Path of the Slayer B1 C49. We Can Do It

“What the freaking hells happened to you?! And what the heck are you riding and did it eat Sabretooth?” exclaimed the dwelf wizard, Merlin.

The giant hunter autocycle slowed to a stop. I was still buzzed out of my mind from the possibilities of my first PASSIVE Great Skill.

There was so much I wanted to say and theorize about. Instead, I bottled it up. I couldn’t use Hellion as an outlet right now, and I couldn’t tell Merlin the truth.

I told him the facts that were most apparent.

“Thumper and I took down three of the hunters,” I said. “I lost my left arm, for now, but I’ll heal it up once I have enough Path Energy. Thumper needs time to recover, but he’ll be alright. And Sabretooth became my Bonded Treasure.” I patted her handle and she let out a hearty roar. “But enough about me. What about you?!”

We were at the center of the maze, the heart of the Ancient Emerald Temple Dungeon, where the walls looked more like old vine-covered ruins compared to the rest of the maze. There were more twenty-foot statues standing in a circle around the large open center, each statue equipped with different weapons– gem-lined swords, gem-headed maces, gem-fixed staves, and so on.

I kept expecting them to move and attack. Maybe they would once the Dungeon Boss itself was allowed to engage. 

“Oh, you know, I was just making preparations while tapping into the energy here,” Merlin said, with a wide-eyed and frenzied look. “Just normal wizard stuff. Nothing to overthink about. Nothing special, really.”

“I call crap on that.”

For one, he wasn’t looking up at me.

He was looking down.

Merlin was in the air while standing on the banister of a floating ship with leathery sails and a scorched body that was a hundred feet long. On the front of the ship was the wood-carved head of a dragon with eyes that burned a dull orange and seemed to rotate down to look at me and Sabretooth. On the sides of the ship, cannon barrels extended out. I counted eight in total as Sabretooth drove us around to examine all the anomalies hanging around Merlin.

There was a ten-foot golem that looked like a blown-up and steely knight. It waited on the ground beneath the hovering dragon ship and was facing the center of the boss arena.

When I looked back at Merlin, there was another oddity that was floating over his shoulder. It looked like an enchanted abacus, its beads moving rapidly back and forth on its grooves. The power emanating from that little abacus tool, the golem, and the dragon ship were heavy.

They were all Epic, I sensed.

If that wasn’t crazy already, my senses picked up more heavy magic being present around the boss itself. The ground was covered in red, purple, and blue runic scripts that made it hard to see the ancient hieroglyphics beneath. Layers and layers of wards and spells were folded together so potently they made the air shimmer like there was a heat haze. 

All the ward magic surrounded the boss who was a massive fifty-foot statue that was halfway up from its throne. It was shaped like a man, perhaps based on the former leader of the temple, and looked in better condition than everything else in the ancient Dungeon. The only item of note on the Dungeon Boss was a gem-heavy crown on its head that was big enough to crush a Rank 2 adventurer.

As I made my observations, the Dungeon Boss shifted a little further out of its seat. It was almost standing.

“Merlin, I’m going to take a wild guess,” I said.

“There is no need. I’m perfectly normal. I can assure you.”

“You have two Paths, don’t you?” I asked. “And if that’s the case, then you get double the Path Magic.”

Merlin sighed heavily. “Dammit all, Arden. You know how hard it was to keep that under wraps while I was at the Dragon Supremacy Alpha Academy? I witnessed them dissecting enemy Pathwalkers to discover new powers! I could’ve been dissected! Now you know the truth and…”

“What? You’re going to kill me?”

“I don’t want to.”

“I don’t want you to either. How else am I supposed to help you pay off your debt?” I chuckled, more amused than anything. Might as well extend an olive branch. “I’ll tell you a secret later. Maybe not soon. But it’ll make you understand why our Paths are aligned.”

The Dungeon Boss moved again.

I could feel Merlin glaring down at me with deep contemplation. Then the dwelf let out another heavy sigh.

“Come on, Arden. If you have anything you want to prepare before the fight, do it now. I’m getting burnt out from keeping the boss inactive with Energy Tap.”

