Welcome Hero,

Whether you’re an origin or a summoned, you’ve joined an elite group of individuals who seek to become more than an indentured servant. Inside, you’ll find all the tools, guidelines, requirements, and rules you’ll need to have a good chance at success in your current endeavors. Enter now to begin your new life.

* The Adventurer’s Guild

Xorfax the Flesh Ripper [https://deviantimppress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Xorfax-03.png]

Even with ‘Xorfax the Flesh Ripper’ looming before them all, Nash could tell that several of his party members were acting... strangely. Having finally reached the final deep dungeon boss, they had insisted on resting up for longer than was necessary to prepare for the coming battle. Nash understood to a point. They were the first ones to take on this boss, after all.

But they were now risking having to battle through respawns on the way back out, and for no reason. Any additional delay was a waste of time. It didn’t make sense, but of the twenty-five party members, only six had voted to start the battle when he had called for it.

Nash also noted the occasional odd looks that many in the party had been giving him of late. These battle-hardened adventurers, his former students from another world, knew something and had decided to remain silent. That filled Nash with unease. His girlfriend, Frey, sat by his side the entire time.

It felt nice to hold the cute acolyte’s hand, his brightest student from their collective past life, though he desperately wanted to double-check his supply of potions before the fight began. That was hard to do with the requisite hand occupied. Helplessly, he seethed for what felt like an eternity.

Whatever was going on had his hackles up and he was done waiting. This was their first attempt on this boss but they knew resurrections were possible so no one would risk permanent death here tonight. He couldn’t understand what they were so afraid of and it filled him with unease. Though no other guild had successfully defeated this boss, many had made attempts and there was no new boss mechanic that would wipe them completely and end all their lives here today.

Besides, they had waited a whole week for this dungeon and they were out of time. Another few hours and the dungeon would reset itself entirely, costing them experience and treasures they’d probably need if they ever hoped to complete the monthly quota. Yes, it was time to get moving.

“We’ve lingered here enough,” he barked loudly enough for all to hear. Pulling his hand free of Frey’s tight grip, Nash rose to his feet and brushed his hair back from his eyes so he could face everyone while he spoke. “It’s past time we kill this bony abomination.”

Nash summoned forth his sword and shield from his pocket-dimensional inventory. It amazed him just how light they were in his hands. Despite having a lithe frame and thanks to the rules of this new world, he was well-muscled and incredibly strong. Gripping both tightly in his leather-gloved hands, he let out a mighty battle cry. His shout drowned out the muttering disagreement among his group and drew the attention of the floating skeletal monstrosity that filled up a third of the cavern. Ignoring the curses and rebuttals, he charged across the cavernous room and into the great bone golem boss.

His sword bit into the golem’s bony jaw with a metallic ‘chink’, doing minimal damage to the bare bone but drawing the boss’s ire towards him. His sword vibrated in his hand from the jarring attack but he held tight. The huge skull drew back the six scythe-like appendages that ringed it like macabre crab legs and hissed. Luckily, it could only attack with two of the bony protrusions at a time. Stepping back a moment, he deflected a powerful attack with his shield while parrying the other bony blade with his sword. He wasn’t doing much damage, but that wasn’t his job.

Blue bolts fizzed past him to strike the creature with sizzling pops. Glowing golden and green arrows exploded against the monster’s bones. Balls of fire and cold peppered the boss with respective scorch marks and frostbite.

His off-tank, a beefy dragoon named Marcus was beside him and he was followed by Cylis the soldier, and the massive berserker, Garfur. Why all their names had changed when they came to this world, they had no clue. But here it was just easier to go by their new names.

More of his party joined in moments later and they all began hacking and slashing the ribcage and jawbone of the boss, the only body parts that were within reach of their melee weapons.

Nash continued to dodge or deflect the skull boss’s attacks, his party whittling down its defenses while he kept it busy. He took the occasional hit from the powerful monster, but his wounds healed up immediately, thanks to Frey and Tasha’s healing spells. However, they weren’t able to mitigate the ever-increasing sickness that each attack brought with it. Only time could do that and the boss wasn't about to let him have any.

That’s where Marcus came in. The former class troublemaker and current off-tank, Marcus was heavily armored and wielded a spear. He stepped into Nash’s spot, muttering just loud enough for Nash to hear. “I’ve got this, old man.”

“Hey ugly, you’ve got something in your eye,” yelled Marcus, ignoring the hateful glare that Nash threw his way.

Instead, he plunged his long spear into the flaming eyesocket of the boss. Nash found out quickly that Marcus always had something to say, even when he was a student. Now that he was a tank, his mouth had only gotten worse. It may not have been a big deal, humorous even, but Marcus’s attitude had followed his mouth. Nash wondered if he would need to have a chat with Marcus sooner than later.

