We had set off for the castle after doing some errands in the real world. Of course, the castle's guards would be on alert; a castle falling due to the collapse of the mountain it sat on has a tendency to do just that.
As we climbed the stairs to the front door, three giant dragons wielding axes approached us to give us a proper welcome. They looked similar to that beast Terry had fought. As they breathed their flames on us and swung with their axes, I used the GigaSlash skill to slash all of these dragons, and the others followed with their attacks. Soon these three were beaten.
"You have gotten strong," said Terry.
We entered into the castle itself, wagon and all.
Entering the front lobby, we were greeted by a bunch if metal slimes.
I struck at them with the Sword of Ramias; their metallic construction resisted my blade. A few of them ran away.
But then one of the metal slimes made this screech, and other metal slimes arrived. They seemed to melt together.
and then there was this giant metal slime wearing a crown. That metal slime was very resilient.
"That's like a metal king slime," said Muriel.
"We know a skill to deal with these beasts," said Hassan.
He sliced at the metal king slime with his Sword of Miracles, and I heard this cutting sound. Terry joined in. Barbara stabbed at the metal king slime with a poison needle.
Soon, the metal king slime melted into liquid metal.
"So much for the metal king slime," said Chamoro.
"The MetalCut rocks," said Hassan.
We went upstairs to the second floor. We could see arrow tiles circling the room.
"Looks like there's no other way," said Barbara.
And so Falshion pulled the wagon onto one of the tiles and we slid around, ending up in the floor surrounded by the tiles. In the center of the tile-bordered area was a floor switch. I stepped on the floor switch, and the arrow tiles deactivated. We then continued on, to an area where the arrow tiles made a path around the room, going over gaps in the floor.
"If we step on the wrong tile," said Terry, "we could fall to the floor below."
I looked at the arrow tiles, and then guided the wagon to one of them. We slid a bit, just right next to the pit. We then went onto another arrow tile, and the tiles whisked us to the back of the huge room. We stepped on another tile and it led us to this room with stairs going up. The stairs led to this small room with a glowing circle.
I got off the wagon and stepped into the circle. I suddenly felt energized.
"This must be where Deathtamoor's guards and staff revitalize themselves," I said.
"Nice for Deathtamoor to provide that for us," said Hassan.
"Maybe we should give him a thank-you note before killing him," said Muriel.
We went downstairs and used the arrow tiles to end up in the corner of the huge room. Climbing the stairs, we ended up on some stone platforms. A glowing fog, probably of the sdame nature as that which surrounded Deathtamoor's realm, obscured our downward view.
"Where do we go?" asked Barbara. "There doesn't seem to be a way."
"Look," I said. There were these boards at the edges of the stone platforms. Guiding Falshion to pull the wagon to one of the boards, we were sprung into the air, landing on another stone platform.
"Awesome," said Chamoro.
"That's why I'm the leader," I said.
We navitgated around this area using the boards to hop along different platforms. We soon ended up at this platform with a stariwell leading to its interior.
the interior of the platform was a bare room with a tile that had two arrows pointing in opposite directions. I knew what to do.
Stepping on the tile, I felt a jolt. The platform must be moving somewhere. I then felt another jolt.
Going up, we could see another platform not far away. Using the board to jumpothere, we soon reached a stairs going up.
We crossed a short corridor and entered a door.
We then found ourselves in this huge room with doors that seemed to go nowhere.
"We'd better choose a door," said Terry.
We went through the first door we came across.
And we ended up back where we started.
"Deathtamoor sure goes out of his way to keep out trespassers," said Hassan.
It was then that three guards came to greet us. Two of them resembled Duran, and the remaining guard resembled Mudo.
I used the GigaSlash skill against the Duran clone. Hassan and Terry used SwordLine, slicing at them repeatedly. Barbara and Chamor cast the spell Explodet. Muriel spit out a fireball at the Mudo clone.
I hacked down one of the demons that looked like Duran, and his counterpart cast a spell. The demon was on his feet again.
"He has the Revive spell," said Barbara.
"It's gonna be a lot tougher than I thought," I said.
Indeed, these guards could cast powerful attack magic or strike with their claws and blades. After one of them sliced at me repeatedly with the SwordLibne skill, I entered into a quiet meditation to recover my health. I noticed Hassan delivering a Spirit Punch while Chamoro cast SnowStorm.
It took a lot of effort, but we managed to deal with these enemies.
"Now to find our which door to take," I said.
We used a different doors, all of which led back to the same place.
"We're like rats in a maze or something," said Chamoro.
I then came across this treasure chest. Opening it, there was a book titled "Book of Dragons".
Falshion pulled the wagon through the door nearby, and we found ourselves surrounded by the glowing fog.
"Can't see anything," said Terry, peering out of the wagon.
"Must be some sort of defense system," said Hassan. "Deathtamoor activated it after his castle fell from the mountain."
I heard thunder, and the walls revealed themselves briefly before disappearing. As we wandered the castle, we came across monsters like giant turtles and winged bipedal demons and jesters armed with blades and these metal king slimes who had a tendency of running away. Navigating our way around this maze was extremely difficult.
"Look over therte," said Muriel. "A treasure chest."
The treasure chest remained visible, unlike the walls. I cast Identify and the chest glowed blue. Opening the chest, there was this shiny sword.
