Chương 16

I looked at the sarcophagus and I shouted, "Oh, fuck."

"John?" I heard Tina's voice from the other side of the door. I circled back to the door and looked at my wristwatch. There were only thirty minutes before dawn.

"John, what happened? Is the boss dead?"

"No. The damn boss— I just used Judgment of Raziel and— guys, give me a moment. I need to think." I went back up to the altar, and I looked at the sarcophagus. I touched it. A slight static ran over the stone, something like an aura. It felt electrical. It felt like this thing wasn't gonna explode no matter how many Judgments of Raziel I threw at it.

"Think, John," I told myself.

"Fucking try and think. How are you gonna do this?" So I tried calming down, and I took thirty seconds of silence. I was burning daylight — well, nightlight — but I needed to clear my mind. Then, sitting on the sarcophagus, I merged myself into the Sphere of Intuition, and I shut my actual eyes, just feeling through the Sphere. So. Power goes into the sarcophagus from all the hieroglyphs, clearly. The power ran under the sarcophagus like circuits.

There was a central circuit that clearly came from the outside — I could see those lines of power through my Sphere of Intuition, and they came from behind the shut door. Okay, I thought. So all those creatures outside — they're powering up the boss, right? And they're, I don't know, resuscitating it, or evolving it, whatever it is. That's when I noticed something. Okay. So what are these ones doing? I went close to the wall, and I followed the lines of power that went through the stone and toward the sarcophagus.

The sarcophagus probably weighed more than ten tons, just by the solid and gigantic look of it. So that meant we couldn't just move it and check underneath. Maybe I could use a lever, my engineering mind thought. But no, that wasn't it. The sarcophagus had probably already absorbed enough power to evolve. There was less than half an hour left. I needed to find a goddamn solution to this, and I needed to find it fast. I traced these conduits of power, these circuits, and I noticed something weird. Wait a moment.

Through the Sphere of Intuition, I saw that the static I had felt on the sarcophagus was actually coming not from the outside, but from inside this room. And a large chunk of it— I traced it to the lion.

"Of course it's coming from this huge boss," I muttered. Then I remembered Langdon's words. He had tried to warn me about something. Could it be? I looked around. He had said that there's always a catch. There's always something hidden in plain sight. Nothing is left to chance here. I looked around the room once more, and then I swore under my breath, looking at the dozens and dozens of creatures up on the walls.

"Fuck." It landed all at once.

"I know what we have to do." I looked back at the static on the sarcophagus. I ran back toward the door that had shut, and traced the conduits that powered it. It was the two Alpha hyenas that were nailed to the wall right beside it. I used my spear to pry them off, cutting their arms in two swift slashes. They came off very easily when I pulled. The door stopped glowing. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Guys, the door! Fucking kick down the door, Marcus. Use the shield!"

"On it," I heard Marcus reply from the other side, and I heard banging. The door collapsed almost immediately, and I clenched my teeth.

"Okay," I said, as soon as the team came through from the other side.

"Here's the thing. We have to un-crucify all these creatures immediately, or the sarcophagus won't break. I don't have time to explain. Just start peeling these motherfuckers off the wall right now." After saying that, I immediately ran to the closest hyena, grabbed it with my hands, and tossed it on the ground. The chamber was gigantic, and I immediately got to work. After seeing what I'd just done, they all started working as well — including Lucas, even though he had only one hand.

"What is this doing?" Marcus asked while we pried the creatures off the wall.

"The sarcophagus is protected by some sort of spell that is powered by these motherfuckers. If we don't take them off, I cannot destroy the sarcophagus. Not even with my skill. It just ate an explosion, just like that. It's gonna be impossible to destroy until we remove its power source."

"Of course it had to be something complicated," Tina said, lifting a zebra off the wall. They slid off the nails very easily, thankfully, and so we got to work. But the time was ticking down. Ten minutes, thirty seconds. I ran back and forth, and I saw the static on the sarcophagus starting to fade — but too slow. If we had gotten here with a couple hours to spare, this would have been the easiest job in the world. But it was late.

"If it hadn't fucking rained," I said between my teeth. I had made a mistake, probably. I should have found a way to get more mana potions. I should have worried about this. This entire tutorial was a matter of time and timing. Stopping to rest had been a terrible choice. Five minutes, thirty seconds.

"Come on, we're almost done," I shouted. We had pried dozens and dozens of corpses off the walls, but there were still several dozen left. We worked frantically. Every creature we pulled down threw a loot prompt at me. I stopped reading them after the fourth and just accepted everything, and kept moving. Three minutes, forty-four seconds. Two minutes, sixteen seconds. We pried the last of them off, and I looked at the sarcophagus.

"Okay." I activated Judgment of Raziel, and I threw another spear at it. A great explosion enveloped it. One minute, fifty-five seconds. When the smoke cleared, the sarcophagus had cracked. But that was all the damage it had suffered. I immediately downed my last potion. But then I stopped, right before I could throw another spear, and I turned toward the giant lion. That thing is not going to die to one spear either. I ran toward it and stood in front of the gigantic mass of fur and flesh.

If I kill this thing, the sarcophagus will have its last defense down. I raised my spear, but, in that moment, the Boss opened its eye. There was a glimmer of intelligence in it. There was a nobleness in it. I didn't see animosity nor hate from it.

"Goddammit!" I said, lowering my spear.

"Hailey!" I shouted.

"I need you to heal that damn lion. Pour as much mana into it as you can."

"What?" Hailey said.

"Just do it! Fuck!" I shouted. Then I went up to the lion's mouth, and I took out my Stamina Potion and the Pet Biscuit. I really hope this works. I forced my arm inside the giant lion's mouth with the biscuit, and I washed it down with some of the Stamina Potion, trying to force it down its throat. The lion coughed and almost took my arm off. But I think it swallowed the Pet Biscuit, because next I heard a notification in my head. I didn't even look at it.

Hailey downed her own potion and channeled more Heal toward the lion. 0: 50 Fuck. Come on. Come on. Come on. Why is nothing happening? 0: 22 I looked at the notification. Give a name to your pet to seal the contract. Goddammit. Not now. I thought on the spot, and the only thing that came to me was Pussycat. Don't ask me why. It was the only thing on my mind when thirty seconds were left on the clock. You have named your Pet 'Pussycat.'

The giant lion sprang to its feet the second I gave it a name, giving me a big lick and almost taking my face off with it. Jesus. All right. I turned to the sarcophagus. 0: 08 I activated Judgment of Raziel, summoned a Gnoll's Throwing Spear, and threw it. 0: 02 0: 01 It's not going to make it in time! That's when I crushed the Negative Second bead in my pocket. I had left it there, hoping I wouldn't need it.

Time froze, and in that frozen expanse, my colleagues caught mid-shout, mouths open, not moving, the spear kept flying. And thanks to the bead, it made it just in time. The spear impacted the sarcophagus. 0: 00 Congratulations. You have killed your first boss. All creatures raised by the Boss have collapsed. The Large Haven stands. The siege was over.