The raid was going well. After that first nasty fight in which the worm appeared and took out one of their members, they’d only encountered more goblins or other such small creatures that the raiding party was able to take out quickly. There had been one sticky situation where Riley nearly got taken by a poison bolt that grazed him on one arm, but Bubbles and Centrogen had provided an antidote, and, after Fluffypie had administered a quick healing spell, Riley was back to fighting shape.
“Starting to think we may have brought too many people,” Caius said as they found another open cave. It wasn’t nearly as large as the first one, but they were able to settle down comfortably enough for lunch. “We could get by with half these numbers.”
“Well, you don’t know that for certain,” Kyraa said. The moth girl had warmed to them considerably since their conversation outside. While she wasn’t outright friendly, she definitely spoke more easily and didn’t seem so against sharing her opinions with the others. “That worm is a real problem, and we don’t know how nasty the final boss will be.”
Caius had to nod in agreement with that. “Still, these footsoldiers are nothing special. Goblins, trolls, and salamanders? That’s easy stuff.”
Even Azalea couldn’t argue with his statement. Each attack had been in a wave of the same size as the first, minus the worm, and had been rebuffed easily. That first player that had been killed hadn’t returned in over an hour, but they hadn’t lost any other members either. If this pace continued, they’d be able to clear the raid easily.
“Our buffs are almost over,” she said, plopping down beside Caius and fishing a wrapped sandwich out of her pack. She passed it over to Caius before getting another one for herself. “Are you sure we should be stopping right now?”
The warrior gave a slight shrug. The gesture didn’t show his uncertainty, more an acceptance of the current situation. “Nothing we can do about it, to be honest. Something tells me we’re not near the end yet. Not like you have the materials to make more, right?”
She shook her head, and he took a big bite of his sandwich, his eyes closing. “So, yeah. We might as well rest while we can. Besides, we’ve nearly been at this for an hour already.”
“Plus,” Riley said, settling himself down beside his party and accepting a sandwich with a quiet word of thanks, “some of the others have real life things they got to attend to. So this makes as much sense as any time and place to make a short break.”
Azalea heard the patter of small feet and looked over to see Fluffypie leaning on her leg, looking up at the sandwich in her hands with a hungry look. Smiling down at the foxboy, she reached into her pack and pulled out a smaller but identical sandwich and handed it off. His eyes brightened, and he bobbed his head in thanks, then ran back to rejoin his allies, already taking a huge bite out of the sandwich.
“I can’t believe anyone would make an avatar so small,” Caius commented, watching Fluffypie as he moved across the cavern. “He doesn’t even seem to fight. Is his entire kit just support?”
“Best I can tell,” Azalea said. “But he’s cute. I don’t mind sharing.”
Caius mumbled something about ‘extra mouths to feed’, but Azalea pretended she couldn’t hear him. Instead, she offered up another sandwich as Oscar came back online and moved his avatar over to them. “I have enough for each of us to have another if that doesn’t do the trick.”
Once they’d finished their short break, Caius called the raid group back into formation, and they were off. Frankly, Azalea was starting to get a little bored with the lack of activity. In spite of the several hundred Yemon she’d gotten so far out of the raid, she was starting to find herself agreeing with Caius. They had too many people.
“If it were me, I would have sent the solos home already,” Bubbles said, as if she’d read Azalea’s mind. When Azalea didn’t reply, she spoke again, changing the subject. “So, how do you know Caius? Centrogen thinks he’s your boyfriend, but I think he’s too old. Is he your dad or something?”
At that, Azalea couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t the first time she’d been asked that question, or that those assumptions had been made. “He’s neither. We’re good friends, but technically he’s my boss. We just have fun playing games together.”
She said no more on the subject, and the others didn’t seem to mind. So she turned the question on Bubbles. “How did you meet Centrogen?”
“Oh, we’d never met before this game began,” Bubbles said with a smirk. Seeing the surprise on her face, the alchemist laughed. “I guess that’s surprising, isn’t it?”
“Well, yeah. You two bicker like you’re best friends.”
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“I guess we just clicked in a way. Our kits work well together at any rate. I… like my experiments, and she’s tough as nails.”
Azalea didn’t want to know what she meant by ‘experiments’. She’d heard some… rumors concerning her process of creating new potions. If they were to be believed, Bubbles had tormented her guildmates for a while before Kyraa had put her foot down. “Still, that antidote you gave Riley helped a lot. Thanks for that.”
Bubbles shrugged, as if the gratitude was awkward somehow, then fell back beside Centrogen. Azalea could hear the two girls talking quietly, but couldn’t make out any of the words apart from Centrogen saying ‘no way!’. Smiling to herself, she quickened her pace, giving them some semblance of privacy.
