Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 72: Chapter 67: Boss

Read chapter 72 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Chapter 67: Boss Chapter 67: Boss The beast’s footfalls shook the bones and dirt beneath Alex’s boots. “ It’s a Grave-Tyrant. Think of Frankenstein’s monster, but with bones instead of fleshy bits. And it’s not weak to pitchforks.” “Gotcha.” Each step from the Grave-Tyrant cracked the skeletal remains littering the battlefield, footfalls ground skulls into powder and split discarded femurs like dry twigs. It moved with an unsettling combination of undead-bulk and speed. It moved more agile than anything that size should be. It’s charge was impossibly silent until the thing roared again. The sound grated Alex, a shriek of metal and madness that vibrated in his ribs. He skidded to a stop halfway up the bone-mound, he crouched low, eyes locked on the dungeon boss’s movements. His heart pounded in his chest like it was trying to fly away and escape. The Grave-Tyrant didn’t slow its charge. Alex threw himself sideways just as one of its tusks slammed into the spot he’d been standing. The following impact shattered the ground in a small crater, Alex barely managed to get his footing before its tail—spiked and whip-like—lashed out and clipped his left shoulder. Agony tore through him as the blow tossed him back, rolling downhill, blood spraying in a red arc across the bones. “FUCK—!” “ Left scapula fractured, ” Obby said helpfully. “ Your arm is still intact, but I recommend not getting hit again. ” Alex spat dust and blood, wiping his face on a trembling sleeve. “Noted.” With his ulna already previously on the mend, even without Obby’s warning Alex knew his left arm was pretty much useless at this point. He scooped up the kobold dagger from the ground with his right hand and tucked it into his belt. He’d just have to make do. The beast roared and charged again. This time, Alex didn’t dodge away. He waited for the last possible second, until he could see the warped runes inside the creature’s hollow eye sockets, and then he leapt. He stepped on the edge of one tusk as it went by and used his momentum to propel himself up at its head, and his back impacted the thing’s damn eye-socket like he had jumped at a brick wall. Cracks radiated from the impact and Alex rolled out over its face. He quickly grabbed the flat side of one of the jutting blades on its blackened jaw for balance. The beast reared, bucked, and twisted in attempt to throw Alex off. He held, knuckles white, screaming through gritted teeth. Aether surged to his hand as he focused on his timing. He waited for the moment the boss landed on all fours and then he swung himself up, letting go of the jaw. He slammed his palm down into the creature’s skull right over a deep rune cluster below its eye socket and cast his [Flare] . The explosion of force ripped apart bone and runes in a sharp-edged spray of white splinters and rust-red metal across the huge hill. The Grave-Tyrant howled, Alex flew backward. His chest was peppered with tiny shrapnel that stuck into his armor, a couple pieces piercing his skin, but just barely. He hit the ground hard, the air tore from his lungs. His ribs screamed as they re-broke once more. He couldn’t feel his right ankle. Probably sprained, or, maybe also broken. The creature staggered. Its left eye was dark now, sparks trailing from the cracked runes in its skull. Blood, not its own, leaked from the wound, as if underneath the bone the creature’s insides had been cobbled together from fleshy bodies and fresher corpses. The portal behind it flickered ominously. Alex pushed himself upright, hands trembling. “ Three ribs broke, left arm unmovable, right ankle sprained. Internal bruising in 11% of torso.” Obby listed off his injuries like he was reading a coroner’s report. “I’m not done,” he growled. “You think I came this far just to die now?” Despite its new injury, the Grave-Tyrant was looping back around for another charge. Yet that wasn’t the only enemy Alex had to deal with. A skeletal knight lunged at him from the right side. He dodged back, s