Chapter 38: Chapter Thirty Eight: Champion

“Dragkenoss, the meats have been placed near the spawning grounds.”

Dragkenoss nods towards the [Soldier],” Good, be ready for anything. Too much has happened recently and I fear something may be wrong.”

The soldier solutes before joining his others who stand ready and armed. All of these are centaurs who have fought in the war and have chosen to work alongside him and under his orders. This respect and admiration are one of the reasons that Dragkenoss can ignore the nagging and insults from the other [Herdmasters]. The looks of respect from these old timers and even their children is something that Dragkenoss can always look forward to.

“When you say it like that, then something is going to happen.”

Turning to his right, Dragkenoss meets Damair’s hard eyes. It is clear the [Guard Captain] is taking Dragkenoss’s unease very seriously.

“My feelings aren't always right Damair. I doubt something would have changed with the boss this time.”

“What if it doesn't eat the poisoned meat? What if it instead chooses to leave its cave first. Will you be able to kill it?”

Dragkenoss grunts. All of these are good questions and fears which he also shares. The boss monster of this floor would not be an easy one to defeat, at least theoretically. Granted Dragkenoss has not seen the beast alive, only dead. And a good thing too. The beasts armored hide is one of the most resilient he has ever faced. Even his weapon, powerful it may be, is only able to cut through that hide when enforced with a skill.

“It should eat the meat and die as it has always done… and no, I doubt I could best it alone.”

“What about with the help from [Archers] or [Rangers]?”

Dragkenoss looks around, finding that most people in the city are awake and armed with bows. Apparently, Damair had gone ahead and roused the city into possible combat.

“Damair, bows aren't going to be able to penetrate the armor and especially the crystal head.”

Damair looks towards the entrance to the third floor, a big entrance that extends into a large cave where the boss monster for this floor will form into being.

“Still, I cant ju-”

“Mwahhhhhhhhhhhh”

A loud laugh echoes from the cavern, exiting outward and hitting the city.

All of the inhabitants unsheathe their weapons, staring at the entrance. Bow unlocked and nocked, weapons unsheathed, noncombatants entering buildings. They all stand ready, waiting.

And then they hear the squishing sound, of meat being ripped apart.

And like a sound going off, a relieved sound comes from the city, even Dragkenoss lets go of a breath he had been holding.

“See Damair, there was nothing to worry about. The beast will eat and die from the poisoned meat.”

Damair nods towards Dragkenoss, finally able to relax, happy that Dragkenoss’s feelings were wrong this time.

“You were right. But I still think it is better to be prepared than not. That is something you had taught me, though I find it annoying that it doesn't always apply to you.”

Dragkenoss chuckles before shrugging.

“When you get to my age, you find that over preparation tends to lead to too many disappointments.”

Damir rolls his eyes and stomps the ground in mock annoyance.

“And I’m guessing your meeting with your new master wasn't disappointing?”

Dragkenoss smiles towards Damair, a truly happy one. A smile Damair remembers only once, and that was when he himself became a [Guard Captain]. Truly the old man was happy and proud.

“He was and he wasn't. I do hold a grudge towards him for not fully listening to my story. But that's just me being old. Now what was amazing was his entire presence. He had utter confidence and command while giving no openings to an attack. His muscles were always tense and any thought I had of attacking him immediately told me that I would fail. His presence was just as dominating as a Kitsune… no, possibly even more.”

Damairs’ mouth opens wide in amazement, a childish thing for him to do, but he was raised to absolutely respect and to fear the Kitsune. Beings of immense power and strength, able to rend armies with but a turning of there hands. To be compared to such powerful beings…

“Then that Quasi could have killed us all.”

Dragkenoss shakes his head, “No, he is actually weaker than me.”

Damair lifts an eyebrow, his ears flutter in annoyance.

“Did you not say he was stronger than the kitsune?”

The old centaur smiles elusively to the annoyance of Damair.

