Following a tearing sound, a bunch of foam created a temporary dust-like mist that was nearly blinding as Zach's sword ripped through two seats in front of him. Unfortunately, the seats were the only thing he hit. Frustrated, Zach lunged in the opposite direction while simultaneously leaning backwards, which let him narrowly avoid a return swing from the blue-skinned, Dwarvish impersonator—which by the way, looked nothing like a Dwarf. The axe, which started low and went high, ca at Zach with an arc that brought it just inches from his stomach, then his chest, and lastly, his chin.
It was a close call.
There's no room to fight this guy! Zach thought as he leaned away from a secondary follow-up attack, this one ripping off a section of the right side of the car and causing an intense wind to begin blowing into the two of them. They were moving so fast now that the force of the air hitting his face made it difficult to breathe. But still, Zach ignored it and kept trying to find an opening, but it was just too damn cramped in here. This was a terrible place to fight, though there was nothing he could do about that right now. He couldn't even summon his card, as he was unable to be sure that his card wouldn't end up accidentally hitting him due to the cramped quarters.
Ti Remaining: 19:44
HP
902,661/1,500,000
Na
Vengalaurn Raider A
Level
81
Due to the confines of his environnt, what would have been a fairly simple and quickly dealt with lee opponent ended up burning almost three minutes of ti as Zach was reduced to defensive maneuvers. At the end of each of those three minutes, Zach would use Halting Strike and hope that enough ti had gone by to reset the diminishing return on the stun, as he could not simply use it back-to-back. In fact, using it just two or three tis in a row would be enough to give the mob total stun immunity for several minutes, which was exactly what he hoped to avoid. Thus, he made sure he waited patiently before each use.
Now, activating his stun once more, Zach used the half-second duration to score another two powerful, high-effort hits across the blue-skinned, blond-haired creature's chest, each of which dealt around 250k damage and caused dark red blood to coat what was left of the nearby ripped-apart seats. A jet of blood even managed to stain the roof of the subway car.
Ti Remaining: 17:11
HP
397,878/1,500,000
Na
Vengalaurn Raider A
Level
81
Zach took a deep breath. He knew better than to let his frustration lead him into making a mistake; still, it was difficult, as he was both agitated and put off by this entire turn of events. Knowing full well that he was going to be heading back into the scalding desert, he had at least been looking forward to a relaxing, several-hour ride through a dark tunnel where he could take a nap or whatever. But he couldn't even have that, could he?
He sighed. Albion-4 just did not let up, did it?
At least I can earn a Resurrection Totem if I succeed, he thought.
With such a big, gaping hole in the right side of this car, the wind from the pitch-black tunnel intensified the clug-clug-clug sound that the train made as it barreled its way down the track. Zach swallowed nervously at the thought of accidentally falling out. He did not like the idea of being stuck in what could potentially be hundreds of miles of pure darkness with Gods-knew-what lurking around inside of it.
I need to keep moving.
The mob, bleeding profusely, raised its axe and rushed him. Now, Zach batted away two successive swings of its axe, each one causing a loud clack as he t it with his blade. The first strike he fully absorbed, sending a moderate amount of shock into his wrists, but the second one he deflected off to his left, causing it to tear into yet another padded seat. Following a third, downward, and smashing attack, Zach swung his sword upwards to guard, but this ti, he pushed back on the mob, which was admittedly quite strong and almost seed his equal in terms of strength.
But not skill. Not even close.
Grinding his teeth, Zach used all his strength to shove the two-handed axe away, and it caused the Vengalaurn Raider A to spin slightly off to the side—and it was here that Zach found the small opportunity to end this creature.
Before giving it a chance to adjust its position, Zach struck out twice more while the mob was off-balance. The first slash cut off the Vengalaurn Raider's arm from the shoulder down, and the second one caused even more blood to spray out of its chest, but both, combined, were just enough to put it down for good.
HP
0/1,500,000
Na
Vengalaurn Raider A
Level
81
377,551xp
"Gods-be-damned adventurer," the mob croaked as it fell forward onto its face. Then its entire body—as well as the axe it was holding—turned rapidly into nothing more than green, mucus-like bubbles and steam, with foul-slling smoke rising up into the air, until there was nothing left of it aside from the blood it had spilled.
To Next Level
4,599,035/6,095,000
Ti Remaining: 16:58
"Whew," he said, sheathing his blade.
As the seconds ticked down, he hurried from car 11 to the door that led to the chained walkway, which itself would lead to car 10. But he paused a mont before entering.
