Unbound Deathlord: Challenge
Page 34
All over the third floor, there were cobwebs and eggs. Loot was still loot and we opened the cobwebs to get the gabats' hides.
The floor was huge, almost double the size of the second one, and each of the chambers had multiple exits in them. It was a damn maze.
I found that Daggers could navigate it very easily, while Eternal and I were lost after the fifth chamber. As we worked our way through the floor, even the ground and walls began to have webs on them.
Fire of Revelation.
I taught Eternal how to 'burn' the webs away and helped him with it.
We ended up before a big archway with huge double doors slightly ajar. They were black and covered by crude white paintings of gabats and other animals, like some prehistoric paintings.
As slowly as possible, crouched as low as my body allowed, I entered the door, followed by Daggers. What I saw took my non-existent breath away.
The room beyond was a big cave chamber. To one side there were about ten forges with the fire lit, but no one was working them; there were lots of raw minerals next to it too. On the opposite wall there were hundreds, thousands, of swords in metal racks, greatswords and longswords. Hundreds of sets of chainmail were next to the swords.
But what impressed me the most was the ceiling: it was entirely covered by gabats. They were all upside down, all looking down. So many I couldn't even count.
I guess that's the cat explanation for this cave, huh?
On the far side of the room, sitting on a big throne of metal, with four big metal shields on the wall right behind it, was a gabat. It had a helmet without visor on and a plate armor covered its whole body, except the wings.
Before it stood the five gabats with four swords and scale armor that we had seen on the plantations. All of them had their four swords in their hands, most of the blades covered in white and yellow goo, just like that which was spattered across the floor.
On the wall behind the throne, about ten meters above it, something stood out: a deformed gabat. It had lost its bat legs, replaced by black scaled spider legs. The scales covered most of its body and its face was almost completely covered by wolf's eyes. A greatsword had pierced its body and was pinning it to the wall.
Beside it, also pinned on the walls by greatswords, were almost twenty ghouls, all of them somehow alive and moaning.
"Vampire come challenge?" The gabat on the throne, which I guessed would be the king, asked. It was weird seeing words leaving a wolf's mouth and the way it spoke was more a growl than speech.
Good to see the illusion ring was working. "Yes, I'm all about challenges. Smart dog, guessing that."
It growled shortly. "I no dog, I king gabat. Fight, leave. You choice."
"Well, how does the fight works? Do I have to fight all of you?"
"Fight one to one. Two to two. Fair fight."
"I see." I extinguished the flame I had used on the webs and created a fourth fire morb instead. "In that case, we would love to challenge you."
The door behind us closed with a big boom.
It was actually advantageous for us that the vampire had stood outside.
"Fight!" As soon as the king's words left its mouth, two gabats – I guessed they were queens – ran to us.
I threw four fireballs at the queen on the left, who was coming at me. It tried to dodge, but I redirected them and all four hit its head.
Critical damage for 2.0X damage!
172 damage dealt to Queen Gabat
Four times the message appeared. Meanwhile, Daggers was running to the other gabat and they were close to engaging.
I held my ground, creating more fire morbs. When the first one appeared, I fireballed the queen again. This time, the beast didn't try to dodge but used a long sword to cut the spell in the air. When I threw the second fireball, one second later, I moved it in the air a few times, changing its path, until the queen missed the sword attack on it and got a fireball in the face.
Daggers had engaged her queen. Surprisingly, the fight was not as one sided as I was used to seeing. The gabat's swords grazed Daggers multiple times and the only time I saw her successfully connect her daggers on it was when she used the shadow thing and moved hella fast.
On my end, I had time for a single extra fireball before I had to fight at close range. I decided on going to the forges and running around it. Hopefully, the queen had a brain like a dog's.
I shouldn't have worried. My morb formed, my fireball flew and the moment it hit the queen's face it fell with a loud thud.
A thousand and thirty-two HP. Scary. I didn't stop creating morbs.
Daggers was struggling a little too much for comfort. Between grazes, her life had gone down by forty HP already. I was about to throw a fireball on the gabat she was fighting when the king's voice interrupted me.