“In combat, he is rather weak compared to me. Smart, tactical, knowledgeable, charismatic, now those are just a couple things that none but the Kitsune can compete in.”

Dragkenoss stomps the ground, indenting it slightly, ”But his stats are lacking. Yours are probably higher than his, possibly by many times.”

“What if he uses those monsters. Those birds.” Damair asks thoughtfully, trying his best to not sound too confused.

“Weak. They can swarm, but I am at the level of being relatively immune to fodder.”

“So in other words, you can defeat him easily?”

“No, I can't.”

Damair throws his hands up in the air, turning and walking away from the smiling old fart he respects so much. He can only listen to the man's antics for so long before needing to catch a breath.

“Oh come now Damair, you used to be able to listen to me for much longer.”

Damair stops and turns to say something rather disrespectful towards the commander of the city, but stops. Instead, his eyes look past the old centaur, towards the cave… and the massive head of a beast, completely covered in a clear crystal dome.

 

****************************************************

 

What the fucking hell is wrong with this dungeon? Shouldn't the bosses be beatable? Why the fuck would anyone give absurd regeneration towards a nigh undamageable tank. And let's not forget about that natural fucking armor. An armor than can goddam heal itself.

I look back, towards Jessica who is just staring, mouth open, at the monstrosity ripping the goddam towns anal hole to non existence…

Yup, I’m pissed off. The dungeon clearly has fucking cheat codes.

“Jessica, do you know any stories of people with [Major Regeneration] as a passive and how such beings were killed?”

Jessica looks to me, closes her mouth, widens her eyes, looks towards the monster, then back to me and her eyes widen even wider.

“It has [Maj-”

I immediately start flicking my fingers in her face. “Less opened mouth surprise, more telly me how killy giant monster thingy.”

She closes her mouth and to my surprise, immediately relaxes.

Man, that abnormally high willpower stat you have is pretty impressive. I didn't know it helped you control your emotions so well… I wonder if it can be trained…

“Trolls have that ability. It makes them very hard to kill unless you are able to kill them instantly… or you bleed them until they cant regenerate anymore.”

I look away from the [Priestess] and instead gaze towards the monster. I stare at it fiercely, willing my entire being, wanting wholeheartedly for my gaze to make Berosus explode into giant chunks of meat.

And of course, nothing happens.

“So the monstrosity uses internal nutrition to heal itself. Which means I need to make it burn calories… by harming it.”

I rub my eyes.

“Harming a nigh unharmable being…”

Zorren, I swear I will end your life for this. You piece of Lizard poop. Why are you afraid of goddam flying of all things. You can literally bitch stomp over twenty minotaurs with ease but you can't handle being a hundred feet off the ground. Motherfucking useless pie- oh I see blood… and Dragkenoss is causing it!

As I fly closer, I am able to see the city and the battle as it goes on. Arrow are constantly flying toward the monster, most bouncing off, some penetrating enough to get stuck on the hide. Centaurs are running and attacking any of the monsters eight legs... which is turning into a dangerous pincushion due to the large number of spears stuck in its legs.

Hmmm, it actually isn't that much bigger than the first floor Guardian Lacerta. Kinda reminds me of my [Skeletal Guardian] summon. Except slightly larger with ten tentacles… and each tentacle probably weighs as much as all of Lacerta.

“Fuck.”

I look towards one of the monsters back legs, finding Dragkenoss as he spins his halberd over his head and slashes, ripping into the leg and being rewarded a spurt of blood.

Berosus reacts immediately to the pain and turns his domed head, allowing his single eye to focus on the actual threat.

Ten tentacles lash out, and to my utter surprise, Dragkenoss dodges most of them, but still gets hit by three which blow him away. But the [Heavy Halberdier] just shakes the hit off, though his armor does seem to now look thinner.

I look towards the formerly damaged limb, finding that the wound had already healed, the only proof that Berosus had been injured was the mark of blood still on the armored hide.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I hate endurance games.

I look back, behind me, finding that everyone's eyes are on me, all are ready and armed. I frown.

