“Your familiar is huge,” the mercenary commented when the younger man returned. “That is not what I pictured when I heard you had a sloth companion.”
“Just don’t say that to him,” Flynn replied.
Throm raised an eyebrow. “You don’t praise your familiar?”
“It’s got nothing to do with praise. Let’s just say brining up his size will derail the conversation.”
The mercenary looked confused for a moment then started laughing. “You taught him dirty jokes?”
Flynn glanced at Nyx.
“I did no such thing,” she asserted unconvincingly.
“It doesn’t matter where he learned it. I just don’t want to encourage it.”
“Why? Are you jealous of his size?” Nyx asked playfully.
Flynn pointed at the blue haired woman but spoke to the mercenary. “And that’s exactly why I don’t want to encourage it.”
Nyx started to protest, but Flynn cut her off. “Let’s focus on the problem at hand, namely the trolls. We only have a limited time with our familiars.”
It wasn’t really a big concern now that the Eldersloth’s summoning time had increased to two hours, but he needed a reason to change the subject.
“Okay.” She nodded, suddenly serious again. “Generally speaking, trolls are pretty hard to kill, and the description I got of the Mossback Trolls doesn’t make me think it will be any different with these monsters.”
“So what’s the best way to kill them?” Throm asked.
“One at a time,” Nyx said. “You can’t wound one and turn your back on it because it will heal. When you’re battling one, keep on it until it’s dead.”
The mercenary nodded. “That’s always a good idea in a fight.”
“With trolls, it’s essential.”
“We need to take out the Epic level troll first,” Flynn said. “Hopefully Thunder can tie up the others for ten seconds so we can deal with the big one first.”
“Sounds like a solid plan,” Throm said and summoned his crossbow.
Nyx nodded agreement as a glaive appeared in one hand. Her other hand twitched and Flynn knew she longed for her lightning blasting gun.
“Okay, enough talk, let’s take care of these trolls,” he said then motioned for Thunderbough to start the attack.
The Eldersloth curled up into a ball and started rolling down the adjacent hill toward the cluster of Mossback Trolls.
Flynn, Nyx, and Throm watched as the root and vine covered ball of sloth speed—relatively speaking—toward the monsters gathered around the large cookpot.
Thunderbough was significantly larger than he had been at Advanced level, but the three-foot sloth ball was still small in comparison to the ten-foot-tall trolls. He had just reached the bottom of the hill when the first Mossback Troll noticed the unusual rolling attack and the monsters quickly turned to respond.
The creatures moved toward the rolling Eldersloth and started to surround him.
Flynn smiled at the top of the hill. “They’re doing exactly what we want them to do,” he explained to the mercenary. “He just might be able to freeze all of them.”
Thunderbough stopped rolling as soon as the trolls had surrounded him and stood up to his full height, though he was still four feet shorter than the monster.
The Eldersloth unleashed his taunt special ability.
Special Ability: Tranquil Taunt
Calm demeanor and languid movements infuriate all foes within the area of effect of the Tranquil Taunt special ability. Effect ranges from causing distraction to causing foes to mindlessly attack the source of their ire. The severity of effect is dependent upon level differential between the Eldersloth and target. The area of effect is dependent on level.
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The circle of trolls around the sloth tightened, but before they could attack, he unleashed the last part of the slow roll, taunt, and slow attack.
Special Ability: Super Slow Mo
Super Slow Mo slows the movements of anything within the area of effect of the ability. Effect is reduced for the Eldersloth. The magnitude of slowing is dependent on the level differential between the Eldersloth and affected targets. The duration and area of effect is dependent on level.
Duration: 10 seconds
Cooldown: 24 hours
Everything froze… except for the largest of the largest of the Mossback Trolls. The epic level monster.
“Attack!” Flynn shouted as he summoned his Battle Hammer from the Dimensional Storage Bracelet Nyx had created for him.
Name: Battle Hammer
Rank: Elite
A well-crafted Battle Hammer with a sturdy handle of cultivated hardwood and a head made of enchanted steel. The weapon was crafted by a weaponsmith possessing Elite rank card skills. The high-quality materials and skill of the creator make this weapon highly effective against any enemy Elite level or below and moderately effective against Epic level opponents.
