Both Greg and Chandra had a much easier time accepting Archie than Alex had. Part of it, Zack assumed, was because Archie was meeting them in the hub rather than dragging them into the lower level. Greg shook Archie’s hand in greeting, surprised by how firm a grip the rabbit could muster. Chandra, surprisingly, was blushing at the sight of him.
“Enchanted, my dear,” Archie said, bowing low and kissing her on the hand.
Chandra’s ears turned an even deeper shade of red, the tip of her tail wagging excitedly. She quickly grabbed the traitorous appendage with her free hand, gripping it tight to keep it from betraying her emotions again. Archie smirked devilishly as he rose back to his full height, even giving her a knowing wink.
With Alex there to help, the others were very quickly brought up to speed on Zack’s situation, and what Archie needed in order to meet that final requirement. Both Greg and Chandra were equally surprised to discover that Archie was able to resist Zack’s influence, as neither believed such a thing to be possible for his mobs. When Archie again mentioned wanting to upgrade his camouflage ability, Chandra cocked her head in confusion.
“How would you upgrade your spells if you can’t learn new ones on your own?” She asked him.
“Ah, an excellent question, my dear. You see, as a dungeon born monster, my advancement is not directly linked to the Akashic System the way you others are. In short, I cannot achieve a breakthrough via experience and practice,” Archie explained. “In exchange, though, I am able to see upgrade paths available for my existing spells. As Zack invests more power into me, I am able to manually upgrade any powers already at my disposal. I cannot, unfortunately, learn new ones.”
“Basically, the more mana I use to make him, the stronger he can make whatever spells he has,” Zack summarized. “Right now he’s still barebones, because I can’t devote a strong enough spawner to make him. I have to spawn him manually, and he’s pretty expensive. If I had access to stronger spawners…”
“You will get access to stronger spawners once I have a spell I find acceptable to my needs,” Archie reminded him, raising his nose haughtily.
At a confused look from Greg, Alex quickly explained the deal with Archie not wanting a healing spell. This earned an understanding nod from Chandra.
“A healing spell wouldn’t work as well for him, anyway,” she explained. “He might not need a breakthrough to upgrade his spells, but magic isn’t an exact science. Someone trying to learn a spell that doesn’t mesh with their personality will essentially be hammering their head against a wall. You cannot force someone to become a healer.”
“That didn’t stop the universities from trying,” Greg scoffed, crossing his arms. “The fact is, not many people want to be healers. It’s a stressful job, and that reality holds a lot of people back from ever reaching the necessary breakthrough to learn healing magic.”
Archie lifted his nose again, as if to say there, to Zack. Zack bobbed in frustration but didn’t argue. They’d already wasted more time on that topic than he was comfortable with. “Fine! No healing spell! The problem is, though, I don’t have other spells I can give to him. I’m not even sure how he got his camouflage power. It sort of appeared when I made him into a boss monster the first time.”
Greg rubbed his chin in thought. “Wild monsters tend to adapt powers necessary for their environment,” he said. “It’s less that they’re taught spells and more they just… Evolve them. Maybe it works the same for dungeon mobs?”
“That seems appropriate to me,” Archie concurred. “After all, I evolved the camouflage ability because I was to fight by myself in a space filled with tall grass. Camouflage lent itself to my needs.”
“The Medibolds adapted to the healing spell when I gave them the healing potion as skin material,” Zack added. “I never really thought about why they got a healing power beyond that, but that explanation makes sense.”
“So I guess the question becomes, how can we force an evolution in Archie?” Chandra mused, running her claws through her neck fur in thought. “Obviously combat is not the answer. If that were the case, surely fighting all those people would have triggered an evolution by now.”
Greg snapped his fingers, an idea hitting him. He quickly jogged over to the forge and flicked a spawner twice, returning a moment later with two simple daggers in hand. “Here, try these.”
Archie took the daggers and tested them in hand. He turned them upside-down, holding them in a reverse grip. “I like them,” he declared.
Greg nodded in approval and handed over the accompanying scabbards. Zack quickly conjured a belt around the rabbit’s waist, giving him a place to hold his new weapons.
“I think the problem with combat is that Archie was fighting like a rabbit,” Greg explained, as Archie practiced drawing and sheathing his weapons quickly. “It’s a style he was used to, because he is a rabbit. The camouflage power evolved in him because of the new environment. So, let’s change stuff up now. Instead of fighting like a rabbit, what if he fights like a rogue?”
Alex’s eyebrows shot up, and he snapped his fingers as realization dawned on him. “Oh, yeah! If monsters gain powers through adapting to their fighting style and environment, it makes a lot of sense that changing one of those factors will result in an evolution!”
Zack wished he had a jaw to drop. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of that sooner. Then again, that was why he had friends. Sometimes, they could be a lot smarter than him.
“I like this idea,” Archie said, twirling one of the knives with surprising dexterity. “Master Zack, if you would kindly give me a higher infusion of mana? I wish to upgrade my camouflage power now to a proper stealth skill. Then, I believe it is time I run one of the dungeon rooms.”
