“This is shit” Lucas angrily thought as he got up from ground again, where he once again landed face first.

“You took 45 points of damage”

Perpetrator of this face diving was a shockwave from the strike of Big Kong, who was still wielding a corpse of an Ent as a oversized club. Enraged gorilla was swinging wildly, threatening to squish Lucas and his party members with every strike. Worse yet, following his transformation, there were now shockwaves from each strike and that made the fight even more challenging. For their part, humans were trying to hold on, but aside from John and Maraya, their attacks couldn’t find any footing. Lucas tried to “Pierce” Big Kong’s calf twice, only for his sword to get stuck in thick fur of the creature. His “Death of the thousand cut” was unable to outmatch regeneration of the monkey, wounds opened by it closed almost immediately. Even his “Stinging Cut” only managed to enrage beast further. Michael was even worse. Bullets shattered when colliding with protective fur while shrapnel from his frag grenades deflected in all directions, not strong enough to damage Big Kong. Only advantage they had was more mobility than the beast, allowing him to quickly wade in and out of its range.

“INCOMING” Michael shouted. He lobbed his grenade, a sphere of orange flying towards the beast. Big Kong puffed his chests, and jumped in the direction of Michael, letting his grenade hit him to close the distance to the trooper. Before it managed to slam his improvised club at Michael, Maraya launched herself into the beast knees, hitting them with her cudgel. Big Kong roared in pain, his free hand already launching at Maraya. She yelled “Cordon Line”, her skill creating a barrier that took the hit from the fist.

Lucas spurred into movement, knowing full well that his attacks wouldn’t do much. What he wanted was to spin the creature, allowing John, who finally joined them into basin, a chance to hit it the back. He lunged at the beast who was clobbering at the Maraya’s barrier, activating “Stinging cut” when he got into range. His rapier glowed, making deep cut on the creature calf. Howling in pain, Big Kong turned to face Lucas, trunk of the Ent already in the air. Lucas activated “Dodge”, sliding between big monkey legs. Although he avoided the attacks, he wasn’t fast enough to outrun shockwaves of the attack. Mid – slide they struck him, spinning him out of the control. He landed with his face in the dirt once again. Before the monkey managed to pounce on him, loud bang echoed into the night. From the corner of his eye, Lucas watched as bullet impacted Big Kong’s head, blood and pieces of bone splurging from the wound. To his credit, the beast didn’t fall over, just staggered a bit, his face contorted in agony.

Lucas prepared himself for the inevitable crushing blow. But, that blow never came. As he watched the gorilla, he saw some unnatural stiffness in movement of his opponent. Big Kong dropped club he was carrying, his right arm now hanging limply by his side. With his left hand he pounded his chests, a mix of panic and pain showing on his pain. Not waiting another moment, Lucas lunged, arriving a meter from monkey’s right leg and hitting it with “Stinging Cut” again. To Lucas’s utter surprise, there was no howling screams. Wound opened, sprayed a lot of blood and then obediently reknit itself, Big Kong not even registering it. He then danced away from it and looked toward the wound John made. His “Battle Dance” revealed that something had changed. There was a bright orange spot where the bullet entered giant monkey’s head. Bright orange spot which indicated a weak spot, a place where a well placed attack would do massive damage.

Other members of the party were also noticing strangeness in Big Kong, and had begun reshuffling to capitalize of the new found advantage. As one, they moved on the right side, the newly formed proverbial blind spot of the creature. Maraya quickly struck with her cudgel, smashing the right knee of the creature. Once again, there were no howls of agony, but ominous creaking coming from the knee as Maraya connected with them warned Big Kong of her attack. He raised its left hand, forcing Maraya to duck behind her shield as the hit reeled her a few steps backwards.

