Unchosen Champion

Coop should have expected more minions. He had zeroed in on the manipulation of experience conducted by the Cult of Chakyum, but after he realized the leader of the Cult, the Lich, was a necromancer, he could have recontextualized the relationship between the members and their Master. The link between the Oathsworn and the Binder of Souls went beyond simple experience sharing.

Coop summoned a fresh volatile spear, giving it the weight necessary to overcome the pressure of the additional obstacles scattered among the Elite Void Queen’s stellar field. He identified the newcomers to the arena, feeling a bit anxious about discovering the truth of some of his previous thought exercises regarding just how many High Priests he could fight at once. On the brightside, he wasn’t facing anything completely unfamiliar. They had all faced him in life and were found lacking. He was the one that currently held the champion’s belt. They were merely contenders.

[Mystic Cultivator (Level 76)]

[Minion of the Unspeakable]

[Symbol of Decay (Level 317)]

[Lesser Minion of the Unspeakable]

The first pair he spotted to the north were impossible to miss, even with the stellar field orbiting across the top of the temple. The towering presence of the undead Mushroom King explained the unexpected fleshy lance that had shot through the Fracture Hivemind’s swarm.

Death hadn’t treated the fungal monster kindly. The drooping mushroom caps were torn and discolored and its leg stumps couldn’t maintain their rigidity, causing the creature to seem soft and lopsided, like a soggy parade float after a heavy rain. It dripped with decay, glistening as reflections were caught on its wet surface. Coop shifted his feet as he observed the mushroom tendrils that had embedded themselves into the stone pyramid, expecting more ambush attempts. He’d make sure to stay light on his feet as he anticipated their tactics.

The decaying Mushroom King and the undead Fey Cultivator utilized the cover of the Swarm Priest to repeat their distinctive strategy of ambushing from behind shifting clouds of flying insects. Without the gray moths of the Butterfly Cave, the pair had to improvise. They had hoped to recapture the element of surprise by utilizing the High Priest as a distraction herself. With the swarm’s defeat, their optimal strategy wouldn’t work again.

The undead Mystic Cultivator was far too low level to be a threat herself, but she had been wrapped by the mycelia of the mushroom, calling into question who was leading who. She was held in the air like a skeletal effigy, limbs dangling lifelessly as the giant mushroom adjusted its bulk. Coop would focus on the black mushroom instead. It appeared to be the solitary consciousness between the two.

[Unliving Flame (Level 417)]

[Minion of the Unspeakable]

To the northwest, near the corner beneath a curling black obelisk of the temple, another vaguely familiar form caught his eye. Black flames lit both fists as well as the smooth skull of the undead manifestation of the Avatar of Huracan.

The former Aeromancer had failed to fully realize the power of his class and had been reduced to a single primary element rather than a full storm in undeath, but that didn’t mean he should be underestimated. Even without reaching his full potential, his mere presence increased the temperature in a wide area near his position, causing the air to shimmer uninvitingly. The Unliving Flame rose a few feet above the ground as flames erupted around his feet and the skeletal mage prepared for combat. Coop took a deep breath and continued to scan the temple.

[Charged Swindler (Level 380)]

[Minion of the Unspeakable]

On the opposite side of the undead Mushroom King and his handler, the illumination of lightning caught Coop’s eye. Arcs leapt between the ivory bones of the next minion. Coop recognized the lithe shape of the Voice of Kukulkan. He was the only member of the dead High Priests that donned the same outfit in death as in life. He was fully charged up, with the feathers of his cape standing on end and the serpent’s maw engulfing his bleached skull.

Coop noted that he lacked the personality that made him so tense previously. Somehow, without the unpredictable zeal that had barely been suppressed while he was alive, he was significantly less intimidating. Coop felt like he was facing one of the featureless Elite Primal Constructs during the siege event, but someone had given this one a costume.

[Diva of the Drowned (Level 449)]

[Minion of the Unspeakable]

On the other side of the temple, near the Void Queen to the south, the culprit of the large high-pressure water orbs continued her interference. She summoned additional obstacles, further complicating the battlefield. The undead Tidesinger also lacked the charm that had kept her negotiating even while they fought within her domain the first time around, but she maintained the ability to create crystal-clear water orbs, large enough to engulf a car and powerful enough to crush them into tin cans.

