Gii remained motionless on his knees while staring at the existence that had just appeared before him. The masculine figure was not wearing any armor, the only thing he was wearing were a pair of tattered shorts. The purple smoke that had made the vortex streamed out like ribbons behind him as he strode forward towards Gii.
On his arms were grotesque looking markings that resembled festering wounds. Even though his skin tone seemed pale in the dim light, he didn't give off the feeling that he was undead. While Gii was trying to take in the situation, he suddenly snapped back to reality.
Shit! What am I doing!?
It was obvious that this was a boss battle for the dungeon. Gii had been so absorbed in finding his way through the maze that it completely slipped his mind that there could be a boss mob waiting for him at the end. Fortunately because of the length of the hall they were in, Gii's delayed reaction wasn't that big of a problem. After regaining his composure he got up and ran to his right side, using the pillars to block the boss's line of sight.
The most important thing right now is to gather information.
Currently Gii was in an undiscovered secret dungeon. It was very unlikely that anyone else had found this place before him. Even if they did, the likelihood of it being posted for the public to see was very low. That means he had no idea what this dungeon boss was capable of. That being the case, the most important thing in this fight was to gather information and try to find a weakness.
While running along the right side of the hall, Gii took a look at the boss monster. He was running along the opposite side of the pillars chasing down Gii. Above his head written in large purple words was >>DUNGEON BOSS [Cursed Warrior Karlock]<<. However in the areas that normally display enemy health and levels there was only [lvl: ???]/[Health: ???].
Gii expected this because it was well known that dungeon bosses did not show their health or level unless sufficient information about them was given when going through the dungeon or receiving a quest. The only other way to get information was if a player used an identify scroll. Fortunately for Gii he had thought to buy some before coming into the mines. The identify scroll had many uses in HCO, it could be used in combat to identify information about enemies. It could also be used to identify items and monster drops, which was the main reason why Gii and most other people bought them.
Good thing I kept this handy!
Gii ran around one of the pillars until Karlock's line of sight was blocked. Then, quickly stopping, he turned around and ran around the other side of the pillar. The quick unexpected motion combined with the blocking of his line of sight made Karlock confused about Gii's location. By the time he approached the pillar to look around the other side, Gii was already behind him with a scroll ready to use.
“Scroll >>>Identify<<< Activate!”
After activating the scroll Gii began to back off while analyzing the information. Identify scrolls were mainly avoided in combat because they were unwieldy and even though they gave information about a mob's level and HP, they didn't really give much more than that.
Still...it's better than nothing...
Gii needed to get at least the most basic information about the boss in order to see how bad his situation really was.
“Wha-What's up with this info!?”
Gii had suspected that as a boss monster he would have some incredible stats but that wasn't the case. Even though Karlock was level 23, almost 10 levels higher than Gii, his stats were all lower than his. The only thing that stood out was his HP.
“Are you kidding me!? How am I supposed to kill that?!”
Karlock had a shockingly high amount of HP, nearly 15000! Even pvp characters above level 50 only had around 10000 HP. Gii had never heard of a monster with such a ridiculous amount of health.
“but...if it's only high HP...this isn't much different from the emerald golem...”
Even though Karlock had an incredible amount of HP, if Gii could avoid his attacks like with the emerald golem, he would be able to whittle his massive HP down little by little.
Looks like it'll be a battle of attrition...
Gii, who had been running away towards the door he entered from, finally turned around to face Karlock. Seeing Gii turn around, Karlock took it as a challenge and charged straight ahead, lowering his shoulder. Gii readied his hammer and timed a perfect dodge. Since the attack's speed and power was very similar to that of the golem's he was already accustomed to the pattern.
Having dodged to the side, Gii put as much force as he could into a swing. Gii aimed at Karlock's head but his reaction speed was faster than the Golem's and he was able to bring his arm up and block the attack. Even though he was able to mitigate some of the damage, the force of the blow was too strong to block all of it. The result was a loud thud of the steel hammer hitting flesh and Karlock being blown backwards into a pillar. A large crack appeared in a pillar as Karlock slid down to the ground.
Gii looked at Karlock's Health to assess how effective his attack had been. Even though Gii was sure that he had hit him with a significant blow, Karlock's Health had dropped by 400 points. Considering the attack was partially blocked this was even more than Gii could hope for. The reason why so much Health was lost was because Karlock wasn't wearing any armor. Normally armor was used to reduce damage but since Karlock had none, the full force of Gii's attack had slammed into his body.
