~~~
The undead amalgamation let out a sound that Jin's brain refused to properly categorize—part death rattle, part banshee shriek, part something that belonged in nightmares rather than reality.
"Jin!" Rudy's voice cracked with strain. "What the hell is that thing?"
"Don't know..." Jin's throat felt dry as sandpaper as he watched the creature lumber toward them. "But I really don't want to find out the hard way."
Holy, I'm gonna be sick looking at this thing.
The abomination moved with all the grace of a freight train made of nightmares, multiple limbs working in perfect coordination despite their grotesque arrangement. Three skulls swiveled independently, tracking both teenagers with predatory intelligence that made Jin's skin crawl.
"Jin, it's closing in fast!" Rudy's knuckles went white around his sword hilt.
Jin's Reader's Dominion blazed to life, expanding outward like invisible radar. Information flooded his consciousness in precise, clinical detail that helped push back the visceral horror.
o_________o
[Target: Elite Undead Amalgamation]
CLASS: Aberration / Undead Construct
RANK: Elite (Peak Order II)
ESSENCE SIGNATURE: Death / Corruption (Major)
HP: Very High
Attack: High (Crushing / Slashing / Necrotic)
Defense: High (Corpse Mass)
Speed: Low–Moderate
ABILITIES:
Corpse Mass – Body formed of dozens of corpses; damage rapidly reknits using fresh flesh.Necrotic Miasma – Constant aura of death essence; corrodes the vitality of nearby foes.Grave Grip – Multiple limbs lash out unpredictably, seizing and crushing prey.Devour Essence – Absorbs vitality and essence from consumed bodies, strengthening itself.Summoned Horror – Strength linked to the necromancer's will; destruction weakens both.
WEAKNESSES:
Fire – Burns away corpse mass faster than it can regenerate.Holy/Light Essence – Overwhelms necrotic binding and severs corpse cohesion.Core Dependency – Destroying the necromantic core inside the body halts regeneration.
O_________o
Order II, yeah. Holy shit. Relief flooded through Jin like cold water. No aura suppression.
"Rudy!" Jin called out, backpedaling as the three skulls locked onto them with mechanical precision. "It's only Peak Order II! We can take this bastard, but we need to destroy the core!"
"That's supposed to be good news?!" Rudy's reply came between ragged breaths as he adjusted his grip on his greatsword. "Because eight feet of stitched-together corpses doesn't exactly scream 'easy fight' to me!"
The amalgamation struck without warning. Multiple arms swung down in overlapping arcs, clawed hands seeking to crush both teenagers simultaneously. The air displacement from the strikes was enough to knock Jin off balance.
Jin threw himself left, Rudy dove right, and all six strikes carved gouges in the stone floor where they'd been standing moments before.
What the hell? That was supposed to be 'low-moderate' speed?
Jin came up in a combat roll, Iron Howl already in his grip. His astral sight mapped every detail of the creature's construction—where different corpses had been fused, which joints looked structurally compromised, how necromantic energy flowed through its form like visible veins of corruption.
"Jin, what's the plan?" Rudy circled the creature warily, crimson flames beginning to wreath his blade. "Because standing here looking pretty while this thing rearranges our faces isn't gonna work!"
"Working on it!" Jin's enhanced perception dissected the amalgamation's construction. Dozens of corpses fused together... fire burns corpse mass faster than it can regenerate... holy essence disrupts necrotic binding...
There. The junction between the torso segments, where three different ribcages had been melded together. The necromantic binding looked weakest at that convergence point.
"Rudy, center mass!" Jin squeezed off three rapid shots, armor-piercing rounds punching through the air with deadly precision. "Where the bodies connect—that's the weak spot!"
The bullets struck the creature's midsection with wet, meaty impacts. Purple blood sprayed from the wounds as the undead staggered, its coordination faltering for a crucial second.
Bingo. Now I can work with this.
But the Undead's retaliation came instantly. One of its lower arms swept out in a backhanded strike that caught Rudy across the chest before he could react. The impact launched him through the air like a ragdoll, his enhanced armor taking most of the damage but unable to fully absorb the bone-crushing force.
"Rudy!"
