Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 7,618 damage to Pit Boss.
“Mel! Something’s wrong with my damage!”
“What do you mean?” she yelled and released a flurry of arrows. It must have been a skill she got earlier, and every arrow staggered the pit boss backward as it embedded itself in its tough carapace.
“My damage is too high!”
“Because of the modifiers! Break and Attack values are both added, and then the arrow modifier is also calculated! Both modifiers of 1.5 times the damage!”
“Fucking hell,” I cursed and drew yet another arrow. I released the projectile and struck the pit boss right below the maw and readied for another Shadow Hunter.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 35,221 damage to Pit Boss.
Critical hit!
The pit boss reared backward and dropped onto its side as flames engulfed the creature. Before it even knew what was going on, the monster was dead. I wanted to walk over and check if it really was a goner, but something kept me rooted in place.
“What the hell was that just now?”
“I got a critical hit in, as it entered its maw,” I muttered. “Over thirty-five thousand damage, Melina. This kind of power isn’t something anyone should ever have.”
“Do you think you’re strong enough to take on the Zanoxian?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t. Attack is one thing, but if he’s also very strong, then he might kill me with a single hit. I need more Health and Defense. Much more.”
“If this is where we managed to get in several weeks, just imagine where we’ll be in a year. Don’t worry, we got this,” she encouraged me.
Melina was right, of course, we still had a long way to go, but every step of the way would be paved in blood. Pushing the thoughts aside, I walked over to the pit boss and looted whatever it had to give.
Notification:
YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE
FOLLOWING INGREDIENTS:
Pit Boss Carapace x 44
Pit Boss Blade x 31
Pit Boss Tar x 120
Pit Boss Eyes x 39
Pit Boss Tar Sac x 12
Pit Boss Bone x 140
Pit Boss Core x 1
I was rather surprised. The number of ingredients was higher, and what’s more, I got a core from the bastard. A sudden idea came to mind. Cores had insane amounts of Enma stored within, so I could use it to cultivate or even work on tempering my bones, reinforcing my skin, and fortifying my organs. The second realm was much bigger than the first, and it opened up several possibilities when it came to cultivation. I would just need a lot of Enma to do all of them. Getting the core was a great start, though.
“Get the ingredients before they disappear,” I said over my shoulder and just then noticed she had followed me. She gathered the loot, and from her expression, I could see that she was equally surprised.
“Take them. I think you have enough loot for the set now.”
“And then some,” I muttered. “We need gems to enhance our weapons. I kind of fell in love with the bow just now.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “Yeah, no shit. Thirty-five thousand? That’s… out of this world.”
“It sure is. So are we ready to move to the next orb?”
She nodded and put her arm around mine, pulling me up toward the exit. I canceled my Fortress skill as we walked past it and grinned. Soon I’d have two of them, and not a moment too soon. Just as I was getting stronger, the other rifters were probably doing the same. Just what kind of super skills would they greet me with?
We followed Veles’s instructions and arrived at the entrance to the second cave several hours later. The inside was as bright as daylight. It was a strange sight, one from fantasy, but there we were staring into a hole in the ground, and the hole was as bright as the outside.
“What the hell is up with that cave?” I asked no one in particular. Since Melina was the only one present, she took it on herself to answer.
“Are you really asking me that question?”
“No, I wasn’t,” I muttered. “Just thinking out loud, woman.”
“Woman, huh? And not love?”
“No, not love, just woman.”
“Viktor!” she squealed and pinched my arm while gritting her teeth. “Why don’t you show just how big a man you are and go in there? You can call me when—ahh! No!” she protested as I pulled her along and jumped inside, grinning all the while.
The ground beneath my feet was soft and mushy, but it hadn’t looked like that at all from the outside. I looked back over my shoulder and noticed something strange. There was a translucent barrier.
“I don’t think that was very smart,” I muttered. “Think we’re shut in.”
“You think?” she hissed. “Couldn’t you have tried to… check or something?”
I flashed her a grin and winked with an assurance I didn’t quite feel. “Melina, love, you have me right here, don’t you? Why are you so worried?”
“I’m not worried for myself, you dolt, but for you! What if something happened to you?”
“Then you’d better make sure it doesn’t happen.”
I turned around and started going down the tunnel. Vegetation was everywhere, even insects and very small animals. It looked… really strange to say the least. We kept walking for several minutes, which then turned to half an hour, then an hour.
“Hey, do you see that?” she finally asked, breaking an uncomfortable silence that had ensued after walking for so long.
“Yeah. That might be the exit,” I replied and focused on the dot ahead of us. “Come on, put your back into it!”
“Really?” Melina laughed. “Here, take these,” she added and cast her buffs on me and then sat down.
“What? You’re waiting for me to do it all by myself?”
“Yes, I am.”
I sighed and shrugged. She had these mood swings, but it wasn’t like I couldn’t handle them. They were pretty rare though still annoying. I knew it had a lot to do with everything that was on my mind, and that it was her way of trying to cope with the situation, so I let her.
