Birds Of A Feather 4
Hesk? Is that you?
It wasnt like Fizzy to ask such a dumb question, but she couldnt help it. Though the raptor-shaped apparition in front of her was more luminescent and see-through than the real deal, it was otherwise identical in appearance to the recently deceased Hero of the Sword. The armor, the broad-headed spear and the posture were too similar for this to be a simple coincidence.
Yes? Have we t before?
Even her voice and manner of speaking were the sa, though her inability to rember Fizzy made it clear this was a fake.
I guess not. Never mind.
After all, it was impossible that even the dead would forget soone as magnificent, glorious and radiant as the Rustblood Juggernaut, even if they only t briefly. Or at least that was what the narcissistic golem told herself to ease her slightly bruised ego.
I apologize, not having a body makes it difficult to retain mories, the ghost claid with a slight bow of its head. That said, it does not matter what our relationship was before. Right now, I am nothing more than the judge for your next test. A referee, if you will. Before we begin, however, let us dispense with this pointless pageantry.
Hesk then stabbed her spectral spear into the ground and clapped her hands twice. The arena shook, groaned and rattled as the surrounding stands and walls fell away into nothingness. The duo braced themselves, but that proved to have been a needless precaution as the illuminated circle of hard-packed sand was the only thing left standing amidst a sea of darkness.
Judge? the golem asked sternly. Then youre not going to fight us?
Though I would have loved to et you on the field of battle, Hesk said as she picked up her spear, Im afraid my ti has passed. This contest is for the living.
Wait, contest? As in only one of us can win?
*THONK*
Fizzy did not even get the chance to process the implications of those words before Jen- No, before Zone blindsided her with a surprise attack. She had swung her adamantite staff with all her strength, landing a clean hit on the golems side, right where her ribs would be if she had any. The force of the blow was so great that it sent Fizzy flying, and would have very nearly sent her off of the edge of the bare-bones arena. The two of them were standing quite close to said edge since that was where Hesks ghost currently was, so there was a chance her plan might have worked.
Unfortunately for the Monk, Fizzy had picked the Shock Absorption Skill specifically to counteract this type of situation. Not only did she not fly nearly as far as Zone intended her to, but she also had one more trick up her sleeve. Naly her Lightning Warp, which she imdiately used to zap herself imdiately above the humans head. The electrical discharge that followed slightly singed the womans black hair, not doing a lot but that was okay since dealing damage was not the Skills primary function.
Without saying a word, the golem swung her wrench down on top of Zones head, but the Monk was an Ultimate Skill user. Though she had barely used it so far, her Spirit Guardian manifested itself as a spectral pair of arms erged from her neck and blocked the high-tech tool, stopping it dead in its tracks. Zone then spun around for a second sweeping hit, but her staff was firmly batted away by Fizzys shield. The golem landed with a slightly awkward roll and lunged forward with a Nail Strike, which was halted just as effortlessly as her last attack.
The two of them went back and forth for a while, but neither was able to land a solid hit due to both sides constantly predicting the others attacks. That said, Zone was slightly better at it than Fizzy, but the quick hits that made it past the golems shield were not enough to do any real damage. They still did so since the Monks Ki-enhanced attacks and Legendary Strength Perk still allowed her to bypass so of Fizzys defenses, but the result was only at the level of scratches and bruises.
Hey, ref! the golem shouted after forcing Zone back with a shield bash. Care to fill in on what exactly is going on here?!
You have reached the dueling portion of The Gauntlet of Eb-Kurah, what is there to understand?
The ethereal raptor had vanished into thin air at the outbreak of the fight, though it would appear she was still around.
Why in Hugos holy toenails are we even fighting?! the golem complained while deflecting another staff strike. What was the point of forcing us to cooperate if youre gonna make us fight?!
Having the courage to stand up to ones enemies is one thing, but opposing ones allies is another altogether. One must be wary of all challengers, lest their tenure as Hero of the Sword be a short one.
Thats fan-freakin-tastic!
Now it finally made sense. This dungeon was nothing more than a glorified interview to help determine Hesks successor, which was also why her ghost was here in the first place.
Ah, I should probably ntion the rules of engagent, shouldnt I? the ex-raptor suddenly realized.
