Crowned in Black: Chapter 38

“Okay. So… that didn’t go as well as we might have hoped for. But at least we all made it out.”

The group of us were back outside of the maze, recovering at our respawn point. None of us who’d died had respawned with full health, and it had taken about a third of our supplies to recover from the catastrophic loss against the Screaming Tree. It was the first boss fight I personally had ever screwed up in this game. By the expressions on the others’ faces, we were all nursing wounded pride alongside our actual wounds.

“Sucks that it went that way. But we learned some of its capabilities, and now we can plan,” I continued. “The tree IS ten levels higher than we are, and this IS meant to be a very rare dungeon.”

I’d respawned about as well as last time. Headache, initial confusion… a quick return of my sense of self, then what felt like a systematic download of my memories, recent and not. Some heat. No bonus pain. OUROS had definitely done something to change me between now and the fight where Ororgael had nuked my ass dead. Something that had been broken was now fixed - or patched, at least.

"Obvious thing is a different small group strategy than normal," Suri grunted. "Just grateful Karalti's alright."

Karalti looked at her sidelong. "Why me? Because I don't come back to life?"

"More that we don't know if you come back to life. The Architects don't say anything about it in the ArchemiPedia." I'd combed the wiki in my spare time now and then, looking for information on what happened to Bonded mounts if they died, but it had been a low-priority part of the database in the scramble to prepare Archemi for the influx of HEX victims. The only article on mounts noted that hookwings and quazi could be bonded to their riders, in which case they would live as long as the player did until such a time as they were released. Unbonded mounts would age normally and could die from combat. Death wasn't covered for bonded mounts.

"Mmm..." Karalti grimaced. "Yeahhh. I'm definitely too awesome to die."

"So, anyone got any ideas on how we fight the giant murder bush?" Gar cocked an eyebrow. He sat on the ground near Karalti, gangly arms resting over his knees. His coat and hat lay to the side, leaving him in a stained tank and shoulder harness. "I ain't got anything that protects from all the poisoning and berserk and shit."

I paced around a bit, thinking, trying to put the boss pattern together. "First thing it did was blast our buffs from us, so going in buffed is pointless. Then the big black tentacles erupt. There's six of them, one more than there are people in the party for this dungeon. That's deliberate, so that we can't each single one out. At fifty percent, the Tree let loose with Doom Spore, then it began blasting us with AoE sonic attacks. That's the attrition phase."

"Attrition phase?" Rin was still busy repairing Lovelace, and had turned her bedroll into a makeshift workstation.

"Yeah. As in, trying to wear us down before the next stage of the boss." I cycled the imagery of the fight through my memory. No one said anything while I continued to move around, readying themselves for the next phase.  "We've always underused Karalti's magic and relied too heavily on Rin's, when Rin's strength is Fire and Air elemental damage. Normally it’s because we lean on Karalti’s armor-breaking and Darkness attacks but... hmm..."

I caught Suri watching me out of the corner of my eye. She straightened up slightly when I paused, and bapped my fist into the palm of the other hand.

"Okay, guys, I think I've got it." I turned to them. "So here's what we're gonna do..."

***

Twenty minutes later, we exited the maze into the arena. The boss had reset, as expected. It was jarring to see the arena had resumed its pristine state, every particle of dirt back in its former place - one of those things that occasionally shook me out of the now-habitual feeling that Archemi was the 'real world'. Because I'd never lost a boss fight before, I'd never seen a room do this.

"Alright: everyone know what they're doing?" When a chorus of 'yeahs' went up, I pushed my visor down and banged the top. "In that case, let's turn this motherfucker into a softwood."

We normally fought in the ye olde melee-ranged setup: Suri at the front to tank, Karalti and I supporting from flanks and moving around an enemy, ranged at the back and rotating or closing in defensively as needed.

This time, we had Karalti at the back in dragon form, Suri and I at the front, and Rin and Gar in position to our left, ready to take on one of the three front tentacles we expected to burst up. Rin had crafted every fire-based ammo she could, and was ready to enchant Gar's. We hadn't buffed yet. The Tree would be expecting it.

