The party sprung into action as Jay rejoined his friends, reclaiming his crossbow along the way. They ran toward him, forming a protective perimeter around Jay as he left the Lizardman King in his dust. The boss monster growled in disappointment, pacing back and forth as it tried to decide how to handle an unusual end to their 'duel.'
Lester and Ken took the front as Jay joined the magic users in the back, thankful when one of Jenny's healing tags started to kick in.
"That was a stupid plan," Taylor Lynn said, looking decidedly displeased with him. Jay just smirked in response. He was having so much fun. Going through a situation straining the edges of ability and skill had his blood thrumming through his veins with excitement. He felt the adventure, epic risks, and rewards of it all. He was starting to earnestly remember the rush of solo-ing the boss back in the day, frantically dancing on the knife's edge of death or glory.
But he had to admit it was a stupid plan.
"You have cheated," the Lizardman King finally pronounced, its teeth bared at them. "Monster Hunters are weak, foolish, and cowards and weak."
Despite its bluster, the boss monster seemed hesitant to move forward and resume the battle. Then again, it now had the entire party arrayed against it.
"I didn't cheat. I lost our duel, but now we're all going to kill you," Jay said. He felt the waves of healing from the rune tags begin to subside as his recovery completed, his lips curling in the same direction as his health: up. He was unconcerned with the coming battle now that he was adequately prepared.
The Lizardman King made a garbled rumbling note of contemplation in the back of his throat as he slowly advanced toward the group. "Monster Hunter. It is not so easy for cowards to defeat me. Like all them who are before you."
He ignored the strange manner of speaking from the boss. Jay drew back the arrow, still nocked on his bow. He started to charge up his Wild Strike. "I'm a Monster Hunter. The only dishonorable thing is dying to a monster." He released the arrow, which exploded against the tough skin of the boss. Lester howled, activating his Taunt ability on the boss. Letting forth a battle roar, the Lizardman King waded into direct conflict with him.
Jay had been absolutely correct about avoiding direct conflict with the boss. Even Lester, strong and clad head to toe in armor, struggled to keep up with the blows. Jenny rushed forward to refresh her healing tag. He had only just begun to heal when the unthinkable happened. Jay and the party stood stock-still as she was side-swiped by a crushing blow from the king and sent hurtling through the air.
All eyes were on where she fell as Jay calculated how to reposition the battle away from her. Her tiny sliver of health was blinking on the HUD. Everyone but Lester—who still needed to tank the boss—froze as they waited to see if she would be sent to rejoin Gereg through death. She slowly picked herself up, to the party's relief, pulling a potion from her bag with trembling hands.
Now that Jenny was alert enough to focus on healing herself, the party had one single-minded focus: a vicious thirst for lizard blood.
Taylor Lynn furiously hissed magical words through her teeth. as Jay saw the surge of magical energy accumulating for her Overcharged Spell ability. With a bellow of rage, Ken jumped into melee combat with the king, his own usually efficient swordplay forgotten after the attack on his twin. The pressure of his strikes forced out crude, brutal damage.
Even Lester seemed a little more of a lethal mind, his face set in a mask of determination. The champion was still the primary focus of the boss, thankfully allowing Ken to dodge the few wayward attacks more easily than his sister.
Jay continued his own task, assimilating the more frantic fighting pace into his ranged tactics. He was getting efficient at pelting the boss with a string of goblin-crafted arrows. No longer worried about slowing the boss down, he focused on hitting the king dead-center in the chest. The process was good practice aiming since the aid of his party assuaged his concerns about being throttled at any moment.
Although he was dealing slightly more damage, between the leather armor and the boss's naturally tough hide, he was still having trouble making a real dent. But the battle swayed as Taylor Lynn released her deadly, overcharged lightning magic.
Jenny had pushed herself to a standing position, rejuvenated by the potion. Her hands moved as she conjured runic tags, which she sent flying for Jay and Taylor Lynn, ensuring they were protected and buffed in the event of more charge attacks.
Lester and Ken danced around to avoid being struck by wayward strands of lightning. Taylor Lynn's magic throttled the boss at maximum voltage, destroying the enemy's health with immense magic damage. Something else shifted.
The mass of damage triggered something else, Jay realizing too late that the boss's health had hit a threshold for a power move. Its muscles bulged as it slammed the ground, energy radiating outward from it in a circle and knocking Ken and Lester off their feet.
The Lizardman King slashed wildly into the air, directing another wave of force at Jay. The Monster Hunter knew what was coming and relied on his speed to dodge out of the way. As the blast of energy collided next to his feet, Jay was confident of one thing: the hat from the slime princess saved his life. A half of a second slower, and Jay would have been respawning.
As he whirled around to prepare for the next attack, he was grateful that the boss was getting tired. Jay could hear the light panting on the other side of the hall. The second threshold of special moves had exhausted it, which marked the chance to finish this second boss.
