Rune Seeker

Chapter 79: The Troblin Throne

The portal vanished with a soft pop, but so did the entry room, the walls dissipating to reveal a familiar intersection of hallways.

“That… may not have been the best plan,” Right said, looking down the hallway on his side.

“Better than Picoli finding us,” Left said, turning to face his hall.

“In the other dungeons,” Hiral said, staring straight ahead with Cal in his arms, “we had to move forward before anything started happening. If we stay here, we might be safe.”

“Or patrols will come at us from both sides,” Right said.

“You think we should go try and clear the dungeon by ourselves?” Left asked.

“Would it count as soloing it?” Right asked, smirking. “Might be an achievement for it.”

“Yes, death would be the achievement,” Left said flatly.

“Shush,” Hiral said, his attention firmly down the hall straight ahead of him.

There was something there, something waiting for them, its aura cascading out and reaching deeper into the building. For now, it was content to wait, but there was an edge to its patience, like a countdown. If they didn’t move ahead eventually, it would come looking for them.

Dynamic Quest

The Troblin Lord has noticed your presence and awaits your challenge.

Move quickly and none shall obstruct you. Delay too long, and the entire Troblin army will scour the halls to drag you before their Lord.

Note: The Lord is not known for its patience.

“Of course,” Right said with a shake of his head. “Come on, give me Cal.”

“Why?” Hiral asked.

“Because I want you to be able to defend yourself and not die,” Right pointed out.

“It looks like we have no choice but to advance,” Left said. “I’m pretty sure this counts as being reckless.”

“Maybe it won’t be so bad,” Hiral said, handing Cal over to Right and drawing his RHCs.

“There you go, being optimistic again,” Right mumbled, but the group moved purposefully down the hall. They didn’t have to go far before they came to what had to be the throne room, a large wooden chair dominating the center of the circular chamber.

The largest Troblin Hiral had ever seen—even bigger than the Troblin Duke—sat waiting for them in heavy armor seemingly made entirely from wood. In fact, there didn’t even look to be joints in the armor, and Hiral thought for a moment it may have been a statue—until it shifted to look at them, the wood creaking with every movement.

Dynamic Quest: Update

The Troblin Lord accepts your challenge.

Send forth your warriors. Leave the spectators behind.

Entertain the Lord with your battle prowess and it shall spare your lives. Defeat the Lord and earn powerful rewards.

Fail at both of these, and death will be your only achievement.

“More proof the notifications and reward systems listen to what we’re saying,” Hiral mumbled as he quickly read the final sentence, then closed the window. “Do you think it’s safe to leave Cal here? Would she be a spectator?”

“If we’re actually going to fight that thing, we can’t afford to have one of us stay behind to protect her,” Left said.

Hiral looked at the giant Troblin as it stood, towering above the throne.

That thing has to be at least nine feet tall.

(Boss) Troblin Lord Zob – Unknown Rank

“I’d like to point out we didn’t actually challenge it,” Right said, gently putting Cal down off to the side of the hallway entrance to the room.

“If fighting it makes sure Cal stays safe, then that’s what we’re doing,” Hiral said, RHCs in hand. He started toward the center of the room, Left and Right at his sides.

“This isn’t going to be easy,” Left said while he shaped the Wing of Anella from his left shoulder, and then brought forth his Dagger of Sath.

“Good thing we’re here to keep you safe,” Right added, purple light flaring up the Meridian Line of his right arm and down one side of his back.

“Yes, it is,” Hiral said. “Thank you.”

Then the time for speaking was over, and the three moved forward. Hiral went straight ahead, measured steps in time with his triggers as he pulled them, while his doubles went wide then cut in to flank the heavily armored Lord.

Bolts of Impact slapped into the huge Troblin with about as much effect as a gentle breeze, the wooden armor not even cracking, and the red bar above the Troblin Lord barely budging despite Hiral’s One Man Army and Internal Injuries abilities.

The Troblin, for its part, simply held its right arm out to the side, hand extended. Not waiting to see what it had up its proverbial sleeve, Right and Left struck from opposite sides, while Hiral aimed both of his weapons at the Troblin’s helmed head.

Flaring with purple infernal flames, Right’s fist slammed into where the Troblin’s kidney would be, the impact of the blow blasting a twenty-foot cone of fire in the opposite direction. Left, at the same time, spun and twisted in his approach, arm moving up, around, and then in, to drive his Dagger of Sath into the Troblin Lord’s stomach. The instant the blade’s momentum stopped, the long stream of water left hanging in the air by Left’s movements rushed forward to magnify the force of the strike.

Troblin Lord Zob didn’t even flinch.

All that, and he lost maybe two percent of his health?