Bit late for that, dont you think?!
Hesk ignored the golems vocal complaints and carried on speaking, her loud voice clearly audible over the sounds of battle.
Victory in this duel can be achieved either through forcing your opponent to yield or throwing them out of the ring. The combat area will also shrink continually as ti passes. The loser will then safely be teleported outside, but will no longer be able to challenge The Gauntlet of Eb-Kurah.
Its fine if I smash this bints head wide open, right?! Fizzy yelled while firing off a shot from her arm-mounted cannon.
This is a ring of honor. Cold-blooded murder will result in imdiate disqualification.
It was, after all, assud that the Hero candidates would be comrades, so outright asking them to kill each other was not in good taste, to say the least. Though fatalities did happen, the vast majority of these cases were accidents. It was far more common to have challengers forfeit imdiately, either because they trusted the other person to fulfil the role of Hero or because they were unwilling to fight their friends.
Like I give a crap about that!
None of which was a concern for Fizzy.
Do as you wish, Hesk said coldly. You definitely wont do as Axels chosen, so you can just leap off the edge for all I care.
Truth be told, the excessively shiny Paladin wasnt all that opposed to that idea. If there were no items to be had, then there was no point in her even being here to begin with. True, giving up would give Zone the Hero title, but the golem didnt see how that would be of any help. Boxxy had already inford her of the Skills shed receive, and none of them seed like much of a threat. Even the posthumous Eternal Crusade could be avoided so long as the Monk failed to die in honorable combat, whatever that ambiguous term ant. And though extra combat XP and Skill Proficiency sounded good on paper, it wasnt all that great in the hands of soone who was already on the verge of a second Level 100 Job.
Bottom line was that, Fizzy failed to see how becoming a Hero of the Sword would be of any use to that woman. From her point of view, it was a hollow title that would in no way allow her to endanger Boxxys life. Or hers, for that matter. In fact, Zone was so far beneath Fizzy that the golem almost pitied her.
However, that was before she dared to attack her from behind.
Parallel Two!
Fizzys eyes shone with a burning green light as Plus and Minus were brought into the duel. She then relinquished control of her body to her negatively charged self. In the next instant the golems strikes beca wild and frenzied, catching Zone off guard and resetting the effects of her opponents Disciple of War since she was now technically fighting a different person. This allowed Minus to swing her right fist directly at the angels face while the human swung back at her with her staff. The Spirit Guardian then grabbed that punch at the sa ti as the golems shield deflected the counter attack, leading to a montary lull in the battle.
Which was when Fizzys flying wrench, controlled by her Geomagnetic Grip, slamd into Zones temple.
Lightning Bolt!
At the sa ti, Pluss Spell was fired out of the golems immobilized right hand. The ball of lightning would have hit her square in the face if not the previous impact moving it ever-so-slightly out of the way.
Fizzy! You made miss!
Chant faster next ti!
Will you two shut up and get to fightin?!
Taking advantage of that mont of internal discord, Zone booted the golem away with a kick to the chest. The radiant construct fell on her back, then flipped over backwards and took another Magitech Cannon shot at her opponent, which missed spectacularly.
Oh, co on! She didnt even have to dodge that one!
As if you could do better!
Guys, incoming!
After parrying another of Zones moves, Fizzy imdiately retaliated by unleashing one of her trump cards.
Condemn!
The high-Level Paladin Skill wrapped itself around the Monk, conjuring a set of manacles forged out of solid light to appear on her wrists, ankles and throat. This technique sealed the use of Skills, Spells and Martial Arts once every six minutes for up to six seconds depending on Level. In its current state it would only last two seconds, but that window was more than enough to let Fizzy deal so serious damage.
The golems main personality took over in the next instant, just as she grasped her wrench out of the air with her right hand. Divine Wrath was activated, giving her a blazing green halo and wrapping her weapon in the sa holy energy, signifying the temporary boost in her damage output.
Grand Slam!
With her Spirit Guardian and Ki-based abilities currently out of commission, Zone had no choice but to handle that Martial Art the hard way. Luckily her movents were not being restricted so jumped back to lessen the force of the impact as she put her nigh-indestructible staff in the way of the swing.
