“The final stage is set.” Came an announcement.

  Each of us used a healing salve whilst Lucy also drank a Lùth nourishment broth and drank a MEGA-wisdom potion. Better have a quick read up I thought getting my note pad out to remind myself what that those things do:

  *Lùth nourishment broth - Speeds up rate of Lùth recovery 15%*...

  *The Brewmeister’s wisdom potion - Doubles wisdom and doubles current Lùth for 10 minutes.

  WARNING! causes Lùth poisoning if consumed with any other enhancing items.*

  Fair enough, you just can’t be too sure with these things I thought.

  “I’m going to set up a strong barrier art, then I’ll help you focus down the boss, the barrier should hold for the whole fight I used one of Barry’s special brews, I’m going to smash that boss…in the face!” she said amping herself up.

  “Silana, you must stay back in the safe spot, this boss uses attacks that reach all areas of the room ok, STAY INSIDE THE BARRIERS got it!?” Wardi said to her

  “Yes, sir Wardi!” she said whilst saluting at him.

  “You’re never going to escape that military stuff man” elbowing him as we walked to the next room.

  He elbowed back whilst laughing telling me to “Sod off sir.”.

  This looks familiar I thought gazing around the room. It was like the battlegrounds, only this time what awaits at the end was the rusted lift, copper in colour that connects to the skybridge and in front of it, a statue of the bookie Uno.

  Only this statue was a vivid blue and had several spikes from its head to the base of his back. Did it always have those red shoes the thought entered my mind. We stood side by side and walked forward together, stopping as the statue began whirring to life.

  “This is your final test; I permit you to challenge me sentients.”

  “Rhua, do the usual tactic, bring it to the left wall.” Wardi said.

  “Don’t have to tell me twice.” she said as she ran and began, activating her shield throw ability at the boss causing it to follow.

  “Me and him will attack its sides next, Lucy you focus on long-range attacking with Horace and before engaging, make sure Silana has stealth spells and skills on got it?” I said.

  Lucy and Horace nodded. Wardi and I both started running towards the boss I figured this time I’ll continue fighting with the Graniter limbs I saved from the last fight, targeting its legs to try and get it to topple over, we can do extra damage if we can whale on its head.

  “Out of sight!” Shouted Lucy and Horace threw an anti-musk and sneak canister at her.

  “Go Silana, hide on the other side of the lift.” said Lucy. She saluted like a good little solider and we unleashed a fair amount of damage to the boss in a short space of time.

  “Remember in the first phase it’ll focus on Rhua then a random member in its melee range will get hit by a projectile from the ceiling after every 5th attack it does!” shouted Wardi, causing Lucy and Horace to step back a few paces realising they could end up in range.

  Yet, the random attack never came.

  “Be prepared it’s probably going to do something different this r-“

  “Ugh” & “Aash” me and Wardi shouted as it span in a circle and knocked us back, someone’s given it some Kaha recently, cheeky blighter’s never done that before!”

  My words seemed to give it energy and as we quickly depleted it’s health bar we were took by surprise as it jumped into the middle of the room and turned itself back into a statue again.

  “Your kind bring shame to these halls failing to achieve the set conditions - 1/100 purple embers collected,

  New mechanic enabled.”

  “Huh…what now!?” without pause Rhua shouted. Continuing by shouting “Do not make a sound or a move at all, we don’t know what’s coming next.”

  Horace set off a shielding shell for Silana to give us some extra reassurance, a metallic coating began forming an orb of sorts around her vicinity and it fizzled out as it finished the creation.

  “The dungeon has increased to three point five stars due to incompetence of the challengers.”

  “Right…cool since when was that a possibility.” Shouting at the statue was getting me nowhere, however.

  Before any of us could complain further, the statue clapped its hands sending out a shockwave which was quickly absorbed by Rhua’s Bulwark rattling as the shockwave blew over and past us into the walls.

  After a few seconds of nothing happening, portals began appearing, slowly, and getting bigger every second. Lucy began casting to see if maybe this could be interrupted, the symbols for Agni began swirling around her and she shouted “Branns?yle” A large column of fire formed and blew upwards where the statue stood but it was no good, it seemed to not have been harmed at all.

  “It’s going to make us re-fight everything, and then it will be targetable again…Lucy don’t heal unless we really need it.” Wardi’s words were so much calmer this time.

  “Looks like you got your composure back, let’s go for round three” Lucy said, her emboldened words certainly got us all prepped, but my mind was a little elsewhere thinking about all these strange changes and events again.

