The Bathrobe Knight (49 page)

Maddock swept his Sword up, blocking a White-Wings attack as it dove in on him from above. He answered the attack with an overhead slice that sank into the White-Wing's neck where it met the shoulder, quickly sending it to the ground. Beside him, Thorn had similar luck with one of the White-Wings that had dive bombed him. His massive Axe slit the bird's stomach open, dropping him to the ground before being dispatched back to his sun-god with its head split open.  

Balls of fire and ice arced through the air sending alternative waves of hot and cold whizzing past as the Frost and Fire Mages began opening fire on the White-Wings as they tried to attack from above. White-Wings burst into flaming balls in the air, flying about madly, hopelessly doomed to burn out before they ever finished their attack or made it to the ground. Others froze solid and dropped from the air uselessly to land on others on the field, crushing them beneath their weight.

Faster and faster fighters from both sides stopped attacking one another and instead chose to attack the new Guild that had taken to the field. Tendrils of fire and ice snaked out from the Mages across the ground, rooting warriors as they rushed the stack, holding them in place where they were quickly hacked to pieces by the melee fighters. As this happened more and more, the warriors rotated from their protective positions on the sides of the phalanx and formed a stronger front line protecting the others in the rear. Before long, they were engaged in a solid line of combat all across their small front that, if left unchecked, would force their position to become untenable.  

Maddock found himself faced up against another Human wielding a smaller version of his own Two-Handed Sword. The two fought back and forth, each parrying the other's attacks.  Maddock thrust forward, attempting to skewer the other fighter, only to have his Sword deflected as the warrior dodged to the side and blocked Maddock's blade with his own. Regaining his balance, Maddock quickly countered with a series of quick overhead attacks. As the fighter brought his Sword up to parry, Thorn swept his Axe in from the side, sinking his Axe into the warrior’s gut. The warrior quickly dropped to his knees, and Maddock finished him off with a swipe of his blade.

As soon as the Human fell, his place in the line was filled by a towering Minotaur carrying a large Two-Handed Axe. Maddock was forced to dodge to the side in order to avoid the swing of his Axe as it came down in the place he had just occupied mere moments before. Maddock carried himself around in a circle with his momentum and brought his Sword around in a wide arc, aiming for the bull's exposed back. He was rewarded for his efforts by the sound of the Minotaur crying out in shock at the sudden pain. Before the Minotaur could collect himself, Maddock swept his Sword low, severing the tendons at the back of the bull’s knee, sending it toppling backwards off balance. As the Minotaur fell, a small space opened up in the line giving him time to shout orders to the others.  

"Hold the line! Hold the line! Elaine! Make space! Make. Space!"

In the rear of his small group of forces he could make out the lithe form of the Fire Mage as she danced away from a White-Wing's diving attack. Rather than blasting it with a spell, she instead hefted her Staff in both hands and wielded it as a club, striking the avian in the back of its head as it flew past. The feeble attack did little to the White-Wing other than momentarily slow its attack, but it was enough for Shane to sink an Arrow into the back of its head. As the bird fell to the ground, Elaine caught sight of Maddock shouting below. Her Robes had come open during the fighting and the hood had fallen back. Her hair had begun coming loose from where she kept it tied back in a tight ponytail and was beginning to frizz out in loose strands.

"About time," she shouted back with a smile, obviously enjoying this a little too much. "I was starting to get bored back here!"  She scanned the air for any more immediate threats and, not finding any, began quickly directing the other mages.

Several of the healers scattered throughout the group caught on immediately and stopped directing their spells of mending towards the warriors on the front line. Almost in unison, they brought their shields up in front of them and raised their hammers into the air. The air above the group shimmered with a translucent yellow light that seemed to faintly radiate the hues of the rainbow before snapping into place forming protective bubbles that overlapped to create a barrier from ranged attacks. Any spells cast by an enemy mage would fizzle out uselessly as long as the barrier was being channeled, and arrows that pierced through would only do a fraction of their original damage. The spell could be cast immediately, but it also made them relatively useless as a healer for a time afterwards. Further, as long as the spell was being cast, it also prevented the group from moving in any direction. Barrier of Light was one of the few spells in the game that made it impossible to move while the spell was being channeled.  

