‘BRA-KAAAAW!’
The sound of the creature’s call echoed through the forest canopy, causing several other animals to scatter away from the noise. Birds took flight, boars barrelled through the brush, and Elijah even spotted some sort of monkey-like animal swinging between branches.
Bo > That was a fear spell. Is everyone good?
Affirmations came in from the rest of the party. Elijah was about to answer when he noticed Bitter Bat was no longer at his side. He cycled the summon to bring him back.
Elijah > It caught Bitter Bat. Hopefully, it was just him and not the other two as well.
Nicholas > Can’t take the risk. Team, plan according to the Bitters not being active participants.
Elijah had to suppress a feeling of annoyance even as confirmations came in through the group chat. They didn’t intend the tactical planning as a personal slight against Elijah. They had no line of communication with Root and Dryad, and despite Elijah being able to sense their general direction, he couldn’t know for certain that they weren’t running away in fear.
A loud blast came from deeper in the forest, followed by the sound of the creature’s call again and a plume of smoke. That would be Benjamin combining his ‘Thunder Clap’ and ‘Flame Bolt’ spells to push the creature towards the rest of the group.
He could feel the creature’s heavy footfalls pounding through the ground even as far away as he was, and the sound of its hurried steps rolled like thunder through the trees.
Bo > Got its attention. Sasha, Elijah, be ready. I’m heading your way.
Across the clearing he saw Sasha, her white robes replaced by her darker street clothes for camouflage. It was strange to see her in a pair of leggings and tank-top. After months of playing with her, he’d almost forgotten that the white robes that her class granted her every time she died weren’t her normal clothes.
His mind wandered to the question about why mages received robes when they died but other classes didn’t get any kind of armor or equipment when they bit the dust. Was it yet another sign of the corruption of the developers? Or just a strange quirk of the game?
Bitter Bat pinched his thigh, bringing his focus back to what was going on now instead of losing himself in thought. The stomping of the monster’s feet was close now.
Bo shot through the canopy and into the clearing, running at full tilt. He was still in his fully human form, not wanting to lose it in the shadows of the trees. He paused for a moment once he had crossed the clearing, checking to make sure the creature following him wouldn’t lose track of him.
As the boss monster came closer, Elijah finally got a clean look at it through the trees.
[Wandering Boss Info]
Bocce, The Terror Bird
Threat Level: Journeyman | Level: 90
HP: 487 / 500
It stood at seven or eight meters tall from its taloned foot to the top of its head, a creature out of Earth’s own history. Feathers pitch black except for a frock of blue around its head. It didn’t stop as it spotted Bo, continuing its path of destruction that left the trees as splinters. Bo turned and disappeared into the trees. It was almost Elijah’s turn.
The giant flightless bird rushed across the clearing towards where it had last seen Bo before being stopped by a wall of green runes. Sasha’s ‘Magical Bunker’ sprang up just in time for it to slam headfirst into the wall. It stumbled backwards and roared at the wall, but Elijah got its attention before it could attack again. He stepped out into the clearing and dual-channeled ‘Dragontooth Swarm’. The bats sprang out of his hands and attacked the bird.
“Go!” he shouted at Bitter Bat, who teleported over to Sasha and removed her from the clearing and towards the next position she would be needed.
As the bats dissipated, the Terror Bird turned to face Elijah. He could see the raw, animalistic anger behind those eyes, devoid of intelligence or thought other than to kill.
It was almost refreshing. This thing only wanted one thing: to kill. No underlying plan, no scheming, no questionable morality, and no rambling monologues. Just primal fury and hunger.
He turned and ran.
Elijah could feel it behind him, chasing him, intending to swallow him whole. He let out a stuttering laugh through heaving breaths as he dodged through the trees. He felt alive again for the first time in forever, running away from a monster that wanted to kill him for the sake of killing him. This was what the game was meant to be.
The creature’s long strides were closing the gap between them, even as it uprooted trees and tore through the underbrush. He risked a quick look back and saw that it was almost within striking distance of him. He activated his teleport spell and reappeared fifty meters further ahead, far enough away to not get caught but close enough that the bird wasn’t about to lose him.
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He spotted the two oversized oak trees up ahead. Bitter Root and Dryad were supposed to be there, lying in wait for Elijah to pass them.
“Incoming!” he shouted, giving them warning that he would be there soon. He hoped they were still present.
He passed by without checking. His breath was coming heavily now, and his lungs burned in his chest. He couldn’t keep running like that forever. Behind him the ground rumbled.
He teleported up onto a high tree branch; the limb creaking and cracking ominously under his weight, and turned back to face his pursuer, a smile spreading across his face.
Elijah > We’re good. Root and Dryad’s tripwire worked.
The large boss monster had run straight through the tripwire, getting its legs tangled up and landing face-first on the ground. The Bitters were attempting to wrap the creature’s flailing legs in a bind, but one of the long talons swiped across Dryad’s body and Elijah felt the connection to him snap.
