Chapter 50

A flaring red strobe of blinding light and a deafening blast shattered the first of the eight chains holding the boss captive. Drahma roared in primordial triumph as the steel links fell away, his unreasoning aggression ratcheting even higher.

The explosion did no damage to the guild players but it did sow fear and confusion among them. Teamwork and discipline were forgotten, panicky questions and wild speculation flooded the battle-chat.

Dave cast Spectral Bomb as soon as the cooldown timer zeroed, soon he would be ready to detonate the skulls on the next chain.

The players all assumed the exploding skulls were a new boss-skill or the result of some unfamiliar game mechanic. No one thought to look outside the fight-zone for other enemies. Truthfully, no one could blame them because there was no precedent for and no evident reason to consider it. Especially since Dave only launched the skulls at the chains when no one was looking in his direction.

Snapping his fingers again, Dave triggered the next set of bombs.

With another flash of red light, the resulting explosion turned the second chain into twisted scrap metal.

Unfortunately, this time the group’s tank, Xiao Gui, was close enough to be damaged by the skulls. The force of the blast staggered him, throwing him back as debuff warnings flashed in his HUD. Recovering, he gaped at his blinking mini-map, a flashing red star showing the location of a new enemy!

When a player is damaged by an attacker, the game system marks the attacking mob or player on the mini-map. There are exceptions to the mechanic, for instance when attackers are stealthed or if they are too far outside the player’s aggro range.

“Shit! There’s another mob outside the room!” the tank yelled.

Dave immediately turned to the back wall of the anteroom and put some distance between himself and the doorway in preparation of the inevitable retaliation.

The players knew the attacker was a mob, because if a player, or players, had dared to attack and damage them the attackers would also be tagged as ‘Aggressors’ on their HUDs.

Of course, they didn’t know undead-Dave caused an ‘exception’ in the processes which the system handled by assigning his character a mob designation that used mob-appropriate protocols instead of player avatar protocols for his avatar-environment interactions. Meaning undead-Dave didn’t show on the players HUDs as an aggressor, just an aggroing mob.

If they had paid more attention to current game-events or studied their own guild briefs and action-updates, which they were required to do according to guild contract rules, they might have realized there were other, more dangerous, possibilities.

But there’s a war going on, man! Levels had to be advanced and, of course, loot taken, no one has time for all that, ya know?

With that bit of group-think and a lot ignorance they blithely carried on.

“Damn it, someone kill that thing! Bardiche, GO!” roared Sublime Spirit. He was not happy to be sending the Sword Master, half his damage-dealing team, away from the boss fight to chase what was probably a trash level mob. Especially when the boss they were fighting had just suddenly and inexplicably grown much more dangerous.

With two of his binding chains destroyed, Drahma had grown more powerful indeed. He’d gotten boosts to his Vitality and Strength and his attacks now had almost twice the original damage potential.

Adding to the players’ consternation, the boss’s vitality increase filled the newly expanded health bar past the 50% mark. Even worse for them, despite his HP rising above the critical 50% mark the boss was still under the Rampage status effect, which in comparison makes a Berserker’s Rage seem like a gentle caress.

“Shit! This fight is way harder than it’s supposed to be!” Yu Fuyuan cried out. He was having a much harder time keeping the party healed with the boss’s increased damage numbers and all around boost in power. Xiao Gui, was taking more damage than his tank Skills could attenuate or redistribute, and even the mighty Sublime Spirit was being worn down and pushed back.

But his greatest concern wasn’t the health levels of the party. Keeping the party in good functional Health is what a good healer is supposed to do of course. But doing this much healing in such a short time period was pushing his aggro value higher. At this rate he would become a priority threat. A really, really bad thing for a healer to be in a boss-fight.

“Slow down on the heals!” yelled Sublime Spirit. He was an experienced leader, the danger to the healer was not lost on him.

“If I slow down, you’re all gonna die!” replied Yu Fuyuan, frantically trying to think of a way to lower his aggro value.

A cleansing potion would solve the problem, if he had one. He didn’t. They were bloody expensive. He knew before coming to this dungeon that the tank’s aggro-pulling skills along with Sublime Spirit’s insane damage output meant he would never even get close to the top of the boss’s threat priority table.

He cursed, so much for what he ‘knew,’ hindsight is a cruel b...female dog. Oh, how he wished he’d spent the gold on one of those damn potions instead of that very memorable, and enjoyable, weekend in the capital’s red-light district.

Bardiche sprinted for the anteroom where the attacking mob was located according to his mini-map. He needed to kill this pop-up mob quick, before it became more of a distraction, or worse did something that, somehow, increased the difficulty of the boss-fight again.

