The three krampus immediately gave chase. Smoke and his men ran for their lives. The DarkElf wished he had one of Sharanga's five trap systems to hold at least one of the krampus.
Smoke had observed from their last encounter with the three krampus that the tunnels were only big enough to fit one krampus at a time.
This was the perfect scenario that the DarkElf was looking for. Smoke's back was exposed which the krampus directly behind him was fully aware of.
The monster launched his long iron chain against Smoke, but the DarkElf easily dodged it with his increased Agility of the Horned Rabbit and Cunning of the Dire Fox abilities.
Although the krampus' iron chains had a long reach it was still classified as a melee weapon, which was detectable by Smoke's ability.
The krampus tried ricocheting the iron chain on the walls of the tunnel, but Smoke avoided them nonetheless. The DarkElf then ordered Igniz to create a fire directly behind him as they ran.
These krampus had a high resistance to fire, but even the smallest damage could mean the difference between life and death.
Smoke kept on dodging the krampus’ iron chains until the gray maneator stood ten feet away from the tunnel's exit.
The DarkElf saw that Weise was already in position and gave him a quick nod. It was time for them to initiate his plan.
The chasing krampus in the lead never ceased its attacks with its iron chain. All of which were dodged by Smoke.
However, as Smoke approached Weise he did not run away from the krampus but charged right at the monster with a surprise attack.
Smoke fluidly equipped his Armored Armadillo Shield. He bashed the krampus in front, and stunned it for one second.
The two krampus at the back threw their own iron chains at Smoke, but missed him because of their limited view.
This was how Smoke planned on dealing with the three krampus, one monster at a time. The DarkElf stood behind the right side of the gray Maneator and switched his weapon to his powersaw bow.
The tunnel not only forced the krampus to stay in a straight line, it also limited the monsters' attack range.
The stunned krampus recovered and charged at Smoke and his men. The DarkElf attacked the enraged monster with his poisoned arrows while Espion launched his throwing knives from the left side of Weise.
When the krampus drew near them, Smoke and Espion quickly switched weapons. The DarkElf equipped his Armored Armadillo Shield on his left land and the electro charged bullwhip on his right.
Espion switched to the Tails of the Virile and Fecund Lizards knives. Smoke told him to use the green dual knives paralysis ability when the krampus got within range.
Smoke had given them all a specific task. Weise would block the attacks from the krampus in front while Smoke will deflect the iron chains from the two krampus at the back.
The DarkElf gave the slicing and dicing task to Espion. The young Spy timed his counter attacks precisely. Igniz was tasked to constantly create a firewall behind them.
The dark ember sprite was ordered to prevent the fire salamanders, crested newts, and wolf spiders from bothering them. The three of them needed to focus on the krampus inside the tunnel all the time.
Espion waited for the krampus in the front to finish its iron chain attack before he stepped in with the green dual knives.
The young Spy used the active paralysis ability of the Tails of the Virile and Fecund Lizards. The paralysis duration lasted between zero to twenty seconds.
The ability depended on the resistance level of the target. In the case of the leading krampus, the paralysis effect only lasted five seconds.
Espion had complete trust in Smoke. He didn't bother to dodge the other iron chains of the two krampus' stuck inside the tunnel, the young Spy knew that he would be protected by his leader.
There were multiple times when the two iron chains came out in unison. Smoke blocked one of the chains with his Armored Armadillo Shield while repelling the other with the bullwhip.
Weise on the other hand remained focused to his given task. He bravely took the incoming damage from the krampus in front of him. His lifebar displayed (210,196/222,900 HP).
The gray Maneator defended with his gora shield but the krampus still managed to hit him for 4,000 damage points on each attack.
Weise had the highest defense out of the three of them, otherwise if Smoke or Espion took the krampus' attack it could have been as high as 12,000 damage points.
Espion's attacks on the krampus were slow but calculated. He managed to reduce their targeted krampus' life bar to (202,680/280,000 HP).
The three krampus they were up against were clearly weaker than Herzog Popanz, the krampus who blinded Espion.
The injured krampus tried to break out of the tunnel by charging its horns directly at Weise.
Smoke told Weise to reserve his 'Shield Smack' ability for such a situation. The gray Maneator brought his gora shield to his front and stunned the krampus inside the tunnel.
The krampus in the middle was pushed by the last krampus with its iron chain which damaged the middle krampus' back.
This irritated the middle krampus, and the two krampus began to fight each other. The Tenebris designed these beasts to be easily angered killers.
It wasn't until they heard the cry of the krampus in front that the two came to their senses and stopped fighting each other.
The krampus monsters had no problem fighting with each other, but the beasts could not tolerate any of their kin being killed by another creature.
The DarkElf's plan worked well so far, but there were several scenarios that could collapse the entire strategy in one go.
"Everyone, stay focused on your tasks!"
No one responded, but Smoke knew that everybody remained vigilant. All of them played their roles to the best of their abilities.
It had only been ten minutes but to Smoke and his men it felt like an hour. The krampus in front was finally left with 5% of its maximum life.
After Espion delivered the killing blow, the krampus next in line stepped forward. The beast was enraged by the death of its kin.
The second monstrous krampus charged with all its might and Weise met it with his shield to stun the beast. Yet, the krampus was unfazed.
