“I didn’t help you?” Freya asked, confused.

“You should have gotten that rat off of me,” Tox said, touching the wound on his arm.

“I was able to make it stop biting with my Shockwave skill the first time, but the eye’s gaze was on us just now. It would see my skill, and I wouldn’t be able to use it again.”

“You could have tried something else.”

“Guys,” Infamous Biscuit interrupted. “Let’s kill the boss first. Those rats might respawn or something.”

“This is such a terrible party,” Tox said, pushing past Infamous Biscuit.

Infamous Biscuit shook his head. He gave Freya a sympathetic look and silently mouthed, “Not your fault.”

The Slow Eye dungeon boss still hadn’t made any moves to attack them. 

It just floated, watching.

Unable to use his taunting skill, Tox ran up to it and thrust his sword right into its giant eye. The blade sank into the eye, then suddenly repelled it–making Tox stagger backward. The eye regenerated and began to grow flesh around it.

The eyeball sprouted human-like legs and arms. It looked like a giant cyclops, except it didn’t have a head. Instead, the giant eye sat in the chest of the creature.

[Slow Eye]

[Dungeon Boss]

[Lvl 11] [300/300]

Stomping its feet, the monster’s giant eye bore into them. It stood taller than Infamous Biscuit, and its enormous eye in its chest made it bulkier than Tox. 

Freya pounded her fists together. 

Her legs felt a bit shaky and sore, but if this was the worse the dungeon could offer, she could handle it. Even in this transformed state, the Slow Eye boss’s health was just the same as the rats they just faced. 

She dashed around to get behind it. Another good thing she noticed was its eye movement–true to name–was still slow.

Tox engaged with it from the front. The Slow Eye boss blocked him from stabbing its eye with its muscular arms. 

Gathering up energy, she hit the creature’s back.

The boss stumbled forward.

From the side, Infamous Biscuit cast vines to tie down the monster, then came closer to hit with his staff.

Enraged, the slow eye boss beat its arms against Tox’s shield. 

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Out of breath, Freya waited until her combo punch skill cooldown ran out. 

Jab, punch!

Infamous Biscuit stepped away to heal Tox. The Slow Eye boss slowly turned to Infamous Biscuit. Luckily, the heal was done by the time its gaze reached him.

Tox used his shield strike skill, stunning the boss. 

Only a sliver of its health remained.

Gathering the last of her strength, Freya hit with her Shockwave. She felt the last bit of her energy flow into empty air as the boss vanished.

[Slow Eye Dungeon cleared!]

[Reward: +350 exp]

...

“I’m fine with the skill book. I can probably sell it for as much money as the coins dropped,” Infamous Biscuit said.

Tox hmpfed. 

The three of them stood in the empty boss room. The enchanted lights seemed to flicker with the tension.

Infamous Biscuit looked down at Tox. The latter reminded Freya of a puffed out vine-pine. His armor stuck out like the scales of a vine-pine’s pinecone center. Infamous Biscuit withstood the intimidation, using his height and calm iciness to echo the sentiment.

Tox shoved his share of coins into his inventory. Then with a few flicks of his wrist, he fast-traveled out of sight.

“And that’s why I hate finding teammates on the player forums,” Infamous Biscuit said, crossing his arms.

“That’s normal?” Freya asked, concerned.

He shrugged, “It’s common. He sounded normal enough in DMs, but you really can’t judge by that I guess. I should have done more research.” 

“Do we have to work with him again?”

“Oh no, no. We need a tank on our team, but we can find someone else.”

Freya breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure how permanent these team things were.

“So we’re back to square one then,” she said.

“Hey, at least we got some experience out of it. He wasn’t really great at the tank position, but you get the general idea.”

Infamous Biscuit put a comforting hand on her shoulder, “Don’t worry. Things will come together. In the meantime, we can do some smaller dungeons and quests. Lots of pieces of sonder can be found by doing quests that don’t involve fighting. And if we do get into a fight, my vine-pine can act as a tank in a pinch. Even you can kind of fill the tank role.”

“Can tanks only be knights?”

“No, even a martial artist could be a tank if they really wanted to, but the classes best suited for it are knights, samurai, and berserkers. They’re more likely to learn taunting skills and can carry more armor and hp than other classes.”

Suddenly Infamous Biscuit looked at something in his vision. He sighed.

“I should be going,” he frowned. “Is everything going alright with your shaman job?”

Freya cocked her head to the side at the sudden change in topic, “Everything is good.”

“I got a message from my job. I didn’t think I’d be the one always dipping out.”

“It’s fine, I have my own things to attend to as well.”

After saying their goodbyes, Infamous Biscuit disappeared first, then Freya found herself back in the Safka town square.

I wonder what his job is, Freya thought to herself.

…

[Pieces of Sonder General Message Board]

[STAY AWAY FROM THESE PLAYERS!]

[Posted by: Anonymous]

[The player with the username Infamous Biscuit is a trash druid healer that is distracted by his companion Freya Evenkey. She’s a terrible martial artist. Somehow she got a shockwave skill which I thought was impossible to get, but it must be a trash skill because she doesn’t even use it properly. Take my word for it and stay away from these players]

In a high rise apartment, a girl with long black hair brought her phone closer. 

“Shockwave skill?”