Chapter 477 - Is It Me Or Is It Getting Hotter In Here?
Dave, Blaster, and Fortress charged amongst the Death Knight. Fortress activated [Guard Ally], a glowing blue kite-s.h.i.+eld icon appeared over Blaster"s head for a second then dissipated.
Blaster jumped toward the Dogaron"s head, just as the latter opened its mouth to take a delicious bite off the Sword master"s head, Blaster swung three times in a fraction of a second; activating [Rend the Flesh].
The Dogaron flinched away from the a.s.sault as it nicked its nose, an apparent sensitive part of its body.
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Dave followed after Blaster with The Cursed Sword of Durandal, slamming the edge right on top of the Dogaron"s head. The strength behind Dave"s blow was enough to slam the giant wolf"s head into the ground and force a whimper out of it.
The wolf regained its balance soon after, it shook its head then looked grimly at Dave and the party members. The Dogaron reared back then moved forward, it was unthinkably fast as it manages to go beyond Dave and slice with its destructive claws at the back of Fortress.
Fortress was sent sprawling on the ground, with more than a third of his HP down the drain.
"Holy s.h.i.+t! That hurts!" He cursed and stood back up. The Dogaron was out for blood and it chased after Fortress, ignoring the incoming Doom Knights. Just as it was about to strike with its vibrating, electric generating tail on the disoriented Fortress, two large clawed black hands emerged from under Fortress and pulled him down into the ground.
The Dogaron"s smash shook the cave and cratered the point of impact into a pit as wide as the beast itself.
Fortress appeared right next to Flanker, unknowing of what happened.
"Thanks, Bud!" Dave shouted. To his comment, Flanker turned and saw the giant Shadow Ghoul behind them. He had pulled the Tank right through his own shadow and out next to Flanker"s shadow for healing.
Bud then dove into shadows and disappeared from the fight, waiting for an opportunity to act.
Dave whirled Durandal and charged with Ajax poised forward. The Dogaron clawed with both paws at once at Dave, but several whirling wh.i.p.s of flame shot behind Dave and into the Dogaron"s paws, they coiled around his arms and pulled to the side, causing the two paws to fail their trajectory and land to the right and left of Dave, where he pierced with Durandal at the base of the scaled wolve"s neck.
Dave drew blood.
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"Good Job Spark keep the a.s.sault!"
The Pyromancer waved his scepter and caused the wh.i.p.s to increase their fire intensity and tug tighter around the paws of the beast. Yet the latter, seemingly unfazed by the heat, roared and pulled tight, snapping the wh.i.p.s and liberating itself.
"My magic is incompatible with such a foe. Only Lord Du"Rhaza"s magic can cause any real damage." Spark noted.
"Indeed, but I am occupied with keeping our troops" temperature low. Otherwise, we"ll burn to a crisp," the Ice Lich spoke in a grin.
Dave could feel the fighting spirit of Du"Rhaza burning, but he knew well that without the ice magic he was constantly using to fight against the heat of the room, they would all die. No matter how Du"Rhaza"s offensive magic could be of help, he was better off as a support for now.
Dog charged with his own basilisk forward. The Dullahan swung his Bone Whip at the base of the beast"s hind legs. Dog pulled with one arm, his muscles threatened to burst due to the sheer size and strength of the beast, but he still managed to drag him back and destabilize him.
Dog then jumped from the basilisk and onto the Dogaron"s back, while his basilisk charged at the other leg, fully knocking him over.
Dave took the opportunity and struck at the apparently softer side of the creature, it"s now exposed belly. But Durandal failed to cause any apparent harm but a few cracked scales.
"Duck!" Perfect shot shouted and Dave dropped down. An enormous Ethereal Great White Shark shot and bit at the Dogaron"s chest then disappeared.
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"Let me!" Lone said. Activating [Ice-Shard Arrow Barrage] her hands moved at impossible speeds, firing dozens of arrows in seconds. The arrows became shards of ultra-frozen ice when they struck the Dogaron and frost grew rapidly across the wolf"s body wherever they hit.
"Good job babe, your ice legacy will help greatly," Dave said.
"Anytime babe!" Lone called and shot more arrows to destabilize and freeze the creature.
The Doom Knights finally found the chance to charge and attack the wolf, and they did so with abundant disregard to their safety. Slicing at broken scales, and drawing blood from the creature"s hid.
"We can"t be outdone, Doom Knights back away!" the crimson sorceress said, and immediately the Doom Knights removed themselves from around the creature, they had sensed a great deal of magic being harness right behind them and they didn"t want to be caught in the caster"s line of sight.
Tess twirled her scepter chanting, "Twisted void and severed s.p.a.ce, bring true the vision of ultimate end! EXPLOSION!"
A loud explosion echoed from right under the creature, rocking it up and down. Crimson, blood-colored flames shot out from everywhere, dying the whole room in a twilight red color, with high and bright contrast, enough that it blinded the players.
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The Dogaron screeched and wheezed, then it forcefully tried to stand up, even while Dog was still hanging on his back and smas.h.i.+ng down with his bone club like a maniac.
The Dogaron had a strange set of claws, unlike a normal wolf, he had two sets, one right above the other. And apparently, he could control them at will, and instead of five claws in each paw, he made the second set to come down and aligned with the first set, making each paw have ten claws in it.
