Liam drank a stamina potion to refill his Stamina bar.
Afterwards, he rolled his shoulders and loosened his arms by shaking them a couple of times. As the timer ticked down, Liam wondered what was going to happen.
The last wave was a bit intense towards the end, but it was manageable thanks to the water and lightning crystals. Liam thought. Will they appear again if that happens once more?
Before he could think anything else, the timer hit bottom and the portals started to buzz with activity.
Zombies emerged in all four lanes. A Shredding Zombie appeared in both the first and fourth lane while a Rotten Zombie arrived in the second and third.
“Let’s take out the Rotted first,” Liam muttered as he threw a dagger at the Zombie down the second lane.
As the dagger landed in the head of the zombie, the two Shredding Zombies let out a screech and started moving.
“What the hell? I didn’t touch them yet!” Liam shouted with a confused tone.
Before he could say anything else, four more zombies appeared from the portals.
Making room for your friends to join the party? Liam thought. That makes sense then. Well, that means, those zombies are priority number one now.
Liam shifted his attention to the zombie in the first lane. After he fell that zombie, he took out the first zombie in the fourth lane.
He side-stepped to the third lane and focused on the two zombies. As he took the first one out, a Shredding Zombie appeared behind the Rotted Zombie in the third lane. Two more Shredding Zombies arrived in the first and second lane while nothing arrived in the fourth.
Before Liam took out the Rotted Zombie in front of the Shredding Zombie, a red crystal appeared on the ceiling.
“Just in time,” Liam whispered as he aimed for it.
He watched as the dagger flew towards it, but before the dagger crashed into it, the rope holding the crystal moved backwards.
“What the hell!” Liam shouted as he watched it make its way to the back of the room in the third lane.
Once when it reached the portals, the rope changed directions to head to the front of the room.
They’re no longer stationary now? Liam thought as aimed for the crystal.
He took in the speed of the crystal and thought where he wanted it to land.
A smile grew on Liam’s face as he threw the dagger.
I don’t mind making this a bit more challenging. How else am I going to get better at throwing weapons. Liam thought as he watched the crystal fall at the middle section of the room, spreading out in front of the Shredding Zombies that made their way passed the Rotted Zombies.
Their screeches grew loud as they still pushed forward, however after taking four steps they dropped to the ground.
Liam’s eyes widened as he realized that when his focus was on the crystal, the back half of the room filled with zombies.
Luckily, some of them walked into the flames, bringing their miserable lives to a fiery end.
“Ok, cant waste too much time focusing on dropping those crystals,” Liam muttered as more Zombies arrived. “Time to practice speed throwing.”
Liam made his way to the first lane and rapid fire throwing daggers at the Rotted Zombie.
The first five flew way off target as they either hit the wall or landed on the shoulder or leg of a zombie in a different lane.
Liam grimaced, but still pushed himself.
He noticed the more he threw a dagger as fast as he could, the closer it got to land. The weapons didn’t land where he was aiming, but his successful hits were getting much better with each Zombie he took down.
By the seventh zombie, his accuracy was much better than when he first attempted.
Four blue crystals appeared in the same areas they had before.
Liam didn’t aim for them the moment they appeared because two red crystals started moving up above.
I don’t want to cancel the fire out because of the water. Liam thought as he noticed the room was half filled with zombies.
He decided to drop the crystals in two strategic spots that could lessen his load.
The first was a yard ahead of the zombies that were about twenty yards away from him. The second was right above the ones that were about thirty yards.
Liam watched as zombies walked into the lines of fire. He then looked around to see if there were any Shredding Zombies that wouldn’t touch the fire in time before it went out. He focused on them and took out as many as he could before the Rotted Zombies blocked his line of fire.
After a minute had passed, he decided to hit the water crystals in case the lightning crystal appeared.
The floor in front of him was now filled with zombies slushing through the flooded ground.
Liam pressed on as he tried to keep taking down Zombie after Zombie.
To Liam, it felt like with each zombie he took down one or four more would appear. It felt like hours had passed.
Is this what it would feel like if a Zombie Apocalypse happened? Liam thought as he panted while taking down a few more zombies in swift succession.
Sweat started to pour down his face and arms as he took a brief moment to look around. Panic and doubt slowly crept in him as he looked at the water still on the ground.
The room was steadily filling up with zombies. A row of them were now ten yards away.
Did I break those crystals prematurely? If that damn crystal doesn’t appear soon, I’m going to be overran with them.
As the last thought sprung up in his mind, a crystal appeared above. However, it wasn’t the crystal he was waiting for. It was a icy-blue one.
