Blake got up as a sound disturbed his nap, so he opened his eyes, and sat up, seeing his teammate chatting up a storm before Jessica noticed him, And smiled with a wave, getting the other two to look, and then they all walked over and sat down next to him.
“Hey, sorry we didn’t want to wake you, how was your nap?” Jessica said as she sat down and looked over the area of the ailment, “But you look like you have made a full recovery.”
“Yeah, also we were trying to figure out what happened, and we have an idea.” Block says with a smile, “I actually don’t get it, so Claira will make this simple.”
“So, we think that the two skills you used and the attack you made left your body not well defended against magic, making the magic of the monster burn yours as the magic in your body is weaker.” Claira started and looked down, “We were thinking about getting you a warding amulet so that you don't have to worry about getting mana burned again, and it will save on expensive treatment materials in the future.”
Blake looks around at all of them, smiles, and thinks [they are good friends,] “Thanks guys, but don’t rush, I went overboard, and now I know a bit better, so no worries, I am not going to get burned like that again.” he said before getting to his feet and pulling the padded tunic back on. “I need to get my armor back on and we can get moving.”
Jessica stands and picks up his armor and holds it for him, “Here, I’ll help.” She says.
They took a little bit but got to the boss's room with ease, and they got ready by the door, Blake shifted one more time to get his armor to sit comfortably, and shoulders his halberd, while Block swung his axe a few times and shouldered his too. Jessica took a deep breath and then lifted her staff a bit, while Claira stiffened up but relaxed as she held her staff tight.
“Holy Guardian, Power Boost, Magic Boost.” Jessica said quickly.
“Holy Shield, Holy Ward, Holy Blessing, Holy Bastion.” Blake chanted, and then nodded, as Claira opened the door.
The chamber of the boss was a large hexagon about a hundred feet from each wall with two grates about seventy feet apart across the middle of the room, and at the center sitting down is a massive kobold about twelve feet tall and leaning on a massive axe, its eyes watching them enter before standing up, and taking a battle stance.
“Blake, you get in I’ll follow a second after.” Block said.
“Right!” Blake responded as he rushed forward, and readied his halberd, “Heavy Guard” he roared as the boss raised his axe at the ready, but Blake changed direction leading the boss over to the grate and dodging under the axe as he moved.
Blake glances back over his shoulder, dives out of a second axe swing, and comes around as he clears the grate while the boss keeps closing the gap, raising the axe again, and swinging down while Blake counter-swings the power behind his arm enough to deflect the blow into the ground on his right. Making the boss roars but the screaming torrent of flame baths him, as the column of fire erupts from the grate below the boss.
“Now!” Blake called a second before the fire cleared, as he swung hard at the boss's hand, [Devastating Blow] he willed at the impact of the weapon, cutting deep but not through, and he withdrew before the boss raised his weapon high.
Block slams his axe into the boss’s right calf, roaring as he does “Deep cuts”, the attack digging all the way to the bone and he pulls out as the boss falls to a knee.
“Icicle shards” Claira chanted while aiming the head of her staff, sending a shower of ice magic into the boss's back.
Blake sees the new attack coming at him, the swing of the axe low at his hip height, and he readied to block the blow with his weapon’s shaft, [rebuke] he wills and feels the impact, he is shifted a few feet back, but held his guard well, then turned back to the boss as it gets a new attack ready, but he reaches up with the hook of the Halberd, and pulling the weapon hand back down, [rend] he willed and ripped a thumb off, making the boss drop his oversized axe.
Block slammed his axe into the base of the boss's back, “Power Strike” he roared as the boss let out a pained roar as the blow cut deep.
“Ice Spike” Claira chanted then fired a large spike into the shoulder of the boss, disappearing a second later leaving a hole in the body of the monster.
Blake swung as the hand the boss was using to reach for his axe, [Devastating Blow] he willed and dug deep into the hand and made it cave in and lift a hole in the middle, then he had to duck under the fist of the other hand.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Block swung again, digging into the back of the boss’s abdomen, and yelled out again, “Shield Shatter”, cutting about halfway into the abdomen, and grunted as he ripped the axe out.
“Ice Spike of Orianel” Claira called out and fired a large spike of ice about the size of a horse onto the back of the boss, digging a hole into the monster, and leaving a small hole in the front.
Blake readies his weapon but reaches up with the pike and pushes the boss gently to the right, making the monster collapse off the grate, and glanced up at Block, “Isn’t it a bit too soon?”
Block shrugged, “Yeah, this fight is meant to be five minutes at the least.” he walked over and looked over at some of the wounds, “But it looks like the regeneration it is meant to have is not there.”
Blake thought about it, then started laughing, and walked over, “ I am a troll slayer, I weakened his regeneration, that has to be it. But I thought it was a one-time cut, but looking now it is a compounding debuff.”
“Compounding?” Claira asked as she got closer.
“Yeah, so the troll slayer title cuts the regeneration rate of my target by half, when I first read it I thought it was a one-time thing,” Blake starts as they watch him carefully, “But now I think it is every time I hit a monster, against a lot of creatures it doesn’t matter, but when we are in a boss fight then it shines.”
“But if you are only cutting one half then it wouldn’t remove the regeneration,” Claira said.
“Not one-half of the original they have, but the amount they have when I hit them.” Blake said. “So half the original on my first attack, half of the half it didn’t take on the second, and then half of the half that was left on the third. After a certain number of hits, the regeneration will be nullified.”
