Monroe

Chapter Thirty-five. R.O.U.S? Try the H.E.S.R.!

Bob crawled over to Monroe and gently picked him up, causing Monroe to let out a soft cry of pain.

"I know buddy," Bob said softly, as he pulled his second to last healing potion, and carefully fed it to the cat.

Bob had spent quite a bit of time teaching Monroe that medicine wasn't bad or scary when he'd first adopted him. It had been a long struggle, filled with more than a few scratches, but Monroe was willing to take liquid medicine without having to have it squirted in his mouth.

The gash that led down Monroe's side and halfway across his belly slowly started to close, and within a few seconds, was completely healed.

Bob let out a breath and hoised Monroe up onto his shoulder, where the hefty fluffball started to purr and nuzzle his cheek.

He stepped over to the edge of the watchtower and let out a gasp of dismay. The wave of monsters was breaking around the tower and heading towards the wall, but there was also a build of monsters pushing up against the tower, reaching nearly a quarter of the way up the wall.

Bob grimaced as he summoned a UtahRaptor and then dropped a portal at its feet, causing it to drop through, and land directly on top of the growing pile of monsters at the base of the tower.

He leaned on his staff and maintained the flow of mana to the spell as he turned to face the five other people on the top of the tower.

"Hi," Bob said awkwardly.

The man carrying the small child gave him a nod and a smile as he said, "Thank you so much for saving us. I'm Jeremi, this is my wife," he gestured to the woman next to him, "Allana, our son Justin, and our daughter Emili."

Bob covered his mouth as he coughed and considered the turn his life had taken, that he could now tell when he was coughing up blood.

"Yeah, about that," Bob said, "you might be celebrating a little prematurely. I don't know if I can hold this tower through the wave, but I do know I can't portal you back to the wall."

Lesli stepped forward and said, "I can fly back to the Guild and have someone with air step come and ferry them to the wall."

Bob brightened at that. It took the choice of leaving the family to die for a second time off his hands.

"Ok, then..." he paused then asked, "what's your name?"

"Lesli, and yours?" she replied.

"I'm Bob, and I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you but under the circumstances, I'll just say thanks for getting them out of here," Bob said.

Bob felt the mana suddenly stop flowing into his summon UtahRaptor and looked over the edge. Had the pile grown slightly? His stomach twisted, and he dropped another Jake through a portal onto the monsters.

"And judging by the monsters piling up against this tower sooner would be better than later," he advised.

Lesli nodded and leaped into the air, her body flowing into her hawk form as she soared into the sky, swiftly heading towards the wall.

Bob shook his head and muttered, "I would've said that's something you don't see every day, but now..."

He checked his mana bar. It was almost full.

"Time to put in the work," he said quietly to himself, and then summoned an effect over time Jake, extended to nine seconds, directly on top of the monster pile. The next second he did it again.

"What kind of animal is that?" the previously identified Justin asked timidly.

Bob looked over his shoulder and saw the look of fascination on the little boy's face.

He turned slightly so that he could both look down at the swarm of monsters and also look at the boy.

"That," Bob said, "is a UtahRaptor, and where I'm from, it is considered to be the greatest predator of all time."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob dropped another effect over time UtahRaptor off the side of the tower.

"So," he said, "UtahRaptors despite not being the largest predator, are considered to have been the most dangerous because they hunted in packs."

Justin seemed to prove the theory that regardless of language, location, or even dimension, every little boy loved dinosaurs.

"Would they eat people?" Justin asked as he watched Jake tear into the pile of monsters.

"Oh yes," Bob said enthusiastically, "one quick rip down the middle," he drew a hooked finger down his chest, "and the Utahraptor would have made a quick meal out of us."

"How many would there be in a pack?" asked Justin.

"We think somewhere between four and twelve based on the fossils we've found," Bob replied, before summoning another effect over time Jake and dropping him on the hill of monsters.

"But you only have two?" Justin asked in confusion.

"I'm pretty new to this whole Adventurer thing," Bob said, "I'm only level six."

"Mom and Dad won't let me level up yet, they say I'm too young," Justin pouted as he looked at his parents.

