Chapter 20

Warrior’s Council

When I opened the door to the conference room, I found 8 people sitting at a large round table, 5 guys and 3 girls. I recognized two of the guys immediately, RockyRoad and Shinobi, their names had reverted to the default black. Actually bothering to look at Rocky for the first time, he seemed to be in his mid-30s, with black hair and vaguely Asian features. His brother was still shrouded in his cloth outfit, so who knows what he looked like.

The other three men sitting together were an eclectic mix. The first was a large middle eastern man with long red hair. Next to him sat a scruffy-looking man that had a vague resemblance to Hugh Jackman, who was drinking a bottle of something strong enough I could smell it from across the room. The third was my old pal Deadeye, or as he was currently known, SnowFox. Deadeye was a tall man in his late 20s with short black hair and a European look, although I knew for a fact his mother was from Brazil and his father was from Australia. How he turned out looking European was always a mystery to him. We gave him a lot of shit over it, then again, we gave everybody shit about everything. It was a coping mechanism.

The women were interesting. One was a slim, brown-haired librarian type with a strict expression. Sitting next to her was a redhead bombshell with hair down to her ass. In a seat away from them was the third woman, a tiny brunette with an exotic look that I couldn’t place. All three of them looked to be in their 20s, statistically, women altered their age in AoA a bit more than men. From what I recall of the study it was only by a few percent though.

As I took a seat, another woman walked in. She was tall, maybe six feet, with a bald head and incredible blue-black skin. She was also one of the most intimidating women I have seen since my temporal displacement.

“Am I late for the meeting? The notice made me curious, so I had to put in the work to get the last level to qualify.”

Damn, she might look intimidating, but her voice sounded like it came from a 5’2” ballerina. Just goes to show you should never judge someone on looks. Never making snap judgments about people at all would be ideal, but in a combat-filled world it was unavoidable, failure to do so could get you killed.

I spoke up, “Nah, we were just going to start so you’re right on time. Have a seat and we can start introductions.”

After she picked a spot next to the tiny brunette, I got us started.

“Before introductions, I should probably tell you why I set up this little shindig. If you don’t already know of me, my name is Lazarus, and I was on the Highlight Reel and Delilah Sky’s show. I got a lead on a situation that threatens the entire zone and decided to do something about it. For that I need all of you, I have a small party that is strong, hell they probably out-level most of you, but what they don’t have is real combat experience. Like most of the players, they are just starting out in that department.”

I saw a few nods of understanding around the table.

“The enemy in the heart of the Shiverwood is supposed to be very strong, more than that he is supposed to be surrounded by an elite guard. They will probably out-level us, and they will certainly be skilled. In a recent dungeon, I found evidence that the fuckers might be waking up. They once threatened the entire Vale so this would be a disaster scenario. From my research they should be weaker than in the past, so we stand a chance, but they won’t stay that way. I don’t know about you guys, but I like this city, and it won’t come back if it’s destroyed.”

I looked each of them in the eye. “What many players haven’t internalized is that this is a living world, NPCs die for good, cities can fall. Just like in the real world, there are no do-overs. You all should be able to understand that. What’s more, to get to your level of power this fast, you probably interacted a lot with some NPCs, maybe even made friends. If we don’t end this threat, they will die. Anyone want out?”

As I spoke all of their expressions hardened, even the face of RockyRoad set like stone, and his brother was utterly still, the knife he had been twirling was embedded in the table. I smiled a grim smile; these were what I needed. People that knew real stakes and would fight for them, people hardened by war, hardship, and death. I could almost hear Glory giving me a grunt of approval.

The middle eastern guy was the first to speak up, “If you were anyone else, I would call bullshit and walk out of here. However, you have been helping everyone from the start with your information and class guides. You gave solid advice during your interview, and you have the eyes of a man who has seen his share of shit. A man who has been in the trenches and come out fighting. I joined the corps to serve. These people might be 1s and 0s, but I’ll fight for em just the same.” He looked around the table. “Anyone feel otherwise?”

No one spoke up.

