Apocalypse Tamer

Chapter 125: Man vs Teamwork

The hall erupted into war and chaos.

Ashok immediately charged at Basil with speed belying his immense size. He swung a fist and attempted to punch the Dragonslayer’s head off. Ignoring the fake god, Basil leaped over him with Double Jump. His various speed buffs allowed him to dodge the punch and leap across the room, with the aim of taking Belphegor’s head.

Ashok growled and pointed a finger at Basil. “Sin: Envy!”

Basil immediately felt sluggish. The protective shroud of Death’s Banner was stripped from him, alongside Hasten’s unrelenting speed, Shellgirl’s Joyful Spirit and so many others.

“Copycat!” Plato leaped at Ashok with his rapier raised for the kill. “That’s my technique!”

“I learned from the best,” Ashok replied before zapping the feline with a lightning bolt. Plato exploded into a cloud of smoke and revealed himself as an illusion. Bugsy attempted to exploit Ashok’s distraction by blasting him with flames, only for the false god to dodge with inhuman speed; the very same quickness he had stolen from Basil not so long ago.

Clenching his teeth in frustration, Basil fell back on his own strength. It was risky for him to buff up with Ashok in close vicinity, but he needed more power to keep up with the Horsemen.

Besides, he trusted Bugsy to handle it. The Apolloworm had earned his divine power. Basil would always bet on him over someone who needed to pay his way to victory.

“Accelerated Spell: Hasten.” Time to test out his Chronomancer Spells. “Flash of Prescience.”

The Tier III Chronomancy spell increased Basil’s accuracy on paper. In practice, it manifested as him seeing two things simultaneously: his current vision of the battlefield, and a vague illusion of how it would look like in the next seconds. He knew Rosemarine’s Eden Guns would blow up the head of two of Ashok’s giant mooks before she even pulled the trigger, and that Vasi and Shellgirl would barely dodge Brina’s volley of swords.

Most importantly, he predicted Belphegor’s movements.

The Horseman of Death, who stood halfway across the pond, welcomed Basil with a beam of darkness fired from his hands. The dragonknight predicted the trajectory as–

As time skipped forward.

Guided by Flash of Prescience, Basil dodged the beam with a lateral jump as it came within an inch of his face. He kept dashing forward with murder on his mind.

“Nice try, but too bad for you…” Belphegor laughed as darkness gathered in his hands. “I’m invincibl–”

Basil threw his halberd mid-jump.

Belphegor’s attempt to dodge was sloppy. Not only was he slower than Basil even without the buffs, but years of shrugging off death seemed to have dulled his reflexes. The halberd hit him in the chest like a hatchet and cut through his wax body. The Horseman’s body burst into ghostly flames at the point of impact and his laugh turned into a scream of agonizing pain.

If Ashok hadn’t disabled Shellgirl’s Joyful Spirit, Basil would have killed the Horseman of Death in a single blow.josei

He would settle for two.

Recalling his soulbound halberd to his hand, Basil immediately dashed at Belphegor to finish him in close combat. Without any SP to power his abilities, the Horseman could only look at his foe in stark raving terror. “Brina!” he shouted for help. “BRINA!”

A mighty shield blocked the halberd mid-strike.

Basil couldn’t tell if Brina teleported in front of her ally or moved so swift Flash of Prescience struggled to keep up with her. The result was the same. The Horseman of War now stood between her ally and her enemy with a shield in hand.

“A new weapon?” Brina looked at Basil’s halberd with scorn. “It’s his handiwork, isn’t it?”

Basil responded by jumping above Brina in an attempt to bypass her. Unlike Ashok, she predicted his move and pushed him back with a shield bash. Belphegor stumbled back with a hand on his gaping wound.

“This pain… it’s all wrong…” Belphegor summoned a green potion from his inventory, his eyes staring at his chest in confusion. “It’s cold… I feel lessened… it’s not enjoyable at all–ah!”