“I didn’t think you could get burnt out from taking free energy.”

“Maybe whatever secret you have protects you, but soul damage is a thing! All that energy getting cycled through a Pathwalker when it’s unnatural is going to wear and tear eventually.”

I figured that was the benefit of being the Slayer. It would explain why I could handle cursed magic so well. But that didn’t mean I was infallible, or the Fallen Slayer wouldn’t have gotten defiled.

Now that I knew Merlin had two Paths – which was crazy to consider – I was more inclined to tell him one of my major secrets. Thumper’s own secrets were coming out, too.

Our Paths were aligned.

I followed Merlin’s example by rolling through the field of heavy wards and spell traps. Merlin remained in control even while straining against the Dungeon energies to delay the Dungeon Boss start up.

The monstrous creature loomed over me as I extended my artificer hand and dropped cylinder frag bombs around its feet. I made sure not to touch it or that might lead to a forced start up.

Once I left enough bombs, Sabretooth took me toward Merlin’s dragon ship as the flying vessel lowered down and extended a gangplank. We rolled onto the deck and stopped next to Merlin, who remained standing on the banister.

“She’s Legendary,” Merlin said with awe.

“I know.”

Sabretooth purred merrily from the attention.

Merlin’s glowing green eyes snapped toward the prosthetic replacement.

Before he could ask, I spoke up. “Hellion got damaged. Because of me. He’ll need thirty days to recover. And I need to find a way to upgrade Bonded Treasures.”

“I don’t have one yet, so I wouldn’t be an expert. Maybe Thumper would know since his short swords are bonded.” Merlin rubbed his eyes under his spectacles and shook his head. “Any chance you got a clue on what’s up with Thumper?”

“I have a clue. But it’ll be better if we let the guy come to us.”

“At least we’re sure that he’s a guy. It would’ve felt awkward otherwise.”

“Why are you so stressed about that?”

“I’m a wizard. I’m great with giant books, not pretty girls. And trust me … I’ve tried. And I’ve gotten burned. Bad.”

I was going to snort, but I held back. Both of my companions were awkward guys. Sensitive, too. We would have to work on that later.

For now, I leaned over from my seat to look down at the Dungeon Boss before glancing back at Merlin. “Any chance you could spare some extra energy for me?”

Merlin sighed laboriously. “If I don’t end up dead, I’m going to fall unconscious and sleep for a while.”

Despite his sour mood, Merlin emitted the white and misty energy from his body. It reached me and – yeah, I could see what Thumper had meant.

There were two distinct energies within the transfusion. One energy was a silent, sharp, and cunning presence that hunted me from the darkness, leaving its marks. Like an owl. Then I felt the wrath, greed, and fire of something that burned me from within. Like a dragon.

Even as the Slayer, I wasn’t immune to the consequences of direct Path Energy transfusion. Especially when I was Exquisite taking in Legendary energy, which had me shaking and sweating.

Still, I couldn’t help but use it immediately. Only, this time, the cost to repair my shoulder and arm was significantly less. Again, my mind was abuzz with possibilities as I rapidly fixed the damage.

In a short time, my left hand was back, and everything was in good order. Then the transfusion came to an abrupt end when I reached 77% in Path Energy.

I was going to ask what was wrong when a thunderous crack filled the air and stole my attention. Heavy and vibrant green particles spread about the central space. The Dungeon Boss was fully on its feet, its eyes aglow with green-lit power.

“You dare disturb my rest, false gods!” roared the Dungeon Boss. “You will suffer the fates of all those who came before you! Welcome to your grave!”

[You’ve entered a fight with the Emerald King Dungeon Boss! Do your best to win this challenge!]

The notification came and went.

No Suppression in the air. That meant the Dungeon Boss was stocked up high on Aether and serious magic powers. His stone body looked tough, too, and was probably enhanced by powerful enchantments. And since this was a Rank 3 Dungeon, the boss would be Rank 4, and a powerful version of Rank 4, far stronger than Magnus and his hunters.

The Emerald King raised his large arms to each side, fingers splayed. Just like I’d predicted, the statues on the walls shifted, vines snapping, green magic glowing through the cracks, their ancient limbs jerking into motion as they wielded their various weapons.