I can't fight like this, he thought. I can't swing my sword properly.
A smile worked its way onto his face as he realized he now had the perfect excuse to swap out for a different weapon: one he coincidentally had in his QI, rather than box 1, as he'd been "playing" with it while waiting for a twenty-minute quest dialogue to finish just a little while ago.
Kralzek's Spear.
If he'd put it in box 1, he'd have to be out of combat for five minutes to go in and get it. But since it was just sitting right there in his QI—on the slot adjacent to his "ch" thing—all Zach had to do was drag the icon of the spear from his inventory into his equipnt, which caused both his spear and the Primordial Void Blade to switch places, with the latter now in his QI.
The spear, miraculously, appeared in his already gripped fingers. For the mont, however, he removed his right hand and used it to push open the door, which led to the walkway that was chained off to prevent soone from falling off the train. The walkway was tiny and not even two feet in length. It was more like a "stepway." Right in front of it was another door to the 10th car. Zach pushed that one open and stepped inside—and then was imdiately attacked.
"Co and get so, ye bastard!" cried Vengalaurn Raider B.
Even before Zach had fully stepped through the door, the damn mob was already running down the aisle of the car at a full sprint towards him, its two-handed axe ready to crack open Zach's skull. Not having expected this, Zach was montarily startled, but he quickly recovered and lunged in the direction of the mob even as it rushed towards him. But this ti around, the narrow space worked to his advantage rather than his detrint.
Wielding a spear, Zach's reach was much, much greater than the mob's, and so the mob ended up impaling its own self, the spear going right through its chest for 292,444 damage. The only problem, however, was that the mob, although slowed, continued its charge to Zach, which ant taking another 142,444 and getting right up in Zach's face with the spear fully subrged in its chest—and its axe now swinging right down on top of Zach.
Oh, damn, I didn't think that could happen!
Zach did not fight with spears. They were an unfamiliar weapon. And thus, he had never gad out the possibility of a mob simply "impaling" itself to get to him—sothing that was now obvious in hindsight and was probably sothing that every spear-user would know to expect. But now, caught in this terrible position with nowhere to dodge, Zach knew he couldn't possibly evade the attack. Nor could he hope to draw his spell blade in ti to guard. Nor would he want to do so, as his spell blade might just shatter and break if he tried to block with it.
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Left with no other choice but to eat the attack, he waited until the mont before contact and then used Steel Guard II, the all-important ability on his Sturdy Plate of the Spider Slayer, which gave him 150 armor and 50% magic resistance for 9 seconds. The axe then slamd down onto his helm—hard. Enough to make a donnnnng sound. Imdiately upon impact, Zach's vision blurred, nausea struck, and he felt like the entire subway car was spinning around and around as opposed to moving forward.
But he was alive. And that definitely would've killed him otherwise.
Unfortunately, the disorientation caused him to feel such an intense degree of vertigo that he montarily forgot where he was and didn't seem to rember until after the axe was coming around again. This ti, it struck him on the side of his face, and Zach felt an imnse, awful pain. He also saw multiple little white specks fly out of his mouth, which he assud were teeth. His tongue, which just so happened to be at the bottom of his mouth, could feel that the entire bottom row was missing.
My head…dizzy.
His ears began to ring. His vision further blurred. But then sothing happened. A rainbow-like light began shining down on him, one that he at first thought was a hallucination until he rembered that he had a 1.2% chance on his Sturdy Pauldrons of the Spider Slayer to restore 35% HP and stamina upon being struck—and that was HP, as in raw hit points.
Instant HP.
Thus, the mont following this rainbow-like light, the ringing in his ears and the blurriness improved considerably, and what felt like four of his six missing teeth just sort of "reappeared" in his mouth as though they'd never gone missing. But he was still experiencing vertigo. He was still a bit out of it. He needed more healing. Quickly, he activated Revitalizing Winds, the 5-hour cooldown ability on his Sturdy Greaves of the Spider Slayer, which granted him another 40% HP and 20% stamina regeneration.
And with that, he was fully healed. All his teeth were back, the blurriness was gone, and the spinning halted completely. Even the nausea had faded away. But what was truly incredible was that these two events occurred so quickly together that it all took place between the mob's second and third swing of its axe, which Zach, who already had his back to the door he'd used to enter this car, had only one option for avoiding.
He jumped into the seat to his right.
