CHAPTER 39: Elf Boss
Adam stood in front of a colossal tree. It was the same height as the others, but it was wider than his house and in the exact center of the forest. An oval opening in the front led inside even though it was too dark to see what was there. Adam’s soul map showed two elves inside.
He had spent around four hours going through the forest and incapacitating or killing the elves. Many arrows and knives had pierced him. Many elves had their blood consumed by him. The strategy had been far from perfect, but it had been enough. As long as the group was small enough, failed attempts at the soul camouflage, as he thought of it, didn’t matter much since he could take a few arrows before ending the fight.
Now he stood in front of the boss’s room. Inside was probably a boss and a general. The two strongest elves. The goblin chief had been troublesome, and with how much more difficult the elves had been he was expecting his toughest fight.
Feeling the weight of the shield back on his left arm, he shifted his own weight experimentally. The soul camouflage wouldn’t work against the final opponents, so he had come up with a strategy. Without knowing their abilities it was all guess work, but he was going to bring his max power to end the fight as fast as possible. He was past fatigued and could feel his body burning away with every use of his strength.
There were ten of the squiggly daggers attached to his belt, along with his machete and the two hunting knives that Ron had given him. It was difficult to throw the knives accurately, but with his power it would at least force an enemy to dodge, and hopefully that would give him enough time to close the distance.
The wind power that these elves had used was unfair. Air cushions allowed them to dodge faster the quicker he charged them, using his own momentum to displace their wielders. It had been a challenge to fight through and had caused more arrows to enter him than should have. Popping the air cushions with the squiggly knives had been his more successful option. He expected the chief to have an even better defensive ability. He really really REALLY hated these elves.
Using that hate, he activated his river and heat pulses. His strength and speed increased tremendously. He also prepared a soul spike, hoping it wouldn’t conflict with the heat enough to harm the elf chief...or himself.
Step by step he walked into the entrance to the tree fortress. Each step had more power behind it, propelling him forward. By the time he reached a large room carved from the interior of the tree, he was practically running. He saw a large elf standing in the middle, arms cross. The elf’s muscles bulged, and on either side of him, stuck into the floor, was a twisted sword. The swords were coated in the sickly green toxin that all their arrows used. The edges of the swords twisted like a corkscrew.
Elaborate armor adorned the “Wood Elf Prince (25)”. It looked carved from material like the bark of the outside trees that Adam had been unable to harm. Etchings on it showed battles and slain enemies. On top of the elf’s head was a thin crown, made of the same bark material but radiating light that lit the whole room. It almost hurt Adam’s eyes after hours of fighting in the dim dimensional environment.
As soon as he saw the elf, he charged forward, putting all his strength into his back foot. A thrown knife led the way as he prepared to roar and then soul spike the prince, hoping to stun him enough to get a decent hit in.
“Wha…” the elfin prince started haughtily and then abruptly stopped as a squiggly knife entered his eye, followed by Adam’s fist, arm, and entire body. The head disintegrated from Adam’s force as he passed through where it had been. The armor was only cracked, but everything contained inside of it was blown into chunks and paste.
Adam had to quickly raise his shield to catch himself as he collided with the room’s back wall. He dropped to the floor and looked at the elf stain, smeared all over. Heaving a breath, so stunned he let this rage drain from him, he looked around.
“Huh. That was almost disappointingly easy,” Adam said, stunned by the brevity of the boss fight. Those thoughts only last until a ballista bolt, six feet long and as thick as Adam’s fist, with a crossed metal head leading it, punched through Adam’s left lung, shattered his ribs, and attached him to the back wall.
***
The barrier flickered red momentarily before returning to its black color. Everyone who saw it froze.
“That was the first change since Adam went in,” Ron said to Lucas, who nodded. Lucas walked over and touched it, his hand passing into the black. He pulled it back out.
“Think it’s a trap?” asked Randall.
“Probably a trap,” said Jospeh.
“Did the boss lose?” asked Brandon.