Rudy hit the chamber wall hard enough to crack stone, dust raining down from the impact crater. But he was already pushing himself upright, crimson flames roaring higher around his sword as the Asura path transformed pain into fuel for violence.
"I'm okay..." Rudy spat blood but grinned through the pain, purple eyes blazing with battle-fury. "Just pissed off now!"
That's my boy. Too stupid to stay down.
The Undead turned all three skulls toward Jin, empty sockets blazing with malevolent intelligence. It seemed to recognize him as the greater threat—or maybe it just enjoyed the terror radiating from its prey.
Yeah, no thanks.
Jin raised Iron Howl, essence flooding into the armor-piercing rounds until they hummed with deadly potential. But instead of firing immediately, he spoke words that had been forming in his tactical mind:
« "Essence, ignite and burn—become the flame that consumes all!" »
The bullets erupted from Iron Howl, wreathed in brilliant flames that cast dancing shadows across the chamber walls. They punched through the amalgamation's torso in explosive bursts, each impact sending chunks of burning corpse-flesh flying across the bone-littered floor.
The creature staggered backward, its regeneration visibly slowing as flames ate away at the necrotic binding holding its form together. Where fire touched corrupted flesh, smoke began to rise in acrid clouds.
Twenty-three shots left. Jin's mental ammunition for armor-piercing rounds counter ticked down. Better make each one count.
"Most impressive," the necromancer called from his throne, sounding genuinely interested for the first time since the fight began. "Thou doth possess knowledge of undead vulnerabilities most extensive. How... educational indeed."
Jin noted the casual way Karlcamahac'Ohsa watched their desperate struggle, skeletal fingers drumming against his bone armrest like a bored theater-goer. Just keep thinking we're entertainment.
"Rudy, it's weak to fire and holy magic!" Jin called out while ejecting his spent magazine. "Light that thing up before it adapts!"
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Rudy's grin turned feral as crimson flames roared higher around his blade.
Jin reached into his spatial storage, fingers finding the remaining Holy Blessing scrolls. Four left after their earlier encounters. Better make them count.
"Hey, Frankenstein's ugly cousin!" Jin tore open a scroll, holy energy crackling around his fingers like captured lightning. "Let me introduce you to something you undead fucks really hate!"
He crushed the scroll in his palm, pure holy essence erupting outward in waves of golden radiance. But instead of casting it directly, Jin used his Harvest chains to absorb and concentrate the energy, surrounding himself with a corona of holy power that made the shadows recoil.
The creature's multiple voices rose in a discordant howl of genuine pain as holy light washed over its corrupted form. Where the energy touched twisted flesh, smoke began to rise in thick, choking clouds.
Jin coated a normal bullet with the harvested holy attribute and fired. The round struck the amalgamation's central head, and the explosion of divine light that followed made everyone in the chamber shield their eyes.
The distraction was all Rudy needed. His enhanced strength propelled him forward, using scattered bones as stepping stones to gain elevation. His greatsword transformed into a blade of white-hot fire that left contrails of flame in the air.
"For everyone who died to make you!" Rudy roared, bringing the sword down in a devastating two-handed strike aimed at the creature's main head.
The Asura path responded to his battle-joy, temporarily enhancing his physical capabilities beyond their normal limits. His blazing sword carved through corrupted flesh and bone with the sound of sizzling meat. The central skull cracked with the sound of breaking glass, and the undead shrieked as its coordination faltered.
The skulls control different body segments. Jin's analytical mind processed the creature's reaction patterns. Take out enough heads, and the whole thing falls apart.
But the Undead amalgamation wasn't finished. Even wounded and partially blinded, it lashed out with three arms simultaneously—one at Jin, two at Rudy. Jin managed to dodge backward, but Rudy took both strikes across his guard. The impact drove him to his knees, his armor groaning under the crushing force.
"Rudy!" Jin's essence flowed as panic gave his magic extra power:
« "Essence, weave and flow—grant speed to the one who stands with me!" »
Golden light enveloped Rudy's form like liquid fire, and suddenly, he was moving faster than human reflexes should allow. The next swipe from the undead met empty air as Rudy flowed around the attack like water, his enhanced speed turning him into a blur of crimson flame and gleaming steel.
