The rat died first.

The oldest of Millie's companions did its best. It charged at the sword-wielding dragonkin and jumped at the left one's face, mouth open and claws ready to slash.

The one on the right, however, moved in a flash and slammed its sword's pommel into the undead rodent midair. Bones fell at the kobolds' feet with a slight tinkle.

Millie felt the loss at her core. It wasn't sadness or pain, but whatever connected her to her minion had been severed. Without it, she had an emptiness that she felt compelled to fill. To get started on that track, she sent a gravebolt straight into the rat killer's face.

Though wasn't Millie the rat killer? She'd done it first, and it was already dead here…so…

As her HP dipped and the deathly fire washed over the winged kobold's snout, her other two skeletons got into range and started slashing and stabbing at the other one.

The guards were fast, and they were strong. They were good with their weapons. Fast. The hallway wasn't large, but the guards made every inch count as they dodged and parried the daggers from Millie's scouts.

The skeletons made up for any difference in skill with sheer unrelenting pressure. Their daggers cut the winged kobolds all over, and every few slices, Millie felt her health replenish just a bit.

Not wanting to lose these skeletons, too, Millie surged forward and cast [Death's Favor], making sure both of her allies and the guards were well within its aura. Tongues of black-white fire licked at her legs as her HP ticked back up.

The guardian kobolds were making some awful whining noises as soon as Millie cast it. Poor things. Millie threw another gravebolt at the one on the left. Its scales lost some of their luster.

The skeleton attacking that one dodged backward as a sideways slice almost took its head off. That deserved retaliation. Ducking its head, the undead creature gripped its dagger with both hands and ran headfirst at its enemy. The guard held its weapon in a defensive position, ready to block the charge and hold its ground.

At the last moment, the skeletal minion whipped toward the other guard and leaped forward, its dagger above its head. Taking its enemy by complete surprise, the rusty weapon plunged into the winged kobold's armpit. A large gash opened in the creature's side as the skeleton pulled the dagger downward as it returned to the ground.

Between that surprise attack and another gravebolt from Millie, that was enough to take the first of the guards out. As it fell, Millie saw that her minions were wasting no time in double-teaming the remaining guard.

It landed a few really good hits on the skeletons, but with Millie's leeching aura still going strong, the damage to the skeletons ended up being minimal.

By the time the winged kobold fell, Millie was once again at full health. Even though she'd lost a companion, that fight hadn't been hard. Just harder than the others because she didn't have a level 10 elite rampaging through everything.

Before opening the door, Millie checked for loot. One of the guards was wearing a leather bracer, whereas the other wasn't. That made it stand out, so she unclasped it and took it. Inspecting it, a details pane popped up over it.

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[KOBOLD GUARDIAN BRACER]

[DESCRIPTION] What kind of leather is this bracer made out of? You sure you want to know? You looted it from a kobold, so you might not want the answer. May it keep you safer and more alive than its former owner.

Gain +1 CON while wearing this bracer.

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A stat boost! She hadn't expected that. Without hesitating, she wrapped the oddly textured leather around her forearm and checked her status pane.

Nice. Her CON was boosted up to 30 already, giving her a whopping 300 HP! She'd only had 120 yesterday when she started out.

Between the +11 CON she got from Julie because of the staff ZuZu made for her and the +1 from this bracer, she was in pretty good shape.

Her minions hadn't moved from where they were when the guards went down. They stood unnaturally still, not having orders to do anything or go anywhere. Since her [Skelemated Rat] was gone, this was probably a good time to replenish the party. She cast [Skelemation] on the winged kobold she'd taken the bracer from.

The new minion stood taller than the other two, of course. She pointed at its sword, but instead of only grabbing the one it had used to fight her, it also took its partner's.

Perplexed because she hadn't directed the new skeleton to grab the second sword, Millie opened up its stats pane to see what goodies this one brought to the party.

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[SKELEMATED WINGED KOBOLD]

CREATURE TYPE: Undead, Dragonkin

LEVEL: 5

—HP: 130

—MP: 40

—STR: 12

—DEX: 12

—CON: 13

—INT: 6

—WIS: 3

SKILLS:

—Flying, Quick Strike, Dual Wield, X-Block

DEATH MAGE ENHANCEMENT: This minion possesses two additional skills from what it possessed in life.

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Looking it over, Millie was pretty sure that [Quick Strike] is what took out her skeletal rat, and since it had wings already, [Dual Wield] and [X-Block] had to be what her class granted.

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[QUICK STRIKE]

Melee Attack

A fast-moving strike that deals damage based on DEX. Can only be used in reaction to an opponent moving into or out of attack range. Cannot be used more than once every 60 seconds.

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Yeah, that was definitely what killed the skeletal rat minion.

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[DUAL WIELD]

Passive Ability

You can use a single weapon in both hands. The STR requirement of either weapon cannot be more than half your STR score.

