His blade went in deep, causing the harpy to cry out and bat its wings. A strong breeze hit Pete, but it was more comforting than distressing, helping to cool him down after his sprint to reach Morrikal. He slashed once more, but this time the harpy pushed herself back a few paces, retreating from his knife as she opened her legendary maw and let out what was supposed to be a deafening shriek, but which ended up being a slightly annoying caw.
>> ACCURACY DEBUFF: -1%
Pete ignored the message, moving in close and changing tack as he aimed directly at one of the creature's talons in the hope of slowing the harpy down with a wound or two before Craig got into position and started firing. The harpy spotted his attack and pushed herself forward, lashing out with her left talon and raking through the air.
Not only was the strike comparatively weak, it was so slow that Pete was able to dodge out of the way of it entirely. He had sufficient time to move to the side and thrust the tip of his blade right through the meat at the top of the talon, drawing blood as he struck and then pulled out the blade.
The harpy shrieked once more, but this time it was clearly out of distress rather than rage. It rose in the air, moving backward with wings outstretched, midnight black eyes staring down at Pete with a look of what he interpreted to be confusion. Clearly, the creature thought it should be much stronger and capable of causing much more damage than it was. It seemed like the Propaganda and Merchandising Division had programmed an awareness of its abilities into the boss construct, but they hadn't bothered with the actual abilities themselves.
[Craig] Commencing fire!
The now-familiar crack of Craig's rifle echoed around the vast space as blood spurted from the harpy's body, dots of crimson appearing here and there. It wrapped its wings protectively around its torso, seemingly unable to rise any higher than just above Pete's head and moving back in an attempt to get out of range.
It was a pathetic sight to see, and Pete found himself feeling momentarily sorry for the creature as her too-human, feminine face shifted to a look of panic and fear.
Her face. Pete suddenly realized that he was now thinking of the creature in feminine terms, as a 'her', rather than an 'it'. He wondered whether this was a subtle form of defense, or if his natural human tendency toward compassion and empathy had just kicked in.
Craig continued to pepper the creature with gunshots, the bullets ripping their way through its wings, which appeared to offer no protection at all.
Blood ran down her body and dripped from its talons as she hung helplessly in the air. She dropped a little, the lower portion of its body almost in melee range as Pete prepared to finish the job.
Then, something shifted. The wings surrounding her body, offering no protection at all, changed structure and color, shifting from a pale white to a crimson and blue pattern that glinted like metal. The change started at the top and ran down to the lowest tip of her wings, each feather replaced with a razor-sharp metal shard.
The bullets that had been ripping through its wings and body like pins through a cushion now bounced harmlessly off, deflected by the interlocking metal feathers of wings that looked far more menacing than they had a moment ago.
>> WARNING: BOSS ALTERATIONS IN PROCESS
Contrary to Dominion Ultrimax statutes, Tongly Belch Betting Laws, and the rules of common decency, the Propaganda and Merchandising Division has decided to alter this boss in the middle of a fight.
"Shit!" Pete breathed as the rest of the harpy's body began to change.
Her frame broadened slightly, and her eyes grew more intense. The talons poking down from beneath her wing shield elongated and turned to onyx black, and each feature of her body became clearer, more vibrant with color and detail.
He prepared himself for an attack, crouching low.
[Craig] I can't get past those wings. We'll need to—
The harpy moved too fast to catch with the naked eye, spreading her wings out wide and sending a gust of wind outward that carried dozens of metal projectiles, as though she were throwing a number of her feathers like daggers or darts. Pete turned instinctively, showing his back to the harpy as her blades cut into his flesh.
Craig fired, taking the opportunity to pepper the harpy's torso before she wrapped her wings around her body once again. There was no time for Pete to consider his wounds, no time to think of defense or strategize. The longer they waited, the stronger the harpy would become and the greater their chance of defeat.
He pushed through the pain and ran, triggering the Turtle Tutelage Shield trinket and holding his left arm out front as the harpy drove toward him with one talon outstretched. The world around Pete blurred and shifted to a series of brightly colored, indistinct shapes, but the shape of the harpy was easy enough to see.
She struck his shield with a savage blow, and the sound of her midnight talon raking against the turtle shell screeched as he deflected the attack and continued forward. He thrust the blade upward, running and cutting at the form hovering above him. Blood poured down as the harpy cawed in anger, beating her wings and shifting position while Craig used the opportunity to lay on some damage with his rifle.
Pete spun around, tracking the harpy and shifting directions to follow her. For some reason, she couldn't or wouldn't rise up into the sky but only hovered a little more than six feet above the ground. If that changed, the fight would be over. Pete wouldn't be able to attack, and the harpy could swoop down and pick them off with ease.
Conscious that he needed to end the fight quickly, Pete dove into the air, stabbing the blade into the lower portion of the harpy's torso in the hope of climbing his way up to more vital organs. The blade bit in, and he felt himself wrenched to the side as the harpy moved. He grabbed at her feathered body with his spare hand, trying to hold on as she shifted left and right.
