MH2 - Chapter 16: Kaiju Combat

Kelzoul’s skin tore, and clothes pulled apart as he stretched beyond his limits. The battlefield was alight with respawn essence as Kelzoul’s army disintegrated, fueling him. Heroes threw themselves against the swelling monstrosity only to have their very life-force pulled out of them. Everything flowed into Kelzoul, strengthening him.

“Get back!” Brene shouted and the dungeonfolk, along with a few heroes, retreated to Dolli’s cottage.

Kelzoul’s form mutated, trying desperately to hold his wretched bones together. He was thirty feet tall and still growing, the seemingly endless supply of monsters in his army dying to mutate him. He twisted and stretched toward the sky, roaring with pained madness. Dolli knew that his army would be used up soon, and they’d have to battle him once more. She looked over the remaining ten or so heroes and her battered dungeon troops. She opened her quest menu and scrolled through the barren list. They were all empty, save one: Plague in the Crossroads.

There had to be an option left to them. Dolli opened her dungeon menu, the XP bar jumping out at her. They were just a few hundred XP short of leveling up to 10. Dolli flipped over to the dungeon abilities and read the text at the bottom of the Modulate ability.

“The dungeon will reshape itself to fight any threat,” she whispered, then looked at the heroes.

She opened her chat menu and sent a dungeon-wide message: Kill the heroes.

Dolli closed the menu and looked to her puzzled dungeonfolk. There was a beat of confusion, and then action. Brene was first to strike, spearing the closest robed hero through the back with her powerful mantle.

“What the fuu—” a hero screamed out but was cut short by Dolli’s Spark Lance.

“They’re turnin’ on us!” another hero tried to raise the alarm but it was too late, the dungeonfolk descended on them with savagery.

In moments, the heroes were slain and all that remained was Monster Haven, and Kelzoul. The orange light pouring into him slowed and so did his growth. The pain lessened in his roars, and he was coming too.

Dolli opened her menu and cursed. They needed five more XP. Five!

Keegan.

Dolli opened the quest menu and crossed her fingers. The summon button was selectable.

“Yes!” Dolli cried out and summoned the last hero they’d need.

Keegan appeared in a blur of golden light, then stared straight up at Kelzoul. “Oh sheet.” he whirled around to find Dolli staring him down with a grin. His face sank from horror to desolation. “Oh, sheet."

“Thank you for your sacrifice,” Dolli said and speared him through. The monsters stabbed, hammered, punched, and beat Keegan to death, giving the dungeon the final XP needed to level up. Dolli opened the dungeon menu and in went to the abilities with a thought, then selected the Modulate.

Kelzoul staggered back, then shook his head as his senses seemed to return to him. He picked up a giant foot aimed right at Dolli. With a final prayer to the gods for strength and luck, Dolli activated the new ability.

The ground trembled and the Creeping Moss flexed around the stones of the destroyed Haven. In a blink, a shimmering opalescent dome formed over the center of town, protecting Dolli and her people. Kelzoul’s foot slammed down on the crystal shield. The sound was louder than thunder, but the dome held fast against the attack. Kelzoul stepped back, then launched a powerful punch at the dome. The boom shook people to the core, and a crack formed in the top.

The ground rumbled again and the stones lifted, shifted, and locked into place. They raised from the ground in four massive, stumbling steps like a horse rising to its feet for the first time. The stony head of a turtle covered in moss snapped from the ground and caught Kelzoul’s next attack in its sharp beak.

The monstrous overlord cried out in pain, then ripped his hand away, spraying orange goop across the solid dome. But that didn’t stop him. He lifted another foot to smash down on the shield and Dolli swore she heard him bellow her name in his war cry.

Thunderous booms rang out overhead followed by another crack in the shield, this one opening a wide hole. She couldn’t wait for the dungeon to fight this battle itself, they had to help, or they would lose. But how?

The dungeon turtle snapped its head out like lightning and latched on to Kelzoul’s offending leg. There was a loud snap and the bone in Kelzoul’s leg broke under the pressure of the dungeon’s bite. Orangy goop dribble down his leg, but the wound was already on the mend. Kelzoul limped forward to deliver another punch to the turtle dungeon.

