93. Coaster

  “I think I see where this is going,” Serac thought out loud, wanting to make sure that all four Wayfarers were on the same page. “Zacko’s charging up another massive explosion, and when it goes off again, we won’t have anything to hide behind. We need to Poise-break Mulaharta again before that happens, which should make it spit out Zacko. Then we also need to deal enough damage to finish it off while its healing is disabled. Oh, and one more thing: we should all be careful and try not to become the next GIZZARD food!”

  Now that she’d outlined the plan, it sounded rather convoluted and fraught with potential pitfalls. Not the least of which was—

  “Before we can do any of that,” Renate gave voice to Serac’s concern, “we need a way to safely descend and engage GIZZARD. And that first explosion already took away most of our footholds.”

  “Leave that to us.”

  The Tomasen twins took off, with Lars and his newly recombined Instrument leading the charge. The STROKE-SIDE twin jumped into the open air with nothing to catch his fall. But as soon as he struck COASTER and sent it flying towards his BOW-SIDE brother, a trail of solid ice formed along its path, bridging one end of the corridor to the other.

  Thus, the twins sculpted their own Path where there was none. They jumped and landed and swung their OARS in perfect sync with each other, as a zigzagging footpath followed in their wake. It took them no time to close the gap on a stationary GIZZARD, and they would’ve topped off the trip with a Lars set-up into a Hans finisher…

  … Were it not for a wall of Slangespytts that joined together and stood in their way.

  A Poison Mat blanketed the entire corridor, thereby blocking any access to GIZZARD. And as Lars let rip his powerful, lightning-charged one-timer, COASTER bounced harmlessly against the Slangespytts’ Zealous-immune barrier.

  “Leave that to me!”

  Serac jumped into the fray, nearly slipping on ice in her eagerness to make herself useful. But she recovered just in time to aim from a kneeling position, lock onto the center of the Poison Mat, and fire:

  [Chamber One: CATHARSIS]

  [235!]

  The old reliable. Serac’s black flames of Penitence ignited the centermost Slangespytt before spreading rapidly to the peripheries, dealing [190!], [267!], and [535!] points of damage in sequence. By the time the fire died down, it’d burnt a nearly corridor-wide hole in the Poison Mat, surely large enough for the COASTER-wielding twins to attempt another shot…

  … Were it not for a squad of Rumpejettes that awaited on the other side.

  In the time it’d taken for the Wayfarers to make their approach, a swarm of slimy tadpoles had coalesced into several giant aggregates of themselves—four of them to be exact, one for each Wayfarer. They stood over GIZZARD in a compact formation, ready to defend their command center to the bitter end.

  Not only that, but they clearly subscribed to the philosophy that aggression was the best defense. For they wasted no time to start lobbing grenades, the source of which were the Rumpetrolls that had served as the giants’ own building blocks.

  Fresh hell rained up on the Wayfarers in the form of a Tadpole Airstrike. It was all Serac could do to sidestep the ordnances as they came, taking care to stay on ice as she did.

  Except, of course, the ice too was highly susceptible to the bombardment. The newly constructed bridges fell apart under heavy fire, leaving a Rakshasa gunslinger scrambling for footholds. There was no way for her to fight back, as she instead concentrated on simply staying on her feet.

  Not only that, but it was a matter of time until she ran out of room. One grenade took out the next ice platform she’d had her eyes on, before a second exploded right on top of her, snapping one of her horns clean off.

  [395!]

  The Tadpole Grenade packed a punch! Not just in terms of physical force and Attack Value, but also in its Poise-shredding capability. Pathsight wouldn’t show her the numbers, but Serac could nevertheless feel herself almost faint from the sheer impact, and was forced to take a knee just to steady herself.

  This is no good. Mulaharta doesn’t even have to wait for Zacko to finish charging up. These Tadpole Giants are more than capable of getting the job done!

  But not if the Tomasen twins—the architects of the ice bridges—had anything to say about it. Under the Rumpejette’s constant barrage, the sturgeons were forced to postpone their boss-smiting ambitions. So, they went right back to construction work.

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  The oarsmen passed COASTER between each other at a furious pace, all while dodging or batting away the grenades as they came. They made sure to dart all over the arena, generating more icy platforms than the Rumpejettes could destroy.

  The Tomasens did their part to keep the Wayfarers in the game. Now, it fell upon the two girls to break through and turn the tide of battle.

  “Renate!” Serac called over to the frog woman even as she sidestepped another grenade. “I’ve got a way to make this fight ‘fairer’, but I need your help. Could you focus on one Rumpejette and almost kill it but not quite?”

  “No guarantees, but I’ll try my best.”

  As it turned out, the Finless’s KL-63 ‘best’ was nothing short of spectacular.

