The giant ratman muttered something in his sharp language, big wall of black disappearing from behind Lucas and his party as they moved to attack. What was left of the ratmen constructs immediately charged at the party, forcing Ted to pivot around to face them head on. Maggie, meanwhile, fired two arrows at their primary enemy, giant rat once again muttering something before Maggie’s arrow deflected from their way as one of the traps they passed on their way here, a giant log of wood with spikes swathed both of them.

“Infused piledriver” Lucas muttered to himself before starting his spin, tip of his gladius ready to shred the Chief Guardian as it did countless enemies before. However, before Lucas’s attack managed to connect, Lucas was hit from left side, his spinning stopped as he rolled, momentum carrying him almost to the right wall of the chamber. Quickly getting up, he spotted yet another trap, sharp spikes mounted on the brass bars menacingly swinging in front of Rak’azis. Lucas’s attack proved as enough of the distraction, however, Maggie quickly firing from her crossbow, managing to connect with the left side of the giant ratman. The boss monster quickly screeched in pain before pointing his hands towards Maggie, muttering something. Having a bad feeling, Lucas was already on his feet, forcing himself to go as fast as he could possibly muster, his passive adding even more speed.

Maggie tried to jump out of the way, but the floor soon disappeared from under her feet, abyss that was quickly opening filled with acid so strong it could corrode everything within seconds, as she found out during scouting by firing an arrow into it. Just as she started to fall down, Lucas’s hand caught her and threw her away from the hole. Rak’azis wasn’t about to sit idle, once again pointing towards Lucas, a slide quickly materializing in front of him, boulder already on the way. Lucas tried to activate “Dodge” but the boulder was moving to fast, colliding with him and sending him flying.

“You take 1459 points of damage”

Lucas was awoken by a sharp female scream, finding Maggie filled by distress and rage, firing arrow after arrow into the Chief Guardian, who was still busy moving and forming traps both protecting himself and trying to attack Maggie. Ted was also trying to pivot, focused on reaching Maggie and protect her from the onslaught Rak’azis was currently throwing at her.

“Shit, I wasn’t hit like that … well, probably since Big Kong” he thought to himself as he slowly got up, adrenaline that was slowly pumping through his body bringing out the long buried longing from a proper fight, the same feeling he ignored since the night Michael betrayed him and he started his path of vengeance, which later grew to ownership of Camp Hearth and all that entailed. Now, deep in the bowels of the Rat King dungeon, he found a worthy adversary.

“Let’s see if I still remember the steps of this dance” the thought passed as he took out a health potion, downing it in one gulp.

“You restored 800 health points via health potion”

Feeling pleasantness coursing through his body, Lucas searched out, locking on the aura of the giant ratmen, activating “Aura severing”, overcoming the defenses and stunning the boss. With a scream, the creature fell down to the floor, opening a chance for Lucas to activate “Infused piledriver” starting his spin once again. This time, however, Rak’azis was unable to defend himself, tip of the Lucas’s sword going through his thigh, shredding flesh. Still unable to respond, the giant ratmen was unable to defend from the onslaught that ensued, Lucas’s “Strikes of doom” leaving a giant wound whenever the sword connected.

Unfortunately, before Lucas managed to whittle him down completely, Rak’azis managed to come back to his senses, quickly activating his skill, conjuring some kind of explosive trap and forcing Lucas to activate “Dodge” to avoid the blast. Finishing his somersault, Lucas immediately tried to refocus his attacks on the now heavily wounded Chief Guardian, not just from his attacks, but also from Maggie’s arrows. However, he spotted something with the corner of his eyes and turned just in time to see the final trap disappearing.

“GET OUT OF THE WAY” he shouted on top of his lungs, realizing the enormous danger they were in. Glad that his party reacted the same moment, Lucas once again activated “Dodge”, the precognitive part of his skill informing him he was a primary target of the trap and immediately jumping forward. A moment later, huge explosion of black energy from behind him announced to him he was able to get out in time.

