Chapter 74: Team Three and the Real Monster

  Grace watched the other two teams disappear behind doors and turned to her own team. A group of people she had not met until a few days ago. Cullen was a support and had only limited combat power. Pierre was pretty strong, she had seen him in action. The last one, Elise was still an unknown to her. The young woman wore medium armor of acceptable quality and wielded a superheavy shotgun. A good weapon for the current environment and a good indicator she had a sizable amount of strength crests. “I guess we should get moving too.” She said and took the lead followed by Cullen and Pierre, Elise with her room-sweeper was last.

  As planed they moved to the right and followed a long corridor towards one of the work areas. A strong stench was in the air and got stronger the closer they came. “Everybody take one of these please.” Cullen said and offered a small pink candy to the team. Grace took one without hesitation and sucked on it. “Vanilla, strawberry?” She asked and Cullen smiled. “Yes, happy times.” And for sure Grace started to feel chipper. The stench in the air was only distant nuisance now. The man knew what he was doing, Grace thought and inspected him once more. He was small of stature and wore only light armor. His weapon though was rather special. “Is that a paintball gun?” Grace asked while sucking on her candy. “Yes, for now it is the best I can do. I hope to find a company that would make me a more professional solution eventually.” She inspected the sports weapon. “I guess it does not shoot paint.” Cullen laughed “No, of course not. It is my own take on the traditional spheres Alchemists have been using over the last decade. Less volume but higher speed and accuracy. Also a lot more ammunition.” Grace nodded thoughtfully and turned her attention towards the area in front of her.

  “Why am I on this team Mr. Cullen?” Grace said as they walked into the stench laden room. The room was filled with dedicated work zones, large metal bins on rolls and mechanical saws. From the smell, monster bodies had been carved apart here. “What do you mean?” the small man asked. “I did not miss the fact, that you manipulated the team compositions in a way that I would end up here with you instead of Elena. Strange choice given that she has lots of experience working with you.” Grace answered and walked further into the butchering area. Elise and Pierre did not say anything but Grace could tell they were listening to every word that was said. “Because you are the best chance we have to take on what awaits us at the end.” Cullen said and for once his friendly demeanor was missing. “So you know?” She said and he nodded. “My last doubts vanished when I saw the operation setup here.” Grace smiled and relaxed the muscles in her shoulders. She would get to fight the end boss, nice!

  “You are not upset?” Cullen asked walking behind the woman in her light but high quality armor. “There is no need for that. Marcus is going to be upset enough for two anyway. You should not deceive him, he is too good-natured for that.” Grace answered and passed a large stinking metal bin. In the motion to avoid it, she moved her sword around and checked the reflection on the blade. They were already being followed. “That is true. If we survive, I will have to apologize to him. But he can’t be part of this, he would get killed.” Cullen said with a stern voice. As they spoke Grace send signals over the Com line informing everybody what was about to happen. The signals only carried basic information but she depended on the flexibility of the team Cullen.

  Grace walked around a mechanical saw and a turned over metal bin and was looking for the right moment to act. A large explosion from inside the building made dirt rain down from the ceiling and Grace charged down the main isle towards the hiding enemies. Gun fire erupted instantly from the enemies but her shield and armor kept her safe for the two seconds she needed to cross the distance.

  A man jumped out from behind a large metal bin and swung a nasty looking axe at her but she ducked and cut his legs off with her glowing sword. She used her rest momentum and one hand on the metal container to move up again. Pain suddenly covered her left arm and chest, her armor was smoldering. A woman, about ten meter away and behind cover, focused her with fierce eyes. Firelord, well lady, and not a weak one either giving how fast the pain was ramping up. Grace planed her attack route but something hit the lady of fire in the face and left a red smear on her. A second and third hit covered her neck and face and the pain on Grace’s body slowly stopped.

  She watched Pierre neutralize the man with the automatic rifle, he was not half bad with those short swords. She casually stabbed down and ended the suffering of the man without legs and walked over to the Firelord. The woman sat on the ground smiling and poking with her finger at the sharp edge of the metal saw next to her. “What have you done to her?” Grace asked and Cullen stepped next to her. “She is happy. At least for a while she will not need anything and all the worries of the world have fallen off her shoulders.” the small man said. “Not exactly what I expected but it is effective, I can not argue with that. There are days I could need a shot from that too.” Grace said but Cullen shook his head. “Sadly, like all things in the world there is a price to this. Once the effect wears off, she will lose all will to act for a few hours. It is like losing all motivation.”

  They cleaned up and Grace saw Elise, with her terrifying shotgun, standing next to the smiling woman. “Sorry there was nobody left to kill for you. But if you want to murder that helpless woman I will pretend I didn’t see anything.” Grace said with a wide smile. Elise’s face was filled with horror and she quickly moved away from the woman. Cullen watched the interaction and then gave Grace a red potion “It will heal the burns quickly.” She nodded and swallowed it in one go.

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  “So, what class am I going to face.” She said while moving forward. “Berserker.” Cullen said with a sad voice. Yes, that would be a horrible match up for sweet Marcus, Grace thought.

