He Who Fights with Monsters, #3
He Who Fights with Monsters 3
by Shirtaloon
Contents
4. Valkyrie
Overview
Jason’s team executes a feint that wounds Sigrid but fails to finish her, forcing a prolonged, tactical battle. Clive and Belinda sustain overwhelming spell pressure while Sophie protects Jason as his afflictions escalate. Humphrey pins Valdis, and Belinda’s tether sets up Neil’s Reaper’s Redoubt, which—amplified by Jason’s curses—annihilates Valdis’s regrouped team.
Summary
The match opens with Humphrey pressing Valdis using a faster sabre style, forcing Valdis to protect Sigrid while retreating. Jason’s team reveals their planned feint: Sophie draws attention, Clive swaps positions, and Sigrid narrowly survives an ambush thanks to a powerful self-heal. Their heavy defender is delayed by a trapping crystal rod that drains his cooldowns.
Across the field, Jason and Sophie duel Valdis’s spearwoman, archer, and wind-needle caster. Sophie deflects attacks and covers Jason, while Jason’s shadow movement and dagger strikes stack curses, poison, and necrosis. Sigrid’s healing holds the team together but cannot cleanse all afflictions as her mana is taxed.
Behind a minion wall, Clive, Belinda, and Neil bunker down. Clive unleashes wrath of the magister on repeat as Belinda loops cooldowns and even copies the spell, forcing Sigrid to burn major shields and heals. Familiars clash, with Humphrey’s summons altered by Jason’s die, and Sophie repeatedly intercepts threats aimed at Jason.
Jason deploys Team Colin, but Sigrid counters with an internal shield burst that clears the leeches, surprising Jason. Despite Jason’s team pacing the fight, Valdis’s defender finally returns, enabling Valdis’s team to reform and push toward Clive, Belinda, and Neil as the barrage ends.
Seeing Humphrey’s predatory smile, Valdis advances, but Belinda raises a crystal rod and tethers both teams together. Jason’s team vanishes as Neil triggers Reaper’s Redoubt, creating a death-suffused pocket dimension. With Jason’s necrosis-enhancing curses already on every foe, the redoubt shreds Valdis and Sigrid first, then collapses the rest, securing Jason’s team the win.
Back in the control room, Valdis laughs at the unexpected finish, and Sigrid acknowledges the surprise, tacitly conceding the effectiveness of their opponents’ unorthodox tactics.
Who Appears
- Jason AsanoAggressively stacks curses and necrosis via shadows and dagger; deploys leech swarm; sets the ticking clock.
- Sigrid FreynTactical core and healer; survives ambush, shields team, but mana taxed; ultimately falls in Reaper’s Redoubt.
- Valdis VolaireTeam leader and duelist; pressured by Humphrey while defending Sigrid; caught and defeated in the final dimensional strike.
- HumphreySwitches to fast sabre; relentlessly pressures Valdis and threatens Sigrid; summons altered bone gorillas and commands minions.
- SophieMobile guardian; feints on Valdis, shields Jason, and disrupts enemy attackers with superior speed and interception.
- CliveAnchors the bunker; repeatedly casts wrath of the magister with Belinda’s support to pressure Sigrid’s defenses.
- BelindaLoops Clive’s cooldowns, copies his spell, then tethers both teams to enable Neil’s finishing dimensional ability.
- NeilHeals and shields from the bunker; unleashes Reaper’s Redoubt to capitalize on Jason’s curses and end the fight.
- Team Colin (leech swarm)Deployed as a finisher but countered by Sigrid’s internal shield burst.
- ShadeFamiliars recalled as Valdis targets them with disruptive-force attacks during the regrouping push.
- GordonFires continuous blue-orange beams at enemy minions, sustaining the bunker’s defensive screen.
- StashShapeshifting baby dragon; flexibly reinforces the minion wall amid the familiar brawl.