“Judging by these gravestones, you paid a steep price for the first few meters of this Dungeon,” Anastaria remarked as soon as we passed through the shimmering entrance. The place was full of transparent obelisks that you could walk through without any problem. I’d never seen anything like it.
“Assuming there were thirty of you, your raid perished at least twice here. Right?”
“No one expected a boss waiting for us right at the entrance.” Adjusting his dark gray cape, Kreel didn’t bother denying the obvious. “We had no choice but to deal with him the hard way.”
“What are these? Gravestones? First time I’ve seen something like this,” I asked Anastaria unable to contain my curiosity.
“If the raid is wiped out at its first attempt to complete the Dungeon, the system places gravestones for everyone. RIP and in loving memory and whatnot. They’ll remain here until the Dungeon is cleared. And new ones will keep appearing when the raid is wiped. When we earned our First Kills, there used to be forests of these gravestones—so many that it was hard to see through them.”
Only after Anastaria had done answering, did I notice that the girl’s voice lacked even a hint of sarcasm, mockery or condescension. She was speaking in an ordinary business-like tone that one player uses when explaining something to another. I don’t think I’ll ever understand this woman.
The tower’s first floor turned out to be quite expansive. The ceilings were about six meters high, while the floor itself consisted of a large hall with several columns and a spiral staircase winding upward beside the far wall—with a golden portal shimmering before it. Our current objective.
“Who was here before?” I asked Kreel.
“A skeleton,” the Titan replied curtly. “A huge, three-meter tall skeleton with four arms, transparent wings and a very unpleasant characteristic of summoning a wave of minions every time he lost 10% of his HP. In addition to that, he had a spell called ‘Lifesucker’ which he’d use any time he received damage in multiples of 10%.”
“How many HP would he restore with it?” Anastaria joined the conversation.
“Five percent.”
“And did the mobs reset too?”
“You mean when he passed another 10% marker? Yes. Both the mobs and the Lifesucker spell. Everything reset.”
“Wanna share the video?”
“No. What’s the difference how we beat him? You’re not here to fight him.”
Kreel stepped through the portal, ending the conversation. He had a point. We were here for something else entirely. We were here to kill the Dragon of Shadow.
“Welcome to the attic,” said Kreel once the entire raid had teleported up from the ground floor. “The roof and our Dragon are above us. Moni, what’s the updated game plan?”
“Hit and run. I haven’t seen the Dragon yet, so I can’t say anything more specific than that. We’ve just acquired three unexpected fighters with odd abilities who are untested in battle but who seem useful. So the short of it is that we’ll start the boss fight and then see what happens.”
“What stunning tactical nous,” Anastaria quipped. “Is this how you beat all the bosses you come across?”
“Raynest, you’re in reserves,” Moni went on, ignoring Anastaria’s jibes. One of the low-level Paladins nodded his head silently and sheathed his sword. Moni thought a little more and then asked Anastaria in a melodic voice, brimming with sarcasm: “What is your counsel, oh great Anastaria? How shall we vanquish our unseen foe?”
“I don’t see you genuflecting. And your voice lacks reverence,” Stacey doubled down.
“Damn it all!” Moni blurted angrily, waving his hand in exasperation. “How am I supposed to work like this? How?”
“I understand,” Anastaria smiled. “I won’t interfere.”
“But really, I have no problem with receiving help. I really haven’t seen the boss yet and haven’t the slightest idea what he’s capable of.”
“Well why haven’t you seen the boss yet?” I couldn’t help but ask. “You guys have been here how long?”
“A week,” Kreel replied in Moni’s place. “In this Dungeon…”
“Bosses attack as soon as you enter a new floor,” Anastaria interrupted Kreel. “If Kreel had set foot on the roof, the Dragon would’ve attacked him. Then the boss battle would have begun and who knows what would happen. Too many ‘ifs.’ Our Kreel was simply keeping our contract in mind. That’s why he waited.”
The smirk that Stacey directed at Kreel was so venomous, that I was shocked by the Titan’s restraint. When Anastaria wanted to be the bitch, she had no rivals.
