The debris from the collapse of the wall settled enough for Sylas to see who was able to bring the wall down.
[Goblin Shaman]
[Level: 10]
[Tier: 1]
[Rank: Commoner]
A short, green, ugly humanoid stood beyond the crumbled wall in a robe with a staff in his hands. The shaman had large warts with puss dripping from them across his entire exposed body.
Flanking the shaman were a group of goblins. These goblins were only in loinclothes, letting all unfortunate viewers see the vast majority of their disgusting skin, puss and a sickly green blood dripping from each imperfection. They were armed with short blades or wooden clubs.
The girls had caught up right when the wall was forcefully brought down and flinched at the sight of the creatures in front of them.
'These must be the dungeon break monsters.' Sylas thought to himself as he took in the scene. 'They must have heard her screams too.' Sylas looked to where Brock and the women were, but was now just broken pieces of the wall and dust. He couldn't see evidence of either of them.
Scanning the goblins let Sylas know the only real threat was Tier 1 Shaman. The rest were at most level 7 and didn't appear to have decent stats.
"Swain, run in, taunt, and don't get hit. Diana, pick off any that you can. Sam, watch Swain and help him where possible. Jackie, you watch the shaman for any movements and call them out."
Getting his [Bossy Words] buff onto the party and setting the initial pace for the ambush, Sylas started concentrating on firing off [Rotting Bolt] as often as he could.
He purposefully didn't hit the Shaman as all the clearly boss level enemies they encountered so far had not joined the fight until all or a majority of their underlings were slain. Unfortunately, it seemed goblins were smarter than his previous enemies as he heard Jackie shout, "Fireball!"
A one foot diameter ball of flickering orange fire was leaving the tip of the shaman's spear which was pointed at Swain. "Swain, move!" Sylas shouted a warning. Luckily, the fireball didn't move too fast, giving Swain a full second to hear, understand, and follow the warning.
The fireball flew past him as Swain continued to take out multiple weaker goblins with each swing. Sylas knew the shaman wasn't going to sit back anymore so he started focusing his [Rotting Bolt]s onto the largest threat.
His black bolt slammed into the shaman, but instead of the usual soft impact followed by the immediate discoloration of the affected area, there was a blue shimmer an inch away from the goblin shaman's skin and the bolt was dispersed.
'Some kind of magic barrier? Does it only stop magic or does it stop physical objects too?'
Sylas quickly barked an order, "Jackie, I'm focusing on the shaman. Stay back and throw debris at him." He didn't think the debris would do much harm, but he thought it would at least test the weakness of the shimmering blue barrier he couldn't see anymore.
Jackie threw debris while Sylas cycled through [Rotting Bolt] and throwing debris for the next minute as Swain, Sam, and Diana finished off the weaker goblins.
The trio knew to immediately go to the shaman once the adds were taken care of and since the boss had been focused on the two annoyances throwing debris at him, he didn't notice them approaching until an axe was in his face and two daggers stabbing his back.
The two attacks were met by the shimmering blue barrier which absorbed their momentum before the barrier shattered. The weapons continued on their path, with very little strength left, and hit the boss causing the first bit of damage he had taken so far.
In shock from the pain, the fireball the shaman was conjuring went haywire and exploded mid-formation blowing away Swain and himself. The boss flew back into Diana, forcefully knocking her down as well.
Sylas watched in stunned silence for a moment the three didn't move. "Sam check on Swain!" He ran forward to start triage, but noticed the shaman began to stand up with the help of his staff.
Stopping, Sylas shot a [Rotting Bolt] and hit the boss directly in the forehead, knocking him off his unsteady feet back onto the floor. Sylas continued to Swain's side where Sam was already inspecting his body. There were a couple of first degree burns across his skin, but he looked to be in good health for the most part.
Sylas turned as he heard a hideously raspy cackle behind him. The shaman had stood back up and was cackling as a fireball formed at the tip of his staff. Noticing it was aimed at him, Sylas ran away from Swain and Sam in hopes of the shaman's staff point following him and it did.
He smiled as he saw Diana standing behind the shaman, daggers raised. She slammed her daggers down as the fireball flew from the goblin shaman's staff.
Sylas raised his foot to take the next step and dodge the fireball, but a thick hand gripped his ankle and held him firmly. Panicked, Sylas looked down to see Brock Creighton, smiling maliciously, as he held Sylas's ankle.
"Die!" Brock evilly croaked.
Sam screamed with fear in her voice, "SYLAS! NO!" as the fireball engulfed him. The impact and explosion sent Sylas flying several feet away where he laid unmoving, his consciousness quickly fading.
