*Doon doon doon*
It was like a deep slow war drum, building up an anxious pressure for battle within the hearts of anyone who would hear it.
*Doon doon…*
The first group of heavy soldiers approached as they marched in unison, causing small pebbles to shift on the highway.
While each group of soldiers was separate, they all marched in perfect harmony.
“Get ready.” Jay said, grasping his sword tightly as he stared ahead.
Anya nodded and squinted, ready for battle. She held her crossbow up, aiming to fire as soon as the soldiers came within aggro range of the skeleton vanguard.
The soldier statues suddenly got into range and began to charge. This was not their usual tactic, as they would usually either fight defensively or slowly push forward.
“Somethings different.” Jay said to Anya as he charged into the battle.
Each skeleton kept a statue busy, leaving the fifth one left over for Jay to fight.
*Swoosh~*
*Thwonk~*
[9.7]
Jay dodged a sword slash and retaliated with a hammer smash.
His hammer did more damage now that his strength was higher, but he didn’t have any time to think about it as they had to kill these statues as quickly as they could.
Anya wasn’t idle either, unleashing a stream of heavy bolts at the statue Jay was fighting.
*Shring… shring…*
Each bolt shuddered and cracked off bits of the statue as its health plummeted..
“Nice damage” thought Jay as he finished his enemy off with a final wallop of his hammer.
It seemed like Anya still did more damage despite him raising his strength to 20.
The swordsman statues were level three and only had 35hp, while the spearmen statues were level four with 50hp.
Without pause, Jay dashed over to a nearby statue, smashing its head with the back of his hammer while it was distracted.
Anya dealt massive damage too; soon enough the second statue fell, returning to the rubble from which it was hewn.
The fight was then a five versus three, and the last statues were quickly culled.
*Doon doon doon*
The next set of marching statues was coming, and they barely had any breathing room.
“Keep fighting!” Jay yelled as the skeletons returned to formation.
The first fight set the pace, and since they could kill five statues before the next group would arrive, it meant they could beat this challenge.
*Swoosh~ thwonk~ ching~ clink~*
Hammers chipped off cracking stone while bolts sheared off large chunks as each statue was destroyed.
The second group of five was culled even more quickly than the first, but the third group of statues arrived earlier than expected.
*Doon doon doon*
Like clockwork, the third group of enemies charged at them.
“Did they come a little too quickly?” Jay thought as he dashed at the first statue.
“What if they come a little more quickly each time?” he wondered as he smashed a hammer against the statue.
“I will need to end this quickly and see.” he thought as he yelled back to Anya.
“Finish the other swordsman so we can free up a skeleton! I can finish this one by myself!”
*Shring~* a bolt immediately hit the other swordsman statue and caused it to stagger, giving the skeleton a perfect opportunity to strike.
*…doon doon doon* more statues were coming.
*Swoosh~ thwonk~ ching~ clink~*
“Dammit, I hate being right.” Jay shook his head, hearing the next group of statues coming.
He quickly finished the swordsman statue off at the same time that Anya finished the other one.
The group quickly turned on the three remaining spearmen statues and finished them off as fast as they could, but the fresh group of statues was already on them.
Two spearmen went down as the latest group of soldier statues began to charge.
Jay had to dodge a spear thrust from behind right as he finished off the last statue; Jay and his skeletons had circled it and whaled on it like a group of kids would whale on a pinata.
*Swoosh*
“Dammit, shit” he almost didn’t dodge the spear thrust.
This was the fourth group, so there was on more after this. The challenge was coming to an end, but Jay realise that the very last fights would be harder than the first three battles combined.
He had to do something to increase their damage output, so he made the call.
“Change up tactics, skeletons go all out!”
The skeletons’ eyes seemed to twinkle as Jay barked out his order, like berserkers they were made for fights like this. None of them felt any pain, they simply wanted to savagely attack with a relentless assault.
Immediately the skeletons jumped forward into dangerous positions; they were dealing much more damage as they span and smashed to their hearts content, but now they were taking damage in return too.
The swordsman statue that Anya was attacking went down to rubble first, quickly destroyed by the combined attacks of the skeleton and Anya’s bolts.