Karlock picked himself up off of the floor and stood up, there were no visible injuries on his body from the attack.
“Tch...Of course it wouldn't be that easy.”
Gii backed off and waited for Karlock to rush him again, however Karlock only stood there.
“you....I seee I wiillll havvvee to shooowww you truueeee feaarrr.”
Gii braced himself for a shoulder charge that never came, instead the festering wound on Karock's arms began bubbling and oozing with a black liquid. Feeling something was awry, Gii backed up to put a little more distance between them. It was at this moment that Karlock raised his hand to face Gii. In the next instant the black ooze shot from Karlock's arm and formed black tentacles that raced towards Gii. Until this point Gii had never encountered an attack so fast. The surprise caught him off guard and even though he tried to dodge to the side, one of the tentacles was able to latch onto his right leg.
The next instant, Gii was pulled towards Karlock who began rushing towards him. The force was like being pulled by a car and his speed was faster than when he ran. Using the ooze to pull Gii with his left arm, he could only watch and brace himself as Karlock readied a fist with his right hand. The two were heading toward each other at incredible speed, like two cars about to have a head on collision. Gii, unable to do anything to stop himself, turtled up and prepared for the pain.
In the next instant Karlock mercilessly rammed his fist into Gii's chest. Even through his tightest guard it felt like there was no way he could have blocked the attack. The force was such that it felt as if an explosion had gone off in front of him. Gii was blown backwards and intense pain rushed from his stomach and chest, up through his back and into his head before it registered. While landing, he couldn't help but wretch the contents of his stomach as his momentum came to a stop.
Fighting off his fading consciousness, Gii looked up to see Karlock rushing towards him once again.
not good....MOVE!
Trying to will his body to listen, Gii knew it would be bad if he allowed Karlock to approach him in this state. That attack alone had dropped his health by 20%, considering the already massive difference in their health amounts, Gii couldn't afford to take that much damage again. Looking up again he could see Karlock was readying a kick to his face. At the last moment Gii was barely able to dodge by rolling to his right.
The movement finally freed up his body and he quickly rose to his feet and began running. Peeking over his shoulder while he ran, he could see Karlock's arm's bubbling with the same black ooze from the previous attack. This time Gii timed his dodge to just before the attack was launched. By jumping behind one of the pillars in the hall he was narrowly able to avoid the tentacles. Just like before the tentacles instantly retracted after hitting the wall behind him. Using the opportunity after the attack Gii rushed the approaching Karlock and landed a strong vertical blow with his hammer to pin Karlock to the ground. Afterwards, Gii quickly retreated behind one of the pillars before Karlock could retaliate.
Using hit and run tactics the fight continued like this for a few minutes. Gii would bait Karlock into using the tentacle attack and then dodge behind one of the pillars. By doing so, Gii was able to notice a few patterns among Kalrock's attacks. The first was that the tentacles were only able to follow a straight line. This meant that as long as you weren't standing directly in front of him, you weren't in any danger of being grabbed. The attack seemed to be meant for a ranged type user in order to bring them into close combat where Karlock would have the upper hand.
The other thing that Gii noticed about Karlock was that he seemed to be using some type of magic, but Gii didn't know what it was. Currently, Gii's knowledge about magic use in HCO was lacking. This was mainly because it didn't interest him but also because he didn't feel it was really necessary as someone who focused on close combat. The reason why Gii suspected Karlock of using magic was because the purple smoke that he had appeared in was still surrounding him. In addition to that, every time Gii struck Karlock the smoke would shine a little brighter and then go back to normal.
Ever since the tentacle attack Gii had been extra cautious and tried to observe every little detail. That was why he noticed the differences in the smoke. Even still, there had not been any change to Karlock himself.
am I being too cautious?
It was obvious to Gii from their exchanges at this point that he was slightly faster than Karlock. Although Karlock's strength was probably higher, if he couldn't land a hit then Gii would have the upper hand.
the problem is if my stamina can hold out...
A smile spread across Gii's face.
“Well...only way is to try right!?”
