Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (19 page)

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WALLOP
Stark was smashed hard against the wall. He saw that Rasant was having trouble with his opponent and thought to help him, but he was sent flying in their direction instead.
'This was not what Stark had in mind, but Stark still happy to have helped brother Rasant,' he thought to himself before charging back towards Gavel.
Ever since he fought against the Gargantuan Goblins, Stark longed to face more sizeable opponents. He enjoyed the rare find of fighting monsters as large as himself.
However, he felt cheated against this enemy. His Rzeka glaive looked like a toothpick compared to Gavel's war hammer.
Thankfully, while they were training with Rasant to improve his defense, Stark gained some tutelage under Weise and learned how to anticipate an enemy's attack. Due to this, he was able to move faster than Gavel, until he glanced over Rasant's fight and got attacked from behind.
Stark got back in front of Gavel for a rematch. His life bar displayed (378,298/410,000 HP) while the monster he was facing had (381,900/400,000 HP). He had a lower life at the moment, but he was getting the hang of Gavel's swings with its war hammer.
The Krampus created deep impressions in the ground and the walls of the chamber each time it missed an attack, whereas the red Maneator delivered quick and precise stabs with his glaive.
Stark knew that if he kept this reserved fighting style, he would win in the end. Ten more minutes into their battle and he had dealt a crushing 310,000 points of damage on Gavel while staying barely untouched. He still had 81% on his life bar while Gavel had 18% left. The only times Stark was harmed was when the debris that scattered as a result of Gavel's splash damage would hit him.
'Thanks to my brothers and my king, Stark is stronger now,' he thought proudly.
Then, a bright flash of blue light blinded them, and all fighting stopped momentarily. He wondered who made that attack, and took a gander at the situation of his comrades.
Smoke had 65% on his life bar while the Krampus he was facing had 40%. On the other side of the chamber, Weise had 40% on his, while his enemy had 38%. Finally, Stark's eyes went to Rasant. He was alarmed when he found his brother half dead on the floor with 5% left on his life bar and was profusely bleeding to death. He searched for Rasant's opponent but smiled when he found the Krampus' hooves, hide, horns, embryo and weapon next to him.
'Rasant is always fastest,' he thought to himself and grinned. ‘Time to finish this.’ As he turned to face his opponent, a war hammer connected with his cheek.
The red Maneator was knocked five meters back but quickly regained his footing. That one critical blow reduced his life bar to (310,750/410,000 HP). It was the strongest strike he had taken thus far, but it also triggered his rage as he blindly charged after Gavel.

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Smoke had to use his black metal rods’ stronger ability, Lightning Strike. He crossed both metal rods together and aimed at Rasant's enemy. In a blinding flash, a blue lightning bolt hit Geirel directly in its back and inflicted 51,400 points of damage to it.
With Rasant's enemy paralyzed, Smoke resumed fighting the Krampus called Beil, and left Rasant to finish off his enemy.
After using his lightning rod's ultimate ability, he realized that it would be more effective when he had a higher Lightning Affinity, but for now the weapon’s Lightning Shock ability proved to be more useful, as it had a lower cooldown.
Smoke also had the Beast Monarch ability, which he inherited from König Mitleid, that tripled his damage to beast-type monsters. Coupled with the fact that he had trained with Eskrima sticks in the real world, he was literally dancing circles around the massive Beil.
Although he was leading the Krampus around, it was not an assurance that he had this battle in the bag. It took him more than twenty minutes to reduce Beil's life bar to (171,900/450,000 HP), but it only took three strikes from the Krampus' double-edged axe and his life bar was reduced to almost half at (118,298/181,997HP).
'Rasant's battle is over, but I can't count on him to back the others up, considering his injuries,' he thought to himself while backing away strategically from Beil as he assessed the situation of his other Maneators. 'Stark's about to finish up his battle, so he should be able to help Weise soon.'
He was extremely thankful that Stark overpowered his opponent, otherwise one of his precious Maneators would have been lost in such a meaningless battle.
After confirming that his Maneators were safe, he focused solely on battling Beil.
He darted into Beil's zone and dodge multiple swings of its giant axe. He then used his black rods' Lightning Shock ability which paralyzes the Krampus for three seconds. During this time, Smoke and Igniz dished out as much damage as they could. Owing to its efficiency, Smoke relied on the same attack pattern.
He struck both metal rods hard against Beil's joints in hopes of putting its limbs out of commission. He would stop attacking before three seconds were up so that he could jump away to safety.
He was repeating the same pattern again. However, this time, he jumped a split second too late, and Beil's axe came straight towards his face. Due to the lightning rods' short length, Smoke could not completely parry the attack and got damaged by Beil's surprise attack.
Still determined to finish off the Krampus by himself, Smoke went in and attacked with another Lightning Shock. It connected, and he bashed his metal rods against Beil's arms for eight swift strikes.
Smoke backed away as he realized that he should no longer use the same attack pattern. He spent the next two minutes away from his opponent, deciding on his course of action.
'Looks like I'll have to use that,' he sighed, as he didn't want to use this next attack pattern.
"Igniz, time to attack from within," he ordered, shaking his head.
Without hesitation, his dark ember sprite made a beeline for Beil's head and lodged two fireballs inside its nose. Simultaneously, Smoke sprinted towards the distracted Krampus and struck the monster behind its ear. Due to the blow, Beil was forced to kneel down. He then quickly got behind the monster and pummeled its back with his twin weapons.
The whole time Smoke was attacking the monster, Igniz remained in front of Beil and kept distracting it with fireballs to the face. Then, Beil's axe turned golden again, but this time it didn't go after Smoke. Instead, it went after Igniz.
This was the reason why Smoke didn't want to use this strategy, as it would place Igniz in danger.
He instantly stopped attacking the Krampus and leapt in between Beil's Axe and Igniz. He made a cross guard with his twin lightning rods but was not able to properly defend against the powerful attack. He was blown away and hurtled on the floor until his back made contact with the wall.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" Smoke let out a battle cry in order to drive away the excruciating pain he felt in his spine. He searched for Igniz and found his symbiote alive, beside Beil.
While Smoke was thinking of a plan to finish off Beil, Igniz kept directly attacking Beil's face, even if it meant that he was putting his life in danger. This was his way of giving Smoke the time he needed to strike. 
Smoke made a mad dash for Beil and cleared the distance of five meters between him and the Krampus in record time.
He bravely stepped in front of the Krampus and began to pummel it with his twin lightning rods at full tilt.
As Smoke expected, Beil's axe glowed with a golden light. He instinctively jumped back, but the Krampus had swung its battle axe and sliced a part of his stomach.
Instead of dodging the Krampus' next attack, he braved the powerful axe's damage by parrying it to the side. Then, he jumped on the axe and leapt towards Beil's face. He plunged his twin lightning rods into its eyes and simultaneously activated two Lightning Shocks at point blank range.
BZZZT BZZZT BOOSH
He successfully delivered two direct Lightning Shocks and dealt the finishing blow to Beil's life bar, which finally displayed zero.
 

