Act II - Zach

The team stepped out of the darkness and onto the fifth floor. The last floor that they had access to. The monsters on this floor were supposed to be anywhere between level 100 and 120. Perfect for him to finish his skill quest. The others were all apprehensive about them going through this floor without first leveling up, but Zach didn’t want to gain less Essence for their kills, nor did he want to go above the level that the monsters on the floor would be. He needed them to be stronger for the skill quest.

But he did understand why they wanted that, but he was used to fighting monsters stronger than him. He had done that for what seemed like a lifetime. He didn’t run from danger, but he was cautious, he liked to take his time. But that didn’t mean that he feared fighting. He had been hunting monsters on Earth for a long time before everything went to hell. And not only that, he fought against warlords who wanted to establish their own little empires. Since the moment the Framework arrived, his life had been one of conflict and fighting, with only a few moments stolen for himself. For peace and quiet.

And now, he looked forward to the last floor. They had already spent a few days in the dungeon. With their stats they could endure a lot, but they had rested whenever they had the time. They stepped onto a large platform, and out in the distance he could see the walls and what looked to be an underground castle, illuminated by torches and a river of lava that surrounded it creating a makeshift moat.

“We got intelligent monsters,” Griss said after a moment, referring to the type of the monsters in the dungeon. He could see shapes moving around, patrolling in front of the fortress, and more on the walls. From what he could tell they were short, and were wearing shoddy armor that looked more like junk than anything useful.

“What are they?” Zach asked since he was too far away to see their names.

“Goblins,” Griss answered. “They aren’t as strong for their level as some monsters, but they are cunning and scrappy. They can be very dangerous if underestimated.”

Zach nodded his head, already thinking about how best to approach the fights on this floor.

Nyathulla cleared her throat and spoke. “Are we going to level or try to clear the floor like this?”

“The goblins we might be able to take,” Griss started. “But the boss… This floor has only one, deep inside the fortress. Since we are dealing with goblins that means that it will be a hobgoblin. They are… dangerous and much stronger than their smaller kin.”

“You can always just level before the fight,” Zach added, since he wasn’t going to do that.

Griss grimaced, but then nodded and Zach saw the others agree as well. “Hold on to your best powers for the boss, and let’s try not to get killed before we reach it.”

All of them got ready for the fight.

Zach took a deep breath and then activated Last Heir of Terra, immediately the Spirit of Terra filled him. The knowledge, the talent, the expertise of every sword master that had ever lived on Earth. His stats increased, and his senses sharpened. He had timed their progress through the floors, and he believed that they had enough time to finish the floor before the perk ended.

Immediately he found the mistakes in his bearing, and adjusted his body. He saw the other four around him, and saw so many openings. He could kill them all in an instant, before they even knew what was happening. A step to right and he could summon Mistral and stab through Edima’s throat. A twist and he could take Griss’s head off. The two behind him would be shocked, slowed by it. An arc and he could take Nyathulla’s hands off before she could cast. A spin and Mistral would go through Xallar’s heart. Nyathulla would die to—Zach shook his head, their combined voice of the old masters inside his mind quieted.

He had no need to think about how to kill his teammates. He realized just how much he still didn’t know, how much his movements were wasteful. The perk revealed everything, but then when it ended, he could only retain a fraction of what it gave him.

“You used your perk?” Griss asked, surprised.

The others turned to look at him, their eyes narrowing as they detected the change in him.

“A perk?” Nyathulla asked.

None of them had ever seen him use his Last Heir of Terra perk. The only one he had trained with was Griss. A part of that was because of the long cooldown, and a part of it was because there was no need. None of them had shared everything that they had with the team.

“Yes, it elevates all my abilities,” Zach answered simply, not going into details.

 The others waited for a moment to see if he would elaborate, but then just nodded. It was normal for people to hide the specifics in the Infinite Realm, so they didn’t press.

Griss then explained what their best course of action was to be, which was a frontal assault, since they didn’t have any rogue-like person who could be an advantage for them when invading the castle.

“Let’s go,” Griss said and they started walking over the ground, heading for one of the goblin patrols. It didn’t take long for them to be noticed. The goblin patrol numbering sixteen goblin warriors, shouted and charged them immediately.

