Ch 87 - Desperate Times Call For Stupid Plans

“Fire!” Tony and Burns bellowed in unison and nearly 200 humans unleashed every ranged attack in our arsenal.

Arrows, spears, spells, and more blasted across the space. The barrier kept monsters out, but did not prevent anyone or anything from exiting the town, so it did not protect the werewolves from our barrage. All down the line, werewolves yipped and howled as the wave of death swept over them.

Few of them fell, though. Most ignored the wounds we inflicted, even the ones that would have killed other beings, and kept charging. The entire pack slammed against the barrier in almost perfect unison. The shimmering wall of pure magic shook violently.

And cracked.

A spiderweb of incandescent white lines shot across the barrier. Tony shouted, “Hit them harder or the barrier will fall!”

A second wave of attacks blasted out from our lines. I didn’t have good ranged spells that wouldn’t also hurt my allies, but I had a ton of potions and scrolls. A quick scan down the list gave me a good option.

I rushed forward, hoping no one shot me in the back, only slowing when I approached the barrier. Then I triggered a scroll of Firestorm.

 “Scroll of Firestorm. Spell. Unleash a blizzard of intense flames 100 feet long and 50 feet wide.”

Intense heat and a wave of red-hot fire erupted from my hands, boiled through the defensive barrier, and rolled over 20 of the attacking werewolves. They howled and rolled in the flames, trying to extinguish their burning fur.

“Yes!” I shouted, expecting to see the attack break, but even before the flames faded, the werewolves attacked again with renewed fury.

That was when I noticed a strange thing. The Alpha had paused in his fast dashing back and forth between his pack. My fire storm had missed him, but his fur blackened and smoked for a few seconds as flames danced all around him. At the same time, I realized that although nearly every werewolf was hit by tons of attacks, many of those hits blinked out of existence just before connecting.

The air around the Alpha shimmered and a torrent of arrows and spells struck it from every side. The Alpha resumed his fast run, charging back and forth behind the line of werewolves, so some of the swarming attacks missed. Many more struck home. Arrows and spears tore into flesh while spells sizzled and exploded and froze against his fur. The wounds healed so fast, if not for my improved Perception, I never would have even seen him get hurt.

Huh. Another really cool ability. Stinking werewolf Alpha. Redirecting so many of the attacks to himself was brilliant. He ignored them all, his regeneration so advanced, it looked like he could probably wade through the full force of everything we could throw at him without lasting harm, at least for a while. That was a level of power not even Bristleback had shown.

“We need to try something else,” I shouted to Tony above the din of explosions, battle cries, and wolf howls as I raced back to the attack line.

The pack was still ignoring the barrage of ranged attacks raining down on them as they tore at the barrier with berserker frenzy. The cracks were spreading, and at this rate, they’d break through before we killed more than a few. Then they’d tear into our forces. Despite our numerical superiority, the battle would get ugly. We couldn’t afford to lose up to a couple hundred people in our first night on stage 2.

“I’m trying to reinforce the barrier,” Burns shouted back. He and Tony stood together in the center of the lines, with their elites flanking them. “If we can keep it up, we can winnow down the pack. We might not get another chance like this.”

“It’s not going to hold,” Tony said, more calm than I would have expected. “I can add my barrier spell to it, but that will block outgoing attacks too.”

“The Alpha is redirecting hits from the pack to himself. With his boss regeneration, he’s ignoring pretty much everything we can throw at him. We’re not doing enough damage.”

Even Tony’s cool barrier wouldn’t help for long. I pulled a zombie laser rifle from my inventory and sighted on the Alpha, firing off a few shots, but he dodged around so fast, hitting him was more an accidental stroke of good fortune than anything.

Burns growled, focusing on the Alpha. “If I can get him to stand still for a second, I have a master lightning bolt I can trigger. It should be strong enough to slow him down for a bit, but the cooldown is pretty long.”

That was a good idea. Every few seconds, Burns unleashed smaller lightning blasts from his fingers to rip across the horde of werewolves. They did little lasting harm, but disrupted the wolves’ momentum as their muscles momentarily seized up.

“Maybe we should just toss Lucas through,” Sally Rogers said from her place on Tony’s right. “I bet you’d get a target while he’s eating Lucas’s heart.”