Smoke ignored the notification message and rushed to his dark ember sprite.
"Igniz, are you okay?" he asked his symbiote.
His dark ember sprite bobbed to indicate that he was fine. Smoke then proceeded to pick up the loot Beil dropped.
 

He would have wanted to inspect Beil's weapon, but first checked to see the conclusion of Weise's battle. He glanced over to where the gray Maneator was fighting and found Weise and Stark standing over Lanze’s corpse before its body could fade away.
Stark had finished off Gavel and immediately helped out Weise afterwards. Then; Smoke, Igniz, Weise and Rasant went over to where Rasant was.
Rasant had propped himself into a sitting position against the chamber's wall and was applying the Lioumereans' healing herbs by himself.
"Smoke, I know I was being reckless, but I had to. Otherwise, that monster would have joined in on you guys..." Rasant started to explain himself.
"Don't worry about it. You did great, focus on recovering," said Smoke proudly as he knelt beside the orange Maneator. He activated his Heart of ReenTe necklace and regenerated as much health as his mana allowed. Then, he started replenishing Rasant's life bar by using Life Share.
While he was healing Rasant, the other two Maneators walked closer to him and knelt down in front of him.
"Weise, you okay to move?" he asked the gray Maneator.
"Of course my, King," responded Weise at once. "I don't have any status ailments, and after a short rest, I should be good to go."
Smoke smiled at his two Maneators. "What about you, Stark? Any injuries? You were very impressive in this battle."
"Stark did what was expected. Protecting you and brothers is what Stark lives for," answered the red Maneator while huffing proudly after being praised by Smoke.
"Alright. I want you two to gather the rest of the loot while I patch up our fearless friend here," he said jokingly as he teased Rasant's do-or-die behavior.
At once, the two Maneators left and gathered the other items. They returned in no time and gave them to Smoke.
 

His lips formed a grin as he observed the looted Maneator ingredients and rare weapons. With Rasant and Weise still recovering, Smoke decided to rest inside the cavernous chamber. He prepared medicinal ancient bison stew and served it to the Maneators.
Weise made a fuss about being served by Smoke, but he quickly dismissed it. Thirty minutes later, their life bars were fully recovered.
After resting, Smoke spoke to his Maneators. "Rasant, Weise and Stark, it is time to receive your rewards."
"Rasant, due to your impetuous nature, I give you Geirel's Serpent Fang. It has an ability called ‘Death’s Embrace’, which coils the segmented parts of the sword around an enemy and inflicts Bleeding status. May this whip sword help you kill your enemies faster, and in turn save your life," he said with a smile and gave the weapon to the orange Maneator. Rasant smiled and was about to reply with a winded speech, but Smoke stopped him and approached the gray Maneator.
"Weise, for your clever guidance to your brothers, I give you Lanze's Narwhal Horn. It has the ‘Poison Jab’ ability, which strikes the enemy eight times and inflicts Poisoned status. May it help you guide you and your brothers to a long and honorable life."
Weise bowed down even lower and thanked his king.
Smoke then turned to the red Maneator.
"Stark, for your outstanding performance, I give you Gavel's Gorilla Fist. This weapon is more worthy of your talent, as you have clearly outgrown the Rzeka glaive. Its ability is ‘Ground Shatter’, which damages and stuns enemies around you."
Stark reached out and grasped the war hammer with one hand and lifted it over his head.
"Now that you've received your rewards, let's head out and increase our strength even further," he declared boldly and led the way out of the cavernous chamber.
Smoke, Igniz and his Maneators all stepped inside into the tight labyrinth tunnel. At two and half meters, Rasant had to slightly bend his neck. Yet Stark and Weise had to stoop down in order to fit through it.
As soon as they entered, Smoke received a notification.
 

He grinned as he saw it. He signaled his party to follow him as they headed for the place where Smoke created them, the hidden Tenebris Laboratory beneath the Chamber of Fire.