Then they rushed out, their many legs clicking against the stone as they came toward my position. I noticed there were only about ten of the giant, level 70 ones. Following them was a host of smaller scorpions ranging from palm-sized up to small cats. The smaller ones rapidly climbed the stone pillar they poured out of, rushing toward the ceiling.
The adults rushed at me from below, intending, no doubt, to flank the hated enemies that had hurt them so badly. I kept shooting magic arrows, killing two more giant scorpions before the others got within range of their flame magic.
But I had already planned for this eventuality. As soon as I saw the first scorpion arching back his stinger for a flaming assault, I stopped attacking. I raised a shield over my physical body, then teleported both of me to stone shelves farther away. The blue energy bubble stayed behind and was impacted by eight streams of fire. My mana bar shrank by 20 percent as the spell fought to maintain itself. I didn’t have to leave the shield behind, of course, but it was both an excellent decoy and a golden opportunity to train it to resist attacks from higher-level enemies.
I kept sending drilling arrows at the larger scorpions below, felling two more before they reached the ground beneath my new stone shelf, and I was forced to teleport away again.
There were only five of the larger monsters remaining, but the host of smaller ones had reached the ceiling and were spreading in all directions, descending several stalactites at once – all of which sported stone shelves I could use, effectively blocking them as escape routes. They were moving to prevent me from teleporting over to safety. The critters had once more proved more intelligent than their form suggested. I felled another giant scorpion as the remaining four started climbing toward me. The smaller ones reached the other shelves, covering them completely with their small bodies and climbing all over the still-active mana shield I’d left behind.
I had time for just one more round of spells before the adults reached me, and I knew from experience my shield wasn’t strong enough to completely block their stingers.
The scorpions had me surrounded.
Or so they thought.
I grinned viciously. “You’ll have to try harder than that, bitches. There’s still one more spell you haven’t seen me use.”
Namely, Direball. The nerfed spell was woefully underpowered for the larger critters, but it was more than enough to get rid of the smaller ones. My clone and I both flung the spheres of energy at the cluster of critters, blasting them to bits from the stone shelves. I’d timed the still-active bubble shield to collapse just as a direball reached it, and the swarm of scorpions fell an instant before the ball of energy blasted them apart.
I used my second instantaneous spell to teleport to one of the cleared shelves, but my clone wasn’t as lucky. A giant scorpion’s pincers hacked him apart before he could teleport away. I cut off the mana stream to let the clone dissipate instead of bleeding even more mana out of me.
Four more flame jets rushed toward my new vantage point. I waved a hand, raising another shield, and accepting the mana drain without suffering any damage. Then I resummoned my clone.
The scorpions had already lost; they just didn’t know it yet. I continued the mop-up, downing the giant creatures with concentrated volleys of drilling arrows, occasionally teleporting around to evade their flanking attempts. Another volley followed, the last giant scorpion fell, and then a direball blasted away the remaining cluster of smaller ones.
I teleported to the ground and looked around with narrowed eyes, ready to hurl magic at the tiniest movement. I saw no more enemies in the cave or inside the hollowed-out stalagmite. The area seemed secure. I was completely uninjured, and my mana pool was well over half-full. Playing it safe and planning in advance had done the trick.
I spotted a few more of the smaller scorpions drop to the ground and rush my position. I cast Shadow Hound again and ordered the four mastiffs to hunt down the stragglers.
Infernal Scorpion defeated! X 17
+13,500 XP
Level up! (X 2) You have reached Character Level 58. You have 3 ability points to allocate.
Dark Mana skill level increased to 48.
Dark Mana skill level increased to 49.
Faith skill level increased to 37.
I smiled as I read through the notifications. Fighting the higher-level scorpions was everything I’d hoped it would be, and it had been relatively easy. There was no way a normal player my level could have pulled it off. Without the deep mana reserves of a boss, any spellcaster would’ve run dry long ago, a bowman would have been hunted down, and a fighter would have been shredded to tiny pieces.
I was just two skill points away from reaching the Expert rank of Dark Mana again, then Direball would come back to full power, not to mention all the other spells under the same discipline.
“Right.”
I still had the unassigned point from my previous level up. Well, there was no uncertainty here. I was a spellcaster first and foremost. I dumped the three points into Mental and watched as my mana pool soared up to 5,600.
A mastiff rushed past me, snatching a scuttling scorpion from the ground just before it reached me. The hound crushed it in its powerful jaws, filling the silent cave with the sound of crunching chitin.
I mulled over the question. There was a good chance there were more scorpions inside the tunnels, and I didn’t feel like spending hours drilling more holes to bombard them with gas grenades. There was also a decent chance I’d cleared out most of them, but I was sure of one thing: the origin of these creatures – their queen, broodmother, or whatever – was still down there. NEO had simple rules about such creatures. The minions were always at the front while the boss stayed back as the final challenge. I had to go down there and kill it. But I wasn’t about to simply dive into the unknown.
