~‌‌ ‌‌2.17 ‌‌-‌‌ Fast-Ball Special ~‌‌

Dustgrove Prison Camp

4th Spirtday of the Full Moon

“Tiger’s Hook!.” Ord called out.

Three of the group moaned, removing cards from their hand and tossing them in a pile in front of them.

“Flea, if you have any 11’s, you need to discord in your hit pile.”

“Damnit,” Flea said as he tossed the two cards in his hit pile.

“Nothing, dive for loot,” Uglar called out.

The seven card players, sitting in a circle, all pulled a card from the center deck.

“Nothing, dive for loot,” Shin called out.

They all pulled again.

“Alright, what’s it called for triple 16’s again?” Flea asked.

The group collectively groaned.

“Were you born with a Radiant Relic in your ass?” Laral asked.

“It’s called a Captain’s Gambit, Flea. Everyone throw out your 16’s and 1’s,” Uglar explained.

“Ok, everyone count their hit pool and let me know. We will shuffle and restack the dive pile.”

After marking everyone’s points, Uglar announced them.

“We got Flea in the lead with 2. Shin and Laral, 5. Myself 6. Ord and Gren, 7, and Finch at 8.”

“I’ve never heard of someone only taking two hits on the first round of Diver’s Remorse,” said Laral.

The group chatted as Uglar shuffled the cards before placing them back in the middle of everyone.

“Alright, I believe it’s your turn, Finch,” said Uglar.

“Nothing! Again! I hate this…”

A roar came from the west, turning everyone’s attention in that direction. The sound seemed to come from far away, and yet it was still earth-shattering.

“That came from Dustgrove! What the hell is going on today?” asked Shin.

***

Tenzin sighed. The Dragon Eater could breach the walls of Dustgrove with ease. At the monster's current pace, they had about ten minutes to regain the creatures’ focus and pull it away from the town.

“How good are you with that bow?”

“Pretty damn good. I’m accurate ninety-seven percent of the time on a stationary object. And that was before I got my [Eagle Eyes] skill. I’m unsure how much better I am now; just got it,” Bob responded.

“What level do you have it at?”

“8”

“Take these. Stay behind me at all times. When you can, go for its eyes. Once you’ve landed more than twenty of these, call out to me saying you’re done. I’ll then trigger a formation. I hope you can try and keep up with me.”

The ancient-looking Elf threw Bob a bundle of pure white arrows, each marked with runes along the shafts. Bob placed them into his magic bag. The quiver cycled out the old iron arrows to the new Mithril Rune Etched Arrows. Before Bob could speak up and question him about keeping up, Tenzin was gone, racing head-on towards the Dragon Eater.

“Well, that was rude,” Bob said to the thin air around him.

Tenzin, upon getting close to the Behemoth Class Monster, removed a two-handed bastard sword from his bag. The Elf activated his skills, [Zephyr], then [Bound]. Moving at speeds surpassing that of a storm’s gale, he leaped into the air toward the Dragon Eater. Before his jump reached its apex above the monster’s head, he activated [Gravity’s Rule], focusing the skill on the tip of his sword. The weight of the weapon would now double every second it remained in the air.

At the apex of his jump, Tenzin was now directly above the creature’s massive head. The Elf had already been in the air for three seconds. He calculated it would take another seven to penetrate through the head of the beast. At that point, the sword would be over 700,000 pounds coming down on a single point. Looking over the Dragon Eater, he could see Bob had already planted a handful of arrows into and around the beast’s many eyes.

The tip of Tenzin’s sword came crashing down onto the Dragon Eater’s mammoth head. The end of the blade entered closer to the neck and off to the side. Tenzin wanted a direct hit to its skull, but the beast had moved more than he calculated. As the sword entered its flesh up to the hilt, he let the weapon go and ran down the behemoth’s back before it could relaunch its tongue attack.

Three seconds later, Tenzin came to a halt next to Bob, who was still shooting arrows nonstop.

“Almost six-million.”

“Six-million what?”

“My favorite sword is now over eleven-million pounds. It doubles its weight every second it remains in the air. Watch, it’s going to either flatten the beast or slice right through its neck.”

The cat and Elf watched as the Dragon Eater came to a halt and started roaring, then scratching at its neck with its back leg. Bob kept up his barrage of arrows. He was now able to hit the other side of its head due to the beast turning towards them. The creature had paused from it’s march while it tried to gnaw at the spot where the sword was stuck.

Two seconds later, the massive blade sliced through bone and meat, coming out the bottom of the Dragon Eater’s neck. When Tenzin’s sword hit the ground, Bob was prepared for the shockwave that much weight would create when hitting the ground. Instead, as soon as the tip hit the earth, the sword shattered.