“Okay, have we chatted our fill?” When the ensuing silence began to drag on too long, Moni took the reins. “Then let’s get down to business. What are you standing there for, Ugtur? Shove some coal in your boiler and full steam ahead! Prospero, you’re with him. Cast some shields on Ugtur. At the count of ten, we step out onto the roof. The countdown starts now. Aden, Marlan and Potrohari, y’all are up next. Cast stealth on yourselves and slow down anything that’s running around up there. Nathan, you’re next. Summon your army as soon as you enter. Krolom, Pecador and Baruz—your assignment will be…”
I could barely follow Moni’s orders. Aden, Marlan and Potrohari were Rogues, one of whom, as I understood, was a goblin. Nathan was a Necromancer. To be honest, I didn’t know what army this class could summon, but since Moni mentioned it explicitly, I’d guess it was worth something. Krolom, Pecador and Baruz were Warriors, whose job was to set up a security perimeter for the healers and ranged fighters who’d follow them. After that I got lost in all the names until I heard the most important part:
“Go Mahan!”
The entrance to the roof was also a portal in the guise of an ordinary staircase. As soon as I set foot on the first stair, the space around me warped and went dark. When the surrounding world returned a moment later, I found myself in the center of hell.
“Hold the line! Revive Feanor! We need more dps on the crawlers! Mahan, cast your freeze spell!” Miraculously, Moni’s shouts could be heard above the terrible roar of the spells, the gnashing of iron, the screams of monsters and the swearing of players. The roof was a rather small, open platform the size of a basketball court, full of flying, crawling, hopping and scurrying monsters of Level 180. The flying mobs attacked us from all directions, even leaving the area’s limits; the crawling ones kept appearing from under the area’s edge; it was unclear where the scurrying ones were coming from, but no doubt they were spawning somewhere since the entire crowd of them could hardly fit on the platform. As soon as I stepped out, I was already waist-deep in mobs. At least the slain ones didn’t get in the way, remaining on the roof only as projections so that we could pick up the loot they’d dropped afterward.
“Come here, Draco!”
“Coming.”
“Cast Thunderclap the moment you get here!”
“Understood!”
“We have a minute! Come on, come on! Cut down anything that’s standing! Plinto! Show me what a Vampire of your level can do! Why is your damage so low? It’s only 30% of the raid’s total! We need at least 40%! Kreel, cast ‘Breach!’ Everyone—ATTACK!”
The Raid Leader has used the ‘Thundering Shout’ ability. Energy of all the raid members has been increased by 20 and all the main stats by +20%. Duration: 5 minutes.
The mobs teeming on the roof froze. Draco looked around assertively and without asking for permission soared up into the air and banked sharply into the closest harpy, sinking his fangs into her throat. Only now did I get a chance to see who we were dealing with. The flying mobs, Shadow Harpies, had wings that seeped a gray fog as they flew. The crawling ones, Shadow Slugs, appeared endlessly from beneath the platform’s edge and left a green trail behind them that seemed to be poisonous. The jumpers and runners were Shadow Gargoyles. These tried to vault over our tanks and latch onto the healers and ranged fighters. All three mob types were so mutated from their vanilla forms that only their names a
llowed me to tell what tribe they belonged to. I’d never call a creature that resembled a dead-humanoid covered in fog, shuffling along on a myriad of tiny spider-like legs, a slug. Meanwhile, in addition to fighting the creature, I had to fight my own revulsion at being touched by it.
The designers in charge of the Shadow expansion seemed well versed in creating abominations.
“Portal straight ahead!” yelled Anastaria when almost half of the battleground was destroyed by the Titan’s Breach spell. Something resembling a black hole shot from the Titan in the direction of the monsters, sending them into nonexistence. Kreel swayed a little as if fatigued and instantly brought a flagon with a liquid up to his lips. What’s this? Is he restoring his Energy? Does this mean that casting ‘Breach,’ as Moni had called it, Kreel had to sacrifice his Energy? An odd class, the Titans, what can you say…If you miss once or twice, you’ll collapse to the ground and have to wait until someone gives you a drink. Or is this simply one of his abilities that’s like this?
