Well, here we are guys. If you didn't guess it from the title of the chapter, we're at the final battle. This is the big one. The fight that decides the fate of the whole ga-
Ah, who am I kidding. Who wants to see a large exposition? You guys just want to see what happens don't you.
Well, here we are guys. If you didn't guess it from the title of the chapter, we're at the final battle. This is the big one. The fight that decides the fate of the whole ga-
Ah, who am I kidding. Who wants to see a large exposition? You guys just want to see what happens don't you. Well, who am I to deny you that? Enjoy!
The board members of Samson Aviation Industries entered their room with undisguised glee. Cigars were lit, champagne corks were popped, and merriment was in the air.
The acting, soon to be official, CEO of the company strode towards the chair at the head of the long table before turning back to the board members in front of him; a broad smile was on his face. "Ladies and Gentlemen, our hour is at hand. After months of waiting, Homer Alexander Samson will be declared legally dead in less than 30 minutes."
The room erupted in cheering and clapping. The CEO waited for it to die down before continuing. "Too long we have listened to his insane ideas, his 'innovations' that turn no profit. No longer will we release a product before the economy is ready for it. As of today, we go back to the way things are meant to be."
"Oh really?" a voice called out from the chair the CEO was standing next to. The CEO in question yelped and jumped away from the chair as if he had been burned. As he did so, the chair turned slowly around to reveal its occupant. The room froze as the board members stared with a mixture of shock and horror.
"And how exactly do expect to run a successful company if you're unwilling to allow for innovation?" Homer Alexander Samson Sr. asked.
It started quite plainly, Alex noticed. No psyching up for the battle, no pregnant pauses, not even a heroic and moving speech before hand. Nothing that signaled the beginning of the battle to decide the fate of the game.
Well, nothing besides the flurry of arrows aimed at the castle.
Alex raced alongside Miles towards the castle walls. They were a ladder team; their job was to carry a ladder to the wall and set it up. Normally it would take both members of a ladder team to carry the ladder all the way to the wall without running out of stamina halfway there. Miles had it over one shoulder. The instant they cleared the forest, the catapults swung in their direction and began lobbing rocks at the swarm of players. The mages responded by casting defensive spells to block the rocks, or simply destroy them while they were still in the air. Not to say that they were completely successful. Alex saw one barrier shatter upon impact with the missile, allowing the rock to continue on its path and crush a thief and the unfortunate mage who had cast the spell.
As they neared the walls, other Hackers opened fire as well, forcing them to slow their pace so that players with shields could raise them and protect themselves and others. Alex had been given a round shield for this very reason and raised it just in time to protect himself from almost half a dozen arrows directed specifically at him. Miles, who was wearing thick armor, ignored the arrows and kept running.
The front line finally reached the wall and began setting up ladders. Miles swung his ladder up and knocked it against the wall. Making certain it was secured, he waved his hand towards a column of iron golems and other heavy players who couldn't be supported by other ladders. They surged forwards and began clambering up. Elsewhere, Alex saw other players doing the same as Miles, allowing for the first wave of players to begin attacking the wall,
And immediately get slaughtered by the defending forces.
Anyone who managed to get up was almost instantly cut down by the sheer number of Hackers and NPCs on the wall. Even if they got a lucky shot in and killed a Hacker, there were a dozen others to replace him. Alex and Miles watched a paladin clamber up the ladder Miles had set up, only to fall down in two pieces barely a second later.
The Mages and archers weren't having much luck either. Any projectile that made it past the battlements was easily blocked by shields and magical barriers. Any that were arced to hit them from above met a similar fate.
Alex and Miles both pulled up the chatroom being used by themselves, and the leaders of the different guilds.
Miles: We're getting slaughtered out here. Any suggestions?
Axinator79: Besides, retreat, nothing
Janus: We've managed to get a good position over where Croe and I are. Taking heavy losses but they haven't taken it back yet
Qilin1: Sending Sharpslefae with twenty Coders your way Janus.
"This is nuts!" Alex shouted over the din to Miles. "We're barely five minutes in and we're already losing!"
Miles grabbed a ladder that had lost most of its rungs when a player carrying one too many weapons had tried to climb it and finished breaking off the rest of the rungs; leaving him with two forty meter long shafts of wood. He grinned at Alex. "Then let's not be losing, shall we?" he tossed one of the shafts to an iron golem and started up the ladder. Confused, Alex started up behind him. When he reached the top, Miles did something no less than extraordinary.
