Cuby expended the Moment of Solace, and I had to wonder for a moment:

This was a boss of the first dungeon? An enrage mechanic of some kind, sure—but instantaneous death beams that dispense 7000 damage into what the system means to be a group of people? How the hell were the normal groups supposed to deal with this?

But then the beam ceased, ticking only twice against Cuby’s invulnerability before the boss thrashed forward and started attacking her with its claws and trying to bite her—and she dodged as before, only the attacks came faster, now.

Eradicia reared up and beat her wings at Cuby, throwing her backward across the plateau, where she would have rolled to a halt—but then the boss beat her wings again, and Cuby was sent clear off the edge.

Do you want me to—

Nope! Cuby said, gliding to a small ledge and leaping back up onto the edge of the platform as the rampaging boss charged ahead. I was still casting my Purging Radiance, and Cuby loosed hers as soon as she came over the side. Eradicia shot her with another temporary beam, but she used her acrobatics, then took the damage of the last tick, which did only one heal’s worth through the Mana Shield.

I think I just need more Moments of Mastery, she said, and I obliged, working them into my casting rotation along with Haste, Psychic Parasite, Slow, and Purging Radiance. Soon I had abandoned my damage spell almost altogether, doing everything to keep Cuby alive and in dodges—but Moment of Mastery, even Supercharged, was essentially a dodge that came as frequently as her own if I just kept refreshing it. My heals kept pace with the damage of Eradicia’s claws, and Cuby’s Mighty Leap and my Haste were more than enough to keep her out of the fire.

We’re doing it! Cuby cried as the boss hit 3%.

I ran outside and leapt onto the roof the temple, searching the skies around us for some sign of Nerien and Haroshi as the boss hit 2%. It almost felt too good to be true.

But as I stood on the roof, I cast a Purging Radiance. And when it finished, Cuby launched it into the boss, then used her Mighty Leap and Drop Strike to beat home the last bit of damage—Eradicia burst into blue flames and slowly dissolved.

Congratulations, you are now a level 13 Hierarch/Psychic!

You have a new Spell Augment Slot. Open your Abilities pane to choose a new Spell Augment.

You have a new Spell Slot. Open your Abilities pane to choose a new Spell.

Your Hit Points have increased by 85 and your Energy has increased by 120.

Human Adaptability increases each of your Strength, Agility, Focus, and Spirit by 2. You gain 2 stat points to distribute.

Quest Completed: Matriarch’s Fall

I moved to join Cuby, who was now level 17, as the remains of the boss dissolved completely and were replaced by a large chest, one that was made of the bluish metal I knew to be derunium and had a stylized image stenciled into its brushed metal surface—a 2-d Eradicia launching her beam attack.

“We did it!” I said, still overcome with elation. “You check the loot, I’ll read the quest.”

“Did you see the note about the High Priest?” Cuby asked.

“Huh?”

“Our system messages. Right when you killed the last spirefiend to heal me, we got one for our other quest.”

“Oh,” I said, realizing what she’d meant. I opened my quest log to find that the Traitor’s Fall quest wasn’t in it—and then I scrolled through my system messages.

Quest Failed: Traitor’s Fall

“They killed the other boss,” I said. “Not good—we should loot and get out of here. They’ll know this is where we are and it’s reasonable to come after us, even if it’s just their two chosen. It’ll only take them time to scale the mountain, especially since Nerien’s grappling hook apparently works on stone.”

But then I looked at Cuby. She was standing beside the chest, staring at me, her mouth opened.

“Cuby are you all ri—”

“Don’t,” she said as I stepped forward. She looked down at some invisible pane in front of her, then back up at me. Was she looting?

Cuby stepped away from the chest. I could see that she was shaking. “Look,” she said.

I stepped forward, unsure. Then I opened the chest’s loot interface and saw a plethora of items—but I couldn’t have read the name of any item in the chest even if I’d cared to.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

None except the first.

Legendary Boon Card – Chosen

I grinned. I could have cheered for joy. It was the ultimate game changer—even as I realized that they’d have gotten one from the High Priest, I realized that it wouldn’t matter, not nearly as much as ours. The best they could do with it would be to level one of their level 10s—perhaps a level 11 now that they’d killed a boss—and add a level 7 / 7 to their crew. None of the second boon choices were nearly as good as the multiclass choice.

“Alatar?” Cuby asked softly.

