Unbound Deathlord_Obliteration

by Edward Castle

  Bear said.

  Even I had to smile at that.

  "At last," the minotaur said in a deep sonorous bass. I guess it would've been too cruel for the developers to give it such an ugly face and a shitty voice. "It has been ages since the previous challengers. Edward promised me many more fights when I agreed to conquer and defend his castle."

  "Hello," I said. "Just wondering, would you accept money for the castle?"

  The boss sniffed. "Puny deathlord, you dare to speak in my presence?" It sounded more bored than upset. "I would kill you where you stand if I didn't have an agreement with my god. Guards," it lazily called.

  With a big boom, all fifty minotaur statues shattered. Except, they weren't destroyed; only the outer layer cracked and fell away from them, revealing minotaurs clad only in loincloths.

  Without any armor, I was confident this would be no problem. At least until a grey light rippled out from within their bodies and they grew just a little bit taller. I thought I was imagining it at first, but when the second pulse of light came, I realized I wasn't.

  Unless I was mistaken, I had just found out how elite minotaurs were made.

  I shrewdly said.

  The zombies started hacking and slashing the minotaurs with their brand-new swords. They died rather easily at first, taking a little over a thousand damage before passing away. However, the bigger they got, the harder they became to kill.

  Thankfully, with no armor they took full damage no matter where we hit them. I began to attack with sword and magic at the same time to maximize damage.

  The pulses of light weren't coming that fast so if things kept up this way, we could kill them all. Of course, I didn't believe for a second that the pulses would keep coming at a constant rate.

  Five dead.

  Seven.

  Nine.

  Ten.

  When the tenth minotaur died, they were still relatively small. That's when the pulses of light increased in frequency.

  Twelve, thirteen, seventeen, twenty.

  The pace increased once again.

  As we killed the thirtieth, they were fully grown.

  It wasn't the end of the pulsating lights, they merely became golden as a piece of armor appeared on the top of all minotaurs' heads.

  I said. It was obnoxious, that the small piece of armor on their scalps was enough to be considered a helmet and prevent the minotaurs from receiving critical damage from strikes to the head.

  That didn't hold true for Daggers though.

  I asked.

 

  Bear said.

  she explained.

  I said.

 

  I decided not to answer that.

  The minotaurs armor was growing downwards with each pulse of golden light while we kept killing them.

  Thirty-one. Thirty-two. Thirty-three.

  Without the critical damage for us, things were much slower. When the thirty-fifth minotaur died, armor already covered their entire upper bodies.

  In the end, we managed to kill thirty-nine before the armor was complete.

  Daggers ordered before I did.

  We ran there. Meanwhile, a panel opened in the lightsteel wall, revealing eleven lightsteel halberds. And eleven massive crossbows; I figured the game would try to screw us over, seems I'd been right. The 'newborn' elites ran to take the weapons

  I stood right at the corner and the zombies positioned themselves in a few loose lines of defense around me. Only a few elites could enter melee range, but all of them had crossbows now.

  Unfortunately, the elites weren't kind enough to come at us. They separated from each other and pointed the crossbows our direction. Each one of the weapons shone white for a few seconds. Next, the light condensed and focused on a line atop the crossbow, until it became a bolt of light.

  Then, they shot.

  The projectiles launched across the space much faster than common bolts, which was bad enough, but then each of the bolts split into two mid-air. Over half the zombies were hit before they could put their shields up.

  I was expecting more bullshit from these minotaurs and managed to block a bolt that came at me.

  Bear took one like it was nothing, receiving fifty damage from it.

  Daggers dodged as if it was child's play.

  None of us who managed to defend with our shields took any damage, but the zombies who were too slow took from eighty to a hundred points of damage.

  From a single bolt.

  Those elites weren't playing around.

  The minotaurs didn't even have to reload; they kept the weapons pointed at us as the crossbows automatically created new bolts.

  Daggers wasn't happy about the number of zombies that got hit.

  She was right; I had been just looking at the game without reacting. Holding my magic staff, I started to amass a fire morb.

  It was still in the amassing stage, a growing round flame, when the bolts shot again. None came at me but one of them did target my forming morb, only to be deflected by Daggers, who shadowed and hit the bolt with her blade.

  This time, only a few zombies were hit by the bolts, and Daggers once again insulted their appearance, intellect and maybe even their lineage.

  My first fire morb formed and I sent a firebomb at one of the elites. It tried to defend by swinging its crossbow, but I maneuvered the spell to evade the strike and the spell blew up in its face anyway.

  259 fire + 79 burn damage dealt to Middle Elite Minotaur (338 total)

  HP: 4676 / 5012 <?>

  Their armor was definitely better than the elites we'd fought before, but it was still manageable.