“Well then, let’s get some introductions out of the way. My names Sgt.Reaper, in-game and out, you can call me Sarge or Reaper. I’m a Marine and martial artist by trade and my class is Shadowboxer.” He punched the air; several shadows of his arm echoed the action. “I’m a close combat specialist.”

With Sarge setting the standard for introductions, the drinker elected to go next. “Ex Delta Force here, HurricaneHyde. Call me Cane or Hyde. I’m a Mystic Boozehound.” His liquor rises out of the bottle and forms into a wolf’s head before returning. “Expert in small unit tactics and long-range support. In civvies, I’m a K9 Trainer. Guess I fill a summoner role here.”

Damn, a non-element summoner already? I don’t know what this guy did, but that’s impressive. He must also be an extreme drinker as if that wasn’t obvious.

The tiny brunette spoke up next, “Ranger Medic here, names Sekhmet. You can call me Doc or Medic. I’m a Venom Priest and Battle Cleric, I heal and harm from a distance but can handle myself in a brawl. In civvies, I’m a biology teacher.” She held up her hands. One enveloped in dark purple light and the other radiated a golden glow. From the moment she said the word ‘Medic’ she had the respect of everyone here.

Shinobi decided to speak up, “Names Shinobi, call me Shin. JSDF Special Forces, stealth operations specialist. Current class Ninja,” he faded from view and his voice came from the ceiling, “speed and stealth focus. I am in possession of an Anti-Magic artifact. I would best be utilized as a magekiller.” He reappeared next to the door and walked back to his seat.

Well, that explains his skill. He is practically a ninja in real life. This guy must have died early, or he would probably have been as well known as Enigma. He was probably fighting his brother again, expecting to come back. Hopefully, my words derailed that.

Taking the cue from his brother, RockyRoad began his introduction. “JSDF Captain, archery champion, hunter, and currently a historical combat trainer. My name is RockyRoad, call me Rocky. Classes are Smogblade and Stealthbow,” He let some smog drift off his body and completely obscure it before clearing the air. “I can see through my smog and breathe in it, others can’t. I obscure an area and pick off targets with bow or blade, whatever works best. The smog is new, so I am still fully adapting to it. I work best alone, taking out small groups or dangerous single targets.”

Deadeye, I mean SnowFox, declared his information in response to RockyRoad. “Marine sniper and Olympic archer, name’s SnowFox. I guess you guys can call me Fox. Outside, I’m a coach. Currently, a Mystic Archer,” He held up an arrow and tiny red runes glowed all along it. “I shoot things at long distances and they die, sometimes they have armor, and my arrows need an extra kick. Most of the time I shoot things in the eye where there is no armor. I am very specialized in long-range damage.”

That left a lot out, like the fact he was good enough with a bow in real life to hit his own arrows like Robin Hood.

The tall girl introduced herself, “SEAL, then Secret Service, my name’s Porcelain but call me Clay or by my old callsign Dollface. I do bodyguard work occasionally.” Blue-white projections in the form of bladed armor forms around her. “I’m a Razorshell Warrior and Crabhammer. I specialize in close combat, have 8 black belts, and can fulfill the tank role. I have some minor water powers, but they aren’t notable yet. As a fellow fighter, you interested in a spar sometime Sarge?”

Well, shit… impressive does not quite cover it there. In addition, she has an aquatic warrior/druid thing going on, fairly rare on land but often powerful. She took full advantage of the druid quest it seems, that's the only place nearby I know of to find crabs and shellfish. I’m guessing she found a razor clam, but it could be some sort of bladed crab, although I have to say the mechanics of befriending a clam confuse me. I befriended a tree so I can’t really throw stones.

The redhead bombshell was second to last in volunteering her information, “Names Roseblood, call me Rose. CIA, infiltration and assassination specialist, in-game I am a rapid-fire mid-range combatant with a few extra tricks. I’m an Arcane Duelist.” In a flash she had two wands spinning in her hands, the tips glowing with a blue-white light.

