[Boss Monster {Witch Gothel} has been engaged in combat! Good luck!]

The witch roars, and the hair in her hands turns from gold to shadow. She throws her hands out, and like a whip the shadows lash out and thrust us all away. Her voice turns incomprehensible, and abruptly the system informs us:

[Boss Monster {Witch Gothel} has used the spell ‘Frenzy’!]

[Title ‘Gilgamesh’ has been used to resist ‘Frenzy’ spell!]

A weird heat wave flashes over my body, starting from my head and ending in my feet, but as suddenly as it hits it fades. That must have been the spell…A health bar appears at the top of my vision, {Witch Gothel}. The fight’s on.

“Tanks! Front!” Yuto shouts, trying to rouse the rest of the party. But…They’re fighting amongst themselves. His voice is almost imperceptible too due to his low presence. “Shit! Who’s still sane?” He calls out, jumping backwards and distancing himself from everybody. “If you’re sane, get over here, NOW!”

Me, Bai-ko, Gondolin, and Yuto end up being the only players who resisted the spell. “What do we do?!” Gondolin hisses, watching our party tear itself apart. The only reprieve for us is that Mother Gothel is crying while stroking the shadowy hair, she’s not fighting us on top of everything else, even though her health bar is visible. “Bai-ko, how do we snap them out of spells?”

“What do we even know about magic so far?” I follow up.

“That’s the problem!” Bai-ko responds, her black cat-ears sticking straight up in alarm, “We don’t know anything about magic!! It’s still super mysterious. The only people who have the wizard class can’t explain it. They just have a spell slot, they were assigned a magical affinity, and got to pick three F-rank spells! They think about activating it and it activates. I didn’t know mental magic was in the game! Why weren’t we affected?”

One of the frenzied party members charges us, screaming incoherently and bringing a great sword down powerfully at Bai-ko. Yuto moves seamlessly, drawing his blade and sheathing it within a moment. The attacker falls backward, and dissolves into blue shards. All of us silently stare at the aftermath of his attack, speechless. “We’re in a boss raid. We don’t have time for that question, Bai-ko, and we don’t have the stamina to waste fighting them.”

“He…He’s right. Ideas, come on guys,” Bai-ko advises us. I abruptly recall fighting alongside Momo, and using my voice to encourage her. The system said I got a buff for that because of my title, and my title resisted the spell…Wasn’t Gilgamesh an ancient king? Maybe…

“I have an idea,” all three of them intently turn to me, “Yuto, pick me up.” He doesn’t even hesitate. Yuto tosses me onto his shoulders, where I stand above everybody now. I take a deep breath, inhaling as much air as I can, before announcing, “SOLDIERS!!!! SERVE YOUR KING! SNAP OUT OF THIS CRAP!! FIGHT THE BOSS MONSTER, COME ON!! TANKS, AGGRO HER NOT EACH OTHER!!”

[Title ‘Gilgamesh’ has been used to increase presence when addressing other players.]

[Congratulations! Bonus points have been added to ‘Presence’ Stat!]

[Allies have received temporary buff!]

“Really? That was your plan?!” Gondolin asks incredulously.

I smirk, hopping off Yuto’s shoulders, watching as the chaos subsides, “Yes…” I respond, clapping his shoulder, “It was. Now we have a boss to fight, get up there with the tanks.” Gondolin tsks, and rushes back into the battle.

“I don’t know what you did,” Yuto begins, giving me a genuine smile, “But good job. Thank you, Aoi,” he thanks me before following Gondolin back into the crowd and trying to organize them to attack Mother Gothel again.

“How…Did you do that?” Bai-ko asks me suspiciously, one of her cat ears twitching slightly. Her red eyes glimmer with curiosity, and she pushes her face closer and closer to mine as I leave her without an answer. “Is it because you’re…Kazesoku?” She whispers the name.

“No. It’s a perk of my title, Gilgamesh…I guess. I just got lucky. Now shouldn’t you be helping the DPS unit get reorganized?”

“This is a better use of my skill set.”

“Interrogating me?”

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She flashes a predatory smile, her sharp white teeth not making her seem any flavor of trustworthy, “No, I’m getting information on the game. We all need that to survive, don’t we?”

I don’t like her…But I don’t dislike her either. She’s sharp, and she’s a little too nosy, but she’s straightforward about it. She’s honest, and I can respect that. “I guess…Look, if you can, improve my PR, will you? I’m not a fan of our situation either, and I don’t know anything extra about the game. I never worked with Ki Atama, I’ve never talked to him, and in fact I’m pretty pissed at him for making me start the game with a target on my back.”

“Mmm, and I should do that by lowering my own PR? Compromising people’s trust in our guild? No no, not while the power balance is still being established. But…I haven’t told anybody who you are yet.”

Mother Gothel lets out a second road, and pulls back the hair. She swings it down like a club, slamming into the tank unit. Only two of them were able to dodge the blow, the rest…Blue shards.

