The time in the dungeon raced by as we killed Balra after Balra. Each room contained slightly more Balra than the last with a unique twist on how to kill them all. This was completely different from the last two dungeons I had been in. How many different kinds were currently in Etes?

We reached the final chamber with just 15 Balra remaining in the dungeon. Through luck or skill we had managed to avoid any major injuries and still had half of our starting health potion stock. The other four in my party were now level 33 and I was one or two kills away from level 43.

A large circular and well lit room greeted us as we advanced through a doorway. There was one absolutely massive Balra in the middle of the room and I recognized her as a Balra Queen. I knew what was coming next and prompted my team into action.

“Attack! These spawn dangerous Balra Queen Guardians!” I yelled as we burst into action.

Arrows from Rile and myself peppered the shell of the Queen hunting for weaknesses. Ice bolts followed every time they were off cooldown and our two swordsmen were almost to the Queen when the first wave spawned. We quickly had to back off, I sent off a couple quick Identifies..

Balra Queen - Level 45 - Health 710/800 - Armor 500

Balra Queen Guardian - Level 30 - Health 300/300 - Armor 330

I relayed the information to my party and we fell into position to receive a charge from the guardians. I took one of the point positions as this was no time to worry about experience. Not enough room between us to use the bombs this round. I needed to plant them before the spawn on the next wave.

I started peppering the guardian with arrows as it charged across the open ground. I had to drop my bow and take up my spear and finish it off after three or four stabs. The Balra were easily killed if you could get in between the heavily armored spots. I turned to survey my party and saw a life and death struggle taking place.

Benn and Yuar had split and were trying to fight one of the Balra Queen Guardians on their own while RIle and Mily faced the third. They were trying to avoid its charges and stay out of its attack range while attacking it from range. Benn was bleeding from several places and limping as he tried to dodge away. Yuar was using his off hand to hold his sword, his right arm hanging limply at his side.

I sprinted over and started skewering the Balra attacking Rile and Mily first. Freeing them up would allow them to support the two frontliners and give us a numbers advantage. It took too many precious seconds to take the second one down and Benn’s heath bar was blinking red.

“Help Benn!” I shouted out.

I positioned myself in the way of the Balra Queen Guardian trying to turn and charge Benn again. He was down on the ground and unmoving. Yuar wasn’t in much better shape as his health bar was down to 1/5. Again it took far too long to take down the annoying beetles. Their armor was so thick if you didn’t hit them in the perfect spot the damage was negligible.

By the time I had gotten the third one down the other three had killed the last. Benn was still down but his health was rising so someone had used a health potion on him. Mily was at half health and Yuar slowly healing up past half. Rile was still near full, having managed to keep away from the Balra apparently.

Not wasting any time, I sprinted over near the queen and tossed a major bomb at her. I turned to sprint away and triggered the detonation while yelling out for my party to get down. The resulting blast knocked me off my feet and I waited for a notification of the Queen's death. It didn’t come so I turned and with dismay saw the Queen looking the same as before. I used Identify and she was still at full health.

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I got back to my bow and fired off a few arrows and realized the Queen wasn’t possible to damage right now. The soft blue glow that accompanied the summoned waves started glowing again and four indistinct shapes began to form. We needed a plan for the next wave and quickly, down to four party members. I tossed out four standard bombs near the spawn points.

“We can’t damage it between waves! I’m going to try after the spawn finishes to kill the Queen! Keep a health potion running if you can, the blast may come unexpectedly!” I rushed out.

“What about Benn?” Mily asked.

“Protect him as best you can but don’t die for it. He knew the risks, we all did.” Pitri answered. He turned to look at me “Sylar, kill them as fast as you can. Don’t hold back.”

As soon as the Balra Queen Guardians finished forming I triggered the first two detonations. Following the first two I quickly triggered the other two and threw a major bomb at the Queen. I yelled out for my party to get down again and triggered the detonation. As soon as the explosion had settled down the rest of the party focused on the downed guardians while I ran towards the Queen.

I got close and triggered Identify and was shocked to see she was still at full health. We still couldn’t damage her. I checked the beast counter to try to get an idea of what was going on.

Beast counter - 9/200

So two more waves and then the Queen? I relayed that information to everyone else and hoped I was right. I helped the party finish off the rest of the guardians and rejoined them near Benn. He was still unconscious but his health bar was over half now. The rest of the group’s health bars were three fourths or more full.

As soon as the spawns began I tossed out four more standard bombs. Triggering them in rapid succession once the Balra Queen Guardians fully formed. We cleared the next two waves without any more major injuries following that same strategy. As soon as the last of the Guardians died I shot the Queen with an arrow. It still didn’t do any damage to it.

I didn’t have time to be confused or try anything else as the Balra Queen let out a massive roar. It reared up on its legs and spit out a thick green liquid at each member of the party. Everyone managed to dodge out of the way except for Benn who was still unmoving. The green liquid landed on his stomach and began to eat through it. I watched as his health bar quickly went to zero.

We watched the scene unfold in silent horror. Mily was the first to reach his corpse and began to frantically scream while leaning over him. The Balra Queen, not content with only one death, roared again and started charging in our direction.

“Scatter! Avoid it!” I cried out and dashed to the side.

I started shooting it with my bow as soon as I cleared its charge. My arrows were finally doing damage proportional to where it struck on the Balra. Its armor was outrageously high and it was going to take a long time to whittle it down by bow or spear. I needed to get it far enough away from the rest of the party to use a bomb.

“Everyone off to one side! I need to lead it to a corner so I can use a bomb!” I shouted to my scattered party.

It took a minute but they all started moving towards one side. I took my bow and shot several arrows at the Balra Queen until I got its attention. It charged towards me so I quickly tossed my bow out of harm's way. I waited until it was all the way on top of me to drop a bomb and jump as high as I could. I detonated the bomb as soon as the Balra Queen positioned herself over it.

The resulting blast rocketed the Balra Queen upwards, smashing into my legs. The impact knocked me off balance and I fell in a tangle of limbs. The Balra Queen landed on her back and frantically kicked its legs, trying to find purchase on anything. It would have been comical in any other circumstance, Benn’s corpse still too fresh on my mind.

I tossed another major bomb up towards its stomach and rolled away until my back cloak faced the Balra Queen. I detonated the bomb and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw a kill notification roll in. Turning back towards the Queen showed a mess of limbs and guts. The bomb had detonated against its unarmored belly and destroyed the Queen's body.

I started over towards my party but before I made it across the room I was teleported back to the tunnel outside the dungeon. I was standing in front of the ladder that previously led into the dungeon. The rest of my party was standing with me except for the body of Benn, it was on the ground next to the wall.

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