About two hours after slaying the spider, Zach got up from a seated position against the wall. He'd fallen asleep in his new armor and had taken a little nap to recover his stamina—which he'd wasted thanks to his completely unnecessary use of Unleashed Phase. But still, he didn't exactly regret the decision, because if he had ended up needing it and hadn't used it, he would be feeling a whole lot worse.
Nothing for to do but keep going, he thought.
He'd sort of lost track of ti since coming here, but by his best guess, the dungeon's weekly reset would be in just another few days, and the last thing he wanted was to have to fight through that boss again. It was ti to move on and up. And although he didn't know how much was left of this tower, the fact that he was more than halfway to the top was very reassuring.
Once again, his mind flashed with thoughts of the adventurers. But he tamped down on the feeling of hope that rose in his belly, because he knew he needed to be realistic and honest with himself. He needed to rember one simple fact: they probably were dead. That was the most likely case. But if there was a chance—any at all—that they still lived, then he owed it to them to find them and find out why they hadn't been able to return. He owed it to Grundor as well, who even now was working hard to help the people of Giant's Fall while worried about his "master." He owed it to Kalana, who went every day without a clue as to whether her father or cousin had survived the perils of Albion-4.
He owed it to himself.
Grabbing his bags, he walked through the wide-open steps that had appeared on the opposite side of the room. The entire back wall had crumpled, granting him access to a short flight of about twenty steps that ca to an end upon reaching a small, precarious little platform that dropped straight down to the first floor. Adjacent to this platform was another set of far smaller, platform-like steps that were similar to those used to climb from the first to the second floor. And just like those, these seed to wrap around and around the tower.
To the top, he thought, determined.
With each and every step that Zach took, his armor made a clink. Clink, clink, clink. He had to admit that the equipnt was growing on him. If he were to walk into Angelica's wearing a set of legendary-rarity gear like this—complete with the mandatory, unremovable red cape—he would turn every head. And he'd get made fun of, sure, but the mockery would be veiling more than just a little touch of envy.
Clinking his way around and around the tower, Zach's mood elevated as he ascended farther up than he expected. It was difficult to tell just how far this would run from where he was standing, but as he crossed what he estimated to be the 75% point in terms of height, he started to have the faintest hope that, maybe, just maybe, this would be it: that he was finally heading to Albion-4. Maybe that spider was the "boss of the tower," and he could be on his way at long last.
He'd endured so much to get to this point. A year of off-ti had made him rusty, but he'd scraped off that rust and erged sharper than he'd been when he arrived. He'd been hurt. He'd suffered. He'd recovered. And now, he was ready.
Platform to platform, he marched upwards, his hands gripping each of his bags as his faint hopes turned to a much stronger one. He could now see the glass oculus nearing up above. As always, it was rotating very slowly, and a blue light was shining from within, though it was difficult to tell what might be the source of that light.
Walking a bit faster, the stone platforms wrapped around so that the top of his head was just a few feet beneath the flooring that made up the oculus. He moved even faster, becoming excited, as the platform leveled out sowhat as it wrapped back around to the opposite side of the tower. Once there, the platforms turned into a stone ramp, and this ramp led into a wide, open, and oddly enough, decorated arena with bronze statues of n holding swords and paintings depicting ancient battles adorning the walls.
Zach sighed and dropped his bags. "One last obstacle, huh?" he asked aloud.
All the way across this wide area, standing guard before an indentation in the wall, was a gigantic, twenty-foot-tall giant of a man wielding a black-and-silver spear. The spear was upside down and partially stuck in the flooring, and the man's hands were tightly gripping the base of it with his legs spread wide and his back straight. The man had long, shaggy, blonde-colored hair, a thick beard, and he wore a bandana. His face was weathered, and he looked like so kind of hardened hunter in armor made from the skin of animals. Beside him was a huge creature about eight tis the size of a big dog—only it was no dog. It was a sabertoothed cat that looked just like…
Wait a second, Zach thought, laughing aloud and becoming giddy. Is that…?