The feel of the weapon in his hand gave him confidence and he charged down the hill after Nyx who was already several yards ahead of him.
He drew his sword as he ran.
Name: Short Sword
Rank: Elite
A well-crafted sword made of enchanted steel. The weapon was crafted by a swordsmith possessing Elite rank card skills. The high-quality materials and skill of the creator make this weapon highly effective against any enemy Elite level or below and moderately effective against Epic level opponents.
Both weapons were powerful in their own right, especially when paired with Elite rank Combat Cards, but their true effectiveness as a pair was due to the Dual Wielding card on his shoulder.
Name: Dual Wielding
Rank: Advanced
Class: Combat
Fighting with two weapons at the same time can provide a devastating advantage in any battle but can lead to reduced effectiveness of each weapon individually. The Dual Wielding Combat card improves the effectiveness of weapons wielded in each hand, increasing the speed, power, and precision of attacks from both weapons.
Crossbow bolts streaked past Flynn and Nyx as they charged the Epic level Mossback Troll, the mercenary firing at an impressive rate for someone without a ranged weapon card to support him. Impossibly fast, Flynn thought, but didn’t have time to wonder why or how.
The huge troll looked like a pin cushion by the time Flynn and Nyx reached the bottom of the hill, but if ranged attacks had done any damage, the monster showed showed no signs of it.
The Mossback Troll stepped forward and roared at the charging humans then lifted its hands into the air.
The ground suddenly exploded, instantly stopping their charge and sending them flying backward.
Flynn landed on his back at the base of the hill and barely had time to lift a hand over hs face before dirt rained down on him, pelting him with soil, grass, sticks, and rocks. By the time the dirt storm ended, he was covered by an inch thick layer of debris.
He glanced toward Thunderbough and saw a dome of dirt covering the area of effect of his familiar’s special ability. The area inside that dome where time was essentially frozen, appeared to be unaffected by the explosion.
Another roar from the Epic level Mossback Troll pulled Flynn’s attention back to the problem at hand. A problem that needed to be handled in the last few seconds they had before the rest of the trolls were freed from the time trap.
Flynn jumped to his feet and charged the monster. He saw Nyx do the same from the side where she had been thrown by the explosion. Crossbow bolts continued to pepper the beast, but they did no obvious damage. Many of them had already been plucked free and had left no visible wounds behind.
“Go for its head!” he shouted to Nyx and activated several of his own special abilities.
The first ability was from his Dual Wielding card and doubled the power of his next attack.
Special Ability: Double Double
Deliver a double attack using the weapons in both hands. Each attack will do twice the normal amount of damage.
Cooldown: 5 minutes
He also activated a special ability from his Strength of Arms card which further increased the damage of his attack.
Special Ability: Crushing Blow
Once ability is activated, the power of the next attack is increased by 50%.
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Flynn knew it was critical that they take down the Epic level monster before the rest were released from Thunderbough’s special ability. Nothing short of fatal attack would do, so he activated Bull Rush, too.
Special Ability: Bull Rush
Bull Rush allows card wielder to perform a charging attack that is both significantly faster and delivers significantly more damage than usual attacks from existing card skills and special abilities.
Cooldown: 5 minutes
An instant later, he crashed into the Mossback Troll’s legs, swinging both weapons with all the power his Elite level cards and special ability buffs granted him.
Flynn’s sword sliced into the Epic level monster’s thigh an instant before his battle hammer shattered bone, but even that wasn’t enough to completely sever the huge troll’s leg. He could see the wound instantly begin to heal, even as the monster bellowed in pain and rage.
The wound was enough to topple the creature, though, as its badly damaged leg couldn’t support its weight.
Nyx leaped toward the falling monster, her glaive held high overhead with both hands as she sailed toward the Mossback Troll.
The blade of her weapon glowed blue and left an arc of light as it sliced down and cleanly through the monster’s neck.
The ground shook as the beast crashed down and its head rolled away.
Flynn stared at the monster corpse for a moment to make sure it was truly dead then turned toward the mound of dirt that covered the area of effect for Super Slow Mo.
Then the dome burst and the dirt fell, covering the Mossback Trolls and the Eldersloth.
And chaos erupted.