Bob looked at Jeremi and Allana haplessly before saying, "Well, I'm twenty-eight and I started less than a month ago, so I'm sure you'll be way ahead of where I am when you're twenty-eight."

Justin appeared to give this serious consideration before nodding decisively. "I'll have a dozen 'raptors by then," he stated with certainty.

Bob was saved from a further conversation on that topic as Lesli dove back down and shifted to land on the top of the tower.

"I've got Lorri coming," she announced confidently, "she'll be able to air step you folks to the wall, and then you'll be able to head into town."

Bob looked over the edge again, mentally measuring the height of the pile.

"Good," he said, "because that pile at the base of the tower isn't getting any smaller."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lorri turned out to be a grandmotherly woman, tall and slender, her black hair tied up in a bun and streaked with gray, and charcoal laugh lines around her eyes, and dark freckles dotting her cocoa-colored skin.

She appeared on the tower in a gentle puff of breeze.

"Lorri," Lesli greeted her with a smile, "thank you for coming, this is Allana, Jeremi, Justin, and Emili," she gestured to the family, "and they'd appreciate a ride off this rock."

Lorri turned to greet the family, sharing a hug with Allana and Jeremi, and shaking a very serious Justin's hand.

"And that would make you the Reef," Lorri said with a smile as she ignored Bob's flinch and embraced him a hug.

"Um," Bob stuttered out, not having really had a great deal of experience with hugs, and certainly not grandmotherly hugs, "actually I'm Bob, and it's uh, nice to meet you," he floundered a bit.

Lorri pulled back from the hug and grasped his shoulders, "Oh sweetie," she said in an amused tone, "good luck with that."

She further surprised Bob by pulling him back in and giving him a peck on both cheeks before disengaging and taking Allana's hands. "I'll be right back!" Lorri said as she stepped forward with Allana and in a whisper of wind was gone.

"What the hell was that about?" Bob muttered as he shook himself and dropped another UtahRaptor over the edge of the tower.

"Ah, well," Lesli said, "you did kind of make a scene."

Bob gave a hard blink as his mind raced, trying to make mental connections that would make the past few seconds of conversation make sense.

He idly dropped another Jake onto the monsters below.

"I'm afraid I don't follow," he said.

Lesli looked at him strangely before gesturing towards the front of the tower and the seemingly never-ending swarm of monsters.

"Everyone was watching, waiting for the wave," she said then stopped as a sudden breeze heralded Lorri's return.

"I can take both Justin and Emili," she assured Jeremi as she cradled Emili in one arm as she took Justin's hand, disappearing into the wind once more.

"So," Lesli continued, "everyone was watching, waiting for the wave, and they saw Jeremi and his family running for the wall."

"Everyone thought they were gone," she said sadly, "they sent a runner, but there was no way anyone was going to make it here in time."

Lorri stepped back onto the tower, and extended a hand to Jeremi before looking over to Lesli and Bob and saying "Well done Reef, Lesli, you come around this week and see me."

With that, she stepped into a swirl of air and she and Jeremi disappeared.

Lesli sighed and said, "I was busy last week, preparing for the wave," she finished in a grumble.

Bob dropped another Jake, this one through a portal.

"Anyway," Lesli said, "everyone on the wall knew they were gone, and then you dropped in with your portal and got them to safety."

"And then," Lesli said with a hint of emotion in her voice, "you were gone!" She gestured down to the monsters, "Washed over by the wave, totally covered!"

She grinned and said, "Then you managed to stand up, and started fighting them off, in the middle of the wave!"

"No one knows who you are, besides having seen you in the Plaza, and someone started cheering for you, calling you 'The Reef!', and it just sort of caught on," she finished.

"How in the fuck did anyone even see that?" Bob asked.

"I've got some special divine mojo from Austan that is letting me see in the dark, but I know it's pitch fucking black out here," he continued.

Lesli looked flummoxed. "Uh," she said in confusion, "pretty much everyone has 'Lighting the Path'," she said.

