Codename: Freedom - Book 3 - Chapter 45

Pulses of some of the strongest psionics I’d ever felt bombarded us as we ran toward the Shadow King’s lair. Vines glowing in crimson reached out and wrapped around the edges of the entryway like blood-vipers straining to stretch the entrance even wider than it already was.

We passed under the creepy vines, the chamber opened up to where we could see that the vines lined the walls and pulsated warm light, illuminating the whole room. They didn’t hold psionic energy. That was coming from our men and the twenty-foot world boss at the far end of the room. It was a demon with granite-black skin, the eyes of a serpent, and the face of a canine. Its form was human, except for its size and the massive claws that protruded from the ends of each finger that were nearly a foot in length. As if mocking us, I saw the text above its head.

Shadow King

World Boss

Combat Level: Rank B

Psionic Level: Rank E

It was a culmination of the best of everything we had faced, from the physical attributes to psionic. Peter stood in front of Victoria near the back of the room, guarding her nearby. What had been left of Kline’s men and mine were engaging the monster—over twenty corpses were tossed about the room in contorted ruin. It was worse than I feared. Far worse.

Running over to Victoria, I called out. “We’re here.”

Just then a swelling of psionic pressure erupted into the room. Looking over to the world boss, a silver mass of energy gathered, leaping from its palm. One of Kline’s men met it head-on, scrambling to raise his shield. It crashed into him, seeping through his shield and causing him to explode from the inside out, his shield and helmet flew off in different directions as his body was tossed back. A wave of energy battered those standing around him, forcing them to stagger.

Without even looking our way, Victoria gave us a run down. “Our Gauntlets don’t work! Forty of them all at once did nothing! It has stone skin like the Goblin King! Kline is trying weapon bolstering and looking for a weakness! He already hit the neck! I’m afraid it has none! They need help, Lucius, but I don’t know what to try!”

I suspected she was right. Traditionally, world bosses were created to be close to impossible to beat. In virtual MMO games, they might have certain preset combinations of attacks, but they often required you to take a hit to deal one. The hardest ones though had no observable attack patterns. They also could have no weaknesses or take days to beat. All you could do was face impossible odds and endure as long as you could while chipping away at the creature's defenses as much as possible. If this creature was that way, we may have made a grave mistake. Heather and Timur may have cost us more than we knew.

It was also possible that this monster wasn’t designed to be defeated at all. If that was the case, then there was nothing we could do. I needed to assess the situation as quickly as possible.

“Victoria,” I said, waiting for her to glance in my direction. “If it has a weakness, we’ll find it, but be ready to run.”

She nodded in the affirmative. I couldn’t let her find herself in a situation where she would have to show what she was really capable of to survive. She couldn’t be found out. Not this late in the game.

I started walking toward the world boss that was on the other side of the room. “Mel, stay back and keep it annoyed. Constant Rank G bolts and throw them right in its face. Don’t let its bolts hit you. Your dead if you do.”

“Got it.” He said.

“Barrell, take command of our men. Focus on the legs. Let’s see if we can bring it down.”

“Yes, sir!” He cried.

“Kline. We made it.” I said through private message. “Fall back whenever I say.”

“Welcome to the party!” He grunted. “What are you going to do?”

“You guys need a shield. I’m going to give you one.”

It became clear as we neared how our men had survived as long as they had. The world boss was surrounded. Instead of fleeing as it attacked, our men started running the moment the monster turned to face them. It was hardly bothered by the attacks from behind, so either it wasn’t in a hurry, or its Rank B Combat Level was as high as it was because of its immense strength and endurance, not necessarily its speed. Its attacks were frighteningly fast, but it didn’t seem to be as quick to turn and it had to bend down as if crushing mice. Its size might give it leverage, but it actually worked in our favor for once.

Unlike the ten other dungeons, this one had a single level, making the room oval in shape and the largest fighting area yet. It was like a dragon’s den, but without the gold.

After swiping at the ground and missing, it turned toward Kline and a dozen men who had just beat on its lower body with their poleaxes and spears. With their aura’s burning, they bound back. The King’s silver aura sprang up over its entire body and it lunged, raking its claws across the ground. The claw on its thumb caught a fleeing man’s shield and cleaved it in half like an axe to a board of thin wood. It clipped the man’s shoulder armor, ripping it from his body, but he was mostly left in one piece.

