But I had another idea. “Everyone, back to formation at this very spot don’t spread around,” They quickly complied. “Good. now, strap on, we’re going fishing,” I grinned seeing their incomprehension. “Just stand there, I’ll see if there are any more of them and draw them to you, then you can attack it with your spears.”
My Mana Shield was still active, so I slowly started to walk deeper into the chamber, away from the others. After I walked another 6 or 7 meters, another dark mass dropped on me from the ceiling.
Shadow Touched Cave Hugger hit Mana Shield for 22 damage. 19 mana drain
This time, the monster encountered my shield which repelled its attack and it slid away toward the ground as its blanket-like body couldn’t hold onto the shield. Unable to physically reach me, the thing quickly assumed its octopus-tent shape and started gaining on me quickly, using his spidery bone-like legs. I was in no real danger, and could’ve dispatched it easily. But I wanted to make the party practice group combat, so instead of attacking, I withdrew from the Hugger and went back to my group. Vrick moved to the side, allowing me to pass back to my place and then closed the gap while presenting his shield toward the approaching monster.
The Hugger was still aggroing me. It tried using its size to walk over the spearhead goblins, but Vrick quickly dissuaded him from that notion, performing a spear Lunge, he skewered the Hugger from end to end, drawing all the aggro onto himself.
The hugger attacked back, clawing at him with two of his legs, but Vrick managed to absorb both on his shield and only sustained minor injuries as his armor resisted the brunt of the damage. The hugger was an intimidating monster if it caught you unaware, but in a face to face melee, we had the advantage. Even without my help, the lower level goblins could handle this monster on their own, so I let them do just that.
The warriors kept stabbing at the creature, slowly shredding it to pieces, while Bek switched between healing Vrick, to casting Drilling Arrow on the hugger and then to Drain its mana to refuel.
That was actually not a bad idea. I didn’t want to attack the creature so my warriors could train their combat skill as much as possible, but I could've still drained him.
I cast drain on the Hugger, getting 18MP, and then I analyzed it.
Shadow Touched Cave Hugger
Level: 7
HP: 46/58
Resistance: mental 100%
I let them continue the fight. It took them nearly two more minutes until one of the warriors finally landed a killing blow on the creature. I quickly looted that one as well, taking his bones and leather, sadly no gallbladder this time.
We repeated this tactic again and again. I managed to lure in 3 more huggers and we quickly dispatched them in the same fashion. I added all the bones and leathers to my inventory, as well as one more gallbladder.
After killing the 5 huggers, it seemed that we cleared the cave. Aside from mushrooms, there was nothing else of interest left.
“Well?” I asked him, “Found anything useful”.
The creature turned toward my general direction and then screeched, “eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!”
“Ouch!” I cried. All of the party members, including me, immediately covered their ears.
The creature fell back to the ground, as Vic oozed out of him, crawling back toward my shoulders.
“Found anything useful?”
“Alright Vic, thanks for the info. Let’s continue.” I told my party, and, resuming our careful march, we went back into the tunnel.
We continued down the tunnel, following it for a few more dozen meters, when it finally ended with another opening, another chamber.
We could immediately see from the tunnel that the center of the chamber had a small mound of white rocks. The mound was softly glowing, dispelling some of the darkness around it, but in no way illuminating the rest of the chamber. In fact, I couldn’t see the chamber’s walls at all. It was as if the area around the mound was oozing blackness that had tried to reach the pile, but failed as its glow battled the darkness.
“Be ready for anything” I cautioned my group, and we slowly entered the chamber, still maintaining our formation.
As soon as we moved past the tunnels, the walls around us appeared to be covered by the same weird oozing darkness. As we walked further in, the tunnel entrance seemed small and far away, as it was almost completely hidden by the darkness. Something was definitely off in here. I was reminded of my vision all of the sudden,
We moved closer to the central mound. As we got closer I suddenly realized that the small chunks littering the pile were not rocks. The pile was comprised of white bones, which glowed in the darkness.
As soon as the realization came to me, a terrible snarl suddenly sounded right to the side of us, coming from the impenetrable darkness. Slowly, as if the darkness had a substance of its own, a shape began to emerge from it. Like a butterfly fighting to get out of a cocoon, a monster appeared in front of us, slowly emerging from the darkness and taking a shape of its own. First, a large muzzle full of sharp teeth appeared, then the head and a neck of a large canine, and finally the body. In front us stood a large hound-like creature that seemed to be composed primarily of darkness, while a thin rock-like material outlined its frame. A beast of stone and shadows. I Analyzed it.
Shadow Touched Mastiff
level 15
HP: 120
Resistance: magic 50%
I cursed. That magic resistance probably meant that this thing was impervious to my special abilities.
“Keep in formation” I ordered my goblins, “Vrick concentrate on defense, that thing can probably kill any of us in a bite or two”.
It had fewer hit points than was suggested by its level, which worried me. It usually meant that such creatures had magical abilities as well, this was no simple mob.
