Feeling a bit panicked, Liam moved his eyes around to see if the slightly clouded area in his sight would go away.
It didn’t.
Eri, what’s going on here? Liam mentally asked, trying to control the panic feeling rising within him.
Eri let out a sigh as she started with a calm tone in her voice, You’re fine. You have nothing to worry about.
What do you mean I have nothing to worry about? Liam stated. It might be faint, but I can see some cloudiness formed in my sight. That’s a sign of blindness forming isn’t it?
It is, but like I said, you are fine. Eri tried again with some patience in her voice. Is it enough to affect your fighting or anything?
Liam paused for a moment as he moved his sight around. The cloudiness that had started to form wasn’t a lot, but it was enough for him to be aware of it and it felt more annoying than anything.
No, it’s not enough to affect my fighting, but knowing that it’s there is really distracting. Liam replied.
Well, what do you expect from staring at all Lunar Energy Bursts caused by your Lunar spells. Eri chided. Just like Shadow magic, Lunar has some side effects if you don’t have the proper defenses in place and either use too much or stare at it too much.
This is caused from using my Lunar magic too much? Liam questioned.
Yes and no. Eri started. The amount of Lunar magic you have used so far would start the process, but after all that Lunar Energy Bursts you idiotically stared at, it sped up the process a bit. You’re slowly reaching the first level of it, so you don’t have to worry much now. It’s the fourth level of the side effects that’ll start causing issues, but all of it can go away after some rest.
Liam let out a sigh of relief after hearing Eri’s explanation. Ok, so after some rest it’ll go away?
Yes. Eri affirmed. For now, focus on the fight in front of you. This Boss you’re up against is going to be tough. You’ll learn more soon enough about what the side effects of using Lunar magic can do later.
Liam nodded before looking at the others who were finishing up the group of monsters they went up against.
They turned around to go help Liam out, but were shocked as they saw no monsters on his side. What surprised them even more was the fact that there were no bodies.
“What did you do?” Mercer asked, curiosity filling him up.
“I’ll tell you later,” Liam stated as he approached them.
“Those useless imbeciles!” the deep raspy voice shouted. It then calmed down as it added, “Oh well, that’s why they were just mere servants. However, you still won’t be able to survive against my elite guards. Wake up! Protect your master!”
Liam watched as the remaining fancy looking coffins on the walkway started to stir.
Elite Skeleton Soldiers emerged from the coffins that were laying down, but the creatures that emerged from coffins that stood against the walls were completely different.
These creatures were wrapped in dirty tannish bandage wraps with blood stains here and there. Their eyes and mouths weren’t covered, showing off some rotted flesh underneath the bandages.
Liam assed the creatures.
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“Askith Mummy Guard. 2,500/2,500 HP. 500/500 MP.”
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The six Elite Skeleton Soldiers and eight Askith Mummy Guards dropped down to the floor level the group stood on.
“What’s the game plan now?” Artem asked as he stared at the group on the left.
“We don’t know what those Askith Mummy Guards are capable of yet so use caution when fighting them,” Liam started as he looked at the creatures.
Liam looked over at Blair and asked, “How long until you can use Gravitational Force Increase again?”
Blair turned to look at him as she replied, “Another twenty seconds.”
Liam nodded. It was the same for him.
“Ok,” Liam started as he formulated a plan. “Avery, Roman and Blair try to separate the Mummies from the skeletons from each other. Group up the mummies as close as you can so Blair can use Gravity Well on them.”
Liam turned to Artem and informed, “Artem, you and I are going to do the same over here.”
Liam turned to Ariyana and Mercer and instructed, “Keep an eye out for any stragglers as well as for any sudden changes. Once when the Mummy Guards are trapped within the Gravity Wells, we will focus down the Elite Skeleton Soldiers as fast as we can. Any questions?”
“Nope we got it,” Avery and Roman stated.
Artem and Blair nodded their agreement.
“Should I use my Entangled Roots on any of them?” Ariyana questioned.
“I’ll leave that up to you,” Liam smiled.
“Got it,” Ariyana smiled back.
“Alright, let’s do this!” Liam shouted as they dispersed.
Liam swiftly rushed in towards the group that was on the right side of the room.
Using his agility, reflexes, and speed to the best of his ability, Liam dodged the attacks made by the Elite Skeleton Soldiers while trying to strike the Askith Mummy Guards.
There was a few times he overshot his trajectory and almost crashed into one of the monsters, but he was able to correct his mistakes right before an attack was struck.
As he was doing this, Artem swung his mace against the Elite Skeleton Soldier’s armor, gaining their aggro.
