Chapter 95. A nasty brawler
[ Dungeon Event Updated - Tormented Ruins
Objective 1: Travel to the Chamber of Calling.
Objective 2: Slay all enemies. ]
"What now!?"
Seeing the Dungeon Event suddenly get updated and getting himself stuck in a room, Michael got a bad feeling about the situation at hand.
Furthermore, lots of summoning circles appeared on the floor of the room... too many to count.
Multiple four-legged creatures rose from the ground, similar to the previously disgusting Hellions. The differentiating features were the two horns on their heads and their horrifying maws, which opened like a flower blooming.
But blooming with hellfire that they can spew in the form of projectiles.
[ Spewer (Minion) - Level 27 ]
Besides the aptly named creatures, Hell Spawns, A.K.A. the Succubus that's not named as a Succubus, also joined the fray. They rose into the air above the Spewers, encircling Michael from all possible directions.
Just as the Necromancer was prepared to start fighting, two bigger summoning circles appeared on the floor, from which two true demonic creatures appeared.
The shitty part was that these two new monsters were both huge and intimidating. One was three meters tall, and the second was even taller, reaching over four. Furthermore, with horns on their heads and bat-like wings on their backs, they fit perfectly the profile of what a demon should look like.
"Fuck! Two of them are Elites... I didn't even notice it before..."
[ Shivering Pit Lord (Elite) - Level 28
*Cold Enchanted: All attacks deal an extra 50 Cold damage. ]
[ Mirroring Hell Spawn (Elite) - Level 28
*Multishot: All ranged attacks are mirrored by two more attacks dealing 100% of the initial damage. ]
Just as the Pit Lords rose to their feet and spread their wings, they let out a deafening roar, which almost sent Michael tumbling.
Furthermore, just as the gigantic creatures raised their blades with the intent of cutting him into pieces, the Hell Spawns and the Spewers began throwing ranged attacks.
With the Multishot modifier, the second Elite threw three red electrical balls from a tricky angle, making it impossible to dodge everything.
Being forced to choose which hits to take, Michael rushed at the Spewers and repeated the usual combo of Reap followed by Corpse Tendrils, Decrepify, and Corpse Explosion.
Except for a couple of heavier hits from the Pit Lords, which he had to block with the shield, he ended up not losing any Life Points. The fact that he cleaned the room much faster than anticipated came as a bonus with the level up to 24.
"Looks like the room gets unsealed after the last monster dies. Furthermore, this Dungeon seems to give much more experience than others, though that might be because of the high number of monsters one has to deal with. Nevertheless, I'm now one level away from my target. Let's keep grinding!"
[ Attack Power: 373
Armor: 1012
Life: 400
--------------
Strength: 76
Intelligence: 93
Willpower: 88
Dexterity: 114 ]
With the Status Page updated and the Dungeon Quest returning to one objective to be completed, he could finally breathe easier.
The remaining distance left to cover proved to be tricky, though. Just as he exited the trap room, he was greeted by falling fireballs, which he had to dodge in a hurry.
"Another Elite, huh? Well... more item boxes for me, I guess."
[ Fiery Spewer (Elite) - Level 29
*Fiery: Throws three fireball attacks at the enemy's current location. ]
Just as he was prepared to deal with the Fiery Spewer first, three more Elites decided to join the fray from the nearby room, followed by a swarm of Minion monsters.
[ Tainted Spewer (Elite) - Level 29
*Tainted: All attacks deal an extra 50 Curse damage and inflict 'Vulnerable' status for 3 seconds. ]
[ Tainted Spewer (Elite) - Level 28
*Tainted: All attacks deal an extra 50 Curse damage and inflict 'Vulnerable' status for 3 seconds. ]
[ Fiery Hell Spawn (Elite) - Level 28
*Fiery: Throws three fireball attacks at the enemy's current location. ]
With four Elites and tons of other monsters charging at him, a brutal fight started where Michael had to continuously reposition himself due to the plentitude of ranged attacks from all directions.