Before Mel could begin his assault, a red bolt leaped from my hand to smack the Shadow King in the side of the face.

“Now!” I cried.

I fired bolt after bolt at the boss mob until it began to turn in my direction. Its eyes were black orbs with no pupils, lifeless and horrifying.

With everyone else running away, and me still thirty or forty meters out, it lifted its arm, aiming it right at me. I didn’t need Othisi to determine its direction, for I could feel the waves of power radiating from it as energy gathered.

Skidding to a stop, both of my hands were empty, already outstretched. Psionic energy surged from my core, into my arms, and out my palms.

The King’s silver bolt tore through the air. The most potent orange bolt I could muster burst out of me, smacking into it as it flew. The overwhelming power it possessed punched through my own bolt, losing a little velocity. Othisi’s extension of energy was waiting for it, pushing against it and draining it even more. All of my energy was came to a single focus over my hands. Like a bomb, its Rank E psionic bolt collided with my psionic shield. There was a tingling sensation that crawled down my arms, but my shield held. The world boss’s bolt dispersed as energy cackled in the air.

Battle cries echoed throughout the room as our remaining men rushed forward.

During my training for my fight with Anigh, I hadn’t left anything to chance and fought bandits that didn’t just have Rank E psionic auras, but the Akonizo and Voli abilities as well. I’d died six or seven times trying to get the combination right to block a Rank E psionic bolt. It seemed all that pain had finally been worth it.

Taking a single lumbering stride, it swung down from above with stretched out claws. Now for the real test.

Othisi reached out. The King’s attack came with impossible speed. Suddenly drawn to a point, I shifted my weight and directed my beam of energy up at its approaching claws. Like a switch, Apotho caught the blow, sending a tremble through my arms, core, and legs as I pushed the force off to the side. My shield pushed it away like a spring. Petra gripped ahold of me as Apotho faded, stabilizing me internally and out.

Unlike the High Priests, the King’s skin was affected by Bios psionics. It's iron skin must have been more literal than I could have dared to hope.

It ripped into me with a series of destructive blows. I did everything I could to deflect them instead of taking them head-on.

My Othisi Apotho combination had been enough against Anigh because he was faster than he was strong, but this boss monster was just the opposite. Its weight and size added even more leverage to its attacks.

The beating I was taking rattled me to the very core. It took my entire concentration, so I wasn’t sure if the others were able to take advantage or not. At the most, I caught glimpses of men beating against it with aura empowered strength. There was a bolstered weapon here and there, but it seemed the more I resisted it the more it wanted to break me. Still, I held out as it flew into a rage that seemed to never end. Blow after blow was now coming so faster that all I could do was react.

The King made a sudden grunt, then came to a screeching halt. It stood up straight and the others began to run. A psionic bolt flew from its hand, toward one of our fleeing men.

In a desperate attempt, I fired off a bolt of my own at its face, but its projectile had already fired. I heard a man scream as his body ruptured.

My bolt grabbed its attention once again, but this time instead of striking straight down, it swiped at me from the side. Did it just get faster? Swiping me off the ground, I flew toward the wall. Othisi reached out behind me, bracing my collision in combination with Apotho. The vines on the wall were as hard as stone. My aura filled me with strength as I slid to the floor and took off at a run. I was too late.

An entire squad of men was caught as the King’s claws as they slashed at them from the side. These men were mine. They were crushed as they came in contact with its palm. I could hear from the crunch of their armor. It was hopeless. Even though it was greatly outnumbered by players with Rank F psionics, it seemed invincible. It looked like it was time to retreat.

“Have we done any damage at all?!” I cried.

“Lower back! Left side!” Mel replied from the other side of the room as he stuffed bolt after bolt in its face. His constant attacks were keeping the rest of our men alive.

I angled away from him to get a good look at the bosses back. Just as he said, it had one shallow gash about the size of a poleaxe’s blade right where the kidney should be. So it wasn’t invincible.

“Kline! Barrell!” I shouted, not bothering with using the messaging system. “I’m going in again! Open him up!”

I dropped my aura momentarily to give my body a quick dose of Therapeia. I wasn’t in good shape. Glancing at my energy meter 36,888, I only had a quarter of my energy left. How long had I held him off? A couple of minutes? It had to be longer than. My fight with Timur hadn’t taken even a quarter of my energy, but the combinations of abilities to block the King’s blows were using up energy fast. I could last maybe five minutes. Tops.

