>You have found: Wandering boss Yggdrasil (Enraged), Level 23. Be the first to defeat this foe and claim a unique reward <

“I know this is a ‘wandering boss’ but can someone explain to me how the abyss a tree ended up in the middle of the Gloomgrasp Strait? We’re at least forty five miles from the closest shore and the ocean floor is what, 145 feet deep? I mean, come on!” a giant of a man called out in a hoarse voice as he bounded across the decks. A gentle breeze tugged at the loose linen clothes he wore while it sent rippling waves across the worn leather vest.

“Close, a little off though. Forty five miles, 182 feet. All hands! Man battle stations, we’ll have no hands in the belly taking caulk or they’ll be dancing with Jacob Ketch on the mizzen mast before sun down. Get the mages up top, we need winds to our backs and cover fire for the cannons.” Came a smooth, almost bored sounding voice.

“Can you please just speak English, Jess?” responded the first as he grabbed a line and began pulling the rope and bringing the fore sail into a new position. not sparing a glance at the bipedal swift fox that squinted through the misting waves that pounded the ship towards the approaching monster. “Youre getting as bad a the pillowman when He’s in character”

“Bare minimum is to call me Captain Jess.” she said with a savage grin that made her 5’2 swift fox avatar larger and more feral than should be possible.

Yggdrasil let loose a creaking groan that rose to a fevered roar as it speared through the waves. Lichen covered limbs lashed out at the water and clawed at the air. A hazy, almost fog like, blood red aura hung around the enraged boss that grew more and more dense as it approached.

“Besides, What would be the fun in that Dimitri?” She laughed pulling out her cutlass with one hand and adjusting her tricorn hat with the other as we tail swung in time to the ships lurching. “Go up top, time to test your new toy.”

Wind snatched at his reply, the words going unheard as he bolted across the heaving deck then began to climb. He pulled himself ever higher up the shrouds, eyes focused solely on the mainmast crows nest. Below calls echoed out from both the sailors and the wandering boss, snatched by the howling winds sending them farther than they would normally carry. Rope fibers bit into his hands, the salt coating them mixing with the salt of his sweat and sending sharp shocks of pain through him each time he flexed his hands. With a grunt Dimitri pulled himself into the crows nest, taking a deep breath as he momentarily sank to the floor and closed his eyes to slow his heart. Exhaling slowly he opened his inventory and tapped the option for his latest untested creation. He had worked on Hekate’s Kiss for 6 weeks, real time, before getting his first viable test piece. He checked it again, eyes running over the flowing rune-script ensuring no errors for what was possibly the thousandth time. It would either work or they’d all be blown to the abyss. Either way he was going to be paid, all he had to do was wait for the order.

Dimitri’s eyes roved over the battle below, softly humming a sea shanty. Wind mages threw gales of wind into the sales, pushing the ship so fast that it seemed to glide over the choppy waves as it turned in a wide arc around the towering enraged tree. He snorted as he considered this. Fighting a tree, while at sea. This had to be one of the most ridiculous boss battles he had partaken in. No doubt it had something to do with PillowHorror or ProlixalParagons machinations. Those two were always up to something and while it appeared as if they were indeed working towards the same endgame scenario they both went about it in starkly contrasting ways that often conflicted. Both played several moves ahead of those around them and assumed that when given the general gist of their intentions everyone would just fall in and know what needed to be done. While things worked out in the end it was usually in the most bizarre way and never to the line of their ‘master’ plans.

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Dimitri winced as one sailor was backhanded by the snapping branches of Yggdrasil and sent flying first through a roaring pillar of fire that a group of mages poured into the boss, then skipping across the cold salt water five times before he sank beneath the waves. Scouts call for him to unleash his latest arcane design rose up from beneath and he tore his eyes from there the sailor had gone under to find her. His breath slipped from him in a string of curses as he found her laughing and swinging her sword amid the branches on top of Yggdrasil. With a flourish she gouged a large X before leaping into the air, landing with a roll back on the deck of the ship. He rolled his eyes and shouldered Hekate’s Kiss, closing an eye as he sighted down the long slender barrel. Slowing his heart with concentrated effort he pushed a thin tendril of his infernal and fire mana into the activation rune in a steady stream. The rune-script lit up a hellish crimson as it sucked mana from him and the environment, purifying it as it coursed down the barrel to coalesce into a densely packed pea sized ball at the end that steadily grew before compressing again. While the artifact wasn't picky what element it pulled from the environment the elements that the wielder fed it would determine the effect of the payload. Sweat beaded on his brow as he held it for what felt like years but in truth was only moments, watching as it grew and compressed six times before he tapped the trigger rune releasing all the collected energy directly at the X scout had gouged into the bark.

The rune-script sparked angrily and he realized his mistake, releasing the arcane artifact over the side of the crows nest and dropping to the floor. He had used inferior containment runes and hadn't added any to account for combinations. With a flick of his eyes he took in the sight of the compressed ball of energy flying true towards its mark. Captain Scout, tricorn long gone, leaping skywards with her whip lashing out and the blinding tendrils of lightning flowing from scouts whip to bite into Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil slamming a heavy branch through the deck, parting the planks like a hot knife through butter. The flash of cannon fire as the gunners were already moving to reload. Mages setting loose another volley of various spells. Then he was behind the short wall of the crows nest and all hell broke loose.

Countless blasts went off as one, seeming to shake the entire world around him as waves of light spilled in violent waves from below. Dimitri squeezed his eyes closed, belatedly clapping his hands to his ears as he waited for the world to stop jumping around him only to register with dawning horror that the world was now tilting as it jumped. One thought flashed through his mind leaving a ripple of cold fire spilling from his gut. The main mast must have been damaged when Yggdrasil's branch smashed into the deck.

Dimitri pulled himself up against the heaving tilt of the crows nest, eyes going wide as he took in the sight below. Yggdrasil had been reduced to a steaming lump of charcoal. Bodies, cargo, shattered ship pieces bobbed in the turbulent waters. He leaned down tapping the heel of his boots sending a thin thread of air mana into the rune-script on his boots the hopped to the rim of the crows nest heaving a deep breath that caught in his throat as he scanned the quickly approaching carnage below. Captain Scout was nowhere to be seen but Hekate’s Kiss was clearly visible. Arching lines of power surged towards the barrel, sparks spewing intermittently from the rune-script as small chunks of debris littering the shattered deck began first to crawl then fly towards it. Dimitri cursed and leaped as far out as he could, shoving every drop of mana he could into the boots to push him out even farther. Praying that he would get clear of the implosion zone he took another deep breath and rotated to land legs first, straight as an arrow, in the churning black waters. This was going to hurt.