“Pah! The boss can’t lose. That’s what makes him the boss,” said Tom.
“Shows what you kids know. Anyone can lose. That’s why kids shouldn’t b...” Agent Smythe then folded over as his stomach ruptured from Brittney’s gut punch. Abbey shook her head and walked over to heal him...again.
“Everyone gear up. Defensive formation,” shouted Lucas. Everyone rushed into position, following their assignment from earlier. Hours of busy work had kept them on edge, and they all wanted to see what awaited them. Randall, Tom, and Joseph picked up one of the large metal barriers to head in first. Lucas and Brittney would be next with their shields and hammers. Guns were cocked, safeties off.
Once ready, they entered the greenhouse.
“I’m confident the boss has been here,” said Tom, as everyone was inside and looking around. Piles of elves were all over. To everyone’s surprise, these elves weren’t even dead. They were groaning and shouting hate in a language no one could understand.
“He wasn’t able to kill them?” asked Agent Gershner.
“No, he left them for us to kill,” said Lucas, causing Gershner to pull back.
“For us to get the XP,” explained Tom. “Only way to get stronger.”
“Don’t touch anything for now,” ordered Lucas. “Set up the defenses like we discussed. Nick, Carlos, and Lamar, partner with a level zero scout and check out the surroundings.”
Before much was done, Andrea pointed and screamed, “A monster!”
Everyone looked in the direction she pointed. Weapons were leveled and guns aimed. The tension rose instantly. When the monster came into view the teenagers realized Andrea had been joking, even if the others didn’t.
Adam was walking towards them, darkness all over his countenance. He was hunched forward, trudging along. A six-foot round piece of wood was sticking through his chest, affecting his balance. On one foot was a shoe, and on the other the neck of a shoe in tatters halfway up his shin, both pocked with acid scorch marks. His sweatpants had slashes all over them, easily showing his boxers inside, which also had slashes all over them. The once gray sweatpants and whatever color his boxers started at were now stiff from dried blood, with green holes burned in them from the acidic blood of the elves. The rest of his body was covered in a swirling mix of red and sickly green blood. Dragged in his left hand was an elf body, “Sylphian Archer [22],” larger than any elf they had seen before. It’s arms and legs flapped back and forth, broken and out of socket.
Abbey gasped and went to rush forward, but a hand came up and stopped her. Adam didn’t even look up or straighten. Everyone stared in horror at the sight. Even Smythe almost retched while cursing.
The hand then pointed to Lucas. More specifically his hammer.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“You sure?" asked Lucas. "It’s gonna suck.”
Adam’s stance didn’t change but his raised hand made a “bring it” gesture.
“Fine. I’ll consider it payment for you punching me into that truck.”
Lucas approached Adam, took a sideways baseball stance. Using his sledgehammer he swung and connected with the end of the ballista bolt. There was a loud popping sound, and the bolt was shoved all the way through Adam and rocketed into the air, through the leaves obscuring the sky.
Once the bolt was out blood splattered and then poured from the hole in his chest. Adam started to fall forward. Lucas leapt to catch him, but Adam’s leg stepped forward and stopped himself mid fall, even as he didn’t look up.
Still tilting forward, Adam raised the elf to his face and ripped its throat open with his teeth and drank deeply from the blood that came out. Many of their temporary troops openly vomited as they watched Adam drink the elf blood and then gaped in amazement as the hole in his chest started regrowing and sealing.
“This is going on the explicit content section,” said Ed. It didn’t close all the way, so he dropped the body and walked to another elf that struggled as he picked it up. It took two more elves before the hole in his chest was all the way closed.
Wonder and disgust filled everyone as they waited on Adam. Completely regenerated, he finally looked up and they could see his face, elf blood stains around his mouth. He looked exhausted, no liveliness to his movements. His eyes were heavy lidded and glassy.
“Alissa,” Adam continued. She came forwarded and smiled at him. “[Water Ball] me.”
