Focus. Find your ocean.
The distant crashing of waves over one another played through my mind, sitting cross-legged beside Korbin's chair. My eyes were wired shut as I slowly drifted in and out of Flow Meditation, making sure to keep an ear open for Korbin's call to action. It'd been 2 whole rounds since we fought those absolute assholes led by the loud-mouthed light rogue. Korbin had simmered down significantly since he'd finished absolutely pummeling the guy, though he remained laser focused on our defenses ever since.
"Why haven't you bought a chair? We've been over this, I can't actually make you sit on the floor, Tom." Korbin said with a smirk, though not taking his eyes off the invisible display he appeared to be scrolling through in front of his face. I chuckled, realizing what I'd forgotten to do after the last round's ending notification dinged. As I stood up and reached down toward our mini-pylon orb, the walls of our small settlement rattled violently after a heavy BANG. Korbin clicked his tongue and sighed in annoyance, his chin nearly smacking onto his chest piece slumping his head down.
"What the hell was that?!" I asked, releasing the sheaths from my twinblades, the same sheaths Lonni gifted me so long ago.
"Artillery. Sure, send me melee specialists when I prepare for ranged attacks, then FLIP it on me after I adapt the defense. Why the fuck not?!" Korbin growled through clenched teeth, kicking up from his chair and marching straight for the settlement entrance with his battle axe in hand. Jogging, I quickly caught up to him, only to dash to the side, avoiding the debris flying off our arching twin doors that served as the settlement entrance.
*BOOM*
*BANG*
I tucked down low, expecting a volley of shots to come whizzing overhead at any moment. Peaking over my forearm however, I noticed Korbin hadn't bothered breaking stride as he slid his shoulder casually into cover behind the wall, peering through the hole our front door used to fill. Leaping to my feet, I was nearly at the doorway when he waved me to the side frantically. My footing slipped trying to plant my foot off of some fallen debris, partially delaying me from Water Stepping to the side in response. Just as my momentum shifted laterally, my eyes locked onto a blinding ball of energy zip behind my back. Whipping my head toward where I thought the flying object would land, a 3-meter hole blasted out of the back wall of our mini-Elysium. The explosion smack was hollow, like heavy metal on cement, launching bricks fragmenting into the air.
"What the hell, why aren't your turrets shooting back?!" I angrily began questioning before finding my footing behind an empty replica of our old Pylon building. No doors, no staircases, but plenty of structure to duck behind.
"They did, before they blew off the front fucking d-"
*BAM*
"Argh-DAMMIT, Paul!?" A deep, grizzly voice in the distance angrily admonished, somewhere behind the bone rattling blast that blew a 4 meter hole through the wall opposite to Korbin. Hoping that meant they needed to reload, I bolted around the corner, firing my grappling hook up and latching into the disheveled wall hanging over Korbin at the entrance. With a thought, the grapple hook immediately began retracting, yanking my momentum up into the air. In another instant, the hook loosened from the brick wall as I descended into a roll beside Korbin, who stood waiting with his arms crossed.
"You didn't have to do all that, they're reloading." Korbin said plainly, sounding almost amused at my haste.
"Well then let's fucking go, before they're done?!" I insisted, already heading for the exit. Korbin's hand latched around my wrist before I could get away, pulling me back around the corner. Immediately, 6 ear shattering pops rang out, with as many small, bright blue explosions torching the spot I was just pulled from. I looked over at Korbin, who oddly enough looked more puzzled than he was upset.
"There's more than one of them. Doubt their type only brought one boom stick." Korbin said, sliding past me and inching his face around the corner, then back into cover.
"Well shit, this was like half the shit they taught you in the army, right? 'Firefights' or whatever?"I asked, trying to catch a glimpse of our attackers leaning safely around the corner from a distance.
"Right. It looks like they've got a few modes of fire to work with, and it's probably fair to assume all of it is available…alright. On my mark, sprint straight to the side of the building and cut up toward their position. You should be able to get an angle enough to push them back a few steps." Korbin instructed, igniting a ball of fire that hovered above his hand. With his free hand, Korbin counted down from 3 with his fingers. As the final finger closed into a fist, Korbin leaned around the corner and unleashed a fireball out into the already battle-torn serenity. I immediately dashed by him, scanning frantically for any sign of attackers. Immediately, my eyes locked onto a lanky, dark haired man leaning over a shattered tree stump. His hands were tinkering with something big, but the shape is s-
*FROOM*
…what the hell was th-
*BANG*
"AGH, I'M HIT!" I yelled, feeling a swell of hot pressure smash into my shoulder, the force nearly knocking me off my feet. My eyes darted trying to locate where the sound came from, finding nothing but craters filling with the surrounding lakes' waters and rubble from the settlement.
