Instinctively, he raised his arm shielding his face from the blow.
Blast!
A massive damage is dealt on the skeletons.
Max is stunned and is disoriented for a bit.
"What just happened?"
[Damage Space: 9/10]
"That was me!"
He gets up and quickly coordiantes himself.
The monsters persistently approached.
Within those brief seconds he calculates the greatest possible damage that he can inflict within the minimum distance and braced himself as they stomp with greater proximity.
Before he could attack, flashes of dark stripes counter shaded the entire scene.
And before he knew it the last wave of monsters laid waste on the ground.
He didn't bother about the waste but instead firmed his stance against the shady figure that had just arrived.
With such power he was sure that he could waste him along if he pleased.
But the figure wasn't at all even human but rather a dark intangible mass of nothing.
A shadow.
It swallowed the scattered cores and moulded up into a boy like figure queerly similar to Max's frame.
It stood before him as still as a statue.
With this Max knew that he wasn't after his life, so he was safe for now at least, but why?
"What do you want?"
No response.
'Oh ya. No vocals.'
"You want to team up?"
It nodded correspondingly.
Max thinks this over. A shadow this strong on his side would offer him a straight ticket through the dungeon but teaming up with this shady figure of which he knew nothing about, was foolhardy.
For all he knew, it could perhaps be plotting how to steal his soul or memories…
"Thanks for the assist but I roll solo," he coldly walked passed it as he rubbed his arm over his 'shouler'.
Suddenly, another skelton popped up and pounced unto Max but before he could attack shady already crushed it in an instant.
This time it save the core and offered it to Max as some kind of treaty.
Max felt a bit flustered and embarrassed.
"Keep your stupid core."
Shady soon melted away and sat unto his shadow.
"What are you–"
He tried to shake him off but his stay was sacrosanct.
He didn't want to be acquainted with some kind of mass following him about like a little puppy but at this point armed with nothing but 9 fireballs and an almost depleted mana pool, he didn't have much of a choice.
"Okay, I guess you are coming along."
He walked further up the path and into a large empty room with a curved entrance.
The light here was brighter owing to the lighted torches and totems leaning against the walls.
Below them where 11 blue round glowing cores which contributed to the light in the room.
He is mindful of time as he only has about 10hours left.
There's a voice in the distance which revealed to be a girl.
The look on her face appeared frightened which quickly reminds him to stay alert.
Ensuely, from behind the corner walked a heavy enormous moving frame of rock.
It dropped its fist and the girl was fatally pulped into a paste of blood, meat and bone.
The creature lifted its bloodly arms and it head independent of the rest of it's body and swiftly turns Max's way.
He instinctively takes a step back as his expression contorted from one of pity to absolute fright.
Its body poised itself in accordance with the head's direction as it moves steadily towards him with killing intent palpably scribed onto it.
Its surface was lined with intricate cracks which all formed a network originating from the core at its back.
The cracks glistened with the blue glow the core leased.
Patches of moss and sapling plants accessorised to the stony being.
The monster was about thrice his size.
He didn't move an inch.
"Shady, do your thing."
It didn't move. There was too much light in the room.
It simply crept from the ground and based within his dark polyester hoody.
"Damn it. So that's why you wanted to team up."
That was his only hope and with nothing left to loose – (except dignity) he made haste for the exit.
Before he could even make it out, the entrance shut tight and trapped him with a Godzilla.
These monster was called a dungeon guardian tasked to protect certain secrets hidden within Oblivion.
The guardian attacked first. It performed the same fist attack as before but Max saw it coming. He swiftly dodged it by sliding away and crawled between its two legs.
Due to its size and weight most adjudge the dungeon guardian to be slow but nothing short of destructive.
Unfortunately, Max was one of them.
It briskly angled a 180-degree spiral using it's upper half and impacted Max with the blow.
Shady built a dense shade shield fast enough to just block the impact but not firm enough to maintain ground.
He was launched to the east side of the room which carved a Max shaped dent on the wall.
He dropped to the ground and coughed out a lot of blood.
He turned his head to the other end of the room and saw an exit door.
The quakes on the ground announced the approach of the guardian so he pushed himself to get up and a staggered towards the exit, clenching his wounds.
From a bird eye view, the entire room was roughly a circle and notably there are five distinct lines carved onto the surface of the ground, each extending to each end of the room.
He walked pass the first line keeping his eyes steady on the exit door.
Cracks ensued and two more guardian were released for the adjoining wall.
His mind was transfixed on escaping after having a slice of what the mighty guardian can do.
The doors weren't showing any signs of closure and hence his entire focus was absorbed into that very act.
He passed the second line and two more disjoined.
This time he noticed.
He turned around and beheld the might of 5 dungeon guradians.