"Pretend that I was born three weeks ago," Bob said evenly, "and that I have little to no knowledge of the world."

"What," he paused to drop another UtahRaptor into the monsters, "is 'Lighting the Path?'"

"It's a divine blessing from Vi'Radia," Lesli said carefully, "anyone who isn't a bad person can receive it."

"And it lets you see in the dark," Bob finished his thought.

"Don't you have it?" Lesli asked a little hesitantly.

"Nope," Bob replied, "Austan cast a spell on me that does something similar, I think. I can see in the dark anyway."

"You should probably talk to him about receiving the blessing," Lesli said, "it's really useful, and just having it lets everyone know you're a good person."

"I'd sort of figured that risking my life to save those people kind of covered that," Bob muttered as he looked over the edge, once again mentally measuring just how much taller the pile had gotten. The result of those brief mental mathematics was the answer 'a few feet higher'.

Bob missed seeing Lesli's cheeks flush at the unintended rebuke.

"Well," she said, "I need to get back to scouting, are you going to be alright here?"

"Yep," Bob said as he continued to peer over the edge, "my getting off the tower was never the issue, it was that I couldn't take them with me."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob watched as his UtahRaptors tore into the monsters below.

The wave had shifted over time, and now it was comprised of enormous rats, with the occasional patch of what appeared to be some sort of badger.

Bob shuddered as he flashed back to his arrival and the time spent in the dark, being bitten and clawed by rats.

'Focus Bob,' he thought.

Shortly after the hawk-girl had left, Bob had noticed that the pile up of monsters under the tower had reduced somewhat, at least to a degree that a consistent stream of effect over time Jakes were able to handle.

He needed to ask Harv or Elli why that was.

Before he could delve into any further consideration of the matter, the aforementioned Lesli dropped to the tower, shifting to land in front of him.

"Reef," she gasped out, "you've got a big one coming your way."

Bob looked at her inquiringly as she panted, trying to catch her breath.

Leslie opted to save her breath and simply pointed slightly to the right of due northeast.

Bob followed her indication and sucked in a breath.

A rat had emerged from the treeline.

A rat roughly the size of a dump truck.

"Thidwell said they capped out at level fucking five," he swore angrily as he stared at the behemoth. It had to be twenty-five or thirty feet long.

"Yeah," Lesli said as she caught her breath, "but sometimes you get a big one. It's probably not any higher than level six or level seven, but stars and stones, it's huge."

Bob could only nod as he watched the Heavy Equipment sized rat move towards the tower. Or the wall. It was a little hard to tell this far out.

He mentally decided to refer to the monster as 'H.E.S.R.'

"You think you can at least distract it for a bit when it gets to the tower?" she asked, "we've got a few folks with the range to do some damage to it this far out."

"You want me to go toe to toe with that?" Bob asked incredulously as he pointed to the H.E.S.R.

"If you can just slow it down so we can lay some damage on it before it gets to the wall, that would really help," Lesli said as she gestured to the wall, "if you can keep it occupied with your summoned monsters..." she trailed off.

"When it hits the wall there are going to be casualties," she said quietly.

Bob blew out a breath. He fucking hated rats.

"Alright, I'll try, but when I take my attention of the swarm at the base of this tower, I'm starting a countdown, at the end of which this chunk of rock gets swarmed and I GTFO to the wall," he said.

"GTFO?" Lesli asked.

Bob smiled faintly as he said, "Get the Fuck Out," he replied.

Lesli just shook her head, then crouched and lept back up into the air, her form once again twisting into that of a hawk.

Bob dropped another UtahRaptor over the edge as he watched H.E.S.R. approach. He figured he had another thirty seconds before it neared the tower.

He took a deep breath.

'I've got this,' he thought, desperately trying to override the instinctive terror he was feeling.

Monroe nuzzled his cheek, and Bob managed to successfully avoid closing his eyes.

He reached up and scratched Monroe's ruff as he muttered, "Hey buddy."

Monroe started to purr and Bob could feel the big cat's rumble through his cloak and armor.

Bob kept scratching and Monroe added happy kneading feet to his expression of approval.

