There I was, nothing but a cracked skull sitting on the ground, watching as my one and only friend put herself in harm's way to save my life. I wanted to protect my friend, not the other way around. Maybe if I wasn't so stupid I would've just used everything from the start.

"How could I have been so stupid."

-------------

"Hmmm, how the hell do we open this door?"

In front of me was a very large door, this door was made of stone and screeched from the ground to the ceiling of this floor, it was quite wide as well. I stood there for a moment thinking about how I should open this thing. I tried pushing on the door, prying it open, and even searching for a secret keyhole or pressure plate.

"It says to knock friend."

I heard Emerald's voice and turned my head, she was pointing at something and when I followed her finger I saw it written in the language of the dead.

"Those who wish to die must simply knock."

"Huh, I guess you're ri- wait... You can read that?!"

I thought she would be able to read Ancient Elven so the books I gave her to read were all written in that language. What I didn't know was that she could also apparently read my language too. After hearing what I said she simply looked at me and tilted her head.

"Hm? Of course I can. You spent so long learning from those books I decided I'd learn with you!"

She gave me a big smile as if it was something I should've known all along. Thinking back on it, there was always a slime on top of the desk where I was reading. I suppose she would've been able to read, but that would mean that she knew a language beforehand. I had many questions which I decided I would ask later, first I would like to open this door.

I knocked on the door, and surely enough, it opened. A much, much smaller door, only a few times bigger than me, opened within the door.

'What the hell? If the actual door is only that big then why make such a large door?'

I walked through the door and inside I saw an incredibly large coliseum that easily dwarfed any mountain. This coliseum was placed directly in the middle of a massive pit that surrounded it like a sea of endless darkness. I was currently the the top of a very long staircase that lead straight to this coliseum, the staircase had more than enough space to fit my army so I ordered them to come through. As we marched toward the coliseum I took the time to look around. Looking over the edge of the staircases one would see a dark pit that seemed to go on forever, even straining my eyesight I couldn't see a bottom. The staircase itself was marvelously made, the stairs were made of marble, the railing of the staircase was made of pure silver that was carved with patterns of various monsters that seemed to be fighting countless armies of Humans, Elves, Beastmen, and the other races. On one side of the railing the combined armies of the various races would win, on the other, the monsters.

If the various races won then the carvings would show them building cities and ships that would sail across the seas. Eventually these cities would encompass the entire world. Then they would begin to fight each other over land, food, and other resources. Killing each other over and over again in an endless cycle and dividing themselves with imaginary lines and shunning each other based on their race, until once again monsters appeared. When the monsters threatened the very existence of all the races, they would unite and fight. The monsters would destroy everything in their way, tearing down all the races have built and destroying these imaginary lines they've created. 

If the monsters won they would ravage the land, stripping it bear of all life until none remained but the monsters themselves. Then the monsters would turn on one another until even they were no more. When nothing but death remained the very dead themselves would rise from the ground. Among them a leader would be chosen to lead them to-

"Ah, the railing is missing."

Nearing the end of the stairs, a section of the railing was torn off. Out of the entire staircase, this was the only part that was missing. I was a bit disappointed, I wanted to see how the story ended.

"Well, it doesn't matter, were here now anyway."

We had made it to the entrance of the coliseum and two large doors opened up to a tunnel which lead into the arena. As I stepped inside I noticed the floor was made with some sort of stone. It was polished to the point of giving off a reflection and decorated with a black and white checkerboard pattern. This floor lead all the way through the tunnel and ended at the arena. The floor of this arena was just simply dirt, the arena itself was just a circle. Looking up you could see hundreds of rows of seats where an audience would sit.

"Emerald, take Erika up there and protect her. I don't know how strong this boss is."

"Okay friend!"

Emerald split herself and had one of her clones carry Erika into the stands.

'Not what I had in mind, but Emerald should be able to take care of herself, especially since she can heal herself now.'

"So, there should be something around here that calls the boss.... Ah ha!"

In the middle of the arena a sword was stuck into the ground. 

"Well that's rather obvious."

I sent one of my minions over just in case there was some sort of trap. My minion grabbed the sword and brought it over to me.

Item Equipped:Silver SwordSpell Effects +20%

Spell Costs -20%

Wisdom +20%

Intelligence +20%

"Hm?"

