The fight against the remaining two heads continues. Since neither HippopotamusAlpha nor I are in perfect shape, and there are two equally dangerous monsters in front of us, we split the tanking role: a head for each. Meanwhile, Trim and Elivina take the dps roles, hiding behind us.
Repeated bolts and swathes of Magic Missiles land on the head I’m tanking. Our damage dealers have switched to weak attacks that deal less damage but save EP and MP.
Burst damage skills aren’t very good against chimeras, as the damage they take can’t exceed a certain amount per second. Even Trim’s strongest skill didn’t kill the central head instantly, it took several seconds for the damage to fully apply. But in that situation, it was required, as we had to seize the window given when the other two heads were distracted to inflict as much damage as possible.
“Hehe, as expected. If we have the whole team, this isn’t that difficult.”
Trim, standing a few meters behind me, hears my comment and complains. “But isn’t it taking too long? Don’t you think we should have brought Champions of a higher level?”
Keeping an eye on the monster, I shrug my shoulders. “Maybe.”
We didn’t decide on the level of our Champions by ourselves, we simply followed what the other players said. This dungeon doesn’t have a ‘recommended level’, so we couldn’t follow the dungeon owner’s recommendation, and there may be new dungeon additions the other players didn’t take into account yet.
I inspected the monster long ago, so I know it’s a level 8 monster. By its stats, it’s almost at the level of a boss in other dungeons, but this one isn’t. If it was, its stats should be a lot higher. The skills’ numbers don’t match with a boss either.
So maybe Trim is right and the recommended level should be a bit higher. Between six and seven I’d say.
“Either way, it doesn’t matter… Ugh!” HippopotamusAlpha groans, parrying the monster’s bite. “...with our experience, we can overcome a slight level difference.”
The battle continues without a hitch, and by the time I notice, the second head has fallen. Only the one HippopotamusAlpha is tanking remains.
“Is it me, or do they get weaker the more we kill?” I ask.
“They do get weaker,” says Trim, pushing his glasses up in an artificial pose to look ‘cool’, smirking at me, “about 20% weaker.”
There was no need to act like that, but thanks.
The last head, which after defeating the other two has only half the strength it had at the start, falls to the ground with 0 HP. The scaled stem connecting it to the main body snaps like the other two, and when it happens, the main body collapses. It almost didn’t move during the fight, which makes me think we could have used area effects on it instead of targeting the heads.
I’ll suggest that next time… if there’s a next time.
“Haah, haah… That was tiring. I thought I was going to die…” HippopotamusAlpha drops to the ground, exhausted. I peek at his status screen and see that not only his HP but also his EP and MP are close to zero.
Skills that eat enemies are no joke, the damage they deal is tremendous. Taking into account how long it took to defeat the first head, if it had been any one of us other than him, our tank, we would have died for sure. Even I would have run out of MP to heal myself.
“Do you mind if we take a break?” Suggests HippopotamusAlpha.
“Sure.” I nod, exchanging looks with Trim and Elivina. “You aren’t the only one who needs it.”
We agree to take a break, sitting on the closest rock or stump we find. The area around us is devastated by our battle, souring our moods. But it’s better than looking for a better place and finding more dangers on the way.
“In the end, we emerged triumphant as always! Bring it on, dungeon, we can beat anything you give us, hehe!”
Trim shoots a bolt at me. “Shut up, Magno! Why can’t you ever stop rising flags?”
“Hehe, rising flags?” I chuckle. “Do you think we’re inside a novel? That someone is writing about our lives and will use such a chiché line as an excuse to give us the worst ending possible? You’ve read way too many books…”
“This and that are different!” Hehe, if this weren’t a game, I’m sure his face would be all red. “Don’t you know that when you say something like ‘it could have been worse’ is when things turn for the worst? As if fate is waiting for you to relax to strike back!”
“Yeah, yeah…” I wave him off.
Our bickering continues for a while, until HippopotamusAlpha bursts out laughing.
“Hahaha! I’m glad to see you never change. I was worried when reading the comments about this dungeon because some players say it changed them forever, but… I guess there was no need to worry.”
“Oh, come on. As if we hadn’t gone through way worse things than this dungeon. For how long have we been playing this game, leader? As if this dungeon could change us.”
For once, I completely agree with Trim.
“Hahaha! Alright, alright…” HippopotamusAlpha puts on a pensive face, scratching his chin. “I’m curious, though. Where did that thunder come from? We found the hydra monster but the thunder remains a mystery…”
The hydra didn’t use any lighting skills during the fight, so it shouldn’t have come from it. There must be something else hiding nearby.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Could it have been a bait to make us fall for the ambush?” Suggests Trim. “To make us walk towards the burrowed hydra…”
Our discussion about the origin of the thunder is cut short when Elivina, who for some reason didn’t participate, stands up, pointing somewhere with her finger.
“...what’s that?”
The three of us raise our heads at the same time. The dense tree canopy should have blocked our vision, but since the surrounding trees are all smashed, our vision field and angle have widened by a significant amount.
Standing far away, above the surrounding treetops, we see something that shouldn’t be possible.
Red and orange hues, colors you shouldn’t be able to find in a forest except in autumn, create a stark contrast with the surrounding tree canopy. A burning tree. No, not a burning tree, but a tree that burns. The fire isn’t consuming the tree as fuel, it’s the tree that creates the fire.
The crimson flowers on the top branches emit flame bursts from time to time, and the flaming tree crown swings in the wind. The hypnotic dance draws our eyes in.
