The Young Master in the Shadows

Thirty minutes earlier in the dark barely lit corridor a group of valiant warriors was running. In front of them, hordes of skeletons of all shapes and colors were running too while totally ignoring them.

“F*ck what’s going on here?” Tom asked

Earlier when he and his team were slowly grinding against the skeletons, they were interrupted by the legions of skeletons.

First, they thought they were coming to get them, so they hid in an opening to the side while preparing for a defensive battle but to their surprise, the skeletons completely ignored them.

It was after they saw Alex and Zoe who were running while out of breath among the fleeing skeletons, they realized that all of those were running away and that whatever was chasing them was not to be underestimated… But what was it? It only took one look to the back to join the stampede.

All of them were now escaping the crawling darkness that slowly moved behind them like a tide while constantly changing its shape.

When it turned into a frog, it would snap its tongue, grabbing a bunch of skeletons to eat them. When it turned into a snake it would spit awesome black poison that melted whoever it touched into a black goo that the monster swallowed when it turned into a slug that covered the entire tunnel with its slimy body.

The ever-dark tunnels were now being lit by that thing’s flame-like eyes... At least they had enough light now to wonder about the majesty of these tunnels... As if they had the time!

“What should we do?” Alex asked as he crushed a slow skeleton in front of her so that she could pass.

“What is that thing first?” Tom asked.

“We have no idea… It has been chasing us since the second floor blew!” Zoe answered. “I am presuming is is Isphigar the great or something….”

“The new boss? Did you try attacking it?” Tom yelled as the girls around him cleared the path for him.

“It doesn’t work!” Zoe answered, “I tried to throw some dagger at it, but they melted the second they touched him…” She had already figured out that Tom was the leader of the other group.

“I have a plan! Follow me!” Tom suddenly said and tried to move to one of the near side tunnels.

“Stop” Zoe wanted him but it was too late. The side tunnel was packed full of skeletons that were not escaping but heading their way with sharp lances. The moment Tom tried to jump above their heads a swarm of arrows began to fly in his way from the skeleton archers hiding behind. If it were not for Madeleine, who jumped and pushed him to the side, he would have become a porcupine.

Falling to the side with an injured shoulder, he realized that if he wanted to force his way he would be delayed enough that the thing in the back would reach him!

He had no choice but to resume his running. At least the skeletons in the main tunnel were not attacking him…. Wait…why were the skeletons in the side tunnels not escaping….

“Those skeletons are not escaping, they are heading somewhere?” Tom suddenly said as he caught up with the others again and took a healing pill then gave one to Madeleine. She was hit too.

“We know! Can you just listen for once?” Zoe scolded, “As long as we stay with the flow they would not touch us, but if we tried to exit to some side tunnel, all of them would attack us at once!” she explained then looked back as the Isphigar who got stalled for 32 seconds on the side tunnel then turned and continued to run their way.

“Tom… aren't they heading toward the black door?” Peter suddenly said.

“Ahh… right!” Tom remembered.

“Black door?” Zoe asked as she popped a stamina-refilling pill in her mouth. She was getting tired.

“We saw it earlier, it should be the boss’s room, it was heavily guarded!” Tom said, tripping one poor skeleton to his side then ran above him.

“We didn’t dare to come closer to it before clearing the surrounding tunnels!” Peter added as he watched Zoe use a giant bone to crush a skeleton in their path.

“I understand now!” Tom suddenly said, “That boss is collecting his armies, and the reason they are not attacking us is that he wants to use us!”

“That’s logical…” Zoe said. She had been wondering why those skeletons were not attacking them as long as they didn’t leave the flow.

“I have a plan!” Tom suddenly said.

“What?” Alex asked.

“We will wait for the two bosses to fight to run away!” Tom said.

“No sh*t! You call that a plan!” Zoe scolded.

“No, you don’t understand, Madeleine here has a skill that allows her to create a repelling energy barrier, it’s not strong, but the skeletons would not be focusing on us! it will only last for 10 or so minutes, but that would be enough as we just need to barricade near one of the door’s posts and then hunt for benefits once the boss fights with each other!” he explained while patting his succubus girlfriend's head.

“This seems dangerous…” Peter said as he looked at Tom and his girlfriends with envious eyes. Why can’t he get a harem too? He was both handsome and rich.

“Relax, we will just use the chaos when the two bosses are fighting to finish them off!” Tom said confidently.

“What if they corporate against us?” Alex asked.

“Don’t be a jinx!” Zoe scolded. Earlier when they were running, Alex wondered if there were traps here and seconds later a pit full of pointy sticks opened below their feet. Thankfully, Zoe was able to react on time and throw a rope to the other side. This Alex was a jinx!

