Ajax and his team had made it past the security barrier that had appeared to surround the arch, isolating everyone but the team of five from the arch as they prepared to handle the upcoming floor boss.

It only took a minute more before the first jungle creatures started to pour out of the arch. To call what happened to them anything but a slaughter would not do it justice as waves of flames erupted and turned all of them to ash.

The arrival of the kitsune was memorable as the wave of orange flames suddenly gathered around the floor boss’s silhouette before they turned green and blue exploding outwards. The five man team were quick to gather behind the massive tower wall shield of their guardian.

Ajax watched in awe as the ephemeral flames latched on to the barrier. His [Sense Mana] told him clearly that the flames weren’t actually doing any physical damage to the barrier but were instead burning the barrier mold. He could feel as the flames focused in small areas looking to make a hole.

The five guardians were quick to respond, as soon as the flames passed them their archer quickly shot the arrow he had drawn back. Ajax could even keep track of the arrow as it cut through the air but he clearly felt as the kitsune put up a manashield to block it. The arrow shattered the shield but the trajectory of the arrow sent tilted sending it into the kitsune’s shoulder instead of her heart.

The floor boss’s next move even left him confused as the boss split into multiple copies of itself, all of them looking identical as they spread out. He logically knew from his previous information that these weren’t actual clones but an illusion, yet nothing he had could tell the difference. His [Sense Mana], [Judge Threat], even his [Mana Syphon] felt like it could pull mana from all of the kitsune’s present.

The protection team was clearly suffering the same issue as him as the swords went cleanly through illusion after illusion, their spells not being able to take any of them. The only one to seem different was the archer as his second arrow cleanly sunk into the kitsune’s leg. Ajax assumed he had a way of tracking his previous arrow and picked out the correct target that way.

Ajax’s enjoyment of the fight quickly disappeared as the first holes in the barrier finally appeared, not from the fire damage but from the barrier structure no longer being there. Had he been able to focus on the holes he would have seen the barrier trying to pump mana into them only for it to be released harmlessly into the surroundings.

Ajax’s focus was quickly brought back onto himself as his sense of balance all but disappeared. If he thought walking had been difficult a few days back when he had gotten drunk, he could even stand on his feet as he felt the world start spinning quickly. He quickly activated his [Mana Syphon] but all it did was weaken the illusion to the point where he could bring himself up on one knee.

Ajax had barely had enough time to get his bearing again, looking around at all the people who had also dropped from the mass illusion that was released before its effects completely disappeared. A quick glance towards the arch let him see the kitsune’s head flying through the air, the body crumbling beneath the body of a plated warrior wielding a two handed sword.

The fight couldn’t have taken longer than ten seconds. The level difference between the party and the floor boss was too large for it to truly stand a chance. The power of a floor boss was something that was no longer just information given to him. Kitsune’s definitely deserved their name as team killers as Ajax looked around to see people still on the floor more than a few of the puking from the illusion assault on their senses.

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“Everyone, okay?” Ajax asked the rest of the team as he stood back up.

“Good as can be expected.” Trevor answered as he slowly got to his feet as well. “I see now why the illusion protection enchantment is mandatory for anyone delving floors with levels into the nineties.”

The chance for a floor boss to spawn quickly grew, from a one in a hundred thousand at level sixty to a one in two at ninety five and a sure thing once levels reached the triple digits. All floor bosses were specialized with few and small weaknesses, but one thing they all had in common was that they were apt in dealing with large groups of people.

“Ugh, did we have to get a kitsune though?” another one of their party members complained as they got to their feet. “Why not give us a monster variant, something we could fight.”

“Stop complaining.” Trevor said. “We got lucky, it could have been an elemental variant or worse yet a werewolf.”

Elemental floor bosses were a lot weaker individually than their counterparts but they had the nasty effect of instantly changing the entire floor to an environmental one based on their element. This sometimes came with nasty combos like a water floor with a lightning elemental.

Ajax shivered slightly as he thought about a werewolf variant. While it might make for an actually favorable matchup for him in particular, the werewolf had had its secondary focus on speed with a primary one on its venom. If the venom was anything on the level of the illusion powers of a kitsune Ajax could see why nearly all encounters with that boss variant ended in at least one casualty.

“What the hell happened to it?” Ajax subconsciously muttered as he approached the edge of the barrier where he could see bits and pieces of the enchantment melted from the stone it was inscribed on.

“Spirit fire.” The mage from the guardian team said with a mix of disgust and admiration. “It doesn’t burn anything on a physical level, it instead burns through the raw mana and any connection it forms. One of the beastkin champions had managed to get the Legendary Affinity about two thousand years ago. No mages fighting them could use shields on the army out of fear the shield would be hit by it and burn them from the inside out. Nasty stuff.”

“Did you happen to lose anyone?” the mage asked with a measure of concern one she got a look at the crest most of the teams had.

“All of us made it out.” Trevor answered. “Thankfully we had a clear run away from the boss and towards the arch, if anyone had been close enough to it that they got hit with that illusion we would have had to leave them behind.”

“A kitsune in a jungle floor, without an illusion enchantment.” the mage shook her head. “If you were even one floor higher the range on the illusion would have been big enough that some of you might have been in range on sight.”

“If the spirit fire is already legendary, then would that illusion be similar to what a Mythic skill would be like?” Ajax asked, still looking at the burn marks on the stone. He was trying to remember how the flames felt in his mana sense but the illusion had hit him before he had a chance to get more than a moment to feel it.

“People have claimed that but nobody’s seen a Mythic skill in their life.” the mage said. “Speaking of the illusion, how did you resist it? I saw it take a hold on you fully, so it wasn’t a passive skill but you somehow weakened it, enough to start getting up.”

“I gained [Illusion Resistance].” Ajax said, and while he wasn’t lying as he had in fact gotten the skill, his first Uncommon resistance skill both of them knew that wasn’t all there was to it. Not only that Ajax had also gotten the rare skill [Impervious Senses]. He wasn’t going to mention that or his [Mana Syphon] however.

“I see.” the mage nodded and let the matter drop.

With that the entire protection team quickly made their exit, returning to their surveillance duty. Ajax and the Silvertongue team did much the same, though a few of them were still wobbly on their feet much like the rest of the crowd.

“It’s not my fault.” the scout complained as they were making their way out.

“Oh yes it is.” one of the top mages said. “It’s just like you to find a diamond the size of your fist and the moment you take it out of the dungeon you throw up on it.”

“You threw up as well.” the scout complained.

“I did, but did you notice how none of it got on my bags or gear.” the mage boasted.

“That’s because you fell on your front with your face to one side.” the scout complained.

“Yes I did so skillfully.” the mage countered as he rubbed the small bruise forming on his chin.

Ajax agreed with the scout that it had all been down to luck that the mage hadn’t soiled himself, but that didn’t mean that he mentioned that or that he skipped out on the good natured jokes made at the scout’s expense.