"It's a Metal King Sword," I said, casting Identify. I gave the Metal King Sword to Hassan.
"Thanks," he replied.
Hassan made good use of the Metal King Sword as we fought the monsters while wandering through this maze.
I then saw a wooden door.
"Did we just get back to where we came from?" asked Barbara.
"Only one way to find out," I replied. Opening the door, Falshion pulled the wagon through.
We the crossed this raised platform at the top of the castle. I could see the land for miles around. Pretty soon we came up to this well-ornamented door with strange patterns carved on it.
"Ready, people?" I asked. "If anyone wishes to turn back, now is the time."
"We're with you," said Chamoro.
"No way we're gonna turn back," said Terry.
I opened the door and Falshion pulled the wagon through.
"What sort of place is this?" asked Hassan.
I looked around. There were these rocks floatiung around. In the distance was this huge rock on top which sat a stone platform. Falshion pulled the wagon towards there. From the sound of his hooves I could tell that even he was on edge.
I stood on top of the platform.
"Deathtamoor!" I yelled. "Show yourself!"
"Ho ho ho," said this voice.
This pink demon who roughly resembled an elderly man appeared in front of me. He wore this purple cape.
"So, you have come this far," he said. "Pesky humans. you will make a great sacrifice to me."
These two orbs appeared. We were ready to do battle.
I raised up the Sword of Ramias, Chamoro cast Barrier, Muriel cast Increase, Barbara cast Bikill, Hassan delivered a MetalCut, and Terry attacked.
The demon threw two orbs at us, and one of them struck me. It hurt quite a bit. Then he threw a fireball at us. I had to do a Hustle Dance while Chamoro cast Healus just to recover.
Drawing the Sword of Ramias, I prepared myself to do another round of fighting with this demon, who was obviously quite adept of handling four opponents at a time. He had a whole slew of powerful attacks, such as shooting us with a flame orb or striking us with an ice spear. We had to heal each round, and the wounded went back into the wagon for cover.
The battle continued for quite a while, as I tried to avoid his powerful attacks while looking for an opening to strike him down. I had to keep myself at least three steps ahead of this guy. If it were not for my armor and shield and helm, I would be dead three times over.
We then made a tactical retreat.
"We can't just take this guy straight on," said Hassan.
"There must be a plan," said Muriel.
"He's just too powerful," said Barbara.
He then came after us, casting all sorts of spells.
I calmed myself, waiting for the right moment to strike. I remembered what Franco said to me, rage is a tool for me; I am not a tool for rage.
He then threw two orbs at us. I hopped along the rocks floating in this room. One of the orbs barely missed my helmeted head.
I then closed in on him, and before he could parry, I did a Swordline skill, slahsing at him repeatedly with the Sword of Ramias.
And then he fell.
"All right!" yelled Chamoro. "We did it!"
"Way to go!" shouted Terry.
"It's finally over," said Hassan.
"Thank God," said Muriel.
"You might have defeated an old man," asked a voice.
We all looked around, wondering where that voice was coming from.
"But can you defeat me?"
The two orbs that had been thrown against us merged together and warped.
And suddenly this huge, pink demon appeared, with two muscular arms, two muscular legs, and two huge wings. Long clawsprotruded from his hands and feet, and spikes sprung from his body.
"Deathtamoor!" I yelled.
"That's right," replied the demon.
Without warning, he charged at me and knocked me against one of the floating rocks. It hurt a lot!
"Foolish weaklings!" Deathtamoor yelled.
I got up, raising the Sword of Ramias to raise my attack power. Chamoro cast Increase, while Barbara cast Barrier.
We then engaged the Dai Maou in battle. Deathtamoor, for the most part, used powerful physical attacks which hurt. I attacked him with the GigaSlash skill, which generated this blade of light that could cut through anything. Hassan delivered powered up, Spirit Punches which knocked Deathtamoor back. Chamoro and Barbara cast Healus to heal us from wounds inflicted by Deathtamoor's powerful attacks. Muriel spit fireballs which burned the Dai Maou, and Terry used the Metal Cut skill with his sword.
Deathtamoor then cast the spell Bikill, following up with a poweful uppercut on Hassan. I immediately countered by emitting freezing waves to cancel out the spell. We then continued the battle, as we tried to avoid Deathtamoor's powerful blows while using our spells and skills to land a couple of blows against this powerful brute. Occasionally he would cast Upper, which I had to use freezing waves to dispel.
I glanced, and saw that Terry was down. Barbara ran over to him to cast Revive.
Just as Deathtamoor was about to strike her down with his meaty left hand, I parried with the Shield of Sufida, absorbing the powerful blow. I then jumped just to avoid a tail swipe, landing my feet on one of the floating rocks.
I then went back to engage Deathtamoor. Everything seemed to be happening fast and slow simultanously, as paradoxical as it may sound. It was a matter of using my shield, fancy footwork, the GigaSlash, as well as the Hustle Dance to heal everyone.
After what seemed to be a long time, Deathtamoor made a retreat.
"Ha ha ha!" he laughed. "I was just playing with you."
"Playing?" I asked. My body was still aching all over from his brutal blows.
"Let me shed this useless body!"
He let out this inhuman scream. We could all feel that he was getting stronger.
I focused myself for the battle ahead.