“Don’t worry!” Tom said, “The skeletons belonged to the boss in the dark room, the guy is clearly not on his team.” he said as he focused on conserving his energy. He planned to perform the killing strikes later… That was his secret plan that everyone around him had already realized.

“We just need to wait for them to tire each other out!”

“Can’t we just run while they are fighting each other?” Alex asked.

“If any of the bosses survived, they will be after us next!” Tom explained.

“Get ready,” Zoe who was not entirely convinced said just as a dark door appeared in the distance. They wanted to go forward toward it, but the swarms of skeletons who were running earlier seemed to have stopped and created a barricade in front of the gate. They were like an army in formation!

“Jump over their heads!” Zoe said, then grabbed Peter to her side and jumped. She had long realized that he didn’t have that kind of stamina.

Tom also grabbed two girls, while Madeline caught another as they jumped over the skeleton’s heads.

Alex needed no help as she was already a few feets ahead after using her spear as a jumping pole again! She was getting proficient in this.

The skeleton as expected didn’t flinch as the spears in their hands pointed to the crawling darkness that they began attacking moments later.

Zoe frowned as she escaped, she had just noticed that the skeletons' spears were hurting that thing! Not a lot, but it was affecting it at the very least, her weapons were completely useless against it!

Too bad Peter was being carried by her and she didn’t have any room to attack… wait!

“Tom, Throw me that arrow that was stuck on you earlier!” she quickly said Tom to her side who was also using the skeletons' heads as stepping stones.

Tom frowned then opened his eyes wide and nodded after noticing the same thing she did.

“Peter, take this arrow and aim it at the monster!” Tom said, making Tom who was being carried like a stack of weed curse. How was he going to pull this off? After some thinking, he formulated a way.

“Zoe, turn me to the other side!” He said making Zoe throw him up and then catch him after he flipped in midair.

“Now do it! We will reach the door soon!” Tom said.

“Stabilize me for a few seconds!” Peter said again as pulled the bow’s string and then fired the arrow at the monster’s burning eyes… The monster screamed as the arrow passed through its body, creating a burning line that vanished moments later. It didn’t slow at all.

“It didn’t work!” Peter said.

“No, it did!” Zoe explained as she adjusted Peter again to be carried in a more comfortable, “Weapons that came from this dungeon do work on him!”

“We reached the gate, everyone to the right side!” Tom commanded as he formulated a plan.

The group quickly found the place Tom told them about behind a grand pillar next to the gate, they quickly landed near it, killing all the skeletons around in a few strikes and then erecting the barrier.

Zoe, who was not sure about Madeleine's powers, also took out a few barrier talismans and pasted them around as the others kicked the few skeletons who complained about it being too crowded away.

Isphigar reached their position moments turning into a slime that melted all the skeletons and began to melt the barrier.

Zoe was about to order a retreat, but just then the black gate opened and a huge coffin appeared from inside. From it, A black ray of energy suddenly shut toward the monster that turned into a frog that opened its mouth wide and swallowed the ray then shot it back!

The coffin shattered revealing a golden skeleton with two long horns and dark eyes inside… The skeleton didn’t have a chance to do a thing as the frog’s tongue shot at it and then swallowed it whole seconds later…

; SYSTEM NOTIFICATION

2# QUEST HAD BEEN COMPLETED

THE LICH KING HAD BEEN ELIMINATED. ;

"Just like that?!" Alex gasped as she began to step away.

“Retreat!” Tom screamed as he began to run to the side over the now lifeless skeletons. He could hear the sounds of the crushing bone behind him! then the sound of a barrier getting shattered.

Tom who didn't like that sound at all, slowly looked behind and discover that the Monster who turned into a slug had decided to go after them. It just leisurely followed their tracks as it devoured the skeletons' bones it passed over.

His plan was a failure!

“WHIMSICAL SYSTEM HELP ME!” Tom screamed in his mind as he raced with the others to run away! It has been a while since he asked for the system's help, ever since it began to bother him about Nova. But he had no other choice now.

…

Victor cursed as he used his blood slave ability to view what was happening below. He only ignored those guys for a few hours, and they managed to screw everything!

“What happened?” Lin asked as she saw Victor's face turn pale.

“A big mess! The final boss will be heading here…. We should quickly head to the stairway and prepare a trap… It would be the perfect place…” Victor said as he began to review his options.

He already had a plan to kill that thing, ever since he came to this place.

“How long do we have?” Lily, who could stand up now, asked.

“3 to 4 hours… It should be enough…” he said as he began to think about a backup plan and a second backup plan, just in case. Alex was here after all.