Entering the Dungeon Stream.

Gi burst from the dark portal and into a river of light surrounded by an all consuming wall of darkness. It felt comforting though like feeling safe under a blanket. The light itself felt soft as though it were made of actual water, but it didn't have that warm, close quality that he'd felt when he gained Danna's Divine Seed.

Searching for appropriate space in the Dungeon...

Parameters: Level 5, No currently assigned Monster...

Searching... Found!

Using space set aside for The First One.

Exiting Stream...

There was no flash of light or whooshing or any change at all. One moment, he floated with the river of light and the next he stood in a dark cavern. This cavern was deeply pockmarked with sections of shadow seeming to drive far into the Earth. He wondered if the other monsters would come from there that he'd need to fight?

There was a little lake that filled up one half of the space and the other was taken up by a handful of large mushrooms. From his spot between the two, he could make a tunnel out one end as well as a giant ebony door that shimmered with some kind of magic.

Current Level 5 Boss Monster: Gi, Gang Otter.

Kill at least 50% of the current adventuring group to pass.

For possession of the Group type Trait, Boss, you will be assigned some additional mobs to control. Please select from those present in this section of the Dungeon.

Fire Tortoise - Slow but difficult to damage. Possesses [Fire Nova].

8 Pack Wyrmlings - Weak but pack fighters. Possesses [Glide].

Shadow Bull - Strong but easy to Kite. Possesses [Shadow Charge].

Gi slapped his good paw into his face. He'd thought this whole time that he'd be running a dungeon, but that wasn't it at all. He was a boss monster. A Boss boss monster. It was so obvious now that he couldn't believe he hadn't considered it.

"We're all the dopey follower," he said, reassuring himself. Danna's version of everyone makes mistakes. After that brief conversation he'd had with Nori, he realized he needed to structure Danna's words better. Maybe a book of some kind? That was for later though. He had choices to make.

If he had to defeat a group of adventurers that meant what? Somewhere between four and six humanoids? If this was Level 5, he assumed they'd be fairly weak and he'd be stronger, but his arm still didn't work. His hand on his ruined arm could grip, but he couldn't really move the elbow.

However, he did have a very strong opener with his [Arcane Bolt] and could also use it as a potential kiting tool. So really he only had two approaches. Could he try and ambush them and end it instantly? Or should he expect them to survive the first salvo and try a more skirmished approach?

He looked over his potential mobs again to see if they could cinch it. The Fire Tortoise seemed useless for both approaches. Because it was slow, he'd have to be beside it to have any use out of it, but its main trait made that a stupid place to be.

The Wyrmlings had more promise. Though because they were weak, they might get picked off before doing any damage. Still, he assumed they were small so they might be good for an ambush.

Lastly, the Shadow Bull seemed perfect for a kiting setup. It seemed like a decent all arounder and they wouldn't be able to ignore its charge while Gi blasted them apart. How many charges could it get off though? What made it a [Shadow Charge]?

Gi rubbed his paw against his chin, trying to think through his best strategy.

****

Fader had an enormous headache. It came from the four noble brats that he'd agreed to power level, but he'd immediately regretted it. They bitched, moaned, and complained at every step. I'm tired. Monster guts are icky. I can blast them with my magic.

Explaining anything to them was next to useless as they already thought what they knew was best. After all, they'd trained under Ellen Swamp herself. Either they were the worst students ever or she'd given these dumbasses a workshop at best.

Fader stepped into the next room. Like many of the caverns, this was a simple cave with some fungus growth around the edges. No system message hit to let him know that he’d entered the boss’s lair. “Keep your eyes up. We should be getting close.”

Prince Rellington puffed up his chest, filling his gilded threaded robe to its fullest. “Please, there is no threat from the first boss in a dungeon. Do you think us imbeciles? I’ll remind you, again I might add, that we were trained by Ellen Sw-“

The bellowing roar of a Shadow Bull cut off the stupid noble. “Behind!” Fader yelled. Bringing his tower shield to bear. There was nothing to see, but still an impact against his shield forced him back a single step. His back foot tangled in one of the brat's legs, but he was strong enough that it only tripped the idiot.

The Shadow Bull materialized after its charge and Fader activated the quick release on his tower shield so he could grab its two horns. Letting them retreat for another invisible charge was always the worst idea. Fader’s strength was overkill for the fifth floor and he easily wrestled it onto its side. “Bolan, finish it off!”

“I can handle it!” Prince Rellington stated, flicking his wand out of his robe. As the only non-mage of the group, Bolan had been lagging behind on experience in this run. From his hesitation, his family wasn’t important enough for him to contradict the Prince. Or the stupid kid’s spine was as stiff as bathwater. A lick of flame spat out from the Prince’s wand that expanded to a swirling blade and bit deeply into the beast’s neck a little too close to his fist.

“Watch it!” Fader shouted, but another [Flame Blade] cut into the struggling Shadow Bull and ended its life. Fader slammed the bull’s head back into the cavern floor as it turned into motes of light, leaving behind a Shadow Bull hide. “First One’s Fucking Hell.” Fader grabbed the Prince by his neck and yanked the tall asshole down until he could stare him in the eye. “I don’t give a shit if you lived your entire life with a golden spoon up your ass. While we’re in here, I’m in charge. When I say Bolan takes the kill, Bolan takes it. Do you understand me?”

The Prince’s eyes quivered with fear, but the Ice Mage dwarf Tufot wasn’t so easily cowed. “Adventurer. Prince Rellington is the son of your King. You’d do well to let him go if you value your life.”

