We Hunt Monsters 14, page 10
He reached Keith in an instant, blade whipping in from the side to try catching him off guard. Keith blocked it, but the force of the blow was enough to drive his own sword into his arm, cleaving through the armor there and sending blood flowing down to his fingertips. Korkerus pressed the advantage. Keith had had to use a single hand to block the two-handed strike, thanks to the Photon Stream he’d been using, and now he was paying for it.
Korkerus swung from the opposite direction, and an explosion of force slammed Keith to his knees.
“He’s winding up for a big one,” Tac warned.
Keith used Lightswap, appearing at the monster’s side, and the skeleton’s blade was already there to meet him. Tough Shield absorbed some of the hit, but not enough, as the rest slammed into his sword and then chest, blasting him halfway across the fighting area and into one of the walls.
He caught a flash of the other fight, seeing orcs scattered in all directions and the larger of the two monsters, the Raid Boss, jamming clawed hands into an orc’s chest cavity and ripping it out in a spray of gore. Then he hit the wall, and the king hit him an instant later, the blade cracking into his breastplate and knocking the breath from his lungs.
A crossbow bolt streaked at the monster from the side, but the blade cleaved it from the air in a smooth motion, then continued toward his chest unabated. Keith tried using Shard Sponge, but the blade still made contact, tearing through the skill as though it weren’t there.
“I could have told you that wouldn’t work,” Tac said as Keith heard the crack of bone and tasted blood.
-208,170, Critical
Your bones are broken: -15% to movement speed.
You are bleeding internally: -1,000 HP per second.
Keith used Chronosphere, then Magician, his body vanishing in an orange blaze as the king’s attacks slowed by a hair. He reappeared ten feet away, feeling the pain from his chest fading as he healed himself. The monster whirled, only for Merry to launch into a series of shots to keep him back, crossbow bolts interspersed with skills, keeping him on the defensive. The monster continued coming for him, though.
“How much more does he have?” Keith asked as Tac highlighted possible attacks.
“A lot,” Tac said. “He hasn’t even used an AOE yet, and Masterful Cut isn’t being utilized. Keep this up, and it will be.”
While it may have seemed like he was doing okay from an outsider’s perspective, Keith was having a hard time keeping up. He could fight with a sword as well as any weapon, but he’d have much preferred to fight with something more suitable to keep the monster at a distance. The problem was that he couldn’t release his two-handed grip on the blade without it costing him, so he was relegated to using skills that could be activated while he fought.
Keith tapped into his armor and triggered one of its effects as Korkerus slashed another speeding bolt from the air. Dragon King’s Armor burned through him, increasing his stats by a factor of five for the next ten minutes. This would be a substantial boost in power, but despite that, Tac was still warning him to be careful.
He exploded forward, Photon Wrap crackling across his sword as he swung for the monster’s shoulder. The king’s blade met his, then was forced down as Keith’s superior Strength prevailed. The blade slammed into the monster, driving it to a knee and splintering the ground underfoot. Steam hissed up through the cracks as the magma beneath bubbled and roiled. Merry took the opening for what it was, and one of her bolts slammed into the monster’s exposed ribs, drilling through the cloak and driving deep into its body.
Korkerus didn’t move and still didn’t utter a sound. Keith drew his weapon back and slashed from the side. Their blades met again, but once more, his superior Strength drove it back into the monster itself. Korkerus’ eyes blazed brighter as the aura around him darkened, black flickers of fire seeming to surround his body. Keith swung again, the blade blurringly quick, and the skeleton’s blade intercepted once again, only it wasn’t pushed back this time.
Keith wasn’t stupid enough to lock blades in a test of strength. He stepped back, then stabbed at the monster’s chest while Merry blasted him with her Cannon Arm again, the twisting beam driving into its exposed ribs. The monster’s blade moved in a blurring half-circle, knocking Keith’s sword aside, then drove forward so quickly that Keith couldn’t see it coming, skewering him directly through the chest.
