Whoever designed the dungeons if they were designed had a sense of humor or a sadistic side to them. The boss fights usually showed that side. Where the fights turned into more than just a swing of the sword or a cast of a specific spell. If an adventurer party isn’t ready for the boss they could be killed, it is always suggested to approach every boss room in a dungeon with caution if it’s your first time.

#Dimitri’s Perspective

Demitri recovered from the hit faster than Warnik did. The body of the warrior served to cushion his impact, unfortunately, that meant that the warrior had to recover. It was up to him to defend things, and he was low on mana right now.

They were pushed back into the corner of the room, with two of the generators gone, the fire elemental couldn’t stay in the lava and come close and melee them.

“” was the spell he started with and doubled its strength so that he could take the fireballs. He was able to catch the first fireball with a shield as it came in, and started to move it back and forth.

“Point barrier, Macross style!”

“God… Didn’t think you were old enough to see that one.” Warnik commented as he pulled himself up from the floor, and kneeled behind the magic-user.

“It’s a classic. Of course, I’ve seen it.”

“Well, you’re not as cute as Pocky,” His partner gave a sardonic chuckle. “Can you keep this shield up?”

“Yeah I can, my man. A shield this small and durable doesn’t go past my mana regeneration.”

“Good, I’ll keep crouching down behind you.”

“You recovering, Warnik?”

“Slowly. Something cracked when I hit the wall. But I can feel like things are getting better. Those passive skills from Second Shift Delver came over.”

“How long do you think it will take to recover?”

“If you go by the numbers in the game it would take about forty-five seconds. I doubt that’s the same here. Gah!” The warrior behind him gave a sharp cry of pain and surprise.

“What was that?”

“Felt like my nose was just set.”

“That sounds painful.” He couldn’t imagine how much running into the wall hurt. They stayed there for minutes as he was moving his shield back and forth to keep the fireballs away. He felt, rather than heard his companion let out another grunt of pain. “And what was that?”

“Some ribs. You try running into a wall and acting as a cushion.”

“How much longer?” He was growing impatient being a target of fireballs every few seconds.

“Can you keep that up for another five minutes? It feels like I’ll be at one-hundred percent by then. I could probably stand in front now if you need to recharge your mana some more.”

“Nah, I think I’m topped up for now, as I said this shield doesn’t take up too much mana, and with us crouched behind it I hardly have to move it to deflect the fireballs. If we were standing it’d be a problem. I just don’t like being a turtle.” The warlock was getting testy as he was more used to attacking, and being covered than doing the covering.

Warnik tapped him on the shoulder a few minutes later, “I’m good to go.” The forsaker got up and stepped to the front, holding his poleax in front of him.”

“Qix?” He asked his giant companion.

“Yup, where to next?”

“” He looked, “Down the bridge, we started the next one will be a little to the left.”

They quickly got to the edge of the bridge, which was about twenty feet wide by this time, with more lava cooling around the edge of it. Warnik blocked another firey smash with his poleax as they got ready to assault the next generator.

“Now I know why they recommended a larger party. This would be so much easier with other people.”

“Yeah, I’m the tank, you’re the DPS,” Warnik said to him.

“We need a healer, and controller to round out the party. Though I don’t think your class or race or whatever makes you a good tank, Warnik.”

“Yeah, I’d be better as a flanker or close in DPS. Ready?”

“Yes, same as before?”

“A little faster on the count this time. Onna One!”

“” He cast the spell, and lifted his foot ready to step forward.

“Two…” He took the step forward keeping up with his companion who blocked another smash from the elemental.

“Three, and four.” Two quick steps, he kept his concentration on the stream of cold he was aiming towards the lava and the generator. He felt a wave of heat wash over his body as another punch came their way. This time Warnik grabbed for the arm to hold see if he could hold the elemental.

“Go, I’ll be right there.” The forsaker said. The grab was only partially effective, he did grab the arm but the arm disappeared to the shoulder, and the elemental withdrew to reform. He didn’t wait he charged forward as fast as the spell froze the lava. He got as close as he could to the generator.

