New Story -- Chapter 38

Chapter 38

The Boss room was definitely not what he was expecting. It had transformed from what it had been before, which had already been quite large when he had fought against Arpath, the Bone Defiler; now, though, it was the size of a sports stadium, complete with tiered stands around the perimeter, which were full of silent, lower-Leveled Undead that he recognized from the Minimal and Medial dungeons. Unlike at a sporting event, they weren’t sitting in the stands, but were upright and completely motionless; it took him a moment to realize that he couldn’t see any writing, or tags as Sarah had called them, above their heads, so he wasn’t exactly sure if they were real. An illusion, perhaps?

Regardless, it didn’t seem as though Thaden was brought into the room in order to be swarmed by an enormous horde of weaker Undead. Instead, it was quite possible that he would be swarmed by an enormous horde of stronger Undead, at least according to the gathering of monsters on the opposite side of the stadium-like space he was brought into.

More importantly, as far as he was concerned, he caught a glimpse through his hand transportation of his party members, who were gathered – still inside their own ghost-like, bony hands – near the far wall near where he was brought in. A rumble behind him made him turn around, only to see that the entrance to the room was closing, a heavy-looking stone wall sliding out from one of the walls to seal them inside. I guess we’re not getting out of here. Is this all part of the Boss fight? Or what exactly is all this?

“Thaden! Get us out of here!” Sarah screamed toward him when he got close to the others.

“I—” The Lifewarden was interrupted when he suddenly fell to the ground, the hand that had been gently gripping his entire body letting him go as it disappeared. There were a few grunts from the others as they were also released, leaving no trace of their sudden and insistent transportation.

“What’s going on? Is this normal—” the Novice Druid asked, a high-pitched, nervous lilt to her voice, but she too was interrupted.

“Foolish mortals! You should never have come here, as the only thing you’ll find is your deaths.”

The deep, gravelly voice seemed to come from everywhere as it echoed loudly through the massive space, but it only took one look around to see where it originated.  On the other side of the gigantic room, a horde of hundreds of Undead that he had just fought through to get to this point was waiting, their large figures and Levels barely visible to him at that distance. What he could tell was that they were likely real and not an illusion like the silent crowd in the stands, but that didn’t necessarily reassure him.

“Normally, I’d say that such a speech is a bit trite, but I’m so scared that I think I’m going to pee myself,” Sarah whispered to herself just loud enough that when the echoes from the voice faded, everyone could hear her.

No one laughed.

That was probably because the source of the voice was both obvious and terrifying. Floating over the assembled army of Undead was a figure that radiated a darkness so intense that it practically throbbed like a heartbeat, and even from so far away Thaden could feel a pressure it gave off that made him nearly want to dirty his robe as well. It was an intense, suffocating heaviness, as if the combination of death and darkness had combined and was trying to blot out the sun, and the sheer gravity of its presence was enough for him to want to fall to his knees.

Which is exactly what Thaden did involuntarily, only a second or so after the rest of his party that had been standing behind him did the same. Confusion set in at the overwhelming fear that bore down on him, but then he thought about what might be happening.

Quickly casting Lesser Cure Mental Affliction, he felt an immediate reduction in the pressure he was feeling from the distant figure, though it didn’t eliminate it completely. When he saw that the figure was Level 75, he knew that it was because his spell only completely cured mental afflictions up to Level 60; he hadn’t thought he would be facing something of a higher Level than 60 in the dungeon, and if he did, then he had his Fieldsthat both worked up to Level 90. Apparently, the pressure and the overwhelming fear that came with it wasn’t a magical attack, but something else.

He believed that it was simply the sheer power that came from the figure that caused it, and he suddenly knew how dangerous it would be if something like this was unleashed upon the world. If it suddenly showed up on Earth as part of the Adversary’s invasion army – of whatever it did when it wanted to kill everyone on a world – he doubted anything short of a nuke could kill it.

“Fortunately for you, my minions have been looking forward to a challenge. While it is unlikely that you will survive such a challenge, there still exists a chance that you will succeed. You may thank me for being such a benevolent Monarch of the Dead.

There was an even greater flexing of the pressure upon him, and while he used his Lesser Cure Mental Affliction repeatedly and could resist what it was trying to have him do, he saw that the others in his party were bending over while on their knees, prostrating themselves before the sheer power of the Monarch of the Dead. So, rather than risk revealing that he could resist such influence, Thaden did the same as them.

