CC 9: Tenacity ~ Forty-Four

Joe's mind was having trouble processing the stream of events that was occurring around him at this moment. The Legion was in full-blown retreat, a Cyclops was bearing down on them with the intent to destroy their home and then their bodies, and here he was, dodging a yo-yo as a Dwarf who was a master of annoying people tried to use the situation to sabotage humanity’s reputation with the Dwarves. The entire Village was a chaotic frenzy of clashing weapons, swirling spells, and the thunderous sounds the Cyclops made with every step or attack on the warm-blooded creatures that got in its way.

Staring down his unlikely opponent, wielding an even more unlikely weapon, the Ritualist rubbed at his head which was reflecting the light of the fake sky he’d created above them. “This is weird, Stu! Knock it off and get out of the way. You’re absolutely going to need to replace my gear, but I’ll bring that to the council to handle.”

“What’re you going to do?” The Dwarf taunted him as he swung his yo-yo off to the side like a flail, “Tell on me? The Grandmaster has already evacuated, and by the time you would find her, you’ll be fully cut off from all contact. After all-”

He interrupted himself at that moment, whipping his weapon forward hoping to get off a cheap blow while the human was distracted. Joe let the yo-yo whistle through the air above him, buzzing slightly as its blades spun ferociously around the tiny implement. The Ritualist was quick on his feet, and even quicker on the uptake, and as Stu shifted his positions, Joe abruptly dodged at an oblique angle and let the returning weapon bypass him. Then it completely stopped in the air, and shot at him to tear up his socks.

“You know, I'm only an Expert with this weapon. I'll just have to keep practicing on you until I rank up a little bit.” The Dwarf was sounding somewhat manic at this point, and Joe could see that his eyes were flicking from him to the Cyclops bearing down on the Town Hall. Both of them knew that as soon as that final structure was out of the way, all of the monsters in the area would turn on the invaders to their world with all the ferocity starving beasts could bring to bear.

Joe saw that motion and saw it for what it really was: fear. “You never served in the Legion, did you?”

“I never needed to.” Stu sneered at him as he whipped his unconventional weapon around once more. “I was always more effective in a position of command, helping direct the minds of the brightest of our people! Can you imagine it? Me, wasting my time on the front lines using a sharpened piece of metal to bring down a slathering beast?”

“A great scholar once said that a society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools… bro.” Joe lifted his hand into the air, middle finger and thumb pressing against each other. He didn't need to make any motion in order to complete the action he had in mind, but it helped to drive the point home. Snapping his fingers, he mentally deactivated the ritual behind the Master Dwarf, “I don't know about you, but I think that every single Legionnaire brings something to the table.”

“You've killed us!” Stu screamed as he thrust a finger at Joe, his eyes wide in fear as he looked at the totally still ritual behind him. Spittle shot from his lips as he screamed at the bald-headed human in front of him, “You've killed me! Me!”

A greataxe came down on the Master's head, turning at the last second so that the flat of the weapon—instead of the edge—slammed into the side of his head. As the Dwarf slumped to the ground, Joe was greatly relieved to see Major Cleave standing behind the fallen member of the council instead of someone he didn't recognize. “I think I’ve heard enough to make an official report on Master Stu’s behavior.”

“Cleave! I have a plan, help me collect the Ritual Tile!” Joe didn't waste a moment thanking her or explaining himself. The Maniac Dwarf had already distracted him enough that he was uncertain if he was going to be able to put his plan in place before all was lost.

He dashed over to where the confused members of the Legion were beginning to panic, their escape route cut off as a Cyclops closed in. He scooped up the tile, ensuring with a brief inspection that it hadn't sustained any damage, then he turned and sprinted toward the Town Hall. Cleave stood in front of him, crouched down, hands cupped. Joe ran forward, lifting his foot and pushing down into an Omnivault as she hoisted him into the air and added her own strength to the skill that he was using.

The human absolutely blasted into the sky in a sharp parabolic arc, his loose clothes flapping around him in the arctic chill and sapping the heat from his body as he rapidly closed the distance. He only had eyes for the building, or the Cyclops that was approaching it more slowly with each passing second.

Joe didn't need to wonder why it had slowed, as it seemed that the club it was wielding was growing heavier and heavier the closer that it got to its goal. The Ritualist landed atop the Town Hall, swinging the Ritual Tile into position, adjusting the targeting and velocity sigils in the same smooth motion. With a scream of effort, he activated the ritual, causing a series of swirling ritual circles to appear in the air in front of him. Then Joe made the mistake of looking up to assess the distance between himself and the Cyclops; meeting its eye as it stared at him.