The men behind it were reaching for the opening in its skin with their spears, but it turned suddenly, faster than before, and stomped one of my men into the ground before grabbing another.

Barrell launched himself into the air. The man was one of his scouts. Seeing the look on his face, I knew he was going after him with that he had even if there was nothing he could do. His angle was all wrong. The King was turning away from him even as he flew up to be level with the boss monsters head. Sending energy through his spear, an orange Akonizo blade formed at its end. He drove it into the side of the King’s face. It slipped over its cheekbone and into its black orb of an eye. The King’s head snapped to the side, but no obvious damage was done. Opening its massive jaws, the world boss twisted and snatched Barrell out of the air.

I watched as the King clamped down on my friend. His body went limp as parts of him flew loose. A geyser of outrage detonated inside of me. I ripped at the ground with every step as I ran at the monster with all the speed my aura could give me. I sprang at it from its flank. Apotho covered my shoulder as I pounded into its hip.

Its balance was rattled, and before it could respond, my aura was blazed. I shot through its legs, spinning and battered the back of its knee with a shielded punch. I skirted around it like an angry rat. As it turned, I rushed to its side, welcoming any swipes it made with its claws so that I could burst through them.

I was foolish. I was angry once again, but this was different from the time when the bandit had almost killed me. I’d spend too long fighting at the highest level that my body and my mind could take. Dozens of hours had become hundreds and hundreds had spanned into thousands. With the need for but a few hours of sleep each day, and an unimaginable recovery rate, I had submerged myself into the deepest trench of the ocean of combat.

As my skill and strength had increased, so had my capabilities. I’d gone from growing strong enough to simply hold up a spear, to wielding it like someone who was born to do so—from facing monsters of cruelty and brute strength, to fighting the real monsters, Combat Masters, who had taken their life in one hand and dealt death with the other to anyone who stood in their way. I’d moved from the strength of body—to power itself—controlling the energy that dwelt inside of me like an extension of my will. The chains of what was possible had been holding me down. They held us all in their tentacles, for we were creatures of culture and tradition where our energy could only remain locked inside of us. Now that my energy was free to do with as I wished, the chains that I’d always known had been stretched and pulled but had continued to hold me back like a fearful teacher. At that moment, they snapped.

It was the second time I’d seen Barrell die. Close to forty were dead here in this very room. Three times that number had died in the tunnel to get here. Thousands had died just outside and were still dying.

It wasn’t new power that filled me, but freedom. I ran up the wall using the speed and strength that my psionics supplied me. I jumped back, spinning like a corkscrew at a terrible cadence. Apotho glowed, throwing the King’s claws up and away as I drove my gleaming fist into the top of its snout. Its head snapped back.

Kline appeared behind the boss monster, twenty feet off the ground. He flew at it just as I had, his poleaxe cranked back over his head as orange light shone from every fold in his armor. Grave concentration burned inside him as he swung his axe. There was a thunderclap as it struck the world boss between the eyes.

The King skull remained in one piece, but I saw the creature shutter at the knees. It flailed its arms, desperate to get Kline and me away. It caught him with a grazing blow that still sent him spinning across the room. As its massive arm blackened out the sky above me, the combination of Othisi, Apotho, and Petra happened all at once. What had taken all of my focus came to me instinctively as its arm swatted me away. My psionic abilities weren’t just tools that I used any longer. They were apart of who and what I was. Othisi was already pushing against the ground, as I landed in a crouch, skidding across the floor.

Mel’s bolts began striking it on the back of the head, as he ran at it as well. I raced forward, seeing Kline rise to his feet, his aura bursting into life. 

We weren’t alone. The men we had left, about fifteen in total, collapsed on the world boss. I didn’t know if what had changed in me had changed in them as well, or if they just needed an example to break free. I jumped again, this time in an arching trajectory.

Kline leaped, stealing the King’s attention from Mel. The monster swung at him, but Kline twisted, dropping his poleaxe into its wrist.

As I began to fall, I was soaring at the monster’s lower back. Apotho sheathed my arm in light as I crashed my elbow against its open wound, widening it further.

