“Ho-ho, they ran into that one, did they? Hmph! A monster so intimidating even they had to turn back! Ha-ha-ha-ha-hahh!” Lumpstein grinned as he cackled, observing the girls and the dog-beast retreat from the magic mountain on Ewar.
“They're only at half-strength tonight. You'll be laughing on the other side of your face when the whole lot of them go after it!” Rabbit said to him knowingly.
“Will I, though?” the Dwarf GM returned, still grinning mightily. “After all, it is that one!”
“Indeed,” Forseti nodded. “A prototype, or pre-release rather, for one of the game's updates this summer: the Enigma Bosses.”
“Sure we didn't overpower it?” Athena asked as she looked over from her in-world monitoring console.
“Well, those girls are a decent enough gauge to find out... as long as they don't bring the dragon to the fight again...” Ricklelopes remarked.
“Ahh...” the others sighed back in a bemused chorus, thinking back to the incident with the Vault Boss.
“Leave it to Lana and her friends to bring the dynamite,” Rabbit quipped.
“But the competition rankings now; hmm, it was a good idea to adjust the scoring based on team rather than individual guilds, even if it hasn't quite killed all the fighting...” Lumpstein said.
“Still, we only had to do that for the Harmonia side; the Onyxus GMs have been able to just lay back and watching the fun on their side,” Liza noted, tapping through viewscreens to observe some of the footage.
“Well of course we only had to do it for this side! The Onyxus side may as well be labeled PvP in permanence!” the dwarf returned.
“And the pinnacle of the cooperation on this side has led them to that quest chain, huh?” Forseti mused with interest. “It'll be interesting to see how the Silvernight Queens get through that boss...”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Hah! 'If', I believe you mean!” Ricklelopes quipped.
“Somehow,” Wildthunder said as he joined them, “I don't doubt they will.”
“Welcome back! What did the boss say?” Liza smiled to him.
“She's insistent that we get a team to work on the glitches in the alpha-world; it seems this summer has become quite important to her, in its own way,” Wildthunder said.
“Hmm... more glitches, huh?” Rabbit said with a hesitant grin.
“Wandreada still hasn't recovered from the armor and clothes mishap,” Athena added, a similar expression on her face.
“That one, among other things, is top priority,” Wildthunder nodded.
“Right!” Liza replied. “Just one last look here... ooh, what's going on up there?” she remarked with interest as she brought up viewers on the region known as the Utmost North.
“Hm, hm, looks like the pirate guilds have finally gotten a stakehold on something... ha-ha! Not as good as the Hitherlands, but pretty decent in its own special way!” Lumpstein said with admiration.
“Don't count them out yet. That's where Gyzax and the others decided that special ore should be found.” Athena told them.
“Oh-ho! That's right!” the other recalled. “Hmm... things might get heated after all in the next couple of weeks!”
“The competition ends in four weeks, right?” Rabbit then asked.
“Aye, only four left,” Wildthunder nodded back. “And the last two involve that protocol.” he added with a grin.
“The double rewards on the second-to-last, and the triple rewards on the very last!” Liza said with excitement. “It's enough to make me want to be just a player!”
“Right?” Athena agreed with a smile.
“But for now: the alpha-world.” Wildthunder then said. “Liza, Rabbit, we'll need you two especially,” he said to the two in question.
“Right!”
“Coming!” they replied, leaving the other GMs to continue observing the world of Panarena for the night.