Chapter 546 - Puppets
The group headed forward and through the Qin capital's gate. The guards at the gate were on alert, as a great turmoil was happening not far away from where they kept guard. The undead prince and his companion were a great source of hope against all that could threaten the comfort of those living in the Qin capital and also a beacon against the dark upcoming days.
"Flanker, can I count on you to keep your mouth shut today?" Dave asked.
"No worries, I learned my lessons," Flanker replied.
"Wanna bet he's gonna open his yappers at the wrong time?" Fortress challenged Perfect Shot.
"I don't take losing bets, nope," he answered.
"Hey, have some faith in me guys, I'm not that much of a jinx it was only a couple of times."
The two looked at Flanker like he had caught the plague and turned away from him.
"Keep your focus up guys, we're getting closer," Dave said as louder sounds of battle echoed near them.
The time was approaching midnight in the game and it was already difficult to see for the rest of the players. Knowing that two Calamities were this close and I such a disadvantageous time of the day didn't bod well for the players except for Dave. His Dark vision enabled him to see in even the darkest of times so it wouldn't have mattered much. But now, it wasn't just one calamity, so he needed not only himself but his company to be fully alerted.
Suddenly, a boulder rocked past the group, shattering in the process as it tumbled on the ground.
"The heck was that?" Ralph spoke.
"We're about to find out, boys, get your weapons up, the enemy is near." Dave gave the call.
Ralph drew his newly forged longsword, he was excited to try it out, as for the rest of the players, they positioned themselves behind Fortress.
Dave took the front alongside Ralph as they approached the sound of the clamor.
Soon they found themselves on top of a small hill that overlooked a wide basin-shaped natural made arena.
At one side of the basin was a slobbering monster, it looked like an oversized human bloated from having stuffed itself with so much food that it just had bulges appearing from all over is the body.
The creature was bigger than an elephant and didn't have any hair on his head nor did it have ears or a nose. It was just a fat round shaped head with two mean looking eyes and a jaw that would put a shark's smile to shame.
The creature had short limbs, not much that could aid him in battle, and it was seated down, it was n.a.k.e.d fully and had a grayish skin.
In front of it was yet another humanoid-shaped creature, only this one didn't have hands, but two gigantic mallets instead. The creature stood a few heads taller than the slobbering creature, it had a muscular build, and chiseled muscles all over its body.
The muscles themselves looked like they were armored and from the looks of it, this one was trouble.
Dave inspected the closest.
***
Name: Flesh Starved Beast.
Level: 666
Tier: Calamity of Gluttony
Danger level: Calamitous!
Damage: 0-999,999
HP: 180,000,000/ 250,000,000
PD: 0
MD: 0
Skills :
[Acquired Taste] When the Flesh Starved Beast attacks a target, he infects them with a [Flesh Parasite], every subsequent attack on the target will have its base damage increased by 20%
[Contamination] (Passive) when a target acc.u.mulates more than 10 parasites in their body, they will slowly lose their HP until death at a rate of 1% per second. Every additional parasite will increase the Contamination effect by 0.1%. Once a player dies and they have at least one parasite in their bodies, their bodies will explode and all the parasites in his body will hop onto the next player in line.
[Master of Puppets] when a target has more than 30 parasites in their bodies, the Flesh Starved Beast can momentarily control them.
Lore: Flesh Starved Beast.
A creature of the deep disgusting gullies of the unknown. It has starved for eons and had sought the flesh of all kinds, man and beast, and even its brethren, the calamitous kind.
The flesh Starved beast in insidious and always sought to manipulate and control others, though its prows in battle are subpar compared to the remaining calamities, it's the ability to forcefully recruit others to his cause and lead them to their death, and the speed at which he could corrupt and corrode an entire kingdom is what elated it to the Calamitous tier.
***
Name Hammer Hand.
Level: 666
Tier: Calamity of Strength.
Danger level: Calamitous!
