Curiously, even though he blocked the second strike, it still registered as a successful attack, and Dorbo's Recalcitrant Thorn triggered, reflecting a portion of the damage that would have been dealt back to the elite in the form of a slashing blow that cut into the brute's chest. There was no time to consider this fact as Pete was forced to turn from the larger enemy and parry a thrust from one of the smaller demons.
Gunfire cracked again and again as more of the imps emerged from inside the stronghold, but Craig took them out before they had a chance to attack. The sound of imps squawking and dying formed a strange backdrop as Pete kicked out at one of the smaller demons and then followed up with a devastating thrust through its chest.
The death strike was a smart move, but it left him vulnerable, and despite his enhanced reactions and defenses, the elite rebel still scored a swipe across his back. Pain ripped through his body as Pete spun around, ripping the blade from the chest of the smaller demon.
>> KILL BOUNTY: 100 Belch Bucks
Pete raised his blade, blocking a slash from one of the oversized swords before driving himself forward, inside the elite's attack radius. He struck out at the demon's torso with three rapid slashes of the combat knife, receiving healing each time his weapon bit into the flesh of the enemy. It wasn't enough to completely heal the wound on his back, but it sealed up the cut and dulled the pain sufficiently for Pete to continue at full strength.
He kept moving, passing right past the elite as it spun back and attempted to grab him with grasping hands that now jutted from the elite's waist. Pete avoided the hands and moved out of range of a downward swing from the demon's right sword. He shoulder-barged into the smaller demon directly ahead of him, driving the creature back a few steps before Pete drove his blade into the creature's chest.
The blow was partially deflected, however, sending the combat blade off to the left. The demon attempted to run its own blade into Pete's side, but he spun away, catching a glancing blow across one arm and twisting his knife before wrenching it out of the demon's chest. Blood gushed from the wound as the Blessed Thistle relic did its work, increasing bleed damage in addition to the cutting power of the blade itself.
Pete spun around the demon, cutting into the meat of its left leg as Pete moved behind it. Each cut restored his vitality, and the various defensive relics he possessed meant that the damage he took was minimal to begin with. He found that he was grinning as he ducked behind the demon.
A long black blade burst from the demon's back, just an inch from Pete's nose as he pulled himself to a halt. Blood gushed as the elite demon's blade ripped through the lesser demon's back, and the creature was tossed aside by the brute.
>> KILL BOUNTY: 100 Belch Bucks
The elite followed up with a deft strike that Pete barely managed to avoid, deflecting the strike with a two-handed defensive move as he tumbled backward.
The stumble was halted as Pete fell on top of one of the nearby imps. He felt fire burn into his back and shoulder as he made contact with the rebel creature and heard it yelp in pain as the deflected damage from his thorn relic struck.
Seeing that the elite demon had worked itself into a frenzy, Pete turned aside, not bothering to attack the imp and letting the elite demon's blades do the work for him. He twisted, ducked, and dodged out of the path of the scything blades as they cut the imp to pieces.
>> KILL BOUNTY: 50 Belch Bucks
Pete realized that he was now standing in the middle of half a dozen of the little fire hurlers, so he moved backward once more, moving deeper into the throng of cackling imps while the elite demon's lethal strike killed blow after killing blow. Pete elbowed, kicked, and shoved his way through the throng, scorched by fire and pricked by the sharp claws of the little demons, but avoiding significant injury as, one by one, the imps fell.
>> KILL BOUNTY: 50 Belch Bucks
>> KILL BOUNTY: 50 Belch Bucks
>> KILL BOUNTY: 50 Belch Bucks
>> KILL BOUNTY: 50 Belch Bucks
Pete backed onto clear ground but saw that he was backing against the fortress wall as the elite demon roared in anger, dark blades held out to the sides. A single gunshot cracked through the air, and the elite demon's head jerked forward. Eyes narrowing, the brute turned to face Craig, who was still kneeling thirty feet away where he'd first positioned himself.
Seizing the momentary distraction, Pete ran forward, jumping up and driving the point of his combat knife up into the underside of the elite demon's head. The blade pierced through thick flesh and sunk in deep as the demon's two smaller hands grabbed Pete by the waist, attempting to pull him free. He shoved with all his strength, driving the blade further up into the demon's brain, rewarded by the sudden impact of the blade tip hitting the inside of the brute's skull.
Pete held that position for several moments. Two gunshots cracked, and two more imps were sent to a fiery death. The elite demon stared straight ahead, confusion in its glossy black eyes as the creature disintegrated and Pete stood alone, the combat knife still thrust up in one hand.
