Jake's vision went red. His mask was coated with gore as the head of the Three Eyed Grim flying right at him, exploded. It may have been bulletproof to the guns of Gadget's drones. But Cass's overwhelming firepower didn't seem to notice.
"Another coming up on you from your left." Cass's voice spoke into the group chat. Kicking wildly he sent the smaller Grims holding on to his legs flying just in time to palm strike the face of another three eyed Grim. This one had their third eye on their cheek below their left eye. When the monster's noseless face smashed into his palm he closed his hand on its head. Unlike with the two eyed Grims, he wasn't able to crush it. It was like squeezing a rock.
The thing dropped the stone weapon it was holding and gripped Jake's wrist with both hands trying to drag him forward. For a moment they were actually at a standstill. Until a smaller Grim landed on his back, one arm wrapped around his neck while the other hammered into the back of his head with a rock. His shield kept him from taking damage but the distraction allowed the other Grim to pull him off his feet.
He face planted while the thing held his arm painfully up above him. It started stomping on the back of Jake's head. It didn't even hesitate when it crushed the smaller grim that had fallen forward to sprawl over his head. Jake grunted each time his face was slammed into the ground and his shoulder ached. Suddenly, the blows stopped and his hand was free. Jake looked up to see the Grim with a huge hole in its chest topple over.
"More big ones coming your way from the holes." Cass's voice sounded slightly worried now.
Cass's shots were no longer infrequent. The loud reports pealed across the lake bed almost constantly. Jake pushed himself up to his knees and punched the ground in frustration. Looking up he watched as the crimson tornado blew apart, there were so many Grims in it that the spell had failed. Dead, dying, and far too lively Grims were sent flying in every direction.
Arrows blotted out the sky and fell like raindrops, many Grims fell dead but just as many continued on ignoring the arrows sticking out of them. One of the larger three eyed Grims was using the corpse of a smaller Grim as a shield against the arrows.
Gadget's last large drone buzzed around a constant BRRRRR of automatic fire. The smaller drones were circling it, zapping any of the monsters that tried to bring it down. One of the smaller ones was pulled right out of the air. The dying Grim wrapping its body around it to drag it to the ground where its fellow monsters beat both until they were equally destroyed. Gadget swore like a sailer over the group chat.
Jake pushed himself to stand, flinging smaller Grims off him. His scream was a distorted mess that came out as mostly crackles. 'I'm tired of being useless.'
There was no strategy, no technique. Just raw violence as he threw himself at the waves of Grims. He crushed them. Ripped them apart. Shredded them with claws and stomped them into the ground.
One of the larger three eyed Grims charged at him. Jake caught one of the smaller ones as it tried to leap on him by a leg and hurled it into the brute's face. His fist followed splattering the smaller monster before carrying through to smash into the larger one with enough force to knock it over. Jake didn't even slow, just stomped down hard on its face as he charged past. His armored and clawed feet mangled the downed monster's face.
Jake no longer bothered with the smaller Grims. Cass was almost out of ammunition already. The others could slaughter the horde of smaller monsters easier than he could. Only he and Cass were specialized for taking on stronger single targets. So he made that his goal.
Jake planted his foot into the face of one of the smaller monsters and launched himself off it like a springboard. He crashed down feet first, digging his claws into the back of another of the lesser Grims as he began to think of them. With a backhand swipe, he caught a startled three eye across the face with his right fist. Then thrust the claws of his left hand right into its throat while it was still dazed.
"Geez. Shouldn't he turn green before going nuts like that? You didn't say he was a berserker." Gadget's voice came over the group chat.
Ella made some other hulk joke that Jake ignored. Instead, he kept his focus on the fight. Plowing through the lesser Grims in a shoulder charge towards the next three eyes. One of the lesser Grims was hanging off him, trying to smash a rock into Jake's face. He ignored it. Slamming into one of the hulking three eyes and smushing it between them.
