HC: Handyman | Ch. 232 - Losses

Horace was still holding on under the crossfire of all three bosses—and impressively, his health bar was still over half.

The last notes of Jack’s song echoed on the battlefield.

You’ve played [Sonic Valley].

Performance grade: A-

+5,000 XP in [Bard]

Audience bonus: +750 XP in [Bard]

Effect: All creatures are confused.

The Roach Mother roared in defiance, as if determined to prove the debuff beneath her. It seemed she succeeded—the effect didn’t stick. But the other two weren’t so lucky. The shagrat boss let out a low, garbled cry and wheeled around, charging blindly into the canyon wall with enough force to make the ground tremble. Cracks spiderwebbed across the rock face, and chunks of dust and stone rattled loose from above.

The marmoset froze in place, head twitching. Its fur bristled. Then, with a confused shriek, it lashed out at thin air before blinking and seeming to remember where it was.

Jack clicked his tongue. Not as disruptive as he’d hoped, but at least the Black-Horned Shagrat was out of the fight—briefly.

Now that Horace had more breathing room, Jack glanced toward Rob’s side of the battle. The Cobalt Romie was still unaffected by the debuff, but it didn’t matter. With Rob and the Goat Knights hammering away, its health bar had dropped to a sliver above the red.

Jack pulled a pair of Tier II mead bottles from his pack and hurled them toward Horace.

Field Remedy!

Even though Horace didn’t have a Bleed debuff, the skill also did some healing. Horace’s health spiked back.

Jack’s new skill let him have a taste for the role of healer, not just support—and he had to admit, it was kind of fun. There was something satisfying about lobbing a bottle across the battlefield and watching it pop with restorative energy. He could see why Marie enjoyed being a grenadier so much.

“Appreciate it!” Horace called out, barely glancing his way before swinging his warhammer in a wide arc that hit the Roach Mother’s leg, throwing it off balance.

We really are stronger, Jack thought. With all the aid packages in play, their damage output dwarfed what it had been the first time they’d faced each of them.

Even with their strange collective buff, the bosses weren’t able to pierce through their defenses. Not this time.

For a moment, the battle stabilized. The relentless clamor of attacks slowed to a rhythmic pulse—turrets thudding, skills landing, steel meeting carapace. The defenders had found their footing. Jack let out a short breath, adrenaline still coursing but no longer spiking.

On Rob’s side, the Cobalt Romie hit its chest like a gorilla, and its eyes became red and its movements faster. It had gone berserk. It was chasing after the Goat Knights, but they were fast enough to keep their distance, turning the battle into a game of chase.

On their side, at first, all three bosses had focused entirely on Horace, drawn in by his taunts. But now, their behavior was shifting. The Roach Mother and the Shagrat began to turn, their eyes drifting toward the fortress walls.

Taunt Echo!

Horace’s voice rang out as he renewed the aggro, but even Jack could tell—it was getting harder to keep them interested.

The first to break away was the Flying Marmoset. Programmed for slipping past frontliners and charging key targets, its programming overruled Horace's taunt. It jumped back onto the wall and ran toward the fortress.

“I’ve got it!” Amari shouted, already moving after it. “Horace, hold the other two!”

“OK!”

Jack gulped as their leader left after the Flying Marmoset. If Amari was going solo, he must have done the math. The first time they’d fought the Flying Marmoset, Jack had handled it on his own. Sneaky and quick, it was the slipperiest of the bunch—but also the weakest. 

Its health was also down to half.

The turrets, which had been diverting their firepower between the three bosses, all turned toward the closest target.

The Marmoset darted along the canyon wall, zigzagging through turret fire. Two iron javelins and a flurry of arrows hit it. It shrieked, faltering—but didn’t stop.

Then it stumbled. One of Horace’s wall-edge traps caught a clawed foot—some sticky substance clung to its limbs. Not enough to pin it down, but enough to slow it. Amari caught up, claws already glowing.

Okay, we don’t need to worry about that one, Jack told himself. Amari would finish it. With the turrets’ full backup, it was only a matter of time.

But as the turrets turned to support Amari, their firepower elsewhere eased. That window—just a few seconds of reduced pressure—was all the Roach Mother and the Shagrat needed.

Both bosses turned from Horace. They no longer took the bait.

The Shagrat scraped its claws across the dirt, lowering its head, eyes locked on the carriage at the rear.

“No, you don’t,” Horace growled.

He launched forward with [Heroic Charge], slamming into the Shagrat before it could get momentum. The impact echoed across the canyon, knocking the beast off balance and interrupting the skill.

But the Roach Mother didn’t stop.

Heavy and lumbering, she dropped down into the ditch and began her climb up the far side. Even with the added height of the carriage reinforcing that edge of the fortress, she was massive enough that her head nearly reached the soldiers stationed above.

“Brace yourselves, brothers!” Edric shouted, stepping up in Horace’s place, his shield already raised.

Jack had just cycled through March of the Embers, Dance of the Turtles, and Sitting Wind again, keeping everyone’s attack, defense, and stamina topped up. His fingers ached. His mind buzzed with cooldown timers and shifting battlefield cues.

He could afford to play one more debuff. But which one?

He hesitated.

Earlier, he’d rushed into Attack Call—a gamble that Amari had caught just in time. If he hadn’t, they’d have lost at least a few of their NPC allies. He couldn’t afford another reckless choice.

Let’s try the lullaby, he thought. It was an intermediate melody—higher tier than Sonic Valley, which, while a boss drop, was still technically beginner level. Jack didn’t know if that distinction made a song more effective, but he had to try.

He began to play Lily’s Lullaby.

Across the field, Marie hurled another grenade. This time, red smoke billowed around the Roach Mother and the nearby soldiers, carrying a hot, peppery scent that made Jack’s eyes water.

