Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (8 page)

Smoke grinned as he quickly took a piece of a paper in each hand and started acquiring their information.
'Pfft. Two hundred pages is nothing,' he grimaced to himself.
Four minutes passed and he still stood excitedly in front of the desk with the scattered papers. He had read almost 90% of all the pages.
Focused solely on gathering information, Smoke failed to notice that he had triggered a short black wire to appear out of the wall beside him. The black wire attached itself to a lightning rod outside of the room.
Since there was a constant lightning storm outside, he paid no mind mind when a lightning bolt struck the rod near him. That is, not until he noticed the sparks coming from the black wire that was connected to the wall.
At once, the wall shook and a secret doorway opened. A pair of Tikbalang hooves held onto the sides of the secret passage.
Smoke's Cunning of the Dire Fox instantly warned him of the monster that had just awoken. Instinctively, he leapt backwards towards his men, who were still busy killing the tied-up Varanus Indicus.
ROOOOOAAAARR
Horrabelle's monstrosity stepped out of the secret room and roared loudly at Smoke, stunning him for a full second.
As soon as his consciousness came back, he jumped back and carefully observed the grotesque monster. It had the body and legs of a Gargantuan Goblin, the arms of a Tikbalang and the head of a Werebear. It stood at a height of over three meters.
Smoke equipped his weighted chain and sickle and sent it flying towards the stitched-up monster. Its sharp edge nicked the side of the monster’s arm and displayed its name and life bar: Schrecklich (695,200/700,000 HP).
If the monster had not roared, Adder and the rest of the team wouldn't have noticed it step out of the secret chamber. They were focused on killing the mutated Varanus Indicus, which still numbered thirty.
"Tragar, throw Adder his shield!" shouted Smoke and watched as his comrade easily caught the thrown shield with his right hand.
Smoke then turned to Adder. "Let's end this quickly."
Adder nodded and led the charge with his shield in front of him. Ten Condortlian Warriors followed after him, carrying their bastard swords and round shields.
Simultaneously, the Centaurs fired their arrows at Schrecklich while the Condortlians were still rushing towards it. Yet, even with Igniz's enchantment, their arrows only dealt 599 points of damage each.
Smoke switched to his power chainsaw bow and joined the Centaur Rangers in their ranged attack. Eight poison arrows soared through the air and each dealt 2,400 points of damage.
Schrecklich put up its Tikbalang arms in front of it and blocked the arrows being fired at it.
ROOOOOAAAARR
Seconds before Adder and the Warriors reached Schrecklich, it roared once more and stunned all the Condortlians around it.
It launched its hooves in a straight punch and bashed the skull helms of four Warriors. They were blown away and tumbled to the ground. Fortunately for them, their headgear was the only thing that got smashed.
Adder and the rest of the Condortlians snapped out of being stunned. With his tower shield in the lead, Adder used Emerald Bash and his shield was instantly covered in a green light. He smashed it into Schrecklich’s torso, stunning him for three seconds. With the monstrosity stunned, he then used Emeridian Slash and reduced its defense to zero.
Six bastard swords plunged into the monster's body from all directions. Their attack did not stop, and was shortly followed by numerous arrows from Smoke and the Centaurs. In the span of three seconds, Schrecklich took a total of 65,000 points of damage.
Despite taking heavy damage, the monstrosity remained unfazed. It roared once more and stunned the Condortlians surrounding it. It quickly became a battle of who could stun first. This time, Schrecklich specifically targeted Adder and drove its hooves into his chin, sending him crashing into the ceiling.
Smoke unequipped his bow and leapt to catch Adder before he dropped to the floor. Together, the two of them moved out of the monster's range.
The Centaurs continued attacking from a safe distance, but their damage was not enough to stop the monstrosity from pummeling the Condortlians near it. Their life bars quickly went down to 75%.
The Warriors who weren't targeted stabbed their bastard swords into the monster and dealt more damage than the Centaurs’ arrows. However, as soon as Schrecklich's stun ability was ready, it used it again and stunned the Warriors.
