Stormblade 4 C42: Workshop (3)

42 - Workshop (3)

The Steam Hulk didn’t slow down at all.

If anything, the molten brass covering the massive construct’s body only made it a better fighter. The red-hot liquid rained down, solidifying mid-air and slamming into the floor like bullets. Bernard’s shield hung over his head, and his massive force shield skill activated, taking the brunt of the explosion, but as the massive, gorilla-like automaton’s eyes locked on him, he had to lower it and brace for impact.

The impact drove him backward. We sprinted toward the room’s far wall. Bernard’s portal metal boots dug trenches in the brass floor as the Steam Hulk’s weight—and the weight of tons of molten metal—bore down on him. His shield bent.

But before it could buckle completely, a gigantic fireball slammed into the Steam Hulk from the side. No, not a fireball. Nathan Anders, in phoenix form. When the two disengaged, Anders looked wobbly and off-balance in the air, and the fist that clipped his wings from below sent him in a spiral. He crashed into the wall next to Sarah, who pushed healing Mana into him.

I fired off a pair of Stormfire Lances, and we kept retreating through a hole in the wall that Terrel opened. I didn’t bother checking to see if I’d hit the Steam Hulk. Instead, I stepped onto a wide catwalk over a pit of molten metal that looked a mile wide. The catwalk had plenty of room to maneuver, both for the Steam Hulk. But it didn’t have any doors to new rooms. Buckets went by on their conveyors, dipped into the molten lake, and continued on their way, but we couldn’t ride those. They took us deeper into the heat and flames.

There was nowhere to retreat.

The S-Rankers weren’t panicking, though. “Just another day at the office,” Terrel said as his hammer knocked an enormous fist off-target, saving Sarah from having to defend herself. Arrows poured into the boss’s shield. One or two even got through, but only embedded themselves in the machine’s brass armor. And Bernard fought for every step.

I glanced at the dazed, injured Nathan Anders, and the Phoenix Reborn nodded at me. “This is just how delving goes sometimes. We knew it’d be rough. We keep fighting.” He pushed Sarah’s arm away from his half-healed burns and breaks, and to my surprise, she let him go.

All across the platform, the battle raged. Fire and steam filled the air—and lightning. I cast spell after spell, but nothing got through. “Running low on juice!” I yelled after a few seconds.

“Save it!” Sarah shouted back.

So I did, switching to Thunderbolt stance and trying futilely to break through the monstrosity’s armor. It was just too strong—too fast. Even the S-Rankers weren’t having any luck.

Until…

As another flight of Hugo Martinez’s arrows ripped overhead and a fireball slammed into the S-Rank Steam Hulk, its shield flickered again. This time, it was down for almost a second—and in that time, Terrel Young’s hammer made contact with the thing’s armor. It wasn’t enough to stop it. But in the moment before the shield reactivated, I stopped and watched.

That moment almost got me killed.

A massive, gorilla-like fist, steam blades on each knuckle, clipped my Stormsteel armor. The pauldron folded like wet paper, its maelstrom holding for less than a second. Three massive bursts of pain rippled across my arm as the steam blades cut into me, and I threw myself to the side on reflex. When I rolled to my feet, blood poured from three wide, jagged wounds.

Sarah dashed toward me. I held up my free hand, sword disappearing as my wounded arm dropped it. I waved her back. “Get out of here! I know how to beat it!”

“You’re sure?” she yelled back.

“Yes!”

She started retreating, and I took a deep breath. 

Mana: 121/620

That’d be enough. As arrows and fire poured into the Steam Hulk, I prepared my spells, then waited until the shield flickered and faded again. It took a few seconds, but it happened.

And the moment it did, I started casting for everything I was worth.

One Brendan’s Stormfire Lance. A second. This time, both made contact—and with the one that had hit earlier, their fire redoubled, burning not the Steam Hulk’s body, but its Mana. The shield flickered back up, then collapsed. I gritted my teeth through the pain and narrowed my eyes.

The Steam Hulk’s weakness wasn’t its body, its speed, or anything to do with fighting. It was its Mana pool. A single Stormfire Lance, burning away at its Mana, had started to compromise its shield. Three forced it into a constant state of flickering.

I didn’t have the Mana for a fourth, but I did have something similar. I excluded Sarah and Nathan—both needed Mana to operate, and my Stormbreak wouldn’t be enough to knock the S-Rankers out of the fight yet—and activated my Unique skill.