“That’s a new record. 16 seconds. I’m unsure how much that would have weighed.”

“How much did the sword originally weigh?”

“700 pounds.”

“45,875,200 pounds.”

Tenzin looked down at the cat with eyebrows raised. Bob caught the look, shrugged and then grinned up at the old Elf.

“I was created for calculations,” Bob said.

“How many arrows have you implanted into its eyes and surrounding flesh?”

Bob pulled back on his bow and planted an arrow into one of the large six orbs on the left side of the beast’s head.

“Twenty-seven.”

“That’s a good enough start. Oh, I hope you can deal with all that hate you’re about to receive.”

“Wait, what’s going to happen?” Bob yelled out as he planted the twenty-eighth arrow.

Tenzin pulled out a pure white spear with runes at its tip. The Elf was then gone again in a blur. A mere moment later, Bob spotted the speedster now below the Dragon Eater’s jaw.

Tenzin used [True Strike] and thrust the spear up into the creature’s lower jaw, aiming towards the beast’s brain as close as he could. With his job now done, the Elf ran back towards Bob, scooping up the cat in one smooth motion, before running away from the behemoth towards the mountains. Taking out a small stone rune, Tenzin crushed it in his hand.

The spear lodged inside the mouth of the beast began to glow bright blue. The runes on the now thirty-two arrows impaled across the Dragon Eaters head also began to glow blue and then immediately started tunneling through the creature’s head, seeking out the tip of the spear.

Tenzin had given Bob arrows that would seek out the rune formation if they were within thirty feet of the spear’s tip. The pull between spear and arrow was far stronger than any of the electromagnetics created on Earth. The runed spear’s formation at its head was activated when Tenzin crushed the stone rune.

Within seconds of Tenzin reaching Bob, picking him up, and tossing him on his shoulder, the Dragon Eater started letting out powerful shrieks of pain and confusion. It whipped its head around until finally zeroing in on the orange ball of fur that it had seen shooting the annoying little pricks.

“Tongue!” Bob shouted.

At the sound of the warning, Tenzin jumped directly to his left. The tongue came crashing where they would have been a moment later. The Dragon Eater was now chasing them. They had the monster’s full attention.

“Keep shooting! Any arrow will drill towards the spear’s head. I have 43 seconds left of [Zephyr], then we need a new plan.”

“The others are still attacking, but it looks like we have it’s agro!” bellowed Bob over the wind gushing past him.

“Agro?”

“Gaming term from Earth. Agro means to gain the top of its hate causing it to focus its attention on you.”

“Ag-ro. I like it!” yelled Tenzin.

Bob was still pelting the Dragon Eater, his arrows now hitting it head-on. One projectile hit the larger of six eyes on it’s right. The stress from so many arrows going through the cornea caused the eye to pop, leaving a trail of clear-bloody fluid through the forest. The behemoth roared in pain and pulled its head back slightly.

“Tongue!” Bob yelled again.

Tenzin jumped up and to his right at a forty-five-degree angle, the tongue hitting the ground where they would have been if he jumped directly right. Landing safely, Tenzin took off through the forest, the Dragon Eater starting to gain on them.

“It’s catching up, old man,” Bob said.

“I don’t have much Energy left. We have to hope to lose it, and it decides to go home to lick its wounds.”

The two came out of the forest and onto the road leading south. Tenzin had run out of his [Zephyr] skill and was now panting heavily, sweat pouring from his forehead. Making their way further south, the BCM came crashing through the forest and onto the road. Behind it, a wide new path had been carved through the woods towards the town. They were far enough ahead where Tenzin could no longer see the adventurers who had been chasing it.

Suddenly, Bob shouted, “Tongue!”

Tenzin jumped left two feet, then bound far to the right off the side of the road. The tongue hit just a few feet to the left of where they had been. The extreme maneuver left Tenzin with no way to stop his momentum. He crashed into the grassy field just beyond the bank of the road. He also lost hold of Bob, who then flew further into the grass.

***

I awoke in a slight daze. It appeared I had been knocked out again for exactly two seconds. I really hated losing time. Looking around while rising, I found myself in a tall grassy field. The roars of the Dragon Eater continued and the stomps of its feet signaled it getting closer. To my left, I could hear Tenzin gasping for air. I made my way to him. Getting nearer, I could see him laid out on his back, gasping for air. It looked like the old Elf was having a heart attack.

“You look like shit, man. I have fourteen arrows left. You got any more?”

Tenzin nodded. He reached into his bag and pulled out another bundle, handing the arrows to me.