Instead, green light flared in the palm of his open hand, and dark wood grew up and down, quickly forming into the nine-foot haft of a long weapon. Another pulse of green light, and a large, single leaf unfurled at the top, two feet long and serrated along the edges.

“Fall back,” Hiral shouted, blasting two more shots into the Troblin’s faceplate.

Left and Right darted back. Not a second too soon, either, as the Lord whipped its long spear around in front of itself for a dramatic flourish. It spun the weapon around and around in its hands, as if testing the weight, then spun it behind its back and forward again at the same moment it lifted a foot and stepped forward. As it dropped into an obvious fighting stance, the atmosphere around the room grew heavier. Some kind of battle intensity was pouring off the Lord and giving weight to the very air.

“It’s like it gave us a free shot,” Left said, twenty feet to the Lord’s side.

“And we didn’t impress it,” Right added, the same distance on the other side.

“Maybe,” Hiral admitted, his gaze landing on the Lord’s stomach. “But Left… uh… left a mark. That’s our focus.”

He dropped his aim from the Troblin’s face to the tiny crack in its armor. His bolts hit the crack with pinpoint accuracy, and maybe it was his imagination, but the crack spread. They could do this, and with that much heavy armor, the Lord couldn’t be all that fast.

Right and Left, obviously coming to the same conclusion, dashed back in, weapons flaring with energy. Right got there first, but the Lord’s spear came across to perfectly intercept Right’s punch with the haft of its spear. Then, one-two, lightning fast, the Lord twisted and brought the bottom end of its spear up to slam into Right’s gut, lifting the double off the ground. Before Right could even react to the blow, the second twist of the spear swung the bladed end around—and straight through Right’s chest.

The double practically exploded in a puff of solar energy, and the Troblin Lord seamlessly spun around to intercept Left’s dagger. Ignoring Hiral’s shots the entire time, the Lord parried and blocked Left’s dancing assault, its spear a whirling blur, though its feet barely moved an inch.

Hiral activated Foundational Split, then focused his blasts on the Lord’s hands and arms to try and impair its defense. The momentum had shifted from Left attacking to defending, and he was already losing ground.

“That hurt,” Right complained, only to charge directly in again as Left got caught flat-footed, his blade coming up in a last-ditch effort to parry.

The two weapons met, Left even putting his other hand behind his dagger to brace for the impact, and then the double hit the wall with a building-shaking impact fifty feet away. Something CRACKED from the collision, and Left dropped to the ground, a wing-shaped line of frost along the wall beside the shattered wood. Then he charged ahead again, ignoring his injuries and leaping into the air with the aid of his Wing of Anella.

Frosty snowflakes trailed in the air behind him along with the dagger’s stream, and he drew back his weapon to strike at the same time the Lord parried the first of Right’s attacks. Not even missing a beat, the Lord spun and brought his spear up to likewise bat aside Left’s dagger, then turned back to deal with Right. Except the dagger was a feint, and Left let the dagger vanish at the slightest touch, instead twisting to slash his blue-flame wing across the Lord’s shoulder.

Though the wing-strike did nothing to pierce through the Lord’s substantial armor, ice spread in a long line as Left swept past, creeping up to encase the helm, and across to lock around the shoulder. Hitting the ground hands-first, Left crouched down like a cat as Right’s glowing fist swung over him. With its shoulder wrapped in ice, the Lord’s attempted parry fell short, and Right struck through the opening.

Right’s punch hit like a Meridian-enhanced warhammer, crunching into the wooden armor to send chunks flying, and forced the Lord to take a step back. One step only. The ice over its shoulder shattered with a flex, and then around came the serrated spearhead. Spotting the racing weapon first, Left tried to intervene by blocking with his flaming wing, but his body moved too slow, and the long leaf bisected him in a flash of solar energy. Right didn’t fare any better, noticing too late the oncoming attack, and he too burst apart.

With both doubles destroyed, the Lord lifted a hand up to its helm, a simple tap shattering the ice there, then fell again into its fighting stance. All that, and the exchange had only taken the Lord’s health down another ten percent.

Left can see the attacks coming, but his body isn’t fast enough to keep up with it. Right is the opposite. Neither of them alone has what it takes to go toe to toe with the Lord.

Hiral activated Foundational Split again, though he gave his doubles far less solar energy, then holstered the RHCs on his thighs. They weren’t offering enough punch to get through the Troblin Lord’s armor. Instead, he hefted the Emperor’s Greatsword off his back and flared the energy-half of the blade to life.

“You think that will work?” Right asked, his Meridian Line only glowing weakly, but soft streamers of purple light wafting off it.

“I’m the only one who can both see and react to the Lord’s attacks,” Hiral said. “It has to be this way.”