“Plinto!” Moni continued to direct the raid. “That portal’s yours! We’re done with the mobs, focus fire on the portal!”
A red portal was shimmering right at the far edge of the platform and disgorging gargoyles. One of the monsters hadn’t quite managed to make it out just as Draco’s Thunderclap caught him halfway through, and I imagined his legs wriggling in futile hate of my Totem somewhere in Armard.
The Mages, Hunters and other ranged fighters redirected their fire onto the portal, above which an Endurance bar appeared. Plinto, following Moni’s direction, turned into a dark fog and materialized right beside the half-frozen gargoyle. The Vampire’s arms transformed—they lengthened and the hands grew glittering claws—the Rogue became a man-sized propeller. Plinto’s arms were moving at such a mad speed that we could hear the hum of the air he was parting. The only downside was that the Vampire’s Hit Points began to fall as though in payment for his insane speed. Then the portal exploded with a loud pop, scattering the nearby monsters from the platform—and simultaneously killing Plinto, who had kept on spinning like a windmill to the last moment. As far as I noticed, the healers had tried to heal him, but in vain—the healing spells had no effect.
“Ten seconds until the stun expires. Revive Plinto! We’ll destroy the remaining gargoyles and start looking for the harpy and slug portals! Get a move on people! There’s a chance we’ll clear the roof on our first attempt!”
“Phew!” Draco landed heavily beside me. “I’ve fought my fill.”
“How’s it going?” I asked my Totem, carefully checking his Hit Points and status effects. What if…
“I didn’t manage to kill anyone, but I did get a few mouthfuls. My jaw’s a little sore. I tore the wings of twenty harpies to tatters—we’ll see if they can fly again. By the way, why don’t you try flying yourself? You’re just standing there, not doing much…Oh! They’re moving again!”
The stun from the Thunderclap expired and the monsters came to life again. The slugs crawled on while the harpies plummeted out of the air. At the same time, a light aura flashed around Draco several times indicating he had gained a few levels—the harpies whose wings he had destroyed were grounded for good.
“The slug portal is three meters below the roof!” yelled one of our Rogues. A marker immediately appeared on the new target, allowing us to see it even through the paved surface of the platform.
“Alisa!” Moni called. “Take all the ranged fighters and focus that portal! Everyone else keep focusing the monsters! Mahan, at least smack them with your staff—every little bit will help. Stop standing there like a princess!”
I was about to do as the Hunched Druid ordered when a bulb of inspiration went off in my head. When the first portal exploded, a portion of the monsters were thrown from the platform. Draco hadn’t been able to kill any of the harpies which had a hundred levels on him, but he had shredded their wings, keeping them from flying.
And I was a Dragon after all! A giant killing machine, four meters long and three meters tall! Why should I try to kill something when I could be much more effective?”
“Watch out!” I yelled, getting a running start and jumping into the mass of slugs. I began to transform while in midair and landed on the green trails of the slugs on my four immense clawed paws. The monsters immediately turned their attention to their new victim who had so graciously walked straight into their jaws. My Hit Points began to fall, so I checked that there weren’t any players around me and began to spin. A new propeller appeared on the roof.
Level gained!
Level gained!
Level gained!
Energy level: 30. Stop, you angry Shaman!
“Where were you earlier?” Moni asked, when the slugs had been destroyed. For some unknown reason, the system had credited all the XP from the killed monsters to me exclusively and therefore in a matter of moments I had gained twelve levels. A Level 149 Shaman is no joke.
“What’s the deal with the harpies?” I asked, drinking deeply. Even my conversations with Anastaria didn’t sap my Energy as quickly as spinning in place had. If every new Level hadn’t restored it completely, my heroic feat would have become a heroic self-sacrifice. I’d lucked out.
“It’s the window ten meters below the roof. They’re spawning from there. The Warriors and Rogues are already on it.”
“Where is the Shadow Dragon?”
