Underworld - Sanctuary: A LitRPG Series, page 33
Well, there went our moment of surprise. We should have attacked all as one the moment his troops arrived. It was clear now we had lost our greatest advantage. Or have we…
“I think you need to get your sniffer fixed.”
“Enough. Do you know why we’re here?”
“Because Mistress Nava will get in trouble if she tries to come here and kill me herself.”
“Then how do you want to proceed?”
This really wasn’t going to end any other way. If that was the case… “All of you against me.”
The blank-faced way he stared at me made it look like I had just smacked him in the face. When he turned his back, I took the opportunity to throw 10,000 MP into Force Learn and try to grab some free Blue Magic from him before things got crazy. To my surprise, there was only one ability to learn and it immediately became mine.
Battle Horn
Level 1 Rank 1
Abilities
Battle Cry
Cost 1,000 MP (200 MP with base buffs)
Increases the Stamina Regeneration of everyone in your group by +2 Per Second for 5 Minutes.
Note: As Battle Horn improves, new abilities and buffs are unlocked.
It was underwhelming at this level, but if it was the same ability I had seen Waldemar use then its usefulness after some ranking up couldn’t be underestimated. Sadly, I hadn’t been able to steal his essence with the skill.
Speaking under my breath, I said to general chat for all my people to hear, “When I attack, mages throw everything you have at them. I repeat, don’t hold back.”
“What about you?” Aeris rebuked.
“Trust me. I’ve got a plan.” I couldn’t help but begin laughing out loud.
Waldemar was nearly to the front line when he turned to see what was going on.
Grinning like a wild man, I rushed toward him. Onward to meet an army of giant cows! Lifting my Warhammer high overhead, I aimed my attack directly at his groin.
With a flick of his wrist, he swatted my attack aside. Before he could retaliate, vines as thick as full-grown maples shot up from the floor. The spell that had once created a patch of annoying, knee-high ankle grabbers had been transformed. A forest of bone-crushing vines sprang up to grind the enemy into manure.
The Minotaur Captain drew a battle axe from his inventory that was taller than I stood. With a single flick, he severed the vine that was trying to entangle him and tore another one from the ground with his bare hand.
Instead of attacking, I stood there with an obnoxious grin.
When his attention returned to me, he stopped short in confusion. He was unaware of the compact car-sized boulder that was flying toward his head.
At the last moment, he must have sensed it, for he turned. Rocking back for a split second, he burst forward. His head met the boulder straight on and it exploded into dust.
Note to self. Don’t hit them on the top of the head.
He jerked toward me, but I had already crouched down. Fire and Ice, Rock and Wind, were all rushing toward us with a fury I hadn’t seen since The Belly. This really wasn’t a good idea.
Layer upon layer of bone rose up and covered me like a shell. I didn’t expect my Bone Titan’s Defense to survive, but it should serve its purpose.
Even enclosed in a ton of bone, the sound of what was going on around me was deafening. Maybe we hadn’t been too late to play our hand.
It was over a full minute before the bombardment stopped. My layered bone shell didn’t hinder Mana Sight’s ability for me to see what was going on around me in the Mana Realm. Once the assault had paused, I was able to spot the bodies of the living and the dead before me. Many lay on the ground dead or dying. But not all. Not nearly as many as I had hoped.
A quick count told me that about two thirds of them had survived, but some were in bad shape. Waldemar had left my side and was gathering his remaining minotaurs into a defensive formation. Those that were injured but able to continue started to rise to their feet. It was my turn.
It took little effort to bust out of the already crumbling bone that had sheltered me. The violent power of the Fire Incubus Form flowed into me, allowing me to make easy work of it. Bone Titan’s Defense disintegrated, exposing my form’s blood red physique. I rose up a monster among monsters.
Health Points: 341,241
Attributes
Strength: 3,062
Dexterity: 3,216
Constitution: 3,142
1x Fire Incubus Form combined with 3x Advanced Mind Buff allowed me to extend the form to an hour and forty minutes. Even with the mana I had used to create my bone shelter, I still had over an hour and a half left to take care of business. I let Skeletal Armor minimally cover me like a pair of shorts. It would keep the mana cost to a minimum and hide my shame.
