Chapter 93: Golden Leaders (1/2)
[Master’s Shield] negated! You have lost your [Regen] status!
The reminder of his chief of staff’s demise made Vainqueur more furious than ever. If he could still fly, he would have bathed the entire city in his holy flames from above, melting the false gold and the mummy with it.
Instead, he still blasted everything nearby with fireballs, while fruitlessly trying to smash the fireproof Akhenapep with his claws. In spite of his own immense agility and speed, the mummy’s magic allowed him to dodge every attack.
Meanwhile, his beautiful niece had joined the fight, casting spells while Knight Kia rode her—the very sight only fueled Vainqueur’s berserk rage further. “[Aura of Justice]!” Jolie shone like silver, bathing her uncle in holy light.
You gained +2 to all attack-based checks, and your unarmed attacks will inflict additional [Holy] damage!
Holy? That was the mummy’s weakness! The knowledge only bolstered the dragon’s determination to bring the undead down. Akhenapep attempted to retaliate with golden arrows, but Vainqueur’s onslaught gave him little opening.
He barely noticed the infernal portal widening further, an immense, long-necked lizard passing through. With the Kobold Rangers on its back, the beast trampled golems underfoot on its way to the last gate; Malfy had reached it thanks to his ice bridge trick, trying to freeze the doors while Manling Victor’s tentacled abomination kept undead soldiers away from him. Meanwhile, the evil Furibon flew towards Vainqueur after noticing Victor’s leftover scythe.
“Furibon!” Jolie showed her tiny fangs at the vile lich and fired a small, fiery projectile at him. “You will pay for your crimes against Uncle and hoardinity!”
“Jolie, no!” Kia called out from the niece’s back, cutting down an undead knight with her shining sword.
“Not me, you inbred lizard!” the lich complained while dodging the attack and stealing Manling Victor’s scythe. Vainqueur knew they may be an ally, but his niece’s response made him proud.
“Uncle? Is that your niece over here, dragon?” Akhenapep noted, renewing the spell protections Vainqueur had disabled during their close encounters. “Because I cannot, in good conscience, let her dedicate the rest of her life to revenge after I kill you.”
The words snapped Vainqueur out of his rage-fueled rampage, replacing his fury with fear. “Don’t you dare!”
“That would violate Vizier Stratagem thirty-eight,” Akhenapep interrupted his assault on Vainqueur to point a finger at his niece. “‘The law of family sets’! [Atomic Ray]!”
Vainqueur’s heart skipped a beat. “Jolie!” He rushed to his niece’s rescue, as the mummy unleashed the same beam that killed his chief of staff. But the red dragon was too far… too far!
Instead, the vile Furibon flew at Jolie's side, touching her pristine scales with his dirty hand. “[Teleportation]!”
The lich, the dragon, and her rider vanished out of the beam’s way, dodging death. They reappeared a few feet away, safe and sound. “You villain…” Jolie couldn’t believe what happened. “You, a villain, saved me?”
“No, I saved her,” the lich replied, glancing at the rider. “You should be optimized to destroy him.”
Knight Kia climbed down from her master’s back. “Jolie, go help the others.”
“But, Kia—”
“Go help the rangers and the others close the gate,” Knight Kia repeated with calm, her blade shining with heavenly energies and her eyes with a greater fury. “That one is too strong for you.”
Akhenapep pointed one hand towards Vainqueur, and one towards Jolie’s group. Everyone had fallen into a tense stand-off.
“Jolie, go,” Vainqueur ordered, his eyes set on the minion slayer. This time, the niece obeyed, flying above the remaining enemy minions and burning them. Akhenapep’s funerary mask briefly shifted to his summoning gate, which Malfy had trapped in ice.
“[Sacred Sword of Mithras].” Knight Kia’s blade doubled in length, transforming into an iridescent solid rainbow. She took a few steps towards Akhenapep, and then outright rushed at him. “[Miracle of D’Arc], [Blade of Dispelling], [Accelerated Hasten]!”
“[Atomic—”
“[Accelerated Ancient Meteor]!” Furibon unleashed a mini-meteor at Akhenapep before he could attack Knight Kia. The mummy glitched out of time to dodge the blow, allowing Vainqueur and Kia to close in. Akhenapep dodged the dragon’s poke, but not the paladin’s blade.
And he screamed for it.
Much to Vainqueur’s consternation, unlike his fruitless attempts from before, Knight Kia’s blade actually hurt the mummy. Her sword cut through his reinforced leadskin like butter, sparkles glittering in its path.
Akhenapep’s HP screen also dwindled tremendously.
HP: 670/2550.
The mummy let out a roar of rage, unleashing the same repulsion attack he used before. An invisible force slammed Furibon against the pavement and forced Vainqueur a few feet backward. Meanwhile, a rainbow armor appeared around Kia, shielding her from the attack.
