Haru: Apprentice 10/Acolyte 5
Optifex: Legionnaire 10/Initiate 5
Haru ascended the steps up to the second floor above the atrium with care. The wood creaked with each slow step. Ahead of her, Opti with his sword drawn advanced with equal measure.
The legionnaire reached the second floor and looked around. The last time they were here, the next boss had laid in wait in an unexpected place. It took the party by surprise. This time he wasn’t going to make the same mistake by being too comfortable. After peeking around the corner to his right which opened the narrow passageway to a balcony overlooking the first-floor atrium, he beckoned Haru to come up quickly.
“Wherever this thing comes from, we’ll fight it here.” Opti pointed at the wood floor of the balcony. “Plenty of room for you to stay away from the boss.”
Haru complied and walked toward the corner of the balcony and kneeled into recovery mode out of nervousness, wanting to be sure she was topped up with mana despite being at 100%.
Opti nodded and started walking down the hallway opposite the stairs. It was a straight shot from the balcony, so Haru could see the entire length, all the way to the far spiral staircase that descended to the mines.
Halfway down the hall were the two doors, one on the left and the other on the right, one of which contained the boss. The last time they were here, the fight started when the creature emerged from the right side, some sort of piano room. It also contained a switch which unlocked the left door that contained the second key they needed to progress to the final boss.
Opti brandished his sword at the right door as he slowly advanced down the hall. With a careful hand, he tapped the handle and then jumped back as if the door itself was going to attack him. After a few seconds he shifted his weight on his feet and then stepped forward to try again. This time he firmly grasped the handle and then opened it.
Not a moment passed before Opti staggered back. He stood, obstructing the width of the hallway.
Haru left recovery mode, getting ready for a fight. But nothing was happening. The legionnaire was just standing there, menacingly.
Opti turned and looked at Haru. “I’m going to go unlock the other door. There’s nothing in here.” He pointed toward the right door.
Haru drew her staff, at the ready as he disappeared into the room. The hallway was quiet. The air, still. She thought back to the time Emu had done this, and he emerged with the boss in tow. But there was no sound of conflict to be heard.
Then a click echoed throughout the quiet thoroughfare.
“I got it.” Opti emerged from the rightmost room. He reached forward with gusto for the left doorhandle. As he pulled it open, a low growl filled the space.
The boss, the Blood Hunter Bat, appeared in the doorway with red orbs spinning around it. It was already charging an ability—Drain. It smacked Opti, before he could even target the creature, for 50% of his health, and the bat was up to 150% of its total HP.
As fast as Opti could target the boss, he used Line Breaker. The stun procced and dealt an extra 10% damage. Then his auto-attack triggered, which brought the bat down to 130% of its total HP. He began backing away from the bat to draw it closer toward the balcony.
Haru started casting Mend on Opti. The massive amount of damage dealt made her want to panic, but she held fast and focused on the fight.
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Just as her heal was about to land, Opti took another hit for 20% of his HP, bringing him down to 30% and the Bat back up to 150%.
Opti laughed, then smiled with clenched teeth. “That’s what I’m talking about, a worthwhile encounter!”
Haru started to worry he was losing his mind. Mend completed, bringing the legionnaire back up to 100% HP. Then she transitioned to casting Ice Bolt on the bat. If she didn’t start dealing damage soon, the fight was going to end up a stalemate, or worse.
As soon as Ice Bolt completed, it smacked into the boss and expanded into a sphere with spikes. The Blood Hunter Bat was weak to ice. It dealt 30% damage, bringing it down to 120% total HP. Haru breathed a sigh of relief seeing the boss’s health fall almost as fast as it increased.
Haru’s elemental magic ability raised to level 1.
Opti’s auto-attack brought the boss down another 10%, to 110% health. He bellowed a belly laugh. “See? Nothing to be worried about.” He called over his shoulder. “Still tuned to perfection.”
Haru couldn’t help but to nervously chuckle along as she readied another Ice Bolt. She didn’t feel anything in her chest, so it was unlikely that he was frustrated. But Opti’s sudden shift in mood made her worried. Was the situation he found himself in driving him mad?
The bat’s auto-attack struck Opti, bringing him down to 80% and itself back up to 130%.
A few more rounds of the two trading blows with the boss brought the bat down to 50%. A heal in the middle of the fight kept Opti’s health at 100%. But after it crossed the half-health threshold, it then charged Drain one more time.
Opti used Line Breaker the moment the bat started charging its ability, but the stun didn’t proc. He was hit by Drain and brought down to 50% health. The boss returned to 100% HP.
Finally, after more rounds of duking it out, the two finally finished off the bat boss.
“That took much longer than last time.” Haru started casting Mend on the legionnaire.
Opti sheathed his sword. “It did, perhaps worth looking at when I get back. The mechanic for balancing against two players in this dungeon might need more tuning.”
Haru knelt into recovery mode. “You don’t think the demon meddled with the boss?”
Opti shook his head. “The problem is a matter of adjusting a few values. So far, his handiwork has been like using a sledgehammer to drive thumbtacks—obvious and unnecessary.” He turned, then walked over and investigated the leftmost room of the hallway. “Here’s the key.” He called from deep inside. “We just need one more now.”
It seemed to calm Opti when Haru asked about small details about the game. Usually, except when the demon was clearly causing problems in the design. But perhaps that was the key to keeping Opti from the demon’s clutches, talking about the inner workings and design of things.
The legionnaire stepped out into the hallway and looked down toward the spiral staircase at the side opposite where they entered. “Just one more, shall we get going.”
After hitting full mana, Haru stood and nodded. “I’m excited that I’ll soon be able to get back to Acolyte. That’s my favorite job so far.”
Opti grinned. “You seem to be doing a good job of blowing up mobs though. You sure you want to make the switch?”
Haru shrugged. It was somewhat of a natural thing for her to be slinging spells at creatures but something about being an Acolyte felt right to her. A calling for her to do that job. “I just think Acolyte is neat.”
With a nod, Opti turned and departed for the stairs. The two descended to the bottom of the second, adjacent tower. Through the only doorway was a bridge overlooking the Plentiful Glade, and a lone Gogo Bomber waiting on the other side, staring at them from afar, waiting.
The two engaged and took it out without much issue. The goblin readied Bomb Toss but Opti’s Line Breaker stunned it and caused it to fumble.
The two continued on and descended a second spiral stairwell on the other side of the bridge inside another tower-like structure. This one went deep into the land, leading into the mines.
Around them, indigo crystalline structures filled the large tunnel that curved gently around and would lead to the door which required the bronze, silver, and gold keys. The bronze and silver they already acquired from the first two encounters. There was one last boss which lurked in the dark corners of the cave.
“I hope we don’t get ambushed like last time.” Haru’s voice trembled.
“It will be fine.” Opti shook his head. “It likes to give you a little scare, that’s all.”
They continued through the mines. Haru scanned each little dark alcove with suspicion. About halfway through the cave, she spotted the place they last encountered the boss and squinted. The last time its orb-like eyes could be seen illuminating the darkness. But this time there was nothing in that spot.
After pressing on, the locked door came into view, still quite a distance away though.
“Where is this thing?” Opti scratched his head. “It shouldn’t be this far into the cave.” He sighed. “Don’t tell me it’s something else that needs to be fixed.”
Haru felt an overwhelming sense of impending doom rise from her gut. She spun on her heels and found that the gargantuan boss had been creeping behind, trailing them this whole time.
And it had her targeted.