HP
6,250,000/6,250,000
Na
(T4) Kralzek
Level
70
HP
3,331,000/3,331,000
Na
(T4) Kralzek's Beast
Level
70
With his bags dropped safely near the entrance, Zach risked taking just a few steps into the room. And then he continued to laugh. "So, you're where my mount cos from," he said as he looked at the absurdly huge cat sitting on its butt next to the giant.
In the hours after Ziragoth's defeat, Zach had used his ability, Gacha Get'cha, to receive the horn that, when blown into, had given him the power to summon the mount. His best guess was that it was likely a very rare drop from this boss.
"How co my cat isn't that big? And why's mine only got like 300k HP?"
The sheer size of it, though! Both of these bosses were huge. But still, Zach wasn't intimidated. He'd already co this far, and he was ready to keep going. No more turning back. The only thing standing between him and Albion-4 was this final challenge.
Sheesh, two bosses in a row, he thought. This dungeon breaks all the rules I thought dungeons had to follow. Guess those patterns don't apply anymore.
His armor clinking, he took just a few more steps into the wide, open area. Unlike the previous boss fight, there was no funnel in the middle of the room that led down to the first floor. It was just a spacious arena to fight in with a bit of decoration here or there. Zach preferred it this way.
Level 70 and T4. That ans these things are equivalent to level-130.
Well, at least he wouldn't be fighting them alone. Turning back around, Zach knelt down and reached into his pack. Quickly, he pulled out a pile of cards—over a hundred of them—and then, one by one, he began using Card Summon. And in just a matter of two minutes, his entire side of this large, soon-to-be battleground beca filled with a raid-sized group of elite mobs. He even summoned his Kralzek's Beast, though he frowned at it as he was reminded that it was only a fraction of the size of the huge one that spawned in this boss room.
Do I have to kill both things for it to count as a win? Or do I just need to kill Kralzek?
Sothing told Zach he would need to be a bit more tactical with this fight than he'd been with the last one. Especially since he went into the spider-boss already knowing what it was capable of. And, to be fair, although he hadn't actually needed to use it, he had co with a plan. But in the case of Kralzek, he had no idea what this big, spear-wielding humanoid boss would attempt to do to him. His mount would also likely pose a serious threat.
I can't use Unleashed Phase, either, he thought. If I Phase Reset, it'll bring up to level 2: a Very-High Exertion cost. I almost died once just from half of that.
He really needed to get his stamina up to the point where he could start pushing his Phase Level higher and higher. Because it was just plain inconvenient to not be able to use his most vital abilities when he needed them the most. But still, it wasn't like he didn't have decent enough stats as things stood.
Na
Zachys Calador
Level
36
EXP
1,555,500/4,080,000
Armor Bonus
141
Strength
241
Dexterity
227
Constitution
251
Intelligence
277
Speed
165
Luck
42
Back during his fight with Ziragoth, when he'd been in Unleashed Phase with a Phase Level III, and Peter, Fylwen, and Vim used their combination on him to double his stats, Zach had sohow ended up with over 400 points into strength. And although the buff combination only lasted a few seconds, he distinctly recalled being superior in every way to the dragon during that short window of ti.
With 241 points into strength—boosted by his armor and his sword—he was really starting to reach the point where he should be formidable against bosses, even by himself. And yet, he had an army with him. That was why he decided to attempt to take this thing down right here and now rather than continue to farm or build an even larger army. Besides, there was a limit to how many mobs could actually fit in here, anyway. It was feeling crowded and cramped with just his 102 cards and his mount.
Standing frontmost in front of all his cards, which consisted of 46 Legion Portal Guardians, 30 Vixen Portal Commanders, and 26 Acolytes of the Portal, he divided them into two even groups so that each group had 23 Orcs, 15 red-haired Vixens, and 13 healers. He remained in place a mont as they shuffled around and spread apart. Then, bracing himself, Zach ordered each group to attack.
And it began.
