CHAPTER 142: Boss Battles for All
“Well, hell!” exclaimed Tom.
“Agreed,” nodded Andrea.
“I third that,” added Carlos.
“What’re we supposed to do here?” asked Randall.
“It wouldn’t be a problem if Adam was here,” pouted Joseph.
“He isn’t here, dummy. That’s why it is a problem,” retorted Tom.
“And an opportunity,” threw in Brittney, trying to be positive, even as she breathed heavily.
“We have three choices,” said Lucas. “Retreat and pretend we didn’t see all those tunnels reaching beyond their base to take over the whole region. Go back for reinforcements right now, even though they wouldn’t be able to fit in this chamber and that would announce to all our foes what we’re doing. Or we can stand our ground and fight, reaping the XP we’ve been looking for.”
“The XP only matters if we survive,” whined Joseph.
They were standing in a tunnel that opened into a massive chamber. It was large enough to house thousands upon thousands. In fact, it was filled with thousands upon thousands. All those eyes were watching them but not moving, waiting for the intruders to come in.
The ceiling of the chamber stretching tall, probably 30 feet up. What looked like blisters of clay were attached to the ceiling and walls, probably the eggs that the hatchlings come from.
Most of the Entugo in the room were soldiers, with a larger variance of levels than the ones they fought above. Thousands of those waited. For every twenty soldiers there was also a commander. Hundreds of them.
The sheer numbers of enemies made this battle concerning enough, but the real threat was in the center of the chamber. There was a massive maggot, the size of a school bus and twice as long. It had weird sacs and pustule type things on its lower half. Little spines stuck out from the folds of its flesh, which rippled at intervals, like the inhale and exhale of breath. The tag of “Nest Mother [74]” was seen by Carlos.
The mother also wasn’t alone. Five creatures surrounded her. They had silver, reflective outer armor for their exoskeleton. There was an absence of eyes though they had four short antennae.
Four arms were also on these new enemies, each ending in a sharp looking lance. Their abdomens were small, allowing them to only use two legs to stand. Wings protruded from their backs, occasionally buzzing faster than a hummingbird’s.
Above their heads were the tag, “Nest General [45].”
“I say we fight!” insisted Tom. “How DARE THEY use the boss’s title?!”
“Do you even see how many of them there are?” gasped Brandon.
“One, two, three…” Joseph began counting on his fingers. “…5,000. About 5,000.”
“I know you can’t count that high with only ten fingers,” taunted Tom.
“Shup up, Tom!” Joseph snapped and punched Tom in the shoulder. With Joseph’s high strength, Tom instantly hit the side of the tunnel. When he stood up pain was all over his face and his arm seemed to be broken. Abbey reluctantly came forward and healed it.
“Wow,” said Tom once he could sigh in relief. “I didn’t even have time to use [What’s not There]. Guess I can’t tease you from this close anymore.”
“I hate to agree with Tom…ever…for anything…” started Brittney, “but we are here to show that we can do it without Adam. If we can’t do this now, then when will we be able to?”
“Except, they have six Tier 3s. Six bosses! That’s nearly one for each of us,” said Ed, who rarely got involved in these kinds of talks.
“Don’t tell me you went to the same counting school as Joseph,” quipped Tom. Joseph held up another fist, so Tom stepped behind Abbey and smiled at him.
“I’m just saying,” clarified Ed, “there are a lot of high-level Tier 3s. We aren’t sure what they do, and we also aren’t sure how strong they are. If we die, then everything is wasted.”
Lucas turned to Carlos.
“You’re the analysis guy. What do you think?”
Carlos flashed a few times as he used different skills. His latest skill, [Speed of Thought], allowed him to consider all the information much faster. He used [Understand] and [Valuate] on the various creatures and the surrounding room, then thought about everything.
“Honestly, even if we can win, I’m not sure at what cost. It all comes down to how much these guys resemble insects we’re familiar with. Are they able to think on their own or do they rely too much on the mother?”