"Burn him down," Jay said, automatically using the raid language for all-out damage dealing. Then reality hit: Taylor Lynn's most potent magic was already spent, and Jay was already using his rapid attack ability. As he reached for another arrow, he realized he was all out. He had used up the twenty goblin arrows in the dungeon, and the party wasn't even at the last boss.
The lizard was at less than a third of its total health remaining. Jay loaded a smoldering bolt into his crossbow. He aimed it at the king as his party continued to deal the boss as much damage as possible. Though it seemed more resistant to attacks in the final stage, it was only a matter of time before they would wear it down.
Ken and Lester were striking as hard as they could, familiarity with each other's fighting style starting to sync up as Ken calmed. The Scoundrel player used his rapier to distract from Lester's more significant swings, creating openings for everyone to utilize. Taylor Lynn was now throwing blasts of icicle magic since it required less MP than her preferred lightning spells.
But Jay's favorite part was Jenny. At this point in the battle, tags were all over the other party members. Without anyone to heal or buff, the Rune Cleric was blasting the Lizardman King with a tiny slingshot again. Each pebble only dealt a few points of damage as it landed, but the whole scene was hilarious. Jay also appreciated her commitment to winning the battle. Even a single point of damage added up. Many healers thought their only job was to heal; they never worried about managing other aspects of gameplay.
Jay found his window of opportunity between the other attacks and released the bolt. The bolt's impact didn't kill the boss… but the tendrils of fire from the special bolt's enchantment did. The Lizardman King fell as the flames burnt themselves out, trying to consume even the dust from the ground.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Jay's first thought was: The king is dead; long live the Monster Hunter.
"Job well done," Lester acknowledged.
Looking over the party, Jay was happy to see they all looked only a little worse for the wear, thanks to Jenny's healing. By the time his eyes made it to Lester, the other man was already bent over to inspect the loot window for the boss. "He seems to only have one available item. Do you mind if I claim it? It's a unique two-handed sword."
Jay ignored his other system messages for the moment. "Do you mind if I see the item first? I'm curious about the drops; this is our first dungeon, after all." He left out the part he wanted to say about how Lester put him in charge of the dungeon. Lester amiably took a step back so Jay could inspect the loot menu, looking unperturbed at the request.
System Message: Claymore of Scales. The former weapon of a Lizardman King, this unique item increases the natural armor of the wielder. Reduces physical damage taken by 23%. You cannot use this weapon.
"Seems like a true and proper weapon for a tank," Jay agreed. He would give preference to everyone else on any other loot. He quickly looked at the other party members to gauge their response, but Ken and Jenny were wrapped up in checking in with each other. Taylor Lynn shot him a thumbs up, not caring enough to make a fuss. They would have had to find a buyer like Lester since none of them could wield it. "Sure, take it."
"Thanks," Lester said. "Items that flat out reduce damage taken are fairly rare. Removes my need for a shield. Most of the time, even if they work, the effect is limited against higher levels. This weapon doesn't say anything about that, so I'm hopeful."
Lester moved to speak with each player while Jay surveyed the wreckage of the floor where the king had stood. He wondered which classes got to do the force blast swings and how he could get his hands on force blast bolts.
His thoughts were interrupted when Lester arrived back at Jay, opening a trade window and offering a thousand gold Prints.
"The weapon would probably bring more on an open market," Lester explained. "But this way, you at least get something from the good drop."
Jay tried to hide his surprise as he accepted the trade, gaining a little respect for the guild leader. He would have allowed the guild leader to keep it without compensation. At least he would let him keep it if they continued partying together.
Finally, taking stock of the gains from the fights, Jay noticed level increases all around the party. His own level rose to 14. The twins and Lester were level 12, while Taylor Lynn rose to 13. The first boss had put Jay firmly in the lead. In contrast to the boss, the lizardman guards mostly dropped low-quality equipment and silver Prints. Jay wasn't interested in wasting inventory space on that stuff.
Jay walked over to the dais and inspected where the king had sat. The strange marble throne made a clear place for a loot chest to hide. He ran his fingers along the seams. He searched for an inset with a switch or button. He frowned as he finished running his fingers over the chair but came up empty-handed.
The other party members were gawking, clearly curious about what Jay was doing and lacking other areas to search to occupy themselves. But he worked hard to tune them out, drawn like a siren song to puzzle this out. There had to be some way of opening up the throne. He just couldn't figure out how.
After a few more minutes of fruitless searching, he gave up, leaving the throne behind to rejoin his companions.
As they set into him with nosy questions about what he had or rather hadn't found, he finally spotted the clue he needed. Hiding on the edge of the stairs, off to the side, was an unnatural line in the marble, barely visible with his boosted Perception stat.
His face broke into a huge smile as he hustled over to it. A small false wall pushed aside effortlessly now that he could see it clearly, revealing a button beneath it. He pushed it with an over-the-top flourish for his curious audience while gesturing at the throne.
