It took four of their number, all with their Strength at D-Rank, to push open the final door to the boss’ chamber. At least, they were fairly certain it was the boss’s chamber. The odds were good as they got their first glimpse at the interior of the chamber on the other side of the door. Like the room before it, it was intricately carved, with plenty of tall stone statues of figures holding a variety of weapons. This chamber, however, was built in a circular fashion, with no door on the opposite side. Instead, a circular dais sat in the direct center of the circular room, with a lone figure seated on a stone throne.

At first, they missed the figure, as they were small - no bigger than any of their tallest fighters - and his dark grey armor blended into the darkness of the room pretty well. But as they stepped inside, the figure lifted his head, regarding them all with a look that was equal parts superiority and boredom.

“I see I have some new challengers,” the stranger said. “I’ll assume you don’t know whose slumber it is you disturb?”

Nobody answered at first. They all assumed it was just the kind of thing a boss said during his intro sequence, right before he attacked. But he seemed to be waiting for some kind of reply, so after an awkward pause, Caius stepped forward, speaking uncertainly into the silence.

“Well, if that minotaur outside the door is to be believed, you’re some kind of General,” he said. “But no, we don’t know your name.”

A slight smile curved across the face of the stranger, as if he found Caius’ remark amusing. Yet at the same time, he turned to his left, where a sheathed sword and shield leaned against the arm of the stone chair. He hefted the shield, which stood nearly four feet tall, and slipped the blade into his belt. “Very well. You are ignorant of me. Worry not, this state of affairs shall not remain for long. I will avenge Geraminus, then return to my slumber.”

At once, words appeared in a window of text for all the players.

Captain Matlin

Paragon of the Guard

Last of the Felarian

“Captain?” Azalea heard one of the strike group solos mutter. “Not General?”

“Come to me, Great Worm Arcifex!” Captain Matlin drew the blade, revealing pitch-black steel with silver etchings along the spine of the blade. At his shouted command, the earth beneath their feet rumbled more fiercely than ever. With an explosion of stone and dirt, the worm that had ambushed them appeared in the chamber, bursting out of the ground directly in front of Matlin, then lunging across the empty space right for the strike group.

By the time the worm landed, narrowly dodged by the members of the strike group, Azalea could see that Matlin had actually jumped onto the worm, riding it as easily as some might a horse. When Arcifex tunneled back into the earth, Matlin stepped smoothly onto the smooth surface of the stone, his sword raised and ready to strike. Except that he wasn’t facing the strike group. Instead, he was a mere foot away from Azalea. She felt a cold hand of fear grip her heart as the sword began to fall in her direction.

With a blur of movement and the silvery flash of moving steel, Tankbabe jumped in the path of the arcing blade. But she hadn’t had enough time to set her position, and she was off balance. The power of that one sword stroke knocked her out of the way at once, sending her crashing to the side. But it was enough to save Azalea, who finally had enough time to jump back, her staff coming up.

Caius, Riley, and the brawler woman attacked from behind, moving quickly even if they weren’t as coordinated as they could be. Matlin spun lightly on the spot, blocking their attacks with a speed that belied his bulky frame and heavy armor. That black blade came up and around, crashing into Caius’ shield and rocking him. But he wasn’t knocked aside as easily as Tankbabe had been, and he immediately went on the attack once more. His sword thrusts up and forward, glancing off Matlin’s armor with a shower of sparks.

Azalea fired a bolt of mana at the boss, still retreating until she felt the door to the chambers at her back. Centrogen and Bubbles followed her example, both women firing their own spells. Caius continued his rush, and though he couldn’t seem to land any significant hits, he fought hard, and succeeded in pushing Matlin back several feet with his flurry of attacks. The boss’ superior smile faltered somewhat, and he gritted his teeth, holding his position.

“I like you,” the boss said. “Your attacks are full of conviction, and you have power despite your weak frame. But you should really pay attention, lad. I’m not the only threat in this dungeon.”

As he said it, the ground burst apart once again. This time, Arcifex didn’t lunge toward his target. Instead, the worm’s body twisted as it surfaced, to come slamming down, its carpace smashing two members of the strike team and one of the solo mages flat. Coins and items exploded like small bombs, splashing out almost a dozen feet from where the bodies had stood.

It was only at the last second that Caius saw the attack coming, and sidestepped. Matlin copied his motion, stepping smoothly out of the radius of Arcifex’s body. Then, seeing that Caius was off-balance and had abandoned his rush, stepped forward, his heavy black blade arcing down with a savage hiss. Caius blocked the stroke, but he was rocked from the force of it.

The raiding party fought against Matlin, their members cycling in for an attack and jumping back to avoid that whirling black blade. All the while, the mage party continued casting their spells, either buffing their allies or attacking Matlin directly. Only Caius seemed to have any real impact, however, managing to score a cut on Matlin’s face when the Captain had turned to try and strike at one of the Sisters of the Night. The cut healed almost at once, however, and he seemed no worse for the wear.

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“Nothing we’re doing is working on him!” One of the solos shouted as he delivered a flurry of clumsy sword strokes. “It’s like our attacks don’t even hurt him!”

Only a few of them could see the real reason for that. In spite of the staggering difference in numbers, Matlin was fighting with an intense, focused air. It might look as if he was attacking indiscriminately, but he was giving certain members of their force space, picking which direction he moved with careful consideration, and attacking the weaker members of the group, or whoever made mistakes he could punish. Oftentimes, those two factors were in the same person.

All the while, Arcifex burst out of the ground every thirty seconds or so, lunging, smashing, and attempting to eat the raiding party. But they got used to the worm’s tactics quickly, and outside of one person who had the misfortune of being targeted by both Arcifex and the Captain, the worm claimed no victims. There were still twelve of them, though at the moment their numbers didn’t feel quite like an advantage.