"Krest zencht harganar!" shouted every Orc in unison as 40 of them charged either Kralzek or his beast, and the remaining 6 prepared to launch their fireball spell. As they did so, golden orbs appeared, thirteen above each boss mob, and icicles were already darting through the air. And as usual, it was the magic from the Acolytes that struck first, with each of the orbs doing between 3 and 6k damage—slightly less than what they'd done against Arachnid Queen Axanamat.
3,111
4,236
4,111
…
The story was "mostly" the sa for the Kralzek's Beast, although in the latter case, Zach supposed the spells hit for a tad bit more: on average, at least.
3,096
5,207
4,771
…
Now, about two seconds into the fight, with a small number of Orcs just about ready to launch their fireballs while a dramatically larger number raced across the room fast enough that their collective bodies caused a gust of wind to blow over Zach, the boss sprang to life. With both hands, he yanked his spear out of the stone floor and swung it upwards and into a readying position. His beast, on the other hand, released a loud, rumbling roar. And then the boss spoke.
"So, adventurers," he said. "You think you're worthy of setting foot on the sacred world of Albion-4? I'll be the judge of that!" He spun his weapon around dramatically. The spear was so large it also created gusts of wind, though the power of the wind was so massive that Zach doubted it was due simply to its size alone, but rather, an effect of the weapon itself. He was nearly thrown backwards. "Defeat , and you will have earned your passage to the grandest city in all of existence!"
That was all Zach needed to hear. It was ti to fight!
Rather than draw his rapier, Zach decided he wanted to return to the way he was most comfortable; thus, drawing only his Primordial Void Blade, he gripped the weapon in two hands then charged forward with his own Kralzek's Beast running along beside him. As he sprinted across the room, he saw icicles and fireballs streaking over his head, and all found their targets. Two of them struck the Kralzek's Beast, and four went towards Kralzek himself, who right now, Zach was paying more attention to. He hoped his cards would keep the humongous, saber-toothed cat busy for the ti being.
85,211
100,005
101,200
91,433
As was typically the case, the Vixen Portal Commanders split their attacks between the damaging icicles and the ground-splitting wave of ice, the latter of which unsurprisingly failed to do anything at all, as this boss—like most, Zach imagined—was immune to it. The icicles, on the other hand, broke through the armor and drew blood, hitting for even more and confirming to Zach that the previous boss had, in fact, been resistant to such magic, and that was why they failed to outperform the lee-oriented Orcs.
141,300
100,211
131,472
200,001
…
Things were off to just as good a start as they'd been during the fight against the spider, but Zach knew better than to beco complacent. And yet, without even having reached the towering giant yet, its wounds were already deep and obvious. It had scorch marks all over its face and armor, as well as dark red blood that oozed out of holes ford by the piercing icicles. The sabertoothed cat, as well, had lost part of a paw and was likewise bloodied.
HP
4,755,167/6,250,000
Na
(T4) Kralzek
Level
70
HP
2,111,516/3,331,000
Na
(T4) Kralzek's Beast
Level
70
All that damage…and the Legion Portal Guardians were only first getting into position right now, with Zach trailing just a bit behind. And though it was surprising, Zach supposed that this was just to be expected, as each one of these elites, from at least a stats perspective, was likely "more powerful" than the adventurers had been when they'd first co through here. Most of them had been in their high 50s and low 60s, and these guys were elite, so in terms of damage output, this was to be expected.
What happened next, however, wasn't.
With their dual-wielded axes raised, the 19 Orcs that had charged ahead surrounded the hide-wearing, spear-bearing giant, each launching into an attack. But even while their weapons were mid-slash, the boss released a loud, mighty battle-cry and spun his body and spear fully around three-sixty degrees, the weapon making a whine as it ripped through the air—and bodies.
Zach had been less than a foot or two from coming within range. With a sense of urgency, he stopped short, barely managing to halt such that the spear was just a few inches away from his chest by the ti he pulled away. But the rest of his Orcish elites suffered. Damage numbers began flooding his vision. But not on the boss: on his cards. And they were big numbers, too. Really big.