  Wardi tapped my arm, and I responded with a gasp and looked around before realising the situation at hand again.

  “Keep it together now!” Wardi shouted out at all of us. The wave of mobs from the first area are not particularly dangerous on their own, but that second one will create a bit of a messy fight with so many damn targets.

  “Rhua, you should do the same strategy again as soon you get the opportunity to target the boss, for the rest of us just burn the trash mobs down until we can jump back at the boss, Lucy, maybe try using acid skin instead of a shield this time, give it an enhanced cast and it should last until we can fight the big guy again.” Said Wardi

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “Are you sure? Would it not be safer to have a shield? She responded.

  “Yeah, its ok, full damage mode now, it’ll speed this clear up faster right guys?

  “YUP” piped Horace.

  The critters were much faster than previous, and they crashed into Rhua, but they need to try harder to overcome that immovable object, there must have been at least fifteen crashing into each other one after the other and she simply stood her ground and unleashed shield bash sending them flying into groups behind them, thuds and screeching rang out as they collided with each other.

  I swapped to using a great sword I pulled out of my inventory to cleave through the groups of foes trying hard to unalive us. The occasional crossbow bolt flying past me into any stragglers trying to get me at my side. Wardi took advantage of the short opening and foxtrotted out of sight and was taking advantage of the sneak attack damage by taking out the Graniters and large Screechies.

  The continuous foul looking yellow of the acid secret around us and was most concentrated around Lucy, her Area of Person spell seemed especially effective on the Lil and Regular Graniters who were dissolving before they could even step through to her Righteous Points barrier art she initially set up.

  The sounds made as the acid connected, glooping and hissing, the sounds were making me wince a little, it grated on my ears with how high frequency it was, seemingly only me being bothered by it as I glanced around the battleground at the others. Slowly but surely the numbers were falling though it seemed this was not the only thing that was in store for us as the statue began whirring to life once more.

  “The dungeon has been increased to four stars.

  dungeon adjustments have been initiated -These grounds are for fighting,

  Begone with you”

  “Sir…the difficulty was requested at three stars by her grace, why did you push it higher?" Whispered the lowly technician, in attempts to raise his concern by risking himself against someone far above his position.

  “Well, it would please her Grace greatly ol-chap” the words of the GIT echoed in the control room as he walked away and the kaiser wills it, so such were the words that fluttered around the mind of Phahl.

  “I’ll speak to her do not worry, continue with the dungeon monitoring task at hand” his words once again echoed off into the distance as he disappeared from the control room and into the alter room of Kaiser, the distinctive ethereal green glows swirled the room and the chains that held the alter in place rattled as figures appeared from behind it.

  “Is the plan in motion?” said the mechanised knight.

  “But of course, the acolytes shall be appearing before the Baroness shortly” replied Phahl.

  “Magnifique…for kaiser’s words are absolute, we will get the man and the girl before the gods start to take notice and then our glory will truly be known to all, what a wonderful on a grand mission at hand!" The knight and Phahl bowed to one another and spoke the words:

  “As the last flake falls”

  The knight communicated with his second in command and his female accomplice was not long finished incinerating a servant belonging to Areya the Baroness of Coch Manor bordering the edge of the manor estate and the Long Open, a grass trail that separates the manor and the marshes and is often traversed for easy routes to the town southward.

  She used an just and most righteous light fire art so concentrated it would have ended the life of most below the tenner’s. Having eliminated and claimed the identity of what was likely a sweet young woman forced into servitude; the woman was able to respond now.

  “Apologies Maelos, it was as if the target seemed to be aware she was going to be removed today, by insisting on speaking with every cretin she came across in the manor grounds and wasting our time.”

  “Do not apologise Affilan, she was paramount in this proceeding after all, both a personal servant and the only one given permission to the leave the grounds; unlike her useless brethren, if we ever see her in this life or the next, I’ll thank her personally.” Spoke Maelos, his words emotionless and robotic through his helmet.

  “Praise to the true Maelos, I will begin the plan, as the last flake falls” Said Affilan quivering with excitement at what’s to come.

  “See it done” replied Maelos.

  Affilan began her wicked plan of action by brutally slaughtering a Vetir rodent that was nearby foraging Gimag Leaf for its den. Her blade was quick, and all but only the most battle hardened would have been able to see the blades lethal strike severing the Vetir cleanly in half and painting the woodland floor with an artistic masterpiece for the ages. Leaves and grass mixed with the purple blood and dirt sprawled out on the woodland floor. She coated her hand in the fresh remains and smeared it across her face. Soon after she viciously slashed at her arms and chest with her blade in spectacular fashion smiling with glee as she did it, enjoying every waking moment the blade cut deep.

