Once nice floors in the throne room were deteriorating more which every passing moment as the battle between Rat King and five humans gained more steam. The giant ratman was currently in the process of spitting acid from his hand, pinning Maggie and Chen behind one of the columns, unable to move without getting sprayed by the acid that was raining down on them. Lucas prowled on the edge, waiting for the chance to strike, his last attack repelled with the bolts of green energy that slammed into his armor, making a huge hole in it and managing to graze some of his skin before Margaret showed up and heal him up. His armor was slowly rebuilding itself, but Rat King wasn’t about to let him wait until it is fully done.
Spotting Ted rushing to distract Rat King once again, Lucas steeled himself, knowing he had a narrow window to engage the Rat King. The giant ratman stopped spraying acid, allowing Chen and Maggie some breathing room, but instead of attacking Ted, he threw his mace, aiming for Margaret who was trying to reposition herself carefully. The mace struck true and a loud scream escaped Margaret’s mouth as she collided with the wall. His stomach clenching, Lucas immediately activated “Infused piledriver”, desperately trying to distract the Rat King from further attack.
In the middle of his spin, he suddenly felt heat somewhere from his hips, but he soldiered trough it, finally managing to land a hit on the Rat King, his new falchion unable to go as deep as his previous sword were, but doing so much more damage on the area he did penetrate.
“You take 1348 points of damage”
Pieces of flesh flew all over the place as Lucas tried to pull his sword out, sudden pain in his hips forcing him on the ground once the sword came out. Luckily for him, Rat King was also busy hissing in pain, making him unable to capitalize on Lucas weakness.
Deciding against using “Vengeful doom strike”, afraid he would be unable to aim properly due to the wound on his hips, Lucas tried to find the aura of the giant ratman, hoping to stun him with “Aura severing”. Unfortunately, as soon as he activated the skill, feedback from Rat King’s aura almost made his head splinter in half due to pain. Abandoning his plan, Lucas tried to get up just in time to see Ted swinging his club and the Rat King, currently unarmed, trying to maneuver to pick up his mace.
“Watch out for the mace” Lucas shouted, forced to activate “Dodge” when he reminded the Rat King he was still there. The bolt of green energy was barely avoided, but the momentary pause gave Ted the opening to connect his club with the flank of the Rat King, loud crack signaling he broke something. Lucas, however, used the time Ted bought him to quickly gulp a health potion, the bottle materializing in his hand immediately.
“You restored 800 health points via health potion”
Pleasantness coursed through his body, coalescing in his hip where acid burn was slowly closing, leaving his skin there tender and sensitive to touch, but otherwise unharmed. Refocusing on the fight, Lucas could see Ted was forced to move back as another fountain of acid started going from the Rat King’s hand, allowing him some room to pick up his mace. Maggie tried to take some potshots at him, but the acid ate her arrows without error, for all intent and purposes making a barrier in front of the Rat King. With dread, Lucas tried to find Margaret, exhaling with relief once he saw Chen managed to move her and feed her a potion, managing to get her back on her feet.
“You are done for, motherfucker” Lucas thought, his anger flaring. With a mental command, he was once again spinning, his “Infused piledriver” closing the distance between him and giant ratman. This time, he anchored himself, avoiding the bolt of green energy Rat King had sent his way. The short pause in acid spray was enough for Maggie to sent two arrows his way, completely throwing the creature of balance, softening him for Ted’s charge, his club already swinging. The Rat King twisted uncomfortably, managing to avoid the swing from Ted’s club, but not the momentum of Ted’s charge, the human and ratman falling down in flail of extremities. Lucas was in full sprint, his passive giving him a healthy boost in speed, preparing “Soul – shattering strike” and activating disease ability of his new sword.
With a quick swing of his sword he managed to make a deep cut on the arm of the giant ratman, making him drop on one knee, completely stunned. Just as Lucas prepared to activate his ultimate skill, a flash of light exploded from the Rat King, momentarily blinding Lucas. With his returning eyesight, he spotted the creature back on his feet, his mace in hand, swinging at Ted. Luckily, the Light guardian was true to his name, his nimble feet and high Agility allowing him to avoid the blow.
