Salazar panted as he raced towards the gateway to the last floor as a sonic bat- the fastest creature he'd encountered in the dungeon. It was a large bat that was almost as tall as a grown human , with blue black skin and large ears.
Sonic booms ,were left in his wake as he raced towards the connecting gate.
Oh please don't let it be that they've already defeated the boss and have left the dungeon. If that happens I'm screwed. The entire dungeon would reset and I'd have to fight and kill the boss all by myself in order to leave.
Come on , faster. Faster.
Oh I shouldn't have been so greedy. But those mermen looked super strong, and super tasty. I couldn't resist eating a few of them.
He finally raced through the gate , a massive 50 feet like structure with ancient runes and a transparent energy field that transported him to the next floor.
Just before he disappeared though , he transformed into the red eyed rabbit in order to hide himself and wait for the adventurers to do their thing.
But what he saw left him speechless. I-it was inconceivable. The Epsilon group , t-they were actually losing.
.....
Erick grunted as he jumped back , barely dodging the tail that swung towards him. He couldn't believe this. Of all the bosses that they were to face in the last floor. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that it'd be this.
All the floors had difficult monsters. Powerful creatures that the group had to put their lives on the line in order to kill. But none of them even came close to this one in strength.
It was an undead dragon.
It's like the creator of the dungeon had intentionally fused to two of the most difficult and most powerful creatures together and said ' hey , kill that thing,' as a sort of joke.
And from the looks of it , that was the third strongest species of dragons, the black dragon.
F*ck. At this rate , all of them would die.
They'd been fighting for over three hours now , and Drake the archer and Olan , their scout were already dead , having fallen to the beasts attacks.
"We can't hold on for much longer. We need to end this now ," Selene shouted. Damn it. As if he didn't already know that.
He glanced at the towering figure of the undead creature that they were facing. It's body was so huge that he felt like an ant before it, and it seemed to emit a sort of unholy, inverse light that filled the cavern with a semi dark hue.
As an undead , it had a magic core within its body which contained its essence , and was the main source of the spell that brought it back from the dead.
If they could destroy it , they'd be able to win, but the dragon was able to move the core at will. That combined with its tough body made it a very tough foe. Everytime they came close to destroying he core , the dragon moved it at the last moment.
It was so frustrating.
"Enough, " he looked at the remaining members of his team , as though memorizing their faces for what could be the last time. "Selene. We're gonna use the Althea protocol. "
The arch mage started just as she raised a wall of ice to shield her from a breath of poisonous miasma that the dragon sent her way.
"Are you crazy. There's no guarantee that the spell would work, and even if it did , it could kill all of us , especially in our exhausted states. You know the spell uses a person life fo-"
"I know okay. I don't need you to lecture me. But looney us right now. We're dead if we don't use it. At least this way , we have a slight chance of winning , even if all of us don't survive. "
Selene was quiet for a moment.
The undead dragon released a deafening roar and smashed its tail into the ground. The tip of its tail pierced the earth, and in a second , bone spikes shot out of the earth , and raced towards the group.
Everyone else managed to jump out of the way except their two leaders , who sensed the attack a moment too late.
"[ Divine wall Of purity] "
A massive wall of light blossomed between the attack and the adventurers it shimmered with runes and filled the dark cavern with its brilliance. However, the wall didn't last. It only blocked the attack for a second before the bone spike tore through it.
But the duo had already jumped away.
Zeke staggered on his feet , and almost fainted. Leaning heavily on his staff , he took a moment to steady himself. The defense spell he'd cast had almost completely drained him , What with casting healing and support type spells since the fight started , it was a miracle that he was still standing.
"Fine. But if no one makes it out. -"
"I'll take responsibility. Their blood will be on my hands. "
Selene nodded. "Very well. "
She planted her staff -Crimson Viper- onto the ground and begun to chant. A golden aura burst forth from her body as her power swelled past its limits.
A moment later , similar aura burst froth from all of their teammates and their powers were greatly boosted. " Guys. It's time for the final push. Kill that monster with the last of your strength even if it kill you," Erick roared , and was the first person to charge.
....
The Althea protocol was a code name for the worst-case-no-other-option plan that both Eric and Selene had created if the group ever met a situation hat they couldn't hope to triumph over with their strength.
Before Epsilon had been formed , when Erick and Selene were just an adventuring duo , they'd stumbled upon a sage tomb , and Selene had acquired a spell there. [Altheas protection]
At the cost of burning their life force, the spell would allow the caster to greatly boost their strength and abilities as well as their allies.
They'd never told anyone about it , firstly because they were afraid that it'd be seized from them, and because Selene wanted to conduct more research into it privately. Apart from the two , no one , not even the other members of Epsilon , knew.
With a loud roar , Erick smashed his mace against the dragons left forelimb, causing it to lose its balance . He jumped up , easily reaching its head due to his enhanced abilities and raised his mace to smash the core that he'd sensed there. But at the last moment , the dragon changed its position again and headbutted him before he could attack.
He was sent flying , and eventually landed back at his starteing point. "Tch. Thalia , I need you to buy me sometime. "
The assassin chuckled. "You got boss. "
[Rain of blades and shadows]
The perky assassin seemed to fuse with the surrounding darkness and instantly appeared above the dragon as though she teleported. Her body blurred as she rained down attacks with such speed that it seemed endless.
"Dude , if you had a spell like this , you should have used it earlier," Zeke commented. "Less complaining , more fighting. I can't maintain a spell like this for long you know," Selene growled.
Zeke shook his head and raised his staff. " We'll talk about this later. [Searing light ] "
A giant beam of concentrated light shot out of the end of his staff and slammed into the undead dragon.
The attack pushed it back a bit , but its high regenerative ability as well as the powerful body allowed it to break free from Thalia's attacks. He slapped her out of the air with his tail with such speed that even she ,who was the fastest in the group couldn't react.
"Guys , it's getting stronger, " she cried as she slowly got to her feet. "
With a loud battle cry , Melina jumped at the massive beast and nailed it at the side with her spear , sending it skidding on the ground.
"Thalia , let's hold it back together. "
Without waiting for a response , she charged the behemoth.
"Selene, try to see if you can locate the dragons core. I'll try to end this in one move. "
With that , he cast away his mace and clapped his hands together as his mana began to surge. " [Ultimate warrior art : Ancient Anatomy. ] "
An ancient aura burst forth from his body as it rapidly expanded. In a few seconds , it was comparable to the dragons own form. " The endgame starts right now. "