Instantly, his body froze up like a mouse staring up at a snake that had already coiled around it. Across the entirety of the craggy, mountainous face in front of him, a wide smile was present. The Cyclops recognized him, and fully understood the effect that its presence had on lesser beings. It was moving along at a snail's pace, its front foot trying to force itself to the ground so that it could pull the colossal Boss forward. The club behind him resisted every bit of momentum possible, but finally, almost softly, the Cyclops’s foot reached the ground, and Joe made a horrifying realization.

The weapon was now in range of the Town Hall.

It began to shine, brighter than Joe had seen throughout the travels of the Cyclops, and was vibrating at a frequency that made his teeth numb at this range. The weapon itself began twitching around, and the Cyclops grimaced slightly as it reached with its other hand to grasp the handle so that it didn't fling itself out of his grip. Still staring Joe down, the Cyclops opened its mouth to release another thunderous noise that would eventually be translated into words, only to go stock-still as a sound that sounded like the world itself splitting apart echoed across the area.

*Snap!*

On the heels of the calamitous sound came a shout from a voice that Joe knew far too well.

“Adjust!”

Ever so slowly, the Cyclops's head shifted to the side, as his neck turned and twisted. Three seconds into this strange motion, Jaxon came into view, riding on the shoulder of the Cyclops and already pumping his fingers into the same spot on the redwood-tree-trunk of a neck once more. Then the Cyclops tensed up, forcibly resisting the motion and bringing its face back toward its target once more.

By then, Joe had shaken off the paralysis and fully activated the ritual. Bubbles streamed from the top of the building, slamming into the upper body and face of the Cyclops in an unending stream, bursting upon impact but arresting its forward momentum as it began to lean forward. The tiny amounts of water in each bubble splashed onto the Cyclops and froze instantly. Normally this wouldn’t have been an issue, but there were thousands of bubbles per second striking the monster, and a thick layer of ice began collecting across the surface of its body. This only slowed its incoming attack by fractions of a second, but Joe knew that those added up quickly.

“Ha, ha! Ice to meet you!” Joe taunted the beast as he rushed to the next phase of his plan.

The Boss monster unleashed yet another otherworldly roar, the thunderous sound waves reverberating the air. Any message it would have carried was rendered utterly incomprehensible to his ears, but even so… the Ritualist knew what it was trying to say.

It was the same message that every creature bent on destruction tried to monologue to its prey. It was mocking him, telling him about what it would do next, when it didn't have the restrictions that were holding it back at this moment. But Joe didn't care about that. All he cared about was that the Cyclops’s view was blocked by the bubbles frothing the air around its enormous head.

As soon as the first part of his plan had been enacted, Joe had immediately Omnivaulted to the side of the building, springing off the ground a single time in the direction of the Pyramid of Panacea. There was another ritual set up over there, which he’d left in place, and he knew might be able to change the outcome of the attack. He didn't look back, not even when he could hear the Cyclops intoning its final words. Even as the air began to shudder from the pent-up energy of the heavily enchanted artifact of a club, Joe simply maintained focus on the ritual that he had landed next to and was now dumping mana into.

It was fully active, he just wasn't certain if he or it was going to be fast enough. The energy behind him reached a crescendo, and the sound of tens of thousands of bubbles being popped reached his ears a moment before a shockwave of air tried to knock him flat. Joe only maintained his balance thanks to his title ‘Immovable Object’, which allowed him to resist eighty percent of any knockback effect. His eyes were closed as he hoped for the best; then his world was swept away as a wave of dirt, snow, and force shifted the very landscape around them.

The Ritualist’s eyes flung open and he found himself upside down in midair, still clutching the enormous Ebonsteel block of metal. At some point, he’d lost his hearing from the enormous explosion at close range, but he was unable to state exactly when, as his head was spinning as though it wasn't attached to his body.

Joe forced his eyes to focus on the ritual in front of him, then at the slew of notifications that had popped up. He ignored the damage notification which told him that his Exquisite Shell was broken, and that most of his health was gone. Even though it was greatly interesting to him, he ignored the chiming notification informing him that he’d finally earned experience again—and he really wanted to see how that one had been worked out. The only one that mattered at this moment was a durability notification that he’d just received from the Town Hall being damaged.

Damage received on Town Hall (Village). Durability: 394/100,000.

“Mend.” Just before the ground rushed up to greet him, and his vision was blocked by a surprisingly mild terrain damage notification, an explosion of air shot out of Joe's lungs in three syllables. “Ha. Made it.”