The sword itself looked like any regular sword but when I held it I could feel an incredible increase in my power. With this increase in power the blade gave off a purple glow and various different runes could be seen on the blade. This sword was obviously not just any regular sword made of silver. Before I had time to study the sword further the entire coliseum started to shake and a loud roar could be heard coming from all around us.

"Looks like I was right about the sword. Emerald! Be ready!"

I looked over to Emerald who already had her armor on, she took a stance and looked at me. 

"Yes friend!"

I cast Overloaded Shadow Sword and my Death Knight Plate Armor had been on the entire time so I figured I was ready for whatever was coming.

A dragon, one larger than I could've ever imagined appeared over the coliseum and landed inside the arena, it shook the entire coliseum with its landing. I had knowledge of dragons and I knew that they grow until they die and have an average life span of around one thousand years. The oldest of dragons could easily be the size of a castle, but this... was so much larger. I had no idea how a dragon could ever live long enough to grow to such a size, but this one somehow found a way. Its scales, each as big as my entire body, covered its body like an impenetrable black wall. Its massive wings could easily span over the entire coliseum, and its eyes glowed a bright, fiery red. After entering it sized up both me and my army, then readied itself to attack.

"Attack!"

I yelled to initiate the fight, then charged in like an idiot and cast an Overloaded Shadow Strike. This spell was immediately deflected by a tail easily three times bigger than me. I couldn't see it coming, let alone hope to dodge, half of my army and I were hit by the tail and sent flying. My body was blown apart by the impact and sent flying into the seats, landing on one. Half of my body was missing, needless to say I was quite surprised by how fast such a large beast could move.

"Well, this is embarrassing. Unholy Regeneration! Everlasting Undead!"

I cast two spells to rapidly speed up my regeneration and in less than a minute I was able to get back on my feet. I had to recast Shadow Sword and this time I cast a few spells along side it to increase my reaction time.

"Perception! Eagle's Eye! Precognition!"

With the three of these cast it felt as if time slowed around me. I could see the dragon's movements now, but they were still slightly blurred. I charged in again and cast a few more Overloaded Shadow Strikes, every single one of which didn't even penetrate its scales.

"Damn! I can't even damage it!"

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I was too distracted by my inability to even scratch the scales on this monstrosity that I didn't notice it's massive claw coming towards me.

"Shit!"

By the time I saw it, it had already hit me and sent me flying again, this time I was left with nothing but my head.

"Friend! Are you alright?!"

Emerald landed next to me, my body was regenerating at a much slower pace now with all of the damage I just took.

"Yeah, I'll be fine in a bit Emerald."

"Don't worry friend! I won't let any harm come to you!"

"Emerald, it's too strong for-"

Suddenly, Emerald split into dozens and gave me a big smile.

"Don't worry friend! I'll be fine!"

She and her dozens of clones charged the dragon. While the dragon was busy moping up the rest of my pitiful army, Emerald used the chance to attack certain spots underneath its scales. When she stabbed it under its scales she split off a small part of herself and slowly ate away at it on the inside. It didn't take long for the dragon to notice Emerald, when it did it turned all attention to her and slowly started destroying her clones.

-------------

"How could I have been so stupid."

'I tried challenging such a strong boss with such a small and weak army.'

Emerald was down to just a few clones now, I still had to regenerate my legs. I was getting more and more impatient, I couldn't let my friend die because of my idiocy. In the few seconds I had until I was fully regenerated, I formed a plan. I needed to be fast enough, and strong enough to pull it off. Currently, the me who just finished regenerating its body, was useless. I decided I would finally use every last bit of knowledge I gained from that library to take down this dragon. I took out five mana cores from my body, and with my newly acquired Silver Sword in hand, used my Mana Siphoning on them. When I was ready, I cast some spells to regenerate my health, hopefully at a rate that would be fast enough for what I had planned.

"Overloaded Unholy Regeneration! Overloaded Everlasting Dead! Overloaded Necromantic Regeneration!"

With those three spells an entire core was drained and my body was covered with an incredibly dense dark aura. Next was a spell that I never wanted to cast overloaded because I feared it would kill me in seconds.

"Overloaded Limit Break!"

Spell Cast:[/size]Limit BreakUser's Stats +220%

Spell Effects +220%

Health will be constantly drained until death or until spell is canceled

Spell can be cast again in: 6D, 23H, 59M

Another core was drained.

