New Earth- The Dungeon of Madness 56 Battle of the Labyrinth 2

With Toba now completely out of the battle for 10 seconds, Dreidus quickly attacked: [Life Drain]

Quickly, Dreidus' HP started to regenerate while Toba's was plummeting. Compared to the other skills used by Dreidus, this one was a low-level one and as a result, it did not have spectacular animations and did not cause much damage. But the reason he chose that skill was that it was the only one he knew that could restore his own health.

Slowly, Dreidus' HP went back to 100 while Toba's dropped to 80. Toba was getting dangerously low on HP, if it continued like that, he would not last for long as there was still 5 seconds left on the stun.

Fortunately, the other barbarian finished dealing with the skeletons summoned by Dreidus, "Toba! You filthy monster! What did you do to Toba?"

He rushed towards Dreidus and swung his ax to interrupt the [Life Drain]. Unfortunately, with only 100 HP, Dreidus was not confident in surviving the attack.

He quickly stopped his skill and floated a few meters backward to avoid the ax.

"Toba! Toba!!" As soon as Dreidus moved away, the barbarian quickly grabbed his leader and retreated a few steps. He shouted his name and violently shook him to try to wake him up but in vain.

"D*mnit, how could even Toba fail!" cursed the barbarian. He clearly knew that his leader's condition was only temporary and as long as he could protect him for a moment, then everything would be fine.

Although barbarians were not the smartest people, then it came to fighting, it was like they were born for it. He already knew that the lich was severely injured and that just one or two strikes would be enough to finish it. He could naturally attempt to be the hero and take it down but doing so would expose Toba to his attacks. The safest option for him was to simply stall for time until Toba would be back up.

However, Dreidus would naturally not let his plan succeed. While he was fighting, he was coordinating the skeletons, sending groups after groups to the two barbarians still at the center to delay them.

At the same time, 2 skeletons wearing helmets appeared behind his silhouette and started making their way toward the stunned Toba.

On the clock, there were just 40 seconds left before Dreidus' battle form would expire, he could not afford to waste any time.

With 2 new skeletons helping him, he raised his finger and pointed it at Toba. As long as he took down the strongest member of the group, then his chances of winning would increase exponentially.

The barbarian quickly noticed Dreidus' action. He could only curse loudly but to protect Toba, he could not attack. Instead, he put back his ax on his back and raised Toba's body with his 2 arms; this way, he would be able to dodge the next attack!

He intently watched the lich's finger move as his eyes suddenly became red.

[Death Ray]

The barbarian was already flexing his legs, ready to jump on the side to avoid the attack but he was totally stunned when he saw the lich's move. Instead of targetting him and Toba, the [Death Ray] flew straight towards the central place of the labyrinth!

He wanted to shout to alert the others but when he turned his head to look at his friends, it was already too late.

...

At the central place of the labyrinth, the archer was wildly shooting his arrows.

"Tak Tak!"

The skeletons were slow and were easy targets but despite not missing his shots, the skeletons did not seem very affected by the arrows. He needed at least 3 arrows to take down the skeletons and at this rate, even if he kept walking backward, the skeleton would catch up to him.

However, he suddenly saw a shadow in the corner of his eye. The shadow went pass him and swung his ax in a circle, pushing away all the skeletons.

"Thanks, Anken!" exclaimed the archer. He immediately recognized the barbarian who came to his rescue. The archer was delighted to receive some help but there was no time to rest; on the side, he could see more skeletons slowly making their way towards the two.

It looked like the skeletons were timed such that as soon as they would defeat one, another one would emerge from one of the corridors such that both of them would be unable to focus on the lich.

If they left this place, they might be cut off from the exit! Anken and the archer were feeling their frustration build up as more and more piles of bones were forming all over the place.

Suddenly, instead of the usual one skeleton at a time, 5 skeletons appeared together. 4 of them walked together in a group while another one came out of another corridor in the distance.

"Take care of the one at the back! I'll deal with those four!" shouted Anken as he rushed towards the group of skeletons.

The archer nodded and focused his fire towards the lonely skeleton. He was fully trusting his teammate as he knew his abilities; Anken was strong and only needed one hit, at most 2 hits to take down a skeleton and that was without using any skills.

Anken stomped the ground and jumped to land right in the middle of the group of skeletons. They all immediately reacted and turned towards him, attacking from 4 different directions but at the same time, Anken activated his skill, [Tornado Cleave]

He violently spun on himself, while holding his ax horizontally. By doing so, the ax would slice anything in a circle around him which was why he positioned himself right in the middle of the skeletons.

The ax easily went through the first skeleton and divided its body in two. Anken put in so much force that he did not feel any obstruction. Even as he was cutting through the rib cage of the skeleton, to Anken, it felt more like he was cutting through butter.

The second skeleton did not last much longer. It was holding a shield and a sword but the items were nothing in front of Anken's ax.

However, as he was about to strike the 3rd skeleton, Anken suddenly caught sight of something red flying towards him. His instinct was warning him to dodge but it was too late; he was in the middle of a skill and no matter how hard he tried, it was impossible to stop it midway.

"Boom!"

Before Anken could take down the third skeleton, an explosion occurred on his chest as his body was blown away. An intense pain paralyzed his arms; he tried to open his eyes but all he saw was 2 shadows move in front of him.

The next second, his two legs screamed in pain as the rest of his body convulsed.

"Anken!!!"

The archer screamed! He saw the entire scene play in front of him but was unable to react! After initiating his skill, Anken was suddenly hit by a red beam and his body was blasted away in the direction of the remaining two skeletons.

When he saw that, the archer wanted to immediately shoot some arrows but it was too late, the two remaining skeletons brought down their swords and slashed the 2 legs of Anken.

In addition to the 2 bloody lines on his legs, Anken's chest was completely exposed as a huge burn mark was imprinted on it. Despite all these injuries, the barbarian was still alive and struggling to survive; he had a lot of vitality but now, his HP was dangerously low.

...

While this was happening, Dreidus was calmly floating in front of Toba and the other barbarian. Although it seemed like one of the barbarians was about to fall and that the balance was going to tip in his favor, it was not really the case.

After using so many skills in quick succession, Dreidus' mana pool was completely depleted. While he was just level 20, he had been using higher level spells which quickly used up all his mana. As a magic class, there was nothing worse than running out of mana.

To add to the problems he had, the effects of [Death's Stare] finally ran out and Toba could once again join in the fight.

He woke up in a daze from the arms of the barbarians and quickly stood up. He was confused and disoriented at first but he quickly got himself together. Although his HP was already low, Toba felt like he had just been reborn. His face was displaying a renewed determination and courage. At the same time, he looked at Dreidus with intense hatred, like he had just seen his nemesis.

"F*cking monster! How dare you try to trick me! I will let you experience the same things you showed me! Anyone who dares to threaten my family!!! I will exterminate them all!"

...

At the end of the labyrinth, Five was looking at the fight anxiously. He was first surprised by Dreidus' power and how despite the 10 level difference, he could deal with the barbarians. However, it was clear that he was at a disadvantage, he trusted Dreidus but no matter how he looked at it, it did not seem like he would be able to win!

Dreidus was already out of mana while 3 barbarians were still able to fight without any problem. Furthermore, less than 50 skeletons were still alive after the massacre of the barbarians.

"D*mn Dreidus! Looks like I'll need to act myself! Since you already engaged in the battle, I might as well be there!" exclaimed Five as he hurriedly stood up and ran towards the labyrinth.

Behind him, Lumen wore a confused look as she slowly flapped her wings to follow her master.

Chapter end