"Well done on answering your phone this time."
Warren swerved around a slow-moving pickup, the Jeep's engine rattling and top-heavy body feeling precarious. He missed his old BMW. "Did you call just to give me a hard time? I'm driving here."
"The situation has evolved."
Warren's stomach clenched. Those four words couldn’t mean anything good. "Did you hear from the team? Are they okay? Did they rescue—?"
"What? No!" Delta's exasperation crackled through the earbud. "If you would cease your yammering for but a moment, I can simply tell you."
Warren bit back his retort and forced himself to stay quiet, though his knuckles went white on the steering wheel.
"The good news," Delta continued in a tone that suggested the good news wasn't all that good, "is that I have successfully located the two Raptor-Hounds that escaped from the raiding party that Paladins Pablo and Sasha confronted. And they don't appear to be a current threat to the human population of Napa."
"I'm assuming you have bad news as well."
"Yes, well, that idiom does appear to be a constant in the universe." Delta paused, and Warren could almost picture the ancient AI rolling his holographic eyes. "I hacked into the security cameras of the clinic, and several of the neighbors, and the Raptor-Hounds are acting in an unanticipated manner. Instead of returning through the portal to their dungeon, they've taken up concealed ambush positions around the Earth side of the portal."
Shit. Warren's mind immediately went to worst-case scenarios. "I'm still about twenty minutes out. That shouldn't be much of a problem for me to handle if I know where they're hiding. Good looking out, Dee-Vee."
"Again, you didn't let me finish," Delta said with clear annoyance. "Their journey from downtown to the clinic did not go unnoticed. The local Napa constabulary is searching the area based on several panicked 911 calls from residents about monsters. I estimate that one of their patrols will be checking the clinic parking lot in the next fourteen to twenty-three minutes."
"They'd be slaughtered." The words came out flat, certain. Warren hadn’t fought one of these things yet, but he had an appreciation for how Nexus registered individuals measured up against unregistered people. Unprepared police officers, armed with standard-issue, mundane sidearms? It would be a massacre. "We need to avoid that."
Warren pressed the gas pedal to the floorboard, urging the aging Jeep to a speed that even he had to admit was reckless. The speedometer climbed past eighty, past eighty-five. The whole vehicle groaned and shuddered with the effort. Warren prayed against an ill-timed stiff crossbreeze.
"Well, you're still too far away, and my capabilities remain irritatingly limited. Thanks for reminding me."
"Can't you hack in and get them to go somewhere else?"
"They're civil servants, Warren. They don't have self-driving vehicles. This backwater world is absurdly analog."
"That's not what I meant." Warren switched lanes again, earning an angry honk from a sedan he cut off. "Could you use the dispatch system to reroute them? Generate a fake emergency or something."
Silence on the line.
“Delta?”
“Blasted Abyss!” Delta seethed. “Damn it. Why hadn't I considered that?"
Warren felt a small surge of satisfaction despite the circumstances. "Can you do it?"
"Of course I can do it!" Delta snapped. "I'm already in the process of accessing their systems." Then the ancient AI made a sound that could only be described as a mischievous giggle. "I'll generate a call about a terrorist attack at the Denny's restaurant across town. I’m just taking a moment to jazz up the recording with some special effects. A little more blaster fire…dance my meat puppets. Dance!"
"Blaster fire? No!" Warren shouted, nearly swerving into the next lane. "Fuckin hell, Dee-Vee. That's too extreme! It'll trigger a massive investigation afterward. Just make it an automatic alarm on an unoccupied office building or something."
"Ugh. Fine. You primitive hatchlings never let me have any fun." Delta's sulk was entirely audible. A pause, then: "Done. I triggered the intruder alarm at a bank across town and sent dispatch instructions for all units to respond."
"Well done. I appreciate your restraint," Warren forced himself to say, knowing Delta responded better to positive reinforcement. "I'm going as fast as I can. Keep an eye on them and keep me posted."
"Naturally." The call disconnected with a soft click.
Warren's hands were slick with sweat on the steering wheel. The Jeep's engine whined as he pushed it harder, the whole vehicle rattling like it might shake apart at any moment.
She cannae go any faster, Cap’n! She’ll fly apart at the seams! Mark's face flashed through his mind along with his horrible impression—his friend grinning behind the wheel of this same Jeep, windows down, music blasting, alive and whole and happy. They’d been cutting class to go play laser tag at the time.
