1.44 – Time to Get Serious

The warboss beat its cleaver against its shield, and let out a savage roar. The curling shadows of the Dark infusion took on a dull red tinge as the warboss’s Bloodfury took hold again. Looked like Rika wasn’t the only one who had decided it was time to bring out everything they had. Except Rika didn’t actually have all that much left that she hadn’t already used.

Goblin Warboss (Boss) – Level 30

Rend I x3: 3 seconds.

Bloodfury: Large damage increase. 2:00 remaining.

Infusion (Dark) – Average Dark aspect added to all abilities. 3 minutes.

First thing she needed to do was refresh her Rend. Tempo had fallen off when the warboss had created the space it needed to buff itself, but she still had a few seconds to ensure she could keep its defenses as low as she could manage. The warboss had other plans, though. It rushed her like a charging bull, shield up and war cleaver reflecting the unnatural glint from that heavy skill it had used earlier. Rika wouldn’t have time to both avoid the strike and refresh her Rend. It was one or the other, and dodging was the clearly safer option.

Rika pumped all her Might into her legs and rushed forward to meet the warboss. Pain spiked up her arm as the massive blow cracked against the face of her heater shield. A burst of red-tinged dark power pulsed out from the impact, the combined power of the warboss’s Bloodfury and Dark infusion. She pushed through the blow, forcing herself to maintain as much of her forward momentum as she could. Her own axe punched into the same spot she’d hit a couple of times already. The warboss snarled at her, and she spit in its face.

Rend I: 9 seconds.

Tempo II x1: 6 seconds.

Now wasn’t the time to be safe. Any hesitation against this thing would see her end. Besides, victory here meant far more than a simple quest. It meant she was right. It meant she was on the path to the sort of greatness nobody could deny. The sort of strength that would demand attention, and more importantly, respect. Her reckless aggression was borne out when Erik’s Mend landed, dulling the pain from the blocked strike and closing her yet-unhealed wounds.

“Bad times for you,” she said as she struck with her axe once again.

Dark Strike erupted from her impact, the power of her attack punching through a gap in the goblin’s armor. The warboss may have been far more heavily armored than its minions had been, but the armor was still poorly made. It was little more than some rough iron plates strapped onto its body with nothing underneath. And with the divine guidance granted by her skills and her considerable Finesse, Rika didn’t have any real trouble aiming for the weakest spots.

That didn’t mean the warboss wasn’t a danger, though. It just snarled and growled at her as its only response to the injury. She couldn’t even imagine how much Resilience this thing must have. She’d landed several big hits like that already, and it had shrugged each of them off as if they were nothing.

As if to demonstrate just how dangerous it could be, the warboss struck out with a flurry of attacks. The cleaver moved with blinding speed, cracking against her shield and her armor faster than she could react. The combined effects of such a rapid assault left her off balance and stumbling. It took all her Finesse and Resilience just to stay on her feet as she weathered the onslaught. What she’d have given for a proper Bastion. Or a Striker.

At least she had Erik. Another Quick Heal landed. She straightened, shaking off the sensations of her bones and wounds twisting and pulling back into an uninjured state. At least she’d started getting used to that.

Rika squared off against the goblin warboss once more. It had grown late, with the sun finally sinking toward the mountain peaks and the shadows in the valley growing long. Flames leaped from braziers and torches on the platform behind the warboss. At least she could count on some amount of light if things went on too much longer. The corpse piles lay thankfully quiet. The shamans were either dead or routed along with the rest of the war camp. It was just down to Rika and the warboss now.

The warboss roared and raised its cleaver. That now-familiar gleam caught the weapon’s edge. Rika stepped in and drove a Shield Slam into its chest. She made as much work of the brief window her Stun bought her as she could.

Rend I: 9 seconds.

Shield Slam II: 30 seconds.

Dark Strike III: 2 seconds.

Tempo II x5: 6 seconds.

Blood seeped out from between the plates that made up the warboss’s armor, running down the dark iron and dripping onto the packed dirt of the valley floor. When the warboss came out of the Stun, it launched into another flurry of strikes. Rika activated Dark Counter.

Dark energy gathered around her shield, a curling not-light tinged with the deepest violet. She raised her empowered shield and took the frenzied barrage of strikes head-on. Each blow caused the darkness gathering around her heater to deepen. With the skill active, she could weather these attacks while keeping Tempo up, too. As the hits came, Dark Counter grew in power. It was fully charged well before the barrage had properly finished. She already had a full five stacks of Rend on the goblin warboss. With a quick flash of her axe, Rika gave herself a sixth stack of Tempo, just for good measure. Then, before the warboss could properly react, she brought her shield around in front of her and released her counter.

The power she’d absorbed from the warboss’s attacks exploded out from her shield. A wave of darkness hit the warboss like a physical blow, sending it stumbling back as the enchanted counter washed over it. When it righted itself, the exposed flesh on its arms and face was blistered and split open, the wounds weeping blood. It snarled at her and raised its cleaver, the crackling power of its own Dark infusion still granting it extra damage for another thirty seconds. At least the Bloodfury effect had worn off.

Rika stood to her full height and pointed at the creature with her axe. “I don’t know why you’re here. What drew you to this valley of all places, or why someone saw fit to equip all your shamans. I don’t know why this kind of quest formed around you, of all things. But I know this—you’re in my way.

“I’ll rip through you like I ripped through all your little soldiers. I’ll leave you dead and broken, just like them. And when I’m done with you, I’ll keep going. Whatever it takes, I’ll break this whole damn world before it breaks me. Dungeon, quest, or whatever; it doesn’t matter. I’ll tear through the Watchers themselves, if that’s what it takes to prove my strength.”

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It didn’t matter that who she was proving it to, at least for now, wouldn’t give a single care. She’d made her choice when she stepped into her Trial a mere week prior. Maybe deep down she’d known all along what would happen. That Maximilian would cast her out and leave her to make her own way in the world. That didn’t matter either.

The only thing that mattered was the strength of her conviction. She’d made her choice. She’d placed her feet on a path of her own choosing. And the further she walked along that path, the more times she would give proof—to herself, to the world, and to anyone who bore witness. Hers was the trail she’d blazed for herself, and she’d walk it to its end.

With a roar, the warboss rushed her again, cleaver flashing in the fading light. Rika slapped the weapon aside with her heater shield, then sank her axe deep into the warboss’s relatively unprotected thigh. She wrenched her own weapon down and away, widening the gash she’d left as she drew back for another strike.

It shoved her with its shield, then kicked her in the stomach. Her layers of armor took most of the impact, but she still had to back off lest she lose her balance. In the moment where she’d caught herself, the goblin warboss’s cleaver gleamed again. When it came down, she was out of position and had to take the full force of the blow.

Rika bit back the cry of pain as the cleaver cut through her brigandine, chain haubergeon, and the padding underneath. It parted the flesh and muscle between her neck and shoulder to scrape against her collarbone before finally snapping that, too. Pain, hot and sharp, bloomed in her entire left side. Her axe fell from numb and limp fingers.

Chirurgeon’s Touch III: Wound status effects reduced.

Enduring Heal II: Moderate Regeneration applied.