Chapter 59: Boss battles are easy (2/2)
“Intruders.” one of the machines said in an eerily human voice. “The throne room has been breached.” the machine said and looked around almost lifelike.
‘These guys are creeping me out...’ Ilea thought as she identified them.
[Taleen Praetorian – lvl ???]
[Taleen Praetorian – lvl ???]
“Get me those doors open! Team three and four, send two mages each to burn through!” Jasper shouted as magic gathered around him.
“Prepare for battle!” he shouted, enticing many of the adventurers to do the same.
“This feels wrong….these guys don’t feel like the others at all...” Ilea whispered and just then the Praetorian with the mace looked at her and she swore she saw its eyes glow a little brighter.
‘We have to get out of here...’ she thought and wanted to say just that when the mage behind her started shouting.
“This feels bad guys...we should get out of here!!” he said while preparing his spell. Arrows started flying towards the machines as the warriors advanced steadily. Magic joined the arrows and a big fiery impact followed by lances of ice and crystal hammered into their enemies in quick succession.
Out of the dust flew one of the scythes faster than an arrow, piercing through a warrior’s shield and his arm. Blood started to spray from the screaming man. The fight had started.
Ilea quickly buffed herself and advanced towards the enemies, ranged attacks still rained on their positions. Her magic perception was rather unusable with all the explosions and projectiles but a couple steps later the two machines were in her range of perception. A mace was suddenly in front of her, ready to crush her.
Blinking away to the left, she looked at her previous position to find the mace praetorian standing there and then moving to its next target with a powerful leap. It landed between one of the ranged groups who barely managed to react to what happened before its mace splattered the crystal mage Ilea had trained with just earlier that day. The massive metal weapon destroyed the woman’s body and left little recognizable behind.
Spells rained on the machine but it didn’t seem to do a lot as it simply turned and attacked again. “Fuck this is bad...” she said and blinked closer to the Praetorian. The mage that would’ve been killed next managed to teleport away just as Ilea had done before. She quickly glanced to the left to see the second enemy wade through the group of close combat fighters with both scythes dancing gracefully around its body.
She blinked again, reaching the Praetorian’s head with a kick. Her spells activated on impact but something felt wrong. Like the energy that was supposed to be released inside the enemy was rejected. Ilea flew backwards with her wings that sprouted from her back as more spells impacted the machine.
‘What was that...’ she thought and blinked in again. This time she chose one of the beast’s legs and paid close attention with her magic perception. The energies created by her offensive skills were blocked by something layering over the machine. Looking upwards she saw that most of the magic used by the other adventurers had the same fate.
‘We’re not dealing any damage...they have shields….’ she thought as the hammer swung her way. She prepared to blink when a sudden wave of mana rippled through her, emanating from the mace. Her blink was disrupted and all she could do was fly upwards. The mace caught her in the legs, making her spiral through the air before she impacted hard on one of the pillars.
She hung from the pillar while healing herself and looked around the room. Four of the warriors were dead already, sliced in half or their heads removed. Another mage had died right after Ilea had been hit by the mace, his remains colored the ground red near the Praetorian who looked around, oddly focusing on the close combat fighters.
Suddenly the machine jumped to join its scythed counterpart which in turn threw both of its weapons towards the mace Praetorian’s last position. A mage was cleanly sliced in half while two more managed to dodge the hit. Jeremy who was with the close combat fighters took the mace head on and Ilea could see the dent in his shield as he was thrown backwards, sliding to a stop only fifteen meters further back.
“This is a massacre...we have to get out of here...” Ilea said out loud and checked the door where four mages were burning through the stone with different magics, looking backwards sometimes with sweat covering their faces. Ilea blinked downwards and checked away a warrior who was focused on the weaponless machine while the other’s mace was about to impact his back.
Ilea got up from the man and turned around just quickly enough to blink away from a flying scythe. “We need to get out!” Agor shouted in the middle of the chaos, deflecting a flying scythe with his great sword. The warrior Ilea had saved was back on his feet and joined Jeremy, quickly advancing on one of the Praetorians.
“Everyone too slow and with no teleports to the door, crack that stone open!!” Jasper shouted and deflected both scythes with quick movements of his sword, aided by blue magic. Ilea blinked in again and punched the scythe machine but the same thing happened again as when she had attacked the other Praetorian.
She still managed to get the machine’s attention and had to dodge the scythe coming her way. Reduced to her physical damage only, her impact had been reduced nearly completely. Ilea was sure that the shields wouldn’t last forever but the enemies didn’t show a single reaction to anything the over thirty people strong expedition had thrown at them so far.
‘Jasper’s right...we have to get out of here...fuck...’ she thought and glanced at the door. More and more mages and close combat fighters were working on getting through the stone but it would take a while to break it all down. Time they certainly didn’t have as another warrior was smashed by the massive mace.
Ilea dodged two more swipes of the scythes when the mages finally broke through the door and started running out in single file. “They’re getting out!” a scout shouted next to Ilea and started running towards the door only to be pierced by a scythe and thrown away, spattering on a nearby wall.
“We need more time, stand firm!” Jasper shouted. No magic was hitting the Praetorians anymore as everyone was trying to get out of the deathtrap they’d found themselves in. The two machines concentrated fully on the few remaining close combat fighters quick enough to dodge their blows. Ilea, Jasper and Lorcan were three of them. She also recognized the girl Rin and had seen the other three warriors before as well.
They worked hard to dodge and attack as best they could but one of the warriors was hit quickly after. Ilea blinked towards him but could only watch as the mace of the other Praetorian landed in front of her, splattering her with blood and guts. “AAAAAH!!” the scream left her lung as she blinked away again.
Appearing behind one of the pillars, she saw with her sphere that one of the scythes was flying towards her from behind the stone, prompting her to dodge to the side quickly. The stone was pierced and quite a bit of air as well where she had stood a moment ago. Nearly all the adventurers had fled through the opened pathway by that point. Ilea slid to the ground next to the pillar as the blade was recalled to the machine again, glowing faintly and sliding out of the rock again.
Her hands were shaking as she tried to wipe away the blood from her face and neck. ‘Fuck….fuck fuck...’ was all she thought before slapping herself in her face. She got up again and blinked towards the others. Lorcan took a direct hit from the mace right then. The swipe sent him flying, ending in a hard crash into a pillar.
Ilea could see his armor was bend too far. ‘He...he’s dying...’ she thought and forgot about distracting the machines, blinking to them an immediately. She started healing him while bending the metal backwards to allow his bones and organs to recover.
“LEAVE!!” Jasper shouted and the remaining people started running to the opening in the door. Ilea shouldered Lorcan and ran as well. Glancing sideways she saw Jasper jumping backwards before an incredible amount of mana gathered at the tip of his sword. The Praetorians looked at him and advanced slowly before they were engulfed in a storm of blue fire emanating from the tip of his sword.
‘That won’t stop them for long...’ Ilea thought as she ran and nearly tripped on some of the corpses that littered the floor. Just then she felt her hairs stand up and time slow down. She saw the scythe advance behind her and blinked away. The angle would allow for the blade to pass harmlessly below Lorcan’s body. She appeared a couple meters away and ran back to catch the falling man.
The blade passed both of them and sliced into the wall. She caught him and spun around. Aiming for the doorway she threw the man with all her strength. Lorcan had regained consciousness a moment ago and managed to move slightly in the air not to hit the stone. Ilea watched on as he landed outside safely before she blinked through the wall. At least that was what she had planned to do before she looked down and saw a meter long blade sticking out from her stomach. An incredible pain spread through her immediately, accompanied by a cold she hadn’t experienced ever before.