  Yet her work was not yet done, what would be better than destroying any trace of beauty the young woman before used to have and leaving something more suitable in its place. She walked away and threw another Agni art as she walked by, the searing and bright flames met its targets, burning the remains of the dead rodent and any trace of blood that was once there, she approached the sturdiest looking tree that was around her destination and task in this procedure and swung back her head.

  A headbutt; BOOM-BOOM-BOOM it thundered and echoed throughout the area, as if a cannon fired off repeatedly, her face was mangled, and her eye had erupted from its socket, what was once beautiful now would be forever remembered as a freak avoidable.

  She summoned a mirror from her inventory to gaze at her new beauty yes…YES THIS IS IT she thought, returning the mirror to its place, whilst inhaling and unleashing a scream easily loud enough for the inhabitants at the manor to hear it. A new skill she quickly developed whilst desperately running in her facade, the wonderful crocodile tears; were an addition she didn’t think capable of but was a welcome one as she ran flaying her arms flinging blood as she went.

  “Help me! Please help me!” The words left her mouth as she ran and ran towards the grounds, and it was only seconds before the baroness goons appeared and rushed to the maid’s aid carrying her to a room in which the captain of Areya’s manor police was residing in.

  “Oi-oi, what’s all this comm- by her grace!" Said the captain of the guard stared in horror as he looked at the servant so brutalised.

  “Lottie, poor girl what happened!? spare me no details! Mark, grab potions from my personal quarters immediately. A young goon nodded at him and rushed off to find what was asked of him, leaving the captain to tend to the servant by grabbing paper and a pen ready for the girl to tell what happened.

  “Captain…” Lottie sobbed to herself quietly. “I was simply foraging for herbs in the Long Open, when a group of five or maybe six I’m not quite sure if one of them was with them willingly, but they pretended to be friendly and did all manner of things to me and to the woodland, they punched me, slashed at my body and used wicked arts to taint the woodland now there are patches that need cleansing for life to grow again. She sobbed intensively and flailed her arms around in dramatic flair, the blood flew in all different directions and the white interior was quickly becoming less and less white by the second.

  “Poor girl…I will see it that your assailants are rotting for the abomina in the cells to devour at their pleasure, can you describe me as much as possible their appearance? Said the captain.

  “I will try my best” said ‘Lottie’ I think they were like so…"

  A scribe copies and prints the wanted poster of the party enmasse for distribution in an office window and an officer stationed in the watch tower, activates the alarm and a squawker begins flying into the sky, KA-KA-KA it repeats and the noise permeates through the area alerting for the goons to gather quickly assembling in the courtyard, kneeling to the floor as Baroness Areya burst through her manor doors furious at the commotion. A wanted poster containing attempted drawings and a description of the party members rushes through the air, heading in the direction of a neighbouring town:

  Apprehend at all costs, enemies of the Coch estate.

  Tall athletic middle-aged man with notably neat and tidy black hair, eastern combat garb, loose with a black cloth material, carried a rapier. Terran/Huum likely a pranser

  Middle aged woman: Face was hidden, long thick hair, amber in colour, Sillva scale plate mail, wielded a flail and shield also carried a sword openly. Terran/Huum likely a knight-based class

  Middle aged man: Terran/Huum, boofal leather attire with modified additional armour plates, dirty blonde hair notably sun-bleached highlights. Wore distinctive hand wraps and appeared to carry multiple weapons, was last seen with daggers. Class unknown

  Young man: Faded red Boofal leather attire, makeshift pixaye glass bowl helmet, taupe brown hair, half Dornam/half Scaq, crossbow wielder possible ranger.

  Young teenager: Haberdashphylacterist, race unidentifiable, brown hat, concealed appearance, carried a Hibikan white wand with a pearlescent crystal embedded at the crown, short, notable art use observed, likely extremely dangerous.

  Young girl: blue hair, short, appeared to be some sort of captive or slave to the party.

  ‘Lottie’ is seen being tended to by several mages as they attempt to heal her awful wounds, whilst she screams in apparent agony to the people around her. Internally however, Affilan is the most exquisite of ecstasy as the pain sends her to new heights of pleasure she hasn’t felt in a long time. AMAZING, SALT AND BURN ME YOU CRETINS she wanted to say aloud.