The Lich had reduced his most powerful allies to shadows of their former selves. Coop may have been outnumbered, outleveled, and disadvantaged, but he felt less threatened than when he fought them individually as humans. He glanced at the sickly man and found him fully engrossed in managing the millions of skeletal soldiers that fought with the Jaguar Sun, not paying Coop any mind while he directed his army.

Coop frowned as he reassessed the last two minions, not counting them out from the crowd of opponents he would be facing.

[Wrathful Warden (Level 411)]

[Minion of the Unspeakable]

The undead Totemic had a crack in his face and the bottom half of his jaw was mostly gone from where Coop’s warhammer had clipped his chin. Like the former Avatar of Huracan, energy flooded around him as the pair had similar combat profiles. Coop concluded that he had the least health remaining given the direct hits he had received. Still, Coop already knew he was a tough opponent, having withstood Coop’s onslaught while he was alive for long enough to become an issue.

[Elite Void Queen (Level 505)]

[Minion of the Unspeakable]

The Void Queen had received most of his assault during the second round of violence, but Coop thought he would need to abandon the pressure he was putting on her shield. He concluded that she was the toughest egg to crack and engaging with any of the other minions would inevitably give her the small periods of recovery necessary to maintain her defenses. Coop decided he wouldn’t worry about it, and focus on thinning their numbers before he built an offensive to work through her shield. She and the former Tidesinger were also similar in their zonal combat style, but they both relied on engagement to be effective.

“Alright then.” He muttered, spinning around to get a good look at each skeletal minion before leveling his gaze upon the Warden. “Bring it on.”

The Undead Totemic didn’t need any further encouragement. He was already charging after Coop as fast as his thick bones could carry him, narrowly avoiding spheres and orbs as they specifically drifted out of his way.

The undead minions weren’t waiting to exchange greetings this time around. Coop stood alone near the center of the stone temple, the humid atmosphere weighing heavily upon his shoulders. Stellar orbs, watery prisons, and void spheres spun and drifted throughout, and he squeezed the ethereal spear within his grip, feeling reassured by its dense weight.

Swirling mists emanated in his immediate proximity as he burned another portion of his mana on what would be a temporary domain to aid in the initial engagement. A small pocket of comfort that would, at most, briefly obscure his exact position within a small area. The spheres immediately started chewing at its edges, making his normally serene domain seem violent as currents and waves whipped across the mists. The Fog consumed some orbs, overwhelming them as they swam too deep into the mists, but it would ultimately be dispelled by the enemy manifestations.

The hulking monstrosity with glowing green and black eye sockets lumbered forward, picking up speed as it built momentum, raising a massive bone fist as he blindly struck where he believed Coop to be inside of the Fog of War. Coop sidestepped the blow with practiced ease. A thousand previous battles combined with Presence of Mind to fuel his movements.

From the outside, the mists swallowed a dozen stellar orbs along with the Wrathful Warden, fully containing his furious blow and hiding what was happening within. Glittering particles erupted from the cloud as the stellar orbs were smashed. A moment after the skeletal warrior was engulfed, a missile exploded from the drifting fog bank, shooting low across the ground before penetrating a watery orb in front of the decaying Mushroom King. The trail of mists extending from the small domain made it seem like a coiled snake had struck from its hidden den.

The orb exploded when the spear was engulfed, revealing that it was different from his regular spear. Ethereal shrapnel rocketed across the area, smashing into the stone surface of the temple and ripping holes into the undead pair’s intertwined fungal strings. The Symbol of Decay fell backwards onto its wet rear leg stump before trumpeting its protest at the injuries, lifting the Mystic Cultivator with its mycelial ropes and waving the undead High Priest in the air like a lifeless banner. The deep sound was a few decibels too low to be heard, but the vibration in the air was felt, and Coop’s mists flowed back and forth like waves in the sea before settling back down.

Another spear was launched from the churning Fog of War shortly after the first volatile spear exploded, shooting high into the air as if it aimed to escape the atmosphere. All of the minions followed its trajectory with their skeletal faces for several seconds, eye sockets glowing with green death magic, shifting as they confirmed they wouldn’t be struck next. When the missile finally started falling, it was clear that the kinetic bombardment would fall far short, easily missing all of them.

