Chương 154: Chapter 151: Camazotz

It didn't sound like a threat. The bat had just stated it, matter-of-factly. There was no hatred or joy in the words. Camazotz spoke like a constant of the world would, everlasting and with no care about the passage of time. The words had weight, but beneath them there was something even more than that. Something old. The three of us stood there, surrounded by the greyed-out names of everyone who had fallen before the light came back.

Alice had both of her hands on her sword on my left, and the staff in Cyrus's hand was burning with a pale blue flame on my right. I kept Spriggan's Will raised, and Lune jumped down and was now standing behind me, close to my feet. Every muscle in my body was waiting for Camazotz to move. Phase Shift: Worthy Prey The House of Bats recognizes those who endured the blind hunt. Surviving challengers restored. Cooldowns reset. Mana restored. Health restored.

The notification hit, and a rush of warmth went through me so hard I almost staggered. My health snapped back to full. Mana flooded in, refilling a bar I had dragged nearly empty multiple times, and my skills turned from grey to usable across my interface one by one. All of them. Alice straightened as her wounds closed and the blood on her face faded into nothing. Cyrus's shoulders eased for half a second, then tightened again as his mana returned and every spell in his kit came back online.

Still, none of the greyed-out names changed. It was a fair start for the three people Camazotz had left standing. The boss lowered its head until the heat of its breath rolled over the platform. Its red eyes fixed on us. Worthy Prey Survive the hunt. Force Camazotz to yield.

"Looks like it's up to the three of us," Cyrus said.

"I wouldn't bet on the bat." Despite the odds, I was smiling. Camazotz still had 50% left, but something had become clear. The previous phase had thinned our numbers, but the way the boss had acknowledged us, the way the next phase was worded, it felt like it was designed to do so. And if the three of us were standing here by design, we had a chance. Alice's mouth twitched, clearly arriving at the same conclusion.

"Let's finish this." Camazotz moved without build-up, launching upward with enough force to crack the stone beneath its claws. The wind hit us like a wall. Alice slid back a full meter with her sword driven into the platform, Cyrus threw up an arcane barrier around himself, and I anchored myself with a Silk Shot to avoid getting blown off the stone. I knew I'd have to rebuild my Adaptive Growth stacks, but with fifty percent of Camazotz's health still there, I knew I had plenty of time to do so.

Next, I activated Light as a Feather because if I saw the boss, I could avoid it, and the extra movement speed helped with that. I glanced at Lune, but she was safe and sound behind me, grabbing onto the platform with relative ease. Her eyes were different, though. She had a strange sense of determination all around her, and I had a feeling that soon enough I would start understanding her behaviour. But first, Camazotz. Bats streamed along the walls, forming shadows.

After a while they had completely engulfed the ceiling.

"Decoys," I called.

"They are shrouding the boss's descent." They came closer and closer, and then parted at the last second. I used Quick Step before the dive completed, and Camazotz's claw hit the stone and dragged through it, ripping a trench across the platform. I turned mid-step, and fired a Verdant Arrow into its back. The arrow left a path of tangling roots growing from the cracked rock beneath us, dealing constant damage to the boss.

By that point, I had loosed another skill: Arrow of Ash & Flames exploded against the dark fur after a quick weapon swap, fire and ash spreading over the limb before Spriggan's Will was back in my hands again. Cyrus had the exact same idea after Mist Stepping away from the attack. A barrage of a Fireball-Flame Lance-Cinderstorm combo had fully engulfed the boss in flames. Alice couldn't reach the boss before it kicked off, but she threw her sword forward.

"Blade Control!" The same skill Athos had learned after the very first dungeon we'd run together made the sword strike true, and then Alice activated Lightning Edge remotely, sending arcs of lightning through Camazotz's body before it could fully take off again. Soon after it broke free of the electric trap, a red mark appeared over Cyrus. Camazotz folded its wings.

"Cyrus, move!" Alice shouted. He did not move away. Instead, he moved toward the center, and raised a hand. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"Black Flames of Xibalba." The Darkfire Cloak opened around him, and black fire gathered into his palm before releasing as a concentrated beam straight upward. Camazotz came down into it, the beam struck the center of its chest, burning a line through the copper fur, and for a heartbeat it looked like Cyrus might actually stop the dive. Then Camazotz pushed through. Cyrus, however, had already retreated using a new function of Mirror Image that let him swap with one of his clones, and Alice was already in position.

"Lightning Blade!" The skill met the bat's claw. The impact threw her sideways, but she took no damage from the confrontation. I fired a Piercing Shot, the arrow striking the wound my comrades had opened. Camazotz, for the first time, screamed, and we all had a brief moment to retreat to safety. Camazotz then screamed, and split the air into three visible rings.

"Jump!" I shouted. Alice jumped with Lightning Steps, Cyrus blinked sideways, and I switched to the Chausses of Dusk and used Catapult Legs as the three razor-edged rings passed beneath us. I was still in the air when the boss looked at me. The head snapped around, mouth opening. Fire. I activated Shadow Travel, dodging the attack and re-appearing on the platform. The cavefire swept through, black and copper rolling across the air.

I had appeared straight under Camazotz, firing a Fan of Arrows upward, and to my surprise, the bullseye of the skill had staggered it.

"Cyrus!" He didn't need me to know what a couple of seconds of immobility had meant.

"Flame Hydra!" Three flaming heads formed around the mage and snapped upward. One head struck the wing. The other two curled around a pillar and hit the beast from behind, sending the bat skidding on the stone platform. Alice was waiting where Camazotz landed, and I activated Nature's Howl and Mark of the Eagle, and started peppering the boss with arrows.

