“Ah, its adorable.”
I looked to Huwett with an expression of disbelief. Did she really think that? How could she see such a creature as adorable?
“What? Do you see this thing’s eyes?”
“Yeah, they’re cute,” she replied.
“I knew there was something wrong with you. You can’t see evil when it’s right in front of you,” I said.
I understand, now, the irony of such a statement, being that I was right in front of her at that very moment, and she didn’t know the depths of what betrayals I would enact. She couldn’t know, of course, even I didn’t, but nonetheless, the facts remain the same.
“You really look at that beautiful animal and see evil?”
I turned back to the Dungeon Boss, taking in its blackened, curled horns, its wiry hair, and again, its unsettling gaze. I had to suppress a shiver, activating my mental switch. My expression changed to a stone cold placid look as I turned back to her.
“Yes.”
“Well, we will have to just disagree,” she chimed.
I shook my head in disappointment. “Goat lover.”
“What do we got?” Norton whispered behind us as the rest of the team caught up to us.
The four of them were all crouched, moving carefully through the underbrush as they got closer. The Lord of the Wood didn’t seem to notice, or at least didn’t seem to care if it did. Which was all the more unsettling.
“It’s a goat, Adam’s mortal enemy, apparently.”
I shook my head, and silently activated my skill.
[Lord of the Wood - Lvl 10; Marked to Die]
And as if confirming all the thoughts I had about the beast, the System returned the activation with a reward.
[ Skill Progress, Marked to Die -> Lvl 2 Beginner ]
That was all the confirmation I needed. This thing needed to die, and fast.
“Let’s get prepared. Vasquez, you starting us off again?” I slowly unsheathed my blade, checking its edge, even though I knew it to be pristine already.
“Yeah, lets find out this thing’s fire resistance level.” He smiled.
We all quickly got into position, taking a slightly modified version of the battle plan we had for the bear. I was off to the left flank of the creature, still hidden among the trees as I waited.
It became painfully obvious to me what the weaknesses of magic within this new world were, as we had to wait for Vasquez to prepare his spell. It was a powerful attack, to be sure, but it took some seconds for him to get through the cast-time. And the cooldown afterward was rather steep.
This, I assumed, would change as he leveled up the spell and increased his willpower stat. But for now, it was something we had to plan around.
The streak of red flames that entered the open clearing was my cue.
I bounded into the area in full stride even as the streak of flames was still flying towards the goat boss. I had made it a third of the way there when Vasquez’s spell impacted the beast where it was standing. A bloom of fire erupted on contact, creating a rather impressive display.
The smoke and heat cleared when I was roughly ten yards from the creature, and I could see that most of its hair and fur was singed and burnt away from the fire. It’s skin was red underneath, as if it had just experienced a severe sunburn. But not more than that.
To my right, Barry was also running at the beast, and to my left, Francis was doing the same. I knew Norton was still positioned back with Vasquez on standby. But Huwett’s bow sang in the interim.
One, two, three arrows sailed forward, each clustered in flight ready to pierce the boss’s side.
If only it were that simple.
The large caprine raised its head, large curled horns framing its head, then let a long, low bleat. The result was very much like the Elite Ork Warrior’s skill when I had fought it the night before. A shockwave of mana burst from the beast in all directions, knocking the three arrows destined for its heart aside and spinning uselessly into the grass.
I cut my sprint short, stutter stepping to slow myself and brace for the attack as it reached me. The wave of mana slammed into my body and quite nearly sent me on my ass, something that Franic didn’t avoid, as I saw him sprawl into the dirt, while Barry raised his shield to take most of the attack and stay on his feet.
“Pressure it!” the paladin yelled out.
I nodded and dashed back in. Raising my sword and bringing it down in a slash, I aimed for the goat’s neck, wanting to take the fight early. It dipped its head before that could happen and my blade ricocheted off its large horn instead.
My efforts were rewarded by the beast lowering its horns further and rushing at me in a fast headbutt. Sidestepping the attempted allowed me to bring my blade up along its flank as it passed, leaving a bloody line in its hide.
Barry finally reached the melee then slamming his own weapon down and managing to chip one of its horns in a surprising feat of strength.
Another arrow whistled in, catching it in the shoulder, making it rear back. Francis, having recovered from now, closed on the beast with me, sword and axe moving in tandem.
Another loud bleat released a shockwave that blasted myself and the rage warrior backwards, though this time we both managed to stay on our feet. Barry once more used his shield to take the brunt of the mana attack.
“Clear!” Vasquez shouted this time, and all three of us jumped back as a second streak of fire slammed into the goat’s face.
When the smoke dissipated, I could see burnt skin covering one side of its head, horn still smoking slightly. The damage from the spell seemed to be enough to wound it as the heat stacked up, meaning the boss wasn’t immune to the mage’s fire spell, at the very least.
