<>(Zack)<>

The Spook Master wears a white sheet with two holes for eyes cut into it. Its eyes are a dark brown, and the green skin around them indicates its Goblin nature. That, along with the arm extending from under the sheet, the hand holding the lantern covered with a black glove.

Were it not for Appraisal, I probably wouldn't believe this was the Boss.

Spook Master Level 25 Health: 13,482 Mana: 79,483

Fuck.

My Strength is only 42. With Rage and Blood Frenzy combined together, it'd take me more than a hundred full-powered hits to kill it.

And the immense Mana Pool indicates that this little Monster knows more than a few tricks.

We are hopelessly outmatched.

"Ooooh-ooooh-oooOOOOH!" The Spook Master makes ghost noises, shaking its lantern.

"Is that supposed to be scary?" I ask, and it stops moving entirely.

"Boo?" It asks.

"I'm kind of scared," Bryce whispers. "I can't see its stats."

"You'd probably piss yourself if you did," I whisper back.

"Fuck."

"Yeah," I whisper back to him, my gaze still focused on the Spook Master. "Um. We don't want to fight you."

"Boo?" It asks.

"No," I say. "We don't want to fight you, we can't fight you."

"Boo?" It asks a little more forcefully.

"What's it saying?" Bryce whispers.

"I think this one actually speaks English."

"Trick or treat?" It asks.

Yeah. It speaks English.

"Um… treat?" I answer.

"Treat!" It exclaims in excitement.

Then, its form swirls, rapidly growing until it's a fucking jack-o-lantern eight feet tall, an orange flame within it.

"BOO!" It roars, then jumps towards us.

"RUN!" I shove Bryce to the side.

Bryce takes off running in that direction, and I Dash forward, rolling as the Spook Master lands, leaving a small crater in the ground. I scramble to my feet, listening as Bryce's steps fade away.

The Spook Master turns to face me, fire burning within it, exploding from its jagged mouth in a steady stream.

I roll to the side, evading the flames, and start running.

Only to get taken out by a piece of candy shot at a high speed. It passed clean through my leg, taking out a hundred Health and crippling me. I tumble to the ground, taking three more pieces of high-velocity candy as more pepper the ground around me.

I'm at 83 Health just from that.

Looking at the Spook Master, it's now taken on the form of a ten-foot Spook Slime. The core glows, indicating the preparation of another assault.

One second. That's how long it will take, at maximum. Definitely for this thing. And it's barely had a dip in its Mana.

That's how long I have to do this, how long I have to create an opportunity for me to escape. If I fail, I'm dead.

I refuse to die, though. Not here. There isn't a chance in hell I'm going to die, despite the pain I'm feeling right now, despite the odds.

I wouldn't be a true Dark Knight if I did.

And yet, I can't think of something in my arsenal that would allow me to win.

The Spook Master fires its next assault of high-velocity candy at me, and I roll behind a tree, which splinters from the impact, the candy likely driving deep into it.

"Fireball!" I summon a ball of violet flames as I roll out from behind the tree.

I throw it at the Spook Master, hitting it with as much magic as I can. It barely drives a foot into the ooze, and doesn't actually take out any Health.

The hard way, then.

I Dash forward, allowing my Rage to fill me. The core glows brighter as I draw near. Even with all my might, unless I hit the core directly, it won't take damage from a physical weapon.

It knows that, which is why it isn't shifting from this form with me so close.

But Bryce was right. There has to be a way to return this damage to it. And I'm going to do that. And in the moment after, when it's stunned at the damage someone as weak as me dealt to it, I'm going to take off running.

Hopefully, I'll get far enough away that it won't chase.

I trigger Dash once more as I leap, my sword held with the blade facing forward as I bullet through the air, a Skill's name escaping my lips.

"Dark Vengeance!"

New Skill! Dark Vengeance Active Focuses all of the damage taken in the last few seconds into a single physical strike. If the opponent's flesh is pierced, all of the damage taken in that time is returned to them, the user's Health restored by that amount. This Skill ignores all resistances and Endurance. Collection Time: 5 seconds per Level of this Skill Mana Cost: 50% of Maximum Mana, reducing by 4% per Level of this Skill

Forty-six percent of my Maximum Mana drains away and I sink within the Spook Master's ooze, stopping just close to the core.

