Chapter 50: On the Knife’s Edge
It said a lot about Crimson’s mentality that he was too focused on trying to counterattack to let any panic set in. Unlike the other imps, who were significantly shorter, Mulgis stood about as tall as Crimson. It was covered in muscles, and the eyes that greeted Crimson were glowing red.
It still had the dark black skin of the other imps, likely an adaption for an ambush predator, but another thing that set it apart was the fact that it had two tails.
The regular imps preferred to attack straight on, curling their tails over their head to strike at people’s hearts, but Mulgis preferred to attack from the sides, his greater height meant that trying to attack overhead would be a longer reach than attacking from the sides, and it allowed him to pincer any opponent.
While Crimson’s counterattack was blocked, he managed to cut deeply into Mulgis’ arm, but failed to inflict any ailments. He was forced to back off by another rush of attacks from the tails. The preliminary motion of the attack gave him enough warning to get out of reach, but only just. Mulgis also had tails that were longer, probably 15 feet as opposed to the 10 of its lesser kindred.
He was forced to block the first of the two tails and lost another large chunk of weapon durability. He had started with 20% earlier that day, 11/55, and [Blade Spirit] increased the durability by 4 points, putting it at 25% or 15/59. The fights he’d engaged in had decreased it down to 8/59, or about 14%, and those three blows from the boss had brought it down to 4/59. In other words, the only thing keeping his sword together was the boost from [Blade Spirit].
If he let go of it at any point in this fight, his claymore would shatter, and he would be left helpless!
The worst possible move against imps was to be on the defensive. They were glass canons, and even this boss continued the trend, but he was forced on the defensive to protect his claymore.
“Hang in there!” He muttered to it, praying it would last. The slightly glowing silver smoke that gently came off his blade seemed to flicker in response.
Mulgis didn’t charge after him, opting instead to circle around in the dark, trying to get at Verity.
They grouped up once more, and Crimson stood between her and Mulgis. The worst move he could make would be allowing her to die before him.
Silence ruled the darkness, broken only by Crimson’s low ragged breathing. He was keeping it together, but a part of him dearly wanted to panic. It was only his intense focus on the boss that kept him from losing his mind to the stress. If only he hadn’t lost the [Reliable Saber]!
The stand off didn’t last too long before Mulgis began to slink closer, the only giveaway to his motion was the [Mana] Crimson had extended around himself.
Crimson gestured for Verity to step back and they both moved away, in a direct line backwards. He needed a bit of extra time to think, and while the confrontation was inevitable, if he could just think of a way to get in close, he was sure he could deal a lot of damage.
If the attacks only came from the side, then Mulgis would actually be a tiny bit easier to approach than the regular imps. The direction they attacked from acted as a natural means of fending off his approach, but with that slight difference from Mulgis, there was room for him to slip in.
Though he was faster than his lesser kindred, Crimson had spent a large chunk of that day adapting to how imps fought, [Ul Byrn] exerting its subtle influence on his ability to fight. The reason he was able to react to the two initial attacks could likely be chalked up to a combination of [Ul Byrn] and [Ru Mikiri].
If he was able to adapt fast enough, then he’d be able to parry Mulgis’ blows without losing any durability.
Left with no other choice, Crimson abruptly broke into a sprint, and his [Mana] told him that the boss paused in surprise before launching an attack.
Instead of parrying or blocking, Crimson slid on the ground, getting under the attacks and popped up in a pair of quick slashes at Mulgis. His first blow had been aiming for its neck, and failed to reach its mark. His second blow was targeting the place he’d attacked the first time, this time with even more force, and that one managed to land, cutting off the boss’ right arm a little below the elbow. Mulgis made a sound for the first time, a loud screeching wail.
Animals typically fought like crazy when cornered, so Crimson immediately backed off as fast as he could, going as far as to put his back to the boss to sprint away more quickly.
It ended up being a good move, even with the extra speed he was still hit on the back by one of Mulgis’ wildly flailing tails, right on the edge of it’s reach, and taking off 10% of his health with that single blow. It couldn’t have even been considered a real attack, since it was a slashing blow as opposed to a stabbing one, but it still did that much.
He could not afford to take a real attack from this boss, it might kill him outright!
