Ava POV
Today was the day. My party and I had spent all week preparing for this, ever since we completed the last quest for the Prince of Wolves and were told to wait and return later. Well later had just come, today was the day when the final quest would unlock and we would be the first party to beat a boss on the second floor. Of course everyone was racing to be the first, but the only ones who came close were the groups going to the west and east as those two zones had the `easiest` bosses. Of course the Eternal Dungeon didn’t do easy, after all why hold back when the adventurers just come back to life. I was happy that we had Z who learned all the necessary information before we chose a destination, otherwise we would’ve ended up going to the north. I shuddered at the thought of that deathtrap. The Forest of Endings was aptly named, even the level 30 parties never made it back. Anyone who pushed past the outer edges of the Forest of Endings would end up dead and returning to life back at Wyla. I heard that a raiding party of level 30’s was being gathered to try and defeat all the bosses but I refused to join such a thing, it was blatantly disrespectful to the dungeon and something told me that this dungeon wouldn’t take it lying down.
I pushed my thoughts of the other teams out of my head and refocused on what really mattered. Being the first to finish the Royal Woods Boss Event. We had kept our lead thanks to the quests given to us by the Prince of Wolves and after the last quest we completed he told us to wait 4 days while his forces gathered for a confrontation with the other Princes. That was 4 days ago and my party and I were currently trudging through the outer plains on our way towards the Royal Woods, we would finish this today. Everyone was excited to see what unique rewards we’ll receive from helping the Prince of Wolves as opposed to fighting all 4 Princes. Hal had spent all 4 of the days hoping and praying that the reward would be a familiar, he had heard about them from Jay. Now all he could think or talk about was getting an adorable wolf puppy as a familiar. Personally I was hoping for either a special system integration feature or a piece of Superior gear, although I doubted we would get anything Superior from a Greater boss. We kept quiet and in formation as we trekked through the Royal Woods towards the, now extensive, territory of the wolves.
We were thankfully unaccosted on our journey, seeing only the occasional pack of wolves who left us be thanks to all the other quests we’ve done making them friendly to us. We passed through the tall stones marking the entry to the wolf den. Within the den were more wolves than I’d ever seen before, hundreds of them all greater creatures close or at level 20. The Prince of Wolves sat regally upon a central boulder that jutted out into the large clearing in the center of the den, his piercing gaze landed on us and I could swear he smiled. A gruff bark from the Prince was all that was needed to clear a path for us to approach him. The mass of fur and teeth all began to bow to their liege turning what was once a disorderly mass into defined ranks of canine warriors. As we reached the front, face to face with the Prince, I noticed that all the other wolves in the front were the strongest of them. I moved to the front of my party as a sign of trust to the Prince and took a knee in front of him, my party copied my movements as we had practiced. The Prince seemed to smile wider before he let loose another short bark and a quest prompt appeared before us.
Final Event Quest: The Rise of a King
The Prince of Wolves has broken the ranks of the other claimants, leaving their forces in disarray. As valiant knights of the Wolven Tribe you have been tasked with the duty of aiding The Prince of Wolves in his final fight, the three rival Princes have joined forces in a last ditch effort to defy the Prince of Wolves. The Wolven Tribe shall meet them head on and The Prince of Wolves shall crush his foes and be declared King.
Objective: Help Kill The Prince of Horns, The Prince of Raptors, and The Prince of Apes
Reward: 1000 EC, [Hidden], [Hidden], [Hidden]
This was it, we were going to fight all three of the other Princes at once! I wasn’t sure if we could do it alone but with the Prince of Wolves helping I was confident in our success. I took one look at my party to see nothing but wide grins and readied stances, Hal even gave me a thumbs up, I turned back to the Prince of Wolves and accepted the quest prompt. I saw a flash of something within the Prince's eyes before he turned his head towards the sky and let loose a terrifying howl. It was a sound filled with pride, a sound that was meant to rally his tribe while striking fear into his enemies. His Tribe echoed this howl one after another, the sound of howling moved steadily deeper into the Royal Woods, heralding the coming of The Prince of Wolves. I felt myself picked up off my feet and noticed that several of the wolves in the front ranks had lifted our party onto their backs. The Prince of Wolves finished his howl and with a mighty leap cleared the 30 foot tall rocks lining the outside of the den, he let loose a shorter howl before moving into a speedy lope heading towards the other Princes. The wolves who had picked us up sprinted after their leader with the rest of the forces following in a tide of gray behind us. I found myself caught up in the energy of the moment letting out my best war cry which was echoed by the closest wolves' own howls of battle. I was already having the time of my life and couldn’t stifle a laugh, I turned to the rest of my party to see they were similarly affected by the energy of the wolves. As opposed to the morose oppressive feeling of a human armies march the wolves were excited and joyous, as if their victory had already been assured and tearing apart the enemy was a certainty. We spent 15 minutes just enjoying the ride, joining in with every battle howl and occasionally even starting them. However the closer to our goal we got the more the army seemed to calm down. The wolves began to settle into being the quiet and disciplined predators they truly were. The army went from wild and savage to ordered and determined.