Balancing on the top rung of the ladder, Miles swung the pole into the wall of Hackers facing him. Because they were so tightly packed, there was nothing they could do to avoid the hit. They tumbled off of the wall and went screaming to the ground below. More Hackers rushed in to take their place, but Miles repeated the action, this time sending them onto the outside of the castle. Those who survived the fall didn't live much longer than those who didn't.
Right behind him, Alex conjured fireball after fireball and began lobbing them into the crowd, adding to the mix of spells and arrows already in the mix. Unlike the arrows and spells, however, he was on their disoriented and very much unprotected side. The shield wall began to disintegrate as the Hackers caught on fire and their characters began to panic and flail around. Most managed to survive the fire, but by then it was too late. Players swarmed over the battlements and began gaining ground. Surviving remnants of the once impenetrable shield wall found themselves sandwiched between incoming forces. Not wasting time, most were shoved over the sides to make room for more players. The wall was now controlled by the players, who began cheering.
Qilin and Axinator appeared on Miles' ladder, each carrying a stuffed satchel. Seeing the cheering, Qilin frowned. "Alright, alright, don't celebrate yet. We've only accomplished part one. We've still got to destroy the spawnstones and plant the explosives. Let's move out!"
Apart from a handful of Coders that heard him, Qilin was ignored.
Axinator pushed him out of the way. "Listen up! While you idiots are cheering, those Hackers' respawn timers are ticking away. So unless you want to be back where we began, get those spawnstones destroyed!"
This time, everyone listened. Roaring in approval, the remaining players ran for the steps.
Axinator looked at Qilin. "Qilin, this is what happens when you don't take the fight to the enemy," he said. "Outside your Coders, your lack of action has made most of Rune hate you quite a bit. They don't respect you, so they don't listen to you."
Smoke boiled out of Qilin's mouth and his jaw crunched against itself. Axinator noticed this. "Oh don't get your panties in a wad. If you can't handle the truth, you shouldn't talk to anonymous strangers." Turning to Alex and Miles, Axinator handed them his satchel. "Just a little present for our dear friend upstairs." He said, indicating the floating Keep.
Miles looked in the satchel and grinned. "Ax, you must've forgotten to tell me it was Christmas," he said. He reached into the satchel and began pulling out explosives and scrolls of Icarian Flight.
Qilin grunted and was preparing to hand over his satchel as well, when an arrow slammed into his left knee, destroying the cables that controlled his leg. His leg gave way and he fell into the courtyard. When he landed, the explosives in his satchel went off, launching him into the air. He crashed into the side of the Keep and fell into the buildings below.
Alex conjured a fireball and looked for the archer. To his horror, Hackers upon Hackers were streaming out of the houses and engaging the Coders.
Axinator cursed and grabbed his twin axes from their holsters on his back. "You'd think they'd be nice to let us accomplish this without too much of a hassle."
Miles unsheathed his sword. "If only it was that easy."
"What's going on?" Croe asked, trying to peer around the players in front of him. Being on the small side did have its disadvantages.
"Oh, just a bunch of Hackers running out of their houses and attacking anyone in sight," Janus answered. "Not much, really."
A roar of defiance rolled up the ramp they were facing and through the small gaps in-between players, Croe could see half a dozen Hackers running up the ramp. The axes and swords of the players rose and fell and the yelling was cut off.
"This stinks," Croe complained. "We're fighting the greatest battle on Rune ever, and I can't even see what's going on!"
"Hey, we're getting ready to head out." Janus said. "You should be able to see then."
As if on cue, the several players in front of Croe jerked and fell, the front of their bodies resembling pincushions. The resulting gaps allowed Croe to see a dozen archers drawing additional arrows from their quivers and aiming them at the remaining players on the wall. They released and even more players tumbled to the ground.
Knowing that staying put would only get him killed, Croe charged at the Hackers. They fired once more, but Croe ducked, and they only got his hat. Pulling his scythe from his belt, Croe tossed it at the Archers. It stuck one in the chest and he vanished into a poof of orange dust. The scythe fell towards the ground, but Croe activated the telekinetic spellstone and the scythe flew back him. By then, the Hackers had reloaded and fired once more. This time, their aim was true. Croe stumbled backwards and looked down to see arrow shafts protruding from his virtual body.