Thorous is probably the only one that might be able to wound it. I doubt my minions would be much help unless I use [Undead Enrage]... still no… unless!

“We're going to help the ponies out. They won't win without it. Lilly, try to restrict those tentacles. Tessa, inform those shits with bows to stop wasting ammunition. Thorous, use your most powerful skills to injure it. Doesn't matter where. Just avoid getting hit… Darrow, take the hits and distract it as much as you can.”

I then look at Jessica, staring at me resolutely, fearless. I smile towards her, mimicking her look.

“Me and Jessica are going to go look for corpses in the meantime.”

_________________________________

For the tenth times in the last couple minutes, Dragkenoss curses himself for being so utterly careless. He felt something was going to go wrong, but not this. The monster lives and is now on a rampage. There are fellow centaur dead everywhere and all of his strikes are being healed.

“Damn you! [Heavy Rampage]”

Dragkenoss charges again forward, a glow forming over himself, entrapping his body. The wind starting to whistle.

The beast reacts quickly, sending its extremely heavy tentacles towards him.

“[Heavy Weight], [Trampling Footing]” Dragkenoss activates abilities, increasing his weight and allowing his hoofs to get better traction.

The tentacles slam into Dragkenoss, but his now increased weight allows him to bear the blow while [Trampling Footing] makes it impossible for him to slip as his hoofs melt into the ground.

Tentacles strike and Dragkenoss withstands it, barely slowing down.

“[Chargers Impact]”

His next skill activates which causes his halberd to glow a deep powerful red, growing even redder as his speed increases.

Dragkenoss swings, cutting and ripping through skin, through muscle, through bone, but ultimately failing to bisect the leg. The monster screams in pain and sends all its tentacles towards the [Heavy Halberdier]. The force of all the tentacles rips him from the ground, sending him flying. He lands hard, hurt, probably bruised, but not broken. He quickly stands up and is forced to block a blow from a tentacle. The hit strikes him from the side, he skids on the stone floor.

Another one whips out and strikes him from his other side, he attempts to block, but the impact rips the halberd from his hands.

With reflexes honed from constant combat, Dragkenoss bends all his knees, barely dodging another swipe.

He looks up, ready to react to another attack.. But it never comes. Instead, he is met with a rather disturbing scene.

*Clank, Clank, Clank*

“Hey, Boss monster. I am distracting you.”

*Clank, Clank, Clank”

A Gejan, one of the lizard people who live on the first floor of the dungeon, is standing on top of the monsters domed head, smacking downward with a massive black shield.

The monster had stopped all movement, instead, its head is looking upward, staring utterly confused. Its tentacles are in the air, doing nothing.

“You are distracted”

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“Clank, Clank, Clank”

“I am the best distractor!”

“Clank, Clank, Clank”

Not just his own, but all eyes are on him. Every centaur is staring, listening to the idiot as he stands on a monster that could beat him into a pulp with ease.

“I am Darrow and nobody can distract as well as I can.”

*Clank, Clank, Clank*

The monsters blinks and a tentacle starts to move, but a figure falls down at that same moment, a figure in crimson scales, her twin blades move impressively fast, drawing the monsters blood.

The boss screams and begins to thrash again. The erratic movement forces the Gejan named Darrow off the domed head. On the other hand, the red scaled Gejan, a female, is what Dragkenoss can only describe as dancing. She is moving, tapping the ground, her blades are spinning while dodging the tentacles by the barest of margins.

And even while dancing, she still strikes the tentacles as they pass by, though none such strikes are drawing blood. Clearly, her ability to maneuver around foes comes at the cost of penetration.

Grunting, Dragkenoss shakily stands up, and moves towards his weapon, picking up his halberd, frowning at the now blunt edge. And then his instincts take over as he turns and raises his halberd to defend himself.

The boss had not forgotten about him!

*Clang*

Right before his eyes, moving at a truly impressive speed, the tentacle was diverted by something that resembles a black bone tail.

“Don't get distracted you old fart.”