Fly her apart then, Warren thought in echo of the memory, as the highway signs zipped by. Hold on, guys. I'm coming.
***
It took a beat for Pablo's Inspect ability to deliver any information about the monstrosity forming before them. The HUD flickered, processing, as if the details were still being resolved as flesh continued to fuse together in defiance of nature. Then the information appeared:
Chimeric Menagerie, Bestial Monstrosity, Dungeon Elite
Health: 100%
The creature that stabilized before them was a nightmare made flesh. Built like a twisted centaur, it had the powerful rear legs of a goat and the forward legs and taloned feet of a Raptor-Hound. Rising from that hybrid base was the burly, fur-covered torso of a Boar-Man, massive and muscled. Its hands ended in wicked claws that gleamed in the alien sunlight. The head was that of a Goat-Shaman, those horizontal-pupiled now glowing with power. All told, it stood nine feet tall, and even as Pablo watched, its flesh continued to ripple beneath the fur like something was moving under the skin.
This is going to be bad.
With an effort, Pablo tore his gaze away from the Chimeric Menagerie just in time to see the air around The Vivisectionist ripple and distort. Like the alien in Predator, the dungeon boss vanished—whether invisible or teleported away, Pablo couldn't tell. Still, he'd gotten a read with Inspect when the grey-skinned creature had first appeared:
The Vivisectionist, Gray, Dungeon Boss
Health: ???
The question marks weren't encouraging. There hadn’t even been a color code to denote the threat level. Pablo hoped it meant his Inspect power was under-ranked, and not that the dungeon’s boss was that far beyond their combat capabilities. Then, with the blessed detachment granted by his Iron Mind and his own inclinations, Pablo began to assemble a tactical plan for the changed circumstances.
"Rowan! Sam! Stay back and protect the civilians and loot what you can from the remaining monsters!" Pablo shouted.
Only Eden still had her armor active, the blue and purple plates gleaming. That wouldn't last long—she'd been the last to summon her armor, but had been burning through energy during that last push. He wasn’t sure what else they should have done differently. They would have been swamped by the back-to-back waves if they hadn’t gone all out. It just would have been helpful if they’d gotten a little reprieve before the boss battles.
Taking advantage of the slowed time perception that came when examining his Status Screen, Pablo jumped in to check his armor's charge status between steps. In this aetheric-rich environment, the armor was recharging considerably faster than it did back on Earth. By his quick calculation, he might have a full charge in under an hour, and could safely assume about the same for everyone else.
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That just doesn’t help us right now.
"Alright, team. Here's the play." Pablo's voice was steady. "Sasha, you're still our tank. Use Aetheric Challenge on it, and Root to hold it in place or at least slow it down. Ablative Rock Armor to keep yourself alive. Eden, hang back and focus on healing Sasha—she's going to take a beating. Zoe, make harassing fly-by attacks and watch our backs for reinforcements or tricks from The Vivisectionist."
"And you?" Sasha asked, though Pablo could hear she was already moving into position.
"I’ll work its flanks. Bleeding Cut will stack DOT effects on it." This was the sort of fight Pablo had been building toward—a sustained engagement where his new damage-over-time, DOT, effect from Bleeding Cut, as well as Analyze Style’s buff, could synergize and really shine. Aetheric Smite he'd keep in reserve. If The Vivisectionist showed himself, Pablo wanted that trump card ready.
Reaching the relatively level ground of the ruined monster encampment, the Paladins fanned out. They held their weapons at the ready, but the three of them in their street clothes hardly looked ready to go toe-to-toe in deadly combat with the twisted abomination before them. Yet, that was exactly what they’d spent the last several months preparing for. There were a dozen or more helpless essentially people, including Sam and Rowan, behind them. Countless unprepared civilians back in Napa if they failed to close this dungeon. This was what Paladins of Power did.
Swallowing down his lingering doubts, Pablo tightened his grip on Razor and settled his stance. All around him, the others had activated their various preparatory powers. Stillness settled over the scene as the Menagerie studied them with its malevolently intelligent gaze.
“Let’s do this,” Pablo said.
"Come on, you ugly bastard," Sasha growled, planting her feet. "I’m right here!"