I saw the white of The Prince of Wolves coat as our tide of gray entered into a massive clearing. The Prince of Wolves was standing proud and tall facing off against three large beasts each heading their own smaller armies of kin. A bird over 30 feet tall with long legs ending in sharp talons and a crown of black feathers on the back of its head, it had a mask of orange colored flesh that extended from the base of its beak to around its pitch black eyes; Prince of Raptors (Greater) Level 20. A Moose of massive proportions at 50 feet long and standing over 36 tall, over 40 feet tall with his antlers. His legs were like the trunks of trees and his antlers gleamed with silvery light as though they were sharpened blades, lines of verdant green wound their way across his form emitting powerful waves of Wyld mana. His glowing green eyes were filled with a subtle rage at the indignity of being forced to work with the other Princes; Prince of Horns (Greater) Level 20. Finally a giant ape, reminiscent of the Inferno Apes we were hunting the day we found the dungeon. It stood in a crouched position walking on its knuckles and back feet a large vibrant red and orange stripe went from the top of its forehead all the way down its back. It was actually the smallest of the Princes, barely 30 feet tall and with the same proportions as a normal gorilla, however its body clearly held no less power in it than the other Princes. Its arms were massive and bulging with corded muscle giving me the impression that even Hal would likely get sent flying if he got hit. His orange eyes were burning with unbridled rage, a furious expression on his primal visage; Prince of Apes (Greater) Level 20.
The Prince’s were currently having what appeared to be an exchange of words, making whatever sounds came naturally to them. It would sound like nothing more than animals screaming at each other if it weren’t for the ordered nature in which they communicated, each one making their sounds only after another had finished. As their talk continued a subtle movement of The Prince of Wolves tail indicated to us to begin our preparations while hidden behind his large frame. I nodded, unsure of whether or not he could see me, and my party and I began to prepare our longest channeled spells. Jay and I would attempt to immobilize the Prince of Raptors while Hal began the channel for his new lockdown ability targeting the Prince of Horns. Z and Lia would be fire support, preparing heavy hitting attacks to injure whichever target seemed best. I noticed Z eyeing the wings on the Prince of Raptors while Lia seemed to want to cut off the antlers of The Prince of Horns. Our chants continued in low voices as our mana began to gather into spells and skills, I could hear the conversation of the Princes becoming more and more heated with The Prince of Apes in particular seeming to be almost foaming at the mouth in anger. As our chants were slowly coming to an end The Prince of Wolves indicated to be ready with another swish of his tail and I watched as the surrounding wolves started moving forward with growls and yips trying to conceal our party further from the rest of the Princes. I was glad we chose to join sides with a monster who seemed to have such a perfect grasp on strategy.
Prince of Wolves POV
Everything was going according to plan. I had baited these fools into a three on one confrontation, it had taken work to ensure they didn’t simply scatter to the winds and force me into hunting them individually but it would be worth it. I would not allow anyone to besmirch my claim by saying that I didn’t give them an honorable fight, I had ensured that the wording of our confrontation allowed for our forces to fight alongside us. I would use the token bearing humans, my new knights, to great effect in the coming conflict. I had seen what they were capable of when they had the element of surprise on their side; everything from the clearing we fought in to the angle of the sun filtering through the trees was designed in such a way as to optimize my ability to conceal my knights for as long as possible. I slightly panicked when I saw the sheer force of mana they were conjuring but covered it up in time by having my own forces move forwards to start jeering at our foes, my ruse worked and my rival royals didn’t notice.
“DID YOU JUST COME HERE TO MOCK US YOU DOG!” The Prince of Apes shouts at me in response to my kin’s hurled insults.
