The Pinnacle Warrior

“I’m going to kill whoever is doing this.”

“You always say that Astrid, and we still haven’t had a chance to do anything about the sneaky bastards who’re torturing us like this. Plus, I suspect that you wouldn’t be all too willing to actually deal a killing blow to a person.”

“Well, maybe I’m not a murderer, but it seems like these cowards sure want to be. I suspect I’d be willing to make an exception for them.”

“Then we shall plan how we shall do it.” Muti smiled as she said it, continuing, “I think it would be most effective to plan an ambush. Once we know their faces, we can find their lairs, and beside their cots, or within their bedchambers, they will be vulnerable. After all, they are not attempting to be honorable. I will give them no honor, and their blood shall remain unbound to my future. They shall only serve as experience that I grow with.”

Astrid felt her face screw up involuntarily. The most obvious example of this was her mother, as only half of Burning Brighid’s levels were gained from monsters she’d killed in entrances to the Dungeon near the battlefield on the southern border. To step through multiple Steel tier watersheds… there would be so many people that she had slain with her fellows, and every one of them provided five times the amount of experience that a monster of that same level would provide. War remained a terrifying thing to Astrid, the reality of seizing other people’s lives and making them mere experience… she turned her mind deliberately away from the idea.

Astrid leaned down and cut the ears from the gnolls nearby. There were other corpses to harvest and she would get to them when she could, but the idle moments allowed her mind to wander. More and more she was sure that there was somebody who waited for them to leave the confines of Kznietch and enter the third floor, just so they could make their lives harder by staggering and speeding the arrivals of the gnolls in such a way that their party wasn’t allowed rest.

The positive aspect of that was that, for some reason, their adversary didn’t seem to be able to get more than eight gnolls to attack the party at the same time. While each fight was difficult, all were far from deadly now that Skandr had fully mastered the use of his spell. With Muti’s warning before each encounter, he was able to send the lightning in a spray ahead of him. The arcs of stunning electricity would dance between the beasts. With Skandr’s growing confidence, Astrid and Muti’s approach had changed. Instead of Astrid standing as a bulwark in front of Skandr while Muti chased down the monsters in the backlines, she now stood on the opposite side of Muti and smashed into the gnolls to deal as much damage as fast as possible.

“How close are we to being able to afford a replacement to your shield?” Skandr asked

“She is picky. We could have one already, one that is superior to what she has now. Instead, she waits and hopes for a perfect opportunity.”

“Well, I guess that’s true, but we know that with Steady Load, it will be better for me to get a particularly heavy shield that I can use to boost my attributes and keep me safe at the same time!”

“That’s in the long term! Like, an entire tier from now long time!” Skandr threw his hands in the air as he said it. “Sure, eventually you’ll be able to buy a shield of, oh, I don’t know, living stone or pure obsidian, or out of whatever other crazy material that only exists in the higher tiers, but for now, we just need to make sure that you’re safe and alive. You know, so I can be too?”

Astrid waved her hand dismissively. She knew she was being picky, but it had been a little while since the apprentice or brand new crafters had come through. There hadn’t been any armor or weapons or shields that had appeared at that time that were markedly superior to what she already had, so she considered it a waste to spend money she didn’t have on something she didn’t want. Now, though, her shield was more rope, pitch, and tar than its original steel and wood. It was growing heavier and heavier by the day as the materials stacked on top of what had been the original, but it was still far from the 60 kilograms or so it would need to weigh to have her count as carrying a “load”. 

Frankly, it would be foolish of her to try to wield a shield that weighed that much, because it wouldn’t be something she could use to protect herself. The slight bonus to her Alacrity that would come from doing that would be far out weighed (literally) by the impact of the mass of the shield. Once her Power grew even higher, maybe to 80, then she would be able to move her encumbered hand effectively enough with something so heavy in her hand. 

So what exactly was she holding out for? She couldn’t say for sure herself. Even so, despite Skandr and Muti both having purchased significant upgrades to their equipment since they had begun partying together, Astrid had not. Her hammer, the head made of refined steel and the haft of a wood called ironthread, would be able to serve her into Iron, she was sure. Her armor was also fine steel, and the chain mail and pauldrons and greaves altogether worked to make a more than satisfactory whole. And her helmet, enchanted by Isana of the Golden Fist, would not be retired for quite a while yet. Even the thought of replacing it with a better, more completely enchanted helm made Astrid recoil.

Maybe it was just by comparison of everything else that she had, but Astrid couldn’t bring herself to replace the shield from her parents with what was only comparable to the original and didn’t markedly supercede the original. Even so, she had taken the time and effort to go see a couple shield options, a buckler of hammered brass, another a heater of steel layered over hardened, oak, and final one, a tower shield, just like the one she usually wielded, but with lower quality wood and more steel banding it to overcome that weakness..