The Horseman gasped in surprise as he noticed Plato dashing straight at him.

“Drop tiger to the face!” Plato shouted as he leaped at the Horseman. He swung Joyeuse in an attempt to land a killing blow. “Die for good!”

Brina reacted swiftly to protect her stumbling ally. Parrying Basil’s attack with her shield, she used her free hand to throw a dagger at Plato. The Rakshasa Kitten deflected the surprise attack with his sword, but this gave Belphegor enough time to swallow the potion. His wound instantly healed.

Bosses can’t use items! Basil cursed in his heart. This System has huge balance issues!

With his SP replenished, Belphegor unleashed a sphere of darkness at Plato, who swiftly dodged. “Mr. Wax didn’t try to blow himself up this time,” Plato pointed out with a mocking grin. “Methinks he needs SP juice to stay healthy!”

“Let’s squeeze him dry then,” Basil replied with a wicked grin.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Brina warned. She summoned a spear to her free hand and attempted to impale him. Her weapon moved so swiftly that Basil could only perceive it as flashes of steel.

Still, he managed to parry the strikes. Brina was slightly stronger than before, and lightning-fast. However, the S-rank Agility growth from Chronomancer had paid off. Basil slightly outsped her while both were hastened.

With his life on the line, Basil couldn’t afford to even look away from the valkyrie. He barely noticed Bugsy and Ashok exchanging fireballs and lightning bolts at the edge of his periphery, Rosemarine finishing off the last of the mooks, and Plato dodging Belphegor’s darkness-powered projectiles. He didn’t see either Vasi or Shellgirl.

His complete and total attention was focused on Brina alone.

Basil deflected her blows with his shield, and tried to counterattack here and there, but found no opening. He jumped laterally, used Flash of Prescience to try and anticipate her movements. He quickly found that there was a vast gulf between the ability to foresee an attack and the reflexes to capitalize on it. Brina’s greater experience and skills let her counter each of his blows.

“Better,” he heard the valkyrie comment between two swings. “But still not enough.”

Basil grunted, until he sensed the air chilling out. The pond’s waters below his feet turned to ice as a freezing wind took over the room.

Brina frowned in confusion. “What is–”

A blade slashed through her face. Her right cheek and eye erupted in a shower of blood. Belphegor shouted a warning, only for his hands to fly off his arms with a whirring sound.

Basil’s Flash of Insight allowed him to keep up with Brina… but it couldn’t predict Shellgirl. Between her Hasten buff, Ice Spinner Perk and high evasion, she was more than invisible. She was imperceptible. Neither the Bohens nor their foes could see her movements. Small stabbing wounds tore open the two Horsemen’s flesh without cause or explanation. It was as if Shellgirl had stopped existing in this world.

All that remained were her actions.

You’ve gone a long way, Shellgirl, Basil thought with a warm heart full of paternal pride. The mimic had mostly been focusing on support, and here she was outpacing two terrible foes; one of which Basil himself struggled to handle alone. He was as glad to see it as he was surprised. I’m so proud of you.

That was fine. The fact the Horsemen required a successful Vitality check at all meant Shellgirl’s crafting endeavors had been successful: she had created weapons capable of piercing through Petrification Immunity.

She only needed to get lucky once, and her teammates would help her. Plato stabbed Belphegor through the chest while Basil jumped to Brina’s right in an attempt to exploit her new blind spot.

“Coward!” Brina snarled as she parried his halberd with her shield. “You lack the bravery to challenge me in lone combat!”

“Can’t beat you fairly,” Basil admitted as more small wounds appeared on the Horseman’s pristine skin. One of Shellgirl’s slashes cut a line across Brina’s nose and barely missed the eye. “So we’re fighting dirty.”

“You’re wrong!” the valkyrie replied scornfully. “You can’t beat me at all!”

A hundred swords materialized above the battlefield and fell into a rain of stee–

Basil raised his shield as time resumed properly. Swords bounced off it while Plato hid behind him. Brina and Belphegor had retreated further into the hall, using potions to heal their wounds.

