Chapter 114: The Lich Arrives
Chopping up one undead before transitioning to kill another in what seemed like an effortless movement.
Whether it was dodging, counter attacking or pacing his attacks, Rocky did not seem to miss a beat as every action he took seemed to be important and leading to the death of an enemy or a chance to kill another enemy.
Officially Rocky was not even a Floor10 climber. He was a floor 4 climber with strength estimated to be barely better than an average human.
However, with his racial enhancement, his strength was akin to a peak floor 29 climber, but it was all in the form of untapped potential.
Rocky still did not understand how to make the most of his strength, nor did he have any experience on how to fight against hordes of enemies.
For him, this learning opportunity was invaluable, as the war God Ravan opened his eyes to what his true potential was.
"When fighting an opponent bigger than you, close the gap between yourselves and them.
Imagine trying to stab someone who is just 1 inch away from you…. You won\'t be able to with any real force, because our joints are not made that way.
The goal is to find the sweet spot where you can attack the larger opponent easily, however, the larger opponent can\'t hurt you" Ravan instructed as he demonstrated how to take on an undead champion, a monstrous 12 feet skeleton warrior, draped in heavy armor, with strength akin to a peak floor 39 climber.
Technically it should be impossible for someone like Rocky to take down a behemoth like that as the strength difference was simply too large. However, under Ravan\'s guidance Rocky successfully killed the undead champion as if it were not a big challenge as he perfectly exploited the gaps in its defenses.
"What the fuck am I witnessing? Did Rocky just take down an undead champion on his own? Even the three of us combined can\'t take down a champion and we are veterans of war" Commented Diana, one of the Paladin archers in Paladin Patrik\'s unit, as she witnessed Rocky take down an undead champion with her own eyes.
"That guy is a freak! How many undead has he killed uptil now? 150-160?" Commented Troy, another party member.
While they were only chatting nonchalantly, their words were being recorded and broadcasted world-wide, as Rocky\'s fight gave hope to the citizens during desperate times.
The camera men were doing their best to focus on the good part of the human battle against the monsters, however, in the current situation only Guildmaster Karna and Rocky appeared like bright spots on the battlefield, with Earth\'s fighters struggling everywhere else.
Nonetheless, Rocky\'s unexpected performance, caused Earthlings faith in the Gemini Gods to increase several fold as within Rocky, they began to see the avatar of the God Of War Ravan.
"Strategizes like Shakuni and fights like Ravan, he is indeed the Champion Of Gemini"
" It\'s been less than 10 months since he officially became a climber, yet this kid is taking down undead champions like it\'s nothing.
There are many veteran climbers that would fail to do the same.
Is this the difference between SSS talent and someone with D ranked talent?"
"If we survive this monster wave then I can see Earth being in safe hands. If we give four more years for this kid to develop, he\'s going to grow monumentally stronger"
Rocky\'s performance inspired confidence amongst the masses, and thankfully, just as Rocky was battling well on the front lines, The Lesser God Cassius began taking care of the bone dragons at the backlines.
**********
When viewed from the battlefield below, the battle between Cassius and the bone dragons seemed like an epic scene straight out of a movie.
Cassius, a mage by profession, hovered above the ground, his robes fluttering in an unseen wind, his hands ablaze with divine energy.
The moment he took to the sky, the bone dragons ignored the battle machines of Earth and redirected their focus to him, as their skeletal riders deemed him to be a bigger threat.
As the first bone dragon swooped down upon him, its skeletal jaws opened wide to unleash a devastating dragon\'s breath, Cassius calmly extended his hand, palm outstretched.
A brilliant orb of pulsating light emerged, growing rapidly before shooting forth a beam of concentrated divine magical energy.
[ Holy Lance ]
It struck the dragon squarely in its chest, shattering bones and scattering them like leaves in a storm. The dragon\'s form disintegrated before it could even reach the ground, its essence absorbed back into the dark ether from which it came.
The second dragon, undeterred by the swift demise of its ally, unleashed a gale of necrotic fire from its gaping maw. However, Cassius, with a mere flick of his wrist, summoned a swirling vortex of wind that enveloped the flames, neutralizing them into harmless sparks.
"Too easy …." He muttered under his breath, as Cody did not understand whether he should laugh or cry at this scene.
On one Cody was happy that dealing with the Bone Dragons was easy for Cassius, however, on the other he felt scammed for promising Cassius the entire coffers of the climber\'s association for a job that was easy for him.
With a thunderous incantation, Cassius proceeded to conjure a quiver full of thunderbolts, each glowing with a deadly luminescence.
Picking them up one at a time as if he were Zeus, Cassius bombarded its skeletal frame with relentless force.
The bone dragon attempted to retaliate, its tail sweeping through the air to knock Cassius from the sky, but the mage\'s form blurred, revealing a mere mirage created by his formidable illusion magic.
Finally, Cassius raised both hands high, gathering the ambient magical energy of the battlefield into a single, devastating strike.
[ Rainbow Strike ]
A column of blinding light descended from the heavens, enveloping the bone dragon and incinerating it from within. As the light receded, nothing remained of the beast but a pile of ash carried away by the wind.
The undead riders with their mounts destroyed, vanished into nothingness, their presence no longer tethered to the mortal plane.
"Mission accomplished" Cassius said, as he slowly descended to the ground below, thinking about taking a rest once more, however, just as he descended down below he felt the aura of a sinister being emerging from the portal.
Immediately glancing across, Cassius noticed the arrival of the enemy Lich before anyone else as he once again took to the sky and prepared to face the adversary he was hired to take down in the first place.
*snap*
The first thing that the lich did upon its arrival was to snap its fingers, as within an instant all the fallen humans that had died on the battlefield since the raid started, rose up once more, however, now as undead.
"He\'s here, the Lich is here-" Karna shouted, alerting everyone on the front lines that the boss monster of this raid had finally made its appearance.