I pushed Enma outward and put up a barrier around my head to protect myself from such attacks. As it was pure ether, I was sure a counter shield would suffice.
I ran at the beast and pushed off another of the downed grazlitaurs, flying straight at my target while swinging the halberd.
Damage Notification:
You have used << BASH >>.
You have used 60 Enma.
You have inflicted 744 damage to Tyranitaur.
The Bone Halberd took on a white halo just before it connected against its forehead for a second time. The barrier deflected the attack and staggered me backward, releasing a shock wave that would have knocked almost anyone over.
I landed on my feet and dodged as it swiped its front limbs at me. They were growths just like arms, but they were clumsy, long, and thick. Probably made to fight larger prey.
I rolled and got to my feet, then brought the halberd up and struck the neck, but it deflected again. Using the deflected power, I swung it in a full circle and hit the side, then back up toward the neck again.
Lana was there, running in a wide arc and right at its tail. Her eyes flared in excitement just as her sword’s glow became brighter. I rolled out of the way of another swipe and fell flat as it strafed along my leg.
Damage Notification:
You have received 119 damage from Tyranitaur.
I rolled to the side and got up again, breathing slightly heavily as Lana made contact. The tyranitaur spun around as the sword hit the back end part of the tail where it was thinnest. I rushed in and used my last free skill.
Damage Notification:
You have used << X-SLASH >>.
You have used 70 Enma.
You have inflicted 513 damage to Tyranitaur.
You have inflicted Bleed Debuff.
You have inflicted 118 Bleed damage to Tyranitaur.
The halberd got stuck in the air as I tried to swing; then it pulled back down over my head and hit the side of its neck. It passed right through the shield and left a gash in its flesh, then the halberd stopped just shy of hitting the ground and looped upwards, only to come down again from the other side, leaving a deep X carved into the scaly skin. A trickle of blood dripped from the gashes, but that was about it.
The monster’s head shot around, and its teeth snapped at me, grabbing the halberd’s tip. It jerked its head and tore the weapon from my hands. I didn’t wait for it to bite me and pulled the sword from my pouch, then closed in and started hammering the sword against its neck and right front arm to create some distance. I hurriedly pulled up a scan of the monstrosity before it had the time to lunge at me again.
Monster Scan:
NAME: Tyranitaur
RANK: 8, Zone Boss
HEALTH: 5,000/5,000
ENMA: 300
SPEED: 1.3
PHYSICAL ATTACK: 350
ENMA ATTACK: 300
DEFENSE: 300
ENMA SHIELD: 5,448/10,000
Lana darted in from the other side and sent a flurry of stabs into its chest. The tail came flying as I barely pulled the sword up to defend myself. The spike crashed into the blade and then into my chest, knocking me over.
Damage Notification:
You have received 77 damage from Tyranitaur.
A deafening boom resounded from behind me and was followed by a scorching flame that erupted from the behemoth’s neck. The head snapped up and around as it staggered on its feet. I pushed myself up and readied my sword as Lana doubled down on the same spot. Scales and chunks of flesh, skin, and bone flew in all directions.
Damage Notification:
You have used << FOCUS >>.
You have used 100 Enma.
The sword started humming and vibrating as the countdown appeared before me. Five. Four. Three…
The monster grabbed me with its oversized hand and pulled me toward its mouth. A strange sensation washed over me as I passed through the tyranitaur’s shield and somehow landed on its inside. It glared at me with two red, glowing eyes. The maw opened so wide all of me could fit with ease just as a rotten smell struck me face-first and almost caused me to hurl.
The Bone Halberd sang and ripped right into its mouth, slicing through the insides of its cheeks, and passed right through to the neck, severing the lower jaw.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 2,837 damage to Tyranitaur.
Critical hit!
“What the hell was that?” Lana yelled as she ducked to evade another tail swipe.
