The trapped men screamed for help. They were desperate and wounded, their HP spent resisting the slashing leaves. Everyone, including me, wanted to rush in and save them. We couldn't. Even if we were leaving them to bleed to death, a rescue could only happen when it was safe to do it.

“Do not go in! Hold your ground!” I shouted again, hating myself for handling that order. “Next is the last volley! Once all the vines are cut, run to save them!”

I could only hope they were tough enough to endure for a few more seconds. Surely...

The damn vines didn't rise. Gods damn it. Was this creature more intelligent because it was a boss? Was the grass satisfied with only those kills? My mind swam as I feverishly tried to think.

“Charge!” One of the knights shouted. They were stressed and wounded, afraid and skittish. These weren't men used to doing nothing, despite being military officers.

This was how we died, I thought. “No!” I shouted back. It was no use. Their morale had cracked. Saving their friends took precedence. I wasn't their leader, Hector was.

Time slowed to a crawl.

The moment they crossed the threshold, all surviving vines rose. It was a trap. The grass was smarter than I gave it credit. But our blood was burning, our rational minds clouded by the battle lust and the fear of dying.

Even Hector was affected as he ran past me, brandishing a sword in his left hand. Desperation gave birth to a fool's bravery. He finally heard me, at the wrong moment. His form was heinous. Even Kara, with all the lack of training she had, could hold a blade better than him. The weeks since the fight with the Wolfertinger Sire changed Hector. It was as if he forgot what he knew. I hadn't the time to think about him. Not in the middle of a fight.

The vines were like snakes, gathering power as they subtly coiled. I had a fraction of a second to make a call.

“Charge!” I shouted, making a fool of myself. "Everyone in! Give the grass as many targets as possible!"

It was as if a dam had ruptured. We burst into motion, whoever remained in the antechamber. I went as fast as I could. Kara and William ran in behind me. Sleepy soared overhead.

The remaining two pikemen rushed inside too. They weren't holding their weapons. What was that?

They carried a plethora of pots, plates, and mugs in their hands. I couldn't understand why and even missed a swing against a vine.

One second before the vines shot, they tossed all these objects up in the air.

The vines flew.

A hundred plus vines, divided by over fifty targets. Two for each one of us. All of the grass was either in the air or wrapped around the captured knights. The ground was bare earth but for the massive bulge at the back.

William parried his vines with his horns. Kara, the fresher combatant among us, cut hers and one targeting Hector. I dealt with mine and one going for Sleepy.

I later learned that the two pikemen had fed MP and healing potions to Sleepy during the earlier volley.

The Wolfertinger pup fired another ball lightning. Dozens of vines went slack and only momentum carried them forward. They slapped their targets and fell limp.

The knights dealt with theirs. Steel pans crumpled. Ceramic plates cracked. The mugs broke.

Everyone with a blade in their hands went into a frenzy, cutting any and all plant matter around them. Let me tell you one thing, right now. These two brave men, mere civilians a handful of days ago, the lowest among us, saved all of us. If I would call anyone in that expedition my brothers, were these six porters turned pikemen.

The mound rumbled. “Phase two! Prepare for battle!” I shouted.

“What? It's not over yet?” Hector complained.

Like any decent Dungeon boss room, the doors slammed shut behind us. The grass was just the appetizer.

*

*

“We have a few moments,” I said, moving to the still living knights bound by vines. “Come and let's help them.”

“Let's attack the monster before it fully emerges!” A knight suggested.

I was hacking and removing vines in a way that wouldn't aggravate their wounds. Their situation was critical. “It is invulnerable and immobile while buried. Come here and help me! Save these men's lives!”

The knights cut the vines holding their friends and gave them potions. The one with a severed leg was already dead. Kara moved the wounded back next to the closed door. The ones able to fight took positions in a crescent-shaped formation around the boss.

“The boss is a Shambler Requiem!” I shouted while the mound grew. It would come out in just a few more seconds. “While buried, it creates these grass vines and sleeps most of the time. When creatures wake the grass, it goes and seeks life force to wake the Shambler. The monster grows stronger the more blood the vines spill. The more the grass killed, the more we're fucked. It also has an aura that saps SP. We will grow tired fast. Once someone is out of SP, they will soon fall asleep.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Sweet, just sweet. Why didn't you tell us this before? Weaknesses?” Hector asked.

Bloody bastard. I didn't have time to give a lecture on monster ecology while we were being dragged by razor vines intending on exsanguinate all of us! I had no other choice but ignore Hector for the time being. If there was a time to put him in his place, it wasn't inside this Dungeon while bound by a divine contract.

“Fire and death magic wounds, ice slows, lightning stuns, water and earth heal,” I said. “Piercing does minimal damage unless it's a massive impale. Slashing and blunt attacks must surpass its hardness. No HP. Bu–”

“Let's torch it, then!” Hector interrupted me.

“But when burnt, it releases a toxic fume. It is part plant, part animal. It has red blood and vital organs. Its heart is in the center of mass. The brain is covered by the grass and a handspan inside its head. It has vitals but they are hard to reach. The monster grows as many arms as the people who died. Since it's a boss, it might be more. It will be extremely strong. Don't parry or block; dodge.”

“Giant slayer tactics,” one of the knights said. The others nodded.

Of the three survivors wrapped in the vines, only one stood back up and joined us. The others… Dunno.