“Good question. Can you believe it? I wanted to ask you the same thing. Mahan, where’s our Dragon?”
“He’ll probably show up after we kill the mobs. Otherwise it’d be impossible to complete this roof,” Anastaria approached us. She wasn’t much use to us against flying monsters, so Stacey had turned back to her human form and was now examining the corpse-strewn platform in a business-like manner.
“Kreel, please tell me you have a specially-trained player who’ll sort through this loot in a jiffy…If the boss shows up right now, the loot could vanish, and I’d really hate that. You are still following our contract, right?”
“When did you become so greedy?” I couldn’t help but ask when Kreel nodded to Moni and one of the raiders began to sort through the loot.
“My husband taught me. Can you imagine—his greed exceeds all acceptable limits. He stole an entire castle from me!”
“Altameda was never yours to begin with.”
“Tell it to Viltrius. By the way, Mahan, you and I have one unfinished piece of business. You were planning on making me a surprise, but you seem to have gotten distracted and forgotten about it. When will I get it?”
“A surprise?” For a moment, I felt utterly lost—however, when I realized what she was talking about, I felt my anger surge deep inside of me. Anastaria was referring to my promise to show her the squidolphin! Where does she get the gall? Okay—calm down. Let’s remember that I’m still the Ice Queen. “Darling, I think you forgot something—the surprise was for a member of my clan. You left us, so—so sorry—the loss is yours.”
“I’m always ready to come back,” said Anastaria, shrugging a shoulder. “All you need to do is ask.”
“What a delicate relationship you two have. You’re not married by any chance, are you?” Moni smirked, still directing the ranged fighters.
“Portal’s down!” Ugtur wrote in the raid chat, distracting me from Anastaria’s provocation. There were better things to do than spar with her. “Let’s finish off the rest of the mobs!”
When the last harpy crashed to the roof, a silence ensued. We clumped up in a group, awaiting the boss’s appearance. The healers prepared their defensive spells, the tanks their damage-mitigating abilities, and the warriors their strengthening ones. Even Anastaria turned into her Siren Form, ready to use her killer spell.
But the boss did not appear.
“At the risk of asking the obvious, where the hell’s the Dragon?” asked one of Kreel’s mercenaries after a tedious minute.
“Maybe we missed one of the mobs?” another mercenary offered, but Moni shook his hea
d—the ‘In Combat’ status had expired. All the monsters were slain.
“Maybe you missed something, Kreel?” Moni asked the Titan. “Maybe we need to sing like a song or something? Dance a dance? Make a sacrifice? What the hell are we standing here for like a bunch of idiots? Where’s the boss?”
“Brother,” Draco’s voice sounded in my head. My Totem had been circling the platform. Kreel had begun to discuss something with Moni, and Anastaria had joined them, but I couldn’t hear them. Draco’s voice drowned out everything. “What are you waiting for?”
“The Shadow Dragon was supposed to appear, but for some reason hasn’t. So we’re waiting.”
“How is he supposed to be appear if he hasn’t been born yet?”
“What do you mean he hasn’t been born yet?”
“Well…I thought you knew. If the Shadow Dragon hatches from his egg, it’ll be practically impossible to kill him. Even father wouldn’t risk fighting him. Since you’re all still here, then the Dragon hasn’t hatched.”
“Hold on—so the Dragon doesn’t even exist yet?” I said aloud, drawing the attention of the nearby players. “Where is he then?”
“No idea,” Draco landed smoothly on the platform, sat down and propped up his head with his tail pensively. “There are several options naturally. If you’re looking for the Dragon egg, then he’s definitely not here on the roof. He’d be somewhere deep underground on a soft cushion, but certainly not here on an open platform. That’s the first thing. The second is that, if you ask me, that there portal that’s hanging twenty meters above us—well, it might lead somewhere.”
“Where?” As if by command, the players all looked up. Right over our heads hung the shimmering point of a portal, practically invisible against the backdrop of grim clouds.
The Way of the Shaman [06] Shaman's Revenge Page 23