I ran all the way to the exit and stopped only several steps away, then pulled an arrow from my subspace and nocked it. I had to know if there were any more surprises, so I shot it. The projectile struck the far wall and stayed there, embedded in the mossy and bark-like substance.
A noise came from the area ahead, but it was nothing like I’d ever heard. Hundreds upon hundreds of… something slammed into the mushy ground, causing my mind to spin. I drew on my Enma and plugged my ears shut. Nausea dissipated immediately. So it was some kind of debuff caused through sound? No, it surely couldn’t have been as simple.
A hand landed on my shoulder. I snapped around and saw Melina standing there. She had a worried expression on her face. I pointed at my ears, but she must have seen the swirling Enma already, as she nodded, drew her bow, and then pointed at the entrance.
“Alright,” I mouthed and took in a deep breath as I readied myself for what was about to come. I nocked a rank five arrow and strode into the cavernous space, only to curse myself for doing so. A heavy shadow fell over me as I stopped and looked up. A… I didn’t even have an idea how many legs the thing had, but the closest I could describe the thing was to call it a monstrous centipede.
Hundreds of sharp, bladelike legs skittered and slammed into the ceiling, keeping it in place no matter how much it moved. A head that looked as if it was made from a beetle-like carapace pointed my way, with four yellow eyes that glared at me. Bladelike appendages were set in its chin and constantly slashed back and forth, protecting its great maw. The body was a violent purple, and the legs were all scarlet red with black blades at the tips.
“Shit,” I muttered. “You’re one ugly bastard.”
It stared me down from where it hung high above, and our eyes locked for several long seconds. The centipede stopped moving, even the slashers at the front
of its face. I took the chance and checked it out real quick to get a feeling for what I had gotten myself into.
Monster Scan:
NAME: Century Beast
RANK: 11, Guardian
HEALTH: 80,000/80,000
ENMA: 2,000
SPEED: 1.4
PHYSICAL ATTACK: 1,000
ENMA ATTACK: 1,000
DEFENSE: 2,500
Enma Shield: 100,000/100,000
The first thing I thought of when I saw the beast was a tank. A body covered in carapace and so large that it covered most of the ceiling wasn’t something I looked forward to fighting. Especially not in a cramped space where the enemy took up most of the room. I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to summon my tower without losing it.
“Melina?” I yelled.
She touched my shoulder. “What is it?”
“Any idea?”
“Create enough room inside the tunnel and summon it inside.”
I frowned. Now that wasn’t something I had even thought of, so I got busy with my halberd and kept slashing at the ceiling and the ground. The mushy ground absorbed most of it, but I made progress. Still, it took much longer than I wanted, and only an hour later was there enough room. At least what I thought would be enough for the tower from memory.
“You ready?”
She nodded and winked as she held her bow at the ready. “Let’s do it!”
Chapter Eleven
Luck was with me when the tower spawned in the designated spot. It was much smaller than it had been the last time I summoned it, and barely came to my shoulders. The flame on top of the tower singed the moss inside the tunnel and widened the area around it. Good. Lady luck hadn’t abandoned me after all.
“I’ll shoot it down, and then concentrate your fire against the head.”
“Sure thing. I’m not getting in there, though. No way.”
“Just provide support, love. Leave the rest to me.”
I took in one last deep breath as I studied the cavern around us. There were only walls, a floor, and a ceiling. No pillars, no nothing that I could use to gain an advantage, but it was better that way. I’d have a clear line of sight.
I pulled out a rank five arrow and nocked it. The century beast still hadn’t moved and just kept staring at me with all four of its yellow, glaring eyes. It looked ugly no matter how you looked at it, but equally frightening. There was no way I’d be able to do this all with the bow as I had with the second pit boss run, so I was going to get up close and personal. Just how I liked it.
“Ready?”
“Let it come!” Melina laughed to hide how nervous she was. Who was I not to follow a lady’s order?
“Shadow Hunter!” I yelled and felt Enma course through my body and into the arrow. It shot towards the boss and slammed home in between two of its legs, and it screeched as the attack shook the monster’s body.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 32,897 damage to Century Beast.
Critical hit!
Every single limb dislodged at the same time, and the monster dropped from overhead. I rolled back toward the tower and pulled another rank five arrow out, nocked it, and activated Arrow Shower. The cavern shook as the boss slammed into it. Dust and debris showered the entrance, and if I weren’t an Enma user, I’d probably have been blinded from the number of shards that struck my face.
The century beast skittered toward us just as the skill was done charging, and was assailed by a multitude of ethereal arrows.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 5,661 damage to Century Beast.
You have inflicted 5,903 damage to Century Beast.
You have inflicted 5,188 damage to Century Beast.
I dropped the bow as Melina released her skill. Seven arrows slammed into the boss monster in the same general area: the face. It reared up, and I released one last ordinary arrow before I switched to the halberd.
