Rune Seeker

Hiral shot the two closest Lizardmen in the ankles, dropping them to the ground, then ran straight for the Scholar at the end of the street. Nivian appeared beside him, shield-slamming aside a warrior materializing from the darkness out of one of the alleys, and just like that, they were thirty feet closer.

A quick look at the Scholar showed five fireballs already formed above its hand, and a vicious scowl on its inhuman face.

Fifteen seconds. We’ll never get all the way.

Left and right his head snapped, looking for an alley big enough to hold everyone and… There! He cut hard to the right, two more shots kneecapping a warrior barrelling down on them, then waved for the others to hurry over.

“Get in, as far back as you can,” Hiral said, noting the eight fireballs above the Scholar’s hand. “And watch out for lizards appearing in there!”

Nivian skidded to a stop beside Hiral while the party ran in, but the clang of metal on metal drew the tank inside right away.

That just left Hiral, who popped off a quick shot toward the Scholar only for it to get intercepted by a lunging warrior. The tenth fireball wound into place above the Scholar’s hand, and Hiral didn’t wait for what he knew was coming. He dashed into the alley behind the others.

Ahead of him, Yanily and Vix fought in close with a pair of warriors, the two Growers quickly gaining the advantage. Nivian charged in to completely turn the fight in their favor.

“Incoming!” Hiral said, a heartbeat before the barrage of fireballs smashed into the side of the building and ground where he’d just been standing.

The explosive force of the eruption lifted him off his feet and hurled him forward. The skin on his back singed, and then he hit the ground, rolling by reflex to absorb the impact. One, two, three times he rolled before hitting a wall and coming to a sudden stop.

Wule was already rushing over to him. “I’ve got you.” Warm energy pulsed off him to heal the burns on Hiral’s back, along with the small bruises, before the pain even really registered.

“Thanks,” Hiral said, pushing himself up. He looked at the shadows in the far end of the alley as a Lizardman emerged.

“It’s like they’re coming out of thin air,” Seena said, solar energy gathering. “Fall back!” she barked, and Nivian, Vix, and Yanily quickly hopped backwards a second before a barrage of Spearing Roots burst out between the shadows and the party. “That should buy us a minute or two. Hiral, you okay?”

“Wule fixed me up,” Hiral said. “We’ll wait a barrage or two, then head back out. Probably another alley.”

“Nivian, I want you going in first next time,” Seena instructed even as two more warriors formed out of the shadows, impaling themselves on the spikes before they even realized what they were doing.

“Ready when you are,” Nivian said to Hiral.

“Okay, it should be just about time to…” Hiral started, then cut off as most of the wall of the building they hid behind exploded in a shower of fire and debris. Hiral twisted and got his arms up in front of his head to block the worst of the rain of battering rocks, but circles of pain erupted all along this right leg and side.

There was a sound like a blade whistling through the air, and Hiral ducked low just in time to evade the spear aimed for his neck, while a Lizardman leg appeared in his field of vision. He fired his RHC at the foot, shattering the bones, then shoulder-checked forward while his enemy was off balance. Hitting the Lizardman felt a lot like hitting a brick wall, but the bad foot gave under the pressure, and the two fighters tumbled to the ground.

Strong hands grabbed at Hiral’s head and neck—the warrior had gotten much better positioning as they fell—so Hiral put the barrel of his RHC against a knee and pulled the trigger. The blast certainly wasn’t a fatal wound, but the sudden pain bought him the second he needed to roll out of the warrior’s grasp and off the Lizardman. Another roll, two more pulls of his triggers, and Hiral scrambled to his feet.

Three Lizardmen bodies sprawled across the alley, the blood on Yanily’s spear and Vix’s knuckles explaining the carnage. The two damage dealers hadn’t escaped unscathed, though. They were covered in dust from the explosion, and blood ran down the right side of Yanily’s face from a wound across his forehead.

“Can you all move? We can’t stay here,” Hiral said, just in time for another barrage of fireballs to tear apart more than half of the remaining wall. Another salvo like that would either kill them outright or completely expose them for the next. “We’re going!” he shouted.

