The Wolves Ch. 038

That triggered the rest of us to attack. A red aura encompassed my hands, increasing the speed at which I would be able to fire off arrows. Wanting to increase that further, I activated Rapid Fire just as the first arrow appeared in my hand. I quickly pulled the bowstring back, loosing a Siphoning Shot followed immediately followed immediately afterwards by Triple Shot. The three arrows crossed the distance in an instant. The third arrow actually bounced off his chest, though the other three found their mark.

It didn't seem like they did any damage, but it did get his attention. Turning towards me, he backhanded the earth elemental in his way and then charged towards me. I fired a Tethering Shot along his path to see what would happen before activating Ride the Lightning so I could get away. Instead of traveling quickly to my left or my right, I decided to travel directly towards the boss, to see if lightning had any effect on him.

The dragonewt shrugged off the effects of Tethering Shot, it not even slowing him in the slightest, but as he drew his arm back, spreading his claws as if to slash me, I turned into lightning and traveled right through him, quickly appearing a hundred feet or so in the other direction.

That did get a reaction out of the boss, though. I only got to see the aftermath, but I did hear the boss grunt. He was still sliding across the floor, his legs, arms, tail and wings doing a little dance before going briefly still. The only sign that he was alive was his chest expanding and his tail twitching.

Jonathan made good use of the free time, appearing behind the boss with both swords in hand, forming an X, almost like a pair of scissors. With a shout of effort, he pulled the two swords away from each other, actually severing one of the boss' wings.

Shrieking in pain, the boss' tail moved quickly, catching Jonathan in the side and knocking him back to the floor, though not breaking through Mana Shield this time. Getting up, the boss stalked towards Jonathan, the rest of us in shock as the boss' wing began regenerating. The only things that weren't stationary were the boss and the four summoned minions of our group. The Skeletal Archers fired off arrows, while the Skeletal Warrior and earth elemental ran towards the boss.

The archer's arrows bounced off the thick scales of the dragonewt, making me wonder how Skeletal Archers actually got powerful. The earth elemental though? It was quite strong. Each of its strides shook the floor, if only slightly, causing the boss to look up just as the elemental launched itself towards him. The earth elemental was Jonathan's dragonkin size, though it seemed to be quite a bit heavier. The dragonewt raised his arms to brace against the elemental, but it didn't have much of an effect. Both went tumbling a short distance with the elemental recovering sooner.

Raising its rocky arms up, but began bringing them down onto the boss only to be met with the boss' own arms. The dragonewt was able to prevent all forward movement, before taking another deep breath and firing off a jet of flame up at the earth elemental. It had a dramatic effect, the rock quickly heating up before exploding in all directions.

As the boss stood back up I was amazed and a little horrified to see that its wing was regenerated, looking as if it was never severed in the first place. He scanned the room, his eyes locking on Jonathan before beating his wings and launching himself once again. Jonathan was on his feet by now, but disappeared just as the boss was about to hit him.

When he appeared, he was carrying one of the crystalline swords made for him by Abi, holding it in a two-handing grip and swinging it over his head. It severed the boss' tail this time, causing the boss to bellow in pain and turn towards Jonathan again. Swinging with his arm, the boss only met air as Jonathan once again disappeared.

He appeared again and gone was the massive crystalline sword, instead being replaced by his two one-handed swords.

[Well, what are you guys waiting for?!] he sent, looking at us as we stood there just watching everything.

He spurred us back into action, Mason running toward the boss while my sister stayed where she was, firing off Ice Shards as quickly as she could. I knew she wouldn't be going anywhere near the boss, and nor would the rest of us for that matter. Not if a single swipe from the boss was capable of dropping Jonathan's Mana Shield.

I fired off another flurry of arrows, each of them finding their mark, just as Mason used Whirling Leap to get into the fight. He started off by using Seismic Shove, though it didn't seem to have the effect he was hoping for. The boss only slid back a few feet, but was able to keep his footing.

He used Dash to quickly move away, just as a swipe from the boss arrived where Mason was previously standing. A rock shot out of the ground below the boss' feet, but it had little-to-no effect, seeming only to amuse the boss. He walked towards Mason, arm raised only to bellow out his pain once more, looking at the fresh stump on his hand.