“There has to be some secret to this fight,” Azalea muttered, casting a quick net buff on the four fighters that were facing Matlin. The Captain ignored them, however, and pivoted, charging through a suddenly open space toward the mages. But Caius was there in a flash, his feet planted, stopping his progress. Matlin let out a yell of frustration and tried to knock him aside without success.

“Caius!” She shouted, sudden inspiration striking her out of nowhere. “What if the worm is the key?”

She wasn’t sure he heard her at first, but she saw the reaction on Matlin’s face. The warrior’s grime was completely gone now, and a pale tone entered his face at her words. He tried to rush her down again, but there were too many people in the way. He knew she was onto something, she thought quickly. It didn’t help that she didn’t realize what she was close to discovering. The worm… the worm… She gasped, suddenly understanding. Then, to everyone’s surprise, she pushed forward.

“It’s the worm!” She shouted. “It’s staying out of the fight, but every time it comes up, he gets slower!”

As if on cue, Arcifex appeared once more. This time, she saw the motion that Matlin made before it surfaced, however. He’d looked directly at her, subtly pointing in her direction with the tip of his blade before bringing it down on a member of the raiding party. Arcifex slammed back into the ground after failing to bite anyone, and she felt the rumbling under her feet grow slightly stronger. Somehow, she knew what would happen next, and threw herself to the side.

Sure enough, Arcifex appeared right where she’d been standing. Its heavy body slammed into the stone doors that led to the chamber - now closed - and bounced off of their surface. It couldn’t burrow through the doors! Disoriented, the worm crashed back down onto the ground as it had when Tankbabe and Laf had stopped it earlier. It flailed frantically, trying to return to the ground. It was helpless.

“Attack the worm!” Caius shouted. It seemed he’d heard her words over the battle after all. He didn’t turn to attack Arcifex, however, instead continuing to fight Matlin. He used the same rushing pattern of attacks as before, pushing the Captain back as the rest of the raid party descended on the worm. Attacks rained down on it from all angles, and though most of the strikes couldn’t punch through its carapace, some blows were landing. Matlin, furious that one lone figure was keeping him occupied, let out a roar of frustration.

“Out of my way, weak adventurer!” He thundered, stopping Caius’ latest rush with his shield, then slamming the hilt of his sword down, disarming Caius. The warrior stumbled back and to the side, and Matlin charged forward to the rescue of his worm ally. But then Caius was in his face once more, his shield raised to take the latest stroke of Matlin’s sword.

“Not so fast, bastard,” he said, his teeth bared in a fierce grin. He had no sword, so he socked the Captain in the mouth, knocking his head back. Matlin grunted and kicked out with one foot, catching Caius’ shield and throwing him flat. But he was up again in a heartbeat, the defensive equipment stopping that shield once again. With a yell of primal fury, he pushed forward, pinning the blade between two shields, his fist slamming into his opponent’s face again and again.

Arcifex wasn’t faring any better than his ally. The worm, shocked still by another of Azalea’s lightning spells, was having trouble even mustering the energy to flail its body. It was still full of life, however, and succeeded in twisting around to snap at Azalea. She jumped back, narrowly avoiding its maw, and fired a mana bolt right down its throat. The energy of the spell almost seemed to burn the monster from the inside, and spurts of little white flame and blueish blood sprayed out all along its body.

The beast screamed its pain and rage right into her face, nearly paralyzing her with terror, then snapped forward again, trying to eat her. It could only remember its master’s last command, the silent order to kill this girl first, so it flailed violently, its tail catching an unwary member of the strike group and throwing them to the side, then moved forward. Azalea dodged, then put a fireball right down its mouth. At first, she thought that was enough, that the worm was dead. But its hot breath still rolled over her, and it finally managed to put its mouth against the dirt, disappearing into the floor as easily as if it were diving into water.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she growled, shooting a mana bolt after it. The spell glanced off harmlessly, doing no damage. That didn’t matter. She knew it would surface again, focusing on her. She was ready. The other members of the raiding party were scattering, not wanting to be in one large clump when it appeared again. But Azalea knew where the beast would appear. Taking a deep breath, she prepared a spell, and her fortitude. Even if it killed her, she was taking this monster down.

Arcifex appeared once more, just as she knew it would. And, just as she’d predicted, it was facing her as it surfaced. She could see right down its throat, past all those rows and rows of wickedly sharp teeth, right into the base of its throat. And that was exactly where she put her fireball. Mere feet away from its prey, feet away from achieving the goal of devouring the greatest threat to the teamwork between it and its master, the worm exploded.

With the force of a small bomb, the chitinous plate that coated the outside of its body burst outward, knocking over several members of the raiding party and showering them all in blueish-purple gore. Unlike nearly every monster she’d killed, the worm did not simply vanish into a cloud of greyish-black smoke, but virtually painted the door and wall of the boss’ chamber.

Over by Caius, Matlin let out a scream of fury. At that exact moment, the warrior, seizing on his distraction, quickly turned and scooped his weapon from the ground, then brought it up and thrust it into Matlin’s gut. It punched through the man’s armor like a hot knife through butter, skewering him. He coughed, blood spraying from his mouth. Caius withdrew the blade and stepped back to take another swing.

“No!” Matlin’s yell actually did paralyze them all. He smashed his shield into Caius, sending the warrior tumbling back, severely dazed, once again losing his sword. But instead of attacking, the Captain gave the entire raiding party a hate-filled glare. Then, with one last glance at his dead companion, the man knelt and put one hand on the cold stone floor. Like Arcifex, he appeared to simply sink into the stone and simply vanished.

System Message: Raid Complete! Congratulations!