Nehetmo, Monarch of the Dead (Boss) – Maximal

Level 75

A few seconds after he let himself prostrate in front of the Monarch, he felt the pressure suddenly free him completely, disappearing so quickly that it made him question whether it was even there in the first place. As he quickly jumped to his feet, the others did the same – if a little more slowly – and Thaden could finally evaluate the Undead monster that had caused the extreme reaction.

Black metal armor completely covered its body, giving no glimpse of what was underneath Nehetmo, Monarch of the Dead’s exterior form. The only thing that was visible were two orbs of pulsing darkness that somehow shone out of its helmet, and he could practically feel their gaze upon him even from such a distance.

Contrary to the other powerful Undead in the Maximal difficulty Mausoleum of Despair, the Monarch’s physical form wasn’t large, as he estimated that it only stood 7 feet tall. What was large were the hundreds of thick, barely visible spectral tendrils that seemed to spread out from its metal shell, reaching dozens of feet in length, and which spread out and undulated through the air behind the powerful Undead like unbound long hair underneath the water in a pool. Whether this Boss was a skeleton or a zombie underneath its physical armor, or potentially something completely different, it was obvious that it was at least partly phantasmal in nature.

But that was the least of Thaden’s worries right now as the Monarch seemed to drift backwards from where it had been floating above its Undead army. The movement seemed to be some sort of signal, as a wave of the assembled monsters shot forward and started to approach the party. He counted at least a dozen, a combination of Grave Stalkers, Demi Liches, and Bone Beasts, which was only a drop in the bucket compared to how many there were still waiting behind them. The Lifewarden could only assume that they would all be coming at some point, likely in progressively harder waves, which he wasn’t looking forward to.

“What do we do, Thaden?  Even you can’t fight them all!” Sarah cried, panic starting to set in as she saw what was coming for them.

“Stay behind me as much as you can; I’m going to set a few protective spells on you, but it’s up to you to stay alive and out of the way.” It was a bit harsh, but if he was going to kill the incoming Undead, he couldn’t afford to worry about them all that much.

Rapidly pulling up his Access Slot list, he swapped out a few of his spells for what he felt he was going to need. Keeping his two Fields active the entire time was paramount to his own survival, so he didn’t need his channeled Lesser Healing Circle right now. It would be nice to have so as to do as much damage as possible, but not at the expense of his own safety through his protective Fields. He replaced it with Major Protective Guards, which he had picked up on the chance that he would party with some of the Contenders – but he hadn’t thought he would need it this soon.

Major Protective Guards (Single Cast):Creates a series of full-body protective barriers around a single target that prevents (5) instances of all types of damage and afflictions from up to Level 80 sources; once damage is prevented, Weak Protective Barrier disappears; cannot target self.

Number of Targets: 1

Range: 20 feet

Duration: 3 minutes

Casting Time: 10 seconds

Mana Cost: 500

Cooldown: 10 seconds

While it only targeted a single person at a time, his Extended Protection Advancement helped to protect a second target, which would help him protect all of them quickly because his Ready To Go Advancement cut the cooldown time to 5 seconds. The 5 instances of complete damage and affliction protection would go a long way to keeping them safe, as he didn’t know how the Undead monsters would react once they got close enough to attack.

He also replaced Major Regeneration with Major Mass Regeneration; he hadn’t used the group spell before because it only regenerated 27 Health every 10 seconds instead of every 5 seconds like the single target version, but with the larger numbers of Undead he was fighting, he didn’t want to have to target each and every one of them.  This would become especially true while he was surrounded by them and may not be able to target each one individually.

Thaden thought about adding Lesser Health Reduction in somewhere, but he wasn’t sure what was in store for him during this fight and hesitated to remove anything else. The only thing he thought might be possible to remove was Major Death Ward, because in addition to his two Fields, Mass Healing, Mass Regeneration, both Cure Afflictions, and Protective Guards, all 9 of his Access Slots had been filled because Death Ward took up 2 all by itself. However, if something unexpected happened and he was killed, then Death Ward was the only thing that would save the day.

Once all the changes had been made and the cooldown for Major Protective Guards had expired, he immediately cast the spell on Sarah; a split-second after it was cast, his Extended Protection Advancement automatically targeted the nearest person, which just so happened to Diallo, and he was also covered in a shimmery blue aura that was just barely visible over the top of his body, indicating that he was now protected from 5 attacks. He had a chance to cast it again on Rayana and Aki 5 seconds later before the lead elements of the first wave of Undead came into range.