Ashok wasn’t faring any better than his teammates. Without Brina to keep her busy, Vasi had flown after the false god. He was currently busy holding Bugsy’s mandibles with his hands to prevent the Apolloworm from eating him alive. The witch cast two spells in short succession to finish him off.

“Darkest Fear!” Vasi followed through with a fireball. “Muspelflame!”

Reacting in panic, Ashok shifted his weight to hide himself behind Bugsy. Though he avoided the dreaded fairy spell and used his foe to shield himself from the fireball, the Apolloworm used the opportunity to swipe him away with his star-tail. The fiery blow threw the false god across the room until he hit the statue of Shiva. His mechanical skin cracked at the moment of impact.

Rosemarine, who had now killed the last of his thralls, opened fire at Ashok. “Eden Guns!”

“Vrontios!” The false god’s body swirled with lightning and he disappeared in a flash of light. Rosemarine’s pollen beams vaporized Shiva’s statue in a cataclysmic blast alongside the wall behind it. Kalki and his female half wavered inside their containment field, but remained unarmed.

Ashok reappeared next to his allies right as Belphegor slammed his healed hands to the ground. A sphere forcefield of crimson energy formed around the Horsemen, sealing them from the outside world.

“I know this spell,” Vasi said as the Bohens encircled their enemies. Shellgirl slowed down until she became visible. She kept a stone arrow in each hand. “It absorbs a limited amount of damage. If we keep hitting it, it’ll collapse.”

“Bugsy, Rosemarine, blow the barrier up,” Basil ordered.

“Yes, Mister!” Rosemarine said right at the same time Bugsy answered with, “Yes, Boss.”

Rosemarine began to charge up her Eden Guns while Bugsy unleashed a steady stream of fire. Shellgirl’s weather weakened it, but it still remained effective enough to slowly weaken the forcefield.

“Where’s Maxwell?” Plato taunted the trapped Horsemen. “I say we complete the fourset in one battle!”

“I told you to keep the witch busy,” Ashok complained to his allies. Lightning gathered in his body until he began to shine like a star. He would strike as soon as the shield was down.

Brina utterly ignored him. Her flesh and eye had healed, but not her wounded pride. “How are you feeling, Belphegor?”

“This… this pain feels wrong. There’s no pleasure in it, just… cold.” For the first time since the Bohens encountered him, Belphegor sounded disturbed instead of disturbing. “What is that weapon? It’s as if it bit into my soul!”

Brina immediately identified Mortifère’s true nature with a glance. “The halberd holds a death god’s soul, and the slime can pierce through Ailment Immunity. Both can destroy you.”

“I’m through playing then.” Belphegor’s eyes burned with hateful purple light. “If I can’t enjoy the fight, let’s end it now.”

The chilling cold summoned by Shellgirl before swiftly transformed into one that froze Basil’s very soul. Purple fumes filled the hall, as did the stench of rotten corpses and burning flesh.

“Ahah!” Belphegor gloated as his toxic miasma polluted the room. “Now we just have to outwait them! Death by a thousand life cuts!”

“Death’s Banner,” Basil said. A protective veil swiftly protected him and his team from the miasma’s effect.

Basil smirked as his ability protected his team, much to the Horseman of Death’s dismay.

Vasi wasn’t as enthusiastic as her boyfriend. “His ability affects the whole dungeon,” she warned him. “He can threaten our allies too.”

“Laponian Winter!” Shellgirl attempted to reapply her weather effect, only to fail. “Gah, his higher level takes precedence!”

“Higher level?” Plato squinted in confusion. “Wasn’t he seventy-seven too? Or am I misremembering?”

“They’ve leveled up.” Basil checked the Horsemen with the System. “Let's see how much.”