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“Of course not, I came here TO KILL YOU!” I finish with a shout before leaping at the Prince of Apes. A smile crosses the stupid monkey's face before he sees my knights hidden behind my frame and his face twists to that of surprise and anger. He doesn’t have enough time to react before I’m on top of him biting into his left arm in a bid to cripple his strength early. It doesn’t work and I’m forced to jump back out of his reach before his hands can grapple me. I find myself suddenly surprised by a rush of strength entering my body as I hear the words of my lead knight finish a chant.
“Enhance Lifeform” She whispers the name of her spell yet the power her words carry is deafening. Suddenly my jaws and limbs have the strength to contest the Prince of Apes and my bones and skin have the durability to withstand his blows. A vicious grin finds its way to my face, I was wrong, everything is going better than planned.
Ava POV
I feel the mana drain from my body as I finish the chant of my newly upgraded spell, Unleashed Potential had gone through a rank up turning into Enhance Lifeform. Enhanced Lifeform lasts for ten minutes and gives `only` a 50% boost to status, however it doesn’t inflict an exhaustion debuff and I can use it more often, the main drawback is that I can’t use it on the same target twice within 24 hours or it applies an even worse exhaustion debuff. The drawback is thankfully unimportant when it comes to placing the buff on The Prince of Wolves because I don’t have to worry about him needing it later, after all this is the final fight and I have no idea what changes will happen once it's over.
I hear the others finish their own chants one after another but they don’t call out their spells as they aren’t buffs, no need to warn the enemy after all. Jay’s Superior Frost Grasp spell activates, it's a powerful single target full disable that has a ten minute chanting time as the tradeoff for its potency. Jay casts it on The Prince of Raptors causing lines of frost to race up the beast's limbs and sheets of ice begin to slowly creep outwards from them, covering its body and weighing it down. I immediately use a quick cast of Mass Entangle using its single target version to help bind down the boss's powerful legs. Through the corner of my eye I notice that Hal has managed to activate his newest Superior class skill Bindings of Steel. It only works for ten seconds currently, but its paralyzing chains are absolute during that span of time. With two Princes immobilized and the last occupied we move on to our damage phase; our party has always focused on locking down opponents using Jay and I’s skill sets and then we crush them while they're unable to retaliate.
With the Prince of Raptors more stuck than we initially planned for, Z retargets onto the Prince of Horns with Lia. Z disappears into the shadows with a use of his stealth skill, the lines of dark mana covering his body from when he finished his long cast self buff skill. Lia’s own long chanting spell comes to an end as her sword lights up with the power of the sun, shedding radiance so bright it forces the rest of us to look away from her blade. She charges at the Prince of Horns using the 10 seconds he’s paralyzed to close the distance and deliver a strike. Lia uses her combo skill to activate the most potent skill in her arsenal, by combining Slash of Light and her newly evolved Radiant Smite into Radiant Slash a skill that is further upgraded by the long cast Sword of Light spell that she has active.
The single most powerful attack I’ve ever seen Lia goes crashing towards the Prince of Horns only to be intercepted by 3 glowing claws on the end of a long leg. Lia’s attack still barrels through this interruption, slicing the toes off the foot, yet the attack has been slowed long enough to free the Prince of Horns from Bindings of Steel. The giant moose manages to reinforce his antlers with Wyld mana and turns them into the attack taking it head on. Lia and the Prince begin a contest of strength, will, and mana with both refusing to back down. While the two of them are locked into a stalemate I spare a glance towards The Prince of Raptors, completely free from the spells we cast on it. Looking at the ice sculpture of the Prince I realize that he must’ve had a substitution skill that allowed him to escape. I should’ve predicted that after learning that it was a speed type build, they always have escape skills. Luckily Lia’s attack still crippled one of its main weapons, its left foot missing both its toes and the deadly claws that adorned them. The Prince of Raptors lets loose a shrill cry as it dives towards Jay, it doesn’t make it far before a streak of darkness dances across its back. The Prince of Raptors lets loose a sound of distress as its wings are cut hundreds of times rendering them useless and causing it to plummet towards the ground. It manages to get its legs out under it, but lacking the toes on one foot causes its abrupt landing to send it tripping over itself and onto its back.
