"Stop!" the bear yelled.

"Seriously, you need to stop!" Rick shouted. He didn’t know for sure what was going on, but the hunter and the bear were both on the same page. He didn’t want to piss off the most powerful players here.

The slimy amalgamation was halfway to them. Daniel threw a confused, angry glance over his shoulder. "Why? I'm going to kill it!"

The high level hunter was cursing at Daniel. Rick couldn't understand most of his words, but the sentiment was clear. He was threatening to do grievous harm to Daniel, the party, and every member of their extended family.

"We don’t have to do what that asshole says!"

The bear loomed up on its hind feet and jabbed a paw at Daniel. "Listen noob! Just shut up and put your weapon away! You know nothing!”

The bear dropped to all fours and dashed off across the grate. A few dozen yards away, it spun and roared. The amalgamation immediately turned, clearly taunted. The bear started running around the platform just fast enough that the amalgamation didn't catch up.

"Why the hell do we have to listen to them? What's going on?" Daniel complained.

"Just take it easy man," Rick said. "She's going to kite it around the circle and maybe we can still salvage this thing. But we don't know what's going on, so we need to keep the hell out of her way.”

"Kiting it?"

Gambit looked disgusted. "It's a gaming term. He means that bear is going to get it to follow so he can kill it where he need to. For an achievement."

"What?" Daniel looked back and forth between Rick and Gambit and then glanced at where the bear was still backing around the circular platform. "How the hell do you know all this?"

Gambit sounded genuinely annoyed. "Look, it's a gaming thing. Just keep quiet and watch."

Daniel put his bow away and he folded his arms stubbornly. “I’m not a moron,” he said. “You guys have experience and I get that, but if you stop and explain things to me instead of just making me feel like an idiot, maybe I can start being a partner and not just a drag on the team. That’s how it works in the Army. Everyone’s got to understand their job so they can do it. If I dragged a private fresh out of AIT off to clear IEDs and just handed him a screwdriver and stood back mocking him, he’d blow up and so would I, and it wouldn’t be funny.” He stopped, considering. “Well, maybe once or twice. I met some really… special… types back when.”

The bear had taken the amalgamation completely around the platform and was now standing in front of the chamber it had emerged from.

"Can you one shot it?" the bear called.

"Just wait right there," the hunter growled. At least he had stopped his profane tirade. The arrow whizzed, the amalgamation popped, and the metal grate sizzled to liquid.

Gambit breathed a sigh of relief. Rick glanced at him. "Any idea what this achievement's about?"

Gambit shrugged. "How the hell should I know? But any dungeon boss achievement's gotta be worth something, right?"

Rick nodded. Daniel just continued to glare. He sighed. “So, an achievement – usually that means you defeated a boss in an extra special, convoluted way. Maybe you get better loot, maybe a title, maybe just bragging rights.”

Daniel’s mouth sagged open. “Does that mean – people can kill these things over and over?”

Rick sighed. “Sure, that’s a basic game mechanic –”

“I get that,” Daniel snapped. “I’ve played games. I mean, here. You think we could leave this place and come back tomorrow and do it again?”

“Not if I have anything to do with it,” Gambit said.

The bear rejoined them. "Now just stay here and wait."

The hunter had already moved several paces to one side. He was keeping up his station exactly opposite from where the next chamber would open. The new amalgamation emerged. A moment later Arthax one-shot it.

"Are you here for the mount?" the bear growled.

"Yeah," the hunter replied as he shifted to one side and shot the next amalgamation.

"Can we have everything else?"

"Don't care," came the growled response. “Not like I need any of this.”

The bear sat on its haunches, laughing. “Your lucky day, scrubs. If he wanted to be a jerk, he'd take everything. He has Master Looter so there’s nothing to stop him. And you guys certainly could use all the gear that drops."

"Is this the last boss of the dungeon?" Rick asked.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The bear nodded its furry head. "You're in a party? Then you'll definitely want the tokens. If he lets you have them.”

The hunter apparently heard the bear's comments. He gave a snort from the other side of the platform. There were only a few amalgamations chambers left to open.

"Be ready when as the next one dies,” the hunter warned.

The bear stood up. "In a second we're all going to run to where the hunter is, but you have to follow me." The hunter fired another arrow that whistled just above the party's head to strike an emerging amalgamation. "Okay, move!"

The bear took off, running. It headed straight towards where the amalgamation had just melted a hole in the floor, dodging around the hole to the left. When it reached the edge of the platform it turned to follow along the low, knee-high railing. Rick was hot on the tank's heels, with Gambit just behind. Daniel reluctantly brought up the rear.

There was a small space between the now-empty canisters and the outer railing. Rick, following the bear, ran along that space, passing one melted hole after another, almost all the way around the platform. They reached the hunter on the far side, as overhead, Fleshcrafter Snithers cackled and pulled at his levers.

The next canister was just opening. The hunter shot across the now empty platform to kill the amalgamation as it emerged. “Now back up,” he growled.

The bear stepped back, and the others scrambled to keep out of the way, pressing up against the railing.

