The rest of them agreed. They repeated the sequence of doors.
U, U, D, D, L, R, L, R, B, A, Se.
Room 44
Another empty room. Frost assumed Setnana’s group must have passed through and cleared it.
“All that’s left is St.” Frost pointed.
Hoping for the best, he followed Dante through the St door. They reappeared in a long hall lit by bloomglobe chandeliers. The place reeked with the redolence of age. Ornate paintings adorned the walls. Gold and silver molding carved in a pattern of swirls joined the ceiling and walls, then repeated again in the middle of the wall and the base, running along its length all the way to two closed halves of a massive door. Protruding from each half of the door to form a complete statue was the likeness of Emperor KiGyaba, the hydra god.
Into the Maze
Objective Complete
Solved the maze before timer expired:
5000 experience points
1000 Ignis dominion credits
“That’s some great exp,” Dante said.
Gilda spoke as Frost made to agree. “But the timer hasn’t stopped.”
CHAPTER 38
Twelve minutes remained. They stood before the massive doors, the statue of Emperor KiGyaba staring down at them. Dressed in robes, the emperor had somewhat human features and carried a storm lance in one hand.
“I’m guessing the timer doesn’t stop until we kill the emperor,” Dante said.
“No doubt.” Gilda nodded. “Which coincides with Frost’s conclusion. The timer might be a big part of the reason he’s wiped everyone who faced him.”
“Let’s get to it, then,” Frost said. “Except for Sigrid, we’re all experienced here. Among the best of the best. But from the looks of things, we’re gonna really need her, so we do our best to protect her. As for the emperor, Gilda said the fight changed every time in the other alphas, so we go over what we can but still play everything by ear.”
“Why couldn’t they just make it a tank and spank after all we’ve been through to get here.” Saba huffed.
“Nothing worth doing is ever easy,” Frost said.
“We can try burn him down.” Dante hoisted his axe onto his shoulder. “I’ll grab all three, summon Warden, pop all my defensive skills, and y’all just focus fire that bitch.”
Frost smirked. “Didn’t I just say something about easiness?”
“Simple solution to a complex problem.” Dante shrugged.
“Tried and failed,” Gilda said. “The guards and the emperor are linked. As long as both guards were alive, the emperor was immune to damage. We must kill one of them.
“The good news is that the emperor doesn’t start doing massive damage until he transforms into the hydra. That’s when he used a reaver’s melee skills. Malignant Strike, Necrotic Slash, Soul Rend. That type of stuff. We got no farther than that.”
“It’s gonna have to be enough,” Frost said. “There’s only eleven minutes left. We need as much time as we can to see what he does. And as I was saying before, we’re good enough that we can wing it. Figure out the tells and patterns. Every creature has them, no matter how advanced the AI might be. We’ve all done plenty World Firsts. This is no different. We learn and adapt. Alright?” They nodded.
Frost smiled inwardly. His feelings mirrored those of his first boss fight in a VRMMO. An electric tingle. A hint of fear, yet the sense that something incredible was about to occur. Leading the group also reminded him of his days as SoC’s guildmaster.
“Dante.” Frost gestured toward the crimson marauder. “You’ll stay on the emperor. Saba, I’d venture to guess you and I might naturally have more survivability. You, because of your level. And me, because of this armor I picked up in Kituan. We’ll take the chimera guards.
“Saba, you kite yours around with your snares and traps while Gilda and I kill the one on me. Gilda, we’re gonna be counting on your DPS.”
“No doubt.” Gilda nodded once.
“Saba,” Frost continued, “we’ll kill your guard right after. Then we take care of the emperor. Sigrid focus your heals on Dante. Use your Servitors to help me and Saba. Everyone, remember to use potions to help her out.”
Frost opened his inventory. He provided them with two of each type of potion. He took a peek at his stash of vials and considered their effects.