“Sweetie, that's an attack spell. Won’t it hurt?”
“Please,” he whispered, barely able to focus on her face.
She nodded and then cast the spell, which exploded on his chest, blowing a lot of the grime and blood off it. He raised his arms, turning slowly, and she kept shooting him to clean him off. Eventually he was standing there naked except for the shoe remains on his feet. Most of the blood had been cleared off. Emily gasped and covered her own and Gracie’s eyes.
Adam walked forward, not even acknowledging that he was naked. People moved out of his way as he stumbled forward, arriving in front of his dad. Then he dropped to the ground, cross legged, and reached behind his dad to the trolley holding a stack of pizza boxes.
“Are you ok, Adam?” his dad asked him.
“Eating,” Adam said while chewing half a slice. “Thanks for pizza.”
“What are we supposed to do?” asked Ron hesitantly, coming over with Lucas. What he just witnessed was nothing like the previous day’s Adam. He was more than a little intimidated by the naked teenager.
“XP,” muttered Adam briefly, on his second pizza, mostly swallowing instead of chewing. Lucas nodded, as if that was enough.
“Attention,” Lucas bellowed after turning away from Adam, not wanting to disturb his meal further. “Everyone pick up a knife. We’ll be going around and everyone stabs each elf in a non-vital spot. Don’t consider it torture. This will strengthen us to fight the invaders.”
Lucas made everyone come, including Adam’s dad, sister, and the FBI agents. Ron looked back with concern at Adam but followed the group. Two hours later the group came back. A somber silent accompanied the group, except for the teenagers, who were chatting about the destruction that Adam had wrought.
Emily walked up to where Adam was sitting in his spare t-shirt and jeans. She kicked him as hard as she could. “I’m never going to get over what we did to those elves.” Adam turned to look at her. The number above her head had gone from 4 to 13. The elves had been between level 13 and 18, except the prince and general. The rest of the newbies, including his father, had gotten to level 12. His own group had increased to level 19. He nodded at that.
“Yet you did it. You're getting stronger. I want you to survive.”
“Survive what? You act like it’s the end of the world. That you know for certain that something bad is about to happen. How are you so sure?” She demanded. Many of the group had surrounded them, though kept a respectful distance.
“There is something inside me that no one else has. That something says that if I don’t conquer what’s coming then there will be nothing else. It feels like I’ve seen your death over and over, and I don’t want to live in a world without you and mom and dad.” Adam then stood and turned away from her, addressing Ron and Lucas.
“Did you make sure to get all the elves?” he asked.
“Scouts are out checking. Are you sure you got them all?” Lucas responded.
“Yes. Let me tell you, Lucas…that sucked. We need to know more to do it better next time.”
“Information is key to any war efforts, and after seeing the numbers and power here as opposed to only the three that crippled Market Street, I now understand that we are at war. How can we learn more?” Ron asked.
“Tomorrow, the Sentinel Army will gather to talk about levels and classes. See what we can figure out. What we really need are things to level up with besides invaders, since they are rare and hard to find,” Adam scoffed. Then everyone froze, looking at something only they could see.
[System Announcement]
After the 10 days since the invader portals opened, enough genetic seeding has come from the portals that the wildlife of your planet is becoming modified. Organic beings will change, gaining their own strength similar to levels. High level organics will be stronger and propagate faster. They will also provide energy that allows both natives and invaders to level up further. Make sure they do not overrun your world. The [System] wishes you good luck in the hunt.
As an addendum, organisms that spend higher amounts of time around sentients will be less likely to change.
“…um, did you just get the [System] to do that, boss?” asked Brandon.
Adam had to lick his suddenly dry lips. “I-I don’t think so. It’s just coincidence, right?"
“Of course not,” shouted Tom excitedly. “I keep telling everyone that you're the boss, and they scoff at it. Pretty soon, you’ll even be the boss of even the [System]!” His eyes were fanatical as he looked at everyone gathered, as if to evangelize them. Murmurs built around him.
