Chapter 128: Trap and Key
The red-rimmed black portal consumed the mana from the ritual’s torrent with a voracious appetite. The siphon cleared the room of the vaporous energy in a matter of seconds. Coop’s Fog of War went along with the torrent of mana and his domain was shredded by the dark vacuum. Coop braced himself for something big as the wind whipped up within the chamber, even pulling himself forward as it desperately sought more mana, before he steadied himself against the fine grains on the floor. Then, the vacuum abruptly stopped and he stumbled a step backwards when the pressure suddenly let up.
For a moment, everything seemed to calm down. The ritual had ceased and the thin beams of light stopped pulsing, the torrent had disappeared, the air cleared, and the dark circle stilled. However, the red-rimmed black circle remained in the center of the room.
Coop could hear himself taking deep breaths against the back of his shield as he waited for something else to happen. His eyes were glued to the fixture of darkness at the bottom of the gentle slope.
The brief moment of relative silence was shattered when the vivid red barrier surrounding the blackness cracked, jolting his hearing with the clear snapping sound. A web of breaks crawled along the narrow strip, building up to a clamor of chaotic sounds. It was like bubble wrap popping, if each cell also unleashed a shriek. The entire circle released a red spotlight of hazy energy straight to the ceiling when the shattering concluded. The blood red mana slowly faded and Coop looked back down at the dark portal.
A pair of elongated, curling horns slowly emerged from the darkness below, extending four feet from the ground before curving another few feet down and forward. A pitch black stone head followed, marred with scars and scrapes as if it had already seen countless battles, and won all of them. Something large was rising from the black void as if it was standing on a gradually elevating platform.
Coop only hesitated long enough for his morning star to solidify in his hands before he smashed it straight down into the head of whatever was coming, right between the horns. Sure, all the demons he had met during the assimilation had been delightful, but none of them had emerged from pitch dark portals leaking blood red energy. The whole scenario reminded him of the final moments with the Prime Construct.
His weapon snapped the emerging creature’s head back, but it didn’t seem to stumble at all, continuing to slowly rise out of the portal. Coop cocked his weapon back to repeat his attack while he applied Presence of Mind to find out exactly what he was dealing with.
[Siege Boss: Monolithic Destiny (Level 100)]
[Monument of Blood]
[Icon of Mana]
Coop scowled as he slammed the monster’s head again. The challenge had ramped up pretty fast, going from a regular level 33 monster to a level 100 Siege Boss, but he wouldn’t back down. In terms of stats, he was pretty confident in matching up with just about any boss lower level than himself.
The monster’s eyes snapped open, revealing blood red orbs that leaked matching mana smoke as it braced against Coop’s strike with a stone grimace and a guttural growl. The entire black stone head had emerged from the dark portal by the time Coop struck again, and it was huge. It opened its mouth and roared at Coop in response to the second strike, sending blood red spittle flying across the room. Behind its sharp stone teeth, shaped like stalactites and stalagmites, an abyss of blood red extended down its throat, but Coop was only lashed by hot air as he backed away again. He had expected a blast, but nothing more dangerous than gross came from the maw.