  The minotaur I hit let out an angry roar and they all began to get into a tighter formation. I had a bad feeling about this.

  I started amassing a second morb and they shoot again. It seemed that between creating a light bolt and shooting, each attack from them took the same two seconds as I took to create a firebomb morb.

  The bolts came, my firebomb went.

  I pretended to target the same elite, but changed targets when the spell was almost within range. It was to no avail. My new target tried to destroy the spell and I tried to avoid the attack as before. However, the two on either side of it also swung their crossbows to attack my spell, and even two bolts flew at it. Try as I might, my spell was still destroyed mid-air.

  Shit.

  I was beginning to have a history of stalemate fights with the elite minotaurs, it was frustrating. I could try targeting the elites on the sides, but even so I didn't think I would be able to reliably get my spells to their target.

  The crossbowmen began charging for another volley.

  "This is boring," said the Boss. "Edward thought cowards might come. Meet the Cowards' Hourglass."

  The second it finished speaking, an opening appeared in the ceiling and a huge hourglass dropped from it beside the throne.

  The Boss nodded to the hourglass. "As much as I wish to fight you all by myself, the agreement is that I must wait until the hourglass empties." It sounded even more bored now. "You'll die either way, but try to kill them before it's time for me to join so I can get a little more fun out of it."

  Bolts rattled off our shields again.

  We could either attack or wait. But waiting would be bad for mora
le and I didn't want to fight the boss while eleven elites were shooting us. I yelled.

  Bear roared.

  I said quickly.

  The other zombies hurried to shout 'dibs' and soon all of them were spoken for. Whether the claims of those who had spoken first would be respected or it would devolve into a bloody melee was a problem for later.

  Daggers ordered.

  We obeyed. The zombies formed into a double circle around me and we started moving towards the minotaurs at a steady pace. Since the minotaurs could deflect my spells, I kept amassing morbs but not using them.

  The elites didn't wait. Five of them came at us, dropping the crossbows on the floor and holding their halberds with both hands. The other six moved around, still pointing the crossbows at us.

  A few moments later, the first elite slashed at a zombie. He raised his shield in time and took no damage.

  I said.

  They had already fought the elites, but it didn't hurt to remind them. If Bear and Daggers had told me about the elites' abilities beforehand, I might not have had my ass kicked so badly when I fought one of them in melee.

  The other elites attacked, the zombies defended. Bolts flew and some zombies were hit.

  I waited until I had ten morbs, and then I fired them all off as fast as possible at one of the nearby elites. It had no chance; its face was savaged by continuous fiery explosions and it found itself with less than two thousand remaining HP.

  I blocked a bolt aimed at me and Daggers protected my morbs again.

  There were no more surprises after that. We remained in a defensive circle to defend against the elites. I amassed fire morbs and attacked the enemy. Daggers protected my fire morbs no matter what the crossbowmen did; even when they surrounded us, she seemed to have a sixth sense for the incoming projectiles.

  The halberds glowed white or green from time to time, but the zombies acted accordingly and barely took any damage.

  Shit was way too easy. I was expecting something horrible to happen but after the third elite fell and we still had way too much time according to the hourglass, I realized what was different from the chaotic fight when we defended the lever room: we had come prepared.

  This time, all zombies had good armor and shields, forty points of constitution, and had been forged into a unit in the fires of battle. I wasn't fighting with noob zombies, anymore; now, they were twenty-two hardened veterans with equipment comparable to mine.

  Damn, Daggers and I turned them into men. Should I make them call me daddy?

  Fifteen minutes later, the last elite died. From my estimates, there were still five minutes in the hourglass.

  The boss didn't bat an eye. Instead, it yawned and waved its hand. "Rest. I'll go when the hourglass is-" It yawned again. "When the sand runs out."

  I had killed plenty of boastful enemies in Valia; I couldn't wait to do the same to this asshole.

  I said. As much as it was boastful, it had just seen us kill eleven elites while taking barely any damage, but was still confident in its strength.

  I sat and meditated. This last fight had counted as a large scale battle, so stamina and mana usage were reduced by eighty percent and I still had used half my MP. Unfortunately, a fight against a single enemy meant mana and stamina usage would be normal, even if it was a raid Boss.

  The meditation helped me relax and focus. Finally, Daggers broke me out of my reverie.

 

  I opened my eyes and looked at the Hourglass in time to see the last grains of sand falling.

  The Boss yawned a final time, closed its helmet, stood up and stretched. Then, it lifted the golden halberd by its side.

  And disappeared into thin air.

  Almost instantly, it appeared right in front of me, the halberd already swinging towards my face.

  28. Too Hard

  There was no time for me to do anything, the halberd's blade was half a meter from my face before my mind even registered what was happening.

  Thank goodness I had Daggers.