“Plan B!” Elijah screamed at Bitter Root. The goblin dropped the rope and pulled out his cudgel. Running around the front of the creature, he clocked it on the lower side of its beak before taking off running on all fours. Bocce managed to get to its feet and took off chasing after the troublesome goblin, squawking in outrage at the little creature’s gall.
Elijah > Plan B. Root is leading it your way, Benjamin.
He almost felt bad for Benjamin. As a caster, he didn’t have great inherent stamina, but thanks to his Journeyman-tier constitution stat, he could physically exert himself more than most mages.
The call for ‘Plan B’ set several things in motion all at once. Sasha and Benjamin positioned themselves for Bitter Root to bring the boss monster their way, Nicholas readying himself at the fallback point, and Bo would be heading towards Elijah now.
He kept his eyes peeled. They were on a deadline, and if Bo didn’t make it to him in time, he’d have to teleport away without the man. He didn’t see any movement in the trees in the direction Bo should have been coming from and was about to teleport to the fallback point when he heard a sound from above him.
“Waiting for someone?” The voice asked. Elijah’s stomach leapt into his throat as he turned. The action caused the tree limb he’d been resting on to finally snap, and he felt himself falling. A black, clawed hand reached out and caught him before he could fall far. Looking up, he saw the ink-covered outline of Bo.
[Player]
Name: ???
Class: Wraith | Level: ??
That was probably the most disconcerting part of Bo’s transformation. When he was in his human form, his name and stats read normally and registered him as a rogue, but in this form his class read as a ‘Wraith’ and all his other information, including his health bar, was obscured.
They’d done a little testing and Sasha could still sense his health, though complained that it didn’t feel right. Like trying to look through a dirty magnifying glass.
“Have I mentioned how nice it is that your new form hides your ugly face?” Elijah snarked at Bo for scaring him.
The man shrugged. “Have I mentioned how funny you look falling to your death from the top of a tree?”
Elijah scowled at him, but the grin that forced its way across his face soon broke the scowl.
Bats sprang up from the ground beneath him and shot upwards to surround Bo and Elijah’s forms, carrying them away to the fallback point. Elijah landed softly on the ground, but Bo, who had been above him before the teleport, dropped to the ground and rolled. The ruckus caught Nicholas’ attention. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, returning his focus to where the Wandering Boss would soon come into view.
Benjamin wasn’t just running away; the sounds of spells being fired off interspersed the giant bird’s footfalls. He could concentrate well enough that he could launch attacks over his shoulder while staying ahead of the monster.
The mage broke out through the trees, firing off another ‘Dark Blast’ over his shoulder while sprinting towards the cliff face that was central to this back-up plan. Elijah could see Bitter Bat riding on the man’s shoulders, turned backward and shouting obscenities at the boss.
Elijah was going to have to talk to Bitter Root about not teaching his brothers bad words.
Bocce the Terror Bird crashed through the trees, aiming his outstretched beak directly for Benjamin as the mage stopped with nowhere to go at the sheer face of rock.
The bird’s beak engulfed the mage and familiar, but instead of the sound of crunching bone and screams, the only sound that echoed forth was the sound of the beak snapping shut on itself.
High above atop the cliff, shouts rained down from Bitter Bat while Benjamin lobbed a ‘Flame Bolt’ at Bocce, which singed the feathers along its head and neck.
The giant bird squawked at Benjamin and tried to jump up to get him. Its massive weight came crashing back down, causing several rocks to dislodge from the cliff. Benjamin disappeared as Bitter Bat pulled him back from the edge, but Nicholas was already on the move. Rushing forward with ‘Dash’ and slamming into the creature’s thin leg. Its knee buckled, and it toppled to one side.
It twisted on the ground trying to snap Nicholas up. Which meant it was Elijah’s turn.
Elijah teleported forward, then cast an empowered Dragontooth Swarm, filling the giant bird’s mouth with hundreds of bats and pushing its head back and away from Nicholas.
He heard the creature gulp, swallowing the bats, then lashed out with a powerful leg. Nicholas caught it on his shield, but the force from the hit sent him flying back towards the trees.
The bird rose back up onto its legs, and the info box reappeared over its head.
[Wandering Boss Info]
Bocce, The Terror Bird
Threat Level: Journeyman | Level: 90
HP: 278 / 500
None of them knew if Wandering Bosses had a second phase at half health like dungeon bosses did, and Bo didn’t remember the specifics from his time as a developer. He recalled a member of his team discussing a particular boss’ ability to shapeshift when it dropped low enough, but that may have been a unique case.
The bird turned towards Elijah and opened its beak wide. He summoned more bats and let them fly towards the creature’s mouth. It greedily swallowed them up as if Elijah was just feeding it.
A mistake by the hungry bird.
A rumbling explosion emanated from within Bocce. The bats that Elijah had summoned weren’t his swarm or scouts. They were his bombs. The Dragontooth bats exploded within the boss monster, knocking down another hundred health points. Elijah mentally pushed away the critical strike and critical sneak attack pop-ups.
The bird looked startled but made no move to attack. The air seemed to still for a moment; even the sounds from the forest had quieted. Then two more wings sprouted from Bocce’s back, and with four powerful wings flapping, it took off into the sky.