The final member of our band of would-be heroes spoke up. “I am an artillery commander and tactics instructor, my name is Skyhammer. Just call me Sky or Cuddles. I blast things from a distance. I am a Lightning Caller and Ghostflame Acolyte.” She held up her hands. One crackled with lightning and the other had heat distortions around it. “My fire is invisible and slightly spiritual, makes for a good surprise attack.”

Who the fuck are these people? They are goddamn savants with these classes. Either my info helped that much, or they were that good the first time and died defending Cloudburn. No way I wouldn’t have heard about someone that created Ghostfire at the damn start of the game. An Arcane Duelist was pretty impressive as well, a really good one could do a fairly decent impression of a dancing machine gun.

Since everyone else did it, I gave an introduction of my own. “As you know my name is Lazarus, you can call me Laz. I’m an expert with a handful of medieval weapons, a veteran of a few wars, and a half-decent leader according to some. I'm an elementalist and a brawler at the moment, but I’m refining that into something a bit less… wild. Currently, I have a heavy focus on earth-related magics and can do this.” I stood up and shifted into my stone form and flaming letters spelling out ‘GO TEAM’ formed above my head. That got me raised eyebrows all around and a couple of chuckles. “I function as a tank, a mid to short-range damage dealer, and a very shitty buffer. I can also do some battlefield control. Recently I got some minions that are solid, but I can’t make many of them.” I release the transformation and fire before sitting down, don’t want to break the chair.

I found it odd that most of us were American, this starting zone should have people from all over in it. It wasn’t a problem, but it was strange.

“Well, with introductions out of the way here are the maps I have of the area, they might be amateur ones, but they should let us get a basic lock on where the Shadow King is. If you have done any exploring into the Shiverwood, then you know the zones get tougher and colder as you head deeper. The ruins are supposed to be in the innermost zone, along with a large tree that anchors the fucker to life. When we find him, if he hasn’t formed a body, we need to break the tree. If he has, we kill him and then break the tree.”

I spread both my map and the ones I collected from my quest on the table. Shin, Sky, Hyde, Fox, and Rose all took out maps of their own. God damn, it was good to be among professionals again. We spent the next hour making a composite map and extrapolating the boundaries and shapes of the zones. In the end, we were pretty sure we had two locations to investigate. One was probably the Shimburr village and the other the Heart Tree. We decided to do several basic team training excursions in the woods to get used to working together before our assault in two real days. This would put the assault the day after my talk with my party. Still wasn’t looking forward to that.

We spent the next couple hours talking and getting acquainted. I also took some time to pass out any class-specific advice I could. We dispersed to our own business after a while, although I got the feeling half of them were going to train or hunt.

We gathered the next morning to do some group training, Shin started whistling the theme from ‘The Magnificent Seven’ as we walked into the woods. Sarge grunted out, “Kid, I think your count is off.”

Without missing a step Shin switched to the theme for ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly'. Rocky and Hyde looked at him, shrugged, and joined in. Fox just chuckled. I had to admit they were pretty good, they even sang the chanting parts. Even Sarge joined in, and Fox twanged his bow at appropriate times. At the end, there were high fives all around.

Once we got to Frost Chimp territory, we took turns demonstrating our skills. Roseblood took the lead and took on a group of seven solo. Her twin wands spat a stream of small blue-white bolts as she ducked and dodged frozen projectiles. Some of her flips and acrobatics were blatantly impossible. It was only my experience and high stats that let me see the glint of tiny threads that connected her to various points on the trees or ground. She focused fire on a single target unless she needed to disrupt the actions of a different chimp. She managed to kill them all without a scratch or hair out of place.

Since we had turned off Party EXP for this excursion, Rose was the only one that got anything out of her fight.

The Arcane Duelist really was an impressive class for this level. Each bolt might not do a ton of damage, but her accuracy and sheer volume of fire made up for it. The real trick was that the bolts had an armor penetration effect, they flat out ignored a portion of any non-magical defense.