In fact, she didn't seem bothered by the mummy’s radioactive aura either.
“You are a [Saint]?” Akhenapep prepared to zap Knight Kia with a spell, astonished by his attack’s failure. “[Greater Dispel—”
Too late.
Knight Kia’s holy blade swiftly cut him in half from the skull to the pelvis, killing him instantly.
Or so Vainqueur thought, as the mummy glitched out of existence and reappeared a few feet away, Furibon’s screen still showing his HP above his head.
HP: 670/2550.
The mummy barely had the time to regain his composure before Vainqueur hit him from behind, crushing him with both hands on the street. His immense strength shook the ground with deafening noise, sending pieces of the pavement in all directions.
Yet the mummy reappeared afterward, shaken, but alive.
“Why won’t he die again?!” Vainqueur roared with consternation, trying to squish the undead like a game of whack-a-mole; Knight Kia backing him up, their enemy furiously struggling for his unlife.
“[Save Scum], the [Chronomancer]’s fearsome capstone!” Furibon let out a hiss of frustration, supporting his nemesis with a jagged beam. Akhenapep used his [Za Warudo] to avoid the attack and break the encirclement, reappearing on a pile of debris twenty meters away from them. Vainqueur immediately pursued him before he could recover. “Every time death should claim him, he reverts to a ‘quicksave state’ right before the last blow!”
“He cannot be killed?!” Kia launched a holy sun at the mummy, who dodged by time leaping.
“The ability consumes SP and doesn’t recharge them, so he cannot recover once he runs out of them,” the lich replied. “There are other workarounds, like killing him in an [Antimagic Zone], canceling the Perk outright, or judicious use of status ailments...”
Then Vainqueur simply had to outlast this vermin. Force him to waste every drop of his magic until he had nothing left to power his ability.
The dragon blasted the mummy with his mighty flames while running at him, forcing the villain to reapply his chest seal to absorb them. In the background, Malfy and the rest had managed to condemn the summoning door, and now focused on the stranded minions of Akhenapep.
“Enough!” the mummy snarled, realizing the brilliance of the dragon’s plan and switching strategies. “[Ur-Pharaoh Ascension]!”
A golden glow surrounded the mummy, empowering him, changing him. His body grew in size, quickly casting a shadow upon the dragon, and threatening to crush Knight Kia underfoot. The paladin had to run away. Vainqueur looked up… and up…
And up.
Gone was the mummy, replaced by a giant of armored gold, his funerary mask now a soulless, condemning visage. His head reached more than a hundred feet above the ground, and he could easily grab even Vainqueur himself within his hands.
The giant raised his knee, extending it back, and then—
BHAM!
The giant kicked Vainqueur with more strength than Wotan’s lightning or Maure’s wind spear, shattering his ribs and propelling him backward.
The dragon smashed through one of the last pyramids still standing, came out on the other end, and finally ended his trajectory against one of the city’s outer walls; his body having made a hole within.
Vitality check successful. Death averted.
Warning: you have less than one hundred HP remaining!
Critical health! [Bravo Bull] activated, strength increased!
Vainqueur struggled to remain conscious, his eyes dizzy and his body wracked with pain. He could hear the steps of the giant, as he trampled houses on his way to finish off the dragon; Knight Kia sliced his leg, but her blade barely dented his reinforced skin. Even Furibon and Jolie couldn’t do anything, flying near the Ur-Pharaoh’s shoulder while unleashing fireballs and bolts at his head.
Thankfully, Vainqueur’s minions proved more effective. Having disposed of the remaining minions of Akhenapep, Malfy froze the titan’s right foot with a breath of ice, briefly slowing him down; while the Kobold Rangers, their beast of burden, and Manling Victor’s summoned allies climbed the mummy’s left leg and tried to anchor him.
The emperor glared at this incoming insult to gold, which strangely hadn’t cast a spell at him yet. Perhaps the vile mummy couldn’t do so in this shape, having transformed to continue the fight while saving his SP.
The dragon wondered if his breath could melt that statue from that far…
…
False gold.
Intelligence check successful!
”Furibon!” Vainqueur roared to his nemesis. “Do the thing!”
The vile lich heard him, and seemingly understood the atrocity asked of him… Only for the glow in his empty eye sockets to somehow turn smug. “Say it!”
“Never!” Vainqueur refused to lower himself to his level.
“Say it, wyvern!” the lich insisted in his boundless cruelty. The gold giant looked at them with confusion, before realizing the threat Furibon presented. Instead of continuing his course to finish off Vainqueur, he raised his hand to smash the flying skeleton like a bug.
Vainqueur closed his eyes, the memories of his poor minions and his beloved niece flashing in his mind. He had to do it for them.