Zach looked above them at their names as Griss and Edima stepped forward and Nyathulla’s bolts flew over them all.

Goblin Scout (LVL 105-Early Lord)

The goblin’s had some armor, but it was haggard, worn and torn in places. In their hands they had weapons that were rusty, some even broken. But they charged without fear, even as bolts that Nyathulla fired hit them in the face. He saw that only a few went down, and they didn’t stay down. The downed goblins jumped back to their feet and charged again. They were tough, could survive a couple of Nyathulla’s bolts. But he one of them at least suffered enough damage to stay down.

Then the goblin front-line reached Griss, and the drake staggered them with an ability fired from his shield.

Zach activated {Charged Focus} and waited until Edima and Griss were fully committed and then he sprang forward. The wind at his back was pushing him harder than it ever had. His doubled stats made all his perks stronger, and as he reached Griss’s back, he activated [Winged Leap]. Two wings sprang into existence on his back and beat down, sending him soaring above Griss and the goblin front line.

Zach used his Wind’s Favorite perk to push himself down, cutting his leap short. He dropped to the ground in the middle of the goblins back-line. The wind surged around making the startled goblins stumble. Zach stepped to the side and turned as Mistral appeared in his hand mid swing, the sword bit into the neck of a goblin, cutting the green skin and then flesh and bone, decapitating the monster. A gust of wind, more powerful than any his perk had produced before followed his attack, hitting a goblin behind the now dead one in the face and sending him flying back.

The other goblins recovered and rushed him, screaming and holding their weapons raised high. Zach eyes saw all the holes in their movements and stances, the voices inside his head whispered and while he heard no actual distinct voice, he knew what to do. He stepped in, close to the leaping goblin, his |Weakness Sense| showed areas similar to those on a human. Areas where vital organs were, where major arteries were. He didn’t need much help from the perk to aim for them. He stabbed Mistral forward, punching through the gap in the goblin armor and sinking his sword into its chest. The goblin swung its sword at Zach’s head, but he but Zach twisted around as he used |Greater Evade| and left his sword inside the goblin. A second goblin tried to stab him, and Zach stepped just enough to the side and the rusty sword screeched against the plate on his chest.

Zach raised his hand and dismissed and re-summoned Mistral, A light sprang around his sword as an image of another superimposed itself over it. He swung down and |Greater Strike| cleaved through the goblin’s body from shoulder to groin, splitting it in half.

Something clicked inside his mind, as his skill dissipated, but before he could focus on it was gone. Two goblins were charging at him, flanking him from both sides. Zach’s instinct was to charge one, but the voices inside his head, the masters instructed otherwise. Zach raised his sword and blocked the attack, feeling a part of its energy getting stored inside his Consequence perk, meanwhile he moved, adjusting his position and letting the second attack land on his shoulder.

The pauldron of his armor took the hit, the sword sliding up toward his neck only to hit the neck guard. Zach let his sword fall and pushed the goblin in front of him away, sending wind to batter it and make it stumble and trip backward. Then he turned to face the other goblin who was already mid his second swing. Zach moved to block, but the goblin blurred for an instant, probably using an ability to gain a burst of speed.

If he hadn’t had his perk active he wouldn’t have been able to react in time. But the voices in his head instructed that he should always be ready for anything. And the perk was familiar enough with abilities by now.

Zach evaded with his skill, and swiped with his sword cutting the goblin’s throat before it could even counter. He looked around, seeing Griss and Edima fighting among several goblins, seeing Nyathulla and Xallar throwing their attacks. Three more goblins came after him, and he let them attack, using his sword to block and store up kinetic energy for Consequence. Then, he suddenly counterattacked. Zach’s hand shot up, and [Light Chains] tangled two of the goblins, as he used [White Wing], his sword was a blur as it cut into the weak points of the three goblins and cut them up. He jumped forward, letting the three die behind him as he used his |Greater Strike| again on an unsuspecting goblin fighting Griss.

This time he stabbed the sword forward, the skill cutting into the goblin and widening the wound on the back of its neck enough to separate the goblin’s head from the body.

Again, something nagged at him, in the back of his head. And then he realized what it was. What he had been learning so much about in the past month. Understanding of the skill. For him, |Strike| was just a brute increase in the power of his strike. And yet if he had learned enough, it didn’t need to be. It could be more, he just needed to understand what it was about.