Sylas laid on the ground, pain shooting throughout his body as he felt parts of his flesh being cooked from the heat of the fireball. He couldn't hear or see. He felt as if he was floating in a black expanse of heat and pain.
He knew he was dying. He felt the cold and numbness replace the pain and burning as his senses started to fail him.
"Not again. I can't die. I have to protect Sam. I have to find L and Uel. I can't fucking die!"
Flashes of his loved ones appeared in the void around him. Sam on their wedding day. L and Uel, his twin brothers, walking him through the treehouse they designed and built when they were 14. Swain's excitement after winning the big game last year.
Sylas grit his teeth in the void. "I can't. I won't die! Don't fucking die! They need you!" He got louder and louder as he continued.
In the real world, a black aura started to radiate from his body as he fell closer and closer to the grim reaper's scythe.
Sylas heard an ancient tired sigh coming from the void. "You shouldn't be here." The ancient voice sounded like it came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. "You have not fulfilled your duties, Guardian."
As quickly and unexpectedly as it arrived, the voice vanished again, leaving Sylas alone in the void.
The black aura around his body was sucked into the cloak wrapped around his body as Sylas was able to see System notification in the void suddenly.
[[Cloak of Death] has absorbed a large amount of Death Aura. [Cloak of Death] is upgraded.]
[Cloak of Death]
[Grade: Growth]
[+10% Intelligence]
[Passive: The aura of death permeates those who don this mantle causing all death skills to be more effective. The cloak will absorb the Death Aura emitted by the wearer from a fatal attack, only available once every 30 days. Wearer will remain stable for one hour before the Death Aura will no longer be absorbed.]
[This cloak was once a Common cloak, but after the tragic death of its first three wearers in the first five hours of the System Integration, it absorbed the death aura emanating from the remains of its third wearer. The death aura transformed the cloak into more than it was allowing it to absorb more death aura to strengthen its changes.]
[You have assisted with the hunting of level 10 [Goblin Shaman].]
[You have leveled up to level 10.]
[You have reached Tier 1. Your body is now more accustomed to mana.]
Sylas had a pained smile on his face as he read through the notifications and felt the [Cloak of Death]'s new passive skill activate. He knew he wouldn't die, at least right now, but he could feel the pain from the impact and burns of the fireball again. He smiled through the pain seeing he made it to Tier 1.
[Class is being decided by the System.]
[You have been seeped in Death Aura many times, have strength in building and controlling groups, and have an affinity for mana. Class has been picked.]
[Congratulations! You have been given the class: Necromancer.]
Sylas blinked his eyes as he finished reading his class. A high pitched noise was grating against his ears as he realized he could see more than the black void.
Blinking a few more times, the noise in his ears flattened out, turning into the voice of Sam saying his name over and over as she applied bandages to his burnt body.
Swain had recovered some and moved to Sylas's side. Diana was supporting Swain while Jackie prepared gauze and bandages for Sam to use.
The group all looked relieved upon seeing Sylas's eyes focus. Swain smiled and bent down closer to him. "You're always on the floor after big fights, buddy."
Sylas started to laugh, but it turned into coughs of pain. Sam had calmed down seeing Sylas looked better than he had.
"Thanks," Sylas smiled and thanked Sam as she finished bandaging his burns. Turning towards Swain he got an even bigger smile. "Oh my god. The shaman did something amazing! Your mustache! It's burnt off!"
Swain quickly reached for his upper lip and a look of horror was etched into his face as he felt the bare skin. "No, no, no, no, no!"
Sylas smiled as the group around him laughed at Swain's antics. As he was looking around, he noticed movement behind the trio. It was Brock. Brock was trying to sneak away from them while they were focused on healing Sylas, but Sylas wouldn't let him get away.
Not after what he had done. Not after he had killed the survivors in the student center. Not after he abused those young women. Sylas couldn't let him go. He was a plague in human form.
Sylas used a new skill he gained from his class.
[Raise Dead]
[Grade: Uncommon]
[Command the dead to rise again to fulfill your bidding.]
[0/5 Undead]
"Heed my summons!" Sylas exclaimed under his breath and felt most of the mana in his body become active and rush out.
Five goblin corpses lifted themselves from the ground as Sylas watched. They made enough noise that the others in the group turned to see the boss and four of his underlings standing again. They prepared to fight before hearing Sylas's weak voice.
"Don't worry. They're mine." He placated their fears before commanding his undead. "Kill Brock."
His undead were unaware who Brock was, but through their connection with Sylas they were able to pinpoint the man he wanted dead. The shaman immediately summoned a fireball and the underlings ran as fast as they could after the limping Brock.
The last thing Sylas saw was Brock being hit by a fireball and then jumped on by four goblins as they clubbed and stabbed his back. He then drifted into an exhausted, but peaceful sleep.