Moving his eyes towards the speaker, he finds another Gejan, a small petite white one… who is holding a massive whip of bone from a considerable distance. She is extending it and interrupting the monsters tentacles as they are about to strike her allies.

“Weak. Come on! You call yourself a monster. Ha, I laugh at your monsterness.”

And of coarse, the vocal one is screaming and yelling at the monster while… withstanding the lashes as they strike his shield. It takes a moment for Dragkenoss to realize how impressive that is. The shield isn't cracking and the Gejan is clearly holding firm.

Dragkenoss frowns as he quickly looks around. It is rather clear now that they are his minions… his masters minions.

But that still raises the question, where is he?

It only takes a moment for Dragkenoss’s vision to be moved downward, towards a growing pile of his people's corpses. A pile growing every second as the masters undead birds pick them up before dropping them on the pile.

A slight bit of anger rises up within him at the way his people's corpses are being handled. The dead should be respected, not disgraced in such a way.

Unfortunately, that anger is short lived as he turns and finds the three being pushed back, the monster is starting to adapt…

___________________________

 

Goddamn this better work! I only have one chance.

I extend my staff towards the huge pile of corpses, my mana quickly fluctuating in my body, converging mana fully active and working, flowing around my body.

I take a deep breath.

“[CREATE SKELETAL GUARDIAN]”

Like a torrent of water ripping open a damn, my mana surges out of me with impressive force, quickly entering the piles of bodies.

Skin, muscles, tendons, organs, everything not considered bone quickly melts away. A sludge forms at the bottom, but I care little for that. My eyes are focused upon my mana as they enter the bones, disintegrating them, creating bone powder.

It takes probably a whole minute for just that process. But the next and final one is significantly faster.

The dust rises quickly into the air, converging, spinning in a maelstrom. Then it compresses, creating bone, limbs, legs, a body. A large and impressive one.

A [Skeletal Guardian] stands strong and tall. A literal tank of bone. Unfortunately, the boss is still larger and probably stronger.

“March,” I say, pointing towards the boss, “and kill.”

The [Skeletal Guardian] turns and starts walking slowly towards the boss, its many armored legs striking the ground with clearly impressive weight.

A loud sound which quickly attracts the boss's attention.

The boss turns its head, finding my minion moving towards it.

The monster opens its mouth.

*Mhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa*

A very loud screeching sound comes from the beasts mouth, a challenging sound. Of one alpha predator to another.

Of coarse my alpha predator has no vocal chords. Instead, I direct my minion to walk faster… which isn't very much faster than what it was already doing. Something from speed walking to a slow jog.

The Boss turns away from the three now physically exhausted Gejan and starts heading towards my guardian… just as slowly, possibly moreso.

Two behemoths of defense and power, about to do battle in…

“Two minutes. Seriously? Why the fuck did I make him so far away. Goddammit.”

With actual time to spare, I look around me, finding that everyone is staring at the behemoths as they move within range of each other. All are holding their breath, unable to look away. Waiting for what will happen, for the victor.

Shaking my head, I start walking behind my [Skeletal Guardian], positioning myself in a way that would allow me to see the whole fight and to allow me to dictate my undeads movements.

A minute passes and the Boss monster extends its longer tentacled arms, slashing towards my minion. I direct my bone minion to counter with its shields, taking the bosses blows with somewhat ease.

But it's clear from that first trade that my minion doesn't win in the weight department. Heck, my minion isn't even equivalent in size.

But that was expected.

After about thirty seconds, I change from defensive to offensive, extending the bone spears out from my minions, ramming them into the boss… and not penetrating.

“Figured as much.”

The boss, realizing that my minion is not able to penetrate the hide, abandons all attempts at blocking my spears and instead focuses on offense, taking all of its arms to bear upon my level 87 [Skeletal Guardian].

I smile.

“Checkmate.”

I raise my hand.

