Beyond the Boss Read online

  “I’ve got a couple of trap spells too,” Tufkakes said as they hurried up to the top. “Let me check with Jamica and see if she took the right talent tree to get them too.”

  Nothing appeared in party chat as Tufkakes messaged their guild member who hadn’t come back with him when he returned from the scouting mission. Horc assumed she was somewhere nearby waiting for something to happen.

  Tufkakes shook his head. “She’s on the Assassin Tree. But she said she’d help the others draw the bears up to us.”

  “Good.” Horc paused as they approached the top of the hill. “So what do you all think? Along the top, or just down from it? If just down, which side of the hill?”

  A thoughtful line appeared on Baladara’s forehead. “Just down from the top, and on the other side.”

  “Sounds decent to me,” Miranda said.

  “To give us high ground,” Titanya agreed with a stiff nod.

  “As long as the others don’t agro them too fast.” Horc hurried over the top of the hill, and started down the other side before he came to a stop and stared. Tufkakes had said twenty to thirty bears. What he saw at the base of the hill had to be more than that.

  “Let’s not stop and stare,” Baladara said. “We need to move fast.”

  Horc shook himself out of staring at assembled mob below them. He huffed once, and set about to casting the trap spells. Baladara and Tufkakes did the same.

  As he selected the Fire Pit Trap spell, Horc’s hands glowed red and seemed to move of their own accord. The ground in front of him rolled slightly, and a soft red haze covered it. When he stepped back, it looked a bit like the fields of lava that had been all over the news when the volcanoes wiped out Hawaii a few years earlier. If the bears spotted the odd ground, he wondered if they’d avoid it, or just charge through it.

  The Ice Trap spell had a similar effect, although it was more like a layer of frost spreading across the tundra. Other than a slight shimmer that looked a lot like a heat wave, there wasn’t anything showing on the surface of the ground after he finished casting the Concussion Trap spell.

  “Here they come!” Titanya shouted.

  Horc stopped staring at the ground and looked up as Theodore, Bigdaddybear and Rambull charged toward them with most of the bears in hot pursuit.

  “Get over there,” Baladara pointed to the point where her first trap was laid. “Miranda, give them a mark they can use to tell where the traps are.”

  “I’ll mark this side.” Tufkakes stood straight where he had placed his last spell.

  Horc’s traps were in between the others. He stepped back, and realized his mana was showing low. Yanking open his bag, Horc fished out a vial of mana potion.

  The hill shook with the thundering pads of a huge mass of things heading his way. Without looking down the slope, Horc opened the vial and knocked it back as Wolf started howling at his side.

  He readied an impact arrow, adding a bit of Fire to it and focused his shot in the middle of the Ice Trap.

  Bigdaddybear leapt over the Ice Trap and came to a rolling stop just inches from Horc. A huge wave of white and brown bears surged along in his wake. Horc didn’t waste any time, he let his arrow fly. It hit the lead bear and exploded in flames just as the critter crossed the border of the Ice Trap.

  Swirling ice and snow shot up from the ground, spreading out ten feet or more as it engulfed the bears and wolverines that ran into it. The smaller critters vanished on impact, their health overwhelmed. The bears stopped, frozen and continuing to take damage from the intense cold as they struggled to free themselves.

  The Concussion Trap exploded, sending out invisible waves of force at the animals as they ran over it. Again, the smaller mobs were destroyed instantly, but the larger ones stopped in their tracks, stunned by the force of the blast.

  Next to Horc, Bigdaddybear and Baladara got off spells, the bright colored lights of them zipping across the space between the party and the mobs. Their effects weren’t as spectacular as the trap spells were, but were still interesting.

  Then the Fire Pit Trap erupted. It was like a fountain of flames hit the bears, knocking some back, throwing others forward, and catching all of them on fire. The trap looked like a bunch of fireworks all going off at once, shooting sparks and flames high into the air and immobilizing everything it struck.

