Path of the Slayer B3 11. Ambushes & Phantoms

“My wife is here!” Zez ran up to us while we were making our way through a lavish hallway that led to the auction atrium. The Veteran slid to a stop and bounced excitedly in front of me. “She’s staying out on the border of the Final Rose area. A Raider of her power has a way of, well, making a strong impression on other Veterans. Whenever you’re ready to move on, she’ll join us.”

“Wait, your wife’s a half-orc?” I asked, a little surprised.

“What?” Brug gasped, his eyes blinking rapidly down at the little ratkin.

Zez smiled brightly, his tail whipping behind him. “I did tell you I’ve had quite the time as a Bard on Realm-hopping adventures with Raiders, didn’t I? Sharia is the main reason I remember those years with a rose-tinted fondness. However, I must give fair warning that she’s going to gut check you for sure, sir.”

I shrugged. “I forced her husband and herself into a deadly Royal Quest. As long as she’s not killing me, I won’t run away from her anger.”

“I’ll ask her to go easy on you.”

I waved him off. “Go outside and find Merlin and the wizard team. Let your wife know we’ll be heading out as soon as we finish some business here.”

Zez tipped his hat and performed a flourishing bow. Then he twisted around and dashed out with the blurring speed of a Veteran.

Sometimes, I was reminded it was highly unusual to order Veterans around even though they could crush me.

One nearly killed me a few days ago.

“No more wasting time. Let’s get this done with,” Thumper said with more authority than I’d ever heard from him.

Finding his development curious, I smoothly transitioned into following the Perfect Rogue as he stalked down the rest of the lavish hallway.

Trailing close behind their elder, the rogue team carried themselves with a darker mood, matching Thumper’s attitude. Behind me, my warrior team marched like proper combatants ready to throw themselves to the forefront.

Other than me, everyone was still mostly dressed in rich clothing.

However, a few kicked off their shoes and moved on bare feet. Some tore at the hems of their dresses to free up their legs. Useless jewelry worth millions of credits got ripped off and tossed aside like trash.

We looked like a slovenly dressed gang as we pushed through the double wide doors, reentering the atrium where I’d raked in over twenty trillion credits.

The seats were empty, and the space looked even larger with nobody else but the nine Pathwalkers on my squad and the eleven Pathwalkers representing the Gigantomachy Conglomerate.

They were on the same street-wide lane we were taking toward the stage. They’d been there waiting for a secret opportunity that could be worth their time.

Of course, that was a lie Thumper had fed them prior.

“Comrades!” roared a male half-giant.

He was a broad-chested brunette about nine feet tall. He felt like a Level 90 Legendary while dressed like he a royal prince from the wilderness, even though he was far from royalty.

Other than his power and appearance, the way Thumper focused on him alone said everything I needed to know – that was the primary target.

As the rogue team and warrior team approached, the primary target kept bellowing merrily.

“I hear you are true friends of the Gigantomachy! The lowly armor you sold to the Dragon Supremacy was a faulty thing, merely meant to trick them while gathering more funds for yourselves.”

He shook his head at us and kept chuckling.

“I must say, if it wasn’t for the half-giant you have among your … interesting group … I would think you’re too tricky for the likes of me and my simple comrades.”

“Bortham,” called a female half-giant, also Legendary, Level 89. Standing above eight feet, she was the one with the melodious and attractive voice. “Something about this is off.”

“Get ready to fight,” grunted the third Legendary half-giant, an eight-foot male, Level 88.

He waved at the Epics to become more guarded, their energy grunting and moaning, giving off deep and rumbly quakes. Their Path of the Giant was obvious and without subtly, but that was their right while being on a powerful Path.

Bortham laughed like a roaring bear fused with a bellowing bull. “Threska, Durmokk, what reasons do they have to fight us? And even if they want to, they can’t! The Auction House won’t allow it!”

Thumper laughed like a roaring bear fused with a bellowing bull. “Threska, Durmokk, what reasons do they have to fight us?”

The Gigantomachy squad froze.

“And even if they want to, they can’t! The Auction House won’t allow it!” Still laughing with Bortham’s voice, the Perfect Rogue combed his hand through his hair.

The long strands shifted from dark raven to bright blonde. His hair fell out of the way to reveal the face of true royalty.

A burst of magic filled the air. High Aether energy ran through the floor and along the walls with a crackling snap. All the exits shone with the sheen of a blue barrier that wouldn’t yield easily.

