Chapter 200

  The elite fme skeleton charged at Jake, brandishing a colossal double-bded battleaxe. Its skeletal structure now beloo some kind of hellish two-legged beast. The undead creature was clearly much more powerful than before, but Jake was more ed about the magical abilities it might possess now. Its eyes glowed with an intense e light, and long fmes licked out from its gaping jaws.

  He didn’t have time to summon a detailed description of the skeleton, as it was already upon him. The undead soldier loomed over Jake, wielding the two-bded axe flickering with fmes in one hand. Just as the skeleton luoward him, Jake darted aside, simultaneously smashing his right smashfist into the side of the undead’s ribcage. Such a powerful blow would have easily crushed the ribs of a regur skeleton, but the elite undead before him barely reacted to the strike.

  The elite skeleton soldier swung its fming axe at him in a horizontal arc so swiftly that Jake barely mao leap ba time. Uerred, the undead swiped its on at him again, this time from above. Jake jumped to the side and immediately delivered a powerful blow to his oppo’s skull. His right smashfist ected with the side of the skeleton’s head, causing it to tremble. The skeleton took a step backward, stunned. Well, at least the elite undead wasn’t pletely invulnerable after all.

  His cws were perfect for tearing and rupturing flesh, but Jake doubted they would be of any use against the elite skeleton, so he morphed his left hand into a smashfist as well. However, his oppo recovered from the st blow faster than Jake had hoped it would, and before he could follow up his successful first strike with ahe skeleton unched atack. It lu him, swinging its fming axe in a downward diagonal arc. The undead was surprisingly fast, and Jake barely mao dart aside.

  He fully expected his oppoo immediately throw arike and prepared to dart out of the way again. However, the skeleton suddenly halted its offensive and did something else instead. It leaned in, opening its jaws wide, and in the instant, a torrent of liquid fire erupted from its mouth. Jake quickly darted aside to avoid being burned.

  Even with his speed and quick reflexes, he wasn’t able to fully evade the torrent of fire. A wave of intense heat washed over him, prompting him to instinctively lift his left hand to shield his head. Because of this, it was his rge left smashfist that bore the brunt of the fmes. Jake didn’t experieny pain, but the unpleasaion in his left hand made it clear that it had sustained signifit damage. He could feel his flesh melt and disie with arming speed.

  You have been wounded for 14% by Fire Damage.

  The torrent of fire ceased just as suddenly as it had begun. When Jake looked at his left hand, he realized there was little left—merely a stump. He knew his hand would eventually regee, but it would take time. What ed him more was that defleg enemy attacks and attag with only one hand would put him at a signifit disadvantage.

  The elite skeleton lunged forward, swinging its fming axe with astonishing speed. Jake barely had time to jump bad avoid the blow. Before he could ter, the skeleto its axe at him again and again. Jake used all his agility to dodge each strike, steadily retreating as the skeleton pressed its attack.

  Jake was sure the elite skeleton had just used a Flurry of Swings, or a simir ability. From his experietlie ex-humans with simir abilities, he khere was little he could do at the moment other than dodge the skeleton’s attacks and bide his time until its ability ran out of juice.

  At one moment, the axe buried itself with a dull thud into his right shoulder. He was fortunate enough to leap to the side, which kept the bde from embedding too deeply in his flesh. Had he not jumped aside, that vicious bde could have easily severed his arm. The cut was still deep, and Jake could sense mana leaking from the wound.

  The skeleton tis relentless assault, swinging the battleaxe wildly, showing no indication of when its ability might wear off. Jake realized he o do something because simply dodging wouldn’t be enough. Eventually, the skeleton would nd another blow, and the hit could cost him an arm—or worse, his head.

  As Jake dodged and leaped aside, he sprouted three bded tentacles from his back, shing out at the skeleton. Oacle was instantly severed, caught by the swing of the battleaxe. The other two struck the skeleton’s bones and skull, but they only gnced off the surprisingly hard surface, dealing no noticeable damage to the undead creature.

  Realizing the bded tentacles were useless against the elite skeleton, Jake opened his jaws and fired an acidic glob toward the creature. He aimed at its skull but missed, and the projectile sailed past the skeleton’s shoulder. Determined, he attempted the attack again but missed yet again. Hitting his target wasn’t all that easy while stantly dodging the relentless swings of the skeleton.

  His shot found its mark, spttering acid across the side of the skeleton’s skull. Smoke curled upward as the acid ate through the bone, but the corrosive effect quickly ceased, having dotle harm to his foe. It was incredibly frustrating. None of his abilities had the power to inflict signifit damage on the elite skeleton.

  Suddenly, the undead creature ceased its relentless attack. Jake wasted no time in delivering a powerful strike to its head, creating a crack that spread across the ter of its face where he had hit it. Using one of his two remainiacles, he swept the legs out from uhe skeleton, sending the undead creature crashing to the ground. Just as it started to rise, Jake delivered a powerful kick to its head. He hoped such a powerful kick would tear the head right off, but it didn’t happen. Instead, a new craed along the skeleton’s skull, leaving the undead oppo otherwise unscathed.