Sure enough, as we ran into the arena, the Screaming Tree stiffened, spreading its branches, and wailed with its eerie Purging of the Light. This time, we didn't have any buffs to depower - but as soon as the [Savage Roots] erupted, we were ready for them. Suri flared with a burst of red light, roaring as she empowered her defense, then hummed with a dark aura as Karalti cast Dark Power on Suri from the back:

[Dark Power: Triples power of next physical attack.]

I used Mantle of Night and Dancing Fly, buffing my attack and evasion as Rin caste Haste on me, swelling with sudden energy and speed. As Suri charged one root, Karalti’s second casting of Dark Power hit me, just as I shifted the polarity of the Spear to fire and Jumped high and fast. This time, the root was too slow to hit me. The limb slammed the ground seconds too late, only to spasm and writhe as I drove the Spear into it for an incredible amount of damage.

[You deal 11,178 damage to Savage Root!]

[You gain new achievement: One Hit One Kill]

Rin and Gar focused on one root at the back, running circles around it as they fired with burning bolts and bullets. Karalti, unable to dodge but well able to tank, blasted the other one with fire and lumbered forward to snap around the burning, struggling root with her jaws, twisting it down to subdue it. As I twisted the Spear, a flash of instinct warned me that something was coming from behind. I leaped up as the second of the three front roots crashed down across the one I'd nearly killed, smashing it into the dirt.

"Tentacles, tentacles, ev-ry-where! Tentacles, tentacles, if you dare!" I sung aloud to keep rhythm as I pivoted in the air and unleashed Master of Blades on the pair of them. I couldn't use Rain of Glass - it was inherently Dark-element - but Master of Blades was not. The web of energy and the halo of darts that formed around me were rimed with flames as they shot past, crashing into the [Savage Roots] with furious power and speed. They took out the first root and sent the other flailing back - easy prey as I landed and dashed forward into one of my rarely used melee abilities, Whirlwind Butcher. Every hit caused the root to shudder, and refilled my depleted AP - rapidly regaining as Mantle of Night also did its work.

[You deal 2145 Damage! Suri deals 4100 damage!]

[You have killed Savage Root! You have killed Savage Root! Suri has killed Savage Root!]

"Three down!" I shouted, only to see more notifications go up as Karalti tore her root from the ground and hurled it to the side of the arena in a welter of black blood. "Four down! Brace for the Doom Spores!"

Sure enough, the Tree screamed and thrashed, curling its branches in. As planned, I ran away from the trunk and Gar split from Rin. Suri, on the other hand, snarled and ran toward it, embracing the cloud of spores as they exploded through the room. My skin burned where they touched, and I crumpled down at Karalti's feet with a groan. The 60-second countdown to petrification began. Rin, immune to almost all status effects, continued to whittle down one of the roots, focusing on taking it out. Gar stumbled to his knees beside me in Karalti's shadow, screaming with rage as the Berserk status took hold.

But this time, we knew what to do. Karalti wove her head and sung a soft, pure note.

[Karalti casts Cursebreaker!]

[Cursebreaker: Remove common status effects/debuffs.]

Sick brown fog pulled out of Gar's body as he staggered to his feet, pistol raised... then promptly collapsed again, panting, as Cursebreaker cured his status effects.

Meanwhile, Suri - Berserking uncontrollably, her sword dripping with flames - had gone straight for the only target nearby: the Screaming Tree itself. She bellowed, hacking down again and again, sending chunks of wood and flesh flying. Gar high-fived me as he stumbled back to his feet, running to rejoin Rin. Karalti cast Cursebreaker on me, next, and I groaned with relief as the status effects lifted. My AP began to fill again, and I ran back into the fray: Jumping onto the second last [Savage Root as Rin, Gar, and Lovelace finally brought their one to ground.

I Jumped again, but as I sailed down toward the next root, it twisted away and the Spear hit dirt instead of plant flesh. I glimpsed the black spines emerging from it just before it jettisoned its flechettes, and yelled a cry of warning as I Shadowdanced through the cloud of barbs. This time, I only took two hits - one to the shoulder, one to that same arm, the right. Gritting my teeth, I charged it anyway - Blood Storm, Blood Sprint, Death by a Thousand Cuts. Each blindingly fast slash opened it up, leaving it vulnerable to the flaming bolts that impacted it as I dashed out of the way. The Tree wailed and shuddered as its last root fell.