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2,900,441
2,392,355
3,191,200
3,211,400
2,777,767
In addition to ripping open stomachs and sending splatters of blood every which way, several of the Orcs were also physically thrown backwards, with two nearly colliding with Zach. And given that each Orc only had 3,100,000HP, about six of them were killed outright, and all but the four that had remained behind to launch a fireball were taken down to less than 10% of their HP—in many cases, less than 5%.
This had the spillover effect of causing all the Acolytes of the Portal to imdiately cut off their damaging orb spell and revert to healing. And as greenish pools of light began covering a number of his Orcs, he could see that they were at least getting their job done properly—but this was only because the boss did not seem to follow up or finish the nurous, low-HP Legion Portal Guardians off.
Instead, it made a loud, hearty laugh and began charging its way across the room, its massive feet stomping down as Zach jumped to the side, the entire encounter room rumbling as it stomped down with a mighty boom each ti. Two nearby Orcs, which were unfortunately in the boss's path, were crushed for over four million points of damage, perishing as the boss made straight for the casters, which had hit it hard enough to draw its full attention.
That's what I get for not having any tank cards.
Across from him, Zach saw that the other group of cards was faring a great deal better. The large, sabertoothed cat was wildly striking out with its claws, and although it had killed about four of the Orcs, it did not seem able to push them aside, and so the casters were "free casting" on it—at least until the cat "vomited" up that Gods-be-damned cannon it kept in its throat. Zach had almost forgotten the cat could do that. The cannon, visible within its wide-open jaw, made a bright flash, and then, with a bang, it unleashed the attack at the back row, causing an explosive blast that not only took out an entire chunk of the stone wall, but dealt over 3.5 million HP a hit and killed 4 Vixen Portal Commanders and three Acolytes of the Portal.
I'll worry about that thing later!
As the boss took off for the casters on the other end of the room, the Orcs here with Zach did manage to at least slice it with their axes on its way by, each dealing around 50k damage to it. Zach himself managed to get off one really powerful, strong slash with his Primordial Void Blade, his sword biting deeply enough into the giant's ankle that it almost stumbled; it rocked slightly to one side as it continued on its way.
So Zach pursued.
"Haha! This is fun, adventurers!" the boss's voice bood as it actually jumped into the air, flipped its body sidewise, and slamd the spear down like a mallet. A collectively huge splash of blood stained the back stone wall as damage numbers in the range of 4-5 million popped up everywhere, and now, Zach wasn't even sure how many of his healers and Vixen Portal Commanders had just died. But it was safe to say it had been quite a few of them. The fight had only just started, and already, about a third of his cards were dead.
I don't care! he shouted in his mind. There's no turning back. No roping out! I'm not fucking losing this!
Despite the intense damage his side was sustaining, the two boss mobs were at least getting just as good as they gave. Especially Kralzek who, after unleashing that massive downward-striking spear attack, finally decided to let out a few "normal" strikes, which in this case, ant targeting one card at a ti as opposed to striking out with more massive AOE spear swipes.
3,921,444
The bloodied, bladed edge of his black-and-silver spear tore right through a Vixen Portal Commander; the red-haired elite dropped her rapier and fell. But her sacrifice wasn't in vain, because now, the surviving Orcs had all surrounded the boss and were landing strike after strike. The Vixen Portal Commanders were also using lee, as they had switched to attacking directly with their frosted rapiers, as the boss had co in too close for them to continue casting their magic. And then there was Zach, who hit harder than any of them.
Leaping up into the air, Zach rose nearly to the point he reached the ceiling, and then he landed on top of the giant's right shoulder in a crouch. Standing back up, he imdiately pivoted on his hips, bent his knees, and delivered a powerful slash of his blade across the giant's throat, hitting him for 251,891 points of damage. Then he pulled his arms back and went in for a second slash, but he stopped imdiately as he noticed that the boss's entire body was beginning to spark and zap.
Must be a defense chanism against this kind of attack!
