“Alright folks, let's get this wrapped up quickly. I don't wanna see any dilly dallying or missed shots, ya hear me? Let's get this done and overwith before midnight.” Ray says, addressing our assembled forces.
“Pro luce lunae!”
We have managed to gather all 17 of our great-levels, along with around 240 high-levels. It should be more than enough to take on this Geoff guy, in theory. Though we've gotta be quick, we are quite vulnerable with all of our power concentrated in this one spot.
We still haven't seen Luna or anything else overtly hostile. Though, with access to the prairie to the east of the Quartet’s territory, we can now see Luna’s home territory. It appears to be a very snowy forest. Similarly to when we try to send people into the jungle to the west of our castle. Anyone that we send in, very quickly dies and comes back in a state of horrifying psychosis.
We have also had a similar thing occur with the biome to the west of the Mesa. We can tell that it is some form of desert. But our scouts are unable to go very far before disappearing. We have managed to start scouting the last zone 2 biome – a giant floodplains crisscrossed with giant rivers – but it's slow going with how far it is from our primary supply lines and how annoying the terrain is to navigate. Once we fully establish ourselves in the Mesa, it should be much easier to access.
The air is full of excitement, everyone gathered is ready for a good battle. After all, it's not every day that you get to fight a 20m tall rock golem. Especially not one with a host of skills to make it even more dangerous.
My entire body is alight with excitement as well. As much as I like to think I'm not some battle-mad soldier. I have played my fair share of videogames. It just so happens that this whole thing is basically like one super real, super highly detailed videogame.
Oh, I also have to show off to impress my super duper ultra omega super duper cute girlfriend. Before you ask, no, that is not enough adjectives. I just wish I could think of about a billion more adjectives, then perhaps I could grasp a tiny fraction of just how super duper cute Ray is. She is the cutest in the universe, after all.
I grab Ray’s hand and she gives me one of her brilliant smiles. I swear, she will be the death of me someday.
We place our hands on the barrier and the now familiar menu appears.
‘Do you wish to begin the challenge: Legend Raid for Geoff The Titan?
Recommended Party: At least 15 great-level challengers and 200 high-level challengers.
Current Party (262): Contains 134% of recommended combat strength. Estimated Difficulty: Easy.
Estimated reward for Legend Raid: 2500 Ri, 5000 Ti, Slayer of Geoff The Titan commendation and 25 Legend Equipment Drops (Extreme-level) + 2 per participant (524).
Yes / No’
Woah, 549 equipment drops. At extreme-level too. This fight is going to drastically improve our combat abilities. It does make me concerned that it's giving us so many rewards, just how hard will things get in the final zone?
Oh well, that sounds like a problem for another day. For now, I must show Ray that I am the coolest worthless NEET in the universe.
I press the ‘yes’ button. Immediately, the sky brightens with some sort of artificial light and the area transforms into an arena, which is a lot larger than previous arenas. It's not that different from how the landscape originally was, but it seems to have been cleared of all trees and rocks.
A warm wind blows gently through the arena, giving me a sense of calmness.
That calmness doesn't last long, because Geoff wakes up almost immediately. Not even giving us a chance to split apart and cover more ground.
I give Ray a smile and she smiles back. I quickly give her a hug and a kiss and then I take off to get a better vantage point in the arena. After all, one can't strategize if they don't know what is happening.
There is one strange thing though, Geoff doesn't have a health bar. It is just his name along with five skill icons next to it. Strange, perhaps it has some other form of health? Or maybe he is so massive they thought regeneration would be excessive.
Everyone quickly gets into their positions. All of the great levels and our friends are leading around twelve people. I am a free agent though, on account of my high mobility and flexibility due to inae-based movement.
Geof slowly stands up from sitting cross-legged and gives off a massive roar that almost makes me want to run away in terror. The guy is far more agile than you'd think, considering the size. Must be some crazy alien tech shenanigans.
Everyone quickly aims their weapons and takes their first shots. The melee-fighters hang back until we can figure out his movements.
Rifles, rocket launchers and railguns roar. I spot Ray looking super cute with her own railgun, a look of excitement on her face.
The projectiles fly through the air and impact Geoff. He somehow manages to dodge some of them, but most connect. Several large holes appear in his rocky body, but many of the lower-caliber bullets just plink off.
Klack, we thought that all our weapons would be strong enough, but I guess we underestimated the big guy. I order those who cannot make a dent to assist those with heavier weaponry. After all, those rocket launchers and anti-material rifles are quite heavy, and much easier to work with two people.
Geoff lets out another roar, one filled with pure fury. Then, he activates his first skill, known as {Rock Storm}. Up in the sky, hundreds of rocks ranging from small pebbles to massive boulders appear. They quickly start falling under the power of gravity.
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“Look up! Remember, we are trying to kill a legend, not make pancakes!” I command over the comms.
People quickly start scattering, trying to dodge the falling rocks. Unfortunately, some people aren't quite fast enough. We end up losing 52 high-levels in one attack, flattened like pancakes under the rocks.
Everyone, who are all battle hardened soldiers at this point, don't even flinch when their comrades' vessels are destroyed. I suppose our employ of the duck and stab technique has cultivated that within them.
Quickly, the firing resumes and Geoff gets filled with even more holes, large chunks of rock crumbling off his body as it is destabilized.
I gather myself and move to one of the groups that lost a lot of members.
Geoff attacks for the first time, he charges into one of the groups, his footfalls practically causing quakes that make it hard for people to escape. Geoff swings his massive hands and basically swats the group away.