*BANG*
*ffFROOM*
*BANG BANG*
Several bright flashes lit up the treeline from two new locations, indicating I'd located all three of our attackers. Then, several heavy gusts of wind whizzed by my head and body from both sides, each accompanied by a high pitched whistling that made my eyes tilt in my skull. Unfortunately, the knowledge came at the hefty price, feeling myself get hit twice already, blood pooling from the back of my thigh and staining my darkening pants. Oddly enough, the pain didn't really bother me particularly. It felt more like I'd been hit with a small pellet full of very, very hot water than the bloody impact wounds spread across my left leg. Without wasting another moment, a Water Steps launched me back into the settlement and around the corner. Korbin stood waiting, holding out a tall red health potion with tightly pursed lips.
"For fucks sake, so much for knowing what you're doing." I said, snagging the potion and chugging it down before the pain of getting shot with whatever our attackers are using to pin us down.
"How was I supposed to know their shots ricocheted like that? That's not exactly how a little thing called 'physics' used to work." Korbin shot back defensively, throwing his hands in the air.
"What?" I asked confused, until I recalled the high pitch zipping that flew back and forth around me. Far more in quantity than thunderous bangs at that.
"Those shots, at least the last ones. They concentrated so much mana into each blast, yet it would've been meaningless without those shells…" Korbin began explaining, his eyes drifting from mine as he seemed to slip deep into thought. Meanwhile, our attackers unleashed another barrage of rapid fire shots, ripping through the settlement outer walls one layer at a time. Then, after pause, there was yet another disdained outburst.
"Fuckin' hell, PAUL?! What did you do to the DAMN thing?!"
"I-I just pulled the trigger, like th-"
*THUMP*
"AHH, you stupi-"
"Er-em!" A high pitched voice dramatically proclaimed, rather than actually clearing their throats. Deep within a crater emerged a single, small, stout figure. A long, curly handle-bar mustache and an even longer beard nearly covered the small man's upper torso entirely. Golden glowing buttons and silver pendants decorated the man's thick, hide armored suit. And by suit, I mean a gold and baby blue three-piece tux with some sort of armor reinforcement along the joints. As if someone invented gear to keep a used car salesman alive.
"Ladies and gentlemen of this fine, modest establishment! It has come to my attention that we have completely annihilated all formal forms of defenses you've placed before us today. Your walls have been compromised, and the severe lack of any return fire must mean things we'll be wrapping up in just a jiffy! That being said, let's take this opportunity to get better acquainted, before we mercifully eliminate you!" The short, charismatic man rambled off, stepping up and out of his crater and slowly strolling toward our entrance. I had half a mind to pop out and Lightning Strike the frumpy little bastard where he stood, if I thought Korbin would be willing to lend me another health potion after.
"My name is Bertrude, Lead Salesmen of the 22nd division. We at The Deep Mint Compact pride ourselves not in our cruelty, but commodity. As it currently stands, 27 factions in these Quarterlies alone have already filed an invoice with one of our many, many services I have to offer you today. We offer ballistics-" Bertrude brandished a small, handheld silver crossbow from behind his back. In one swift motion, he pointed the crossbow forward and fired, releasing a beam of silver white energy that ripped through the air like a rocket. The glowing bolt exploded on impact, ripping another hole in the settlement's upper back wall.
"Is he doing a fucking pitch right now?" I asked Korbin in a whisper, turning back to Korbin who remained occupied in deep thought. His eyes fluttered after a pause.
"…hm? Oh, yea. It sounds like that's probably this guy's thing." Korbin coldly replied, rubbing his chin and slowly peering around the wall again. Then, a discordant chorus of shattering glass echoed through our exposed entranceway. Peaking around myself, I barely caught the last glimpse of several blue, green, and yellow potions before they shattered on the ground just a few feet from me.
"-and in addition to our extensive catalogue of weaponry, we also come bearing a variety of the multiverses finest elixirs!" The self proclaimed Bertrude charismatically continued.
"Alright, we're good!" A grizzly voice bellowed from somewhere else across our shattered serenity. The small, borderline gaudy salesman sighed, wiping an otherwise permanent grin from his face for a few seconds before backing into his chosen crater with a final note.