Aether Power:
25 to aether effects
Protection:
500 armor
Agility:
10 agility
Colossus:
10 strength
Elements:
25 to elemental power
Aether Resist:
25 resistance to aether effects
Elemental Resistance:
25 resistance to all elements
Fortification:
50 health
Aether Protection:
Absorb 1000 − 2000 aether damage
Elemental Protection:
Absorb 1000 − 2000 elemental damage
“These are worth at least five additional levels in stats.” Frost handed them out, three to each person. “Keep them on your belt and pop them as soon as we engage.” He slid his vials and potions into the little pouches on his belt. “Keep a sanctification pot handy if Sigrid can’t cleanse you fast enough.”
Frost placed his hands against the great door. His heart rate sped up. Finally, it had come to this. He imagined seeing Kai and Mom when it was all done. He clung to images of them smiling.
“Remember not to stand in shit. Let’s do this.” He pushed.
The door swung inward. The group strode into a massive throne room lit by chandelier bloomglobes. Roofless colonnades lined two sides of the room but left a large space in the middle where they stood. A carpet ran down the length of the area. The exposed portions of the floor were a mosaic of red and blue stone. Curtains draped from pillar to pillar. Someone had been speaking when they entered. The room fell into a deep silence.
Dressed in sleeveless gold robes, Emperor KiGyaba sat upon a huge throne. He could almost be mistaken for a human, except he had to be at least fifteen feet if he stood. His exposed arms were like muscular tree trunks. His skin was an odd mixture of metal, stone, and skin as if he were some creature in the middle of molting. To either side of him stood a chimera guard perhaps half the size of Azonoth.
“I thought the titans all got killed off,” Frost whispered.
“Apparently not,” Gilda said.
Gathered near the emperor was a group of people Frost assumed to be his court, a collection of richly dressed men and women of every race. They slowly backed away as Frost and the others strode down the central area.
“Intruders,” the emperor called out in an appropriately thunderous voice. “Treasure seekers. Kill them, my slaves.”
Small doors opened to the left and right. In rushed a zerg: a group of low-level people. Many of them were eradae whose horns had been cut off. But there were other races also. Gurashi. Gargants. Winged yurids. Dresdori. Humans. Grand korae. Dvergar. Asrai. Nalarr. Their voices rose in a roar.
They waved weapons as they came, but a mere look at them said they were malnourished. Emaciated. Yet, Frost knew their blades could slice him all the same.
“I know you like to keep a certain reputation and all that.” Dante’s high-pitched voice rose above the clamor. “Being all noble. But I’m not about to let a zerg cut me down. Not now. Not ever.”
“Neither am I,” Frost said. “There’s too much at stake. Besides,” he added with a smile in Gilda’s direction, “they’re most likely NPCs. Light them up. The nobles and the emperor too.”
He opened fire. The rest of the group followed his lead. Dante charged into the midst of the slaves and unleashed Cyclonic St
rike. Threatening yells soon became plaintive cries. The slaves and the nobility turned tail before the onslaught.
“You dare harm me!” KiGyaba bellowed.
He stood to his full height, swept one hand out and knocked away several nobles. He Flickered from his position to the center of the room. The chimera guards galloped after him.
Dante Raging Rushed to meet the emperor. Sigrid followed him, hands flashing as she tossed Tears and Blood.
Frost hit the chimera guard on the left with an Aether Shot, Korbitanium Projectile, Piercer combo, the shots a streak of blue, molten fire, and deep red.
Saba picked up the guard on the right by firing Triple Barrage. She dropped a Chain Snare and led it away from the group.
Chakrams twirling as if she danced, Gilda called forth a Flame Column, flung Globes, Infernal Spears, Stalactites, and Stalagmites. The latter two exploded in Glacial Eruption, freezing the chimera guard for a few seconds and leaving the floor coated in ice. The move allowed Frost to kite the beast in a circle, keeping just out of its range while continually firing whenever an ability was ready.
His chimera guard pawed the ground. Frost stopped and braced for the impact of a charge. The crevid head bowed then pointed toward Sigrid.
“Shit!” Teeth gritted, Frost fired off Aether Shot and Concussion Blast, both to help slow the beast additionally and to return its aggro to him.
