The Builder's Wrath (The Legendary Builder Book 4)

by J. A. Cipriano

  What should have happened was that I’d have fought the trolls while Galahad’s light slowly faded away. Only, like with the shade I’d fought outside, the trial didn’t quite be set up for my abilities.

  “I do not know what that means, my liege,” Galahad said as the door along the far wall opened to reveal a corridor that twisted off into the darkness. “But I am glad you have such a power. This would have been nigh impossible without it.”

  “I just had a similar thought.” I pointed to the door. “What do you suppose is in there?”

  Galahad inhaled. “I can’t smell anything but burned bodies.” He shrugged. “Perhaps it is the grail?”

  “Perhaps,” I muttered, moving closer. I mean, he was probably right, but if I had learned anything, no treasure would be left unguarded, and while this room might have been tough, I had stolen Dred’s healing ability. He would have been able to fight through it no matter how badly they’d hurt him. The fact that I’d cheesed the room didn’t mean that the next room wouldn’t have a boss. No. It’d have something designed to stop someone who could fight his way through a stadium full of trolls, and that concerned me.

  A lot.

  Worse, Galahad only had around nine thousand experience left. If I needed more than that to upgrade his abilities to beat the next room, we were screwed.

  31

  “Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman,” warbled a voice from deep within the new room. As we stepped inside, the room came alive with torches that spiraled outward along the walls, casting the entire place in ethereal blue light.

  The ground beyond the platform where we stood reminded me of grating, and through the slats, I could see creatures moving below. As I tore my gaze from whatever lurked below, the rest of the room finally lit up, revealing a grotesque humanoid creature lounging upon a pile of skulls while picking its yellowed-crooked teeth with what looked like a rib bone.

  “How has this creature acquired so many bones?” Galahad asked me, glanced from the massive stringy-haired giant to me and back again. “Is there another way in here?”

  “Be he alive, or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread,” the giant cried before I could respond to Galahad’s excellent point. Then it moved, climbing to its feet, and as I watched it, I realized I barely reached the top of its ankle.

  “And how will you cook this bread, you vile cur?” Galahad called back, glaring at the creature who just blinked at him with sunken, yellow eyes.

  “I don’t think you’re going to reason with the giant,” I said, gripping Caliburn tightly. I wasn’t even sure how to go about attacking something this size. Its ankles were like redwoods, and even if I had a chainsaw, I didn’t think I could get through them. Worse, I was fairly certain it could just step on me, and while I might heal, it wouldn’t be much of a fair fight, especially since I couldn’t reach any vital organs from where I stood.

  “That’s no giant,” Galahad said as his axe began to glow with red light. He pointed the weapon at the creature as it stood there, waiting for us to make a move. “That’s a titan.”

  “A titan?” I replied, confused. “Like the Greek gods?”

  “No.” Galahad shook his head. “This is a black knight titan.” He smacked the back of his neck. “The weak spot is here.”

  “Seriously?” I asked, looking at the creature who was licking his lips. “How the fuck am I going to get up there? Shoot it?”

  “Their skin is too hard for ranged attacks to penetrate. Usually, we use grappling hooks.” Galahad shrugged. “It’s not so bad. You shoot them high into the walls and zip up there and slash them apart. Pretty easy unless their smart, and this one doesn’t seem smart.” He sighed. “I don’t have a grappling hook though.”

  “Me either.” I could tell the creature wanted to rush us, only it hadn’t. That was curious. “It’s also not attacking.”

  “Indeed, my liege. Usually the moment they smell a mortal man, they charge.” He swallowed. “They’re much faster than they look. I’ve seen them easily outrun a horse.” He frowned, and I realized the bravest knight was a bit scared.

  “Well, if it isn’t going to attack us yet, we can think of a strategy.” I pointed to the grates. “There’s clearly something down there.” I stamped my foot. “And this is grating, so something must happen.” It was a little weird because so far, the encounter reminded me of something straight out a video game. The ones where the boss didn’t do anything until you attacked, at which point all sorts of crazy shit would happen.

