43 Chapter 43 (2/2)
”Why would you bet the healer-” James paused in his statement, as his mind replayed what he knew of the group. ”Shit.” The healer and the troll were a thing. Rue was banking on that fact, to assume they would do something stupid. Normally healers, at least good ones, were the last to die. But James could see Olivia or Troll'd doing something stupid and getting themselves killed. Hopefully Manly lived up to his name and tried to keep the priestess safe. It seemed they were both playing on assumed character flaws for their bet. When had they started putting so much thought into their betting?
”No changing our bets now.” Rue's comment came just as the group neared the city. The haze of smoke and dust that filled the air kept the massive steampunk dinosaurs that roamed the plains outside of the city a haze, keeping the adventurers from being able to make out what they were. James was sure to the players who could see the forms, their minds were scrambling for some strange demonic animal. Oh, were they in for a surprise.
”Alright, Gno-more, going to need you to start checking for traps.” The knight stood aside, letting the thief take the lead. The thief looked down at his screen, and after making motions, indicating he had selected an option, began walking forward. If James had to guess, the gnome had just activated a trap detecting skill.
”Well, that's no fun.” James had been hoping his new traps would be able to at least weaken the group, but as they moved forward, the thief appeared quite capable at avoiding his new traps. The saving grace was that James hadn't seen many thief players milling about. That was also evidenced by the fact he was still slowly gaining experience from his first-floor pitfall traps.
”So, the dungeon has demonic farm animals, right?” Troll'd was speaking casually as they walked forward, Gno-more helping navigated the empty streets. So far, they hadn't come across any mobs, but James knew that was going to change soon.
”No shit sherlock.” Skar had his shield at the ready, his eyes scanning everywhere. James had to give it to them, they were cautious. They knew they shouldn't be in the location but were taking the risk for the reward of higher experience and loot, in order to try and catch up to the Knights.
”So, what type of farm animals exist in a deserted city?” The troll made a good point. James had to give him that much.
At his comment, the entire party paused, turning to look at the troll. Manly the Dwarf opened his mouth to answer, his hand raised, before he lowered it. Everyone was so caught up in thought, trying to find the answer that they didn't realize they had stopped in probably the worst possible location, a crossroad.
The smoke in the air seemed to part in an unnatural fashion, as a cloaked Spy-nosaurus lunged at the group. The Spy-nosaurus, James had found, used an artificial fin on its back to produce a strange smoke that allowed it to blend in completely to the environment. The moment the mob connected with its target, Gno-more its cloaking ability faded away. Teeth and gears clanked together as the dinosaur raised its head, crunching down hard on the trapped thief. It wasn't enough to kill the poor gnome, but it was doing a good amount of damage.
To their credit, the group didn't panic. They didn't react as fast as James thought they should have, but they also didn't break down in terror and run. After the initial shock started to wear away, they began to fight back. Gno-more was throwing what appeared to be little bombs at the dinosaur's back fin, even while his life was being chunked by the monster. Olivia had her staff raised, and was chanting out a healing spell, slowing Gno-more's demise, but unable to completely stop it.
”I can't out heal the damage.” The priestess said between chants, and James guessed her heal was on cooldown.
”Get him free.” Skar called out, and as he spoke, Troll'd drew a couple of arrows. With practiced ease, the troll launched dicken feathered arrows at the dinosaur. The arrows impacted against the monster's throat, causing it to roar and loosen its hold on the thief. The moment it did, Skar and Manly rushed forward. Skar smashed his shield into the monster's metal chest, while Manly took up position, swinging his axe at the Spy-nosarur's leg like he would a tree.
”Let him go.” Manly chanted as his axe bit into the dinosaur's leg, over and over. After a moment, the thief, with a sliver of life, managed to pry himself free. James glanced at his mob's health, noticing the party was doing a good a job of whittling away at its health. Because it was such a higher level than the group though, they had to contend with its increased defense and attack stats. They would definitely gain a lot of experience fighting these mobs, but it wasn't going to be easy on them.
”Oh, they are an impressive team.” Rue commented as Gno-more was freed, and James nodded in agreement.
”True, but they are a bit unlucky.” James pointed with his tentacle towards one of the side streets leading towards them. A group of velocity raptors was heading swiftly towards the party, likely attracted to the location due to noise of the fight. Because of their trait ∆D/∆T, they were moving fast.
”Fighting in an abandoned, unknown city, probably not the best idea.” Rue was nodding her head, grinning. ”If they didn't have the smaller guys, they would have been able to pick off one of the taller mobs out in the savanna in relative safety.”
James had to agree with Rue. If he had been playing, he would have stayed in the savanna, at least until his level had grown a little more. The abandoned city just seemed like the perfect place to be ambushed by mobs. Even when he explored dungeons and ruins, he did his best not to put himself in a position where he would aggro a lot of mobs. Though, to be fair, he, and probably every other gamer out there, had gotten themselves killed more than once when exploring new areas, especially if there were new mobs with abilities they didn't know.
”Well, look at it this way.” James watched as the velocity raptors drew nearer. They were preparing to exit and alley into the street behind the party, meaning they would have direct line of sight to the priestess, darn it. ”They're going to gain experience of a few of the mobs in the area, and I'm going to gain actual experience, from killing them, it's a win-win.”
”Well, a win-win-lose.” Rue had noticed the same fact he did and was grinning as the raptors broke out into the street. The leader of the pack let out a metallic cry of excitement, before the group rushed towards the adventurers. ”It looks like I'm going to win the bet.” As she spoke, the first raptor leapt towards Olivia, its metallic claws extending to cut deeply into her. James winced as she burst into an orb of light. Not only were the raptors stats boosted by Steam Powered Pack, the blasted mob had landed a critical strike on Olivia.
”Well, you know what they say.” James sighed as he watched his 50 resources disappear, going back to Rue. The pixie was grinning, both from her winning of the bet, and the chaos brought upon the group as their healer fell. The raptors were already heading towards Troll'd, who was doing his best to launch arrows into them, but it was pointless. The moment their healer died, their party's fate had been sealed. ”You can't win them all.”