At this point the surprises from both sides are gone and we move to turn this into a battle of attrition. Our opponents are more injured than us and lack a proper healer, if we draw the fight out we win. The only real limiting factor is the ten minute buff on The Prince of Wolves that’s allowing him to outmatch The Prince of Apes for the moment, my hope was that The Prince of Wolves would be able to slay the oversized ape and bring an end to our fight. With this in mind Hal moves to engage the Prince of Raptors and Z moves back to the shadows to harass both the Princes we’re fighting. Jay and I stay back ready to support whichever of our tanks needs it most. The Prince of Raptors manages to get into a position where it can support itself with its injured foot and lash out with its good one. The Prince of Horns is locked into a stalemate with Lia, but I’m unsure how long she’ll last under its intense magical pressure. I ready myself to heal Lia the moment it looks like she’ll falter. It's time to wear these monsters down.
Lia lasted a surprising 3 minutes before being blasted backwards by the rampaging mana of the giant moose. After that we just harried the creatures, slowly lowering their health and mana. We fought as defensively as we could while still keeping them off of the Prince of Wolves. Luckily my strategy worked out, as after 15 minutes the Prince of Wolves managed to deliver the final blow on the Prince of Apes. He was only able to edge out The Prince of Apes thanks to the buff I applied to him giving him an early advantage which he leveraged the whole fight by keeping pressure on his opponent. Once The Prince of Apes fell a glow of fiery power flowed into the Prince of Wolves and the rest of The Prince of Ape’s forces broke fleeing into the woods allowing the army of wolves to crush the remaining two tribes. With the support of both The Prince of Wolves and his now unoccupied army we were able to quickly dispatch the injured Prince of Raptors. The Prince of Horns took a much longer time to defeat due to his Wyld magic constantly healing his body of every wound we made. However not even that could save him, in the end he died once his mana pool ran out.
With the other three Princes dead and their power now absorbed by the Prince of Wolves I got to witness a monster evolution, a rare sight to see in the wild. A bright glow of mana surrounded The Prince of Wolves who slowly shrunk until he was half his original size. Despite being smaller the amount of power condensed into his form was immense, he was easily three times as strong as he was before his evolution. As his evolution finished he looked exactly the same as before with the only difference being a crown of talons, claws, fangs, and horns hovering magically above his head. I checked his tag to see what had changed.
Wolven King of the Forest (Superior) Level 25
Level 25 means that the dungeon must’ve gotten more powerful recently. If that’s the case then that raid of level 30’s is doomed to fail, once again my instincts save me from a mistake. My thoughts of the dungeon are interrupted by a system prompt in the corner of my vision. It reads `Quest complete: The Rise of a King! Please speak with the quest giver to receive your full rewards`. As one our party turns towards the newly minted Wolven King who smiles at us once he has our attention.
“Well done my knights” He speaks in a deep voice that seems to emanate from his head but not his mouth, some form of magical speech? “You have done the Wolven Tribe a great service and by aiding my ascent to the throne you have earned a proper reward. May Lord Eternal bless your journey forwards, I must move to secure my newly enlarged domain and ready myself for opposition.” With the King done speaking he lets loose a long howl before bounding off towards his den, the rest of the wolves all bow to us in respect before following their new King. I check the system to see what rewards we gained.
Rewards for Quest: Rise of a King
1000 EC
Title: Wolven Knight - This title allows you to freely pass through any territory occupied by the Wolven Tribe
Progression Unlocked: You may now access the Abandoned Mines Questline and the Event Shop
A Royal Reward: You may claim a single greater item from the Event Shop
First Completion Reward: For being the first to conquer the Royal Woods you may claim a single Superior Item from the Event Shop
Unique Completion Reward: For being the first to conquer the Royal Woods by aiding the ascent of a King your attention level has been increased to 2.
Well all of that was good, except the last one which concerned me greatly. I’m not sure what `attention level 2` is or means so we’ll have to try and do some digging once we’re back in town. I have a quick talk with my party where we confirm that we all got the same rewards where I learn that everyone else got a different final message than me. Everyone else saw `your Eternal Favor has increased to level 2` and indeed in the progression tracker there was a new display showing our Eternal Favor level. Mine did in fact display as level 2 like the rest of my parties, so why was my system message different and why was it so . . . ominous? I can only hope to find out, for now I decide against saying anything. I don’t want to burden or worry my party members with something we likely can’t control, for now it’s simply time to return to town and celebrate.