Chapter 102: Song of War

  Tom summoned his paper wings and quickly leapt into the air, a haste spell speeding him along, just as Shana-gul blasted him with another [Strike of Desolation]. Tom felt goosebumps erupt on his skin as the chill of winter touched it. He quickly reapplied his paper armour to keep him warm.

  However, compared to the hundred-foot-tall bat, it seemed insufficient. Shana-gul unleashed a wave of blood spears down onto his head, forcing Tom to summon up an earthen shield an instant before a dozen spears of blood hammered into him.

  Tom dropped the shield the moment he was free from the attack. He would have preferred a water shield; it was cheaper, but it wouldn't have protected him. That's when another thought occurred to him: They might have just lost this fight.

  Without Abaddon to hold the line, he needed to come up with a plan b and quickly. Tom used [Thirst for Knowldge] Shana-gul.

  DING!!!

  The blood bat itself was severely damaged from Abaddon's attacks. Tom could tell it was already shrinking slowly as the blood mana leaked from it. So he just needed to devise a way to kill a raid boss single-handedly. It was kind of ironic that besides Duncan, every other member of the original Awoken Myths guild would have been better at this than him. Unfortunately, Abaddon was down, Travis was off with Luke, Skippy was somewhere, and Alex had apparently disappeared without telling him. He really needed to put more points into [Coordination].

  The blood bat lunged down one of its wings crashing into Tom's previous position as Tom dived out of the way, skimming along the flames below them as he desperately avoided the attack. He was actually getting a little annoyed at this situation. Skippy, Abaddon, Alex, and even Travis. All of them could turn the tide of battle at the snap of their fingers. But what could he do? He had become the bloody healer. He was the bloody guild leader. He had needed to sacrifice his build for the guild since before the system apocalypse had even begun. And now, somehow, he was the only one left against this monstrosity with not a single offensive skill to his status screen.

  But you know what? That was fine. Maybe it was time to remind the world of who he was. He had been Lance, the Sovereign of the Underworld. He had led fights against Superbosses, world bosses, hell, even the damned Whisper in the Sand. A jumped-up [Blood Mage] should be small potatoes to him.

  "Bull Strength, Feline Grace, Indomitability, Conjure Complex Minds, Sensor Boost, Draconic Power, Magic Ward: Blood, Haste, Hyper Focus'' Tom chanted.

  Tom felt his mind split as two more stains of thought appeared within it. Tom set two of his minds to pull out scrolls of fireball, turning them into paper airplanes, creating them two at a time, and then having them folded into his wings, trailing behind him. Six planes were already trailing behind him as he leapt out of the way of a blood whip from Shana-gul.

  Tom felt all of his remaining attention focused on Shana-gul. He just needed to stay alive long enough to conjure enough planes to finish the boss or until he came up with a better idea. Shana-gul clearly had no intention of giving him the time. The blood bat's wings transformed into tentacle whips made out of blood lashed out towards him.

  Tom shot to the side as a blood whip tried to bisect him.

  Despite his average agility, his wings worked on magic, not aerodynamics. He pushed every point of mana he had despite the pain throughout his body to keep going. His mind felt like it was running on a knife's edge as he had to anticipate and throw himself out of the way of every attack he saw.

  Only when he dove to avoid one attack did he see the trap. Shana-gul had herded him with his previous attack, forcing him to dodge directly into Shana-gul's current attack.

  He did a barrel roll in the split second before he slammed into the blood whip. He avoided a direct hit but clipped the attack, sending him spiralling through the air. His paper armour took most of the damage, but it left him with a broken arm and a couple of broken ribs as he managed to pull himself out of the dive.

  "Ignore it! Ignore it! ignore it!" Tom chanted himself as he fired off another Greater Mend spell.

  He felt a migraine forming on top of all of the other aches and pains his body was going through as he pushed himself to see every little thing in the smoke-filled air, weaving and dodging to get out of the way, taking the hits he couldn’t avoid but doing his best to ensure they weren't crippling and didn't smash him into a solid surface.

  Eventually, dodging became less of a conscious effort. Tom started to anticipate properly as he got a feel for how shana-gul attacked; his body moved before he realized he needed to, with the priority always being protecting his wings. If he couldn’t fly, he couldn’t dodge; if he couldn't dodge, he was dead.

  All the while, his other two minds kept working. First, he had six paper airplane kamikazes, then twelve, twenty-four, forty-eight, and ninety-six. Every time he finished one, he stashed it back into his inventory for later.

  The Blood constructs being fired at him had changed from whips to small spikes of blood. Thankfully, nothing could get through the armour, but the blood spikes were destroying three to five pieces of paper each. It turned out he couldn't manipulate blood-soaked paper very easily or cheaply. He was having to dump the blood-soaked paper and replace it with a new sheet. Burning through his supply of paper so quickly, he started using mana shields to try and protect his armour from the blood.

  He couldn’t even call it a misstep. It was a trade-off to keep his supply of paper from running out before he could strike.

  It seemed like the Shana-gul had decided to kill him then and there. At least, that was the only way he could interpret it as every single blood spike froze, mid-air turned and shot straight towards him.