Suri stumbled away, only ten seconds away from petrifying when Karalti hit her with the spell. In her moment of recovery, the Tree struck. Bulbous greenish growths appeared all over it like blisters, rupturing with high-pressure jets. Suri took one directly, exclaiming as a blast of [Dissolving Acid] caused her armor to smoke and fume. Rin shrieked as another hit Lovelace.

"Hold together! Second phase!" I shouted, tanking a glancing hit of acid and boosting myself with Mantle of Night again. Dancing Fly was still active, the timer slowly ticking down. "Remember what we need to do! Rush the Tree, deal as much damage as you can!"

After a few seconds, the acid stopped. Karalti took three big steps forward, ducked her head, and opened her jaws to blast the Tree with flames as Suri and I closed in from the sides. I went to air, hitting it with Master of Blades, following in on the heels of the flaming missiles with Whirlwind to rebuild my adrenaline. Rin's sweet voice raised from the back as she buffed my speed again. I dodged flailing spiked branches on instinct as the Tree's HP drained.

[The Screaming Tree: HP 39,678/71,000]

The Screaming Tree began to curl inward under the fury of fire, greatsword and Spear. A deep wail started within its trunk, growing in intensity... and warning us.

"Retreat! AoE!" I didn't know for sure, but my intuition screamed at me to disengage and run. Suri and Karalti backed up, splitting for the edges of the floor... and just as we reached it, the Tree threw its branches wide open with a horrifying screech, a sphere of pure darkness erupting from its core and spreading out into the room. There was barely enough space for Karalti to avoid it, but she managed, barely. Wherever the Dark Sphere had touched was frozen - the ground was now rimed with ice, which we discovered as we charged back in and found our boots skidding across the slick surface.

"This boss does NOT fuck around!" I topped off my HP and used the momentum to fuel my next attacks, knocking bark from the surface of the Tree so I could ram the Spear into its inner tissues - which looked disturbingly more like meat than wood. It was closing in on half HP now, and as soon as it reached fifty percent...

"HECTOR! The WALLS!" Rin shouted from across the room.

I looked to see weird, four-petalled black flowers bursting out of the stone, pink stamen-tentacles lashing in their centers. They belched clouds of pollen... then crackled with power as they began to charge. There were flowers in every direction around us: up, down, staggered on every wall. We were about to be caught in some kind of net.

"HIT THE GROUND!" I threw myself to the floor and covered the back of my head. The others followed - except for Karalti, who's size left her completely exposed. She yelped, backing up - a sound drowned out by the high ringing tone of thirty beams of energy blasting off around as at once in a grid-shaped pattern through the room.

[Screaming Tree uses Searing Beam!]

[Karalti takes 1,628 reduced damage!]

"Aieee!" Karalti roared in agony as nearly half her HP drained away in one too-long hit, writhing in the prison of beams before they died away. And then the ground rumbled underneath us. More roots.

"Karalti! Heal up!" I ordered, scrambling up as more [Savage Roots] burst through the floor. But this time, the flowers were still there, menacing us from all sides as another five shining black tentacles arced and curled, seeking their prey. "Get those roots, and watch out for the flowers! Karalti, if you see them charging up, Polymorph and drop to the floor!"

"Yeah!" Karalti had one dragon-sized healing potion in her inventory, and as she followed my instructions, I watched her health ring rise back into the yellow-green range, about 80%. She darted back out to savagely slash and bite one of the roots, saving her remaining fire for the Tree. My world zoned in on the root in front of me. There were only five this time, one for each of us - or more accurately, one for Rin and Karalti, one just for the dragon, and one for everyone else. I somersaulted up out of the way as the tentacle tried to slam down over me, driving the Spear into it as I fell, then Jumped back into the air and rained fiery death onto it. As the [Savage Root convulsed in its death throes, I sprinted for the nearest of the crackling flowers, raising the Spear to stab. The burning weapon lanced for the center of it... and then a shock of freezing cold snapped up along the weapon and blew me off my feet, sending me flying and shaving off a bit over 300 HP.