The blade punched through his armor, skin, muscle, and bone. He gasped as he felt it scrape against his heart, blood immediately filling his chest and breathing becoming labored as the blade exploded out through his back.
-799,400, Massive Critical
You are bleeding heavily: -25,000 HP per second.
Your heart has been damaged: -100,000 HP per second.
Keith jammed down on a recovery skill, but the monster’s blade was still inside him. The glowing eyes shone brighter as Korkerus twisted the blade, bone scraping and cracking. Keith had no leverage and was feeling weaker by the moment, his recovered health draining away as quickly as it came. Merry’s attacks slammed into the monster, but he was straight-up ignoring them by now.
Keith’s vision was starting to turn red around the edges. Even if Peak Health saved him, the blade was still lodged in his chest and felt like it was burning him from the inside out.
“Bro, you’ve got to snap out of it!” Tac shouted in his mind. “Get off the freaking sword!”
Keith tried to back up, but Korkerus’s hand snaked out, seizing him and holding him in place. The burning red eyes stared into his, and the monster twisted the blade again, then began pushing it to the side, cutting directly into his heart. Keith could feel the organ shredding on the monster’s burning sword. His vision fuzzed, notifications flashing warnings as he restored himself for the fifth time, not that it did any good.
His mind was addled by the pain, and his body felt like it would collapse at any moment. Only sheer willpower kept him upright. Then, his brain seemed to snap into focus. It took him a few seconds to realize what had happened, and in that time, his health plummeted to zero, being reset to a single point thanks to Peak Health. He immediately triggered the effect of the skill, restoring himself only for the monster’s blade to immediately undo almost all of it. Though Korkerus didn’t speak, Keith could sense a perverse pleasure radiating from the nightmarish monster.
The front of its bony chest was soaked in his blood, and the ground underfoot was slick with it. Keith released his sword, then slapped his gauntleted palm against the side of the monster’s head. It was holding him in place with one hand, and the other was gripping the sword. Then Storm Beam activated at point-blank range. A twisting gale surrounded by crackling red exploded in a brilliant flash, launching both of them apart. Keith felt the ripping sensation as the blade tore free, then gasped as his body restored itself to full health. Screaming wind surrounded him for an instant before he crashed into the gigantic throne. He sat there for a moment, panting, his body covered in sweat and drenched in his own blood.
Across the battlefield, Korkerus was slowly recovering. Jagged cracks now ran the length of his bony body, and one of the spikes of his crown was missing. Keith took another moment to catch his breath as he examined the monster, noticing that its health had dropped significantly, now sitting at less than half its earlier maximum. The answer as to what had caused it was obvious, as the automaton responsible was currently lying flat on her face, pigtails stretched out to either side. It seemed Merry had pushed herself so hard trying to force the monster off him, she’d emptied her mana pool to the point of collapse. That, and the activation of Storm Beam at point-blank range, had done a number on the monster. Still, he was far from dead, and judging by the way his sword was beginning to glow black around the edges, things were about to get a whole lot worse for them.
13
Keith targeted a small chunk of debris near Merry, appearing at her side in a flash, only for a Dimension Cut from Korkerus to meet him as he appeared. Having lost his sword in the forceful separation, he currently had no weapons equipped other than his Field Leveler, so, not having much of a choice, he punched the oncoming skill.
The blazing aura surrounding him flared brighter as his fist cracked into the line of cleaving destruction. The skill shoved his arm back but split in two around Field Leveler. One side of the bladed attack cut a line across his cheek, while the other cut a swath of destruction through the ground and neatly lopped the leg off the Boss Monster engaged with Ripper and Bonker.
The king had covered most of the distance between them in the time it took him to destroy the attack, but luckily for him, Keith was able to work quickly. At the same as he dismantled the attack, he drew a weapon. Ten Berserk Undead appeared between him and the monster in a flash, the monsters roaring in unison as they turned on Korkerus.
