Name: N/A
Race: Shadow Amalgamation
Talents: [Shadow Affinity], [Corpse Eater], [Reaper]
Level: 80
HP: 1500
MP: 1300
Str: 90 (+70)
Vit: 100 (+50)
Agi: 85 (+20)
Int: 45
Wis: 80 (+50)
Talent Skills:
[Consume Corpse] Lv 8, [Shadow Scythe] Lv 5
Passive Skills:
[Living Corpse] Lv MAX, [Collective of Souls] Lv 5, [Corpse Sacrifice] Lv 5, [Gargantuan Strength] lv 2, [Agility Up] Lv 4, [Increased Health Regeneration] Lv 5, [Magic Resistance] Lv 5, [Life Perception] Lv 5
Active Skills:
[Shadow Hands] Lv 8, [Shadow Tag] Lv 6, [Shadow Form] Lv 6, [Body Slam] Lv 8, [Soul Screech] Lv 4, [Empowered Strike] Lv 4, [Destructive Charge] Lv 8
‘Isn’t it way too strong? How long has it been eating other undead?’
Sol knew the Shadow Amalgamation was stronger than the average undead found on the floors, but even knowing that, this one seemed extraordinarily strong.
‘The dungeon guide did say that their strength varied depending on how many corpses it had consumed but…’
Shadow Amalgamations were very different from the other enemies in the dungeon. They had the ability to grow, although with some restrictions. They could grow by consuming the corpses of other undead or adventurers in the dungeon, with each body added to its ever growing size. A few of its skills even grew depending on the number of corpses it had consumed. Adventurers who happened to run into these older Shadow Amalgamations had to be prepared for a long fight as they were much larger and stronger.
There weren’t many details written about Shadow Amalgamations as anyone who tried to study them would be quickly discovered, resulting in a fight, but it was assumed that it roamed the hallways attacking adventurers and undead alike in its pursuit of power.
Now facing such a large monster, Sol and Amber had to move quickly and gain the first strike.
“[Light Spear]!”
Two javelins of light were flung into its massive body, creating two foot wide holes.
The Shadow Amalgamation yelled with its countless heads and launched multiple shadow hands towards the duo.
Amber jumped away and went invisible to find some kind of weak spot in the giant mountain of flesh. Sol, on the other hand, stayed to maintain the monster's attention solely on him.
Sol took out a shield he looted from the adventurers and used [Unpassable Bulwark], massively increasing his defense. The shadow hands all began gravitating towards his shield.
“Hrgh!”
The hands slammed onto the shield with incredible force and began to pry the shield away from him. Before it could rip the shield off Sol, he caused the ground to launch a thick earth spike that pierced all the hands in front of him, destroying them all in one attack.
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“My turn!”
Sol canceled [Unpassable Bulwark] and stored his shield back in his ring, then with a strong step, launched himself towards the Shadow Amalgamation with his earth axe in hand.
The Shadow Amalgamation screeched and created more shadow hands, which moved to crush Sol.
Sol gathered mana into the edge of his axe’s blade and swung, releasing a wide slash of mana that cut the approaching hands once more.
Finally arriving near the body of the Shadow Amalgamation, Sol took his axe and swung it, releasing multiple skills consecutively.
“SHRIIIEE!!!”
An ear piercing scream rang out from the heads that felt like a thousand small needles were being inserted into Sol’s head.
“Arghh!”
Sol felt a lot of pain, but was able to mitigate some of it with the help of [Invincible Body]. Just as he regained his bearings, a shadow hand came out from the side aiming to hit Sol. Just as it was going to slam into him, Amber appeared out of her invisibility and cut it with her daggers.
‘How is she immune to its effects? Oh, I see!’
Sol channeled his first EX level skill, [Muffled Movements], and silenced the sound in his near vicinity. In an instant, the piercing screams could no longer be heard, and Sol could fight unhindered once more.
“[Light Flood]!”
Sol used [Multicast] to cast the spell twice as two powerful rays of light emitted from each of his hands and pierced into the Shadow Amalgamation.
Mana: 643/1400
‘This is draining my mana like crazy! But if I keep this up, we can kill it!’
The Shadow Amalgamation flailed from the two beams piercing its body and began tilting forward to crush the ant causing it pain.
Its giant body was about to crush Sol, but just before it could do so, Sol stopped channeling the spell and used [Ground Shrink] to move away from the giant creature.
‘I almost didn’t notice because I couldn't hear anything…’
[Muffled Movements] did not only block out the painful screams but also inadvertently made it harder to tell what was happening in Sol’s surroundings. Sol made a mental note to be more attentive while checking the Shadow Amalgamation's health.
Health: 523/1500
‘Almost there…’
Now further away from the fight, Sol saw Amber appearing and disappearing, cutting off limbs and heads when able to, but he realized something.
Health: 523/1500
‘Its health isn’t going down?’
Sol realized a vital detail of the Shadow Amalgamations. Shadow Amalgamations added bodies onto themselves, but it’s not truly part of its body. They are simply extensions that are controlled and enhanced by the main body which meant that attacking these exterior bodies did not actually harm the undead.
‘If that's the case, then where is the main body?’
The mass of flesh was so large it made it impossible to see what's underneath.
‘If it lost health that means we hit its main body at some point.’
Sol regretted not keeping a closer eye on the health of the enemy and decided to attack places he hit before.
“[Light Spear]!”
Sol began casting spears of light and targeted everywhere they had hit before since the start of the fight. Sol also informed Amber of the situation via [Telepathy], and she also tried attacking previously hit locations.
While dodging the attacks of the Shadow Amalgamation, the two had yet to lower its health and instead it had been rising.
Health: 745/1500
‘It’s recovering…’
The only consolation that their efforts weren’t going to waste was that the size of the Shadow Amalgamation was steadily shrinking, from body parts being cut off or destroyed by light magic. If the two kept this going, eventually, they would whittle it down and slay it, but Sol wasn’t sure if he had the mana to keep going for long.
Mana: 403/1400
Sol had to lower his mana consumption, but that meant he was unable to constantly throw spears and other magical attacks. Sol was going over his skill list in hopes of having something to find its main body but didn’t have anything that could do that. Even [Mana Perception] was useless as all he could see was the mana spreading throughout the entire body. The only solution Sol could think of was casting another big spell.
‘If I had more mana I could cast [Light Flood] again, but it would take a while to recover that much… Wait, I can’t believe I forgot we bought that!’