“That’s cold,” I told her. She only shrugged. She’d taken a disliking to me the first time we met. I had forgotten about that until now.

She seemed proud of that special shield of hers. If I threw her through the barrier, she’d get a perfect chance to test it against the werewolves.

“I’m open to suggestions,” Burns said, his brows furrowing in concentration. “I’m pouring in all the power I can from the town reserves, but the shield is failing.”

I hadn’t even known the town had power reserves. I guess the town leaders had access to resources the rest of us didn’t.

“Maybe Sally’s not entirely wrong,” I said, getting an insane idea. I’d hoped the need for relying on insane ideas had ended when I escaped stage 1, but I’d rather try one of my ideas rather than Sally’s.

She looked at me in shock. “I didn’t actually mean it.”

“I do. Listen, the Alpha wants me. If I can give him a target, that should give you a clear shot, right?”

“What do you have in mind?” Burns asked. Tony was frowning, as if fighting the urge to tell me to shut up and get back in line.

“I have a movement spell I can use to soar over the pack. The Alpha will have to jump to try to catch me. While he’s up in the air, he can’t change directions. Can you hit a moving target?”

Burns flashed a grim smile. “That kind of moving target, I can.”

“What do you need?” Tony asked, apparently deciding to go along with the plan. Maybe he figured if I got myself killed, he wouldn’t have to deal with me any more.

“Just a few seconds. I’ll be right back.”

Turning, I sprinted over to where my team was shooting volleys of spells and arrows at the wolves. I skidded to a halt, shouting Jane’s name, but also pulled the epic bow I’d gotten from Bristleback’s loot from my inventory.

“Epic Bow of Punishment. This mighty bow, wielded by a herd master, carries his authority and reinforces the wielder’s will. Improves accuracy by 25%. Grants a level-3 Moving Target ability. Grants a level-3 Elemental Touch ability.”

“Moving Target. Ability. Rare. Adjusts the flight path of your magically-imbued arrow up to 10 degrees per level of ability to home in on your designated target.”

“Elemental Touch. Ability. Uncommon. Summon magical arrows imbued with your chosen element for 25% additional elemental damage per ability level. Additional effects may unlock depend on chosen element.”

“Steve, I think you can do more damage with this.” I tossed it over.

He caught it and whistled when he read the description. Then he laughed and pumped the bow in the air while his old bow disappeared into his inventory. “This is perfect!”

“Use it well.” I spun to Jane. “The barrier won’t hold. I’m going to distract the Alpha for Burns to hit it with something stronger. I need to borrow your illusion spell.”

Both Tomas and Ruby started to protest I was an idiot, but I didn’t have time to argue.

“Borrow my spell?” Jane asked with a frown.

“I have a temporary ability to Mimic a spell I’m hit with.” I couldn’t explain about my new class spells, and lacked time for a better lie. “So will you hit me with your illusion?”

“Lucas, we need to talk about this,” Tomas objected, but just then the barrier shook, the cracks spreading with loud snapping sounds. We were out of time. Jane slapped me lightly across the cheek and the world lurched.

“Congratulations, Lucas! Mimic has captured Mind Bender. Generate realistic illusions to confuse all but the most powerful minds. Time remaining to re-cast the spell: 15 seconds.”

“Lucas,” Tomas tried again.

I gripped his shoulder. “I’ve only got seconds. We’ll talk later. Keep everyone safe.”

“Be careful,” Ruby added, and I couldn’t help glancing over. Her big brown eyes were huge with worry, the worry of a friend for a teammate in danger. That was all.

I flashed a smile that I hoped looked a lot more confident than I felt. This was a crazy idea, but if I didn’t do it, werewolves would swarm over my team. I’d much rather risk my life than theirs. “See you later.”

Then I sprinted back to where the town leaders and their retinues were waiting. Burns was sweating from the strain of trying to keep the failing barrier in place while Tony ordered combat teams to prepare for close-quarters fighting.

Scanning the area, I tried to see everything. The buildings and tents of town marched away behind us in regular rows. They wouldn’t offer any help. Our forces held a solid line along the inside of the perimeter, about 10 yards from the fading barrier. At least 40 werewolves were ripping and tearing at the barrier in a full-on berserker rage, ignoring wounds piling up on them. Only a small number had fallen and looked like they might not get up again.

