Adam felt the howl in his bones. He felt the power wash over him like it recognized he wasn’t an enemy. It still made goosebumps cover his skiing and his hair stand up on the back of his neck. When the howl stopped he saw the wolves all charging toward the group of hounds with Skyeyes and Drox behind them. It was up to them now as Adam turned his attention toward the towering bugbear.


    This one was very different from the last. It stood eight feet tall towering over everyone, but the monster’s figure was slim with tight compact muscles. It wore a mask of bone that covered the top half of its head. Adam could see flecks of brown where dried blood stained the mask. The only part of the face that wasn’t hidden were the wicked teeth of the beast. It had two rows of teeth as sharp and as long as small daggers.


    Similarly to the mask it had armor of pure white bone strapped to its body giving it the appearance of a giant skeleton. Massive rib bones were strapped around the monster’s torso, long femurs circled both thighs, and even fangs jutted from shoulder pads. It was covered in bones almost covering the monster completely.


    Corrupted Bugbear Houndmaster - Level 8 - Elite Enemy


    The name appeared next to the monster’s head with his HP bar still sitting at full. The Houndmaster brought his whip around and struck out toward Mina. She caught the weapon on her buckler, but the wood had finally had enough and split cutting her shield in half as the whip grinded against it like a flying saw. The weapon caught her on the shoulder and dug into her skin. Adam saw blood and flesh fly off the whip as it was pulled back toward the Houndmaster.


    Mina fell to one knee as her HP hit yellow and read 100/200. Josh followed the whip as it moved back toward its owner. He moved with his sword raised and it came down with a blue flash. The Houndmaster simply raised his arm and blocked the two-handed strike with a bone-armored forearm. Adam saw the bone chip and crack, but the Houndmaster seemed wholly unharmed.


    The Houndmaster smashed down with the butt of his whip catching Josh squarely in the head. He was dazed for a second and the monster brought up his foot kicking Josh in the chest. The Overlord went flying toward the pack of fighting wolves and hounds.


    Josh’s HP dropped to 30/150 in a single combination of hits. He flew through the air and crashed into the ground kicking up rocks and dirt. As he skidded to a stop his vision blurred, but he saw flashes of fur and blood. He pushed himself up with both hands. His sword was gone. He shook his head trying to clear the blurry vision. When he looked again he saw the battle raging around him. A smirk crossed his face.


    “Demonic Domain,” said Josh.


    A circle of liquid shadow spilled out from the ground around Josh. Tendrils of darkness wriggled like nightmare worms as they searched unseeing around the area. The darkness had sprung up so fast that every single hound was caught within. It wholly ignored Josh’s allies, but the hounds weren’t so lucky. The tendrils shot out and snaked around each enemy in the circle like living vines of darkness.


    The ten hounds caught in the trap tried for a moment to avoid the tendrils, but when they realized it did not hinder them they pressed their attack. The domain did its work. Josh’s HP ticked up from 30 to 40 in a second. Then it shot up to 50 and 60. It was draining 1 HP from every single enemy every second. It was negligible to the hounds, but it was a godsend for Josh. His HP was full again in moments.


    Josh knew the domain would last for five minutes. That gave him plenty of time to go all out, but first he needed his sword. He looked around and spotted it in the pool of darkness. The tendrils moved aside from the blade as if they could feel Josh’s intentions. He moved toward the sword.


    Adam ran at the Houndmaster. He ducked under the whip that flew through the air and smashed his fist into the monster’s side. He heard the bone armor crack. He activated Combo as his hit landed. The familiar chime of a bell rang in his head. He threw a jab that hit the Houndmaster in the chest. Another followed up as the butt of the whip came down onto Adam’s head.


    When the final jab landed and the third chime rang in his head the world blurred. Adam saw the weapon coming from his head and he sidestepped as it came down. He couldn’t see the surprise on the monster’s face as he was facing its back now.


    Adam set his feet and crouched. In the same motion he pulled back his fist as blue energy like ribbons of lightning gathered from around the world. He rotated his hips and the energy shot into his fist making his hand glow with a bright power. Like a catapult his body turned and his arm shot out, his fist opening into a palm.


    “Palm Strike!,” he yelled as the world blurred around him.


    The Houndmaster had no chance of dodging. He had hardly time to even realize he had missed his opponent with his weapon. He only felt the attack as it smashed into his lower back. That place was armored as all of his body, but the bone armor all but disintegrated against the blow. The Houndmaster watched as a flash of blue energy erupted from his stomach.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Adam looked at where he had landed his strike and saw Mina. He was confused for a moment as the world was still blurred around him. Then he noticed the hole. There was a hole the size of a watermelon in the Houndmaster’s stomach, or what used to be his stomach. Through the hole he saw Mina’s battered form charging with her sword raised.


    The Houndmaster’s HP dropped drastically from the attack. He went from a full bar to half in an instant. The monster roared. For a moment Mina hesitated. Her shield was all but gone. She knew the monster was weakened, but she heard something in that roar. It wasn’t a yell of pain or panic. That was a shout of fury.