Between each melted holes was only about a foot of mesh. When the circle of holes was complete, the center of the platform would be a very dangerous place to be.

There were only two canisters left. The next one popped, and the hunter lifted his bow. Now standing close to the overgeared player, Rick got a better view of the weapon. It appeared to be made of a pair of snakes intertwined with each other, perpetually turning their heads to and fro as they hissed at each other or the hunter or anyone standing nearby. Somehow, the bow retained its shape as the hunter pulled the string back. When the string was fully pulled back, an arrow appeared. The arrow was a glowing blue shaft. As the string twanged, it shot across the platform like a bolt of lightning that briefly connected the hunter's weapon to the target before fading to be replaced by the next. Each arrow the weapon fired, Rick noticed, seemed to be different. First had been fire, and then the next one a spear of green acid, and another a shard of ice. There were other swirling effects that Rick couldn't guess at, but each had killed an amalgamation with a single shot.

"Move back!" the hunter cried as soon as the amalgamation exploded, and they all scrambled along the path.

One left.

The final chamber opened, and the final amalgamation died as easily as the others.

A deep resonating voice echoed through the cavernous chamber. "What? Impossible! I will have to deal with you myself!"

All eyes looked up as the boss jumped from the platform above and landed in the center of the mesh floor.

*Crack!*

All around the platform, the few wires still connecting between each melted hole gave way, and the whole platform collapsed.

"Impossible!" The boss screamed as he fell into a giant bubbling green vat below.

[Phase three begun]

[Phase three complete]

[Victory]

An inert lump floated to the surface of the bubbling cauldron below. It glowed faintly.

A metallic clank caught Rick’s attention. On the side of the broken hole a dangling chain hung down to the chamber floor, near the vat with the boss’ body.

The hunter strode along the platform to the chain. "I'm going down to loot. You, quadruped, is there anything you need? Or should I give everything to the noobs?"

"I'll take the pants if he dropped them," the bear said. The intensity had gone out of her voice, and she sounded softer, more feminine.

The hunter dropped off the platform and grabbed the chain, which he swarmed down as quickly as a squirrel on the trunk of a tree.

"We've only got a second." The bear turned to Gambit, who was closest. "So tell me quick, are you guys really human? Are you from Earth?"

"I'm from Mongolia. These guys are American," Gambit jabbed a thumb toward Rick and Daniel.

Before Rick could say anything, there was a shout of delight from the hunter below. They all looked down. He was dancing around between the vats and pumping his fist in the air.

"I got the mount! You guys are good luck!"

The bear gave a toothy grin. "That was all he was in here for. It's pretty ugly, but it's incredibly rare. I heard about this guy from another party. They say has been running this place for a thousand years."

A series of notifications ran up Rick's screen. They announced the gear as the hunter assigned it to the party, to the rest of the group. The first name on the list stopped Rick cold.

[Fleshcrafter pants assigned to Samantha.]

Rick heart leapt. How could he have not seen it sooner?

"Sam, it's me!" Rick shouted. He spun to face the bear and reached up to throw back the hood of his cloak. The bear's jaw dropped open, and for a long moment, they stared at each other.

"What? How?”

“I'm glad you're alright!"

The bear morphed. Its flesh rippled, and then a young woman stood in front of them. She wore a white breastplate that did nothing to hide her curves. Her long golden hair – both longer and lighter than Rick remembered it – framed her face. Her emerald green eyes shone with astonishment. Disbelief, elation, then concern all flashed across her slightly rounded features.

Rick could only stare, feeling a sense of elation and accomplishment. He had found her. She was alive!

“How did you get here?” Sam asked. “I – Earth hasn’t been integrated! I would have noticed!”

"We took a StarcruiseR. They strapped a couple of them together and sent us brutally fast," Daniel explained.

She didn't even glance towards him. "But why? Why you, Rick?"

He felt a little annoyance at her reaction. He’d hoped for, maybe not gratitude, but a sense she was glad to see him, maybe. "They sent us to find you."

"They sent a whole crew of us," Gambit explained, "to find the Mars expedition. This guy's military and a bunch of us are gamers. Professionals."

She was nodding her head. "Okay, but..."

A pop-up appeared at the top of Rick's interface. [Dungeon will be closing in 10 seconds.]

"Where are you guys? Are you at the starting area-"

Rick interrupted. "Where are you? We'll come to find you."

She shook her head. "Just listen! It'll be easier for me to get to you. Just tell me where you are."

"We're at Stone Spire now but…” The timer was down to five seconds. “We were planning to leave soon."

"Look, let me just get your contact information." She exchanged fist bumps with Gambit.

He frowned and shook his head. "I got an error message. It said you disabled chat?"

"Oh yeah, sorry, I was dealing with some jerks. Here, let me turn that off. Okay." She held up her hand. "Hit me now." There was one second left. Rick lunged forward. Gambit already had his fist out for the bump, but she was gone.

The whole world changed as they were teleported away and found themselves back in the camp.

"Did you get it?" Rick demanded.

Gambit went glassy-eyed for a second, then shook his head. "No, she's not on my chat list. It ended before we bumped."

Rick swore.