CC5 ~ 6!

6

Joe cast Lay on Hands on Broski, wincing at the sound of the Dwarf’s facial bones realigning and mending themselves. A glance at the party interface revealed that the three hundred points of damage he had just repaired had not even gotten the Dwarf close to his maximum health. The Dwarves had a crazy high constitution, and a rough estimate—by how much he had just healed up—placed Broski around two thousand health. If these Dwarves were the low-level ones, he would not want to fight a high-level version.

“It’s settled then, ri~ight? We all had the chance, and proved our merit,” Dudette smugly informed the others with a toss of her majestic mustache. Then she lifted a fist, getting a wince from the other mustached Dwarf. “I am Dudette, she is Diane. That’s what you get for being so weak, Diane! People are gonna haveta think to remember your name! Last, that’s Broski, the party leader.”

“My name is Joe. Nice to officially meet you all,” Joe chimed in, getting an eye roll from Dudette for his trouble. “We have monsters to kill, right? Anyone know anything about these, or are we all finding out together?”

“Stone Lizards, support Bro,” Broski snorted and grimaced at the others. “Can you believe this guy? Can't even remember what we are going to be fighting. I thought humans were supposed to be brainiacs like those grass-fed Elves. So glad we get to learn that was a lie all along.”

“Good one, Broski!” Diane high-fived the ‘party leader’, and the three Dwarves started walking deeper into the tunnel without another word. Joe was very uncertain how they were moving in sync like that, but he assumed they would just tell him to ‘get on their level’ if he asked.

The small party continued advancing along the tunnel, and to Joe's surprise, they soon emerged in a huge open plain. As soon as they were out of the tunnel, the Dwarves turned around and looked up. Behind them was a massive cliff face with strange nests built along the side. Dudette grabbed a rock and threw it at one of the nests, hitting it spot-on and getting a loud squawk in reply. Broski suddenly had a double-sided war axe in his hands, which he swung forward at nothing that Joe could see.

At the apex of his swing, Broski’s war axe slammed into a translucent, two-headed lizard with wings. “Whoa, I actually got it!”

“Cool!” Dudette started swinging her oversized hammers at the air, but she didn't manage to hit anything, much to her disappointment. Joe was fairly certain that she thought that the air was supposed to be filled with monsters.

“That’s wild, Broski; finish it off!” Diane ordered Broski as the lizard fell to the ground with a hiss.

“Yo, I'm the party leader, I say when I finish it off!” The male Dwarf waited a long moment, then cut the lizard in half. “Look at that; each half still has a head!”

Joe stared at the strange lizard that was definitely dead, looked at the Dwarves, then looked up at the cliff face. “I really hate to have to ask this, but I thought we were killing Stone Lizards? These seem to be more like… air lizards?”

A blast of wind hit Diane as she turned to yell at Joe, cutting off the ring finger on her left hand and spinning her in place. Broski snarled at Joe, “What are you doing, distracting us in the middle of a fight like that? Are you damaged, bro? These are Stone Lizards, because the best way to kill ‘em is to hit them with rocks! Or we can get them onto the rock and cut them down! Why would you want to call them Air Lizards? Those ones are practically made of rock! You don't want to hit Stone Lizards with an air spell; they’re pretty much immune to it!”

“Stupid human, not even understanding basic combat interactions. Every monster is strong in one area and weak in another! Stone Lizards are weak on—or when hit with—stone.” Dudette paused in her admonishment as her hammer hit the left head of another lizard that was flying at her. “Wow! I got one! I guess… thanks for the chance to teach you something, support bro?”

The other head of the lizard bit at her, creating a cavitation bubble that blasted her hammer in the other direction as it came at the head. Sharp blades of wind formed, cutting deeply into her forearm armor, but the sharp currents failed to penetrate. Seeing this, Joe realized that if the bite had landed, it might have deposited that air bubble directly into the arm; then likely would have blown it straight off. He double-checked his Exquisite Shell with a gulp and tried to spot any lizards that were flitting around them.

He knew they were nearby only because they sounded just like hummingbirds, emitting a low-pitched droning noise that put bumblebees to shame. They were just too fast for him to lock onto, certainly too fast to hit them with a directed spell. That meant there was only one thing for Joe to do; focus on his role in combat. He ducked down, scooped up the finger that had been torn off Diane, then grabbed her hand, aligned the finger against her protest, and cast Mend.

Her finger reattached without issue, and her health shot upward as her blood was replenished. Diane looked at her hand, gave it a test squeeze, then grunted and got back to the fight. Joe tried to think of what to do next. He was a support, but he should have spells that would work against these monsters. For instance, his Acid Spray was technically an earth spell? Or… was it a water spell? Either way, it was not air, so it should be at least somewhat effective against them.

All three of the Dwarves were facing the cliff directly, but the droning lizards were circling them at high speeds. Joe tried to equip his staff, but for some reason, it did not appear in his hand when he called it from his Codpiece of Holding. He thought it might have something to do with being in combat, though that had never been an issue before. He gave up and simply focused on casting Acid Spray up in an arc behind them.

