'…' and even then, the aura around his hands and legs didn't falter, still shining brightly, a proof that his determination hadn't been moved by the circumstances.
He reached a street with many abandonned small houses, the ones around him less out of shape than the others.
Suddenly, a low growl echoed through the desolate streets, and then…
~CRASH~
A massive amount of monsters came out of the windows, their eyes glowing with a bright red aura that indicated they were ready to attack.
"1…2…4…6…10…14" he counted them, "WAIT 14?"
Just looking at their appearances, Stark could notice that it was the same type of monster all over, meaning they were the ones in control of this area.
[Name: Gloomstalkers]
[Level: 14]
[HP: 2500]
[Strength: 102]
[Stamina: 391]
[Speed: 72]
[Defense: 271]
[Skills: Infect, Gloom, Mallet Smash, Lengthen]
Their bodies were completely white, two meat mallets replacing their arms (the mallets took the form and white texture of their hands, making them blend perfectly), and red eyes that shone in the darkness.
These creatures were utterly disturbing, something straight out of a horror movie.
Their sheer number was surprising, and although their speed made them go extremely slowly toward Stark, it seemed like they enjoyed tormenting their victims by slowly watching them tremble in fear.
Stark positioned himself for combat, his fists in front of his face and his aura ready to protect him: he was completely surrounded from all directions.
But then… the gloomstalkers suddenly stopped as they were a few meters away from reaching Stark, and they began looking up, not toward the black sun, but toward the roof of a nearby abandonned house.
'…?' Stark wondered what the hell was happening, and he looked at the direction the monsters were watching.
Just to see… nothing?
It was completely dark, stopping him from seeing anything beyond that point.
'What the fuck-' he didn't have the time to finish his sentence because…
Suddenly, a figure stepped out from the darkness, their form cloaked in tattered robes that billowed ominously in the wind. The figure's eyes gleamed with a dangerous light as they locked gazes with Stark.
'Ah shit… here we go again!'
[Name: Outskirts Second Leader (ELITE)]
[Level: 15]
[HP: 12000]
[Strength: 172]
[Stamina: 581]
[Speed: 461]
[Defense: 615]
[Skills: Summon, Dark Fog, Soul Drain, Cursed Domain, Shadow Magic]
…
'Area's have bosses too now…?' Stark pondered, after all this guy had the 'ELITE' title, and more HP/Stats than any other monster he had met until now other than the 'Feathered Scourge'.
The 'Outskirt Second Leader' was wearing a massive dark cloak that stopped anyone from seeing its body, and a white smiley-face mask to hide its face.
It also had a black staff in hand, one emitting an eerie aura and a ball of void spinning around at the edge.
Seeing their leader arrive, the 'Gloomstalkers' immediately resumed walking, and the boss just sat down at the edge of the house's roof, watching its minions kill the human.
The Gloomstalkers closed in on him slowly, their eerie white bodies moving like specters in the darkness.
As the first Gloomstalker lunged towards him with a menacing swing of its mallet arm, Stark swiftly dodged to the side, feeling the rush of air as the attack narrowly missed him.
In response, he punched it back in the head.
"-3192!" it's body immediately turned to dust.
Using that momentum, Stark launched himself towards the next Gloomstalker, delivering a barrage of punches and kicks with precision and power.
The creatures fell one by one, disintegrating into ash as his attacks landed. Despite their overwhelming numbers, Stark's determination burned brighter than ever, fueling his every move.
By the end of his rampage, all the gloomstalkers had died, and the leader was still watching from the roof.
"Summon!" it lifted its staff in the air, and suddenly… more gloomstalkers started appearing from the ground and windows.
"Is that an infinite EXP generator?" Stark smiled, he was actively quite tempted to keep going and grind, but he knew he would get tired eventually, plus his time was counted because of the 'Black Sun Curse'.
'Aura Smash,' he mumbled as his fist started glowing with that crimson aura.
And then he threw it at the unsuspecting leader, who thought it was safe up there if Stark only used his fists.
"-2312!" it's defense was very high, so the damage was reduced a ton, but it was still a good amount.
Taken aback, the leader was sent flying backward, and once it came back at the edge, it had a dark aura around its body and staff, showing signs it was gonna attack.
"Black Fog!" A thick, inky fog began to swirl around the Outskirts Leader, enveloping the area in darkness. Stark could barely see his own hand in front of his face as the fog crept closer, threatening to suffocate him.
'God damn it,' his senses were on high alert in case a gloomstalker was close, but it seemed like they couldn't see either.
"-3261!" navigating through the fog, he would occasionally find some gloomstalkers he killed, and also had to avoid some others before they could hit him.
One singular touch of their mallets would probably send him flying after all…
And so after thirty seconds of that…
'Aura Smash!' He hurled his right fist again in the direction the leader was in previously, he used his aura as a landmark toward where to aim, and this time landed it on the leader's legs.
"-1937!" the boss roared in pain, and then…
~FIOU~
Losing balance since Stark had aimed for the legs, it fell forward toward the street.
~THUD~
"-728!" it received damage because of the fall, but it was still relatively fine.
Not able to see anything because of the fog, the leader deactivated that skill, and after a few seconds, the mist cleared, revealing the Outskirts Second Leader struggling to stand back up.
Dozens of monsters now surrounded Stark, and the leader was pointing its staff at him too.
'You're close to me now… finally a fair fight,' he smiled while positioning his hands.
"Shadow Magic!" the leader's staff began glowing with an eerie aura, and the ball of void at the edge of it also started growing in size.
And thus, the final battle before the real boss of the dungeon began.
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
Stark felt the weight of the impending battle settle on his shoulders as he faced off against the Outskirts Leader.
The leader's eyes bore into Stark, a silent challenge passing between them.