Sky took the next group, a mix of Chimps and Shellbacks, the Shellbacks started to charge, and the Frost Chimps started forming projectiles. Before the chimps were ready, small bolts flew from Sky and into the ground. In a flash her hands were up and wreathed in lightning, twin bolts blasted the area the chimps were in and they died in an instant. She must have a massive Int score. The lightning dissipated and she threw her hands forward to throw a slight air distortion at the three Shellbacks. They dropped to the ground and started making horrible noises as they tried to put out the flames. Soon they were smoking corpses.

Half the group looked at Skyhammer in a new light after that. Most were probably wondering why the fuck anyone would call her ‘Cuddles’, I know I was. We had all seen the gleam of satisfaction in her eyes as the Shellbacks burned.

Her build was likely lacking in mana regen, but it was very potent. She must be early in the Lightning Caller class though since she didn’t actually call bolts onto their heads. If she combined her classes, she would be terrifying in the future. I was looking forward to it.

Shin had us hide and took on a bunch of chimps before they even noticed him, they just died sitting on their branches, the fall distracting the others enough to let him kill the next one. It took him longer, but he was certainly deadly enough.

Rocky decided to follow his brother, and the next group we found consisted of seven Frost Chimps and two of their larger cousins, Frost Apes. The Apes had ice poking out of their hide to form jagged spikes and armored plates. We didn’t actually see what Rocky did because he just walked into the clearing spewing smog. A bit of it even drifted in our direction, causing us to choke and wheeze until we moved further back. All we heard were the bellows and cries of the monkeys and the occasional twang of a bowstring. When the smog cleared they were all dead, a few had arrows in them and the rest were sliced to pieces. Rocky just walked back to the group after sheathing his katana.

While these monsters were a few levels below most of the group, it was still impressive that they could kill groups with such ease.

We passed into the farthest depths of the Frost Chimp territory and started seeing more Frost Apes; they didn’t favor projectiles nearly as much, and Fox took advantage of that. He climbed a tree after hearing a patrol approaching. 10 seconds later four apes emerged onto the path we were following, six seconds later they were dead with missing heads. Fox had shot explosive arrows into the eyes of each one. Dropping from the tree, he just said, “Runes need adjusting.”

Our healer Sekhmet tackled the next group. It was another patrol of four apes, and she grabbed their attention by causing a nimbus of purple light to surround each and then dig into them. It looked to me like she was using a venom variation on the classic Smite skill, the priest equivalent of the mana bolt. With the poisonous energy in them, they bellowed and charged her. She stepped forward to meet them with a mace in each hand and became surrounded in a faint golden force-field. Then she ducked under a spiked fist as big as her torso and retaliated with a double strike to the ribs before rolling through the ape’s legs. She followed that up with a purple smash from her maces to its back that knocked it over.

Dodging another ape, she muttered a quick incantation, and dark purple droplets formed above the prone primate, dripping onto it and boring straight through to the ground. After repeating her knockdown strategy on another ape, she saw the first trying to get up and gestured toward it. The ground below it erupted in a small geyser of that purple venom of hers as if a mine had gone off. That finished the Frost Ape for good. Her continuing battle with the apes resulted in a few scratches, but they healed quickly under that golden shield. The other three fell with horrific injuries, one got a repeat of the venom mine, and the other two just turned deeper shades of purple as Doc pounded more venom into their systems until they died. The corpses gave off a faint violet mist that no one wanted to get near. She flipped the first ape over with her foot and examined the large hole through its chest. “Need to work on my Blessing” she muttered.

She surely had more range than she showed off, but it was a good fight, nonetheless. These things were level 38-40.

The next zone would be where things got interesting. It was home to Tailed Ice Bears and Black Skull-Ravens at levels 40–48 for the bears and 36 for the birds, according to the maps and scout reports.

Hyde took on the first Ice Bear we encountered. It was seven feet tall on all fours and had more pronounced blades and spikes of ice breaking through its skin. Its ice armor was up to three inches thick in some spots, and its claws were nearly a foot long. The tail was seven feet long and thin as a whip, covered in jagged ice shards and blades. One swipe of that tail would act like a saw and shred whatever it hit.