Damage dealt: 106 (130—33 magic resist + 10% title bonus)

A cacophony of trilling shrieks tore through the air as the swarm of winged lizards dove through the green liquid and started to melt. Joe had never managed to regain his ability to channel spells, else he would have been pumping the air full of acid for the next few seconds.

Three things happened in quick succession after that: first, the lizards became much more visible, since their inner bodies were exposed. Apparently, only their scales allowed them to keep their camouflage working. Second, the Dwarves got very excited and started swinging at the lizards far more accurately. Thirdly, all of the lizards that had been hit by the acid tried to attack Joe at the same time.

Joe dove to the side, dodging out of the way of the first few air streams that were shot toward him, and confusing the Dwarves. Broski was at his side in an instant, pulling him upright. “Human bro, why are you getting out of the way? How are you going to train up your constitution if you aren't taking hits?”

“I can't take hits like you can!” Joe had finally lost his temper. These Dwarves were way too ridiculous! “I only have-”

He paused as he inspected his current health pool. “Holy guacamole, I have nine hundred and eight health?”

“Oh, wow.” Broski pulled his hand off of Joe, concerned that he might accidentally damage the fragile human, “You're not kidding, man. You could only take like… three or four hits total from these little beasties before your whole body collapses!”

“Joe, bro,” Dudette called as she walked over with her left arm swinging from her right hand, “Can you put my arm back on? I saw you work with Diane; can you do arms too?”

“You called me by my actual name…?” Joe stared at the open wound gushing blood where her arm should be, then jumped into action. While the other two Dwarves focused on smacking the lizards out of the air like irritating flies, Joe coaxed the flesh and bone of Diane’s shoulder and arm together into a unified whole once more.

It turned out that a lizard had managed to land on her, then both heads had bitten in two opposite places at the same time, cleanly blowing the limb off. Joe had to pump a thousand points of healing into her, but soon she was using both of her hammers once more. A few minutes after that, they were surrounded by a dozen dead lizards. Joe looked at the notifications he had gained at the end of combat.

For focusing on your chosen role during combat, you get a perfect 1/4 split of experience! As your party has three members who have contested a role, they split the remaining experience!

Experience gained: 600 (50 * 12 ‘Stone’ Lizards)

Skill increase: Mend (Student 9).

Broski looked at the others with a huge grin. “I know we could go back, but that's already half as many as the whole platoon got yesterday before everyone died! Why did they wait till today to put us in parties? This rocks! Why don't we go fight another nest?”

“Yeah, Broski!” Dudette called with a fist pump.

Diane sidled up to the bearded Dwarf and leaned on him. “Best party leader ever!”

Joe shuddered lightly as the three bald Dwarves that he could only distinguish via their facial hair flirted in deep bass tones. “I'm not sure how to react to all this. Should I-”

“Joe… bro.” Diane smiled at him uncomfortably, letting her arm drop away from Broski. “I don't know how to tell you this, but… you aren't our type. Maybe if you put on, I don't know, eighty pounds of muscle and start using a real weapon, instead of…”

She wiggled her fingers mysteriously to mimic spell casting, and Dudette joined in to finish the thought, “Beyond that, none of us feel very, um, tingly, around you ‘cause of, you know…”

Waving at her face, Dudette shrugged and kept going when Joe gazed at her uncomprehendingly, “I'm sure that you will find someone who is into the total hairless look, but you won't find a deviant like that in this party.”

Joe smiled and nodded, declining to speak any further. Confusion was one thing; accidental insults because he was voicing his thoughts was another. They spent the rest of the day clearing out three more large nests, then went back to their barracks. Joe had gained another eighteen hundred experience, and—strange rebuttals and cultural differences aside—was rather pleased with how the day had gone over all.

They dumped the corpses of the lizards into the collection bin, getting a raised eyebrow from the Drill Instructor. “You killed all of these? That's… well, looks like we have a new group record. Take these tokens to the Requisition Hall; you’ll get a bonus of characteristic training materials.”

“We set a record!” Broski fist bumped Diane, and the group started walking toward a small building that Joe had not yet seen. “Human bro, you ready for the chance to train your characteristics for the day?”

“I already maxed out my strength and constitution training for the day, but I can do any of the others!” Joe was eager to see how they did their training, and what sort of bonus they would be getting.

“I wanted the weapon reward.” Diane grumbled in a deep bass tone, trying to snuggle in close to Broski again.

“How do you max out your… ooh.” Dudette nodded at Joe with a knowing grin. “You mean what you can train in a day without materials. Do we have a surprise for you, bro. I think you are going to like the Legion a lot.”

They entered the building, which contained only one grim-looking Dwarf behind a bar. After showing their tokens, the Dwarf counted them carefully and pushed out four large mugs. The thick liquid inside of the mugs was suspiciously familiar, and Broski’s next words confirmed it.

“With the right stuff, you can double your gains in a day, bro. Let's hit the gym!” Broski clinked mugs with the others. “Joe, welcome to the way… of whey! Protein shakes, then squats! Bottoms up, dudes and dudettes!”