“You have more than that?”

“You have any idea how much these things cost to manufacture?”

I shrugged.

“I have an idea. You got enough Energy to throw me?”

He nodded and handed me two more bundles, giving me three-hundred and fourteen arrows in total.

“Alright, I want you to throw me straight and right above his head.”

“It’s your death, but with the distraction, I might be able to get away. I’ll owe you. I thought this was a suicide mission for me.”

“Why wouldn’t you just respawn?”

“You only get a hundred lives per world kitty. Let your companion know to cherish each one of them. They will catch up to you.”

I nodded to him in thanks.

The Dragon Eater was now close, stopping less than two hundred feet from us. The monster licked its wounded eye while staring us down with its remaining good ones. The adventurers following it broke through the forest as well, coming to a halt behind the creature. Seeing us facing off against the monster, the veteran players started giving it a wide berth. By now, they all knew a showdown when they saw one.

“As soon as he reshoots his tongue, toss me as hard as you can towards the top of its head.”

While Tenzin picked me up, I took out the three hundred plus arrows from my bag. I wrapped my arms around them, making sure all the arrows were face up. I then made myself as compact as I could. We stood in that pose for what seemed like minutes. Finally, the monster reared its head back. Tenzin immediately faked left, then right, before jumping straight up and yelling [True Strike]. I glowed for a fraction of a second.

The force at which he threw me almost snapped my spine and made me drop the arrows, but I somehow held onto them. Closing in on the Dragon Eater, I gave him my best death grin and then yelled as loud as I could.

“FAST-BALL SPECIAL!!”

Approaching the thirty-foot perimeter of the spear’s head, I tossed the bundle of arrows out in a large arc. The moment they passed that perimeter, all three-hundred-fourteen arrows shot forward like the projectiles had been fired from a high-powered rifle. The Dragon Eater’s eleven remaining eyes were all obliterated at once. The rest of the other arrows hit the crown of its head and nose, all quickly vanishing as they burrowed through flesh and bone, each making their way to the spear lodged in the bottom of the beast’s mouth.

I flew over the creature’s head, then landed hard on its back. I started moving before it could launch its tongue around at me and jumped off. Hitting the ground on my side, I realized cats don’t always land on their feet. I stood up with a grunt and quickly made my way to Tenzin, who I could now see lying face down where he had jumped.

Getting close to the old Elf, I could see he was barely breathing. I rolled him onto his back.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“No more Energy. Will die soon.”

“Can’t you meditate or something?”

“It’s not thick enough on Mea for someone with an Iron Body. I would need to get back to my Lorien.”

The Dragon Eater roared again, then finally went silent. I looked over at the still beast. An idea quickly formed.

“Can you use cores to gain Energy?”

“Yes, but I would use up anything a Dim Core or lower could give me before I got off the road.”

“What about its core?” I said, pointing back towards the Dragon Eater.

“That would be wasted on me, Bob. I couldn’t. It was your kill.”

I slapped the old Elf on his forehead, surprising him. I got up and pulled out a dagger, yelling over my shoulder as I ran away.

“Where is the core located in this thing.”

“Base of its tongue,” Tenzin yelled, then started coughing.

I was lucky. The creature’s last grunt before death left its mouth open. The Dragon Eater’s head now looked like leaky swiss cheese. As I climbed into its mouth, I really hoped the thing was truly dead. Climbing over the tongue and dropping down on the other side, I spotted a sack that glowed slightly. Slicing the sack open was more challenging than I would have thought. But finally, after making a large enough hole, I was able to remove the sizable glowing marble. The orb was half the size of my head and came out of the sack with a loud ‘pop’ sound.

Placing the marble into the bag at my hip, I climbed up the tongue and crawled back out the mouth; to find the other adventurers, some town guard, and others who had red plated armor coming toward me. Not wanting to deal with them, I ran back towards Tenzin.

“Here! Use this Divine Core. Then get back to your Lorien and heal up.”

“I can’t, Bob. It would be honorless to take it from you.”

“Oh, you stubborn fool. If I let you die, my companion would be pissed.”

I had to pull the large marble out of the bag with both hands, then began to raise it above my head. The adventurers behind me seemed to be yelling for me to stop! Ignoring them, I finished raising the large golden marble above me and swung down with all my might, cracking the orb on Tenzin’s forehead.

I really hope this doesn’t kill him first.

***

“Nothing, dive for loot,” Flea called out.

Bob & Tenzin

Shared 1 Divine Core

+ 4230 Energy

Attention!

The gaze of the gods has been drawn to you and your companion.

“What? What! WHAT?!” yelled Flea.