The backlash from Allen’s overcharged Heavy Strike had taken a hundred HP, but it was simple damage. That is, there were no physical injuries, only pain that had subsided to a dull ache. He immediately started recharging Heavy Strike with his remaining mana, but he didn’t have enough.

“Christopher! I’m low on mana!” he shouted.

The professor could barely be heard over the monsters. “You’re out of range!” he said.

Allen clenched his jaw and looked back up at the Captor. The column of animated black blood that held it up stretched and flexed like a sinuous muscle. It lifted the twitching and reforming monster upright, once again towering a meter above the Assassin.

Allen sprinted off in the direction of the two Mages and Healer. Sparing a glance at the Captor’s pool, he noticed more Shade Ghouls being formed.

“Camila needs Healing!” Ty shouted. He was also running back to the group with the Berserker over his shoulder. Her skin was covered in black veins that seemed to spread over her body. She was groaning lethargically, but she was still awake.

“Fireball in the pit Kenneth!” Allen yelled. At the edge of the room, the Fire Mage slowly started charging a full powered fireball in his hands, aiming it behind Allen as he approached.

“Mana,” Christopher said. The Mage activated a skill to channel his mana into Allen through a tether of miasma. He had seen it before and noticed his MP rise ten times faster than before.

Rather than forcing the three to leave the pit, Amelia jumped down to meet them. She quickly went to Camila who fell back against the wall when Ty put her down.

“Blood magic?” Allen asked. He glanced over his shoulder as Kenneth’s fireball flew over him a moment later. The spell landed in the puddle of blood, igniting it and casting the boss monster in an under glow as its body finished reforming.

“No,” Amelia started, frowning as she ran her hand over Camila’s skin. “Blood magic is life aspect; this is magical blight. It’s the same death magic that the other monsters use, except this is attacking her blood.”

“What does that mean?” Ty asked.

Amelia clicked her tongue. “I need to cycle out her blood. I can’t create new flesh yet, but I can create new blood.” She looked over at Allen, “I need you two to hold her still.”

Allen took a long look at Camila before he hesitantly grabbed hold of her shoulder along with Ty on the other side. The Berserker’s head snapped up and she stared at Allen with an uncomfortable level of intensity.

He found it easier to watch the Healer slice open Camila’s forearm from the inside of her elbow down to her wrist. Black blood started flowing out of cut and down the woman’s arm like a faucet, yet she didn’t flinch or even fight against either Ty or Allen.

“Incredible…” Allen thought, a grin slipping onto his face. “She actually does have more self-control while under the effects of Rage and Bloodlust.”

Arcane magic flew over the group again, striking the Captor of Gloom as it howled from its pool. Allen noticed the occasional firebolt, but more than ninety percent of the magic was from Christopher. He looked back and found that the magical barrage wasn’t going to be enough to keep the Shade Ghouls from eventually coming for them.

“I can’t keep this up, it uses too much mana!” shouted Christopher from outside the pit.

“Go. She doesn’t seem to be reacting to anything,” Amelia said, now standing in a small puddle of black blood.

Allen and Ty shared a nod.

Not another moment was wasted before they left Amelia with the Berserker and charged back into the fight. The first Shade Ghoul ran at Ty when Allen cut in behind him. It shrieked once before Ty smashed into it with his shield, sending the monster flying into one of its kin in a crumpled heap. Then the next one was upon them.

Name: Shade Ghoul

Lesser Undead Spawn – Monster – Level 43

“At least they’re the peon version.” Allen stabbed the nearest monster in the neck and ducked under its clawed hands. A punch with his miasma-gloved hand and Heavy Jab sent it stumbling back where an Arcane Bolt ended it.

Another ghoul launched itself at Ty in an attempt to stab through his shield. Its claws only snapped on contact as the rest of it crashed into the shield as if it were a solid wall. The Defender quickly threw the monster off and stomped through its head, killing it instantly.