Zach dashed backwards and off, and he fell for two or three seconds before touching down on the stone. Once there, he struck out again, his blade biting into the boss's kneecap for 101,511.
HP
2,533,912/6,250,000
Na
(T4) Kralzek
Level
70
I'm doing it, he thought. I'm doing it!
He needed to keep this up. This was still doable. It was!
But things were certainly about to beco way more difficult for him as the boss shifted his grip on his spear and then held it very close to his chest with the bladed tip pointed directly upwards.
"Oh, great Gods," he said, his booming voice filling the hallway as his entire body began to take on an ethereal glow. "Grant a hunter's strength!"
Zach gritted his teeth. What was it doing? Was it casting so kind of magic? That had to be it. But what? What was it—
Don't stand in the fire!
The advice that Jimmy had called the most sacred rule of adventuring: Zach recalled it in a burst of cognition as he realized that the stone beneath his feet was now glowing in a wide arc all around the boss: one that covered almost half the encounter area. It was as though a gigantic source of light was beneath the stone, and so of it was starting to bleed through. And although it wasn't "fire," Jimmy's rule had never been ant to be taken literally to an that only physical flas should be avoided.
As Zach and the others had learned during the raid against the Mare of the Primordial Void, the "fire" could an any kind of weirdish thing that causes the ground to change color or glow, or for rings to form, or…or pretty much anything that obviously stood out and basically indicated: "hey, you really shouldn't be standing here right now!"
And so, recognizing this for what it was, Zach made an about-face and ran for his life: literally. Because that was what was on the line if he got caught in this attack. He was sure of it.
And he turned out to be right.
"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck! I'm standing in the fire. I'm standing in the—"
Zach, in a bout of desperation, bent his knees and then sprang forward, diving out of the way and narrowly avoiding the conflagration that burst into existence everywhere that the ground had just been glowing. He landed on his belly just outside of the blast radius, and then quickly rolled over onto his back and threw himself up into a sitting position.
"Shit," he growled.
The boss was surrounded by flas that were so tall that they nearly reached the ceiling. And everything within them began to suffer a trendous amount of damage: an amount that was more than enough to kill each and every one of the cards he'd ordered to attack Kralzek, which was half of all of them.
8,211,444
9,004,111
7,211,443
…
The flas vanished without even leaving behind smoke, and now, the boss ca for him. Extending its spear in Zach's direction, it dashed towards him with just two huge steps, each of which made the ground shake, and then it whipped its spear from right to left. The weapon was so huge that Zach didn't even dare attempt to block it. He simply ducked beneath it. He then jumped backwards, only for the boss to pursue.
What am I doing? he wondered, stopping himself just before taking another step away. No fucking retreating!
"You're not keeping away from Albion-4!" Zach shouted at the boss.
Rather than move away, he moved towards Kralzek, who again struck out with a normal spear attack that Zach avoided by dropping to his knees. Zach then sprang back up, hopped into the air, flipped his body forward, and slashed the boss over the top of his scalp for 206,551 points of damage before turning his body around midair and landing on his feet behind the towering boss.
But rather than turn around and attack a second ti, the boss instead bent its knees, lifted its arms, and again used its three-sixty-degree spear attack.
And this ti, Zach was unprepared for it.
It was simply too fast and too unexpected. It ca in too quickly. There was nothing he could do. In fact, by the ti he realized what was happening, it was already too late.
The bladed end of the giant's equally giant weapon made a direct, dead-on impact with Zach's chest—with full power. There was no half dodge, no "slight evasion," not even an attempt at such. Zach, remaining right where he was, had the misfortune of being caught with the full, trendous power of the AOE spear slash.
And it hurt.
A splatter of his own blood, along with pieces of his chest armor, filled his vision, as well as the sight of the boss moving farther away from him—or no, that wasn't it. It was that he was moving away from the boss, having been blasted in the opposite direction until smashing through three bronze statues and colliding with the west wall. A loud crunch followed, and Zach fell forward, his sword falling free of his fingers and landing beside him.