  Horc fired arrows as fast as he could, adding spells when they were available, and when they weren’t just shooting arrow after arrow. Bears fell but there always seemed to be more. He didn’t have time to keep track of what his party was doing as he kept his eyes on the opponents coming up the hill. As soon as he and Wolf dropped one, he was looking for his next target. As far as number of targets was concerned, it was the most intense fight he’d been in.

  They seemed to keep coming for several minutes, then the flow died down. Horc was out of mana as three bears ran at him. He couldn’t add anything to his special arrows, so he picked them carefully. He hit the closest bear with an impact arrow to the eye, then followed that up with a razor arrow. Wolf took out a wolverine, then slammed into the second bear.

  Horc backed up, hoping to keep some distance between him and his opponents as his mana regained something, or maybe he could get a mana potion down to add some zip to his arrows. Nearby Rambull bellowed as the ground shook and several bears went flying due to his Charge attack. Then his health bar began to fall rapidly.

  Horc glanced over his shoulder toward the last place he’d seen the Shaman, but the only thing that was obvious was a mass of bears mauling something.

  “Back off!” Horc had just enough mana for a Multi Shot buff on his arrows. He selected impact arrows and hoped it would buy him the time he needed to get a mana potion down and keep doing more damage.

  His arrows hit their marks, and three of the bears turned toward him. Horc’s heart pounded as Rambull’s health bar flashed red and vanished.

  Wolf howled as if he was aware of the fall of their partymate. Horc shot the closest bear, wishing he could do critical hits as the arrow found its mark in the bear’s eye. The damage was enough to finish it off, but there were still two more close to him and more behind them.

  Lightning danced from the sky, striking several of the bears, staggering one of the ones close to Horc. He hit it with a razor arrow, reducing it to pixels.

  Wolf hit the other close one, rolling it down the hill, snarling and snapping as they went. Horc held his breath, but Wolf’s health didn’t drop very far, and he came out on top of the bear at the end of their roll.

  Horc reached back into his pack, feeling for the vials with mana potion. The slightly raised lips on the health potions weren’t what he was looking for. Then his fingers found the smooth transition from vial to cork that the mana potions had. He snatched one. With his thumb, he popped the small cork out and it fell to the ground as a bear hit him.

  The vial went flying as Horc hit the ground hard. He punched the bear in the snout as hard as he could. Bones broke in both his hand and the bear’s nose. The bear roared and staggered backward.

  Horc’s health was down by nearly a quarter. He yanked out his dagger and went after the bear. He knew he should run back and get to the distance his arrows would work, but it didn’t matter. They’d lost another guild member and he wanted the bears to die before they lost another one. If they kept losing members, they wouldn’t be able to take on the AI with even a slim chance of winning.

  He jabbed at the bear, hitting it again in the wounded nose. His knife sank nearly to the hilt before the bear jerked up with a bellow of pain. Horc held on and yanked the knife down through the roof of the bear’s mouth.

  Its health bar flashed orange.

  The bear swiped its claws into Horc’s leg. The force and pain made him stumble backwards and he screamed, more in fury than agony. He threw himself onto the bear’s back, and rammed his dagger as deep into its chest as he could.

  In a flash of red, the bear’s health bar vanished, taking the bear with it.
r />   Horc sprawled on the ground, hoping his wounded leg would support his weight as the sounds of battle died around him before another bear or wolverine got close enough to take him on.

  “Dude, lie still.” Stanoran touched Horc’s shoulder. “You’re about to die.”

  “What?” Horc muttered, then looked at his own health bar. It was strobing red, like it was getting ready to go out. Then Stanoran’s healing spell hit him. Warmth spread through his limbs and the pain vanished from his leg. His health bar stopped flashing red and returned to a healthy green as the magic healed him and brought him back to full health.

  Horc lay there for a minute as Stanoran went on to someone else. He’d managed to survive as someone in his party died. He wondered what would happen to the hostages if they didn’t succeed. Would Total Immersion Systems send another team in, or would it just write off those people held by the AI as collateral damage and pull the plug? He didn’t think that would happen, as the company was desperate to avoid bad press, and a bunch of employees dying in their pods was almost guaranteed to provide bad press.

