Chapter 6 - Victorious

Trey stretched his neck as he got up from his spawn point at the totem, walked over to the ledge, and peered down into the black depths of the cavern. He sneered, angrily glaring into the dark for any sign of that bastard monster he’d come to loathe so much. “Come out, come out, wherever you are…”

There was no response. Trey for a reason he could not explain found this hilarious and started laughing loudly, echoing into the cave below. His fear faded away, and he grew hungry for revenge. Perhaps he was losing his mind… but unknown to him, there were other powers at play here.

***

Eleknar had been watching this insane exchange of events ever since Trey’d appeared, and he was both amused and incredibly relieved that Trey’s soul was still intact. However, his patience was running thin… he needed to bond to this new vessel. He needed to live again. Eleknar had waited too long to be held hostage by such an insignificant plebeian gargoyle, this mockery of a guardian. If he’d been able to wield the power he’d once had in life, Eleknar would have struck the infuriating demon from existence with a snap of his fingers… to think that Eleknar’s plans were being stopped by one so weak. The flames of rage roared within the unholy entity, and for a moment he considered contacting Dreadlord Vorshok directly… but he thought better about it. Greed, envy, a lust for power and a disgust for mortals would no doubt heavily sway the gargoyle’s choice in the matter if Eleknar divulged that he wanted this human as his next host. No… if he told Vorshok what he wanted, the gargoyle would undoubtedly hold this human hostage until the All Spirit’s blessing of immortality faded a few months from now. Then, this human… this diamond in the rough... would truly be killed.

That could not happen.

Tightening his pull on Trey’s will, he drew the human in one more time… urging him onwards towards Eleknar’s desired goal.'

***

Without a second thought, Trey lowered himself over the edge, found footholds and began descending the wall. He had previously been afraid of heights. Or had he been? He wasn’t sure. Regardless, he surely wasn’t scared of it now.… Was he? Trey paused to consider it some more, and then shrugged. Faster and faster he went as he used footholds of stone and rock jutting out from the nearly vertical wall to steal his way into the abyss. Trained reflexes responding from years of martial arts and rock climbing moved his arms and legs, toned muscles responded in conjunction with one another to deliver him to his desired goal. Minutes later, he reached the bottom.

Wait, wouldn’t it have been better just to use the ramp?

He didn’t pause to consider it further. Quietly laughing to himself, he darted forward as quietly as he could. Though he tried his best to keep the giggling to a minimum as he still wanted to reach the door. He was excited about the prospect of what was behind that large wooden door and felt the tug of an unseen hand leading him towards it.

“You have increased your sneak skill to level 2,” the mechanical voice echoed in his head.

Trey flew through the darkness almost noiselessly. Considering how his sneak skill was so low, he thought he was doing a very good job at it. Then he stopped and considered it some more - the status page DID say ‘stat AMPLIFICATIONS,’ probably meaning that you could perform said tasks in this place without having any of those skills leveled anyway. It may just make you better or give you some sort of bonus in that area.

“You have increased your intelligence by 1.” the mechanical voice echoed in his head.

Trey rolled his eyes and continued to run along the wall of the cave. He’d likely die again, but he would at least TRY to make some progress here. He was dying regardless and wanted to reach his objective. After all, sitting around and starving to death until you were eaten wasn’t a good option either.

Hearing a noise, Trey paused. The sound was incredibly faint, but he was relatively certain what made it. For a few minutes Trey remained frozen against the wall. To his front and right the hall was shadowed against the light of the lantern. The noise came again from his back right as… breathing… was heard. Turning his head in that direction he sniffed a couple of times and caught a whiff of the monster.

His nose turned up at the scent and Trey’s features scrunched up. Whatever activities it had undertake recently, that fucking gargoyle smelled like utter garbage. No doubt it needed to bathe… did gargoyles take baths?

Probably not.

The beast was likely able to see better than Trey in the dark. It lived here and had maneuvered about easily before, so Trey had to take that into consideration. That being said: it most likely hadn’t seen him yet, as it hadn’t attacked.