I started casting an empowered Drilling Arrow, just as the beast rose its head and howled. Vibrating resonating shards of shadows and sounds swept through us all, breaking my concentration and ruining my spell. The howl also had another nasty surprise.
Shaken debuff: -20% to speed and concentration
I cursed and started casting the spell again, unempowered, to minimize the chance that thing would interrupt me again. I felt the discord of the sounds still reverberating in the air around me, but it didn't prevent me from completing the spell and hitting the beast with 2 Drilling arrows.
Drilling Arrows hit Shadow-Touched Mastiff for 15 damage ([14+12) * 50%-20%SR)
The two warriors and Vrick closed in on the mastiff, Vrick protecting their front with the shield, while the warriors darted forward at his sides and thrust their spears into the beast’s shadowy flesh.
It seemed as if the monster barely registered their attack as wispy tendrils of shadow whiffed away into nothingness as the spears pierced its body. The beast hardly seemed to notice. Easily twice their height, it lunged forward at them. It was Vrick’s turn now, he executed a perfect block, just as we had practiced, stepping forward to intercept the attack and to shield his fellow goblins. The beast’s maw crunched down on either side of the shield, bending it slightly with a loud metallic screeching sound, then it lifted its head, pulling up the shield along with Vrick’s entire
body and shook its head savagely, jolting poor Vrick with such a tremendous force, that his teeth chattered. Then, opening its mouth it let go of the shield, launching Vrick a few meters away toward the pile of bones. Vrick landed with a crushing impact, as some of his ribs were audibly broken.
“Everyone! Form a circle around Vrick!” I ordered and quickly moved to follow my own command. The warriors and I moved closer to the pile, forming a line that blocked the beast from reaching Vrick again, shielding him as he shielded us, while Bek was busily casting heals on him.
The beast pawed around us, moving from side to side as if trying to figure out how best to approach us. This was weird, it didn’t seem to care about strategy when it attacked before. Why was it being careful now?
I looked behind me to the bone pile. Was the monster afraid of it? I picked up a small glowing bone and waved it threateningly. The beast definitely flinched at my motion and growled back at me in response. For some reason, it was afraid of the bones!
I hurled the bone at it. The bone hit it on the side and with a slight snapping sound, the bone glow was extinguished and it fell to the floor.
The part of the beast’s body that was struck by the bone seemed torn as if it had taken a chunk off its flesh. But as I was looking at it, the shadowy flesh was slowly forming back together. Tendrils of shadow were connecting and sealing the wound in a few seconds. Damn, that was not enough! That thing had an insane regeneration rate. There was no escaping a simple truth: it was too strong for us.
The Mastiff seemed to realize that as well, as it suddenly charged forward, straight at me, the unwillingly reinstated tank.
My shield was already up, but the beast didn’t care. It's huge darkness-made maw suddenly elongated and he actually managed to bite down on the shield! I stared in dread at the awful dark jaws with the gleaming white teeth, just a few centimeters away from my face. The shield was blazing as it resisted the bite while draining more and more mana out of me, as the beast maintained the pressure of the bite and even managed to close its mouth a little bit more on the shield!
Shadow Touched Mastiff hit Mana Shield for 42 damage. 36 mana drain
Shadow Touched Mastiff bite Mana Shield for 46 damage. 39 mana drain
Suddenly his teeth pierced through the shield. Big scary dagger-like fangs, hovering in the air, almost touching my face. The thin force of mana that was my shield was all that stopped the maw from closing down completely.
I have to do something! I thought in desperation, and launched another Drilling Arrow at it, for another 14 damage. The Mastiff ignored my arrows, as the wounds they caused quickly reformed, and continued biting down on my shield, his maw elongating even more to completely hold the bubble in its mouth.
Shadow Touched Mastiff bite Mana Shield for 48 damage. 41 mana drain
Shadow Touched Mastiff bite Mana Shield for 53 damage. 44 mana drain, you take 5 damage
My mana was running out fast, I had less than 30% MP remaining, and that last bite managed to reach me as a few teeth painfully and slowly lodged into my arm. A few more seconds and the shield would collapse and that beast will have us all! My goblins were furiously trying to hit it with their spears on the sides, but the beast simply ignored their effort, preferring to deal with me first.
I looked around in desperation, there were still some more glowing bones around me, but though they seemed more effective than our other weapons, they still only wounded it for a short period. Transfixed, I stared at the open mouth in front of me, which threatened to clump down and tear me apart. No! I tore my eyes away from the paralyzing visage. I am Oren! I am one of the strongest players in the game! No stupid 15 level mob will kill me that easily! I had an idea, it was dangerous but daring. I bent down slightly, my fingers reaching another bone on the ground and grasped it firmly. I raised the dimly glowing bone, pointed it directly at the throat of the beast and deactivated my shield.