I felt it then, my bones being constantly disintegrated and regenerated at an incredible speed. At this point in time I was glad I couldn't feel pain.

"Activate Layering!"

Skill Activated:LayeringCertain spells can now be cast without being overridden

You will not be able to activate Layering again for 24 hours

Layering was a skill I learned when I reached a certain level in the Necromancy class. I could only cast it once a day but it was incredibly powerful.

"Overloaded Frost Armor, Overloaded Fire Armor, Overloaded Shadow Armor, Overloaded Unholy Armor, Overloaded Armor of the Dead!"

My body was covered in ice, then fire, then it was cloaked by shadow and darkness. Finally, bones erupted from the ground and covered my armor, turning black. My stats and resistances were increased beyond anything I've ever experienced so far, I felt as though I could take on the entire world in this state. With only a single core left of the five I'd taken out, I recast the Overloaded versions of Perception, Eagle's Eye, and Precognition. This time the world around me slowed to a crawl, the dragon that was once so fast was now slower than a snail. I decided it still wasn't enough, so I took out two more mana cores, I wanted to be sure I held nothing back this time.

"Overloaded Spell Charge!"

Spell Charge, a spell which let me prepare a few spells in advance so they could be cast at the same time. I prepared Overloaded versions of Shadow Strike, Death Strike, and Unholy Strike. With the second core I used it to cast Overloaded versions, of Shadow Blade, Death Blade, and Unholy Blade. With my entire body now covered in enough mana to destroy an entire city, I now felt I was ready.

I activated Surge and took off toward the dragon, leaving a crater in the ground where I once stood. Flying towards the dragon at speeds high enough to rip my body apart, I prepared one last spell.

"Overloaded Final Strike!"

Spell Cast:Final StrikeUser's next attack damage +704%

User's next attack will damage both the user and target

Spell can be cast again in: 6D, 23H, 59M

I was directly in front of the dragon now, I took aim at its head.

"Release Spell Charge!"

I released the spells as I swung my sword at the dragon's head. Out of my sword a streak of dark magic was released that ate up all of the light in and around the coliseum. I saw its eyes as it realized what was coming toward it. I could see it trying to move out of the way but it was much to slow to avoid a spell this large being cast at such a close distance. When the spell collided with the dragon's head it surged forward, devouring the head of this beast, it was as if the spell had a will of its own. An explosion of magic burst out of the collision, blowing back everyone and everything, destroying most of the coliseum. I felt the damage of my spell hit, and instantly kill me, I activated Second Wind while my body was flying through the air. My head was the only thing left whole when I hit the ground.

I looked up to see a large cloud of darkness covering most of the dragon's upper body. I then heard a loud roar and saw it emerge from the cloud. Over half of its head was gone, but it was still moving.

"Damn it! It's still alive?!"

It took a single step, then collapsed onto the coliseum floor. Its single eye stared at me as I watched the life slowly drain from it. When it finally died, Mother spoke to me.

You have defeated the Ninth Boss of Warwic DungeonYou have gained a level

You have gained a level

You have gained a level

You have gained a level

You have gained a level

You have gained a level...

Congratulations

Its body began to turn to dust and disappear, leaving a golden chest behind, a single mana core bigger than any other I had seen before, and a smaller red core.

"You did it friend!"

Emerald landed near me and picked up my head, I saw one of her clones bring over Erika too. Looking around, nearly all of the coliseum was destroyed by the blast. Most of my army was gone as well, the few that remained would need a lot of time to regenerate.

"Are you alright Erika?"

I looked her over as I was carried toward the chest and two cores.

"Of course she's fine friend! I protected her after all!"

Emerald's clone answered for her while she carried Erika over her shoulder. Erika stared at me with a look that seemed to ask me to save her.

"Emerald, since the boss is dead, you can put her down now."

"Okay!"

Emerald dropped Erika on the ground, Erika then stood up and bowed to me.

"Thank you for asking Emerald to protect me."

"Ah, it's fine, don't mention it."

I cast a couple regeneration spells on myself to help me get back on my feet faster. Once we were at the chest I was set down since I almost finished regenerating my legs. When I was ready, I stood up and placed my hand on the chest.

"Alright, let's see our reward!"

I opened the chest and a bright light erupted from the chest and revealed our reward.