“Ahhh!” the soldiers roared as the buff kicked in. Sigils flared above them, and their strikes turned wild and furious. Even the Roach Mother, caught in the cloud, grew more aggressive—but with the players and NPCs holding the numbers advantage, the trade-off was worth it.

The creature reared, spiked limbs lashing out. Two slammed onto the carriage wall as she began to haul herself up.

The soldiers didn’t flinch. Clubs and shields crashed down in unison, battering her legs until they buckled. She shrieked, staggering—but didn’t retreat. 

She flapped her wings, hopping with surprising agility for her size. Her massive jaws snapped forward, clamping down on a soldier’s leg and yanking him off balance.

“NOOO!” someone screamed—but it was too late.

The Roach Mother stomped down, finishing off the soldier.

Jack swallowed hard. He hadn’t seen who it was. Just that, even after all those hours crafting their gear, it hadn’t been enough. Not against a death that sudden.

Then, with another piercing cry, she surged upward, a second pair of limbs slamming into the wood and metal siding of the carriage.

“Not today, you overgrown beetle,” Marie muttered, pulling a shock bomb from her belt.

The detonation rang out across the canyon—no damage, but the concussive wave hit like a physical wall. The Roach Mother reeled, thrown backward by the blast, crashing into the ditch with a thunderous thud.

But she wasn't done.

Jack felt it before he saw it—a prickling in his lungs, a chemical tang on his tongue. 

Her thorax bulged—and then split open.

A bubbling hiss filled the air, followed by a sharp whoosh as acid sprayed in a wide arc, drenching the upper rim of the ditch before the soldiers could react.

One soldier managed to raise his shield. The acid splattered across it with a wet, sizzling hiss. He survived—but barely. His gear melted away in seconds: armor sloughed off in chunks, chainmail unraveled, and his sword liquefied in his hand. He staggered back, coughing, the charred remains of his equipment still smoking.

Two others weren’t so fortunate.

The acid struck them full-on. Screams tore through the air—brief, agonized, final—before their armor and flesh dissolved in an instant. When their bodies hit the ground, nothing remained but scorched outlines on the stone.

Jack’s fingers clenched around his instrument. His heart lurched. Two soldiers he’d shared meals with. Crafted gear for. Fought beside.

But he didn’t stop playing.

There was no time for grief. The Black-Horned Shagrat was almost out of the ditch. A handful of soldiers rushed to intercept.

Marie whipped a vial from her belt and lobbed it underhanded. The glass burst in a puff of sickly green mist, cloaking the Shagrat in a cloud of paralyzing poison. The beast twitched, limbs locking up—and the soldiers didn’t hesitate. Clubs drove it backward, and the Shagrat crashed into the ditch once again.

Marie pumped a fist. “Still got it,” she muttered, already fishing for her next concoction.

From below, Horace did everything he could to keep the bosses focused on him, crashing into them with shield and hammer, buying time for the wall to recover.

The group fought desperately to keep the Roach Mother and the Black-Horned Shagrat in the ditch, while the blowgunners, Marie and Christoff, kept attacking them with ranged attacks.

Then came a sound behind them—shrill, sharp, unnatural.

A piercing shriek, followed by a burst of heat that grazed Jack’s back. The canyon lit up in a flickering orange hue. The Sun Towers had activated.

Jack forced himself not to look. He had to finish the lullaby.

Please don’t make it through. Please don’t make it through, he thought, focusing on the notes.

His hands trembled. The melody frayed at the edges as anxiety bled into his performance.

The song ended with a barely passing grade.

Still, it had some effect. The Roach Mother didn’t fall asleep—but she staggered. Her antennae drooped, and one of her claws scraped against the wall as if her limbs had forgotten what they were doing. She roared again, the sound duller this time, then resumed her climb—but slower, each movement sluggish and labored.

Jack finally let himself glance back at the fortress.

The Flying Marmoset was caught in the full fury of all six towers. The two beams of burning oil converged into a single, searing column of light. 

With a final, twisting cry, the creature crumpled midair and dropped into the last defensive ditch—just short of the walls. It hit with a thud, then lay still.

For a moment, the battlefield held its breath.

Then something shifted.

The furious light in the eyes of the remaining bosses flickered—then dimmed. Their frantic movements slowed, and the strikes lost some of their fury. 

Now that the Flying Marmoset was down, the Moon and Star Towers realigned, locking onto the next targets—the bosses in the ditch.

The Roach Mother shrieked, but her cry was cut short as two iron javelins slammed into her carapace. The impact drove her backward again, scrabbling at the earth as her claws tried and failed to find purchase.

Every time one of the bosses showed themselves and tried to haul themselves out of the ditch, they were greeted with arrows and javelins. And while the bosses were shielded from the towers by the carriage, the turrets shifted toward the Cobalt Romie further behind.

A resounding boom echoed across the canyon, resonating like the toll of a great bell.

A second pulse of light faded from the bosses’ eyes.

Jack’s gaze snapped to the far side just in time to see the Cobalt Romie collapse.

The ischychromys had collapsed. Rob stood over it, daggers still drawn, his cloak fluttering in the updraft.

Despite the shared buff linking all the bosses, Rob’s edge had shown. His second class advancement granted him higher burst damage and enhanced stealth movement—perfect for slipping through the Romie’s defenses. And with the Goat Knights dealing punishing, single-hit strikes, the Romie’s gear-based damage-over-time simply couldn’t gain traction.

No wonder it had fallen so quickly this time, despite being such a menace before.

Rob raised his fist, still holding the dagger. The rest of the team made up for his silence with a roaring shout of triumph, their voices echoing across the canyon walls.

Two bosses were down. There were only two to go.

Ch. 231 - Unmovable Object

INDEX

Ch. 233 - Strength Through Unity