“I’ll hold it, go for it,” Francis said just as the red glow of his energy began to crawl over his skin, the visual cue that he was activating his class skill. The warrior stepped forward, his axe vanishing into his inventory as he grabbed hold of the boss horns with both hands.
It was a crazy move, but one that had merit.
Barry and I dashed at the boss as it strained against Francis’ strength, my bladetip sinking into its side while Barry’s own open a deep gash at the shoulder Huwett had hit with her arrow.
Blood began to leak freely from its wound as I pulled my blade back with a
squelch
, and it thrashed against Franci’s hold, bucking its head, kicking its rear legs.
“Francis get back,” Barry called out, but it was too late.
The goat’s mouth opened, and it was already taking a deep breath to release another of its mana-laced bleats, the rage warrior still standing directly in front it, meaning he wouldn’t be able to avoid any of the blow.
I only thought through my options for a fraction of a second. My switch was still flipped on, so my emotional attachment to the warrior was buried deep, and despite this, I knew saving him from the attack would mean keeping another of us in the fight. It would just require me not holding back when it came to my agility stat, I’d have to move at full speed to save him.
So, I ran forward.
Dirt and grass were kicked up in my wake as I sprinted full tilt, closing the bare distance between myself and the melee locked duo. My shoulder impacted the warrior at top speed, knocking him sideways and to the ground. I jumped sideways right after, nearly twisting my ankle with the sudden change of direction.
The shockwave the followed still hit us both, and I felt my insides rattled as it passed through me at such close range, knocking the wind from my lunges and certainly bruising something internally. But we were still able to stand back up on our feet.
Just in time for the boss to lower its head and charge me.
Barry was the one the do the saving, once again, as he stepped in front of me, activating his mana bubble shield that was his class’ ace.
The goat hit the bubble like a ram would hit a castle wall, with a loud crack and hallow thud. It reeled, eyes in an obvious daze and unable to react as a third fiery streak hit its head thanks to Vasquez, and another arrow shadowing it from Huwett.
Barry’s bubble protected both of us from the heat before it finally died away into motes of light. Francis was already descending on the boss, his axe back in hand and careening downward to catch a firm blow on its skull.
The blade bit into hide and fur, catching on its thick horn and cleaving off a large piece of the curled ornament.
“Gah!” He screamed again, reading another downward strike. The goat was far too disoriented to defend or dodge, and it looked like he was actually going to kill it this time.
Which was something I had to stop.
I left Barry’s side in a flash and brought my swordtip up underneath the boss’ jaw and pierced deeply through into its head. The beast barely had time to register that I was even there before its eye’s glassed over and I pulled my weapon free.
That particular maneuver was beginning to be my favorite already.
Franics’ axe bore down into the goat’s skull right after, finally breaking through bone and into its brain, but it was already dead by then. My system notification confirmed it for me.
[You have slain Lord of the Wood - Lvl 10]
[Ability Activated: Soul Usher (F)
Harvesting Elite Beast Essence…
Soul Essence absorbed: 19…
Essence to next ability rank: 118/1000
Essence Available: 78
Options available...]
The silver wisp of the boss’ spirit rushed into my torso almost immediately.
Once again the System marked the beast as an “Elite” spirit, and I earned some extra spirit essence, though this time there were differences. The amount I earned wasn’t a clean two times its level like the Ork warrior. Just nineteen, which was baffling.
I assumed that the System would like clean numbers, after all who didn’t like clean numbers? Having remainders and extras was just a pain. But it was right there for me to see.
Something else was going on, and I had to figure it out, later, as there wasn’t time for me to pour over notifications right then.
“Nice save there again, Adam,” Barry said, clapping me on the shoulder.
“Eh, yeah, right back at you. That bubble is amazing.”
“Isn’t it?!” Barry smiled back as his sword and shield went back into his inventory. “The thing has a crazy high damage threshold, I can see its health bar when I activate it and that boss only brought it down by a third. Just wish it lasted longer, its only up for five seconds.”
“Everything has trade offs,” I vanished my own sword into my inventory as well.
“You see those flames. I nailed that thing,” Vasquez gave a fist pump as he, Huwett and Norton jogged up to the rest of us.
“For sure, you toasted it man,” Barry turned to the three of them now, giving Vasquez a shoulder bump.
Idle chatter and excited shouts ran out as my attention turned inward. There was a lot I still needed to learn about my Class’ special ability, but I was uncertain about the safety of messing with spirit essence freely in front of other people, even if it looked like they couldn’t see the essence like I could.
“So the boss is dead, now what?” Francis finally asked the question I assumed the others were also thinking. As is in response to his query, all of us received a notification at the same moment;
[Dungeon Quest Completed:
Calculating rewards based on performance and actions…
Additional experience gained, loot table upgraded…
Rewards:
New Titles earned; Pioneer II
You have reached Level 12!
+ 250 Copper Credits, + 20 Silver credits, + Epic Skill Card]
“Skill card?”
1.14 Playing the Devil's Bleat