“Boss or adds. Which do we take on?” asked Lamar.
“I have an idea,” said Carlos, “but it’s an all or nothing gamble and will push us hard.”
“We’re here to be pushed,” responded Lucas.
During their descent through the tunnels, which took them hours with occasional fights due to the sheer volume of tunnels and directions, they had all leveled a few times. Randall, Elias, Andrea, Brandon, Abbey, and Andrea had evolved their class into Tier 3 and now had their appointment title as their class. Their classes had also reached epic quality, and they received at least one new skill. Lucas was hoping that would be enough to get them through this.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
They discussed the strategy with Carlos, under the gazes of the Entugo compound eyes. Each person was able to speak up and add points to it. The tunnel wasn’t wide enough for them all to gather close, especially with the Leputi and the General’s Guard, but they split up and discussed things with all the leaders before deciding they needed to be able to overcome situations like this.
“Alright, we’re all clear with the plan. We’ve given everyone the chance to leave. Let’s get buffed up and moving,” said Lucas.
Brandon used his new skill, [All from One], which boosted all stats of a person by the highest of Brandons, which was 115 in Wisdom. The main fighters got that buff while he did more general group buffs on the rest of their forces. Alissa used [Ascending Vitality] for a vitality increase, Elias used [Protection of the Earth] to create a small damage soaking shield on everyone, and Brittney used [Steady Ally] to boost morale and focus.
“Should I give a pep talk?” asked Tom.
“Nah, it won’t be as good as Adam’s,” dismissed Randall.
“But the boss usually just roars and then runs in.”
“Exactly.”
“Guess I’m leading things off,” interrupted Lucas. “Get ready to follow, Randall. In honor of Adam…”
Lucas hefted his hammer. He used all his self-buffs to stats and techniques, [Toughness], [Empower Blow], [All Weapons], and [Followup]. Then he ran. Once he reached the entrance to the chamber he leapt as high as he could, hammer over his head ready to come down.
“Adam SMASH!” Lucas roared, echoing through the cavern, as he used his full strength to drop it onto a group of Entugo soldiers.
They tried to protect themselves, to place their dagger like claws in his path, but all the buffs had raised his strength above 300 and vitality over 250. The hammer came down and crushed the Entugo it hit, shattering its exoskeleton and splattering the rest. [Followup] then triggered and created a second strike of the same type, exploding another invader.
“[Electric Wave Thrust]!” shouted Randall, now with the Blitz Spear class.
The new skill propelled him forward about thirty feet. The front of his spear was coated with lightning and as he dashed through the room the lightning radiated out from the tip in waves. The force of it damaged the invaders he passed, electrocuting them. His first skill, earned at Tier 3, level 0, was [Increased Lightning]. It made all his skills using lightning more powerful, and the combination practically created a wall of electricity radiating outward like the wake from a boat.
Everyone else used Lucas’s distraction and Randall’s space clearing to rush into the room and set up. They hurried with the shields and fighters to the sides, taking out as many enemies as they could while moving, hoping the corpses would create a bit of an obstacle for more to reach them quickly.
The Leputi and their claw weapons were especially quick at cutting the joints of the soldiers they passed. The commanders were usually knocked backwards, pushing them to stumble over the bodies of the Entugo soldiers they led.
It was a race. They needed to get to the center of the room without having to deal with every invader. Randall would need about ten seconds after using his [Electric Wave Thrust] to use it again. When he stopped, he’d sweep his spear in front of him using [Trailing Bolt] to dissuade the swarm from moving closer, or [Thunder Crash] to attack a group of them.
Andrea and Fido tried to stay closest to him. Fido was now at level 28 and about the size of a Saint Bernard. His three heads were able to breathe elements of fire, ice, and lightning. Andrea used her new Tier 3 skill [Manipulate Lightning] to move either Fido’s lightning breath or Randall’s lightning to make it more effective. Under her control it would either hit a more effective location or would concentrate on a smaller area to do more damage.