Zack obliged. He couldn’t directly despawn Archie, but infusing him with extra mana was simple enough. He poured four fresh points of mana into the roguish rabbit, bringing the total mana within him from eight up to twelve. Archie took a deep breath through his nose, and then his eyes began to glow with faint green-blue light. He looked around, as though seeing things that weren’t there.
Then, he vanished.
Everyone in the room started in surprise, looking around in confusion. Zack could see a faint ripple in the air where Archie was standing, like the light was bending around him. When the rabbit reappeared, he nodded in approval.
“My camouflage power is now a second level stealth skill,” he explained. “I have two unspent points of mana, which will ideally go towards whatever new skill I will acquire from this exercise.”
“I guess the question is, what room are you going to run?” Chandra asked, crossing her arms.
“Not the meadow, certainly,” Archie chuckled, adjusting his tie. “I would be lying if I said the idea of fighting my fellow rabbits, let alone a feral version of myself, didn’t inspire a measure of disgust and shame.”
“The manor isn’t ready yet, so that leaves the spider warren,” Zack pointed out. “Ooooh, I actually really like this idea! Nobody’s made it to the boss in that room yet.”
Greg cracked his knuckles. “Alright. I’ll go suit up. Chandra, Alex, you go get your gear.”
“What?” Zack blurted.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“You didn’t expect Archie to run a high-level dungeon room by himself, did you?” Greg asked, frowning up at Zack’s wisp. “Don’t be ridiculous. That room is designed for groups of adventurers over level five. Archie would be turned into spider-chow if he went in alone.”
Archie grinned smugly up at Zack’s wisp as the others ran off to go get their equipment. In actuality, Zack hadn’t expected Archie to run the entire room. He planned to let the rabbit fight spiders one at a time until he reached the necessary point of evolution. But, if the others wanted to run the room, maybe Zack would finally get to see the boss in action…
Archie slotted into the group surprisingly easily. Greg still served as the front line fighter, the tank of the party, while Alex picked off potential threats from a distance. Chandra was great at herding enemies into range, and Archie? He excelled at picking off threats before they got anywhere close to the group.
His stealth skill didn’t make him perfectly invisible. Zack could see the mana composing him easily enough, not to mention the ripples in the air as he moved. It was enough to fool the spiders, though.
“Smallfry, coming your way!” Chandra called, as she chased a cluster of spiders no bigger than house-cats towards the group.
Alex was already prepared. He unleashed a torrent of fire, causing the nearest spider to burst like popcorn. The sudden noise made the other spiders flinch, which exposed the farthest one to a knife in the abdomen as Archie appeared out of thin air. He gave the others a curt salute, before disappearing again.
As Zack watched, he couldn’t help but mentally frown. Archie was doing a good job, but these were the same hit-and-run tactics he used while fighting as a boss monster. Just because he had daggers now didn’t mean he was doing anything new or different. He made a point of not mentioning this to the others, though.
Part of this exercise was letting Archie adapt on his own. If Zack stepped in every time he felt something wasn’t working, it would get in the way of his monster’s evolution. Besides, there was still the boss at the end of the room. Zack expected she would put on quite the show.
With Archie in their group, they were able to clear the main room in record time. Zack wasn’t even surprised. They were a group of four, with one tank to hold enemies back and three potential sources of burst damage. Chandra and Archie were excellent as dispatching single foes with ease, while Alex proved more adept at hitting large groups with his fire magic when they clustered around Greg.
As they neared the boss room, Zack conjured a wisp to stop them from advancing. “Guys, before you go in there, I want to give you a quick word of warning.”
“What, you don’t want us to be surprised by this monster?” Chandra asked, smirking at him.
“Oh, trust me, nothing will prepare you for what’s in there. But I just wanted to warn you, if you’re squeamish, you might want to back out now.”
Chandra scowled at Zack, and turned to Archie. “Don’t look at me. Just because I sprung up from Zack’s imagination, it doesn’t mean I know what he has in store for us,” the rabbit said, raising his hands defensively.
Greg shrugged and stepped past Zack, through the web-like curtain that led to the boss room. Zack mentally smirked to himself, floating back to watch the show.
As they stepped fully into the room, Zack made a sound akin to a horror movie violin screech. Then, his beautiful new boss monster, as of yet untested, descended from the ceiling.
[Chorus, Arachnitoad]
[Level 8 Boss Monster, Spider, Toad]
[A horrible amalgamation of spider and toad. Whatever sick and twisted mind brought this creature into the world must be brought to justice.]
Zack cringed at the monster’s description, but he couldn’t blame the system for its feelings towards her. Chorus was absolutely horrifying to behold. She had the body of a toad, including the wide lips and swelling throat. Unlike a normal toad, though, she stood upon eight sharp spider legs. She had six bulbous eyes that glowed with eerie yellow light, and when she opened her mouth, it was full of teeth the size of daggers. In addition to her spider legs, she also had the front limbs of a toad, giving her pseudo-hands with which to grab at potential foes.
Zack had created Chorus by fusing the basic shape of a stooltoad—minus the mushroom, of course—with the spiders he absorbed as he expanded his dungeon. She easily dwarfed even Greg in size. He had intentionally made this boss monster to be a challenge, so he made sure she was big, strong, and more importantly, dangerous.