He began to walk ahead again - when an image flashed through his mind. He saw himself... picking up a rock, and throwing it at the creature. Then he saw himself running through the cave, down the hall, through that large wooden door... and...

Taunt it.

Taunt it?

It will give chase.

It will give... chase... Yes...

Trey saw another image flash through his mind as the gargoyle reached out... and touched the door. It did it again - it reached out, and touched the door. It happened again, and again, and again... the image flickered through his mind on repeat like a gattling gun and he clutched at his head in anguish only for the image to suddenly stop - freeze - and leave him.

He... He knew what he needed to do.

He grinned and bent down, picking up a nearby rock as a dark presence encroached upon his thoughts. Without a single shit left to give, he whirled about with a decently sized stone.

This bitch-ass hellspawned bat had it coming.

Cackling loudly, he threw the stone as hard as he could in the creature’s direction - or at least at what he thought was the creature. The hours of watching what he could of its activities from high above, as well as large obscured mass in the dark, gave him a pretty good idea of where it was. Trey then heard it violently thud against the beast’s body, and internally congratulated himself on the aim despite his inability to see worth a damn.

Then, with a roar, the gargoyle began to stand.

[Ancient Demon Dialect] “INSECT! WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO EXIST?! MAY YOU DIE AND STAY DEAD THIS TIME!!!” it screeched as deep red flames erupted in a circle about the monster.

[Ancient Demon Dialect] “COME AT ME MOTHERFUCKER!” screamed Trey with a madman’s hoot as he sprinted, naked, towards the hallway... just like the images had told him to do.

Trey cleared the distance between him and the hall within seconds as he turned around to see a large claw coming at him from above. Trey sidestepped into a roll as the gargoyle crushed the ground beside him, throwing bits of stone and gravel into the air as it raised its arm again. But as it stood once more, Trey had already reached the rotting door at the end of the hall. The hole he had originally made when first approaching the door was still present and the rotting wood had somewhat fallen away to create a larger opening than before, much to his surprise. It was nearly big enough for him to fit through!

Trey slammed against the door at the end of the hallway. Grabbing some of the rot with both hands, he heaved as hard as he could on a large piece that looked like it was going to give way any second.

And it did give.

The rotting piece flew up and behind Trey under the contraction of his muscles. He could hear the monster coming for him, and without a second to spare he finally slipped into the room.

Trey hastily turned the corner to avoid the massive claw coming for him, but when the demon behind him slammed its hand against the door... what Trey assumed must be a magical force field burst into life. A white light appeared, shimmered, and instantly reacted with a pulse of energy as the door resisted the enraged demon.

The gargoyle screeched in pain - rearing back; its giant hand ablaze with white pulsing fire. The deafening roar echoed against the cavern walls and Trey paused for a moment to look back and watch through the hole. The demon rolled about on the cave floor in a frenzy, trying to put out the fire that continued to spread across its body, obviously in serious agony. Trey smiled maliciously and rubbed his hands together in triumph, enjoying every second of it.

“About damn time!” Trey muttered. “Motherfucking gargoyles… god.”

He had no idea what had just happened, but the room he was in now obviously had a barrier that the demon could not pass through. Trey didn’t understand why HE could pass through it though. Shrugging, he turned. For the past couple of days Trey had been daydreaming of revenge, a revenge he had been sure wouldn’t actually come… until now. If there was ever to be a time for his daydreams to come to a head, this was that time. He saw the spear from earlier leaning against the wardrobe - the one he had seen the first time coming down here before being eaten. He picked up the spear, looking it up and down. It was obviously ancient and was rusted in some areas. It also had long yellow runes etched into the blade with an emerald inlaid at the end of the shaft. Upon gripping the weapon to inspect it more closely, a status window appeared:

Spear of Dawning

Item Tier: ???

Damage: ???

On Hit Effect: ???

Bonuses: ???

Requirements: ???

Durability: 3/15005

Special: Able to be temporarily wielded by any humanoid if battling any enemy categorized in a class of demon or undead.

