When they woke up and left the castle-shaped tent, they were surprised by the accumulation of slugs in front of the entrance to the rest area.
They looked at each other, asking with their eyes if they had seen the same thing, and they turned back to the dozens of gelatinous bodies that were moving in front of the barrier.
“I distract them and you take care of the rest,” suggested the lynx.
“It’s very dangerous,” the elf objected.
“I’ll be careful. What can happen? I’m just going to ‘take a look’,” she mocked herself, since it was the same she had said when she had entered to see the floor boss, and what had led them to a very dangerous situation.
The elf wanted to continue discussing it, but her sister had already left, jumping fast from side to side, while many Spittle tried to reach her. So, she left too, and was immediately surrounded by enemies, but they couldn’t launch their attacks with so little delay from the previous one. They could only try to crush her with their bodies, but they were too slow.
An enormous column of light surrounded Goldmi as the feline was taking shelter in the rest area, and soon a second column followed, eradicating a large number of those creatures of mana, although there were still many others a little further away.
Quickly, she entered and examined her sister with a frown and puffy cheeks, somewhat irritated with her.
“You’re reckless, you’re always making me worry,” she complained, before hugging her, not letting her go until long after she had healed her minor injuries.
The lynx said nothing. She knew her sister wasn’t berating her, just expressing her concern for her. The bond of their souls allowed them to express themselves beyond words.
They ate breakfast while recovering the mana, and while the remaining slugs were gathering again in front of the door. They were fewer, but they were still many.
Goldmi sighed and shrugged when her sister looked at her, so she prepared to go after her, clearing the entrance of their enemies again. But, this time, after the two Light Pillar, she didn’t enter. Instead, she wielded the bow and began to shoot the rest.
“Hey! Leave me some!” the lynx complained, leaving again immediately.
She pounced toward a somewhat scattered group of seven, and began to jump between them and attack, while the elf was taking care of ten others, exhausting her mana and facing the remaining three at melee.
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“It seems that I’m not the only reckless one,” the lynx accused a little later, at which her sister stuck her tongue out at her.
Both returned to the rest area, recovering from their injuries, as they discussed what to do next, how to face the floor boss. They made the decision to confront it to discover its weaknesses, and not to hesitate to withdraw if it became dangerous. For now, they wanted to feel how strong it was. They just wanted to “take a look.”
This was the place they had fled, harassed by hundreds of life-threatening slugs, but now they’d barely found a few on the way, and there were none left next to the floor boss.
They entered carefully, watching it, ready to run away if the time came. Suddenly, it fired a lot more Spittle than the smallest ones. To their surprise, It wasn’t directed at them, and they realized too late that their goal was to cut off their withdrawal.
Goldmi fired an Ethereal Arrow into the entrance, creating a small hole, but immediately more Spittle came to reinforce the blockade. She then considered using Light Pillar, but her sister dissuaded her.
“Only as a last resort. Let’s see what it is capable of.”
“Ok. Let’s go”
Immediately, the archer fired normal, Wind and Ethereal arrows, in addition to testing some skills, confirming that, as in the case of the smaller slugs, the Ethereal one was the most efficient, although the damage wasn’t very high compared to the vitality of their enemy. She would need hundreds of them to kill it.
Meanwhile, the lynx had cautiously moved closer, and had arrived in front of the huge mana monster. She easily dodged the Spittle, as the movement of the gelatinous body was the same as that of the others, although she was soon in trouble.
The floor boss could fire continuously, forcing her to dodge over and over again. That prevented her from resting for even a moment, but what she didn’t expect was that, as it continued to shoot, the huge multi-ton body jumped on her.
She used Jump to get away from the impact area, although shock waves hit her, and sent her several meters away. She rolled in the air, and fell on all four legs, in time to dodge the continuous shots again, and slightly bruised.
She could see the entrance to the next floor, which was just where her enemy had been a moment ago, and which was protected from a layer of Spittle. Knowing that the huge slug’s main objective was to protect that point, she ran towards it and Shred it apart, forcing the slug to jump back to its original position.
The feline’s goal was to make sure it didn’t get close to her sister, and this time she was able to dodge the rough attack with more proficiency, as she was waiting for it. She Jumped to avoid it, and jumped back again so that the shock waves hit her in the air, so they simply pushed her a few meters, but didn’t damage her.
Meanwhile, Goldmi kept firing from a distance, while making sure to conserve enough mana for any eventuality, and using Energy Link to transfer part of hers to her sister, since she needed it more than she did.
She wasn’t too far from the entrance, ready to attack it and run away if things got bad. If the fight continued as before, so her sister could keep the floor boss at bay and not run out of energy, they could win that battle. It would have been much easier if they had fire spells, to which their enemy was vulnerable, but they had to fight with the resources at their disposal.
What worried her the most was that, in the game, floor bosses often had multiple resources, and often changed strategies when their vitality began to decrease. What was clear was that the battle would last for hours at best. And they couldn’t make any mistakes.