Just like he thought, the statue stood up and retaliated with a spear thrust.
Since Jay pre-empted its attack, he was already out of range, a mocking smile plastered across his face.
Jay took this moment to check its health.
[146/200]
“Nice... This shouldn’t take too long.”
[100 Exp][100 Exp]
The skeletons had finished killing the statues and were coming over to help Jay.
“Shit,” Jay’s eyes bulged for a moment seeing the skeletons dash over.
The [Full counter] skill of the statue was no joke. They skeletons would only end up killing themselves if they tried to help.
Jay inhaled deeply, mentally ordering the skeletons to fall back into the shadows behind him.
He would have had the skeletons attack the archer statue, but he realised he needed the archer to kill the level 10 spearman statue; without the archer, this fight was lost - the spearman statue would be undefeatable. Jay would probably have to get Anya to help him if the archer died, and he didn't want to get tied down any more than he already was by the guild master - of course, it would be hard to be more blackmailed than he already was.
“Dammit..” Jay’s hands were tied. He simply had to do this himself, without the help of the skeletons.
*VRRR~BOOM!~*
Another arrow came, smashing into the statue again.
Jay smiled, the fight wasn’t too hard without the skeletons anyway.
Without waiting, Jay jumped forward and smashed the hammer down on the statues head once more.
[Critical Hit][12]
Jumping back after doing his damage, Jay had an idea.
"Hmm, it makes no sense that the skeletons can't help me"
He had his skeletons stand close by as he waited for the right moment.
He dodged more spear swipes, sweeps and thrusts as he waited for the next arrow, and like clockwork it came buzzing again.
*VRRR~*
*BOOM!~*
“NOW!” Jay yelled at his minions as he jumped forward and smashed his hammer - yet this time, all his skeletons copied him.
The strikes all rained down in perfect unity. Maximum damage.
[Critical Hit][12]
[Critical Hit][12]
[Critical Hit][12]
[Critical Hit][12]
[Critical Hit][12]
Damage numbers floated above the level 10 statues head as it lost over 25% of its health all at once.
Its thick helmet had cracked in lots of places and a few chunks of the statue had fallen off and were strewn about.
“Back!” he called to his skeletons.
The skeletons ran back behind Jay again as he stepped back too.
Jay leapt backwards but found himself in the darkness. After all the back-stepping he realised he finally went too far. This would not be good.
The archer started knocking a red arrow since Jay was in the shadows now.
If it could release the red shadow arrow, it would not hit the statue who was in the light.
Jay decided to run to the right and enter the light circle again; the red arrow dispersed and a golden one was being pulled back, but this time, it was one of the powerful ones.
Since Jay was no longer hiding behind any statues, the archer finally found another opportunity to use its most powerful attack.
Jay didn't seem to care; he knew what he was doing as he ran further into the circle. His boots were ready again and he had a plan.
He made his skeletons wait in the darkness however, he wasn’t going to need them for now.
The archer statue saw that Jay was fully exposed now, a sitting duck in the middle of the light circle; it finally had a chance.
A golden arrow was pulled back in the bow as it hummed with energy, channelling its most powerful attack.
Jay almost smirked seeing this, but he decided to hide it. He didn’t want the statue to know that he was planning something.
In a short moment, Jay looked back, making sure that the level 10 statue was behind him, then he heard the familiar sound.
*THROOMMM!~*
The massive tree-trunk sized projectile was released with the intense heat of a small sun.
Finally, Jay let his smile show as the arrow drew nearer; he ducked to the side.
“ASKLIN!”
*Pshhht* the boots propelled him to the side.
*VRRRRRR~ SSSSS~* the huge arrow passed by harmlessly with a hum, steaming more of Jay's clothes.
This arrow almost seemed bigger than the last.
*BOOOOOOMMM!!!~~*
The ground seemed to shake, and Jay knew what happened before he even looked back.
[One of your perennial creatures has fallen]
The level 10 statue was ended in one hit; turned to unidentifiable chunks of rock and dust in an instant.
Even its weapon had shattered, turned to rubble and stones. The arrow continued and even wiped out one of Jay's skeletons.
[2300 Exp]
[Level up]
Seeing the level up notification, a big grin appeared on Jay’s face.
For a moment, he completely forgot that one of his creatures died, but he stopped himself from getting too excited; they were still in the midst of battle after all.
“Attack!” Jay thought as he rushed along with his skeletons over to finish off the archer statue.