Then, the Wrathful Warden shot out from the inside of the Fog of War, chunks missing from his limbs where the blunt edge of an ethereal shield had crushed the fusion of bone and flickering miasmic energy. His sudden crashing presence drew the council’s attention away from the falling projectile to his clattering slide across the temple. When he finally stopped, he struggled to get up for a moment, injuries severe enough to hobble him. He managed to rise back to his feet, appearing a bit skewed, before the spear crashed into him from above.

The Wrathful Warden’s ivory bones were pulverized into dust along with a wide section of the temple itself. Coop’s heavy spear had reached terminal velocity before coming back down and the force was enough to shake the foundation of the enormous structure. The dense pocket of Fog lit up from within as Coop received two more levels and the rest of the minions finally reacted beyond waiting for the Void Queen’s projectiles to diminish the fog.

The undead Mushroom King pumped its rotting tendrils in the ground, thickening its limbs as they burrowed through the temple while a narrow wall of water rushed across the temple from the opposite side, still wide enough to engulf the entire shrinking Fog of War. At the same time, the Unliving Flame landed on the ground and formed a large black flame fireball. He lobbed it forward like it was launched from a catapult.

The Mushroom King suddenly roared, recoiling its tendrils from the ground, revealing half a dozen limbs had been severed. It leaked miasmic goop that stained the stone where it cowered. Even as the Symbol of Decay reacted, an ethereal round shield was flung from the Fog of War, dragging spirals of mists as it spun rapidly and blocked the arcing path of the Unliving Flame’s fireball.

Another spear came next, traveling ten times the speed of the shield, smashing into the ribcage of the undead Voice of Kukulkan before he finished his own empowering cast. The tricky High Priest was charging up with lightning before the spear crushed his bones and pinned him to the ground beneath one of the four black obelisks bracing the corners of the temple.

The fireball exploded against the shield, sending waves of black flames to chase its momentum. The shockwave swallowed a dozen stellar spheres before evaporating, turning the black flame into a field of glittering fireworks. The shield disappeared before the flames completely diminished, only remaining long enough to destroy the projectile.

The slowest attack from the council of undead was the only one to land. The tidal wave of churning water sent by the undead Tidesinger belatedly collapsed upon the Fog of War, cleansing the air of the already weakening ethereal mists. As the water splashed away, the settling froth revealed the shining shield protecting Coop in the center. He rose up to his full height, drenched, but undamaged, surrounded by half a dozen fleshy spikes lying lifeless in a perfect circle around his position. For a split second, he assessed the minions, with the last remnants of his mists drifting from his armor and dissipating into the rotating spheres nearby.

Coop flickered out of existence, leaving behind one last puff of mists to be vacuumed by the Void Queen’s spheres before reappearing at the edge of the temple. He abruptly manifested, standing over the injured Charged Swindler with his spear reforming into a freshly manifested morning star that was collapsing upon the prone skeletal enemy. The meteoric strike sent bones and feathers flying in all directions as a heavenly beam of light spotlighted Coop from within the cloud of dark smoke that surrounded his position after being expelled by the victim. Coop grabbed another few levels from the Lich’s minions.

The Unliving Flame rocketed toward him, both arms extended forward as he flew like a superhero with the clear intent of tackling the Revenant before he collected any more heads. Coop sidestepped the attack, but the skeletal mage wasn’t finished, landing with steady feet and throwing a darkflame fist, crackling with turbid energy, from point blank range.

Coop shifted backwards, quickswapping to his glaive, and sliding it through the heated air where he previously stood. The blade caught the flaming fist head on, sending a shockwave of black flames erupting outwards, throwing them both off balance.

Capitalizing on the momentary lapse, the Void Queen sent a stellar bombardment down from directly above Coop. He gritted his teeth and rolled further backwards, avoiding most of the scouring lights. He sprang back up and swept the glaive across another fireball that nearly reached his chest, cleaving it into two clear halves that burned out as they bypassed his body.

The momentum tilted away from Coop and the fight became a whirlwind of desperate evasion as the former Avatar of Huracan maintained a flaming assault in melee range, fulfilling the role of the deceased Totemic, while the other three took potshots when Coop appeared distracted. Coop weaved through spells that defied physics, bending light, or pulled him into tidal fields, all while countering the point blank flames that erupted from the Unliving Flame’s fists and the fungal lances that jabbed through the ground.