Maddock was forced to take a step backwards as a series of blows rang out against the Armor on his side. If the protective heavy plate hadn't been there he would have taken serious Damage for his carelessness. He had thought he had more time, but an enemy Assassin had slipped up in stealth, attacking him as he was turned shouting orders. The small Daggers were fast, but the Class normally relied on stealth and surprise to do Damage. In truth, the would-be assailant would have been much better off moving around to the back of the stack and attacking one of the weaker, less heavily-armored targets. Annoyed more than injured, Maddock jerked around, catching the much smaller figure in the jaw with his elbow. Not allowing the Assassin to regain his balance, Maddock kicked forward catching him in the stomach, toppling him over and leaving him gasping for air. A quick blow to the back of the head with the hilt of his Sword ended the man’s life.

Now he was forced to rejoin the attack in earnest. Bodies had quickly began piling up faster than they were disappearing along their front line, and he was forced to step over the mounting corpses and carefully choose his footing. Bringing his Sword about in a quick thrust to his left, he caught a warrior in the side of his neck as he moved in to attack Thorn. Blood spewed forth, briefly streaming down the warrior’s breastplate before he toppled over dead.  Maddock turned back to his own front just in time to block the attack from a Minotaur's Axe and turn it to the side. A series of savage overhead attacks forced the enemy warrior to stumble backwards. As it did so, its hooves became tangled in the bodies of the dead, and it lost its balance, toppling over. A quick thrust down into the Minotaur's stomach ensured the beast wouldn't rise to fight again.

Behind him, the air crackled with energies as the Fire Mages finished channeling their spells. Maddock didn't have to turn and watch but knew just as well exactly what was happening, having seen it before. All along the front line, his fighters quickly fought to make room from their opponents and brace themselves for the blowback that they knew was coming. A thunderous boom rocked out from where the Mages stood gathered, accompanied by a shockwave of superheated air that gushed over everyone, leaving them gasping for breath and staggering to regain their balance. Massive pillars of fire bloomed from the Mages Staves growing in size as they rocketed skyward.

The flames twisted upon themselves, writhing, taking on lives of their own. As they began their descent, the flames coalesced into the forms of massive winged serpents, Dragons of fiery death falling on their prey below. White-Wings all across the skies caught in the initial upsurge began dropping to the beach, their bodies burnt and charred beyond all recognition.  Others not caught directly were pushed back by the heat wave and forced to fight furiously to remain in the air. Any that were unfortunate enough to be caught by the falling serpent were instantly incinerated, turned to ash, and left to be blown away on the wind. As the spells made contact with the ground, massive pillars of flame rolled out from where the Dragons landed, burning everything they touched and leaving behind blackened, soot-coated corpses. Even over the din of noise from the battle that continued to rage on, Maddock could hear the screams of pain from those caught by the blast that weren't fortunate enough to have been killed immediately.

The Mages’ aim had been true. They had effectively spaced out their spells, opening a wide swath in the lines of both the White-Wings and the combined forces of the Humans, White-Horns, and Black-Wings. Fighters on the front line quickly dispatched anyone that remained in front of them, most of whom were still staggering from the force of the initial blast.  The result was exactly what Maddock had been hoping for. His Guild was left standing alone at the base of their hill, the area surrounding them devoid of any enemy combatants. The Barriers fizzled out overhead, the healers grateful for the respite in channeling the difficult spell.  

"I think we made our point here," Maddock said, allowing his Sword to droop down and rest point first on the ground.

"I think we made a mess here," Thorn responded, resting his blood-covered Two-Handed Steel Battle Axe on his shoulder.

"Juice and cookies on the boat?"

"Oh, I like cookies," Xane exclaimed, and Bear asked at the same time, "What kind of cookies? None of those healthy oatmeal ones!"