“I will buy a shield when I buy a shield.” 

“That is our leader’s answer. Always. She does not consider us in her decision making.”

From a Human, the words would have rung with sarcasm or even teasing, but from Muti, it was instead a declaration of her respect for Astrid’s autonomy. More and more, Astrid found herself agreeing with Muti’s approach and general ideas. 

Astrid went to respond to the Rogue, but instead, Muti stood up and grinned excitedly.

“This is a true challenge! There are twelve. One shaman and three rangers, at least. Maybe four.”

Whatever it was that was keeping their enemies from getting so many gnolls together wasn’t happening any more. Astrid wanted to retreat to the Dungeon floor’s stairs. If they did that, they could at least bottleneck the monsters as they were forced to fight. Unfortunately, even though they were less than a kilometer away from the door, it was much too far for them to consider that course of action as possible for the bulk of people around. Instead, she tamped down the nerves and fear that filled her heart, and instead looked to her companions.

As always, Muti was purely excited at the concept of a new and difficult fight. She would throw herself at whatever it was that was coming, and she would love every second of it. Skandr, on the other hand, showed his fear very obviously on his face. Muti shook her head in disapproval, but she didn’t say anything. After months of delving together, she no longer so easily insulted the other party members.

“I’m with you.” Skandr’s words were simple, and a little hopeless. Even so, he filled his hands with a concentrated roiling mass of lightning while Astrid and Muti spread out maybe 7 meters apart from each other. There, they settled on their haunches, and as soon as her head was below the top of the red field, Astrid couldn’t see any sign of the enemies or her allies. That Skandr was hidden at all to the naked, even half-seeing eye was a testament to how much he had learned about how to delve while still wearing his armor.

Astrid held still, ready to leap into action, and it wasn’t long before she could hear the faintest hint of what was approaching. The gnolls thrashed through the grass, their steps destroying everything in their path as they drew closer. The faint sound of their cackling communications filled the air, and Astrid felt a shiver run down her spine as the sound washed over her and her party. Everything from here for the next 5 to 10 seconds would all depend on Skandr. He didn’t love that, but he was more and more getting accustomed to the reality that he was an important member of the party.

He spoke at a nearly conversational tone as he gave the countdown.

“Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Now”

Astrid and Muti both stood at the same moment, the same one that the peal of thunder and the flash of lightning filled the space. By now, Astrid and Muti had learned to keep one of their eyes closed as the curtain of lightning exploded into existence. Even partially blinded, Astrid knew what her priority was. She heard Skandr stumble, having spent the vast majority of his mana in one fell swoop. Fortunately, he stayed on his feet this time. Then, disregarding that her mage was out of mana, they refocused on the future. There were seven brawlers jittering in place as Astrid and Muti both closed in on each flank.

Muti roared in her language, her blades flashing as she amputated, disemboweled, and decapitated everything that fell into her reach. Astrid too was not looking to necessarily kill with every hit, but to take a gnoll out of the fight. Knees, hips, and shoulders were common targets, though if a skull or spine was open, she would of course take the opportunity to deal a killing blow. As the effects of Skandr’s spell faded from the shaman and the rangers behind the brawlers, Astrid and Muti had crippled or killed all but one of the seven brawlers. The shaman was already brandishing the blade in one hand while the other held its token. It glowed with a bloody red light as it started to channel its bloodlust aura.

Astrid and Muti both turned their attention to the shaman, but Astrid stepped back, knowing what her companion wanted to do. She let the large Barbarian engage the shaman in single combat, and it was immediately apparent that this was a level 10 shaman. It moved just as quickly as Muti did, and when one of her blades would slip past its own, it expertly used some of the bony protrusions on its left hand’s wrapping to turn her weapon from dismembering or deadly to merely threatening.

She needed to pull her attention back to herself, and knowing what was coming, Astrid raised her shield just in time to take three arrows flying into it. Fortunately, the bloodlust aura didn’t do much to affect the force of the arrows that the gnolls were shooting, as that was all dependent upon the draw weight of the bows. They were able to shoot the bows twice as fast as before, though, so Astrid found herself being handily kited around by the rangers that were, in turn, unable to deal her a deadly blow. Even so, she was in a bad position, as she needed to do something to ensure that they did not turn their attention onto Muti.

Just as soon as she thought that, Astrid heard Muti grunt in pain. As she turned her attention away from the four rangers, Astrid saw that Muti had sustained a long cut that went down the seam of her armor on her left shoulder. The shaman had stabbed its knife into the front of her shoulder before dragging it down through the flesh nearly all the way to her elbow. Her messer sword fell from her hands as she shifted her focus from fighting to merely desperately dodging from the beast’s reach. It snapped its jaws at her as its glowing fist smashed into her other shoulder.