I glanced at Merlin.

There was a mad smile on his face, the abacus bobbing merrily behind his head, its beads clacking swiftly, calculating.

“I always like starting with a bang.” The wizard adjusted his spectacles with one hand and snapped his fingers with the other.

All the wards around the Dungeon Boss became fully engaged. The nearest ones triggered with bursts of lightning and fire, which caught my bombs that were littered about.

The center of the arena became a blinding ball of force, heat, and destruction. A scalding wave crashed against the dragon ship, which Merlin shielded with a magic barrier that took the brunt.

Sabretooth let out a growl in surprise, and I sat tensely on her, looking past Merlin and at the destruction we’d wrought. 

Before the smoke cleared and the flames settled, I noticed the Dungeon Boss wasn’t standing so tall. The haze cleared further and revealed the boss was on his hands, his lower legs missing, his body damaged heavily from the chest down, with pieces falling from his face.

“YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!” roared the Emerald King, his crown pulsating with green destructive might.

“Perhaps so. Perhaps not.” Merlin whipped out a twisted stick from his pouch. Even with my helmet on, and my face shrouded, he must’ve sensed my confusion and went to explain. “Wizards don’t use wands nowadays except for one thing. Pre-prepared spells already charged into them. Can’t be a long charge either. It’ll destroy the wand and make the spells come out weak.”

A big green beam lanced through the air from the Dungeon Boss’s crown.

Merlin laughed as he shot back a greater beam of his own. The wizard’s beam was a whitish plasma with the heat of fire, the zap of lightning, and the melt of ice.

His combination attack split the Dungeon Boss’s beam into separate streams that shot past the ship. He struck the crown with a thunderous crack. Pieces fell from the crown, but it still remained a major source of power.

The wand fell into smoky ruin in Merlin’s hand.

He pulled out a second one from his pouch.

“Are you going to get in on this?” Merlin asked.

“I think we can do it,” I said with a strange profoundness sweeping through me. “You, Thumper, and me. We can overcome it all together. We can end defilers whenever they get in our way. We can break into the Grand Generational Passing. We can reach the top of it all. We can be the best.”

“Oh, my freaking System! Please, shut up! Just please!” Merlin shouted over the roar of dragon cannon fire. His Epic vessel was blasting at the boss minions that were moving about. “Get your damn head out of the impossible heavens and focus on winning a boss battle against a Rank 4 Dungeon Boss! Isn’t this good enough? Why do you need to tempt the attention of the Defiled Covenant? Or worse! The freaking Dragon Princess! When she’s here! In this Realm! And will slaughter all three of us if she catches us!”

“One day, even the Dragon Princess won’t be a problem.”

“God dammit, Arden!”

Merlin pulled out another wand and shot both, filling the air between him and the Dungeon Boss with twin plasma beams of concentrated fire, lightning, and ice. The ten-foot golem he’d summoned was already fighting the statues with a steely war hammer while heavy magic lit up the air with colossal blasts and colorful showers of magic. 

“I swear if your jinx hits us with some stupid System Karma I’m going to grab your thick-as-hell neck and choke slam you!” Merlin grouched.

I laughed.

Maybe I was getting too confident. 

Could you blame me?

I’d come from the absolute bottom before reaching a Level beyond the borders of my empire, surpassing the limits of mere Rankers, where I could see the way up clearly. It was a beautiful thing to experience that. It was part of my Epiphany.

I’ll Keep Going.

With that in mind, I shouldn’t laze about. Sabretooth was wriggling with anticipation under me.

“Come on, girl! Let’s show the funny wizard why everyone will respect us!”

I slapped the autocycle’s body. She reared up with a hearty roar like a proper mount and jumped off the dragon ship deck. A vortex of wind and snow blanketed the fall. Her tires inflated and cushioned the landing some more before assuming their usual size, claws extended, her tail whipping the flanged mace around eagerly.

Once more into the fray, I lifted my Fallen Slayer Greatsword from my back and activated my powers.

We hit our first boss minion like it owed us a blood debt.