I had just finished beating the shit out of this big Aryan motherfucker with one of Hernandez’ arms when a message began flashing for my attention at the corner of my vision. I didn’t un-ass myself from Cross’ chest as I brought the message up.

WARNING! SOOHOO SETTLEMENT CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD, ALYSSA NIGHT RAVEN, HAS BEEN DEFEATED BY GNOLL WARBAND LIEUTENANT, GROMA’KUL, THE SLAYER.

Would you like to initiate a rescue quest for the SooHoo Settlement Captain of the Guard, Alyssa Nightraven? (Yes/No)

THE FUCK!? YES! I thought as panic briefly overtook my rage. The gurgling breaths of the beaten man beneath me caught my attention and my rage returned. I looked at the pulped arm in my hand and tossed it aside and pulled my plasma pistol from its holster. I looked down at Inmate Cross and sneered in disgust. The man’s face was pretty much hamburger and blood bubbled from his lips between large gaps in his now mostly missing teeth. I grabbed his lower jaw and pried it open enough to shove the barrel of the pistol into his mouth, subsequently knocking the rest of his teeth out, then pulled the trigger in grim satisfaction. The top half of his head simply evaporated and the heat of the plasma blast travelled back to singe my fingers.

I ignored it, then stood up and moved to the exit where the rest of the team had wrapped up their fights. The inmate healer was standing with the muzzle of Bradley’s rifle pressed against his temple and holding his hands up.

“This piece of shit surrendered as soon as I grabbed him, didn’t even try to fight back. What do you want done with him?” Bradley asked as I approached. He saw the purpose in my step and backed up a few feet.

The man began stammering something out that I wasn’t listening to, he finally registered the look on my face and began to squeal and beg as I brought the pistol up and pulled the trigger. His head also evaporated and his body slumped backwards. A new message popped up confirming the dungeon was no longer contested. It also annoyingly advised that all loot would be distributed once we defeated the last boss and claimed the core.

Junipher was by my side in an instant and instead of chastising me for my callous actions she stated what I was thinking out loud. “We need to finish this. Quickly.”

“What happened?” Phil asked and Bradley followed, nonplussed by my casual violence. The younger remaining party members stared with jaws hanging to the floor in shock, then caught up quickly and remained quiet. At least they got the sense to read the room.

“Alyssa, the young woman Karl left in charge of the settlement defense has fallen in battle. She is not dead, the system prompted Karl to initiate a rescue quest, he has. And now we must finish this dungeon all the faster.” Junipher explained for me, sensing my turbulent emotions left me rather unable to speak well at the moment.

“What about Carly!?” Phil asked in an almost distressed voice.

“I’m sorry Phil, when a horde attacks a settlement all communications in and out are cut off until the attack is resolved.”

“FUCK! Alright, let’s get this shit done!” Phil resolved with even more urgency than he normally displayed.

“Uh, why aren’t we getting these notifications and quests?” Valley asked the dryad.

“None of you have been to the settlement, so you haven’t been registered as either friendly, neutral, or enemy. When you do visit, you will be able to register at the kiosk, and if you register as friendly or neutral, any major events with the settlement will be broadcast to you.”

“Oh, is that the only way to know when a settlement is under attack?”

“No, if you are within an area twice what the settlement owns, you would also be offered to join the defense. If it is another faction, rather than system generated monsters, you could be offered to join the attack as well.”

“Oh that’s fucked up.” Hawkings blurted out and the others nodded their agreement.

We walked down the hall and the younger members pestered Junipher with more questions for every answer she gave. She took it in stride though our pace never slowed. Phil and Bradley remained quiet as we arrived at another large set of doors. The conversation behind me ended and everyone looked at me expectantly. Loud or quiet? Fuck it… Loud.

“The only safe zone for 60 miles is under attack. My safe zone. Normally I’d take this shit slow, but I have shit to do and I’m tired with this fucking dungeon. So as soon as me and Phil here kick this door open I want to see maximum violence. Fuck this place.”

“HOO-RAH! Let’s do this shit.” Bradley exclaimed.

“Lets get it done, Beesh!” Phil quipped.

Everyone else nodded their heads in understanding and prepared themselves. I looked at Phil and then we both reared back and launched a kick on each door that sheared the hinges and launched said doors into the room beyond. Wind resistance slowed the doors and they veered off to the sides and clattered to the stone floor.

The room we entered was massive and had the feeling of an animal lair rather than a dungeon boss room. Though this was my second dungeon I wasn’t exactly an expert, this could be normal. The room rose up in tiers out of the center. An open space for about 200 meters spread before us and a large mound sat at the back of the room, behind it a shaft of light landed upon a creature that was seemingly sleeping until Phil and I sent the doors to its lair rocketing from their hinges.