“Shit!” Liam shouted. “I don’t need an ice crystal I need a god damn lightning one!”
Liam took a moment to recollect himself. As he did, he looked back down at the water still spread out across the lanes. The idea of the ice crystal appearing now was not as bad as he had thought.
“Maybe…,” Liam muttered. He didn’t waste any time, aimed at it and threw a dagger.
The crystal fell on the ground and created a sudden ice storm, freezing all the zombies and the water.
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Ok, not as good as the lightning crystal, but still helpful.
He started to throw dagger after dagger at the frozen targets. As he did this, he felt his arm subconsciously and instinctually throw a dagger into the air.
After realization hit him, he panicked and looked up. He then let out a laugh as he watched the dagger crash into a purplish-yellow crystal.
Several lightning bolts formed over the frozen creatures. After a brief moment passed, the destructive force rammed down hard, shattering all the zombies below.
Liam breathed heavily as he stared at the empty lanes. No more zombies emerged from the active portals.
“Was that the last of them?” Liam asked himself as he noticed his Stamina Bar was at fifteen percent.
Before he could relax, all four portals started to spark.
“I knew it couldn’t have been that fucking easy,” Liam cursed as he waited for the next wave to appear.
What happened though caught Liam off guard. The four portals shifted. They slowly moved towards each other and merged into one giant portal.
A giant hand poked out from the portal followed by a massive body and head.
As it fully emerged from the portal, Liam swore loudly as he recognized the damn creature, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”
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“Atlas the Grave Keeper. 500/500 HP. 0/0 MP.”
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“Its health pool is bigger than the last time I fought it!” Liam shouted again. He let out an annoyed sigh before adding, “At least its mana pool is not functional.”
Liam grabbed a dagger ad threw it at the creature.
Liam groaned inwardly as he watched the dagger bounce right off the massive creature and a notification appeared.
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“Dagger has failed to hit Atlas the Grave Keeper.”
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“How in gods fucking name am I supposed to kill this off in time?” Liam asked as he saw the creature take a big step.
Come on Liam, there has to be a way to take him down. You’ve killed it before and can do it again.
As Liam tried to think of possibilities, several crystals appeared and started to move about in un predictable patterns.
These crystals were different from the ones he had come across so far. They were a deep purple.
“What element is that supposed to represent?” Liam mutter under his breath. “Only one way to find out.”
He then opened the bag from the first lane and then swore again. “God damn it!”
There were only five daggers left in the bag.
Liam looked back up and counted the crystals.
There were fifteen crystals.
He ran to the other bags to peer inside and took stock.
“Five daggers in the first lane, three in the second lane, four in the third, and five in the fourth.” Liam said. “I’m really pushing it now. I can’t afford to miss any. What should I do?”
Liam thought it over, but felt a light shake from Atlas taking a step.
“I don’t have a lot of time to think this over, but I can’t rush it nor feel overwhelmed from the pressure created from this scenario,” Liam said.
A thought occurred to him as he remembered what happened at the end of the second challenge.
“Maybe I can try and recreate that feeling?” Liam thought as he made his way to the first lane.
As he closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, he thought to himself as a light shake rumbled across the ground.
Calm the storm.
He felt his body start to relax. As he released the breath he held, he thought about what he needed to do.
He took in another breath as he repeated in his mind. Calm the storm.
He repeated this twice more before he felt the same sensation as last time. He let his body move into autopilot as he watched.
His body grabbed a dagger and with the right amount of power, threw it to collide into two crystals at once.
A powerful force of pressure crashed down onto Atlas.
The force of gravity slowed Atlas down a bit but wasn’t enough to stop him from moving.
Liam felt his body not stop as he threw two more daggers, successfully hitting two more crystals moving around the left side of the room.
The pressure on Atlas grew even more. His movements looked like they slowed a little more, but still wasn’t enough to stop him.
He was now thirty yards away from Liam.
Liam grabbed the last dagger in the bag and tossed it at the next crystal. He didn’t wait to see if it hit as he moved on to the next bag.
Liam watched as his body threw the daggers with near perfect accuracy. A few time Liam thought his body had thrown too early but was relieved as the crystals moved right into the trajectory of the daggers as they moved back.
Each crystal that shattered brought down even more force of gravity than the previous one had. The pressure was growing so intense, Liam was able to feel some of it as Atlas kept getting closer.
After Liam destroyed a crystal with the last dagger from the third lane, he saw Atlas struggling to move forward. Even though there was enough pressure to crush a house down flat, Atlas still held his ground.