A chill swirled through the open hole at the top of the dome, and snow fell all around them. The gentle jingle and a “Ho, ho, ho,” filled Dolli with unexpected hope. Taffy and his posse of reindeer and elves galloped through the opening at the top of the turtle’s frosty shell, then landed and slowed to a trot before Dolli.

“Looks like you found the ultimate shit-your-pants ability!” Taffy said. He dismounted and stood next to Dolli. “Need some help?”

“I thought you said we didn’t have a chance?” Dolli asked.

He shook his head. “Nah, I said your chances were bad, but not zero. How we fightin’ this creep?”

Dolli looked around the wreckage of her home. Bits of undetonated dynamite sat amid the crushed and mossy stones, and a plan started taking shape in Dolli’s mind.

“Taffy, you said Kelzoul’s dungeon core was inside him somewhere, right?”

The elf nodded. “His chest, well protected by thick ribs.”

“Compromised ribs,” Dolli said with a gleam in her eyes. “That turtle just snapped his femur, one of the strongest bones in the body. I have no doubt we can get past a few ribs.”

Dolli waved Brene over to be her amplifier and the Stagarth spoke across the entire dungeon for Dolli.

“Get the turrets outside the shell. We’re going to attach the dynamite to the ballistae bolts, light it, and aim for the chest. His dungeon core is in there and we need to expose it. Boji name I need you to craft me a special bomb I can attach a potion to from the damaged dynamite we can’t use. Greg, start crafting more bolts for the ballistae. Brene, get fighters out there the man the weapons and healers to keep them from dying. Rufus, get everyone who can’t fight to help Boji, Greg, or collecting barrels of Spark and Health regeneration potions.”

Dolli stopped for a much-needed deep breath. “Let’s kill this bastard. For Haven!”

The dungeonfolk echoed her war cry with determination she could feel. This wasn’t over yet, not by a longshot.

Dolli turned to Taffy. “Have any skill in alchemy?”

“Sweety, I’ve been brewin’ potions since before you were born,” Taffy said with a cocky smirk.

“Doubtful but follow me.” Dolli took off for her alchemy lab. “What kind of potions can you make?”

“The kind that puts hair on your chest.”

Dolli whirled on him. “You mean you’re a brewer? That’s not the same.”

“Hey, I’m not just a brewer. I’m a master level distiller.”

Dolli rolled her eyes and pushed open the dilapidated door to her alchemy lab. It wasn’t as bad on the inside as it was on the outside, but it was still in disarray, and Dolli worried it would take too long to find everything she needed. If only the dungeon knew the alchemy lab was key to surviving the threat, perhaps it could reshape­­—

Magical green Spark lit up the room. The light was blinding for a second, and Taffy yelped in surprise, shielding his eyes. Debris melted into the floor and tables, shelves repaired themselves, jars of ingredients disappeared, then rematerialized in their proper place. Dolli watched it all in awe as the dungeon repaired her lab.

“Wow, that was somethin’,” Taffy said.

“No time to gawk. We have a dungeon to kill.”

Dolli used her Vapor Form ability to take a human, solid shape. Her feet dropped to the floor and the trembling of the ground pulled her into the moment. She moved to the shelves with purpose, reaching out for vials, jars of herbs, tongs, and more. Taffy followed behind, taking everything from her and setting it on the clean workstation.

“So, this what you use’ta look like?” Taffy asked, gesturing to her now solid form.

She passed one of the glass cabinets and spared a quick glance. She was still the twilight coloration of her Celestelle form, but shaped much like she once had been, save about twenty years younger. “Something like this. Fleshier, though.”

“You’re prettier now, I think,” he said.

Dolli laughed. “I’m a cloud of Spark. Speaking of, I’ll need you to handle the final product.”

“Why?” Taffy looked concerned, as if Dolli had tricked him.

“Because if my Spark touches it, we might all blow up.”

“Might,” he said, voice raised with tension.

“The potion will have a high-energy reaction with material from the Lifestream and since I’m directly connected to the core­—which has Lifestream energy flowing through it—it’s possible.”

Dolli watched as the plan clicked into place for Taffy. “You’re gonna blow up his core.”

“Hopefully.”

Taffy smiled. “Then let’s get to work.”