22 Chapter 22. Boss fight
To say that the atrocity calmly looking his way was terrifying was an understatement.
Michael barely found it in him to order his minions to attack while he followed the usual combo of throwing Blight at the enemy. Unsurprisingly, the Boss wasn't fazed and whacked at the Skeletons with his long-ass, spiky club, making them look like pinballs hitting one pillar after the other.
The damage dealt wasn't immense, but it was shocking nevertheless. Especially since no Corpses were around to heal and buff the minions.
To make matters worse, the bullshit Baron simply ignored the minions' attacks and rushed at their master. Before Michael had time to think or feel fear, a club was already swinging from his left side, aiming to send him to the Shadow Realm.
Realizing there was no time to swap to the Buckler, Michael swung his two-handed scythe with all his might, trying to deflect the blow. In the contest of strength between the two parties, X'Fal had a resounding success, making his enemy fly like a baseball during a Babe Ruth game.
A thump followed by a wet cough and a squelch could make anyone understand that the Necromancer wasn't doing particularly great.
His right hand was broken in three different places, and he could barely hold the scythe on his left. He most likely had a concussion after hitting the room wall so hard, as proven by the intense dizziness and lack of a pain response.
To make matters even worse, he coughed blood moments ago, and he couldn't draw any air in his lungs for a good five seconds, showing signs of possible internal trauma.
Cursing in his mind since his voice wasn't working at the moment, he pulled out a Weak Healing Potion and downed it, making him realize that his Life was around 3 to 4 points after he hit the wall. He was almost one-shotted!
'What the fuck is this fucking situation!? How the fuck can I even deal with that monster!? For Heaven's sake, that's not something a Level 4 can beat!'
Complaining and running from his current position as another swing of the club was headed his way, Michael watched as his right arm slowly healed. He tried accessing his pouch to grab another vial and speed up the process but couldn't.
[ Warning! The effects of the Healing Potion are reduced by 50% for the next two minutes. ]
The system prompt almost made him throw up another mouthful of blood. Panicking, he threw another ball of Blight at the demon, slowing it down enough for the Skeletons to catch up and surround it.
Their swords battered the incredibly toned muscles of the Baron; however, there wasn't much damage being dealt. Michael could see numbers ranging between 2 and 5 showing above X'Fal's head, while bigger ones ranging between 10 and 20 would pop up from time to time due to Blight's DOT.
Unfortunately, the demon wasn't stupid enough to stay there and get hit. He kicked Pathfinder like a soccer ball and bolted toward Michael's position.
The stupidly large club descended again, making the Necromancer stop running forward and dive toward the demon instead.
As a result, he avoided the fatal blow and even threw a couple of Bone Splinters to deal damage until a left backhand strike made him fly again.
Standing up after slowly slipping off one of the pillars, Michael saw X'Fal stop in the middle of the room where the headless body was and point his club at the ceiling.
"This motherfucker actually bitch-slapped me! Huh!? Fuck! That pose again!?"
The previous diagrams were linked all of a sudden, with blood freely flowing between them, lighting up. Five mini-portals appeared surrounding the Baron, making Michael want to flee.
It was too bad for him, though, as the Sanctuary blocked the only exit. Five Hellions appeared and rushed at him but were fastly intercepted by the Skeletons.
Realizing that the situation was in his favor with these five new potential Corpses, he threw two more Blight casts at the group and watched his Essence fall to 10/100.
Luckily for him, the Baron was still channeling the portals, and Michael wouldn't stop his hard work. Instead, he tossed Bone Splinters repeatedly until one Hellion was killed and used Raise Skeleton to heal and buff his summons.
From then on, the four Hellions were handled in less than 30 seconds, prompting Michael to turn his head at the still-channeling X'Fal. Grinning, he had his minions surround the tall bastard, after which he threw four consecutive Blight strikes since he noticed that the DOT from them stacks.
The Skeleton Warriors continued their fierce attack, made even faster due to another Raise Skeleton usage. Finally, the channeling stopped, and the demon roared in pain and anger.
He was down to 15% HP, and Michael wasn't letting it go anywhere, as he kept spamming Bone Splinters. Until the fucker jumped and disappeared in mid-air, that is.
"Yo, what the fuck!? That's fucking cheating! I had him on the ropes, and he just went, 'Beam me up, Scotty'!? What is fucking balanced about that, you stupid Sanctuary!?"
A large white circle under his feet appeared as if to answer his query, making Michael realize the danger he was in. He dived for cover behind one of the pillars, but his Skeletons couldn't escape in time.
Two were crushed into bone powder, and two others were heavily injured as X'Fal struck a hero landing pose. He was slack-jawed and kept cursing at how unfair and unrealistic this bastard of a Boss was.
Using Raise Skeletons on the remaining three Corpses, the young Necromancer brought back Goon No.3 and No.4, while the last was used as a heal and buff.
Knowing that the Boss was on its last legs, he downed another vial of Healing Potion with the cooldown gone and grabbed the scythe with his newly repaired right hand.
"Time to end this!"
Two more Blights were thrown as Michael rushed ahead to meet the Baron in combat. As if annoyed by the rat that kept hiding and running suddenly challenged him, X'Fal roared majestically.
The contender wasn't intimidated, as his scythe hacked at the demon's right ankle. The spiked club unsurprisingly blocked it, but the Skeletons kept chopping the wood that his Boss was.
Seeing that more time was needed, he pelted the Baron with more Bone Splinters from up close, making two out of three hits each time.
That prompted X'Fal to present the Necromancer with the same invitation to his private airlines, selling him a ticket similar to the one Pathfinder received, as the massive hooved leg of the demon sent him through the air and across the room.
