anwhile, the Corpse King, despite his insane strength, had trouble steering his "new horse" using only the log spears lodged in the beast’s eyes. The beast’s sheer size and raw, frenzied power made it a chaotic and unpredictable mount. Leo and Libera held on to the beast’s back, their forms blurred against the rushing landscape as they helped guide the Corpse King toward their destination.
"Our destination is behind that alien structure over there!" Libera shouted over the wind, pointing at the top of the tower that seed to oversee the entire forest landscape. The Corpse King smiled, a wide, terrifying grin, and pulled on the right spear. The beast, its blind rage now focused by the pressure on its head, turned sharply to the right.
Later, as they passed by the alien structure, Leo peered ahead, searching for the pre-arranged signal. He spotted a skeleton soldier waving frantically and pointing toward a clearing.
"There!" Leo shouted, pointing. The Corpse King, clearly enjoying the ride, roared with a smile and tugged slightly on the left spear, guiding the beast toward the clearing. The beast bulldozed the remaining trees in its path, its montum unstoppable despite its injuries.
Libera’s eye sockets widened as he spotted the traps in the distance. "Oh, shit! Let’s jump now!" Leo, seeing the massive log spikes, leaped from the beast’s back. Libera and the Corpse King followed, the golem landing with a ground-shaking thud.
The beast, with its vision gone, barreled straight toward the traps. Its feet suddenly dug into a camouflaged pit, where sharpened spikes lodged into its bare feet. Though the spikes didn’t go deep, it was enough to throw the beast off balance. Its own montum and massive mass sent it tumbling forward, right into a thick line of spike logs. So logs broke from the sheer force, but many pierced through its body. The beast roared, a sound of agony and fury.
With its imnse strength, it broke free, the broken logs still stuck in its head and body, making it look like a monstrous pincushion. It stood up, roaring like a bear.
Karl, standing to the side, shouted, "Squad 3! Pull now!" Skeletons hidden in the trees pulled ropes, and the support logs holding up the massive pendulum trap fell away. A colossal log, swung down like a battering ram. It slamd into the beast’s side, and while it did little damage, the force was enough to knock the beast off balance, sending it crashing to the ground.
Karl’s voice cut through the chaos. "Corpse King, now! Barbecue the shit out of it!" The golem reappeared from the treeline, a frightening sight with two spear logs attached with the beast’s horns and three normal spear logs. It ran toward the fallen beast, roared, and leaped. With gravity’s help, it landed, driving a spear into the beast’s shoulders, pinning it to the ground.
The golem continued to impale the beast with the other spear logs, the skeleton soldiers delivering more as needed. So logs were longer to ensure they pinned the beast down despite its size. The beast thrashed, helpless, as its body was pinned to the ground by the logs and the golem’s massive weight.
"Dissection Team! Go!" Karl shouted.
Dullahan, Rook, and Libera ran toward the beast, their swords ready. They arrived at the beast’s belly, infused their swords with dark mana, and nodded to each other. They pierced the beast’s tallic belly with surprising ease, tracing a circular door to expose the core. The beast thrashed wildly, but the logs held it down.
Schalezusk, standing beside Karl, asked, "Mr. Karl, what are they doing? Are they trying to finish it off?"
Karl smirked. "Yes, but not without my souvenir first."
Schalezusk, confused, watched as the three cut open the beast’s belly and went inside. "What do you an?" he asked.
Karl just smiled. "You’ll see."
A little later, the beast’s thrashing stopped. The lights on its exposed joints and internal parts went off.
It was officially dead.
Then, the three appeared from inside the beast’s belly, heaving a circular orb with covered with rings. It was six feet in diater, and the three of them could barely lift it’s imnse weight. The skeleton soldiers rushed to help them.
Schalezusk was stunned. "Is that its core?" he asked.
Karl smiled. "Ding! Correct." The orc said nothing, his mind reeling from the insanity of the situation. This lich had managed to take the core intact from a beast that had just monts ago been an unstoppable force.
Rook approached Karl. "My lord, where do we put the core?"
Karl grinned at his prize. "This should be useful enough for energy generation. Dig a pit and cover it for now. Have the n guard it."
Dullahan and Libera approached. "May we volunteer, my lord?"
Karl nodded. "Yes. You and Rook will guard it, while , Libera, and Leo will continue checking out the alien structure." The golem grunted from behind them, pointing at himself. Karl chuckled. "Ah, yes, Corpse King. Of course, you’re coming with us, too." The golem grunted again, nodding.
Leo then asked, "My lord, what about the other parts?" He stared at the beast’s body.
"Hmmmm..." Karl thought. "I’ll have the smiths and scientists reverse-engineer the internal components. Hopefully, so of it is still intact. But I’ll have them prioritize the materials and see what findings they have and apply it to our own industrial production or for weapons material upgrades."
Leo nodded. "I’ll take note of that, my lord."
"Yeah, yeah, now let’s go. Let’s head to the 10th floor," Karl said, his expression changing as he looked at the task panel.
[ New High-Priority Task: ]
Clear Level: -10 and defeat the Gate Keeper. Permanent Reward: Tyrant’s Throne of Undying Fury
Karl’s mind raced. Wasn’t that the Gatekeeper?
