Bonus chapter for reaching 200 Golden Tickets!
Thankfully, Aldrich had left two undead slots empty so that he could react to sudden difficulties like this.
Aldrich immediately casted [Create Undead] and formed a second Ghast. He had the Ghast float over to the crabs and emit a [Spirit Boundary]. The moment the boundary went up, Fler'Gan's [Flamethrower] shot out, and a cone of continuous fire washed over the smoke barrier.
"Hah! I knew you would do that!" Fler'Gan suddenly changed the course of his [Flamethrower] to Aldrich's other units, specifically the Troll Chieftain.
The Troll Chieftain roared as he took the attack, his grey and rotted flesh burning and sloughing off rapidly. Valera and Dynamite Girl were still with the crabs at this point, so there was nobody to help the Chieftain.
At this rate, the Chieftain would die in a matter of seconds as he took quadruple damage from fire due to possessing dual weaknesses from being both a Grey Troll and a Zombie.
"Geh (Get away from him!)" the Geist mini dashed forwards and landed a mighty punch against Fler'Gan's barrier, sending him flying backwards and breaking his aim with his [Flamethrower].
"Urgh! Pest! Such healing magic I have not seen the likes of! Fine, you wish to die properly, then here!" Fler'Gan's mouth tendrils swayed angrily as he pointed his lantern at the Geist.
The Geist side stepped the [Flamethrower] with another mini-dash and then went back to the Troll Chieftain, raised the troll up on its shoulders, and tossed the troll over to the other Ghast at the back of the arena.
"Such coordination! It is you! I must sever the head of this army!" Fler'Gan stared up at Aldrich and breathed into his lantern, casting [Homing Will-O-Wisp], a spell that created ten tongues of flame that homed in on a target.
When the orbs of flame reached the target, they would explode and deal significant damage.
This was Fler'Gan's strongest phase 1 spell and a guaranteed one hit kill on a level 10 player character even if they took just two or three of the orbs.
It was also a massive pain to dodge. In the worst-case scenario, a Necromancer had to sacrifice ten units just to survive this hit.
"I'm prepared for this," said Aldrich. He crashed his [Grave Reaper Bracers] together. Green ghostly sparks showered out from the impact and then thirteen Vengeful Spirits emerged.
They were glowing green skulls covered in a flickering aura of black, and this aura flowed into wispy tails as they surged forwards, pained moans of torture echoing from their fleshless mouths.
Ten Vengeful Spirits clashed with ten Will-O-Wisps, exploding on contact and neutralizing Fler'Gan's attack. This left three Vengeful Spirits to strike into Fler'Gan's barrier, reducing it now to the 60% mark.
"What!?" Fler'Gan exclaimed.
"And now you've wasted too much time." Aldrich felt rage simmer from beneath him. He felt it burning through the close bond he had between himself and Valera.
"You think you've won already? All I have to do is defeat those crabs and-," Fler'Gan turned his gaze to the crabs but instead found a massive cross-shield thrown into his barrier, crashing him back to the wall of his arena.
"YOU DARE!? YOU DARE TO EVEN TRY AND STRIKE MY MASTER!?" Valera roared as she charged, changing her combat style from Shielder to Berserker.
"[Negative Surge]" Aldrich nodded at Valera, infusing her with a burst of negative energy that reinforced her strength, durability, and speed even more.
She sprinted forwards as a veritable behemoth of speeding, hulking armor, and she was upon Fler'Gan in a second, raining down a flurry of punches.
"ORA! ORA! ORA!" Valera rained down punch after punch, and each one was loud enough to be compared to an artillery shot.
All this while, Fler'Gan shot out a [Flamethrower] against Valera. "Die! Die! Why won't you die, you brute!"
"YES! BURN ME MORE! GIVE ME EVEN MORE OF A REASON TO CRUSH YOU!" Valera kept slamming her fists into the top of Fler'Gan's barrier, gradually sinking him into a crater.