I analyzed the beast as a familiar boney dog skull shaped head rose up to investigate the disturbance.

Corrupted Hellhound Chimera, Level 25*****

The beast shook its head and rose on an unfamiliar body. It was longer, and black, like the centipede boss we had killed at the start. It shook out a dozen creep arms for legs and it had a pair of stingers extending high above it with familiar acidic venom dripping around it. It opened large yellow eyes and began sniffing about and shifting around on its pointy legs.

“Beeeesh!”

“HIT IT HARD! NOW!” I yelled to the team then charged forward with my rifle barking out rounds on fully automatic. Bradley moved to my left flank and unleashed a POWER SHOT that bounced off the beast's skull then he rounded behind a rock cropping and looked for a way up.

The rest of the team sprang into action as Bradley and I began the attack. Having done this routine before they all knew their jobs and they went to it. Junipher began singing a song that filled the team with energy, while Hawkings readied an attack in his hands.

Phil charged ahead of the group with Scheel hot on his heels and Valley hung back waiting to leap in and heal whoever needed it. The freakish hound roared in disbelief and moving faster than expected jumped into the air and smashed into the ground in front of Phil and Scheel. They tumbled backwards as a shockwave burst out from the impact sight and granite shrapnel flew in all directions. I calmly walked forward with rifle resting on ballistic shield, firing as I went. The chitin plates on its back fluttered in challenge as bullets bounced off its armored hide.

It roared and slashed out with its forelegs as Phil brought his shield up. Hawkings took the opportunity to drop a GRAVITY SPIKE that caused the beast to shudder slightly. It glared at Hawkings and it’s stingers twitched and launched a pair of acid blobs in his direction. He simply disappeared and reappeared several meters to the side. Really need to find out what skill that is. The hound roared in rage at the elusive Physics Mage as it flung more acid and Hawkings simply warped around the room.

Scheel attempted to slide in with a heavy haymaker and had to quickly adjust to a low cross block as one of the animal's back legs swung up to greet her advance. She managed to block the scythelike limb but was forcefully lifted and tossed back by the strength of the attack. She landed on her back with a thud and a scowl.

“PHIL! HAWKINGS! PIN THAT FUCKER DOWN!” Can’t fight it if it’s all over the damn place!

“ON IT, BEESH!” He yelled back and Hawkings already had another spell sitting in his hands waiting to be used.

Hawkings lobbed a ball of purple-black energy behind the creature. Everyone watched for a moment as nothing happened and I thought maybe he had tossed a dud. Then the energy began to swirl and the hound looked back in surprise as it found itself unable to move away. It roared and raged and expelled burning ash from its mouth as it struggled to break free from the swirling energy behind it.

Phil took advantage of the distraction and slammed his shield into its large snout, “I’M YOUR OPPONENT!” echoed across the room and the hound snarled and snapped while Phil deftly moved around the attack and dropped a WAR STOMP that shattered the stone beneath his feet and forced the hound onto its stomach. The monster suddenly found itself being tugged back by the energy vortex behind it, bladed feet quickly dug into the stone in a panicked attempt to anchor itself. All the while it snapped and snarled while Phil abused its face with his sword and shield.

Scheel flew in for payback with a brutal Flash Kick that cracked an armor plate. The hound attempted to swat her away again but missed as she stepped back and launched into the air for a FLYING AXE KICK that caused the armor to crack and splinter further. Her fists were wreathed in a blue flame as she landed indicating she was preparing MANA STRIKES. She reached back and plowed first her right, then her left, fist into the joint connecting the hounds mid leg to its body. She proceeded to pummel the joint for several moments before a loud snap echoed around the room and the beast screamed in pain, twisting to get at the diminutive woman that was savaging its leg.

While this was happening Junipher shifted her uplifting song to a dreadful chant. The hound shuddered and jerked about afflicted with an unseen status effect. It wasn’t enough to take the fight out of it,but the monster was forced to reconsider the fight. When Hawkings vortex finally faded it leapt away from the fighters and landed across the room to cling to a far wall. Hawkings didn’t have the range, but Bradley and I started activating abilities in an attempt to bring it down. I noticed with pleasure that the leg Scheel had assaulted hung limply at its side. The hound began to suck in lungfuls of air and Junipher shouted a warning.

“GET BACK! GET TO COVER!” Junipher rolled behind a crumbling black pillar.

At that moment flame burst from its mouth and it panned it’s head left and right so that the fire would hit everything in the room. I planted my ballistic shield and crouched low behind it but was still unable to cover everything and found myself to be thoroughly singed and blistered where skin was exposed.

Bradley was largely unscathed as he had found his way to a better shooting position on the ledge above us and the hounds attack was directed at the lowest level of the room. Hawkings also came out untouched by virtue of putting up an ELECTROMAGNETIC SHIELD that absorbed all the magic that hit it.