They get thrown into one of the barriers and they basically shatter. Only the great-level remains, and barely stands up, only to immediately flee to go recover.
We may have health packs and such, but it doesn't matter how fast you can heal if you're instantly killed. Thus, the best way to survive is to simply not get hit. Unfortunately, it seems our soldiers aren't the best at dodging and retreating. Perhaps our battlefield techniques have severely harmed our ability to take on legends where the whole fight until you die and respawn strategy doesn't work.
Anyways, I take up my spear and launch into the air. I prepare {Lightning Bolt} as I throw myself towards his head. I throw the bolt and it arcs through the air, making contact with a great resounding boom.
I orient myself, hoping to land in his eye socket, which should be a bit weaker than the hard rock exterior. With a great cracking sound, I made contact. The force of basically slamming myself into a hard rock wall rebounds into me, definitely cracking a few bones. But, the effect is worth it.
As I back away, about a third of Geoff’s head cracks apart and crumbles away. The previous attacks combined with my devastating charge combined to weaken it enough to lose structural integrity.
Geoff roars, but seems mostly unaffected by missing a third of his head.
He starts to act strangely, running to the largest rock that is remaining after the rock storm, he picks it up. Then, he swings his arm and chucks the rock at insane speeds. It crashes into a group, flattening them like pancakes without even a chance for them to dodge.
We have now lost 70 combatants, this is not good at all. If we lose too many more, we might not have enough damage to finish the guy off.
Geoff seems to roar in some sort of celebration. He quickly looks around the arena, seemingly cataloging all of the fodder that he still has left to flatten.
Well, unfortunately for him, we are not gonna sit by and let him flatten us.
I give a command, and our melee fighters charge in, equipped with a new type of gear that we managed to manufacture with what few zone 2 resources we have collected.
Its a klacking flight-suit. With built in thrusters allowing for pretty decent air mobility. Perfect for melee fighters that need to get up and around such a massive beast to dodge its attacks and hit the weak points.
Technically it's not a flight suit, but rather a lightweight massless-field propulsion mech. But eh, who really cares about specific taxonomy anymore.
I can tell it's some next-gen tech though. Which is exciting, we are starting to get access to the really fun toys, the stuff that these trials seem to be designed to show off whenever possible.
The combined melee charge is devastating, dozens of swords, spears, lances and warhammers impact. Chunking off large parts of Geoff’s body. At this point, I would say that about one third of his entire mass is gone.
However, Geoff isn't just gonna let that happen. He does manage to swat away a few of our soldiers, like swatting an annoying fly buzzing around his ears. They go flying into the ground, nothing but heaps of scrap by the time they crash into the ground.
From what I hear the soldiers say, dying inside the vessel isn't actually that unpleasant. But, I can't imagine it feels good either. Though, with how fanatic these guys seem to be, perhaps it is euphoric.
Then, Geoff lets out a terrifying roar and activates another skill, {Rock Shell}. Immediately, his entire body turns a silvery color and I can tell that it has been reinforced. Many attacks try to land, only to hopelessly bounce off, when they should have easily been able to deal damage.
“He has used a skill that increases his armor! Quickly, everyone with high armor penetration, fire your weapons concentrated on his chest!” I command.
In quick order, all of the rocket launchers, anti-material rifles and other high-AP weaponry fires. It all impacts directly in the center of Geoff’s chest, creating a large dent and cracking the armor.
“Okay now, everyone, hit that spot with everything you've got! Use skills if you have them available!”
Everyone discharges their weapons to the best of their ability, {Lightning Bolt} is sent from Emil, Rigar and Linda. Who all have it equipped. Ray was super stubborn and didn't want to switch her commendation from Achilles’ so she doesn't get to fire it off. Yuin and all the others weren't around for the first raid, so they don't have it either.
The combined fire from the guns and skills impact Geoff’s chest with a massive shattering sound. Like a pane of glass shattering, all of the shiny armor comes undone in a brilliant show of falling rocks. It seems like he has also grown a bit smaller, perhaps that skill costs a bit of his outer layer if we manage to break it.
Geoff lets out a massive Roar, and then starts to spin. Immediately, a giant storm of dust and sand is kicked up and spins around like a tornado. Within short order, it spreads to encompass the entire arena, blanketing it in a thick {Sand Storm}.
My vision is almost completely obscured, I can barely see five meters in front of me. Most sound is deafened by the roaring storm and the comms seem to be acting up due to some sort of interference. The wind tries to blow me every which way, sand getting everywhere, even inside my armor somehow.
Several shards of rock rip past me, denting my armor and a few manage to slice my face.
I quickly run to the outer edge of the arena and curl up, casting {Lightning Barrier} around myself and several that follow me. We shelter from the storm, unable to fight until it passes.
I am sure that whatever comes next, Ray and I will overcome it, together. So, bring it on.
End of Chapter 113
Next: Chapter 114 | The Crumbling
Skills For Geoff The Titan
{Rock Body}: Passive. The beast is not alive, thus the only way to defeat it is to completely destroy it. It is also very tough, weak munitions will harmlessly bounce off its immense rocky body.
{Rock Storm}: The beast summons a storm of large rocks from the sky that rain down and crush foolish challengers.
{Rock Shell}: The beast can temporarily surround itself in a hard shell that is impenetrable to all but the largest weapons. This effect lasts until the shell has been broken or absorbed a certain amount of damage.
{Sand Storm}: The beast spins, creating a massive vortex of sand and rocks that drastically reduces visibility and causes minor to major damage to all those caught inside.
- 1 Unknown Skill
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