No barrier to stop it, the maw immediately snapped down on me, enveloping my body almost completely. Sharp teeth pierced my fragile armor and delicate goblin body. But I ignored all of those, and as the teeth sunk in, I thrust the bone forward, stabbing the bastard directly into its throat with the glowing bone, lodging it deeply.
Shadow Touched Mastiff bite you for 60 damage
Glowing Bone hit Shadow-Touched Mastiff for 64 damage [X4 crit, X2 vulnerability]
The Mastiff immediately opened its mouth, releasing it, and instantly reshaped it back to normal proportions. Whimpering it jumped back away from me, its throat half torn and oozing darkness. It pawed at its throat with it front legs, until he managed to hit the bone, snapping it in two and then regurgitated it out.
It was still wreathing on the ground oozing shadow, but it was clear that the otherwise fatal wound wouldn’t be enough. The oozing was already slowing down and new tendrils of shadows begun to form, closing its terrible wound.
Vic exclaimed in my mind.
Then he flowed from my shoulders again, his fluid-like body oozed into the giant bone pile, seeping in between the bones. I really hoped he didn’t simply use us as decoys to escape.
It didn’t matter, I had to trust him and buy us some time. “Everyone, grab some bones, and throw them at this thing!” I commanded, bending down myself to pick up another dimly glowing bone and threw it, scoring another hit.
We bombarded the creature with a hail of glowing bone shards, but despite our best efforts, the bones made poor projectiles and its regeneration ability was too powerful. It took less than a minute for the throat to be fully formed again and then the Mastiff stood up, shaking his fur from all the bone shards that hit him and growled menacingly at us. The few new wounds we managed to inflict on it quickly sealed. Its body reformed anew. We were screwed.
The beast advanced on us, it pranced, and prepared to jump, taking no heed now of the proximity of the bone pile. I guessed it realized that though the light was irritating, it couldn’t really stop him. Choosing not to launch any more Drilling Arrow at it to conserve my mana, I activated Mana Shield again and waited for the inevitable.
The beast lunged in the air, just as the bone pile behind us exploded outward.
A skeleton glowing in a bright white light burst out from the bone pile, raining bone shards in a wide arc all around us. The skeleton was about 2 meters tall, its eyes glowed purple and in its boney glowing hands it held a gigantic, incandescently blazing sword, which was almost longer than he was tall.
The skeleton intercepted the Mastiff mid-jump, swinging the white glowing sword in a wide arc that struck its body, biting deep into the creature's flesh, almost cutting him in half.
“Vic?” I asked in astonishment.
The skeleton’s skull momentarily swung to face me, then gave me a bone-chilling grin, it's inner mouth glowing with the same purple light as its eyes, as it answered in Vic’s jubilant voice, “Hey Boss! Give me a minute, will ya?
Vic’s skeleton body swung the sword again, once more nearly cleaving the beast in half. The beast yelped and struck the skeleton with his massive paw. The paw disintegrated as it hit the skeleton’s glowing body, but it took a toll out of Vic as well, as a bunch of his rib cage bones were shattered and he lost balance falling to the ground. I couldn’t let that opportunity slip away from us, it was our only chance. “EVERYONE, CHARGE!” I screamed as I grabbed another bone like a club and charged at the limping, whimpering beast. We surrounded it, tearing at it with glowing pieces of bone whose light was immediately snuffed out with a flash after the first strike. But the attacks served their purpose, they distracted it. The beast didn’t know where to hit next. It was trying to gain his footing but was barely able to control his torn body. We managed to just barely keep it down long enough for Vic to recover. He stood up, and delivered a massive strike with the blazing sword, severing the Mastiff’s head and ending his life.
We all stumbled to the ground, panting and trying to get
our breath in check. All except skeleton Vic who stood there, grinning his bone-chilling grin at us - pun intended.
Throughout the fight, I was dimly aware that Bek frantically kept healing us, keeping us all at a brink from death’s door. We were only still alive thanks to him. And to think I once considered ending him simply to avoid a possible future conflict.
Vic really pulled through for us all, he showed remarkable ingenuity and quick thinking. I knew many players who wouldn’t be able to handle themselves as well under such pressure. I shook my head, and he was only a program! We were lucky to have him.
It seemed that the game agreed with me, as I was suddenly bombarded with system messages:
Lucky Bastard skill level increased to 13
Level up! You have reached Character Level 11. You have 1 ability point to allocate.
War Party Leader skill level increased to 3
War Party
Goblin warrior gained 1 level
Goblin warrior gained 1 level
Vrick gained 1 level
Bek gained 1 level
That was some progress! That fight was tough, but it definitely rewarded us nicely at the end. I quickly assigned my new ability point into Mental, bringing it up to a total of 13.
Vic held the hilt of the massive Greatsword in one hand, while its blade casually leaned against his bony shoulder. The sword glowed even brighter than Vic, blazing incandescently with a pure bright white light.
Life Reset: A LitRPG Novel (New Era Online Book 1) Page 38