Alaric walks into the room, and it was a contrast to the second level of the cave. The air was cool but dry, almost making it hard to breathe. As he stepped inside, there was the faint sound of chimes, like glass lightly clicking together. There were large pillars of crystal around the area, the room shaped like a dome. There were large crystal hanging on the ceiling like chandeliers. Each crystal pulsed like a faint heartbeat, light spreading across the room.
His reflection moved across every surface, distorted, seemingly watching him at every angle. His eyes traced along the ground, up upon a tall throne made of crystal.
A large crystal Alien sat atop the throne, his presence menacing and dominating. His multi face stared into nothingness, almost like it didn't care about Alaric's sudden appearance. He had four large arms, and it's body was glowing and shining like a fresh diamond. What looked like a core in his body pulsated, like the various crystals around the room. It's limbs were charred and ragged, and it's eyes were hollow, a bright light shone through the sockets.
Alaric felt the sweat build up, and he gripped his staff tightly. He frowned, and prepared for any attack that this creature would throw. His lower arms lowered to the rests on his throne, forcing himself up. He took a step, and the room vibrated, like it would shatter if he took any more steps. Alaric got in a stance, 'Alright, here we go, time to really test my power...' He said, as he frowned, activating his [Endurance] skill. He rushed forward, jumping up and spinning his staff, ready to bring it down.
'It looks slow, as long as I can move faster, it shouldn't be able-' He was snapped out of his thoughts, as it rose it's arm, the various crystals around shooting out at Alaric at alarming speed. His eyes widened, as his eyes couldn't track around the various shooting crystals. He was able to reflect some of them with his staff, but the ones behind him stabbed into his back, letting out a painful scream, he fell to the ground.
As he fell to the giants feet, agonizing pain exploded through his back like fire, making his limps go cold. His legs and arms felt like lead as the sharp ache in his body sent tremors up to his skull. His breath hitched, each in take scraping like shards of broken glass in his lings.
His vision blurred as the pain set in, 'Am I...bleeding...?' He asked himself, knowing the full extent of this injury. Before he could think again, a large foot slammed into his face, sending his body flying back, skipping along the ground as he crashing into the crystal door he came in.
As he sat there, his eyes scanning the ground below him, red marks along the ground that wasn't there originally. His vision sharpened, as he smiled soft, "Yeah, I'm bleeding..." He whispered as he used the wall as support, standing up, 'luckily it isn't too fatal. I can still fight...'
He opened his hand, his staff reappearing in his hand, as he got in another stance. 'So, it can use the crystals as projectiles, what else it do? I think it would be better to run around and feint attacks, see if I can draw any more tricks out.'
He activated [Dash] and began to whip around the area at fast speed. He eyes remained on the large Alien, as he frowned and rushed at him with an attack, more crystals raced towards the boy. Thanks to his [Dash] skill, he was able to effortless dodge them and gripped the staff tightly and swung it with all his might, with the added addition of [Power Strike].
His staff gained a red outline as it slammed into the creature before it could react, bits and pieces of the crystal on it's body flying off. Alaric smirked and quickly dashed away continued to blitz around the area. His eyes remained on the creature, but something caught him off guard. As the pieces of crystal fell to the ground, they began to grow, morphing into something.
He landed and his eyes gained a look of fear, as they bits turned into clones of this boss. There were about ten of them. Alaric shook his head, pushing his fear down and continued to blitz around the area. As the creatures stood there, suddenly their bodies glowed with light, and beams of light erupted from their core, but not aimed at Alaric. Instead they were aimed at the walls, as the crystal surface caused the beams to reflect of it, and began to bounce around the room, soon coming straight for Alaric.
The boy panicked, and quickly used his [Barrier] skill, blocking only a select few of the beams. The rest penetrated the barrier's defenses and began to burn his skin. His body fell, steam coming off his body.
He crashed into the ground, unconscious for a second. His eyes were blank, the pain super unbearable. If it wasn't for his endurance skill, he would've been dead. His eyes blinked open and he quickly rushed behind one of the pillars. He was breathing heavily, holding his stomach.
He was scared again, he didn't think he was ready. His covered his eyes, catching his breath.
'What do I do?! I'm almost out of mana...' He was panicking, he wasn't sure what he could do. He was in over his head, he wasn't strong, not at all. He was going to die here. His body screamed at him to run, escape this nightmare, but there was nowhere to go. The thought of dying here continued to claw at his mind like a animal. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, his breath coming in like ragged gasps. He felt helpless.
But, something else was screaming at him, something that rejected his fear. "Not...yet..." He whispered, as he made himself stand, despite all the overwhelming pain throughout his body, the burning and stab wounds crying out. But, he ignored it for now. He opened his hand, the staff appearing in his palm as he emerged from behind the pillar.