Note: Your current opponent has been recognized as a demon class opponent, Spear of Dawning recognizes you as a temporary wielder.

“You have acquired the Identification skill. This skill is governed by the Luck attribute. Congratulations. For inquiries, pull up your status page for more information,” the mechanical voice stated.

Looking at the weapon in his hands he came back to reality and realized how stupid this was. He knew that going back out that door was an incredibly bad move, or at least he felt that way for the first two seconds after identifying the spear. After those two seconds his mind began to fog... and the urge - no, the compulsion to pick up the spear and kill the beast behind him set in again.

Just like that, he briefly lost himself to Eleknar’s madness.

Without taking any time to inspect the rest of the room - Trey darted back into the hallway and towards the flailing gargoyle. IF there was a time to kill this… thing… It was now. The voice of vengeance screaming in his head demanded that he do it. The gargoyle was currently at a massive disadvantage while being lit on fire and Trey assumed he’d be able to stab it with the spear while it struggled to deal with the magic afflicting it.

As Trey leapt out into the cave, he ran forward and came within ten meters of the beast. The fire had spread to engulf the menacing face and was now extending to the horns.

The damage to the gargoyle was far beyond what Trey'd expected. Even now, the struggling was becoming less and less prominent... and the creature even seemed to be dying. It screamed frantically - flailing about violently on the cave floor and giving the relatively small human no chance to get near its body safely. It took no note of Trey as the man pulled his shoulder back, like a javelin thrower would do in the olympic games, hoisting the spear into a readied position. Trey grinned, focused in on his target, then threw the spear as hard as he could towards the monster’s body.

As Trey let go, he momentarily felt a surge of power shoot through his muscles and into his arm - he then saw a shimmer of light travel down the shaft of the weapon. The spear erupted in yellow-white lightning, followed by a sonic boom. The sound nearly caused Trey’s eardrums to rupture. One moment the spear was leaving Trey’s fingertips, and the next it had blasted a hole through the monster in front of him, exiting out the other side of the gargoyle to slam into the far wall.

The weapon left a white-hot molten crater in the wall opposite of where Trey stood, with debris flying out from the impact site. Trey thought he saw the spear almost dissolve as it landed, and could only guess that because it had been used this way - with the durability being 3/15,005 - it probably couldn’t be used anymore after that. How unfortunate that was though - he thought - as he looked in awe at the destruction he had just caused.

His eyes watered and his head rang as he snapped out of the trance, looking to the now very dead gargoyle that had tormented him for so long. A grin came to Trey’s face. That grin turned into a wide-eyed smile, and then into gleeful laughter. He lifted his hands up in the air, fists pumping frantically, and let out a scream of triumph. He jumped up and down in victorious euphoria next to the creature’s mangled burning corpse.

CONGRATULATIONS

CONGRATULATIONS

CONGRATULATIONS

BOSS FIGHT HAS BEEN ENDED. DREADLORD VORSHOK HAS BEEN DEFEATED AS A BOSS RATED ENEMY RELATIVE TO YOUR PARTY’S SKILL LEVEL. DUE TO THE WAY DREADLORD VORSHOK MET HIS DEMISE, XP REWARD HAS BEEN SIGNIFICANTLY DIMINISHED. YOU ARE GRANTED A UNIQUE HEROIC TRAIT FOR KILLING YOUR ENEMY AND SURVIVING THIS ENCOUNTER.

Unique Heroic Trait acquired: Dreadlord Vosrhok’s Bane. +10% resistance to all damage. Autoregenerate 1% HP per minute when out of combat. Autoregenerate lost body parts over time.

“You have gained the Polearms skill. You have gained XP. You have increased your overall combat level by 3. Congratulations.”

The ‘Status Page’ icon in the bottom right of Trey's vision glowed green amidst the ringing of Trey’s ears, tears of joy, shouting, and excitement. After celebrating, Trey walked up to the gigantic corpse and kicked it as hard as he could, multiple times, almost burning his foot in the process.

“Stupid motherfucker!” Trey sneered as he spat on the enormous corpse. “Rot in hell.”