The sudden flood of my Health restoring to full indicates I nicked the core, and that it counts as flesh.

Good, all of its damage to me was in the last five seconds.

And the fact that this Skill ignores any form of defense, so long as I pierced their body, means that I just took out 517 Health from this thing.

The damage from my pierce only took out 89 Health, I determine.

Now to figure out how to escape the ooze; being in this is damaging me.

Just as I think that, the ooze sucks in to the core, the Spook Master swirling. I drop to the ground, scrambling to pick up my sword before running.

I make it a hundred yards away before there's a crashing from above, and I look up just in time to see a massive fucking jack-o-lantern landing in front of me, the impact throwing me back several feet.

As I scramble to my feet, a jet of fire streams at me. I roll to the side, then again as the Spook Master turns to follow me with its damn breath.

The flames stop for a moment, as I take off, only to find two jets of fire burning the ground ahead of me, moving towards each other and cutting off my path.

The Spook Master is a moron if it thinks that will stop me!

Instead of trying to stop my run, I drive my next foot into the ground and push, launching myself up, doing a flip in the air between the streams of fire coming from the Monster's eyes.

The Spook Master ends its attack as I do, swirling, and a thought crosses my mind.

I flick out my knife, sending it soaring through the air as fast as I can.

It slams into the swirling mess, pinning the Spook Master to a tree behind it. This time, the Spook Master is in its sheet-covered Goblin form, bleeding from the knife wound in its shoulder.

"I said treat, asshole," I say. "Guess you're getting a trick instead."

The Spook Master pulls my knife out of its shoulder with its free hand, flipping it around in its hand a few times as I charge, then blocking the swing of my sword. I strike at it several times, and it wields my knife expertly, stopping every attack. It manages to get a few hits in on me, its speed only barely higher than my own.

After more than a minute of us clashing blades, I manage to lock them together, pinning the Spook Master against a tree.

"Time for the trick!" I snarl. "Fireball!"

The Fireball explodes out of my hand, catching its sheet on fire, the violet flames turning to red, orange, and yellow as it burns the sheet.

The Spook Master abandons its attempts to stop or attack me as it starts patting its sheet with one hand, keeping the other firmly clutching the lantern.

The lantern which I target with my sword, smashing through it. The flame extinguishes and the Spook Master roars, ripping the now-destroyed sheet off as two messages appear in my vision.

Spook master Lantern Destroyed! All Specieal Forms Now Unavailable! Spook master Guard Destroyed! All Damage Taken Doubled!

The Spook Master looks like a regular Goblin, apart from the leather gloves on its hands, the leather loincloth, the leather boots, and the pumpkin necklace around its neck.

The Spook Master howls, and I stare at it. It's calling for help, isn't it?

"Arrr-rrooooOOOOOOO!" I howl in response, and the Spook Master jumps, started by the sudden howling. "Give! Me! TREATS!"

I lunge at it, and it jumps backwards, disappearing from view as the flames from the sheet fade away. That has to have been the 'Spook Master Guard', and would probably explain why it stuck to those other two forms.

Me striking it as it swirled must have forced it into the Goblin form, which is likely its real form.

I listen to the movements around me, ducking as a blow swings over my head. I sweep the Spook Master off its feet, then stab down with my sword, which cuts into the ground. Dammit, it rolled away.

I take off running in the direction of home, hearing it following behind me. Several times, I either run directly into a tree or narrowly miss doing so. I do manage to avoid most, though.

But the damn thing is keeping up with me. Curse its speed and the lack of moonlight tonight. Fucking cloudy night.

Fucking cloudy night?

Why is there so little light tonight?

There's snow on the ground, shouldn't that reflect even the tiniest of light to the point we can see?

Something's dampening the light around here.

I stop running, closing my eyes and listening. The Spook Master drawers nearer and nearer, about to reach me.

Just before it does, I spin, keeping my eyes shut as slice through the Spook Master with my sword.

That shouldn't have cut past the skin, and yet it passed clean through, the Spook Master fading away as my blade pierced it all the way, judging by the sounds and the location.

The moment that happens, the light returns to normal, giving a warm, orange glow to the Boundary in the cloudy night with a snow-covered ground. I open my eyes, looking at what stands before me.