Behind them, rushing back and forth in constant motion was the Alpha, his powerful aura a constant pressure. Farther still, the tall trees of the forest rose into the night sky. I picked a couple, planning my route.

“You have selected your tether points.”

I moved a lightning resist potion to my hotlist and triggered it. If I was going to play ground wire for Burns, I needed every bit of protection I could get. A warm glow washed through my body and spread out, as if wool was getting packed under my skin. Weird, but hopefully insulating too.

“Whatever you’re going to do, it needs to be now,” Burns gasped.

“Ready with your master bolt?”

“Ready and primed.”

“Don’t miss.”

Then I turned to Scott Mortensen, the super-buff, shirtless black guy with the Hulk body-enhancing powers. “I need altitude. How far can you throw me straight up?”

“Let’s find out,” he laughed and clapped his hands together with a thunderous report. Then he seized me by the shoulders and spun like a discus thrower. His body swelled and he whipped me around even faster. Three quick spins, then he launched me like a rocket straight up.

I whooped as the ground fell away beneath me. When I reached about 40 feet, I triggered Tether Slide. A golden beam of light, capped with an awesome claw, shot out to my two tether points. I’d hoped they’d be invisible to the werewolves, but the Alpha instantly turned and looked up.

Crap. Maybe I should have thought that through better. Too late to back out now, though. The spell activated and my trajectory changed as I shot toward a wide branch of one of the thicker trees facing the clearing. I’d picked a branch about even with my current height above the ground. That should be low enough to tempt the Alpha to try grabbing for me, but hopefully high enough that I could slip past.

As I flew above the barrier, I pulled out a laser rifle and started pumping energy bolts down at the Alpha. I shot fast for effect more than accuracy, and I wished Ruby had a video camera. I would have loved to see the recording of me flying over the pack of insane werewolves, my cloak billowing as I fired bursts of blaster fire from the hip.

I definitely caught the Alpha’s attention and he charged back across the ranks of his forces to intercept. I kept firing, trying to gauge the spot he’d leap at me and the likely point where Burns would strike.

With a roar that shook the clearing, the Alpha sprang off the ground.

“Shostakovich,” I cursed. I was totally screwed.

The boss jumped like his legs were filled with coiled steel springs. He shot toward me, long, clawed arms wide, deadly fanged maw gaping, as if he planned to bite off my head, then rip off my limbs for good measure.

“Burns!” I shouted, flinging my rifle back into my inventory and yanking out a zombie stun gun. I blasted the Alpha right in the face as he closed the distance.

At the same time, the night sky opened up and a lightning bolt worthy of Zeus himself blasted down from above. It ripped through the Alpha with an explosion of light and sound that blinded and deafened me.

I’d forgotten to equip my goggles after I escaped that last werewolf. Idiot! Never again would I walk outside without my goggles on.

The air sizzled with electricity, and despite my lightning resist potion, my entire body shuddered as every muscle involuntarily convulsed. Without the potion, that bolt probably would have fried me.

Then something very hard crashed into me like a cannonball. For a second, I couldn’t see, couldn’t move, and it seemed neither could the Alpha. Tether Slide kept pulling me toward my tether point anyway, so we ended up tumbling through the air, limbs tangled together.

Not good. I was stuck mid-air with the Alpha boss.

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I've actually decided I'm going to split the chapter here

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The monster reeked of burnt hair and fried meat, while his heavy musk clung to my nose and mouth. I was stuck mid-air with a level 58 boss, and by the feel of his body tangled with mine, he was far from dead.

I recovered my sight first and blinked away the dazzling after-images to find the Alpha’s muzzle sticking under my right arm. Somehow I’d ended up with my head in the clear, his right arm stuck under my left. A horrible, blackened gash had torn through his torso, but it was already closing.

The deadly monster twitched, then again. As he shook and rattled, new currents of electricity washed through me, setting my own muscles twitching.

What the hell? That had only been one lightning bolt, right?

I managed to trigger a second lightning resist potion, and thankfully the protection stacked with the last one I’d used, although I did get a warning notification.

