An explosion rang out in the massive chamber.

Rock flew all over the place as the players once more charged at the boss.

"CHARGE FORTH!" screamed the crusader.

The already exhausted players followed.

The boss took a deep breath, JohnWillStab looked to Bolst who still charged forth fearlessly.

"THE RUDE SANDSTORM!" it cried as towards the players flew a wave of ore and rocks, some of the players ducked for cover, others relied on tanks for defence.

Oheimark didn't find cover in time and got cut up into bits, bleeding on the ground he began crawling away into cover.

Bromy rushed over and began healing the dying player.

"Here, I'll heal you up!"

Seeing this, Bolst frowned inside his helmet.

"DRUID! DIDN'T I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR ON THE TOPIC OF USING MAGIC AS A CRUTCH!?" demanded Bolst as he made his way towards Bromy.

Bromy didn't take his eyes off the man he was healing.

"I-it's alright, I'm fine, now!" Oheimark assured Bromy.

"Alright," he stopped healing him just in time to see Bolst's blade swoop down to Oheimark's neck.

"...What the hell do you think you're doing?" asked Bromy, a cluster of his roots held the blade back as the petrified-looking Oheimark breathed heavily.

"Hmph! Why must you dirty my plans with your cheats?!" Bolst demanded.

Bromy looked up at Bolst with a visible bloodlust.

For a second Bolst felt a chill run down his spine as he took a step back before the regained his composure.

"J-just stay out of my fight!" he commanded before turning away and rushing back to the front lines.

The boss plunged its arms into the ground "EMERALD SPLASH!" he exclaimed.

Again, all over the walls of the cave, giant green gems sprouted, they all twitched to face their targets before ejecting from their cover and smashing into the players.

This time a few players were able to dodge them, thought Bolst did little to guide them.

"GOOD JOB, MEN! ONWARDS!" he exclaimed.

JohnWillStab followed.

They were near the melee distance,

The boss took a deep breath.

"He'll use the AOE ability!" John speculated as he saw the bits of ore and rock all over his body begin to shake.

"He'll use the sandstorm next!" John exclaimed.

"No way! We are too close!" exclaimed Bolst as he quickly got swept away by the massive wave of sharp rocks and ore that shredded most of the raid there and then.

They respawned next to the entrance, slightly traumatised, but mostly pissed.

"What the hell was that?!" demanded one of them.

"That was bullshit!"

"Why weren't you healing us?!"

"It was part of the strategy!"

The arguing continued.

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Bolst walked before everyone else.

"Be at ease! This time-" he was cut off.

"I'm done!" exclaimed NoPissBottles.

"Don't take this personally, but I don't want to throw away any more of my lives..." they sighed.

"Same..."

"Yeah..."

Bolst stood there silently, listening to the people's complaints.

Once they were all done he crossed his arms.

"I'm giving you a simple choice, you either go and die to the boss, or you die here to me."

Everyone stood there in shock.

"What did he just say?" they thought.

A small group's thoughts were more along the lines of "I'd like to see you try,"

Before anybody could say anything, Bolst pulled out his blade.

"LIGHT BEAM!" he exclaimed as he sliced for nobody in particular.

Every ducked.

"HAVE THOU GONE MAD?!" demanded Bonifacius.

It was too early to celebrate though because the exit just collapsed thanks to Bolst's attack, the entire cavern shook.

"I have trapped everyone in here, you can try to dislodge the rubble, though I will be forced to kill you if that was to happen,"

"WHAT THE HELL WHAT THAT ABOUT!?"

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" WillWillWas exclaimed as a blade of what looked like pure fire appeared in their hand.

He charged forward, swinging his blade at Bolst who effortlessly cut the wolfman in half.

Seeing this Bonifacius cast master charge.

His shield smashed against the unarmoured man, knocking the air from his lungs.

"THOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR!"

JohnWillStab used Shadow-Step to appear behind the man and placed a dagger to his neck, he realised killing him would just allow him to respawn.

Before the man could react JohnWillStab stuck both daggers into his shoulder blades, severing the muscles that allowed for proper arm movement.

"AH!" Bolst cried in agony.

Next Bromy's roots coiled around the man, holding him much more tightly than necessary.

"OF COURSE YOU'D ATTACK ME FROM BEHIND, COWARD!"

Bromy and Bonfifacius dragged the man away, they tied him to a large, stone pillar.

"You will regret this..." Bolst said quietly.

"We shall release thee once we are done here..." Bonifacius said trying to hide his disgust with the man's actions.

JohnWillStab walked out in front of everyone.

"We'll dig our way out tomorrow, we have more than enough food and water for a while, plus there seems to still be a steady flow of air coming from outside, so there's no rush," he explained.

The raiders breathed a few sighs of relief.

"I don't think there's a need to say this, but you're free to leave as soon as we open the exist," John said dismissively.

"Good..."

"Yeah, sorry, man..."

Confirmation of their leaving and apologise floated around the group.