  Time seemed to slow down as Tom reacted. He immediately changed direction, shooting straight upwards into the air, and pulled all of his Kamikaze airplanes back into his inventory.

  "Water wall, Oakskin…" Tom activated every defensive scroll and his [Spell Trap] skill as he tried and failed to escape the storm of blood.

  They came up from below and blasted into his back, sending him tumbling upwards as they beat at his defences. The water shield was whittled down quickly, and then his armour and wings took the brunt of the attack. His body only instinctively curled up to try and avoid getting hit in any vital area as a storm of blood did its best to shred him. Tom could feel his body get all the more battered as he did, the few broken bones he had screaming at him as he was sure he also gained a few more sprains. As his world became a whirlpool of blood.

  At some point, the attack ended, but Tom was still moving, thanks to his upward momentum. He looked like a stain against the beautiful morning skyline, covered in cuts and blood, and he was shivering from the cold, or maybe he was shivering because of his battered body.

  Tom groaned as he came to the top of his arc. "Lesser Mend, clean"

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  The blood on Tom's body was stripped off of him as the lesser mend slowly healed his body. Tom looked back down at where Shana-gul sat atop the University building. His attention had moved from Tom to Major Adam's position.

  "Per - perfect," Tom muttered, his teeth chattering.

  Pulling paper out of his inventory, his wings and armour snapped into place, and his kamikaze planes fanned out behind him.

  "It's a good day to die," Tom muttered through his chattering teeth as he pulled his wings in and rocketed downwards.

  Hundreds of paper kamikaze flew right behind him as he shot down towards Shana-gul. The wind whistled against his ears as he fell through the sky.

  Shana-gul charged up a [Strike of Desolation] aimed directly at his forces. Tom wanted to look towards his people, but he couldn't. He needed to time this perfectly, and his kamikazes were right behind him as he rapidly closed the distance.

  The second before he impacted the blood bat, Tom released the Kamikaze planes, snapped out his wings and spun to the side.

  BOOOM!!!

  Tom's savage descent threatened to rip off his wings and slam him into the ground as Shana-gul was bombarded with paper fireballs. The Kamikaze attack peppered Shana-gul with explosions. The massive blood bat was sent reeling back as its body shrunk with every explosion. The [Strike of Desolation] was sent off course, blasting apart a dozen buildings but missing his army.

  However, Tom didn't see any of that as he was crashing. Aiming his flight, he flew straight towards a specific building, the destroyed enrollment centre. He overstuffed his armour as he crashed into the building. Tom felt his kneecap pop as he bounced across the rubble, crashing into a smoke stack and bouncing off. He wanted to scream out in agony.

  "Ouch," Tom groaned instead.

  His body was screaming at him as he did his best impression of a bird with a broken wing. It wasn't hard. He had a broken arm, broken ribs, a dislocated kneecap, not to mention all the injuries he had already healed up. He honestly just wanted to lie down, curl up and die. He might have even given in if his hyper-focus buff wasn't allowing him to work through the pain. Everything hurt, and he was convinced he was going to have problems with both legs from now on. As it was, he could barely limp forwards.

  His paper wings dragged across the ground as he shuffled forward. He looked back up at Shana-gul. His attack had managed to shrink the blood bat to almost forty feet. A little less than what he started with. It wasn't quite as much as he had hoped for. But it would have to be enough. He checked his [Storage], and while he still had plenty of paper, he was nearly out of scrolls. His mana was at 15%, and his health was around 50%. His stamina, however, was in the ten percent range, and he was [Fatigued]. Despite that, he was grinning like a madman.

  "I think this is the part where you shoot me, right.?" Tom muttered as Shana-gul turned to face him. Another [Strike of Desolation] was being charged, ready to blast him.

  Tom was only standing thanks to the paper armour literally holding him upright. Despite that, despite the fact that he had no mana, no stamina, and no paper, he was smiling.

  "Do you want to know something about me!!" Tom called out as Shana-gul attack charged up.

  "I'm a really sore loser," Tom said. With a force of will, Tom pushed all of his remaining mana into his wings, launching himself airborne just as Shana-gul fired, the [Strike of Desolation] slamming into the ruins of the enrollment centre he had been standing on.

  "Checkmate ASSHOLE!!!" Tom called out as the [Strike of Desolation] dimmed, and a notification appeared in front of him.

  DING!!!

  BOOOM!!!

  Tom sat back and watched as the giant form of Abaddon ripped himself from the remains of the building. His body glowing with power.

  "MOTHER FUCKERS!!!" Abaddon roared like a dragon from the depths of hell.

  "You're going get it now," Tom chuckled evilly as Abaddon [Charged].

  He slammed into Shana-gul like a freight train, knocking him off the burning building and into the dirt. Shana-gul tried to get up, but Abaddon slammed him into the dirt with a [Giga Impact].

  Thanks to that hit, the cracks on the blood bat expanded rapidly across its body, and Abaddon didn't let up. Before, Shana-gul had held the stat advantage, but now, between the damage Tom had inflicted and Abaddon's boosted stats, it was a slaughter. Abaddon was relentless as he kicked, punched, and bit at the construct. Every attack carried more power than the last, and the damage to the magical matrix spread.