Bedrock raised high, Sasha activated Aetheric Challenge, and white radiance exploded outward from her in a pulse. Pablo saw the Chimeric Menagerie's head snap toward her with predatory focus. The compulsion took hold—the creature had to engage her now, or suffer for ignoring the challenge.
The Menagerie charged with a bellow that mixed goat bleat, boar squeal, and raptor shriek into one horrifying sound. Sasha met the charge head-on, Bedrock swinging up to catch the creature's clawed strike. The impact sent shockwaves through the ground, but Sasha held her position.
Pablo circled right, Analyze Style feeding him information. Rear legs are vulnerable to low strikes. Favors downward attacks with the claws. Activating Bleeding Cut, he darted in. Razor carved a precise line across the creature's flank. Nearly black blood—darker and thicker than any natural creature's—welled from the wound. The beast's health bar ticked down two percent, and a small icon appeared next to its Health bar indicating the bleed effect was active.
One stack. Let's add more.
Zoe swept in from above, wind shrieking as Gale flashed toward the creature's eyes. The Menagerie reared back, one massive hand swiping at her. She banked hard, the claws passing inches from her leather jacket, and got off a wind blast that staggered the creature. Sasha’s Aetheric Challenge zapped the mini-boss with a jolt of white lightning to punish the creature for attacking someone other than her.
"Solid hit, Zoh!" Pablo called out, already moving for his next strike. “Keep it up.”
Unfortunately, the Menagerie was still evolving. As Pablo came in for his second attack, he saw the creature's flesh ripple and change. From the small of its back, a segmented tail erupted—thick as Pablo's leg, covered in chitinous plates, ending in a curved stinger that dripped viscous green fluid. The tail lashed out with blinding speed, forcing Pablo to abort his attack and roll aside. The stinger struck the ground where he'd been standing, punching through packed earth like it was paper.
"Adaptations!" Pablo shouted over the comm. "It's growing new parts."
"Fantastic," Sasha muttered as she fended off the Menagerie’s swiping claws with Bedrock.
Pablo tried to dance in close several more times, only landing a single additional cut and accompanying bleed stack. Unfortunately, by then his first one had already healed over. He tried cutting the tail itself, but its chitinous plates were too thick. He needed a new approach. The tail just had too much reach and was guarding the creature's flanks effectively. Without his armor, he couldn't get close enough to land his slashing attacks without serious risk.
The kernel of an idea that had been forming at the back of his mind popped into existence. It had started with him finally reading Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. He’d put off the weighty tomes for so long, it had just felt like nerd homework, but Sasha was a fan and had badgered him to take the plunge. He’d been bingeing on the books over the last several months. Razor wasn’t exactly a shard blade, but…
Keeping a wary eye on the Menagerie, Pablo reached out with his Shape Metal power, pressing against Razor's aetheric steel. At first, the blade’s presence resisted—it wanted to be what it was, a longsword. Pablo pushed harder, showing the sword his intention. Not to unmake it, but to transform it. To become a different weapon, to keep them in the fight.
Please work. Please work.
Razor's resistance relented. The blade understood. It wanted to help him fight. The longsword in Pablo's hands rippled like liquid mercury. The blade extended, narrowed, and the crossguard shrank back. In seconds, he held a spear—six feet of chrome-bright metal with a leaf-shaped blade at the tip.
"Fraking hell," Pablo breathed. It worked.
The scorpion tail lashed again. This time, Pablo was ready. With the spear's extended reach, he could stay at the periphery of the tail's range while still attacking. He thrust forward, the spearhead punching through the creature's hide at the junction of the goat leg and the Boar-Man's torso.
Bleeding Cut continued to work. This time, before the most recent stack had expired. That made two.
The Chimeric Menagerie roared and spun toward him, but Sasha's Aetheric Challenge zapped it and dragged the monster’s attention back. The beast turned on her with renewed fury, its claws raking across her Ablative Rock Armor. Chunks of stone exploded away from the impacts.
"Eden!" Sasha called out.
"On it!" Eden's hands glowed with golden light as she channeled Lay on Hands and darted in to touch Sasha’s back before rolling back out of melee range.
Razor still in spear form, Pablo circled, looking for openings. Analyze Style was showing him more and more about the creature's patterns. It telegraphed its big attacks with a slight tensing of its shoulder muscles. The scorpion tail struck in a rhythm—slash left, slash right, overhead thrust. He could work with that.
