It was humid there, and also very dark, so I once again summoned some firebird to have a better look, but to no surprise, it was just a hole in the dirt stretching further into the darkness. I rushed forward, encountering a few more lizards. I slaughtered them, all the way until I reached a wider chamber with quite a bunch of them.
Basically, it was the whole structure. A tunnel and then a bigger space with quite a bunch of enemies inside. There were spiraling lower and lower, all the way to the boss room.
It was a proper cavern, illuminated by blue crystals hanging from the ceiling, which emitted a pale light. Most of the space was occupied by stalagmites, sticking from the ground like the teeth of a giant best. Among them, in the very center of the space, was the boss. A snake-like creature covered in dark brown scales.
It was quite fat. At least a meter in diameter, maybe more, but I couldn't really tell with how it placed its body.
As I stepped forward, it immediately reacted by raising its head. It had pincers coming from the sides of its face, and then two sharp teeth sticking out from the bottom, and another two sticking out from the top of its mouth.
It looked like a mix of a bug with a snake.
It immediately screeched at me, and rushed its whole body, destroying the stalagmites on its way. It raised its head, and then brought it down puking fire at me, as it tried to swallow me whole.
It was a stupid idea because I punched its head off, extinguishing the flames. Then I picked the crystal and left because there was nothing more for me there.
I got out quickly and without further ado, began searching the vicinity for another spot, since like in the other territories, there should be another one somewhere in this general direction. I found it soon. It was on a top of a hill, which actually was a cliff with a view over a valley below, but it was cut short since the dome was ending there.
I checked that later from the walls of a castle, which was located on that very cliff.
It was quite big. I would say massive, but I've seen bigger ones in movies. Although I think it would rival the 'real' biggest castles around the world.
It was surrounded by tall gray walls made of stone, cut perfectly in squares, and fit together so there was only a slight gap between them filled with some substance keeping it all together. I would say concrete, but who actually knew?
Leading inside was a big gate, blocked by a solid iron portcullis. I tore it apart just to peek inside, but there was nothing there. The inside was empty. So I slid in, heading straight to the castle itself.
It was of similar color, with a big black door blocking the entrance. Four towers on each corner. Round with battlement on top as if there was supposed to be somebody up there to shoot at me, but there was nobody.
I got kinda disappointed.
I opened that door and got it. It was completely dark there, so I once again summoned some firebird to lighten up my path.
The first room was quite spacious, but not as I was expecting it to be. It had sculptures of knights on the left and right sides. Ahead of me was a corridor, leading further with two sets of armors put against the walls, guarding it.
They were completely black, with bucket helmets that had spikes on top. Overall I would call them 'jagged' because of all the pointy elements sticking out from the armguards and shoulder pads. They were holding two rather unimpressive halberds.
I spent a moment admiring both the sculptures and the sets of armor, then I stepped forward, which woke up the guards. They immediately jumped forward, bringing their weapons down to cut me in half, but my forearms were enough to block them all.
They couldn't cut my skin, nor overwhelm me with their strength, so they stepped back, once again rising their weapons. I put them in their place with two quick bitchslaps.
This began my exploration of that place. It overall was smaller than what I experienced everywhere else, but that changed sometime later, as I found the entrance to the basement.
A staircase cut into the cliff itself leading to a system of tunnels connected to larger chambers, where a whole small army of those sets of armor was waiting for me.
With time it got quite boring because there was just one type of enemy with different types of melee weapons.
This changed though when I approached the last chamber before the boss room. It was guarded by two knights in silver armor. Both around three meters tall. They had those massive two-handed swords, which looked like they could easily cut a car in half.
They charged me as soon as I showed up all bored, surrounded by a swarm of my firebird. It was quite noisy, with moans of metal and the sound of stone being grounded. I wasn't sure if I just could take a direct hit from them without getting some damage, so I dodged. Both swords slammed into the ground decimating the last steps of a staircase which led me to that chamber.
Obviously, I'm talking here about damage to my clothes, not my body. The two cuts I already got from the first encounter in that place were enough for me. I didn't want any more of that.
I landed slightly to their side but kept retreating a bit further, watching them closely. They seemed quite strong. Two of them could be even compared to the orc boss, although they probably wouldn't take him down if they were to try.
They swiftly turned around, and rushed after me, spreading to flank me from both sides at the same time. It was quite an interesting view because I didn't expect such a level of cooperation.
It indicated this could be a slightly more entertaining fight than my previous ones.
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