  Jake could see several beams of light emanating from the sharp tip of the bck obelisk, bathing the other undead creatures in an eerie glow. A few were close to pleting their transformation. He urgently o find a way to elimihe elite skeleton soldier before the rest of the undead joihe battle.

  Then aruck him. As the skeleton started to rise once more, he executed a Gravity Leap, s close to the high ceiling. At the peak of his jump, he activated an upgrade that let him plummet down with great speed. He desded like a missile, and just before the elite skeleton soldier could regain its footing, Jake delivered an incredibly powerful blow to its head with his right smashfist. This time, the skeleton’s skull bleart in an explosion of thousands of tiny shards.

  The elite skeleton soldier was finally dead, but Jake received no XP for defeating it. Even though the skeleton had been upgraded to elite, the dungeon still didn’t bother to reward him, because he had already defeated it before. It was truly frustrating. However, Jake didn’t have time to fuss about that, as his Feral Instincts suddenly alerted him to a danger. He dodged, and in the heartbeat, an arrow whizzed past his shoulder, trailing millions of sparkling particles behind it.

  Jake turoward the bck obelisk and saw another skeleton that had just finished undergoing the transformation to elite. He appraised it with a mental and.

  Awakened Dead – Frost Skeleton Archer – Level 80 (Elite)

  Uhe previous skeleton, this one was infused with frost magic. Various other undead creatures floated above the ground, surrounded by glowing auras of different colors. Some radiated e, signaling they would harness fire magic, while others shimmered with a bluish hue, indig they were being infused with frost magic like the skeleton archer before him. A few were shrouded in a greenish glow, which hihey would likely gain poisonous or acidic magical powers.

  Jake khat if he allowed them to fully transform ies, he would have a really hard time dealing with all of them at once. But before he could think of a way to interrupt the transformation, he first o deal with the frost skeleton archer. The undead being was already nog another arrow, and Jake didn’t want to find out what would happen if an arrow imbued with frost magic hit him. With a sudden idea in mind, he luoward the undead creature.

  Directly behind the skeleton archer loomed the bck obelisk, still in a frenzy, firing dozens of lightning bolts every sed that struck the surrounding area. Jake sprioward the skeleton archer at full speed. Just as the archer lifted the crossbow it was armed with, Jake rammed into the skeleton, sending it flying backward. The undead creature lost its band sprawled on the flht in front of the bck obelisk.

  Before the skeleton could get up, it was struck by several lightning bolts at the same time. One of its arms disied in an instant. Its ribcage got shattered. Half its skull blew up. The lightning bolts tio relentlessly attack the skeleton, finishing it off ihan two seds.

  Now that the elite skeleton archer was defeated, Jake turned his attention to the other undead creatures undergoing transformation ie versions of themselves. He o find a way to disrupt the process, but the idea of stepping into the glowing beams surrounding the skeletons didn’t seem wise. Who knew what could happen to him? However, he saw no other way to disrupt the process than trying to physically draw the skeletons away from the beams shining at them.

  However, before Jake could decide whether to take the risk, the bck obelisk suddenly ceased ung lightning bolts, drawing his attention to the magical structure. He immediately noticed something intriguing: most of the symbols etched into its sides had lost their glow, leaving only those reted to the skeleton transformations pulsating with light. Jake realized that after employing so many of its magical abilities oer ahe bck obelisk was finally low on energy. It could now focus merely on transf the skeletons.

  Now that the bck obelisk was defenseless, Jake realized it might be his ce to destroy the structure. Wasting no time, he jumped toward it and immediately struck it with his only smashfist. Just as he had expected, he wasn’t terattacked like the st time. Enced by this, he tio strike the bck obelisk, putting tremendous power behind each blow.

  Initially, nothing occurred, leading Jake to question his ability to destroy the obelisk. Then, as he strue side again, a spiderweb of cracks radiated from the point of impact. Motivated by this progress, Jake pressed on with his attack. Each blow he delivered resulted in more and more cracks spreading across the obelisk’s surface.

  Then the magical structure suddenly began to tremble, the iy increasing with each passing moment. All the cracks elongated and widened, c every inch of its surface. Brilliant light burst forth from each crack, quickly growing brighter and brighter.

  Sensing impending danger, Jake stepped back from the quaking, radiant structure. In an instant, it exploded, scattering bck fragments of the shattered structure everywhere. The force of the bst knocked Jake off his feet ahe skeletons, which had been trapped in the beams just moments earlier, flying in all dires.

  Bck Obelisk destroyed. +10,000 XP

  Jake remained on his back, gazing at the vat spot where the bck obelisk had oood. He did it! He really did it! At oime, he had questioned his decision to try to destroy the obelisk, p whether it was even possible. Now, he was relieved to have been proven wroed to have succeeded, and pleased to receive a substantial amount of XP as a reward for his effort.

  As he began to rise to his feet, a magical rift gate suddenly tore open in the very spot where the bck obelisk had just stood.

  You have just been granted access to The Void Temple.

  For a moment, Jake gazed at the shimmering portal that radiated a bluish glow. A thought crossed his mind that perhaps the bck obelisk was never meant to be destroyed, given its incredible power and resilience. By actually managing to obliterate it, he seemed to have found a hidde. Intrigued, he stepped into the portal.