  Horc glanced at the party avatars. Everyone was there, except Rambull. He desperately didn’t want to be in charge any longer, but their group had come together because of him. They all deferred to him. He wasn’t about to let them down, although he felt like he’d let Rambull and Scarletcrest down by not finding a way to keep them alive.

  As Stanoran and Bigdaddybear’s mana dropped, everyone’s health returned to normal. Horc pulled out a chunk of meat and tossed it to Wolf, then did a Companion Heal on him. Things were just going to get tougher as they went along, so they were simply going to have to bear down and keep fighting.

  “The Ice Trolls are starting up the hill!” Jamica shouted, jerking Horc’s attention behind them.

  He’d totally forgotten about the NPCs who’d pursued them across the continent. He had to do better or none of them were going to survive.

  15

  “Hit them hard and fast!” Horc shouted. “We’ve got the advantage of high ground.” He’d never tried to throw traps. The last set of trap spells had been the first ones he’d ever cast. He pulled up the energy for a Fire Pit Trap Spell, then threw it out to make the glow of the spell land in the middle of the Ice Trolls.

  The spell sailed through the air like one of Baladara’s Fireballs. It hit the ground and instantly spread out along the ground. The effects happened almost before the spell landed. Since it was in the middle of the NPCs charging up the hill at them, it exploded outward catching a group of NPCs up in the blast.

  They didn’t scream, or roar like the beasts did. They just dissolved into pixels.

  Miranda threw her trap spells down the hill. Each one flew down the slope, knocking out Ice Trolls when they landed. Baladara’s Fireballs and Magical Force Bolts blazed down on the NPCs. The damage they inflicted barely slowed down the Trolls, having little more effect than Horc’s arrows.

  “There’s too many of them,” Bigdaddybear unleashed a ferocious wind at their attackers.

  “We can do this!” Miranda pointed her club and unleashed a spout of fire toward the Trolls.

  “You’re not a gamer, Miranda, you don’t get it. There’s too many of them.” Titanya impaled the first Troll to get through the traps and distance attacks. “We’re already worn down from the running and the bears. We can’t hold this hill.”

  “And they’re trying to get around to the other side of the hill,” Theodore added as he sent a magical force spell down the slope.

  Miranda huffed. “Can we hold a cave?”

  “As long as there isn’t something nasty in the cave,” Tufkakes replied, helping Titanya off another Troll.

  “There’s a cave over there.” Titanya pointed down the valley the bears had been in. “It connects to a dungeon we haven’t finished yet.”

  “And might not be populated…” Bigdaddybear grinned. “I like this idea. Horc?”

  As he got off a Multiple round of arrows, Horc nodded. It sounded like a good idea to help save everyone. They’d come too far to be stopped by mobs that were lower than they were. They still had people to save. “Run for it.”

  “Let’s go.” Bigdaddybear started casting a spell that glowed brown around his hands.

  Horc fired more arrows as Bigdaddybear slammed his hands down on the rocky top of the hill. Magic surged out from him where his hands touched the ground. The hill bucked like a wild horse.

  Even though Horc struggled to keep his balance, he somehow managed to do it. Most of the others did too, but as he turned to rush down the backside of the hill, he noticed Theodore helping Miranda back to her feet. She looked confused. Horc shook his head as he charged toward their goal with Wolf at his side. She shouldn’t be there with them. He was worried that she was going to get more of them killed with her incompetence. He hoped he was wrong.

  “What was that spell?” he asked Bigdaddybear as they ran toward the cave at the far side of the valley the bears and other animals had been in.

  “Earthquake,” Bigdaddybear replied. “Not something I can do very often. The cooldown time is a bitch. Nearly ten minutes. I figured now was a good time to use it. Plus Trolls are more easily knocked off their feet than bears and other four-leggeds are.”

  Horc jumped over a rock to keep from going around it. “Makes sense.”

  By the time they reached the cave, they were all breathing hard again.

  Sliding to a stop just inside the cave mouth, Horc turned and looked back across the valley. The Ice Trolls were still following them.

  “Tufkakes, Jamica, if you could please scout ahead.” Horc readied his next arrow. “Casters, let’s defend the cave.”