_______________________________

 

The adrenaline is fading quickly and Dragkenoss finds himself forced back onto the ground. Its is clear the the strikes he had take from the boss were not fully absorbed by his armor. The sheer intense weight of those tentacles were able damage the old centaurs insides quite a bit. In essence, he is useless now. His armor is all but gone and the halberd is covered in cracks.

But that is fine with him because of what is about to happen.

His eyes gaze towards the two behemoths, massive monsters, one of bone, the other of flesh. Tentacles, shields, spears, a fast mess of combat is happening between the two. Unfortunately, it is becoming clear that the masters undead is sorely lacking in the ability to damage the boss.

Panicking, Dragkenoss turns to the Gejan who are standing and watching.

“His minion isn't going to win. The boss is undamaged!” he yells towards them, hoping for them to join the battle. Maybe, with their help, they might be able to do something.

The red scaled one turns to me, easily the strongest of the three, and points towards the battle, “The commander is smiling.”

Following her finger, Dragkenoss finds the master standing, watching, a huge smile on his face. A confident one. He lifts his hand slowly and points it towards his minion.

“[Undead Enrage]”

Dragkenoss’s eyes widen as the masters minion starts to turn from white bone to red while its purple glowing skull begins to shine brighter. The undeads movements increase in speed… and the spears extend, ripping into the boss’s hide.

“Hah. That's the commander for you! Never doubted him for a second. You need to have more trust Lilly,” yells the one named Darrow as he leans on his enormous shield.

The small white scaled one rolls her eyes at the big man, “Oh please, the only reason that... what was it? [Skeletal Guardian]? Yea thats the name. The only reason that [Skeletal Guardian] is winning now is because of that [Undead Enrage] skill.”

Dragkenoss watches the fight, his confidence increasing as the damage quickly starts to add up on the boss while the [Skeletal Guardian] blocks and attacks with impressive speed. Unfortunately, that confidence goes away just as fast as it had come when he looks towards the master and notices a clearly growing frown on his face.

“He's not smiling anymore,” Dragkenoss states.

“Yes, something is clearly wrong,” the red scaled gejan voices, her hands tightening around her weapons, “something isn't right.”

“What do you mean? He’s clearly winning.” Darrow voices, squinting to better see what is happening but his low perception makes that almost impossible.

*Crack*

All eyes turn towards the sound, towards the [Skeletal Guardian] and the cracks forming around its whole body.

*Crack*Crack*

_______________________________________

 

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit I made a huge fucking mistake. How could I be so stupid. I should have tested this before!

I watch as cracks form upon my guardian, the poor thing quickly slowing down, my [Undead Enrage] skill beginning to end. I analyze it again.

 

Have I been so stupid to not even test out this skill on just skeletons? Shouldn't I be informed of this? Why the fuck doesn't the skill description say this shit.

*Crack*Crack*Crumble*

I watch as the skill ends, consuming my undead, disintegrating it. Then I move and look towards the boss as it looks on confused, the wounds on its body starting to noticeably heal. All of those wounds which I had caused, none being strong enough to sever limbs.

I needed that full 300% boost. All I did was create fleshwounds… and now i'm practically out of mana.

Berosus’s eye moves, finding me, standing out in the open. The monster blinks, and then it swings its tentacle.

“Shit”

I jump back and cross my arms, taking the hit, feeling my arms break, air forced out of my lungs as I fly back, slamming through a building and rolling on the ground. Pain strikes my body, but I Ignore it as I wiggle my prone body.

Crap. Arms are broken, two of my left ribs are cracked… spine is surprisingly not severed. One of my legs is dislocated… the other… yea that doesn't look right. Ok, so I am kinda a vegetable now, but at least a living vegetable.

I lift my head, finding to my annoyance that the Boss is looking at me, staring at me as though I am some kind of threat.

“Shit”

It raises a tentacles and slams it towards me.

“Double Shit”

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM*

The air above me disperses like a small tornado as I feel an enormous amount of mana released, an amount several times my own. And then my vision is blocked by black fur… and eight massive legs indenting deeply into the ground to my sides.

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