The charging barbarian from behind him was impossible to miss as Warnik came up and thrust the point at the end of his weapon’s haft down at the generator. They backed up, but instead of picking him up the barbarian moved to block the fire elemental.

This change in tactics threw him for a bit, and he continued to cast his line of cold as he watched the warrior duel against the living fire monster. The line continued to freeze the lava beyond where the recently destroyed generator was, forming a narrow bridge to the next island.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

With his mana depleted, he realized what he had done and quickly ran over to the new island. He looked over at Warnik, and called out, “The next island is open!”

The warrior took one more swing at the elemental and charged off towards the island, rejoining the magic-user.

“We’re in a bad position here, Dimitri.”

“Yeah, it can come at us three sides, lets get back to our corner while the lava freezes.” Warnik turned and fended off another strike from the elemental. Normally, it would not be the best tactic, but his null magic, or whatever it was kept him mostly safe. Dimitri started to run.

“Walk! We’ll go slow so we can fend off the attacks.”

He stopped his running and brought forth his again and got ready to intercept things. He was suddenly glad that Warnik towered over him since he could still swing his poleax without being completely being blocked by the mage’s form.

#Warnik’s Perspective

With three of the lava generators down, the room was already noticeably cooler, at least when they got back to their defensive corner. It allowed him to recover from the heat exhaustion, and get some more water.

The fight was going to be slow, with them attacking a generator every fifteen minutes and then retreating to recover. They were not equipped to fight the elemental and assumed it would be a simple fight with him using his anti-magic properties. It would have worked if they could have engaged the elemental where it could not run. A simple stand up fight would have been fast. Instead, they had to fight the room too. And that’s where they weren’t ideally suited for it.

Dimitri had one spell he could use in this fight, and while effective in what they needed to do to take on the room it wasn’t ideal.

The two waited for the next chance to attack, and slowly they took control of the room. One generator after another was attacked, and they withdrew to the ever-expanding ‘safe’ zone. They didn’t think of leaving the room, assuming that it would reset as it would have in the games they had played.

After they had destroyed the fourth generator there was a line of rock right through the center of the room, trapping the elemental on one side, or so they hoped. They then started to work on the fifth generator, leaving a spot in the room with only two generators active for the fire elemental to work in.

“If it is going to jump pools, it will now.” He told Dimitri. “After this generator is down it will only have one area to fight in. Unless this room turns into a giant screw you.”

“Yeah, my man. Yeah.” Despite the breaks between assaults the warlock was looking haggard, and worn out. They didn’t have a way to track time, so they had no idea how long they had been fighting, it must have been hours.

“Ready?” Warnik asked, and received a nod in return.

“Once more into the breach.” They approached the closest spot on the rock. “Onna one… Two, Three-four…” He had to stop and hold up his shield as the monster of flame savagely attacked them. He was able to hold off the attack, as his companion completed the bridge.

“Dimitri! I can’t attack through this.”

“” The mage cast another spell, and Warnik took the momentary distraction to swing his ax down at the generator, risking the axhead. He was able to pull it out, but he felt the effects of cutting through lava in his body like a burning sensation. He nearly dropped his poleax, but he quickly moved back to Dimitri and stood over the collapsed body of the mage.

The magic-user used the last of his mana to give Warnik the chance to destroy the generator and fainted from exhaustion. He started to fend off the fire elemental, which was easier now that it could only attack from one direction.

The ground was growing soft was lava was still melting the bridge his friend had made, it looked like it was going to be a race. Would the lava reclaim the bridge? Would Dimitri wake up before the bridge melted? Would the lack of a generator cause the lava to freeze before the bridge melted?

The flame creature was mad or at least acted that way. It wanted to get Dimitri since he would be an easy kill. The constant attacks kept Warnik busy, and he couldn’t reach down and get the warlock as he had before.

The ground was getting spongy and he could feel the heat through the bottom of his boots. He also felt that the defensive actions were not satisfying the emotions that were welling inside of him, the indecision on what to do fed into the anger that was building.