"Come on, one more round, you're going down this time!!"
Using what little of his mana he had left, he activated his [Dash] skill one last time and began to blitz around the area. 'Without mana, my attacks won't be as powerful as I would hope, but, I can only assume that the core is a weak spot. If i can reach it, I can take them down before my skills end.' He thought as the creatures began to glow again, his eyes widened.
They were left open! He landed and aimed the tip of his staff at the core of one of the clones, extending its length causing it crash into the core, as it was easily shattered and the clone glowed before losing it's light and falling down, reduced to the crystals it was made of. Alaric quickly jumped back and began zipping around the area. 'I was right! The core is a weak spot! But it might be harder for the real one...'
The beams of light erupted, quickly bouncing off all the walls. He landed and quickly retreated behind one of the few clones as it was able to shield him from the lights, and he was able to slam his staff against the core, rendering it useless now.
He quickly began to take down the rest of the clones, doing it as fast as he could, as he could feel the fatigue and his [Dash] skill running out, he had to end this quick.
He could feel his speed decrease, and his pain causing him to move even slower, but he didn't let it distract him. He shattered many cores, leaving one last clone along with the real one. Crystals rushed towards him as he quickly landed on one of the pillars. He turned and wacked some of them back, as it sprayed against the clone, bouncing off it's crystal body. He rushed in and quickly extended his staff, putting a hole in the core, making it drop down losing it's life.
He turned and continued rushing around the area. 'Come on body, it's only one left!'
He screamed to himself as zipped towards it, he drew his arms back, and increased the staff's size, almost to where he couldn't hold it anymore. His eyes showed determination, and fury, his teeth clenched. The boss raised it's arm, as more crystals shot towards him. They began to pierce his body, but he didn't care, he was determined to take this thing down. Alaric's body glowed red, almost like he was using [Power Strike] despite having barely anything left.
"Rawwwww!!!" He let out a battle cry as he slammed the staff down, the ground caving in and breaking beneath the weight and strength of this final strike. A loud crack echoed throughout the room, as then, a shatter echoed. Alaric fell down, as his staff returned to normal. He landed on his back, staring up at the sky, his eyes rendered of it's light. He was exhausted, battened, and bloodied. But, he was able to sit up, as his eyes roamed the landscape, his vision slightly blurry.
On the ground, was a large orb, pulsing with the crystals around it. Of course Alaric recognized this item, it was the core of the crystal Alien. With his staff he was able to lift himself and use it as a cane to walk towards it. He leaned over and grabbed it, it was large compared to his hand. A mini window appeared in front of him,
Item: Colossus Heart
Tier: C
Uses: Can be used as a light source due to it's pulsing nature and can be used in short bursts of light to blind an opponent.
Alaric blinked as he looked around it, 'so some of these Aliens have drops like in a video game?' He thought, but the pain and drain he felt, made him lose his interest quickly. All he wanted was to return home and have a nice, warm, and delicious meal. He quickly put the core away in his window's inventory, it could come in handy later. Before he could move, a noise rang through his ears, as his window came up again. It say, "Level up!"
He blinked, confused a bit, as a second window appeared,
New Equipment:
-Cloud Ride
Stat Points:
5
Alaric blinked again, this really is like a video game! He smiled, sounding like a broken record. But he wondered what this cloud ride was. He opened his equipment list and suddenly, a large white cloud emerged from the window. The boy gave a confused expression, wondering what this was. He pulled up the description.
Name: Cloud Ride
Tier: S
Uses: For fast and free travel.
He turned to it as it began to fly around him excitedly. 'So, I can, ride on a cloud?' He asked himself, as he was about to get his question answered. The cloud went behind him and pushed against his back, causing him to fall back onto it.
"Whoa!" He exclaimed as he found himself now sitting on the cloud. He blinked as he looked around, like he was riding inside a new car. "Wow!" The cloud began to move in the direction of the crystal door, ready to exit.
"A-Alright, take me home!" He shouted as the doors flew open, and the cloud picked up speed, easily traversing this cavern.
As Alaric sat and rode the cloud, his eyes glanced down at his body. His skin was red due to the burns of the light, and so was his clothes, multiple holes burned in and rips causing it hang on his shoulders. His hands and his palms were bloodied and rough due to the intense grip he had on his staff and of course the wounds on his back, he was in extreme amounts of pain. It was a stroke of luck he got a cloud that can carry him.
But, the real problem would be how was he gonna explain this to his parents. He simply laughed, guess he had to worry about that when it comes to it.