Vivid Stars Online

The combat report listed the Beasts as Level 4 Dire Wolverines, a fact my scanner could back up once I had time to use it. Their level explained how dangerous they’d been; they were the highest-level Beast we had ever fought. Even the Lake Beast had been dangerous inherently rather than due to its level.

However, our strategy had worked well, and I had been the only one injured. By this point I was almost used to it, I healed fast with the medicine we had available and could continue going despite the pain.

We had several more fights today, all around the same level of difficulty. Two of them were against more Dire Wolverines, while the other two were against solitary Mountain Tigers.

This pattern matched up with the information I had; while there were fewer Beasts up here, they were individually more dangerous. This led to fewer fights in a day, with each being more difficult.

That evening, we had to spend an hour gathering enough wood to keep a fire burning all night. The trees were growing thinner the higher we went, and I was growing increasingly worried about what we would do once we lost access to them.

Still, we were fine that night, and we woke bright and early the next morning to continue our trip. The second day continued much like the first; we had a half dozen fights, each draining a little of our resources but causing no significant damage.

The trees were growing so rare now that we were stopping to gather armfuls of wood as we moved, slowing us down considerably. That allowed us to have one last night in safety, however, as we used all we had collected to keep the fire burning.

Before sleeping that night, we discussed what to do tomorrow night when we would almost certainly have to go without a fire. Eventually, we decided that the only choice was to push on, trying to reach the facility before we ran out of time.

We hoped that would allow us to locate a secure room, allowing us to just leave one person on watch in shifts. The issue was making it there before I automatically passed out after hitting my maximum time in the game for that day.

Leaving Linnea and Elana in the middle of nowhere with my unconscious body was unlikely to end well, so we were focused on trying to avoid that at all costs. That led to us being riskier in fights that day, all of us receiving light injuries as we pushed ourselves to finish them as quickly as possible.

It was growing dark when Linnea pointed out that the mountain split ahead of us, forming a pass that lead forward into a valley.

I sighed with relief at the sight. This was the valley where our target was located and my information predicted it was only a four-hour journey from there. We would cut it close, however, we should be able to make it before I was out of time.

We moved forward eagerly, though I kept an eye on my scanner readout. I’d learned my lesson that first day when I’d let the Dire Wolverines get so close to us without detection.

While the maximum range had lessened somewhat as we made our way up the mountain for reasons I didn’t understand, I was still able to call out a warning two hundred feet away from the past.

“Four contacts ahead,“ I spoke, keeping my voice below the threshold that we’d noticed caused echoes. “Up near the pass somewhere, Linnea, can you get a visual?”

Linnea pulled her Long Rifle, extending it out into sniper mode with a familiar clanking sound. “Nothing that I can see,“ she replied. “Could be hiding in the snow or something.”

I bit my lip in thought, that was potentially possible. The snow on the ground had been growing thicker for the last day and was now deep enough in places that a small Beast might be able to hide itself. I didn’t even consider that she might miss them in the dark, her scope was more than capable of ignoring the current conditions.

“We’ll just have to risk it,“ I said eventually, sighing in annoyance. We couldn’t afford to wait around forever, we would just have to stay on guard and advance.

I drew my pistol as I moved while Linnea shifted her gun into rifle mode and Elana sent her drone to hover around us. We were as ready for combat as we could be and began moving forward, ready for anything.

Foot by foot we grew closer to the entrance of the pass where my scanner reported the enemies as being. Yet even as we reached less than fifty feet away, then twenty, then ten, there was still no sign of them.

“Maybe it’s malfunctioning or something?” I said as I turned toward Linnea.

She turned to face me and opened her mouth to reply before pausing. She cocked her head to the side as if listening to something, before opening her mouth to speak a second time.

Whatever she was going to say was lost as a rock the size of my head hit her left shoulder with a sickening crack. The impact sent her tumbling backward with a scream of agony as she crumpled to the ground.

“Linnea!” Elana cried, rushing over to her sister.

I was no less worried, however, I instead turned toward the side of the mountain, looking for the source of the projectile. We were still ten feet from the edge, I couldn’t see how a rock could have naturally fallen all the way out here.

Then I saw it, a massive hairy shape high on the side of the mountain. It stood tall on two legs and was lifting another stone in one huge hand.

“Get out of the way,“ I screamed, rushing over to where the two women sat in the snow. Linnea had moved up to a sitting position with Elana’s help, however, she looked to be in no condition to run anywhere.

Ignoring their questions, for now, I scooped Linnea up into a princess carry, trying to jostle her shoulder as little as possible. “Grab her gun and run,“ I shouted at Elana before I took my own advice.

I grunted at the weight as I took off in a jog back the way we came. While Linnea was a thin woman, she was tall and well-muscled. I wouldn’t be able to carry her far without exhausting myself.

Elana ran after me, shouting questions, Linnea’s gun cradled in her arms.