“WHAT!?” I cry out, my voice coinciding with the thunderclap of noise her hair connecting to the ground caused. She had a spell that strong to start, and she’s physically that powerful?! We’re already down to 2 tanks?! The DPS unit attacks, and I bear witness to our first piece of good news. Her health isn’t super high. Before she can pull her hair back up and attack again, she’s halfway depleted. And that’s when phase 2 activates…While the DPS are still within her striking zone. She lets out a shrill screech, and her gray skin begins to turn more and more demonic. Her white hair grows longer, thicker, and darker. “RUN!!! GET OUT OF THERE!!!” I cry out. But it’s too late. Her hair shoots out like spikes, impaling every single member of the DPS unit…Except one. They all immediately dissolve into blue shards, while Yuto who barely used his sword to block the attack in time flies back behind me and slams into the wall.

“Ok…New plan?” Gondolin murmurs, basically appearing on my right, one of the two tanks who survived.

“Yes, I don’t think she’s a boss we’re supposed to aggro,” Christopher grumbles, making up the remainder of our tank unit.

“I…agree,” Yuto murmurs, his breathing haggard as he stumbles from the wall and comes even with me, “And, Bai-ko…Where the hell have you been during all this?”

“What happened to not having time for questions?” She coyly responds, the five of us making up every member left alive of the party.

“You’re right…I’ll chew you out later, you stupid cat. Aoi, plan?” Yuto asks, and all of their eyes turn to me. Mother Gothel’s waiting for us again…She’s a boss without high HP, but with incredible damage output. She’s not super fast either. There’s an easy answer. Hell, I’m only level 8 but I might be able to pull it off.

“Hit and run,” I say confidently, “Keep it simply. We weren’t wrong, we need to aggro her, but not just waiting for her to attack. Dark Souls style. Gondolin and Christopher go in and get her to attack, me and Bai-ko follow up trying to attack her, she’ll fire back. We have to run before she charges it. After the charged attack, Yuto,” I turn to him and ask him flatly, “Can you take her out? You’re our best DPS left.”

Yuto blinks, sighing with a defeated smile. He lowers his body and gets into a powerful stance, one hand on his hilt and the other on his sheath, “Yes,” he closes his eyes, waiting, “I’ll be ready.”

“You heard him!” Christopher announces, smiling brightly, “Let’s go Gondolin!” He charges forward, Gondolin groaning before following after him. Me and Bai-ko slowly follow them, watching and waiting.

Christopher and Gondolin get within range of her whip attack, and both raise a shield when it comes down on them. There’s a deafening crash, but neither me or Bai-ko give it time to check if they survived. We charge past them, and approach the giant witch. I draw my blade, still nothing but a beginner sword, and slash through her thigh. Bai-ko leaps off my shoulders and uses twin daggers to slice through her neck and rolls down her body leaving more slashes and attacks. Gothel’s hair begins wriggling ominously, and the hairs on my own neck stand on edge. “RUN!” I shout, more as a command to myself than for Bai-ko. I got 1 measly attack in?! That’s all??

I pump my legs as fast as they’ll take me, but Bai-ko still easily outpaces me. Damn her higher level dexterity! I hear a shrill scream from behind me, Mother Gothel’s hair attack. There’s no way I’m out of range. I turn around, eyes wide, only to see every single strand of her hair arc towards me at the same time. Their speed is like lightning, and they reach me before I can take another step. With a sickening thud, the hairs…

Pierce through…

Christopher’s shield?

“Christopher?!” I cry out, shocked that he’s still alive. He turns back, smiling brightly even as his stomach is impaled by the Witch’s attack. Blood spills from his mouth, and he falls to one knee as the hair is drawn back by Mother Gothel.

“Had to pay back my guild’s debt to you!” He announces proudly, “You saved Momo’s life, so consider it even!” Christopher falls forward…But doesn’t shatter into blue shards. How much HP and Constitution does this monster have?

“AOI! MOVE!” Yuto commands. I feel a presence behind me, and immediately jump out of the way. Yuto shoots past me like a bullet, a blue line following behind him. I hear one slashing sound, and when I spot Yuto’s body again he’s standing behind Mother Gothel, chest heaving with every breath and his sword hanging listlessly by his side.

Mother Gother reaches down slowly, stroking the hair in her hands. I smile, knowing what comes next. “Rapunzel…I miss you,” she croons, before dissolving into blue shards. Her health bar had hit 0.

[Boss Monster {Mother Gothel} defeated! Raid rewards being calculated…]

[Congratulations on clearing the dungeon ‘Rapunzel’s Tower’! The Second Floor will open!]

[Congratulations Player {Kazesoku}, you have been deemed the highest contributor! Your rewards are: Rapunzel’s Hair, Flynn’s Tunic, +10000 exp]

[Level up!]