*Author Note*
To show my appreciation, here is an extra long chapter (approx. 1.5X the usual length.) In the future, prepare for mass releases...
***
"Ack!" He exclaimed, stepping forward to dislodge the sword before turning and slashing the skeleton's head off.
His knees buckled as slight nausea set in.
'Shit... I need to...' He couldn't finish his thought, the whispers screaming in his head at this point.
As he moved, the sides of his open wound slid against each other--sending waves of horrible pain through the left side of his body.
The pain radiated from the heel of his foot to the back of his left eye, nearly making him lose consciousness for a split second.
However, a blue light caught his eye as he turned the corner of the pillar, instantly boosting his alertness.
'I have never gotten this far behind a pillar. Finally... I am seeing what lies behind them.' He thought as he saw the origin of the much brighter blue light.
It wasn't bright enough to cast a glow on the walls, but many folds brighter than the eyes of the skeletons.
The light belonged to a much larger blue orb resting atop a long wooden staff. The staff was held by another skeleton, this one, wearing a long black robe.
However, Midas instantly noticed its back was turned away from him. He only recognized it as a skeleton by seeing its bone legs and feet all the way at the bottom.
'He doesn't see me...' He slashed at the back of the skeleton's neck--instantly decapitating it.
The blue orb in its staff disappeared, and Midas was able to step behind the pillar.
'Finally!' He said, taking a breath. For a couple of seconds, he had time to finally stop.
His muscles ached, but far worse than that, the wound in his waist was bleeding heavily and producing waves of indescribable pain. Every time he breathed, he felt a sword pierce into his back again and again.
'Tsk... I didn't want to use this now, but I have no other choice.' He glanced at the door, 'I can't run there in this state... I have no other choice.'
Just then, he reached into his side pocket and grabbed a small, bright red potion encased in a triangular glass bottle. The potion lit up in the dark just like a lantern.
'My mystery box prize...' He said in his head.
During his journey to the Ashen Hollow with Gool, he had decided it was the correct time to open the mystery box.
He wanted to first open it after building his hut and getting ready for his first night of sleep in Fell-Terra.
However... that didn't go to plan, obviously.
Still, the very next day, curiosity got to him.
He stared at the mystery box while leaning against a tree.
Gool stood in the background, stomping out campfire coals from the night before. His eyes moved over to Midas.
"Oi! What are you staring at over there like it's some sort of golden cube?" He said, walking over.
Midas exhaled through his nostrils, "It's... a mystery box." He said.
Gool raised a brow, "Hah? The heck is that?" He said, confused.
Midas chuckled, "Hahaha... It's something that the Player understands. You won't get it." He said. However, this wasn't entirely true. Midas had no clue whether other Players had similar abilities to him. Ones that let him get mystery box rewards, for example.
"Open." He commanded.
The box clicked, the top dissipating into particles in the air as the four sides collapsed.
Inside was a red potion.
[You have gained a greater health potion.]
[Greater Health Potion: A potion of the "greater" tier. This potion is able to heal mild to lethal injuries within seconds. Stamina is also greatly regenerated.]
...
Midas took the cork off before swigging the potion quickly down his gullet.
At once, the pain in his abdomen disappeared. He leaned back, exhaling with relief.
A warm red glow illuminated his wound as it quickly began to heal and close back up.
The glow felt like a mother's touch. One that made even cold shivers go away.
Just as he was enjoying this moment of peace, however, a sword swung for his neck.
Midas instantly ducked his head down--the blade of the skeleton getting lodged into the pillar.
He instantly leaped up, slashing across the skeleton's body in a flurry of swipes. The skeleton was broken into bits and scattered across the room.
Midas smirked, 'My stamina is nearly full again...' He gritted his teeth, running back out from behind the pillar as his eyes glanced at the remaining three pillars.
'I've got it now. The pillars weren't there, so I could hide from the enemy. It was so that the enemy could hide from me. Those stupid skeletons, hidden skeletons... they must be the ones summoning the others.' Midas also put together another piece of the puzzle just then, 'This entire time, the pillars only teleported right when I began turning the corner. The mage skeletons must have always noticed me and teleported away. That time, however, its back was turned.' His stride was much faster than before as he tore through the chamber, heading toward the next closest pillar.
'I've got it now... I know how to attain victory!' His eyes lit up as his smile grew. Greed flashed across his pupils as he dashed around the second pillar.
Just like Midas had predicted, another mage skeleton was indeed on the other side of the pillar.
How did Midas get far enough to know this? Simple... he crawled behind the pillar.
This way, by the time the mage skeleton looked down and noticed Midas, he was already going to be lunging at their throats.
Midas followed through with his plan, darting up and slashing the skeleton's head clean off.
Instantly, Midas noticed there were far fewer skeletons than before. As he moved to the next pillar, he carried on clearing out as many as he could.
He moved like a gazelle, leaping left and right to juke out the skeletons. Thankfully, their ability to think on their feet wasn't like that of a normal human. Not on the level of Midas's, at least.
Midas didn't take long to finish off the skeleton behind the third pillar either. The process was no different than the others, a duck and slash straight to the throat.
Midas instantly switched targets to the fourth and last pillar--at the complete backside of the room.
As he neared it, he noticed all the skeletons around him no longer running at him, but rather, past him.
They all gathered in front of the final pillar, forming a barricade of soldiers.
Midas slid to a stop, his eyebrows furrowing with confusion.
'Are they defending the final mage!? I didn't think they had such capabilities, but I guess I was wrong to underestimate them.' Midas thought, bewildered.
Just then, the mage skeleton made its way around the pillar and stood its ground at the back of the army of skeletons.
'Coward...' Midas said to himself with disgust.
The mage lifted its staff into the air, beginning to suck in the air around it into a swirl while entering the blue orb.
Along with air, the green orbs began to get pulled in as well, bits and pieces of aura being consumed by the blue orb.
Skeletons began to lose their eye orbs entirely, breaking down into a pile of skeletons.
Midas's hair blew all across his face, gusts of wind brushing against him.
Within seconds, all of the skeletons had been devoured. Their bones created a massive carcass pile directly in front of the mage.
Immediately after, the skeleton slammed the bottom of the staff into the ground--sending a slight shockwave as a green aura traveled across the floor before being absorbed by the pile of bones in the middle.
Midas's eyes began to grow wider in awe and shock as the pile began to float and begin molding into a larger shape. Each bone was outlined by a green aura, slotting right into place.
The pile separated into two masses before forming two large skeleton knights.
One held a sword, the other a long spear. They were clad in robust iron armor. Their helmets only revealed their eyes, nose, and mouth with a slit mirroring the letter "t" going across.
Their weapons were several times larger than normal ones, the sword alone reaching twelve feet in length...
Without warning, the two giants flew forward while loading their weapons to strike.
Midas attempted to duck, but he quickly realized that his speed was far too slow.
His eyes widened as he tried to block the attack--his only option, albeit desperate.
However... deep inside, he knew that blocking the attack wasn't an option either.
The two weapons crashed through the bone daggers as if they were made of glass. The impact ruptured Midas's ribs, ricocheting his body across the wall behind him and into the ground in a single swift second.
Midas's eyes rolled into the back of his head as foam gargled out of his mouth. His lungs had been exploded, his inner organs turned to mince...