"Minotaurs eat cookies?" Elaine asked, feigning mock astonishment again. "Don't you guys just drink milk and eat grass? Chew your cud and stuff?"

Before either could answer, Shane held up a hand silencing them. "It's not worth it, guys.  Let's just get out of here before that thing decides to make us dinner." He pointed into the distance where a giant black Hydra could be seen making its way out of the ocean and onto the shore.

"Is that . . ." Thorn began, then stopped. "Nope. I don't want to know. I'm done asking questions for the day. Back to the boat. I'm cashing in."

Making his way back to the ship, Maddock could feel the good mood growing among his Guildmates. They had not only taken part in the biggest battle the game had seen to date, but they had completely screwed over enough players to ensure that their Guild would be all over forums just like it had been after Valcrest, and that wasn’t to mention the fortune they had made off with in ships and other spoils of combat. However, while Thorn, Shane, and the rest of the Guild had notoriety and wealth to put them in high spirits, Maddock had something else to put a devilishly-satisfied grin on his face: short of that Hydra, which might have been a threat--maybe--they hadn’t seen anything on the battlefield that hadn’t been a breeze to kill, and now that they had tested their grit against the cream of the White-Wing army, Maddock had a feeling that there would be a healthy enthusiasm for frying more chicken. He had already overheard a few cracks about KFC and the White-Wings as some of the Fire Mages reminisced about that last spell they had cast. The next stop for his Guild would definitely be a raid on the White-Wing capital that would stuff their coffers and boost their levels in preparation for the mainland.
A town, a capital, and then a continent
, he thought to himself, his imagination starting to drift off into visions of future mayhem. This was another one of those choices that would change things, but recently the consequences of his choices had been decidedly in his favor.
Why not? At this rate, we’re going to run out of challenges pretty soon, and no-one in this Guild wants to spend their time grinding off lowbies and trash mobs.

“Hey, look at that guy,” Thorn said, pointing his thick forefinger and directing Maddock’s thoughts toward a flamboyantly-dressed man wearing a Crown who was standing on the beach right between them and their pinnace, which was anchored a ways off shore.

“I think I’ve seen that guy before. On a commercial, maybe?” Xane grunted, bewildered at the lone figure bold enough to both wear a purple Suit and Crown in public
and
stand in their way.

“I think I recognize that guy . . . the King, Qasin. It’s King Qasin, the guy from the Human setup screen,” Shane chimed in as he unconsciously reached for an Arrow.

“You and Bear better watch out. You’ll be in for a whopper if you get on his bad side,” Elaine couldn’t help saying with a feigned look of concern to the Minotaurs stood as they both began twirling their Axes in their hands like batters playing with a bat before stepping up to the plate.

“You wanna bet, blondie?” Bear snorted, looking over his shoulder at Elaine and then back at Qasin with an angry glare as if the King had offended him personally.

Maddock called for the Guild to stand down. Faction Leaders were generally between level 60 and 70, and with the whole Guild at his back, this would be an interesting fight, but one he still thought they had a good chance of winning.
The King of the Humans? There’s a good chance a lot of these guys will get slaughtered
, he thought glancing around at his Guildmates,
but this is a fight I’m not passing up.

Qasin still stood motionless about fifty paces from the group, and it was more than far enough away for almost no-one to notice that his blade was shaking, his face red with anger, and his Crown sitting tenuously askew atop his head. Shane, however, whose Class boosted his ability to see in-game, could make out these signs of a man out for blood.

“I think he’s pissed. Do you think he knows about what we did to Valcrest?” Shane said to Maddock as he moved alongside the Guild Leader.  

“I don’t know, but he’s in our way nonetheless. We take him out.”

As soon as the words left Maddock’s mouth, Shane drew the string on his Bow and sent an Arrow arcing straight for the King’s head. As the other archers followed suit, a hailstorm of black Arrows shot into the sky toward the Human Faction Leader. The first Arrow simply ricocheted off the King’s blade, and the rest simply missed their mark as the lone monarch shot forward with his Sword drawn, charging right at the thickest part of the Guild’s front line.