Gii began to change the flow of the battle. Until this point he had been forced to be on the defensive and tried to gather information about his opponent. Even though there was still some things he wasn't sure about, if he wanted to win this fight, he needed to go on the offensive at some point. Gii began aggressively using guerrilla tactics. He weaved in and out of the pillars and baited Karlock's tentacle attack. Then, while it was retracting he would rush out and land blows in quick succession. Even though they weren't as strong as a full blow, by landing 3 or 4 solid blows he was able to do more damage in a short period of time.
Karlock would attempt to retaliate but because of Gii's superior speed it was to no avail, Gii would escape behind the nearest pillar and block his line of sight. Gii was confident in his tactics but even though he was doing everything he could, he was only able to bring down Karlock's health by about 5000. He still had over half of his health left! In the meantime Karlock's attacks were getting closer and closer because of Gii's lost stamina.
“Dammit! Is it too much to overcome the level difference!?”
8 levels wasn't that big of a gap when you think about it, it was the reason why Gii thought it might be possible to win. But at lower levels the gap was exaggerated much more than if you were at a higher level. For example the difference between a level 10 and a level 20 was much bigger than a level 80 and a level 90.
Trying not to become disheartened, Gii decided to focus on conserving his stamina more instead of attacking. However the situation continued to slip into Karlock's favor.
“Damn...why does it seem like it's getting harder to dodge his attacks?”
Compared to when the fight started, Gii was barely able to get out of the way of the tentacles. On top of that he was only able to get in 1 to 2 attacks now when he rushed him. Karlock was even able to throw a few punches in retaliation. Gii felt that he had conserved his stamina pretty well since he started to focus on that, but he was still losing.
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“Tch....it's almost as if..........no way...”
Suddenly Gii thought of something that would be terrible for him. If it was true then it would probably mean he could identify what magic Karlock had been using. Using the same tactic once again, Gii baited him into using the tentacle attack. Then he rushed toward Karlock and attempted a full swing of his hammer. This time Karlock was able to dodge the attack with ease and an expression of shock came over Gii's face.
“Fu-”
Gii wasn't able to finish his curse word as Karlock instantly grabbed his foot in the moment after his attack missed. With one hand Karlock picked Gii up and swung his body like a baseball bat towards the pillar that he had just jumped out from behind of. The force of this attack was like nothing Gii had experienced until now. It was so strong that his body caused the pillar to crumble and nearly 70% of Gii's health dropped in an instant. He could feel and hear his bones breaking as Karlock's grip tightened and his body was thrown against the hard rock surface.
Karlock let go as the pillar crumbled on top of him and damaged his health further.
Kuh...Wha...What is with this strength!?
Gii had been hit by Karlock's punches and attacks a few times while he was getting use to his fighting pattern but at no point had they shown this amount of devastating power.
“Kuhuhuhu....Foolish huuumaan....you seeeem conffuuusssed so let meee tell youu.”
“The cloooseer I commeee to deaattthhh, the stroongeeerr I beeccoommee. Alll youuurr aattaaacckkkkss onllyy seerrvveee too boooost myy stregnnntthh!”
Before Gii could say anything Karlock reached down and picked him up by the throat. Desperately trying to free himself from Karlock's grasp was no use, and the pressure on his throat continued to increase until Gii's body went limp and his life finally escaped him.
***
For a few moments while Karlock was strangling him, Gii panicked. Even though it was a virtual reality game, death was still terrifying. His consciousness faded to black and his body began to feel weightless until suddenly he could feel solid ground beneath his feet. Opening his eyes which had been closed revealed an all too familiar sight, the entrance to the temple and the courtyard where he had first entered this underground dungeon.
Eh? I guess I died?
A pop up window soon confirmed Gii's first death.
YOU HAVE DIED
Level progress has been reset to 0
Spirit bar has decreased by 10 points (90 points remaining)
“Sigh~~”
Gii let out a sigh at the sight of the system window.
“I guess the level difference was too big after all.”
Truthfully, Gii hadn't expected to do as well as he did while fighting the dungeon boss.
“I may have died, but I gained a lot of valuable information!”
Gii never expected to go through the entire dungeon on his first try, so he was quite happy with himself for getting through so much of it. However he was now in some trouble as to what he could do. He put his hand on his chin and began to think about what could be done.
“Karlock is the reason for the quest's difficulty since nothing else was too hard...which means there is a good chance he marks the exit of the dungeon...”