As he moved away from the great doorway Dave had looked back and seen the Sword Master coming toward the entranceway, he smiled his grim draugr smile. A single level 89 character of any class was hardly cause for Dave to panic or even worry.

The party leader broke a cardinal adventuring rule when he “split the party” and sent the damager to hunt Dave. They probably all thought he was just some random singleton mob. These guild-boyz were going to pay a price for their mistakes.

Dave ordered his undead into motion, arranging them so the incoming ‘guest’ would receive the worst possible kind of surprise party. He positioned two ghouls as his their frontline, to be the tanks. The archers and casters behind the tanks and offset to either side so they had clear lines of fire to loose their spells and arrows at the enemy. The third ghoul and the skeleton covered the flanks, they were his reaction force.

The Sword Master burst into the anteroom through the open double doorway. He was moving so fast he was halfway across the room before his mind processed the fact that he was running directly at an enemy battle-formation. When he finally reacted, it was like a scene from an old animated cartoon. His legs churned against the floor, frantically trying to reverse his momentum, his arms windmilling wildly to keep himself upright. Utter shock was on his face, his mouth literally open in a startled ‘O’ and his wide eyes revealing his inner dread, the knowledge of his inevitable failure.

By then, Dave was laughing so hysterically he almost missed his own order-of-attack. He recovered just in time to activate [Destructive Smash] and attack the desperately backpedaling Sword Master, immobilizing him with the stun effect.

Dave’s ranged undead immediately started hosing the stunned player down with arrows and spell-bolts as Dave struck again using a basic attack empowered with [Twin Strike]. The colored bar over the player’s head disintegrated, his HP reaching zero in less than a heartbeat.

Dave knew the guild players would be notified immediately about the Sword Master’s death, it was one of the most important functions of the HUD party-interface.

He had to act quickly if he was going to take advantage of the situation. Dave rapidly weighed the odds and considered alternatives. He started pacing and almost bumped into one of his undead, a ghoul, and an inexplicable urge to talk to someone came over him. Dave wasn’t a ‘chatty’ guy. He had no desire to tell people his ‘problems,’ much less listen to theirs. So, he was surprised at how helpful it was to talk things out with someone, or something. Still thinking about his current situation he bounced ideas off the friendly stiff, who listened with endless patience... Really, he just shared a couple favorite words-of-wisdom with the revenant. “No risk, no reward. Go big or just go away. Good talk, bud.”

Knowing he had to take a shot at the big chance, Dave gathered Bud, the newly christened ghoul, and the rest of his undead minions around him in formation, then charged into the boss room.

His plan wasn’t to fight the guild party, that way led to certain suicide. No, there were far too many things Dave still had to do before he could allow the bearded draugr’s story to an end.

His intent was to disrupt and delay, playing for time.

The appearance of almost a dozen undead charging in formation created a hush on the battle-chat, the players minds simply blanked. But they quickly recovered and inspected the group by habit.

Hmph. They were just some low-level undead trash, they couldn’t be the enemy that sent Bardiche to respawn...could they?

Things had certainly gotten hinky on this dive, this was supposed to be an explored dungeon. First a single mob pops up just as the boss mob starts going weirdly off-script. Then the Sword Master sent after the stray mob gets killed off and no one is sure how.

Now, a group of lowbie undead was charging at them in the middle of the boss fight.

None of it made sense to them, even if lower mobs were capable of moving freely, and far less likely that they would enter the boss room. The party had cleared the dungeon, there shouldn’t be any mobs left, let along groups ranging out and into the boss room to attack players.

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Sublime realized the undead weren’t very dangerous. But his party was frazzled by all the weird and unexpected stuff going on. They needed to concentrate on the real danger, the boss.

“They’re low-level undead, I’ll take them out quick. Just hold-off the boss for a few seconds!” Sublime Spirit shouted encouragingly, as he rushed at the newly arrived undead mobs.

Most of his party weren’t experienced players let alone veteran guild members. Truthfully, most of the group were barely past newbie status, power-levelled to bulk up the guild-roster because of the war.

That wastrel, Yu Fuyuan, was the exception, though his levels had long suffered for his vices. Yu Fuyuan was tolerated in the guild because he was a competent healer. He was a veteran player before Sublime ever entered the game, and, according to which rumors one listened to, a beta-tester, a founding member of the guild, or both. Despite that, the only bright things in the Priest’s future were the red-lights of a certain district in the capital.

Dave ignored the Berserker and summoned another skull, intent on blowing up another chain and ultimately, freeing Drahma to complete his quest.

