NOVEL NEXT Chapter 63: Holy sword
The monster leaped, covering the distance to Dile in a flash, and the beastman was late to turn, but Temur was ready. He slammed into the monster and they both went sprawling.
The Hardhoof slammed one of its hoofs into his lower ribs and Temur was jerked away with a gasp. He groaned and looked up with blurry eyes and expecting the monster to be after him but it was focused on Dile.
A fireball smashed into it, but it had no effect. Then the air around it ripped, and the monster was jerked to a sudden stop. Tim was straining with his hand stretched forward. "Go Dile! Go!"
Jael watched from above, breath held as Dile began to run towards the sword. Inch by inch, the monster started to walk forward, dragging Tim along with it. "That monster is too strong."
"Nothing works on it. Physical attack or otherwise." Litha muttered darkly.
And then the monster suddenly jerked to a stop, it's eyes locked on Dile with menacing anger. "That's it! It's done!" Jael laughed. 'And we haven't even used five minutes!'
But the monster had another thought. Its scales shimmered and shot off, spraying the room with dark shining scales. It pinged off everything, even the altar.
And immediately a spray of magic thrummed from the monster, and all the scales answered with a singing sound. The room shuddered as every scale grew and turned into a lizardman monster.
"This is cheating," Jael said.
Six lizardmen faced Dile, and he fought them with claws and sharpened teeth. But one of their tail coiled around and smacked him in the chest, sending him back.
The Hardhoof, satisfied that it has protected the sword turned to the one that has been dragging him, Tim. Its movement was cat-like as it pounced on him, mouth open to reveal sharp, flat fangs.
Tim made a shield of force in front of himself as the monster collided, throwing him back. The monster followed him but Temur was there already throwing himself between them. "Focus on the lizardmen! Help Dile clear the way!"
Jael frowned when he looked at the time left, only four minutes to go. "The spirit know what it was doing when it asked you to stay behind, Litha. Your shield would probably have contained that thing till they get the sword."
She nodded as they both continued to watch, hardly breathing.
Temur and the Hardhoof fought, sword and impenetrable body colliding. No matter what technique attack he uses, it does little to affect the monster, leaving no marks.
He sent aura into his weapon and then molded it into a long chain, then he coiled it around the monster's front leg and began to drag it backwards, away from the others.
Meanwhile Cele and Tim had quickly cut down the numbers of the lizardmen, reducing them brutally and with two minutes left Dile was finally able to get the sword.
The monster froze immediately his hand touched the sword and instead of dragging with Temur, it rose to on its back legs and tried to slam it two from hoofs in a crushing blow against him.
Temur caught the legs and his bones shook with the force, he twisted sharply and sent the monster sprawling.
"Temur!" Dile shouted, he was already close enough but the time was counting from fifty seconds so he threw the golden sword.
Temur felt its solid weight in his hand and grinned, the Hardhoof stood, it looked at him wearily and then it turned and started to run. "No you don't!"
He raised his hand and with only just adding a bit of aura a concentrated beam of golden light swept out and ate into the monster's back.
It roared in pain and went down, dripping blood all over the ground. Temur followed behind and a flash of golden arc to the neck detached its body from its head. Continue the saga on m-v-l-e-mpyr
Temur was breathing with his mouth when he looked at the time– frozen at Ten.
"Yes! We did it!" Litha shouted and pulled Jael in for a quick hug, rubbing his head as if she was petting a dog. For his part, Jael was left blinking in amusement.
Temur and the others below collapsed, trying to catch their breath. It's hard when none of your attacks hurt or did any damages to your opponent. It's a scary thing.
The spirit zipped down. "Congratulations! You have cleared a stage where a lot have failed or turned back! You have received a reward! A silver rank Holy sword!"
The sword in Temur's hand rose up into the air, shining brightly.
"That is your reward!"
"Wait. We didn't get any reward for the previous stages, why now?" Jael asked.
"That's because this stage is designed to kill you or make you surrender from the start. King Solomon recognize your bravery! Be glad!"
Jael looked at the spirit with skepticism, so this is stage set up to kill them. No wonder it was so hard! He shook his head 'i don't know clearing a zone will be a life and death situation'
They joined the others below and they all marveled at the Holy sword, it was made like a katana with a white metal that gave off a sharp golden light.
Cele took it since it was above Iron rank. "Finally we also get something since we entered this cursed place!"
Temur snorted and with his hands on his hips he smiled like a proud father. "Good work everyone! You did well Dile, we would have failed without you. Cele and Tim you did wonderful! On the other hand we thank Jael and Litha for being speculators!"
With their adrenaline still high they laughed at the half baked joke.
The spirit zipped down to their level. "I'll give you a tip about the next stage! Just like this one it's a stage that can't be cleared and that is almost literally!"
"But you can do as you wish! It's all on you!"