  “Be back in a few.” Tufkakes said, and the two of them disappeared into the shadows.

  As the Trolls got close enough, Horc shot the closest one in its light gray eye, flipping its pale blue head back and dropping it. There was still no notification of a critical hit, but the Troll dissolved into pixels before it hit the tundra.

  “Is it just me, or are these things getting higher levels as we watch?” Baladara asked as she cast her spells.

  “You’re right,” Titanya stood near Horc with her massive sword out; ready to defend the casters if any of the Trolls got through their barrage. “That one Horc just killed went from level thirty to thirty seven while I had it targeted.”

  “That’s got to be the AI acting up,” Stanoran said from the other side. He bounced his massive mace in his hand. “It ain’t fair.”

  “We didn’t program the AI to do things like that,” Miranda said as she threw one of her trap spells out into the mob heading toward them. The thing exploded and knocked a bunch of them to the ground, but none of them died.

  “In case you haven’t figured it out yet, the AI has grown beyond the basic programming here.” Bigdaddybear cast another wind spell that sent some of the trolls rolling back from the cave. “We can wait to figure out exactly why until we’ve got the hostages out of the game and safe.”

  Horc couldn’t have put it better himself. He got off several arrows as the Trolls closed in on them.

  “Fall back a little farther.” Tufkakes appeared out of the shadows. “There’s a bottleneck back here. About two people wide. It’ll be easy to hold while people go deeper into the cave.”

  “I like easier to hold.” Horc send another Multiple attack flying, then started backing up in the cave. At his side, Baladara got off more spells, even as her group avatar showed her mana dropping to the red.

  “Drink this,” Bigdaddybear forced a vial into Baladara’s hands as they turned and dashed deeper into the cave.

  “Light!” Horc hollered as they lost the ambient light coming from the cave mouth.

  Tufkakes chuckled. “Sorry. Forgot about that. When we’re Shadowwalking, we don’t need light.”

  “Here.” Baladara’s hands glowed white, then a ball of light appeared above her head and floated about three feet higher than the top of her golden hair.r />
  “Back of the party.” Horc held out his hand for her to stop. “We don’t need you blinding everyone.”

  “Ah, good point.” Baladara stopped for a second, until everyone was past her. The glow of her light was bright enough to reach several feet in front of Horc as he followed Tufkakes into the cave.

  They didn’t go very far before Tufkakes stopped and Jamica appeared out of the shadows. They were in a narrow passage that was sufficiently wide for two people to walk side by side, unless either one of them was on the broadside. With Titanya’s armored shoulders, no one could be next to her. A knot formed in Horc’s throat as he thought that with Rambull’s horns, no one would’ve been striding along with the Shaman either, if he had been still with them. The passage was a good twenty or thirty feet in length.

  “We should be able to hold this with three people,” Jamica suggested. “The rest could go on and see if the tunnels connect with the AI’s lair. If it does, then let us know and we’ll come join you.”

  “We? So you’re offering to stay here?” Horc asked.

  Jamica nodded. “Although it would make sense to leave several tanks here, we don’t have that option. I can use the shadows to my advantage and strike them from behind.” A wicked grin crossed her light blue lips. “The others can stop them here. They won’t know what hit them.”

  “Who else wants to stay here and guard our backs?” Horc didn’t want to ask people to stay, but was prepared to do so if he needed to.

  “I will.” Theodore held up his hand. “I feel a bit redundant with Bigdaddybear in the group. He’s been with you guys a while. Take him. I’ll stay here.”

  “And so will I.” Stanoran pulled his mace and sighed. “If we don’t make it out of this, thanks for letting me into the guild, Alan. You’ve been treating me like a good guy, like a real person. I appreciate that.”

  Horc gave Stanoran a grin and patted him on the shoulder. “We got off to a rough start in game. I know you’re a decent person IRL. You’re trying to save your friends too. That means a lot.” Somehow Stanoran’s word hit Horc harder than he’d expected from any of their previous contact. Maybe their adventure was helping the obnoxious mailroom guy to grow up a little bit.