“I don’t know!” I shot back, trying to hold onto the sword as the monster threw me as hard as it could. All sense of direction ceased to exist as I tumbled through the sky for a good dozen yards before I hit the craggy ground. Stars lit up around me as I rolled and hit a flat piece of rock with the back of my head. The shield shattered, cushioning most of the blow, but I still felt the pain.
Damage Notification:
You have received 247 damage from Tyranitaur.
“Vik!” Lana screamed. “Are you alive?”
I groaned and rolled to the side, almost letting go of the sword.
“Barely!” I more slurred than replied. Blood slid down the back of my head as I tried to get up and suddenly felt light-headed, stumbled, and dropped to my knees.
Lana danced around the beast, evading and countering wherever she could. She probably had tremendous speed to be able to move like that, and with a weaker weapon than mine, her blows didn’t have much effect.
I got up for the… I had no idea which time it was, barely able to stand on my shaking legs. The back of my head throbbed, and I could feel blood roll down my neck and along my spine.
I checked my skills. Both were usable, but I didn’t have any Enma stored inside. I pulled a crystal from my pouch and held it clumsily with my thumbs as I tried to keep the weapon from dropping. The shield was already gone, so I didn’t need to think about defense and cracking the shield.
More Enma flooded me as I grabbed a second crystal. It steadily rose to forty… fifty… sixty. I ran at the beast as one of the two crystals disintegrated, but the second managed to bring my Enma up right to the necessary amount. The blade pulled back and angled strangely as it started glowing again.
Vibrations crawled up my skin and ended in my neck just before the blade struck the side of its head for the second and third time, obliterating it.
Damage Notification:
You have used << X-SLASH >>.
You have used 70 Enma.
You have inflicted 742 damage to Tyranitaur.
You have inflicted Bleed Debuff.
You have inflicted 152 Bleed damage to Tyranitaur.
The rest of the body stood upright for several seconds and then dropped over onto its side, pulling me down with it.
The long, thick limb dropped on top of me, pinning me down with its weight. I pushed it off and rolled out from beneath it. Lana was already there and helped pull me up to my feet just as Melina ran up to us. She put her hands to my back and used her << BANDAGE >> skill.
“That was a lucky fucking hit.” Mark laughed as he joined us. “It literally negated the shield and ripped through its mouth like it was butter, but why isn’t it dead yet?”
I nodded as both women pushed into me. My arms moved on their own and embraced both of them. I kissed Lana first and then Melina without even realizing what I’d done. Neither of them protested and just stayed there for several seconds, staring back at me, but then they eyed each other for a single heartbeat and looked away.
I got to my feet and turned to stare at the monstrosity. It still breathed shallowly, the chest rising and falling in erratic movements, but then it finally stopped and was accompanied by a chime and two pop-ups.
Notification:
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED:
Slaying a rank 8 Zone Boss.
REWARD: +30 Physical Attack, +20 Enma Attack
Notification:
HIDDEN QUEST COMPLETED:
Slay the Tyranitaur
<
br /> REWARDS FOR COMPLETION:
1. Level Up +2
2. Tyranitaur Armor Blueprint Set
NOTE: You need a rank 3 Anvil to craft Tyranitaur armor.
I quickly pulled up my stat window and checked my stats as they were now.
Status:
NAME: Viktor
AGE: 31
LEVEL: 7, REALM: 1, RANK: 5
HEALTH: 850
ENMA: 320
SPEED: 2.2
PHYSICAL ATTACK: 239
ENMA ATTACK: 164
BREAK: 70
DEFENSE: 139
ENMA SHIELD: 680
Break had gone up straight to seventy points at level seven, so it was ten points per level-up. I liked it. A lot. Turning back toward my group, I tried to put a smile on my face, but it ended up being more of a grimace.
“You guys got the same notice?” I asked as I closed my stats.
“I don’t know,” Lana replied. “I got a level. That’s it.”
“So you didn’t get the hidden quest notification?”
