Surviving as a Broken Hero

Humanoid in appearance, the creature’s flesh was warped with unnatural bumps and swollen muscles that looked almost as if they were about to burst from its skin.

Mana visibly swirled around it in red and black hues, and it gripped the lord’s greatsword in a single hand as if the sword were as light as a feather. In its other hand, a swirling dark orb of mana collected above its upward-facing palm.

No intelligence lingered behind the thing’s blank eyes. It simply stood and waited, its breathing a labored echo that filled the room.

[[Amalgamation

A creature born of the desperation and hatred of a being who has bound the husks of two skilled adventurers to his bidding. The Amalgamation inherits the skills of both bodies used in its creation.]]

In that brief moment of calm, the Snake looked at us again and shook his head with silent judgment. While I wasn’t sure what kind of stats the creature had, I guessed that it would be safe to assume that its stats were higher than the elf monster’s had been.

The reddish light from the cracks in the walls brightened and surged towards the Snake, absorbed into his body.

[[Dungeon Quest

Stop the dungeon boss from completing his ritual

Time Limit: 2:00]]

The quest gave no indication as to what would happen if we failed it or what the ritual actually was, but it couldn’t have been good. It was likely the only window of time where the Snake would be vulnerable.

Rhil seemed to realize that about the same time I did. She fired a bolt of lightning from her hand toward the Snake, only for the bolt to be redirected into the ominous orb that the creature in front of us held.

The timer started to tick down as it planted itself firmly on the ground, lowering itself for a charge before launching forward, the stones cracking behind it and leaking more light.

The orb that it held seemed to act as a magical shield of sorts, absorbing Rhil’s blasts as the creature swung its sword at her in a vertical arc.

She used the same shield of energy she had used before in the fight against the elf to launch herself backward with the blow before it could actually reach her.

While the elf’s attacks had at least been stopped by the concussive force, the monster before us continued its swing straight through the blast, its sheer strength and bulk unfazed by the miniature explosion.

—CRACK

The greatsword smashed into the stone where Rhil had been standing, the stones crumbling away to reveal an endless void of energy, still streaming towards the Snake. I hadn’t been wrong in believing that the chamber floated in a sort of sea of the stuff.

I took the opportunity to attempt to run towards the Snake, hoping that the creature was distracted by Rhil.

Seeming to sense my intentions, the thing launched itself to intercept me, moving faster than I could even if I used the help of the earth skill and «Strike». It swung its sword in a wide arc as I arrived, the blade booming through the air.

It would probably cleave right through me if it touched me, even with the earthen armor.

Luckily, it didn’t attempt to feint its attack, allowing me to just barely duck under it and retreat from a potentially lethal follow up.

The thing seemed mindless, but if had some innate command to protect its master above all else, it wouldn’t be as simple as one of us distracting it to run past.

[[Time Limit: 1:45]]

Only fifteen seconds had passed, and I had already almost been cut in two.

Instead of attacking us again, the creature simply watched, its eyes flicking back and forth between us.

I thought over my skills and what I had seen the creature do. Defeating it seemed all but impossible, but luckily all we had to do was stop the Snake, which would probably also stop the creature in front of us… At least, I hoped it would.

«Strike», my earthen control, Rhil’s blasts, the creature’s speed—all of it flashed through my mind as I desperately attempted to fit the pieces together into a solution that would work.

As second ticked down, Rhil was likely thinking in the same way I was.

“Do you have any ideas? My mana is running low. I have enough for maybe two or three more skills.”

Neither of us had been injured yet, but that could change at any time.

Then, the pieces clicked together into something that might work.

“Yeah, I think I have an idea…”

“Oh?”

[[Time Limit: 1:15]]

“I’ll need you to distract it again. Do you have anything that could lure it over to attack again?”

She bit her lip as she considered for a moment, going over her skills in her head.

“…Yeah, I might have something that it can’t absorb. It’ll have to attack again if it wants to stop the skill.”

That would be one of her skills used, which meant we had room for her to use about two more before she was completely out of mana.

That was all I needed.

“Can you cast that shield on someone else?”

I asked, referring to the lightning shield that she had used to block the attacks.

“Yes, though it will only be good for one attack…”

“I need you to cast it on me before getting its attention.”

My plan clicked into place in my head. Though it would be risky, it was the best thing I could think of at that moment.

“Ready when you are…”

I spoke with trepidation evident in my voice.

Zzzzt! Zzzzzt!

Blue arcs of lightning began to rise from Rhil, spreading out from her as she concentrated into a brightly luminescent orb hovering in front of her outwardly stretched hands.

The hues of blue cast by the ball of lightning mixed with the slow red tendrils of energy still streaming towards the Snake, merging into a hazy magenta light as the energy from the blue orb overpowered the red cast by the tendrils.

[[Time: 1:00]]

Half of our time had already passed. The Amalgamation that had been standing idly in front of the dais shifted slightly, focusing fully on Rhil’s spell.

Spells with cast times were known to be especially powerful. I could only guess what kind of chaos it would unleash if let loose inside that chamber.

Luckily, she was using it only to draw the creature’s attention.

If a spell that took so long to cast was let loose in such an enclosed space, it would have likely been enough to vaporize all of us.

Crack!

The floor below the creature erupted as it launched itself at her again.

Taking my cue, I sprinted forward, trusting my ears to warn me when it was going to leap again.

Boom!

Another explosion echoed as the creature’s sword made contact with Rhil’s lightning shield.

A separate purple flash visibly brightened the room from behind me. Not being able to turn back, fully focused on my next movement, I could only hope Rhil was okay.

Crack!

The sound of another leap reached my ears and a blur of movement began to pass above me.

Before it could fully pass, I reacted, my movements already planned out.

I made a leaping half-turn, using «Strike» to bring an earthen spike from my hand down onto my sternum.

[[Mana: 75/100]]

Boom!

The lightning shield exploded, launching me toward the Snake even faster, just overtaking the Amalgamation as it landed next to me.

We had reached the place where it had originally been summoned from by then, slightly more than a dozen steps away from the Snake, where he was still standing with arms spread out in his ritual.

It swung its sword at me in a last attempt to stop me, a backhand swipe, a glint of steel through the air that I had no chance of evading.

I had prepared for that, too.

I summoned the earth from my core again, condensing it into the smallest shield I dared, Agility just enough to track where the blade would strike. At the same time, I used my next skill…

[[«Walk it Off»]]

[[Mana: 50/100]]

I focused the skill onto that little section of earth that I was attempting to use as a shield, willing the skill to believe that protruding earth was a part of my body. If the skill didn’t work the way I hoped it did, it would likely be the end of me…

Whoosh.

I didn’t even have the time to register being hit before the impact of the blow accelerated me even more.

The world blurred past for a moment as I flew.

At that point, it was all I could do to throw a last desperate «Strike» out towards the Snake as he filled my vision.

[[Mana: 25/100]]

I hadn’t even had the moment necessary to resummon the earth around my hand.

My bare fist approached his chest and everything slowed until it ground to a halt.

Frozen in the air, first pressed against the Snake’s chest, his eyes focused on something I couldn’t see, a glaring flash of light forming in front of where my hand was approaching his body and silhouetting him with a blinding sheen of force as all of the gathered energy in his body formed a sort of natural shield.

My attack slowed to a near halt against his chest, powerless.

I could feel the fabric of the cloak around his chest, the salty taste in my mouth where I had bitten my tongue somewhere in the blur of motion, and the smell of burning ozone permeating my nostrils—likely a reaction to the sheer force of the mana being released into the air.

Everything was silent in that frozen moment.