Luck Stat Broken: Rise of the Khan-Chapter 17 - Sixteen: The Warlord’s Orchestra
The cavern shuddered. The Basilisk’s hiss warped into a grating shriek that vibrated against Will’s teeth. Pinning the Alpha hadn’t broken it—it had just cornered it.
The beast thrashed, churning the shallows into a slurry of mud and black water, but the crystal spike held. Unable to advance, it reared back, its neck arching. Every jagged crystal along its spine ignited, shifting from flare-red to a blinding yellow-blue.
"Brace!" Will screamed, spitting copper-tasting bile.
The air in front of the beast’s maw tore open. It unleashed a continuous, overlapping wave of phantom jaws that swept the shoreline like a scythe.
Tyson threw his entire weight behind the P.A.C.I.F.I.C. riot shield, locking his boots into the grit with a roar. The spectral teeth chewed into the metal with the sound of grinding gears. The alloy buckled, spider-webbed, and disintegrated.
The impact launched Tyson backward. He hit the dirt hard, sliding ten feet through the freezing sludge before his body went limp. Don was clipped by the wake, whipped aside as his sword spun into the dark. Maddie tried to dive, but the displaced air knocked her flat, stealing the breath from her lungs.
The line broke.
The Basilisk loomed, its golden eyes locking onto Maddie. The crystals on its jaw flared to a steady heat. It was charging a point-blank execution.
Get up! Khan’s voice was a whip-crack across the synaptic bridge. You do not let them die in the dirt!
Will was out of explosive arrows, and his ribs screamed with every breath. He grabbed three steel-tipped shafts and nocked them all at once, his fingers slick with blood against the string. His pattern-recognition—the broken math of his [Luck]—sought the only opening left.
He released.
The arrows flew in a ragged cluster. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. They struck the armored cheek ridges and shattered into splinters. The impacts disrupted the monster’s focus. The yellow-blue glow stuttered and dimmed as the beast jerked its head.
Will had bought them three seconds. He caught Maddie’s eye through the haze of dust and gave one sharp nod.
"Tyson! The step!" Will screamed.
Across the clearing, the big man stirred. Bleeding from a deep gash on his forehead, Tyson didn’t hesitate. He scrambled forward with a growl, dropping to one knee and locking his calloused hands together to form a stirrup.
Maddie snatched her blade from the mud, kicking up grit as she went into a dead sprint. She slammed her boot into Tyson’s locked hands.
Tyson heaved upward with a shout, burning every remaining point of his [Strength].
Maddie launched.
She soared ten feet into the air. The ambient red light caught her blade as she raised it over her head, her jaw locked in absolute rage.
The Basilisk recovered, its golden eyes snapping upward. It opened its jaws to snap her out of the air.
Will was already drawing his final arrow. He aimed past the armored hide, targeting the soft, wet tissue inside the monster’s flaring nostril.
Thwip.
The arrow buried itself to the fletching.
The Basilisk let out a gargling shriek, its head jerking backward. The spasm pulled its jaws away from Maddie and exposed the pale scales of its underbelly.
Maddie hit the apex. She hung suspended in the smoke, her [Strength] stat surging as she twisted her core and delivered a heavy, horizontal cleave.
The steel bit deep. It sheared through scales, tore through the thick muscle of the neck, and cracked straight through the spinal column. The massive head severed completely.
Maddie hit the ground in a heavy crouch, her blade dripping black ichor. A heartbeat later, the Basilisk’s head slammed into the dirt. The headless body swayed, spraying the shallows in a dark pulse before collapsing backward into the pool.
Silence rushed back into the cave.
Don dropped his borrowed sword into the mud, his hands trembling so violently he had to press them against his thighs. He stared at the massive head bleeding out onto the shoreline.
"Did we just..." Don stammered. "Did that actually just happen?"
Maddie leaned heavily on the hilt of her broadsword. She spat a mouthful of black grit and sulfurous water onto the stone. "If someone tells me that was just the Tutorial boss, I am filing a formal complaint with whatever alien HR department is running this apocalypse."
From the dark edge of the clearing, Tyson let out a low groan. He forced himself upright, clutching his side where the spectral jaw had bruised him down to the bone. He looked down at the shattered remains of the P.A.C.I.F.I.C. riot shield.
"Corporate garbage," the big man rumbled, kicking a jagged piece of the alloy into the black pool. "Probably cost twenty grand, and it folds like tin foil."
"You stood in front of a magical freight train, Tyson," Allison called out. She slid down the remnants of the collapsed earthen ramp, slipping in the freezing mud as she rushed toward the shoreline. "I think the warranty is officially void."
Maddie wiped a thick smear of black ichor from her forehead, glaring down at Will.
"Hey. Boss," she called out. "Next time your master tactical plan is ’throw the Vanguard directly into the giant snake’s mouth’, maybe give me a five-second warning? I didn’t even stretch."
Don let out a sharp, choked laugh. "I thought we were dead. I literally thought we were dead."
"We’re not," Allison said softly. She reached Will’s side, grabbing his shoulder as his balance gave out.
Will dropped to his knees. His bow slipped from his numb fingers. He stared at the severed head, his chest burning with every intake of breath.
Then, the System erupted.
Pale blue and brilliant gold light flooded the cavern, reflecting off the black water and washing over the group. The influx of systemic energy hit like a physical burn as the world recognized the kill.
Before Will could read a single prompt, the Sovereign’s resonance rumbled in the base of his skull.
"A kingdom is forged in blood, boy," Khan murmured across the telepathic tether. "Your reign begins tonight."