For example, if you have a 14 STR score and a weapon has an 8 STR requirement, it cannot be used with this ability, but a 7 STR requirement could be.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

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Combining [Quick Strike] with [Dual Wield] was definitely going to be a lifesaver at some point, Millie was sure. She'd do what she could to keep this guy around for a while.

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[X-BLOCK]

Defensive Ability - Requires Dual Wield

You cross both of your weapons in front of you and attempt to mitigate damage and prevent the attack from landing. Success and damage prevented is based on STR and CON. Can only be used once every 120 seconds.

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By the time she had finished reading all three abilities from her new companion, its partner's corpse had begun to despawn. [Skelemating] it wasn't possible, anyway, as Millie's MP was totally drained by bringing this one back.

But if it was despawning so quickly, Millie didn't want to wait for more guards to pop in. Pushing the metal door open, Millie and her undead entourage strolled into the next room. From the look of it, this was almost certainly the boss chamber for the dungeon.

Millie closed the door behind her, not wanting to alert any guards that might respawn behind her. She didn't know for certain that closing the door wouldn't bring them in if she got in a fight, but it was worth a shot.

The chamber itself was similarly made out of the poorly carved and badly painted stone. A throne that looked to be made out of driftwood and scrap metal sat against the far wall on a lifted platform. Broken-down furniture, tables, and shelves were pressed against the walls, and on top of it all were shiny trinkets and baubles that had to be the kobold leader's trove.

From where she stood, Millie couldn't tell if they were actual treasures in any way or more junk like what filled the rest of the dungeon, only shinier.

Another pair of winged kobolds stood at attention on either side of the throne, and upon it sat a truly odd sight: the fattest kobold that Millie had ever seen. Ever heard of.

It sat slouched, tarnished crown crooked on its head, leaned back on the throne with its hands gripping the end of the armrests. Its legs were spread so far apart that if it weren't for its massive gut hanging down, anyone facing it would get a glimpse of something no one would want to see.

It wore what might have been a fine robe at some point, but the embroidery was threadbare, and the fabric was stained, strained, stretched, and ill-fitted across the monster's massive frame.

The scales that covered the creature gleamed and glistened more than any of the rest that Millie and her companions had slaughtered that day. But it was impossible to tell whether that was a natural sheen or simply a layer of greasiness betraying the thing's lack of hygiene.

Millie expected the latter.

It felt like a standoff. Millie took in her surroundings, and the monsters in front of her simply stared at her. The room was wide enough for her to summon her owlbear, but the timer was nowhere near ready to pop Julie out of storage. Could she just stand here for two hours and wait them out?

Doubtful. She'd never been in a boss room before, but her parents had never mentioned anything letting them wait to recover cooldowns like that.

In taking in the room, Millie had somehow missed a small timer that floated in above her eyeline and a little to the left. It currently read 0:17 and was counting down. Having not known how long it had been ticking away, she had a pretty good idea of what would happen when it reached 0:00.

As the timer approached its expiration, Millie gripped her staff with both hands and prepared to cast [Death's Favor] almost immediately. The room was large enough to maneuver around in, but it was small enough that the spell's area should be wide enough to make it basically impossible not to fight inside it.

Her skeletons rushed forward at 0:00, the newly recruited guard in the lead with the scouts a step behind. The death mage was two steps behind them, positioning herself to cover as much of the room as possible with her powerful life-stealing magic.

The sound of metal on metal echoed around the small chamber as swords clashed together. The living kobolds grunted at the onslaught, both of them using [Quick Strike] skills against her group's leader. The winged skeleton didn't bother to block or dodge, instead taking the hits in stride and slashing outward at its fleshy doppelgängers as it slipped past them to focus the boss itself.

As it did, the crowned kobold shouted, "Guards! Your king is under attack!"

The two scouts took advantage of their larger partner taking the first hits and slashed hard at the guards' midsections. Blood erupted from the one on the right, spewing further than it should have for such a strike. Certainly, her [Skelemated Kobold Scout] landed a critical strike and hit something vital inside the creature.

Millie wasn't wholly sure whether to focus on the boss or its guards, so she decided the best thing she could do was lower the number of opponents. One of a [Necromancer]'s biggest strengths was overwhelming their opponents with sheer numbers.

Multiple [Gravebolts] came from her hands, hitting their marks in a way that even the toughest scales or armor couldn't protect them.

She couldn't be protected from that cold drain, either. Pushing the magic through herself still hurt, but she was getting much more used to it. It was made much more bearable with the second-by-second recovery she got from being in the favor of death. Not to mention the HP that her enhanced kobold's attacks sent her way.

Holding the staff in both hands, Millie considered going ahead and getting into the fray herself. But she had minimal strength and no special melee attacks. [Death Mage] wasn't a melee class, and with her primary attack spell one that used her own HP to power it, putting herself forward would put her in danger.

