17: The Harder They Fall

The undead mushroom boss swung its mace at me in a whistling arc. With the inevitability of a wrecking ball, it flew in towards me, a massive chunk of rusted bronze that no mortal could stop.  It was going to hit me, there was nothing I could do about it. Behind me, I heard Paisley cry out in warning, even as the rest of Silver Ridge picked themselves up off the ground, ready to get on with their boss run. This would be my last run of the day.

With a burst of mental speed, I spun into a twirl of ribbons and buffed my blade with my carefully honed Imbue Parry skill. I came out of the maneuver in miniature form, but I stood tall in the air, my magical wings straining.

The crashing ring of steel-on-bronze rang out through the ruined city, bringing everything to a silent halt. I’d blocked the boss’s strike, stopping it cold on my tiny blade. With no time to bask in the moment, I twirled backwards and poured magic into my sword, then ripped it through the air. The singing blade of energy flickered out and struck the mushroom’s face directly, causing critical damage and throwing the boss into the halfway transition phase.

I still hadn’t passed the wipe mechanic that triggered when the mushroom babies died, but blocking that strike had given me an idea. A crazy, ridiculous, over the top idea that might just work.

I cut down the first smaller mushroom with a fluttering rush of wings and blade, then the second went down to my ranged slash as it came off cooldown. The third dropped from a dash attack that cleaved it in two and carried me close to the fourth one. Cutting it down, I whipped my sword through the air again and dropped number five with another ranged burst of energy. When I didn't charge it up so much, Spring Slash came off cooldown pretty fast.

The mushroom roared, the death of its minions’ clouding its tiny, beady eyes with rage. Flipping its mace around so the head was pointed to the ground, it raised it up in supplication to the sky. Then, with another screech of anger, it rammed it down towards the ground.

It should have hit the ground, unleashing a wave of deadly spiritual energy. It should have killed me. It should have, but it didn’t, because I stood underneath the mace, one foot tall and defiant. My blade—held aloft with two hands, one on the hilt and one on the flat of the blade—purred with the power of the Ascendant Fae, taking much of the weight of the attack, while my buffed strength held the rest of it, barely.

A collective gasp went out from the watching players, and through gritted teeth, I grinned. Level ten, bitches. I was only level-fuckin’-ten.

My arms wobbled, and I slipped out from under the mace, just barely avoiding getting crushed as my strength failed. Feeling daring and creative, I reached out with my blade as I passed its ankle to streak blue blood through the air. Needed to keep my buffs stacked, after all.

The mushroom went into a frenzy of rage, swiping at the air with its weapon, but I ducked and dove, laughing and twirling ribbons behind me. Flying felt so good, incredible even. I was so happy I’d chosen the wings.

My katana sang as it took larger and larger chunks out of the boss’s health, and all the while my mark ability sapped its speed. Mind Flutter made the task of dodging its blows even easier, half the strikes from the boss weren’t even in my direction anymore.

I was conservative with my blocks, because despite my apparent ability to take the full weight of that mace, it all hinged on me not fucking up. On top of the Mind Flutter needed to redirect the follow up swing, there were far too many points of potential failure. Best not to tempt fate—She had it out for me, after all.

Spinning backwards as the boss reached one quarter health, I swapped back to my normal size and flicked through a sudden notification that had taken over my vision. Fucking game, my settings were supposed to keep this from happening!

My breath caught when I saw the message. My sword had reached rank two?

Learning from your play style, the Tobubana Katana has changed to compliment it. Your Imbue Strike ability will now apply to every attack with this weapon. Additionally, the stats of this weapon have increased, and you have gained one trait point to spend within the weapon. Choose wisely, as you cannot undo this decision.

I quickly swiped the notification out of my vision and fluttered backwards, just barely avoiding the heavy blow that would have surely ended me. The air shuddered with its passing, and taking a deep breath, I threw myself back into my tiny form and leapt to engage my foe.

The next mark was on its left shoulder, so I flicked my off-hand through the series of gestures to activate Mind Flutter, then initiated a Deception Strike. An afterimage of me lunged for its eyes, blade extended, while in reality, I was spinning sideways, blade biting deep into the leathery skin of its shoulder. The massive boss actually staggered from the blow, and blue blood dripped from the wound.

It swung wildly with its wrecking ball of a mace, and this time, I wasn’t fast enough. One of the flanges on the weapon caught my leg, breaking it and throwing me to the ground. My fairy form dissolved, leaving me at normal size as the massive beast bore down on me.