"Hey, murder machine. Watch your shield. You left my drone behind, it can't keep up with you." Gadget warned him. Jake ignored her. All the frustration not only of his poor stats, horrible class, and feelings of uselessness in the game combined with the pent up frustrations from his mother's death. His wild blitz of death and destruction was cathartic.
For the first time in a while, he started to feel useful. Unstoppable even.
Then the world fell out from under his feet. It took him a moment to realize that wasn't what happened. Somehow he was airborne. Flying backwards thru the air. Pain washed over him an instant later, sharp and searing across most of his body. It snapped him out of his frenzy.
His health bar flashed and lowered even though his shield hadn't fully depleted yet. He crashed down to land on a pile of Grims, some still moving. The glowing metallic shrapnel sizzled across his body slowly cooling down to slag and he saw a small crater where he had been just a moment ago.
"Four eyes. Take it out sniper girl." Ella ordered.
Jake kick flipped up before the dazed Grims around him could dogpile on him. There was a towering Grim standing outside the nearest tunnel. It had to be seven feet tall. Spindly limbs stuck out of a strange outfit made of patchwork pieces of leather. Bones, feathers, and other animal parts covered it in a weird collage. In one hand there was a staff that looked to be carved of grey white stone instead of wood. Several sharp edged crystalline structures that shone like metal jutted from the top almost like a crown.
Jake started to turn away from it. Cass would take care of that for sure. Then there was a spark and a flash right next to its head. The thing turned and looked in the direction Cass had shot it from and let out a shriek of indignation.
"I missed?" Cass's questioning voice came over chat.
"No. It deflected it somehow. It has a shield or something." Jake replied, staring at it with trepidation. There had been things that survived a shot from Cass but nothing that simply deflected it. Not even the hardest shelled monster had done that.
"Damn Shamans. Aero, this one is yours. It can't defend against physical and magical at the same time." Ella ordered again.
"I just made another tornado. Gigolo, keep it busy for a bit and I'll hit it with a lightning bolt in a second." Jake could hear the grin in Aero's voice even thru the chat.
Jake grumbled but charged directly at the shaman. "I thought you were the cool one Aero."
"Naw man. I'm as nuts as the others." Aero chuckled as he replied.
Jake used another Grim's face as a springboard intent on crashing down on the shaman, fist first. To his surprise, the monster didn't move, didn't even look at him. It stood stock still while staring in Cass's direction even as another bullet was deflected. Just before his fist was about to smash into the side of the Grim's head another Grim appeared out of nowhere between them. It caught Jake's fist in a hand just as big as his armored gauntlet and flung him away.
"The hell? That thing just appeared out of thin air?" He was still sailing backward staring at the eight foot tall mass of muscle that the newest Grim was. It wore nothing but a loincloth, its entire body covered in ornate scars that strangely resembled some sort of writing. Then it disappeared.
Before Jake could say anything else his back smashed into something solid. Two thick arms wrapped around his chest. Heavy breathing filled his ear as the mouth breathing four eyed Grim appeared behind him to catch him in a bear hug.
Both of Jake's arms were caught in the grip pinning them to his sides. Those thick grotesquely veined arms swelled as they started to crush him. His remaining shield drained in an instant, then the full crushing might hit him. With a wheeze, all the air was blasted out of his lungs and his health began ticking down. It was slower than his shield but still fast.
Jake flexed all his muscles at once trying to resist the crushing might of the giant Grim. The health drain slowed a little and he could draw a tiny breath. It was enough to keep the encroaching darkness in his vision at bay, at least for the moment.
He kicked wildly digging his heel into the shin of the monster. With his arms pinned to his side, he couldn't even elbow it. But he could sink his claws into it. He dug both hands into the thigh of the monster, his metallic claws digging through the tough skin of the monster's legs. It didn't do much damage, but it must have hurt. The monster flexed hard crushing him with a sudden surge of strength before letting him go.
Jake gasped for air as he landed on all four. Looking up he found the towering Grim already bringing his foot down to stomp on him. It was too fast. Jake just stared at that huge calloused foot closing in on his face.