As the misamic force slammed into my golem forcing me back a step, I pushed forward. As I neared the Rat I felt the same force that prevented me from using his throne against him try to disconnect me from my Golem.
With a push of will I managed to swat aside the disrupting energy. Lunging forward, I tried to strike the Patriarch, yet with a simple wave of his hand, a piece of the miasma that surrounded him broke off and formed a shield.
As my fist slammed into the miasma shield my momentum was halted. With another dismissive flick of his wrist, the miasma shield formed into a spear, slamming into my center mass, picking me up by my feet, and yeeting me across the chamber.
Anastasia moved in, sending in a volley of webbing followed by high-power beams of venom. Once again, the Patriarch seemed bored as he summoned another shield, blocking both attacks. Not letting up I sent a trio of rock spears hurtling towards.
Me and Anastasia I linked up our attacks rotating between attacking and distracting.
"Ugh, you unruly children you truly are pathetic, you know that right? Please tell me you know that, cause if you think you are strong and powerful, then you are at the height of delusion!" The Patriarch spoke outwards his voice unnatural and gravely like a lifetime smoker. He batted away our attacks easily, and as he did so, he began to stand up.
Slamming a barrage of stone spears and Stalactites at him. He blurred, and for the first time in a while, [Knight Intuition] flared. I immediately activated [Force Field], arresting his motion, and he seemed mildly surprised. Anastasia took that opportunity to blast him with a stream of venom, landing the first hit of the fight.
"I wonder how long this shield will last after your death?" The Patriarch mused before blurring into movement once again as he tried to go around the shield, twisting it. I managed to tank another hit, but the mana I had imbued into the [Force Field] was rapidly depleting.
His Circlet of finger bones glowed a malevolent red and my [Flow of Combat] picked up several new enemies.
'Anastasia, can you pick off the newcomers?" I asked her as I weaved around barely dodging the Patriarch's Attacks.
'Sure Thing, Boss!' she responded as she began picking off what the system called [Undead Yeoman of the Patriarch], all of them level 14 undead.
Moving forward, I shifted the pocket where I was in my Golem to the side; it was uncomfortable, but it would protect me from the center mass strikes the Patriarch was so fond of.
He struck forward, right where I suspected he would, dead center into my Golem Chest. Quickly, I hardened and fixed the hole, entrapping the Rat. In my right hand, I held my [Daemonic Club] and I slammed into the Rat more likely to be pissing him off rather than actually hurting him.
With a burst of effort, he freed his hand from my Golem. Just in time for Anastasia to get another hit on him. Slightly staggering him forward, I used a great deal of force as I slammed into his ribcage, sending him flying right into a rock wall I had created behind him.
His weight shattered the rock wall that he hit, however, I had a feeling we just landed the first substantial blow of the fight.
Shaking himself off he started throwing beams of Miasma at me and Anastasia. I took the hits as neither had hit my actual body. Repairing my golem quickly, I tackled the Rat as I held him down, and Anastasia resumed attacking. He reached down his hand, digging deep into my Golem's body. He picked me up and threw me. Slamming into the floor the force of the hit rattled me as I quickly rolled out of the way of a follow-up attack.
We locked eyes, my eyes boring through the eye holes that I opened up in my suit, staring into the soulless eye sockets of the Rat Patriarch.
I charged at the same time, summoning spear after spear of rock, creating depressions in the walls of the chamber from where I pulled materials. At the same time, Anastasia bombarded the Patriarch with webs and venom. He blocked a few of my attacks until a shot webbing struck his back followed by a shot of venom. A spear pierced his side, and as I approached, I levitated my Golem until I had the desired height and then fell. My club struck true, shattering the tough skull of the rat Patriarch.
'Fuck Yes Boss, we did it' Anastasia cheered looking down though a deep well of dread welled up inside me. I didn't receive an XP Notification. The Patriarch wasn't dead.
"YOU THOUGHT THAT YOU WOULD KILL ME SO EASILY, YOU ARROGANT FOOLS, I'M [THE FESTERING PATRIARCH]! YOU WILL KNOW THE DEATH UPON WHICH YOU HAVE WROUGHT UPON MY KIN!" A bellowing voice of the rat Patriarch resounding off the wall of the cavern said Before I felt a magical force slam into my Golem. The magic was like corrosive acid as my golem suit was reduced to crumbled rock.
Summoning a circular [Force Field] investing 10 Divinity alongside mana all around me as a barrage of Miasma beams pelted my exposed form. Looking around I saw a specter of the [Festering Patriarch] sitting upon his throne. The image of the specter wasn't that of a Skeleton but of his form from when he was alive, he looked like, well, a giant humanoid rat with a crown of finger bones.
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[The Festering Patriarch] Level: ???
Rank Two Spectral Semi-Elemental Undead
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Luckily my Staff wasn't affected by the corrosive magic. Slamming it down and with a force of will that battled his own my magic invaded his throne and shattered it, more of a power move than anything. Snarling at me, he began to batter [Force Field], trying desperately to break the Divine empowered shield.
Slamming my staff into the ground I began launching bullets of condensed mana-infused stone at him. Turning his sights on Anastasia the specter blitzed towards her.