  First, she jumped off the ice and to the edge of the arena, where she proceeded to run on the vertical wall. It was the same trick she’d pulled off earlier, made only possible by her bare, webbed feet. She now covered a much longer distance, running past the level of GIZZARD and its quartet of bodyguards.

  In response, the Rumpejettes shifted their formation, sliding across in unison to cover the angle of Renate’s approach. They’d identified her as the most immediate threat, and showed it by focusing their fire—four grenades, all hurtling toward one Yaksha.

  [Auxiliary Technique: ELEMENTAL SURGE]

  This time, the DREDGED-up ripples belonged to the air itself. The result was a localized hurricane, one that swallowed up all four grenades and sent them spinning above Renate’s head. She then bent at the knees and jumped off the wall, flying high into the air with her shovel poised.

  If the Tomasen twins were experts at batting Rumpetrolls, then Renate the Finless was an absolute artist at scooping them up and throwing them across the room. Where the frog woman lost to the sturgeons in power, she made up for with precision, ensuring that every one of her counter-grenades landed in the exact same spot.

  That spot belonged to the Rumpejette on the uppermost edge of the formation—and therefore the one closest to Serac. Which meant Renate even had the presence of mind to pick out the most helpful target! One, two, then three grenades exploded upon the Tadpole Giant in question, taking off just about a quarter of health each time.

  With the fourth and final grenade, Renate switched targets and flung it into the Rumpejette nearest her, thus declining the sure smite. She’d fully understood the assignment and followed through to perfection, and now, it was up to Serac to execute the rest of the plan.

  The presently one-horned Rakshasa hadn’t been idle while her frog partner put on a show. She’d been diligently cycling through her chambers (though not every shot had landed), and she’d even remembered to heal her Mana by downing the blue-colored [Pearl of Wisdom] (fizzy and pleasantly tart—definitely a step up from [Courage]). And once the Rumpejette’s attention had turned onto Renate, Serac was then able to steady her aim and empty her cylinder into the nearest Rumpejette, whittling its HP bar down to its last fragment.

  Now, with a full MP, a fresh set of rounds, and an Aberrant at death’s door, the conditions were ripe for:

  [Chamber One: EMBALMER]

  [100!]

  [136!]

  That was how a freshly ascended Narakite felled her first Wildspawn giant—or rather, turned it into an [Enlisted Husk] for 12 seconds. Her telepathic ‘instructions’ for her temporary ally couldn’t be simpler: keep your buddies busy!

  Just like that, a quartet of bodyguards turned into a trio plus one traitor who had unimpeded access to the very thing they’d been trying to protect. The [Enlisted] Rumpejette made every one of its 12 seconds count, first by swiveling in place and swinging a Tadpole’d fist at GIZZARD.

  It even managed to connect, reducing Mulaharta’s HP by another modest chunk. But that was before its nearest mate tackled it to the ground—just like, well, a bodyguard might with a would-be assassin. In the ensuing confusion, the other two Rumpejettes sabotaged themselves even further by lobbing grenades in friendly fire.

  All that meant the Rumpejettes’ attention had turned completely away from the Wayfarers. The defensive formation had broken, exposing parts of GIZZARD to the Wayfarers’ line of sight—starting with the half-digested meal that stuck out from its sphincter.

  Serac felt her heart leap to her throat as she took in what had become of Zacko. In the intervening time, the green had almost completely turned over to red. It meant the Manusya’s limp yet engorged body now positively simmered with wrathful Martial energy—a sight made all the more grotesque and terrifying by the laughing Buddha mask that still covered his face.

  There was no ‘build-up gauge’ to show just how close Zacko was to full charge, but the reality was plain for all to see. He was at his breaking point. It was only a matter of seconds before he erupted and destroyed everything in sight.

  But the Tomasen twins hadn’t been idle while the girls helped to clear the way. Perhaps, in a different life, the Wayfarers’ rough-and-tumble tactics might have been penalized for ‘goalie interference’. But this was the afterlife. And here, the only rule that mattered was the Path every soul blazed for themselves.

  No, the Tomasens hadn’t been idle. Far from it. For one quirk of their shared magic was that it too could charge up and elevate its damage potential far beyond its base.

  Without Hans here to activate COASTER, I do not have access to my most destructive spells. Co-wielding an Instrument has its advantages and disadvantages.

  Every pass between the twins—every flick of an icy OAR and every swing of its electric sibling—built up the Zealous energy that churned within COASTER. In fact, between all the zigzags and icy bridges, the sturgeon boys had completed a lot of passes in a short amount of time. And now, they concentrated all their pent-up anger, frustration, and zeal for a good fight… as they readied for one last finisher.

  If Lars was ice, then Hans was lightning. Lars with the pass, Hans with the shot, right into the heart of GIZZARD—and right as the seconds ticked down at the end of the game:

  [COASTER Spell: BUZZER BEATER]

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