The guard ignored both skills. Gilda’s spells blasted into the guard. But the beast charged toward Sigrid. The distance between them closed.
Until an armored gargant appeared as if from thin air, directly in front of the beast. The gargant bellowed. Immediately, the guard stopped to attack the newcomer.
Mouth agape, Frost stared. It took but a few seconds to realize the gargant was Sigrid’s Bulwark Servitor. Even as the thought crossed Frost’s mind, he looked to Saba. The asrai Shaman Servitor healed her as she kited around her chimera guard. Saba avoided Flame Pillars with deft skill and still managed to get off a Paralysis Shot when the lupine head tried to Howl.
Ignoring her, Frost peppered the chimera guard before him with skill after skill. Gilda’s chakrams were blue and red blurs as she cast. Between them, they prevented the beast from using Smoke Screen or Howl. It got off a Hell Breath. The DoT it left behind burned. Frost grimaced. He and Gilda ran within range of Sigrid so she could cleanse them with Purifying Touch.
In this moment, he wished he could tell how close the chimera guard was to death. Desperation tightened his chest. The lupine head sagged, its roars became plaintive cries, but it did not stop attacking the Bulwark.
“You’re hurting my sons,” Emperor KiGyaba shouted.
He flung a hand out. Several blue motes streaked through the air to the guard attacked by Frost and Gilda. A circular beam dropped down around the beast and the Bulwark. Within seconds, the lupine head stood straight and supple. The beam faded to nothing. A misty glow emanated from the chimera guard. It howled with renewed vigor.
“Shit. He just healed it,” Frost exclaimed.
“Yeah, but what was the beam? An aura?” Gilda flung an Infernal Spear at the chimera guard. The beast barely responded when the fiery spell blasted into the lupine’s neck.
“Might have been.” Frost frowned. The mist surrounded the Bulwark also. “Sigrid,” he shouted. “Your Bulwark… is it buffed?”
A moment passed before Sigrid answered. “Yes. Imanok Aura. Increases both physical and elemental defense. One-minute duration… one moment… there… I removed it.”
The mist no longer drifted from the chimera guard. The Bulwark’s remained.
“The emperor must heal and buff the guards at a certain percentage, right when he yells it,” Frost said. “We won’t get it done like this.”
“We can try using line of sight against the emperor. He can’t see it; he can’t heal it.” Gilda pointed to three of the colonnade’s pillars that touched each other.
“Worth a shot. Sigrid,” Frost called out, “have your Bulwark drag the guard behind those pillars but position the Bulwark where you can toss it some heals.”
The Bulwark backed up to one side of the pillars, leading the guard. As the Bulwark retreated, the guard followed until the pillars hid them both. Moments later, the Bulwark’s armored back appeared at the edge of the last pillar. Only the chimera guard’s tail showed on the far side.
Frost and Gilda repositioned themselves behind the chimera guard. In the middle of firing off an Aether Shot, Frost had an idea.
“Only stun him on Charge. Servitors are immune to Blind and Silence. So Smokescreen and Howl only matters to us. We just gotta run around the pillar, out of its line of sight for those and any AOEs. And since what we do has a real effect in the game, I say we blow off that thing’s tail so we don’t have to worry about its sweep.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Gilda nodded.
They worked in tandem to prevent Charge while delivering as much damage as they could manage. Whenever they saw the smoke or flames puff from a head, they ran on the other side of the pillars. Half a minute of focus fire on the tail saw it blasted off. It flopped to the ground uselessly.
The emperor bellowed out his healing and buffing cry but could not cast the spells on a target he could not see. Frost and Gilda attacked the guard’s body. Kill the body, the head dies. Within another minute, the chimera guard collapsed.
“Seven minutes left,” Frost said the moment the creature keeled over.
Emperor KiGyaba shrieked. The cry echoed throughout the throne room even as the ground and roof shook. Debris and dust fell. Nobles and slaves screamed. Whatever the ability, it stunned Frost and his group.