Lucas casted a quick glance behind him, seeing only a large pitch black wall and no trace of his party. He clamped down on feeling of dread he felt rising in him, assuring himself that all of his party got away in time, trying hard to refocus on the boss. His early rush from a worthy battle now turned into urgency, Lucas eager to finish this fight as quickly as he was able, hoping that the death of the giant ratman would be enough to deactivate the trap. He tried to get a lock on the aura of the creature, but Rak’azis was careful this time, shrinking it as much as he was able and reforming another trap, forcing Lucas to activate “Dodge” to avoid flaming arrows that went out of the wall that materialized to his right.

“This is bullshit” Lucas thought as he was forced to activate “Dodge” yet again, again dodging the trap the giant ratmen materialized. His passive was proving unable to get him over the hurdle and give him enough of the speed boost to get close to the Rak’azis for the finishing blow. Cursing himself for not ending it on the spot when he had him stunned, instead relapsing into old habits of prolonging fights Lucas roared in frustration seeing as another slide materializing before him, boulder already on the way down.

“ENOUGH!” Lucas shouted before sending mental command to activate “Punch Parry”, his fist coated in light blue colour meeting the boulder. A loud crack was overheard as the boulder stopped in mid – air for a moment before rolling above the slide and flying towards the shocked ratman. He managed to regain his senses in the last moment, hurriedly sidestepping the boulder, but that gave Lucas opening to approach, activating “Soul-shattering strike” and cutting the flank of Rak’azis. The rat screeched in shock before falling to his knees, Lucas already preparing his ultimate attack. As soon as he muttered “Vengeful doom strike” he felt his sword hand heavy and sharp pain in his head. He grunted in effort as he raised his sword and cut the head of the Chief Guardian. There wasn’t enough strength from his swing for anything more than a shallow wound, but that was enough.

Rak’azis was halfway to getting up before the aftermath of the attack caught up to him. He first was standing there confused for a few moments before his face contorted in panic and he started trashing. His efforts were in vain, however, and he dropped to the ground, unmoving in the same moment System announced Lucas he won the fight.

“You have slain “Rak’azis, Chief Guardian of the Palace, Deadly engineer level 62”

“Congratulations! You are now Sword of doom level 58”

“Stat allocation in progress…”

“+5 Agility, +4 Strength, +2 Perception. Two free point”

“Due to title Prodigy, you are awarded another free point”

“Stat allocation completed”

He called up “Status” and immediately threw his five free point into Intelligence and one into Strength, rounding them up.

Name: Lucas (surname N/A)

Class: Blade of Doom level 58

Attributes:

Strength: 100

Agility: 150

Constitution: 30

Intelligence: 40

Willpower: 35

Perception: 78

Charisma: 30

Luck: 40

Health: 3000

Stamina: 19.500

Mana: 1400

Skills:

Sharpsight

Aura severing

Doom infusion

Dodge

Strikes of doom

Soul – shattering strike

Punch parry

Doom – infused punch

Infused Piledriver

Guiding strike

Battlerush

Blade spin

Bulwark of balance

Vengeful doom strike

Double strike

Equipment

Exquisite Naga steel coral breastplate

Exquisite Naga steel coral shoulder plates

Exquisite Naga steel coral gauntlets

Ceramic – laced gorilla gloves

Exquisite Naga steel coral leg guards

Gladius of the Viridi

Ring of the Abyssal Depth

Pendant of Truesight

Quests

Titles

Monster Slayer

Colossus Muncher

Home – schooled

Scenario dungeon diver I

Vengeance Bringer

Class Advancer

Prodigy

There were some things to analyze in his status screen, but he spotted in the corner of his eyes that the black wall from the trap went down, revealing to him worried faces of his party.

“Are you alright?” Maggie was first to reach him, followed by the rest. Lucas quickly nodded before focusing on Margaret and Chen, both in extremely foul mood.

“We did good” Lucas said, his eyes firmly on Margaret. He was glad to see his words alleviated some of his worries and he was ecstatic spotting Maggie’s reaction, genuine smile that adored her face. Chen, however, was still in foul mood.

“I need a something to do some damage. I was useless in these two fights” he responded to Lucas’s inquisitive gaze.

“We have some time before we continue” Lucas simply said, finding it hard to disagree with his statement.