Lisa was leaning against an old pine tree in the forest’s heart. Her red robe with golden ornaments fluttered in the wind; her slender body exposed for everyone to see, the little gift for male players from the developers. She sighed and controlled the time again. He was late. The stupid Rob was always late.
“Should we move?” asked her cousin Peter. Because he wanted to help her achieve the greatness, he was supporting as a Priest. “With that Natasha will have problems at school tomorrow.”
Natasha cheeks got a warm red color, and she tried to hide her head in her big cloak. A big summoning circle had formed and Lisa clenched her fist. Finally. In that instant Rob, small fifteen years old warrior had appeared. The first thing Rob felt was a hit to his face and his body uncontrollably fell to the ground.
“You are late as always! Next time we will go without you!” she yelled at him and added a kick to the face.
“Jeez Lis, it was only half an hour.”
“Only half an hour?! I am aspiring to get the Fire Tamer title! Me, The Fire Goodness! This is the most important thing in the universe!”
“Lis, please don’t start again. Dmitry have defeated you in every game…” Peter tried to calm her down, but that only added oil to her inner fire and she burned with passion.
“Let’s go!” she said fiercely and leaded the group.
When the group traveled to the edge of forest, the dying land stretched in front of them. Everywhere they could see was a wasteland. The gray ash covered the ground and fire elementals were roaming through the land.
Elemental's main body was made from fire, but the group can see through them. They varied in sizes and everyone of them looked a little different as same as normal humanoids; no elf looks the same.
“Isn’t the forest shorter than last time?” Rob asked in a low voice, still fearing the Lisa’s fury.
“Yeah, that grampa has that said until we will clear The Scorching Dungeon, it will spread,” Lisa said in a very determined voice and every her step was full of confidence. Fighting though the elementals was a part of their routine. Rob charged in, tanked the fierce flames with his shield and big health pool. The two healers worked in tandem and healed him, so he wasn’t in any danger.
In an hour, they fought their way to the entrance to the dungeon. The gate was in a form of a rupture in a mountain with the uncomfortable heat coming from inside, and the uneasiness fell on them.
“I don’t want to die again,” Rob complained, but only said out loud what others were thinking.
“Chin up!” Lisa hugged him and grinned. “We aren’t penalized for dying in there!” The hot air, the smell of sulfur in the air; it gave her goosebumps. But as a leader, she shrugged it off and smiled at them.
“Natasha, you are first,” she commanded. The quiet redhead girl, wrapped in a cloak, nodded and walked forward. With closed eyes, she used Thief’s skill [Detect Trap].
When she opened them and peered inside the entrance, the whole long hallway, illuminated by red-hot stones, was full of traps. She hasn’t seen them, but every time she got near, a bad feeling made her hesitant. She carefully placed the feet forward and forged the path; the others followed her, tiptoeing inside her steps.
The whole hallway shook when an explosion resounded throughout it, and fire erupted and illuminated their bored faces.
[Teammate Rob has suffered 50 damage. Remaining HP: 10]
“Rob! You stupid piece of fish! I will! Aargh! Not again! Everyone stop!” Lisa shrieked. When someone stepped on a trap, the other traps would reorganize themselves. Peter healed the clumsy Rob, and Natasha forged their path once again. The long hallway took them two hours to conquer.
“I hate it, it’s so stupid. This is so annoying!” Rob was always the first to complain without thinking. Lisa was close second to him, and that made Peter worried about the future; he depended on Lisa’s fortune, but most especially he cared about her.
The hallway widened, and that signified the end of trap zone. The Fire Elementals had appeared again and big balls of fire called [Fire Tail] started to suicide attack them. They had to fight through. Rob was holding two [Fire Elementals] and a clump of ten of stupid balls appeared around the corner.
“Incoming! Forget Rob, focus balls! From left to right, fast, or they will wipe us. Natasha! That’s not left!” Lisa's strong voice woke them up. The attacks took down the Balls one by one, but they didn’t have enough time to get the last one. Thankfully, the ball went for Rob, because he was dealing with the elementals. Peter broke the record and created a healing rune faster than in second to heal him in time.