"Hey!" Janus yelled out. He pulled out several grenades and started lobbing them towards the archers. The Hackers dove for cover as the ground around them erupted with a concussive force, taking several of them out. As they groggily got back on their knees, Janus slid down the ramp and stabbed one in the chest and grabbed an arrow out of the quiver of another, stabbing it into the eye of the arrow's previous owner. An Archer swung at Janus with his bow in an attempt to stun him, but Janus swerved out of the way of the bow and twisted the Hackers arm until it broke with a snap. The Hacker's character let out a prevoiced cry of pain, and the Hacker snarled in anger. Janus followed through with the twist and ripped the arm off of the Hacker. He swung it around and jabbed the bone shard up under the Hacker's chin. The Hacker's health flashed to zero, and he collapsed to the ground.
By then, one of the archers that was still standing had gotten enough of his wits back together to shoot an arrow off at Janus. At the last moment, Janus tilted his head almost imperceptibly to the side. It hit his mask and glanced off, leaving a groove on the dark right side.
"Impossible," the Hacker said in fear. "That was a reinforced arrow fired from a bow of piercing. Nothing can stand in its way."
"Of course not. I mean, look at my mask now!" Janus said irritated, pointing at the deep groove that had been cut into it.
"Then how-"
"By understanding how the game works and knowing what to do in certain situations," Janus answered. "Long story short, there is nothing about Rune's combat that I don't know."
The Hacker tried to run, but in a flying leap, Janus tackled him. The Hacker tried to squirm away, but Janus pinned him firmly under a knee. "Shhhh," he whispered as he plunged his dagger into the Hacker's sternum. "Let it happen buddy." Standing up from the corpse, he ran back to Croe and the players who had begun venturing down the ramp and engaging the Hackers.
"During Operation THUNDERBEE, we found the Hacker's spawnstones in the houses," Janus said to the crowd. "I'd suggest checking those first."
The player in front who was apparently the leader, nodded and began issuing orders to the players around him. Janus looked around briefly before locating Croe and hurrying up to him. "Dude, you might want to try sidestepping next time," He commented.
"Well, if you'd leave some of the fighting for me, I might get enough experience to level up my agility," Croe replied.
"It's not the level son, it's the miles behind them," Janus said in a western accent while peering at the arrows in Croe's body. Gripping one, he yanked out and placed it in his quiver. The instant he did so, straw began pouring out of the wound. Croe grabbed the hole and tried to pinch it shut.
"I assume you have a needle and thread to patch that up, right?" Janus asked.
"Yeah, but it's gonna take a while," Croe answered. "It'll be a few minutes before we can move again."
"No time. Finish up and meet me in the Keep," Janus said.
"But-"
"Dude, I know that you're worried for me and are afraid that if I go alone, I'm going to end up dead."
"That wasn't-"
"It's an understandable feeling to feel worry for a friend. But you forget that now that we're immune to the Hacker's powers, all they have is what our dear friends the Devs gave them. I'll be fine."
"Jan-"
Janus patted Croe on the shoulder. "Don't worry dude. They haven't killed me yet!"
He pushed his hands into his sleves and pulled out strands of ropes with grenades attatched to them. As he pulled them out, the pins were pulled free, arming the grenades. Whirling them around his head, Janus sent them sailing through the air, deep into the Hacker's midsts. He then pulled another two strands from his sleeves and charged into the fray, the grenades whipping around behind him.
Croe slumped to the ground and debated letting the straw out so he'd have a legitimate excuse to bail out of the fight and save himself the embarrassment. He almost did. But the memory of yesterday (was it really only yesterday?) kept coming back to him. As soon as he saw the battle was going badly, he had used his diminutive size to slip out of the horde and sprint off. Unable to bind the scythe to his person, it would've ended up in the hands of the Hackers had he died. Arachnoid's victory over him would've been complete. He had survived, but Janus had ended up getting attacked by the Hackers. He couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if he had stayed and fought. It would've been ugly. He probably would've been killed. But Janus may've been able to log out before they got him. And even before that- during the first battle of the castle, he had bailed on the group to go on a personal vendetta. It had achieved nothing, and they had only been successful because of Janus, Miles, and Gingaininja. Out of all of them, he had probably contributed the least to the group.
Sighing, he kept pressure on the hole with one hand and fiddled around in his pockets to find his sewing equipment. Depressed, he began sewing the hole shut. He felt like the least useful person in Rune.
ns 15.158.61.45da2
