"This cheating, midget motherfucker!" Jenna was already charging her own black lightning to return fire, but her potty mouth was ready to blast at full strength at all times.
She was cursing the lich-lord out for not letting his summons do the dirty work. While the trio had to maintain a constant vigil on their surroundings, watching out for the fleeting assaults of the six hidden undead, Tharaxes unleashed arcing bolts of lightning and searing jets of flame at them from his towering throne.
At first, the spells weren't difficult to dodge. Jenna even countered most of them with her own magic, when she wasn't avoiding attacks from the unseen undead.
That tactic didn't last long. Tharaxes was adaptable, and clearly able to order his summons about. Ronan noticed a lull in the constant attempts on his life.
"Fuck me! A little help here," Jenna exclaimed, tossing out spell after spell.
Turning, Ronan saw that she was under attack from all of the six undead. Every two seconds, a fresh blade cut out of the air, aimed at one of her vital spots.
She was keeping them at bay with her constant magic, but it had to be draining her mana rapidly. Ronan reached her right as she twisted too slow out of the path of a blade, and it drew a line of crimson down her left bicep.
The next attacker found Ronan's mace swinging into the path of its strike, and was forced to abort to save the integrity of its weapon. That told Ronan their blades at least, were corporeal.
A silver lining of the sudden assault on Jenna was that the undead had gathered into one spot. So had the trio, as they rushed to defend her, but that was a secondary worry. Ronan had a brief window of opportunity, and he grasped his mace firmly in both hands, unwilling to let it pass.
Unleashing magic strike, sacrificial strike, and even double strike—though he was unsure if the last skill in particular would work for this—Ronan roared and swung in a circle. The undead might be invisible, but he doubted they could actually teleport. They would still be close.
The first impact was soft. It annoyed him, but he'd expected it. As he completed the spin, he felt another two impacts. He grunted, knowing he'd missed half the undead.
Three would have to suffice.
The initial blow clearly did little damage, but Ronan only needed to catch the unseen enemies with the physical strike. When the burst of mana exploded from the head of his mace, he flexed his mana control, and forced the rippling wave to narrow into a sharp cone.
He'd hoped for a needlepoint, but he wasn't skilled enough to succeed. As the mana ripped through the air, three floating, haggard robes were revealed. From the depths, he could see three pairs of glowing eyes. Then the ghostly mace of double strike whirled around him, before smashing into the first floating robe.
Unlike the physical mace, the ghostly weapon created by double strike had a deadly impact. The first creature wailed as its robes were torn apart. Its eyes faded as the ghostly mace smashed against the second.
Double strike's initial impact petered out, but then the second wave of mana struck. Ronan tried to control it, but the skill rejected him.
However, it wasn't a complete failure. The ghostly mana burst echoed his own, albeit with less tightly reined in mana. It blew the second monster apart, and shredded the robes of the third.
It began to slip into the air, parts of it simply vanishing from view, when a bolt of lightning streaked from the right and struck it right in the chest. In a black flash, the creature was reduced to ashes, and Ronan felt a rejuvenating wave wash through him. He'd leveled up again.
That wasn't the first time since they'd started this battle, but he felt a subtle tug in his mind, letting him know this level was more significant than the previous. As this wasn't his first rodeo, he knew that time froze during class evolutions.
Thus, he had no qualms about pulling up the notification and beginning the class evolution process right as a fireball flew towards him from the lich's throne. If only I could move during this, he lamented. I could just walk right up to Tharaxes and smash his irritating little head.
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Congratulations for reaching Lv. 50!
You have reached the first threshold for your class! Class will evolve…
You have not unlocked any special evolutions due to your achievements
You have not unlocked any special evolutions due to your heritage
You have not unlocked any special evolutions due to your race
You have not unlocked any special evolutions due to alternative methods
Please select a class evolution from the following:
Unrelenting Juggernaut (Epic)
The unrelenting juggernaut is an unstoppable force, possessed of inexhaustible tenacity, a body that refuses to die, and an utter refusal to be stopped in its path. Death is left in your wake, and nothing can stop your momentum.