I rushed in and slid underneath the century beast, slashing at its under area, which was less defended. The damage wasn’t anything near what the arrows had done, and I still had no idea just why they were so effective, but I wasn’t going to cry over it. No, I was going to make love to the bow if we survived the battle.
Several of its legs fell off and dropped to the ground, but they didn’t regenerate, and instead a trickle of lightning formed around the stumps, then struck me right in the face.
Damage Notification:
You have received 201 damage from Century Beast.
Flames kept hitting the monster from the other side, and I immediately knew it wasn’t as effective, but I didn’t care. Even if it just distracted the monstrosity several times, I’d be all happy.
Melina kept releasing arrow after arrow, annoying the monster. I noticed one thing was different. She wasn’t targeting the head anymore; no, she was aiming at the legs. Every time she hit a joint, the leg popped, leaving the century beast with one less leg to try to crush me.
It thrashed around, rolled onto its back, and crashed me into the wall.
Damage Notification:
You have received 3,551 damage from Century Beast.
“Fucking hell!” I cursed as it rolled away. “It almost killed me with a single roll!”
“Then don’t get caught!”
A burst of flame caught its face as it came into firing range, and it elicited a massive screeching noise that echoed throughout the cavern. I ran after it and jumped on the side of a leg, then on top of its chest as it was still trying to roll back around. I pulled my halberd back over my head and used Bash.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 9,777 damage to Century Beast.
You have inflicted 44% Defense Debuff.
“Mel! Now! It’s got a defense debuff!”
“On it!” she yelled back, and her voice was quickly followed by another stream of arrows slamming into the century beast. The projectiles struck the head and the sides, several even bounced off, but that didn’t matter.
More lightning discharged and rolled around the ground, hit my feet, and ended up in my skull, paralyzing me for several seconds.
Damage Notification:
You have received 407 damage from Century Beast.
You have received Paralysis Debuff for 3 seconds.
I gritted my teeth, waiting for the beast to roll over and flatten me, but the three seconds passed, and I jumped down the side, slashing at the legs that dangled on the side. Every swipe cut through several of them and released even more lightning, but I danced around it and jumped out of the way. I had quickly sheared off over thirty on one side, all of them next to one another.
“Does it hurt?” Mel yelled.
“The lightning? Hell yes it does!” I shot back just as I jumped over another tendril.
Focusing on the battle, I glanced at its shield and grinned. It was nearly gone, and then the true fun would begin. Everything up until now had been foreplay.
The boss threw itself suddenly toward the tunnel entrance, and a notification popped up.
Damage Notification:
Fortress has received 4,732 damage from Century Beast.
I cursed under my breath and literally threw myself at it, bringing the halberd down against more of its limbs, and then lunged backward, just out of reach. I pulled my bow back out from my subspace and nocked an arrow, targeted its side, and released a Shadow Hunter. The shield exploded, and the arrow lodged itself deep between the century beast’s ribs, or at least that was what I thought they were.
Flames kept digging into the monster, as the tower still stood. Melina switched weapons and pulled her fan out, sending waves of Enma to fan the flames that had finally caught as the shield dissipated. As much as this was a bad place to fight in for me, it was even worse for the boss monster. Its body was too large, and a good third of its legs were now missing. Parts of the carapace had fallen off, and the insides were out on display.
I suddenly lost the will to fight, but I knew
that unless I got my ass in gear, it could still end badly. I shut myself out and went into full-on attack mode. I hacked, slashed, pulled back, and shot arrows at it whenever the skill had refreshed.
A sudden lightning burst knocked me off my feet, and all I could do was lie there. It didn’t hurt so much as the strange feeling of a million century beasts waltzing over you. I jumped up again and swung the halberd in wide arcs, cutting into the boss’s carapace.
“Vik!” a voice yelled from behind me. I stopped swinging my halberd and looked around. The century beast was dead, and the Tower was still standing. So was Melina, who was hiding behind it. “It’s dead, for fuck’s sake, man! What the hell are you still swinging that thing for?”
I dropped the weapon and fell to my knees. That was quite the question, if I had to say so myself. What a question.
“I think I got caught up in the battle too much,” I muttered and leaned back against the boss’s corpse. I didn’t even care about the gooey blood getting on me; no, I didn’t care about anything at all right then and there. I was so sick of all the fighting and the hunting, but my goal still wasn’t in sight.
I let out a sigh and closed my eyes as several prompts appeared.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED:
Slaying a rank 11 Boss.
Reward Of Choice:
1. Pit Boss Armor Blueprint Set
2. Century Beast Armor Blueprint Set
NOTE 1: Every new defeated rank 10/11 boss
gives a chance at more armor blueprint sets.
I chose the obvious, a century beast set. The second notification popped up right after I made my choice.
Notification:
YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE
FOLLOWING INGREDIENTS:
Century Beast Carapace x 87
Century Beast Blade x 101
Crossroads: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 3) Page 9