A Hidden Room (3)
Chapter 29: A Hidden Room (3)
"Concealing yourself is pointless, traitor!" Ender screeched in his peculiar language, mixing human and eagle speeches.
After flapping his wings, he dove into the dark ocean below him and disappeared into it.
Jake witnessed the eagle's skill while peeking over his hidden spot behind the pillar.
It was easy because of the boss's white beak. It was like a pilgrim meant to guide others at night.
'He didn't only cover the room in darkness but also expanded it to have more room to maneuver! He can sink into the darkness and probably come out from any spot!' Jake thought.
His archery forms crossed his mind. He came to the conclusion that Master Form was the best for this kind of opponent, who could attack unexpectedly from most angles.
Jake dropped onto one knee and raised his bow with the arrow nocked on the bowstring. In this form, unlike Soldier Stance, Jake could shoot the eagle easily should he come out from either side.
He suspected that Ender couldn't emerge from below him because the footing beneath him was solid. Richard also explained that magic and any active skills absorbed a lot of mana, a rule that applied to anyone and anything using this otherworldly energy.
'It's not that we're in the ocean of darkness. It's tangible, and I think he turns the point he wants to drop in intangible…' Jake thought while rolling his eyes around.
With his back pressed against the pillar and his hunch about the eagle's skill, Jake had to cover the front, sides, and above him, which was exhausting and stressful. His opponent must have noticed that, as he hadn't revealed himself yet.
Jake used a moment of silence to kick away a pebble and confirm his suspicions. Just like he thought, the rock didn't drop into the darkness.
'So I can run around…' Jake thought. That said, it'd be stupid to leave his spot and run around with the boss, biding time to mentally wear him off.
At last, the eagle broke the surface on Jake's right side. He was fast and decisive, even attacking from Jake's weakest spot—the right!
Perhaps it was because Jake held the bow's handle in his left hand, but his right side was one of his weaknesses, and he could only solve it with time and muscle memory.
The eagle zoomed past him, his claws cleaving through Jake's skin. Before that move connected, however, Jake strained to release his arrow, which was weaker and off-mark.
It didn't connect with his enemy.
Ender plunged into his ocean of darkness and once again bid his time.
'Damn it… he's smart,' Jake glanced at the wound on his arm, from which blood oozed out. He checked his stats in the corner of his eyes, too.
[Archer Lv. 7 HP: 194/280 MP: 280/280]
It was true that Jake could have invested his stat points into vitality to increase his health points, but it wasn't like he'd fight opponents like Ender daily.
His equipment also couldn't have been brought here because it limited him to only one form, which didn't work on the wolf boss, let alone the eagle.
'I couldn't feel anything when he left his spot,' Jake narrowed his eyes, 'Should I lure him out?'
Since Ender was a prideful eagle who already showed off his wisdom, Jake bet on that and feigned an attack on the right spot, where Ender could possibly be hiding. He held his anchor point tightly and loaded as much strength as possible into it, to the point where his arms and bow trembled.
Just before he released his arrow, Jake abruptly turned to the left, where he spotted the eagle breaking through the surface again. He loomed like a monster from nightmares.
Their eyes met, and between them flew the wooden arrow hiding in the darkness as well.
Feeling a tinge of jeopardy, Ender flapped his wings and blew himself up, dodging the arrow. He, however, was momentarily exposed to Jake, as his wings had suffered a burden from him putting too much strength into them.
Jake nocked another arrow and let it go against the eagle.
Relentless, he had also used his trump card—Odin.
"Odin!"
[You have used the Call Of The Wolf Boss.]
Materializing next to the eagle mid-air, Odin instantly caught the killing intent wafting in the air. He could see his opponent just fine because his master had summoned him beside the eagle boss.
That was the power of the legendary summoning—Jake could summon Odin anywhere in his earshot.
Odin widened his jaws and shut them on the eagle's right wing, eliciting a piercing screech. Sounds of bones getting crushed mingled with Ender's shrills.
Odin desperately clung to the boss without scruples because he wanted to do his best for his master!
Amidst those cries, the whistling arrow had finally found its target, lodging deeply in the eagle's stomach.
With Odin's little weight pulling him down, Ender lost his balance and plummeted into his ocean of darkness.
Jake, however, had predicted that. He left his safe spot and rushed in their direction to bar the eagle's flight and not let him disappear into the blackness.
During the fall, Ender tamed his pain and whispered, "I sense a fragment of Fenrir within you… my kin, I'll liberate you from the corruption of the traitors!"
After that declaration, the legendary boss entered the second phase. What used to be the calm but dangerous ocean of darkness became a whirlpool so intense that Jake was compelled to stop.
From within that vortex billowed a tornado in which Ender could safely nest himself, leaving Odin behind.
Odin safely dropped beside his master and took his front, loyally protecting him.
Jake stood in his Joker Form, ready to deal with whatever would come at him.
In the hurricane of darkness, Ender's voice boomed from every direction.
"I didn't expect such a young and inexperienced archer to already have corrupted my kin. Traitors are traitors. I shall give you a taste of the darkness' coldness!"
A slice of darkness seemed to have been peeled off the tornado.
Jake, however, had adapted his eyes to darkness so well that he had noticed that it was an eagle.
It wasn't Ender, but his form created from the dark element.
It lacked the white beak.
Many more forms like that perched on top of the tornado, only to drop close to Jake and Odin, sinking into the blackened floor. In the next second, they all emerged from various angles, creating a black web around the duo.
Odin grew frightened and worried, his shrieks low and painful.
Jake narrowed his eyes.
'Yeah, it's over,' he smiled and knelt behind Odin.
He whispered to his pet, "We'll survive this. Don't worry, and look at those eagles. Get used to them. Get used to their speed so we can defeat them on our second try!"
Odin listened to his master and narrowed his eyes at the web of darkness.
At last, Ender appeared on the scene, hanging above everyone with his right wing broken. He still remained prideful and disgusted of the human at the rock bottom of this room.
"You shall be liberated, child!" Ender screeched.
That was the order to his magic. Every conjured eagle picked up the pace, making it seem like the entire web of darkness swayed left and right.
Soon, one of the eagles barreled into Jake, folding him. From behind him, another eagle zoomed into him, drawing a painful scream as the beak seemed to have drilled into him. One at a time, all eagles of darkness flew at Jake and exploded on him to deal as much damage as possible.
Ender loftily looked at the spectacle, his dark eyes brimming with hubris.
Jake tried to get hold of this pain and body and shoot arrows back at those eagles, but that was too much for him, who had never been in this scenario. He struggled not to die so one-sidedly until the end.
Finally, Jake died.
Odin disappeared with his master…
"What… was that?" Ender whispered, his eyes widening at the blue particles Jake's demise had left behind. "Was that an escape skill?"
The stillness returned to the cave once the darkness calmed down.
Ender perched himself on the ground, confused…
"Is that what he meant by saying he'll return?" Ender wondered while feeling an inexplicable feeling that he had gone through something similar already in his life, which was odd as he couldn't remember even a hint of it.