“Maximum lightning resist dosage reached. Taking another lightning resist potion within the cooldown window will result in reversing the effect and doubling all lightning-based damage.”

Yikes. That would literally kill me. Still, I’d gained enough resistance to move a bit. Alpha was waking up, but still twitching. Only then did I notice a series of steel spikes stuck deep into his torso. Crackling electricity danced between them.

Nice. Burns hadn’t said his master lightning bolt included a way to keep delivering lightning damage. Even though the electricity kept tearing through Alpha, his insane regeneration was starting to push it back.

No way I’d wait for him to wake up, still tangled together like that. I pulled him around and twisted behind him to cling to his back. His body was visibly healing way faster than even my enhanced recovery.

Could I slow his recovery down? I triggered Soul Feed. The latest upgrade allowed me to absorb energy from living enemies with direct contact. At the moment, I had a lot of direct contact.

A flood of power roared into me, topping off my own pools in an instant. Despite all I stole, the Alpha’s regeneration did not seem to slow. I shifted on the Alpha’s back, then yelped. The short fur coating his body turned out to be hard and prickly, like thousands of needles, and they scraped my jacket and tore through my pants, and dug at my legs. Thankfully, my Constitution made my skin harder to penetrate, so fewer of the hairs stabbed deep. The wounds closed instantly, healed by the Alpha’s own power, but they were still annoying.

He grunted, coming awake just in time to hit my first tether point face-first so hard the heavy tree limb cracked. We bounced instantly off toward the second tether, another tree about 200 yards away, at the southern edge of the clearing. The brutal impact did nothing but trigger the terrifying boss’s rage.

We shot through the air together in the craziest duel I’d ever seen. The Alpha roared in fury, long forelimbs reaching up for my head. If he got a good hold on me, he’d tear me to pieces.

So I reached around under his elevating right arm and shouted, “Open wide!” I flung a lava grenade into his open maw, nearly losing my hand to his reflexive bite in the process. His mighty jaws slammed shut like a bear trap just before the grenade detonated with a muted thump.

The Alpha’s entire body convulsed and he threw his head back, vomiting a firestorm of living lava. His muzzle melted almost entirely off under the insane heat that reddened my face. The stench of melting werewolf made me gag and my stomach lurch, threatening to heave.

He might have insane regeneration, but that would hurt anyone. Except he started regrowing his muzzle almost instantly. How many hits like that could he take?

Despite the agony he must be suffering, he again reached up to grab me. I kicked off with all my strength, sending the Alpha tumbling away. He fell to the ground hard, but bounded back to his feet at once.

“Don’t mess with humans, or you get burned!” I shouted.

Pretty weak, but with adrenaline and a sense of victory boiling through me, it was hard to think of good one liners.

My smile faded as the Alpha gave chase like he’d been fired from a rocket. His earlier jump had been impressive, but dude, that monster could run! Despite how fast Tether Slide wisked me across the clearing, he ran me down within 30 yards.

“Must go faster,” I urged my spell. It ignored me.

The Alpha again sprang into the air, deadly claws reaching for me. Crap!

Another lightning bolt slammed into him, but it was tiny compared to the last one. Burns’s master bolt must need a lot more time to recharge. Other spells and arrows swept across Alpha, but none of them contained the power to knock him off course, let alone kill him.

The terrifying boss monster blasted through the clouds of lightning and fire and ice and arrows, howling with bloodlust as he closed on me, crimson eyes blazing with rage.

I shot him with a stun gun again, but this time he shrugged off the hit with barely a twitch. He was so enraged, it was like he'd gotten berserker buffs.

Before I could try anything else, the Alpha crashed into me, deadly claws grabbing my torso as he slammed his head forward into my chest so hard my sternum shattered.

Waves of absolute pain washed through me, and every muscle spasmed. Claws punched through my Crash Test Dummy jacket and drove between my ribs.

I embraced the pain and snarled, “I just got that jacket fixed!”

The agony and terror that came with facing the unstoppable Alpha triggered a towering battle fury and fueled it like hellfire. Roaring out my pain and fear, I seized the Alpha’s half-healed muzzle with one hand and jammed my other thumb into one big, red eye with all my strength. The eye exploded and my gloved thumb punched deep. I ripped at his skull, trying to pull out his brains.