I looked for the four mastiffs that were finishing up the few remaining scorpions. “Get down there, boys.”
The black creatures charged into the hollow stone pillar and disappeared into the underground tunnels. I waited, keeping my mind wide open to track their location. The mastiffs scouted several hollow pillars without encountering further resistance. I was starting to feel like I’d gotten the last of them when one of the mastiffs found something.
I felt a rush of powerful conflicting mana hit the mastiff and banish its shadowy substance. I also detected the location. It was not inside any of the hollowed-out stalagmites. Several tunnels converged into a single point that led directly down to a deeper hole beneath my feet. It was way too far for me to drill into which meant I had to go down there in person to fight the scorpions’ master.
The other mastiffs didn’t encounter any further resistance, confirming my theory that I’d gotten rid of them all, so venturing through the tunnels should be safe.
I tried thinking of ways to turn the situation to my advantage but came up with a blank. There were just too many unknowns. I needed more information.
There was no helping it; I had to go down there and see for myself. Worst case, if the enemy was too strong and somehow killed me, I wouldn’t actually die. Nihilator’s Sanction – a powerful, one-use-per-day boss ability – hadn’t been used yet, so I’d still be able to escape and come up with a better plan.
I winced. Controlling the shadow clone felt so natural, I’d automatically treated it as my real body.
Concentrating my awareness into my clone, I entered the hollow pillar. The darkness was deep, making me feel right at home. I approached one of the downward-leading tunnels and willed myself inside, gliding my shadow body through the embracing darkness. In less than a heartbeat, I reached a crossroad that had a
deep shaft in the middle. An ominous red glow came from inside. I shrugged and willed myself onward.
I found myself standing within an almost completely circular chamber. Lava was oozing from the walls, converging into a small stream that drained into a sunken hole.
A thin, sharp column rose from the center of the stream. It seemed familiar somehow. Looking around, I spotted nothing else. There were no scorpions, big or small.
I frowned. Something didn’t make sense. The place was empty, but my hounds had definitely been attacked and destroyed.
I moved over to the lava stream and touched the pointy tip of the pillar.
A blast of infernal energy ran through me and I suddenly found myself in my real body, sitting dumbly on the floor.
“What the hell just happened?” I asked.
“Like what?”
I followed the gesture, and my eyes widened in alarm. A large section of the ground was turning red. At least ten square meters of hard stone boiled and bubbled in front of my eyes, slowly melting downward, forming a large opening.
As a precaution, I teleported up to one of the stone shelves and kept on watching.
A giant claw, easily three meters long, erupted out of the molten hole. It was dark gray, like the ground itself, but had small rivulets of lava flowing over it like glowing red veins. A moment later, the sharp pillar emerged, going higher, revealing the gigantic chitinous head it was attached to. Another claw followed then the huge bulbous torso of a scorpion came out of the melted hole.
The queen had come out to play.
“Shadow-crap,” I muttered as I gazed down at the gigantic creature. I understood now why I didn’t see it before. It had been lying down, seamlessly blending in with the surroundings.
Analyze.
Infernal Scorpion Queen [Boss Tier 1]
Level: 95
HP: 2,536
MP: 1,609
Attributes: P:92, M:65, S:4
Skills: Lava Blast 75, Molten Poison 102, Severing Claws 102
Traits: Fireborn
Resistances: Armor 160, Fire 100%, Cold -50%, Holy -50%, Magic 25%
Description: Touched by the infernal powers of a greater demon’s horn, this previously standard fire scorpion has been transformed, absorbing the horn’s corrupting power, becoming a nightmare of fire and demonic energy.
I finally realized why the sharp pillar seemed so familiar. I looked down at my Demon Staff. When I’d first battled against the corrupted Ogre demon, one of his horns had transformed into a magical staff and dropped as loot. It seemed that somehow, the other horn had found itself a new owner. It now stuck out of the nightmarish creature’s head. A grotesque souvenir of a vanquished demon.
I don’t know, Vic, I thought back at him distractedly as I considered my odds against the giant monstrosity.
“It’s big, but I don’t think it can reach me up here, so I should be able to wear it down,” I said slowly. I raised my staff and let loose five drilling arrows.
The projectiles flew through the air and punctured the monstrosity’s armored shell. The five holes instantly oozed boiling hot blood.
Drilling arrow hit Infernal Scorpion Queen for 144 damage (192 - 25% magic resistance).
“See? I can hurt it, it’ll just take–”
The queen’s giant stinger whipped back. Acting on instinct, I teleported to another stone shelf. It was good I did because a blob of molten lava shot out of the giant creature’s stinger and completely engulfed my previous position. The shelf I had been standing on, as well as the stone pillar it was connected to, melted away.