Momentum can now be overcharged beyond 100. Every point beyond 100 is exponentially harder to reach than the last. The first point of momentum over 100 multiplies all stats by 1.1, and each additional point increases the multiplier by an additional 0.1.
Gain +2.5% to strength and tenacity for every 8 seconds you are in combat. Bonus resets after 90 seconds outside of combat.
When dealing physical damage, gain stamina equal to 40% of the damage dealt.
Gain mastery over stamina, pain, and momentum minutely faster.
+2 Vitality, +10 Endurance, +3 Resistance, +7 Strength, +2 Agility, +9 Tenacity, +2 Free Stat Points on level up
Class Skill [Charge of the Juggernaut (Rare)] will become [Unstoppable Charge of the Juggernaut (Epic)] upon selection of this evolution
Receive Class Skill [Unleashed Momentum (Rare)] upon selection of this evolution
Unlock requirements:
Challenger has the class [Juggernaut (Rare)]
Challenger is Level 100 or lower
The unlock requirements were barely worth mentioning. In fact, Ronan hadn't even needed to lift a finger—aside from reaching the requisite level. The improvements to juggernaut were incredible, though, and as he'd suspected, the new class was epic rarity.
That would guarantee him an extra chronos merit, at the very least. The battle against Tharaxes was one he'd expected to lose, with the reveal of the assassin-like summons, but now victory was in sight once more.
More than anything the stat gains were the most absurd benefit, over double what they'd been with the base juggernaut class. However, Ronan hadn't hit level 51 yet, so wouldn't be gaining anything yet. He was hopeful of gaining at least one level before being forced to fight the boss itself, but there were no guarantees.
There was nothing to deliberate, or think about. Ronan accepted the evolution without much fanfare, and felt a shift in what he now knew was his soul.
Then, he blinked. When he opened his eyes, the world around him moved once more. He threw himself to one side, avoiding the fireball which had been screaming towards his face.
Ronan rolled and landed on his feet. He shot upright, right as a blade screamed out of nowhere towards his face. Evasion was impossible.
Twisting his body to one side, he swung his mace upwards towards where a ghostly hand clutched the shaft of the scythe. It bit into his shoulder, drawing blood and locking up his left arm. At the same time, the bonecrusher mace smashed into the invisible undead creature.
The soft impact damaged it little, but the magic strike that Ronan's blow was infused with tore it apart from within. Ronan tore out the blade as his enemy faded into nothingness.
Usually, ripping a sharp weapon out of a stab wound was a foolish choice, but he was confident in gaining another level before he bled out. Turning towards Tharaxes, he saw the lich-lord was still cackling with glee as it cast a continual barrage of spells at the struggling trio.
Jenna was doing her best to counter the magic assault, but she was inferior to the skeletal hobgoblin boss. Alyssa was deftly evading all the assassination attempts, while cutting back at the last two unseen foes. However, her shortsword seemed ineffectual at truly harming them.
Ronan wasn't sure quite how much his class evolution had powered up his charge of the juggernaut. Or, as it was now, unstoppable charge of the juggernaut. Still, he felt it was worth a shot.
From where he stood near the entrance to the throne room to the top of the stone dais where Tharaxes stood was a distance of about eighteen metres. With his old charge, that would be impossible.
Now, with his momentum already pushing into the overcharge range at 101 points, it could be feasible. "Can you two keep him distracted? I have a plan," he shout-whispered at the two women.
There was every chance Tharaxes heard him anyway, but he was hoping the arrogant lich was too caught up in its magical barrage to eavesdrop. When Jenna and Alyssa nodded their assent, he immediately started moving towards the throne.
The closer he could get before actually committing to the charge, the more likely he was to succeed. He took three steps, when he heard the loud smack of Tharaxes' staff against the stone.
Glancing towards the boss, he saw two glowing orbs floating at the base of the dais. They grew larger by the second. Worse, he noticed all of the bones in the room start to shake, and the scattered calcium carbonate dust flew towards the lights.
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