Boss

They had three able-bodied fighters. Ren, Will, and Dan. Anissa was severely injured, and Mina couldn’t stop healing. Alan’s arm was injured, so he couldn’t use his bow. And Buckstone wasn’t a fighter. They couldn’t call for any reinforcements; the other adventurers were busy fighting the other goblin raiders somewhere down the line.

“That thing isn’t an ordinary orc,” Ren observed. “It’s a boss.”

Just as most adventurers were gifted skills, some monsters too were blessed. They were faster, stronger, and generally smarter than their kin. For some unknown reason, these special born monsters, known as bosses, were easily identified by adventurers with skills. It was an innate instinct.

“Shit,” Alan cursed behind them.

The massive orc tilted its head, like a cat spotting prey. It lifted its club; now that the rain had mostly cleared, it somewhat resembled a sword. A heavy piece of driftwood carved with a distinct edge, but still heavy enough to crush bones. It strode forward, its two spell casters rattling their bone jewelry behind it.

“Come on!” Alan yelled, gesturing to Buckstone. “We need to get her out of here!” he pointed to Anissa.

Buckstone waddled over, tripping over some mud. He crawled, reaching them.

“That wagon,” Buckstone flustered. “We can hide her there.”

“We’ll hold it back,” Will stated. “You guys get away.”

The orc suddenly leapt upwards into the air. It twirled, moving in an arc with surprising agility for its large body.

“Look out!” Ren blocked the sudden downward strike with his shield.

He bucked under the pain. The blow had rattled his bones. Will struck, thrusting his blade forward around Ren’s shield. The orc pulled back, easily parrying his blade. With a backward swing, it attacked again, moving faster than Will could anticipate.

“Noble Guard!” Ren yelled, jumping in front of the blow.

The shrill sound of clashing metal screeched throughout the forest as he slid backwards into Will. The orc had an inquisitive look, surprised how each of its attacks had been blocked.

“I set my skill to target him,” Ren rasped. “I’ll automatically block any of his attacks.”

“How many more of those can you take?” Will asked.

“Not many,” Ren grunted. “And I can only block one target at a time. If those spell casters start helping, we’re not going to make it.”

“All right. We’ll have to make it count,” Will said.

“I’ll support you two,” Dan said.

Will charged, screaming and swinging his blade wildly. The orc knocked it away, counterattacking, only for Ren to block the attack again. Dan attacked as well, swinging his mace diagonally. The orc parried, before taking a slice from Will’s blade. The orc hissed in pain, backflipping to gain some distance from the trio. It crouched, like a prowling lion, as the three took position, ready to counterattack

This time, the orc charged Dan, ready to crush his head with his club. Ren rushed in front of him, but the orc was ready. He flipped, kicking off Ren’s shield, somersaulting over him and swinging down on Dan. A blade suddenly dug into its flank, thrown by Will, piercing in between the orc’s ribs. The orc roared, tumbling and slamming into the ground in front of Dan. Dan, in turn, swung downwards on the downed creature. The orc lurched up, blocking the attack with one of its massive arms. The mace shattered it, the cracked bone piercing through the skin. With a roar, the creature delivered an uppercut with its good arm.

“Not going to happen!” Ren moved at speed comparable to Natalia’s, suddenly appearing and blocking the upward strike.

The blow sent him flying upwards, his shield bending inwards from the force of the blow. The orc roared in anger, turning towards the mages. They began to move, chanting their spells.

“Not good,” Dan muttered. “We need to stop them!”

The main orc yanked Will’s blade from its side, blood spewing out as it did so. It tossed the weapon into the mud, as one of the spell casters healed the wound. The other spell caster readied a fire spell, an enormous fireball forming above its head, aimed for the trio.

A stray arrow suddenly dug into the face of that spell caster. The spell exploded over its head, engulfing the caster and burning the other two. The remaining shaman appeared from the smoke, practically untouched by the flames. It cast a healing spell, restoring some of the skin on the burnt orc fighter.