The Barbarian took advantage of this blow and took it heavily to gain some distance from the shaman, and even before she said anything, Astrid knew what they would do now. She rushed towards the shaman, shield held high as she engaged with it, leaving the rangers to Muti. She couldn’t help but grin fiercely as, over the course of just a few seconds, three brawler kill notifications appeared and a bolt of lightning flew into a ranger’s chest. Even while looking for opportunities to use his Skills, Skandr was becoming more and more of an accomplished delver, eliminating every threat as it came.

With a shrieking, howling laugh, the gnoll shaman threw itself into fighting against Astrid. It didn’t care about its escaping prey, it just wanted to fight. This was, they had learned, one of the few saving graces of the bloodlust aura that the shamans used against delvers. The gnolls were simply too obsessed with the concept and possibility of violence that what limited planning and critical thought that they normally had simply died. Astrid raised her shield and smacked away its jaw as it launched forward with blade and fang alike. The blade scraped up her bracer as she parried the strike away. Then, disregarding its follow up warding attack, Astrid swung hard to send the head of her hammer smashing into its left shoulder.

The shaman pulled back from its attacks and raised its left fist to keep its hand from being crippled entirely. As it was, at least three of its fingers broke in that hit while it danced backwards, and Astrid pressed the attack. Two arrows flew towards her, and she tried to shield against them only partially successfully. The second scraped along her pauldron and flew past her, sending a jolt of fear down her spine for Skandr. Even with that fear, she had a goal and she would stick to achieving it.

The shaman threw itself at her shield, its jaws gnashing through the steel banding at the top of the edge. Then, with its right hand holding the blade, it swung around the cover of the shield to attempt to stab her in the eye. Fortunately, her shield was large enough to keep the blow from striking true and the sharpened bone scraped off the helmet.

Astrid shoved into the gnoll just enough to step back and get enough space to swing a wild uppercut into the place where its hips joined with its legs. Unlike with a human, or any regular animal, monsters have no genitals, so she was foolish enough to think that maybe the blow wouldn’t be a crippling one. With both of its hips and upper thighs, pulverized, however, the shaman fell mostly onto its back. It snarled and continued to channel its Skill somehow, and Astrid took an arrow in the back that didn’t sink more than half an inch into her flesh. Muti was working on the rangers, but it apparently wasn’t fast enough.

She threw herself behind her shield at the shaman, and as it was trapped underneath her weight, she exposed its head just enough to raise the hammer and deal a fatal blow.

Gnoll Shaman slain. 23 Experience gained, split among party.

Astrid refused to slow as she looked at three still-standing rangers. As the bloodlust faded from their eyes, they turned to flee. Skandr sent lightning bolts that struck true at two of them, one of which Muti was actively fighting against and quickly fell to her attacks. As the Rogue turned to chase the other slowed monster, there was no need for Astrid to choose which one to pursue. The final ranger yipped in terror as it fled. If, somehow, this monster drew another pack towards them right now, there would absolutely be serious wounds sustained, if not even a death.

Not for the first time, Astrid wished she had a better ranged option than this, but what she had is what she had. She about kept pace with the gnoll as they ran, though it seemed to be getting away. With a prayer sent heavenward, Astrid hefted her hammer, trying to get a good measure of its weight distribution when thrown, and then hurled it towards the gnoll. She’d planned for her attack to break its spine, but no such luck. Instead, it clipped its hip and made it stumble. That wasn’t enough to kill it, or even really too slow it. It ripped off into the distance, and Astrid cursed herself as she stopped trying to chase the beast and instead took her hammer in hand and rushed back. Muti and Skandr were in the process of dispatching the last of the other 11 gnolls, but Astrid shook her head.

“You have one minute to get as many fangs and ears as you can. Then we’re getting out of here before the gnolls can track our scent. Muti, you know the closest exit to the second floor?”

“Yes.”

She offered no further comment though her golden brows remained furrowed in frustration as she took the pommel of her messer sword and smashed it into the jaws of the monsters. Bone crunched while she repeated the attack again in the hope of quickly extracting the fangs. Astrid did much the same, her dagger’s hilt smashing through bone and fang. Skandr cut ears and fangs as quickly as he could manage, but with his mana exhausted, he was nearly insensate, even with the help of the draught he’d already taken.

One minute later, they turned to leave, but still, the howling of gnolls sounded behind them. Escape would be even more difficult now, and maybe they would pay the price for their greed. Astrid urged her party to move faster and again, she began praying. Maybe this time it would work.