Chapter 46
"Take this, Haaa!" Blanc charges at the giant full of zeal.
I'll just call it the goliath for now. The goliath raises its shield up and blocks Blanc's attack. It doesn't move an inch, while Blanc is sent back flying.
She picks herself up off the ground after the impact. The look in her eyes… I've never seen Blanc this angry before. She's added a face to the emotions of Blanc chart.
"Perhaps we should've thought this one through rather than just advance it."
Martin looks to Vert. "I suppose you're right about that."
Still standing in our battle stances, the goliath just stands there as if no one is in the room with it. It's almost as if its taunting us with his incredibly high defense.
Whatever the case may be, Blanc is getting more pissed of by the second. And it doesn't look like any words will be able to calm her down this time.
"Take this axe which smash the heavens!"
Blanc runs towards the goliath once more, this time with a little more pep in her pep. Much like the last time it puts up its shield in advance to defend its life from her massive blows.
Her axe makes contact with the shield. Like last time it makes an incredibly loud noise at first. But this time, the goliath is knocked back far away from Blanc. Immediately orange fault lines rapidly advance in the targets direction.
After making contact with it, they explode in a… well very explosive manner. Now Blanc can be seen spinning around while holding her axe out. Eventually she releases it and it goes flying at the enemy.
While the axe is in its spinning phase, it hits the targets shield. Her axe, now flying upwards goes back to Blanc who is already running to finish her target off.
Her weapon lands into the ground, and on her way to make the kill she picks it back and leaps into the air. She's about to deliver the mother of all axe hits.
"This will do it, take it to your grave!"
Blanc does a few flips while she's in mid-air. When I get a good look at her face, it's unlike anything I've ever seen her pull off. The upper half of her face is completely black, and all I can see is one red eye. Reminds me of the Hero's Shade in a way.
As soon as her axe hits its shield, some of the ground below it begins to collapse. Using the force she made, she rebounds off of the shield and back flips to us.
A lot of dust covers the scene, so it's unsure if she managed to kill a boss that easily. I doubt she did, but damn that looked like a lot of pain.
"Did we… get it?" Neptune asks hesitantly.
"Way to trigger the 'we didn't get the job done flag.'" I say in response. I swear this party triggers more flags than I can count.
"There's no way that bastard survived. With my perfected EX Drive, I can kill anything!" Blanc puffs out her lacking chest and goes into a victorious pose.
"EX Drive?" I'm getting my curious face on again, and so is Martin. From the looks of it, neither of us has heard of that game feature.
Vert gives the both of us a smile while closing her eyes. I forgot she's like an in-game tutor to me. And in turn I am a tutor to Martin… for the most part.
"Allow me to explain. When a person reaches certain requirements, they unlock what is called an EX Drive. It can be a skill level requirement, or an event one. Either way, the result is astounding."
"I'll say, I wonder when I will unlock one." Martin has his curious face on now. And once it's on, he must have the knowledge he requires.
"They can unlock at anytime, even in the midst of battle." Neptune chimes in to Martin's question. That actually helps me a lot now. Maybe I'll get one today.
The dust is clearing out; all of us turn our heads in the direction of the impact. It's the moment of truth, we'll see if Blanc managed to kill it.
"What the…?!"
Out of the remaining dust cloud the goliath clad in heavy armor walks out. And from the looks of it, there are hardly any scratches on his armor, even his shield looks to be in good condition.
"Damn it! That didn't do anything!"
"Look closer…" Vert points at its shoulders.
Sure enough, look closer this time we can see the pauldrons have been knocked off. Its armor could be loosely held together, but it's that shield that worries me.
Now that I think about it… its only real defense is in the front. It has an unprotected back that we can access. However, it may have go reflexes to block multiple opponents with either its shield or sword.
I have a plan, but there's a good chance that it won't work. Like I said before, it probably has very good reflexes. Still, it's worth a shot at least.
"I'll go next, cover me!"
With that, the party I'm in goes into range formation. Martin has his magic, Vert can launch spears, Blanc can hit energy particles, and Neptune has the 32-bit mega blade.
Approaching our tough opponent quickly, I get a look at the name tag above its head. It reads, "Gardienne des damnẻs."
Guardian of the Damned eh? I like the sounds of this fight already. Time to show this thing what I'm made of.
Stopping just before the guardian, I get into a battle stance. It was already in its battle stance when I got there. I like how polite it was to let me ready myself.
"Take this!"