"If you've any interest in negotiating post-event terms, please exit the pylon with your hands and weapons in the air." Bertrude said, though the lack of enthusiasm in his tone reeked with his own doubts. And rightfully so as far as I'm concerned, I have zero intent on surrendering anytime s-
"Not a bad idea, might get us a closer look at their artillery." Korbin thought aloud no more than a shoulder length away from me. My head cocked back at his willingness to lose outright.
"What? Hell no, are you insane?! Who's to say they won't just blast us the second we walk out there?!" I asked, feeling borderline insulted at the insinuation.
"Maybe, but it seems unlikely they wouldn't just blow a few more holes in our walls until they topple around us. Not unless they're running low in resources, or don't want to run low." Korbin replied, his eyes trailing away. Clearly, the bouncy ammunition had him…rattled? No, and he doesn't look all that confused either.
"They're not comin', light 'em up!" The hidden grizzly voice growled. Immediately, the air was filled with dozens of pops and small explosions echoing throughout the settlement's outer structure, making deep rumbling that shook the stone against my ear as I pressed into cover.
"I'm not going to lie Tom, unless I can get a clean shot on whoever's got the big-guns out there, I don't see any happy endings out of this one for us." Korbin hollered over the chorus of explosions, his relaxed brow and low hanging eyelids painting someone more annoyed in his resolve than concerned for a solution at this point. Then, the rate of pops slowly ripping through the walls halved abruptly, then halted altogether.
"Uh-uhm. I-I think it's broken or s-suh-s-someth-"
"For the love of the final FUCKING forge Bertrude, help Paul with that bloody arcannon!" The grizzly voice utterly shouted, his voice just loud enough for me to track the general location. Before I could say a word however, Korbin leaned around the corner and let loose a fireball into the same direction. The ball of flames spiraled through the air, crashing beside a crater in the soft soil unleashing a concussive blast.
"ARGHH, DAMN, DAMMIT PAUL, SHOOT BACK, SHOOT BACK!" The same grizzly voice yelled over the blast, his voice whizzing from one side of the clearing to the other creating a Doppler effect. Though their voice didn't even shake, making me wonder if they had some sort of means of travel on them other than their two legs. But more than that, this supposed 'Paul' stood straight up out of his hiding spot within another crater. Roughly where I'd heard the over voice travel towards as well.
"I'm TRYING! This stupid thing doesn-"
*BANG*
*BANG*
Dirt and debris kicked up in a cloud from the floor, completely concealing Paul's tall, slender figure.
"Shit shit shit SHIT, I'm so sorry. I'm so so s-" Paul rambled from somewhere behind the cloud still settling after his assumed unintentional discharge. The unseen scruffy voice continued laying into Paul, berating him with insults and obscenities in the distance.
Hold on…this guy's an idiot?
I peered over to Korbin who'd fully slinked around the corner, standing with his shoulders slumped down while watching the self sabotage unfold. Grinning, I snatched his forearm and yanked lightly, then immediately bolted across the small isthmus separating two crystal-clear lakes surrounded in fiery priest corpses, and into the tree line. The same side I'd seen Paul fumbling about before his voice repositioned behind his own blunder. As I slid into the damp foliage, the rain that fell on our attackers starting biome immediately beat down on my face, the droplets hitting my eyes at uncomfortably fast speeds. Korbin rolled past me, sliding his body behind a thick tree trunk.
"Okay, now what?" Korbin asked with a whisper, looking over at me expectantly.
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.
"Y-..what do you mean?! You pulled me over here, what's your plan?" Korbin pressed on, dropping the whisper entirely, his expression once more relaxing into disappointment.
"Ah, I see." I said, realizing hiding wasn't going to win anything other than time to find well-armed attackers first. Still, that Paul guy really seems to consistently fuck things up, especially in such succession like that.
"The fuck do you mean 'ah'?! Why the hell did you bring us over here, to get a whiff of the pl-" my mind raced, in turn ignoring Korbin's angry badgering. It just doesn't make sense that this 'Paul' guy would be even in the same room as whoever that secret sharpshooter is raining hell on Korbin and me, while simultaneously moving and remaining hidden. Even the salesman, albeit nauseatingly pompous, had managed to distract me well enough with his words. I didn't even realize it was a ploy until the other mystery-voice waved him away to let resume blasting the shit out of our walls
…but Paul? No way, I know an outcast when I see one.
"That tall guy's our ticket. If we can keep him blundering, I think we can close the distance without getting ripped to shreds out here." I said after some thought. Korbin postured himself to refute the idea, his face frozen in careful consideration.
"…okay, that's not bad actually." Korbin said.
"You didn't say anything." I replied impatiently.