A strike was a forceful and sudden attack, powerful enough to deal incredible damage. But he had almost always used it as a finishing attack on Earth. He realized that that was probably why he gained a quest that needed him to use it as a finishing blow. He wondered if he could change it now, if he could alter the path that it was supposed to evolve on.

He knew what a strike was, in this moment more than ever. With his perk filling him, he had an understanding of a hundred, a thousand different ways of striking. But he worried that using that understanding would cripple the skill if he didn’t understand it himself.

He evaded an attack from a goblin, then blocked an attack from another. His body almost moved on autopilot as his mind worked to find a solution. He looked to his {Lightning Strike} a technique that was a fast attack infused with lightning Qi. It was quick, and powerful, he knew how to move his body in order to strike fast. He had used that attack, had mastered it. So, he used that knowledge and understanding as a base. And then he let his perk guide it forward, expanding on that understanding. A lightning fast strike. He pulled himself back, using Wind’s Favorite to push himself back and the goblins away, creating a distance between them. And then he closed his eyes. He activated his |Greater Strike|, felt it surround his sword, but he tried to force his understanding of a quick attack, of something smaller and more powerful. A burst of speed and power, that was what he wanted, but more. Not one attack, a combo, more than one strike. A burst of attacks.

He dashed forward, his left hand summoning [Light Chains] and entangling the two goblins in front of him. He pulled his sword back, the image of the sword around Mistral flickered and he stabbed utilizing all of his stats. Once, twice, a third time. The attacks came in quick succession piercing one of the goblins and killing him, but it wasn’t what he wanted. It was still his effort.

The sensation in his head was pulsing, narrowing his vision. And then as he turned to the other goblin it flickered and winked out. He felt drained, and he tried to recapture it. But using the |Great Strike| again just summoned the usual image.

He killed the last goblin and sighed. He felt like he had been so close, like his perk was helping him so much. He knew that it was because he was using |Strike| with a sword, that it made his perk increase the rate at which it advanced.

He shook his head, intent on trying again with the next group of goblins. He walked and rejoined the others, since all the goblins were dead. They gathered and Xallar healed a few cuts on Edima’s arms while Zach drank a stamina potion. The drain from his skills was mostly mental, but he knew that refreshing his stamina would help, a bit at least.

A few minutes later they were moving toward the castle.

Zach watched as Griss charged into the closed wooden gate of the castle. The goblins on the walls had, of course, seen them and closed it. The drake smashed into the wooden gate with his shield and splintered it open. Edima, Xallar, and Nyathulla rushing inside. Zach waited outside the walls, and then when he saw the goblins on the walls turn to look inside the castle walls, he jumped with his [Winged Leap] and Wind’s Favorite.

He grabbed the edge of the battlements and pulled himself up, summoning Mistral in the process. There were a few groups of goblins on the walls, all swinging slings and shooting rocks down on his teammates. Zach dashed forward with his [White Wing] and killed four of them in quick succession. Despite their levels, the goblins weren’t all that strong. What they were however was tough. If they didn’t suffer a killing blow, more likely than not they would just jump back into the fight, wild and unpredictable.

Zach blocked an attack, then pirouetted around and cut into the neck of another goblin with the precision of a master. Every movement he made was calculated and efficient. He jumped among the goblins, tying some up with his [Light Chains] as he cut the others down.

Again, he tried to use his skill, trying to force it to evolve how he wanted it to. But again he failed. It was the fifth time he had failed at it. With every patrol that they encountered, he attempted it. And always he failed just short of succeeding. He was certain that he could do it, even though he didn’t know how he knew it.

He pushed among the goblins, their attacks hitting his armor and scratching it, a sword cut between his plates and drew blood. But Zach pushed forward, Mistral swirled around him and creating a whirlwind of blood. Wind’s Favorite twisted the air around him, and with every strike, he sent gusts of wind that sent the goblins flying off the battlements to their deaths. He glanced down, seeing the others clearing the goblins in the courtyard. There were many of them, and he saw Edima get stabbed through the stomach. He knew that he needed to kill the goblins around him quickly so that he could help.