But Coop wasn’t one to give up on holding the advantage in an extended fight. The levels he had gained fueled his bloodthirst and he embraced the battlerage. He lunged forward, his glaive trailing a stream of wispy mana, then he vanished into a cloud of mists, Vaporforming to flank the Unliving Flame just as the undead Avatar grew comfortable with the standup melee.

When he reappeared, the ghostly blade connected with the glowing black and red core of the undead Avatar, severing his entire skeletal body across the middle, extinguishing the nucleus of his flames. Coop kept spinning with his horizontal swing, quickswapping to his shield and spear. He used the rotation to launch his shield at the decaying Mushroom King, waiting another split second before his heaviest spear, matching the unbelievable maximum density of his recent crushing morning star, finally manifested. When the spear left his hand, it flew in a low arc toward the undead Tidesinger.

She recognized the threat, pulling one of her high-pressure water orbs to protect herself. The spear penetrated the surface of the water, but instead of being suspended within and being destroyed like his regular spears, or exploding like his more destructive volatile spears, it kept moving forward. The ultra dense spear pierced the water orb and continued on its trajectory, smashing into the shoulder of the Priestess, piercing the flat bone of her shoulder blade. The heavy missile continued on its path, carrying the undead Tidesinger beyond the edge of the temple without a single sound of complaint.

The decaying Mushroom King jabbed a fungal lance into the approaching shield and managed to redirect the projectile up and over, sending it spinning like a coin into the air. Coop mistjumped to the flying shield, catching it above the mushroom and flicking it down again, letting the edge clank against the Mystic Cultivator’s lifeless skeleton. She was completely wrapped in layers of the stringy fungus, but to his surprise, the simple testing strike destroyed the High Priestess, causing her bones to crumble into dust.

Coop landed with his shield already reforming, his back to the edge of the pyramid, behind the mushroom, just as a distant detonation exploded halfway across the settlement. He was spotlighted with the light of two more levels while an entire block of the partially deconstructed stone pyramids was caught in a blast. The maximum density spear had reached the ground. The heavy object carved an elongated crater into the settlement, wiping out hundreds of skeletal Acolytes, several buildings, and defeating the Diva of the Drowned as it went.

Coop was already resummoning another volatile spear in his mainhand when the Mushroom King reared itself up in fury at the loss of its own companion. When it slammed back down, it sent a wave of wet rotting spores splattering outwards. Coop blocked the mud-like splash with his shield and threw his newly formed ethereal spear at the mushroom.

Mushroom shaped heads were sprouting from the caked spores on the ground, as the lesser minion summoned even more subordinate manifestations, but the volatile spear penetrated the decaying flesh and exploded. Shrapnel ripped through the minion’s body, sending blackened mushroom meat in a spectacular display of foulness.

Coop wasn’t spared from the grossness, but he didn’t let it slow his rampage. Another heavy spear was already manifesting in his hand as he triangulated the final minion’s position. He was riding the momentum, in the zone, and couldn’t be stopped.

The Elite Void Queen was directly opposite the mushroom king, but the missile he launched covered the distance in a split second, blasting through the cascade of fungus before it landed on the ground, sonic booms chasing behind the tip. The spear exploded against her shield before she could even recognize that she had reentered his crosshairs, blasting another chunk from the temple’s surface where she stood.

Coop flickered into existence as he mistjumped to a piece of shrapnel, already quickswapping to his ethereal morning star as his rampage continued. A smashing strike sent the Void Queen sprawling even with the protection of her shield. She scrambled backwards, crawling on her boney hands as she tried to put distance and more spheres between herself and the Revenant that hunted her. They both knew it was futile. His pursuit was too persistent.

In a single round match, the Champion of Ghost Reef had annihilated the Lich’s council of minions. More importantly to Coop, starting with the undead Swarm Priest, he had gained nine levels.

The Lich had declared that he was collecting what was owed when he sacrificed the Oathsworn, but he had forgotten about Coop. Coop held a priority debt. Nine levels was a start, but he expected to collect from the Cult in full before he was done.