The two groups of monsters slowly chased after the attackers who had hit them, soon separating themselves from the others.
Once when the last Askith Mummy Guard was away from the Elite Skeleton Soldiers, Liam stopped moving.
The Askith Mumy Guards weren’t fast moving monsters. They moved at the same speed as the Elite Skeleton Soldiers.
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As Liam waited for the last Mummy that was strangling behind he noticed the closest Askith Mummy Guard’s right hand start to glow with a muddy greenish brown color.
Liam decided he wanted to see what that was and took an extra step back. As soon as his foot was set, he pulled out one of the remaining crude curved talon daggers he had made when he first created daggers, and tossed it at the creature. The dagger sunk into its chest.
The Askith Mummy Guard grabbed the dagger with the hand that was glowing.
Liam watched as the dagger start to rust rapidly. Shortly after it was pulled out the dagger was completely rusted and broke apart like it was a cracker being crushed.
“What the…,” Liam muttered before a notification appeared.
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“Crude Talon Dagger successfully damaged Askith Mummy Guard for 1 damage.”
“Damage reduced due to resistance to piercing damage.”
“Askith Mummy Guard has used Rotting Fist on Crude Talon Dagger.”
“Crude Talon Dagger has been destroyed due to Rotting Fist.”
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“Rotting Fist huh?” Liam muttered before yelling out, “These Askith Mummy Guards have a resistance to piercing damage. They also have an ability called Rotting Fist. Make sure they do not touch you with that!”
“That’s nasty,” Roman shouted out.
“Good to know. Thanks for the update!” Mercer yelled back.
Liam looked back at the group that had finally come together in front of him.
“Let’s get started now shall we?” Liam stated as he pointed one of his daggers at the group and began chanting, “O Gravity, powerful and dangerous. Condense into a single spot. Pull to you and keep any and everything that tries to escape. Gravity Well!”
The basketball sized orb that had formed at the tip of Liam’s dagger was flung towards the group.
It stopped in the middle of the monsters before expanding and sucking in the group.
“Good, now to help Artem out,” Liam said as he ran over to the Elite Skeleton Soldiers Artem was attacking.
Liam knew they were weak to magic, but at the same time he didn’t want to use too much of his Shadow or Lunar magic due to the side effects. He knew that getting his Mental Resilience - Whispers from the Beyond up would help combat that, but he wasn’t sure what the Lunar side would need.
“No use wasting time overthinking it,” Liam muttered to himself. “For now, Shadow magic will have to suffice.”
As soon as Liam got into place, he pointed his Shadow Moon Dagger at the group and chanted, “Shadows coalescing, head my call and come forth. Manifest mediums that will serve to unleash your wave of power. Swarm together and into your target. Go forth and unleash your power. Shadow Swarm!”
“Incoming Artem!” Liam warned as he released the five orbs.
Hearing Liam shout, Artem jumped backwards as the swarm of Shadow energy swiftly floated through the three Elite Skeleton Soldiers.
“About time you got here,” Artem jokingly said with a smile as he watched the attack go on.
After it was done, he ran back in and swung his mace a few times against each Skeletal creature, delivering the final blows.
“Great job,” Liam cheered before pulling out a Mana and Stamina potion.
As he drank the potions he turned to see how the others were doing.
They had just finished the last Elite Skeleton Soldiers and went to attack the Askith Mummy Guards trapped in Blair’s Gravity Well.
Blair, Ariyana, and Avery slashed their weapons across the chest of a couple of the trapped monsters while Roman punched another.
“Shit,” Blair cursed before yelling out, “They have a resistance to slashing attacks.”
“Same with my punching,” Roman added.
Liam heard Artem hit one across the face with his mace.
“They have a resistance against Blunt attacks as well!” Artem announced.
“Resistance to blunt, piercing, punching, and slashing?” Liam began to mutter. He then shouted out, “If that’s the case then try using magic. Maybe magic is their weakness?”
As Ariyana, Avery, Mercer, and Roman started chanting their spells, Liam stated, “Blair and Artem, rest up for now. If they break out before we figure something out then we’re going to need you to gain their attention.”
“Got it!” Artem and Blair said as they took out a Stamina potion and drank it.
Liam turned to the group and started chanting his Shadow Swarm spell.
As the shadowy energy spilled out and attacked the group he heard Roman shout out, “They have a resistance to Lightning and Earth Magic.”
“Same with Plant Magic,” Ariyana chimed in.
“Ice does nothing to them,” Mercer stated.
Liam looked at his battle notifications and noticed the creatures had a slight resistance to Shadow magic, but it was a lot better than when he used his crude dagger.
“Fire!” Avery suddenly shouted. “They are weak to fire magic!”