  They left the butchering area behind and moved through a wide corridor that led to another large room with pillars, hooks and what looked like shower heads. The area was covered in cheap tiles and water drains. It was an interesting combat arena for sure, Grace thought walking closer to the tall man in the back. The enemy wore a fine heavy armor in red and black and leaned on a long axe with a wide blade. That man was strong Grace could tell with one look. By far the most dangerous enemy they had faced and given his calm, a real veteran.

  “So you followed the hints I left behind for you, Rian.” the tall man said with a dark voice. Cullen stepped up and his face was like stone. “How could you do this Ron.” He said and the other man laughed. “Spare me your preaching. All I did was stealing from far bigger crooks.” Ron said, moved his weight and grabbed his large axe with one hand. “You tried to kill me AND my team. Why! Why have you forsaken everything we have fought for.” Cullen said with an angry voice but the other man only laughed loudly. “What we fought for? Do you have any idea how many blue eyed kids I had to bury over the years? How many speeches about spirit and purpose I had to make until I could no longer stand it! Those young fools were dying in droves and the fat cats on top got rich on it. No money for training or starter gear but unholy amounts of money vanished into thin air.” The man shouted and his voice echoed through the room.

  “Once I got high enough in the food chain I learned how much money was made with monster corpses from the LCPS. BILLIONS Rian. It is an industry that runs on the lives of those kids. I tried to change something at first but I had to learn a bitter lesson, all of those fat cats are part of it. So, I decided to take my cut and get out. But you had to stick your nose where it did not belong Rian. And now you and your beloved team will die here.”

  Ronald Brahms watched his old friend and prepared for what he had to do, what he had prepared himself to do for some time. First he had send somebody else to kill Rian, but that had been a mistake and had lead to this situation. He inspected his opposition and they were basically unharmed. He had not expected that. The people that he had with him were all veterans of the LCPS. They should have at least cut one or two of them down and then there was this woman. Instead of Elena, Rian had brought an unknown woman, a melee specialist by all means. “Pierre stand back, Elise give me speed. Mr. Cullen don’t interfere.” The woman said and moved forward.

  She wants to go alone? That was perfect for him, Pierre would be next on the list. He would not enjoy killing Rian’s wards in front of his eyes but Rian would not have to life long with that memory.

  “Be careful, Ron is a monster.” Cullen said and Grace nodded. Elise gave her a speed buff and she could feel the effect as she made some test swings. Speed was extremely important when you fight an Berserker. This class has been in the top ten rankings since the start because their base ability Rage Strike was so insane. It is a special attack that can cut anything. Any material, shield or barrier gets cut, people of course too. No matter how fancy your armor or how high your vitality a Rage Strike will cut through you like butter. It is a truly broken ability, but it comes with some hefty downsides. For one the Berserker has to charge up by literally hitting things. “Getting fired up” they call it and then the Rage Strike itself causes the weapon (or unarmed attack) to become really heavy and you need tremendous strength to move it with acceptable speed.

  What it comes down to, when you fight a Berserker, was a kind of mind game. Luring out the Rage Strike and avoiding it. But the Berserker of course knows that too and will feint and bluff until you make a mistake and then goodbye. Grace knew all of that and had already the pleasure of fighting Berserkers before. She charged in with her shield held high.

  Cullen watched Grace engage Ron and a quick exchange of strikes followed that left Ron with several cuts on his arms and legs. Grace was moving deftly around the large man and her sword left blinding streaks in the air. Cullen knew how powerful and dangerous Ron was, he had seen him fight many monsters and class holders, but Grace was on a different level. When he had learned that Grace Taylor had joined Marcus he had not believed his eyes. She was a prodigy and already over level 70 at this young age. Why this woman had chosen to follow Marcus was beyond him but right now she was dominating Ron in a way he had never expected.

  Another exchanged followed and more blood dripped from the thick armor of the Berserker. How can she attack this recklessly if he could cut her apart at any moment? Cullen was sure Ron had started the fight already fired up, he had done this many times before. What was he waiting for?

  Ron made a wide swing and the air pressure could be felt from the distance. Grace stepped in for a piercing strike against his shoulder when he suddenly turned that shoulder away, shortened his grip and moved with far greater speed than before. The blade of the axe was glowing in a bright red light and Grace was centimeters from being cut in half.

  Her shield shot upwards as if she had been waiting for this move all along and the edge collided with Ron’s helmet. A bright light exploded and Ron staggered back the red aura of his axe was fading away. Without any delay Ron made a swing with his axe that shattered a nearby pillar and let dust and debris reign over the area. Grace was already on the other side but a backhand swing followed with even greater speed. The edge of her shield hit the elbow of Ron’s left arm and sharp light flashed destroying the arm at that point and stopping the swing. Cullen saw Ron stagger one last time and a glowing blade emerged from his chest as Grace pierced his heart from the back.

  Ron fell to the ground and a dull sound echoed through the room. Red blood incinerated on Grace’s blade and she looked down to the dead man “To be honest fighting Marcus was way harder. The speed buff was wasted.”