Chapter 566 - 566. Deathless
The level of this draugr was very high, higher than all three of them. However, Jonathan was one grade higher than it. The senior soldier immediately put himself in front of the monster. His long halberd matched the draugr's long arms which whipped around like whips.
Jack, who was at the most risk because of his low HP, retreated away. He cast Barrier before returning to shoot ranged attacks.
After regaining balance, Harper supported Jonathan's assault by flanking the draugr.
The draugr was fast, but Jonathan's halberd skill was not mediocre. Despite being a soldier exiled to this remote town, Jack could tell that he was above average than the other Themisphere soldiers at the same level.
Jonathan was not especially fast, but his halberd's attacking speed was. The weapon did not just stab, but swung around from different directions, preventing the draugr from jumping away. Harper stole opportunities to stab his pike from the side. The two's coordination was good. Jack surmised the two's relation must have gone a long way back.
The monster was not a pushover, though. Like most undead, it fought without any care to itself. It ignored defense and let the halberd and pike hit its body while its two arms lashed out relentlessly. Two sides suffered damages throughout the contest. But the monster's HP decreased at a faster rate, considering he endured assaults from three sources.
At one point when the draugr's HP fell below half, its eyes turned red as it uttered an ear-splitting screeching howl. The howl stunned the two soldiers for a second. Its body then spun around rapidly, the two arms spun like two deadly flails. The two soldiers were smashed aside by those make-shift flails.
Freed from the two soldier's repression, the draugr ran towards Jack.
"Shit! Why is it targeting me?" Jack uttered, at the same time, he fed ten mana cores to his Amulet of Summoning. A level 36 elite grade Rock Golem appeared.
The draugr's long arms smashed at the golem, who stumbled back. The golem was completely no match for the high-level draugr, but one thing the rock golem was good at, was its resistance against physical damage. So, Jack asserted control on the golem and had it forcefully slammed its body on the draugr, halting the undead's advance and pushing it back at the same time.
Jonathan and Harper had arrived from the back. The draugr was now confined by three opponents, with Jack shooting range attacks from a distance.
After some time, the draugr was at death's door. Jack summoned his Runestone of Luck as Jonathan made a final swipe of his halberd at the back of the monster's head. Its HP zeroed and it fell to the ground.
Jack breathed a relief. Could this monster be the perpetrator that took the children away? If it was so, then the case should be solved now. They just need to find this monster's lair inside here to search for the children or at least… their corpses.
"Hm?" Jack mumbled when he came forward to pick up the loots. He looked at the monster's body on the ground.
"Why is the body not vanish?" Jack asked. Peniel who was floating beside him shook her head. She didn't understand as well. Jack then realized another thing, he didn't receive any exp points when the monster died.
Jack then felt mana accumulating around the draugr. At the same time, an unbelievable thing happened before their eyes. The draugr's HP bar which was already zero swiftly filled back up to full. The draugr rose to life, it jumped up and shot its two long arms to opposite sides, slapping both Jonathan and Harper.
"Horse arse…!!" Jonathan cursed as he stumbled back after having his face punched by a strong fist.
Jack was already retreating when the draugr's HP bar started refilling. He had the rock golem held the draugr to keep it in place, but without Jonathan and Harker's interference, the golem was no match for the draugr. It was smashed three rapid times by the draugr's long arms. Even though the damages it suffered were diminished, the impacts still made it lose its hold on the draugr.
The draugr then circled around the golem and headed to Jack again.
"Still coming for me?" Jack uttered and cast Myriad Ensnaring Chains right in front of him. Twelve chains came out and grabbed at the draugr. The undead's reckless charge made an easy target for the chains.
"Hit him!" Jack said. The chains didn't attack any allies inside its area of effect, so Jonathan and Harker could come in and bully the trapped draugr.
With the draugr incapacitated, they had an even easier time than before. The Draugr's HP was soon depleted and it fell for the second time.
The draugr's body, however, still did not disintegrate. The three humans and one fairy looked at it with apprehension.
Not long after, as if adhering to their worries, the draugr came back to life again.
"F*ck! It was not kidding for being deathless!" Jack exclaimed. He hurriedly raced away again while having his rock golem hold the draugr down.
Jonathan and Harper were not as flustered as the first time anymore. They attacked once the HP bar was filling.
"How do we kill this thing?!" Jack asked Peniel.
"I don't know. I don't know that there is this kind of undying monster!" Peniel replied.
"You don't?" Does it have something to do with alien entity then? Jack thought, but then he heard Peniel say, "unless…"
"Unless what?" Jack asked.
"I can't be sure. But if my suspicion is correct. You won't be able to kill it no matter how many times. We have to flee!"
Harper, who heard it said, "No shit! We can't continue to fight this thing endlessly. My stamina reserve was getting low, I won't be able to perform skills anymore soon."
Natives were different from outworlders who had their stamina or MP recovered slowly during battle. Natives had a very large pool of stamina and MP, similar to their HP pool, but this stamina or MP only recovered when they left combat.
'My rock golem's duration was also ending soon,' Jack thought. He asked Peniel, "But what if this monster continued to chase after us?"
"If my suspicion is true, it won't be able to," Peniel answered.
Jack asked Peniel to cast Group Fast Heal first. The two rounds with the draugr were not without their toll. Both Jonathan and Harper had suffered damages.
After Peniel healed them, Jack said to the soldiers, "Let's fight while retreating to the crypt's exit! Hopefully, it will truly leave us alone once we are out of here."
Jack took the lead on leaving while continued sending range attacks. They managed to kill it for the third time just as Jack's rock golem's duration ended.
"Run!" Jack called out.
The three ran as fast as they could while the draugr was lying motionless on the ground.
Jack looked back. His Dragon Eye allowed him to see in a distance even in the darkness. He saw the draugr slowly rise again.
'F*ck this undying undead!' Jack cursed in his mind.
The three ran as fast as they could. Jack was still slightly faster in moving speed than the two soldiers despite his lower level, the two soldiers were not the speedy type. They were close to the exit already when they heard the tap-tap-tap rapid sound of the draugr. It was the sound of the draugr crawling with all four limbs at high speed.
When they were close, Jack was the first to be able to see the exit due to his eyes' ability. And because he could see, his heart sank. The secret opening on the wall which allowed them into this secret tunnel was now closed.
"F*ck!" Jack cursed out loud. He exclaimed to the two soldiers, "Try holding the monster again!"
"What do you mean?!" Jonathan asked while still running.
"The exit is closed! There should be a mechanism to open it from the inside. I need to search for it first."
By that time, they were close enough so the two soldiers could see the closed wall as well.
"Horse arse!" Jonathan cursed as he stopped and swiveled. "Harker, on me! You, viscount outworlder! Open the exit as fast as possible!"
"Working on it!" Jack uttered, he had arrived on the wall and was scanning it for any strange protrusions.
Nothing, the entire wall was flat.
"Probably it is using a different kind of mechanism from this side," Peniel offered her opinion.
"Try pushing every stone," Jack said and started pushing himself. Peniel flew to the other side and pushed as well. They could hear Jonathan and Harper already clashed with the draugr again.
Jack and Peniel tried pushing every inch of the wall, but none of the stones budged. Jack's monocle also didn't point out any marker. He tried to hit the part of the wall that could open, trying his luck. His sword bounced back, no damage number appeared.
"Look out!" Jack heard Jonathan yell. He also felt from his mana sense that something was coming fast at his back.
He used Ranger's Roll to escape, just as the draugr flailed its long arm and hit the wall instead.
When Jack finished his roll, he heard a voice in his head, "Top corner on your right, there is a square-shaped stone that can be pushed."