  It was weird because if I knew Dred, the guy would have just charged in and beaten the fuck out of the titan. Well, probably. After all, this fight was designed for someone like him, not me. I had no idea what most of his powers did, but they seemed like they were all meant to make him an unkillable killing machine, whereas mine weren’t.

  This probably was meant for someone to go in and try to melee the thing down in some way, but with what Galahad told me, that seemed impossible. After all, how were we to get to its neck? Climb my way up it like a beanstalk?

  I took another look around the room for something like that, but there wasn’t a lot there, just torches and the bone pile, and whatever lurked below the grating.

  “My guess is that if we don’t defeat the titan in a certain amount of time, the grating opens up.” Galahad pointed to the edges of the room. “See those hinges? They’ll allow the floor to drop out.”

  He looked to be right, but that was curious too. Galahad had told me that usually they used grappling hooks to get to the walls, and if that were the case, one would just need to wait until the floor fell out, and the boss fell into the pit. Of course, that might not kill him, but since we lacked grappling hooks, well, that was out of the question.

  Or was it?

  As I looked around the room, I recalled when I’d moved through the dwarven dungeon. I’d used Mammon’s gauntlets to carve handholds into the walls. Would that work here?

  I wasn’t sure, but either way, I was going to find out. Only as I stepping off the platform and onto the grating so I could get a closer look, the creature charged.

  Its huge, lumbering steps caused the ground to shake violently beneath my feet. As it ate up the distance, I whirled, bringing my sword up just in time to try to block a me-sized fist. The blow slammed into me with so much force, my armor shattered.

  My body hit the far wall with a wet squelch, and as pain shot through my body, I saw it turn toward Galahad.

  “For the King!” he cried, rushing forward in a blur of speed. His axe smashed into the creature’s shin with a resounding clang that shot sparks into the air but didn’t do a lot else.

  “You are not flesh.” The titan regarded him for a moment before kicking him away. The knight flew across the room, slamming into the pile of bones. Debris went everywhere as Galahad struggled to stand and failed. I could see why. His health had dropped by over half from that single blow.

  Not good.

  I knew part of it was that he wasn’t receiving his cumulative Knight of the Round Table buff, but part of it was that this thing just seemed unstoppable. Especially since I knew my damage had been reflected back to it sevenfold. Only if it had actually gotten hurt, I couldn’t tell.

  Still, his attack had bought me time to heal. I pulled myself to my feet as the creature came loping toward me, massive knuckles dragging along the steel grating like some kind of gorilla.

  I threw a sapphire blast at the creature who didn’t even bother to block or dodge. My attack splashed across its skin before disappearing into the ether. Damn.

  Quickly pulling up its stats, I swallowed.

  Creature: The Black Knight Titan

  Type: Titan

  Class: Boss

  Health: 2173/2181

  Mana: 402/403

  The guardian’s palm came flying toward me like he intended to squash me like a bug. Dodging, I tried to leap onto its arm as its hand crashed into the grating where I’d stood. Only my feet slipped off
its skin like it was made of oil and I was wearing butter shoes. I fell flat on my back as the titan raised its hand like it expected me to be smashed beneath.

  “Die, cur!” Galahad cried, charging the titan once more, and once again his attack bounced off the back of the titan’s leg.

  This time, he didn’t even draw the creature’s attention. Instead, its gaze fixed on me as I scrambled to my feet. It drew in a large breath, its nostrils flaring.

  “I will swallow you whole, and when I shit out your bones, I will boil them into stew.”

  “That’s kind of disgusting,” I said, backpedaling as it reared back to try to crush me with an overhead swing. “And I thought you were going to make me into bread?”

  “I will do that third.”

  As I threw myself forward, rolling between its tree trunk legs, its fists slammed down on the metal. I came to my feet, whirling around, and as I did, I wished I had Sathanus’s teleport ability. If I did, I could just pop up there.

  I blinked.

  Wrath.

  The archangel could not only fly, but she could teleport.