Gritting his teeth, he returned to Verity’s side and put his back to her. He could feel the blood trickling down his back from blow, a cut that extended nearly the whole length of his back.
She immediately saw the problem and got to work, casting a healing spell on him.
Under normal circumstances, he would be able to heal himself, but he needed his [Mana] to track Mulgis, so he couldn’t afford to retract it long enough to cast any kind of spells.
Good thing he didn’t, Verity only had enough time to stop the bleeding and close the wound, restoring only 2% of his health in the process before the boss charged at them with reckless abandon.
He stepped forward, making sure Verity would have some space as he focused on the charge, his entire being tensed for the encounter. The first blow came from the left, and he deflected it with his sword and twisted in closer to the boss, barely dodging the second. He was too close for a proper swing, but the way he’d deflected allowed him to use the force to reverse his blade, grabbing it by the blade and using the pommel to land a vicious mordhau uppercut to Mulgis' chin.
He swore as the boss staggered back. That moment he’d reversed the blade he’d relinquished it, just long enough for his [Blade Spirit] to leave it, and it’s durability had immediately become negative. Large cracks covered it’s entire length, and it shattered, the pommel in his hand crumbled to dust, leaving him empty handed.
It was unexpected, and the boss used his surprise as a gap to attempt another lunge. The only thing that kept him alive was Verity, who had circled around and tackled Mulgis from behind, grabbing its tails.
His CON was definitely higher than Verity’s, she could be killed instantly!
Thoughts of retreat, confusion, or anything else disappeared, leaving only the unrelenting determination to save his friend!
He didn’t need to track something that was right in front of him, so he finally had the room to do something else with his [Mana]. None of the spells he knew dealt high damage, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t do anything. He dual cast [Magic Light] and anchored both of them right in front of the boss’ face, one over each eye.
It screeched in pain, struggling to get free of Verity’s desperate grip and trying to cover its eyes with its remaining arm.
Crimson dove in, tackling it, and knocked it to the ground, careful to make sure it wouldn’t land on top of Verity. He nearly failed in keeping it off her, but the success gave them some room to work, though not much.
He hesitated for a fraction of a second, before lunging to where Verity was desperately trying to hold on to the tails. He grabbed one of them, and Verity was forced to let go of the other so they could both latch on the first. They both struggled for a moment, then managed to twist the tail into a short loop, near the tip. Crimson grabbed the tip, right under the dagger-like bone, and Verity grabbed the other side. Between the two of them pulling with all their might, a sickening crack was heard.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
They attempted to do the same to the other tail, but didn’t have enough time as the boss responded to the pain and flailed with its remaining arm and tail, trying to hit them.
Crimson and Verity backed off at the same time, mutually recognizing the danger presented by pursuing the other tail.
The boss was still flailing on the ground, so Crimson used that opportunity to dig his belt knife out of his [Inventory]. His [Blade Spirit] refused to enter it, so none of his usual [Skills] would work with it. It also only had 15 durability and didn’t provide a bonus to attack damage. To call it an emergency weapon would be generous.
It was all he had.
[Magic Light] had been cast in a rush, so it didn’t last as long as he’d hoped. It wore off and Mulgis got to his feet, groaning in pain.
Crimson and Verity backed off even more as it launched a vicious tail attack at them, and lost sight of it in the darkness. He grimly extended his [Mana] out to track it, and he could perceive that Mulgis was approaching them, and for the first time, it was making enough sound for them to hear the approach. The sound of bone on stone, its broken tail dragging behind it, was subtle, but he could just hear it.
They’d broken Mulgis’ left tail and severed its right arm. That meant that Crimson wouldn’t have to worry too much about attacks from his right side during the approach, but the boss was desperate enough to use its arms to attack, despite their purpose being more for defense.
It was still safer than dealing with the tail.
Crimson loosely rolled the knife in his hands, contemplating his options, or at least he tried to. For the first time, Mulgis was the one to charge them, and it was fast!
Tensing up, he was surprised to be greeted by a punch instead of a strike from the tail, so he blocked the fist with his dagger. 1/3 of its durability was lost immediately.