>> ELITE KILL: 500 Belch Bucks
>> AVAILABLE RELICS:
+| Mintmaster's Lucky Stamp: +5% Gold Gain from all sources.
+| Desperate Turbo Convertor: temporarily convert all relics so that they produce +20% speed [10-second duration, 10-second cooldown].
+| Lady Lillian's Psychedelic Lollypop: enter a heightened psychedelic state and leave the reality of this harsh world behind [crafted by Lilian Lomach].
Pete looked around, finding no more enemies to fight. The archway leading inside the stronghold didn't appear to have a portcullis or other door, and there were no enemies that he could see standing on the other side.
"Guess that's our way in," Pete mused, returning to the choice of relic.
"Pick the Turbo Convertor," Craig urged. "With the number of relics you already have, it would give you a considerable boost to speed."
"Two hundred twenty percent my normal speed, with the eleven relics I've got at the moment," Pete agreed. "That will leave me defenseless for twenty seconds total, though, and that's a hell of a long time in the middle of a fight."
"Enough to sprint out of danger or get closer to our target and perhaps gain more vital information. There's no point in me having it, anyway. I'll aim to avoid moving as much as possible so I can maintain my aim."
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"Yeah, but I'm hogging all the relics here."
The little goblin grinned up at him. "Then you must simply assume a greater part of the responsibility for victory."
Pete returned his smile, nodding. "Alright then. Or I could pick up that psychedelic lollipop and just forget the whole thing?"
He selected the turbo relic, noting that, unlike the others, this had a trigger button hovering just below the icon. It also wasn't lost on Pete that he'd been offered a speed relic immediately following his internal reflection that it was something he was sorely lacking.
That confirmed that, however removed this mini-game was from the larger contest, the Mammon System was clearly still intimately involved. More than this, though, Pete got the clear feeling that, in contrast to his precarious position within the Dominion Ultrimax Contest, the System actively wanted him to win this game. The way that Moneybags appeared right at the moment when they needed to get hold of a bunch more relics, the fact that grenades appeared immediately prior to Pete devising his distraction plan. Even the side entrance to the stronghold seemed convenient and not necessary to the game in any real way.
The System wanted him and Craig to succeed, and perhaps that was the idea with this particular mini-game. It was a propaganda piece, a retelling of history in a way that was perhaps intended to taunt him or teach some lesson to those watching from the Dominion feeds.
"Come on," Pete said, heading toward the archway, "we need to get inside and reach the harpy. It looks like one of my squads is under fire."
He watched several of the green lights turn red on his mini-map as the distant sound of explosions and gunfire echoed through the area. The squads had done their job, allowing him and Craig to get into the stronghold, but the true test was how close they could get to Morrikal the Shrieking Maw.
The archway led through a few feet of stone wall and out into a large courtyard with various tents and buildings positioned here and there. They all had a strong medieval vibe, but Pete immediately noticed something odd about the structures as they followed the edge of the inner wall and headed toward a large circular tent off to the side.
[Pete] You see that?
[Craig] Yes. It appears as though this part of the game has only been partly built.
Pete watched as plain, non-textured details began to populate with color and substance. Canvas tents that were covered in a plain, off-white fabric suddenly bloomed with vibrant reds and blues, images of demonic heads appearing here and there within the fabric pattern. Metal braziers appeared throughout the courtyard with fire flaring to life, and the exterior of several buildings was clothed with wood and stone.
[Pete] Looks like it's all procedurally generated, and it's struggling to keep up with us.
Craig gave him a quizzical expression.
[Pete] Let's just keep going. Maybe, if we can stay ahead of it, we'll be able to reach the boss before more enemies spawn.
It was clear that Craig didn't understand the logic of what Pete was saying, but he ran alongside nonetheless as the pair headed directly toward the towering figure of the harpy that was still hovering above the ground, looming above. As Pete hoped, enemies were the last features of the environment to spawn, a range of different demons popping into existence as though they'd always been there.
Sprinting as fast as possible, they managed to stay ahead of the generation process, moving through the interior of the courtyard and out into a second walled section in which the harpy was situated. Buildings on either side and even certain sections of the surrounding walls were represented by means of gray vectors and unrefined shapes. The grass below was a flat expanse of plain green with no texture at all, and the harpy above grew less and less clear the closer they ran.
The individual pixels that made up the overall image of Morrikal the Shrieking Maw didn't appear to get any smaller as they approached. Instead, the harpy became less and less distinct as individual pixels grew to the size of a house, giving the impression of a giant sculpture made from Lego that looked fantastic from a distance but terrible up close.
As buildings and individual enemies began to materialize behind them, Pete and Craig continued to run, sprinting to reach the vast boss before the process of generation caught up with them. While they ran, a figure materialized in front of them, glitching in and out of focus for a moment before standing directly in Pete's path.