The fight continued like that for nearly two minutes. Both Allen and Ty made sure to stay far enough away from the Captor that none of its four clawed hands could reach them. Since it’s lower half was still embedded in black sludge, it could only fling high-speed blades of death attuned magic.

“I need another three minutes…” Allen knew he wouldn’t do enough damage without the full four-hundred MP invested into Heavy Strike. He couldn’t reuse it yet.

The number of undead spawns was dwindling quickly. The Captor howled. The monster started charging a spell in its hands. Allen had just an instant to duck before a beam of black magic swept over him.

He wouldn’t have been able to avoid it had it not veered upwards at the last moment. “Thanks Christopher.” Allen grinned as he cut though another Shade Ghoul.

Camila’s War Cry broke the monotony of the battle. The fully healed Berserker sprinted straight at the boss with her greatsword. The monster’s eyes flashed once before locking onto her. She roared again before meeting its claws wither her sword.

Allen took the opportunity to circle out of its line of sight. Then Amelia showed up as well, much to Allen’s surprise. “Wait, what are you doing here?” he asked.

The Healer went straight to Ty and stood at the ready behind him. “Drain it!” she shouted, raising a hand to Ty’s back.

The Defender nodded and activated Impure Siphon, covering his body in a glowing white light. The darkness that subtly hung around the area, most concentrated around the Captor of Gloom, was suddenly drawn into him. Ty gritted his teeth as the skill drained the Captor’s negative HP into him.

“It’s only simple damage; just numbers!” Amelia said while continually healing Ty from behind.

The spawn from the last wave were all taken out and the Captor was still occupied with Camila. Allen had nothing to do besides wait for an opening and charge his skill. Bouncing in place, he watched as Camila’s blade suddenly blurred with speed, allowing her to block three clawed arms in the same instant. Her greatsword moved as if it were weightless and her body twirled like a dancer. She had even managed to break through some of its claws.

It was completely, almost ridiculously, in opposition to how a typical Berserker would fight. With Rage and Bloodlust and the other madness-inducing skills, they were simply incapable of making calculated movements.

“I’m gonna have to ask her how she’s controlling it… Maybe it’ll work with Dead Calm.”

Still, there was little she could do by herself. Allen still had another two minutes before Heavy Strike would be ready, but he still had to do something.

“Ty! Boost me!” he yelled, already running towards the Defender. Ty seemed to understand and quickly crouched with his shield angled towards the stationary Captor. Allen nimbly leapt onto the shield and launched himself at the back of the Captor’s head. Camila sliced off one of the monster’s hands and jumped back just as Allen slammed into it from the side. He punched it with Heavy Jab and sliced it across the throat, then backflipped off before it could react.

As he landed, Allen immediately looked up. The Captor’s attention was on him then, so it didn’t notice Camila jump into the air behind it. The Berserker put both feet out in front of her as she flew through the air, then with a burst of magic, she sprung off of nothing and shot towards the Captor.

“She has Air Jump at level thirty-six?... What!?” Allen couldn’t help but exclaim aloud.

With a growl, Camila pulled her morning star out of her inventory just in time to smash the Captor into the stone ground.

“Should I use Strike now?” Allen thought. He didn’t have time to choose. The wave of black magic swelled around the Captor again as it struggled under the. “Get away!”

Both Ty and Camila jumped away, the latter escaping the dome of magic with her morning star and the former absorbing it with Impure Siphon. Allen himself was just barely out of range.

The Captor screamed while its flesh reformed. The black pool bubbled and writhed. Then the sinewy limb that held up its body squirmed and split apart. Four clawed legs took shape and scraped against the stone floor.

“A second stage?”

The Captor was upon Allen almost instantly after it got to its feet. His eyes went wide. He barely had the chance to dodge four blades of black magic. He backed up as the Captor barreled towards him. He ducked under a Shadowbolt, falling to a knee. Frantically, he raised his miasma covered hand to block a claw only to have it shear through his forearm like warm butter. If not for Killer Instinct, he may not have been able to move his head out of the way to keep from being decapitated.

