Too Stubborn to Die

Boss Fight

Pressed against the enemy at the heart of a deep cavern to which the winding paths of the dungeon led, Mo’han blocked a devastating rain of attacks with three arms held up like a shield and activated a barrier Skill.

“Ha! There we go! A strong one, you are!”

“Get on with it!” Voidrin shouted from nearby as he and his army of mist clones fought against the dungeon boss’ minions.

“Agreed!” Ikran said, appearing and disappearing around the chamber, cutting down spellcasting lizards every time he appeared.

At the center of the chamber was a gigantic hydra pressed in battle against Mo’han as Talia struck out at the beast.

Lagora, the ogre, held a line against the minions, making up for what she lacked in power with durability.

Beams of energy blasted down into Mo’han’s barrier from the three heads of the hydra, and Talia used it as an opening to level her most powerful attack against one of the heads. The shadow strike slammed into the scales, weakening them and drawing blood.

“There!” Mo’han shouted and leaped through the beams of energy, slamming down against its neck and decapitating one of the three heads.

“Nice one—”

Voidrin’s comment was cut short when the neck of the severed head split in two and grew two new heads.

“What’d you do that for, pal? Now it’s got four heads.”

“We can’t hold these guys back forever!” Elmira cried from the main passage into the chamber.

Her eyes were empty and distant. She was controlling her runes from afar, working with Lord Draxas, who was building lines of traps around the entrance to keep the stream of undead pouring into the boss room from entering.

Beside her, Zero was blasting beams of silvery energy at any that managed to escape their kill zone. But it was far from perfect.

Even though the undead charging them were weak and easily put down, their deaths were starting to mount. Each time one of the undead was put down, they exploded into corrupted aether. And while the trio was keeping them at bay, it was getting harder. The more corrupted aether there was, the more it seeped down, entering the chamber. It hadn’t reached those fighting the boss yet, but it was obviously weakening Elmira, Lord Draxas, and Zero already.

“JUST A MOMENT!” Mo’han shouted back as he powered up another attack, and he flung himself headfirst into the massive five-headed beast. “Okay, so you can regrow your heads, huh? Well, what about your—BODY!”

The asura’s fists landed hard against the scaled body, exploding as they did, and the hydra feeeled backward, shrieking in agony.

“Didn’t like that, huh?

Mo’han’s boasting was short-lived, though, as the four heads turned down on him with a furious glare and shot out a variety of breath attacks all at once. Acid, ice, fire, and dark energy poured down on him like a destructive rainbow.

“Mo’han!” Talia shouted, but found herself gasping a second later as Mo’han leaped straight through the attack, arms raised into a high guard, and tanked most of the power as he slammed into the giant beast.

The hydra flailed back and forth, shooting and biting at Mo’han as the hardy asura punched into its scales.

And throughout it all, a furry, tusked silhouette stalked above, walking along a stone ledge, glaring down at the battle.

Its thoughts were split. Decisions splintered. It had to decide: did the bonds of beasts transcend the dungeons? Or should it should such concepts be put on hold temporarily?

Aaron

The obelisk slammed down against him again; he gasped as if taking his first breath. The aether burst into his core, sending delightful pulses of energy echoing out.

“Ahh! That hit the spot!”

The undead giant looked around at the horde, realizing that the battle was turning against them.

“Keep him at bay, the lot of you!” The giant roared, grabbing a ghoul, and throwing it at Aaron. “I’ll reopen the portal!”

Aaron shook himself awake from the momentary bliss as undead from all around descended upon him. He couldn’t get lazy now, and he phased through the first array of attacks and counted with pinpoint accuracy as his fists blew straight through undead bodies.

In that moment, the giant turned away from him. Gripping the obelisk in both hands, it raised it up into the air and slammed it down. But this time, it didn’t aim for Aaron, but it seemed to hit empty space and landed. There was nothing to be seen by the naked eye, but the second time it struck the air, cracks that seemed to split reality itself appeared, spreading with each strike of the obelisk.

So, that’s how they got in here? Aaron thought as he whirled through combat, blasting enemies aside as he struggled to push through the defiant horde to his target.

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The undead never stopped, though, and several more spectres intercepted him when he attempted to phase straight through the ranks of enemies.

The in-between ghostly and material was their world, and they fought annoyingly well against him as he phased.

“Away with you!” Aaron shouted as he blasted several [ Bombardier Fists ] in a row, blowing up his surroundings and forcing the horde back.

The giant attacked the cracks again, and they widened further. He could see space peeking out through the cracks, and Aaron knew he couldn’t let the giant finish its task.

“Stop that! I need that thing!” Aaron roared as he battled his way toward the giant, but fast ghouls, annoying bats, and ghostly spectres only increased the frequency of their attacks.

The undead weren’t too accommodating. And it was starting to piss Aaron off. They charged him with renewed vigor as the giant ordered them, and Aaron could feel the corrupted aether coming out of the cracks forming through space.

It was the Death God, and while the power was no doubt nothing compared to what he was truly capable of, the aether was fueling the undead, making them stronger and more furious.

No doubt the god also knew this was their last chance to claim Aaron. After all, he probably couldn’t hold the corruption at bay forever if the giant escaped with the aether-rich obelisk. And the barriers between their universe and the multiverse at large would remain for some time, greatly restricting what the god could do back on his own world.

