Battle of the Labyrinth (3)

[Starlight Shot]

As he saw Anken in danger, the archer wildly fired his arrows, finishing the lonely skeleton and immediately activated his skill. The arrow in his hand brightly shone and as it was released, it pierced through one of the skeletons, shattering the spinal cord in just one shot.

He immediately drew another arrow and aimed at the other skeleton. However, even if the archer was fast, the second shot was not instantaneous.

The few seconds it took for the archer to shoot the second arrow was all the time the second skeleton needed to once again swing his sword at Anken.

The latter had already been severely injured and was weakened. He desperately tried to evade the attack but, in the end, he could only watch as the gloomy sword descended right on his neck.

"Woosh!"

At the same time, an arrow exploded the skeleton's skull but Anken's throat had already been slit open.

"Anken!!!" The archer shouted as he rushed next to his friend's side. It was the first time he was witnessing the death of one of his friends. Despite hunting almost every day in the wild, never did one of his comrades pass away during the hunt but now, seeing his friend lying on the floor, the poor archer did not know how to react.

He felt both pained and frustrated at himself! If only they did not come here, Anken would have never suffered like this. If he was not so weak to have to rely on someone to fight the skeletons, Anken would still be alive and well!

However, no matter how pained and troubled he was, he could not give up now. More skeletons were coming and if he did nothing, Anken might not be the only one to fall there!

"Bastard! I will kill you all!!!"

...

Meanwhile, Toba was rushing towards Dreidus with renewed strength, [Primal Instinct]

Without hesitation, he activated his skill and increased both his awareness and dexterity. With a single swing of his ax, he decimated the 2 skeletons in front of him.

The other barbarian was also closely following behind Toba, ready to provide assistance at any time.

As for Dreidus, he was completely calm and if he still had a proper face, he would actually be smiling! The death of Anken was precisely what he was waiting for. He did not simply waste his mana to kill this barbarian!

[Death's feast]

As soon as he saw Anken pass away, Dreidus immediately used the wand's skill. Anken was a barbarian and therefore, did not have a huge mana pool but during the fight, he did not use a lot of skills which left him with a decent amount of mana at the time of his death.

However, Dreidus was not targeting only Anken's body! He was also targeting all the skeleton bodies around the place! Even if they only had a small amount of mana, considering that there was more than 20 skeleton remains nearby. Together, they still had a significant amount of leftover mana.

In an instant, Dreidus' mana shot up to 240 MP. He was now able to cast spells again and immediately retaliated.

In his battle form, Dreidus was internally struggling. He overestimated himself. He believed that with all the spells he knew and the secret power he obtained from the dungeon core, he would be able to turn the tables. However, reality was cruel. It did not matter how much power he had, without mana, he was simply unable to use all his spells!

He knew that he did not unleash the power he obtained yet and that was because he was scared of it! That power simply felt like a giant reservoir. Right now, he was standing in front of that reservoir and made a small opening, allowing a small stream of the water to flow out to satiate his thirst.

He was greedy for more but if he made a larger opening, he might simply be flooded by the flow of power and drown into it. Even with the actual small stream, Dreidus was already feeling negative emotions building in him!

At the moment, the power he was obtaining was simply increasing the strength of his magic attacks. It was why, despite being 10 levels behind the barbarians, he was able to take out three-quarters of Anken's HP with just one attack.

Dreidus knew he could replenish his Mana instantly by allowing more power to flow into him, but by doing so, he might not be able to control himself. He was facing the dilemma of taking in more power or fight with the remaining Mana he had.

In the end, he made his decision just as Toba was about to slice him in two. "I already said I was not guaranteed to win. But as long as I stop them, it should be fine. Isn't it just death? I won't even need to go to the Purgatory this time. Since I am now linked to the dungeon core, Master will simply revive me later on!"

As Toba's ax was already slicing through the green mantle of light, Dreidus' eyes suddenly shone! The green balls of light, turned completely black as he raised his hands towards the ceiling.

[Death and Decay]

Suddenly, a black ball appeared in front of Dreidus and as his body was sliced in two by Toba's ax, the black ball detonated!

A thick and pungent black gas emerged from the black ball and spread through the entire corridor. The cloud was so thick that Toba and the other barbarian were completed blinded.

At the center of the labyrinth, the archer immediately noticed that something had happened. It was especially noticeable as the two skeletons that were walking towards him with their swords drawn, suddenly stopped for no reason.

Despite being showered by the arrows until their death, the skeletons remained immobile. The archer was puzzled. He quickly finished off the skeletons and turned his attention to the corridor where the lich was.

To his horror, he could not see anything! A black cloud suddenly appeared and completely covered that specific corridor. A few fumes of this black cloud were also escaping towards the center of the labyrinth.

The archer got a bad premonition. His instincts were warning him to not touch that dark cloud at all cost! He could only stare at the corridor and shout: "Toba? Krishaw? Is everything alright?"

The archer quickly looked around him and was relieved to find that no other skeletons were making their way towards him but internally, he was nervous! What could have happened to Toba and his other teammate?

Suddenly, the thick cloud moved, and a tall figure rushed out of the thick cloud!

As soon as he saw the person, the archer quickly rushed towards him to lend a hand, "Krishaw! Are you alright..."

"Cough cough! Get away from me! Don't touch me!! Cough Cough! We don't know if this thing is contagious!" exclaimed the barbarian as soon as he emerged from the black cloud.

As he stepped into the center of the labyrinth, Krishaw felt like all his forces had been drained. He mustered all his energy to escape from this black cloud and now, he could only let go as he body crumbled on the ground.

The archer listened to Krishaw and stepped aside. He did not understand what was happening but a few seconds later, he understood why; Krishaw's arms, legs, and even face were covered with black spots.

The archer first thought that these were simply dirt or dust due to the cloud but to his horror, some of these spots were moving and even growing! It looked just as if he was suffering from gangrene but in this case, the black spots were simply everywhere trying to cover his entire skin!

"Cough cough!"

"Krishaw! Just what happened?" asked the archer who was desperately trying to calm himself down. He was looking in horror at how the black spots were moving but fortunately, a few seconds later, the spots actually stopped moving and remained still.

Krishaw was slowly catching his breath as he was lying on the ground, not bothering to answer. And seeing his conditions, the archer did not push him any further. It did not matter if Krishaw explained the situation. The black cloud was already dispersing itself.

As he was expecting, the black cloud quickly disappeared, revealing the desolate sight of the corridor. He first felt relief as he saw the corpse of the lich that brought doom upon them. Its body was easily recognizable as it was holding the Necromancer's Death Wand.

The light in its eyes completely disappeared and the fire that was burning around its skull was also gone. Instead, the lich's body had been split into two at the level of the pelvis and an ax was deeply embedded in the skull. The lich now looked more like a skeleton than the powerful being it previously appeared as.

However, as the archer moved his eyes down the handle of the ax, he felt his heart sink. Another body was lying right next to the lich's but this body was completely black! It was lifeless and unmoving, but the archer immediately knew that it was Toba's body. Not only was the frame much larger than the other skeletons he had seen, but even in his death, he was still holding the ax he used to smash the skull of the lich.