"Guards!" the king shouted again as it kicked its stubby leg toward its former attendant in an attempt to delay the inevitable and prolong its miserable existence.

The clang of the metal door opening got Millie's attention immediately, and the two winged guards had indeed respawned between the time she had closed it and the countdown to engage the boss had ended. Since the new necromancer was the closest target, both of them focused their attention on her.

They ran into the room, their swords at the ready, swinging at Millie the moment they got into range. She dropped to the ground prone, ducking under their sideways swipes and had to roll to the side so she didn't get caught between their blades as the guards quickly recalibrated and slashed downward at where she lay.

Maybe she should have waited on the cooldown for ZuZu's staff.

"One of you, back here!" Millie screamed at her skelemations. "Adds on me!"

In serendipitous timing, Millie felt the slight twinge that meant she had gained XP and one of the smaller kobolds turned its attention to the new attackers.

Millie scrambled away from the adds as the kobold scout rapidly slashed and stabbed at them. Standing up and hoping that one could solo the pair for just a bit, she cast [Gravebolt] at the only one of the original guards left. It dipped out of the way.

That wasn't fair! Monsters hadn't dodged her magic before. Trying again, Millie's spellcasting was interrupted as the reanimated kobold that was attacking the boss suddenly flew in her direction. It slammed into Millie's side, and the two fell together. Her head knocked against the wall and left a trail of blood as it scraped down the stone as she lowered to the ground.

A coarse, throaty laugh came from the dais with the throne. The kobold king said, "Dead one will not have my shinies!"

The room was chaos, even more than it had been earlier. The sounds were louder, her vision was blurred, and the kobold king seemed so much bigger than he was just a few seconds before.

Millie realized two seconds too late that was because he was charging her and the dual-wielding skeleton that was trying to gain its footing again. She blinked, then again, and her vision wouldn't clear. That knock to her head was something.

"Dead one is gonna die!" shouted the rotund reptilian as he charged Millie and her defender.

Another surge of XP came, and Millie knew the guard who had dodged her bolts was now dead. Finally able to gain some footing, Millie used the wall to get back to her feet. She ran around the king kobold and saw two swords crossed in front of him, her skeleton using its [X-Block] ability.

Sparks of black-white fire flew as she ran. Millie had been knocked clear out of the area of [Death's Favor], so she hadn't gotten any healing from what was being drained from the living kobolds.

Unfortunately, that also meant that her skelemated guard was also out of the healing aura, too. "Get over here," she shouted, and it immediately started sidestepping her direction. It was only a few steps out of bounds, at least. The boss should follow it back inside and begin to get drained, too.

Her HP ticked upward from a much lower point than she'd ever been before. Even the scout skeletons did a good job of tanking the adds because of the life drain from [Death's Favor].

Her HP in a somewhat safe range, Millie took it back down by focus-firing at one of the adds. She was casting multiple gravebolts as quickly as she could. Even with three enemies in the AoE and her minion's [Stab] enhancement, she wasn't net positive for HP, but casting her only offensive spell wasn't nearly as dangerous as it could have been.

Or it wouldn't have been if one of her skeletons hadn't just taken a blow that shattered its skull. The magic holding it together was released, and Millie knew that one of her kobolds was gone.

Thankfully, it wasn't the one with the healing [Stab].

Millie recast [Death's Favor], refreshing its timer because she had no idea how much time had passed since the fight started. The absolute last thing she wanted to happen was her only source of healing—and one of her major sources of damage—to simply fade away when things were not going especially in her favor.

Millie started alternating targets for the gravebolts she cast, waiting for her health to tick up a little, then repeating that rotation. She was always on the move, staying just out of the kobold king's reach so that it only focused on its former guard that was now under her control.

The first of the adds fell to a powerful slash her kobold scout made across its neck. The second dropped as Millie's death magic struck its arm and she felt the life simply leave the creature.

"My guards!" the kobold king yelled. "How you stronger than my guards?"

Ignoring the taunt, Millie prepped a [Gravebolt], as a familiar sound came from behind her.

The door was thrown open and a figure rushed in the door. Not two, as last time, but this one was larger. A human, and judging by the size, a male. He held a spear in both hands and ran straight at the boss, not even acknowledging Millie's presence.

A few steps in, Millie's vision flashed at the same time the human screamed. It was a horrible, animalistic scream, like a part of him was being torn away.

From a particular point of view, it kind of was. Black-white flames licked at his feet as he stepped inside the draining aura of [Death's Favor]. Millie saw a message pop up just as the outline around the spearman turned red.

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[YOU HAVE COMMITTED A CRIMINAL ACT. YOU HAVE ATTACKED AN ENTITY WITH FRIENDLY (GREEN) STATUS. YOU MAY BE ATTACKED FREELY FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS. CONTINUED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY WILL RESET AND/OR EXTEND THE DURATION OF THIS EFFECT.]

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