Frontier Online

Outmatched Part 22

A PK, or player-killer, received their comeuppance if and when someone managed to kill them. The game's karma system tracked their "guilty party" status and gradually increased the consequences of the game's death penalty. 

Currently, every member of Shining Star's raid team would pop like a pinata full of goodies as soon as they died.

Rydr wasn't aware of any of this. The enormous diver researched a lot about games leading up to playing [Frontier Online], but the super-noob avoided most of the player-killer content and guides.

The play-style failed to appeal to him when he'd suffered so much at the hands of someone who took because they could. 

In a rush, the giant knelt and swept his arm across Spectre's dropped gear to store it in his [Inventory]. It was fortunate that Rydr dumped over a ton of ore when the game warned him about over-encumbrance, or he couldn't have picked up the guild leader's belongings. 

"Rydr, we need you!"

Finished with his looting, Urginok's shout brought the giant back to his senses. Rydr stood and prepared to charge into the fray with his team to face the guild's raid team, his heart pounding. 

Urginok was on his last legs, his health bar barely visible on Rydr's HUD. The tank, despite the aid from Syrna's arrows, still faced three melee-oriented divers by himself. How the shorter man held out against, the greater numbers was a mystery, but a health bar twice the size of his opponent's probably helped.

Rydr crouched, about to hurl himself into the fight, when an earth-shattering roar assaulted everyone's senses. The sound was so singularly loud it created a shockwave that crashed into the colossus' back. Rydr's eardrums felt like a soundbar was jammed in his ear and played at max volume. 

Even his teeth chattered against each other from the soundwaves.

Forced into a stunned state, the giant diver fell onto the floor helplessly. Once stunned, a timer appeared on Rydr's HUD, but he had more pressing concerns.

*00:00:06*

The angle that Rydr tipped over at awarded him a ground-up view of an enormous, gray monster stepping into the round chamber behind him. The monster wore nothing but a giant shoulder guard and a dirty loincloth. A rope tied around its chest supported some weapon on its back, the haft visible over its other bare shoulder. 

From Rydr's view, the monster's head stretched almost to the ceiling.

Unfortunately, how the giant diver tipped over left his rear end high in the air, propped up by his knees.

Incidentally, Rydr finally caught sight of Syrna, similarly stunned, at the giant creature's feet. No sooner had Rydr registered all of this when the monster reared back and kicked Syrna in the stomach. 

*-89 HP*

The casual kick from the creature sent Syrna flying through the air, above and out of Rydr's field of view. In one lazy move, the monster nearly killed the blonde archer, who only had the 100 base health points that she started the game with.

The archer couldn't even cry out in pain because of her [Stunned] status.

Still helpless while he waited for the stun timer to wear off, Rydr's heart pounded crazily as the monster swaggered the rest of the way into the chamber towards the limp giant.

Since the colossus heard no fighting behind him, he had to assume that Urginok and the rest of the guild's raid team were all stunned as well. While that was a small relief, it changed nothing.

With nothing to do except freak out until the stun timer wore off, Rydr [Inspected] the monster. 

[(Elite) Hogoblin Warlord Lvl. 20]