Now that I’m paying attention, every time the fiery crown swings, there’s a low thumping sound that follows. A sound produced by something heavy hitting the ground in a calm but steady motion.
The tree… it’s moving.
“A fire treant…?” Suggests Trim.
Gulping sounds come from all of us, myself included. We all know how dangerous treants in DMA can be.
“We’re running away.” Nobody argues against HippopotamusAlpha’s sudden order. We’re in shambles after the fight with the hydra-like monster.
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“Haha, ha, haha…” I laugh to not cry. “This is bad…”
The large shadow looms over me. I stand still, unable to run away. It isn’t that fear has paralyzed me, but that the monster is preventing me from moving.
“Ha… haha… I should have stopped him before it was too late.”
Regret is one of those emotions that, by the time you feel it, it’s too late to change. ‘If only’, ‘If I had known’, ‘If I did this instead’... When you say any of those, your fate has been sealed, as it is mine right now.
“Empodemus, fuck you. It’s all your fault!” Nobody told him to poke where he shouldn’t! Although we didn’t stop him either… so it’s in part our fault too.
*Thump! Thump!* The shadow grows larger and more imposing as the monster gets closer.
At the same time, tens of child-like voices laugh at me. *Hehehehe! Huhuhu! Hahahahaha!* The green fairies fly in circles, chanting an ethereal melody. The forest guardians keep their distance instead of attacking, something that shouldn’t happen. It’s as if they’re watching an interesting show, and don’t want to interrupt it.
My teammates are dead, only I remain. But my end isn’t far away.
When the thumping stops, I raise my head to observe my future killer. Large eyes and mouth, sculpted on the stone-like bark. Its furrowed brows but calm expression display the monster’s thoughts: it didn’t consider us a danger. We were but a mere nuisance disturbing its sleep; a nuisance disturbing the calm that will return after my death.
A branch, sturdier than steel, falls. Surrounded by rocks pinning my body in place, I can only watch as it crashes into me.
I’m not scared. This is a game, not reality. But this doesn’t make me any less angry at Empodemus. Nobody likes losing, be it a game or reality!
“Fuuuuuuuck!” *Crash!*
Everything went awry when…
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“Why is everyone making a fuss about them? Didn’t you find them quite easy to deal with?” The (self-proclaimed) ‘Greatest Archer’ asks, bending her knees to pick one of the defeated monsters. “They’re kind of cute, though. Hehe.”
I roll my eyes. “If you know the monster’s skills and behavior, any monster is easy.”
“I know,” she doesn’t want to give up, “But as I said, why is everyone freaking out about them?”
“There can be multiple reasons. From players not having the tools to deal with them effectively, to them teaming up with other monsters.”
“If you say so.”
The ‘Great Archer’ stops arguing and starts playing with the fairy corpse as if it were a doll. It isn’t as disgusting as it sounds when you’re inside a game.
I recall our recent fight. The fairies were a nuisance, and the fact that they split upon death didn’t help. But a few well-placed area-of-effect skills were enough to safely deal with them. Especially our mage’s specialty, Chain Lightning. With every lightning jump, a kill was all but guaranteed.
“The skies are clear. The sun will shine.”
“Muchy!” The ‘Great Archer’ drops the fairy's corpse and starts pulling the cheeks of our mage. “Why can’t you say ‘I can’t see any monster nearby, we should be safe’ instead!?”
“Muu-muu… The will of the sky is unfathomable.”
It’s no use, she’s always been like that…
At all this, where did Empodemus go? I haven’t heard or seen him since the battle ended.
“Hey, hey! Watch this! Don’t you find it funny? This tree has a face on it!”
I follow Empodemus’s voice. Almost hidden between the vegetation, I see him, climbing a very large tree. As he says, the tree looks like it has eyes and a mouth. The tree itself, though, is unusual. It’s hard to say why from this distance, but the color is off. Instead of brown, the tree trunk is gray.
Empodemus continues climbing the tree’s trunk. I ignore him and raise my head. The sunlight going through the glass is refracted in such a way that, depending on the angle you look at it, it creates a rainbow. It’s beautiful.
“Let’s see what happens when I stick my sword in the eye socket…”
Meanwhile, Empodemus keeps doing foolish things, but we all ignore him. Paying attention to him would make us fall to his level.
“...it’s stuck? If pulling doesn’t work, maybe sticking it further in will work… Uh, what!? Aaaaaah!”
When Empodemus shouts, I lower my head to observe what he’s doing. Why is he shouting like that?
“That scared me… Ugh…!”
The eyes on the trunk open. As the sword stuck in them falls to the ground, they gaze at Empodemus, who’s rubbing his butt on the ground below. What follows, none of us could have predicted.
The ground below Empodemus explodes and a geyser of sand sends him flying into the air. Following that, a large branch swings from above, smacking the player towards the ground as if he were a ball.
Empodemus crashes into the ground at an astonishing speed. *Crunch!* Two attacks, plus a fall of about ten meters at more than normal falling speed…
Instant death.
Having dealt with the one who awakened it, the tree’s eyes turn to the three of us, too surprised to react.
“A dark tempest cloud looms above our heads.” Munchy is the only one who remains calm.
image [https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]
Human stupidity knows no bounds. Be it real life or a virtual world, this is the sole absolute truth. If anything, players are bound to act in more foolish ways than they would in reality, since the consequences of their actions won’t affect them outside of the game.