Haru: Acolyte, Level 9/20
Optifex: Initiate, Level 9/20
ErcuEmu: Legionnaire, Level 10/20
Alara: Apprentice, Level 10/20
Tacito: Footpad, Level 9/20
Haru targeted Emu, seeing his health already down 10% from just the opening attack of the bronze key boss. But she quickly became overwhelmed. There were two adds, wolves, that rounded the corners of each hallway on her left and right that engaged the party. She now needed to keep track of everyone’s health all at the same time.
The canine that entered from the right targeted Opti. The initiate faced off with the mob.
From the left, the second wolf engaged Taci. The footpad held his ground and attacked the beast at point-blank range.
“Alara, get the adds.” Emu called out over his shoulder. He continued to duel the Beast Master, each trading blows for 5% of their total HP on one another.
“Already on it.” The mage replied, targeting Taci’s wolf adversary and starting to cast.
The footpad already brought the beast down to 70% with two auto-attacks. But the wolf’s biting assault had Taci down to 60%. It weaved and snapped its maw at him in rapid succession.
Haru began to panic, as the rightmost wolf already brought Opti down to 60% in same fashion. She had to decide on whom to heal first and act fast.
Alara’s spell finished and hit the footpad’s opponent, bringing it down to 30%.
Seeing the left wolf hit Taci first, the acolyte targeted the footpad and began casting Mend. Taci’s health was down to 40% after one of the beast’s attacks missed. His auto-attack followed up, bringing the wolf down to 15% HP.
After Opti’s health hit 30%, Emu turned and targeted the wolf engaging the initiate. He used Line Breaker to close and snapped up the wolf’s enmity, causing it to fight the legionnaire instead. The stun didn’t proc.
Haru worked quickly to target Opti and started to cast her healing spell on him. Now she had to worry about keeping Emu alive, seeing as he had two enemies attacking him at the same time.
Alara finished off the wolf attacking Taci, and both the mage and the footpad focused their attacks on the beast confronting Emu. The creature was down to 40% health.
As the acolyte’s Mend finished casting, she then stopped to watch the legionnaire’s health. Considering Emu’s HP was at 60%, timing was key, but also Haru got the feeling that if the heal went off at the wrong time, she would grab the attention of the enemy and cause havoc. The goal was to wait until the last wolf was down before healing. That way Emu only had to worry about managing the enmity of one enemy.
Opti used his Pummel ability and procced an extra attack. After his auto-attack followed up, the wolf was down to 5%. A well-timed shot from Taci took the beast down.
As the wolf tumbled to the ground, Haru took the chance to start casting Mend on Emu.
But as the Beast Master’s companions fell, he unsheathed the two hatchets at his hips and raised them up in the air. Red orbs spun around his body. He was using the ability ‘Onslaught’. A deep rumbling emanated from Villard.
Just before the enemy finished charging his attack, Haru’s heal landed and brought Emu to full HP.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“Keep healing!” Emu shouted. “He won’t stop attacking until he’s dead.”
The acolyte complied and started to cast another healing spell.
As the rumbling faded along with the orbs dissipating, a crimson glow washed over the foe. His strikes came twice as fast as a normal auto-attack cycle. For every one hit from Emu, the Beast Master landed two. Emu landed a hit that brought the enemy down 5% to 85% HP. The foe’s two attacks brought the legionnaire down to 90% HP from full health.
The combined attacks of both Taci and Opti did another 10% damage together, putting the Beast Master at 75% HP.
The foe squeezed out two more attacks on Emu, putting the legionnaire down to 80% HP.
After Alara’s last two ice bolts hit for a total of 10%, putting the Beast Master down to 65%, the mage scoffed. “Why’s this guy so hard? This is ridiculous.” She took a knee to recover.
“Well, we are a full party.” Opti shouted over his shoulder. “Like you said, the dungeon scales.”
“This guy’s difficulty is surprising though.” Emu spoke over his shoulder. “It’s almost like they don’t want you to group up for this dungeon, jeez.”