As Schrecklich was about to attack the immobilized Warriors, Adder's shield bashed into its side and stunned it. The Condortlian leader could not allow it to continue damaging his brothers. Instead of attacking with his BlitzSturm, Adder backed away out of the range of the monster and readied his shield to stun it again as soon as he was able to.
Schrecklich was attacked by arrows and swords. Even though its life bar still displayed 85%, it knew that the situation was not in its favor. It retreated to a corner of the room where more black wires converged. There, it joined its hooves together and created a ball of electricity. Before the Warriors could reach the monster, it pushed the charged ball towards the black wires. Sparks flew everywhere as the electricity travelled through the wires, headed for the remaining dormant Varanus Indicus.
SPARK SPARK SPARK SPARK SPARK
The straps that held the mutated Lizardites down were incinerated by the electricity. Slowly, thirty light green monsters stood up. Their life bars were at around 120,000 HP, half of their maximum value.
Smoke quickly assessed the situation.
"Everyone, fight the half-dead monsters. Adder and I will deal with that abomination," commanded Smoke decisively.
The Centaurs focused on the Varanus Indicus nearest to them. Each of their fire arrows damaged the mutated Lizardites for 1,500 points.
Groggy from the sudden awakening, the Varanus Indicus were sluggish and took the arrows to their bodies without defending. The Centaurs killed one of the experimental monsters in a matter of seconds, but they regained their senses after the first Varanus Indicus fell.
The mutated Lizardites charged at the Centaurs with their sharp claws protruding out of their five fingers.
SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH
The Condortlian Warriors arrived from the side of the monsters and slashed their green flesh with bastard swords. The Varanus Indicus may have increased their life bars, but their defenses had clearly been lowered.
Ten Varanus Indicus continued their charge at the Centaurs, while nineteen faced the outnumbered Warriors.
The Centaurs kept firing at the charging monsters. When the mutated Lizardites got too close for comfort, they used their front legs and attacked the monsters, knocking them back a few meters. They used their arrows once more and waited for them to get closer for another kick.
Concurrently, the Warriors had a difficult time facing two monsters at the same time. Luckily, their round shields were large enough to give them protection from one monster while they hacked their bastard swords at the other.
Yet despite this, the Warriors' life bars were steadily being chipped away as the Varanus Indicus’ claws scratched their arms, legs and shoulders.
Adder, who was distracted watching his brothers' difficult battle, was smashed into the wall when Schrecklich’s electrified hooves rammed against his Condortlian shield. After it produced the electricity to awaken the Varanus Indicus, its hooves retained the electrical charge.
Smoke stepped in and threw his sickle at the bizarre monster, slashing its right arm.
"Focus, Adder!" he yelled out as he stood between the two of them.
ROOOOOAAAARR
Schrecklich roared once more , aiming to stun Smoke, but the DarkElf expertly leapt backwards while throwing his sickle again, attacking the monster and escaping the range of its ability.
Due to the confined space, Smoke couldn't safely use his Cyclone of Slaughter. He thought about using his Manatl, but he wasn't confident that it could block Schrecklich's stun attack.
He briefly checked on the rest of his men and found that they were slowly being overpowered. He knew he had to defeat Schrecklich soon, but he couldn't think of how to do it. He unequipped his weighted chain and sickle and decided to risk it.
"Stun him!" Smoke ordered Adder while he leapt up and scaled the wall of the black mansion.
Adder charged his shield for a frontal attack, only to be pushed to the side by Schrecklich's hooves. He dug his Condortlian shield into the floor and stopped himself from moving farther away. Yet, this proved to be a grave mistake, as Adder was still within the range of the monster’s roar.
Schrecklich used its stun ability and immobilized Adder. As it moved in closer and readied its hooves for another attack, Smoke leapt from above the abomination and tightened a noose around its mouth with his perlite chain.
"Adder, now!" shouted Smoke as his legs locked around Schrecklich's neck, while both his hands tightly gripped the chains. This prevented the monster from shouting and Smoke hoped that this disabled its stun ability.