The mob wasted no ti and slamd its axe down again. Zach sprang up and then fell over the top of the next seat and landed on top of it in a lying position as the row behind him was demolished. Quickly, he hurried up once more and darted into the aisle so that now, at least, he was facing the way he'd co in, and it was the mob whose back was to the door.
"Give that back!" Zach shouted as he reached forward and grabbed the base of his black-and-gold spear, which was still fully run through the mob's chest. The Vengalaurn Raider groaned as the spear was yanked free, which caused an additional 99,111 damage.
HP
966,001/1,500,000
Na
Vengalaurn Raider B
Level
81
As the mob pressed him, Zach, now able to utilize the entire aisle of the train car, began to take hopping steps backwards while thrusting the spear forward. One wound after the next, he penetrated the blue-skinned creature's chest and belly, stabbing it over and over and over. By the ti his back hit the door that led to car 9, the mob had already died. It cursed him, fell forward, and bubbled away into nothingness.
HP
0/1,500,000
Na
Vengalaurn Raider B
Level
81
377,551xp
Spinning around so that he faced the door, he opened it, proceeded over the short walkway, and then hesitated before entering the next car. The last thing he wanted was to be surprised again by an already charging Vengalaurn Raider. So instead of opening it with one hand while his other rested on the spear, he decided to be canny and take a step back until his back pressed into the door to car 10 that he'd co through.
Grinning, Zach bent his knees and lifted his spear so that he was in a fighting stance. Then he raised his foot and slamd it into the door, knocking it clean off its hinges, and it was he who yelled out "Bastard!" as he charged this ti around.
But after running just a few feet into car 9, he stopped short.
It was empty. None of the mobs were here.
"I guess there aren't any in this—"
Oh no wait! It wasn't empty! Gods, oh Gods, he was wrong. He was wrong!
HP
1,100,000/1,100,000
Na
Vengalaurn Archer A
Level
81
HP
1,100,000/1,100,000
Na
Vengalaurn Archer B
Level
81
Hiding behind the seats to the left and right sides of the aisle, at the rows closest to the door to car 8—two blue-skinned mobs briefly popped up their heads, and both were wielding crossbows.
Zach barely had the ti to shout, "Ah, shit!" as he was struck through the neck and the chest, causing him to gargle, widen his eyes, and stumble away over the door he'd knocked down before falling straight onto his back on the walkway.
He couldn't breathe. His consciousness was fading fast. Very fast. His heart and throat had been hit. The Gods-be-damned crossbow bolt. It'd not only gone straight through his plate, but it'd struck him right in his heart.
He had no choice. He had to use a Light Stone.
As all sounds beca distant, reality turned dark, and his head sort of lolled off to the side, Zach used the last of his consciousness to open his inventory, ntally select the Light Stone he kept in his QI, and use it. But he was so far gone he only partially saw the prismatic light briefly shining around his body.
Five seconds later, he was back on his feet and pulling the bolts out of his chest and neck—oh, and he was so, so angry.
"You made use a Light Stone!" he shouted as he extended his spear and charged at full speed down the aisle while the two mobs were still reloading their crossbows. Zach made several thrusting motions with his spear, even while charging, which caused a powerful blast of wind that knocked both of them into the wall, but he didn't stop there. He wound up his arm and then hurled his spear with all his might. The weapon flew ahead of where he was running, sailed through the air, and then struck Vengalaurn Archer A right between the eyes before not only ending up half lodged in a wall, but actually managing to pin the mob to the wall along with it.
722,451
Despite this, it seed to still be trying to reload.
Zach opened his QI and called forth his Primordial Void Blade, which appeared in his right hand; at the sa ti, he chucked his spell blade into his inventory, causing it to vanish. This allowed him to grab his spear with his left hand and yank it out of the wall without having a bunch of "Xs" appear in front of him while he burned up from the inside, which was exactly what would happen if he tried to "equip" more than two weapons at once.
With the spear removed from the head of Vengalaurn Archer A, Zach launched it at the head of Vengalaurn Archer B, dealing 502,912 damage and pinning that one to the wall while he ripped his blade across twice, back and forth, beheading the first one.
362,250xp
Then he turned his body, moved over to the other, and placed his foot on its chest as he yanked the spear free for the final ti. With that, he swung both weapons at once, which, although kind of awkward, still ended up working, and he decapitated this one just like its friend. This one, too, bubbled and vanished.
362,250xp
Sheathing his sword and gripping his spear with both hands, he kicked down the door in front of him, and then the door beyond that one, and he moved into car 8.
