Book 2 - Chapter 14: Query and Confirmation

Half the area meant, naturally, double the density of enemies. And while Sean had expected to need a few more adjustments to the size of the area before the density started to be a serious problem for him, he was wrong. It was almost immediately a big difference in both good and threatening, dangerous ways.

The good news was that target acquisition was no longer a problem. Sean and the squid ran into the first enemy within literal seconds of leaving their camp, a single boxer who was prowling around aimlessly less than an eighth of a mile away. They put him down, then walked for just a few minutes before finding a group of two archers who they tore through like tissue paper.

“This is much easier than doing it alone. I wonder if the system meant for that to happen.”

Query. What does entity Sean Lawrence mean?

“The party balance is pretty good for just two of us. I’m not really a tank, but I’m good enough to keep them off you while you deal damage. You aren’t a tank at all, but you can keep a massive amount of arrows out of the air while still slowly eliminating enemies. It’s a good mix.”

Confirmation. The combination is unusually good.

Hypothesis. Each of these enemy types were meant to be particularly dangerous to one but not both party entities.

“So not purposefully helping us, but some kind of lucky mismatch between our enemy types? I guess it makes sense.”

Regardless of how much the system was or wasn’t helping them, they were making great time. By the time an hour had passed and the light was better, they had already put down ten enemies. At that pace, they’d only have fifty or so foes left to kill by the end of the first day, and would be well ahead of the system’s compression of their fighting area.

At least as long as the system doesn’t pull any more bullshit. Sean thought. Can’t ever put that past it.

Meanwhile, the squid had gone pretty quiet. Most of what he said was in response to questions Sean put out, or necessities related to the battles they were having. He didn’t hold it against him, since that lack of talkativity was absolutely counterbalanced by how well the octopus-man fulfilled his role in battle.

Every now and again, sticky apples would get past his invisible blades, as evidenced by the arrowheads accumulating in Sean’s pack. But where it couldn’t get all the apples, it managed to get essentially all of the ones that would have actually hit them. Only very rare lucky strikes managed to get to Sean’s armor, where Brett’s mastery of craft took over and kept him mostly safe.

But overall, their grinding speed was great for the majority of the morning. The first major hang-up they came across was a group of three boxers, which meant a heavier load on Sean than the squid. If he failed in keeping just one of the three from breaking free, the enemy would make short work of his companion. In a case like that, he would be forced to do tactically iffy things to break away and protect the squid.

Proposal. This party locates another group. The risk of three boxers is too high.

“Maybe. But think about it. What if they don’t break up and the system condenses them into another group?” Sean asked. “We don’t want to have to face groups of five later.”

Confirmation. A group of five would be difficult.

Query. What does the entity Sean Lawrence propose as an alternative?

“Give me a minute to think.”

The boxers were heavy melee opponents. Sean could pretty reliably kite them and knick them to death with a thousand cuts, but anything greater than that was courting injury. His melee weapons skill level hadn’t jumped in the hunting, and although he was getting close to his next level, an extra few stat points wouldn’t make a huge amount of difference in how well he could handle them.

It was a different story for the squid. As much as he was able to hit things accurately from a distance, Sean got the sense ‘ol Mini-Cthulhu was probably the victim of over-relying on the tactical advantage of that distance. He fought like he had never been up close and personal with an enemy, and never thought about what different attacks did to different areas of the enemies.

“How confident are you that you could hit just their legs?” Sean asked. “From full distance, I mean.”

If entity Sean Lawrence is actively engaged with the enemy and this entity is at full distance, it would compromise the density of blows landed on the enemies over time.

Yup, Sean thought. He doesn’t think about weak spots at all.

“That’s fine, I think. As long as you could hit them in the legs at least a bit, it should work. I’d want you to spread out the damage between the three of them as much as you could, slow them down as a group.”

Query. Entity Sean Lawrence thinks this tactic will prove effective.

“Yup. I think it should. Just keep the pressure on their legs, I’ll keep them busy. We’ll gradually get closer, but don’t run if you don’t need to.”

Sean waited for confirmation for a few seconds before looking over his shoulder to find that the squid had already hidden. Without much more to say, he moved into engage the boxers. As they attacked, he immediately shifted to the defensive, trying his best to keep just outside of their range. That was easier said than done. At short ranges, the boxers had great maneuverability, frankly better than his if it wasn’t for the fact that keeping out of each other’s way while trying to hit the same Sean-shaped target seemed difficult for them.

