Chapter 522

“Unfair level of escalation,” Arthur growled, staring as the third floor boss killed the last of his unit. He had been held up, wiping out the adds. Supposedly, his unit was meant to contain them, should have been able to do that in the short few minutes he held them off. Instead, by the time he killed the adds, the massive boss of the third floor had impaled, split and tore the others open. Now, he stood, steam coming off his body as he stared at Arthur.

“Die, invader!” Big sword – two handed – aimed at him with one hand. He strode over, rolling forwards with the ease of movement of a killer. The last few seconds, he blurred, Burst Movement triggering.

Arthur faded back, his spear blocking the attack by smacking it aside. He turned the swinging sword, noted how it gouged a light nick on the wood of his sphere. Another heavy blow, swinging back the same way but faster than expected showcased the boss’s monstrous strength.

A lean to the side allowed the blow to pass him by, though it nearly clipped him as the boss adjusted the angle further. Another series of passes, his spear and the weapon dancing. The lord of the castle was massive, his two-handed weapon extra long. The armour that he wore helped to block against any attacks that Arthur managed to slip past, though the Climber lacked his usual reach advantage of the spear.

On occasion, the lord would speed up, utilizing Burst Movement in an attempt to catch Arthur by surprise. Not that it helped, for his own sense of the rhythm of the battle and his Traits allowed Arthur to dodge the sudden burst of movement. It was a little unfair, really – he was at second transformation, and the boss wasn’t. Even with Burst Movement, Arthur was specced for speed.

Another pass, a stab with his spear caught the lord in the face. A twist of the head allowed the attack to pass by, to ping off his helmet rather than tear into the face and end the battle. In return, Arthur had to drop to the ground, even as the massive overhand swing tore the spear out of his hand as it was impacted.

Snarling, Arthur retreated with a hop, followed closely by the lord. Only for the monster to stagger to a stop, as the Sticky Thread bomb that Arthur had left behind in his place triggered, spreading outwards and locking the lord and his weapon down.

Arthur jumped forward, tearing his kris from his side, ready to stab his opponent in the face or neck while they were trapped. Only for a cold shudder to run through him as intuition triggered. He formed a cloud beneath his foot, jumping upwards moments before the lord turned red and tore himself free of the threads, swinging his own sword as his opponent triggered a Berserk technique.

“Shit,” Arthur cursed, forming another cloud and running away with it. He was closely followed by the other, even as he leapt and dodged to get aside. He had been intending to finish this fight without utilizing all his techniques, but pride no longer served him.

On that note, he formed and loosed a trio of quick Energy Darts, the attack rocking his opponent as Arthur edged over to grab at his spear. The attacks themselves did little damage, but it bled the glowing red monster, and more Sticky Threads along the way slowed them down.

Once he managed to snag his spear, Arthur made sure to fall into defensive measures; since he knew the greatest weakness of a Berserk technique. In less than a minute, his opponent flagged as Arthur retreated constantly, forcing them to charge after and take the occasional wound.

Berserk skills overtaxed the body and once they ran out – and they always did – the weakness afterwards was easy to exploit. A single thrust caught the fingers, tearing them off and causing his opponent to lose their grip on the weapon. Another thrust pushed them off balance, and a third – first aimed for the face before turning and slipping under the raised defensive arm – sank deep into chest.

“You fought well,” Arthur said, as he shoved the weapon in. “But you’re just not strong enough.”

Hopefully that stayed the same. After all, while he might not have been in danger of truly dying, he nearly got hit a few times here. A single well connected blow and the entire fight might have turned.

Probably not, but you never know.

 

***

 

Fourth floor, same scenario. Except, this time, he was on the other side. Forced to defend the castle, rather than besiege it. A much more difficult situation, since the number of opponents involved were numerous, his allies few and far between and the size of the structure he had to defend massive. Even if he held his own side – and that was easy enough with the use of the bows, stones and the occasional flurry of Mana Darts – other portions of the wall would fall.

In which case, he would be engaged in melee combat with the units that arrived. Initially, the walls were held but, eventually, they would fall and he was forced to fight the units that had climbed, leapt, jumped or otherwise ascended the structure. Units that started with only a single member surviving, and expanded to fighting in the courtyard against full units, or even a full score.

Trying to hold the door, trying to keep them away from the gate mechanism so that they could not break through. He knew this battle was somewhat scripted, but the longer he held out, the fewer he would have to kill.

Here, the full range of his cultivation techniques were necessary. Sticky Threads to help control the terrain, Mana Darts – mostly in the exploding variety – to disrupt or kill his opponents. Refined Exploding Energy Darts when there were clusters. Focused Strike to penetrate shields or punch through soft leather armour, to move so fast so as to bypass defenses.

Cloud Steps and Burst Movement allowed him to cross the courtyard or the wall to throw off the opponents before they could gain a foothold, or to rescue some of the surviving unit members. The more that survived, the better for him.

Yin Aura to slow down his opponents, while Steel Skin and his armour kept him from bleeding out. He fought, content not to make use of his Heavenly Sage’s Mischief technique, the boost in attributes unrequired at the moment. He would need to upgrade it at some point, the minor increase now of five points insufficient.

Something else to look into, later on.

For now, he fought the invaders to a standstill, over and over again and stopped them from reaching the door, going so far as to destroy the chain mechanism that raised the portucullis and dropped the gate. Made sure neither could ever open again.

Mattered little, for the doors were broken open by a battering ram, the portucullis shattered when the General of the other unit arrived. Smoke and dust flowing around him, posing with his massive maul in hand, aura farming to the maximum.

Arthur dropped four Yin Poison Refined Energy Darts into their body, one after the other while they were posing. Would have dumped ore but lacked the energy to do so, so he just fought them directly, letting the poison drain their energy, letting his Yin Aura suck them dry.

Massive maul eventually dipped, fell to the ground, Unable to be used and Arthur smirked, stabbed his opponent in the neck and watched as the enemy broke finally. Even if thy had most of the fort, they broke – because the Tower was scripted, and the script said if you beat the enemy General, you won.

A good thing too – Arthur was stronger now, but not to the point that he thought he could take on a whole army.

Run from one, sure. Not beat.

Not yet.