As Jay and his skeletons drew closer, they bared down on it like a pack of hungry wolves.
In close range, the archer statue was defenceless.
Even though they were all in the last light circle, the statue pulled back a red arrow.
“Huh?” Jay raised a brow, “That isn’t right...”
He stopped running forward but let his minions continue to press the attack.
“It seems like it still had one trick up its sleeve.”
Just before the skeletons could reach it, the archer statues right leg armour glowed.
“Hmm?” Jay squinted seeing this, suspicious.
Suddenly the archer stomped forward, and a circular pulse of golden light exploded outwards - suddenly, all of the skeletons were sent flying off out of the circle.
Jay too was sent flying, it was like a wall hit him and pushed him out; a growing shield that pushed away everything.
Everyone except the archer was in the shadows now.
Suddenly, Jay understood why it was charging a red arrow. His boots were still on cooldown, and so he could only try to run back into the circle - but it was too late.
*THROOSH~*
Jay had regretful eyes as he raised his deathwalkers sentry shield to block the hit. The shield would definitely crumble after this.
He didn’t want to have to reform it, but it was better than taking a hit - and this is what shields were for.
*BOOM!~*
The blast from the red arrow sent Jay flying backwards further into the shadows, and the shield crumbled into three pieces.
[-3]
Of course, this was not the end for the shield, as it still had the [Remnants] skill:
[When life reaches zero, the shield breaks into three pieces. Can be restored using necrotic mana. Each piece can track the other pieces.]
With an angry look, Jay rushed forward. The archer was already preparing its next red arrow, but it would be too slow.
Jay stepped into the light, slightly beating his skeletons into it; they were flung further into the darkness since they were lighter - of course, they caught up quite quickly due to their sheer speed.
Three skeletons and Jay were now once more bearing down on the archer like wild beasts.
Another golden arrow was released toward Jay, but he used his [Asklin] skill from his boots to dodge it easily, and kept running forward with a renewed vigour.
Jay got the first hit in, smashing it right in the head; a fitting punishment.
The skeletons followed up Jay’s attack with their own hits.
[Critical Hit][12]
[6][6][6]
The archer tried to knock more arrows, but it kept getting disrupted by the endless hits of the minions and Jay.
[Critical Hit][12]
[6][6][12]
“Dammit, how much health does this thing have?”
Jay wanted to end it before it recovered and used that stomp-shield skill again; he still couldn’t see how much health it had, as its information all came up with question marks.
He was starting to feel the effects of having low energy now as his breathing got heavier and he started to sweat.
“I gotta end this quickly.” he thought.
“Aim for the head!” he barked orders at his skeletons.
[Critical Hit][12]
[Critical Hit][12]
[Critical Hit][12]
[Critical Hit][12]
48 damage was done in an instant, and cracks were beginning to form in the statue - a tell-tale sign that it was close to death.
The statues helmet armour crumbled off, and Jay found that it was another female statue.
Of course, he didn’t have a moment to pause as he kept smashing it with his hammer, and the group did 42 damage as one skeleton missed a critical hit.
More cracks formed, and it seemed like the statue had no hope now - It was beaten fair and square.
Another series of hits landed, causing heavy deep cracks to form on its head and expressionless stone face.
Just as Jay was about to do the final hit, the statue dropped to its knees.
“Forgive me brother… Helvetia.” its bow dispersed into particles of light as a solemn and sad voice came from the statue, and Jay felt his heart stir.
Jay breathed in deeply and exhaled, letting his anger cool off.
“Be free.” Jay said in a commanding tone.
He felt a mix of emotion as the statue had clearly retained some parts of its mind, and Jay really didn’t think of it as an enemy, but a victim.
With a final hit, its head was smashed apart.
[2300 Exp]
Jay panted for a moment, his energy low.
“Damn. I wanted to destroy it so badly but I don’t feel any satisfaction…”
A sense of sadness dawned on him, but he was also happy with the large amount of experience he was rewarded with.
Jay looked around for a moment, he had things to do.
“First thing’s first.” he pointed to each skeleton, giving each of them an order.
“Bring me the bones of the destroyed skeleton.”
“Loot the statues.”
“And you...” he squinted “bring me my shield.”
Jay then looked around for a moment, checking the room.
There was nothing at the back of the room except the throne with the glowing rock above it.
“Hmm…” he wanted to reach up and grab it, but remembered what happened in Sedulus's tomb.
Jay decided it was probably a trap, so he waited until the skeletons collected all the soul stones before he would try to grab it.