  I slammed my hand against the mark on my shoulder and called upon the power of the Archangel of Wrath. I felt her out in the distance, but she was there.

  “Sathanus, can you come to me? Please?” I asked aloud as crimson light flared from the mark and the titan whirled to face me. “Like, right now.” It felt like I was shouting down a large tunnel.

  The titan tried to grab me this time, and I lashed out with Caliburn. My blade clanged off its hand with enough force to rattle down my arms. Worse, it didn’t stop the creature’s attack. Hell, it didn’t even slow it.

  The titan’s hand closed around me, and it squeezed. Pain exploded through me as it raised me toward its gaping mouth.

  “Take me instead!” Galahad cried, and before I could quite understand what had happened, I was back on the ground, and Galahad was in the monster’s grip. Had he done some sort of switch places technique? I wasn’t sure but either way, I was free. Galahad on the other hand…

  The titan stopped, hand halfway to his lips and peered at the knight. “You are not blood and flesh,” he snarled, glaring at Galahad. “You will upset my stomach!” He flung Galahad away. This time the knight seemed ready for it, and he managed to roll through the fall, but I suddenly didn’t care because the creature was coming toward me.

  Since counterattacking hadn’t worked, I opted to try to dodge. I threw myself to the side as the creature’s foot came down where I’d been only a second before. Then I reached up toward the ceiling, trying to call the stone above us with my gauntlet so I could drop it on the big bastard.

  Only as I did, the titan kicked me. My ribs shattered right before I crashed into the wall. My head smacked into the stone with a sickening thud. As darkness encroached upon my vision and I slid to the ground, the titan started coming toward me once more.

  32

  “Please, Sathanus,” I mumbled even though my mouth tasted like blood. I knew I’d heal the damage given time, but since the creature wasn’t far away, I knew I didn’t have much. “Come!”

  The mark on my shoulder flared as the titan approached and peered down at me. Its hand reached out, and as it plucked me from the ground and moved me toward its open maw, a flash of blinding crimson light filled my eyes, and the dwarven archangel appeared in front of me.

  “What is so damned important?” she cried, glaring at me.

  Before I could explain, a trumpet blast filled the air, so loud that the titan covered its ears. I fell the ten or so stories to the ground and smashed into the grating. Agony exploded across my body as the dwarf landed beside me.

  “What is all that racket?” she asked, scooping me up and carrying me backward before the titan could recover.

  “My liege, the floor as started to open!” Galahad pointed at the hinges, and I realized he was right. “I think your friend has triggered the mechanism since it was meant to be the two of us.”

  “Fuck,” I mumbled as Sathanus looked over at him.

  “What’s the statue on about?” she asked, confused.

  “This is a two-person quest, and you’re three. I think it triggered the floor, and now it’s going to drop us into the pit.” I was gonna say more, but the titan was coming toward us, and what’s more, its skin had turned from sickly yellow to bright red. That definitely wasn’t good, and with the way it was moving, I knew we were in trouble.

  Wrath tossed me toward Galahad before leaping into the air, nimbly avoiding the creature’s attack. Then with a flash, she teleported behind the titan and slammed her blazing axe into the back of its neck in exactly the place Galahad had indicated was its weak spot. Only, instead of doing anything at all, her attack bounced off. That didn’t make sense.

  “What manner of creature is this?” Galahad asked, inhaling sharply. “Tis no ordinary titan.”

  Wrath teleported again as the titan swung at her, and I could have sworn it had gotten way faster.

  “I think we triggered a berserk timer.” I swallowed, thinking about how games often required you to beat a boss within a certain timeframe before the boss got impossibly stronger. “I don’t think we can kill it now.”

  “I do not know what that means, my liege, but I fear you are right.” He pointed toward the titan as Wrath once again slammed her axe into the back of its neck. Just like last time, her attack bounced off. The thing was, she was the Archangel of Wrath, and as her body was glowing with crimson light in a way I’d never seen it before, I was fairly certain she was using a lot more than one percent of her power.

  Worse, even with the ability to teleport, she was barely dodging the creature’s attacks.