“We're under attack,“ I shouted back. “Something up on the side of the mountain. A huge ape, maybe a yeti? It threw that rock at Linnea and was about to follow up with another.”

Sure enough, I heard a whistling sound behind us before a rock pelted into the snow just to our left. It seemed we’d thrown the Beast’s aim off my moving further away, something I was extremely thankful for.

We continued on for another hundred feet until I was sure we were too far for a thrown projectile to reach. Gasping for breath, I sat a white-faced Linnea down on a nearby rock.

“You OK?” I asked, already rifling through my back for some painkillers.

“I’ll live,“ she gasped in response. “Might even be able to shoot if I use this rock for support.”

Elana arrived a moment later and started fussing over her sister. She took over the wound treatment, and I turned back toward the pass. I didn’t know if the Beast would follow us or stick to its current location. However, I wasn’t about to leave our safety to chance.

Seconds passed in silence, then several minutes. Just as I was about to relax, deep growling sounds echoed toward us. I turned to the right, seeing a hulking figure striding forward, surrounded by three Dire Wolverines.

“Fuck," I spat as I turned to the two sisters. “Better get as ready as you can ladies, we’ve got company. The yeti thing and three wolverines. It looks like it’s got control of them somehow.”

“Can you distract the big guy? “I continued as I looked at Elana.

She nodded, looking subdued as her drone shot off toward the approaching figures. As always, it impressed me how she piloted it without even watching or pausing in her treatment of Linnea. I’d have to ask how she did that at some point.

This is going to suck, I thought as I moved to place myself between them and the enemy. Unless Linnea got back into fighting shape in the next minute, that left three wolverines for me to fight on my own.

In front of me, the huge ape let out a bellow as the drone peppered it with plasma fire. It broke off to the left, trudging through the snow at speed as it chased the drone. The three wolverines paused, before following along after it, to my surprise.

It really does have them under control somehow, I realized with a sigh of relief. While it wasn’t a long-term solution to the problem, it might give us enough time to get Linnea on her feet.

I turned to look back, seeing Elana wrapping Linnea’s arm in a shirt to form a makeshift sling. From the color returning to Linnea’s face, I suspected the painkillers were doing their work. hopefully, it was enough for her to function.

Moments later, she was kneeling by the rock, propping her gun on top of it and pulling it back into her shoulder. She shifted it awkwardly left and right before turning to face me.

“I can shoot like this,“ she said, looking relieved. “Can’t change my point of fire easily, however. If you can keep them in front of me, that would be best.”

I nodded in response. That wouldn’t be easy, however, I’d take it over fighting them all on my own. Turning to Elana I said," bring them back here if you can and draw them past Linnea’s line of fire. Hopefully, she can get the attention of one wolverine at a time.”

She nodded, focusing off into the distance as if seeing something I couldn’t. For all I knew, that was how her drone piloting actually worked.

I pulled up my scanner to track the enemies as she did so, waiting until they re-entered my reduced range. A minute later, they tracked across in front of us two hundred yards away. I took a brief moment to pull up the larger Beast’s information, confirming that it was indeed listed as a Great Yeti.

A crack broke the silence, sending echoes bouncing between the peaks as plasma fire shot past me.

“Missed," Linnea grunted as she adjusted her gun against the rock. She fired twice more before I spotted one of the red dots breaking off from the others and charging toward us.

I grinned at seeing the plan work, my grin only widening as I looked up to see the wolverine falling to the ground twenty feet in front of us. It had taken more than a dozen shots, however, she’d been able to take it down before it reached us.

Elana helped her to reload the rifle with a fresh ammo pack, then brought the enemy group back around for another pass.

“The big one’s starting throwing rocks again,“ she said, worry clear in her tone. “I’m not sure how long we have before it hits the drone.”

I shrugged resignedly. “Just do the best you can. Ideally, we’d take out all of its minions before dealing with the boss, however, even just one more should be enough to make the fight manageable.”

We repeated the maneuver as they went past, Linnea drawing off a second wolverine and taking it down before it could reach us. Then Elana grunted in pain behind me.

“Drones hit,“ she got out through clenched teeth. “Only a glancing blow, but I can still barely keep it in the air. I have to bring it back.”

I nodded in response before turning to Linnea. “Try to take out the last wolverine rather than shooting the big guy. I’m sure that the yeti thing will take a lot to put down and I’d rather reduce the number of variables.”

She nodded in response, turning her gun to face the direction I pointed to. I could just see the two remaining enemies on the edge of my shortened range. They were coming straight toward us at a steady speed.

Before long they came into view, the Yeti and its one remaining minion trailing a heavily smoking drone. It was wobbling in the air, dipping back and forth, slowing visibly even as it came.

Linnea opened fire on the last wolverine, taking it in the shoulder and causing it to break off from its master. I doubted it would ever reach us, however, its death would buy the Yeti time to approach.

Grimacing, I moved forward to meet its advance. It seemed it was time for some human vs yeti combat.