Many of the minotaurs that were still on the ground were struggling with Olivia’s vines and Trevon’s ice which were working together to hold them in place. Those that were loose were struggling to free their fellow bovines so that they could obey the command of their captain.
Lunging toward a minotaur that was chopping at a vine that entangled his friend, I found it more difficult to judge my speed than was I used to. Still, with Mana Sight at full blast, I corrected my trajectory and spun. The spike on the rear of my Warhammer burned deep into the back of the uninjured minotaur’s neck. It didn’t sink in like it would with normal flesh but jutted in like a pick into rock. It was then that the weapon’s Fire Element really started to blaze. Instead of getting stuck, my weapon fell out thanks to the Fire Damage loosing the surrounding fur.
It was a lesser minotaur at level 903. Despite that, nearly a third of its HP vanished from the blow.
Seeing a slash whistling toward my head, I ducked under the swing and hammered the minotaur in the gut. As powerful as it was, it couldn’t take a blow from my overwhelming physical stats. My three-pronged hammer cratered into it and blasted it into the floor.
It was nearly dead. Instead of finishing him and his fellow monster, I summoned my bone tentacles which grabbed both him and the friend he was trying to free around their necks. Succubi’s Caress activated. Their mana began to fill me.
Another minotaur charged at me. His speed was incredible, but not nearly enough.
Another bone appendage shot out from my back and sped for his face as a distraction. He ducked low to meet it with the top of his head and I stepped to the side.
My hammer drummed against his knee as my appendage looped around his neck. Before he hit the floor, I landed on his back with the spike of my Warhammer swooping down toward the back of his head.
Even there, his thick skull was difficult to puncture. He fell to his chest, where my next blow dug into the side of his neck. That was more like it.
With this one dead, my free appendage grabbed hold of another minotaur’s dying body, to leech its remaining mana.
Near the entryway through which the enemy had arrived, Waldemar had nearly mustered thirty of the remaining minotaurs to counter our attack.
Numerous cries rose up as Russ and Skyler surged past me with our bashers in tow.
Elation rose up inside me as I saw them fall upon the mobs that were still struggling.
As I gained levels, I increased my Wisdom instinctively without having to look. The opportunity was right, so I gathered 5,000 MP and lobbed Drain above the heads of the minotaurs. The flesh and blood of the downed bovine liquefied as my spell began to gather it. I preferred my steak medium before eating it, but any gain in stats could make all the difference before this battle was over.
I was 33 levels richer. Bringing up my notification, I watched my stats jump and Drain filled me with new vigor.
+243 Str
+42 Dex
+186 Con
I was hurrying to join the others as they neared the first straggler when Skyler got a burst of speed. As he neared the level 1,138 minotaur that still had 80% HP, he bounded up like a missile, dragging his sledgehammer behind him.
The minotaur placed his shield between them like an iron wall.
With the speed of a master rogue, his hammer swung up from below as he continued to rise into the air. Coming up from under the minotaur’s shield, his hammer drove through it. Finding purchase somewhere low on his gut. Whatever special ability Skyler had activated left me in awe. He picked the minotaur clean off the ground and must have ruptured something internally because before the mob had returned to the floor, its HP fell to 20%.
Chris appeared above the fallen monster and drove his sword into the creature’s back. Skyler was soon with him, joined by the two remaining sledge brothers, and they pounded the minotaur into the ground.
Undead wargs swarmed around them and lunged at the throat of a minotaur whose lower torso was covered in a thick block of ice.
I unsummoned my bone appendages to save mana after leeching what was left in my two halfdead captives. Finishing them off, I heard a familiar sound as a blur shot past me. Travis appeared ten meters from the minotaur’s newly formed line, with his spear in the back of one that was about to rejoin them, and twenty spearpoints exiting out the front of its torso. His skill had improved.