Besides, Nash wasn’t Nate, the retired and crippled former soldier turned teacher from the old world. He was the same age as them now and had full use of his legs. For some reason, Marcus was just trying to shine him on. Yeah, he’d be chatting with Marcus very soon. For now, they had a boss to beat.

Nash used Marcus’s distraction to back away, while the boss hissed again and focused on Marcus instead, giving Nash a moment’s reprieve to recover from the devastating sickness. After so many stacks, it had him almost too weak to stand. He kept his eye on Marcus the entire time. The dragoon was starting to slow down and weaken, the sickness eating into his vitality. Finally, Nash had recovered and stepped back into the lead spot. Marcus nodded gruffly and backed off.

“Remember me, smiley,” taunted Nash, plunging his sword in between the boss’s two pointy front teeth.

Before it could dislodge the sword or pull it from his grasp, he twisted it within the narrow gap. The left tooth moved. He had loosened it. Using all the leverage he could muster, he wrenched the unbreakable sword sideways and popped the tooth free. Now exposed, the creature’s “heart” pulsed red within its toothy grin. Nash smiled. They had just completed the first phase of the battle.

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Just then, Nash heard a sound that should have been impossible. It was the all too familiar sound of a gong. This particular gong sound indicated that he had been dropped from the group. Looking back, he watched each member of his party evaporate. Marcus and Frey were the last to go and while Frey had her back turned, Marcus put his arm around her and gave Nash a sneer. It was clearly done to break Nash’s spirit. Then their bodies phased out, following those of the rest of the party. It had only taken a moment, and now he was alone.

Nash’s spirit was far from broken. He was angry. However, he was also distracted by the betrayal and the angry boss to advantage. A double hit from the skull’s scythe-like appendages and half of his health was gone. No longer distracted, Nash turned his full attention back to the present danger, the current dungeon boss. At this stage of the battle, their was no way to retreat. That must have been their intention. For some reason that he couldn’t fathom, his former class had just left him to die.

Now wasn’t the time to solve that particular mystery, however. If there was any chance of victory, he’d need his full concentration to achieve it. Pushing the shock, anger, and confusion aside, he focused on the boss. Nash was glad he was so over-geared for this battle. It gave him a fighting chance.

Letting his forearm take the weight of his shield, he took his sword in both hands. Raising it over his head, he used it as a massive dagger, stabbing the heart-shaped gem repeatedly. His blade slipped nicely through the gapped teeth, dealing good damage to the thing.

Nash knew better than to get cocky, though. The boss was merely paused between phases. It was a mechanic that allowed the party to regroup. Nash used the last couple of seconds to get clear of the thing’s imminent attacks and reached in to find a healing potion. His satchel was empty.

“So, that’s why Frey wanted to hold my hand the whole time,” muttered Nash in roiling anger. “She didn’t want me to check my supplies.”

Cursing under his breath, Nash turned to confront the first wave of giant skeleton warriors from the back of the room. He could hear the boss preparing to unleash his fire rings behind him. With no tank to hold its attention, the boss was now allowed to free-cast. Nash swept his sword out in a wide arc, catching all of the unarmored skeletal warriors with his blade. The damage was meager, but it got their attention. They let out horrific screams and swung their axes and swords at him.

Turning back towards the boss, he charged in and interrupted the cast just before it went off. The move also helped him get clear of the other skeletons’ attacks. The boss hisses in frustration before going back to its scythe-like attacks. By this time, the skeleton warriors had surrounded Nash from the rear.

“I guess it’s time to get up close and personal,” Nash grunted to himself, his face a mask of grim determination. He threw himself forward, diving between the legs of one of the oversized skeletons. Rolling across the floor in his plate mail armor, he came up between a pair of the gaunt creatures. An instant later, they both crumbled to dust, catching the fury of the boss’s attacks… attacks that had been meant for Nash.

Ducking a swing from another skeletal warrior, Nash got close and quickly spun around it, using every bit of his agility. The boss hissed in frustration, destroying this one as well. Two left, and Nash got between them. Letting the boss’s attack take down one, he kept the other between himself and the enraged boss. It wasn’t long before that one was also impaled and destroyed by the boss’s pointy blades. Luckily for Nash, this particular boss was a slow learner.

Stepping back and waiting for the right moment, Nash used his charge to evade the next pair of attacks and managed another hit on the heart. Not wanting to press his luck, he withdrew and turned to take on the next wave of skeletons.