Phil had hunkered down like I had though his shield was large enough to shield him completely. Scheel and Valley had both attempted to glue themselves to Phils back. Even so they were both badly burnt and Valley managed to cough out “HEALING WAVE!” Green pulse of energy swept the room and the worst of everyone's burns were quickly healed.

The Chimera was starting to suck in more oxygen to unleash another breath attack but I had other ideas. Fuck that! I activated SELECTIVE AMMO: EXPLOSIVE and pulled the trigger of my rifle three times in succession. Rather than aiming directly at the monster I let the rounds smash into the granite wall that it clung to. It howled in rage and then fell from the wall as the wall itself began to crumble from the explosions and weight of the creature that clung to it.

The monster landed on its back and squirmed upside down on its carapace. It twisted right and left but couldn’t seem to right itself. Bradley took advantage of this and used an ability I hadn’t heard before. “ARMOR PIERCING ROUNDS” was all he muttered then the echo of the sound barrier being broken several times reverberated across the chamber. Dust blew away from the muzzle of Bradley’s rifle and it seemed that as soon as he pulled the trigger the round was exiting the opposite side of the hounds body. A satisfied smile spread across his face and he lined up another shot as the force of the attacks impact caused the beast to spin.

Phil recovered at that moment and shouted “CATACLYSMIC LEAP!” and then he rocketed through the air to land on top of the still upside down Hellhound Chimera. Fortunately for the animal it’s underside was just as protected as its back, unfortunately for Phil his impact gave the monster the momentum it needed to right itself. It flipped up and plunged one of its forelegs through Phils shoulder, lifted him in the air and threw him straight across the room to smash into the opposite wall nearly 200 meters away. He slumped down the wall unconscious and Valley was already running to restore the man.

“MORE VIOLENCE, MOTHER FUCKERS!” I roared as the Chimera jumped towards Scheel. Before the beast could reach her another swirling vortex opened up beneath it and sucked it to the ground. It crumpled and whined against the overpowering gravitational forces that Hawkings could conjure.

“STAY OUT OF MELEE! THE VORTEX DOESN’T DISTINGUISH BETWEEN FRIEND AND FOE!” The young man warned Scheel who was about to dive in to attack. She quickly skidded to a halt and took the opportunity to regain some stamina.

“You got another one of those armor piercing rounds ready?” I cast back to Bradley.

“10 seconds! Penetrators weren’t working with the 5.56 rounds.” He replied

I shrugged and stored my shield and let my rifle swing on the sling to my side then drew both my pistols. Bradley started using SELECTIVE AMMO: PLASMA liberally and while the shots didn’t penetrate the thick carapace they did start to melt the plates that they struck. The hound screamed in pain and limp rage as it had been effectively pinned to the floor by the purple vortex. I angled my approach so that I could get a view of the spot that Bradley had already broken through, then found myself dodging a pair of acid globs that were tumbling my direction. Fucker’s down but not out of the fight.

“Get away Karl, I don’t know what this is going to do!” Hawkings yelled and I looked at him for the first time since I started approaching the pinned hound. He had apparently been building up a new attack and it was now ready. A blindingly bright ball of energy was barely contained in his hands and I instantly knew by looking at it that I wanted to be nowhere near that when it hit. I scrambled backwards cursing silently and the world around me went white.

I barely heard the kid call out “SOLAR FLARE!”

Heat cascaded around me and it sounded like I was standing next to a high speed train that was in the process of derailing through the middle of a city. Then there was nothing but silence and darkness. For a minute I wondered if I had died and remembered I could check my HP. 870/1130. Still alive, though something hurt me at some point. Status Effects. I thought and now knew why the world was black and silent.

STATUS EFFECTS:

SOLAR FLARE (BLINDNESS) 5 seconds remaining.

SOLAR FLARE (DEAFNESS) 8 seconds remaining.

JESUS H. CHRIST! WHO KNEW THAT KID HAD THAT KINDA POWER!?

As soon as the timer ticked down my vision returned and if I could be more stunned than I was, I would have. All around me the battlefield was covered in floating ash and the lazy tendrils of steam rising into the air. I looked through the smokey ashy room for the Chimera. What I found shocked my brain. The rear of the Corrupted Hellhound Chimera was simply gone. Everything behind the front legs was vaporized. All of the armor plates were gone and pink inflamed flesh was exposed and it whimpered pathetically. The large yellow orbs of its eyes narrowed and fixed on me and it shifted painfully.

“Bradley, got your eyes back?” I asked quietly as I stared at the corrupted beast.

I heard a heavy sigh above and behind me, “Yeah.”

“Can you put an Armor Piercing Round through its eye?”

“Hell yeah.” A moment later I felt the round pass by me and put the monster out of its misery.