“Of course, they are,” Liam muttered as a frown grew on his face.
“Alright, Ariyana fuel her fire magic with your plant to give it an extra boost,” Liam called out. “Roman, you have fire magic too right?”
“Yes I do,” Roman replied back. “Okay help Avery out over there.”
“What about your side?” Avery asked.
“Did you forget what I can do with my Crafting magic?” Liam questioned as he gave her a grin. “It might not be as strong as your Fire Magic, but I can at least do some damage till you get over here.”
Avery shook her head before turning back to the task before her. “Alright, you better get them down low enough for me to finish them off.”
“I’ll do my best,” Liam stated as he opened the pouch full of mixed vials. He pulled out two tannish liquid filled vials and tossed each of them at an Askith Mummy guard. Each vial shattered, allowing the oily liquid to soak in their bandages. He pulled out two more and did the same to the last two creatures.
After he did that he sheathed his daggers, pulled his goggles down over his eyes and chanted as he put a hand out palm up, “Come forth heat of flames and burn the pyre I set before you. Become the tool that will help in my endeavor. Light and burn!”
He channeled his mana into the spell as he chanted to make the flame bigger than it usually was. He then got as close as he could and then threw it at the first Askith Mummy Guard.
The flame Liam threw crashed against the area where the oil had splattered. The creature screamed in agony as the fire spread out across the bandages that were soaked.
The creature flailed about, knocking into the others allowing the flames to spread over to them.
Liam watched as their Health dropped slowly.
“What should I do?” Mercer asked.
“You should also get ready,” Liam started. “I think the boss will come out after these creatures are dead so you will need to buff everyone as soon as the last Mummy Guard dies.”
Mercer nodded as he pulled a Mana Potion out. “Got it.”
Liam watched as these creatures writhed in agony from the flames. It was a slow process, but it was effective. He felt bad for them but at the same time he knew this had to be done.
He heard Roman shout from the other side of the room while laughing making Liam a bit concerned with his mentality, “Burn baby. Burn!”
As he shook his head he went to look back at the group he was dealing with when he noticed Artem was staring at the sarcophagus.
Liam turned to look at it as well.
There was no movement coming from it.
You’re just going to let your subordinates die like this? Liam thought as he scowled. Even if you’re a monster you should still care about the ones who are trying to protect you.
Liam shook his head and went to look back at the group of Askith Mummy Guards and felt his heart sink as they charged Artem.
He forgot to keep an eye on the timer of his Gravity Well and allowed them to get within striking distance of Artem.
Each of them had a muddy greenish color start to glow on one of their fists as they reached out.
“Artem, look out!” Liam shouted.
Artem turned to look and grew wide eyed. He took a step back to dodge the first Rotting Fist strike. He managed to dodge it, but then saw the second and third attacks coming his way.
However, before those rotten filled fists could touch him, four fire orbs the size of basketballs soared and crashed into the creatures.
The amount of mana put into them caused the creatures to not only be pushed back, but they also dropped each of their health pools to zero.
Feeling sweat roll down his face and panting a bit, Artem turned around and said, “Thanks for that.”
“What were you thinking taking your eyes off of the enemy,” Blair scolded.
“Sorry it was my fault,” Liam apologized. “I didn’t keep an eye on the timer. Sorry Artem.”
Artem shook his head. “No, it’s my fault for feeling complacent on the battlefield,” Artem chided himself. “Thanks for the help.”
A loud rumble suddenly shook the room, bringing everyone’s attention to the sarcophagus.
“Pathetic!” the raspy voice roared. “How can these flies kill my elite guards! Those imbeciles! Has the long sleep dulled their battle prowess? No, you fools must have used underhanded tricks!”
A new sound mixed into the air. It was the sound of heavy stone grinding against stone.
Liam stared towards the sarcophagus that rested away from the other coffins in the back of the room.
“I guess I’ll have to take care of the rabble myself,” the raspy voice stated. “Be thankful, you undeserving peasants. For you are about to witness the majestic might of the Lord of the Askith Nation!”
Everyone watched as the lid finally fell off of the top of the sarcophagus and landed with a heavy thud. A bandaged wrapped hand holding a scepter slowly reached out from the opening and gripped the edge of the sarcophagus. Another bandaged wrapped hand did the same on the other side.
Liam watched as the Nemes he saw in the hieroglyphics matched with what was on this guys bandaged wrapped head. Glowing hate filled red eyes glared at the group as a rotted filled mouth bared its brownish yellow teeth.
Liam assessed it.
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“Askith Pharaoh Mummy Lord. 6,000/6,000 HP. 2,998/4,000 MP.”
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