Chapter 55 The Tyrant Awakens

The look of utter confusion and terror on Evelyn’s face as we pushed open the door to the boss chamber is a sight I will never forget. The door creaked open, and her eyes widened, her breath hitching as the weight of what lay ahead settled upon her. Then, almost immediately, the music began, a deep, resonant note that sent a shiver down my spine, building anticipation for the battle to come. Her eyes darted around frantically, searching for the source of the eerie sound. She even shut her eyes, focusing intensely on the input from Panoptic Sense. I suppose that confirms it, only those with The System can hear the music.

Relax, it's just The System, or at least, that's my best guess. I've only ever been in a Dungeon while having The System. Stay sharp; the boss is here somewhere. As I spoke, my eyes swept over the room, searching for any sign of our opponent.

We were standing in a wide-open cavern with pools of water every so often. Each pool looked to be about ten feet across, unfortunately my Panoptic Sense was unable to penetrate into the water. Slowly, we moved forward, and within a few steps, we could see the entirety of the cavern with Panoptic Sense. The room was entirely empty save for the pools of water.

At the same moment, we both spotted the ripples forming on the nearest pool. Without hesitation, we sprinted away, our instincts screaming that something was about to emerge. I already had Arcane Armor and Arcane Surge going and Evelyn had already used Arbiter’s Dominion. We ran away from the pool but made sure that we were not moving right next to another pool as we did so. Once we were at about the midway point we stopped, and turned to look at the pool that water was now starting to spill out of.

The surface of the pool erupted in a surge of water and foam as an enormous, snake-like creature slithered into view. Its scales shimmered under the dim light, an eerie blend of orange, yellow, and black, with a sickly greenish-grey hue along its spine. Water cascaded from its massive frame as it rose higher and higher, revealing a monstrous body that seemed impossibly long. Its slitted eyes locked onto us, gleaming with cold intelligence, and for a moment, the world felt still, just the sound of dripping water and the weight of impending doom.

About ten feet down from the head that was so large I could have fit in its mouth going sideways, were small arms. They looked almost misplaced on the massive creature as the arms were no bigger than my own. The eyes were similar to a regular snake, slitted and while they were on the side of the creature’s head, it had no problem looking at us. Staring at the monster I triggered Identify on it.

Kobolisk the Tyrant of the Depths (M) – Level 63 – The Kobolisk is an abomination that was never meant to exist, a twisted fusion of nature and magic, born from a sorcerer’s arrogance.

Long ago, a powerful sorcerer, whose name has been lost to time, sought to tame the mythical basilisk by merging it with a kobold, a creature known for its servility. He believed that by fusing the timid nature of the kobold with the might of a basilisk, he could create the ultimate controlled beast. But magic is never so easily tamed.

From the moment it hatched, the Kobolisk defied its creator. The first thing it did was turn the sorcerer to stone, a cruel mockery of his ambitions. It did not stop there. Everywhere it roamed, destruction followed. Towns, forests, even fortresses crumbled beneath its power. While basilisks were known as walking calamities, they lacked true intelligence. The Kobolisk, however, possessed the sentience of a kobold, but none of its loyalty or meekness.

With the cunning of a strategist and the malice of a tyrant, it killed indiscriminately. Nothing could stand in its way. Then, without warning, it vanished. Some believed it had been slain by an unknown force, while others feared it had merely gone dormant, biding its time.

Now, the truth is clear.

The Kobolisk was never destroyed, it was sealed deep within the Scalebinder Depths, a prison forged to contain its insatiable hunger. And now, that seal has been broken.

Its slitted eyes gaze out once more, filled with the same cruel intelligence that doomed its creator. The Tyrant of the Depths has awakened, and it will not rest until it reclaims its dominion over the world.

Before the creature could even let out a roar, I used Arcane Step to teleport onto its head. Without hesitation, I channeled Arcane Manipulation to forge a spear of pure Arcane mana, pouring as much Arcane Detonation into it as I could. With a swift, forceful motion, I drove the spear down toward its skull, aiming to strike with all the power I could muster.

The spear slammed into its head digging about an inch, before it stopped completely against its surprisingly hard bone. Then the creature let out a deep booming roar, so powerful that had the creature jerking its head back in pain not launched me from the it, its roar would have.