The monster was about to come out of the tunnel, until Smoke used his Armored Armadillo Shield to perform a second stun and held the beast a step away from the exit.
The first krampus' body started to fade and its loot started to appear. Smoke's gaze went to the coveted embryo. He needed it in order to make another Maneator.
However, the krampus monsters knew of the embryo's importance. It was one of the limited things the Tenebris instilled into the beasts.
Smoke jumped in to grab the embryo, but the current krampus in front snapped out of its dazed state and stomped on it. The monster broke it in half and the embryo slowly disappeared.
The DarkElf's back was exposed as he dove down to get the embryo. The krampus’ iron chains knocked Smoke down to the ground.
Igniz sensed that Smoke's life was in danger. The dark ember sprite left his position and went to help the DarkElf.
The krampus kept on attacking Smoke with its iron chain. Weise stepped in and blocked the next blow.
Espion tried to paralyze the monster, but an attack from the last krampus at the back blew him away.
Igniz caught the krampus off guard. The dark purple flaming sprite went for the krampus' left eye. The damage made the krampus step back and cover its injured eye.
Espion swiftly pulled Smoke behind Weise. The DarkElf recovered from the back attacks, but he was damaged for 40% of his maximum life.
"Igniz, thanks for the rescue, bud! But you need to get back in position. We can't have the other monsters attack us from behind."
The dark ember sprite quickly went back to create the firewalls.
Smoke, Weise, and Espion resumed their battle formation. This time they were lucky to have regained their position, but next time could result in a disastrous scenario.
This made the DarkElf decided to settle for one embryo, and ordered his men to kill the second krampus without any intention of grabbing the Maneator component.
With their heightened focus, Smoke and his men killed the second krampus. The last krampus followed its predecessor's action and stepped on the krampus embryo.
Weise focused on defending the last krampus' attacks, while Smoke and Espion dealt lightning damages.
Smoke and his men killed the last krampus in less than seven minutes. Only Espion leveled up in their battle against the three krampus monsters.
+ Acquired iron chains: 'Heavy Iron Chains'.
+ Acquired krampus hide.
+ Acquired krampus horns.
+ Acquired krampus hooves.
+ Acquired krampus embryo.
+ Acquired 1/3 confidential labyrinth map.
As the DarkElf half heartedly collected the sole krampus embryo, he finally noticed a torn out piece of the labyrinth's map.
He quickly searched through the hides, horns, and hooves until he found the other two pieces of the map.
Smoke placed all three pieces of the map together, and the parchment merged into one map.
+ Gained Confidential Labyrinth Map
+ Confidential Map of Zuchthaus Labyrinth
* Reveals Exit of Labyrinth
* Reveals Labyrinth Treasure Room
|
A full map of the labyrinth appeared in front of Smoke with two blinking Xs. One was labeled exit while the other treasure room.
Smoke's grin reached ear to ear, but before anything else he needed to get back to the laboratory to make his second Maneator.
* * * * * *
The DarkElf repeated the same process from the last time. He placed the components inside the huge casting circle.
For his second Maneator he thought that he should have more firepower, which was why he decided to use the Arma Dominus attribute disc coupled with Agility based Maneator DNA.
The embryo started to take shape. A few more seconds and a smaller Maneator than Weise stepped out of the giant casting circle.
Confident from his previous success with Weise, Smoke walked towards the orange Maneator unperturbed.
"Hello there! I'm your creator, Smoke, and we are your new family. Weise is clearly your older brother and just think of Espion as a distant cousin."
Weise and Espion walked closer towards the orange Maneator.
Igniz flamboyantly orbited around Smoke when his name wasn't mentioned.
"And of course you have the very powerful dark ember sprite as a guardian angel. This guy's name is Igniz."
The orange Maneator answered Smoke in a dizzyingly fast talk.
"Nice to meet you all! It is an honor to be created by you, master Smoke. I know I just got my awareness but I suddenly feel the need to run and explore and run some more. Are we going to leave soon? I feel that we've stayed in this one place way too long now. When do we leave? Also, what's my name? Do I have a name? How long do you think it will take you to give me a name?"
Smoke had to grab hold of the orange Maneator to stop him from speaking.
"Alright! How about Rasant Rind?"
"Rasant Rind? Sounds perfect! Thanks! Now that we have that settled, what's next? Oh and I see that most of you have weapons and I don't have one. Do I get a weapon? What weapon am I getting? Can I get a green knife like Espion? Or do I get a wavy sword like big bro Weise?"
"I'm giving you this bullwhip and iron chain. I think you could do some serious damage with these two weapons."
Rasant quickly tried out his bullwhip and cracked it in the air. Afterwards, he tried the iron chain. With the iron chain's longer reach, the orange Maneator broke most of the apparatus in the laboratory and almost damaged Smoke and everyone else.
"I just remembered that if I'm going to give you the bullwhip I'd be stuck with just my bow. I need to improve my bow's damage if that's the case. So, if you don't mind can you return the iron chain?"
Smoke made a quick excuse to relieve Rasant of the iron chain and prevented them from being damaged in the future.
The DarkElf also realized that what he said was true and performed the transmutation process on his powersaw bow.
He used all the iron chain weapons found and transmuted his powersaw bow into a power chainsaw bow. The bow's shape and color changed.
