In his mind’s eye, Raine saw the pinpricks of light scattered across his body. Each represented a point where the shotgun slime’s eyes were locked onto him. He timed his dodge with expert precision, diving to the side the instant the glowing orbs finished focusing.
The three lances aimed directly at his chest were easily dodged. They tore past amidst a round of concussive blasts he didn’t hear and bounced off the wall behind him to shoot over the boss’s head. Two aimed at his right side narrowly missed when he jerked his head and left shoulder back, twisting his torso wildly. Unluckily, this put him right in the path of the one directed at his left leg. It speared straight through his hip, painfully locking him in place. [-199]
Raine’s health flashed red in his HUD. After the hit he’d taken earlier, he was down to exactly fifty health. One lance remained.
Since SolemnRiver could take a single hit, Raine had tried to position himself so the last attack would need to go through the boss to get to him. He failed. The blistering fast ray of slime bounced off the wall and missed the boss by mere millimeters, shooting directly for Raine’s face. Held fast and off balance from his earlier dodge, he only had one chance to live.
Raine snarled, baring his teeth. Discipline fueled his muscles as he strained for more speed. His physical attributes hit their peak, and he pushed them further by dipping into Connection. The atmosphere between his arm’s current location and where it needed to be thinned, reducing the air pressure slowing him down. It was the barest change, but it was enough. A mighty clang resounded through the room as his spearhead intercepted the lance. The attack careened to the side, hitting the wall and deflecting out of sight. The weight of the impact threw him back, only for the rope of slime speared through his hip to jerk him forward. [-32] [-17]
[Hard Iron Spear: Durability -5]
The slime lances withdrew back into the boss, freeing him. He hit the ground charging, not daring to look at how close he came to death. It didn’t matter, another hit would be the end and they still hadn’t dealt any damage to the annoying boss. By the time he arrived at the monster, SolemnRiver managed to dislodge another of the stones. With only two left, Raine launched into it with a frenzy of stabs and Pierces.
Greater Werewolf’s Regeneration kicked in, healing him for ten percent. [+44] In the next instant, his spear finally dealt damage and his next stab cracked into thin air, releasing a satisfying Rupture that sent the boss’s gelatinous mass roiling. [-837]
The shotgun slime’s eyes lit up again and Raine retreated four steps in a short bound. Only two of its eyes locked directly on him. Adrenaline slammed through his veins. His breath stilled, and the world came into sharp focus.
The lances explosively released in every direction. Raine’s perception of time swelled, the attacks appearing to move in slow motion. He saw where he needed to be. It was crystal clear in his mind’s eye, but his slow avatar refused to move fast enough. He struggled mightily against his low level attributes, boosting every limb with Discipline and once more throwing his spear into the path of the only lance he couldn’t dodge.
Color and sound returned in a sweeping flash that nearly stole his breath. His HUD blared an angry red and his spear lost another chunk of durability, but he survived. No, he was alive, more alive than he’d ever felt. The ache in his hip and ankle, the threat of death, the pressure of failing a quest that would see him a slave, all combined into a euphoria beyond his ability to control. So he didn’t even try.
His boots powerfully pressed against the ground, sending him blasting back to the boss’s side. Vision blurry and limbs trembling with excitement, a bark of laughter escaped his chest as his spear sank into it again and again. [-164] [-128] [169] Its defenses were weakened for another five seconds and he took full advantage, Piercing on cooldown.
When the six second window ended, the Elite Bullet Slime stretched to the ceiling. SolemnRiver fell from its body. She glowed with a Mend that healed her from the randomly angled hit she took in the last wave of attacks. She was on her feet and sprinting for the wall in record time, barely managing to get out of the area of effect as the boss filled most of the chamber with rapidly deflecting lances and thunderous booms.
Raine jumped at the wall, landing feet first to dodge then leaping right back into the fight. He was in position before it dropped from the ceiling. Another Rupture caused it to release warbling waves of agony. [Critical hit! -1,673]
SolemnRiver’s greataxe crashed into its other side. She spun so fast her feet blurred, the massive weapon in her hands connecting three times in less than a second. With his focus still ramped up, Raine managed to mostly follow the mysterious footwork that easily overcame what her Attack Speed should be capable of. He tucked the memory away for later examination.