He darted in again, spear flashing. Another bleeding wound. The creature's Health bar now showed a steady drain, with three stack icons pulsing next to it. Each stack meant more damage per second, and the creature slowly bled out.
This is what I’ve been tailoring my build for, Pablo thought with grim satisfaction. Sustained combat. Wearing them down.
The Chimeric Menagerie let out a bleating shriek that left Pablo’s ears ringing. It tried to turn to attack Pablo again, but Sasha was there to punish it for the impulse. Jolts of aetheric lightning zapped out of her even as Sasha charged in, swinging Bedrock at the creature to land a solid blow. As it turned back toward Sasha, Zoe and Pablo were diving back into the fray.
They managed to keep the monstrosity on the ropes like that for several exchanges, whittling away at its Health bar until it was half gone. The creature let out another twisted scream. Pain and fury twisted together in the sound like the features of its body as its flesh began to ripple. The Menagerie reared up on its hind goat-legs, forelimbs, arms, and tail flailing wildly to keep the attacking Paladins at bay.
“I think it’s mutating again!” Pablo called as he used Razor to fend off the creature’s tail.
From the creature's broad back, between its shoulder blades, flesh split open with a wet, tearing sound. Bone erupted outward, membrane stretching between struts. In seconds, massive bat-like wings unfurled—each wing easily fifteen feet across, covered in the same dark fur as the Boar-Man torso. The creature flapped once, experimentally. Dust and debris blasted outward. Then it leaped into the air.
"It's flying!" Zoe shouted. Pablo could hear the strain in her voice. She was hurt and running low on energy. Fighting a flying opponent was the last thing she needed.
“We can all see that!” Sasha snapped.
The Chimeric Menagerie circled overhead, those goat eyes gleaming with malevolent intelligence. Then it folded its wings and dove at Sasha like a bird of prey.
"Sasha, brace!" Pablo shouted.
Sasha planted her feet and raised Bedrock, but the impact when the creature hit was devastating. The hybrid monster slammed down from thirty feet up. Sasha went to one knee, her Ablative Rock Armor cracking and falling away in chunks. Blood arced away from the Menagerie’s rending claws.
"Sasha's armor is critical!" Eden called out, already rushing forward to heal, but the creature was winding up for another attack.
Pablo surged forward, spear-formed Razor extended. He had to draw its attention, had to—
The scorpion tail whipped around and caught him in the chest. The impact launched Pablo backward ten feet. He hit the ground hard, tucked into a roll, and came up gasping. Green frothed blood gushed from the wound in his chest, but Pablo only distantly sensed the injury through the influence of Iron Mind. Still, his own Health was at 62% and dropping as the stinger’s poison sank into his flesh.
“Back off!” Sasha landed a solid hit on the Menagerie with her hammer and triggered her Knockback power.
Against a human-sized opponent, the blow would have sent the target flying a dozen or more feet through the air. The Menagerie dug in its Raptor-like foreclaws and only skidded back about a yard. Still, Sasha had bought herself some breathing room and cleared his line of fire.
With a thought, Pablo began pulling bits of scrap metal from his Inventory. He’s already used Shape Metal on them to turn them into small barbed darts, and with pulses of power from Razor he began firing them with Kinetic Bullet one by one. From that range and against that target, he barely needed to aim.
The Menagerie howled in pain and whirled toward him as the barbed metal darts dug into its flesh. It lunged for him, and Sasha’s Aetheric Challenge zapped it in punishment as Pablo hurled himself into a shoulder roll away. By the time he’d regained his feet, the monster had spun around to launch itself at Sasha again. Pablo began peppering it with more darts. The Menagerie’s Health bar was down to 33%; they just had to keep hammering it.
“We’ve got this!” Pablo shouted then hurled Razor in its spear-shape at the Menagerie.
The spearhead tore through a fur-covered wing even as Razor’s absence from his grip allowed the pain of his injuries to stagger him. The Menagerie bleat-howled-hissed in pain, the attack shredding one wing just as it had been preparing to take back to the sky.
Before Razor could pass all the way through the wing, Pablo reached out with his Metal Control and pulled the weapon back to him. As if on an invisible rubber band, Razor snapped back into his hand. Razor’s pulsing return to his hand banished the tidal wave of pain that had crashed over him.
“Keep at ‘em, Paladins!” Pablo roared as Sasha struck another Knockback blow with Bedrock.