Furthermore, the two Fiery Elites kept launching fireballs at his position without a care in the world. They didn't care at all for the allies in the melee range of the Necromancer and just blasted them together.
Forced to keep running away and continuously reposition himself, Michael found himself advancing further into the Dungeon, where even more monsters joined the struggle.
A life and death situation ensued, as two more Hell Spawn Elites joined the fight, with one of them being the same Fiery type, but the second was problematic.
[ Fiery Hell Spawn (Elite) - Level 29
*Fiery: Throws three fireball attacks at the enemy's current location. ]
[ Dreadful Hell Spawn (Elite) - Level 29
*Terrifying: Summons three spell circles on the ground. Targets affected by it would fall into 'Terrified' status. ]
And that's where the problem came from. Hounded by multiple ranged and melee attacks, Michael failed to see the spell circles forming under his feet.
As a result, the Necromancer's mind fell under the influence of the Dreadful Hell Spawn. Confused by the sudden empty room and the walls bleeding enough for the red liquid to reach his chin, he wasn't able to block or deflect the heavy attacks of the Pit Lords, which sent him flying.
Two bone-deep cuts on his torso and right shoulder almost decommissioned him. Fortunately, he moved quickly and drank two Life Potions in quick succession, forcing his body to recover faster.
Panicking at the multitude of incoming attacks, Michael used Blood Mist to escape to the next room and temporarily disengage the monster army.
"I definitely need to pace myself. I still can't face more than a certain number of Elites by myself without having my Skeletons redirect some of the attention away from me. The only option is using Corpse Tendrils in combination with Decrepify and putting my hopes on the cooldown reduction effect. Here they come again..."
Using the same combo, Michael blocked the monsters at the door. Making use of the congestion, the Darkness miasma created through Corpse Explosion served as a death field.
Blocking them at the door and tanking the hits with his shield, Michael kept using Decrepify and Corpse Tendrils to reset the numbers attacking him. It took over thirty minutes to clean the last of the stragglers, but the rewards from item boxes, currency, and experience were aplenty.
"Still... I now understand why everyone groups up when Dungeon diving. I can barely resist such numbers without risking my life. *Sigh* Looks like I need to search for teammates. If the situation is this complicated now, it would only get worse after going through the first Class Awakening... "
Finally, after getting rid of two more Elites on his way to the Chamber of Calling, Michael reached the Boss Room.
Leaning on the wall to catch his breath, Michael refilled his Life Potions and formulated a battle plan.
"As tricky as this run was, the number of monsters was quite high, and so was the experience gained. I'm already at 1829/4,550, meaning that I can redo the Dungeon once more, and I'll level up to 25. Also, with these two Elites downed, the number of item boxes I gained is pretty high as well."
[ Tainted Bone Warrior Corpse Axe (Elite) - Level 29
*Tainted: All attacks deal an extra 50 Curse damage and inflict 'Vulnerable' status for 3 seconds. ]
[ Fiery Pit Lord (Elite) - Level 29
*Fiery: Throws three fireball attacks at the enemy's current location. ]
Checking his Inventory which was already halfway full, a grin appeared on his face. It appeared that after this run, he could already change at least a couple of pieces of equipment.
Now, all that's left is dealing with the Boss. Remembering the conversation he had with Helen about it, Michael scrunched his eyebrows.
"According to the intel she gathered, the Boss is called Scourge of the Land, a type of demon I already fought before. Beefy, tall dude equipped with melee attacks. It seems like it's a common pick for a skin suit among the demon nobles. The only issue is its high Strength stat and the fact that you can only dodge its attacks, not block or deflect them."
Taking a deep breath and venturing inside the Chamber of Calling, Michael saw a throne in the back of the room.
On it stood a horrifyingly big demon, covered in armor from head to toe. On the right side of the throne was an almost three-meter-tall combination of a sword and a club.