Durability was like inertia, something with high durability lost it more slowly than something with less durability. His broken claymore was still a usable weapon at 10 durability, but this knife wasn’t usable at its max of 15.
A sense of danger, an instinct beyond his comprehension triggered, and he pushed off the fist with his dagger, jumping back and running into Verity, but he wasn’t fast enough to completely dodge the blow from the functioning tail, which had attempted to stab him in the side. It left a long gash, diagonally across his chest, and he could feel where it had cracked a rib or two. He lost 25% of his health from that blow, 67% left!
Mulgis pursued the attack, this time the tail tried to slash across his throat, but an excellently timed [Barrier] from Verity gave the extra millisecond he needed to get out of the way. It shattered immediately, but slowed the tail just enough!
The boss had left itself open, so with a push from Verity and a mighty step forward, he attempted to ram his knife into its throat.
It was blocked by Mulgis’ remaining arm, his knife sinking deeply into the arm and catching there. Crimson immediately tried to let go and step away, but Mulgis’ tail whipped around, aiming for his heart once more, and he sacrificed his left arm to take the blow.
Both he and Mulgis had their weapons buried in each other’s arms, but the fundamental difference between the two was that Crimson had 35% of his HP left after that blow, while Mulgis was still likely above 80% or more.
Verity dove on the tail that was stuck in his arm, dragging it to the ground, and wrenching it free of his arm. He was immediately inflicted with the [Bleeding] ailment!
His HP rapidly decreasing, Crimson grabbed his knife with his right hand, and wrenched with all the might he could muster, and severed the bone, leaving the arm dangling by a thin strip of flesh and tendon.
Gritting his teeth, his chest flaring with the pain of his broken ribs, he rammed the knife into Mulgis’ neck, trusting in Verity to keep the tail pinned. It pierced, but only barely, not enough damage!
Stepping in, eyes wild, Crimson slashed like a madman at its throat, once, twice, five times! Right as he finally inflicted [Rapid Bleeding], the knife shattered as well.
His health was at 22%, and rapidly decreasing, he could only count his blessings that he only had the [Bleeding] ailment and not the [Rapid Bleeding] ailment. He’d likely already be dead.
His eyes blurry, he realized that he couldn’t focus enough to use magic, and so lunged at Mulgis, slamming his good shoulder into the boss’ gut, and knocking it over as it thrashed in vain.
Verity was dragged along with it’s movement, the tail was flailing wildly enough that it slamming her against the ground was clearly doing damage, so Crimson turned and stomped on it. He wasn’t strong enough to break it, but the flash of pain caused it to pause for a second, a second that he and Verity used to barely get away.
Mulgis lay on the ground, bleeding out, though not quickly enough for Crimson. Its health pool was no joke.
He coughed, then forcibly stopped himself from coughing again, the pain in his chest from the broken ribs nearly knocked him out. The only reason he was still rational could be chalked up to his [Blessings of Trans’Du’Niir Title]. Without the first blessing, [Tolerance], he would be dead.
His HP was at 10% when Verity finally cast healing magic on him. Her doing so helped his head clear up a bit, so he joined her, and between the two, they managed to outlast the duration of the [Bleeding] ailment, though only just. At 6% HP, Crimson had survived, and the ailment had disappeared. They were both out of MP, and both had the [Exhausted] ailment. Neither their MP, nor their HP would recover until they’d rested for a bit.
They collapsed on the ground, pained, tired, but alive. So long as the boss didn’t manage to outlast its [Rapid Bleeding] ailment, they’d won.
It still took a few more minutes beyond that for the boss to disappear, and Crimson and Verity received alerts from their [Blessing].
—————
-[Sword Savant] Level Up!
-Outlasting Adverse Victory!
-The difference between your level and [Mulgis, Imp Overlord] was 5 or greater!
-Rewards increased!
-Recorded first kill of [Mulgis, Imp Overlord]!
-Rewards increased!
-The Administration is pleased with your achievement.
—————
Crimson coughed, laughed, and coughed again. Next to him, Verity had started giggling in exhilaration. They’d done it! They should’ve lost after Crimson’s claymore, but they’d done it!
If Verity hadn’t been there, he would have died helplessly. She was worth ten times her weight in gold!