This didn"t just increase its destructive power, its grip on the ground was firmer. And its explosive charge became even more dangerous as displayed by its next a.s.sault.
The Dogaron lunged forward, throwing Dog out of position and charged right through the rank of Doom Knights. It was headed to the backline, specifically toward Du"Rhaza.
The Dogaron arrived at the Ice Lich"s location in a fraction of a second, mouth gaping wide in a wrathful grimace, while drool spewing out, a claw held up high that was about to fall and break every bone in the lich"s body.
Du"Rhaza didn"t panic, for no true Undead would panic even in the face of death, he immediately dashed to the side, thanks to a torrent of ice magic he caste. Yet the Dogaron"s increased speed enabled him to change the trajectory of his slash to follow after Du"Rhaza.
The later was forced to blast even more power to keep his distance. But it was not enough, as the Dogaron followed closely after and swung his tail at Du"Rhaza.
The Lich grimaced and called upon the power of his ice magic to encase him in an ice tomb, while the Dogaron"s [Rail-Tail] attack landed. The blow from the beast"s tail was like a baseball bat smas.h.i.+ng a home run.
The encased lich was sent flying all the way to the other side of the room, the power behind the Dogaron"s tail swing was enough to dig the Lich into the wall several meters in.
"Gracious G.o.d, what the h.e.l.l was that!" Flanker cringed from the a.s.sault that happened right in front of him. What made him freak out, even more, was the fact that the Dogaron was now looking at him.
Blaster was the closest to Flanker as he had backed away from the initial attack first, so he used [Silent Resolve!] to pull the Dogaron"s aggro toward him. It was better off if the Dogaron attacked a beefy sword master instead of a squishy Priest.
Yet Blaster"s eyes widened the moment he cast the spell, "F.u.c.k he can"t be aggro leeched!"
The words fell on Flanker like a cold bucket of ice.
The Dogaron swung with his claws at Flanker, but a hand grabbed at his shoulder and pulled him to the side.
The Tengu came for the rescue, as he slashed upward with his Katana against the Dogaron"s claw.
The difference in strength was so great that the tengu was dug into the ground like what a hammer does to a nail.
Dave ran toward the party, if he left the Dogaron within their backline it would cause havoc within it. Dave swapped his sword and s.h.i.+eld to the Sworn Stalwart"s Gauntlets and grabbed at the creature"s tail.
"BUD! Knock him upwards!" Dave shouted as he activated herculean strength, both arms hugging tightly at the creature"s tail.
Bud appeared right under the Dogaron"s chest, the Ghoul was ma.s.sively strong, and among the Undead, besides the Giants, the race of Drahma, the ghouls were second in strength. He managed to raise the creature from his feet, even by just a couple of feet off the ground, but it was enough for Dave.
"UP YOU GO!" Dave shouted, his muscles fighting with exertion as he spun, pulling with him the beast and then threw him to the other side of the battle where the Doom Knights were waiting for prey like a pack of wolves to a served sheep.
Dave switched to his sword and s.h.i.+eld. "Fortress, Doom Knights unit five, all ten of you, stay in the backline!" Dave called one-tenth of his unit off the a.s.sault and had them stationed at the backline to aid the supporting allies. He couldn"t afford to lose any of them.
"Tengu, go check up on Du"Rhaza, he shouldn"t be dead yet, his magic is still working but he must be stuck. Dog, with me!" Dave shouted orders, and orders were followed. This creature was pretty smart, and it went for targets that were the most c.u.mbersome to it.
If he had managed to kill the Ice Lich, it would have given him a great advantage in battle as the Doom Knights would die from Overheating. If he had killed Flanker it would have disabled all the healing the human side of the a.s.sault troop could get. The Dogaron was not to be messed with or underestimate. And Dave was not going to do so.
Dave and Dog both sprinted forward to the wolf. The Doom Knights surrounding it were taking turns in piling attacks and retreating whenever one of them suffered damage. They didn"t have any way to heal so swapping and changing position, for now, was enough.
Dave had already regretted the fact that he hadn"t brought the Unholy Priestess, but she was too weak to be of active a.s.sistance in this battle and would be useless in healing the amount of damage the Doom Knights were taking.
Dave arrived at the fight immediately, looking to his side, Dog was nowhere to be seen, he was sure the Dullahan was following tightly next to him.
Turning, Dave caught Dog in the middle of the arena, standing like a statue and looking at the ground. He then pulled his club and smashed it into the ground.
A notification appeared in front of Dave.
***
Dog the Dullahan used [Rise Undead]
Dog the Dullahan has successfully revived [ Chaos Centipede]
***
Dave"s eyes widened as the ground began to shudder and shake.
A monster as big as Grumpy emerged from underground through the new opening and skittered sideways around the hole. Its domed carapace was squarish with an armored crab-like leg attached at each corner.
The first creature was followed by more, scuttling into the room one after another. Dave counted a dozen of the crab-like things. The creatures gathered in the center of the room and linked their individual bodies together front to back with all the legs aligned to the sides. The creature on the nearest end shook, its sh.e.l.l broke apart, revealing a human face with multi-faceted insectoid eyes and ma.s.sive pincer-mandibles at the corners of its mouth.
"F.u.c.k!" Dave cursed. "You"ve done it again d.a.m.n it!"
He chaos Centipede"s Name was written in a bright threatening red.