"Burning Blade!" At the same time, I fired at the ground around its claw, timing a Burning Arrow between basics to stop its swipe just at the right moment. Cyrus raised his staff.

"Frost Lance!" Alice activated Horizontal Slash, and I used Piercing Shot after getting in position closer to the body. The three attacks hit almost together, but Camazotz tore free soon after, and the backlash knocked Cyrus off his feet. Alice grabbed the back of his cloak and dragged him away before the boss stomped where he had fallen. The claw came down hard enough to crater the platform, sending cracks racing outward.

"Thanks."

"Stay up."

"Yeah." The fight became a blur after that. Three players could not hold the line against Camazotz. We could not tank it, could not heal through it, could not rotate aggro the way a raid was supposed to. The only reason we survived was that the phase had become less about holding ground and more about refusing to get hit while still dealing damage. And if someone had asked me, we were three perfect players to do just that. Alice fought in bursts; she never stayed in melee range for more than two swings.

Lightning Steps carried her in, her sword struck, and then she used the momentum to leave before the counter landed. When she misjudged, she blocked once and paid for it with a third of her health, then drank a potion after rolling under a wing sweep. Cyrus fought like a chess player. Minimal movement, always correct positioning, and a cascade of spells that hit just when and where they needed to. And I fought like Bow God Zephyr.

I paid attention to my mana, but my basics were hitting hard, the occasional Wild Hunt Arrow taking the aggro back from the mage or the swordswoman whenever needed, and the myriad of movement skills I had at my disposal never let Camazotz catch me. * The bats along the walls lifted in streams, spiraling around the platform in a tightening ring. Roost Mechanic: Closing Hunt The House of Bats narrows the field. Leaving the ring will draw Camazotz's killing dive.

"Stay inside the bats!" I shouted. The ring shrank slowly, forcing us toward the center while Camazotz circled above. That made dodging harder because there were no edges to run to. Every movement skill risked crossing into the bats, and every time one of us got too close, they screamed in warning.

"Keep together," Alice said suddenly.

"Dodge at the last moment." We didn't question her, and Camazotz dove. Alice waited until the last possible second, then activated a skill as me and Cyrus dodged out of harm's way. Her body blurred, splitting into three blue-white afterimages that moved in different directions. Camazotz struck the center one, and the real Alice came out on its left side, sword already swinging.

"Stormcatcher!!" Her blade cut across its jaw. Camazotz snapped at her, but she ducked under the bite, planted one foot on its lower fang for the briefest instant, and launched herself upward along the side of its face. She drove the sword into the ridge above its eye, kicked off, and flipped backward as Camazotz thrashed. Cyrus and I both hit the wound before the boss could climb. Camazotz screamed, the sound shattering the bat-ring. The small bats exploded outward, and the copper veins flickered.

For a heartbeat, the roost went half-dark again, but thankfully, the light came back, although the bat was high in the sky again. I heard Alice hit the ground, and I saw Camazotz diving at us with even more speed than before.

"Nature's Howl!"

"DPS!" Cyrus shouted. He had already started casting.

"Flame Hydra: Inferno." The temperature of the roost changed. The heads of fire rose around Cyrus again, larger this time, their bodies forming from condensed flame and dark red mana. Cyrus thrust his staff forward, and hell let loose. The boss tried to stop the descent, but the heads converged midair and detonated across its body in a chained explosion of fire, and Alice and I both jumped toward Camazotz, clearly having the same idea of doing as much damage as possible.

"Dead Calm!" I activated the ability in the air. Nature's Howl active, Mark of the Eagle active, Adaptive Growth maxed out, Twilight Hunter still boosting my damage despite the fire lighting everything up around me. Lightning gathered around Alice's sword, then around her body, then around the platform beneath her feet. Every step left a crackling mark in the stone. Camazotz lifted its head and opened its jaws, cavefire building between its teeth. Alice did not slow.

"Thunderstorm." She became the center of a storm contained within one human body. Lightning struck down from the copper veins above, and she crossed the last meters in a blur, sword cutting once, twice, five times, each strike followed by a thunderclap that drove Camazotz's head lower. And my arrow had arrived, carrying everything I had in one perfect shot, and for the first time, Camazotz actually fell on the platform.

"Black Flames of Xibalba!" The beam struck the beast, followed by a Withering Light and a Piercing Stab by the two of us after landing. I immediately activated Arrowstorm, and sent a Verdant Arrow flying for good measure, emptying my mana bar. Camazotz stood up and screamed, the sound slamming into all three of us. My health dropped to thirty percent. Alice dropped to twenty-four. Cyrus dropped to eighteen.

Lune went limp against my shoulder for a terrifying second, then hissed and bit my collar hard enough to prove she was still very much alive.

"Almost there," I shouted.

"Burn it down!" We did not stop. The Death-bat was coming for us, through flames and arrows and lightning, but we did not try to dodge. Instead, everything we had, we pushed toward Camazotz. 11%. 10%. Camazotz's wings hit the platform on either side of us, but it was not an attack this time. The copper veins dimmed. The bats along the walls went silent. The health bar remained fixed at 10%, refusing to move no matter how many lingering damage ticks tried to pull it lower. Phase Complete: Worthy Prey Wrath Subdued.

The Death-Bat lowered its massive head until one red eye looked at the three of us across the cracked platform. Lune stood on my shoulder, trembling. The ancient Spirit drew in a slow breath, and when it spoke, the roost itself seemed to talk to us.

"Enough."