System Hunt: Regalia

Holy Bullet tore through Kobold after Kobold. The Belua fiends didn’t stand a chance against good old fashioned ranged warfare and neither did their Bone Ogre commanders.

Sam gestured from within the shrubs and three fortified lances poked through a second Bone Ogre’s knee. As it fell it punched the earth in a vain attempt to injure his assailants. Bone spikes erupted from the ground, jutting violently outward at a single of Yoko’s clones and many other Kobolds.

The clone slashed the incoming bone wave and leaped away, resorting to defence with a Holy Pistol. Sam commanded his lances, spearing them through the Bone Ogre while it was down. It roared in pain and struggled to stand in defiance of its mostly unseen enemies. Gunfire pelted it from all sides and another lance sent through its torso put the Bone Ogre down for good.

The field they laid their trap was filled with Kobold corpses, far more than Yoko predicted there would be within the cave and yet more still remained. They came without fear of the graveyard they sprinted through, they stripped their dead kin of the weapons in their grasp and pressed forward to kill Yoko’s one clone.

That one clone with the Holy scimitar and pistol was the best bait Sam had seen. His lips curled in a smirk as once more, the last Bone Ogre roared and directed the Kobolds after her. These Bone Ogres are more foolish than the Kobolds they command. Sam mused, having observed the Kobold’s attitudes and reactions to them, he knew if the Bone Ogre’s weren’t here to command them the Kobold’s would have long since fled for their lives.

Another mass release of bullets brought swift deaths to the Kobolds as they sprinted. Their stomachs, heads and shoulders exploded in a shower of blood as they fell several feet away from the bait clone. More bodies to the pile.

Sam raised his hands, split his lances in two and had them circle around the third and final Bone Ogre. The strategy against the Bone Ogres until now was simply to break away their natural armour, especially at the centre. Once the armour was gone it made it possible for even a single fortified pile drive of his glass lances to stab through its gut.

Now, with the last one he was a bit curious of his own capabilities. This Bone Ogre, like the two crumpled among the corpses of Kobolds before it, did not wield a conventional weapon. Its wrists spurt out long, sharp lengths of bone that acted as dangerous cleavers for anything unfortunate to get in its way. Right now that was Sam’s fortified glass.

It swiped, slashed and swatted at the glass lances without putting so much as a scratch on their crystal dense surfaces. Sam wasn’t concerned in the slightest, any flung away lance would simply return to its position and await the final order from him all while infuriating the Bone Ogre. It stomped its feet, summoning a row of bone spikes that plinked off the lances and at worse, obscured Sam’s view of his experiment.

Sam shifted through the bushes, passing one of Yoko’s hidden clones as he began placing the lances where he wanted them to be along the Bone Ogre’s body. It continued to thrash, throw a tantrum and make a paste of the Kobold corpses underfoot. Sam stopped by a tree far enough from the Ogre’s displays yet close enough to watch the effects of his lance placements.

He assigned four to the knees of the Bone Ogre, two for each knee. Another two were placed in front of its chest and behind its back, and two others hovered vertically over its broad, bone armoured shoulders. The last lance played bait angering the Bone Ogre and stealing its attention from the others that hung close, waiting for the moment to strike.

Though the execution of their trap was so successful that Sam had only needed to spend 900RGP on a single casting of Fortify, he could sense the strain of his fine, precise control of the fortified glass lances weigh on his Regalia’s Energy. And the bright idea he was about to execute would only intensify the drain. Sam did it anyway.

With a thought all the lances began hammering. The Bone Ogre’s greatest advantage over Sam was its armour and while Yoko and her clones could easily blow it off with a concentrated force firing of Holy Bullets, ammunition was not infinite.

Sam’s lances hammered down in a relentless assault, driving into the Ogre’s knees, shoulders, and chest. The Bone Ogre thrashed in fury, but each desperate swipe only met the unforgiving return of crystal spears. There was no getting rid of them and for the moments it managed to briefly escape, Sam snapped his fingers and had the last lance fly into its unarmoured ear.

The result of his experiment was as expected, the knees gave in first, the armour chipped away quickly but curiously the thick chest plate was next to fall. The true toughest part of the Bone Ogre seemed to be its shoulder armour which protected its neck and spine.

Satisfied with the results, Sam stepped out of his hiding place, Yoko’s bait clone sat with a bored expression on her face as she sliced into the Kobold corpses around her with the scimitar. He gestured at the lances, bringing them together to form the good, reliable glass lance bullet.

Free of the lances disturbance the Ogre, loose of much of its armour roared at Sam. It was deafening or should have been if he hadn’t spent the last thirty minutes next to clones repeatedly firing Holy Bullets into Belua. The Ogre continued and it began to display the same healing factor the first Bone Ogre had as steam began to rise from its body and the chipped bone armour began to keratinize at swift speeds.

Though not swift enough. Sam brought his arm down and with it, the fury and strength of his fortified glass lances on the Ogre’s legs, specifically its knees. The Belua fell instantly, yowling as two lances made a cross of its leg while two others shot down from above and impaled straight through the leg.

Sam felt his glass lances shatter the Ogre’s leg bone, the surge of unstoppable power coursing through him was both exhilarating and unsettling. The Ogre stopped roaring and screamed, sounding like an animal rather than a murderous beast. He flicked his wrist and the onslaught of lances continued, violently ripped out of its body only to impale another hole as they drove through.

Within seconds the Bone Ogre had more holes driven into it than Sam could bother to count. The last Bone Ogre collapsed into a heap, its yellow eyes dimming as tears of blood dripped out of it. Sam lowered his hand, letting the lances fall to his side protectively as a natural silence reigned over the forest once more.

Notifications pinged in his mind, snapping him back to reality—victory had come at a cost, but it was worth it.

Congratulations you have earned a share of Regalia Points for this Engagement!

3928RGP awarded!

Assimilation Level 3 Achieved!

Ability Slot Granted!

Available RGP— 5764

Sam and Yoko looked up at each other after reading their notifications. Yoko grinned, having shifted into one of her clones she carried a large and heavy looking rifle and asked, “An ability slot? Please tell me it’s as good as it sounds?”

Sam mirrored her grin and nodded, “I told you, we level up, we get stronger, we get more abilities.”

She zoned out, eyes glazed as she read through the information her Regalia provided. Sam quickly followed suit and summoned his Regalia to have a look at just what abilities he could add to a new slot.

Regalia of Fractured Glass

Assign an ability to an Ability Slot—

Aether Detection; Allows Regalia Wielder to perceive nearby Regalia Energy. [Passive Ability]

Crystal Flux; Allows Regalia Wielder manipulation over Vitric Glass. [Active Ability] costs 300RGP.

“Yoko, wait!” Sam called out the moment he finished reading his only two options, “Do we have the same options? Did your Regalia offer you Aether Detection?”

She scowled at him and ran a hand through her hair, “Yes…but I want to pick something else.”

“You know what an ability like that means but fine, what are your other options? I only have one, Crystal Flux.”

She sighed, almost groaning in annoyance at him as she shifted her weight, “I have one other option too, Convergence. I’ll get to fuse my clones together to make a stronger, battle capable body!”

“I think I might be able to use anything that behaves like glass.” Sam countered.

They stared each other down, the unspoken question hung in the air alongside the terrible stench of blood and gore from their battle accomplishments— So whose ability is more useful?