With eyes blurring from the pain and the organs inside his body being shifted, he saw the big club fall on his position. He tried to get out of the way, but his left leg was caught and crushed into a pulp by the strike.
Weirdly enough, the pain that was enough to drive him unconscious served as a focusing mechanism, as he directed all his anger into it, allowing him to throw another Blight and three more casts of Bone Spears.
Just when he thought the end was near, as the Boss raised his club high for the finishing blow, Pathfinder's sword impaled through the waist of the demon, surprising both Michael and it.
Looking at the Boss's HP bar, it was empty! The winner grinned and passed out a second later, watching X'Fall join him on the cold and dirty floor.
The sleeping session didn't last long, as incredible pain assaulted all his senses. Covered in a cold sweat, Michael woke up with a start, only to see the mangled form of his left leg.
Quickly downing another Weak Healing Potion to numb the pain, he dragged his body and used a nearby pillar as support.
"Only got one HP potion left... I hope it's enough to get me back on my feet. Both of them... This was utter bullshit! I would've died if it wasn't for my somewhat decent reflexes. Not to mention that Martel's clothes saved my ass big time. A hit from that club should've turned me into a meat patty in normal cases. And that last swing of this bastard... if it weren't for the training with the dummies formation, I would've died then and there."
Watching his leg heal and thanking his lucky stars in an attempt to make his mind ignore the grueling pain, Michael kept trying to access the pouch for the last potion. When the cooldown expired, he drank the final one and sighed in relief as he could finally feel something more than pain coming from his left leg.
"Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage. It would suck to become a cripple after my first Boss fight. Now then... Let's see what this Baron X'Fall dropped."
Using the pillar as support, he got up and limped towards the demon's dead body. His minions were faithfully guarding the dead Boss, just in case it somehow got back to life. Michael smiled, cast Raise Skeletons using the generated Corpse, and healed the summons that saved his life.
Three items were on the ground, one normal and two shining with a blue light. Laughing maniacally, Michael hastily grabbed them while also collecting two Potion Orbs and 214 gold coins.
Returning to the pillar and sitting down, he had the Sanctuary help him identify these new additions to his collection.
It must be mentioned that the items were initially in the form of small cubes before being picked up, so he had no idea what was inside until his Equipment inventory opened and identified them.
[ Strider's Tunic
Torso: Chest Armor
Item Power: 41
-----------------
72 Armor ]
Seeing the values this one provided, he was over the moon! The previous one he found in the treasure chest atop the tower only provided 40 Armor. Even Martel's, the one he was currently wearing, would lose by 1 point of Armor if it wasn't for the extra 3 points in Willpower.
Grinning and realizing this was the most 'basic' drop among the three pieces of equipment, Michael rubbed his hands and checked for the following item.
[ Harmonious Simple Dagger
Main Hand: Magic Dagger
Item Power: 59
--------------------
31 Damage per Second
*(21-31) Damage per Hit
* 1.20 Attacks per Second (Very Fast Weapon)
+3% Damage to Close Enemies
--------------------
* +5 All Stats ]
He inhaled sharply, the sight making him dizzy. No doubt, the pain he went through was worth it! Just this one piece of equipment was worth two and a half levels! Michael immediately unequipped his battered scythe, thanking Aylin mentally, and grabbed the Dagger with his right hand.
While rejoicing at the empowering feeling, he quickly opened the last item's description.
[ Wise Scythe
Weapon: Magic Two-Handed Scythe
Item Power: 59
--------------------
61 Damage per Second
*(54-82) Damage per Hit
* 0.90 Attacks per Second (Slow Weapon)
+2 Life on Kill
--------------------
* +20 Intelligence ]
Seeing such exaggerated options left Michael temporarily unable to form coherent thoughts. Then, it all came rushing in a flurry.
"Huge damage and I've already seen how big of a difference the two-handed Scythe makes versus gigantic opponents. 2 Life on Kill means that I can use small mobs to heal up without using a Life potion, and in games, I wouldn't normally even need to attack with the weapon for that stat to proc! Doesn't that mean I can use my minions or skills to end the small trash and get free Life points!? Also, the biggest and most absurd thing has to be the +20 Intelligence. That means a +22% increase in skill damage!"
Unknowingly, he got up to his feet and started dancing strangely under the gaze of his Skeletons. He didn't manage to calm down even five minutes later, still hopping about.
Fortunately, his left leg already recovered, allowing the Necromancer to make a fool of himself in front of its summons. As for the reason...
[ Attack Power: 134
Armor: 202
Life: 64
--------------
Strength: 29
Intelligence: 30
Willpower: 31
Dexterity: 34 ]
Leaving aside his Attacking Power that looked unrecognizable compared to entering the Dungeon, the attributes didn't even seem to belong to him.
Though currently being Level 5 as he leveled up after finishing the Baron, the Dagger gives +5 to all Attributes, and the Handwraps gives +4 to all Attributes, Michael felt like a brand new person altogether.
"I have no doubt on my mind that if I were to fight X'Fal again, the fight would be ten times easier. *Sigh* Now it's time to get the hell out of here. Where the fuck is the portal?"
Looking around, he only noticed a scaffold connecting the ceiling and the floor, something left behind after the Baron did his teleportation trick.
Seeing how it could be considered a ladder, Michael shrugged and temporarily sent his Skeletons back to their dimension. Then he climbed up toward the surface.
When outside, he realized he was in one of the ruined towers close to the village. Taking a deep breath, he started walking towards the inn.
It was time to collect his payment!