Why are you so damn persistent? Liam thought as he moved to the last bag in the fourth lane.
Right before he approached the bag, Liam staggered. He felt his body start to ach and began to breath heavily, panting for air.
“What…the…fuck?” Liam said while gulping in air between each word.
He looked at the corner of his eye and saw his stamina bar was at five points left.
Damn it! I’m so close! Liam thought as he gritted his teeth. He stared at Atlas who was able to take another step forward.
He was now twenty yards away from him.
As Liam watched the massive creature take a step, he noticed something he hadn’t seen earlier.
The ground beneath Atlas was starting to crack.
Is the pressure from the Gravity Crystals causing the ground to collapse? Liam thought as he took in a few more breaths of air. Liam snarled as he looked back at Atlas. I will see this through. I will defeat you here, again!
Liam opened his inventory and saw he was out of the stamina potions he had made. The only one left he had was a shitty tasting one.
“Just my fucking luck,” Liam grimaced as he swiftly pulled it out and down it.
He gagged as he pushed himself back up and opened the bag.
He grabbed a dagger, aimed at a crystal, and then threw it.
The dagger soared but missed as the crystal stopped and moved in the opposite direction.
“Shit!” Liam shouted.
Calm down Liam. You can’t rush it! He thought as he grabbed another dagger.
He took a deep breath and watched the remaining crystals move.
One circled around Atlas’ head, another moved back and forth from the front of the third lane to the back. The last one moved left to right around the front area of the lanes.
Liam aimed for the one moving left to right.
Once when he took in the speed he tossed it.
The crystal shattered, bringing another powerful force down.
Liam heard cracks as the ground showed more signs of being destroyed.
Liam grabbed another and aimed for the one moving back and forth.
He threw the dagger as the crystal came back towards him. He winced as he watched it fly a bit more forward than he wanted. His fears were for nothing as the crystal collided into it while moving forward.
Liam let out a sigh of relief internally.
This last one was a bit harder. The speed of the crystal had increased as it swirled around Atlas’ head.
Of course you would increase the difficulty, wouldn’t you. Liam said in his mind.
He took out the second to last dagger and aimed.
He watched as the dagger flew towards where he thought the crystal would be, but grew frustrated as the crystal zoomed right by it and collided into Atlas’ skull.
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“Dagger has failed to successfully hit Atlas.”
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“No shit sherlock!” Liam shouted with frustration.
Liam let out a burst of air trying to calm himself down.
Atlas was almost ten yards away from him now.
Liam grabbed the last dagger and moved towards the second lane.
As he moved, he watched the crystal spinning clockwise.
I can’t throw it from the left side. That would be too difficult due to the speed of the crystal. Liam thought. My only option is to try and get it from the right side and hope it collides with it as it spins around.
As he kept his eye on the crystal, Liam noticed something as his danger sense picked something up on his left side.
Liam’s eyes widened as he noticed Atlas bring his right arm back.
“Shit!” Liam swore as he realized his monstrous arm length was in fact long enough to hit him.
Liam decided to leave it to luck.
Without thinking he ran to the right side as the arm chased after him.
As he approached the wall, he jumped at it hoping his legs wouldn’t give out.
After his feet touched the stoned wall, he pushed out with as much force as he could, swing his arm back as far as he could and threw.
As Liam dodged the arm from above, he watch the dagger fly towards the right side of Atlas’ head and miss the crystal.
“No!” Liam shouted as he started to fall down.
How?! Liam began to think as he sank down to the ground. I know im not the best at this, but I could have sworn the timing was perfect!
As Liam started to doubt everything he did, he watched the dagger suddenly curve behind Atlas’ head. After a brief second passed, Liam heard a sound that filled him with pure joy.
It was the sound of the crystal shattering.
Atlas let out a deafening roar as Liam hit the floor.
The ground all around Atlas echoed with the noise of it being destroyed as the cracks that had formed gave way.
Underneath Atlas was a deep void of blackness.
Liam watched as the massive Creature tried to throw one more swing at Liam while it fell into the hole.
Liam’s eyes widened as he watched the arm get closer.
Liam tried to get out of the way, but couldn’t move. That last move he pulled to dodge the last swipe and throw of the dagger took the rest of his stamina to zero.
Liam, however, didn’t need to fear, the pressure that had built up from all the Gravity Crystals being shattered pulled Atlas’ arm into the hole with his falling body.
After Atlas was completely swallowed into the hole, the ground fixed itself.
Liam watched as the giant portal simmered out and a notification appeared.
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“Congratulations. You have successfully completed the final wave.”
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