"Get out of my way, you bag of bones!" the elite death knight said.
He slapped Glogmore out of the way and sent him flying back.
"Glogmore not bag! You bag!"
Glogmore fell into a pile of bones that spread across the floor. His master bone wiggled and struggled to reassemble himself.
I reloaded my arbalest and fired a bolt at him. He deflected it with his sword. Black energy continued to pulse out of him.
Valda rushed him with an impact strike, this time from below. I'd never seen her do it that way. I had always seen it done overhand.
His sword was pointing away from him and not in a position to block. Her strike came rocketing up at his head. He leaned back, trying to dodge, but the mace smacked him in the chin and knocked his helmet off.
His white hair fell down to his shoulders. He had glowing white eyes and a scar over one of them. She had exposed his head. I now had a decent chance of killing him. I didn't have to make it through a layer of metal armor anymore.
I reloaded the arbalest and took aim. He swung his sword at Valda, and she blocked. They got locked in a contest of strength; him pushing with his sword against the silver handle of her mace.
This was the perfect opportunity for me. I took careful aim and pulled the trigger. The bolt sailed true through the air and right into his left eye.
I watched his HP drop significantly, but not to zero. That was the thing about this HP stuff. Critical hits weren't always instant wins. You did more damage than normal, but it wasn't like my old world, where a bolt to the eye would kill you.
He grabbed the bolt and yanked it out. He threw it on the ground and resumed a fighting stance. I began reloading for another 5 seconds.
The black energy radiated from his body faster and faster. He was using another skill. It was called "Last Stand." It increased his power and speed by 100%.
Before Valda could do anything, he attacked her. She blocked, but it drove her back, her boots skidding on the stone floor. He continued his assault, throwing strike after strike at her, driving her farther and farther back until she hit the wall.
He stabbed through her stomach, and then she was gone. She appeared 5 feet to the right, with no wound. She had used Evasive Maneuver. The activation of this skill made her glow yellow briefly, and she leveled up. Her strength stat went up, and she gained a new ability. She immediately used it to knock the sword out of his hand. It was called "Disarming Strike."
Seeing this as opportunity and my arbalest finally reloading, I fired another shot at his face. This time, though, he caught it. While he was momentarily distracted, Valda performed another Impact Strike, but this one against his arm, crushing the shoulder joint of the armor and pinning his arm to his side.
I tossed her two stamina potions, and she drank them both while the elite death knight stumbled to the ground from the previous blow. She charged up another Impact Strike, this one over hand. He put his other hand up to block.
The Impact Strike knocked his hand uselessly out of the way and smashed him in the face. He fell to the floor onto his back. He tried to crawl away.
"Wait, hold on! We can talk this out, ok?" he said.
Valda silently walked towards him.
"Wait, wait!" he said. "You don't have to do this! You can just let me go."
"I could," Valda said, "but I won't."
She charged up an Impact Strike and smashed his head against the ground. She waited the prerequisite cooldown period and then did it again. He was dead at this point, but she did it one more time for good measure.
"I think he's dead," I said.
"I know," she said. "That last one was just to make myself feel better."
"Did it?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said.
"Good," I said. "Hey, Glogmore, you alright over there, buddy?"
"Glogmore is still here, but Glogmore need help. Can you push Glogmore's bones together?"
"Sure," I said.
Valda and I pushed his bones towards the master bone with our feet. Once they were close enough together, he reformed.
"Upwards and onwards?" I asked.
"Yes," Valda said.
"Glogmore says yes!"
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We walked to the end of the grand hall, where there was a set of double doors. I pushed them open, and I walked into a massive space. It was a circular room hundreds of feet across, with high ceilings. Another magical light hung from the ceiling.
Among many piles of different bits and bobs and paper stacks was an older man poring over documents. He sat in a chair and wore purple wizard style robes. He didn't look undead or unhealthy or anything like that.
His brow was furrowed as he stared intently at the document. We continued to walk towards him, assuming him to be either the necromancer of the dungeon or another enemy. He put a finger up without averting his gaze.
"I will be with you in a moment," he said, "if you'll be so kind as to wait."
"Uh, sure, I guess," I said. "It's not like we have anywhere to be. You don't mind if we look through your stuff, do you?"
I just started rifling through his stuff without waiting for an answer. The Analyze ability identified a lot of weird things that I didn't understand the name of or the description.
"Actually, I do mind," he said. "If you'll please keep your hands and eyes to yourself, I would greatly appreciate it."
I stood back up. Something about his politeness, while terse, made me want to comply with his request.
"Fine," I said.
I sat down on the ground. My legs were tired. Valda sat down next to me and stared lazily at the ceiling. Glogmore waited patiently. After several minutes, the old man exclaimed, "Fantastic! I've found the answer! Wait."
He went back to reading and after several more minutes, he folded the paper and put it in a pocket. Then he stood up and briskly walked over to us. He grabbed Glogmore and hugged him.