This time it made more than a grunt. With a raging howl, it spun, throwing a backhand with all of its physical and psionic strength. I hurled my weight, Apotho covering me. Its hand scooped in low, my shielding sprung against it, sending me flipping into the air. Othisi helped braced my collusion as I landed on the lowest part of the dome-like ceiling. My aura flared as I grabbed ahold of a red vine with each hand and hung there upside down. Feeling the vine’s texture, they weren’t vines at all, but rough stone.

From my new vantage, a good ten meters over its head, I saw Mel circling it, trying to stay at King’s rear. Cycling between his aura and Voli, he shot his most powerful bolts at the wound in its back. Our men shot in and out of range of its legs, pounding them and dancing away.

Waiting for an opening, Kline was stooped in a low stance, watching the world boss for an opening. 

The monster himself seemed overwhelmed. It was being attacked from too many angles at once, so all it could do was swing wildly.

I could almost feel its frustration grow. As it turned away from Mel, Kline saw his chance and took it.

Surging forward, he cranked back his poleaxe.

Throwing its hands up, the Shadow King had finally had enough. With silver glowing in its palm, he flung his arm down, sending the bolt directly into the ground beneath. A wave of energy shot out from the impact zone, tossing our closest men aside. It wasn’t finished. Like a crazed beast, it fired bolt after bolt into the ground as it spun. No wonder. His lower back was opened up wide, leaking tar-like blood.

Kline plunged into the cloud of energy that had gathered at its base. Like a plane into overwhelming turbulence, he was tossed away.

The world boss’s tantrum decimated the players in close proximity, killing what was left of our men in a single flurry of attacks.

Mel had been thrown back but was the only person I saw still mostly uninjured.

As the King continued to batter the ground with bolts, I messaged Mel as he rose to his feet. “Its back is in bad shape—”

“Where are you?” He said, looking around frantically.

“Above you, on the ceiling.”

He looked up, then immediately spotted me. “What are you doing?”

“Giving you an opening, if you think you can finish it.”

“I. I think so.”

“You think?”

“Do it, Lucius. Your fight with Timur gave me an idea.”

“Okay. On my signal.” 

“What’s the signal?”

“This.” I shot from the ceiling, cutting off my aura as soon as I was airborne. My psionics could give away my location, so I was holding them back. I flew toward it, center mass. It had been turning away from me and I was pretty sure my timing was good.

Like a human meteor, I sped toward it from behind. It was starting to calm from its tirade, but it made no indication that it sensed my approach. This was going to hurt.

With Apotho covering my shoulder, I drilled high into the King’s back, sending it flailing to the floor. My collar bone snapped, and my arm went numb. The collision caused me to blackout for a moment, for the next thing I knew I was sprawled out next to the world boss, trying to clear my head.

My old friend Therapeia cleared the fog from my vision. Mel was kneeling over on the boss’s back, his hand tight in a fist. All of a sudden, he shoved it into the King’s wound. His eyes went wide as he grabbed his wrist. I couldn’t see what he was doing, but I felt it. Bolt after bolt, as fast as he could cast them, psionic power sprang from his hand and into the monster’s insides. Black blood shot out of the wound around his forearm with every blast, soaking his face and chest.

The world boss began to spasm. Mel didn’t stop even as he was being rocked back and forth. The King stopped moving. Even then, Mel emptied all that he had left. As he removed what was left of his hand, covered in dark sludge, I feared he was gravely injured. His own blood mingled with the dark substance at a steady flow from his arm.

He fell off the King’s body. I ran over to help him up, immediately staining my good arm in black as I pulled him away. Clear of the monster’s reach, I fed Therapeia into his arm, my own collar bone still unset. I was generous with my remaining energy, feeling that I was getting low.

It was finally over.

The ground began to shake. But it wasn’t the ground, it was the world boss pushing itself up off the floor. Its legs didn’t move as if Mel had severed its spinal column, so it spun itself around with its hands. I tried to get ahold of Mel, but the blood was too slippery to get a good grip with my one good hand.

Holding his gaze, he knew that I was going to have to let him go.

As I prepared to jump back, a not so shiny man in platemail flew over us and slammed a poleaxe into the side of the King’s jaw. Its head snapped to the side and it growled as it opened its mouth and tried to bite down on our savior.

Kline’s aura flashed as he pounded his axe into the monster’s jaw at the same spot.

A new pair of hands reached out to help me pull Mel back and out of the way. “I’ll get him. Help Kline finish it.” Peter commanded.