He disregarded the voices that told him to slow down, and a blade cut into his hip. He grimaced, and activated |Greater Strike| cleaving through every goblin around him. Another flash of pain hit him as six of the goblins got split in half and their bodies fell. He looked down to see an injured goblin stabbing him in the foot. Zach fought against himself, a part of him wanted to get mad to roar at it, but the voices urged calm and composure.

The voices won, Mistral came down and split the goblin’s skull open. With the battlements cleared, he looked down, seeing the others getting overwhelmed by the numbers. Griss was limping, and Zach could see blood flowing from between the plates of his armor. Nyathulla and Xallar were behind Edima who was fighting to protect them, and was bleeding from multiple wounds. Xallar’s potions flew, and their healing spells fell on Edima and Griss, but every time they healed them, Edima and Griss suffered more damage from the goblins attacks.

Zach jumped with [Winged Leap] and pulled the wind around him. He could feel it picking up speed, getting faster and faster, and then he slammed into the ground sending all the goblins around him flying. And then Griss raised his mace up high, and smashed it into the ground. The ground cracked, fissures opening up as a wave of the rolling earth exploded, hitting the goblins that were in front of him and grinding them between the waves of the rolling earth and fissures that opened and then slammed closed.

Zach realized that that had to be one of his more powerful perks, one with the long cooldown that he was saving for the final floor. His attack cracked the castle walls, bringing one of the walls down. Zach used the distraction to dispatch the few goblins left behind around them. Zach’s was impressed by Griss’ power. The drake was supposed to be a defensive specialist, but his attack had killed dozens.

Soon enough the ground settled, still uneven and cracked, but no longer shaking.

Xallar moved forward, touching Edima with their hand and a pale light surrounded her, healing the wounds. Zach and Griss moved closer, to wait for their turn to be healed, when a large roar filled the courtyard. And then a massive shape ran out of the castle over the collapsed wall. It was a larger version of a goblin, at least two full heads taller than Zach. Fat and ugly, in one hand it held what appeared to be a black metal door fastened to its arm and in the other a sword that looked more like a twisted slab of metal from all the missing chunks it had.

Hobgoblin Chief (LVL 120-Mid Lord)

Zach’s hand immediately dropped down to his belt, pulling out two potions. He drank the healing one first, followed quickly by a stamina one. Griss did the same, but the hobgoblin was charging him. Griss just barely managed to down his second potion when the boss reached him and swiped with his sword. Griss put his shield hand up and blocked, but the strike was so powerful that Zach heard a crack of bone breaking as the shield dented and the force of the attack picked the drake off his feet and sent him flying into the wall.

Zach was already moving, his [Light Chains] appearing around the boss, tying him up. Before Zach even reached the monster, his chains were broken and Mistral was met with the shield in the boss’ other hand. Zach blinked as the shield barely got dented from his attack, and he wondered just what it was made out of. Then the hobgoblin pushed with his shield and forced Zach back, its stats overpowering him.

Zach grimaced and put his leg on the shield, pushing himself away from the hobgoblin and using the wind to send himself up to the battlement. The hobgoblin glared at him and then violet bolts slammed into its head, staggering it just as Edima charged in. Her hammer came down on its knee hard, and Zach heard a crack of the bone breaking. But a moment later the hobgoblin moved, as if his leg wasn’t bothering it at all and swiped at Edima.

Two prisons appeared over it, as both Xallar and Nyathulla used their abilities, and the monsters attack crashed into the walls of the prisons cracking them but giving Edima enough time to get out of the way. Xallar ran around the courtyard heading toward Griss who was limping back toward the fight.

With Edima keeping the boss busy, Zach pulled out three potions of temporary strength and dexterity. Downing them quickly and then using [Winged Leap] as it came off cooldown. He used the wind to aim himself at the boss’ back. He couldn’t aim precisely, but it was enough. He pulled Mistral back and activated |Greater Strike|. He slammed into the hobgoblins back, punching through where his |Weakness Sense| told him its heart was.

The boss roared and turned around so quickly that Zach was thrown off, he hit the ground and used |Greater Evade| to roll out of the way of the hobgoblins follow up attack. His sword was still embedded in it, the tip of it pierced through its chest, but the boss didn’t seem to mind.