*Clang!, Clang!, Clang!*
My three strikes hit its shield as I predicted. As expected, my blade starts to build up energy. The whole blade starts to develop red lightning around it.
With a base knowledge of integrated science, one can know that metal is highly conductive. The lightning on my blade should be highly conductive, effectively boiling it in its own armor.
However the best shot would be to hit its chest. Knowing how defensive this thing is, it might seem impossible. But I have my ways to get around such a shield.
"Martin, I need a wind spell to get that shield out of the way!"
Martin holds his staff with his right hand. The left hand goes up to his face and holds only his index and middle finger up. He then begins to say the incantations for a spell.
"Hakai no kaze ga watashi no michi o kirihiraku!"
My Japanese is a bit rusty. But if I had to put a name on it, I'd say he just said, "wind of destruction carve my path!" And damn how did I know that?
Out of his staff wind comes out. The only reason we can see it is because it picks up dust and loose pieces of rock with it.
The wind goes behind his shield, and Martin jerks his staff up, taking the guardians left arm with it. Now's my chance to strike, it's now or never as they say.
When its arm went up, its whole body went into a state of turmoil. Lowering my sword, I prepare for a diagonal upwards strike. I swing and my blade stops halfway up its chest.
"SQZZZZZ!" The lightning seems to be doing its job.
"Argh!"
Putting all my strength into the last strike, I manage to make the sword do a full slash across the chest. Afterwards I run back to regroup with our friends. All of them seem to like what I did.
"Excellent work Jack, I would've never thought to go that route." Vert praises me.
"It was ok I guess." Noire gets her two sense in. Well a compliment from Noire is a rarity. I'll take it as it is.
"Wait, it's not over yet!"
Looking back towards the guardian, it seems to be thrashing around all over the place. When I take a closer look, it's ripping off all of its armor to avoid getting hurt like that again.
After all of it is finally off, it throws its large sword at us spinning.
"Duck!" I'll take your advice this time Blanc.
The sword plants itself in the wall. The blade is halfway in it, meaning that this guy is packing some serious muscle over there.
Under all that armor it appears to have a smaller helmet of sorts under the regular helmet. As well as a maroonish chain mail kind of thing. It draws a more thin sword from its left side.
If it could move around moderately well with all that weight then I'd imagine its speed is off the charts. Instead of the defensive approach it took last time, it takes a more offensive approach.
"Argh!" It leaps in front of Neptune.
The surprise of the situation catches her off guard and she doesn't react fast enough to block. It hits her with enough speed and strength that it knocks her three meters away.
"Neptune!" Vert calls out to her.
The guardian turns its gaze to Vert. In the same manner he did before, it leaps to the front of Vert. Vert this time expected it and is able to block its horizontal strike.
*Clang!* The head of her spear clashes against the upper half of the blade.
It only uses one arm to hold its sword. With its free arm it lands a face hit to Vert.
*Wham!*
Like Neptune, she's sent back flying only two meters away from it. Vert only lays on the ground now, and Neptune shows no signs of getting up anytime soon.
Damn this thing is tough. First it was the ultimate defense. Now it's the ultimate attack. It's just too fast for us to handle right now.
"Blanc, lets end this battle!" Noire calls to her very pissed off ally.
"Send me a postcard from Hell!"
The axe and sword wielders of our party make an advance on the overpowered enemy. Noire takes a swing and as expected it locks blades with her.
Blanc takes the opportunity to attack a distracted foe. She swings her axe at his left side. To Blanc and Noire's surprise it uses its left arm and catches her axe.
"The hell?!"
Noire being surprised lost her composure and fell to the ground from the blade lock. Still holding onto to Blanc's axe, it picked up Noire by her legs and swung her at Blanc.
Due to the overall force behind its attack and Blanc's weakened mental state, both of them flew a considerable distance away from the enemy.
The only ones that aren't left on the ground in pain are Martin and I. If four of my friends who had higher levels than me couldn't beat it then I don't think we can.
"Focus Jack, we need to find a way around its strategy."
Martin's words snap me out of my trance. He's right, if we want to have any chance of victory we need to remain calm and collective.
That's when it hit me, I might have a way to let us win. One of those skills that I learned may be the key to winning this fight. I'll just have to leave it to fate on this one.
"AHHH!" My battle cry is loud enough that even the guardian steps back a step or two.
Activating my swiftfoot boots, I reach in front of it at speeds faster than even it could pull off. An advantage that nimble players have over the strong ones.