As the enemy looked around in shock and anger, Bortham became even paler than he was already. “YOU! They told us you were dead! You’re supposed to be dead!”

Like a demented phantom, Thumper kept copying and repeating his target’s voice. “You’re supposed to be dead! You’re supposed to be dead! You’re supposed to be dead!”

A public notification appeared above our heads to reveal the full truth.

[Alert! The parameters in this section have been changed through a bribe. Until the fighting is over, you may act with physical violence in the auction chamber of the Final Rose Auction House. You may begin the killing at your leisure.]

Thumper and his team darted to the side. As they moved deftly over the top of the seats to circle and outflank, Thumper handed out weapons from his storage ring.

A pile of weapons fell from my storage ring as I unleashed my Tyrannosaurus Roar and blasted forth a wide cone of cursed energy and doom energy from my chest.

Before they knew better to dodge instead of standing their ground, the shady and reddened magic washed over the Gigantomachy squad.

The Epics screamed, stumbling backwards down the lane, collapsing against the stage. Lost to the fear and madness, they attacked each other, their powers striking with bomb-like elemental blasts.

The Legendaries roared with madness and rage while staying on their feet, keeping some semblance of control. Granted, my accursed doom energy and roaring magic were slowing them down significantly.

They couldn’t react properly against the start of the ambush.

Assuming her rightful place behind me, Doomie wrapped her arms around my neck and stretched her wings. She flapped hauntingly, leaving waves of doom in our wake, as I launched forward like a railcannon bolt.

Fronted Passives: Path Energy, Slayer Intent, Vibrant Cultivator Gates, One-Man Army, Cursed User Control.

Loaded Actives: Tyrannosaurus Roar, Path Magnetism, Path Lightning, Vigorous Focus, Pain Eater Devourer, Striving Elementalist Grandmastery, Massacre Dancer Delight, Strength Main Arrogance, Blade Master Cascade, Golden Hound Fortune, Warrior Nomad Mentality, Mad Lad Melee.

Unique Powers: Railcannon Warrior Armor, Hellion Half Ripper, Dragon Princess Doom Brand.

By the time I reached the enemy squad, I yanked on Hellion’s pull chord three times. He burst out with green smoke from the forearm vent and sounded like a series of explosive thunderclaps. Then he settled into a loud growl that grew even louder as I squeezed my metal fist.

Electromagnetic magic, more powerful than ever before, shot down my right arm and to the end of Hellion’s knuckles as a churning energy construct thrust out. The combination of hellish magic and elemental magic shone so brightly it was like I’d shaped a pulsating magnetic star into an oval autosaw.

I punched the autosaw into the chest of an Epic half-giant and killed her in one blow.

[Congratulations! You’ve slain Pathwalker Jandora, “Little People Are For Crushing,” Epic Level 87 Path of the Giant!]

Jandora ended up with her upper body scattered in an explosive splatter. The steaming viscera sprayed everywhere with forks of lightning and warbling magnetic waves.

The enemy’s Path Energy dimmed around me while under electromagnetic pressure. They couldn’t even target me while struck dumb by fear and madness.

Facing little resistance, I swept around and ripped open the chest of another enemy. Then I ran my autosaw through his skull.

[Congratulations! You’ve slain Pathwalker Grokath, “Break ‘Em All,” Epic Level 85 Path of the Giant!]

Grokath’s split-open and headless body was on its way to the ground when I sensed my time was up.

My autosaw winked away. The sudden disappearance of my intense light brought a wave of darkness upon us, heralding the Perfect Rogue.

He was adorned in his Hokage Rogue Armor while followed by two Shadow Clones that were dressed the same. In their hands, the rogue and clones swept around their Super Darkness Nodachis while empowered by a Martial Legacy: Blade Barrage Dark Wolf Style.

Wide arcs, hard waves, and sweeping crescents of sharpened darkness and deadly shadows hacked into more of the enemy Epics. Thumper took limbs, spilled blood, and beheaded at least two of them until the inevitable happened.

The Legendaries regained their senses fully.

I turned toward Durmokk immediately. He was the closest to me, and he was blasting forth with thunderous wrath, as if he was a living storm contracted into an eight-foot body.