Anastasia dodged out of the way blasting the specter with a splash of acid.
"Hey, asshole your mother must died of fright when she first saw you" I responded sending spears after the Patriarch.
"Your pathetic drivel will not work on me you overconfident baby Daemon." The Ghost Rat spat out returning to his chase of Anastasia.
'Hey, Anastasia, get under the [Force Field]," I told her, at the same time I was peppering the specter with bullets and summoning walls which, when imbued with Mana, he couldn't pass through.
'I'm trying to Boss Kinda got a giant undead jackass on my tail' she said telepathically. Dodging another beam of Miasma. Quickly I checked my Mana reserves and had to stifle a curse as I had only a Quarter left.
'How much Mana do you have left, Anastasia?' I asked her.
'Uh, I got maybe half,' She responded as she jumped. [The Festering Patriarch] lunged his spectral claws, almost reaching Anastasia as she crossed the border of my [Force Field], and the Patriarch crashed into it. He looked kinda goofy with his face smeared against the [Force Field].
Anastasia and I both began blasting away at the Specter with rocks and Anastasia with venom. He screeched like a demon hit with holy water. Soon, his spectral skin cracked and started to slowly peel away, revealing a sick, plague-ridden version of the rat.
The Patriarch hacked and puked ectoplasm over us, the [Force Field] held, but small hairline fractures appeared along it. The Patriarch began to blast miasma at the [Force Field] imbuing more of my Mana into it.
'Anastasia, I'm going to imbue the rest of my Mana into this [Force Field] and then I'm going to of very little to no use, please take care of this fucker' I told her before slamming my Staff into the Ground my Mana flowed from my head into the [Force Field]. Then I slumped onto my staff a deep tiredness and migraine twinned together.
I watched the battle, and it felt like a fever dream. Anastasia battled the creature for some time afterwards, and the spectral image of the Patriarch continued to degrade until eventually he became a spitting image of the Skeleton version of himself.
Until my Mana returned, a single mana point, it was enough though. As Anastasia flagged her mana pool basically gone I pulled myself up. Deciding to risk it all I looked over to my side where my [Daemonic Club] lay in the rubble of my Golem. Dashing through the barrier, I grabbed the club and turned around. I smacked the Patriarch and sent his spectral form flying. Pulling out my trusty dagger I launched myself forward.
Running along the walls at top speed I dodged the beams of Deadly Miasma. I neared the weakened Specter and slashed him with my dagger before sending him flying with my Club.
"Oh, you're awake and you have a cursed weapon!" The Patriarch said, trying to maintain his air of power, but the Skeletal specter was ragged, and the cursed energy of my dagger was slowly infecting his form, weakening him further.
I moved forward again using [Flow of Combat] and [Knight's Intuition] to dodge the retaliatory beams of Miasma. Once again, I got close to him, and he managed to dodge the dagger, but I still hit him with the Club.
Once again he was sent flying. This time, cracks appeared along his bones, and the purple energy that ran through his bones seeped out, contaminating his miasmic aura. Moving with purpose I once again tried to get close to him. This time, though, he sent shockwaves of purple energy. I knew from my skills that even touching that would kill me.
Jumping over the shockwaves I brought my Club down into a final fatal strike.
...
[Level Up]
You have gained XP for killing a level 16 rank two Spectral Semi-Elemental Undead known as [The Festering Patriarch]. You are now Rank 2
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[Rank Up]
You have hit the threshold to evolve to a Rank Two Being. All currently held classes will have options to evolve into more powerful rank 2 versions. You have ten stat points available.
[Press Here] to Rank up your [Squire-Prodigy] Class to Rank Two.
[Press Here] to Rank up your [Divine Smithing Initiate] Class to Rank Two.
[Press Here] to Rank up your [Cave Gardener] class to Rank Two.
*You don't fulfill the requirements to Upgrade your race [Daemon of Protection and The Depths]*
+5 Stat points per a level
+1 Class Slot
+1000 Divinity
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[Bonus Quest Completed]
You have Completed the Bonus Quest and it's bonus Objective.
Reward: +25 Achievement Points, and a cure for the Infection.
Bonus Objective Reward: +10 Achievement Points, and the Title [Slayer of the Plagued]
-[Slayer of the Plagued]
You have slain hundreds of those corrupted by a mind bending plague. +Trait [Disease Resistance] and +10% Affinity to the Conceptual Plain of [Mercy]
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[Quest Bonus Reward]
You have gained +25 Achievement Points for completing the bonus Objective, all hosts of the Plague have been killed in their instance of the Tutorial.
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I read through the messages, I had hit rank two finally! It looked like I gained ten stats per a level rather then five. Also the extra class slot was nice, but the most valuable was the fuck ton of Divinity that flowed into me and through the Divine Connection and up. I really hoped that the achievement points where actually worth something cause I was racking them up.
I pressed on the the Class Upgrade selection of [Squire-Prodigy]. A long screen of notifications appeared.
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[Rank Two Upgrade]
These are the Options available for the Rank Two Upgrade for the [Squire-Prodigy] Class, all achievements that boost class upgrades have been consumed.
...