JohnWillStab stretched a bit and let out a sigh.

"That said, you'll miss out on the loot from the boss," he added.

"If you ever kill it!" laughed one player in the back, a few others joined in.

Jonh looked to them nonchalantly, leaning back slightly as he placed his arms behind his head.

"Oh, don't worry about it, I finally figured out the attack pattern, I'll get the boss down first-try tomorrow," he shrugged.

Some of the people looked at him with bewildered expressions, others tried to hold back laughter.

"Great! I believe in thee, JohnWillStab!" exclaimed Bonifacius.

"I can't begin to imagine the dastardly plan my dear JohnWillStab has concocted," RuRet said once again wiping a tear from his eye.

"I bet its something scummy... like he'll tell us to kick the boss in the balls," laughed Olivionion.

"Or blind it!" Bromy chuckled.

"Took you long enough..." Alex remarked excitedly.

Seeing the amount of support for JohnWillStab, a few people reconsidered their escape.

"There's just one thing, I'll ask everyone who wants to leave to watch us kill the boss!" John explained.

"Whether we fail or not, after the first try we'll go back up and help dig our way out, that should clear up any doubts you have about my plans!" John said confidently.

"OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK!"

"THERE'S NO WAY I CAN PULL IT OFF!" JohnWillStab smiled smugly.

"You can bet we'll kill it in no time!" he laughed.

The Thief watched from the crowd uncertainly.

"He won't see it coming!" John cheered.

"Now, everyone should get some rest! We've got a floor to wipe with the boss!" John exclaimed as a few players cheered before dispersing to their sleeping bags, some chatted while others ate some leftover soup.

JohnWillStab returned to his depression bench and scribbled more strategies.

"When he breathes, he uses the sandstorm AOE... there's a seven-second delay between the ore on his back beginning to shake and it flying out."

"The gems aim for the player while they're in the walls, but can't change direction mid-air, so moving is the best way to evade them. They appear like... five seconds after he sticks his hands in the earth... they fly at the players like five seconds later..."

"Close up his stomp attack is dangerous for tanks, so long-ranged DPSs and dagger-classes like myself should handle the damage-dealing..."

"Ah, but what about the chain... it's not that strong since he breaks it off when he removes his armour..."

"Stressing out over the boss?" asked the Thief sitting opposite John with her usual smile.

"Eh? N-no!" he replied.

"Liar."

"No, I'm telling you! I've got him all figured out!" he exclaimed confidently.

"..."

"..."

They both looked at each other awkwardly.

"...Ok, I'm a little stressed out..." John admitted as he planted his face on the table.

"Knew it," she replied smugly.

"How could you tell? I'm pretty sure I was convincing!" he replied.

"Because you become edgier when you're stressed out," she said bluntly.

"I-I wasn't edgy!" he said defensively.

She struck the relaxed-looking cool-guy pose John did earlier.

"I'Ve AlReAdY gOt ThE bOsS'S aTtAcK pAtTeRn fIgUrEd OuT~"

She flicked her hair dramatically.

"I'Ll GeT hIm kIlLeD oN mY FiRsT-tRy!"

"..."

"..."

"I definitely didn't look that edgy..." he replied.

"You so did..." she chuckled.

"Jordan and Alex were just being nice while they cringed away..." she replied.

"Seriously!?" John asked looking panicked.

"I'm just joking!" she replied dismissively waving her hand.

John breathed a sigh of relief.

"Seriously, you always do that, when you have guests, when you have to talk to people..." she listed off a few more people-related activities.

"...-with the milkman... and yeah... that's all."

"..."

"I mean, seeing you act like an edgy assassin in front of the mailman because you ran into him as you were leaving to go to the shop and had no idea how humans greet each other is adorable... but it's really obvious when you're stressed out," she replied.

JohnWillStab let out a sigh.

"Yeah, you got me... I think I'll be able to do it... but I'm way less confident than I acted..."

"Alright, tell me your plan!" she instructed.

"Eh?"

"Remember that time your sister sent you really expensive noodles in the mail as a sarcastic birthday present, but you just cared about the free food and you were afraid of ruining them so you looked up the perfect way to make noodles?" she asked.

"You were there?!" he asked distinctly remembering being alone.

"I mean they were like ten bucks... but that's pretty expensive for your standards..."

"Hey, ten bucks for a single soup is a crime!" John argued.

"Anyway, you got so caught up about the spices, temperature and everything that you over-cooked the noodles by like an hour... and it turned into gross sludge..."

"Rest in peace noodles..." he said sombrely.

"Don't act like you didn't still eat them..." she replied.

"Damn, I hoped you didn't see that part..." he admitted.

"Anyway, my point is, you can sometimes miss the obvious solutions to problems, so just tell me your plan and I'll point out the obvious issues!" she finally said.

"...huh... guess that might word!" John exclaimed.

"Right? Alright, go on!" she instructed.

John began reciting his plan.