Five five-sided flowers of lightning. Positive zones around Bernard, Hugo, and Terrel. Negative around the Steam Hulk and me. The electricity pulsed over and over, burning through all the available Mana. When it stopped, I was zeroed out, and so was everyone else. Everyone, that was, except for Nathan Anders.

The Phoenix Reborn slammed into the Steam Hulk’s chest, right where we’d been trying to hit—directly above the core. Flames erupted around the monster, and more importantly, from between its armored plates. A moment later, its brass began to melt, and steam poured from its vents in a gigantic plume that hung in the air around us before slowly settling into the lake of molten metal. With the shield down and its armor compromised, Terrel and Hugo both opened up. Their attacks felt shaky and weak, but they got through.

It took less than thirty seconds from the moment I used Stormbreak for the Steam Hulk to collapse completely. And the entire time, I felt an almost overwhelming pressure. Stormbreak was ready to push to B-Rank.

I wasn’t sure I wanted it there, though.

◄▼►

With the Steam Hulk down—and a gigantic hole in the brass catwalk from where it had melted down under the Phoenix Reborn’s attentions—we had a moment to breathe. Not more than that, but a moment. Cold Steam Overseers flew in the distance, the gargoyle-like, blade-winged automatons watching us carefully from just outside of the Falcon’s Eye’s claimed range.

None of the other S-Rankers believed him when he said he couldn’t shoot that far, and neither did I. He wasn’t low on Stamina, either. He was simply hiding a few tricks from the portal’s monsters.

So was I. Sort of.

“Sarah, I’ve got a question,” I asked quietly as she worked on Anders. The Phoenix Reborn had re-injured his wounds in his final attack on the boss, and he was listening too, but that couldn’t be helped.

“Shoot,” she said.

“My Unique skill is ready to push to B-Rank,” I said.

“So do it.”

“It’s not that simple,” I said. She raised an eyebrow at me, and I shrugged. “Right now, I can exclude you and Nathan from its effect. It’s a powerful nuke, but it’s not a true fight-ender against S-Rank monsters—especially that one. But it does burn every bit of Mana it can find to cast. Not just mine. Everyone’s. So, as it stands, it leaves me wobbling after I use it, and Terrel, Bernard, and Hugo can all keep fighting after. If I exclude you two, that gives us a pretty strong team after I use Stormbreak.”

“But you’re worried that if you increase its damage more, it’ll start taking the less castery members of the team out of the fight. It’s in a sweet spot right now, and you don’t want to lose that.” It wasn’t a question, and Sarah didn’t ask it like one. She also didn’t wait for me to confirm it. “You’re thinking about it the wrong way, Kade. How does the exclusion work?”

“I target people to exclude, and Stormbreak doesn’t hit them at all.”

“So, exclude Hugo, too. Or Bernard. We’ve talked through this, and you know who to leave out to give us the best chance of winning. Take the extra power, Kade. Always take the extra power. That’s the best way to help the team and stay alive in S-Rank portals.”

I stared at her. She was at least partially right. The extra power might made a difference against whatever the next horrible thing we found in here was. And I’d been training Stormbreak specifically to get it powered up as much as I could—and to avoid the exact feeling I was struggling with right now.

The feeling of home. The home I’d shared with Jessie and Dad, before he’d died and I’d almost killed us both with a skill I didn’t understand. It had been getting better. It was still getting better. But the portal under the Fallen Delvers Memorial had left me on edge about it, and for the first time, I didn’t know that the extra power from ranking up a skill would outweigh the benefits of not doing that.

I nodded, though. “I’ll consider it. Rank-ups are pretty fast, so I should be able to do it when we need the firepower.”

Sarah stared at me searchingly. Then she inclined her head slightly, looking down at Nathan’s closing wounds. He cleared his throat before she could say anything, though, coughing painfully. “Take the power, kid.”

I did a double-take. For a brief second, he’d sounded like the God of Thunder.

“Seriously. We’re in deep—this portal world’s like nothing we’ve seen before. The thing we just beat only died because…how did it die?” he asked.

“Mana burn,” I said. “I’ve seen a few monsters like it, in eldritch worlds. They’re impossible to hurt, but die when they run out of Mana. I’ve got a few spells that attack on that front.”

“Right. Should have seen it—I’ve cleared my share of Eldritch Cities before.” The Phoenix Reborn shrugged painfully. “Anyway, don’t worry about us. Focus on pulling as much power in as you can. That’s how we’ll win here.”