Got to keep this up. Jin's mind raced through possibilities. Chain the sorceries, use the terrain, exploit every advantage we can find.
The chamber was littered with broken skeletons from their earlier fight, and Jin's desperate creativity seized on an opportunity. He grabbed a handful of bone fragments, essence crackling around them as he spoke with a grin!
« "Essence, bind and strike—let these fragments find their mark!" »
My own automatic gun!
The bone shards transformed into guided projectiles, streaking toward the undead like bullets from a machine gun. They were weak individually, but together, each impact widened the cracks Rudy had created in the creature's central skull.
"The middle head!" Jin called out, ducking another swipe from a roaming skeleton. At this point, both Jin and Rudy were ignoring them unless they got too close or their numbers became much greater. "That's where the core is hidden!"
Rudy needed no further encouragement. His enhanced speed carried him inside the creature's guard, where its longer limbs couldn't build momentum. His flame-wreathed sword carved another deep gouge across the central skull's fractured surface, sending more chunks of corrupted bone flying.
The Undead's movements became erratic, uncoordinated. The three body segments began fighting each other as the central intelligence controlling them fractured and failed.
"You're fucking done!" Rudy finished with a berserker's roar, driving his sword point-first through the damaged skull. The blade punched out the back in a spray of ichor and dissolving bone.
The amalgamation collapsed like a marionette with cut strings, its corpse-mass falling apart as the necromantic binding holding it together finally failed.
Holy shit. Jin slumped against a pillar, exhaustion hitting him like a physical blow. Yeah!!
But before either of them could catch their breath, slow, measured clapping echoed through the chamber with the sound of dry bones rattling against each other.
"Most impressive, young ones. Truly, ye have exceeded mine expectations most thoroughly."
The necromancer's voice carried genuine appreciation tinged with something that might have been hunger.
"Such tactical acumen, such innovative spellcraft... verily, ye possess qualities most rare in mortals."
Karlcamahac'Ohsa rose from his bone throne with fluid grace, ancient eyes glittering with predatory interest. Jin couldn't tell if that look meant amusement or appetite, and wasn't sure it mattered.
"Ye have proven most entertaining. Far more so than the countless fools who have come before to challenge mine dominion."
The necromancer gestured with one skeletal finger, and the chamber floor began to crack and heave once more. But this time, the sound was different—deeper, more ominous, carrying undertones that made Jin's enhanced senses scream warnings of incoming danger.
"But a single guardian is hardly sufficient entertainment for one of mine advanced years and refined tastes. Allow me to provide a more... adequate challenge for warriors of thy evident skill."
Two more sections of floor exploded upward in showers of bone fragments and ancient dust. Two more undead amalgamations hauled themselves from the ossuary depths, each one identical to the first in every horrifying detail. Their six skulls turned toward Jin and Rudy with predatory intelligence that promised a slow, painful death.
Jin felt his blood turn to ice water as the implications hit him.
Oh, fuck me sideways. His mind reeled with despair. No matter how many we kill, this piece of shit can always conjure more….
Why didn't I think of that before?…
"Jin?" Rudy's voice cracked slightly as he watched the twin horrors rise to their full height, multiple limbs flexing in anticipation.
Jin stared at the approaching nightmares, his exhausted mind struggling to process the sudden escalation. His essence reserves were running dangerously low; they were both injured and tired, and now they faced twice the opposition they'd barely managed to defeat.
The skeletal warriors they'd been ignoring began to close in from the sides, sensing weakness like the scavengers they were. The necromancer settled back into his throne with obvious satisfaction, skeletal fingers steepled before him like a connoisseur preparing to enjoy a fine vintage of violence.
"Now, young mortals," Karlcamahac'Ohsa's voice carried centuries of malicious anticipation, each word carefully enunciated for maximum psychological impact, "let us see how ye fare when the odds are no longer in thy favor. Mayhap thy deaths shall prove as entertaining as thy struggles have been thus far."
The two new Elite Guards began their approach with predatory patience, and Jin realized they were exactly where the necromancer had always intended them to be—cornered, exhausted, and running out of options.
~~~