“What’s wrong, Cuby?” I said, almost laughing the words for how happy I was. “Take it! Take it!”

I would have pulled the item from the chest and materialized it to hand it to her, but even though nobody was around I didn’t want to ever hold something that valuable out in the open where it could potentially be stolen. I stepped away from the boss chest.

Then I saw that Cuby’s lower lip had begun to quiver, and I understood—against all reason, against every ounce of common sense I could muster, she thought I was going to take the card for myself.

But then why had she given me the chance?

Cuby rushed forward and took me into a hug, sobbing. “Is this it?” she asked, her voice trembling. “Is this humanity?”

“Cuby,” I said, squeezing her and then gently pushing her away. “Cuby, if I were the most selfish person in the world I’d want you to take that card.”

“I know,” she said. “I know, but you could’ve—”

“Okay, please can we have this moment after you’ve taken the card?”

Cuby blinked.

“They could be coming right now, Cuby. I’m stressing out. Take the card and level while I spam Moment of Mastery and sort through the rest of the loot.”

Cuby laughed. “All right, Alatar.” And she walked to the chest and, a moment later, was engulfed in a flash of red light that I remembered from the cave back at Oromar’s Bastion.

I started casting Moment of Mastery on her, and as I did so I opened the quest we’d completed and unceremoniously looted it of everything.

You receive:

Rare Equipment – Matriarch’s Fang

Rare Equipment – Matriarch’s Wing Cloak

Rare Equipment – Matriarch’s Wing Cloak

Rare Iconic Spell Card – Eradicating Beam

Uncommon Class Card – Berserker (5)

You receive:

[4] Derunium Boss Chest – Matriarch Eradicia [50]

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s get to the—Eradicating?—whatever, let’s get inside that temple building and level there; I’ll set some runes outside.”

I kept feeding Cuby Moments of Mastery as we moved inside and I set two of my missile traps on the ground in case the enemy players came. They’d likely gotten the Matriarch’s Fall quest while they fought her, and so they’d likely realized we’d killed her. If the High Priest had dropped one, they’d know we had a chosen boon. Which meant they’d either try and close in now, or—more likely in my opinion—pull off. After all, not all the members of their group could climb the mountain. Would Nerien and Haroshi want to fight us alone, or with minimal support, now that we overleveled them as chosen? I stored a Supercharged Implosive Missile, then invested myself with a Supercharged Haste.

Almost done, Cuby said beside me, her mental voice filled with glee.

I opened up our quest:

Quest – Matriarch’s Fall

Objective: Be the first players in the world to kill Matriarch Eradicia.

If you do, loot will contain additional rewards. Loot will be selected to suit your characters, rather than randomly determined.

—And I completed it, receiving a little experience and putting me a quarter of the way toward level 14.

Then I looked at the items we’d gotten:

Rare Equipment – Matriarch’s Fang

This sword has been fashioned from the fang of Eradicia, a potent demonic wyvern. Its point pierces with unnatural sharpness, and can afflict its target with unnatural flames.

Weapon Class: Medium

Attack Speed: 1.4 Seconds

+ 1 Fire Affinity

+ 1 Nature Affinity

Grants Iconic Technique – Vilefire Strike

Adaptable: you may suppress or renew either of this sword’s Affinities by focusing for 5 seconds.

Vilefire Resistance: you take 50% less damage from any fire or nature effect that deals damage over time, including area effects. This stacks to 100% for effects that deal both fire and nature damage.

Rare Equipment – Matriarch’s Wing Cloak

This cloak, fashioned from the soft membrane of a powerful demon’s wings, feels unusually warm to the touch.

+ 12 Fire Resistance

+ 12 Nature Resistance

Grants Spell: Charm of Gliding

Special: Charm of Gliding has no cost while you wear this cloak.

“Ready!” Cuby said from beside me while I looked at the cloak.

“Great,” I said. I passed her the sword and a cloak. “These are yours. I also got a cloak.”

Cuby looked down at sword, her eyes widening, as I cast a Moment of Mastery on myself so that I could level. “Oh,” I added. I materialized the small stack of five berserker class cards. “You might want these too, I doubt they’re useful for me.”

“What did you—”

But I expended my Moment of Mastery, slowing her voice to a comical pace as I looked down at the auspiciously named Eradicating Beam spell.

Well that’s… all right, I thought.

It was, perhaps, an understatement.