Without waiting to see if they’d follow, Hiral dashed out into the road. He ran into a warrior almost immediately, just barely twisting to the side to avoid the swinging spear, then popped off a shot into the side of its knee as he ran by. Three more Lizardmen charged at him from ahead, while the fifth fireball formed over the Scholar’s hand, but Hiral didn’t slow.

His first shot took the Lizardman on the right straight on in the knee, bending its leg in the wrong direction, which sent it tumbling to the ground. The second blast hit the one on the left in the gut, slowing its run and knocking the wind out of it, but it wasn’t out of the fight. Worse, the one in the middle was almost on top of him, and thrust straight out with its spear.

With his weapons out of shots because he couldn’t access his solar energy, he swerved to the side—the spear blade tore a gash across his chest, just above his central Meridian Node—then activated Foundational Split. Right peeled off him and into the surprised Lizardmen, delivering a punch to its face. Hiral cut out wide, and Left followed straight in to drive his Dagger of Sath into the center of the warrior’s chest.

Leaving Right and Left to deal with the last warrior on the ground, Hiral recharged his RHCs and checked in on the Scholar. Eight fireballs! Just seconds until the next barrage, and the only option was a shallow alley immediately on his left.

“In here,” he shouted, pointing, before he dismissed Right and Left. He’d only given them each three percent solar energy, just enough to activate an ability or tattoo, so he didn’t lose much. Another look at the Scholar—the ninth ball had formed—and a smile split its face. “Seena, Spearing Roots, right here at the entrance,” he told her as she rushed by, solar energy already building, likely in anticipation of warriors inside the alley.

The woman nodded as she passed, and Hiral followed her in as the tenth ball took shape.

He sheathed his RHC and spun, thrusting out his right hand along with a wave of Rejection at the same time the balls of fire shook the building on their left and the roots burst out of the ground. On their own, none of the three things would’ve stood up to the onslaught, but somehow, together, they weathered the fiery storm.

“No time to rest,” Hiral said. He pointed at the burning roots, which Seena dismissed, then ran right back out into the street.

He dropped two lizards, then tossed two more shots in the direction of the surprised Scholar. Like before, the blasts didn’t reach it, but it did take a step back in reflex.

Now halfway to the end of the street, Hiral spotted the next alley that would be their refuge. Two more stops and they’d be at the Scholar—except a new notification sprang to life in front of Hiral’s eyes.

Dynamic Quest: Update

Class is now in session.

Sssurvive.

“What?” Hiral asked as he dismissed the notification and looked toward the Scholar.

The hanging line of fireballs stood paused at five flaming orbs, and the floating tome now hovered in front of the Lizardman, the pages once again flipping madly until they settled with a snap. Up went the Scholar’s right hand, and then down to smack the open page. At the same time his hand connected with the book, two totems eerily similar to the one they’d found by the Kingand Queen of the Swamp rose out of the ground. Similar, but not the same.

Scorching red flames sat in the open jaws of these skulls, and embers flared to life in the eye sockets.

The Scholar’s right hand jerked out, his finger pointing at the party, and suddenly, the two totems began spitting dart-like bolts of fire out in rapid succession. So fast they were almost a constant stream, the first wave of bolts smacked into a Lizardman ahead of Hiral, shuddering its body with the rapid-fire impacts and pushing the corpse forward despite the light leaving the warrior’s eyes.

And that wasn’t all. The Scholar’s hand had returned to the hanging line of fireballs, the sixth one already forming while Hiral threw himself to the ground. Bolt after bolt after bolt seared through the air right above where Hiral slid along the ground, then backtracked toward the party, cutting a line of scorch marks along the buildings’ walls.

Nivian hefted his shield in front of him as the stream of bolts swept past, lines of smoke rising from the impact, but doing no lasting damage. Beside him, Yanily set his spear spinning, even managing to deflect several of the lightning-quick fiery darts, but one, then two got through. The spearman grunted in pain as his skin blackened and his spinning spear faltered.