The giant swung the obelisk again, and the cracks widened further, ripping through space. As they stretched, a deathly cosmos could be seen beyond them, and a few vampire bats flew through, escaping back the way they had come.

The cuts through space were still nowhere near big enough for the giant to escape through, but Aaron knew it was only a matter of time. Not only that, but the mindless undead were still charging off toward the boss fight, seemingly not bothered by the thought of being left behind.

Damn these annoying minions! I need to get that thing now!

He couldn’t wait. Even if it was risky, he had to do whatever he could to stop the giant. Aaron pushed his core harder, draining energy at a dangerous rate, and cracking the edges of his soul itself.

Sure, still he had [ Reap ] to top up his reserves, but that required killing, and he didn’t have time for that.

If the giant escaped, he was screwed.

He Skills were overpowered, bubbling with energy as he blasted a path straight through the army, sending corpses flying every which way.

In seconds, he closed the distance between himself and the tears in space just as they expanded large enough for a man to step through.

“For the Death God!” The giant roared as it swung again, causing the cracks to spread faster, as if the sky itself was about to shatter around them.

The giant raised the obelisk again, and this time, he had a feeling that it wouldn’t need another strike. But just before it struck the cracks, it halted. Aaron stood between the giant and its objective, the obelisk against his forearm.

Lines spread quickly across his arm, and in a split second, it was completely disintegrated, but the aether that poured out and into his core was more than worth it.

“That it!”

Aaron’s arm didn’t grow back as quickly in his current form, and he was forced to fight the giant one-armed. But it was too slow, even as battered as he was, and a moment later, he landed a powerful haymaker, and following up with a [ Bombardier Fist ] powered with so much energy it almost exploded before he threw it. When it detonated, it blew the thing in half, and several dozen undead around them.

He had one arm and no hands. But he had done it.

“How do I pick this up?

But just before he could regrow a hand, a figure flashed by, and a speedy ghoul snapped up the obelisk and dove straight through one of the larger cracks in space.

“Hey! Not so fast!”

Aaron jumped in straight after it, pulsing energy through his anchors as he took chase. He also funneled some of the aether he had just consumed from the obelisk into his hand, forcing it to regrow quick as the cost of his own reserves and strength.

He was closing in on the ghoul, but realized he had made a mistake. The corridor through space that he was traveling through was made of the Death God’s corrupted aether, and it was seeping through his skin, erasing who he was by the second, and transforming him into a slave.

“Fuck! Get out of my head!”

Just as his hand regrew, smaller and weaker than he had ever been, he reached out and grasped the ghoul by the heel, pulling it toward him only moments before it had reached the end of the cosmic tunnel.

The corrupted aether pulsed all around, and Aaron felt the corridor start to close in on itself as the Death God returned to his head, its chants growing louder and echoing through his very being.

Aaron could feel himself losing himself to the god. He was forgetting who he was, and why he was even fighting against the formidable god.

“Noo….”

He bit down, and his eyes went white. He tried to blanket his own mind. To empty it of everything, and split soul from shell for a moment. Anything to weaken the god’s pull on him.

Madness was creeping in, and he knew he was close to losing this battle of wills. The Death God’s words started to sound like truths. Every second that passed made the god sound more reasonable.

But Aaron was an ounce too stubborn for even a god to tame, and with a desperate burst of power, he ripped the ghoul back, pulling the creature with him as he turned around, trying to escape the collapsing wormhole.

The walls around him were narrowing by the second, and Aaron was forced to pull on every ounce of aether and mana, demanding more power from his core as he pushed it through his anchors to boost himself like a human rocket as he shot back the way he had come, pulling the ghoul along with him like a ragdoll.

Aaron must have been a cat in a former life, because the tear in space he shot out of at the other end of the wormhole seemed far too small, and energy rippled out across the dungeon as he, the ghoul, and the obelisk came flying with a crack of thunder.

“That’s mine!” He roared as he ripped the obelisk free from the ghoul’s grasp, and then unceremoniously threw the monster toward the ground beneath them.

Aaron continued on, sailing through the air across the dungeon, carried by the force of his boost, and crash-landed into rock.

The army would be upon him in seconds, and he had drained himself and wrecked both body and soul in the process. On the plus side, he could already feel the aether pouring out from the obelisk, and he gripped it tightly as he pulled on it.

The energy was soothing. It wouldn’t heal all of the damage he had caused, but he could feel his soul and body settling down.

“A band-aid fix. But better than nothing,” he muttered.

Aaron’s eyes shone brightly as he consumed aether, and he felt his core come alive, fighting back against the corruption, and the color of his skin began to return to normal.

“That’s… that’s a lot better!”

But as he looked up, the remnants of the undead army seemed to black out the sky.

He forced himself up onto wobbling legs, and cracked his neck as a smile creased its way across his face.

“Well, that wasn’t ideal. But I ain’t done yet.”

Despite everything, he was feeling better, and with the obelisk in hand, he had a feeling they wouldn’t need to worry about the corruption as much as before.

“Batter up?” Aaron said he took the obelisk in both hands and eyed the approaching horde.

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