Another Jake went over the edge.

Ten seconds out.

The H.E.S.R. had changed course slightly and was definitely headed towards the tower at full speed.

Bob took a deep breath and said, "Hold on tight buddy, it's going to get exciting in a second."

He cast a fully powered concentration based UtahRaptor ten feet above the H.E.S.R.'s back.

The H.E.S.R. screamed in pain and rage as the UtahRaptor's scythes slashed deeply into it's back.

It dropped to the ground with a grace that was disturbing to see in such a large creature and rolled on it's back, dislodging Jake, who jumped off and took the opportunity to slash at the H.E.S.R.'s flank.

The H.E.S.R. twisted, snapping at the UtahRaptor, and scoring a terrible wound, nearly ripping its leg off. Jake let out a high warbling sound of pain and rage.

Bob had a moment to contemplate that even with Magic around, monsters still had to do business with the laws of physics, as the H.E.S.R's momentum caused it to crash into the base of the tower, rocking it slightly.

Bob staggered back a step, then stepped back forward, just in time to see the H.E.S.R. take another bite out of Jake, leaving the UtahRaptor looking decidedly unhealthy. And that was before the rest of the wave piled onto him.

Jake let out a high wavering scream of defiance and lurched out from under the pile of monsters, delivering another slash to the H.E.S.R.

Bob winced as he watched the H.E.S.R. tear out the UtahRaptors throat.

He'd been hoping the fight would last more than three seconds, but the H.E.S.R. wasn't taking much damage and was delivering a lot more than a level seven monster should.

Bob dropped another concentration based Jake on the super-rat's head.

And then the H.E.S.R. stood up on its hind legs and stuck its head over the edge of the tower.

Bob dodged backward in surprise, but he wasn't quick enough as the snapping fangs caught him in the side, digging deeply into his flesh before jerking back and ripping out, taking a chunk of flesh and organs with it.

Bob screamed in pain and fought off the shock long enough to drop a portal under his feet, willing himself to fall through, but losing his concentration on his summons.

As Bob fell through the portal and kept falling, he fumbled for his last healing potion and quickly swallowed it, considering that this was twice in the last half hour that he'd very nearly been killed.

His health was at a sliver, and he was rapidly descending.

Bob would have taken the time to do the math to determine his exact rate of acceleration towards terminal velocity, but he had a larger concern.

Much larger.

H.E.S.R. sized in fact.

In his haste to escape, he had simply portaled himself straight up.

As his health bar ticked up slightly, Bob dropped another portal at his feet, taking him even higher up.

He did it again.

Now nearly two hundred feet and a few seconds away from the H.E.S.R. who appeared to have tracked Bob's progress in the sky and was waiting for him to descend, Bob took stock of the situation.

Monroe was yowling in his ear, clearly not ok with the sudden and abrupt change in position and elevation. Or maybe just not ok with the falling.

His health bar was inching back up past one half. There was no way he could survive another bite.

He was also rapidly approaching casting range for Jake.

Bob dropped a concentration based Jake on top of the H.E.S.R., fell another sixty feet, and dropped another portal underneath of himself, grateful that going through a portal seemed to reset his velocity.

And with that, Bob settled into a short-lived and dangerous routine. Drop for two seconds, cast another UtahRaptor, then cast another portal.

This would have been fine were it not for the fact that a portal cost him fifteen point four mana. And casting and maintaining a UtahRaptor took another two point two. And he only regained seven point seven mana per second. Which left him at a net loss of two point two mana per second.

He figured he had a solid fifteen seconds before he started needing to portal towards the wall.

After a few seconds, Monroe had stopped yowling, and instead was gripping Bob's shoulder hard, face pressed into the breeze with his ears laid back as they plummeted towards the ground over and over again.

Bob watched as the H.E.S.R. tore into Jake after Jake, it's furious squeaks more akin to a roar as it was assaulted again and again.

Eleven seconds and eight UtahRaptors later, it fell as a Jake screamed its triumph and severed the H.E.S.R.'s spinal cord.

Bob took a deep breath of relief as he fell towards the tower.