The Siegebreaker hit the patch of magical grease at full sprint.

​Physics took over.

​The construct's heavy iron feet, expecting the friction of stone, found absolutely none. Its legs flew out from under it with cartoonish speed, but its massive upper body kept moving forward.

​WHOOSH.

​The Siegebreaker became a two-ton sled. It slid past Reed's hiding spot. It slid toward Kaelen.

​Kaelen didn't try to block it. She stepped aside with a matador's grace, pivoting on her heel.

​The sliding monster missed her by inches. The wind of its passage whipped her white cloak.

​It kept sliding. Past Kaelen. Toward the edge of the bridge.

​The Siegebreaker clawed at the stone, sparks flying as its iron fingers tried to find purchase on the greased rock.

​It failed.

​The monster hit the low stone railing. The railing, already weakened by age, crumbled under the impact.

​CRASH.

​The Siegebreaker flew off the bridge. For a second, it hung in the air, a confused mass of bone and iron silhouetted against the moon. It flailed its arms, trying to grab the air.

​Then gravity claimed it.

​SPLASH.

​It hit the water fifty feet below with a sound like a cannonball. The black water swallowed it instantly. The construct, far too heavy to swim, sank like a stone anchor.

​Reed peered over the edge.

​"One down!" he cheered, his voice cracking with relief.

​"Watch out!" Kaelen shouted.

​Reed scrambled back just as a massive stone block smashed into the railing where his head had been a second ago.

​CRASH.

​He rolled onto the bridge deck, scrambling to his feet behind the cover of a headless statue.

​The second Siegebreaker,the Bomb Carrier, hadn't charged. It had watched its partner slide into oblivion. It possessed a rudimentary intelligence, or perhaps just a survival instinct programmed by the Necromancer.

​It wasn't charging. It was standing by the pulsing purple bomb, ripping chunks of masonry out of the bridge and winding up for another throw.

​"It has ranged attacks!" Reed yelled, diving as another rock shattered the statue's shoulder, showering him in gravel.

​Kaelen stood in the middle of the bridge, fifty feet away from the monster. Between them lay the patch of shimmering grease.

​"It will not cross the slick," Kaelen realized, keeping her shield raised. "It is guarding the charge."

​She looked at the purple crystal pulsing on the pillar. It was blinking rapidly now.

​"Avatar!" she shouted. "The timer! The crystal is destabilizing! We have minutes before detonation!"

​Reed looked at the monster. It was huge, angry, and firmly planted on the dry, non-greasy side of the bridge.

​He looked at his inventory.

​Rope.

​Stinky Bag of Rocks.

​Dagger.

​2 Scrolls of Grease.

​"We can't lure it," Reed realized. "It's camping."

​"Then we push it," Kaelen said, advancing slowly. "I will engage. You… do something clever."

​She stepped onto the grease patch. Unlike the Siegebreaker, she knew it was there. She moved carefully, sliding her feet like she was skating, keeping her center of gravity low.

​The Siegebreaker roared and hurled another boulder.

​Kaelen slashed the rock mid-air. CRACK. The boulder split in two, falling harmlessly to her sides.

​She reached the dry stone on the other side. She was now face-to-face with the monster.

​"One Paladin," Kaelen stated, raising her sword. "One Abomination. Let us finish this."

​Reed scrambled up from behind the statue. He couldn't fight that thing. He had 12 mana and a rusty sword.

​But he had a bag of rocks. And he had a rope.

​"Okay," Reed muttered, tying the rope to the heavy Bag of Holding. "Let's see if dungeon physics work in the real world."

​He began to swing the heavy bag in a circle. The rope hummed. The smell of garlic wafted through the air, aggressive and spicy.

​"Hey! Ugly!" Reed yelled, sprinting toward the fight.

​The Siegebreaker ignored him, raising its massive fists to crush Kaelen.

​Kaelen blocked with her sword, her knees buckling under the titanic force. Sparks flew. She groaned, the weight of the monster driving her boots into the stone.

​"I cannot hold it!" Kaelen gritted out.

​Reed leaped.

​He didn't aim for the monster. He aimed for the Necrotic Charge on the ground behind it.

​He swung the heavy bag like a flail.

​THWACK.

​The bag of rocks hit the purple crystal. It didn't break it, that would explode everyone, but the force knocked it loose from the pillar.

​The crystal skittered across the stone… and stopped right on the edge of the bridge, teetering over the abyss.

​The Siegebreaker turned. Its priority was the bomb. It saw the crystal teetering.

​It abandoned Kaelen. It lunged for the bomb.

​"Now!" Reed screamed. "The second scroll!"

​He threw the second Scroll of Grease directly under the monster's feet as it lunged.

​[ACTIVATE ITEM: SCROLL OF GREASE]

​But the monster was ready this time. It slammed its iron claws into the stone through the grease, anchoring itself. It stopped its slide inches from the edge.

​It grabbed the crystal in one hand.

​It looked at Reed with hollow, hateful eyes. It had saved the bomb. And now, it was going to kill the annoying man with the garlic bag.

​It reached out with its free hand and grabbed Kaelen by the throat as she tried to strike its flank.

​It lifted her off the ground.

​Kaelen gagged, clawing at the massive bone fingers. Her feet kicked uselessly in the air. The monster held her over the edge of the bridge.

​It grinned—a horrific rictus of bone.

​"No," Reed whispered.

​He had no mana. He had no scrolls left. He just had momentum.

​Reed didn't think. He didn't strategize. He sprinted.

​He hit the grease patch. He didn't try to stop. He turned his body into a missile.

​"PROTOCOL TACKLE!" Reed screamed.

​He slid across the oil at thirty miles per hour and slammed shoulder-first into the Siegebreaker's knees.

​CRUNCH.

​The impact didn't break the monster's legs, but it broke its balance.

​The Siegebreaker, holding Kaelen over the void, teetered. It tried to step back to catch itself. Its foot hit the grease.

​It slipped.

​The monster, the bomb, Kaelen, and Reed, all tangled together in a mess of limbs and garlic, went over the railing.

​For a second, there was weightlessness.

​Then, the cold, black water rushed up to meet them.

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