  Tom was just enjoying the battle when Alex and Ignis flew up next to him.

  "Oi, where the hell have you been?!" Tom asked. "I had to fight this asshole solo while you guys were fapping about."

  "You're fine," Alex cooed.

  "I have six broken ribs, a broken arm, I'm bleeding internally, a dislocated knee cap, and I sprained an ankle. If my Ego weren't as high as it is, I wouldn't be able to function." Tom shot back.

  "What the hell?!" Alex almost shouted as she cast a greater mend on him. "How did you get this injured?!"

  Tom moaned in ecstasy as his pain dulled into something more tolerable before he rolled his eyes at Alex.

  "I fought a raid boss solo," he said

  "I saw that. You're not bad for a healer." Ignis jabbed at him.

  "I once held off a world boss for thirty minutes with nothing but my own undead army. Compared to that, this is an abject failure," Tom said. "Now, back on topic, where the hell did you guys go?"

  "I was trying to kill Seraphel," Alex said. "Instead, I got caught up by one of the goblin mini-bosses in a [Necropolis] skill. Had to flood the entire zone with lava."

  "I got attacked by one of the Orc tribes. Took me a while to kill them all," Ignis admitted.

  "What?!" Tom asked, stunned.

  "So do you two need any help or …" Alex looked over to where Abaddon was beating Shana-gul's blood bat to a bloody pulp. The damage to the magical matrix was extensive enough that blood was pouring out of at least a hundred places. Even if Abaddon stopped now, the blood bat would bleed out … if that was the right word.

  "I think Abaddon has it," Tom said.

  Just then, the blood bat exploded, sending Abaddon skidding backwards. A pulse of blood mana pushed outwards, summoning every ounce of blood nearby and dragging it towards Shana-gul. No longer hidden inside of the blood bat. Tom could see the goblin. He was fat, and his eyes looked like someone had replaced them with pools of blood. The bloodstone itself was about the size of a soccer ball, and it looked like it was made out of some red candies. If not for the internal red glow and sickening stench of blood wafting off the thing, Tom might have thought it was an oversized candie.

  That was when Abaddon's [Lesser Colossus] skill timed out. Abaddon shrunk down to his standard seven-foot form, now appearing tiny before Shana-gul.

  The goblin cackled like a madman as he raised his skinny arms to the sky. All of the blood started to coalesce together into a single point, a spell larger than any before charged up.

  "Crap, we need to get out of here now," Ignis said

  "No, it's fine," Tom said calmly.

  "What?!" Ignis asked, looking at him stunned. "That spell has enough mana to level everything in a dozen blocks!!!"

  "Watch," Tom ordered

  Shana-gul flew higher and higher as he condensed more mana and more blood until a star made out of blood hung over their heads, barely bigger than a pumpkin. Abaddon stared up at the blood sun, his tail thrashing back and forth. Then he made the gesture for Shana-gul to bring it.

  "When we die, I'm going to kill that guy and take the bloodstone," Ignis stated.

  Tom shrugged as Alex moved next to him, casting another healing spell on him as she fussed over him.

  "I think we'll be alright," Tom said.

  Shana-gul launched the blood star directly at Abaddon like a noob. It was like the wrath of a descending god as it fell towards them. Tom could already see that not even Abaddon could survive a direct hit from that thing. But that was okay Because Abaddon didn't take a direct hit from the blood sun. He caught it.

  "What?!" Ignis asked, completely stunned.

  'He should have aimed at the ground,' Tom thought to himself.

  Instead of the blood sun hitting Abaddon and exploding with enough force to destroy everything in a couple of blocks, Abaddon bumped the condensed sun of blood with his arms like a volleyball player, the concrete cracking with the force of the impact. Even as he stood there, the blood sun radiated mana, threatening to detonate and kill them all, but it didn't.

  Even at this distance, Tom could see Abaddon smile.

  "[Not Today] sucker!!!" Abaddon roared, and he launched the blood star back to its owner.

  Shana-gul panicked as his blood sun shot back up towards him. The goblin tried to escape, but it was too late. The counter-execution skill returned the blood sun to sender. The spell slammed into the goblin and exploded with enough force to knock them to the ground and even knock a few buildings down.

  Tom and Alex were pressed into the roof of the building they had been sitting on. Ignis, who had still been flying, was slammed into the roof hard enough that Tom was sure he had broken something.

  "See, everything worked out," Tom said as the spots in his vision cleared.

  "Your [Coordination] skill sucks." Ignis shot back

  "It's on the list," Tom said as something blood red dropped into Abaddon's massive outstretched hand. Then the notifications appeared in front of him, and Tom felt his lips curl into a smile.

  Mini-Character List

  Thomas Bruner: The half elf leader of Awoken Myths and a crazy man who fought a Goblin Boss monster solo.

  Abaddon: The autistic Lizard man who beat a goblin boss practically solo

  Alexandra Ling: The sun elf [Wizard] of Awoken Myths and Tom's best friend

  Ignis: The half-orc Apocalypse force pyromancer

  AN:

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