SQUEEEAAL
Looking at the source of the squeal Chronos saw a large boar with six legs and four tusks, it was the swamp lord again, but it looked different. Instead of the healthy brown fur and orange flames it used before it now had black fur and purple flames.
It looked like a dark beast, but it was solid instead of having a shadowy form. Following it were a number of weaker boars but just like the swamp lord they were all solid too.
The swamp lord charged while shaking itself, scattering flame sparks to its weaker followers.
"Sound the alarm! A fifth rank beast is charging the village!" Chronos shouted while running for the southeast corner.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The eastern gates alarm sounded out loud and strong, waking up the whole village and warning them of a major breach.
Listening to the frantic movements of the villagers he knew they would struggle to get out of the way. The stomping of the lord was drawing close to the wall too swiftly, he wouldn't make it in time to stop the boar from breaking through the walls instead he chose to adjust his path to inside of the village in an attempt to intercept the lord before it could cause serious damage to the village.
"Clear the village's southeast section! It will get inside!"
Craaash.
His warning came too late. The swamp lord barreled through the wall, barely slowing down when it met the first house. Sending screaming people flying as it shook its head.
The boars following it squealed in triumph as they finally gained access to the village. The archers shot them from above while the warriors leapt from the walkways to stop them.
The knights and paladins, who were resting, jumped to try and halt the charge before it could cause any more damage. They succeeded in stopping most of the boars, but a small group broke away to follow the lord straight to the village square.
It was only now that Chronos realized the lord wasn't targeting the villagers, it was charging at the seal in the square!
Using [Body Enhancement: speed] he pushed himself to move faster than he ever had before. The distance between him and the lord rapidly shrunk as he drew his axes. Spinning slightly, he swung at the lords' rear leg in an attempt to cripple its charge.
Thunk. Thunk.
His axes bit deeply into the rear leg, then got stuck there as they were ripped from his hands. This boar was stronger than the previous swamp lord that was at the peak of the fourth rank. It was a fifth rank beast, even if it was barely within the fifth rank it could still trample him under foot.
The lord ignored him to keep charging at the seal. Both of the rank four lizardfolk stepped in front of the charge to stop it. They swung at its face causing serious injuries that cut down to the bone, but the lord ignored them as well charging right over them to get into the square while its followers dealt with them.
Chronos ran toward it as he heard a piercing voice shout, "Don't let it touch the tear!"
From the west the battle priests were running straight at the boar while chaos erupted around them. Everyone was trying to get out of the way, but they weren't quite fast enough.
The swamp lord slammed into the vine tree rearing up on its hind legs to rip it out. Chronos reached it and jumped on its back swinging his sword in between the lord's shoulder blades cutting as deeply as he could, but he missed the spine. Stomping down it slammed into the tear and shattered the stones underneath it.
VWOOM.
The tear fluctuated strongly, then darkness expanded like thorns piercing the very air around the tear.
Looking into the lords' eyes, Chronos saw a triumphant look that seemed to mock him before a thorn swallowed him and everything went dark.
.....
Chronos didn't know how much time passed before he was able to see again, the moment he could he realized he was still in the village square but there was no sun. Looking around he saw several lizardfolk and the naga matriarch who had been maintaining the seal.
The lizardfolk had turned to stone and the matriarch was slowly turning to stone. Looking at him, she only said one thing before being fully petrified.
"Break...the...crystal!"
She had spoken in perfect common, but Chronos knew she couldn't speak common. Something else had just spoken through her. Before he could ponder on this the sound of grunting drew his attention.
Grunt, grunt, snort.
Turning he saw the swamp lord snuffling around the square and in the middle of the square was a crystal that hung in the air, in the exact spot where the tear had been. As he took this in, the lord noticed him.
Squeeeaal.
It charged at him, dodging as fast as he could he was barely able to get out of the way. Running to another side to avoid damaging the statues he assumed were alive, Chronos steeled himself for a battle he had no confidence of winning.
While running he discovered that the village square was just that, a village square with no other land nearby. It was floating in a dark void with nothing around it; he didn't have time to take in anything else as the lord was charging at him again.
Jumping with his full strength Chronos managed to avoid a direct hit and landed on its back. He slammed his sword into its back driving it all the way to the hilt. With a roar of pain, the lord did its best to throw him off, bucking and swaying as Chronos hit it with [Impact]'s while trying to avoid being dislodged.
The lords' flames burned Chronos' body, but his own impacts only did minimal damage to the swamp lord. It roared once more as it turned to charge at a building on the edge of the square. Chronos braced himself knowing that if he was thrown off, he would be killed with barely any resistance.
Whaaam, Krrraack.
As Chronos was slammed into the building it collapsed on top of them.
"Ugh." Chronos grunted as he felt his bones break.
With another buck the lord managed to throw him off. Standing up Chronos faced an angry boar, he had let go of his sword, it was now stuck in the lords' back. Withdrawing his spear, he prepared himself for his final stand.
The lord pawed the ground then erupted in flames as it charged at him, Chronos' [Roar] sent out a wall of aura that barely slowed it down, but it was enough. Pushing all of his remaining aura into the Guardians Steel method to increase his defense as much as possible he thrust his spear into its left eye.
Slam. Squeal!
It shook its head as Chronos held onto the spear shaft for dear life. He could tell that his organs were damaged from that charge, but he now had a spear inside the lords' eye, maybe he could kill it with an [Impact]?
Before he could test this the lord turned rapidly and violently. Losing his hold on the spear Chronos was thrown into the air above the void, looking down he vaguely wondered through the pain if he would die from falling into the void or just fall forever?
Gritting his teeth he exclaimed, "I am not dying like this!"
Refocusing on the area around him; there were small rocks or pieces of land floating in the void. He didn't know if that would be enough to support him, but it was better than nothing.
Taking a deep breath to recover whatever aura he could through his Guardians Steel method Chronos stomped on a rock that passed beneath him. It moved but there was some resistance, pushing off of it he stomped on the next piece of land that came close enough. Repeating this he barely made it to a larger landmass and collapsed on its edge.
Jumping up he laughed out loud, "HAHAHAHA, Screw you pig! Ugh ow, ow, ow, right badly injured. Need to heal first."
He dropped to his hands and knees, pulled out a healing potion, and drank it. Looking back at the swamp lord, it was standing on the edge of the village square, glaring at him with its one eye, it was too heavy to imitate Chronos and had no other way to reach him.
Finally having a moment of peace Chronos sat down to meditate and heal. Taking out echoforge, his only weapon that hadn't been lost in the fight, he set it on his legs and drew spirit from the world around him swiftly turning it into aura to heal his body.
He felt his bones settle into place and his muscles repair themselves; his organs slowly recovered as the cuts and bruises disappeared. After nearly two hours, his bones had only sustained fractures, and though his organs were still injured, he was able to move.
Looking forward he saw that the swamp lord was still in the square, now sleeping instead of glaring at him. Thinking about their fight, it had intentionally avoided the center of the square and the statues at the edges, its job must be to guard the crystal, but why did it avoid the statues?
Maybe those statues were needed to create the dark beasts? That would explain why it avoided them but how was it turning them into dark beasts? He could think about that later, right now he needed to know more about this weird dark void space.
Looking around he was shocked by what he saw.