As calm as I had ever seen him, he glared at the minotaurs hiding behind their shields on the front line and casually walked over to another dying minotaur and buried his spear in its ribs. Kylie and her two friends were close behind mincing the remaining life out of a dying minotaur with their swords.
Russ stood alone, scrapping with a level 1,204 minotaur that was at half HP. Like a genuine tank, he exchanged blows with the ten-foot monster. The leveraged attack rocked the very ground under Russ’s feet as he caught the assault with his shield. It didn’t faze him.
Suddenly, as another attack came, ethereal energy shot out from the border of Russ’s shield, extending its radius to reach over eight feet in the air. The minotaur’s overhanded slash collided with the phantom shield and was stopped sooner than he expected, leaving him off balance. With a single step forward, Russ jarred his shield into his enemy, forcing him back. With the minotaur’s foot exposed, Russ flattened it.
The minotaur tried to counter with a bash of his shield. Russ stepped aside and clobbered the monster’s ankle, just above its already injured foot.
Unable to hold his own weight, the monster tumbled. Russ dismantled him at the leg joints like he was one of his scrap items.
I saw Waldemar's chest rise as his lungs filled with air. The rumble that followed was unlike anything I had ever heard. Instead of bolstering his men, a sonic blast shot out from where he stood. Travis and his group, Skyler and his, even Russ was pushed back by the wave of energy that knocked almost all of our bashers to the floor. I was able to brush it off, but it still stopped me where I stood.
A cheap Intermediate Heal found each of my men. They were more shaken than hurt. I found Waldemar glaring at me. His calm control was gone, and he was fuming.
“Retreat!” I screamed to my friends that had fallen. If the herd of minotaurs that had finally recovered charged now, I didn’t know how many I could save.
Silver lightning beamed down upon us from above. A mountain of air pressed against the minotaur horde, extinguishing the remainder of any scattered flames that had ignited the ground in the area. Dirt and gravel scattered and left the floor absolutely bare except for the minotaurs’ dead.
Aeris floated down as she gathered more air. Stopping a few meters from the ground, her left hand was extended and commanded a horizontal squall. It pushed against the minotaur line and made each of the monsters work to hold their ground. Her free hand commanded something else.
Looking up, I saw a twister had already formed and its spiral was looping down toward the minotaurs’ heads.
A command boomed from Waldemar. The shields of the middle of his troop shot up to meet the incoming vortex.
Running to help Jess who had stumbled as she fled with Kylie, I smiled to myself. Even as large as they were, no shield and no minotaur could stand Aeris’s wind once she got it to full power.
A defiant cry thundered from Waldemar. A new wave of power shot out from the war-bull. Ethereal energy cloaked his troop. It filled their shields and joined them as one.
The twister touched down. Not believing my eyes, I watched as it laid into their shields with impossible force but was unable to move them. The storm continued to grow.
Aeris’s frontal assault ceased and she put all her effort into channeling the tornado. Even as it engulfed the entire herd, I knew at that moment that we had indeed succeeded in catching them off guard. The defense they were showing now was not something we could have so easily penetrated.
Through the downpour that was the storm, a spear escaped, rocketed out toward us. Even with Mana Sight, it was only a blur. Aeris moved to escape, but the projectile struck her and shot out her back like she was a paper target.
The bolt exited just shy of her shoulder blade. She had moved out of the way enough that it left her wounded, but not seriously so. Advanced Heal bathed her before she hit the ground. Even if there was no lasting damage, seeing her injured made my blood boil. I ran to her side and propped her up.
The twister that held Waldemar’s army dissipated quickly. Yes, we had caught them off guard, but they had survived everything we threw at them.
The minotaur captain bolstered his herd once again, raising their HP to a safe level. There were only 41 still standing, but when they lowered their shields, this time they were done waiting. The front line surged.
Only 5 headed my way with a mind to finish me and our bashers. The rest, over 10 of them, ran toward the side walls and jumped. Every one of them cleared the 30 meters to the second floor. They planned on slaughtering everyone.