“That won’t hold him for long, bro,” Tac warned.
Keith already knew that, but he was already on one knee, his hand pressed to Merry’s back as he flooded her with his health and stamina to refill her mana. Her health was topped off, since she’d barely taken so much as a scratch during the fight, but her mana was basically all gone.
Korkerus’ blade cleaved through two of the berserk undead, leaving him clear to come for him, only for the monster to find himself on the business end of his Hand-Cannon. He used Dragon’s Judgment, the blast searing from the cannon’s barrel and slamming into the monster, whose blade came up to defend. The blast parted around the edge of the sword, but it drove him back all the same, his feet sliding over the semi-smooth ground as he struggled to keep himself from taking any damage.
“Master?” Merry asked, her head finally popping up as the remaining berserk undead went to chase the king down, all roaring in unison as ten more of their kind appeared, summoned by Keith. “You’re okay!”
She leaped up and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing far tighter than someone her size and strength should have been able to.
“As okay as I can be having been run through,” Keith said. “How about you?”
“I’m fine,” Merry said, flashing him a wide smile. “I thought I wouldn’t be able to get him off of you, but I didn’t stop trying.”
“Well, you did a good job,” Keith said, rubbing the top of her head.
A shiver ran through Merry’s entire body, and she let out a light squeak as she released him, eyes shining and dark patches showing on her cheeks.
“The fight’s not over yet, though,” he said, getting to his feet. “Not by a long shot.”
He turned just as Korkerus finished diverting the beam, having taken almost no damage whatsoever. One of the berserk undead stopped before him, extending Electrus’s Thunderblade. Keith took it wordlessly, then pointed to Merry.
“Keep any attacks from hitting her,” he ordered the hulking creature, then turned toward Korkerus again as he took a two-handed grip on the sword.
He needed to finish this. Korkerus was way too powerful and, though he hated to admit as much, the monster was better than him with a sword. He would have preferred to use a different weapon, given that fact, but the hammer wouldn’t give him enough leverage to block. Nothing short of an M-tagged weapon would be good enough against this monster. Korkerus cleaved his way through several more of the berserk undead as they tried to pile atop him, severed limbs flying in all directions.
“Listen for Tac’s instructions,” he told Merry. “He’ll give you the openings before they come. When he says to fire, you fire, even if you don’t see it.”
“Okey-dokey!” she said with a wide grin, still blushing as she raised her crossbow arm.
Keith used Lightswap, appearing behind Korkerus and skewering him through his spine as he activated Photon Wrap again. The blade slammed into the monster, piercing straight through as he activated several item effects in conjunction. Doomfire Armor was the first, flickering red-black flames flaring across his body. The second was Thundercharge, from his newest Electrus Ring, which boosted his damage by a factor of ten for a full minute. Then there was Super Stream, increasing speed by a factor of five for the same amount of time. Following that was Icebound Rend to further increase his speed and decrease the king’s. The blade exploded out of the monster’s other side, the crackling plasma ignoring his armor altogether.
-478,188, Massive Critical
His hand slammed into the monster’s back as he used Doomfire Fury, a dense sphere of fire forming over his fist, before annihilating everything before him. The explosion threw the monster off his blade, but Tac was already tracking him. As soon as the flaming Section Boss careened into a wall, five bolts from Merry pinned him there. Keith had already covered half the distance between them before the king recovered.
A blade flashed at him, but he was quick enough to dodge as he poured more power on, activating Regality’s Sun, infusing himself with the power of the Regal Avatar for the next thirty seconds. His body blazed brighter still, appearing like a beacon as he flashed up to the king. Korkerus’ sword clashed against his, then all the sound in the world seemed to vanish. One moment, Keith was shoving the monster’s blade back; the next, his body was cut nearly in two, and he found himself on the far side of the fighting area, blood gushing from the massive cut across his stomach.