The razor wings raked down against his back, cutting a thick groove through flesh and bone, and sending cascading agony through his body as Pete cried out. He still held the blade in one hand, still survived because of the slight life regeneration his Vampiric Sigil was offering as long as he continued to do damage to the enemy.
Once more, a wing came down, its cutting edge slicing through his back and shoulders, some of the wicked blade even cutting into the harpy's own torso. This time, the pain and impact damage were too great. He felt his body slip and fall.
Still clutching the knife, Pete hit the ground hard, shards of metallic feathers driven further into his flesh and causing a fresh wave of agony that stole his breath. A series of rapid-fire gunshots was enough to distract the harpy for a few precious moments. Pete was dimly aware that there were more guns firing than just Craig's.
He rolled over, grimacing in pain and catching sight of blurry figures in the distance, lined up next to a green shape that Pete assumed was Craig.
"Pete, several of your squad members have survived!” Craig called out. “They have somehow made their way here to assist us."
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As the meager regeneration ability of his Gilded Script Shard relic did its work, Pete felt the severity of his injuries lessen slightly. He was still gripping his combat knife, despite the blood running down his arm and now soaking into his torn shirt.
The harpy once more wrapped her wings around her in a protective embrace, deflecting the bullets as Craig and the surviving members of Pete's crew held fire.
Pete reasoned that perhaps the Propaganda and Merchandising Division had a limited amount of resources to expend on this little side game, so they must have withdrawn those resources from the front lines and prioritized maxing out the harpy boss. Perhaps that was how several members of Alpha or Beta Squad had survived and found their way to their captain.
While he was contemplating this possibility, the harpy once more spread its wings out in a brutal fan, shards of metal feathers flying toward the shooters and, judging by the sounds Pete heard, killing at least two of them. The harpy then shrieked, splitting the air with a devastating caw that shook Pete's bones and caused the pressure in his head to rise to bursting point.
He struggled to his knees, the murky world around him swimming as he got to his feet and held the turtle shell shield out with his left forearm. Everything felt so numb, so foggy. He could still make out the large form of the harpy directly ahead of him, could still sense Craig and at least one other survivor nearby. But it felt like he was wading through a river of oatmeal, and suddenly victory seemed a long way off.
>> NEW SUB ATTRIBUTE ACTIVATED: EVASION
>> LIQUIDITY [AGILITY] ATTRIBUTE UNLOCKED!
Note: Evasion is a passive attribute that is calculated in direct relation to your core Agility attribute. For every four points of Agility you possess, you will automatically gain one point in Evasion.
>> EVASION: Evasion increases the probability that hostile attacks will fail to connect entirely, converting what should have been severe bodily harm into a narrow miss. Evasion is significantly more cost-effective than armor because no repair costs are incurred after a fight. Evasion also functions regardless of whether a player is wearing armor or possesses a weapon. Evasion effectiveness diminishes against area-of-effect attacks or damage-over-time debuffs and statuses (such as poison or fire damage).
Pete felt a rush of clarity pass through his body at that moment, in spite of the fact that his vision was impaired due to the harpy's last attack. The pain filling his mind was potent, but he nevertheless felt more coherent, stronger, and more centered than he had a moment ago, in spite of his injuries.
As the harpy lunged with her talons once more, he dodged to the side and brought his blade up into the meat of the harpy's leg. The movement felt effortless. His cut was more confident and precise, and he could feel the full length of the blade as it cut through flesh; he could sense when to pull back to avoid the weapon getting stuck in bone or tough tendons.
Even his movements were more precise. As the harpy recoiled and lashed out with one of its wings, Pete deftly sidestepped the blow, avoiding it altogether. The ringing in his ears continued, and the dazing effect of the harpy's screech attack left his vision swirling, so Pete closed his eyes.
The turtle shield had already seriously hampered his ability to rely on visual cues, but with his Agility restored, Pete found that he could gauge where the enemy was simply by relying on sound and the various other sensations that reached him despite his self-imposed blindness.
Again and again, the harpy struck, but Pete was able to avoid the attacks altogether or catch a glancing blow that wasn't sufficient to injure him severely. With each strike, he lashed his sword in reply, cutting into flesh or crashing against the harpy's metallic feathers.
[Craig] To your left!
Pete spun, holding up his shield arm in time to block another strike and retaliating immediately with a series of swipes of his own. Only one of the return strikes connected, but it was sufficient to draw a shriek of pain from the harpy.
[Craig] Move forward; she's ahead of you.
Pete opened his eyes on instinct but found that his vision was still a swirling mass of confusion. He closed his eyes again and drove himself forward, shield out front as the sound of gunfire filled the area.
[Craig] Brace.
Pete crouched down, hunching behind his shield. The blow that followed hit hard enough to knock him off balance. It sent him staggering backward, his shield arm throbbing. He swiped his blade out, but it cut through thin air. The harpy screamed, her voice sounding more human than animal.
[Craig] Critical shot! I hit her in the neck, and she seems to be bleeding badly.