They dealt a solid chunk of its health before its eyes glowed. Both retreated a step, and Raine easily dodged while SolemnRiver took a page from his book and used the flat of her axe to block the two aimed for her chest. The force blasted her back. She slid along the floor until her back hit the wall, luckily not getting hit by any of the deflections. Another Mend drained the last of her Celestial Power, but the boss was nearing death and they could both smell its panic.
Its eyes lit up for the final time, and Raine ran directly at SolemnRiver. Her eyes widened in shock as he planted the butt of his spear into the floor and launched himself at her like a maniacal pole jumper. His feet crashed into her chest, sending the princess in all but name skittering right back to the wall. Raine’s health was back at half from consistent ticks of regeneration, so the lance that slammed through his leg didn’t kill him.
He dangled helplessly for a second before the slime harpoons retracted, then he righted himself by smacking his spear into the ground. As SolemnRiver stood up with a curse on her lips, he dashed forward, releasing a Rupture that turned the shotgun slime into a collapsing wave of mucus.
Long before she made it back, Raine scooped up all the coins and items that dropped.
[Obtained 25,000 Group Superiority (150% bonus for defeating an elite boss 1 level above your highest member)]
[Obtained 20% Group Attunement (150% bonus for defeating an elite boss 1 level above your highest member)]
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
[Obtained 1 gold 13 silver]
[Skill Book (Parry) - Novice - Common Gray: Nullify the damage and redirect the force of a physical attack (Cost: 5 discipline) (Cooldown: 10 seconds)]
“You shameless son of a bitch! What the hell was that?” She screamed in his face.
The others filed into the room and soothing regeneration swept through Raine. He shrugged silently, activated the new skill book, and turned toward the next tunnel. SolemnRiver fumed, her knuckles white as they ground on the shaft of her axe.
FierceFire hands patted the air soothingly, “Ignore him. We knew from the first fight how greedy he is.”
The group's attention was drawn to two notifications that appeared in everyone's interfaces.
[Party loot acquired - Combat Helmet: Common Gray - LVL 10: (DEF +12) (ACU +2) (PHY +2) (Durability 60/60)]
[Roll eligibility: All]
[Party loot acquired - Double-tap Greataxe: Lustrous Blue - LVL 10: (AP +65) (AS -.25) (PTC +15) (FNS +10) (ACU +5) (Durability 160/160)]
[Roll eligibility: All]
FierceFire’s eyes lit up and she clapped excitedly, “Congratulations, Taly!” In the same breath, she rounded on the two guys, “Don’t even think about rolling for that axe if you want to survive long enough to take three steps outside this dungeon!”
Their hands flew up in surrender, neither thinking they stood a chance of escaping SolemnRiver after she kept up with Raine’s frankly ridiculous speed. The rolls went out for the armor piece first, which went to the shorter of the two men. He cheered, quickly donning the dark green, military-style helmet.
The axe popped up next, and everyone besides SolemnRiver instantly declined. FierceFire’s joyous smile slipped when two rolls appeared in the interface. [??? - 73 / SolemnRiver - 72] The chamber turned deathly silent, except for the sound of SolemnRiver’s teeth grinding back and forth, “I’ll kill him. As soon as this contract ends, he’s dead!”
Explosive slime impacting tunnel walls echoed obnoxiously into the cavern. Their eyes flew to the contract symbol in their HUDs, sighing when they found it hadn’t yet been broken. As one, they dashed after their truly shameless leader. They raced up the steep elevation of a long tunnel, heaving for breath. Meanwhile, the health bar beneath his blank name fluctuated wildly.
They caught up to him in the next room. He faced five Bullet Slimes with his spear, easily dodging their non-deflecting shots and rapidly poking the stones out of their bodies. After leaving them behind, Raine only had to roll six times before getting his spear back. He would have settled for the axe as well since they knew he had it, but didn’t get that lucky. While spamming the roulette, he allocated his accrued Superiority into the dagger, bringing it up two levels.
