1191. Caustic Touch
Blotches didn't mind him, or them, calmly casting another spell. However, this time the Liches were prepared. After all, they were no pushovers. The third of the five liches had already put a shield to block the death ray.
In the end, it didn't help him, as the beam managed to break through after a split second. The undead magician still tried to dodge, but he was grazed by the beam at the hip and instantly turned into a pile of dry bones.
Even Blotches was surprised by how reliably the instant death effect triggered. It had never experienced this, during the short span of its existence on Urth. As much as it liked to explore the power of the magic more, it didn't have the time.
The undead horde was upon Blotches and the green geezer was trying to hit it with his stick. Even with their buffs most of the undead were unable to deal any harm to it. At best, they were slightly stronger than the stupid druid.
The staff wielder was a different story. The dogged pursuit of the orc was scary. It felt like borderline harassment. Blotches squinted, spotting the two Liches left casting in the back, together with other undead casters. They were using the time the orc bought them, to get off a spell.
Metaphorically cracking its long neck, the questing beats found it was time to show off its skills. The legend came at it, swinging his swollen staff at Blotches, but the questing beast evaded. Strategically, it started using its agile leopard body to weave, jump, and climb between the undead beasts that were rushing at it, maiming quite a few of the biggest in the process. The orc might have become a legend, but he was still an orc shaman. A bipedal creature focused on strength and magic, lacking the agility and speed to compare with the questing beast.
Standing on the shoulders of a giant, Blotches had created the perfect moment. The numerical advantage had become a disadvantage. The questing beast had brought too many, too big bodies between itself and the legend, for the orc to reach it.
Just enough quiet time, to cast another death ray, disintegrating another Lich and breaking the spell they were trying to cast on their own. The next moment, it suffered a heavy blow from the side and was shot off the body it was standing on.
With all his rapid pursuit, Blotches forgot the most important thing about Uz'Roc. He was a shaman! At the same time, Blotches used to cast a spell; the orc also spent on casting an attack. The beast plummeted to the ground, feeling a terrifying burn on its left shoulder and side.
<Ding! 2 10 You have been afflicted by "Uz'Roc's Caustic Touch". -75 Health every seconds for minutes.>
Ignoring the pain, it quickly got up and created some distance. The shaman actually managed to give it a status ailment. Using a shortened chant it cast "Cure", a spell to get rid of debuffs like damage over time, however-
<Ding! Your skill level is too low. The spell had failed to cure "Uz'Roc's Caustic Touch".>
"Haha, did you think a messy healing spell like that could save your life?" the shaman mocked the questing beast, just before bringing his stick down on its head. Of course, he wouldn't wait for Blotches to deal with the problem.
Blotches snorted, evading the potentially fatal attack, weaving and killing its way into the crowd of undead again. Its shoulder and side hurt with every move, as the skin was stretched. It had little time to look, but it felt like its skin and flesh were being eaten away.
"Fine then", it thought, "If an elegant way doesn't work, I will brute force it." It decided defiantly. If that scrawny little caster with his toothpick thought it would die from his tricks, then he was wrong!
Who needed magic anyway? Not Blotches. Activating the skill <Greater Regeneration>, the questing beast doubled its already impressive health regeneration, overcoming the dot with pure, passive healing. It was a cool feeling of relief, as the wound not just stopped spreading, but quickly started closing. The dot was still active, but its flesh healed quicker than the magic could eat it away.
Since it had already stepped on the path of brute force, there was no reason to leave it that quickly again. Once again, blotches brought a wall of useless meat between the orc and itself, replicating the previous strategy.
But when the moment came, when it would cast the death ray to kill the last lich, it betrayed expectations and didn't stop. It used <Leopard Charge>, a movement skill that used an alleviated position to jump down on its victim, to directly attack the remaining Lich.
The undead caster was crushed to powder under its hooves. Swiping the sharp hooves left and right, it also took care of the other casters, that had mingled in the back and tried to cobble a spell together. Now, there was only the legend it had to worry about, left on the field.
…
The Parrot of Doom had left the battlefield, to catch some more important prey. Circling in the sky above the valley, the elemental had one of the best views of the current situation. Ceres had noticed the beasts that appeared from the portal
It didn't care to bother with the giant rhino that dropped into the city, that the business of the field teams inside. The undead shadow leopard and Arachne, on the other hand, aimed for the colossus and dragon, wrestling it out among the crippled mountains.
Hellion, one of their youngest siblings, was already struggling, just keeping the dragon occupied. But that was not all, on the way there, there was also Heads, entangled with the Hydra. Both were battles of golems, struggling to keep legendary beasts occupied. If those two creatures joined either battle, it would quickly take a turn for the worse.
The situation was balanced in their favor for now, but if the legends managed to defeat Hellion and Heads, there would suddenly be two legends, free to roam and interfere with the rest of the battlefield. This was why Ceres left Blotches to buy time with the shaman and quickly eliminate those two troublemakers.
Ceres quickly appeared in the sky above the running leopard and scuttling spider and started casting lighting at the two undead servants, however, they were more resilient than expected. The shadow leopard was using its agility and inform ability to melt into shadows to evade the lighting.
On the other hand, the Arachne was able to divert his lighting! While the spider body was running on at full speed, the human half on its top was using a skill to generate strings and nets. Whenever she was about to be hit by a lightning bolt, she would through a net in the air, which diverted the attack away from her body.
The storm elemental smirked internally, as his beak was not able to express such emotion. Were they trying to stall for time, like how Blotches did with the shaman? But such childish tricks wouldn't work the elemental. As the incarnation of storm, lightning was not his only element.
Flapping his wing several times, he summoned the storm. Terrifying wind began blowing down the mountain slopes below Delta. A localized hurricane began to rage surrounding the two undead beasts. It did not deal any noticeable damage, but it rendered her strategy of deploying nets useless, as the whimsy string was quickly blown away by the raging winds.
The leopard evaded, but the Arachne was struck by lightning this time. She stumbled, she slowed down, but a single strike was unable to kill the lv.180+ beast. Not even if it was the Tormentor's lightning.
However, the spider lady still stopped after running on for a moment and looked up at the sky with a grin. Why was she grinning?