On his stomach, Zach struggled to breathe. The wind had been knocked out of him, he was covered in pieces of chipped stone, and the boss—it was coming for him. Fast!
But despite this predicant, and despite the agony that flared in his chest, which was currently gushing blood, Zach felt utter, pure amazent. He felt a sense of wonder beyond compare. And why? Because even after suffering such a grievous wound from such a devastating hit, he was sohow actually alive.
My armor's amazing, he thought, both laughing and wincing at the sa ti. I just took that hit, and I'm not dead. That's incredible. So glad I chose the plate.
Celebrations aside, he really needed a rejuvenation stone or he was going to die. But a stone wouldn't be fast enough: not when the boss was about to be on him. Thankfully, he had sothing else in mind. It was ti to use the ability on his new plate leggings: Revitalizing Wind. And true to its na, the ability, which had a five-hour and thirty-minute cooldown ti, caused a visible green wind made of tiny green particles to roll over him before fading away.
And just like that, he was better.
Well, almost.
In this case, the ability, which restored 40% of his HP, managed to bring him to near-perfect health. This ant that the hit he'd just taken, which would eventually have led to a fatal amount of blood loss, probably only amounted to about a 60% loss of his HP; although, that was just a blind guess, as trying to ascertain the HP of a living thing was nearly impossible, as the stat was hidden and there was nothing to compare it to.
Regardless, the marvel was in the sheer speed of his recovery. It reminded him of when Grundor had been healed the day before the dragon raid, when they'd been putting the wyvern to sleep. Back then, Grundor had been half-ripped to shreds, and Kolona's heal had instantly put him back together. Anything missing just "appeared" as opposed to "regrew," and all of his wounds were gone as though they'd never been, leaving behind dried blood as the only evidence he'd ever suffered them.
That was now much the sa for Zach. He had a nasty gash that passive HP regeneration could likely handle, but much of his life-threatening wound had evaporated. All that remained was a tear in his plate armor that exposed much of his chest as well as a clump of crusty, dried blood. Thankfully, the legendary armor had not suffered a full break and would therefore repair itself over the next few minutes.
Assuming he lived that long.
Zach, only first grabbing his sword and getting back to his feet, realized that the massive hunter-giant was once more airborne with its spear slamming down where he was still half-crouched, half-standing. Had he been in Unleashed Phase, it was at this point he would've either used Phase Blink or Phase Shield. Hell, he might even try calling upon his newest ability, Phase Step. But since none of that was available to him, his only options were to either guard, dodge, or die.
I can't get out of the way! he yelled in his mind, having not even fully risen into a standing position.
Zach had no ti to think of anything. Death was upon him. And so, with a prayer to the Gods, he activated the ability on his partially damaged chest piece: Steel Guard II, which had a cooldown of 15 minutes and gave him 150 armor and 50% magic resistance for 9 seconds. Upon activation, a golden glowing ring appeared around the base of his boots, and this ring traveled very quickly up his body, over his hips, above his chest, and then to the top of his skull before disappearing, and as it did so, the buff appeared on the buffs and debuffs information screen he placed above and to his left.
Then his helm cracked, a thudding, dull ache filled his head, and he braced himself for the worst as the full weight and power of the bladed spear slamd down directly on top of him for another perfect hit.
The pain heightened, but only slightly. It felt like soone had just taken their fist or elbow and conked him right on top of the head. And yet, astoundingly, that was the extent of it. He was…he was fine. It was no worse than taking a punch to the head. And the Gods knew he'd had a few of those before.
The boss, now directly in front of him, struck out with three fast-moving but normal slashes. Zach was able to duck beneath the first, jump above the second, but the third hit him right in the belly, cracking his chest piece but still thankfully not causing it to suffer a full break.
Zach retaliated, slicing twice more into the boss's ankles and knees, hitting for 115,211 and 132,444 respectively. But even as he did, he could actually feel the buff wearing off. If he got hit again, he'd be in a very bad spot if not a dead one. The problem, however, was that he was backed into a corner: specifically, the one the mob's spinning AOE slash had blasted him into. The hole he'd left in the stone wall was close enough now that he almost accidentally fell into it as he moved backwards and away from another normal, but powerful slash of the giant spear. And like all other such slashes, each one caused a very intense burst of wind that badly put him off balance.