Instead, he fell back. With a mere moment to react, he pushed himself backwards as the Captor bore over him. It wasn’t enough though. With another howl, the monster raised a leg and speared the Assassin though the gut.

Allen cried out in pain, feeling Dead Calm slipping from the stress. His vision went foggy, as blood and bile came up his throat. Still, he laughed between choking down the contents of his stomach. “You should’ve… gone for the head.”

Fortunately, Ty slammed into the Captor before it could finish him. It staggered back and Camila slashed at its legs. Allen gasped as the massive talon was ripped out of him. He hunched over, but Amelia was already there.

The Captor howled again, and death magic swirled inside the boss room. Allen watched the pool of blood as more Shade Ghouls and even some Shade Walkers emerged. Christopher’s magic continued to rain into them, but there was more than last time.

Allen looked back at Amelia, trying to hide his pain. “We… should fall back to the outside, there’s too many of them.”

Amelia nodded. “Alright,” then she looked down at his stomach. “It’s just a patch job so be careful. I got your arm too.”

Allen risked a glance at himself as he stood up. There was a thin layer of slightly transparent skin stretched over his pink abdominal muscles. His arm had also been reattached, but it felt cold and numb. He shook his head. “We’re moving back to the outside!” he shouted.

The other responded quickly, both running away from the Captor. A beam of arcane magic blasted the boss in its face, effectively stalling it for long enough for everyone to get up the wall.

Allen cursed as he helped Camila pull Ty up. “Where the hell is bitch Kenneth, I haven’t seen a single firebolt in forever.” He looked up to see the Ghouls and Walkers climbing the wall to get at them. “Get to Christopher,” he shouted.

The group slashed through the monsters that got between them, quickly circling around the room. Allen ran ahead, using Heavy Accelerate to easily outpace the others. “Where’s Kenneth!?” he asked the professor when he reached him. Christopher only had the chance to point to his side and open his mouth before Allen had passed him by.

Kenneth was on the other side of stalagmite standing idly. He spun around when Allen appeared behind him “What are you doing?” he asked, hands going up defensively.

“Improvising. Care to help?”

“S-sure.”

“Great!” Allen exclaimed, slamming his boot into Kenneth’s chest with Heavy Strike. Kenneth’s eyes went wide as he plummeted into the pit. The Mage had an expression of indignation and malice in the last moment that Allen had seen his face. It wasn’t the expression of surprise one makes when they’ve just been betrayed.

In an instant all the monsters swarmed the Fire Mage. He tried to put up a fight, throwing fireball after fireball, even a whip of flames that he hadn’t used before. It was no good, the Captor pounced on the Mage and shredded him in seconds.

Allen wasn’t paying any attention to Kenneth’s agonized screams of death; he was already flying through the air at the Captor’s head. Blood and entrails were flung past him by the undead while smoke rose from the corpses of those the Mage had taken out. Miasma crackled around his knife as he prepared a fully overcharged Heavy Strike.

The distracted boss’ head split open as Allen’s knife tore through it. Its body ruptured everywhere, spraying black blood like a sprinkler. It gurgled as it toppled over amongst its spawn. Allen jumped off, but the monster still managed to slice him across the back even with its head split in two.

The wave of black magic swelled around it again and Allen tried to get away. Then nothing happened. Its magic was being held back by surging arcane miasma swirling around it.

“Finish it!” Christopher shouted, his voice sounding strained.

Camila landed on the Captor from above, smashing its body into the ground under her morning star. Ty smashed his way through two Shade Ghouls, expression frantic. His Impure Siphon drained the last bit of the Captor’s death energy away as Camila smashed it again.

All at once, the remaining undead spawn fell over like ragdolls. It took another few seconds for the room to grow silent as the echoes of howls and shrieks subsided.

Allen let his head hit the ground with a sigh. He pushed the corpse of a Shade Ghoul off of himself and glanced up at the professor. The Mage was surrounded by the bodies of at least half a dozen monsters, his face almost as pale as they were.

Allen chuckled to himself. “Ladies and gentlemen, we got ‘em.”