Next, Jays skeleton went down to the dirt as it cracked and crumbled.
Jay immediately pounced on the spearman statue near him while Anya and the free skeleton went after another.
*Doon doon doon*
“Shit.” Jay clenched his jaw in heated frustration, hearing the sounds of the next group marching.
The next group of five statues were already charging them while the three spearmen statues from the last group were still alive and well – though they were around half health.
“Dammit… What can I do. The skeletons are already damaged… we can’t fight more than five… We might have to retreat?”
Anya saw Jay’s conflicted expression, even in the heat of battle she could see that he was different; it was like a piece of him was no longer in the battle, and his fighting showed it.
Some of his attacks were slightly delayed and he no longer looked around as much; his awareness seemed to drop.
Immediately, Anya knew what to do as she rushed forward.
“What the fuck is she doing…” Jay thought as he smashed his hammer down on a spearman statue while dodging the thrust from another. His concentration was dropping and now Anya was charging into battle?
Then, he realised what was about to happen.
“Skeletons, step back!” he got them to safety so they wouldn’t take more unnecessary damage.
Anya kept running forward, and just before she was within attack range, she used her ability.
“PROSTRATE!~~~”
The deathly majestic voice of an ancient eldritch king rang out, shivering the very souls of all who heard it.
Filled with unquestionable authority, all had to obey.
*DOOON~* each statue smashed their faces to the ground, kowtowing as if their lives depended on it.
Jay was still running back while his body automatically knelt; he skidded to a halt on his knees.
Each skeleton similarly bowed down, dropping their hammers before them.
“Rise,” Anya said to Jay and the skeletons, mimicking the way Jay said it with a mischievous smile.
Jay and the skeletons didn’t need a second order, as each of them grabbed their hammers and began to smashed in the heads of the defenceless statues.
Three spearmen statues went down quickly, and then two more swordsmen, leaving three more spearmen statues.
“Jay, step back… it’s almost over.”
“What?”
“They’re about to get up!”
Jay was in the attack range of one of them, and he didn’t take any chances as he immediately jumped back.
*Swoosh~*
Just in time as a spear pierced right where his head just was. A skeleton wasn’t so lucky as it was struck, it went flying and skittled across the highway.
“Fuck…” he shook his head.
“I thought that ability lasted longer?” Jay asked.
“They’re stronger somehow. I don’t know?” Anya shrugged as she aimed another bolt.
*Shring~*
“Dammit…” Jay thought.
“At least there’s only three left,” he said. “You can finish them off.” he waved his hand as he stepped back further and began to catch his breath.
The skeleton that was hit away returned to the fight with just as much vigour and ferocity as it always had.
“I guess Anya’s ability doesn’t count as magic since they’re magic immune? I wonder why it didn’t last as long though…”
Jay remembered previously when fighting the leeches; even inside the leech queen’s stomach he kowtowed – There was plenty of time to get out of the stomach and fight back.
“Oh well.” he thought, “I don’t rely on others anyway. If I wanted, I still could have activated my boots and got out of the fight safely.”
Finally, the last three statues went down, and the group received some notifications.
[Entrance Challenge – Complete]
[990 Exp]
“Not a bad amount of exp I guess. Pretty decent for a short amount of time.” Jay thought as he checked over the notifications – before turning to Anya who had quite a different reaction.
Anya’s eyes were bulging and she had a wide smile on her face – the first time Jay had seen her smile this widely.
“So much exp” she was ecstatic, completely joyful for a moment. Gone was the icy cold indifference she usually exhibited.
It would have taken a group of at least five to conquer this challenge, diluting the experience points gained – however, with Jay, they each received fifty perfect of the exp.
Suddenly, she noticed Jay looking at her.
Immediately she turned away and coughed, “Good job.” she said before turning back again with her usual cold stare.
*GURRRRRRR~*
Jay looked towards the pyramid – the doors were moving. Each of them groaned as they opened outwards; both doors were as thick as a road and as tall as giants.
Next, six spearman statues marched out and formed into a defensive position at the entrance.
“Looks like there’s a welcoming party.” Jay said as he gazed at them.
“Ready?” he glanced at Anya with a slight smile.
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