"One to one! You fight unfair! You," he pointed at a queen, "kill he. No be fair in it."
It obeyed, doing something very unfair: opening its huge wings and getting to the air. Shit. I threw the fireball at it instead, but it maneuvered ridiculously fast and I missed.
I didn't have time for an extra fireball; I ran for the forges. The queen turned in the air and followed suit. I wasn't nearly fast enough.
79 piercing damage received
79 piercing damage received
79 piercing damage received
79 piercing damage received
HP: 4 / 320
I screamed as I felt four swords pierce my back. The pain was so sharp that made me remember the prison explosion.
The shirt. The cotton shirt with its +1 defense, together with the jerkin's +20, had saved me. I barely believed it. It wasn't time to think about how lucky I was, though.
The gabat flew a long way ahead after hitting me. Enough for me to create a death morb and heal myself for eighty HP. Then it turned and flew my direction again.
She said mid-air, in the middle of some elaborate acrobatic move.
I kept running full speed ahead. Each second seemed like forever. Was Daggers looking? Did she miss the timing? I could still feel some pain in my back and was not interested in feeling it again. Especially taking into account I would die this time.
I let my body fall on the floor. I felt the swords touch my jerkin, but no damage nor pain. Still on the ground, but getting up as fast as I could, I looked up and threw a fireball.
86 fire + 12 burn damage dealt to Queen Gabat (98 total)
HP: 934 / 1032 <?>
It flew true to the gabat's wing and for the first time since ever I dealt the extra burn damage; the wing got a nice hole in it. The queen whimpered in pain and fell to the ground; I was already running to it.
I ignored her.
Heh. It's High Lady Renno all over again. I thought as I jumped on the fallen gabat.
Big mistake. The queen rolled to its back and pointed four swords at me. I was going to die.
Except I had Daggers. She jumped at me when I was centimeters from the blades and we both ended rolling on the ground
.
Shit. Getting up as fast as I could, I went back to my original plan. The queen was fast in flight, but a lousy runner. To the forges it was.
I checked Daggers fight. Her queen had lost only about four hundred HP, while Daggers stamina was at the eighties. She was going to lose. And even if I killed my queen I would not be able to help, else another one would come.
One problem at a time.
As soon as I got to the first forge's furnace, I almost breathed in relief. The furnace was even big enough for me to create fireballs and throw at the queen.
"You coward! Fight fair!" The king bellowed.
"Fair! What do you know about fair?!" I threw a fireball and ran around the furnace. "I didn't know I couldn't help my friend but instead of telling me that, you ordered me killed while I was unprepared!" I got distant enough that I could create another fire morb. "You are a goddamn cheater!" Another fireball flew to the queen.
"I no cheater!" It was furious. "Kill he fast!"
As if the order made it smart, the queen jumped onto the furnace to cut the distance between us. Damn.
After four critical fireballs, there were two hundred and forty-six estimate HP left to kill it. I ran at Daggers direction.
Since she didn't reply, I had to believe she was going to do it. As I closed the distance, she used her shadow thing not to attack, but to get away from her opponent and closer to me.
My queen tried to jump using Daggers the same way I did, but she dodged. Instinctively, the gabat tried to use its wings, but the hole I had put there earlier made the beast fall clumsily on the floor, barely standing. The loss of momentum was enough; I had time to throw two fireballs at it.
The queen died. I turned to the king and raised my hands.
"I'll not cheat! I'll not help! Please!"
"She cheat! She help you!"
"What are you talking about? I was running and she got in the way, so I jumped on her. But I didn't attack her gabat!"
"She not let queen jump she."
"Of course not, what if the queen attacked her? Beyond that, she is still fighting! Staying still for your queen to use her would be stupid!"
It sniffed. "You cheat. But destiny spirit say I be fair king. You go back door. Wait."
"Can I heal myself? And prepare for the next fight?"
"Yes. And no help."
After a deep, relieved breath, I obeyed.
Daggers had fifty stamina left and her queen still had only suffered three hundred and eighty-seven damage.