They all started to think over the information, and then Block let out a roaring laugh, “Oh, man, that is bullshit, you are the best thing anyone can get in a battle against most monsters of A-rank or higher, and now that I think about it the troll slayer title is a rare title. But you can only get it if you kill a troll on your own.”
Claira locks her eyes on Blake, “You are bullshit, how the hell is that even a fair thing, Trolls are hard enough to fight in a team, but you killed one on your own and you get a title that would put most SC-rankers or higher to shame.” She says then looks off to the side and runs off to a small chest on the back wall by the stairs.
Blake looked up and back at them “Really?” he questioned
Jessica gave him a confirming hum, “Well, SC-Rankers are the ones that normally hunt down monsters with regeneration because they can overwhelm the regeneration due to their power, however, you can effectively do it on your own.”
“Actually now that we are talking about it I do have a question, The ranks over S-rank, make no sense to me.” Blake said plainly, Jessica looked confused by what he said so he explained a bit more, “I thought S-ranks go from S-rank to SS-rank then to SSS-rank then to unrankable. But here its S-rank then SC-rank then SA- rank then WE-rank whatever that is…”
The duo of compatriots stops and look at him. But Block laughs a bit then coughs to clear his throat, “The ranks over A are not actually called by their letters they are just shorthand for their full rank names. They are in order Special ranker, Special Catastrophe ranker, Special Armageddon Ranker, World Ender Ranker. Each one is ranked that way based on the skill level of the hero who set up the Guild, he claimed that those are the ways to decide which adventurer can be assigned to which missions, if the mission needs someone to fight without support or in a difficult environment then it is an S-rank mission, if the monster they have to fight is capable of toppling a town or city on its own then it's a Catastrophe. if the monster can overthrow a nation, then it is an armageddon, and finally, if it is able to end the world if left unattended then you dispatch a world-ender.”
Blake thinks over the information and looks over to the duo that he is standing with. “Are there any people in the guild of those ranks?”
Jessica looks away while thinking it over, “I think there is one elf that is a SC-rank, but she is in hiding right now, and the Guild won't tell anyone where she is. There were about twenty S-rankers a few years ago before the attempt to clear the Core Dungeon, but now we only have eight, I am sure the guild has about hundred-ish A-rankers, but only a third are human, not that it matters in the guild but the Human nations have a rule about only allowing humans to do missions for them, so it is troublesome.” She says then looks back to Blake with a smile, “But with you on our team, I wouldn’t be surprised if anyone we recruit becomes at least an A-ranker after a mission with you.”
Block nods in agreement, “Yeah, I would say we are likely to make a formidable army if we are careful and build trust and loyalty with anyone we recruit, We will need to screen carefully to avoid people who are swayed by money or influence and aim for those that feel wrong by the current system or those who have been cast aside because of it.” he says before looking over to Claira as she gets the chest open and peeks inside, noticing the wide smile that she took one, then she opening the magic bag and dumps the chest into it, the three watch as a mass of gemstones.
“Well, I am starting to think funds will not be a problem.” Blake said calmly getting the three to laugh, much to Claira’s annoyance, but they grouped back up, and Blake pointed to the stairs, “What are we facing down there.”
Claira pulled out the book and read over the last few pages, she narrowed her eyes as she flipped the pages back and forth a bit, then looked up to Blake, then she spoke “Umm, there are only three rooms, the landing, the boss room, and the core room. In that order, there is no treasure room… so I don’t think we can weaken the boss beforehand.”
“That makes sense, it is the last floor and your reward for clearing it would be a unique skill, but there may be some treasure in the core room.” Blake thought out loud. “I guess we will have to fight this next one at full strength, but I think we can win with ease if we have to dump a lot, if I dump both of my strong attacks followed by Claira and her strongest attack, I think we can end this ease, But.” He looks to Jessica “we will need you to lock down the boss so he can’t dodge.”
Jessica nodded, and they all turned and walked down the stairs.
As they approached the boss's room, They got up by the large twin doors that towered a bit over them, and Jessica raised her staff, And chanted other buffs “Holy Guardian, Power Boost, Magic Boost.”
Blake focused his will to encompass the whole team, and chanted out his buffs a second later, “Holy Shield, Holy Ward, Holy Blessing, Holy Bastion.” and took a second to look at his hand and watch the runes of magic traveling over his arm, recognizing the words and spoke them aloud “Guard, light, ice, fire, cuts, blows, puncture, wind, dark, earth, poison, ward, protect.”
The other three stared at him and Jessica started to breathe faster than before then grabbed Blake by the collar and pulled him a bit down to her eye level. “WHY DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE HOLY WORDS?” She asked with a growl and a righteous fury in her eyes.
“Ummm, I think there is someone on this plane of reality that can read this so I can too.” He says quickly.
“Only angels can read the holy words of that spell, are you suggesting there is an angel in our world.” Jessica started to shake him as hard as she could, “Do you want to die for heresy, the angels don’t leave the heavens and the gods only send messages, there should be none that can read the divine words of holy magic, not even the dark lord.”
Block finally placed a hand on her shoulder and got her out of her enraged state, “I think that this is a mystery for another day Jessica, for now, let’s kill this boss and leave.” he said as he reached up and pried one of her hands free.
She glared at the man and finally sighed and looked back to Blake, “Fine, I will let it go until we are on the road again, for now, let’s clear the dungeon.”