When Hyde stepped forward, we saw he had added a belt to his outfit, one that held four large jugs of the kind they use for sake, two on each side. As the bear lumbered toward him, he chanted softly and gestured. The corks popped off and streams of brown liquor emerged, forming four massive wolfhounds out of booze. With a wave of his hand, they ran to the lumbering bear and started harassing it. The dogs employed pack hunting tactics and dodged almost every blow the bear tried. The only hit they couldn’t avoid was the tail swipe. It passed right through them. When taking hits the dogs were liquid, but from the ripped armor and rent flesh of the bear, they sure could act solid when they wanted to. Eventually, the bear started swaying and making a very strange set of sounds.

Dollface asked, “Is that bear… hiccupping?”

While most of us were still figuring out how to answer that, Rose chimed in. “I think it's drunk.”

The hounds backed away, and the bear tried to give chase but fell over. Hyde recalled his summons and walked back to us.

“How did it die?” Rocky asked.

“Alcohol poisoning.” Replied Hyde with a grin.

Everyone there knew that the concentration of alcohol needed to kill something of that size would be huge, wary glances were given to the jugs that Hyde was occasionally sipping. I was pretty sure he had some skills to enhance the potency of his drinks beyond what would normally be possible.

Sarge decided to strut his stuff next, although he would sock me for putting it that way. We came upon another Tailed Ice Bear, and we let SgtReaper take point. He charged it and was about fifteen feet away when it bothered to notice him. The bear swiped a paw at him, but he just dodged and retaliated with a right hook. I will admit I have never seen someone coldcock a giant bear in the face before. Of all the shit I’ve seen, it seems weird that I haven’t. The fun started as Sarge was still swinging his fist. Shadow copies formed from his arm and they all hit the bear together. The bear reeled. It tried to bite Sarge, but he pulled off some sort of backflip kick, and seven copies of his leg hit the bear one after the other. It was like he was some sort of blurred photo. His fighting style was visually painful to look at, he would make attacks that missed the bear but would hit three times with his shadow.

I had been skeptical about his class from the name; it wasn’t one I was familiar with, and the name Shadowboxer made me think he could just extend his punches or something. This, this was the seed of something great. I wouldn’t be surprised if the class gave him clones at some point. If he learns the rogue version of a Shadowstep and gets a pure strength class to fold into his main… well, that would make him fucking terrifying.

Sarge finished his fight by jumping on top of the thing like Mario and having the repeated stomps beak its back. It wasn’t dead yet, so he used two fists to make a simultaneous strike to opposite sides of its head. The multiplied force crushed its already weakened skull.

The man seemed to be a cross between Schrodinger’s Cat and a kung fu movie protagonist.

Rocky just stared at him with an open mouth and asked, “Were those afterimages or real bodies?”

Sarge caught the remark as he returned to the group and answered, “Yes.”

Dollface looked way too excited. She was practically bouncing like a kid in a candy shop. I bet she couldn’t wait for a spar.

Skyhammer even had a slight smile on her face. That was something I would try to limit my exposure to in the future. Her smile was downright unnerving. It really made me question the sanity of whoever had the balls to nickname her ‘Cuddles’.

Dollface already had her hammer out when we found the next group. Now that I got a better look at it, it seemed small for her, resembling a sledgehammer more than a giant-headed fantasy war hammer. That might have been more effective in the old world, but with stats increasing strength and speed, the giant ones actually made sense. The head of the hammer looked more like an eagle’s beak than a crab claw up close. It was either some sort of fusion between the two, or a very stylized crab claw.

I was a bit concerned when she just straight up charged the group; it was three Tailed Ice Bears and two Black Skull-Ravens, and she had only just gotten to level 40. The bears out leveled her by at least six, and the birds were fast and dangerous. Since the entire point of getting together, a group of real-life combat experts was to swing way above our weight class, I didn’t object in the slightest.