“Zack, when we get out of here, we are going to have words about what things make you squeamish,” Chandra snarled, dropping to all fours.
“Okay, places everyone,” Greg said, lifting his shield. “I’ll try to leash it in place. No guarantees it’ll work though. That thing’s big.”
“I’ll go for the eyes,” Archie said, drawing his daggers and dropping into a combat stance. The moment he did, he vanished again.
“Good plan. Chandra, the legs,” Greg ordered. “Alex, stay by me. I’ll need you to blast it when it tries to attack.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Alex said. Fire sprung to life at his fingertips. He didn’t even bother drawing his sword, his pyromancy having long since grown stronger than his martial capacity.
Zack grinned. All three of his friends were approaching breakthroughs, the threads of blue mana beginning the process of linking up with them. He saw no such thread for Archie, though, and hoped the rabbit was nearing his evolution.
Greg was the first one to strike. Crimson tethers shot from his hand and wrapped around one of Chorus’s arms, pulling on the arachnitoad. The giant beast lurched forward a step, digging her many legs into the earth to maintain her footing. She let out a furious croak, signalling the fight had begun.
Unlike Thumper, who could easily avoid taking damage by hiding in the grass, Chorus had no such environmental advantage. She could climb the walls to get out of range of melee attackers, but as that was an unfair tactic, Zack had ordered her to avoid doing so. The goal of these fights wasn’t to kill the adventurers, after all. It was to entertain and train them.
As Chorus reached the centre of the room, hell broke loose. Her throat sack swelled with air, and she let out a resonant croak of fury. The soundwave carried with it a blast of putrid air, making both Alex and Greg recoil in disgust. Flecks of spittle splattered the ground and started sizzling at the open air.
“Is that acid!?” Alex blurted, looking up at Zack’s wisp.
“No! It’s just normal venom!” Zack assured him. “Jeeze. I’m a dungeon, I’m not insane. And before you ask, the Medibold is already equipped with antivenom.”
The Medibold in the corner waved happily. Alex ignored them as he shot fireballs at Chorus. The spells splashed against her thick, moist hide. Steam rolled off her, but she was otherwise unharmed. The attack at least drew her attention, and she started slowly ambling towards Alex and Greg.
Distraction in place, Chandra chose that moment to strike. She dashed in for one of the massive legs. Unlike a normal spider, which was covered in fine hairs, Chorus’s legs were covered in a thin, sticky film of mucus. One bite was enough to send Chandra recoiling in disgust, practically scraping the taste off her tongue.
“Zack, you bastard!” She barked, glowering up at Zack’s wisp.
“What? I didn’t tell you to bite her!”
Chandra snarled furiously, and then started to rip into the leg with her claws instead of her teeth. In truth, Zack hadn’t planned on that feature being an actual deterrent to the werewolf. It was just a natural outcome of combing toad and spider physiology.
Chorus let out another croak as she swatted at Greg with one massive, webbed hand. Alex did his duty and blasted her with a fiery lance, while Greg hoisted his shield to intercept the attack. In all of the chaos, nobody noticed a thin, rabbit-shaped ripple climb up the boss monster’s back.
What happened next was so fast, Zack nearly missed it. One second, it looked as though Chorus was about to scoop Greg up off the ground. The next, she was screaming in agony and thrashing about.
Daggers were jutting out of two of her six eyes, glowing green mana spilling out of them like blood. The sudden attacks pulled Archie out of his stealth ability, and he didn’t waste a moment’s hesitation. He plunged his weapons into the next pair of eyes, rendering Chorus completely blind on her left side.
The towering monster shuffled in place, vainly trying to see what was attacking her. That distraction was all the others needed. Chandra dove between the legs and started ripping into the arachnitoad’s belly with her claws. Alex lobbed fire at Chorus’s face, aiming for the wounded eyes for extra damage. Greg wrapped her up in glowing threads, keeping those arms from reaching up to grab Archie.
In a blur of motion, Archie dashed off Chorus’s back. He repeated the motion, appearing under her belly in the blink of eye. Like Chandra, he started ripping away at the giant beast’s soft underside. Chorus gave up trying to see her foes, and instead lifted her bulk up as much as she could.
Sensing what the boss was about to do, Greg rushed under her to join the others. Zack watched as the mana thread snapped into place, the orc reaching a breakthrough. Greg lifted his shield to block against the incoming attack, and its surface glowed with faint red light.
When Chorus slammed her bulk down she croaked in surprise as a blast of force prevented her from crushing down upon the melee fighters. That moment of shock was all Alex needed.
Another thread of mana clicked into place as Alex reached a breakthrough of his own. Rather than shooting a single lance of fire, he held his hands together, combining the flood of burning aether into a single stream. A white hot blaze basted from his fingertips, punching right through the arachnitoad’s wounded head.
Chorus let out one final croak of agony before she collapsed and fell still.
For a moment, everyone stood around, silent and worried that she was just playing possum. Then, Zack played a familiar victory fanfare. The boss was defeated, and they had won.