"Glogmore! How have you been? Why are you so small? What have they done to you?"
"Glogmore lost," he said. "Glogmore was spared."
The old man looked at me and Valda.
"Thank you for sparing him, but did you really have to hurt him so much? You know you could have just walked through the door on the other side and he wouldn't have been able to follow you, right?"
"Actually," I said, "that didn't occur to us."
"Yeah, I didn't think of that," Valda said.
"Well, shame on you both." He wagged his finger at us. "Now that I've properly shamed you, let's talk."
The mage walked over to a table in the center of the room that had chairs around it. It looked like a dining room table. We followed him and sat on the other side. Glogmore followed but didn't sit in a chair because he was too big.
"So, tell me, what is the world like out there?" he asked. "Any amazing new advancements? New sports or games? Social movements? Wars? Famines? You could say anything and I'd believe you."
"Why are you being so cordial?" I asked. "Aren't you an evil necromancer bent on destruction?"
"I don't trust him," Valda said.
"Well, she's right not to trust," he said. "I'm not a good guy in the traditional sense. I do what I want and I generally get my way and I often consider my own needs before the needs of others. And yes, I am the necromancer you seek to defeat to save the town from destruction or whatever they told you."
"My cordiality simply comes from curiosity. I haven't seen another person since…well, since I created Glogmore roughly 200 years ago. He's been quite the efficient 'champion' of the arena, as you could probably tell from all the bones."
"That's strangely honest," I said. "But if you aren't to be trusted, then what are you?"
"Merely a temporary acquaintance." He shrugged. "We may fight if you so desire, but not before I get some answers first. What is it like outside?"
"I'll let Valda answer that one," I said. "She knows more than me."
I listened as Valda chatted with him about the world. Things that have changed and things that have stayed the same. They talked about the cities, the people, the monsters, the dungeons, and sporting events. You name it and they discussed it.
I was just happy to learn a little more about the world I lived in. Apparently, there were a few different popular sports, but only the big cities participated. Towns like ours didn't have teams, so townsfolk rarely participated in sporting events.
Not unless they could afford to go to a big city. Which most of them couldn't. They talked about the rulers of the various kingdoms, the politics, the gossip. Once their chatter finally died down, I spoke up.
"So," I said, "not to be a turd, but are we going to do what we came here to do?"
"If that is what you wish," he said.
"Ok. Do you pose a threat to the town?"
"Yes, of course," he said. "I'm a mage with an ego the size of a mountain. I would take over the entire kingdom if I could. Sadly, adventuring has just gotten too popular. If adventurers wouldn't continually whittle down my horde, I'd have taken the town over already and created a mini necropolis."
"Undeath isn't that bad. You get to exist forever. You don't have to eat or go to the bathroom. And your nose never gets itchy. You'll see. Once I add you to my army, you'll understand."
"What makes you so sure you'll win?" I asked.
"Come on," he said. "Look at me and then look at you. I'm level 8 and you're what? Level 5 or 6? I'm multiple levels above you. You don't stand a chance."
"How do you know our levels?" I asked. "How do you know your level?"
"Identification magic," he said. "Easy."
"Ok," Valda said. "While that was a nice chat, you seem like a generally bad guy. So I'm ready to bash your skull in. Where are we doing this? This room is kind of cluttered. Besides, did you say this stuff is valuable?"
He looked around. "You're right, I did. It is. Let's do it in the main hall."
He walked out of the room into the hall with all the dead death knights. He waved his hand and black necrotic energy shot out from him in a wave. When it hit the bodies of the death knights, they disintegrated and disappeared.
"How's that? Better?" he asked.
"Aside from your complete disregard for your former subordinates," I said, "that is better. Can you get rid of the carpet too? I don't want to trip on that thing."
He waved his hand again, and the carpet disappeared.
"So, shall we begin? Do you want to go first?" he asked.
"Yes, please," I said.
I still had about twelve silver-steel crossbow bolts left. I didn't think it would be enough, and we would probably die here, but we'd get there when we got there. We could probably still back out and come back later. That would be the wise decision, but my wisdom wasn't that high. And I didn't want to go back. It felt wrong, lame even.
"I'll give you the first shot," he said. He extended his arms out to leave himself an open target.
I aimed and fired. The bolt went through his head, right between his eyes. He yanked it out, and the wound healed over. It knocked his health down by a fifth, but his health started slowly ticking back up. Well, that was a bummer.
"Ow," he said. He grinned. "Now it's my turn."
Cracks began to form in the ground beneath him until it burst open and a massive giant rose up and out of it. The giant seemed to be made of the bodies of hundreds of people. Dead people, to be clear. Zombies, most likely. So they weren't suffering or anything, but it was still grotesque.
It rose onto its feet as it stepped out of the hole with the necromancer standing on its shoulder. It stood almost as tall as the hall itself, which was about 50 feet tall. I did not have enough ammo for that. I was going to have to think of something, and quick.