Adder lunged his massive BlitzSturm into the monster's stomach and it went cleanly through its body. He then tried to pull it out to the side, but a charged hoof smashed into his chest and sent him flying towards the wall. Due to Adder's Death Grip ability, Schrecklich's attack forced the BlitzSturm to come out of its side and accidentally damaged itself.
Inflicted with Bleeding status, Schrecklich's life bar displayed (525,450/700,000 HP) and was losing 500 HP per second.
With his legs locked around Schrecklich's Werebear neck, Smoke checked on Adder's life bar and found that it was already at less than half, as it displayed (89,337/220,750 HP). He knew that Adder couldn't take much more of the monster's beating, but he had to stay where he was in order to prevent the monster from using its stunning ability. He was even more troubled when he saw that the rest of his men were still struggling with the Varanus Indicus they were facing.
Deep in thought on what to do, he almost failed to notice the warning that Cunning of the Dire Fox sent him when both of Schrecklich's charged Tikbalang hooves went over its head and were about to flatten Smoke’s body. Luckily, he was able to dodge one of the hooves and took the other with his shoulder and was knocked off of the monster's neck.
He tumbled on the ground and immediately switched out to his power chainsaw bow once he recovered his footing. He fired eight poison arrows and finally inflicted the monstrosity with Poisoned status. Coupled with Bleed damage, Schrecklich was now losing 600 HP per second.
With its long Gargantuan Goblin legs, it took large strides and was almost in front of Smoke in no time. The DarkElf was only able to fire another round of arrows before he was within range of the monster’s stun ability.
ROOOOOAAAARR
Smoke was stunned. His firm grip on his bow loosened and stood helplessly in front of Schrecklich. As the monster’s hooves were about to crash down on him, Condortl’s Emerald Tower Shield struck the monster's back.
KLONG
After Adder stunned the stitched-up three-meter-tall monstrosity with Emerald Bash, he leapt forward and brought the full weight of his BlitzSturm down on Schrecklich’s right shoulder with the intention of severing its arm, but he only reached halfway when the left hoof came straight at him.
Due to its long arms, Schrecklich could reach abnormally far. Its charged hoof was met with a Condortlian Shield, as Adder managed to raise it in time. He was blown away from the monster, but took no damage from that exchange of blows.
As Schrecklich was about to go after Adder, Smoke's chain and sickle came flying through the room. It looped around the monster’s right shoulder, with the sickle digging deep into the open wound Adder had made.
With all his might, Smoke turned around and pulled as hard as he could. He heard Schrecklich scream out in pain as he felt the tension on his chain disappear. He smirked as he looked back at the monstrosity and found its right arm lying on the ground next to it. He was about to pull back his sickle when the monster stepped on it with its foot.
Schrecklich then used its remaining Tikbalang arm to wrap the perlite chain around it and pulled the DarkElf towards it.
Smoke used Earth Manipulation to create an inclined foothold on the floor to support his weight and prevented himself from being pulled by the monster. However, the chain felt painful, as the monster yanked on it stubbornly and with great strength. He was forced to release his weighted chain and sickle and watched it fall in front of Schrecklich.
Even though both Smoke and Adder were out of range, the monster roared for the sole purpose of taunting the two of them. Before it was done, eight arrows stuck themselves into its chest. It hurriedly broke off the shafts with a single stroke of its arm and then shifted its gaze between Smoke and Adder. After seeing that Adder had less HP, it went straight for him.
Emerald Bash was still on cooldown, but Adder charged forward with his green and black shield in front of him and his BlitzSturm stretched behind his shoulder.
TWANG
Adder's shield resounded when Schrecklich's charged hoof made contact with it. He planted his feet firmly and stabbed his BlitzSturm into the floor. He was able to prepare for the impact and was not blown away by the monster's attack.
The monster then continued pummeling his shield with its hoof. He tried to launch a counterattack, but his sword was still stuck in the floor. Schrecklich would attempt to attack his side, which made him move his shield around. Simultaneously, he yanked his BlitzSturm hard with his left arm, but it still wouldn't budge. He stared at his regrown limb and concentrated on using all of its strength.