As the first tendrils of shadow magic began to curl towards him, Stark knew he had to act fast.
Looking at him from all nearby windows, and surrounding him completely were dozens upon dozens of gloomstalkers.
'How are the other people supposed to beat these things…?' he wondered, after all he was confident in his strength compared to all the other students, yet here he was struggling this much against an area boss…
"Shadow Magic!"
Arrows made out of darkness began forming around the second leader, and then hurtled toward Stark.
With a swift movement, he dodged the incoming tendrils of darkness and closed the distance between him and the Outskirts Second Leader in a flash.
With a powerful leap, Stark aimed a devastating punch directly at the leader's chest. The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the air, causing even the gloomstalkers to stagger back in surprise.
"-3618!" the damage was incredible.
The leader staggered backward, its cloak billowing around it as it struggled to regain its balance.
"Summon!" it summoned more gloomstalkers from the ground in front of it to protect itself from Stark's attacks.
Seizing the opportunity, Stark followed up with a series of lightning-fast strikes, each blow landing with precision and force against the monsters, not even letting them get out of the ground.
"-3739! -2638! -2947!"
Forced to back away, Stark made sure that nothing was behind him.
[Area Boss HP: 3405/12000]
'One or two more hits…' Stark thought.
His confidence was its peak, and the leader looked extremely injured, struggling to even stay in place or summon more gloomstalkers.
"-3718!"
"-3918!"
"-4183!"
Each gloomstalker that tried to attack him was met by an instant punch that made it turn into dust: none of them were capable of touching Stark, even with their numbers.
Realizing that: most of the minions just stood there, not even moving anymore, knowing it was futile to even try, it seemed like they had a conscience of their own even while being controlled by the leader.
And that's when it happened: behind the smiley-face mask the second leader was wearing, Stark noticed dark and hostile pupils, glowing with a purplish aura.
"CURSED DOMAIN!"
A sudden surge of dark energy emanated from the leader, enveloping the entire area in a malevolent aura of darkness.
Stark felt a chill run down his spine as his movements slowed, the shadows seeming to constrict around him, sapping his strength with each passing second.
The gloomstalkers that remained standing seemed revitalized, their attacks gaining a dangerous edge under the influence of the Cursed Domain.
[You are in a cursed domain, defeat the enemy boss before it is too late (all enemies receive a stat boost inside the domain)]
Struggling against the oppressive magic, Stark gritted his teeth and focused on maintaining his resolve.
"Shadow Magic!"
The second leader didn't waste time and summoned three darkness arrows again, launching them at Stark.
His movements were reduced, and the arrows were faster than before, but 'Focus' still allowed him to see them coming.
He avoided one… he avoided two…
He couldn't avoid the third.
Sensing that, Stark decided to focus most of his aura around his chest, in the area where the arrow was aimed at, in the hopes of stopping it.
And…
"-82!" the damage he received was minimal as the arrow was stopped by the wall of aura before it could pierce him, meaning that this "aura barrier" truly worked.
[HP: 36/950 (CRITICAL CONDITION)]
'Fuck that shit!' Stark realizing that he was one hit away from dying focused all his aura into another 'Aura Smash'.
He kept avoiding darkness arrows all the while powering up his attack, and after a few seconds…
"GO TO HELL," he punched the air, sending the crimson fist toward the second leader, who was unable to avoid it.
"-2192!" its defense was higher because of the domain.
But…
[Enemy stunned]
Seizing the moment of weakness, Stark wasted no time. Channeling all his remaining strength and fury into a final, decisive strike, he launched himself at the stunned leader with a speed and power that seemed almost supernatural.
"I'm not stuck with you!" he jumped in the air, in front of the leader's eyes as it was unable to move any of its limbs or staff, "YOU ARE STUCK WITH ME!"
He punched it.
"-2719!"
[Area Boss HP: 0/12000]
The leader let out a final anguished cry as Stark's punch connected, shattering its remaining defenses and sending it crumbling to the ground.
A deafening silence fell over the battlefield as the cursed domain dissipated, leaving only the sound of the wind rustling through the trees.
All the gloomstalkers surroundings Stark immediately also began turning to dust as they were all only kept alive by the outskirts second leader's magic.
And just like that, Stark was able to defeat that shitty boss.
[You have slain "Outskirts Second Leader lv15 (ELITE)", gained 22000EXP!]
[You have slain twenty-two "Gloomstalkers lvl14", gained 24500 EXP]
[Experience: 59310/75000]
'Not even enough to level up…' he sighed but immediately began running nonetheless.
[Black Sun Curse: 95% (WARNING)]
…
[You have slain 'Shadow Demon lv14', gained 2300 EXP]
[You have slain 'Water Blob lv13', gained 2150 EXP]
[You have slain 'Crazy Archer lv14', gained 2200
…
[Black Sun Curse: 96% (WARNING)]
Sweat pouring out from his forehead, Stark continued running, his time was counted, and although he wondered just how was any of the other students supposed to survive this, he still had his own safety in mind first.
[Black Sun Curse: 97% (WARNING, GET TO A BONFIRE)]
The warning blared in Stark's mind as he sprinted through the city outskirts, now ignoring the monsters that tried to stop him as he didn't want to waste time.
He could feel the Black Sun looking at him, awaiting for him to be consumed by its powers to transform him.
But… it would never have this pleasure.
Since when he turned around another corner, Stark spotted the flickering glow of a bonfire in the middle of a giant street.
And beyond it… a silver fog wall could be seen.
'BINGO!'
[Black Sun Curse: 98% (WARNING, GET TO A BONFIRE)]
Relief flooded through him as he pushed himself to run even faster
Warning panels surrounded his view as the number reached 99%, but thankfully enough… he was able to reach the bonfire, entering the 'safe space' right before the boss battle.
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
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