The problem was defeating Karlock. Gii wasn't able to notice until right before he was killed but it seemed that all of the damage he was doing to him ended up being transformed into strength. The reason why Karlock seemed to be getting faster was because of his increased strength. On top of that his recklessness only increased as the fight dragged on, blows that he blocked at the beginning of the fight were eventually just taken without regard after he had been buffed.
Karlock would be easier to deal with if there was a group of people helping him but since that wasn't the case it was pretty much the worst type of opponent for a solo player like him. Because of Karlock's massive amount of health it pretty much guaranteed a long and drawn out battle. Ideally the best way to go about fighting him would be to have someone like a Knight with high damage output deal a single blow that could finish him off before his buffs could stack.
“Well...i kind of have something like that?”
While going through the dungeon he had acquired the skill >>Devastating Blow<<. It was a last ditch type skill that could dish out an incredible amount of damage. However Gii thought it seemed inconsistent so he had avoided using it. On top of that there was a huge penalty If the skill failed making it fairly difficult to use.
“still...would it be enough?”
Normally >>Devastating Blow<< was the type of skill that would instantly end a fight, but versus Karlock with his enormous amount of health, it wouldn't even take away half of his HP. Since damage was converted into strength for him that means if he didn't kill him he would instantly become incredibly powerful and Gii would be the one in trouble.
I'd have to bring his health down to the point where i'm sure I could kill him...
No matter what I do it's still going to be difficult...but it's my only shot. Alright, i've decided!
Gii made up his mind and headed back into the dungeon. Because he was already familiar with it he quickly made his way back into the maze. The first time going through the maze it had taken quite a long time because he had to figure out where to go while avoiding traps. Because he had been so thorough the first time through, this time he could easily distinguish which areas to avoid and follow the path he had marked on the way.
In addition to that because of the time lapse from when he first entered the maze and his fight with Karlock, many of the monster groups had re-spawned. Not wasting his opportunity, Gii gobbled up the experience that was available and raised his level a few more times while making his way to the ominous looking door.
“He's only got about 5 levels on me now....hopefully that should be enough...”
Gii took a deep breath and pushed the large doors open. While striding through the purple mist that was flowing out of the room he entered confidently into the main hall once again. To his surprise, all of the damage from their previous fight was still around. It was at that moment that a similar scene unfolded in front of him. The purple mist created a vortex and then dispersed to reveal Karlock standing where it once was.
Gii didn't waste any time and ran up to attack Karlock before he could ready an attack. He smashed in 3-4 hits with his hammer in quick succession. Karlock was knocked back slightly and tried to return a punch to Gii's face but only whiffed at air. Gii retreated to a pillar and blocked his line of sight. While observing Karlock he began baiting out the tentacle attack. Taking the bait, Karlock began trying to pull Gii towards him with the black ooze tentacles that appeared from his arm. Having grasped the timing behind dodging it in their previous fight, Gii was easily able to dodge and began counterattacking.
Gii began the slow and arduous task of whittling down Karlock's health. However since he knew that his attacks were only making Karlock stronger, his anxiety was building. The more damage Karlock took, the more reckless he became with his attacks. Because of that Gii had to be more cautious when launching his counterattacks. The pressure of trying not to get hit made Gii spend an incredible amount of concentration and was quickly draining his mental strength.
Just one hit from those punches could be fatal!
Eventually Gii was able to drop Karlock's HP to about Half of it's max.
only a little more and he should be within range...
Gii needed to lower Karlock's HP just a little more for the damage dealt from >>Devastating Blow<< to be fatal. However Karlock wouldn't make that easy. When his Health dropped below half he began to be incredibly reckless with his attacks. Sure it would leave large openings for Gii to attack, but it also increased the likelihood of Karlock's attacks landing. As Gii's stamina dropped lower and lower it became difficult to completely dodge Karlock's attacks.
Gii rushed in to give a counterattack but the long fight caused him to temporarily lose some concentration and miss with his hammer. Karlock immediately retaliated and Gii was barely able to raise up a defense to deflect the blow. Even though Gii deflected it he was still blown back and nearly 50% of his HP was lost.
Unbelievable!
Gii used his momentum to quickly roll to his feet. He then ran behind the pillars and attempted to put some distance between him and Karlock.
“Shit! That hurt!...I don't think I can wait much longer...”
Gii wiped the blood that was dripping from his forehead and tried to think of what he could do to end the fight. It was obvious his stamina would run out before he could do much more damage. A prolonged fight wasn't in Gii's favor. However, he needed to make sure to hit with his attack or all his struggles would be for nothing.