You have suffered extre blunt force trauma. HP -1,402.
Though she did her best to parry it, the magically enhanced blow proved to be too much for her bare flesh to withstand. The brunt of the impact was transmitted through her adamantite rod and into her arms, making them scream out in pain with a disgusting snapping noise. Zone was thrown back by the wide swing and tumbled across the ground. She didnt have ti to deal with her broken left elbow at the mont as she had to roll over to the side in order to avoid the follow up Magitech Cannon shot from Fizzy.
The golem fired off another blast as well as a Lightning Bolt, both of which were just barely evaded. Her Condemn Skill wore off at that point, allowing the Monk to retreat into the air while using Healing Hand to nd her fractured limb. She didnt have a lot of Ki to work with, however, so she couldnt afford to heal it completely, but just barely enough to regain the use of her arm. Her radiant opponent kept blasting at her with ranged magic attacks, but this was where Zones copious amounts of experience fighting magic users began to shine. It was like she was dodging the attacks before they were even launched, though she had to rely on the three-dinsional mobility of her wings to do so.
Stop squirming and die like an adult! Fizzy shouted out loud.
Ugh, knew we shouldve studied Ebonfire instead of Lightning Bolt, Minus grumbled. Bet she wouldnt be able to dodge that!
None of us get shadow magic, though, Plus said defensively.
There was another way, however. As slippery as she was, even Zone could not avoid point blank area attacks. Fizzys Engine of Destruction had now generated enough heat to make her body glow red. All she had to do was get in close and discharge it with Heat Exchange, which would surely boil the skin right off that upstart atbag. The first part of that plan was going to be sowhat problematic, however, as Zone had gained so much altitude that she was outside the forty-ter range of her cannon shots. Which, incidentally, was the longest reaching attack the golem had at her disposal.
What is she doing up there? Minus asked. Think she figured out what we were up to?
Maybe she realized how rude she was and is considering letting us snap her neck as an apology?
Sweet Marcel, Plus! Theres gotta be a limit to how optimistic you can get!
That scenario would be the most expedient solution, Null chid in with a rare comnt, butatbags have been observed to be sorely lacking in efficiency.
Uh, guys? Fizzy interrupted them. Is it or is the arena shrinking?
Indeed, now that the others thought about it, the ring of dirt was notably smaller than it used to be.
I already ntioned it would, did I not? Hesks voice echoed around them. The duel area will keep crumbling until a victor is decided.
Doesnt that an she can just wait up there for us to fall?
Indeed, it does.
How is that supposed to be a fair duel, then?
The world isnt a fair place. If your cutting edge technology cant handle a bit of vertical movent, then thats your problem. Not mine.
That comnt made it clear the ghost had been remotely observing the pair from the very start, and if her tone was any indication then it was clear she was playing favorites. It wouldnt surprise Fizzy if there was normally a no-flying ban in the area, which had been lifted since it would give Zone the advantage.
Or at least it would have, if not for one tiny detail.
Who said it couldnt?
Fizzys body began morphing once again, much like it had at the start of the dungeon. Zone wondered if she should strike while this was going on, but she hesitated. She had indeed picked up that this golem was planning so sort of short-range tactic, so she was wary of giving her the chance. Not to ntion she had seen the defensive power of that Fortress Mode first-hand. She realized too late, however, that Fizzy wasnt becoming shorter and fatter, but taller and slimr.
This new configuration was slender, sleek, streamlined, stylish even. Even her shield was reduced in size to nothing more than a bracer-like decoration. Overall, the golem now looked like the worlds shiniest Rogue, especially with the faceplate that hid the lower half of her face. Of particular note were the two identical devices attached to her back. They were cylindrical, had a lot of moving parts, and each sported a trio of long blade-like attachnts that seed to move around in unison.
What Zone was about to find out was that these curious things were not weapons, but the turbines of Fizzys integrated jet pack.
Assault Mode is now active.
All damage taken increased by 15%.
The effectiveness of the AGI Attribute has been increased by 25%.
Proficiency level decreased. Static Field is now Level 0. INT -40. WIS -20.
Proficiency level increased. Jump Jets is now Level 10. INT 40. WIS 20.
Fizzy Assault Mode
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