That hurt him. His head twitched hard, trying to dislodge me, but I clung on. So he changed tactics. His clawed hands still holding me close and digging deep into my chest heaved outward.

Holy freak, I felt that. I screamed as he tried to rip my torso in half like a rack of ribs.

I thought I was strong, but I’d never imagined just ripping a monster apart with brute strength. Facing the Alpha’s overwhelming power, even my over-the-top stats felt laughable.

I wanted to grab my Poniard of Random Were again, but I wouldn’t be able to reach him with it as he twisted my torso back while ripping me apart. Despite healing energy pouring in from my Tesla Coil bracelet and a river of regeneration again roaring in from the Alpha himself through Soul Feed, I was losing ground.

Ribs began to crack, and agony tore through me with white-hot intensity. I had to break his grip, or he’d literally rip me apart.

So I summoned one of the serrated whips I’d gotten from the Maze Fiend. I was so bad with whips, but I didn’t need skill right there. With a single flick of my wrist, the bladed whip snicked out and wrapped around the Alpha’s throat.

That got his attention, and the temporary paralysis effect of the whip gave me the second I needed. Planting my feet against his chest, I heaved with all my strength, despite how that wrenched his claws still sunk deep into my torso. I screamed again, venting my pain and terror and determination as the whip tightened. Blood sprayed as it severed arteries and cut deep into the Alpha’s neck.

“See how well you can fight without your head,” I growled, spitting a mouthful of blood.

The Alpha shrugged off the temporary paralysis, released my torso with one clawed hand, and grabbed the whip with his bloody claws. I was strong, but lacked leverage to out-wrestle him. So I dropped the whip, leaving it buried in his neck, and triggered a full regeneration potion. The river of regeneration I was stealing from the Alpha had slowed since I only maintained contact with my feet. Even with that and my Tesla Coil bracelet still helping, I was in bad shape.

While the Alpha was distracted for a second pulling the whip away from his neck, I triggered one of my precious scrolls of ice blast, envisioning it as a bolt of dense freezing power. The blast of supercharged ice crossed the inches between us in a blink, punching into his wounded face so hard he back-flipped in mid-air. Ice encased his entire head and I pumped my hand in victory.

For the second time, I escaped his deadly claws and left him behind to tumble in the air, thrashing and smashing at the ice around his head. It shattered and he howled with rage. I’d hit the tree in another second, then he’d be on me again, but I couldn’t help bellowing back my challenge.

Below me, the wolves had stopped their assault to watch our insane battle across the night sky. On the far side of the barrier, people shouted and cheered me on. See if Tony claimed I was useless after watching me duke it out face to muzzle with the Alpha.

I’d gotten a couple lucky breaks, of course. I hadn’t expected him to jump 40 feet so easily, and never imagined he could run me down while Tether Slide yanked me through the sky. Despite everything I’d done to fight back, I’d been totally outmatched.

Alpha hit the ground and launched after me again. I stuck the landing on the tree and crouched on the high branch. I had to move, but cast a final glance across the massed humans on the far side of the shield wall. I tried to pick out Ruby, but the world flashed with blinding light.

A new force seized me and hurled me sideways. It felt like the times I’d been teleported and the world spun, my stomach heaved, and I lost all sense of direction. Had one of the other fighters triggered some kind of fetch power, or something to bring me home?

Then the world snapped back into focus and I dropped heavily to a stone floor. I leaped to my feet, ready to fight for my life, despite my torso still stitching itself back together. I paused and blinked as I looked around.

I’d ended up in a book-lined study, straight out of a medieval castle. The large room was made entirely of stone, with a narrow window in the far wall, half covered by a heavy drape. A fancy, carved marble fireplace held a roaring fire, with a faded woven rug on the floor in front of it. Two comfortable overstuffed chairs faced each other across the rug. Bookcases lined two walls, while a rolltop writing desk, piled with papers, sat near the window.

The Alpha was nowhere in sight, but I wasn’t alone. A skinny old man with pale skin and wispy white hair sat in a wooden chair at the writing desk. He wore threadbare gray robes that hung loose on his scrawny frame. His aura, though, filled the room with vast power. It felt as strong as the Alpha’s.

The old man smiled and said, “Welcome to my home.”