“Corrupted to right of them,

Corrupted to left of them,

Corrupted in front of them

Rotting and sundered;

Lashed at with skill and spell,

Boldly they charged and well,

Into the mandibles of Death,

Into the pincers of hell

Rode the three hundred.

When can their magic fade?

O’ the mad charge they made!

All the army wondered.

Honor the sacrifices they made!

Honor the Crab Brigade,

Noble three hundred!”

From: “The Charge of the Crab Brigade,” by Pinniped, Bard and High Priest of Toriana, Goddess of Charisma. AC 1716.

I could hear the rest of the team quickly closing in on Luna and me. A moment later, they rush up, and I can sense their hesitancy at the prospect of facing the creature before us. Luna is juking and twirling, moving back and forth in a rictus of synchronicity as she tries to attract the thing’s attention. By this point my pain is under control, fading to a dull ache. I’m not fully ambulatory, but I have enough wherewithal to direct our efforts. I yell at the others to break them from their shock.

“Mina, speed buff and distraction! Billy, projectiles! Wilhelm, throw rocks! This thing is corrupted, don’t get hit!”

As they move to engage, I throw out a bit of hope,

“We just have to hold on! Help is coming!”

Successive *twangs* sound out from the Bill’s cracked shell, tiny projectile zooming towards the monster’s face. They impact and the monster jerks towards the hermit crab brothers. It steps forward, following their movement as they move to the right.

Another step and Mina is already positioned to the left of the thing. She lets out a warbling screech and it spins around, baited at this new attack.

A step towards Mina and Wilhelm is at the center. He has picked up some sand and rocks in his tail fin and whips it forward. A cloud of debris fills the area, limiting my vision and I switch to mana pulses to follow the battle. I can see the giant convulsing, rotting plants writhing as if it is suddenly struck with indecision. Left, right, center, too many foes to face. An interminable moment passes and then it pauses, stark still. A weird silence hangs in the water for a moment until with a squelching *RIP* the creature falls apart. As it collapses, I note that it appears to have fallen into three rotting piles of kelp.

Wilhelm asks, a tone of disbelief in his voice,

“Is that it?”

I quickly respond, “Stay sharp. We don’t know what tricks it might have.”

As we focus on the plant matter on the ground, the rotted masses begin writhing once more. Before our eyes, they reform into three smaller giants. The creatures height has shrunk from fifty meters to fifteen, yet now there are more of them. I bring up the combat logs.

Corrupted Guardian Giant (Lvl 51) uses [Divisive-Action]!

You are in combat!

You are now facing 3X Corrupted Giant’s (Lvl 35)

Oh, come on!

Even though the giant split in three, the thing’s level is still thirty five? I reflexively throw my claws up in the water with frustration and I spit out a curse I heard one of the characters on Crabemax using,

“You cheating mother…”

ROAR!!

Okay, focus on the situation Crabby.

We take the moment to breathe, loathe to engage without an idea of its capabilities. And yet, bizarrely, it doesn’t move to attack us. Instead, the three giants sprint to one of the kelp trees and they each place their hand on a stalk. Blackened rot spreads from its touch and I can see… the kelp getting smaller.

Oh no.

‘ding

Corrupted Giant’s X3 (Lvl 35) uses [Assimilate]!

Corrupted Giant’s are now level 36!

Corrupted Giant’s are now level 37!

As they absorb the plants into their bodies, I see them beginning to grow larger. I call out,

“Focus fire! Get them away from the kelp!”

Luna *POPS* in front of the giant on the right and detonates one of her legs. This time, the explosion does visible damage and rocks the thing back on his heels. He still has one hand latched on as Mina lets out a screeching wail.

The giant staggers, going down on a knee, clutching at its head with his free hand.

Bill and Billy are side by side, their shells touching. The exterior surface of their casings has unfolded, revealing a mesmerizing intricate clockwork. The mechanisms have somehow locked onto the other, and before my eyes, Bill removes a footlong bolt from his spatial inventory. He carefully loads into a slot formed from their combined apparatus, and with a *whirr* the bolt launches towards the hand.

With a heavy *thunk* it impacts the creature’s wrist and almost severs the appendage. Meanwhile, I’ve been compressing the sand beneath Wilhelm to form a rock almost as big as he is. He dips below and with a strangled,

“STUPID PLANT!!”

The rock flies, impacting the giant’s torso. With a heady *BOOM* the impact knocks him over as his grip is finally broken.

A jolt of exhilaration shoots through me at our success. It looks like the monster will need a bit to recover. Now we just have to focus on the two remaining…

As I turn to our remaining foes, I realize we’re too late. They’re up to thirty feet meters tall. A quick glance at the system confirms my fears,

Corrupted Giant’s X2 are now level 46!

They are too far above us. I doubt we could even budge them at this point.

As despair wells, an indistinct yell catches my attention. In the heat of the moment all I’m able to catch is a muffled,

“[…ARGE]!”

Before the ground starts shaking.

I don’t know what new devilry the forest has in store for us, so I call the others back.

“On me! Defensive formation!”

We form up, back-to-back as the shaking grows louder. The vibrations rumble up from the earth, each motion a small jolt of pain at the site of my wound. I ignore it and raise my claws. I begin moving the earth beneath us, trying to duplicate the subterranean escape from earlier. With a tired sigh, I tell them,

“I think the three monsters will come at us again when they have restored themselves. Hold tight, I’ll try to get us out of here.”

My mana pool is almost depleted, and though I try, I can tell my efforts at buoying their spirits are not doing much. It’s been a long day, and we’re all injured, exhausted or both. Even Luna, almost perpetually full of life, lies slumped and despondent. I can feel the rumble in my core now and a distant crashing heading towards us. Whether it be by giant or whatever fresh hell is heading towards us, our chances are almost nil. I take a step forward and turn to the others, making eye contact with each.

“Friends… it’s been an honor serving with you.”

I can see tears forming in a few eyes, and there are nods all around. There isn’t much more to be said. I turn around and raise my claws, ready for one last fight.

The crashing reaches apocalyptic levels, and I can hardly hear myself think. The giants have stopped absorbing the kelp as well, turning sideways as if to investigate. Their actions bewilder me for a second before an idea starts to form. The kelp around us is shaking, and though it may be due to the vibrations around us, I have an odd sentiment. They might be shaking in fear.

Maybe….

*CRASH!!!*

“GET SOME!!!!”

Six giant crabs burst through the plants into the clearing. Their shining armor almost blinds me with its brilliance and they are not stopping. They move in an arrowhead formation, and as I see who is in front, I almost collapse with relief.

Drill Sergeant Lee has arrived.

A split second has passed, as the line hits the three giants. The churning mass of steel and flesh tramples them into the ground. The giants may be taller, but for the first time, I understand what HEAVY cavalry means. They are traveling along with a bubble of air and the absence of water is only magnifying their impressive speed. Each of them has their pincers open wide, thrust ahead of them and they open and close rapidly with shearing force.

Tearing, shredding pincers rip through the plant matter as the charge continues on. Each of the three is torn almost completely in half, but the crabs aren’t stopping. The blackened rot is thrown away from the speed of the impact and then the line is upon us. An odd sensation passes over me and then my squad is lifted into a bubble of water independent of the air pocket the crabalry is moving in. Drill Sergeant Lee says in a quiet voice that somehow reaches each of our ears.

“Time to go privates.”

Then, one of the crabs right next to him calls out,

“Right flank, TURN!!”

The left half of the line slows down and the right side speeds up. The formation pivots without slowing momentum….

And we join the crabalry charge.