A grin on his face, Crimson asked, “How much HP do you have left?”
“About 40%,” came the casual response.
“Ahh, that’s unfortunate. I was hoping that I’d be able to protect you enough to not lost a single point.”
“Your tone doesn’t seem that disappointed.”
“I’m too happy that we did it. My hands are still shaking,” he said.
They were, the second what they’d done had started to catch up to him, his hands had begun shaking uncontrollably. Whether it was pain, exhilaration, or trauma, he couldn’t tell, the cause, but it meant he was alive, and that’s all that mattered.
A chuckled greeted him, then the words, “The boss shouldn’t respawn for the next 48 hours, and no other monsters will come in here. I’m going to pass out until my [Exhaustion] is gone, then I’ll heal us both.”
Crimson gave her a grunt in response, then passed out himself.
—————
Crimson was a bit groggy when he woke, his sore ribs were still getting to him, but they weren’t as bad as before. Cracking an eye, he saw that Verity was healing him. The [Exhaustion] gone and his [Mana] recovered, he joined in, and they got him healed, then worked together to heal Verity.
She’d managed to get up to 80% through natural regeneration, so healing her to full was a casual effort at best.
They got up, Crimson straightened his clothes, and they walked over to where the boss had been, [Magic Light] in hand. The magical darkness had receded significantly, the visibility of light had gone from a couple of feet, to over 15. It seemed that Mulgis had some kind of [Skill] to strengthen its effect.
The drops on the ground were: 2 uncommon drops - Mulgis’ knife-like tail bones -, a [Ritual] drop - [Wind Stone] -, and one [Skill Stone].
Of course, his interest was immediately on the [Skill Stone], and he scooped it up to inspect it. [Darkvision]. That was an excellent [Skill], and Crimson turned to Verity holding it out for her to see.
After inspecting it, she nodded and said, “I think you should absorb this one.”
Ideally, they both would at some point. They’d need to farm this boss for more, a [Skill] with this much utility was too much to pass up.
He accepted though, and crushed the [Skill Stone] in his grip, absorbing the [Darkvision].
Scooping up the remaining drops, his backpack was completely filled by their addition. They’d need a better method for transporting materials in the future, because Crimson planned on being a more efficient hunter in the future.
[Darkvision] was still only Lv.1, so [Magic Light] actually provided more visibility at this point, but he would’ve needed to maintain the spell for Verity’s sake in any case - she was still recovering MP from the healing she’d done.
They went to the back of the boss room, and found a small altar with a button in the center. There was a slot the size and shape of Mulgis’ dagger-like tail bone, so Crimson put one in, and the button responded to his touch.
With a sudden and a shake, the entire altar and the small area around it began to rise into the air, lifting them up, out of the darkness, and into the dungeon proper.
They stepped off the altar after Crimson retrieved the tail bone, and it slowly lowered back into the darkness. The land contracted, the dirt swirling to close off the entrance to the boss room. They were right next to the entrance. A few adventurers near by were staring at them, mouths agape. He surveyed them quickly, and determined that they weren’t from the mob that had attacked them earlier.
Crimson grimaced, and glanced back, toward where he’d dropped his [Reliable Saber]. Verity stopped him, saying, “If we step outside first, even if you die while retrieving it, it won’t matter. We won’t lose the [Skills] or Levels we gained today, but we need to exit and re-enter the dungeon for this to work.”
He nodded in acceptance, and they both grimly stepped outside. He was braced for a crowd to be at the entrance, but aside from the guard watching the entrance, and a few adventurer’s milling about, there was no one else there.
The Leveling exhaustion Verity mentioned set in immediately, he felt like he’d been stretched in all directions at once, and the memories of healed injuries, still remembered by his body, ached at him.
He groaned, then turned around, determinedly strode into the fog wall once more, then pushing past his aching, he sprinted through the dungeon, only stopping a couple times to kick goblins out of his way. He stole a club from one of them, and used it to fend off others as he finally tracked down his [Reliable Saber]. It was lying right where he’d left it, the mob had apparently not bothered to mess with it in any way.
His beloved and solitary weapon in hand once more, he raced back to the dungeon entrance and met up with Verity. They needed to return to Falst to report what had happened.