CVETKA KRALJ

It is not technically required to defeat all monsters in a dungeon to get to the boss portal. In most situations, it was a bad idea to do so, as it could mean that there was a chance to be attacked while preparing for the boss battle. The group of natives didn't care about this. They had strategized in the beginning area of the dungeon which they had cleared, then, they helped the group out, met again near the entrance portal where they had a short discussion, but didn't enter it. Instead, Skips ran away, returned with the location of the boss portal and then the entire party rushed towards it. If any strategizing happened, it did so in their language. The group stopped before the portal and Skips looked at them: "Stay on the sides, remain out of the way. If the battle is going south, intervene. Not before."

She nodded. Then they entered.

A Giant White Rhino! It was tall enough to tower over even the scorpions. It even looked twice as tall as her. The place they were dropped at was not a rocky area, like before. It was a valley with streams in it. Her own group immediately ran to the nearest corner, but they watched the battle from there: The scorpions and the spider seemed to leave everything to Skips who outmanoeuvred the creature. Cvetka never cared much about movement skills, but in dungeons, they were actually useful, she realised as she watched the blur that only occasionally coalesced into a human shape. From what she could see, the stabs were not really dangerous, but they were causing minor amounts of damage, slight nicks that caused the slightest amount of bleeding. She tried to see just how the stabs worked, but she couldn't. All she could find out was that Skips used her stabs while she was running and probably used her own speed for an advantage.

Sometimes, Skips would stand near a rock wall, wait for the rhino to rush her, evade and have the rhino run into the rocks. Even that seemed to only barely affect the giant animal. Skips seemed not to run out of stamina, even though her level should not allow for the constant running she did.

Cvetka looked at the others, wondered why they just sat on top of one of the rocky hills and didn't intervene. They were instead seemingly busy doing something. She should not care, but could not help but feel a tinge of anger. These people who Kiresula absconded to let her fight the monster alone and didn't deign to help. Sure, maybe she needed to earn her keep in some way, but soloing a grade 19 dungeon boss was pretty drastic. She heard occasional shouts and clicks between them, but could not figure out the sentiment. To her, it sounded angry, but that might just be her own imagination. Just like Sygia always seemed to be always looking down on their betters. Just like keani always sounded bored to humans. Just like Tshannahs always sounded disappointed. Yeah, Skips would react in an unhappy manner, but she wasn't even fully human anymore. She was a human-of-Tsanh, so akin to a Sygia. Cvetka felt slightly disappointed as she realised that. It stung and felt like betrayal.

There was a momentary lull in the battle. Skips was in the opposite corner of the arena and the rhino approached at a more leisurely pace. It seemed at the end of its stamina and just about ready to give up. But it shambled towards her. Skips leisurely walked to a narrow gap between rocks and it raised all of the alarm bells for Cvetka: Skips never was slow since she disappeared. When she tried a human pace, it was purely for the sake of someone else. The rhino moved towards her, purposefully. Suddenly, it rushed towards Skips. Then, two things happened at the same time: A net emerged between her and the creature. And one of the scorpions approached. The rhino got close, got wrapped in the web and then stumbled. The scorpion approached. There was a short movement, some kind of magic was being used. The rhino collapsed. Then it rose again, it tried to rip the net but struggled. It moved its forelegs out of the hole. Wait, there was a hole, Cvetka had not noticed it.

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The rhino tried to run after Skips, but it was bleeding much more than it had been before. Skips once again ran. Cvetka wondered where that girl got her limitless energy from, as she kept on dodging the attacks of the giant creature. She started to rush to and fro, attacking the monster again and again to little effect. Cvetka still found the way they fought strange, but understood now the separation of work a bit better. One of them dug, one of them created webs, and one of them led the monster into it. The rest of the group scurried to a different location and once again she noticed the digging, the webmaking and of course the running. The rhino didn't notice the work of the others though and Skips did her best to keep them away. A while later, there was another set of clicks and once again, she led the monster into an ambush. Once again, it was struck, bled, and once again, it tried to free itself.

The group once again dispersed and they started digging near the location of the humans. Skips remained elusive, always a few steps ahead of the others, but she looked more exhausted. Her seemingly unending well of stamina seemed to run dry eventually. Cvetka found it hard to watch and so she watched the rest of the group for a while, as she knew that whatever happened down there, she was unable to intervene. Igor looked as if he was watching a game. He cheered when Skips made the rhino run into rocks. Crystal gasped at any close call. And Rush, he looked anywhere but at Skips. Cvetka noticed how his gaze rested on the scorpions-of-Tsanh and the spider-of-Tsanh. "What are you looking for?" she whispered at him.

"Trying to differentiate the Scorpions. They look all alike to me, but they obviously aren't. Skips managed to learn to see each of them for who they are. For us, they all look the same. Which can put us at a disadvantage in our dealings with them. So, I am trying to see how their shapes differ."

Cvetka looked surprised: "You're right about it being important. I… just would never do it during a boss fight."

Rush responded: "We talk about this later, k?"

Cvetka nodded.

Skips looked so miserable as if she wanted to die and ran like she very much didn't, but even her speed was no longer quite as blurry as before and she saw her pant like a dog in the moments that the monster granted her. The monster too didn't seem quite as coordinated, it stumbled occasionally and it left a trail of blood over the arena. This was a battle of attrition and both sides were dwindling in health and stamina.

Then, the hole and net was finished. Skips once again tried to lead the monster to it, but this time, she stumbled. That was enough for the rhino to savage her. Without thinking about it, Cvetka was running.

SKIPS-ONE-STEP

The monster eventually got to her. She could outrun it 65'535 times, but if she stumbled the 65'536th time, she was toast. And that happened, not that she had counted of course. A stone jutted out further than she thought, she lost her balance for a moment and in the next, she was on the ground, the rhino biting her leg. She tried to crawl away, but the pain made it hard. She felt like almost passing out.

"Here, kitty! C'mere!" she imagined a voice.

She continued to crawl away when she noticed the rhino didn't follow. She looked back as she crawled on her hands away, Cvetka was there. With her huge spear-like weapon whose name she never recalled, she poked the already injured creature. Breaking the hide was not an issue as Nourishes and the others had caused many, bleeding wounds, which she stabbed into.

Unfortunately, Cvetka's class, whatever it was, didn't focus all that much on agility. She managed to dodge several times, but Skips didn't believe in her ability to do so consistently. Cvetka was reasonably fast and graceful but not on the level of a grade 19 dungeon boss and only the fact that this one was seriously injured saved her. Then, it happened, She could not dodge in time and Cvetka's side was grazed by the horn. She screamed in pain, but the giant white rhino also looked hurt. It fell to its side, roared in agony. Moments later, Nourishes used a magical spear into its head, ending it.

Skips breathed a sigh of relief. Then, the battle adrenaline no longer sustained her consciousness and she passed out.