That wasn't all, though, as immediately afterward a jet of flame hit the boss, a yelp of pain being heard along with a sizzling sound. The boss beat his wings, trying to get away, but it appeared as if the damage had already been done. Landing on one of the platforms around the room, he was clutching his arm, the wound there being cauterized closed, preventing the boss from regenerating.

Breathing in, he let out a roar, one that had us clapping our hands over our ears trying to prevent the noise. It did help, but only a little. When it ended, we looked back up to the boss who just stood up there. Seeing movement out of the periphery of my vision, I turned and saw a group of Elite Kobolds run out of a door we hadn't noticed before. There wasn't a chieftain or high chieftain leading them, but there was a shaman in the group.

Jonathan appeared behind them as they ran towards us, closing the distance and severing the shaman's head from her body before tearing into the archers. They died almost as quickly, and then he fell upon the warriors as well. The other four of us were only able to kill one of the warriors before the group of seven kobolds were alive, but suddenly Anja moved, her katana slicing through the air. A head dropped to the floor with a disgusting plop, but Anja never stopped moving. She only sliced through the air three times, but each time she did so, a head went flying.

It seemed like we dealt with the entire group, but that just caused the boss to roar out in displeasure. Turning back around, we could see that there was another group of kobolds entering from the other side of the room. They were dealt with just as quickly. Each group dying made the boss angrier and angrier, and he finally glided back down when the fourth group was dealt with.

A red haze was covering his body, but his right arm was still severed just below the elbow. Jonathan was the source of most of his anger, so the boss immediately charged towards him. While faster than he was pre-injury, he couldn't move fast enough to prevent Jonathan from using Blink. He didn't even have to move very far.

He Blinked beside the boss as he charged by, Jonathan's swords flashing briefly. It didn't seem to do any damage, but the boss' left leg buckled and the boss went crashing to the floor. The two swords instantly collapsed as he let them go so the handles dangled around his wrists, his crystalline sword appearing in his hands again. This time he went for the boss' tail, severing it close to where it protruded before breathing another jet of fire to cauterize it.

The boss reacted sooner, using his large wings to move him just out of the range of the fire before turning around and swiping again. This time the attack connected, as Jonathan was too slow to react. Mana Shield was up at least, absorbing the brunt of the damage and sending him flying again.

Mason didn't seem to want to get close to the boss, which was understandable with how hard he hit and how fast he was now moving. The rest of us didn't have a problem with that, however, Ben casting Chaos Bolt whenever he could and Anja doing the same with Ice Shard. I fired off arrow after arrow, some of them hitting their mark while others weren't able to penetrate the boss' thick scales. I got his attention once more, though he actually seemed a bit unsteady as he ran towards me, no longer having his tail to keep him balanced.

I didn't bother with the Tethering Shot this time, instead opting to go with another Ride the Lightning. I didn't go very far, anticipating that the boss would be stunned for a short time. You can imagine my horror when the boss quickly turned toward me, his arm already in motion. I tried to dodge out of the strike, but it never came.

Jonathan appeared standing in front of me, his right arm holding onto the boss' wrist. His left arm was already moving as I opened my eyes, a howl of pain and widening eyes signifying that Jonathan's strike had hit its mark. There was a sizzling sound followed immediately by the smell of cooking flesh, and some smoke coming up from the boss' chest. I backed up while moving to the side and saw that Jonathan's sword, the part I could see at least, was glowing red hot. It was sticking out of the spot where a human's heart would be, and it seemed like the same was true for dragonewts. Twisting the sword, he pulled it free doing more damage, likely shredding the boss' heart even more.

The boss fell to his knees, the shock clearly visible in his eyes, before collapsing into a heap on the floor. It began disintegrating shortly thereafter, allowing all of us to breathe a sigh of relief when it was dead. It was likely the hardest boss we had faced so far, and it would've been a hell of a lot harder if Jonathan hadn't learned how to breathe fire.

"Thanks," I said, looking up at him.