The system didn’t respond when the beast was defeated, even though they took its core.
He paused and paced. His subordinates watched him, confused. In his mind, he thought, Will I complete the task if we destroy the core? He shook his head. No, no, no, no, no. That core is my only precious souvenir. I will not destroy it, not when I can’t find anything more valuable than that.
Then he made a decision. "Alright, let’s go." Leo, Libera, and the golem followed him toward the alien structure in the distance.
--------------------------
As they went inside the alien structure, a chilling silence replaced the roar of battle. Despite the main hall’s illumination, it was eerily quiet. Karl’s voice, now a low whisper, cut through the oppressive atmosphere. "Watch out for any hostiles. We don’t know what will pop out again." Leo and Libera drew their swords, their forms tense and ready. The golem, however, walked behind them confidently, its presence a comforting anchor of brute force.
They walked toward the sa door where hell had broken loose earlier, stepping back into the beast’s den. They found another spiraling hallway where a narrow section carved from the tallic walls that seed to extend all the way down. Fading, flickering wall lights dimly illuminated the new area.
"This place is giving the creeps," Karl muttered, his gaze sweeping over the gray silvery tallic walls, unfamiliar architecture. They continued their descent.
The narrow spiral hallway opened up, revealing a breathtaking sight: a vast, circular shaft leading all the way down, the spiraling path clinging to its edges. Karl peered down into the darkness. "We’re nearly there," he said, his voice laced with a mixture of determination and dread. Unbeknownst to them, the first wall on the spiral hallway opened in a large circle, revealing a massive tallic ball, which rolled down toward them.
As they continued walking, they started to notice a subtle rumbling. Karl, his senses on high alert, asked, "W-what’s going on?" Leo looked up and pointed. Karl and Libera also looked up, and though they could barely see it, they caught the faint glint of a massive, rolling sphere at the far edge of the spiral path.
Karl’s shoulders slumped. "You’ve got to be fucking kidding ," he muttered, the absurdity of the situation almost too much to bear. "RUN!" he shouted, and they all sprinted down the spiral path. The golem grunted and murmured incoherently. Libera listened for a mont. "My lord, he says he thinks he can stop it."
"You can understand him?" Karl asked, dumbfounded.
"Yeah, sohow."
"This day is getting weirder and weirder," Karl said. "But no, you can’t stop it! Even if you do, I doubt there’s only one of them." Karl’s mind raced, searching for a way to survive this new hell. He noticed the narrow, rectangular sections carved into the right side of the walls. "Go for the carved-out sections!" he shouted.
Karl quickly inserted himself, and Leo and Libera followed, squeezing into the small alcoves. The golem tried to fit but was too large. He grunted and murmured, and Libera translated, "My lord, he says he won’t fit."
"Of course not!" Karl snapped. He noticed the other side of the hallway opened up to the central shaft. "Corpse King, hang yourself on the edge!" he shouted, pointing to the railings that lined the path. The golem moved, but the rolling tallic ball was already upon them.
"Corpse King!" they all scread in unison.
The rolling ball passed, and to their relief, the Corpse King had made it. His massive hands gripped the edge of the railing as he hung precariously before climbing back up.
Karl exhaled. "If you feel another rumbling, we’ll apply the sa tactic. For now, let’s hurry. The sooner we get to the bottom, the sooner we can end this." He ran, and the others followed. They applied the sa tactic for every rolling ball they encountered. The golem, frustrated at having to avoid them, finally tried to stop one. It was a massive struggle against the ball’s imnse weight, but he managed to push it to the side, sending it plumting down the spiral path and into the dark pit below.
"Well, I guess that works," Karl said. The golem puffed his chest with pride.
Later, they arrived at the bottom, which revealed a much more expansive space—an imnse pit. In the middle was a structure tied with massive chains, stabilizing it. A bridge, also stabilized by chains, led to the structure. The final rolling ball behind them rolled to the left, flying into the dark, endless pit below.
Karl was amazed and terrified. "What the fuck is this place?" he said. "This gives that ’Love, Death & Robots’ Season 3, Episode 8 vibe." If he wasn’t just bones, he would have gulped. Even Leo and Libera were stunned. The golem, however, was unfazed.
"If I’m right, and I hope I’m not," Karl warned them, "I think this is where we’ll be sward by protective machines or sothing. If you see sothing, alert us so we can run while we still can." Leo and Libera kept their guard up, their eyes scanning every shadow. As they walked across the bridge, illuminated by braziers that lit up with blue fire, Karl muttered, "I swear to whatever god is in this world that we’re going to a boss fight."
As they reached the massive, gazebo-like structure at the center, their jawbones nearly dropped. Even the golem recoiled in fear as it looked up. They were too stunned to process what they were seeing. In Karl’s vision, a ssage floated above the structure: [Level 500 Gate Keeper].
They saw a massive, 120-foot statue-like humanoid figure that looked like a knight. It was sitting, planting its massive sword in the ground. "That’s a gatekeeper?" Karl muttered. "That looks more like a fucking god." As the golem was about to tuck tail and run away, Karl said in a powerful whisper, "DON’T. FUCKING. MOVE. A. MUSCLE!"
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