“You have killed my son,” Emperor KiGyaba’s voice boomed. “Now, you shall pay. Feel the true wrath of the Void Legion’s First General.”
The titan flung his hands up. Glowing azure mist seeped from the ground, coiled around his legs, and climbed up his body. Ebony and silver void energy crackled around him. His skin fell away in chunks. His body swelled. The mist enveloped him, a boiling cloud flickering with vibrant black, azure, and silver hues.
The cloud exploded. Wind from it whipped at Frost and the others.
In place of the titan was a thirty-foot scaled humanoid torso. But it’s face, chest, and arms were the only things remotely human. The rest of the body was that of a gargantuan reptile, its scales tan and green. Where there should have been one tail, the body split into a dozen, each one with a serpentine head. Their maws were large enough to swallow a man in one gulp.
The stun expired.
“Sigrid,” Frost yelled. “Put the Bulwark on Saba’s chimera.” He did not look to see if she did. He had faith she would.
Dante Raging Rushed into the emperor’s body. The snake heads whipped and coiled in an agitated hissing mass. Dante Soul Screamed. He turned the emperor until Frost and the others were staring at the backs of a dozen hydra heads. Half the snakes twisted to face them, long forked tongues licking out.
“He hurts like hell,” Dante shouted while Sigrid worked feverishly to keep him healed. “He started to hit harder each time he shouted about his sons. I don’t think you should kill the other one. Might enrage him.”
He grunted then continued. “Deal with those heads. I can handle his Necrotic Slashes and other melee skills by way of Shout, Bellow, Siphon Armor, and Reaping Blow, combined with Sigrid’s heals and purifying. But those heads are constantly hitting me and spitting shit on me. I won’t last much longer like this.”
“You heard the man,” Frost said. “Attack the hydras. Start with the one on the left. Sigrid, have your Bulwark and Shaman take the guard behind those pillars again. That way we don’t have to worry about anything it does.”
They spread out and concentrated their abilities on the heads. Frost shifted at an angle that would allow him to use Piercer to its fu
ll effect, the red pulse striking several heads with one shot. Every so often, a snake head would dart at them. They avoided the attacks by way of dives, leaps, Flickers, and Streaks. Some snakes spat green liquid. A splash of it landed on Frost’s arm. It burned through his armor.
“Remember not to stand in the shit, people,” Frost said.
“Dante,” Gilda called out. “At your feet, the hydra spit is poisonous or acidic. Maybe both.”
But Dante had already moved away. The green puddles bubbled. Dante continued to shift whenever the spit landed near him. Soon enough he was dancing among puddles, weaving one way and then the next, making sure he did not stand in shit. Whenever the goo splashed on Dante, Sigrid purified him before the first tick of damage.
The first hydra head flopped to the side.
“We are immortal!” Emperor KiGyaba screamed in triumph.
A white glow emanated from the central snake head. The dead one writhed. Then it rose, swaying from side to side, and begun its attacks anew.
“The center one,” Frost ordered. “Kill the center one first.”
He marked the target with Deadeye’s red beam, then opened with Aether Shot, followed by Divergence, and Aether Bomb. When the Aether Bomb exploded, most of the snake heads hissed and writhed, often twisting and spinning.
“Some heads can be staggered,” Frost instructed. “While we’re killing the center one, stun any of the others that you can. If another attempts to revive the center one when it dies, we gotta stun that one.”
Gilda triggered Glacial Eruption. Ice exploded among the snake heads. All but two were frozen. The freeze lasted eight seconds, enough to alleviate some of the damage Dante was taking.
“Come here, slave!” bellowed the emperor.
An erada woman stepped forward from among the people who were still cowering by the throne. She ran toward the emperor. A snake head snatched her up.
“Your soul is mine!”
The snake swallowed the erada.
A moment later, the emperor paused. He raised one hand. A beam of jagged dark energy shot from his hand into Saba. The dresdor screamed and was frozen, her back arched, her mouth open in agony.
Void Legion Page 38