"Don't attack the flowers!" We were stuck with the fucking things.

Our worlds narrowed down to the enemies in front of us. Were down to two Roots when the flowers began to charge again. Karalti hissed, spitting a gout of ghost fire at the Tree itself before she shapeshifted down, hitting the dirt just as the tearing beams of blacklight seared over our heads. Suri took a body blow from a Root; so did Rin, but it was still less damage than the Crossbeam would have done. The beams didn't affect the boss or its minions. But when they cleared, Suri and I joined Rin and Gar to take down the other two.

The Tree's branches furled inward as more of its acid-carrying pustules formed. I signaled everyone back, and we fled to the edges of the arena again as acid sprayed in all directions, followed by more blasts of blacklight from the walls. This time, the Tree screeched like some sort of weird conductor, causing blasts of power to tear from the flowers one or two at a time. We stayed down, waiting until the barrage finally stopped - then as one, we rushed in for the kill.

"Give it everything you've got!" I charged straight at it, burning my AP down to just enough to use Whirlwind Butcher. The Tree, suddenly vulnerable, rocked and shuddered under our blows and bullets. Burning, screaming, it began to thrash... until finally, I plunged down into the bulbous 'head' of it within the crown of branches, and the Spear cracked through something and sunk through. Black blood sprayed up, soaking my weapon and armor.

[You have dealt 8446 damage!]

[You have defeated the Screaming Tree! You gain 5,740 EXP! Karalti gains 5,740 EXP! Suri reaches Level 42! Gar reaches Level 33!]

[You gained a new Achievement: Delver of the Deep.]

The Tree's cries turned eerie as it thrashed from side to side, swaying as it tried to bend its many limbs in toward me and pull me away. I twisted the Spear for emphasis, hanging onto it as the creature began to topple... and then crashed to the ground in a sprawl of twitching, coiling branches and broken roots.

Once again, silence reigned.

"Well. That was horrifying." Suri, panting hard, pushed her visor up and slung her wet, scorched sword over one shoulder.

I looked over at the others. Gar and Rin were hurt, Rin isolating herself from the rest of the team as she used a cautery iron to seal tears in her silicon flesh. By her expression of concentration, it apparently didn't hurt. Gar, on the other hand, was coughing blood and clutching his ribs. He'd taken some kind of fracture. Karalti had been hit by a blast of acid. Her skin looked red and blistered, and her Light Baru-style armor was hanging off her in tatters.

The corpse of the Screaming Tree began to shiver. The flowers on the walls died, dropping their petals. Those were caught up by a sudden cold wind that blew through the chamber, chasing away the smells of blood, acid, and burned dirt. A whispering filled the chamber as the corpse of the tree began to break apart into what almost looked like huge, featureless leeches. They slithered to the floor, crawling across the ground as it rumbled. The walls ahead of us parted to reveal a large recessed door, and here, the leeches either vanished, merging with the shadows... or reformed into the towering figure of a tall, slim man dressed all in black. There was no face under his hood - just a glittering void of space, a universe in miniature containing galaxies and stars.

Matir - his figure fizzing and fritzing like a bad hologram - spread his spidery hands out in greeting. His voice slithered through the air like dry leaves. "It seems I chose wisely, Herald. Your selection as the Paragon was no mere nepotism on the part of your brother. Truly, you and everyone else who stands here are exceptional."

"Thanks." I replied gruffly, resting the Spear over my shoulder. “So… why the fuck do you have a demon tree again, exactly?”

“Ahh… The Screaming Tree.” Matir sighed softly. “A relic from another world, another time… a continuous reminder of the folly of countless species. Humans, dragons, the Aesari, those peoples of worlds now long dead. In all cases… those peoples believed they could control the Drachan, and bend them to their purposes. This tree, one of the earliest victims on the world of the Solonkratsu, was salvaged and brought here to remind me always of our mistakes.”

“Archemi?” Gar asked, uncertainly.

"Erruku. Now, you shall come with me, all of you." Matir replied, turning to regard us each in turn. "And finally we shall speak, Herald. Face to face."