Quickly idea, formed in Lucas head. Before he managed to think it trough, he reacted. Shouting to Maraya to hold her shield up, he ran and stepped on it. “Throw me” he quickly shouted, already jumping. Fortunately, Maraya was quick on the uptake, and pushed shield up with all her Strength, effectively making it into improvised spring board. Lucas soared into air, under the eyes of confused monkey. As Lucas correctly guessed, his right side was paralyzed, robbing him of the chance to swat him from the air. Nevertheless, his left arm started moving toward Lucas, but it was too little, too late. Lucas landed on the shoulder of the creature, activated “Dodge”, and was once again up in the air, as gorilla hand smacked the empty air above his shoulder. Aiming his landing, he put his foot on top of the beasts’ head. To his horror, he didn’t judge correctly, making him lose his footing and tumbling down. Using all of his sizeable Agility, he caught thick fur on Big Kong’s forehead, stopping his fall. Hoisting himself back up, he scaled creature’s head, positioning himself above the wound. He took a moment to collect himself, and that when Big Kong struck. He swatted him, making him tumble down the monkey’s head once again.

“You took 33 points of damage”

Acting purely on instinct, Lucas spun in the air, thrusting his blade forward and activating “Pierce”. Unfortunately, his aim was a bit off. His sword pierced edge of the wound, but managed to stuck itself and bring Lucas crashing into the back of the creature’s head.

“You took 27 points of damage”

Lucas felt his flank flare in sharp pain and he let out a cry of pain. Spotting Big Kong’s arm preparing to pulp him, he quickly pull himself up, using handle on his rapier as a handhold. With no moment to spare, he grabbed fur of the oversized monkey with his free hand, pulling his sword and with a hastily reposition hi once again pierced, his skill activated with a quick command. Arm of the creature slammed him a moment later, pushing him into wound and giving his sword even more momentum. Lucas groaned, but his sword stayed on course, breaking trough bone and brain matter both.

“You took 132 points of damage”

World stood still for the next segment. Big Kong wailed and roared, trashing around and then suddenly went still. It stood for a two second more, and then collapsed. He fall forward, his body impacting the ground with a loud crash. When its face slammed, Lucas went tumbling. He crashed into nearby tree and fall down on his back.

“You have slain Big Kong, Enlarged Earth Gorilla, level 29”

“You took 77 points of damage”

“At least I didn’t go face diving again” Lucas grimly thought. He went up, his body aching, as he started to hear alarming shouts around him. His party members ran to him, on their face a mix of worry and awe. Behind them, a corpse of enormous monkey lay there, moonlight illuminating craters and ripped trees that marked a vicious fight that raged here for the longer part of the night.

“You are healed for 300 points”

Hannah was speeding in front of rest of the party, already preparing her next spell. The look of genuine worry hurt Lucas but them he relaxed deducing that their earlier fight was in the past. Before anyone had time to address one another, notification flared in front of Lucas eye.

“Quest completed:

”Scout’s find”: As you near the dungeon that plague Camp Hearth, you start to see telltale sign of something brewing in the forest. Found what that something is or maybe it will find you.

You found the vanguard from the dungeon. On further inspection, you found out that they captured a specimen of local wildlife and mutated it to height of the beasts fury and stability. They planned to unleash it on Camp Hearth, as a precursor for invasion. With the vanguard dead, it’s up to you to stop this monstrosity.

Big Kong, as you aptly name it, has been brought down before me managed to wreak havoc around the countryside and Camp Hearth. Your vigilance ensured another peaceful night for the residents of the settlement, although they might never be aware of their guardians in the night.

EXP reward updated

Credits Updated

Hidden award updated

Rewards:

7000 EXP

2000 Credits

1 piece of random gear

Hidden award: Title “Monster slayer”

“A little bit melodramatic” Lucas thought while smile formed on his face”

“Congratulations! You are level 26 Duelist”

“Stat allocation in progress…”

“+3 Agility, +1 Perception, +1 Strength. One free point”

“+3 Agility, +1 Perception, +1 Strength. One free point”

“+3 Agility, +1 Perception, +1 Strength. One free point”

“Stat allocation completed”

“Title awarded: Monster slayer”

“Title awarded: Colossus Muncher”

Second title caught Lucas by surprise, and his smile widened even more. While his colleagues were going through their notifications, he spotted a chest. It was time to get their loot.