Then he turned around and ran for his life back into car 9 as three dark-green, mucus-like balls of…of sothing zipped through the air and nearly struck him. One ended up hitting the walkway, a second struck the roof above Zach, and a third hit the seat to his left in car 9. And all three things began to sizzle, foam, and disintegrate, kind of like these mobs when they died. The walkway nearly burned completely off, but thankfully, it held.
Fuck this, Zach thought with a growl.
Zach activated Hunter's Mirage, causing a black circle to manifest on the floor beside him, and from within this dark circle, a mirage of him slid upwards into the world.
HP
20,000/20,000
Na
Hunter's Mirage (Zachys Calador)
Level
39
Zach, who was taking cover behind a wall, took a peek through the two downed doors into car 8, where he spotted three mobs called "Vengalaurn Shaman," each of which was just barely visible. Two were hiding where the archers had been hiding in car 9, and one was standing in the aisle between them. All three had staves made of wood with human-shaped skulls at the tip.
HP
1,500,000/1,050,000
Na
Vengalaurn Shaman A
Level
81
"Go get him, shadow Zach," Zach said to the mirage as he ntally ordered it to target "Vengalaurn Shaman B," which was the middlemost target.
The Hunter's Mirage took off at a run, moving quickly down the aisle. All three mobs aggroed onto it, and all three cast the sa greenish mucus-ball thing, which was clearly a DoT, as it struck the Hunter's Mirage right around the point where it was halfway down the aisle but did not do any damage to it—at first.
Then two seconds ca and went, and the Hunter's Mirage suffered over ten million damage in an instant. But Zach was now grinning, as the 0 HP mirage had gotten more than close enough to catch all three in its blast radius.
But then Zach's grin faded as he discovered how big of a mistake this was.
A lot of things happened very quickly: so quickly, in fact, that Zach wasn't sure the exact order, though he had a pretty decent idea. First, obviously, ca the boom—but not the pitch-black fire and the eerily bright-orange smoke. No, that ca third or fourth. Maybe fourth. The second thing to happen—or maybe the third—was the appearance of the damage numbers, each of which was over 9 million, but Zach did not quite see them long enough to be sure of the precise values.
Zach wasn't sure if this had happened before or after car 8 detonated in its entirety. For the briefest of instants—a re flash—Zach could see the walls bend and rip off, the roof crumple and go flying away, and every seat to just sort of scatter. Then there was a crashing—a hideously loud crashing. And before Zach realized what was happening, his car was flipping around, which ant he, by extension, was flipping around.
The cardinal directions of up, down, left, and right temporarily lost all aning as nausea made its return. But it was brief because, sohow, at so point through it all, he was ejected from the car through a glass window, which shattered as he was spat out into the pitch-black tunnel at such an absurd speed that he not only bounced off the right side of the tunnel wall, but he ricocheted off the left one before bouncing again off the right.
Then he fell down just in ti to be struck by cars 10 and 11, both of which exploded, derailed, and caused even more imnsely loud screeching and banging sounds to reverberate all throughout the tunnel. For a terrifying few seconds, there was just a constant screech of bending tal along with inexplicable snapping sounds. There was also a fair bit of shattered glass.
"Oh, fuck," Zach said, feeling extrely dizzy and buried under broken seats and what felt like tons of foam. He dug himself out, only to see the following floating in the air before him.
Level Up!
42 (41)
Constitution
1 (260)
XP Required for Level 43
6,660,000
Zach didn't even have the ti to feel disappointnt at this horrendous, no-good, garbage level-up.
Ti Remaining: 11:24
But things were even worse. Because, as he took a mont to wait for the sensation of spinning to stop, he noticed that, amid the absolute, all-encompassing darkness of the tunnels, he saw several pairs of tiny dots lighting up all around him, which he realized were eyes. And then he heard a voice.
"Zachys Calaaaadddooooor," said sothing that sounded exactly like a wraith.
Oh, Gods, it was, wasn't it?
In the distance, Zach could just make out the distinct sound of the train getting away from him. He could run faster than the train could move. But he wasn't sure he could run faster than these wraiths—not if he didn't get moving right now. Luckily, he didn't need to look hard to find his spear, as it had dropped just ahead of him.
Now, with every last bit of speed he could muster, he took off running down the tracks, desperate to catch his ride before it got too far away from him and he ran out of stamina or breath.
This quest sucked!
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