Zak’s body flew through the air like a ragdoll, colliding into the side of a nearby building. Treyhax and Swipe looked stunned after witnessing what just happened, but then I looked up to inspect the monster’s HP bar. Only a quarter of his HP was missing even after we dished out an arsenal of weapon skills. Finally one of us broke the silence.

“Kathrall, go tend to Zak and make sure he’s okay. We’ll hold him off for now,” commanded Treyhax. I nodded and sprinted over to Zak’s motionless body.

Crouching next to him, I paused and examined his HP bar in the top left corner of my vision. His HP was reduced down to the Red Zone with just one attack. I turned around to shout at Treyhax.

“Guys, don’t let that thing hit you. It packs a big punch.”

They both nodded and began charging at the monster.

“Ugh...”

Zak let out a painful moan and began pulling himself to sit upright.

“Zak! Are you okay?” I asked, running over to his side.

“What… kind of bullshit is that?” said Zak in a painful tone.

“Are you going to be okay?” I pulled out an HP potion and handed it to Zak. He took the potion out of my hand reluctantly and quickly gulped it down.

“Yeah I’ll be fine. No more screwing around.”

CRASH!

I turned around to see Treyhax and Swipe fighting the monster. They were primarily focused on dodges the monster’s attacks. Occasionally one of them would make a quick attack at the zombie, but they couldn’t make a fatal attack without risking their own injury.

“They need our help. Let’s go.” I stood up and extended my arm out to Zak.

He nodded his head in agreement and reached out for my hand. I quickly pulled him back up to his feet. “Together,” I said to him with a grin.

“Let’s do this.” he said, smiling.

We turned around and bolted towards the ongoing battle.

“Move guys, I’ve got a plan.” I shouted.

Treyhax and Swipe both jumped away from the monster to give me an opening to attack. I continued my high speed charge at the monster, capturing its attention.

“Wait for my signal!” I commanded. The monster raised its giant sword in the air and I raised my shield to block it. The heavy attack pushed me down to one knee and sent vibrations all throughout my body. The monster winded up for another attack, but before he could bring his sword down I made my move.

I jumped upwards towards the monsters weapon and began to activate the one mace skill I’d been saving.

“!”

I lifted my mace high above my head and with the momentum of my falling body I smashed it downwards into the right forearm of the zombie. After a second the monster’s forearm cracked and looked as if it was a noodle.

The monster let out a painful roar and his giant sword fell from its hands.

“Now!” I shouted.

The three of them quickly reacted to my command.

“I’m first at crushing this bastard this time!” shouted Zak. He ran towards the monster and swung his axe sideways at the monster, delivering a heavy blow and knocking it to the ground.

Swipe and Treyhax were quick to follow the attack and simultaneously jumped towards the fallen enemy. Swipe jumped on top of the monster, driving his sword through its shoulder and pinning it to the ground.

“Now, Captain!”

Treyhax positioned himself above the monster and his glaive began to glow a bright red colour.

“!” he shouted. In a lighting fast, red blur, he stabbed the monster in several fatal points. Heart, jugular, brain, the barrage of attacks continued until he jumped back and Zak took over his position.

“Let’s see you block this attack,” he said, angrily. His axe began glowing a vibrant green colour and his face tensed. “!”

Zak brought his axe down into the chest of the zombie, just enough to cut a couple inches into the monsters skin. After a short pause, Zak ripped his axe downwards, tearing a wide open wound in the monster and causing it to bleed severely.

The monster let out a painful moan as his health bar began depleting. For some reason it wouldn’t stop. Was that a damage-over-time skill? The monster continued to bleed until it finally let out one last roar and ran out of HP, bursting into pixels.

Zak, Treyhax, and Swipe all fell to the ground exhausted.

“Can we take a lunch break now, guys?” Zak asked.

“We can’t exactly camp out here,” replied Treyhax. “In a short while the monster is going to respawn and we’ll have to do this battle all over again.”

“I guess you’ve got a point, I’m having a snack at the very least.”

I walked over to the three of them with a grin on my face.

“What are you so happy about, Kath?” Zak asked.

