Another Day, Another Terrifying Monster to Kill

Daffodil Luck is back at it again, was all Daffodil could think as the creature’s shout shook him to his core. It was clearly another monster—because when could they ever leave him alone?—but Daffodil didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The field they were in was empty and didn’t have any hiding spots other than those massive boulders twenty feet away from them.

Not knowing what to do, Daffodil turned to Asterion and asked, “What was that?”

Asterion’s face was scrunched in confusion, but he didn’t move to summon Ol’ Reliable. “I have an idea but I hope I’m wrong.”

That did not bode well, Daffodil decided, but he stood still like Asterion was doing. After a moment, there was a second roar and one of the boulders began to move. Daffodil didn’t know much about WanderQuest, but he knew boulders didn’t usually do that.

“Oh carp,” Asterion muttered under his breath which only made Daffodil even more tense.

“What is that thing?!” Daffodil demanded as the boulder continued to move before finally standing on four legs. It looked almost like a bear, if a bear was seven feet tall on all fours and completely made of stone. It swiveled its head in their direction which made that stone-on-stone sound from earlier and set its pair of glowing green eyes on them.

“It’s a Getia,” Asterion explained. “They’re made of stone and stick to fields where they can camouflage better.”

The Getia was coated in patches of verdant moss, and Daffodil had to admit it looked almost identical to the boulders it had been curled up next to. He only hoped those boulders weren’t monsters as well.

“How do we kill it?” Daffodil asked. He noticed Asterion still hadn’t drawn his sword.

“We don’t.”

That was not what Daffodil wanted to hear. “No one’s ever been able to kill one before,” Asterion elaborated. “Getia’s bodies are made of impenetrable stone; not even Ol’ Reliable stands a chance at piercing it. Their eyes are made of gems stronger than diamonds and even their insides are hardened. They’re more like sentient rocks than actual creatures. The only effective solution I’ve found is running away.”

“We can’t do that,” Daffodil said. A quick glance confirmed that his stamina bar hadn’t even started regenerating yet. They had been climbing mountains for over four hours and desperately needed a break; outrunning a monster would be difficult under normal circumstances but was impossible now. “What do we do?”

Asterion’s voice trembled. “I don’t know.” Daffodil risked breaking eye contact with the Getia to look at Asterion. The man was shaking slightly, even if he was trying his hardest to hide it. “We have to try running. Getia don’t fight players for food, only if they’re in its territory. If we can outmaneuver it, maybe we can get far enough away that it’ll give up on us.”

It sounded like a barely thought out plan, but Daffodil figured that was better than no plan at all and agreed. They waited a moment longer and, on Asterion’s signal, both started sprinting with all their might. The Getia stood close to the dirt path, so Asterion and Daffodil broke off in separate directions, hoping to confuse it before returning to the path once out of its sight.

At first, the idea worked. The Getia clearly wasn’t used to intelligent prey and didn’t know what to do when it had two marks running simultaneously in different directions. Eventually, however, the Getia decided to target one person and began chasing after Asterion.

Daffodil watched out of the corner of his eye as the Getia bounded after Asterion with a speed that a giant pile of rubble should not be capable of. Panic built in the pit of his stomach as the Getia closed the distance in a matter of seconds. Daffodil wished desperately to run over and save Asterion, but his empty stamina bar wouldn’t let him. Already, he was finding it impossible to run. His movements were sluggish, his limbs were heavy, and it felt like he was trying to wade through water; no matter how hard his body wanted to push itself, it was like the game’s mechanics were preventing him from doing so. Even without being able to see Asterion’s face, he knew the man was experiencing the same problem.

The Getia swiped a paw at Asterion. It was tipped with sharpened stones that served well as claws. Daffodil watched as the claw sliced through Asterion’s shoulder like it was freshly tilled dirt. The man shouted in pain and was then sent flying as the Getia’s paw batted him away like he weighed nothing.

Asterion was out of Daffodil’s field of vision. He couldn’t spare a glance now, so instead he shouted, “Stay safe, Asterion! I’ve got this!” Then he charged.

Running headfirst at an indestructible monster was certainly not one of Daffodil’s smartest plans, but right now he wasn’t thinking. All he could see was Asterion’s blood staining his shirt in seconds, all he could hear was Asterion’s cries of pain. Instincts took over as Daffodil prepared for a fight just like he always would: by letting all rational thoughts leave to allow anger to take over. Nothing hurt his Asterion and lived.

The slightest amount of stamina had regenerated by now, and Daffodil used all of it to carry himself towards the Getia. He had to keep it distracted until he could figure out how to contain the monster. Above all else, he had to keep it away from Asterion.

His fist connected with the Getia’s snout before he could even register what he was doing. Blood blossomed across his knuckles, but it didn’t feel like anything was broken. Not knowing what else to do, Daffodil threw another punch.

The Getia didn’t seem to be in a playing mood and immediately pushed its paw into Daffodil’s chest, knocking him to the ground. In an instant, Daffodil was sprawled on his back. The Getia didn’t relent, pushing all of its weight onto Daffodil’s chest until he feared his sternum would break. Breathing was painful and near impossible, but Daffodil couldn’t allow himself to be distracted. If he didn’t take care of the Getia now, it would incapacitate him and then finish off Asterion. Panic welled up in him as he was reminded of the Wild Beast that had pinned him to the ground yesterday. This time Asterion wasn’t here to save him.

Think, Daffodil, think! What could he do? His arms were pinned to the ground so there was no way he could punch the Getia in the face, although he was finally starting to realize that might not be effective anyway. Even if he could summon a weapon, he didn’t think it would work any better than his fists had. But there had to be something he could do.

Finally a reasonable thought entered his mind. After years of landscaping, Daffodil had acquired quite a few skills that could help him tame terrain. Pulverizing the thousands of rocks in his valley had unlocked Destroy Stone, an ability that allowed Daffodil to disintegrate rock with only a touch. Asterion had said Getia were made of stone, right?

Praying that he didn’t need to open his menu to activate the skill, Daffodil managed to wriggle his wrist until his fingers brushed against the Getia’s paw. He thought about activating the skill and for good measure shouted, “Destroy Stone!” Immediately, the pressure on his hands lightened as the paws began to crumble away. The Getia howled one last time—a deafening sound this close to Daffodil’s ear—and exploded in a shower of dust and rubble. It rained down on Daffodil and sent him into a coughing fit as he accidentally inhaled some of the dust.

As soon as he was able to stand, Daffodil was running towards where he’d last seen Asterion. At first, he didn’t see the man. He started to panic but it quickly quelled as he saw Asterion lying about fifteen feet away, blending in with the tall grass. He sighed in relief when he realized Asterion must have taken his advice to heart and hidden out of sight.

“It’s safe! You can come out now!” Daffodil shouted with a smile as he closed the distance between himself and Asterion. The man continued to lie on the ground, but Daffodil couldn’t blame him. After all, he was exhausted too and wouldn’t mind lying down for a bit. But once he was leaning over Asterion, he realized why the man wasn’t responding to him. Asterion’s shirt was ripped open where the Getia had hit him and blood was still pouring out of him like a fountain, staining the grass red around him. “Asterion!” Daffodil yelled as he tried to shake him awake. The man lay there unresponsive. “Asterion!”