He decided to take a risk and took his poleax in both his hands and spun around to strike at the flame elemental as it made for another smash. The spin was sudden enough that the elemental withdrew. This gave the warrior a chance to grasp the robe of the mage and then toss him towards the corner again.

The bridge opened up beneath him, and he fell into the lava. It wasn’t deep but he could feel it burning into him. There was a component of magic to it, and it seemed like whatever fueled his forsaken abilities was deciding whether the lava would be negated or not. He didn’t wait around and he jumped towards the solidified rock.

Landing on his burned limbs sent a spike of pain through his body that almost knocked him out, but it also fueled his anger. Anger and rage overwhelmed the pain and blotted it from existence, and he turned again, spitting out and he charged towards the elemental. The room appeared to go dark as his pupils dilated.

Emotion fueled his forsaker powers, and as he charged into the lava, it felt like nothing more than foot deep water. It was warm, it was hot, it was burning, but it just fueled his outrage more. For the first time, he engaged the flaming elemental directly. As they had expected if he could attack the main body with his it would be a short fight.

With the flame elemental defeated, he charged out to the solid land. He collapsed and cried out his pain. His boots were gone, his flesh was blackened, he was surprised he still had toes. But the monster was defeated, and the room started to cool, the remaining generators deactivated.

His body started to shake as he cried. He rolled over onto his back and looked down at his legs, the burning sensation was still going through his limbs. He upended the last of his waterskin over his legs in the hope to chill them.

Dimitri finally woke up, “How did I get here?” He asked as the room had cooled noticeably. HE walked over to Warnik. “You’re crying….. Oh my god, you’re burned!”

He could only stare at his companion, “Yes, but the elemental is gone. Do you have more water?”

He pulled another waterskin out of his pocket space and handed it to the warrior, who took a large swallow from it. Warnik could only sit there, crying out in pain. “You may… have to go on without me.”

“The room is secure Warnik. I don’t think the creature will regenerate while you’re here. Let me get you something to eat. I just hope that your passive healing will help, it worked on the broken bones.”

“It hurts, Dimitri.” He said and beat his hand against the ground, trying to distract himself from the pain.

“Just remember, that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, my man.”

“That’s a bullshit saying. Especially with modern medicine.” He pointed towards the door that led from the room. A gold inset chest had also appeared. “Tell me what we got for this.”

Dimitri went over to the chest and looked into it. “Looks like a pair of boots, magical. Fire elemental essence, and dragon dust whatever that is.”

“Are the boots large? The lava ate mine.”

“You joke, but I can tell the pain is overwhelming you. I have some alcohol, maybe we should clean the wound before it gets infected.”

“It might be an idea, but only if I can’t recover on my own.”

He sat there, crying, and squirming a bit as he felt the pain in his legs. What seemed like an hour passed, and then a second before he felt the pain start to lessen. The room was still hot, but not unbearably. He drank another waterskin down. He looked over at his companion and motioned him closer.

“Give me another hour, and then we can get out of this room, the next level should be cooler.”

It was closer to two hours before he could stand with help, the skin on his legs had turned from black to red, and blisters had formed to slowly fade away, leaving burn scars behind. There was a cost, but it wasn’t a fatal cost. They slowly made it through the door, and to the stairs to the next level.

⸘⸘⸘ You have defeated a level 65 Enhanced Fire Elemental Boss. For defeating a monster 65 levels above your level you have earned extra experience. By working in a party your reward is reduced. ⸘⸘⸘

⸘⸘⸘ For attempting to firewalk in lava you have gained the hotfoot title. Fault…. Unable to apply title. ⸘⸘⸘

⸘⸘⸘ has achieved level 20 – 100 attributes are assignable. ⸘⸘⸘

⸘⸘⸘For gaining 20 levels in one fight you have gained the overpowered title. Assert Thrown… Title not applied ⸘⸘⸘

⸘⸘⸘ Recuring fault detected…. Unable to apply experience, attributes, or titles…. Kill -1 on update task …. -1 - No such process… ⸘⸘⸘