I let go of Mel, spending the last bit of energy I had to fuse my collarbone together. It was still numb. “But how can I help. I’m out of energy.” I said.

“So is the Shadow King,” Victoria said, stepping forward with a jug of something. “Hold out your hands.”

As I did, she started pouring water over them to rinse off the blood. Shaking them, I wiped what didn’t want to come off on the back of my shorts. 

Retrieving another spear from my inventory, I ran forward, out of energy and half-delirious from my injury, but fully determined to do what I could.

“Go for its back!” Kline called, still flashing his aura to fend off the King’s maw. He smacked it upside the head each time it lunged. Without its aura and its loss of mobility, there wasn’t much left it could do.

I tried to find a way around it, but it had backed itself into a corner and its arms were stretched out to the sides to hold it up.

“I’ll go for its mouth!” Victoria cried out, firing a bolt at it from behind Kline. It caught the King in the roof of its mouth, causing it to snap its jaws shut.

I inventoried my spear and instead pulled out a sword. Waiting for it to lung one more time, I raced forward as it did, skirting between its arm and the wall. If it noticed me, Kline and Victoria didn’t let it act. I dived onto its back, finding the small crater that was there, and plunged my sword in. I thrust up toward what I hoped was its heart and activated Akonizo with the little energy I had left. It sunk into something that wasn’t just wet and slimy. I twisted and pulled then stabbed up again.

It threw itself from side to side, trying to get me off, but instead, I dropped further into the gaping hole in its back and shoved my sword in as far as my arm would reach. All of a sudden, it went stiff like a board, holding on with a few more seconds and the last drops of life drained out of it. Its arms gave out and its head collapsed to the floor as its entire body went limp.

Climbing out of the creature’s back, I had to tug to get my sword to come free. Perhaps I should have left it there, for its innards spilled onto my lap as I removed it.

With my feet planted firmly on the ground, I saw Victoria hop down from the creature’s arm and run over towards me. Instead of stopping, she threw her arms around me, covering herself in the gunk that was all over me.

“If you wanted to get dirty, you could have gone for its back,” I said, trying to smile without opening my mouth.

“Blood shares in blood.” She replied grimly.

I tilted my head in question.

She turned away as if she hadn’t seen me. “Your arm?” She said, looking at it, but seeming flustered because there was too much gunk on me to really see anything.

“My shoulder, yes. And Mel?” 

“There wasn’t much left of his hand. I think you helped with the pain at least.”

“I still have a little left in me.” That was an exaggeration. I had 2,227 energy and climbing. Any more than a few seconds of Therapeia and I’d pass out.

We headed toward them, scaling the boss monsters’ arm when I heard a hum in the air. It was growing louder. As it did, the color of the room began to change. The crimson color of the vines became washed out like it was watered down, and the color was slowly washed away until there was nothing left but dull white.

“They’re gone!” Victoria shouted, causing my ear to ring. Her eyes were glazed over as she was looking through someone else’s eyes. “Sorry.” She said in a softer tone. “All the priest turned to ash.”

“Oh yeah!” Kline rumbled.

Mel just plopped back to lay on his back. I went to him and we began taking turns sending spurts of Therapeia into his hand as our energy recovered.

At the back of the room, there was a loud crack, then the Shadow Kings corpse burst into ash that floated up and burst into white pixels. The wall began to rise where the King had been, revealing a chamber. It was sterile and white, with modern panel walls and a metallic desk in the middle of the room. Behind it sat a man in a suit jacket of air force blue. I wasn’t familiar enough with ranks to know exactly what he was, but the three silver stars over each shoulder that had to mean he was some kind of general.

“Congratulations on completing the world event!” He said with the voice of a game announcer. “You guys are a mess. Here, let me do something about that.”

With the tap of his finger, I immediately felt relief in my shoulder. Mel gasped from the ground beside me. The tar-like blood was gone as if it hadn’t been there in the first place.

A few of our men that must have been knocked out cold, stood to their feet. Their injuries were gone.

I helped Mel to his feet and couldn’t help but notice that his hand was as good as new.

“Come.” The man said with a wave of his hand. “There is much to discuss.”

Looking at Victoria, I saw her demeanor changed. A severe resolve settled over her. All of the chances she had taken to get here—the trials we’d endured had led to this moment. Holding my gaze for a moment longer, she took a deep breath before turning to the general. “Come.” She said. “It’s time to negotiate.”