“I hit it,” Buckstone gasped, shaking his head in disbelief. Alan was over his shoulder, directing the bow the direction of the bow with his good arm.

The otc approached, half its body burnt to a crisp. Its limp arm dangled by its side, twisting in the round direction. Even with the sword wound closed, blood still leaked from it.

“Another one,” Alan instructed, notching another arrow and directing Buckstone.

The arrow flew from the bow, aim true, intent of killing the other spell caster The boss orc leapt forward, catching the arrow with its good arm, snapping it between its fingers like a twig.

“Dammit, now I'm down to one arrow!” Alan cursed.

“It’s looking right at us!” Buckstone shook, nearly dropping Alan’s bow.

The orc glared at its enemies, hatred in its eyes. Ren stumbled, his own shield arm hanging limp. Dan and Will reached over, helping their companion up.

“The bastard broke my arm with that last hit,” Ren gritted his teeth. “But I'll keep my skill on, even if it kills me.”

“I’m down a sword,” Will stated, drawing his emergency knife. “Honestly thought that would have killed it.”

“I can’t heal the fracture,” Dan explained. “But I can reduce some of the pain.” He said, casting a healing spell on Ren.

The orc rushed forward again, scooping up its discarded club, before attacking Will. Ren appeared, blocking the strike, only for the creature to grab him and slam him to the ground. With a sickening crunch, it smashed into his armor plate with its club. Ren coughed up a mouthful of blood just as Dan and Will counterattacked. Without their defender, the creature dispatched them easily. It parried Dan’s mace, before driving the club into his side. The priest flew, slamming into a nearby tree.

“Dan! Ren!” Will yelled. “I’ll kill you for that!”

Will stood alone, facing a creature many times his strength and speed. But it was gravely injured, with a broken arm, moving much more slowly than it was before. Will bared his teeth, crouching and readying his knife. Will swung forward with his weapon, but the orc countered with a horizontal swing. Expecting this, Will rolled under the attack before striking, driving the knife deep into the creature’s thigh. It spun, kicking him aside and sending him tumbling backwards, landing into a mud puddle. The beast roared, charging at him, club raised, just as an arrow buried itself into its back.

“Last shot!” Alan yelled.

Will felt around, drawing his sword from the mud puddle he had fallen into. He moved, kicking the knife still lodged in the orc’s thigh, burying it deeper as he dodged another swing from the orc’s club. With a thrust, he buried his weapon deep into the monster’s stomach, just as the club came around again, smashing the side of his head in a shower of blood.

“Will!” Alan yelled as he watched him go down.

The orc slumped over, grasping at the blade deep in its guts, trying to yank the weapon out. Will scrambled on the ground, unable to stand from the force of the blow. Half of his vision had gone black, and he didn’t remember what he had been doing. There was only a single thought on his mind; Fight. Fight. Fight.

The Orc loomed over him, cough up blood as it raised its club, intent on finishing Will off, despite its own grave wounds. With a low growl, it slammed downwards.

“Not yet,” Ren whimpered, activating Noble Guard.

With his good arm, he hurled his destroyed shield. The skill took over, guiding the flying metal disc’s trajectory. The shield intercepted the club just as it came down, causing it the orc to miss Will’s head by an inch. Will shot up, drawing forth the last of his strength, both his hands latching onto the jutting hilt of his sword. With a primal yell, Will twisted and pulled. The blade sliced through the orc’s intestines, cutting open its gut and spilling out the contents in a mess of blood and gore. The monster flailed desperately, before finally slumping over, dead. The remaining orc, the healer, panicked, turning and running back into the woods, the sound of rattling bones echoing long after it disappeared.

Will stood over the corpse of the monster, ever defiant, even as blood poured from the side of his head.

“Will,” Alan rushed to his friend’s side. “You all right?”

The last thing Will remembered was falling onto Alan’s shoulder as the world spun black.