He turned and nodded before looking down at his armor. There was a bit and damage to his armor, but none of it went through, the armor holding up. The sword in his left hand, however, was totally ruined. The material seemed incapable of withstanding the heat and warped when he twisted it. Looking at it, he put it away before another brand new one appeared in his hand. Sliding it into the vacant slot on his belt, he turned to look where the chest was. Spotting it, he started walking over to it.

"Well, I've never felt so useless," Mason said as he fell into step, looking up at his friend as they walked. "I'm not going to complain anymore about whether or not a boss is a challenge or not. Without you in your dragonkin form, or your dragon form for that matter, I doubt we ever would've killed him."

I saw Jonathan nod his large reptilian head as he looked down. [I wasn't expecting the massive regeneration, but was glad that it wasn't completely immune to fire. If it had been, then it probably would've taken massive heart damage or severing his head to finally kill him.]

"That was the first time I'd seen something regenerate that quickly," Ben said from behind us. "I definitely haven't read anything about dragonewts being able to regenerate either. I wonder if that is where the name comes from as newts and salamanders, as well as other lizards are able to regrow tails and limbs."

"I wonder if you'll be able to regenerate that fast if you shift into a dragonewt. You did scan it right?" Mason asked.

Jonathan nodded as he stopped walking when he got close to the chest. [I'll try it later tonight. You wanna do the honors?] he asked, looking at Mason.

Nodding, Mason walked up to the chest and opened it up before peering inside. He reached in, grabbing the two Skill Gems and handing them to me. I could see that they were both Tier E, dropping them into the pouch when Jonathan handed it to me, before handing it back. Mason gathered up all the crystals and then pulled out the first item, which was a pair of gloves. They were leather, for the most part, with thin pieces of metal that covered the back of the fingers, with a larger plate covering the rest of the hand. He handed them to Ben and then bent down to pick up the second item, this time removing a large, slightly-curved tube that I immediately recognized as a sheath, otherwise known as a saya.

Ben passed the gloves to me, allowing me to get a quick look before handing them on.

Trik's Fists

Rare

+12 Strength

+12 Agility

+8 Constitution

+6 Endurance

Increases physical damage done by 10%. When unarmed, triple this.

Looking back to Mason, I could see that he was inspecting the sword. The entire thing was about four feet long, and grasping onto the handle and the saya, he pulled, unsheathing the sword entirely. The blade looked wickedly sharp, and he stepped away to slice through the air with it a few times, each one being punctuated by a noise following it. He sheathed it again, just as Anja looked over, having missed his display while looking at the gloves.

"A Nodachi!" she said, walking over with her hands stretched out. Mason handed it to her, and she unsheathed it just enough to look at the cutting edge of the blade. Nodding, she sheathed it again and then handed it to Ben so he could pass it around.

"What's a Nodachi? It looks like a katana to me," Mason said.

"Nope, it's way too long to be a katana. Nodachi were two-handed swords used in open areas, and were very good against cavalry. They're pretty much the Japanese equivalent of a longsword or claymore."

"Oh," Mason replied.

The sword was passed along to me so I got a good look at it as well.

Enchanted Steel Nodachi

Uncommon

14 Weapon Damage

+12 Strength

+8 Agility

Strikes with this weapon deal an additional 5% damage as True Damage. True Damage ignores all damage reduction effects.

[Alright, let's get started,] Jonathan sent holding out his phone to me. [We'll start with the gloves first, since they're the best of the three items. Everyone got a look at the gloves?]

Everyone nodded.

I tapped the button to start the roll on my phone and then hit roll on Jonathan's as well. The chime let me know the roll was over. Ben was the only one who passed on the item.

"Congrats!" I said, turning Jonathan's phone around so he could see the result.

He had to lean forward a bit to read it, but he grinned when he saw that he rolled a 94, the gloves instantly disappearing. I looked back down, noting that Anja had been second with 65, while neither Mason or I even came close.

[Okay, the sword next. Anyone interested in it, or does Anja get it?]

"You don't want it?" she asked. "It's pretty much a one-handed sword when you're in that form, you could wield it and your cutlass."