I nodded again. Then I stood and walked to the molten-edged gap in the catwalk where, as the Steam Hulk died, it had fallen. I stared down at the liquid brass below and the thin stream of steam rising from it.

User: Kade Noelstra
Reforged Core, A-Rank
Stamina: 169/500, Mana: 68/630 (+10)

Skills: 
1. Stormsteel Core (A-06 to A-07, Unique, Merged, God-Touched)
2. Thunderbolt Forms (A-06, Altered, Merged)
3. Mistwalk Forms (A-05 to A-06, Altered, Merged)
4. Cyclone Forms (A-05 to A-06, Altered, Merged)
5. Stormlight Bond (B-10, Altered, Merged)
6. Shadowstorm Battery (C-10, Altered, Merged, Dual)
7. Stormbreak (C-09 to C-10, Unique)

I was still growing. Stormbreak was the only skill ready to push to the next rank, though; Stormlight Bond and Shadowstorm Battery were both at their current cap, but for the time being, I couldn’t feel a new Law in either of them. That was disappointing—the reforged Stormsteel Core had seemed to indicate that I’d be able to max my S-Rank skills, and Eugene had confirmed it for me, but without a new Law-learning opportunity, I couldn’t get there myself.

Still, the gap was closing. Soon, I’d be ready to start pushing skills to S-Rank. Probably by the time this portal was done—or maybe even sooner. There was still a gulf between the S-Rankers I was delving with and me, but with every monster we fought, that gap was closing.

What I needed was time—time to push myself a little harder, and to not need Stormbreak’s power-up. As good as the skill was—and it was good—I needed the rest of my build more. I closed my eyes, forced the visions of centipede monsters out of my mind, and dropped into a meditative pose at the edge of the molten rim of brass.

I needed to talk to the God of Thunder.

◄▼►

The God of Thunder dove below the waves, lightning crackling across the massive expanse of saltwater. The world he’d chosen had been a tropical paradise—that is, if it weren’t for the insects the size of boulders that filled the air. In a way, it was a relief that the presence of three SS-Plus-Ranked monsters would shatter this hellscape and leave nothing behind. In fact, the portal world’s so-called boss was already dead. She hadn’t made it fifteen seconds against the Crone.

Portal Collapse In: 38:27

Eugene knew beyond a doubt that Kade Noelstra was attempting to get in touch.

He also knew that it was time for the kid to start standing on his own, without the God of Thunder’s constant support and supervision.

As such, he’d restricted his check-ins to only once a minute or so, instead of more frequently.

He snorted, and lightning-boiled water turned to steam in front of him as he dove deeper into the dark depths of the water-covered world he’d entered nearly twenty minutes earlier. The Crone had called this meeting, which was fine with him. But she’d done it in an environment that would only benefit the Placid King, which was…less fine. But with two other great powers present, the gigantic, many-tentacled Paragon probably wouldn’t try anything.

The world churned as its decay accelerated. The God of Thunder ignored it, just like he’d been ignoring Kade as best he could. The reality was that while Kade was catching up, he wasn’t ready. Not for what he wanted to know. He still had to clear the Solo world, then finish reaching the peak of A-Rank in his build’s core skills. Only then—when they were finally ready—could he ascend. And to do that, Kade Noelstra would have to get over his fear of Stormbreak.

The Placid King’s eyes opened all around Eugene, and a moonlight glow lit up the depths as the Crone arrived.

“What are you two boys up to?” The bent old woman asked first. “The two of you are being idiots again, aren’t you?”

“No,” the Placid King said. Calmly, of course. It was almost infuriating—and Eugene knew that it only wasn’t because of the Placid King’s aura. “No, this has nothing to do with you, Crone.”

“Then what are you doing?” the Crone asked.

Eugene cleared his throat. “Yes, what is your plan now, Placid King?”

The many-tendriled, many-eyed Paragon blinked. “You’re just…asking?”

“Yes.”

For a moment, the gigantic, tentacled monster was silent. Then he began to laugh. It echoed in the depths, and the God of Thunder braced himself. He had no doubts whatsoever that he could defeat the Placid King, especially with the Crone’s presence. But it would be expensive. That was the real reason SS-Plus-Ranked Paragons so rarely fought each other; the cost was enormous, and even if the rewards of victory were worth it, the risk of a loss was too high.

Then the Placid King’s eyes all opened wide, and he spoke. “Fine. Then I’ll just tell you. I intend to recover from my resource expenditure on Earth, complete my ascension, and leave something for you to remember me by, Eugene. And I intend to do it all inside of that S-Rank portal world.”