“Am I the only one with a headache or are all of you feeling this, too?” she asked.

“It feels like someone is pounding my skull with a sledgehammer,” groaned Anthea. She was riding Antoinette while petting her, but she leaned into the ant’s neck and grimaced as she spoke.

“There’s a little ringing in my ears, dear. I can’t say it’s that troublesome at the moment though,” replied her mother.

“I’m in the same boat as you, darlin’. This is killing me.”

Her father nodded his agreement too, though with his visor covering his expression it was difficult to know how much the strange phenomenon was affecting him. Regardless, they had confirmed that something was amiss.

There was one likely culprit - Zork’Karu the Wrought Iron Anchor.

Evelyn was entranced by the glowing runes on its exoskeleton which pulsed, changing intensity in an everflowing flux. She wanted to uncover the mysteries behind the creature. It had to be connected to the tower in some way.

However, there would be time for that after it was dead and defeated. She could take all the time she wanted to study its corpse, provided the other guilds didn’t interfere. Which was unlikely, but a girl could dream.

With every step she took towards the hyper boss the pounding in her head grew. And the incessant ringing and spikes of pain weren’t the end of it.

She noticed something tugging at the strings of her consciousness. Not overtly, but rather a subtle suggestion. If she gave in to its whims it felt as though she would have achieved something incredibly fulfilling.

Which was odd. Incredibly so. She felt angry, with little reason to be. A glance towards Kayla stoked the fire even further. Why is she still so two-faced when our relationship has progressed so far? Evelyn had been on guard against outside influences on her mind since she first suspected the tower might be changing the way she thought and acted, so she instantly figured out what was going on.

The boss has some kind of mind control skill. This is seriously bad news. I don’t think any of us have a way of resisting it. There has to be a solution. The tower wouldn’t pose a challenge it considered unbeatable.

Kyron’s hordes had engaged the beetle, halting - or trying to halt - its endless demolition of Haven’s buildings. They weren’t doing a very good job. The weaker members of the vanguard had already fallen, trodden underfoot as the beetle smashed through the collective defences of the group.

Putting aside their differences for the greater good, Steelweb were closing in from Zork’Karu’s flank. Not wanting to get left in the dust, she started to pick up the pace despite the crescendoing agony in her head.

“We can’t let the other guilds claim the lion’s share of the reward. Let’s hurry up,” she said. Spinebreaker had slipped from her inventory and into her grasp, and when her knuckles closed around the cold metal shaft, Evelyn gasped.

It was like diving into an icy lake on a hot summer’s day. An invigorating wave of energy flowed through her and blasted the headache to pieces. Her focus was clear once more and her eyes firmly locked on her target. She would be claiming the head of a second hyper boss before the day was out.

“I’m doing my best. I think Antoinette feels fine. I’m not sure why, though,” grumbled Anthea.

“I’m inclined to agree with you darlin’, but we can’t rush in blindly. We need an engagement strategy. Or we’ll just end up exposing ourselves to the other guilds as well as the boss.”

“She’s right. This,” said her father while tapping on his helmet, “is nothing we can’t deal with. The real danger to us isn’t even that gigantic beetle. It’s the slimy, calculating bastards that we share our new home with.”

“Antoinette seems unbothered by the headaches. I think we should leave guarding our backs to Anthea and the rest of us can try to wade into the chaos and claim some share of the prize,” said Evelyn.

“Aw, I wanted to try and tame the big beetle.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” chided Kayla.

Anthea had made the claim with wide puppy-dog eyes and a wistful smile on her face that made it hard to know if she was joking or not, but she soon returned to clutching her ant’s neck and grumbling about the headache.

Evelyn was still extremely curious about the relationship between the two of them. What exactly had happened at the moment Anthea had managed to tame the creature? Was the tower involved in some way, or had it been a pure demonstration of the girl’s love and dedication to ants?