I commanded through general chat. “Do everything you can to break up their groups! They are stronger together!”
At nearly full mana thanks to the minotaurs that had so kindly shared, I doubled my flow to jump up to 2x Fire Incubus Form and reached over 4,000 in each physical stat. The heat inside me raged as if it would pull my body apart if I didn’t soon let it loose. I could only stay at this level for 20 minutes, but I needed the speed. They had come for a fight, so I’d make sure that they got one.
Chapter 29 – Facing the Herd
Aeris darted out of my arms and took to the sky. She was focused on the minotaurs that had made it to the second flood. I’d join her in a moment.
I wasn’t the only one that was prepared to put it all on the line. Taking his place on my right, Skyler stepped up and cracked his neck. He said nothing.
Russ appeared on my left wearing a goofy smirk. “Has anyone ever told you that you look like a giant cherry popsicle?”
A snicker escaped from my mouth.
“What are you guys waiting for?” Travis blurted out as he jogged past us.
Just as he spoke, all six of Mel’s skeletal werewolves darted past him to meet the incoming charge head-on.
“Ah crap!” he said, hurrying to catch up.
With only Russ and Skyler still at my side, I called out. “You can have my leftovers.”
At 1x Fire Incubus Form I was insanely fast. The minotaurs I’d faced up to that point had little luck keeping up with me. At 2x Fire Incubus Form, it was as if they were standing still.
I shot from the line, passing Travis and the werewolves in the blink of an eye. Cranking back with my Warhammer, I used my speed and leveled my three-pronged hammer into the closest minotaur’s hip joint. My hammer blasted through it like a blowtorch to butter.
With such strength at my disposal, stopping despite my momentum was as simple as a thought. From behind the minotaurs I lunged back into the fray, severing the leg of the next mob and pounding one in the chest. The blow threw it into the remaining minotaurs and sent them tumbling toward the side wall like bowling pins.
Travis and the undead werewolves were piling on the first minotaur had I crippled. Skyler and Russ would soon reach the next closest one. Checking the minotaurs’ levels, I confirmed the guys could take care of the rest.
Even though I had no practice moving with such speed, my immense strength brought with it many benefits. One included supernatural coordination. I could only imagine what ability I’d have after I gained experience using my new strength.
Jumping from the first floor, I flew into the air with gravity as my new plaything. Aeris had gone to the south side of the room, so I quickly got a feel for how she fared as I soared up toward the opposite side with Mana Sight speeding my perceptions. I wasn’t able to check their mana to get a precise read with Creature Observation, but from the intensity of their mana glow, it looked like our mages had between one-third and two-thirds of their mana left.
Five Minotaurs had tried to corner Clarissa, but she retaliated by throwing up a makeshift wall that surrounded them on four sides and reached ten feet in the air. Talk about crowd control. The only problem was that they were already breaking through. Audrey roasted them in the massive stone cauldron. Four undead imps threw spells of their own and Aeris and Olivia were preparing something for when they broke out.
It looked like they had it covered, but I did make sure to cast Creature Observation on the mobs to reveal the truth. At least two of the minotaurs were over level 1,500 and weren’t even taking damage. That’s some tough meat.
My attention fell on the five minotaurs I was about to face where I was about to land.
I found Zorik and Trevon fighting side by side. Zorik’s Water Magic was spewing like a firehose. It had already soaked all five minotaurs and Trevon took advantage. He blasted them with ice to try to slow them, but with the added water it became a makeshift ice prison. Three of the mobs had arrived grouped together and were drowned in a pillar of ice. The two that had arrived further away from the group of mobs were breaking through even as more ice accumulated.
Landing behind our defensive force, I was moving to put myself between our mages and the enemy when I saw Mel. He stood there calmly with the undead dark elf at his side. His four undead imps weren’t even facing the minotaurs that would soon be upon them. Instead, his imps were at the edge of the platform overlooking the first floor and slinging spells at the minotaurs’ main force.