“It’s just fun being around you guys,” I answered. “I’ve never had this much fun partying with people before.” My smile widened and it must have been contagious because Zak and Treyhax sure enough shot me a smile back. Even Swipe grinned a bit.

“Yeah yeah, but don’t forget who your first friend was, Kath!” Zak joked.

“Okay, let’s get ready for the main event,” said Treyhax. “Everyone make sure you’re at 100% HP. Not 85, not 95, 100.”

“Captain, what’s the plan?” asked Swipe.

“We’ll stick with the same strategy. Kathrall and Zak will keep the attention of Kulz, he should be weaker physically than that last Forsaken Villager, so melee combat shouldn’t be a problem. If Kulz summons ads like we suspect, then Swipe and I dispose of them as quickly as possible. We will lend our support for battling Kulz whenever we get the chance, but be prepared to have to hold him down as two for the majority of the fight.”

“Understood,” I said. “I’ll lead the way. Zak, stay close to me. I’ll hold his aggro and whenever you see an opening take it.”

“You got it!” Zak replied. “After you.”

I approached the giant doors of the stone building. I put my hand on the door and a window popped up.

KULZ’S LAIR

ENTER?

YES | NO

I turned around and took a glance at my party members. Their faces bore the expressions of determination, excitement, and anxiousness. I myself was extremely anxious to see how this would all play out. After receiving a final nod from Treyhax I turned back around and faced the screen. I took a deep breath, raised my hand, and pressed the YES button. Within seconds, the massive wooden doors began to slowly open, creaking along the way. Inside the building appeared to be a hall, but it was hard to tell. The entire interior of the building was pitch black. I couldn’t see a thing.

“Let’s go.” I said.

We all stormed into the darkness of the building. The only light we had was from the doorway, but that only extended a few meters.

“What the hell’s this all about?” Zak said from the darkness.

“Be patient.” said Swipe. “I’m sure it’s going to happen soon enough.”

“What’s going to ha–”

Zak was interrupted by a familiar creaking noise… The doors were closing in on us!? I turned back around to see the doors slowly closing, inch by inch. With it, the very minimal light we had was beginning to disappear as well.

“Like hell we’re getting trapped in here!” Zak shouted.

I couldn’t see much, but I heard loud and fast footsteps heading towards the door. Eventually I saw Zak’s silhouette in front of the fading light, getting dimmer and dimmer by the second.

“Zak, don’t worry,” Treyhax said.

“Don’t worry? We can’t see a god damned thing!”

“Just give it a second.”

“Whatever.” Zak sighed.

We all stood there patiently in the dark, waiting for something to happen. The atmosphere continued to grow more and more eerie. Silence had taken over the room, only to be broken by a strange sound.

Poof!

“What was that?” Zak asked.

“Take a look,” Swipe answered. “It’s beginning.”

I looked around and finally I saw what Swipe was talking about, two purple flames high up the walls of the hallway, parallel to each other.

Poof, poof!

One after the other, more flames began to spark up. In a line gradually moving deeper and deeper into the hallway, more and more purple flames appeared. They continued with that pattern until they started moving inwards, meeting at the end of the hall. Behind the finals flames was a large silhouette.

BOOM!

A giant purple flame sparked up in front of the shadowy figure. The shadowed figure moved towards the flame, finally revealing itself.

Standing at about 6 meters tall was a slim humanoid. In its right hand was a large staff, as tall as the figure itself. The staff appeared to be the spinal cord and skull of a monster. Decorated all along its body were bones, skulls, and pieces of cloth. Its calves were heavily bandaged and its wrist guards had large spikes extending from outside of them. Its face was hidden under a skull mask and black hair spiked out from behind it. Above its head were three health bars accompanied by a name: Kulz, the Witchdoctor.

“Pfft, this guy doesn’t look too tough,” mocked Zak. He looked over at me with his usual grin on his face, except this one had a lot more determination behind it. “Let’s take him down, Kath.”

I looked at him and smiled back. I tightened my grip on my mace and shield. “Treyhax and Swipe, get in position,” I commanded. “The real battle begins now.”