    The Houndmaster began to glow red as white steam bellowed from its form. Its HP bar started to slowly drain. Then it moved.


    Adam’s vision snapped back to normal as he saw a backhand whip out toward him. It was all he could do to pull up his arms to block. The monstrous hand bashed into his armored forearms. Adam was launched like a cannonball backwards. He heard the air whistling around him as he flew.


    Pain erupted from his back as he crashed against the cavern wall. The crack of his body hitting the stone echoed through the room. It sounded like a boom bag had gone off. Adam’s HP dropped in an instant. At one moment he was full at 130/130 then the next moment his world was stars. He could only just see the HP bar flashing in his face. It was now 20/130 and blinking red in panic.


    Adam’s brain felt like someone was holding it underwater. He couldn’t think. All he felt was pain. He tried to move, but his legs wouldn’t respond. It was almost too much. Blackness started to creep around his vision. For some reason his HP was still dropping. Eternal bleeding he assumed.


    “I-Inn–” he coughed. Blood splattered against the dusty ground. He was in trouble now. He couldn’t even speak. So, he thought, he pushed through the pain and he screamed the word in his mind. Inner Focus!


    On the other side of the room another battle was just ending. The hounds had been slowly drained by Josh’s Domonic Domain skill. With all three wolves and Josh’s sword the hounds stood little chance. A flashing blue great sword cleaved the last one in half  as it snarled its way to the underworld.


    Snowball was still hurt pretty badly, but she had bit and tore until there were nothing but pieces of the beasts scattered all around her. Skyeyes was at her side, his daggers covered in blood. Drox was next to her with a paw resting against her neck.


    They all turned toward the Houndmaster. He was glowing red with steam rising off his body as he tore his whip through the air battering Mina to the ground. She had nothing but a battered piece of wood covering her forearm where her buckler used to be. She was bleeding from everywhere and her HP was dropping fast.


    “Flame Bolt!” Drox shouted. His MP had finally recovered enough for him to cast a spell. He had seen MIna trying to dodge the vicious whip strikes of the Houndmaster. So, a fire bolt directly to the monster''s back was his best plan.


    The ball of fire hit the monster squarely in the back exploding into a mass of fire. For a moment there was nothing but fire and smoke. As the fire dissipated the Houndmaster turned toward the group. His HP bar was at 30% now, but the direct hit from Fire Bolt had only dropped it by 5%.


    Mina was on one knee now breathing heavily. The monster turned his back on her and moved in a blur toward Drox and the others. Drox had no time to react as the monster pulled the whip around and struck out toward the bear. He saw the vicious weapon flying through the air, but knew he couldn’t move in time.


    A flash of white covered his vision. Blood splattered across his face and he heard a whimper as Snowballs form fell at his feet. The floating book in his paw dropped to the ground next to him. He looked down and saw Snowball''s limp and unmoving form. He was by her side on his knees in a moment.


    “Wake up,” he said. Panic was in his voice. “Hey, get up. You’re okay you silly beast.” He pushed his paws against her body, but she didn’t respond.


    The Houndmaster roared again and pulled his whip back for another strike. As he struck out again toward the group his momentum suddenly stopped dead in its tracks. Behind the monster stood Adam. He had the whip grasped firmly in both hands. Blood poured out from his hands where the fangs dug into his flesh. He moved forward a step and wrapped the weapon around his arm. Then he took another step and wrapped it again around his other arm.


    Before the Houndmaster could fully grasp the situation Mina was next to him. “Shield Bash!” she roared. A ghostly phantom shield appeared right in front of her arm. The shield was as tall as Mina’s entire body and shaped like a knight’s kite shield. She slammed the phantom shield into the Houndmaster’s face. He toppled backwards from the blow, losing his balance.


    As he fell backwards Josh moved. He pumped his legs and ran with his sword in both hands by his side. There was a blue glow to the sword’s edge as he brought it up with every bit of strength he could muster. It struck the back of the falling monster’s neck as Josh roared.


    The head of the Houndmaster rolled to a stop a few meters from its body. The head dimmed from its red glow back to normal as the steam stopped coming off the monster. The room was quiet but for one voice.


    “Why did you do that? Why did you save me? I’m not worth saving.” Drox’s vision was blurred by the tears that welled up in his button eyes. He didn’t even know he could still make tears. “Help her!” he yelled at Skyeyes.


    Skyeyes shook his head. “C-can’t help. Skill down.” There were tears flowing down the goblin’s face as he looked down at his bond.


    Drox was face to face with Snowball now. He was petting her head and whispering to her as her HP bar dropped from 5 to 4 and then to 3. She opened her eyes to look at him and licked his paw. “You did well girl. You did so good. We won. We beat them.” Drox put his head against Snowballs.


    Drox held her as her HP ticked down from 3 to 2 and then to 1. He held her as it hit zero and her eyes closed and breathing stopped. He held her and caressed her head all the way until she burst into hundreds of blue, shining crystals.