Rune Seeker

Chapter 39: Boss Battle

A touch on his back, then Hiral and the Troblin Duke moved at the same time, Hiral’s high Dex rocketing him forward while the duke’s purple flames launched it ahead. Six torches left. Relying on the combination of his Dex and Atn, Hiral dropped to his knees as the axe swung for his neck, sliding through the ashes of the charred wood and barely avoiding getting beheaded.

Yanily’s dagger came out in a fluid motion to drive into the floor and slow Hiral’s momentum as he twisted around and pushed power into his Foundational Split. Right exploded out of him—having been reabsorbed a moment before—and Hiral gave him an extra burst of speed with this Rune of Rejection.

Right’s glowing fist crunched into the duke’s spine with enough force to push the monster forward another step, while Hiral reached for the Troblin’s head and yanked with his Rune of Attraction. Vastly outweighed by the hulking beast, it was Hiral who shot into the air, twisting as he went to dropkick the duke in the face mid-turn. With his respectable 18 Str—and the aid of his rune—Hiral hit the monster hard enough to keep its attention, then immediately pushed off with his Rune of Rejection and flipped in the air to land on his feet.

Then he dove out of the way, as the Troblin Duke had already recovered and resumed swinging. Huge, sweeping arcs from the axe tore great gouges in the floor as the monster chased Hiral, and he flipped, ducked, and dodged, doing everything he could to stay a step ahead of the brute.

Can’t keep this up forever. C’mon, use your flames.

Around came the axe again—another horizontal chop which Hiral easily ducked under—but then the purple flames burst out of the opposite side of the weapon. Completely arresting the axe’s swing in an instant, the eruption of fire also shot the weapon back toward Hiral, vicious balancing spike aimed right for his chest.

Hiral pushed on it with his Rune of Rejection, the meeting of the two forces lifting Hiral off the ground in the opposite direction, but it wouldn’t be fast enough. The axe would catch him, and it came around with vicious intent, only to get intercepted as Spearing Roots burst out of the ground right in front of the sweeping arm.

Though the roots didn’t have enough power to punch through the Troblin Duke’s hide on their own, the mighty swing and jet-like force of the purple flames more than made up for it. Green blood and shredded skin flew into the air as the roots struck the arm at the perfect angle, tearing through muscle and lodging in bone before the roots broke under the weight of the swing.

Roaring in outrage, the Troblin turned its attention to Seena, and its whole arm burst into purple flame.

Four torches left.Hiral hit the ground, then rolled to his feet.

A shower of splinters flashed between Seena and the duke, though most of them got incinerated by the flaming right arm, and the few that made it through seemed to bounce off its tough hide.

Yanily charged in from its side. Instead of his usual barrage of lightning-quick spear strikes, the man set his feet and seemingly put all this strength into a blow aimed where Vix had focused his assault.

The spear-blade plunged into the open wound all the way up to the haft before purple flames billowed back out in response, washing over Yanily and driving the man back with a scream of pain. He batted at his face with still-burning hands as he fell, one of the four remaining torches flaring back to life. The spear haft practically disintegrated into ash.

But, there in the wound, the spear blade remained, and the Troblin Duke clawed at it with too-big hands, trying to get a hold of it to rip it out.

That distraction gave Vix the chance he needed, and the man charged in to leap into the air. One foot found the Troblin’s wrist, and he used it as a steppingstone to gain more height, bringing his bladed knee straight for the duke’s face as he reached for the back of the monster’s head with his hands. Midair, three afterimages appeared behind Vix at the same time he drove his knee into the duke’s nose, blood gushing out and bone crunching. Then the first afterimage caught up, merging again with Vix, but slamming its knee into the Troblin’s face like a jackhammer.

The other two afterimages chained in short order, exactly following Vix’s path to each deliver blows with multiplying force, the third and final one striking so hard, it blew the Troblin’s head out of Vix’s grasp.

Hiral yanked Vix back with his Rune of Attraction as the Troblin swung blindly, pulling the man out of danger to land safely on the ground a few feet back. No sooner had Vix landed than Nivian rushed past, shield lowered, to slam into the Troblin’s side—right where Yanily’s broken spear was lodged. Another roar of pain from the duke, and its left leg faltered, dropping it to one knee, which lined up its bloody face for a Meridian-enhanced right cross.

Whomp. The Troblin Duke listed to the side, using the axe to keep itself upright, and Left seamlessly flowed in, the Dagger of Sath coming around in a complete circle to slice across the monster’s throat. Green blood gushed down the duke’s neck and across its chest like a waterfall, but then its eye flared a deep purple, and flames glowed under skin that seemed as thin as paper.

The power it’s gathering… It’s going to explode! And everybody is too close!

Thinking back to the smokehouse, then to the ramp leading down to the duke’s room, Hiral concentrated on the purple flames licking out of the duke’s wounds and pushed half of his remaining solar energy into his Rune of Attraction.

Please be enough.

As purple flame spewed out of the Troblin Duke, Hiral grabbed on to it with his rune before it could cascade outwards, pulling it all into a tight spiral that raced right for him. Unlike with the smoke, he wouldn’t be able to gather it safely in his palm—it was moving too fast—so he put all his remaining energy into his Rune of Rejection.

Just feet in front of him, his rune hit the gushing fire at enough of an angle to send the majority of it careening past him. Small licks of flame still lashed him as it passed, singeing his left side, and then the full force of the blast struck the wall somewhere behind him. The wave of power lifted him from his feet and threw him forward, straight toward the Troblin Duke, who lifted its head to look at him.

The final three torches relit at the same time Hiral hit the ground, the Troblin Duke almost deflating as the enraging energy left it, its skin hanging from a body bereft of muscle. The still-standing Growers didn’t hesitate to strike, laying into the monster with everything they had left. Bones snapped with every blow from Vix and Right, while Nivian’s whip tore off great strips of flesh where the thorns caught. But it was Left who finished it off, his dagger again finding the Duke’s throat, and this time removing the head cleanly from the neck.

As head and body fell in separate directions to hit the floor, a blue notification sprang to life in front of Hiral’s eyes.

Dynamic Quest Complete

You have defeated the Eloquent Troblin Duke

Congratulations. Achievement unlocked – Hazards of the Duke

You proved actions speak louder than words.

Please access a Dungeon Interface to unlock class-specific reward.

As soon as Hiral’s brain processed the words, the notification vanished, only to be replaced by another immediately.

Splitfang Keep: Complete

New Record

Time: 31:23

Congratulations. Achievement Unlocked – The Trouble with Troblins

You have dealt with the Troblin keep and its inhabitants.

Please access a Dungeon Interface to unlock class-specific reward.

Time until Splitfang Keep instance closure: 59:59

We did it!

Hiral closed the notification to see to the others, but yet another one popped up in front of his face before he could even take a step.

Congratulations. Achievement Unlocked – My First Dungeon

You have completed your first dungeon.

Please access a Dungeon Interface to unlock class-specific reward.