But then Nivian was there again, planting his feet while the totems spat their nonstop stream of flaming darts against his shield.

“Go! Go,” Nivian shouted at the party, somehow knowing when to move to keep his shield directly in the line of fire.

“Ninth ball!” Hiral warned the others, back on his feet and waving madly at the closest alley with one hand while he fired off shots at the Lizardmen braving the crossfire.

Finally, as the tenth ball formed above the Scholar’s hand, Nivian was the last one out in the street, and Hiral ducked back into the alley at the same time he activated Foundational Split. Left and Right peeled off of him in a heartbeat to aid against the Lizardmen pouring out of the shadows at one end of the alley, while Hiral reached for Nivian.

With ten balls of fiery death already in the air, Hiral pulled with his Rune of Attraction while Nivian activated his movement ability. The combination yanked the tank forward to crash into Hiral, and then the ground.

Orange and red bloomed into the air, the buildings and ground shook, and a wave of heat washed over Hiral with the impact of the latest salvo.

“No time to be lying down,” Seena said to them, helping Nivian up despite burns on her arm and leg. “Wule, you’ve got thirty seconds to heal us, then we’re getting back out there.”

“I really need a buff that does something about fire damage,” Wule mumbled. “For now, I’m going to use my Terminal ability. It will add a heal-over-time effect. Lasts thirty seconds per spell.”

“Great,” Seena said. “Less talking. More doing.”

“Right. Sorry.” Wule activated an ability, quickly followed by the group heal.

You have been buffed by Terminal: Swarm Healing.

Minor healing over time for 30 seconds.

The same refreshing energy from Wule’s usual spells lingered on Hiral’s skin and flowed through his veins, continuing to patch up his wounds even after the initial spell’s effects ended.

“I’ll do it again right before we run,” Wule told them.

“We’re toughing out one more barrage, then going. Nivian, you did a great job blocking those totems. Can you do it again?” Seena asked, bringing up a wall of Spearing Roots to try and shield them from the next wave of fireballs.

“I’ll keep you all safe,” Nivian promised while, at the back of the alley, Left and Right dealt with the Lizardmen as they appeared.

“Left, Right, I’m going to leave you guys here, then cancel as we get close to the next alley. Stay near the back,” Hiral told the doubles, and they nodded their understanding. “Any second now…”

Wule refreshed his healing spell as the next barrage completely blew the roof off the building beside them, spinning it end over end to flip past the alley, and shook the walls. Flames leapt in the air on the other side of the thick wood Seena had summoned, but the party survived, and Seena dismissed her roots.

“Go!” Seena shouted.

Nivian dashed out with Hiral right beside him, and the others tightly packed behind.

Ember-glowing eyes in the totems zeroed in on Nivian, then the stream of fiery darts resumed.

“You’ve got this,” Hiral told the tank, touching the edge of his shield. He activated his Rune of Attraction while focusing his mind on the fiery darts.

Actually curving in the air, the darts poured into Nivian’s shield, one after another after another, flashing with each impact, but the group didn’t pause. Across the street they went—Hiral picked off two more Lizardmen with his RHC—and got to the alley, just a bare thirty feet from the Scholar now.

“In, in,” Nivian said, taking up position at the corner of the alley while the totems unloaded a seemingly endless stream of firebolts into his shield.

As soon as the last person passed them, Hiral canceled his Attraction, then slipped into the alley behind the tank, cancelling and reactivating Foundational Split in quick succession. Left and Right moved without being told, once again taking up the fight against warriors emerging from the shadows.

“We’re heading straight for that Scholar right after the next barrage,” Seena said.

“Stay as far back as you can,” Hiral instructed. “From this angle, he might even be able to get one of his fireballs in here.”

Not even a second later, the ten fireballs swept through the opening of the alley, crashing into the far wall and blowing through it. Waves of heat and stinging flames rolled over the party, stealing the breath from Hiral’s lungs and making his eyes water.

A surge of refreshing energy pushed through the pain as Wule reused his ability, and then the group rushed out of the alley.

It was time for the student to become the teacher.