Or rather, floats.

Floating in place of the Spook Master is the real Spook Master.

It's a floating orange glow.

Spook Master (True) Level 25 Health: 618 Mana: 287,942

Well, fuck that Mana Pool. It must be immense, if it was able to continue to sustain the illusions and cast those spells at me. It was likely making those forms directly, too. Those weren't illusions.

Not unless I couldn't see them. We were surrounded by a fucking illusion.

The Spook Master doesn't seem to know how to react, as it just floats in front of me, and attempting to read it just yields scrambled thoughts.

It begins to glow brighter. That, or it's sucking in the light around me.

"Oh, no, you don't!" I close my eyes, holding up a hand. "Fireball! Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!"

I blast Fireball after Fireball, listening to the shifting of the air to know where it's at and predict where it's moving to. It takes me less than a minute to kill the annoying fucker, indicated by a message appearing in my vision.

Spook Master Slain! +500% Static Experience to Class or Classes of Your Choice, +500% Static Experience to Subclass or Subclasses of your Choice, Title [A Special Kind of Slayer], Title [Holiday-Breaker] Subclass [Special Slayer], Subclass [Holiday Hunter], +10 Gold, +5 Spook Ingots, +5 Spook Treats Spook Master Slain in its True Form! Rewards: +500% Static Experience to Class or Classes of Your Choice, +500% Static Experience to Subclass or Subclasses of your Choice, +10 Gold, +15 Spook Ingots, +15 Spook Treats

I drop to the ground, lying there and breathing heavily as I read the message in my vision, as well as the other message in my vision.

After reading through that one and deciding that killing a Special Monster Boss would be something that would have been sought after by a bunch of Adventurers around here, I find it odd that no one came here. I know they're working hard at reclaiming the mines, but wouldn't it be beneficial to hunt that?

That's five free Levels – ten if they can get it into its true form long enough to kill it there. Plus a decent amount of gold and Spook Ingots and Spook Treats, whatever those are.

Then there are the Titles and Subclasses acquired. I pull those up.

A Special Kind of Slayer: One who has slain the Boss of a Special Monster by himself, you are more than a mere Adventurer. Holiday Breaker: One who has slain the Boss of a Holiday Monster by himself, you care not for their celebrations. New Subclass! Special Slayer Provides a passive bonus to damage received from all Special Monsters and Special Monster Bosses. Damage Reduction: 2% per Level of this Subclass Accept Decline New Subclass! Holiday Hunter Provides a passive bonus to damage dealt to all Holiday Monsters and Holiday Monster Bosses. Damage Increase: 2% per Level of this Subclass Accept Decline

Those Subclasses seem like they would be useful, either during holiday seasons or if there are Special Monsters around while I'm doing stuff. I'm not sure what to make of the Titles, though. They're good, and classed at Rank 2, yet it seems like I'm gaining Titles way too easily.

From what I know, they're incredibly tough to earn. And yet… I have five.

Though… I would definitely say that these two were hard to earn. They almost cost me my life. Wouldn't a stronger Adventurer be able to earn them, though? I'm sure Nik could have handled that on his own.

"ZACK!" Bryce yells, terror in his voice.

I hear the crunching of snow as he runs towards me as fast as he can, then him dropping to his knees next to me.

"Zack!" He exclaims. "Zack, you-"

"Are still alive," I crack open an eye to see his worry-filled face. "Just exhausted. Damn, that thing was tough."

"We should go," he tells me. "Before it returns."

So he didn't see me kill it, then. Or get the messages. Oh, right. He never actually attacked it.

"Why aren't you in the City?" I ask.

"When I got far enough away," he explains. "I could see normally again, and realized that there was some sort of magic absorbing the light where we were. When I turned around, it was like a wall of darkness ahead of me. I got farther away and looked again, and saw that it was a giant dome."

So the Spook Master had created a massive sphere of the light-absorbing darkness as part of its illusion.

"When it faded," he says. "I came running to find you. I-"

"You're a fucking moron," I tell him. "Running into the woods? At night? With something that you knew I couldn't fight on the loose? What if it'd killed you, too? Then, we'd both be dead."

"Sorry," he says, and I sit up. "It let you go?"

"No," I grin at him. "I figured out how to kill it."