In the first few seconds of the fight, I could tell I was a fool to worry. Porcelain conjured up her blue-white armor, this time forming the whole thing, a full suit of shell-themed plate armor with six-inch to foot-long bladed extensions. When she got to the first bear that was trying to rip her apart, Dollface moved. With grace and an ease that made her seem untouchable, she ducked under the bite, twirled to the side, and slashed the bear’s throat with her armor. A quick one-handed twirl of her hammer caved its head in while her back was facing it.

The fusion of feathers and bone the size of a large dog that was a Skull-Raven swooped for her eyes with talons full of dark magic. She did a frontflip over it and managed to slice both wings off with her armor at the same time as she set herself up for a hammer strike to the tail another bear was trying to bisect her with. The bird fell to the ground, and the tail shattered. More accurately the ice shattered with such force it sheered the tail off at the halfway point.

Dollface landed in a roll and swept the leg of the bear, her armor nearly disemboweling it. Her armor cut through the bears like it was butter. As it partially collapsed, the third bear and the last bird came for her at once. Her hammer spun like it was the baton of a marching band leader and landed six strikes split between her three foes. The bird was more pulp than feathers when it fell to the ground.

She had to do a bit of tumbling to dodge the coordinated strikes of the two bears but expertly used her armor to inflict minor wounds at the same time. I got the feeling she had adapted her knife fighting skills to her armor. The wounds slowed the already injured bear enough that she got some hits in and it soon succumbed to shattered ribs and ruined legs, collapsing to the ground again. Dollface timed her next dodge so that the healthier bear ripped half its comrade’s face off.

The quarters were too tight for it to use its tail, so the bear tried to back off a bit. Dollface didn’t give it a chance. She rolled under one of its legs and popped up at its side, already making a full swing with her hammer. She called out ‘Cavitation Blow’ and the damn claw opened up, revealing a bubble of air so compressed that it was just a distortion. When she landed that on the bear’s side, it blew a four-foot diameter hole through it and showered us with ribs, flesh, and bits of bear. I had to sidestep a falling rib. Most of the others weren’t so lucky.

Sarge had a piece of a liver on his head, Shin got tangled in flying intestines and restrained, and it absolutely drenched Doc in blood. Hyde caught a grapefruit-sized heart to the chest and went down, and Fox was nowhere to be seen. Sky didn’t have any blood on her, but the ground was scorched black, she must have used lightning to fry it mid-flight. Rose had a three-foot circle of completely clean ground around her. Once again, not a hair was out of place. I had no clue how she did that with what I knew of her skillset.

Rocky got the worst of it, most of the flesh had landed on him and he had to climb out of a rather squishy pile, there were bone fragments in his hair, and he had to spit a few out.

Sekhmet completely ignored the blood and walked over to Dollface, “You are now my favorite.” She stated.

Just as the rest of us were reeling from that statement, who would have thought the medic was so bloodthirsty, she clarified herself. “The way you fight, such grace and controlled power, it’s like watching a dance. I always did enjoy the ballet.”

I admitted she wasn’t wrong. Sure, I’ve seen better, but never in someone under level 100 or with such little experience in AoA. Certainly not in someone without a dance-related class. Huh, that reminds me I should ask Violet for the requirements for some of the dancer classes. We forgot about them on our list. Things like Spelldancer, Ritual Dancer, or the element dancer series would be helpful for a section of the population, and Violet took up dancing as a hobby at one point. She should know at least some of the requirements. I could guess them, but it would be better to have solid info.

Fox emerged from some bushes holding a giant rib and sporting several bruises. He obviously didn’t have a lot of points in Con since they weren’t healing quickly. My guess was the rib had taken him out like a bowling pin.

I conjured my Mantle of Healing Waters on everyone; it isn’t that good for healing at their level, but it was good enough for removing blood.

Maid Profession Unlocked

Hah, now I’m stealing Kate’s schtick.

With everyone clean, they were looking at me. Damn, I hadn’t realized they would want an in-person demo from me as well. I should have, though. After this we were going to be doing small group practice and coordination training, they needed to see how I fought when I was serious. Or at least as serious as they were likely to see, I really didn’t want to have to pull out my old skillset. I abandoned that path for so many reasons. Those skills were my last resort, it was bad enough I dipped into them once in the dungeon and graveyard.