Glancing at my stacked buffs, I saw that I had almost a thousand percent damage bonus, and the boss had just over fifteen percent health. It was now or never. Pushing myself up onto my good leg, I gripped my sword with both hands and sighted the next mark. By a stroke of absolute, pure, unadulterated luck that had me questioning if fate had actually been listening, I saw that the mark was right on the mushroom’s face. A crit spot on a crit spot. A syzygy of fortune.

The mace gored the air as it came in, and using my wings to hold me up, I pivoted on my good leg and barely dodged it. With a cry of pure rage I activated Ascendant Cut and leapt forward, my katana passing under the mace. The weapons were like two supersonic railgun shells passing in the dark. Time slowed, the wind stopped… and my blade ignited.

Sound shattered the peace of the moment, the sawtoothed growl of my sword as it became solid white and pink energy, a moment before it struck the marked critical spot. The mushroom’s fist hit me a second later, and I was thrown backwards into the air. Healing energy washed through me in the space between impact and death. I was alive, and the boss…?

Almost ten meters away now, I watched the hideous creature collapse to the ground, dead.

My breathing came in ragged gasps, my sword hanging limp at my side, held in one hand. I turned back towards the Silver Ridge folks to see Ethan standing just inside the arena, staff raised, the power of his healing spell still blazing in the crystal at its top.

“Couldn’t heal you until it died,” he called, smiling. “Didn’t want to steal any of your hard earned experience!”

“Thanks dude,” I broke out into a disbelieving, slightly manic laugh, and dropped to my knees on the ground. “I fucking did it!”

Paisley rushed out onto the field with a wild, awe-filled expression, then stopped between me and the boss, while the others followed at a more sedate pace. “That was… incredible!”

“Sorry,” I said, unable to do so without a little grin. “Y’all came out here for nothing today. You can have all the drops except the Spirit Heart, though. That’s what I came here for.”

“You’d do that?” she asked, surprised. “Why?”

“Cos mister boss man looks pissy,” I said, nodding in Marlon’s direction, knowing full well that he could hear me.

“Why would I be pissy?” he asked, frowning in annoyance.

Dude, are you for real? “Dunno, but I’m going to go and grab my drop and leave.”

Shakily, I pushed myself to my feet, noting that my katana was back to its normal self. I wonder what that had been? An explanation was probably sitting somewhere in the sea of notifications waiting for me in my peripheral vision.

Above the dead boss, a little bag floated, and I grabbed it with the hand that wasn’t holding my sword. The tooltip opened into a little window, showing me the loot. There was a lot of crap that dropped from this boss, but most of it was crafting materials I had no use for. The leather from it would apparently make very good rogue armour, and considering that Marlon’s side boy had such a class, I guessed that was why they were here. I pulled all the loot out, then walked back over to the asshole and threw him a trade invitation, all while smiling amicably.

“There you go,” I said, voice a carefully controlled monotone as I completed the trade. “I’ll see you all later.”

I began to walk for the edge of the arena, but running steps from behind pulled me up short. It was Paisley. “Can I send you a friend request?” she asked in a rush. “You seem super cool, so… you know how this game is. It’s huge and really hard to keep track of people.”

Considering the request for a moment, I wondered what might come of it. She'd want to hang out, get to know me and all that shit. On the one hand, it was probably incredibly stupid to agree, but on the other… fuck but I missed her and Ethan. I missed them so much, and seeing them again here had opened old wounds, and I wasn't sure I had it in me to start the healing process all over again. I would have to tell her who I was eventually, but… maybe this could also be a path to getting one of my best friends back?

“Okay, sure,” I finally said. Outwardly, I kept my expression as neutral as possible, but internally I felt shy and uncertain. Her new aesthetic was… a lot to deal with, and combined with all the attention she’d been giving me over this boss grind… well, I was only human. Human, and at least in the game, a lesbian. The way her makeup made her eyes look all big and lovely and expressive… oh god. No, don't fall for it. She still screwed you over, Keiko.

Except... maybe this was also an opportunity to figure out what happened after I left. I could befriend her and get some information, maybe some closure. Finish healing rather than starting again? Yeah, that would work, too.

Accepting the request she sent, I threw her a wave and a parting smile, then skipped off back in the direction of the city. I fucking did it. I soloed that asshole boss, got my drop, and now I was going to make some kick-ass weapons! This new character was great!