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It was yet another mystery that needed solving, though it wouldn’t be as difficult to find the answers as it would for the rest of the problems on her ever increasing list. A single conversation with Anthea would suffice, but it couldn’t be had at that moment.

All of a sudden the runes on the beetle’s back flashed vibrantly and low thrum could be heard hovering in the air. A radial blast of energy shot from its carapace and blasted outwards, smashing into every single challenger present.

Gripping Spinebreaker in her hand had relieved the agony of the headaches, but even the ethereal force driving that relief was unable to stand up to this fresh assault.

She staggered, nearly falling to the ground if not for her father placing a steady hand on her shoulder and catching her mid stumble. His mental fortitude was really showing here, with him being mostly unaffected despite the rest of the guild having a difficult time with what she now realised was the direct influence of Zork’Karu.

Mental attacks were the one aspect that Evelyn couldn’t defend against. Her fortitude was useless here. Perhaps if she still had access to Arcane Shield it may have offered a buffer against the spellwork of the creature, but she wasn’t sure of it.

The renewed mental oppression wasn’t the only shift on the field of battle; to accompany its devastating magic it had changed its plan of attack.

A metallic screech rang across the city as the chitinous plates of its exoskeleton shifted and curled on themselves. The beetle was rearing up on its hind legs, lifting itself clear from the trampled rubble beneath.

Ventura and Steelweb were caught in a mad, chaotic scramble to escape the area beneath the hyper boss, fearing the ensuing strike that would catch most of the vanguard in its wake.

“Let’s go,” said Evelyn, pushing past the pain and hefting Spinebreaker over her shoulder while pulling on the energy of the reality node. For the first time since her clash with Dazurmagon she felt her heart pounding in her chest - a real challenge had arrived and she planned to throw herself into the thick of it.

Whether she would benefit was another matter, but to her, the thrill of the battle itself was enough of a reward. Not everyone agreed, but they all followed her lead and charged at the boss regardless.

The temperature around them dropped as Mei began to whisper and her potent frost magic bloomed to life around them. Within seconds it had been whipped up into a furious blizzard and she started to launch lances of ice at the hyper boss.

It had little effect, with the majority of them crashing harmlessly against its exoskeleton or falling to the ground below, where they remained unmelting.

Anthea had snapped out of her miserable state and was launching a salvo of arrows to follow up the barrage of ice while the others had pulled out their weapons, or fists, in Kayla’s case. Though one could make the argument that those were deadlier than any weapon - Evelyn knew that even better than most.

Zork’Karu had lifted itself all the way up as she arrived beneath the hulking beetle and Evelyn prepared herself to receive the devastatingly powerful blow that was to follow - assuming that was its intention. For all she knew it could be gearing up to deliver another attack on their mental faculties, which would be a far more frightening prospect.

Her father drew near and readied himself alongside her, though she wasn’t sure how well he would handle the incoming strike. However, they all knew the risks of throwing themselves into the fray while most of the other challengers retreated.

It meant taking on a lethal hit from the most powerful enemy to spawn in the tower to date, but it was worth it if they were able to snatch a decisive victory from under the noses of the other guilds.

Well, perhaps I’m being unfair to Dazurmagon. I’m sure the Worldshaker could give this overblown beetle a run for its money, but the mental attacks are a damn sight harder to deal with than plain old punches.

Kayla hung back. She wasn’t geared towards handling hits, but rather dishing them out. That was fine. Evelyn planned to take the brunt of the hit herself. Her stats weren’t what they had been during the last hyper boss battle but with the evolution in fortitude and her skills she was confident in being able to take it.

Her confidence swelled when the creature finally screeched and started to fall from the sky like a meteor. So great was its bulk that the first thing she felt was the blastwave of air. It slammed into her and she struggled to stay standing, having to dig her heels into the disturbed ground. However, when its legs smashed into her guard, she felt nothing.

She hadn’t even been knocked back a single millimetre.