Polynya

Three musicians approach, slowly, and after seeing their stats, Ryuk immediately pops his mag out and loads it with more black and molten marbles. The three are all clad in zoot suits and wide-brimmed black hats. Their clothes are tailored and they wear cowboy boots with sharp stirrups. Each has a guitar case clutched in their hands.

Berserker Warrior Level 20

HP: 1183/1183               

ATK: 275        

MATK: 19

DEF: 140

MDF: 46

LUCK: 19

 

Berserker Warrior Level 17

HP: 641/641              

ATK: 215        

MATK: 9

DEF: 113

MDF: 39

LUCK: 15

 

Berserker Assassin Level 15

HP: 587/587              

ATK: 172        

MATK: 11

DEF: 94

MDF: 51

LUCK: 8

Boss battle. A reticle appears on Ryuk’s viewing screen and he keeps it trained on the most powerful of the three.

“A trio of crappy busker bitch-serkers, huh? Mother of fick … ” Hiccup grumbles. “All you sorry fickers, the first one that plays Kumbaya gets a tomahawk up the chalupa.”

Zaena: Stop bitching and bait them!

Ryuk: Am I the only one that has looked at their stats?

“Keep your underoos on, Marbles,” Hiccup says as he waves and blows kisses at the buskers. “Heya fellas! Did your dads teach you how to play the skin flute or was it your uncle?”

The three desperados stop. The first places his guitar on the ground, pops it open, and pulls an OFB Amogh Carbine from it.

He pops the magazine in and points it at Hiccup. His pearly whites gleam from the shadow cast by his black hat as a grin spreads across his face.

“FICK ME!”

Hiccup can barely get the next string of curses out before the other two can equip HK416Ns. The goblin’s scutum appears and with his hands over his head,  he covers his back with the large shield as the three berserkers unleash of fury of metal unhappiness at the goblin.

Brrrat! Brrrat! Brrrat! Brrrat! Brrrat!

“We need Twixy!” he shouts, his voice muffled by the bullets dinging off his shield. “YOY!”

No, we need leverage. Ryuk holsters his marble gun and pulls out his slingshot. In the pocket goes a clear marble and he fires it off with the command, “Disable firearms!”

The marble connects with the most leveled of the three and a wave of force boomerangs around him. It skips to the second berserker and the third.

The three of them stop shooting.

Shit!

 Ryuk goes with his marble gun and fires off a string of molten and black marbles. Zaena accompanies him with arrows. -45 HP! -39 HP! -58 HP! As they take damage, the three dive sideways and the berserker slides into a wall, where he sticks to the sidewall of the fishery as if the wall were made of flypaper.

It’s at this point that Ryuk realizes just how epic of a fail his Simple Request attack just was.

And as if a light bulb flicked on over their heads, the three berserkers realize that the laws of gravity no longer apply to them.

Guns a-blazing, the three run along the sides of the buildings, matrix-ly defying in-game physics as they leap up onto the fisheries and dip back down into the alley sidewalls to avoid Ryuk and Zaena’s attacks.

As he fires, replaces his mag and fires again, Ryuk catches Hiccup also trying to run up the side of a wall, which ends poorly. The goblin screams his favorite curse word, falls backwards, and immediately starts nursing a healing potion.

Damn goblin!

The high level berserker flips onto Zaena’s rooftop and away go her two bows.

The faceoff begins.

Ryuk watches wide-eyed, sure that the berserker is going to mow her down with his carbine. He gains a sudden sense of respect for the berserker when the guy equips a buster sword instead. The two charge one another, Zaena’s hands and ghost limbs spinning blades as she meets the berserker.

Realizing he’s about to go head-to-head himself, Ryuk gums a few molten marbles and keeps the end of his marble gun trained at the corner of the rooftop. He spins, checks his three o’clock and his nine, spins again and does the same.

The other two berserkers have completely disappeared. His nerves crawl as he whips around, trying to pinpoint them.

Extreme Focus.

Thinking the skill does nothing. The digital adrenaline coursing through his veins has him on high alert and his ability won’t take. He’s so focused on the corners of the rooftop that he doesn’t see one of the berserkers fire on him from the sidewall of a different fishery.

-16 HP! -20 HP! -12 HP! -17 HP!

Even with his Dream Armor taking the brunt of the bullets, he still loses almost a hundred HP. Ryuk hits the deck with his marble gun up.

On his belly now, he awkwardly tries to figure out where the bullet came from. The molten marbles warm in his mouth, Ryuk calms his beating heart with a deep breath and his Extreme Focus finally starts to work.