What looked like a single, solid piece of marble at the throne's base began to shift and slide out of the way from some unseen mechanism. As the gears whirred and the movement became more noticeable, the whole party made their way up to better observe.
Jay had been expecting some kind of secret door, which was there too, but it turned out that the chest was hidden inside the throne seat. The reconfiguration process was incredible. The whole thing opened like an unholy combination of a Rubik's cube and a cardboard box to reveal a small trunk. Jay popped the chest open.
Inside the trunk was a small orb that screamed magic. It was a deep purple, shimmering as an interior stream of glittering purple magic swirled around. It also featured gold runes painted onto the surface and emitted a faint yellow light.
It was challenging to take his eyes off it, as dazzling as it was, but it was even harder to ignore the plain want on Jenny's face. She turned the full power of her teary puppy eyes on the group, silently asking permission to lay claim to the orb. Even though they hadn't identified it, Jenny was probably the best bet for a user, especially with the runes. Since Taylor Lynn didn't object outwardly, he quickly passed it off to their healer amid her victorious cheers.
There were a few unique arrow types, but they didn't fit properly in the goblin bow. Lester asked for them, so his people could try to reproduce the enchantments, and Jay remembering the guild master's earlier generosity, seconded it. Taylor Lynn added a quick request, which Lester was happy to accept: he agreed to have the enchanter teach Taylor Lynn anything they learned. The whole party seemed pleased with the distribution, although Jay knew Ken hadn't been so lucky on this trip. Hopefully, the next room would hold some gear to fit the Scoundrel.
Only a small pile of coins remained. The others each gained thirty or so gold Prints, but Jay and Taylor Lynn declined the money again.
With the loot distributed, the party delved deeper into the dungeon through a marble exit door. The journey took a while. Jay had been hoping they would find another room beyond the door that had been hidden from their sight behind the throne. They quickly discovered the way forward was composed of a series of branching hallways, each wrought out of stone, making the marble an exclusive trait of the Lizardman King's lair.
The minutes dragged on as they forged ahead, stopping at each branch to find clues about where to go. The most significant indicator of a correct direction in a dungeon was a downward-sloping angle in the pathway. Every player of games ever knew this.
Unfortunately, the trick was imperfect in the current dungeon. Jay ended up leading the party in several wrong directions. They were forced to backtrack and reorient themselves as they looked for the proper pathway. Jay thought he might have had an easier time if he had finished learning the Survival and Dungeoneering skills. They moved up his to-do list.
With each new correct branch, the stone was older and more dilapidated. The edges of the caves were getting smoother, showing their age, and some of the stone walls had fallen apart. These changes finally gave him something to focus on and look out for. Jay's former worries about a cave-in suddenly came rushing back. He tried to placate himself with the knowledge that Lester was with them, so his people would come looking if it did happen.
More surprisingly, plants started appearing, shooting out from underneath the stone. Some even had nameplates, identifying them as level five creatures called Corrupted Roots. Jay made sure to Analyze and Catalog them, trying to make as little noise as possible as he took one down. All it took was a smack to their face. Well, not the face exactly, but the front of the plant. The monster was added to the Bestiary but, thankfully, had yet to pose any real threat or require particular tactics to deal with.
After another 15 minutes of wandering, it was clear they wouldn't be finding the next boss anytime soon. Jay seized the opportunity to start a conversation with Lester.
"Did I understand correctly that you plan to get involved in the local politics of Ilra?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's the plan. It's a useful city, situated pretty central inside of Elven territory. The Royal Family doesn't live there, which means there is more freedom for taxation policies and the like on a local level."
"Are you playing an economic-focused game with the Red Player's Society?"
Lester looked a little surprised at the question. He slowed down to make eye contact with Jay. None of the rest of the party interfered, giving them some space even though they were probably keenly interested in the answer. The trial run was one thing, but Jay needed to know they were planning on long-term raiding.
"We're playing a whole fantastical experience," Lester said. "Economics is definitely a part of it. Economics and influence aren't necessarily inseparable but feed into each other. The thing about this game, especially with its immersive nature, is that people tend to get pretty competitive. Red Player's Society and I are simply dedicated to ensuring the Elves keep up."
He held Jay's eyes longer than necessary but received no reply. Jay lagged back a little, musing over what Lester had said. Getting involved in everything meant raiding, but he wasn't sure he wanted to be involved in everything himself. He needed to hunt monsters, level up, and ensure Sarah was taken care of.
After two more turns, the party's journey abruptly stopped as another stone slab blocked their way. The slab was utterly ruined. Jutting through the center, and crushing it to pieces, were a tangle of roots. They could see more clearly, now that the roots were exposed outside the stone. These roots were the source of the other offshoots the party had been fighting. Several of them wriggled ominously in the way. The roots were blood red and shot through with flashes of green, a shade that looked suspiciously poisonous. Nobody jumped at the opportunity to climb through the roots to the other side.
They were stuck.