Watching without distraction, I understood the problem: they had about the same speed. Daggers could dodge most of the time and even parry with her daggers, but it wasn't enough. The girl who had humiliated me and Eternal now couldn't even kill a single enemy, of which I had already killed two.
Well, to be fair, she had helped in the last bit. And saved my life. Twice. Damn, I owe her again.
What did I know about Daggers' fighting style? She was fast. That was all. If her speed was enough, she would destroy her opponent, but if not, she would have a single attack, the shadow thing, and have to hope it was enough.
Even though we had used her that way, she was no front-line fighter. Her damage was also ridiculously low, forty-three damage each dagger, after some attribute level ups.
How could I help her deal more than six hundred damage without the king deciding I had cheated and ordering me killed?
Well, that lead to another question: what did I know about the king?
It had low intelligence and fanaticism for fairness; apparently the destiny spirits manipulated everyone this damn world.
That gave me an idea. I was still far away from the door, walking there at a normal pace.
I kept walking.
Turning back to the king, I raised my hands again. "I will heal myself! Not helping!" I purposefully closed my eyes and began to create a death morb.
I braced for impact. If the gabat decided to go over the king's order and attack me, I'd be in a lot of pain.
"No! You out way!" The king yelled.
Opening my eyes, I saw Daggers jumping over me.
"What?" I turned to the gabat. "The queen is cheating! The queen is attacking me! Kill her too!"
"No! Out way, idiot!" The king stood from his throne and motioned me over. It was too late. Seeing me between it and its prey, then hearing me speaking of cheating, was enough for the queen to hesitate and look at the king.
Daggers used it. Like I did to her, she jumped by using me as a stepping stone. The queen tried to turn back, but it was too late; Daggers got to its head, her legs closing around its neck and the daggers hitting the eyes. Repeatedly.
The gabat growled in fury, and pain, as blood flew from its ruined eyes covering Daggers' weapons and clothes. She kept going. Even as the queen died and fell, she kept hitting it. When the body finally fell to the floor, she leapt into a twirl and landed gracefully covered in red.
It didn't last long, though. The cloak absorbed the blood quickly and she hid her daggers inside it. It was as if nothing had ever happened.
Damn impressive. I want a Blackguard's cloak.
"You cheat again! You help her!" The king was in a rage.
"You are the cheater! The queen was about to attack me! When it was the other way around, you ordered me dead!"
"You get way!"
"I was obeying your order! You told me to get to the door, didn't you? I was getting there!"
"You stop!"
"I told you I was healing myself! I asked before if I could heal myself and you said I could!"
"Not there! On door!"
"Well, you didn't tell me that, did you? Anyways, it was all your queen's ploy!"
"No! You cheat!"
"What? How? I almost didn't see it coming! You gabats are too smart!"
I never knew a wolf head could frown. "What?"
"Yeah! You saw how your queen was winning the fight, didn't you? She..." I decided it would be better not to treat them as the beats they were. "...was too strong. You gabats are strong. She was pressing Daggers, but she thought she could kill me before. You ordered me dead, didn't you?"
"I do."
"Yeah, she was too obedient and smart. You are really a great king to make them so obedient. So, she forced Daggers – that's my friend's name – back until
she could kill me too, for you. It was just your fairness that made her not do that. You are too fair for that."
It knew I was bullshitting it somewhat, but it was not smart enough to see how. It was as if the king was me and I was a drow.
"I be."
"Yeah. So, for fairness, now you let me and Daggers rest and heal, right? Only then we fight more. For the fairness of the destiny spirit."
It didn't answer.
"You know you are going to win anyway. A king as strong and smart as you can't lose to us. Let's just be fair and have some fun. I bet you have a lot of fun killing things."
"I no bet. I do fun. Rest."
I bowed slightly. "Thank you, fair king."
We both started walking to the door.
"Silver tongue," she whispered.
"Stop it!" I whispered back.
"Silence! Wait silence!" The king yelled.
She put a hand into her hood's opening and left only a finger out of the shadows, at mouth's height. Like a tongue.
What is she, seven?