate Mining Strike Accuracy to strike rocks? Yes No?]

   Mining Strike Accuracy? Liam thought as he stared at the notification. Why would that activate… Before Liam could finish that thought Mercer snapped him out as he yelled out, “Mudballs incoming! Artem get a barrier up! Everyone get behind him!”

“On it!” Artem shouted as he started chanting.

Liam looked around and noticed that all the bubbles had popped and the areas they had softened now had hardened mudballs floating. He then saw that everyone was running to get behind Artem. He didn’t know what Mercer meant by getting a barrier up, but still ran towards the others.

As he reached them Artem had finished chanting. As soon as he finished a translucent wall shot up in front of Artem. It was taller than him by a couple of inches and was wide enough to cover his body and a little more. It had appeared right on time as the hardened mudballs began flying towards them.

The objects slammed into the shield wall with as much force as they had accumulated during their flight. The first three didn’t do much as they were the closest to it, but as more and more started to hit the shield, Liam noticed cracks start to form.

“Come on,” Artem muttered as he focused as much as he could on the shield. Liam and the others looked surprised as they watched the spherical objects slam into the translucent shield Artem had made. They had forgotten he had picked up the Field of Barriers. They were thankful he had gotten it after seeing it protect them from the flying hard mudballs being stopped by this strange barrier.

The barrier Artem cast lasted till the very last hardened object which smashed the last bit of durability of his barrier but slowed it down enough for him to black with his shield. Liam was impressed with how well it had worked. He made a mental note to ask Artem more about it later.

The Mud Shaper Hermit Crab let out a hiss of dissatisfaction as it started moving once more forward towards them. Artem and Blair once again parried the strikes and attacked when they had an opportunity. As they did this, Liam noticed that the creature was slowing down a bit with each crawl forward. A purple sphere with a black center caught his attention as it floated back and forth between hitting the creature and moving behind Blair. After watching this, Liam came to the conclusion that, since the Gravity Sphere only had a five stack limit, Blair was making sure the timer of those stacks were being refreshed over and over again.

Since Liam had some time he once more looked at the spots where the shell had come into contact with the liquid the bubbles sprayed on it. The notification reappeared saying the same thing. As he continued to stare, Mercer’s words from earlier came back to him.

Is that all you can do? Mercer’s words replayed a few times as he started to remember his fight against the Zombified Hobgoblin Warrior back in the Goblin Forest. He had used his Lumberjack ability and his Mining ability in both that fight and the fight before it. He had more options than just his hammer in this fight. The only issue was he didn’t have a pick axe tool weapon. Instead he had a regular one. Would that be useful though in this fight?

Uncle Naro’s advice suddenly played in his mind as he tried to think it over once more. You are a Crafter, and the world is a material that is waiting to be used. He had thought he understood what he had meant when he said it, but seeing the fight before him and thinking about what he could do to help the fight go better, he was starting to see the advice was more of a reminder.  A reminder that he wasn’t limited to just a single style of fighting. He had all these different things he could use. All these different skills and abilities, just waiting to be used when the time was right. And what better way to get through stone than to mine it.

The only question was, which of the spots should he focus on that wouldn’t get any attention. He then noticed there was a spot on top of the shell. If he could find a way to get up there then he could not only decrease the durability of the shell from up there, but he could also use another aspect of his Crafter abilities. His mixture of oil and Light and Burn.

Liam turned towards Mercer as he started to think of how he could get close enough to do this. He needed to have distractions. And what better way than to have others hit the spots that were starting to weaken as well. While they attacked those spots he could find a way to the one on top and do what he does best. If he was thinking this through, there was a chance the Wave Boss wouldn’t pay attention to someone mining through the rocky shell since he wasn’t attacking and doing damage. He was just gathering resources.

“Mercer!” Liam shouted as he saw the Tiefling release an arrow. Mercer turned to look at him. He noticed the look on his face and asked, “What did you find?”

“There are four spots that have started to weaken on the shell,” Liam started as he pointed towards them. “Some of the liquid from those bubbles earlier landed on the shell and created weak spots.”

Mercer looked at what he was talking about and noticed the small holes that had formed earlier. Mercer understood what Liam was getting at. “We need to focus those areas right?”

Liam nodded. “If you can get the others to focus on those spots, and if I can find a way up there then I think I can get through the shell and use my Light and Burn combo to cause some damage.”

“We could have Blair fly you up there while the others distract the monster,” Mercer suggested.

“Worth a shot,” Liam agreed.

Mercer wasted no time after that as he shouted out commands. “Ariyana, try and hit the indent that’s located on the front right side of the shell, the only that closer to the bottom. Roman, use your Fireball on the one that’s in the middle section of the shell. The one above the head of the monster. Avery you do the same on the left side of the shell. Blair, can you give Liam a ride to the top of the shell?”

Ariyana, Avery, and Roman shifted to their designation locations without a word. Blair spared a glance at the two men who were behind them and gave them a questioning look as she asked, “I can, but is it safe for him up there?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Liam said as he gave her a grin.

Blair noticed the grin and recognized it for what it meant. He had a plan, and he would try and find a way up there even if she refused. She shook her head and sighed before asking Artem, “You got this for a second?”

A fireball suddenly exploded right above one of the eye stalks of the creature causing it to hiss and glare at Roman. Before it could try to attack him another fireball exploded on one side the monster as Pod Shooters materialized from the wall and started pelting it. the Wave Boss’s attention was split as it tried to decide which of the three was the bigger threat.

“Yeah, I think I can manage,” Artem stated before using his taunting ability.

Blair ran over to Mercer and Liam while placing her axe away. As she approached her wings rematerialized and opened wide as she asked, “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Liam responded as he took the hand that she stretched out.

Blair gripped tightly to his wrist and hand as she pushed off the ground as hard as she could. Liam’s weight was different than when she flew with her weapon, so the launch was a bit rocky before she was able to smooth it out. She reach the area right above the monster and asked, “Where do you want to be dropped at?”

“Anywhere on top should be fine,” Liam stated. Blair nodded before releasing her grip right above the monster.

As soon as Liam landed he pulled out a pickaxe from his inventory and looked for the spot he saw earlier. It didn’t take long for him to find it. he raced over to it and saw the notification from earlier reappear. He didn’t waste any time and accepted it as he swung the pickaxe over his head and then down. His accuracy increased as he swung, but before he could land a hit, the monster moved slightly which caused his striking point to be off just by a hares length. Liam cursed a bit, but then noticed that he was able to increase the hole not in depth, but by length.

A notification had appeared before him, but Liam minimized it as he saw it was just informing him of a material he had gained. He then thought about what he just saw. He activated his Spot Frailty and saw the area he had struck turned from a dark green to a light green.

“I should make the hole bigger,” Liam muttered. “If I do that then my accuracy will have a better chance of landing,” Liam grinned as he got to work. He kept swinging and swinging. Making the small hole grow in both length and depth. What was once a hole that was inches wide and deep was now a couple feet wide and a few inches deep. He kept going and going. Ignoring the notifications that were popping up. His focus was on the task before him.

The hole was starting to get deeper and deeper. The color of the shells durability all around him had changed from the greens and were in the yellows. A big area had finally reach the reds when a devastating sound echoed in Liam’s ears. The tip of his pickaxe had shattered. And to make things even worse, Liam heard his teammates shouting, “What the hell is it doing now!?”