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Raising his falchion, Lucas shouted trying to get the attention of the creature. The Rat King looked at Lucas, curious glimmer in his eye. Lucas started running, but instead of preparing to defend, the Rat King just brought his hands up. Lucas was closing the distance, his passive giving him a boost. He already prepared his sword, only thing remaining to do being activating “Vengeful doom strike” and finishing this. Before he managed to completely close the distance, the giant ratman swung his mace down, crashing the floor beneath his feet. Tremors released from the hit managed to throw Lucas off balance for a second, enough for him to trip at the speed he was moving. Realizing creature’s plan, Lucas flared his massive Agility, twisting in unnantural ways to touch the floor, using that small touch as the springboard when he activated “Dodge” and somersaulted almost to the ceiling, going above the Rat King and his swinging mace and landing behind him with a loud clank that shook his whole body.
“You take 437 points of damage”
Adrenaline still pumping in his veins, Lucas stood up, ignoring his pained legs and went in full sprint towards the confused Rat King. Not giving him time to react, he once again activated “Soul – shattering strike” connecting with the leg of the giant creature, making him scream as he fell down on one knee. Closing his eyes in case the boss creature use his blinding trick once again, Lucas sent a mental command, finally activating his “Vengeful doom strike”. He felt as his sword sapped his energy, his wobbly leg struggling to carry him. He opened his eye and swung his falchion with all his remaining might, enough to make the shallowest of cut before falling down, his legs unable to hold him any longer. The Rat King was stunned and there wasn’t even a chance for realization what had happened before he simply fell down and remaining laying there, unmoving. Lucas managed to stay conscious just enough to read the prompt announcing their victory before falling unconscious.
Lucas opened his eyes to the massive headache and some weird symbols going in front of his eyes. Blinking hard, he managed to gain enough focus to recognize the prompt he remembered reading before losing his conscious.
“You have slain Rat King, King of the Ratmen, Plague Master level 66”
“Congratulations! You are now Sword of doom level 59”
“Congratulations! You are now Sword of doom level 60”
“Congratulations! You are now Sword of doom level 61”
“Stat allocation in progress…”
“+5 Agility, +4 Strength, +2 Perception. Two free point”
“Due to title Prodigy, you are awarded another free point”
“+5 Agility, +4 Strength, +2 Perception. Two free point”
“Due to title Prodigy, you are awarded another free point”
“+5 Agility, +4 Strength, +2 Perception. Two free point”
“Due to title Prodigy, you are awarded another free point”
“Stat allocation completed”
Seeing some shapes moving behind the words that flew before his eyes, he instantly closed his status screen and prepared himself, only to relax realizing he was seeing his party members milling around him and the body of the beaten Rat King.
“Good morning” he heard a familiar voice and moment later his sight was completely sharpened, revealing Margaret standing above him, big smile on her face.
“How long?” he asked, his voice coarse.
“Ten hours” she said “which means next guard duty is yours” she finished, chuckling revealing the rest of his party.
Lucas slowly got up, seeing throne room turned battlefield in its new, degraded state, revealing the sheer destructive force all six combatants unleashed during their fight, briefly wondering how do the fights between countless powerful being in the multiverse looked like if a bunch of people under level 100 unleashed this much destruction.
“They probably wreck universes, not throne rooms” he grimly concluded, part of him looking forward getting that kind of strength.
“Are you okay?” Ted’s voice broke Lucas’s line of thoughts. Simply nodding in response, Lucas prompted Ted to finish his thought “good, let’s get out of here”
The rest of the party nodded and Lucas went into his log to find the prompt that would bring him out.
“You have finished this dungeon
Do you want to exit dungeon now
Y/N
Your prizes are waiting you when you exit the dungeon”
Confirming his wish, Lucas saw and felt familiar darkness around him as the System teleported him out of the dungeon.