Zane continued to study the lines on the door, lost in the intricate detail of the carvings. The last line showed the different types of Ratmen he had killed getting to the store. The last figure of that line stood taller than the rest and held a blade towards the sky. "I guess this is the boss that I'll be fighting here. I wonder if it looks as impressive in real life as it does in this carving."
He ran his hands over the surface of the door, surprised that it was smooth. There was some kind of wax coating over the front. Not only did it give the door a radiance, but it also made the door scratch resistant. Zane tried, digging his nail across the surface. He couldn't find a mark. It's amazing what the level of detail some of this dungeon had. He was pretty sure it was created just for him, and he doubted anyone would step into it again after he left.
He laughed as he thought about what his dad would say. "Son, you do a job the right way, not cutting any corners. Even if no one else sees it, at least you know it was done right and that it will last." Considering the attitude he'd seen from Érimón, Zane was pretty sure he would completely agree with Zane's father.
He stepped back, looking down at the figure of the boss of this level. "Well, I suppose it comes down to you and me. Considering how difficult the assassin and the knight were, I'm a little anxious about how this fight will go. I hope I'm able to trash you."
Zane wishes he could trash talk these guys. He and his friends used to trash talk each other all the time when they would do anything competitive. Of course, these rats weren't his friends. They were trying to kill him and he was killing them. That put a little different spin on things, not really conducive to some friendly trash talking. He glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping kitten. He'd been able to get some trash in with this one, but it wasn't the same. The cat wasn't actually involved. He had a feeling that there was more to this kitten than meets the eye, but it was just a feeling. There was nothing to prove that it was anything more than a small cat.
He slipped the pack off his back, the cat waking up and jumping down. Holding the pack in his hand that also held his buckler, he pushed the large, beautiful doors open and entered the boss room on the 10th floor.
The room itself was larger than any of the other boss rooms he'd been in, and there was more light, because there were large crystals embedded in the walls. The floors were not dirt, but polished stone. Spaced evenly along the walls were statues of different ratmen. Zane really hopes those things don't come to life during this fight.
At the far end a set of stairs let up to a thrown. A large rat man in full armor Sat upon it. It stood up when Zane entered the room and started clapping. Zane was a little confused but dropped his pack at the door and started to walk to the other end. The kitten followed him this time. "Are you going to fight this time?"
"Meow."
Zane was surprised by the answer. "Maybe? That's a first. What are you going to do? Kill it with your cuteness?"
"Meow."
"I'll see? Well, don't interfere with my fight with that one. If those statues come to life, you can deal with them."
Now that I was halfway to the throne, the Ratman stopped clapping and turned to the left side of its throne, grabbing a long sword and a shield. It started down the steps and Zane used his identify skill.
[Ratman Champion. HP: 800]
That was a lot of hit points. Zane wasn't sure how many hits he'd need to land on this champion to kill it. Unless it was a straight decapitation, Zane didn't think you could kill it in one hit. He knew that this was going to be the hardest battle he'd fought in this dungeon. He was a little afraid, but his heart was pumping because he was looking forward to this fight.
The Ratman reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped as it stared at Zane. Actually, Zane realized, it was not staring at him; it was staring at the kitten. After a moment, the Ratman Champion whistled, and a figure appeared out of the shadows. It was also dressed in full armor and had a large two-handed sword.
"Identify."
[Ratman Knight (Elite) HP: 500]
Zane stopped when he saw the night descending the stairs. He knew he couldn't beat both of them. "Well, if you were waiting for the right moment to show me what you're made of, now is the time." He heard a deep growl behind him, and he turned his head to see what it was.
A huge black panther walked up next to him. Its head came up to his shoulder. He looked behind him and could not see the kitten anywhere. "I knew there was more to you than you were letting on. It's about time you showed me. You take the knight and I'll take the champion. Does that sound good to you?
The cat made an affirmative growl.
Now the fight was back where it was. He had no doubt that the cat could take on that knight. His doubts were more in himself, but that wasn't going to stop him. Doubts were there to be disproven.
As they moved forward, the champion in the night separated as well, moving away from each other. Zane moved carefully towards the champion, His shield raised in a defensive posture. The champion held its larger herald shield in front of it, its longsword held off to the side. As soon as they were within weapons distance, the champion began to swing his longsword above his shield, using the longer sword's reach to attack.
Zane blocked or deflected each attack, moving to try and get in position. The champion adjusted his stance so that Zane was always in front of him, using the minimal amount of effort while continuing his attacks with his long blade.
Zane's efforts to get past the barrage proved difficult. The strength of the champion's swings were greater than anything he had yet encountered, so getting closer increased the danger. However, he had to get closer to use his weapon.
The champion began to move forward, trying to get closer. Zane used this to get a better angle on his block of the next swing that the champion took. Using his buckler, he caught the sword and pushed it up, striking the shield of his opponent with his sword. The penetrating ability of his sword often went right through the shields of the rats that he had encountered in the labyrinth. Unfortunately, the shield that Champion was using was much sturdier and deflected the blow with no noticeable damage.
As Zane began to move back to intercept the next attack, he was struck in the side by the tail that he did not see coming. The champions tail did not have the spike on it like the knights did, but instead had a metal ball attached to it, good for bashing.
Zane grunted as it flung him to the ground, and he rolled coming back up to block the swing from the Champion sword. The tail came back around and struck him in the shoulder. Pain flared through his body, and he lost his grip on his sword as he went flying. He used the buckler to slow him down, but this resulted in the shield being torn from his hand as he rolled up on to his knees, only to see the longsword of the champion descending toward him.