Before leaving the sight of Porcelain’s battle, Shin carved ‘Beware of flying giblets’ into a nearby tree. This got a chuckle out of Sarge and Hyde and a glare from his brother. A few of the others picked up the bones and bodies of the bears after they saw Fox carving the rib that struck him into a blade.

We delved deeper into the Shiverwood, much deeper. We weren’t exploring, so we actually avoided many of the monsters in the area. It wasn’t until we came upon a large burrow that we found a fight that would let me demonstrate my skills. It was a sixteen-foot-tall opening in a small hill, and there were eight bears guarding it, two of them Elites at level 51. The Elites were at least two feet taller than the normal Tailed Ice bears, with vicious spikes on their muck thicker armor. The ice armor itself had a faint white glow from the contained mana. While it looked impressive, this was actually a sign that the bears were shit at Mana Control and were wasting mana on their spell. The beasts weren’t very bright, but they did have a lot of physical stats. This might actually be fun.

Cuddles spoke up, “That’s a whole mess of them, I know you’re good, but you want an airstrike to start you off?” I guess she wasn’t one of the subscribers to my stream.

I chuckled softly, “Oh this won’t be a problem, I could have taken these a dozen levels ago.”

Shin whispered to his brother, “See, he is just the coolest.” For a stealth ops military man, he was awfully childish. That might not be a bad thing. It sometimes takes a bit of childish recklessness to thrive in this world, after all.

I shifted to my stone form and kicked the ground, hardening it in a certain pattern. I reached into the soil at my feet and pulled out the newly formed stone axe, giving it a few test swings. It was nearly as large as Dollface.

Turning to my companions, I grinned and let my internal fire flare up. “This will be a walk in the park.”

With that, I gave the ground a solid stomp to have it launch me toward the nearest regular Ice Bear. While in flight, I cast a half dozen Lavabolts at the one farthest from me, targeting its head and legs. Just as the bear let out a roar of pain, I landed on my target, my massive weight crushing its spine. I took the few seconds before the bears charged to tangle the Elites with Grasp of the Rotten Tree, locking them down for the moment.

With a bit of earth manipulation, I had a pillar of stone rise from the ground to meet my descending stomp and crush the head of the half-dead bear. This let me fling myself at another one and use Grasp to tangle another two. It really was an impressive spell for this level. My new target was already charging at me, and he tried to swipe me out of the air by spinning and lashing out with that deadly tail. I may have been unable to dodge, but I had other options.

I pumped heat into my axe and met the tail with molten fury, cutting straight through it and crashing into the bear axe first. I solidified my tactic from the dungeon boss fight into a new spell, flowing oil and lava mana in parallel through my axe and deep into the guts of the Ice Bear. With a mutter of ‘Fuel Bomb’ they mixed in a violent explosion, tearing the bear apart and propelling me towards my third victim.

My axe was out of position as I flew in a low arc, so I met his fangs with a glowing stone fist. The bear had some sort of freezing bite and its incredible strength let it stand up to my weight when it used its mana. I used my mana control to brand a rune on its tongue, specifically a mana gathering rune used in enchanting.

I was never that great at combat enchanting, although a guildmate of mine was incredible at it, I did however know enough of the basics to make a difference. The bear was fighting all of my momentum and force by shoving all its mana into its mouth, if I stopped my mana flow then the bite attack would freeze my arm solid in an instant and shatter it. When you add a mana gathering rune to that equation, all that mana gets focused in one place. In enchanting, something then routes the power to somewhere else. If it’s not, the rune will overload and release the mana in a burst.

When my feet finally touched the ground, I broke the mana-lock and tossed myself to the side just as the rune cooked off and turned all the bear’s freezing energy against it. In a flash, its head became a block of solid ice. I got to my feet and backhanded it into powder. Three down, four trapped, and one injured. I might have to remember that explosive movement idea. With some practice, it could be particularly useful in this form that was so damn resistant to heat and explosions.

The bear I shot lava at was lumbering towards me and the elites were starting to break the roots restraining them. Better wrap this up.