Using the same tactics, Nash was able to use the boss’s attacks to destroy two more waves of the skeleton warriors, its own minions. Then it was time to take on the boss, head-on. There weren’t going to be any more minions for a while now and staying back would allow the boss to free-cast again. Nash knew he couldn’t survive that kind of damage.

Charging back in, he activated his two most powerful long cooldown abilities, bulwark, and retaliation. Taking the skull’s hits on his temporarily enhanced shield, Nash could feel the latent energy of the attacks build within him... the comforting feeling of vengeance. He used that power to return the boss’s mighty attacks, reflecting its damage back to itself, namely... the heart gem. Finally, a crack appeared on its pristine surface.

Unfortunately, the attacks still hurt him and he watched helplessly as his current life pool was rapidly drained. Despite his best efforts, Nash found himself already down to a quarter of his maximum health. He had heroic regeneration, but that took time... time, again... he didn’t have. At the battle’s current pace, Nash would be dead long before the boss and he knew it. The sickness had also started to debilitate him and he knew he couldn’t withstand much more of it.

Nash knew that it was time for some theory-crafting and out-of-the-box thinking. Dropping all of his armor into his inventory, Nash dove underneath the boss, and into the flaming water that the skull and ribcage had been floating above for the entire battle. The flames were hot but they didn’t have time to burn him before he was completely submerged in the cool liquid. Kicking hard, he cupped his hands and swept his arms back, pulling himself deeper into the dark pool. Just as had been suspected by the theory-crafters, the boss couldn’t follow.

What wasn’t expected was the blue glow that emanated from the pool’s depths. Diving deeper, Nash saw an egg-shaped stone resting on the rocky bottom of the underground body of water. The tooltip said “Pocket Healer”. Smiling, Nash scooped it up and added it to his inventory. It had three uses per day. He opted to use his first one immediately.

The stone appeared before him, wiggled a moment, and cracked apart. Nash freaked, thinking he had inadvertently destroyed the magical item. Instead, he saw that it had hatched a gossamer-winged fairie... and she didn’t look happy. Fiery red hair floated around a pair of piercing green eyes that had narrowed to slits when she noticed him. Motioning for her to follow, Nash rose to the surface. Completely soaked, Nash eyed the boss before he emerged from the pool. The boss stared back but didn’t approach. Nash narrowed his eyes, having an idea. Just then, the faerie popped out of the pool, coughing and sputtering. This faerie was a member of the dark fey, a night pixie, or nixie.

“... guess there’s a first time for everything,” she muttered at Nash, who she finally noticed had missed the beginning of her rant. “Ugh... the nerve.”

“Apologies,” said Nash, never taking his eyes off the boss. “So, is it true?”

“Is what true?” asked the annoyed nixie while she squeezed the water out of her skirt.

“Are you a pocket healer?” asked Nash.

“That’s what the sign said, didn’t it?” she replied.

“Excellent,” said Nash. “How long can you remain?”

“Normally, ten minutes with an hour between summons,” she said, giving him a dirty look. “But for you, let’s call it five.”

“Heh, that’ll do,” chuckled Nash, a dark smile spreading across his face at the nixie’s pluck.

“And the clock’s tickin’,” added the nixie, folding her arms over her chest.

“Then I guess I’d better get the show on the road,” replied Nash, recalling his armor, sword, and shield from inventory.

The boss must have had enough because it hissed and moved towards him. Dipping his sword into the pool, Nash attacked the skull again. He managed to hit it twice before it brought two of its knife-strapped arms down on him. He again deflected both with sword and shield, only this time, no more sickness. He suddenly realized that the sickness had left his body the moment he dove into the pool. Nash tucked that tidbit into the back of his mind. He also noticed that his sword’s attacks were much more powerful, at least the first couple of hits.

That gave him an idea. The boss had paused a moment to summon more minions from the back of the room. Nash used that respite to scoop up some of the pool water in his shield and splash the boss with it. The results were spectacular. The boss hisses in pain as half its face bubbled and melted.

Nash didn’t have time to enjoy the victory, however. The boss’s minions were already upon him. Utilizing the same strategy as before, he got hits on them all and let the boss kill them as he dodged and weaved through the carnage. He took a few hits himself but noticed his health jumping up as his pocket nixie healer worked her magic.

“Thanks,” he said, nodding towards the nixie girl.

“Whatever,” she replied with an eye roll.

Nash just chuckled at her antics which only annoyed her more. He was glad he had someone to talk to, even if she was a prissy little dark fey. Nash was starting to feel better about this fight. With the nixie’s heals, he stood a chance... if he could finish the fight quickly. Unfortunately, he was a tank and this was a boss geared towards a twenty-five-person party. It would take him hours to whittle away the skull’s health pool. Nash needed a new plan.