Using Arcane Step I moved back to in front of Evelyn who was staring at the creature still in awe. Stop gawking and get your bow out, I don’t think you’ll be getting close enough to use your rapiers. Evelyn shook her head and nodded, before swapping her rapiers for her bow and arrows from her small storage ring.

Once she had her bow out, she cast Adjudicator’s Mandate, before she was able to fire another arrow though the kobolisk dropped back into the pool. Make sure you don’t stare into its eyes. Not sure that is how it makes people turn to stone, but in every story ever about basilisks that’s how they do it.

Again, Evelyn just nodded, I could almost feel her talent at work, processing all the information and trying to come up with a way to defeat our opponent. Unfortunately, there were no easy pieces of lumbar that she could turn into a spear to stab through its mouth this time.

Before we had the chance to think for too long, the ground beneath our feet erupted upwards. We had seen the water rippling in the pools, but we had not seen this coming. I reached back and grabbed Evelyn, then used Arcane Step to get out of the way of the monstrosities closing mouth.

The second its mouth snapped shut I moved. Instead of stepping to the top of its head, I moved behind the creature. Once again, I forged an Arcane spear, but this time I tried to leave it as plain as possible. No Arcane Detonation, I was trying to use the spear to keep the creature above the surface where we could attack.

I jammed the spear into its side and stepped to a new spot before jamming another spear into it. I had not anticipated how hard it would be to maintain the spears. By the third spear, I was already starting to struggle mentally. In the end it didn’t matter the spears broke the moment the creature started to sink in the water.

As soon as I noticed it sinking, I started to move, the creature was quicker though. Slamming its head down on me and crushing me between it and the floor beneath. For half a second, maybe even less, I tried to push the creature back, having successfully stopped its attack. Arcane Armor was straining from the impact, then the ground gave way beneath me, and I started to plummet into the black watery abyss below.

I felt Evelyn scream as the head of the creature smashed into me. Through Panoptic Sense I had seen arrow after arrow going into the creature. A few even went towards its eyes, however, it apparently saw those, and it would close the lid before the arrow could hit. How she had been able to aim for the eyes of a basilisk, I had no idea, but I was not complaining.

Not wanting to slip below the surface, as I would not be able to use Panoptic Sense to get back up, I used Arcane Step as quickly as I could and appeared behind Evelyn. “Well, that was way to close.”

Hearing my voice Evelyn spun around and looked at me. Probably to make sure I was actually there. I saw the relief in her eyes upon realizing it was me as I reached out to grab her shoulder. The I used Arcane Step again to move us away as the creature came flying out of the pool closest to us, trying to grab us by sliding on the ground.

Seeing an opportunity, I released Evelyn the moment we materialized. Taking a steadying breath, I stepped, positioning myself between the pool and the creature. Arcane power pulsed through me, wrapping around my body like a living barrier. With precision, I drove spikes from my armor into the ground, anchoring myself in place. Raising both shields, I expanded the Arcane Armor covering them as much as I could, bracing for the beast’s next move.

The Kobolisk crashed into me like a living battering ram, the force sending tremors through my body as my armor carved deep grooves into the ground. Inch by inch, I fought against its overwhelming strength until, finally, its momentum ground to a halt.

“Well, you got it stopped, now what?” Evelyn yelled at me, hands gripping her bow tightly. Unfortunately, that had been the extent of my brilliant plan. Before I could muster a response, the creature reared up and lunged at me. Or at least, it tried to. My Arcane mana had been spread wide enough to stop its jaws from closing. A small victory, until I realized that spreading my armor so thin also weakened it. While it saved me from becoming a midday snack, my armor promptly shattered a second later, leaving me in a very bad position.

Once I was no longer stopping it from moving, it wiggled itself forward and slide back into the water. I immediately recast Arcane Armor and moved back toward Evelyn slowly. Scanning constantly to see where it would come from.

I thought with how annoying I had been to the creature it would come after me. Instead, it repeated itself from earlier and came up from under Evelyn. I didn’t even have time to try and stop it before the creature snapped its mouth closed around her. Blood gushed from the sides of its maw.