[Last Chance’s Gambit - Common Gray - LVL 7 > 9 - SP 0/100,000: (AP 16 > 20) (EP 16 > 20) (AS +1) (FNS 7 > 9) (CNC 7 > 9) (Durability 45/45) Innate Skill - Final Gambit: Convert 100% remaining EP into a single target non-elemental attack. 17 > 19 damage per EP converted]
SolemnRiver glared at him with furrowed brows, about to verbally flay him alive but paused. Her head tilted slightly as she realized his spear technique had improved drastically in the short time since they entered the dungeon. Not only was he bending his torso to increase his speed, but his footwork had shifted to a lower, longer stance giving him more maneuverability and power.
In a split second decision, she gave up on killing him to get the weapon. The man was clearly a more competent martial than her, and if he changed to whatever his main weapon was, she probably wouldn’t survive two exchanges. That assumed she managed to avoid his overpowered double wave skill that did more than enough damage to one-shot her.
[I’m being too short-sighted. I should try to recruit him if he’s not already in a guild. People with his skills aren’t easy to find. I stand to gain a thousand times more if he’s working for me than against me.]
Unaware of her thoughts, Raine continued to drill into the slimes. He was happy with the new axe. Despite it lacking an innate skill, its attributes were impressive. And if he could master the mysterious footwork technique SolemnRiver displayed, the negative to Attack Speed wouldn't be an issue.
The second he dislodged the final absorption stone, he hit the slime with a Rupture. SolemnRiver jumped in, smoothly sinking her greataxe into the creature. Raine nodded approvingly, glad she managed to calm down so quickly after embarrassingly losing the competition for the boss’s gold. Together, they made short work of the group of slimes.
They killed another thirty slimes as they rapidly progressed up the mountain. SolemnRiver kept pace with him, not once competing for the coins that dropped. Not that she would have had a chance if she tried.
As the last slime chased him down the tunnels to the final boss’s chamber, Raine glanced at his status. With a thought, he altered the display to now show totals after taking equipment into account in parenthesis. This lowered the numbers that used to include equipment, but gave him a better idea of the difference between his baseline stats and totals.
NAME: Alaric
CURRENCY: 783-G 98-S 72-C
CLASS: none
TITLE: Rock Crusher
ASPECT: Greater Aspect of the Werewolf
LEVEL: 10
SUPERIORITY: 114,100 / 150,000
ATTUNEMENT: 18.72% > 424.15%
HEALTH POINTS: 300 (410)
ATTACK POWER: 61 (77)
DEFENSE: 30 (124)
RESISTANCE: 51 (51)
CRITICAL RATE: 16% (16%)
ELEMENTAL POWER: 68 (68)
DISCIPLINE: 64 (75)
ATTACK SPEED: 3.4 (3.4)
MOVE SPEED: 4 (5)
ATTRIBUTES:
POTENCY: 30 (41)
FINESSE: 30 (39)
ACUITY: 31 (33)
PHYSIQUE: 30 (41)
CONNECTION: 34 (34)
The end of the tunnel was flooded with light. Raine burst into the last cavern and freezing winds howled in his ears. They came from a large hole leading to open air that dominated the far wall. A bleating roar raised the hair on his neck as a majestic, winged goat raised its head. Thick, white fur lightly covered powerful muscles. Radiant sapphire eyes observed him with hungry interest. Long limbs tipped in sturdy claws scraped at the rocks beneath its paws.
[Elite Ariesilae - level 15 - HP ?????/?????]
image [https://i.imgur.com/T8Drjfu.jpg]
It stood to its full height on powerful back legs. The heavy horns sprouting from its skull nearly scraped the ceiling. With zero warning, the beast’s entire body streaked across the room at double the speed of the shotgun slime’s attacks. Thick neck muscles jerked to the side, sending one of its oversized horns at Raine’s chest.
If not for his new skill, Raine would have immediately died. Parry pulled his spear into position faster than he could possibly move it himself. The sound of metal on metal filled his ears and his hair billowed back as a wave of displaced air crashed into him. The boss hurtled past in a streak of white fur, its outrageous momentum redirected into the wall. Upon impact, the whole cavern shook with incredible intensity, sending rubble cascading down around them.
Raine grinned as his weapon took no durability damage, despite the immense power behind the blow. He faced the beast, lowering his stance. The ariesilae shook its head, turned to face him, and dropped to all fours. Muscles rippled, trembling with untapped power as it released a thunderous bleat, murder in its eyes.