She shook her head. I looked over at Melina next. She shook her head as well, and so did Mark. None of them had finished the quest. It must’ve had something to do with the last hit, most likely. My “How to kill a boss?” achievement had gone up to 2/5, which meant that the last kill privilege had gone to me.
“What did you get?” Melina asked. “Anything good?”
I nodded. “I think so,” I replied and pulled the blueprints from my inventory. “A set of nine blueprints based on the tyranitaur.”
I stared down at the blueprints and read the requirements.
Blueprints:
NAME: Tyranitaur Helmet
REQUIREMENTS:
T. Scale x 10, T. Bone x 1, T. Skin x 1
Rank 2 ore x 1
NAME: Tyranitaur Pauldrons: Requirements:
T. Scale x 14, T. Bone x 2, T. Skin x 2
Rank 2 ore x 2
NAME: Tyranitaur Vambraces
REQUIREMENTS:
T. Scale x 14, T. Bone x 2, T. Skin x 2
Rank 2 ore x 2
NAME: Tyranitaur Gauntlets: Requirements:
T. Scale x 14, T. Bone x 2, T. Skin x 2
Rank 2 ore x 2
NAME: Tyranitaur Breastplate
REQUIREMENTS:
T. Scale x 35, T. Bone x 4, T. Skin x 4
Rank 3 ore x 5
NAME: Tyranitaur Tasset: Requirements:
T. Scale x 30, T. Bone x 3, T. Skin x 3
Rank 3 ore x 3
NAME: Tyranitaur Leg Guards
REQUIREMENTS:
T. Scale x 14, T. Bone x 2, T. Skin x 2
Rank 2 ore x 2
NAME: Tyranitaur Greaves: Requirements:
T. Scale x 14, T. Bone x 2, T. Skin x 2
Rank 2 ore x 2
NAME: Tyranitaur Sabatons
REQUIREMENTS:
T. Scale x 14, T. Bone x 2, T. Skin x 2
Rank 2 ore x 2
“Damn,” I muttered. “These things need a ton of ingredients if I want to make all the parts. I wonder how to even extract them.”
“How? If you focus on using the << BUTCHERY >> skill, it should allow you to see the number of items you got from the monster,” Mark said as he put his hand on my shoulder. “You sure you’re good?”
I nodded and walked over to the tyranitaur, watching the monster carefully, and then reached for my sword. Time to see what was going to happen if I used my sword to carve the bastard up.
The sword came to life, and my arms moved on their own, or at least it felt that way. Lines appeared everywhere I should cut, and I just followed instructions, slicing, hacking, and cutting. Three minutes later, I stashed the sword back into my pouch and picked the loot up.
Notification:
ITEM RECEIVED:
Tyranitaur Bone x 17
Tyranitaur Skin x 9
Tyranitaur Fang x 4
Tyranitaur Scale x 67: Tyranitaur Core x 1
Tyranitaur Tail Spike x 1
Six stacks of items sat neatly organized in my inventory, begging for me to use them. Only in this case, it would be Donald using them.
“What… did you just do?” Mark asked.
All three of them looked at me strangely, but he had the worst expression on his face.
“Carved it into ingredients? They’re sitting in my pouch right now.”
“You’re serious?” Melina asked. “You’re not shitting us?”
“No, why would I? Come on, I want to hand them to Donald so he can make me some new armor.”
I scrolled through the blueprints and stared at my inventory. I already had a couple of things, but considering how strong the weapons made here were, I wanted to risk it and start off with the Tyranitaur Tasset.
“What are you up to?” Melina asked as she leaned into me, almost as if trying to peep at what I was doing.
“I’m going to make my first armor from the tyranitaur remains. Or I’m going to make Donald do it, more precisely.”
“Oh? Alright,” she replied and put her arm under mine as we started walking. Lana and Mark went ahead as we slowly strolled after them.
“We’ll need to work on your cultivation. I’ve got a lot of crystals to do it with.”