"Fuck," he said aloud as a thrust headed his way that he didn't think he could avoid. "I'm in serious sh—"
Level Up!
37 (36)
Constitution
4 (255)
Speed
4 (169)
XP Required for Level 38
4,222,000
Level Up!
38 (37)
Strength
3 (244)
Dexterity
3 (230)
Constitution
3 (258)
XP Required for Level 39
4,545,000
"—it?" Zach finished, confused, as the spear heading towards his face halted abruptly, and then a loud, grief-filled wailing shriek filled the air.
"My beast! My companion!" the boss cried, spinning around. "You killed him!"
Suddenly, in bold red lettering, the word " Rage" appeared above the boss, and as it faded, a large green arrow appeared above his head with " ATK" next to it, and a large red down arrow appeared beside it, and this one indicated "-DEF."
Now, the boss's feet slamd down once more as he made straight for the survivors of the other half of Zach's cards; they had apparently killed the Kralzek's Beast without his help. Zach hadn't even been aware of it, nor did he see how much XP he got, but clearly, it was enough for two levels.
Killing the saber-toothed cat probably draws its aggro, Zach thought.
He breathed a sigh of relief, but the relief was short-lived as he then picked up his sword and charged after the boss, who was hit by several fireballs, a few golden orbs, and a couple of icicles as it stord over to the remaining cards and began massacring them either one by one or in groups.
I'm not turning back, Zach thought as he began to wildly slash the boss from behind. I'm not turning back. I'm not starting over. I'M NOT TURNING BACK!
One strike after the next, Zach tore into the boss, whose HP was gradually nearing zero. Although it took significantly less damage now that it had charged the mages and the remaining Orcs, the icicle, fireball, and golden orb attacks had made another very significant dent in its remaining HP; now, it was only a matter of how much damage could still be inflicted upon it before the last of Zach's cards perished.
From the 100 he'd brought with him here, only six remained: three Orcs, two Vixens, and a healer, which was struggling in vain to keep up with the demand placed upon him. Zach's war-mount had also died, though he wasn't sure when or where.
All he could do now was slash, and slash, and slash.
HP
1,181,552/6,250,000
Na
(T4) Kralzek
Level
70
HP
522,321/6,250,000
Na
(T4) Kralzek
Level
70
Making another three-sixty-degree sweeping slash of his spear, the boss took down the last of his cards. But he was low now: very, very, low. And there was no fucking way Zach was retreating and doing this all over again. He wouldn't. He refused. Even if it ant dying right here in the tower, he was willing to risk it. He couldn't co this close to victory only to have it slip from his fingers.
The boss was a bloodied ss. Its hide armor was almost completely shredded. It had holes running through its body, face, and legs. It was scorched and burned in so many places. An eye was even missing.
No. This ended right now. Albion-4 was just ahead!
This was it.
He was ending it
Right now.
RIGHT. NOW.
Zach closed in, looking to end things, but then he jumped back as the boss made a powerful, wide-arced slashing combination consisting of three consecutive strikes. Afterwards, Zach rushed in close and swung his own blade twice, each one aid at a knee, the first hitting for 110,221, and the second hitting for 115,874. Then Zach jumped up into the air, rising until his body was just in front of the giant's face, and then he shot out both of his feet and kicked the towering, blonde-haired boss in the forehead, dealing another 4,211 damage, but more importantly, sending him flying backwards all the way across the room.
The boss began to chase right away, even as Zach was still airborne, but Zach was moving far faster than the boss was running, and he shot from one end of the place to the other like a bullet. Then, upon landing, he imdiately raised his sword, swung it downwards, and roared out, "Wave Slash!"