[Teammate Rob has suffered 50 damage. Remaining HP: 3]
“Man! What are these balls thinking? I was the farthest of ya all!” Rob whined as the elementals continued to burn him alive, but healers didn’t allow him to die.
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Two hours and countless fights later, they entered the Boss room; Lisa’s heart got heavy. They failed to conquer the Boss five times already, and this morning she got an info about Dmitry defeating the first Boss in Hell Dungeon. Not only that, the other guilds could surpass them and steal HER title.
The big cave had a rock roasted by the intense heat and when touched it dealt a big fire damage, Natasha died to it once. A lava streams were going though the ground and if someone like Rob fell into them, it meant game over. The Boss walked out of the opposite entrance and waved with his staff; the torches around the room were lit by his magic.
[Exed Lv.7]
Type: 5-epic Dungeon Boss | HP: 1800/1800
“Here we meet once again, immortals. Hail to you, Lisa, the self-proclaimed Goddess of Fire, you will die again!” he provoked her and it almost worked, as Lisa held herself by all her will.
“You stupid piece of big ugly demon or whatever! I am the true Queen of Fire! I am the fire itself!” she screamed at him and her whole body trembled from the strain. He only laughed at her as if he found that amusing. That infuriated her; she hated the most when someone made fun of her passion.
‘Not now, Lisa. You screwed up three times already.’ she said to herself and breathed heavily.
“Everyone to the positions as we talked. Rob, for love of god, do not fall into the lava again, okay? Rather die by his hand than to fall!” The group spread out; the mages and priests to the back, the close ranges near the Boss and Natasha used [Vanish].
“Let’s change it a bit, shall we? What subordinate I would be, if I used the same tactic again and again? Fire Elementals! Answer my call!” The long elementals created of fire crawled from the lava streams. Some of them looked exactly as Lisa’s group, she especially recognized the Rob and Peter. Bastard.
“Change to tactic four! Four guys! Watch out the back, move to… three o’clock! Focus fire at the front! Natasha, stay hidden!” Lisa yelled. Whole group moved to the safe position behind the tanks, and she expertly moved her staff.
The faint outline of runes appeared in the air as fast as she moved the staff. When she finished the first rune and shouted the spell word, she already had almost a third of the second one finished. If Charlie saw this, she would probably jump to the lava stream.
[Perfect Runecraft! Damage x2. Target is resisting fire; damage halved]
[Critical hit! Target lost 15HP]
The fight continued for twenty minutes already. Her every spell came faster, more damaging than the previous. Nothing escaped her stern look, she was one with the fire; she felt it moving through her veins. She was at home.
“Eat this, you stupid winged monster!” Her perfect fireball hit him in the head.
“You puny girl! As you wish, Doom Tails!” The Boss was provoked by her and created sixty of [Fire Tail]. This was the spell that always got them, they hadn’t escaped it. But to his surprise, the enemies run to him. “You thought my fire will kill me? Wahaha! You naïve immortals! You will die before it even touch me!” The balls moved fast and when they were near the Boss Lisa yelled: “Now! Natasha get ready!”
“God’s will!” The paladin created the spell. He was on time, half a second late or early, and they would die. Warm light enveloped closely their bodies for half a second, but that was enough.
[Boss Exed has suffered catastrophic damage. 50x50, fire damage halved. Remaining HP: 80]
[Exed entered the weakened state]
At that moment, Natasha attacked him from the behind. The shy girl was nowhere to be seen, and her focused expression made Lisa smile. Natasha aimed for the head and the sound of dagger tearing though the meat was horrifying.
[Nat4sha dealt critical stealth attack into a weakened state, 10x2x2x5]
[Exed has been defeated. +50XP (400/8)]
[You found an unknown staff.]
[You found an unknown rune.]
[You found an unknown armor.]
[You have defeated the first Boss of the dungeon, your progress has been saved]