Dave sincerely hoped once the quest was done there would be no need for him to fight anyone directly, and more importantly no need for him to risk himself against a group of higher level players.

Dave’s undead archers kited Sublime Spirit, while the longer ranged casters slowed him with spell-bolt attacks.

More skulls exploded, and another chain dropped from the boss, and his HP rose to 70%.

It was a mistake on Sublime Spirit’s part to leave the main fight to go after the new mobs. Without the DPS damage from the Berserker, Yu Fuyuan’s healing was rocketing the Priest up the threat list. When his threat value passed the tank’s, breaking the cardinal rule “never OT the tank,” the healer became an ‘Over Threat’ to the boss, and the number-one priority target.

It only took a moment for the boss’s full wrath to find the poor venial Priest. He suffered a lethal iteration of getting ‘caught between a hard floor and a falling-iron-column.’ The only remains were a cloud of glowing motes spiraling up toward the heavens, and an unpleasant splotch on the floor.

Of course, this meant the end was near for the party. ‘Protect your healer’ was another cardinal rule for adventurers. Broken so spectacularly, it was like an omen.

The suddenness of the Priest’s death shocked everyone in the group, even Sublime Spirit.

Then Dave snapped his fingers yet again. A ground rumbling blast and a blinding strobe of red light, and the fourth chain was smoking metal wreckage.

There were only four chains holding the boss now, and his HP bar was at 100%. Drahma howled like a wolf baying at the moon. Although he was back to full health, and more powerful than ever, the monster was sinking further and further into the depths of his insanity and rage. He became less intelligent and more bestial and savage whenever a chain was destroyed.

The remaining chains barely controlled his manic behavior. The boss’s limited range of movement had been the only thing saving the players from the boss’s overpowered attributes and abilities until now. The boss was going to be free soon.

Sublime Spirit cursed profanely and at great lengths. There was no denying it at this juncture. The mission was a failure, and the party was going to be wiped.

Angry and frustrated, Sublime Spirit turned to get a better look at the undead mobs. He finally spotted the ‘Leader’ mixed in with the casters. He was an inconspicuous creature despite having, of all the ridiculous things, an incongruous chin beard that he stroked unselfconsciously. The damned draugr was smiling at him, scorning him, mocking HIM, Sublime Spirit!

Another blinding, red-flashing explosion came, staggering Sublime Spirit. A demonic roar followed the explosion, and Sublime Spirit saw a portrait on his party-interface HUD turn gray out, a beat later the ground shook and another portrait turned gray, followed almost immediately by the final one with the pro forma tremor and chilling howl.

The smile continued to haunt him, he had seen it before, but just couldn’t remember where.

Tragically, Sublime Spirit was breaking a cardinal rule in life, both virtual and real, “don’t get distracted by hipster-draugrs with chin-beards, keep your eyes on the main prize, dumbass.”

Dave saw Drahma turn the harrying players into gory paste with his iron pole ‘fly-swatter.’ Less than a minute, boom, boom boom.

He gave the Berserker a final ‘no-hard-feelings’ smirk when the iron pole appeared, the capped end whistling in an arc toward Sublime’s head. Wider than the Berserker’s shoulders, it struck his helmeted head and continued unimpeded until the arc ended with a booming-tremor from the stone floor.

[-85 321] Instant Kill!

Dave sternly reminded his jaw to stay closed.

Twinkling lights, formerly a level 120 Berserker, floated up from under Drahma’s pole.Now it was only Dave and his undead in the room. With an enraged, maybe insane, power-improved boss.

Three chains still shackled the boss’s limbs, and his Rampage state was still in effect.

Drahma roared and screamed as if someone was putting a blow torch to his soul. It was a terrifying sight that Dave would never forget, as madness and demonic ferocity washed across the boss’s face in waves..

The nametag over Drahma’s head was highlighted a friendly green. But, his mind was clearly not all ‘there.’ Dave needed some reconnaissance, so he ordered one of his ghouls -not Bud, Bud was cool- to move in closer to the boss. The ghoul obeyed without making any fuss and moved in closer to the boss. The moment the ghoul set a foot in Drahma’s aggro zone, the boss swung like a golfer going for the green, pulverising the ghoul and launching its remains across the room to splatter against the wall.

Dave swallowed, grateful for his paranoi...caution. Even if it was tagged with a green name, it was still a boss, and it was strong as heck.

He opened his quest log and looked at ‘A Call for Help,’ it was not marked ‘complete,’ and there was no updated information. “Give succor to your undead kin…that could mean anything.” If Dave released him now, as he was, God only knew what the insane thing would do.

