A powerful explosion erupted from the tip of Stormcaller and blew away the Hobgoblins that had formed a wall to protect their leader.
Due to the spear’s elemental power of lightning, the Grand Bazooka was infused with the Lightning Element. All of William’s Quick-Shot Shepherd skills have no elemental affinity. They were empowered by William’s Aura.
It is similar to the cases where he had infused his weapons with aura to allow them to attack like a remote controlled weapon.
William skidded a few meters away due to the recoil of this War Art, but his strong body prevented him from getting seriously injured. As soon as the smoke of the explosion cleared, several void arrows flew in William’s direction which the red-headed boy dodged with ease.
He didn’t waste this opportunity and used his movement technique to close the gap between him and the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor.
Soon, the jeweled bronze staff and Stormcaller clashed against each other. To William’s surprise, the staff actually managed to withstand his full-powered spear strike with ease.
The Hobgoblin Witch Doctor slammed the end of its staff towards the ground, causing a magic circle to appear under its feet.
From it, a two-meter tall, Black-Scaled Salamander emerged.
As soon as it appeared, it lashed its massive tail out at William, which the latter dodged by a hair’s breadth. After its attack ended, it immediately released a scorching fire breath towards William as its second greeting.
The red-headed boy immediately backed away as he raised his hand to cast a five-layered wall of ice to block the Salamander’s attack.
The walls of ice exploded, but it was able to cancel the fire breath, which gave the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor time to create spectral hands and a doppelganger of itself, which allowed it to cast a barrage of dark spells towards William whose Ice Walls had fallen apart.
William clicked his tongue as he dodged the volley of spells that forced him to once again distance himself from his opponent.
The Half-Elf activated his Appraisal Skill to see the information of the summoned beast that made his battle more difficult.
< Black-Scaled Salamander >
— Fire Breathing Amphibian
— Summoned Beast
— Threat Level: Class A (Mid)
— This Giant Salamander usually lives near active volcanoes because they prefer extremely hot regions to strengthen their bodies.
— They are able to swim and dive inLava that is hot enough to completely melt a Human’s body within half a minute of submersion.
— They are very aggressive creatures and will even fight their own kind when their territories are intruded upon.
— Their bites are also very poisonous, so extreme care is needed when fighting against them.
——
‘Just great,’ William thought as he held Stormcaller in a fighting stance. ‘This Contracted Beast sure has many tricks under its sleeve.’
Frankly, William was very impressed with the Master of the Monster that he was fighting right now. Clearly, the Salamander was the Contracted Beast of the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor, which was the Contracted Monster of its Master.
The Half-Elf frowned as he briefly scanned his surroundings. Most of the Hobgoblins around him were being held back by Ella and the goats, creating a clearing for him to fight against the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor, without worrying about outside reinforcements.
If he had wanted to kill the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor, William would have definitely used his fatal techniques like Gaebolg to attempt to kill it, or at least, give it a serious injury. However, William didn’t do that.
He was very curious about how a Contracted Beast was able to take command of the Monsters inside a dungeon. Also, Williams was also very curious to know the identity of the Master that had turned the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor into its servant.
William didn’t know that the Witch Doctor that he was fighting was the same monster that had secretly attacked Wendy, Spencer, Brutus and Bruno during their Dungeon exploration.
While the war between the Hellan Kingdom and the two Dynasties was underway, Kent snuck inside the dungeon and gave his pet plenty of resources. The contracted Hobgoblin Shaman used this opportunity to make its breakthrough, and evolved into the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor.
Kent was one of the captains of The Organization working under Conner and Calum. These two gave him the opportunity to spoil his pet, and increase its rank. With the Hobgoblin Shaman’s help, he was able to collect slaves and sell them to Deus.
Kent’s end-game plan was to use his pet to take full control of the Goblin Crypt and use it as his own personal Reserved Army that he could use whenever he wanted. The plan succeeded and the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor had become the Hobgoblin’s leader.
Unfortunately, Kent was sent to the far away Kingdom of Freesia to capture the Royal Family once the Continental Spell had been invoked. Unfortunately, their victory was short-lived and they were forced to retreat due to the arrival of the Kraetor Empire.
William eyed the arrogant Hobgoblin Witch Doctor that was currently riding on the Black-Scaled Salamander’s back.
While he was thinking of a way to subdue the contracted beast that had summoned its backup, an idea popped inside William’s head. He had long wondered if it was possible, but he hadn’t put it into practice.
He had also forgotten to ask Sancus, The God of Contracts, if his idea was possible.
“Only one way to find out,” William muttered as he narrowed his eyes. “Icycle Realm!”
A field of Icicles erupted from the ground and trapped the Salamander and the Hobgoblin at its center. A magical barrier enveloped the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor while the Black-Scaled Salamander endured the razor sharp icicles that weren’t able to penetrate the scales of its body.
William used this opportunity to close off the distance and…
“Pocket Cube, go!” William shouted as he threw one of Magical Cubes that had been gifted to him by Sancus.
The cube expanded its size and enclosed the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor which was still inside its own magical barrier.
The cube immediately shrank in size as it flew back to Wiliam’s hand. William grabbed the cube firmly in his hand as the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor tried to break free from its prison.
William sneered at its futile attempt to escape. Sancus had given him a guarantee that any beast that was of the Centennial Rank and below would be captured without fail. What the Half-Elf wanted to find out was whether it was able to capture Contracted Beasts as well.
He wondered if the runes personally inscribed by the God of Contracts himself could forcefully break the contract of others.
Soon, the cube stopped shaking and stayed still in William’s hand.
William smiled evilly as he tossed the cube in front of him, releasing his newly acquired Hobgoblin Witch Doctor.
The Black-Scaled Salamander had a dumbfounded look on its face as it looked at its contractor. It could still sense the connection between the two of them, but something felt different.
“Tell everyone to stop fighting,” William ordered.
The Hobgoblin Witch Doctor gave the Half-Elf an unwilling gaze before uttering a loud shriek which reverberated inside the Boss Room.
As soon as the Hobgoblins heard this cry, all of them stopped fighting. The Black-Scaled Salamander also lowered its head in submission to its Master’s order.
The battlefield quieted down as both sides stopped their attempts to kill each other. They all looked at the red-headed boy who had a scammer’s smile plastered on his handsome face.
“It works! Hahahaaha! I’m so awesome!” William laughed out loud because his suspicion had been confirmed.
The Half-Elf’s joyous laughter resounded in the battlefield, which made both friends and foes alike look at him weirdly.
William didn’t care about the stares of everyone around him as he laughed out loud due to happiness. Along with ending the battle inside the Boss Room, William had also gained a powerful Hobgoblin Witch Doctor in the process.
Not only that, he was also able to make hundreds of Hobgoblin Elites part of his King’s Legion as well. With this, William’s private army numbered in the thousands.
On that day, William’s Thousand Beast Army had finally become a reality.