Basil scowled as he read. The Horsemen had gained a few levels since their last fight. He hoped his party’s legendary equipment and better tactics would let them prevail. Brina and Belphegor worked well together, but they were out of sync with Ashok. If they kept applying pressure and picked off their foes one-by-one, the Bohens could win this fight.

“Buff up,” Basil said. Since Ashok hadn’t stripped him of Death’s Banner in spite of having a perfect opportunity, then it meant the false god couldn’t do that while charging his lightning attack. The window of opportunity would be short-lived, so Basil took the opportunity to renew his old buffs as well. “Hasten, Flash of Prescience.”

Ashok growled angrily as Shellgirl cast Joyful Spirit and Plato did the same with Mirage, confirming Basil’s hypothesis. The false god shone so brightly from his accumulated electrical power that he was painful to look at. Basil would need to intercept his attack and absorb it with his armor as soon as the shield was down.

Belphegor’s passive ability is dangerous, but Death’s Banner counters it, Basil strategized. Ashok can steal buffs though and leave us vulnerable. These three cover each other’s weaknesses too well. “We need to–”

“–separate them,” Brina said at the same time as Basil. “Collapse the roof!”

Belphegor disabled his forcefield, allowing Bugsy and Rosemarine to–

Allowing Ashok’s world-shaking lightning to blow up the ceiling.

The boom of earthshaking thunder echoed across the hall as time resumed, alongside the terrible noise of a dragon’s roar. Beams of pollen blinded Basil’s sight and blew purple miasma in all directions.

“Everyone!” Basil shouted a warning as clouds of swirling dust made him lose sight of his allies. The neurotowers holding the hall together let out a screeching alarm noise. The roof crashed down in a rain of rocks. Some boulders were as large as a car. “Disperse!”

“Basil!” Vasi flew towards her boyfriend while blasting rocks out of her way with her staff. “Follow me!”

Basil prepared to leap after his girlfriend, only for Belphegor to emerge from the rising dust. Propelling himself by channeling streams of fire through his feet, he tackled Vasi from behind and forcefully carried her back into the rain of debris.

“Vasi!” Seeing red, Basil jumped after his girlfriend. Too late. She and Belphegor vanished into the dust, as did everyone else. Rosemarine shrieked as she was buried under tons of rocks, while bursts of flames, ice, and lightning indicated the rest of the team fought Ashok somewhere among the chaos. “Vasi!”

“It is unwise…” Brina emerged from the miasma and dust with a claymore in hand. She dashed at Basil and closed the gap between them in a flash of lightning. “To lower your defenses!”

Basil barely had time to raise his shield to protect himself. The claymore impacted it with more strength than Apollyon and Blackcinders combined. The sheer power of the blow reverberated through Basil’s body, cracked his shield, and unleashed a shockwave mighty enough to send him flying backward.

Basil hit a wall on the opposite end of the hall… and he kept going. He crashed through layers of stone and steel, taking heavy damage as he did. He ended his course in another room entirely: a stairway corridor with mosaic walls leading toward the upper parts of the dungeon. Brina jumped through the broken wall right as collapsing rocks blocked the exit.

Basil leaped back to his feet immediately. He was now separated from his team and trapped who knew where with a cracked shield and the Horseman of War for company.

Not the best odds.

“Shit…” Basil stored his broken shield in his inventory. He checked his status screen and quickly confirmed his party members were still alive. However, his attempt at summoning them to his side failed utterly. Ashok's God-Field still interfered with it. Basil could only hope to regroup with them in another room.

The presence of purple miasma in the air only raised the stakes.

Damn it, Belphegor’s weather effect is still active, Basil cursed. And Ashok was still out there. If he disrupts Death’s Banner while I’m away…

He needed to return to his team immediately.

“I let you go in Thessaloniki and you came back more dangerous.” Brina challenged Basil with her claymore. “I won’t make that mistake again.”

No way out but victory.

“Fine by me.” Basil raised his halberd and adopted an offensive stance. “To the death then.”

Both warriors charged at each other with a roar.