“Drahma!” shouted Dave.

The boss froze momentarily, then resumed smashing his weapon into the floor and roaring at the ceiling, making the structure tremble.

Breaking five of the eight chains that imprisoned him only enraged Drahma further instead of inspiring him with hope and determination to finish the job.

Dave was offended. He’d worked hard to help out his undead brother, getting rid of the chains, or at least starting the process, and preventing the guild party from killing Drahma and sending him to respawn. All he got in return is a big temper tantrum, a giant hissy fit. He couldn’t even put that on a t-shirt.

Dave decided enough was enough. Checking his metaphorical belt and adjusting it, he strode confidently toward the boss, stopping at the point midway to the boss’s aggro zone.

“Drahma! I Serve the King of the Undead Legion! Attacking my subordinates is the same as insulting the king!” roared Dave. Dave was taking liberties, but, it could happen for real.

“MY KING! ALL FOR MY KING!” roared Drahma. He blinked in confusion, and the madness in his blood-red eyes receded. But he was still angry.

“I did as commanded! None came to my aid! Why?!” he cried out. Despair replaced anger and he crashed to his knees.

Drahma began to gasp in inexplicable pain, hand grasping at the hole in his chest...

“Ah, it has been so long since they took my heart! They could never break my spirit. I had gone mad, but now I can see. You!” said the giant. “You serve the king!” it was as much a question as it was a statement.

“I do. And you Drahma, who do you serve?” asked Dave looking directly up into the giant’s eyes.

“I serve his majesty…the chains, please remove them…I am strong, but strength alone cannot unshackle me from these abominations.”

He moved his arms toward Dave as if to present the offending chains that wrapped around them

“I can,” said Dave.He ordered his minions to remove the chains.

Each time a chain came off the boss, a burst of power erupted in a halo around Drahma. His ancient strength flowed back into him fully, and the madness and bestial savagery receded, his mind became clear and sharp once again...

When the final chain was removed, the giant stood up and looked at Dave for long moments.

Dave looked back and inspected Drahma while under his gaze. He smiled, his guess was correct.

Name: Drahma the Berserker

Level 500

Rank (Doom Knight)

Skills (???)

HP(???)

Defense(???)

Drahma was one of the most powerful individual units in the Undead King’s Legion. He was under the direct command of the Abyssal Knight [Dalga]

After the Undead King disappeared, Drahma was captured by the fallen order of the Black Skull. He suffered for years, tormented and experimented on, before going mad when his heart removed. The Undead King’s Blessing kept him alive but suffering even more torment. The rage he built over the years granted him a Power.

Even if I Fall into madness, I shall take you with me.

“I need to find my king…You, I shall remember you, Draugr. You granted me freedom from those chains and this place. You have my eternal thanks. I will mention your name to my superior. Here, take this” said Drahma making a grasping motion. A jewel appeared in front of Dave”

Dave grasped it and examined the faceted stone glowing a cold-blue. His eyes widened.

Anti-Bully (Monster-type)

Summon Drahma to your location whenever you are in the Undead appearance.

3/3 uses.

Bound to Deathstroke

“This is a small token. When you are in dire need, use it, and I shall come to you. This is only right, as you came to my aid while I was in the darkest despair.”

Hidden Quest completed!

A call for Help!

You have chosen to help Drahma even against the odds of powerful enemies.

+1500 contribution points

You have freed a servant of the Undead King from the Seals placed on him by the wretched fallen order of the Black Skull

You have gained 500 000XP

Level Up

Level Up

Level Up

…

“This is all I have to give now. When you return to the Lands of the Undead speak to any shopkeeper. I will make arrangements with them for you Now, I have a request to make.”

“If, by some chance, you discover the location of the Black Skull, or find my missing heart. Summon me with the jewel even if you have already used it three times, it will beckon to me when it is close to my heart.”

Chain Quest.

You have been tasked by Drahma to look for the remnants of the Black Skull Order. They are a scourge upon the land, a vile and wretched faction that subjugated many undead in order to perform heinous experiments on them in pursuit of the source of undead immortality. Even though they are of the undead, the King deemed them unworthy of the race and has cast them out.

Y/N

Dave accepted and looked back up at the giant. The giant looked back at him and smiled, then disappeared.

Dave sighed. That was that. Another day, another Undead bigwig.

Looking around for loot and anything that might be useful, he wandered around the area.

In the very center of the area where Drahma was chained for so long, was a small, glowing metallic sphere.

Dungeon core (Special item)

Can be used to modify the dungeon it originated from.