I formed a pool of oil and called up a Raptrilla to handle the restrained normal bears while I took care of the injured one. I fired more Lavabolts at it and formed sharp stone spikes in front of it. While there was a lot of heat contained in my stone, it just shattered the armor of the bear and released its freezing mana into the air. Normal stone met bear-flesh, and both broke. I was fairly sure the bear wouldn’t be getting up again.

The elites were making progress on their bindings, so I soaked them in conjured oil and lit them on fire.

One elite managed to quench the flames with its freezing aura, but the other had gotten burning oil and decay mixed into its wounds and could not concentrate fully. The Raptrilla had ripped open the first root cocoon and found its target dead, the decay already revealing half its skeleton. The occupant of the second cocoon was barely alive, and the Raptrilla just ripped its head off. It was barely attached anyway.

The flaming elite was the first to reach me, it lifted a massive paw to crush me into rubble. Elites have more skills, and more brains, than a normal monster. I was tough, really tough, but I could feel the mana patterns of at least three skills and maybe a thousand mana contained in its strike. Why take it if I didn’t have to?

I targeted its shoulder with a Gravburst and used half my Ki; I didn’t know bears could make such a confused face. Its shoulder collapsed and then exploded, sheering it right off and making all that built-up power useless. I had to dodge the flying limb, but it was a good tradeoff.

As the bear crashed to the ground in front of me, I channeled lava mana into my axe blade, a lot of lava mana. I then brought it down on the bear’s thick skull. Even with all my strength I only drove an inch of the blade through the mana reinforced bone, but that was enough. I let the mana coalesce into lava at the point my axe penetrated the skull, unleashing a small wave of lava inside its head. I was fairly sure it was dead when the lava poured out its eye sockets.

I used to use that move with death mana, but lava to the brain kills most things just as well as death magic ever did.

Elites were different. If I hadn’t also blown its arm off, I wouldn’t be totally sure an Elite was dead just from something as mundane as a destroyed brain and a skull full of lava. Headshots or other attacks that should mean instant death don’t work the same in AoA, they just multiply your damage and impair the monster’s ability to act. Hell, if a player got powerful enough, they could pull the same crap. From personal experience, I can say pulling a sword back out through your ear hurts like a bitch.

The last bear had been activating some skill. A contained blizzard of ice shards surrounded the beast, and an aura of pale blue light clung to its skin. Shoddy mana work, but what else could you expect from a mob under 100.

I was more than ready to end this fight; my mana reserves were already lower than I liked. As the bear ran towards me, I imbued my remaining Ki into my axe directly and drew a rune of force on the axe blade. With an advanced use of Focused Cut, I brought the axe down in an overhead swing while channeling lava mana. The flying slash was a visible angry red of burning heat and lanced out in a flash, splitting the front two-thirds of the bear in two and searing a line in the ground.

Level 48 Tailed Ice Bear Killed!

+3200 EXP x 6

Level 51 Elite Tailed Ice Bear Killed!

+10000 EXP x 2

I dispersed the axe and dusted off my hands, “Well, that was fun.” I was about to turn back to my companions when a roar shook the ground and made chunks of stone fall from the den opening. A massive form broke straight through the hillside as it emerged from the den. A twenty-foot at the shoulder, Ice Bear Matriarch with a title, Mother Of The Frozen Den. The creature controlled its aura so well it didn’t give off the slightest hint of cold, even though the entire beast was clad in detailed chain mail and plates made of viciously barbed ice. The only hint the ice was magical was the slight red tribal marks embedded in the ice, and the fact that it bent easily with every movement of the furious bear.

A quick analysis pegged this thing as a level 94 Boss. With my resources low, this wasn’t something I could tackle alone right now, although it would be a perfect test to see how the team worked together. No soul attacks likely from this thing, so there was no real danger to dying from it either.

I set EXP to shared and yelled, “Okay all, group training has now begun! That is a Boss, it can paste most of you in one hit, don’t let it. Operation Big Mama begins now. Hop to it!”