Chapter 199

  The moment his right smashfist struck the surface of the obelisk, some of the engraved symbols fred brighter. Jake felt a tremendous force sm into his chest, propelling him at least a dozen yards backward before he crashed into the wall behind him. He couldn’t remember the st time he had been hit with such a force—if there had even been such a time. Ohing was certain: he had never entered an oppo who outleveled him by so many levels.

  Befetting up from the floor where he had nded after crashing into the wall, he assessed his sensations. Surprisingly, his body felt mostly intact, with no injuries he could perceive. Or so it seemed. With a thought, he checked his HP. As it turned out, he had lost five pert of his health, which meant he hadn’t e through entirely unscathed after all. Fortunately, any damage he had taken was already beginning to quickly heal.

  However, the bck obelisk wasn’t finished with him. Just as Jake jumped to his feet, it unleashed a bolt of lightning from the poiip at the top toward him. He barely mao leap aside to avoid being struck. But the obelisk was just getting started. It unleashed long lightning bolts oer ahat streaked across the area. Most of them were aimed at him, f Jake to dud dodge as quickly as he could.

  Despite his enhanced agility and reflexes, evading every single one of those lightning bolts proved nearly impossible, aually, one of them hit him. He felt it strike him on his left shoulder, knog him off his feet and sending him several yards backward. This time, he sehat the damage was far more serious than before. Even without looking at his shoulder, he could tell that his hardened body was cracked open, with mana seeping from the wound.

  He didn’t have time to examine his injury, though. The bck obelisk tio unleash lightning bolts from its pointed end. Jake successfully dodged several more before he noticed a shift in the obelisk’s behavior. While it tio fire lightning bolts, they were now much shorter than before. Additionally, instead of striking across the entire area, they seemed to focus on the immediate viity around it.

  Jake stood at a safe distance from the bck obelisk, watg as it tio unch lightning bolts. Instead of firing o a time, the structure now unleashed dozens of them all at the same time. They struck the ground within just a few yards of the obelisk. While he was no longer in immediate danger, he couldn’t move closer, as he would be instantly hit by several of the shhtning bolts at once.

  Not that he wao get any closer to the bck obelisk. His powerful smashfist had struck it without leaving so much as a dent or a cra its surface. Even if the bck obelisk hadn’t had the protective measure to retaliate against anyone who dared to attack it, there would have been no point in tinuing to hit it. Brute force wouldn’t cut it. If the bck obelisk could be destroyed, it probably had to be done in a way that involved more than just raw power.

  As the electri raged on, the air crackled with electricity, sending prig sensations across his skin. The bck obelisk kept unleashing dozens of lightning bolts, striking an area within just a few yards of its base. Jake remained safely outside the effective range of the obelisk.

  Since he wasn’t in any immediate da the moment, he decided to take a sed to examihe wound in his shoulder where a lightning bolt had struck a few seds earlier. Enhanced Regeion was already w to close the injury, and mana no longer oozed from it. He had lost about ten pert of his HP from the hit, but the number was steadily increasing as the healing skill repaired his damaged body.

  While the bck obelisk unleashed lightning bolts in every dire, it simultaneously revived the undead he had defeated a couple of minutes earlier. He could see two differes of symbols etched into the structure’s surface glowing a bright red. He had already learned which symbols were responsible for reviving the undead and whies triggered the lightning bolts. He had also memorized which symbols had fred with a brighter light just before he was struck by the invisible force that propelled him across the area.

  Whether there ractical use for the knowledge he had gained, he didn’t yet know. Perhaps he would be able to put it to good use ter, but for the time being, he had no idea how he could use the information about which symbols were responsible for which powers to his advantage.

  Several of the skeletons finally fully recovered and rose to their feet. They immediately turned and began walking toward him, moving dangerously close to the raging bck obelisk, paying no mind to the lightning bolts streaking through the air and striking the immediate area around the structure.

  One of the skeletons strayed too close to the effective range of the bck obelisk and was instantly struck by a lightning bolt. The undead creature bleart in a powerful explosion of scorched and shattered bones flying every which way. The other skeletons tinued advang toward him, showing nard for what had just happeo one of their own.

  Jake remained rooted in pce, unwilling to approach the advang skeletons for fear of stepping into the effective range of the furious bck obelisk. Instead, he chose to wait until they drew closer before engaging. There were only a few skeletons, so he figured it would take mere seds to deal with them again. However, before they could close the distance, something ued occurred.

  From the er of his eye, Jake noticed that a differe of the obelisk’s magical symbols, which had maintained a steady glow until that moment, suddenly intensified in brightness. The structure had clearly activated another of its magical powers. Jake watched as a beam shot from the pointed end of the obelisk, enveloping one of the skeletons in a vibrant e glow.

  The skeleton rose two feet above the floor, h motionlessly in the air. The beam tio shi it, engulfing the undead creature in an e glow. Jake watched as the skeleton transformed into something more dangerous. It grew in size, and its boructure ged. The transformation sted only a few seds, theered skeleton was lowered back to the ground, and the beam ceased shining on it.

  The skeleton looked much more dangerous now. It towered over seve i, and its physique bined elements of both a human being and some kind of formidable two-legged beast. The bones were much sturdier and resilient now, looking capable of withstanding a powerful strike from a sledgehammer with ease.

  Additionally, the beefed-up skeleton seemed to be imbued with potent magi one hand, it wielded a two-bded axe that flickered with fmes, and its eyes bzed brightly, sending tongues of fire upward. Its skull had eloaking on an animal-like snout, with fmes p from its gaping jaws.

  In his peripheral vision, Jake noticed that several more beams shot from the poiip of the bck obelisk, enveloping other undead creatures in their glow. However, his attention remained locked on the already altered skeleton. With a thought, he summos description.

  Awakened Dead – Fme Skeleton Soldier – Level 80 (Elite)

  His suspis were firmed. Although the skeleton’s level stayed the same, its cssification had ged from ordinary to elite—a ing developmee monsters were far more dangerous than their regur terparts. The skeleton in front of him had not only bee stronger but had also gained some fire abilities to boot.

  The worst part was that the other undead creatures were also being transformed into more dangerous versions of themselves.

  The fme skeleton soldier suddenly burst into a sprint toward Jake, interrupting his train of thought. As he watched it advah impressive speed and power, he couldn’t shake the uling feeling that the fight was going to be anything but easy.