Fader knew that he was playing with fire so he shoved the stupid kid back. “And you’ll all listen to me if you value your life. The first twenty four levels of The First One’s dungeon are well mapped out, but the boss’s are always random. It’s always the unknown that kills you here.”

The Prince rubbed the back of his neck, looking down in thought. Perhaps the brat wasn’t as stupid as he thought. Tufot had an iron countenance only born from stupidity and the last noble mage, Gillian, raised her nose haughtily at what she surely felt was a peasant affair. Bolan thankfully was chicken shit. Hopefully, the boss would be a simple tank and spank. If not, they might be screwed. No one said anything else so Fader led on.

“I fucking hate children,” Fader mumbled as he pushed through two more rooms, clearing monsters using the contracted rotation. The first step into the third room, he could tell things were different. The fungus in here were much bigger and there was a lake off to the right. He started to tell the others to be careful when a prompt cut him off.

Entering the boss’s lair. The way back is blocked for five minutes.

“It’s an ambush type!” Fader yelled, internally cursing his luck. “Get behind me!”

The five of them huddled in the small entrance behind Fader’s shield for a solid thirty seconds. If they didn’t engage within the timeline, the way forward would be blocked and they would have to backtrack until a reset. He’d been contracted to power level until the first boss title. If he didn’t get that in this run, he’d start losing money as well as have to deal with these stupid brats for another four levels.

“Spread out near the entrance. Bolan, use [Stealth] and try to get a visual behind the mushrooms. I’m gonna walk forward and see if I can trigger the boss.”

For once, none of them argued. Fader cautiously moved forward, eyes tracking to the ceiling as well as the mushrooms, but he couldn’t see anything. This room in particular had deep shadows in the ceiling that his eyes couldn’t penetrate. When he reached the edge of the mushroom patch, a shrieking wail filled the air.

“Wyrmlings!” He yelled, but eight of the fist sized creatures had already launched themselves out of the holes in the ceiling that he’d already passed. They dove onto his three mages, several of them latching onto Gillian. She shrieked in pain and started spewing mud wildly about, covering her companions in the quickly hardening substance and slowing their movements. “Fucking hell.”

Fader started running back towards them before the idiot died to Wyrmlings. As soon as his back was turned, something slammed into his back, sending him down to one knee. His armor had been easily able to transfer the damage to what he now realized was a spell, but the impact at this level was high. Too high.

“We’ve got an aberrant!” The three mages were busy fighting the Wyrmlings that dashed all over their bodies. Gillian had already fallen and would die if he didn’t get over there. Cursing, Fader leapt to his feet and raced back to three mages, dodging a chaotic ice shard from Tufot. With his sword, he cut off the Wyrmlings that had latched onto Gillian and flung a healing potion onto her chest. It wasn’t the most effective way, but it would keep her alive at least.

Fader glanced back at the mushrooms to see a bolt of light take off Bolan’s head as he was rushing back to the other nobles. His body dropped to the ground and blood spread out onto the cavern floor. The dumbass had dropped out of stealth to hurry and help the others.

“Oh gods,” the prince yelled, his eyes locked on Bolan’s decapitated corpse. He backed up until he hit the cavern wall and slid down it. He’d managed to kill the few Wyrmlings that had been on him, but the kid was clearly in shock. Tufot still struggled with his own Wyrmlings so Fader moved over and slashed those to pieces. As soon as he did, another bolt of light hit Gillian, decimating her torso.

Fader was already down two brats and his life was absolutely in jeopardy when he returned, but that last shot had revealed where the boss was. Activating [Defiant Leap], Fader crashed through the mushrooms and the impact rippled the ground sending a small furry form flying. Fader recovered quickly and rushed towards what looked like a monstrous otter. It had strange scars all over its body and didn’t seem to be able to use one arm as it scrambled to its feet. That didn’t stop it from being fast.

It sent another bolt of light out of its good hand, aiming not at Fader but past him towards the Prince. Fader activated [Intercept] and it magically slid him a foot to get his shield in the way. Catching it on his shield, he was barely affected by the impact. He continued his charge, swinging [Sure Strike] towards the otter. It was impossible to miss as long as he was within range, but the otter’s speed suddenly increased. It ran along the arc of his strike until even the magically guided tip couldn’t reach him.

Fader cursed as he realized his mistake. He didn’t think the otter would be able to get away from him if he got on top of him and he didn’t expect the monster to be smart enough to target someone else. His [Defiant Leap] and [Intercept] were still on cooldown so he activated [Charge] aiming for the space between the otter and the Prince. Like an acrobat, Fader ended his skill early and flipped to bring his shield around to catch the oncoming bolt.

It didn’t come.

Instead, a bolt shot past Fader and hit Tufot in his stubby dwarven head. The ice mage had tried to form an ice armor, but it had punched right through. The otter finished its dive back into the lake. The boss’s room was suddenly quiet other than the sound of the Prince’s whimpering. Unfortunately, Fader had to try and cut his losses. He pushed the Prince back into the cavern wall and posted up with his shield right in front of him.

All hopes of tackling the boss was gone. He waited out the rest of the lockout time period as the massacre hadn’t even taken a full five minutes and then carried the blubbering Prince out. After they’d escaped the boss’s room, Fader trudged back through the cavern, not even taking the time to talk to the Prince. He was absolutely screwed. Three nobles had died under his care. If he ran, he’d be hunted all across the Thousand Islands by Death Squads. His only hope was to explain that they’d encountered an aberrant and then hope the King would be merciful since he’d saved the Prince.

Fader glanced back to the still crying brat and sighed. “Come on, kid. Let’s get you cleaned up and back to your father."