“Yeah, I’ll commit to getting up there to rank three today, alright?”
“Thanks,” I whispered and kissed her cheek. “If you can hold out, great. If not, that’s good too. Don’t worry.”
We found Donald working at the anvil, tinkering with some tools. The girls and Mark were gone as I sat next to the man and handed him the first blueprint and ingredients. He looked up at me and shook his head.
“This is going to take six hours.”
“Six hours?” I hissed and then caught myself. “Really?”
He nodded. “Really. You might as well go rest or do something else.”
I sighed and took my leave, then decided on taking a bath, but the girls were already inside the wooden tub. They looked up at me as I approached and sat next to them, but on the outside ring of the platform.
“You gonna be long?” I asked, meeting their eyes first before I looked down at their bare chests. Neither of them looked nervous or annoyed by the other’s presence, or even mine, if I had to make a guess.
“Depends on you,” Melina replied. “If you get in right away, we’ll be done faster.”
“Wait. I thought you weren’t going to do anything when we were together,” Lana protested.
“And we’re not, Lana. I just want to help Vik relax and do his back.”
“Yeah, I guess he earned it and all,” Lana muttered. “Shit, I never thought I’d find myself in such a situation. My man and another woman in a bath together with me. Shit.”
“Shit indeed,” I whispered. “Wait. I didn’t mean that in a bad way.”
“Hey, I’m not one to judge.” Melina chuckled. “Sure, I’m not into women, but I’m not that shy about my body either. You should know that by now.”
“Whatever,” Lana muttered again. “Want me to do your front?”
“If you want to.”
“Of course I want to, Vik. I’m your… wife.”
“I know, but how about this? Who will do your fronts?”
Both slapped me playfully. I splashed some water in their faces, and Melina let out a scream.
“Not my makeup!”
“And mine!” Lana added hurriedly as she rubbed her eyes. “Vik!”
“I’ll just have to watch you two put on new makeup once you’re done.”
“How about you get in and turn your back to me, husband,” Melina said, pulling at my hand. Technically she wasn’t that wrong, as I’d proposed to her the first day.
“Be gentle, alright? I’m all bruised and battered.”
“Pfft, come on! I healed you out there, Vik!”
“Oh, but you haven’t healed my insides. My heart aches.”
“For what? Time alone with Melina?” Lana snapped.
“No, for s
ome good food and booze. Just the three of us doing nothing but hanging out.”
“Rita!” Melina yelled. “Rita! We’re in the bathhouse!”
I rolled my eyes as she screamed her lungs out. The poor woman came running several seconds later as if she’d been waiting outside.
“What is it?” she asked, gasping for air. “I was passing nearby when I heard you scream.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Melina apologized. “Can you prepare us a tray with cold cuts and some cold booze? We want to have some time for the three of us.”
“By God, woman, you scared me to death!” Rita hissed. “Scream less next time, alright?”
“Sorry, Rita. She got carried away,” I apologized. “But please, can you roast some meat as well before you bring it up?”
“To the balcony?” she asked as her hands pressed down on her hips.
The red summer dress floated around her body as she moved, and her long red ponytail hung across her chest.
“Yes, please.”
“Sure thing, Viktor. Give me half an hour, alright?”
She didn’t wait for me to give her a reply and instead stormed out, sliding the door closed behind her. The room plunged into semidarkness, with only the two lanterns providing some light.
“I want to check the tower,” I said, breaking the silence. “I want to see the state outside.”
“Once the seven days have passed?” Melina asked as she stopped scrubbing my back.
She dug her nails into my skin, but only slightly. I loved the feeling of her nails scraping along my back, sending shivers up and down my spine. She noticed as I moved, and leaned in, kissing my cheek.
“Yeah, once the gate is open. We need to know how we stand with the outside world, mostly with the two other powers who closed the rifts.”
“We could stumble across Sandro in that case?” Melina whispered.
Crafting Death: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 2) Page 10