Then Zach noticed that the wounds on its face from Nyathulla’s attack were almost completely gone. A regeneration power, great. Zach dismissed Mistral, and watched as the wound started to close up again. They would need to either deal so much damage that it couldn’t regenerate or take out the brain.

Griss charged back into the fight, bashing the hobgoblin in the back and making it stumble forward into Edima’s empowered strike. The minotauress’ hammer smashed the boss in the head with a resounding crack, and the boss fell to the ground.

Zach didn’t even have a chance to hope that it was down before it rose to its knees and slammed its shield into the ground. A wave of the rolling earth exploded around it sending Edima and Griss to the ground as Zach jumped and used the wind to pull himself away. Xallar was too far away to get hit by the effects, so they threw a bottle that hit the boss in the shoulder and set it on fire. The hobgoblin roared and its red eyes fell on Xallar, a moment later the hobgoblin used a charged ability and blurred toward Xallar.

He saw Xallar’s eyes widened, and they pulled their hands back. A moment later a pillar of light fell on them and then pulsed with a yellow light that pushed the boss back. It stumbled as more and more pulses started coming in, some reaching all the way over to Zach and he felt a similar effect as their healing powers. He realized that the pulses did in fact heal as Griss and Edima got back up to their feet. It had to be Xallar’s strongest power. Which meant once it was gone they couldn’t hope for it to save them again.

Griss and Edima charged the disoriented hob. And Zach pulled his Qi through his body as he ran forward, Mistral reappearing in his grip. Griss hit the boss with a powerful strike that made the hob get down to one knee, and Edima’s attack was blocked by the boss’ shield, leaving Zach with a clear shot. He stabbed with Mistral, his perk singing in his head. A perfect strike aimed at the back of the boss’ head. He felt the skill’s understanding in his head pulse, and he activated |Greater Strike|, tried to force it to do what he wanted again.

Somehow the boss realized, whether it had a power that allowed it to sense or it was just lucky, didn’t matter. The hob stood and Zach’s attack came. Three attacks, as quick as lightning, pierced its back. The last attack stabbed into the back of the hob, where its heart should be and lightning Qi discharged. He saw the green skin scorching around the wound, but just as soon as it burned the boss from the inside, it started to heal.

Before Zach could even try to attack again, a wave of force hit him and the others, sending them all flying back. Xallar’s pillar of light winked out and the hob walked in their direction. Zach knew that he couldn’t get there in time, even with the wind and his leap. But then a ball of violet energy sprang into existence and then a wall of violet lightning smashed down onto the boss.

Zach turned and saw Nyathulla with an expression of concentration and effort standing with her staff held high. She had to have used one of her more powerful perks, because he hadn’t seen this attack before.

The lighting was battering the boss, scorching its skin, burning it with arcane energy. And then the ball winked out and the attack stopped. The boss was smoking, its skin twisted mess of burns, Zach saw that its shield and its sword were melted into its flesh. The hobgoblin was on its knees, Mistral still inside its body.

And then, impossibly, Zach saw the wounds healing. He sprung into motion, [Winged Leap] sending him flying faster than Griss or Edima could go. His wind pushed him as he pulled out the dagger from his back. He left Mistral inside the boss’ body, hoping that if it had to focus on more healing it would be slower.

The skill was singing inside his head now, the voice of the Last Heir of Terra whispering with a voice more united than ever before. Zach raised his dagger and stabbed forward as he activated the skill.

He felt something click, a sensation of a notification and then his hand blurred.

|Flurry Strikes|

Attacks blurred forward, faster than his body could achieve. Instead of a greater blade around his dagger, now there was a smaller one, slimmer and sharper. The attacks hit the back of the hobgoblin’s head. He couldn’t even count how many, but the result was devastating. The boss’ head burst apart, blown away by the skill’s attack.

Zach’s hand felt numb, and he hit the hobgoblin’s back and making it fall over to the ground headless. Zach stumbled, but managed to catch himself. He looked down, searching for any sign of life. Then, a chest appeared next to the boss’s body and Zach sighed in relief. Before he could even cheer he got lightheaded and dropped to his knees.

He closed his eyes to gather himself, but knew that there was no rush. They had defeated the boss of the fifth floor. He could rest. The voices inside his head were lower, and from them he sensed something that to him felt like approval.