[ Dungeon Quest updated - Tormented Ruins
Objective: Defeat the Scourge of the Land. ]
Curiously inspecting the weapon as the demon slowly stood up, the Necromancer realized that the weapon had four blades that appeared to be welded on the club. Overall, getting hit by such a disgusting weapon would result in a pretty bad wound.
"Tsk... that's one big boy!"
Seeing the demon approach him calmly, Michael felt as if a mini-mountain was crashing down on him.
With a roar, the club-cum-sword was swung at him, prompting the Necromancer to directly use Blood Mist to avoid it and approach the demon.
[ Scourge of the Land (Boss) - Level 29 ]
The Boss had four health bars, so Michael assumed it had at least three changes it could go through.
Nevertheless, using the Blood Mist skill to advance, he used Reap to start his combo, as per usual. As soon as the phantom scythe passed through the Boss, though, the small, armored mountain retaliated with a kick.
Caught unprepared, the surprised Necromancer was sent flying into one of the pillars in the back of the room. Coughing blood from the strong impact, he barely got up and looked at the Boss in shock.
"What the fuck was that!? What's wrong with your fucking attack pattern!?"
Unlike the normal Minions and the Elites, this Boss felt different. It didn't feel like he was fighting a monster in a video game, but rather, it didn't seem much different than when he was training with Martel.
The intelligence the Boss was showing scared him.
'If this monster is smarter than the rest, it means that the portion of soul whichever demon noble put into this puppet is much bigger. Therefore, it can act more freely compared with the Elites and Minions. But... that also means a more dangerous opponent.'
Drinking a Life Potion to mitigate the damage incurred through the kick, Michael approached his opponent cautiously. Especially with Blood Mist on cooldown, he couldn't exactly be reckless.
Using the Corpse Tendrils and Decrepify in quick succession, Michael watched as the blood vines crawled on the demon's body without much effect.
Disappointed, Michael detonated the corpse using Corpse Explosion, after which he rushed at the demon using Reap repeatedly.
The fight felt more difficult than any other fight he had gone through so far. Especially when the Boss felt more like a brawler in a pub than a demonic Boss.
"Punches, kicks, and randomly swinging that fucking disgusting weapon around! What's wrong with you, you stupid shit!? Can't you fight normally and orderly, like a proper creature!? Motherfucker! Did you just kick dust in my face!?"
Running through the room while the Scourge chased after him, Michael cursed and fought back to the best of his abilities.
Unfortunately, with all the running around, he couldn't stack Corpse Explosion enough to deal high damage to the Boss. Therefore, the fight was prolonged more than necessary.
With the only way he could deal damage was through Reap, which ignored the demon's high armor, and trickles of damage through Corpse Explosion, Michael had already spent over forty minutes getting chased by the Scourge and got hit over five times.
With the Boss down to less than 15% of its Life and no more Life Potions left for himself, Michael had no choice but to play it safe.
'Fortunately, after fighting with him for so long, I figured out its attack patterns. Rather than patterns, it would be more apt to say he's freestyling the fight. I have no doubt the fucker would even headbut me if it had the chance. Furthermore, the combination of Corpse Tendrils and Decrepify is amazing! Especially Decrepify. Without it, the damned demon would be faster and deal more damage.'
The grind continued with Michael casting Decrepify to slow the Boss by 40% and make it deal 20% less damage, then use Corpse Tendrils to either stun it temporarily if lucky and, if not, induce the Vulnerable status, which amplified the damage he dealt to it.
With the demon finally showing some tiredness, Michael was able to stack Corpse Explosion four times and kept the Scourge inside the radius, using Blood Mist to avoid the attacks.
Finally, the Boss fell, and the Dungeon was completed.
[ Dungeon complete - Tormented Ruins ]
[ You have unlocked the Aspect of the Unsatiated.
You have unlocked the Codex of Power. You can open it to view your currently available Aspects. ]