At that moment Gii peeked around his shoulder to see Karlock's arm bubbling with ooze. He quickly dodged behind a pillar to block his line of sight and watched as the tentacles slammed into the ground attempting to grab the area where his legs had just been.
That's It!
Using the time when the tentacles were retracting, Gii quickly downed a potion to regain a little bit of his lost health. He then began running away to put more distance between him and Karlock. Seeing this, Karlock's arm began bubbling and oozing black liquid once again. He raised his hand and pointed it at Gii. As he did so, Gii turned around to face Karlock and readied his stance. The tentacles shot out and quickly wrapped themselves around Gii's waist. Then right as the tentacle began to retract, Gii pushed off and leaped toward Karlock increasing his momentum.
“Kuuhh!!”
Karlock was surprised at this action but what was even more surprising was Gii readying his hammer while being pulled toward him. Karlock was confident in his strength so there was little he was afraid of. He aimed to throw all of his weight behind this next attack.
Gii waited until right before they were going to collide and activated his skill.
“ACTIVATE Devastating Blow!!”
Gii swung his hammer to meet Karlock's fist. A loud explosion erupted as the two attacks collided against each other. Gii was using all his strength to hold the hammer. Karlock's fist met the hammer head and instantly caused a crack to appear. However even though Karlock's strength was immense, his arm was still made of skin and bone. The force of Gii's attack caused his arm to shatter and the hammer crushed Karlock's arm and smashed through his chest.
The force of the attacks caused both of them to be blown backwards but because Gii's attack had proved more powerful, most of the damage was reflected back towards Karlock. As the dust settled after the clash, Gii slowly raised himself to his feet. He had lost a large portion of his health but as he looked over to Karlock, all he could see was a crumpled mass on the floor. Right before his eyes Karlock's body began to absorb the mist that was coming from the goblet on the altar in the back of the hall. With a quick flash of light, Karlock's body disintegrated and the mist began to disappear from the room. A series system windows then confirmed Gii's victory.
Quest Escape from the Cursed Ruins! has been updated!
After much hardship you made your way to the inner sanctum of the cursed ruins and found what was ailing the temple. A cursed warrior by the name of Karlock corrupted the elixir that was hidden here. However with his defeat the corruption of the temple seems to have gone away. Surely this is for the best.
Level up!
Level Up!
“HAHA! I DID IT!”
Gii was overwhelmed with joy. It had been difficult and incredibly risky, but his gamble had paid off. It was all but assured that he would be able to get out of the dungeon now. However there was no door that had opened after he defeated Karlock. The only thing that had changed was the liquid on the altar, which was now a pure white instead of the purplish black it was before. Gii walked up to the altar to inspect the goblet.
Gii inspected the goblet and the elixir inside and he could tell that it was an incredibly powerful elixir. Normally he might try to use an identify scroll on it to see what it kind of effects it would give, but if an item was extremely rare or high level then it was very likely for the scroll to fail. An appraiser or identifier was needed to figure out items of higher caliber.
Gii looked around as if to make sure that he was by himself.
surely this is my prize right? I mean it's a reward for beating Karlock...
Gii made sure to look around for drops from Karlock but found nothing. There wasn't even a reward chest that you would expect from defeating a dungeon boss. That's why he was trying to justify that this elixir was surely his reward.
“No, it must be. I'm sure of it!”
Gii wasted no time in convincing himself. The more he looked at the elixir the more he was sure it was fine for him to take it.
“but..well I have nowhere to keep it...”
Looking at the water like substance in the goblet, Gii suddenly realized that he hadn't stopped to eat or drink at all on the way here. He gulped down what little saliva was in his throat and brought his hands out to cup the sides of the goblet.
It's fine...this is mine to drink anyway...
He brought the edge of the cup up to his mouth and took a sip. It was sweet. Too sweet! The sweetness was so good and flavorful compared to the bland water and bread he had been eating since entering the dungeon that he kept gulping down huge amounts of the liquid.
“GULP GULP GULP”
Gii quickly drained the entire goblet of it's contents and opened his eyes to see the bottom of the cup. He instantly froze because of what he saw engraved on the bottom of the cup. His eyes widened and suddenly a system message popped up in front of his face.
You have been cursed!
“NNNOOOOOOO!!!!!!”
Gii's scream echoed throughout the halls of the temple.