“Well, if there are animals or monsters to level with, we should check it out. I really wish we knew how much time we had until the invasions start in earnest,” Adam started thinking about the best place to find these leveled creatures.
[System Announcement]
In 10 days, your civilization’s time, following this announcement the [System] will no longer be able to restrain the invaders, leaving them free to begin attacking the natives. Up until now the [System] has used its authority to limit invaders to their bases, except for information gathering. This change will cause the Dimensional Convergence Rifts that are used as portals to their planets and base areas on your planet to expand, giving them space on your planet to begin their attacks. Until then their Dimensional Convergent Rifts will continue to be hidden. Prepare accordingly.
“I saw that, boss,” Tom exclaimed. “I knew it! You have some connection to the [System]. You’ve been holding back on us, but still preparing us.” Tom then turned to the assembled crowd. “You all saw it! Even the [System] answers to the boss! If you want to survive, get on board!”
The murmurs increased then.
“Care to explain that, kid?” Smythe demanded. Adam met his eyes for a few seconds before Smythe looked away while grumbling, and then whispered with Gershner a bit further away.
Adam ignored everything else and told Lucas to get the crowd to follow. They all left their stuff and went to the center of the forest, inside of the tree fortress room with a rift crystal. Once everyone crowded into the room, Adam picked up the control crystal from where he found it and touched it to the main pillar crystal.
Owner of Dimensional Convergence Rift has died…
Inheritor of Dimensional Convergence Rift has died…
…no new Inheritor found. Ownership presented to possessor of Control Node.
Would you like to take Ownership of this Dimensional Convergence Rift?
[ Yes / No ]
Adam selected Yes.
Ownership of Dimensional Convergence Rift has been taken by a native. Invasion ended. Rewards pending. Assign Inheritor?
“Elias and then Brandon.”
“Wait, are you seriously trying to steal this space? It should go to the authorities,” roared Smythe. Gershner nodded at that.
“We have a contract with the police who brought us in for this raid. Quite frankly you wouldn’t even be able to protect this area without me. Maybe I should also charge you money for the levels you gained,” Adam answered.
“I still think…” started Smythe but found himself suddenly held in the air by the throat.
“And I think you need to stop having opinions, Cannon Fodder.” Adam said with gravitas. “The next time you speak will be your last. No argument, no explanation.” Adam continued to hold him up as Smythe struggled, scratching at his throat while it was squeezed. After a few more moments Adam dropped him.
“Lucas, before the next part please escort Cannon Fodder out of the dimension,” ordered Adam.
“Man, you really did it offending the boss, Cannon Fodder,” laughed Tom. “You leaving too, Gershy?”
Agent Gershner shook his head, hoping that Smythe didn’t ruin his chance to see what came next. Lucas grabbed Smythe and jogged, dragging Smythe as he tried to get to his own feet. Adam waited for Lucas to return before doing the next part.
Elias Munroe selected as Inheritor. Brandon Collins selected as 2nd Inheritor.
Rewards ready for natives who ended an invasion.
Release rewards?
[ Yes / No ]
Adam selected Yes, knowing what would happen. He watched as everyone got a notification.
…All natives included in Dimensional Convergence Rift will receive the title “Invasion Conqueror”.
Invasion Conqueror
For defeating an enemy of your planet and preventing their rampage from continuing you will receive +2 to all stats. Claiming more Dimensional Convergence Rifts will increase this title.
…error. Soul corruption found. Unable to assign benefits of titles.
“Wow,” Ron said. “That’ll help. Did you get that the first time?”
“Yes,” said Tom. “As well as a much better title for being first. 5% to stats as well as the +2 flat one.”
“It looks like they stack,” said Elias.
“Yeah, I have a x2 by the title and it says +4,” explained Brandon. “Looks like the more we close the more we get.”
Adam sighed at missing out. Lucas patted him reassuringly on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry, boss,” Tom said with a gleeful expression. "You are probably the only person on Earth the [System] answers to."