It raises its sword into the air. All going according to plan so far. With great speed it swings it down at me. That's my cue to end this battle once and for all.
Jumping to my right side, its blade is impaled into the ground. With it preoccupied, I do a roll around its side to where I'm facing its back now.
"Perfect…" A sadistic smile forms on my face.
I slice upwards with all the force I can muster. The guardian in this form is more susceptible to damage, meaning its reactions are going to be a bit more extreme.
"Argh!"
"How do you like this?" My grimace turns into one of anger. I took pleasure in hurting it before, now all I feel is the anger to make sure it doesn't harm my friends again.
*Slice, Slice, Slash!*
I manage to land three more hits on it before it is able to turn around. As it does make the turn, it swings its incredibly fast sword at me. My blade locks with it, and I know what's coming next.
It takes up its free hand and forms a fist. I won't do the same as Vert did and become a rag doll to this thing. It's just not in my nature no matter how submissive I may or may not be.
As its fist closes in on me, with lightning quick speed my left hand draws my revolver from its holster. The fist makes contact with the barrel, and then I fire.
*Bang!*
"Argh!"
Using its new pain to my advantage, I easily overpower his sword arm and send his blade flying meters away from where its standing.
With no more defenses to put up, I take a horizontal slash at its torso. It fights through the pain and puts up both its arms to block my slash. Once my blade makes contact it slices through its forearms.
"Argh!"
"Damn… it's still not dead…"
The overall desire to protect my friends, in-game or out of game is strong enough to breathe new potential and abilities in this vessel I call a body. At that moment, I know what to do.
"Martin! Freeze its legs to the ground!"
Martin nods and begins to say the incantations for spell that will aid me.
"Eien no kori wa, watashi ni hantai suru subete no hito o toketsu suru!" More Japanese?
Translation: Ice of eternity, freeze all who oppose me!
Ice begins to form around the guardians feet, leaving it motionless. Now time to show off my new trick to everyone. Assuming that they're conscious that is.
"EX Drive activate… Burning Crusade!
Pointing my revolver at the guardian, I fire six shots into its torso. Four vertical and two on opposite sides to make a cross on its chest.
The bullets light up and explode, but it can't go with the flow because its frozen to the ground. Next I run up to it quickly with the power of my boots.
A diagonal slash to the right knee is the first slash. Spinning around I cut the other knee, forcing it to get on both knee's.
I perform multiple random direction lacerations on its torso. In the end I do a vertical upwards slash making its body go up again. Still, the ice holds it in place, only dealing more damage.
"This is the end for you!"
My sword becomes engulfed with a crimson flame from the top to the bottom of the blade. Doing a stab into its chest, a pillar of flame launches out that's parallel to the ground.
The ice can't take this abuse anymore. It gives in and the guardian is sent flying backwards. Now it knows what my friends felt like when they were sent flying.
My EX Drive ends the moment all the flames are gone. Walking over the charred enemy that can't even get up anymore, I notice that its health bar still has a little left on it.
"They never learn to just give up…"
Putting a new bullet in my revolver, I put my foot on its throat and look it in what I presume are eyes.
"Vio con dios…" What's with all the foreign languages today?
*Bang!*
With that last shot the guardian finally ceases to draw breath. Finally… the battle is over. And all that sweet, sweet loot is ours.
"That was amazing Jack!" I hear Vert call from behind me.
"You learned a Drive so quickly. That's quite impressive." Neptune also adds to the pile of praise.
"It's strong… but not as strong as mine." Noire in her own fashion compliments me as well.
"Now we're really kicking ass!" Love you too Blanc.
My question is how they recovered so quickly. The strength of that thing was unbelievable for people their level.
"If you're wandering how they recovered so quickly. I healed them while you were showing off." Martin can be a jackass sometimes, but he's a good man at heart.
"Thanks Martin… now, we have a whole room of treasure to loot!"
I couldn't agree more Vert. On the other side of the room is a very large door. All of us make our way to it and it opens automatically.
Inside is something that we only dreamed about. There's gold, silver, gems and more valuables to get wealthy off of.
"Oh yeah baby…" With that word from Blanc the looting commences.
A/N: I still feel guilty about going those days without writing. So I made this chapter for the readers to say that I'm sorry. I really hope you enjoy it, it took a lot of thinking to get it just right.
"In other news, is anyone else excited for the Dragons of Tarkir Prerelease this weekend? If you don't play Magic then you wouldn't know about it. But those who do, choose the Kolagan Brood.
And with that I'll see you in the next update.