Valera took double damage from fire, and by all rights, Fler'Gan's attack should have severely injured her. But as a Berserker, she had a powerful passive known as [Berserker's Rage] that reduced incoming damage by a tremendous 50% in exchange for receiving that same damage over time.
However, the reduced damage she took over time could not be fatal, so Valera could tank the [Flamethrower] for a surprisingly long amount of time.
"Gah! Away with you!" Fler'Gan did not use fire but a more typical Mind-Reader spell in the form of [Force Blast]. His spindly fingers glowed blue before a blast of telekinetic force pushed Valera a dozen meters backwards.
Valera knelt down, her armor dripping melted metal. She fell down to one knee, breathing heavily as smoke puffed out from her helmet visor and other gaps in her armor.
Once Valera was done taking the damage over time from the amount she mitigated from the [Flamethrower], she would be near 5% health, maybe even lower.
She was done here.
"Geh!" The Geist once again went on rescue duty. It stuck out its prehensile tongue and wrapped it around Valera's waist before tossing her into the safety of the Ghast in the back.
Valera had bought enough time now for the crabs to refresh their [Water Guns]. Both crabs aimed at Fler'Gan again.
"You think I do not know what you are planning? That brute of a knight's sacrifice will be in vain! Any water you cast upon me, I will counter with [Combustion]!" said Fler'Gan. His three red eyes narrowed as he focused.
[Combustion] created spontaneous explosions in the air and when timed properly, could scatter projectiles and split stream type attacks like [Water Gun] down the middle.
The crabs fired their [Water Guns]. As the two spiraling streams of pressurized water sped forwards, Fler'Gan raised his lantern up high, readying his [Combustion] spell.
The Great Centipede and Skeleton Rogue at this moment emerged out of nowhere. The Great Centipede from underground where it could not be sensed and the Skeleton Rogue from stealth.
"What!?" Fler'Gan casted a double cast [Combustion], but the spell, though instant, required an unbroken line of sight with its target. With his line of sight broken from the [Water Guns], he could only hit what was in front of him.
Twin explosions erupted from the Skeleton Rogue and the Great Centipede. Both of them blew apart, destroyed, but their sacrifice gave time for the [Water Guns] to slam into Fler'Gan's barrier.
Fler'Gan's barrier flickered and sputtered before fading away. Valera's berserker assault had reduced Fler'Gan's shield from 60% to 20%, and now it was down to 0%.
"You've cast down my barrier, is it?" said Fler'Gan. He started to float in the air, fire swirling around him. "But you have merely forced me to channel more of my power!"
Aldrich shook his head. "You should have channeled that power from the start. You're done for."
"What do you mean!?" said Fler'Gan. "Your brutish knight is fallen. Your minions nurse their burned, rotted flesh. And your crabs must wait for their water spells."
"I was getting real fucking tired of waiting around," said Dynamite Girl as she stepped out of the Spirit Boundary protecting the crabs. Her entire body glowed orange, all of her veins visible as her heart beat a million miles per minute.
"Insolent little girl! You are undead, no match for my purging flames!" Fler'Gan waved his lantern at Dynamite Girl, sending a [Flame Lance] at her. A huge spear of fire slammed into her.
Dynamite Girl flipped her hair as flames roared around her harmlessly. She stared up at Fler'Gan with a lip twisted in rage and a nerve of anger popping on her forehead, contorting her pretty face into pure anger. "That it, huh? Fuckin' bastard, you think you're the only one that gets to throw fire and explosions around, huh!? Don't steal my shit!"
"Completely immune to flame!? As an undead!? H-how!?" said Fler'Gan.
Dynamite Girl jumped in the air, releasing two mini explosions on her feet to give her speed and lift, and tackled Fler'Gan, pinning him into a wall with her arm.
"I will have your brain!" Fler'Gan's mouth tendrils extended forwards and opened up, revealing a buzz-saw like beak-maw.
Before the tendrils shot out, Dynamite Girl shouted: "Bunker Buster!"
In the next instant, the entire cavern turned white, and then an explosion that ruptured Aldrich's eardrums rocked the arena.