  She swept my legs out from under me with a kick to the back of the knees, while she shoved my upper body backward. As I fell down and away from the blow, I saw in slow motion as the blade missed my nose by mere centimeters.

  Daggers wasn't done. She rushed in and attempted to bury her blades in the monster, but for the first time ever, they met a metal they couldn't pierce and simply bounced off.

  I hit the ground and sent a firebomb at the minotaur's face. It exploded but the damage message made me very nervous about the fight.

  75 damage dealt to Minotaur Boss

  The Boss ignored the fire, raised its leg, and tried to stomp me, but I rolled to the side. When it stomped the floor, a powerful shock wave struck me and sent me flying. All the zombies felt the pressure and were forced to take a step back except for Bear.

  Daggers was only pushed back slightly as she jumped, twirled mid-air, and dropped lightly back to the ground after the shock wave had already passed through.

  She shadowed, trying to use the spikes on the Boss' armor to climb over it. It tried to dislodge her by whirling so fast that I could feel the gust of air his frantic motion generated as I got up from my position.

  Surprisingly, Daggers held firm and managed to clamber to its shoulders. She wrapped her legs around its throat and began to mangle the minotaur's face with precise stabs through the eye slits of its helmet.

  [Daggers] Critical attack for 2.0x damage!

  [Daggers] 500 (100 x 5) piercing damage dealt to Minotaur Boss

  "Blackguard!" The beast yelled in rage as white light flared around its body before expanding outwards into a ten meter bubble. Daggers was blasted back and as she flew the Boss oriented on her, its halberd glowing green.

  [Daggers] 936 slash damage received

  HP: 784 / 1720

  She yelled in pain as she was swatted against the wall.

  What the hell?! Almost one thousand damage in a single attack? One more hit like that and she would die!

  I had been pushed back by the Boss but now it looked at me and started running my way.

  Bear started running too. The Boss noticed it and swung the halberd at the zombie, who was forced to stop and dodge. I prepared myself to defend with my shield but didn't expect the halberd to glow white.

  I blocked the first hit but took thirty-two points of damage anyway. What's worse, the attack was powerful enough to knock me completely off balance.

  It was all I could do to protect my head with the shield from the next four lightning fast attacks.

  1768 (432 x 4) slash damage received

  HP: 2427 / 4195

  It felt like I'd been hit by four cars in rapid succession. I couldn't dodge the Boss' stomp and took fifty points of damage when its huge hoof pinned me down. More pain flowed through my body.

  Daggers snapped.

  She was right, of course. The Boss was terrifying and I was our only hope; although I couldn't do much damage to it, unless we had my healing magic, shit would go south even faster than it already was.

  The Boss raised its halberd high, preparing for a vertical attack. I counter-attacked.

  As fast as I could, I tossed firebombs, not at its head, but at the hand that was holding the halberd. I didn't even want to make it drop the weapon, I just hoped to buy time with the explosions so it wouldn't have a chance to strike me.

  One explosion. Two. Three. Nine. They dealt less than thirty damage each, but it was enough to destabiliz
e the Boss' grip on the halberd as a few zombies rushed to my side.

  They pushed and bashed at the Boss' knee in an attempt to free me from beneath its foot, but it didn't work. Both Turtle and Teal started to climb its armor, forcing it to once again to use its spin technique to fling them off.

  All the zombies were pushed back by the strong wind generated by the swing. Worse still, it spun itself with its full weight supported by the foot on my chest. Now I knew what grain under a millstone felt like, it was incredibly painful and my armor cracked under the extreme force.

  Daggers had just been waiting for it to use this skill. The moment it stopped spinning, she appeared from invisibility behind the Boss and started to climb the armor once more. Knowing that another hit like the one she'd suffered would finish her off I wanted to stop her, but I was physically incapable of doing so and I didn't even waste the effort trying to order her not to. I'd agreed to let her do her job as she saw fit, and we both knew this was what had to be done.

  She climbed back into position and continued gouging the monster's face through the vision slits in its helmet.

  She yelled in pure rage.

  Finally, Bear appeared. He had taken initiative to get some distance from the fight and now ran all the way from the other side of the room. He came from behind the Boss and didn't focus on the leg pinning me down but on the other one instead, slamming into it like an iron clad bowling ball.

  The Boss hadn't been expecting that and lost his balance. When it stumbled back a step, I rolled away, got up, and ran to a group of zombies who created a shield wall around me.

  Daggers was still using her blades when the Boss punched her hard though it did only ten points of damage. She didn't even try to dodge and instead continued to cling to the Boss with her legs.

  Bear was struggling to take the golden halberd away from the Boss, but when he started to get the upper hand, the Boss used his air bubble again knocking both him and Daggers away.

  The halberd glowed green for the second time as it swung at Daggers.