The spinning, solidifying clump of energy turned tallic, and then it took off towards the boss, who in its weakened, near-death state, ran directly headfirst into it. The Wave Slash cut right through its neck and even managed to tear its way through the stone on the opposite side before vanishing sowhere into the sky island, and now, Zach released a boisterous cheer as Kralzek's entire head popped off its shoulders even as its body continued to stampede its way towards Zach.
With a croak, Zach's cheer cut off, and he moved out of the way as the headless body crashed down with one final bang, kicking up stone chips and dust as the head itself landed a mont later in the middle of the room. Then the body and head both erupted into flas, which quickly consud the boss until it vanished away and left behind nothing but a few little ashes.
And a glowing, shimring, closed treasure chest that popped into existence right in the middle of the room while the sound of sliding stone revealed one final, short staircase that led up and into the rotating glass oculus of the tower.
Zach had done it. He'd actually, sohow, done it. He'd made it through all on his own. He'd really done it! This was unbelievable. Even as he panted and sheathed his blade, he just couldn't believe that he'd actually done it.
8,222,411xp
Level Up!
39 (38)
Constitution
1 (259)
Speed
1 (170)
XP Required for Level 40
5,040,000
As the glowing, shimring, gold-and-jewel-encrusted treasure chest drew his attention, Zach didn't even care about the shitty level-up. He hurried his way over to see what was inside. Kneeling before it, he undid the latches. At the sa ti, he swore to himself that, if Jimmy had sohow taken whatever was in this one, too, he was going to go on a rampage.
Here we go, he thought, opening it. He wondered if he was going to get another Kralzek's Beast mount. He hoped not. That would be a waste, as he doubted he could have two, since it was essentially an ability he called upon rather than sothing like a card.
As the chest popped open, Zach sucked air into his lungs. Because the light that shone from within was not blue, purple, or even gold: it was silver. Artifact-quality. The highest there was! The best it was even possible to get.
And there was only one item, too, from what he could see. This must've been a stingy boss.
He reached inside and grabbed sothing that was small enough to fit into the palm of his hand, yet grew in size as he removed his hand from the chest in a way that was weird and trippy. In the second it took him to pull out the item, it beca several tis larger and longer until he realized he was holding the grip of none other than the boss's black-and-silver spear.
And then sothing popped up before his eyes.
Congratulations! Title Unlocked: Legendary Treasure Hunter
(Loot an item with less than a 0.2% drop rate)
"Ohhh hell yeah!" Zach cheered as he glanced down at the spear. It looked so cool. Yeah, it was still way smaller than the one that had been trying to take his head off, but damn, it was a beautiful weapon. Naturally, he wasted no ti in pulling up its information.
Na
Kralzek's War Spear
Level
110
Rarity
Artifact
Strength
60
Dexterity
60
Constitution
60
Speed
60
Passive Ability
Attacks with this weapon generate a wind with a forcefulness that scales with dexterity. The wind deals no direct damage but can interrupt so spell casts and disrupt so projectiles.
Ability
Hunter's Mirage
Cooldown
60:00 (minutes)
Description
Summons a shadow form of the user to fight beside the user. The shadow form inherits 10% of the user's base stats and can be controlled like a pet. The shadow remains for 5:00 minutes or until killed. Explodes upon death, dealing heavy damage that scales primarily with the user's strength and slightly with the user's intelligence.
Zach was overwheld by how good this weapon was. It was phenonal. It made him hate himself internally for not being a spear-user. But maybe he could learn. To hell with the fact that he didn't really have any spear abilities. So what? He'd find a reason to take this thing out. Especially if the others were still alive. He chuckled at the idea of using a weapon just because it looked cool and would make the other adventurers jealous.
Gods, what is wrong with ? he thought. Who'd do that?
…he might.
I hope they're alive so I can show them this.
Despite losing all his cards, Zach was in an incredible mood. His armor, including his helm, had fully regrown and repaired itself, and he was ready to finally enter a Tier-2 world. This was it. This was what he'd set off to do. It had taken him almost 2 weeks, but he'd done it. Now, the only thing left for him was to continue forward.
It was ti to see what lay ahead.
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