“Now I want to beat it together even more.” Taci fired his bow and brought the foe down to 60% HP.
Haru’s Mend completed and healed the legionnaire to full. “At least it’s good practice for later encounters, right?” She chuckled nervously.
Emu and Alara grunted in agreement.
The Beast Master suddenly broke away and started rushing toward Haru. Emu turned and chased. The acolyte held her ground, remembering the Gogo fight in the deadwood forest and how she shouldn’t run when taking agro. Considering the legionnaire was already closing, she figured not moving was as good as rushing toward him.
Emu landed a hit on the enemy while in pursuit. Then a moment later, he used Line Breaker and the stun procced, stopping Villard halfway to the acolyte. The foe fell to 50% HP.
They continued to whale on the boss until they finally defeated him.
Haru leveled up.
Optifex leveled up.
Tacito leveled up.
“Ding!” Emu smiled.
Haru looked at her stats, curious. “That gave us a lot of experience. Why did we only level up once, and you two not at all?” She motioned to Alara and Emu.
“We all have to do the limit break quest for our jobs to go past level 10.” Alara replied. “And that requires the subjob item. We only get that for finishing this dungeon.”
“Don’t worry.” Emu chimed in. “You’re not losing the exp. You’ll get the levels once you limit break. One giant level up.” His eyes widened.
Haru thought this dungeon would get easier as they leveled up more, but being stuck at 10 until the end seemed like it would complicate things.
“Let’s keep going, we’re making good progress, despite the difficulty.” Emu turned and walked through the narrow door that had started the boss encounter before. Inside the room was a small desk with a sparkling item upon it. He grabbed it. “Got the bronze key. Now we should go get the silver one.”
“Yay…” Alara’s voice was laced with sarcasm. “I’m so excited.”
They returned to the atrium and ascended the winding staircase on the outer wall. The wood creaked with each step, and the balcony upon which they landed groaned as the party regrouped on the second floor. Left of the landing was a narrow stone hallway that eventually turned into a spiral stair at the very far end. There were two doors, one on each side, halfway down.
“I don’t know,” Emu started, “what the silver key fight will be like with five of us. But solo, we have to fight the Blood Hunter Bat to get it.”
“So let’s go beat this thing.” Opti threw his fists in front of him, boxing.
Emu shook his head. “I just want to make sure everyone understands this fight, at least as far as I remember it. It’s going to be much harder than the bronze key. This thing has Life-Link. Every time it hits one of us, it will gain health proportional to the damage dealt.”
Alara sighed. “I really wish I had the Poison spell right now…”
Opti recoiled at the legionnaire’s description. “That’s ridiculous. How are we supposed to beat something like that?”
“If we’re lucky,” Emu started, “I can proc stun a lot. Keeping it from attacking is the fastest way to beat it.”
“And if not?” Opti cocked his head.
“I hope you have a drink and don’t need a bio break. It’s going to take a long while.” Emu looked around.
Opti scratched his head. “That is annoying.”
“So,” Emu continued, “before we go any farther, is everyone ready?”
Haru stepped forward. “I’m ready.”
Taci shrugged, then nodded.
Opti groaned and straightened his posture. “Good to go.”
Alara whined. “I just want my rest state.”
Emu turned and began down the hallway. He reached to his left to open the door. Then it clattered, indicating the doorway was locked. The party started to follow him.
“Huh. That’s new.” He thought out loud. Then he turned to his right and tried the other door. His jaw dropped and eyes widened. “Get back!” The legionnaire shouted to the party.
From around the corner, an unseen enemy smacked Emu for 20% of his health, bringing him down to 80% HP. He bolted for the stairway landing. “Back up, back up, keep going.”
The rest of the party fled from the hallway onto the small area at the top of the stairs. Into the light of the chandelier that dangled just beyond the balcony, the enemy became visible.
It was the Blood Hunter Bat, and its HP bar went over maximum. It had an extra 5% of its total HP from the hit landed on Emu.