Keith choked out blood, his eyes going wide, only for the injury to reverse itself an instant later thanks to Doomfire Armor. It reduced all incoming damage to zero for three minutes, but the problem was that he still took that damage before it was negated.
He dragged himself to his feet in time to see that Korkerus was right on top of him. A cannon blast slammed into his side, but the king kept coming. Then he staggered as a cleaving blow appeared across his own stomach, a quarter of the full damage he’d inflicted on Keith having been reflected back. Still, that only slowed him for an instant, in which time Merry sank five more bolts into him, followed by Heavy Fire that slammed into his skull.
One of the remaining tines of his crown spun away as the king brought his blade up and around, Keith blocking the crushing blow and shoving it aside. Then he lashed out with his foot, slamming it into the king’s knee and triggering Armageddon Spear. With all his current bonuses, the damage should be substantial, hopefully enough to break the limb and hobble the monster.
“No such luck, bro,” Tac said as white light blasted from his foot, throwing the monster off balance.
The king loomed over him, then was swallowed by Merry’s Penultimate skill, the beam driving the monster into the wall of the crater once again and giving Keith the chance to rise. He took a moment to examine his surroundings, seeing that several of his orcs had died at the hands of the Raid Boss, while his own bosses were battling to keep it away from him. The Boss Monster, while still alive, was clearly weakened, thanks in no small part to Korkerus slicing its foot off. It was on its last legs, no pun intended, and Tac estimated it would be dead within the next minute.
His attention was drawn back to the monster rising from the ground, smoke rising from his knee and chest. His health was down to under 4 million, but that was still a ludicrous amount. The world went silent as the monster raised his sword, and this time, Keith was fast enough to see what happened. The king activated Total Silence, its AOE, which also wasn’t really an AOE. Light bloomed around the blade of the sword as he swung the weapon in a blur.
Keith had an instant in which to react, triggering Lightning Wrap. As much as he liked the idea of injuring the monster, he liked the idea of being hurt even less. Plasma crackled around his body, mostly deflecting the attack that crashed into him, though he still took some damage, blood spraying from half a dozen cuts across his arms and chest. He breathed as they vanished, healed by Doomfire Armor, and the king stumbled as a quarter of that damage was inflicted on him.
Then the monster reached up to his shoulders and ripped the billowing cloak from his body, tossing it aside as the aura around him solidified, turning into black, crystalline armor that forged itself around his bone-like limbs. Spikes grew from the shoulders and knees, and insect-like wings extended from the back. He was a nightmare to behold as the flaming eyes turned into streams of fire.
“This is fine. Totally fine,” Tac said as the blade blurred, slicing Merry’s attacks from the air with apparent ease. “Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. But, just in case, you should probably start using your immortality skills. You know, just saying.”
Keith triggered his Title’s immortality just as the king’s blade slammed into his chest, point-first. He felt the impact but didn’t register any pain as he was suddenly across the crater, the burning eyes of the king inches from his own. The monster’s blade slammed into him again, driving him halfway into the wall. Keith retaliated by kicking out with both legs and slamming him in the chest with Shattering Snowflare. Blasts of ice and fire rammed into the nightmarish monster, but he didn’t so much as budge, ignoring the attack entirely and hammering his blade into Keith’s skull.
He was flying again, barely able to keep up with what was happening, but his arm twitched on its own, blocking the attack that came from behind. Keith could feel the ringing power of the king’s blow radiating up his arm as it was forced aside. This was a level of strength he couldn’t hope to compete with, at least not normally.
“Yeah, you hit the point in the fight where all the fail-safes are coming out, bro,” Tac said. “All of his stats have been boosted to the max – attack, defense, and speed. Oh, and he can fly now, if you didn’t get that. He’s combining attacks, which is why they’re so damaging. It’s honestly impressive. You know, if you weren’t about to be turned into a Keith kabob.”