Despite the fact that the squid didn’t seem to be able to hide unless it was absolutely stationary, Sean had been very, very slightly worried that he had just left instead of hiding. His worry was relieved as the boxers started picking up damage to their thighs and calves. It was definitely slower than before, but it was steady.

Sean’s multitasking was getting pushed to the limit as each of the boxers picked up damage and shifted their aggro in the general direction of the squid. As much as he could, he’d maneuver to stab at them whenever they seemed to be moving away, and led them back away from the squid a step or two whenever he got the chance.

Over time, they did slow down. As a group, Sean and the boxers moved toward the squid slowly and consistently. But by the time they had closed about half the distance, the monsters were slow enough that Sean was occasionally able to counter-attack, landing a few good strikes here and there when the opportunity presented itself. Soon enough, two of the three boxers had activated their come-from-behind healing ability, with the third holding on to just enough health not to.

Sean focused his attacks on the newly unhurt members, trying his hardest not to trigger the third. If he could take down even one of these things, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

Meanwhile, the closer range seemed to help the squid place his shots that much better. He was taking deeper and deeper swipes into the things’ legs, letting Sean work at closer and closer ranges. Soon enough, he had his first opportunity to really hurt one of the boxers. When the squid hit one in the leg hard enough to cause it to stumble mid-punch, Sean weaved out of the way of the blow, ducked down, and stabbed upwards through its sternum hard enough to kill it outright.

And then things went terribly, terribly wrong. As bad at tactics as Sean had assumed the squid to be, he thought his companion knew well enough to leave the one boxer who hadn’t quite reached rapid-healing levels of damage alone. Apparently, he didn’t. The squid caught it in the neck hard, triggering its heal ability while Sean was maximally tangled with the now-dead boxer. It surged forward, striking Sean hard in the side with almost no warning.

Sean managed to see the blow out of the corner of his eye at the very last moment, swaying just enough to make the strike shatter his nose instead of knocking him completely unconscious. And then, like it was planned, a bit of telekinetic damage meant for the third, now healed, boxer missed, caught the second boxer in the arm, and sent it careening towards the squid while Sean was still staggering from the blow.

In the few seconds it took Sean’s head to clear, the boxer had sprinted more than half the remaining distance to the squid. Sean could see bits of skin and blood flying from its legs as the fighter neared him, but the hurt wasn’t anywhere close to enough. Even with Sean running full tilt, it’d get to the squid before he did.

That left Hard Time. Sean had done his best to conceal every weapon he could from the squid. It knew about his dagger, darts, and spear, but almost nothing else. If he burned every charge of Hard Time he had slowing the boxer and speeding himself up, he’d just about make it. But the squid would know about his ace in the hole.

Sean stabbed at the third boxer as it closed in, then withdrew and sprinted towards the second boxer. Pumping every bit of time-energy he could into two charges of Hard Time, he ate up a good chunk of the distance between them. It wasn’t enough. He burned the last two charges, slowing the boxer again and speeding himself up. Still sprinting, he worked his hardest to make it there in time.

He did, if only just. The boxer had time to get in one good shot that sent the squid sprawling before Sean was on it. He didn’t waste any time. Instead of pausing, he jabbed two of his darts into the back of the thing’s knees underhanded and let them hang by the curvature of the fangs as he faded away in the same direction the boxer was rotating to face him.

Grabbing the boxer’s shoulder for balance, Sean stabbed it again and again in the thigh with the Mystereamer, finally staggering it with a random elemental ice proc that seemed to shut down the leg almost entirely. Keeping his hand on the boxer’s shoulder as a check, he worked the leg even further, not stopping before the thing toppled under its own weight.

As the squid lay motionless on the ground, he put an end to the second boxer that had joined the party a bit too late to save its friend.

Really, though. One punch is enough to put him entirely out? Sean thought, as he administered his second unassisted coup de grâce in the last several seconds. These things hit pretty hard, but do they hit that hard?

As he pulled his knife out of the monster and flicked its fluids off the blade, the squid sat up.

Apologies, Sean Lawrence. I was unable to stop him before he reached me.

“That’s not really the issue here.” Sean pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to figure out how to handle the conversation delicately before deciding not to bother. “Are you really so bad at seeing what’s going on in a fight that you thought it was a good idea to push that boxer back to full strength, right then?”

Query. Did Sean Lawrence not say to spread the damage out evenly.