Pete opened his eyes and noted that his swimming vision had settled somewhat. He still couldn't see the harpy with complete clarity, but it was easy enough to see where she was hovering. She was low to the ground, barely a few inches above it and close enough that he could strike.
He ran, abandoning all thoughts of protection and devoting himself fully to attack, sprinting as fast as he could so as to get ahead of her wings before she could bring them down in a cutting arc. Repeated gunfire kept her preoccupied as Pete reached the huge creature. He hacked and slashed, putting all his force into each strike as the harpy backed away, wings flapping, wounded talons dragging along the ground.
Pete pressed his advantage, grabbing his blade in a two-handed grip and thrusting it into the harpy's torso before using his own weight to cut down in a vicious gash that exposed the creature's insides and prompted a gush of hot blood. Instead of a screech of pain or anger, the harpy let out a sound that reminded Pete of the noise an old-fashioned dial-up modem might make. The computerized noise was accompanied by a strange hissing sound that was itself filled with unintelligible whispers.
Pete's vision immediately cleared, and he saw the harpy lying at an impossible angle, wings outstretched, leaning back at forty-five degrees, features frozen and glitching in place.
>> GAME ERROR
>> CRITICAL EXCEPTION: SCN_RESOLVE_Ω
>> Boss Entity ID MORRIKAL_HARPY_v0.6 has entered state [DEFEATED], however required post-combat data structures are NULL / UNPOPULATED / PHILOSOPHICALLY UNSURE.
Boss Health ≤ 0
Combat Loop Terminated
Mythic Presence Flag: NOT FOUND
Legend Weight Index: BELOW MINIMUM THRESHOLD
Narrative Significance: PARTIALLY COMPILED
Loot Table: REFERENCING DEPRECATED ASSET
Pete stepped backward, noting that all of his relic icons had vanished and his HUD appeared to have reverted to its normal state. Craig came running up from a short distance away, wearing a baffled expression and no longer dressed in his soldier's uniform.
"Did we do it?" he asked, frowning over at the frozen harpy.
Pete shrugged. "We did something; that's for sure. I guess this means we won."
>> ACHIEVEMENT: Rage within the Machine!
Congratulations! You just broke this half-assed, ill-conceived aberration of a mini-game by defeating the boss so fast that the entire program errored out! In doing so, you have proven once again that the Propaganda and Merchandising Division is populated with feckless, dull-witted morons with no sense of honor, no capacity to appreciate the gaming craft, and no interest in anything other than their own petty kingdom.
ACHIEVEMENT REWARD: 5 Core Attribute Points
A stone passage opened up directly to the right of the harpy, lit by glowing stones in its interior. It looked similar to the tunnels Pete and Craig had been led through prior to this mini-game commencing.
>> Please exit the mini-game and continue the Dominion Ultrimax Competition.
"Guess this is it then," Pete said as he and Craig started making their way to the passage.
All around them, the details of the simulated game world began to glitch and break, shifting colors rapidly before turning black. The walls of the stronghold, the buildings in the distance, even the two surviving members of Pete's squads all glitched and shifted to a glossy black.
As they moved toward the passageway, Pete brought up his profile and tried to rearrange his thoughts and focus on the larger game and the stakes he was fighting for.
"I reckon we should add our points now," he suggested. "No telling what we're going to be walking into next. I guess, if the others all got through their own games, we'll meet up at the RV again and finish the race."
Craig nodded. "I confess, I am worried about how our companions may have fared."
"Maybe the System helped them out too?"
"I do hope so."
>> DOMINION ULTRIMAX PLAYER PROFILE
NAME: Pete – Vault Breaker, Dice Doomsayer
CLASS: Penny Pincher
LEVEL: Novice [86 Attribute Points]
>> CORE ATTRIBUTES:
Credit Rating [Constitution]: 5
Asset Leverage [Strength]: 11
Liquidity [Agility]: 44
- Evasion: 11
Market Insight [Intelligence]: 0
Capital Stability [Wisdom]: 3
Investor Confidence [Charisma]: 3
Speculative Yield [Luck]: 9
Pete placed two points into Agility, which immediately doubled, then added a point to Wisdom, Charisma, and Luck. If this recent mini-game experience had taught him anything, it was that he needed to be flexible with what lay ahead. While Agility, Strength, and Luck were still going to be his top priorities, the possibility of leading other troops into battle made Charisma and Wisdom seem more important than they had prior to the mini-game.
Even though none of his abilities used Intelligence, he was also growing concerned about having that stat sitting at zero and meant to ask Nero about it when an opportunity presented itself. He wasn't sure what kind of debuff might be added if he stayed at zero, but he didn't want to find out while he was in the middle of a fight or some challenge that required a certain level of intelligence.
They walked together through the long corridor, following the passage as it twisted and turned lazily, each lost in their own thoughts. Pete's mind turned to Sam and Coop, to the other goblins, and then to his mother. It felt like he'd accomplished something by clearing the mini-game, or breaking it, but the truth was his fight had only just begun.