He slowed his pace as he recognized the NPC goblin soldier that had spoken to him on the other side of the river. The goblin stood with a hand up, attempting to stop the pair as they approached.
"Captain Vault Breaker! Morrikal the Shrieking Maw lies directly up ahead," the goblin said urgently, its voice glitching as its body flickered in and out of focus. "You will need all your strength and cunning, as well as every last relic you can find in order to defeat the enemy! You should—"
Pete broke into a full sprint once more, skirting around the soldier and triggering his newly acquired Turbo Convertor trinket. All of the other trinkets shifted to a dull gray color as his speed increased to more than twice what he was normally capable of.
[Craig] What are you doing?
[Pete] Trying to get ahead of whatever is controlling this. I think the System wants me to do this. That's why it dropped the speed relic. It's been pushing us to this point for some reason, trying to get us through this game much quicker than we're supposed to move.
[Craig] But for what purpose?
[Pete] Maybe it wants us to get back to the main competition? Maybe this whole mini-game wasn't the System's idea, and it wants to get us out?
Pete continued to run, his legs pumping, the surrounding environment struggling to keep up with him as he drew closer to the now ill-defined base of the harpy.
[Craig] You could be right. This entire obstacle was likely inserted into the contest by the Propaganda and Merchandising Division. From what little I understand, individual divisions of the Tongsly Belch Company are encouraged to compete with one another.
[Pete] And let me guess. There's a game division that specifically works with the Dominion Ultrimax Competition.
[Craig] I believe so, yes.
[Pete] Then we're caught in the middle of a little professional rivalry.
[Craig] A situation that will hopefully be to our advantage. It has been thus far, it seems.
As Pete approached the solid edge of the harpy, its form began to shrink, the individual pixels, now huge cubes, flickered and broke into many thousands of smaller pieces that folded into themselves as the huge creature was rebuilt. Something was wrong here. Very wrong.
>> BOSS ENCOUNTER
>> NAME: Morrikal the Half-assed Monstrosity
>> TYPE: An ill-conceived, poorly constructed monster based on one of the artist Spanksie's least-loved artistic works.
>> DESCRIPTION
A half-assed rendering of the mythical monster Morrikal the Shrieking Maw, painted in simplistic colors and forms that look passable from afar but, on closer inspection, reveal the Propaganda and Merchandising Division's propensity toward shabby construction and ill-conceived ideas. The execution of this supposedly terrifying and majestic mythical creature has been thoroughly botched, as is to be expected from Prop and Merch. Its visage bears only a passing resemblance to ancient sketches and cave renderings, and its inner properties have yet to be fully formed.
Pete slows to a walk, chest heaving as he reads the boss description.
[Pete] Looks like you were right. This is the snarkiest System description I've ever seen.
[Craig] With luck, the harpy's abilities will be just as shabby.
>> ATTACK ABILITIES
+| Budget Shrieking Cry: While this was purported to be a world-rending sonic weapon capable of liquefying organs and toppling cities, the current ability is little more than a loud, reedy screech that causes mild disorientation and a ringing sensation which is, at most, annoying.
Deals minor Sonic Damage
Applies the Ringing Ears debuff (Accuracy is decreased by 1% for 2 mins)
+| Paltry Wing Buffet: Formerly recorded as hurricane-force winds scattering armies like loose pamphlets, the harpy's current buffet attack consists of strong gusts of wind that mess up hair and have a slim chance of causing knockback for particularly unsteady attackers.
Deals low Physical Damage
Small knockback chance (1% chance)
While the description continued, the shrinking pixels combined to form a coherent shape, which looked to be identical to the harpy but in miniature, now standing at only twice Pete's size. The harpy was also only partially formed, with certain details, such as the creature's face, still in the process of being generated.
+| Apathetic Claw Rend: What should have been wickedly sharp talons forged by eons of predation rending reality itself in twain is now a vapid strike that causes minor damage and inconvenient scratching to armor.
Moderate slashing damage
Armor penetration (2% stacking to 4%)
>> DEFENSE ABILITIES
+| Nothing. That's right, absolutely nothing, because those geniuses over at Prop and Merch didn't think you'd make it this far, so they neglected to design a complete boss encounter with an antagonist capable of defending itself from attack.
>> SUGGESTED STRATEGY
Attack and destroy this creature quickly, before the Propaganda and Merchandising Division gets its act together and actually gives this pitiful beast some teeth!
Pete didn't need to be told twice. While Craig was still sprinting a fair distance behind him, Pete charged at the half-formed harpy, enhanced combat knife glinting in bright sunlight.