“George, give me your ax,” Kara asked. I obliged. It was a good idea. Maybe axes had a damage bonus against this monster. I couldn't recall.

The monster finally came out and shed a thick layer of dirt. It looked like a man made out of roots if men had six legs, no neck, a round head, and ten arms.

“Ice it is,” Hector said. “We have no death magic available.”

“I have death arrows,” I said as I took Scout's Oath out and drew three pitch-black arrows. I wasn't used to this expensive ammunition and almost forgot about the elemental arrows I had with me. In these times of high stress, one could easily fall into tunnel vision and stick to what they were familiar with.

A row of eyes going all around it's rather spherical head opened. It was the cue to...

"ATTACK!" I shouted.

I popped three with the death arrows. It was the opening salvo. A purplish black hue spread around the ruined eyes.

The Shambler Requiem ran with supernatural speed. It went straight toward Hector.

“Watch out, sir!” One of the knights pushed Hector aside and took two massive slamming arms to his chest.

I heard the crunch of several bones as the chest plate caved and became a parabolic dish. The knight flew all the way to the door and slammed against it, falling in a heap. That guy was one of those who were captured and had their HP ground away.

While this exchange took place, I kept firing the remaining seven Death element arrows I had, trying to hit an eye with each.

The other knights circled and harried the monster. They would shout, jeer, taunt, or bleat to distract the arms, the dodge the heck away if they were attacked.

Wait, bleat?

William rammed his horns against a leg. An arm came down and the Tityron caught the attack on one of his ram horns. I held my breath. A loud sound came from the point of impact. Nothing happened. The arm just stopped where they touched the horn as if it had made light contact. The horn didn't crack or break. Not even a hairline fracture. All the momentum of that slam had just vanished.

I had seen William catch attacks on his horn before. Only now I realized it was one of his perks, for real. William took no damage or special effects from attacks as he parried them with his ram horns.

Back to shooting. The Shambler wasn't too fast. For us, at least. But not for the two unarmored and completely greenhorn combatants we had.

“Stay back, pikemen!” I commanded. Then I popped two more eyes. “Defend Lord Hector!”

Translation: drag Hector to a corner and keep the three of you there. Don’t let him get in our way.

Sleepy ran under an arm and headbutted one of the Requiem's legs, delivering a shock and freezing the boss for a few seconds. The knights and Kara took the chance to slash and hack with abandon, chopping some chunks of wood from the boss. Kara whacked that ax down as a woodland hermit who would freeze soon without firewood.

With a groan, the Shambler shook off the lightning effect and started to attack again.

A knight’s head was sandwiched between two arms. With a crunch sound, a white and pink mess rained down from the edges. The body fell instantly.

One of the Shambler's sides was completely without eyes. I ran and circled around the monster, firing arrow after arrow at the next set of eyes.

Hector rubbed an oil on throwing knives. Whenever he had a good opening, he would toss one of them at the monster with his left arm. Each hit slowed it down by a good amount.

With Hector keeping the slowing effect, the fight became more manageable. With each limb the Shambler lost, it became easier to dodge the rest. Slowly, we whittled down the boss. An arm fell off when Kara scored a critical hit with the ax. Another two on the other side fell limp as the knights hacked its support tendons.

Yet, we had little time. Repeated debuffs created a resistance and it became immune to the slow effect from Hector's daggers. As the monster regained his speed, a knight was exposed. The Shambler Requiem slammed an arm against his hip, The Faulds, armor that covered the hips broke and opened where it shouldn't. The rest of the momentum went to crush the Knight's hips, splattering bowels, kidneys and bladder. This knight didn't go too far but one of his legs was sticking up from behind as he bled to death.

Another knight, in shock, turned his back to the monster and failed to see the arm coming. Though another of his friends tried to warn, he went to help the earlier one. The arm descended on his shoulder, pushing the pauldron down until it touched his hip on the side. It cracked the man's ribs like a stick run over a xylophone but without the music.

An arm came for Kara but William did a short jump, headbutted the arm and killed it's tremendous momentum instantly.

Sleepy dropped from the air on top of the monster. There, he raked at the grass digging down. Two arms tried to dislodge the Wolfertinger but they couldn't bend that much.

Seeing that, I committed to a plan.

“Disengage and kite!” I shouted. “Sleepy, dig!”

“Disengage!” Hector shouted to earn his fucking participation medal.

The leader of our crumbling expedition was a cripple. No. that wasn't fair. He helped a lot with those frost knives. No time to dwell on that. We had to fight. I could sort my feelings when monsters weren't actively trying to end my life. I shifted my anger at the monster's remaining eyes.

Almost blind, the Shambler chased people it couldn't see by sound and vibrations. Meanwhile, Sleepy kept digging down on its head. I didn't stop firing my arrows at the remaining eyes.

Long story short, we kited the boss around the room until the absolute best boy reached the brain and killed it.

> For killing level 37 Shambler Requiem (boss), you gained 2,480 Experience points.

> You gained a level. You are now level 24.

> You gained the achievement: Unusual boss. Awarded for fighting a boss for more than five minutes from outside the boss room.

> Reward: 10% to one Attribute efficiency of your choice. The same Attribute for you and your bonds.

I had to pick Endurance. My fifteen points went into Clarity. I spent William's points in Endurance while Sleepy's also went into Clarity.

> Hey, were those wheelbarrows illegally parked outside the boss room yours? Sorry to tell you this, but they were impounded.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, no!