Damage: 1,000,000-1,500,000
HP: 180,000,000/ 250,000,000
PD: 0
MD: 0
Skills :
[Seismic Assault], Hammer Hand can cause a Seismic quack in any surface his hand lands on. Even air. The damage is increased the closer the point of impact is to his hands.
[Shield Breaker] any attack by Hammer Hand is unlockable. Except for a few special shields the shield that dares stand in his hammer's way will undoubtedly break.
[Bone Breaker] any direct attack by Hammer Hand, even if not lethal will break a bone, causing the player to suffer from internal injuries and slow, dizziness, and bleed. Attacks to the limbs will make them ineffective until healed.
[Stardust] Hammer Hand's ultimate ability, once used he can call upon the power of the stars to smite his foes. The attack once it lands will not leave anyone alive. Escape with all you got.
Lore: A low tier calamity that has managed to find itself locked up with the rest of the greater ones. It has failed in its attempt to hide when the great culling of the gods began. Yet still Hammer Hand has managed to survive long enough not to be slain by the gods and fortunately for it, it saved its own skin as it was driven into the box instead of adamantly standing its ground against impossible odds.
***
"Okay, good stuff, they're not that dangerous but don't let your guards down," Dave said.
"Not that dangerous? Dude, did you even read their skills? One of them can one-shot you, and the other can control you!"
"Nah, as long as they're not immortal, I'm all good. The ones that are hardest to kill are those with infinite HP." Dave said.
"You speak out of experience or just speculation?" Flaker rebuked.
"We actually killed two that we're immortal, quite a troublesome battle to be honest," Ralph said.
"Is it gonna be on Skelly's adventures?" Perfect asked.
"Yeah, I sent the video to your dad a few days ago."
"Good enough for me. Now, what's the plan?" Perfect questioned.
"The plan is, we save Hammer's hand."
"Excuse me but what? I thought you'd at least say we wait until they kill each other off." Flanker replied.
"So it's you who didn't read the monster description. Flesh Starved beast there can control others. And if he gets a puppet as strong as Hammer Hand we're doomed. So what do you think?"
"Oh… yeah, I didn't think about that." Flanker said.
"Good, now let's get down to business."
Dave jumped in first, and the rest followed after him in a hurry.
"Ralph Fortress cover me, Flanker, you'll need to keep us safe, your heal can help if one of us gets injured, and also get your [Lift Disease] skill ready. Anyone who gets infected immediately declares it. I don't wanna have any zombie bite hiders among us!"
"Roger!" the party replied.
Once the party was finally noticed by the calamities, the Flesh Starved Beast immediately howled, but there was a small, if not negligible tinge of fear in its eyes when he saw Dave.
The beast actually reared back.
"What? Surprised to see a mug uglier than yours?" Dave grinned at the beast.
All of a sudden, the creature turned and began an awkward attempt to escape as it ran on all four. Barely able to move due to its sheer size.
"What the heck is going on?" Flanker asked.
Hammer's hand then suddenly charged after the creature and bolted away from the party not even giving them a second glance. The first calamity didn't even seem to care that another calamity was after it, but the moment it saw Dave everything crumbled and it wanted to run away.
"Is it possible that they know that Dave already killed many calamities?" Ralph asked.
"I doubt it, otherwise Hammer Hand would have had the same reaction. Something is up with that thing," Dave said, "But no matter let's hurry after it." Just as Dave finished his words, Hammer's hand reached The Flesh Starved Beast and smacked him down with his massive hands.
Yet the creature didn't receive much damage, it's massive bloated form helped him in absorbing the blow, but at the same time the slobbering creator threw up in Hammer Head's face.
The green disgusting substance corroded some of his honed and armored muscles but the worst was yet to manifest.
Small worms began popping out from all over Hammer Hand's body, some burst out of its eyes and others from veins on its muscles, the parasites shuddered and with them, Hammer Hand stopped moving. It turned then smacked both his hammers against each other creating a loud thundering boom, then without prior notice, it charged at the party.