Before long, Caius had called another halt. At first, Azalea thought he was calling for a break, but then she felt the ground rumbling under her feet. Gripping her staff nervously, she cast her gaze around, trying to find the worm. There was no sight of it, so she stood on her tiptoes and peered over the heads of the strike group, wondering what had caused the halt.
“Looks like we’re getting close to the final boss, everyone,” Caius called from the front. “I want the mages inside. Move to the sides, and get ready for a fight.”
She could just make out that the wide tunnel they’d taken had opened into another large room. Not a cave, but an actual carved stone chamber. As the mages filed into the room still protected by a single line of warriors, she could make out more detail. It was a huge room, lined with tall statues - easily reaching eight feet tall - of various types of fighters and mages. And on the far side, facing the mouth of the tunnel from which they were all spilling, there was a massive creature. Twelve feet high, covered in mangy brown fur, and with thick bull’s horns that ended in sharp points.
“A minotaur,” she heard one of the solos mutter. “Where the hell is that worm?”
The answer seemed clear, at least to Azalea. Seeing as how this was the first door they’d come across in their raid, it seemed important. And the minotaur was only watching them, making no move to attack. He was clearly guarding that door. Which had to mean that something important was behind that door. She guessed it was the worm.
“So it’s the final boss,” Caius muttered. She could tell his mind was thinking along similar lines. “Guard duty, eh? Check your gear, everyone. I have a feeling this will be our last fight before the boss.”
The others went over their weapons, checking for signs of damage that needed to be repaired. Azalea didn’t bother, because she’d repaired her staff the previous night, and she hadn’t gotten into any melee fighting since then. So instead, she waited until the group was ready, and cast a net buff over the entire strike group, boosting their strength and endurance. She was actually certain that she boosted a few of them up to D-Rank. A few turned at the sound of her casting the spell and nodded their gratitude.
Caius, making sure one last time that everyone was in position, stepped forward until he was in the center of the room with the strike group at his side. Finally, the minotaur showed some sign of life and clambered to its feet. It picked up a heavy-looking warhammer that had been resting against the door and took a step forward. All around them, the earth continued to rumble, cementing the idea that the worm was just on the other side of that huge door. With a loud bellow, the minotaur charged forward.
The strike group split at once, jumping to either side to avoid that hammer crushing any of them. It slammed into the stone floor, the heavy head sending bits of stone flying in all directions. At once, the mages all fired a barrage of spells. A few glanced off harmlessly, but most staggered the beast a few steps. Then, before it could switch aggro and charge the mages, two of the strike group stepped up and peppered the minotaur’s legs with powerful strikes. It roared in pain, but seemed nowhere near beaten.
“You shall not threaten the commander!” It bellowed in a deep, angry voice, swinging the hammer back and forth in two vicious swipes. “As long as I draw breath, you shall not disturb his rest!”
With a massive low swipe of the weapon, he sent two players flying back, then lowered his head, letting go of the hammer and charging head-first into the strike group on the left. Caius very nearly got gored, but managed to duck out of the way just in time. Unfortunately, the shield user who’d helped Tankbabe stop the worm wasn’t so lucky. One of the minotaur’s horns pierced right through one of his arms, and with a jerk of its head it send the guy flying with a shout of surprise.
The strike group converged on the minotaur before it could move away, slashing and smashing at it with their weapons. His legs buckled a little, but he retained his stance in spite of the many wounds he’d gotten and began swinging his fists down at the invaders trying to kill him. Before he could make serious contact with any of them, a glowing arrow flew out of the back of the cavern, striking it in the eye and making it rear back, clutching its eye in agony. There was no sign of the arrow that had been fired, but the wound it left behind was very real.
Azalea, turned, trying to find the source of the arrow. Oscar, it seemed, had broken away from the strike group and fired that magic arrow. He was still holding his longbow, a very recent find, and as she spotted him, he was already drawing the string back again and soon fired another of those glowing white arrows. It hit the minotaur in the chest, piercing through him completely. The beast staggered and dropped to one knee, suddenly weak.
The tomboyish brawler woman jumped onto the minotaur’s knee, then with a snap, slammed her fist into its chin. The attack didn’t seem to do too much damage, but its head snapped back, and it seemed dazed. One of the solos took that opportunity to throw a javelin, which buried itself in the minotaur’s chest, just inches below where Oscar’s arrow had pierced it. With a groan, the monster fell onto its back with a crash.
“Looks like your commander’s getting a wake-up call after all,” Caius said, staring down at the minotaur. “Don’t worry, we’ll send him to join you soon.”
He lifted his longsword with two hands, then brought it down as hard as he could, beheading the minotaur and ending the fight.