Jake moved through the tunnel, which looked identical to the previous one. Wall-mounted torches lit up as he approached, casting light several yards ahead. The humming sound increased in volume as he got closer to its source. He could already tell that whatever was causing the magic was extremely powerful. However, like the previous tunnel, this one was long, so he still couldn’t see where it led.
Since no bat-like monsters attacked him this time, there were no delays, and he reached the end of the corridor pretty quickly. He paused at the opening to take in the sight before him. The tunnel opened into a spacious four-way junction. It looked exactly like the previous one, except for one notable detail: from the center of the intersection rose some kind of monument.
It stood over nine feet high, resembling an obelisk in shape. The structure was tall, slender, and sharply pointed at the top, creating a pyramidal apex. It definitely resembled an ancient Egyptian obelisk, but it was made of some pitch-black material. It was four-sided, with mysterious symbols etched into each side, which extended from the base to the very top.
The symbols glowed with an evil crimson light, illuminating the entire four-way juncture. Through the soles of his feet, Jake could feel vibrations emanating from the elongated structure. Up close, the humming sound was much louder, and the air around the obelisk felt so electrified that the prickling sensation across his skin was almost painful. There was no doubt that the structure was filled with a tremendous amount of magical energy.
Jake slowly walked around the tall structure, studying it from every angle. It appeared identical from every side. After completing a full circle, Jake stopped and, with a thought, summoned its description.
Black Obelisk – Level 300
No additional information surfaced. Jake attempted to use his Enemy Appraisal perk on the black obelisk, but it provided no further details. He was still uncertain about the structure’s exact purpose. While he understood that it could revive the undead, he was unaware of its other potential abilities. The obelisk was covered in various mysterious symbols. While some were clearly related to its ability to resurrect the undead, the meanings of the others remained an enigma.
He gave the black obelisk another look-over. Was it possible to destroy it? He wasn’t sure, and he hesitated to try. After all, its level was 300, which was quite a lot. His own level was currently only 80. As for the obelisk, it might have some defensive spells protecting it from harm. Who knew what could happen if he tried to destroy it? The intense powerful humming and electrical waves surrounding it suggested that the obelisk possessed immense power—much more so than any magical anomalies he had ever encountered.
For a brief moment, he considered whether he should attempt to destroy it or not. The black obelisk clearly had the ability to revive the undead, and it could do so over great distances. The room he had exited just a few minutes earlier was far from the obelisk, yet the magical structure had no trouble extending its power all the way there to bring the undead back to life. Unless it was destroyed, it would continually resurrect the undead, which could become a significant problem later on.
As if to confirm his suspicions, he suddenly became aware of a repulsive stench and the rustling of clothes coming from behind. He glanced over his shoulder into the tunnel from which he had emerged just moments before. At first, he could see nothing because only the torches closest to him remained lit, while the rest had been extinguished, plunging the deeper parts of the tunnel into darkness. However, by the smell and sounds alone, he could already tell that the festering zombies and animated skeletons were advancing down the tunnel toward the four-way junction where he stood next to the black obelisk.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, they emerged from the darkness into the illuminated section of the tunnel. Jake saw several skeleton warriors and archers advancing toward him, followed by a few festering zombies lagging behind. He couldn’t help but notice that the torches had remained unlit when the undead marched through the dark stretch of the tunnel. So it appeared that the dungeon was designed so that the torches only responded to individuals regarded as players, like him, as they made their way through.
Jake continued to watch the undead draw closer. He didn’t like the fact that they had decided to follow him after being revived for the third time. It meant they wouldn’t leave him alone, always trying to pursue him even after being defeated. This gave him even more reason to destroy the black obelisk. But first, he needed to deal with the undead that had trailed him to the obelisk. Fortunately, Jake could see that not all the undead he had fought in the previous room had chosen to follow him—only a few had. Thanks to that, it shouldn’t take him long to deal with them. Again.
The skeletons moved at a brisk pace and soon emerged from the tunnel to the intersection. Those armed with longbows and crossbows let loose with their weapons. Jake jumped aside, avoiding one of the arrows while slicing through another with his left clawed hand. Another arrow struck him in the shoulder but was harmlessly deflected off his body as Adaptive Armor immediately grew an additional armor plate at the point of impact.
Before any of the archers could nock another arrow, Jake lunged at the group of undead. With a powerful swing of his right smashfist, he crushed the ribcage of one skeleton. Using the claws on his left hand, he sliced the skull off another. To speed up the elimination of the undead, he unleashed bladed tentacles from his back and lashed out, taking down three more undead creatures at the same time. The festering zombies, being slow and clumsy, posed even less challenge for Jake, allowing him to deal with them even more quickly.
He took them all out in under a minute. Even though he was already aware he wouldn’t receive XP for killing the undead that had been defeated before, it was still disappointing to receive no additional XP. Just as Jake turned his attention back to the black obelisk, he saw some of the symbols engraved on its sides suddenly glow brighter. The humming sounds as well as the tingling sensation he felt across his skin suddenly intensified. In the next moment, the eyes of the undead he had just defeated lit up, and their damaged bodies began to reconstruct themselves once more.
You gotta be freaking kidding me, Jake thought, feeling a surge of frustration. It was incredibly frustrating that the black obelisk brought the undead back to life the moment they were defeated.
He decided not to wait for the black obelisk to fully revive the undead. Instead, he ran up to the structure, raising his smashfist, ready to strike one of its sides. The magical symbols responsible for reviving the undead glowed brightly, casting a reddish light over him, making it almost painful to look at the glowing side of the obelisk. Upon reaching the magical structure, he delivered a powerful punch with his smashfist, putting all his strength behind it.
As he learned in the next instant, striking the black obelisk wasn’t such a good idea after all.