The push forward was possible due to their ferocity and aggression. An individual soldier wasn’t much of a challenge and the commanders were slow if they could just pass them. They took hits and damage, but with all the buffs the healers were able to keep up with the damage. Thanks to Abbey’s new class, [Healing Angel], her first skill [Circle of Life] allowed her to heal groups of people at once in between the cooldowns.
Only two of Randall’s thrusts were necessary for them to reach where Lucas had been fighting. In only a few seconds, the size of the Entugo swarming around him had almost closed in, so he took a breath of relief and slipped into the row of warriors holding off the monsters. They didn’t need to engage them, just to push forward, towards the center of the chamber.
Each time Randall stopped and had to wait for his cooldown, the tension rose in the group. Then he would blast forward again, and everyone rushed to catch up. Elias also used his earth skills to put up some walls or to soften the ground to inhibit the approaching bug men.
About twenty uses of [Electric Wave Thrust] in, Carlos called, “Just a few more to go!”
Then there was a silver flash as Randall came to a stop. A glowing arrow whizzed by his head and clanged as it ricocheted off the lance of a thrusting Nest General.
“[By Your Side]!” shouted Brittney, and then she was there, shield held up to take two more lance stabs intended for Randall.
Brittney grunted from the force of impacts, knocked backwards. She used [Firm Stance] to hold her position and [Harden Shield] to make sure the shield wasn’t damaged much. Her old Testudinate metal shield would have been destroyed by those strikes, so she was quite pleased Adam had given her one from the Scyrric armory that he had captured.
The nest general turned its head, looking at the fighters, then it got into a dashing position with a lance in front. It flashed red as Brittney yelled, “[Attention Here].”
At the same time, Tom called, “[Turn Away]!”
One skill forced the silver monster to attack Brittney while the other made it look in a different direction. A bang happened as the creature’s dash activate and it ran into Brittney’s shield while facing away.
The creature wobbled a bit stunned as Brittney was thrown backwards, even with her [Firm Stance] active. Fortunately, Lucas was already there, ready to catch and stabilize her.
While the nest general tried to find its target, Joseph caught up. He used a bevy of skills, [Deadly Penetration] and [Under the Seam] to increase his penetration, [Multi-Strike] to increase the hits to two, [Quick Strikes] to make it faster, and finally [Follow Thru] to gain as much strength as possible.
Even with all that, the level 45, Tier 3 invader was able to prevent Joseph from getting a head strike. The creature shifted to the side, taking the blow in one of its shoulders. Joseph’s spear did penetrate it, making one of its four lance arms drop from the body, but that was it.
No one could even respond before the Nest General countered, two of its lance arms spearing straight through Joseph, armor and body. Joseph screamed as he fell from the lances.
Brittney was instantly back in position, blocking a killing blow.
“[Get Up!], [Walk it Off],” Abbey used on Joseph’s body as he stood to his feet and walked towards her so she could heal him, even as blood poured from the wounds in his left chest and right abdomen.
An arrow shot by Lamar curved and entered the wound that Joseph had created in the Nest General’s shoulder. The projectile created a large pop inside, some chunks and fluids spraying out from the wound, and the monster stumbled but didn’t fall.
A painful hiss vibrated through the chamber, and then another deeper one followed it from the Nest Mother. The vibrations staggered the group, but what concerned them more was that two additional Nest Generals were now leaving their positions and moving towards the group, slashing any soldier that was in their way.
Brittney once more used [Attention Here] on the closest Nest General as arrows and spells pelted it without doing much damage and Lucas and Tom tried to get in close to attack before the reinforcements arrived.
Lucas swung his hammer, connecting with the invader’s side. It tipped the creature off balance but only for a moment. The armor didn’t feel close to breaking. Tom used [Illusion Strike] to try and get a hit in, but it didn’t work as the Entugo blocked the real position of his sword. [Baffle] and [On Your Knees] also had no effect.
Then the two approaching Nest Generals reached them.
“Well, hell!” exclaimed Tom.