Thaden walked forward to put some distance between him and his party so that they wouldn’t get into the crossfire, before he cast Major Mass Regeneration on the approaching monsters, catching half of them with his first cast and the other half with his second. As a greenish-yellow glow enveloped them with Regeneration and Afterglow taking effect, the Grave Stalkers and Bone Beasts immediately surrounded him and attempted to smash through his Fields – which, of course, had absolutely no effect. Unfortunately, the Demi Liches stayed back and attacked him from afar with their necrotic spells, leaving them out of his Lesser Aura of Life range as well as Major Mass Healing when he cast it soon after being surrounded. He was able to navigate his way out of his encirclement and move after them, but the larger space was actually in their favor, as he couldn’t trap them against the walls and finish them off first.

It eventually turned into a fight of attrition. Thaden maintained his Fields and recast Death Ward on himself whenever it was off cooldown, as well as renewing the Protective Guards on his party, while Mass Regeneration and Afterglow whittled down the Demi Liches from afar. When the Bone Beasts and Grave Stalkers were killed before they were, the Liches would bring them back to “un”life, lengthening the process of killing them once the spellcasting Undead were finished off. With Regeneration and Afterglow working in tandem with no other additional healing spells used on the Liches, it took a little over 7 minutes for them to fall, but the other Undead surrounding him only took another minute before they succumbed to additional Mass Healing and his ongoing Aura of Life.

“You’re crazy, Thaden. How do you even have any Mana left after that?” Sarah asked once they had all collapsed, but the Lifewarden just shook his head without responding.

The next wave was already on its way. Twice as many as the first wave ran or floated across the space, an impossible task for just about anyone else, but Thaden was already preparing by ensuring all his cooldown spells were recast and he was ready to go. As they arrived, he had to wonder how a normal party of Contenders was supposed to succeed against so many powerful monsters at the same time; he could only conclude that they would have to be a much higher Level and were powerful in their own right. How strong Level 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50+ Contenders were was one aspect of them that he didn’t have a good idea about; based on his own spells, he figured they would have to be quite strong at his Level, so it was entirely possible that they could handle 20 or more Undead around the same Level as they were with no trouble.

Despite there being additional Undead in this wave, it didn’t take much longer than the first for Thaden to destroy them. There were no surprises or sudden attacks that got through his Fields, and he was able to keep their attention by doing large amounts of damage to them to keep them off his party.

In all honesty, it was boring and repetitive – but it was also safe, as there was no chance of anyone dying. Even if it took hours to defeat each wave, it was still better than going into the fight with little or no protection at all.

As the third wave arrived and surrounded him, which had doubled in number once again to 48 in total, he discovered that it was a little more difficult to target the Demi Liches because of all the ragged cloaks of the Stalkers and bones of the Beasts getting the way. Thankfully, all he needed was a glimpse of them because his spells were cast instantly, so even though they tried to hide, he was still able to target them.

As soon as they were down, he prepared for the next wave, but it never came.

“Enough! You foolish mortals have proven to be more annoying than I expected. Normally, I would applaud such mastery of the battlefield, but it was you who chose to come here… so it is by your own choice that you won’t be leaving.

“Behold! Tremble in fear as you face my newest minions, who will reap the very souls from your bodies and feed upon your still-beating hearts with a hunger that only the dead can experience! You’ve had your fun… but now it is time for you to die!”

The pressure was abruptly back, sending Thaden to the floor again, but he managed to look up as the remaining Undead on the opposite side of the massive room began to distort as the same black glow that surrounded the Monarch of the Dead enveloped them all. Even as he fought off the worst of the pressure holding him down, Thaden witnessed the Undead monsters disappear into the blobs of glowing shadow before the distorted darkness converged into three separate areas. The glowing blobs increased in size until two of them were at least 80 feet tall and nearly as wide, whereas the last was only about 30 and quite a bit thinner in width.

The pressure disappeared again just as he was getting to his feet, and at the same time the shadowy conglomerations solidified before quickly dispersing. Left behind were three new massiveUndead, with the first being a giant version of a Grave Stalker that floated 20 feet above the ground and reached nearly 100 feet into the air at the top of its cloaked head, the second an enormous Bone Beast standing at least 60 feet at the shoulder, and the third a noticeably female Demi Lich that was over three times the height of a normal one.

Casetkus, Prince of the Grave – Maximal

Level 70

Trunky, The Royal Companion – Maximal

Level 70

Lavestina, The Lady Lich – Maximal

Level 70

Oh, crap. This doesn’t look good.