As we collided, I glimpsed the roguish juniors were diving at the heavily weakened Epics of the enemy. Thumper turned and faced off against his primary target, Bortham. And my warrior juniors lunged at Threska’s back before she could help either Durmokk or Bortham.

The clock was ticking for my warrior team. They were four Epics going up against a powerful and angry Legendary of the Gigantomachy, and the odds were in the favor of the Legendary.

Then all of my concern was smashed away.

Durmokk flying tackled me off my feet and onto the stone stage. We landed like a cannon blast, forming a crater under my back that was five feet deep and twenty feet wide.

Mounting my waist, he roared down at my face with a thunderous boom. “On My Shoulders, I Hold The Sky!”

His Epiphany packed a punch that reverberated through me, but I growled out my own in defiance. “I’ll Keep Going!”

He punched down to shut me up. I blocked with my half ripper while the forearm was covered in twisting autosaw teeth that slashed his knuckles. From my left, I thrust my arm and summoned the Twin Vambrace Cutters from their chambers.

Sch-Schwinkt!

The cutters stabbed into his right side, but the piercing damage wasn’t as deep as I preferred. His hard-leather clothing and pelts weren’t just for show. The Rank 5 material resisted, and the damage ended up shallow as his Legendary Path Energy crackled and raged.

He punched down again with more thunderous force, smashing my block into my breastplate, the impact blasting through me, the whole stage quaking. Then he pummeled me again and again, bashing down on my guard, stress-testing Hellion’s frame and my armor’s toughness.

He raged upon me with the power of a half-giant on the Path of the Giant or one of its derivatives. Doomie’s power didn’t affect him anymore after the initial shock, and my own Path Energy was dwindling fast as he chipped me down.

Then he made a mistake of cocking back his arm for an even stronger blow. The moment it struck, Pain Eater Devourer absorbed the overt damage and boosted me even further. I shoved one hand down on his knee, bucked my hips upward, and sent him off the mount to tumble over my head.

He landed hard but refused to stay down.

As he scrambled around, staying very low like a wrestler, he lunged at me to his own detriment. He took an autosaw punch to the face that obliterated his cheek, eye, and forehead before my attack stopped against the Legendary bone, but only barely.

Even then, he kept going with a thunderous blast off of his feet and a point-blank tackle at my waist. All eight-feet of Legendary half-giant took me for another flight. We ended up ramming straight into an Aether-enforced wall.

I hadn’t been idle. The whole time we flew into the wall, I kept stabbing my cutters into his flank. Short autosaw blades extended from my half ripper tore across his head, shoulders, and neck. I stole back all the energy he forced me to sacrifice as we plummeted down from the crater we made in the wall.

He turned us midair with his magic and shot us down for an even harder crash, my back forming another crater, but the pain wasn’t too much when I had the skill for devouring heavy damage. The 10% loss returned quickly as I slashed, stabbed, and carved into him, mauling him like an animal.

It was ugly, brutal, and bloody. Strategy and technique stopped mattering. I kept wearing him down. He kept crushing me in his hold and blasting us up and down again and again. The impacts landed harder, fiercer, and with even more crushing power that pushed the limits on my pain eater skill.

Then he threw me away midair when his Path Energy reached a critical low point. My armor was battered, and so was Hellion’s frame, but the fight hadn’t left me.

Hells, I was only warmed up, my Path Energy at 297%.

A smile grew on my face as Durmokk glided through the air and pulled out an elixir from a spatial-enchanted pocket.

From my storage ring, I took out the Exquisite and overly long Rank 4 Thundergun. I released the electricity I’d already charged up, and the weapon lived up to its name once more, thundering.

A railcannon bolt ran straight through Durmokk’s shoulder and blasted off the arm that held the elixir. The half-giant roared with pain and horror as he careened from the air, his blood trailing behind him.

He slammed down with a boom that almost seemed final. No notification appeared in my System Logs, so he wasn’t dead yet. However, I couldn’t go and finish him off. Something drastic captured my attention.

After returning the Thundergun into my storage ring, I slammed down with a crack-thump-boom behind Threska.

Turning to face me, the powerful half-giant woman stopped short of encasing Redfang’s head in nightly unbreakable ice. The section around the Legendary was slick with ice while her body was armored by the same element.

Brug was down with an ice javelin stuck in his stomach. Marnarka was crusted in ice that slowed her heavily. And Grimmy was dashing around low while in Threska’s blindside.