Chương 72: (B2 Chapter 23)

"That's definitely the boss chamber, isn't it?" asked Lucas, rhetorically I assumed as no one answered but everyone understood what those giant doors represented. We took some time to make sure we were topped up on everything. I even handed out two mana potions each to Madelline, Marcus, and Omar, as they were running low. My own supply was now low as well, but it would probably be enough for the upcoming fight.

"If anyone's sitting on a few free stat points, now would be the time to assign them," said Marcus, making a very valid point. I knew I had just assigned all my points, but opened up my status anyway to do a quick check. I was level 18 now, having gained three levels since entering the dungeon. My maximum mana had also increased immensely to 285, and my health was also decent at 180, however, stamina was now blatantly lagging behind at just 100.

I needed to start putting points in endurance soon so that I could get more stamina. That being said, I hadn't really had any problems with stamina so far, as most of my fights resolved quickly and I only had quick step that used stamina directly. I'll think about it a bit more before I assign points next. Next, I looked at my stats, ignoring the points from my title or from my equipment. I noticed that dexterity was finally getting closer to agility; it being at 30 now compared to agility at 39.

Moreover, intelligence, wisdom, and perception, the three 'mental' stats, were all aligned at 19 each. Strength and endurance were really lagging behind at ten each, whereas vitality was only marginally better at 13. I wanted to keep my focus on my core stats, but I remembered that fight against the kobold elite which now seemed so long ago, where I couldn't fight properly due to imbalanced stats. It was a good idea to keep my low stats somewhat close to my higher ones, instead of letting the gap keep growing.

However, I didn't think there was an immediate need to do so. I'll instead try to see if I can enhance them through equipment bonuses. If that doesn't work, then once perception, dexterity, and agility are aligned, I'll start adding a few points here and there to the three low stats just so they don't negatively affect my combat ability.

"Everyone done?" Lucas's question cut through my musings. The group nodded, nervous but ready, as we took a collective deep breath and approached the two gigantic doors. Lucas reached ahead and just had to touch one of the doors before they both silently started swinging open in a smooth motion. The room inside was completely dark, not an ounce of light penetrated the boundary of the door to illuminate what was inside. However, that changed as soon as the doors stopped moving.

All of a sudden, light flooded the room from unnaturally bright mana crystals in the ceiling that was much lower than any we had seen since entering the dungeon. The cavern that we could now see was even smaller than the one we had just fought in against the demon, and much like the cavern earlier, there was a single being waiting for us inside. Wearing heavy, pitch-black full-plate armour that seemed to suck in all light, was a… knight…? It seemed like a human knight for the most part.

It had a normal human shape and the armour it was wearing seemed quite… normal. Even its helmet was a simple one that I had seen some variation of in many movies. It was holding a long-sword in one hand, and a large, tower shield in the other. Obviously, it was clear that the thing wasn't human, as its twelve-foot frame dominated the entire cavern and seemed to fill it with its unnatural presence.

There was an aura about it that could be felt even from the entrance, as a dreadful feeling of wrongness assaulted everyone. I could hear a few nervous gulps beside me, and I couldn't blame them. This boss just had a kind of presence that was intimidating to the core. We should have gone back and tried to level up some more before coming here. But then again, the design of the dungeon made that impossible. Once you left an area, it wasn't possible to return.

Moreover, the monsters like the crawlers or the shades stopped spawning after we had cleared them, so we wouldn't have been able to level up more anyway. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Let's go, we won't finish this place if we stay here gawking at the thing," spoke Lucas, his shaking hand betraying the false bravado that he was trying to show with his words.

"Yes, let's go! We can do this!" whispered Omar, his low voice a clear indication of the nervousness he was feeling. Still, the words of both of them seemed to have worked, or maybe it was simply because Lucas had started moving, as everyone was shaken out of their stupor and started following along. A few seconds later, we had all passed into the cavern, and I turned back to see that the doors had vanished. We were now stuck with the boss. The black knight came alive all of a sudden.

Thin tendrils of black smoke started rising out from within the armour and from the place where its eyes should be, but instead was just emptiness.

"Madelline, Omar, and Alex, hit it with your spells. Sam, with me. Hannah, you stay back for now," Lucas said in a hurried whisper. I saw Madelline and Omar immediately start preparing their spells, and I followed suit. The next instant, three spells shot out towards the knight. As if mocking us, it didn't even bother to raise its shield. Instead, all three spells hit their mark, and promptly vanished. As if sunk into a black hole, all spells disappeared the moment they touched any point of the thick armour.

The knight kept advancing, having completely ignored our initial volley. I used critical sense, and the result was shocking, and incredibly disheartening. The skill was showing zero vulnerable spots. Even the places like the eye holes weren't highlighted. The skill was simply pointing out to me that there were no weaknesses of this boss. Either that, or I was simply too weak to do anything against this boss. The knight kept advancing, luckily moving slowly.

I then did some experimenting with tactical insight, thinking of different ways to attack it so the passive skill would trigger. However, no matter what I thought of, the skill said the same thing it had been saying since I used it; it was a bad idea to attack the knight. The knight finally reached Lucas and Sam, who were a few paces ahead of us. It slowly raised its sword, and then swung from the side extremely hard towards Lucas. He raised his shield to intercept the blow, and a loud clang rang out.

Amazingly, the towering knight was only able to push Lucas back a couple steps. It then swung its sword at Sam, who also intercepted it using his shield. This time though, the knight was triumphant, as Sam almost lost his balance and had to take a few steps away to stabilize himself. The knight then swung its sword again at Lucas, while it shield-bashed Sam who had just gotten back to position. Lucas tanked the hit better this time, and even Sam only took a few steps away due to the blow.

Omar, Madelline and I released spells at periodic intervals, even aiming quite a few of the spells straight into the place its eyes should have been, but still, the spells seemed to have no effect whatsoever on the thing. For the next few minutes, we tried everything we could think of to somehow damage the thing. I used my ability to try and trip it, but the ground didn't seem to 'listen' to my ability, which I thought was probably due to the dungeon's influence. And then Sam shouted something even more dangerous.

"I lose a bit of stamina, mana, and health each time I make contact with the knight, even if the contact is through my sword or shield!" he shouted, taking another blow by the shield and having to retreat a few steps. What?! I opened my status, made a mental note of my resources and stepped closer to the boss. One good thing about this knight was that it was slow and its moves were somewhat telegraphed.

Therefore, I was easily able to approach it and hit the elbow right where there was a small gap in the armour with a piercing strike. The dagger sank through in the gap perfectly, meeting no resistance whatsoever. In fact, I almost lost my balance due to a complete lack of the expected feedback. Still, it must have felt something, as the shield suddenly sped towards me, and I hastily stepped out of the way.

Once I was safely behind Lucas and Sam, I re-opened my status and confirmed that Sam's words were true – all my resources had fallen by at least two each. I quickly realized what this fight was supposed to be; a race against time. We need to damage it more than we lose with each hit! The instant I had this thought, the knight suddenly halted and took a step back. Confused, Lucas and Sam also started backing away, but no sooner had they taken a couple steps away that things took a dramatic turn for the worst.

The knight's helmet suddenly disappeared, revealing pure, swirling darkness underneath. And then, something started happening that finally revealed an important but not really relevant thing right now. Oh… so that's why it's called 'The Hollowed Maw.'