[Nah, I'm good. I'll wait until another one handed sword comes along. Besides, you're the one that uses Japanese weaponry.]

No one else spoke up, so he handed her the sword. She took out an empty collapsible sword and tried putting the nodachi inside of its dimensional storage, but nothing happened. Puzzled momentarily, she took it out of its sheath and tried again. This time, it went in without an issue and she looked back up, noticing that all of us were watching her. She activated and then deactivated it, nodding when the sword extended and then collapsed.

"I guess I'll just be leaving this in my room," she said, holding up the sheath.

[Okay, last item,] Jonathan said, taking the pants out of his ring's dimensional storage rather than the suits so that they wouldn't be soulbound to him. [Everyone remembers the stats on them, or would everyone like a refresher?]

"Refresher, please," Mason said.

Jonathan handed him the item, and he took a few seconds before proceeding to hand it around to the rest of the group. I had been the one to pick them up initially, but it was good to look them over once more. Like the gloves we rolled on just before, the pants were leather with armor plates attached to them, this time protecting the thighs.

Lesser Enchanted Cuisses

Uncommon

+10 Strength, Agility or Intellect, whichever is highest.

+8 Constitution

+6 Endurance

They weren't the most impressive pants, but they were good for all of us thanks to the special armor we were wearing. I handed them over to Ben who handed them over to Anja before giving them back to Jonathan.

I initiated the roll a moment later, Mason doing a little fist pump when our phones chimed and he saw he was the winner with a 90. He accepted the pants and they quickly disappeared. I handed Jonathan his phone, and then we continued on to the eleventh floor.

*****

The eleventh floor took our breath away. It looked normal enough as we walked down the steps, activating the waygate along the way, but we soon came across a door, which was the first we had come across when arriving at a new floor. Usually there was just a passageway we would follow.

All of us shielded our eyes as soon as Ben opened the door, that's how bright it was. We could hear birds chirping around us, and when we could finally see we saw that we were standing at the base of a mountain with a forest below us and large plains beyond it. There were deer or some other animals grazing in the distance, though they were too far to tell exactly what they were.

We looked to be in a valley, another mountain being directly opposite of us, at least several kilometers away. Assuming that's where we had to go, we would have to cross two forests, the large plains and a river that was running through it to get there. Looking up, it looked as if the sky was real, rather than being something fake. The sun was high in the sky and there was the occasional cloud.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to see one of these so soon," Ben said as he scanned the area. "This isn't one floor, it actually counts as five. The gryphon enclosure was probably based on something like this. Somewhere out there, there will be a boss we need to kill to get a key to open the door. I have no idea what it might be, but we'll know it when we see it. I also doubt we'll see any kobolds in here, as they hate daylight."

[Huh, interesting,] Jonathan said. [So, should we just head for the other mountain, or is there somewhere else we should look?]

"The mountain is a safe bet," Ben said with a nod while looking up at Jonathan. "The boss will find us more often than not, so we'll probably find it, or its minions along the way."

[I could transform into something and scout the area. It probably wouldn't take me long to find where we need to go.]

I immediately shook my head. "No, let's not rush through it. This floor is different enough from every other floor we've been on so far, it deserves some exploration."

"She's right about that," Ben said. "There are frequently rare materials that can be found on floors like this one, such as herbs. I bet some rare metals could be found too, if someone wanted to check the two mountains. Floors like this one are different from other floors in that none of the monsters respawn when they die, it's a much more natural ecosystem, with a cycle of life and death. It also allows for skinning of animals and the collection of body parts, if there is anything worth collecting."

"What about bosses? If we kill the one on this floor does it mean that it's dead forever?" Anja asked.

"Nope! No one's actually been able to capture it on camera, but it's theorized that if a boss dies, one of its minions consumes something that turns them into a boss. Or the dungeon just chooses one of the remaining minions to become the new boss. There are differing theories."

"Well, should we be going?" Mason asked. "It's about 17:30 now, and we've got a lot of ground to cover, especially if we've got to find the boss and get a key from him."

[Right, hopefully we'll be able to get through the floor within a few hours. I'd like to kill the boss on the twentieth floor if we can manage it.]