I frowned and tightened my jaw, studying the giant creature. It was higher level than me, but I was a higher tier. Its health surpassed mine by about a thousand points, but my mana reserves were easily three times its own. I could outlast it in a ranged, mana-fueled competition. All I had to do was keep moving – teleport around while plastering it with drilling arrows. Keeping out of its reach was key. I didn’t know exactly what ‘Molten Poison’ was, but I knew I didn’t want to find out.
The queen turned to face my new location and hurled another blast of lava. This time, I cast Mana Shield before teleporting away. The lava covered my shield, and I inhaled sharply as I felt my mana pool draining rapidly from the sustained heat damage. I discharged the shield, leaving behind a nearly perfect bubble of quickly cooling lava. This was bad. I couldn’t let myself be engulfed by that thing.
The queen turned to face me and charged straight ahead, bursting through the thinner stalagmites. I teleported away and followed through with another Drilling Arrow volley, shaving off more of the monster’s sizeable health bar.
It turned and ran at me again. I repeated the pattern; teleporting away, then instantly casting another volley.
But this time, the monster was a step ahead of me. While it was still barreling toward the spot I’d just left, its stinger threw a blast of lava at my new location. Caught in the middle of casting another Drilling Arrow, I was completely unprepared for the attack.
Lava Blast hit you for 430 damage.
Debuff gained: Lava Drenched
You suffer damage every second until the lava cools off, starting at 60 points and reduced by 1 point every second.
“Ahhh!” I shouted as lava seared my skin, claiming a quarter of my health in an instant. I was completely covered in the molten rock. It hissed as it bit through my equipment and ate away my flesh. My staff and mithril vest were strong enough to resist the heat, but I could feel the other items I wore lose durability from the overwhelming attack.
I was in trouble. I needed time to think. My experience at being tortured had taught me how to handle pain, but the feeling of being cooked alive was almost too much to bear and the mithril armor I wore offered no special protection against this fiery onslaught.
Wait! I realized something. I still had my old Pyrolith Gambeson in my inventory. I quickly opened my inventory and equipped that instead of the mithril armor. The beaten leather armor was inferior to the metal one in almost every way except for one: it was coated with a layer of demon scales which made it incredibly resistant to fire.
I breathed a sigh of relief as the 50 percent fire-resistant bonus kicked in, instantly halving the damage inflicted by the lava that still flowed over me, giving my natural health regeneration a chance to catch up to some of the damage.
The scorpion queen took advantage of my momentary distraction and was already charging at me once more, bursting through the lower-hanging stalactites. The creature was tenacious and crafty, which explained why the scorpion swarm moved and fought so efficiently. And it wasn’t going to let me catch my bearings.
I cast Shadow Hound and teleported away, aiming behind a thick stalagmite at the edge of my range. I remained hidden while my mastiffs dodged around the creature, harrying it without inflicting any actual damage but buying me a few precious moments to come up with a better attack plan.
I crouched down out of sight as my mind raced. I could always escape by teleporting back to Goblin’s Gorge, but that wasn’t an option. This monster had invaded one of my settlements. It was going down, and the last thing it was going to see was my face as I snuffed out its life.
How do I do this? I wondered. I could’ve summoned my shadow again, but the scorpion queen was too intelligent. I was sure she would focus her attacks on my shadow, and lacking the armor set bonus of casting two spells at once, my clone would be an easy target. Then again, it could still be used as a good diversion.
The lava oozing over my body cooled some more, lessening the pain. I shook myself, spraying off pieces of congeale
d rock. My health ticked down a little bit more … then something clicked . I looked at my staff and grinned.
My staff’s special Castigation ability had partially unlocked. It required both my opponent and me to be below 60 percent health, at which point a stab from the staff would deliver all the harmful spells stored within it at once. It was a powerful finishing move which only required me to shave off 30 percent more of the queen’s health to make use of.
I took a moment to charge the staff with three Direball spells. They were underpowered, but exploding inside a living body generated a lot of secondary damage. I rummaged through my inventory looking for anything more that could help. I found three Babau acid flasks I didn’t recall having and readied them in my free hand.
With a clear plan, health at 60 percent, and mana at 80 percent, I started the next phase. I began by summoning my clone again and enhanced my muscles with a triple-charged Mana Infusion spell. I finished casting just as the giant scorpion killed the last of my mastiffs then both my clone and I darted out of hiding, running on opposite sides.
The scorpion instantly chased the clone while shooting another Lava Blast at me. Good.
I teleported a few meters ahead, avoiding the blast, and launched another barrage of drilling arrows, shaving off a few more percent of the queen’s HP. I kept running with my clone, trying to evade the pursuing queen, but she was faster. I could blend into the shadows to instantly traverse a great distance and escape her, but that meant she’d focus on my real body instead. I kept running with both bodies, carefully timing my attacks, dodging with a teleport then retaliating with drilling arrows.
Life Reset: Conquest (New Era Online Book 5) Page 8