"Right, shut up okay, look. I got a plan, but you're going to have to trust me." He said with a grin, revealing a rolled up scroll suddenly in his extended hand.
——————————————————————
"Just keep firing. Remember, you pull, relax, and release. Don't just yank the trigger back, that's why Mulrich keeps having to come fix your mint condition Arcannon." Bertrude hissed, his normally high pitched voice dropping into an angry, gravely growl. I looked down at the well dressed dwarf, wondering exactly why I decided to wander over to their cut-throat faction. My team, my…freinds, were all eliminated quickly.
We never really had a pylon of our own, but we managed to link up when the Quarterly opened up into that massive meet-and-greet structure. We tried to keep our objective light, never selecting anything over an uncommon rarity. Even still, every hellscape we were sent through was more treacherous than the last. None of which I care to think too much about, especially not with this mana repeating Arcannon in my hands.
Speaking of, these dwarves might have fancy weapons and even a pair of rather badass hover-boots, these damned mana blasters or whatever the fuck they call them suck. Every shot absolutely melts anything it contacts, but it's damn-near impossible to aim this fucking thing? It's heavy, and clunky by design as it's meant to be held upside-down. No secondary hand grips, no sights to aim down, just a massive mess of metal tubes and glowing runes filled with a finite amount of explosive death.
Of course, Mulrich, the sneaky one flying around on his hover-boots, got to rock two 'Arcane-Repeaters'. Those little hand held crossbows were self loading, every glowing red bolt manifested by some translucent, ash textured stone just below each crossbow's sights. A stick slap on my lower back snapped my attention around, looking down to find Mulrich himself snarling angrily up at me.
"Jam my bloody cannons again, and I'll leave you with a fucking broken potion to defend yourself with." He grumbled, snagging the awkwardly weighted arcannon from my hands with surprising strength. The fact the system is forcing me, a mere free-lancer just trying to make a living in this crazy new world I've been unceremoniously tossed into, to work with these ambitiously insane dwarves is just flat out cruel. Of course, my dumbass fell for the big smiles and small stature almost immediately, the promises of free gear for fulfilling 'incentives' were just the nail on the coffin for me. Now, I'm contractually at the mercy of these warlords in merchants clothing's mercy until the quarterlies are over.
"I'm just doing what y-" Mulrich whipped his head around, his bloodshot, deep yellow eyes locked with mine delivering a menacing glare. I turned my head down, not willing to challenge the overly well-armed little psycho. His thick, messy beard lifted up and fell below his rising Arcane Repeaters.
"What was that, long-foot? You got a few words for ole, Mulrich now?" He hissed through a sinister grin.
"You know what I like more than intimidating a coward? Productive initiatives! Here's a recommendation I tell all of my clients and coworkers alike; do your fucking job, and go find the forge-forsaken long-foots, you greasy gearhead!" Bertrude said to Mulrich, using his unsettlingly cheery tone to deliver what I could only imagine to be some kind of classist remark. I'm not sure, and I'm usually either ignored or pitched a broken chest piece ornament whenever I've asked about what it's like where they come from. Mulrich snarled as he turned to face Bertrude. His Repeaters started panning toward Mulrich when his words stopped them cold.
"Recall who's filling out your performance evaluation before burning bridges, Mulrich. We have a job to do, let's focus on that, huh?" Bulrich said, using a new, more casual voice than his typical giddy self. I shivered, not at all prepared for how gritty and scratchy his voice really is. Mulrich turned away, let off a pair of 4-bolt burst shots into the trees, and began marching away.
*BOOM*
Almost immediately after he walked past, a streak of blinding blue light blinked across my vision, blasting a hole into the tree at my side. Mulrich immediately dove backwards, firing both Arcane Repeaters into the open forest. I raised my own weapon and squeezed the trigger hard, hoping I was pointing the nozzle at least in the enemy's vicinity. One of the bolts flew astray, clipping and ripping a chunk off of Multich's earlobe as he scrambled up to his feet. His head lurched up as he winced in pain, momentarily fumbling his repeaters.
"Shit, Mulrich I'm so sor-" I froze, noticing my shadow growing darker below me. As if the sun itself was falling closer. Turning around however, my eyes shot wide open watching as a ball of fire blasted into the soft forest soil between the 3 of us. Wind fluttered in my ears as I felt myself getting lifted and propelled through the air by the blast. Curling up, my back slammed into a tree, the force nearly folding me around its bark. Sighing, my eyes lifted from the dirt just in time to watch the end of my arcannon slam into my face. Then, it was nothing but fuzzy, hazy lights and sweet, sweet quiet.