  “There’s got to be a way to beat it.” I looked around hurriedly, trying to ignore how the grate beneath my feet was opening. Tentacles were already starting to reach up from below, and I knew that before long they’d grab us and pull us into its depths. Sure, if we lasted long enough the grate would spill us down there, but I was betting that the more the gap in the grate widened, the more tentacles would come through.

  It sort of made sense because Galahad knew you needed to attack from the air. That was why he’d suggested grappling hooks. If I’d gone with my original plan, or had those handy grappling hooks, the tentacles would just pull me down off the wall. Worse, I was starting to think that maybe the creature’s weak spot hadn’t been its neck.

  I turned back to the bone pile, and as I did, I had a really bad idea.

  “Galahad, whatever happens, just take care of Sathanus, okay?”

  “As you wish, my liege,” the knight replied.

  “Hey, you fuck! Come at me!” I snarled, sprinting toward it right before it batted Wrath from the sky like an annoying gnat. The archangel hit the far wall with enough force to crack the stone, and as she slid down leaving a bloody snail trail in her wake, the titan turned toward me once more.

  It was practically frothing with energy as its eyes sighted on me.

  “Get in my belly!” it cried, and this time when it reached out, I didn’t try to dodge.

  Its fingers once against wrapped around me, and as its mouth opened wide, I saw Galahad start to move.

  “Stay back!” I cried, right before the titan swallowed me whole. The smell was unlike anything I could comprehend, and as its throat muscles convulsed around me with bone-crushing force, I lashed out with Caliburn.

  This time, my blade cut deep into the pink flesh of its throat, before clanging off the backside of its skin. Still, as I slid down, slicing my way through the flesh, I came to a stop as it narrowed, the throat muscles too damaged from my attack to push me down further.

  I smiled. I might not be able to cut through the skin from either side, but I could definitely cut through his insides. I reached out, driving my free hand into the soft flesh, and as I hung on, acidic globules of saliva splattered all over me. I tried to ignore the pain as I hung there in its throat and the damage was reflected into the glistening fles
h all around me. As the smell of burning meat, both mine and the titan’s, hit my nose, the creature began to shake violently.

  Something slammed into the other side of the throat, and as it did, I realized it was choking on me. Good. Biting down the pain flooding through me, I hung on with all I could. I knew I didn’t have much time though, what with the grate opening. While I was reasonably sure it hadn’t sent us tumbling down to meet the tentacle monster, I also knew if I waited that long, I’d go down with the beast, even if Wrath and Galahad somehow managed to avoid becoming octopus food.

  Pushing the pain down, I planted my boots against the sides of the things throat, bracing myself as best as I could, I conjured Hellfire with my free hand and sent it flying upward. The blast of flame charred the flesh of the monster’s throat before slamming up into its brain pan. The entire creature spasmed and a gust of air from below ripped by me as it screamed. The sound blew out my eardrums, but I didn’t care.

  Calling upon my power once again, I hurled gob after gob of Hellfire upward. As my fourth blast exploded, and I readied my fifth, the creature collapsed. We struck the ground with enough force that I’d have probably been knocked unconscious if I wasn’t so tightly packed inside its throat. And, you know, wasn’t surrounded by cushy muscle to break my fall.

  Even still, as we hit the ground, I wasn’t sure it was dead. No. I had to be sure. Jerking Caliburn from the confines of the monster’s throat, I crawled forward. Steam curled off my gauntlets as I went, the cooked meat smell of the inside of the creature filling my nose as I moved. It was probably dead but probably wouldn’t save my friends.

  Reaching the roof of its mouth, I whipped out Caliburn and drove it upward through the roof of the creature’s mouth with all the force I could muster. The glowing steel plunged through its soft palate right before I drew my blade sideways, slicing open the flesh and dousing myself with blood.

  Gripping Caliburn, I unleashed a sapphire blast that blew open the creature’s mouth. Foul smelling ichor cascaded around me as I stared at the bloody bone of its skull. That’s when I felt the thing start to move, though I wasn’t sure how.