Baka pulled up his system information.
Avatar name: Baka
Class: Dragon Mutant/Draconic
Sub-aptitude: Royal Dragon.
Innate Ability: Hatchling Vitality (10.5 vitality points), Hatchling Strength (10.5 strength points)
Special skills: (1) Fiery Flames, (2) Dragon Authority, (3) Dragon Vassal Summoning.
Exp: 9800 points.
Baka used to have ten thousand experience points in his reserve. Earlier, he had used the skill Dragon Authority, and his reserve had reduced by two hundred points. Casting Dragon Authority cost him one hundred points per use, and he had used it twice.
As he charged towards the incoming adversaries, he intended to use the skill Fiery Flames. If he cast the skill, he would unleash a torrent of searing flames from his mouth onto any target. The skill had a duration of five seconds.
The distance between him and the undead skeletons reduced to mere inches, and then, Roar! He unleashed a devastating torrent of flames, moving his head from right to left, ensuring the fiery breath covered a significant number of skeletons across the right flank to the left.
Charred bones clattered noisily on the ground. The remaining skeletons moved to swarm and overwhelm Baka. BlueBlack interfered at precisely the right moment, using a shortsword to deal crucial fatal damage, which Baka then capitalised on to finish off the incapacitated adversaries.
"Vassal Summoning!" Baka roared.
A magnificent, ethereal image of a five-metre-tall western dragon manifested powerfully beside Baka. Baka raged and roared in perfect synergy with the manifested ethereal dragon. Their combined roar struck primal fear into the skeletons, stunning them and immobilising them for three precious seconds. The ethereal dragon then unleashed its own torrent of overwhelming flames, wiping out every skeleton in close proximity to Baka.
BlueBlack was about to deal with an undead skeleton that was behind Baka when the ethereal dragon appeared. She hesitated, giving up on dealing with the undead, seemingly leaving it to the dragon to finish off. Unfortunately for Baka, that same undead skeleton managed to stab him in the back, piercing his kidney with its dark, rotting sword. Ultimately, the skeleton was caught and decimated in the subsequent torrent of flames.
In a couple of seconds, Baka began to bleed profusely from his eyes, nostrils, and ears, and he spat out two mouthfuls of thick, dark blood. He instantly understood what was happening to him; he was dying.
"Help! Someone help me!" he yelled at his teammates, his words punctuated by continuous streams of blood.
He fell onto his knees, and his head drooped low. He was still alive, but life was visibly draining from his body at an alarming rate.
Ivan rushed over, his conscience biting at him for having been a coward. Meanwhile, BlueBlack had void-walked her way back to where the rest of the team was standing. She was fidgeting in palpable fright.
Baka hyperventilated. He tried desperately to say something, but his words were drowned out by the blood that rapidly filled his guts and mouth.
"Baka, what happened? How can I help you?" Ivan said, as he vigorously scanned Baka's failing body.
Baka held Ivan's right hand tightly with both of his own. Ivan felt the growing weakness in Baka's body through the desperate, weakening grip. Ivan's flaw gleaner identified the source of the critical problem: the stab wound.
Ivan gently leaned Baka forward to rest on his (Ivan's) shoulder. Then, he looked over Baka's shoulder, inspecting his back. He saw the gaping, horrific wound. Not only was it a gaping wound, but the cells around it were rapidly necrotising. Baka had been poisoned. The sword used to stab Baka was a poisoned blade.
"Onelight! Onelight! Onelight, get over here quickly! Baka is dying! He needs your help!" Ivan called out urgently to Onelight.
Now it made sense. Baka had enhanced vitality, more than twice that of a regular human being. Although the wound he had suffered was fatal, it wasn't supposed to kill him so quickly.
Onelight overcame her initial fright and rushed to Baka's side. Wanyama followed closely behind her. He couldn't believe it. The one moment he decided to play it safe, things had become devastatingly worse. Ivan begged whatever entity was governing the universe to spare Baka's life. He was the brain, heart, and gun of the squad at that critical moment.
Onelight cast her healing spell on Baka, and a holy, radiant light encapsulated him. Life seemed to return to Baka initially, but it rapidly faded. He began to bleed profusely, much to everyone's utter disappointment. Onelight relentlessly cast her spell until she herself began to hyperventilate. Her healing skill had a strict duration limit.
"Why did you stop? He hasn't healed!" Ivan pressed Onelight, his voice rising in desperation.
"His situation got worse. Were you healing him or killing him?" Wanyama confronted Onelight, closing in on her menacingly.
Onelight braced herself, fearing Wanyama would strike her. She said, her voice trembling, "The poison's potency is stronger than my power. The potency of that poison must be able to kill a person of the Honoured Bronze rank."
"Baka!" Ivan shrieked, a raw cry of anguish.
Baka's body had gone cold and become stiff, his eyes staring lifelessly into the open. The poison was indeed incredibly potent. It had killed Baka within mere minutes and was already mummifying his corpse.
Onelight burst into tears. Wanyama rushed over and started doing chest compressions on Baka's stiff chest, a futile, desperate act.
Meanwhile, the quartet's remaining teammates were yelling at them to flee from where they stood. The rest of the undead skeletons had closed in.
Ivan felt a searing rage course through his entire body. This time it was fiercer than when he discovered that Merlin_13 had done something stupid. He couldn't stop blaming himself.
If I were here, Baka wouldn't need to employ that skill that left his back open.
If I were here, Baka wouldn't die.
If I were here, Baka wouldn't die like a fool. He would be alive and fighting like a brilliant leader.
Ivan, once again, you have failed. You failed this time in the most woeful way. You let your cowardice dictate the existence of your teammate.
Ivan, you are a fool.
Ivan grabbed the switchaxe lodged in the ground beside him. He changed the lead blade from sword-form to axe-form. He set his sight on the fierce undead creatures locking in on him. He firmly gripped the handle of his weapon with both hands.
"Die!"
Ivan instinctively, but by no means intentionally, swung and flung his switch axe away like a boomerang. The switch axe horizontally rotated in flight, savagely chopping in half skeletons that lay in its straight path.
Ivan went on a mindless rampage. The switch axe came flying back, and he caught it with a fierce grip. He tore through the swarm of undead skeletons like a lawnmower cutting grass on a lawn, an unstoppable force of destruction.
In under twenty minutes, Ivan singlehandedly finished off every undead skeleton in this level of the gate. It was a terrifying spectacle to behold.