"Girls, are you ready?"
"Yes!"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Hmm."
Elenya, the group's priestess, simply nodded.
"Then let's go! We need to be careful on the first floor. Even though we're used to it by now, a mini-boss was reportedly spotted inside!"
"The guild mistress asked us to investigate—and to kill it if we get the chance!"
"Understood?"
They all nodded, aware that unlike the monsters in the dungeon, we can't be resurrected.
"Good. Let's go!"
We entered, loaded with food and everything we'd need to sleep in the dungeon for several weeks.
This time, we're not trying to go down to the lower levels, but rather to find the mini-boss—and fight it if it's real.
We stepped into the cave, quickly welcomed by the stone arch of the dungeon.
We got into formation: Lyna, our tank, in front; then me on one side, Kaelyra on the other, and our priestess, Elenya, in the center. As for the summoner, Lyssara, she stayed at the back.
The first monsters arrived: water slimes. But as soon as they appeared, they launched several more slimes, and even an acid slime guard burst from their stomachs.
We weren't surprised. With all our expeditions, we know that a single slime never comes alone.
Lyna used her Provocation skill, drawing all the slimes toward her.
(Provocation: The knight lets out a shout to force enemies to attack her.)
Meanwhile, Lyssara used Partial Summon to summon only the head of a small wyvern, which breathed fire on the group.
(Partial Summon: Allows the summoning of parts of a monster to attack.)
To be sure, Kaelyra used Flame Whirlwind, summoning several flame whirlwinds that merged with the fire breath. Once hit, the slimes were wiped out.
(Flame Whirlwind: Summons a whirlwind of flames in front of you. The more mana spent, the more whirlwinds appear—or the stronger a single whirlwind becomes.)
"The first group is really easy."
"Yeah, if only the next ones were that simple!"
"If Alicia hadn't warned me during our first expedition, I would've let my guard down," Lyssara said with a sigh, closing her eyes a bit.
The dungeon master is really a sneaky one. The first slimes may come alone, but they spit out other monsters, forming a small army. Easy to kill, sure—but the farther you go, the more starting slimes there are... which leads to a ridiculous number of slimes coming out of their bellies!
Imagine how many we have to fight! And on top of that, if the fight lasts too long, more slimes come as reinforcements!
Not only do we have to fight fast, but we also need to keep an eye on our mana reserves!
But we're prepared. Healing potions, mana potions, backup gear in case the main equipment breaks. Never underestimate the importance of secondary equipment in your bag!
There were times at the end of a battle when we had no usable weapons left. Without Elenya, our priestess, we might have died…
Acid slimes are the worst when it comes to weapons and armor.
As we continued forward, we came across rats—not just regular ones, but bloodthirsty ones!
Blood Rats are probably from the second floor, since they appear near its entrance. But since no one's gone down yet, nothing's certain. They could also be from the first floor but stay within a specific area.
The area is spacious enough for both types of rats to have met and made hybrids. These new rats not only have sharp claws and teeth, but they can also suck blood!
We used the same technique as with the slimes. But this time, Lyna chained Provocation and Fortress.
(Fortress: The knight creates a defensive fortress, protecting herself and her allies from multiple attacks. Lasts 1 minute. Cooldown: 1 minute.)
Elenya cast Totem Spirit while preparing Restoration Hymn and Providence Wall.
(Totem Spirit: Summons a spiritual totem that emits an aura increasing mana regeneration and boosting magical abilities nearby.)
(Restoration Hymn: Recites a sacred hymn that heals nearby allies over time. The longer she stays still, the stronger the effect.)
(Providence Wall: A semi-transparent light barrier that blocks physical and magical attacks. Can be extended to the whole group.)
As for me, I activated Explosive Sword and Ice Sword on my two blades: the first on my greatsword, the second on my ice katana.
While the wyvern's fire and Kaelyra's flames burned the rats, the fortress formed around us, and the Totem Spirit flooded us with its aura.
I rushed into the fray. With every strike of my greatsword, explosions erupted; every slash of my Ice Katana froze enemies and sent flying ice shards toward the next ones.
Strikes here, spells there—and the rats fell, all slain under our assault.
We kept moving forward blindly, fighting off large groups of rats and slimes for several days… which turned into two weeks. And finally, just as we were nearly out of supplies — food, potions, even our armor was starting to fall apart — we finally found the mini-boss!
And it exists! But… that dungeon master… they put a C-rank iron lizard as the mini-boss!
A lizard! In a dungeon filled with slimes and rats! This damn dungeon has no logic, except wanting to piss us off!
"Get ready!"
The iron lizard charged at us the moment it saw us, powering up with its skills.
Kaelyra used her class skill, Skill Fusion, to combine two skill and cast: Lava Spikes!
(Skill Fusion: The caster can fuse two skills into a single attack, in exchange for a higher mana cost.)
(Lava Spikes: Massive lava spikes violently erupt from the ground at the targeted location, capable of piercing even the toughest armor. Violent lava explosions follow upon impact.)
Lava spikes burst from the ground, shot straight at the iron lizard, pierced it, and exploded in a burning geyser. It was now covered in molten lava!
Lyna used Fortress and Provocation, maximizing her passive skill Enhancement, then activated Defender's Aura.
(Enhancement: Passive boost to defensive equipment.)
(Defender's Aura: An aura that actively enhances the user's physical defense.)
She placed herself in front of us to block the lizard's charge, which kept going despite the Lava Spikes.
She managed to stop it, stepping back several paces, but she held firm.
Elenya cast Providence Wall, then Totem Spirit on the whole group, and followed up with Ancient Veil on Lyna to further boost her defense.
(Ancient Veil: A thin spiritual barrier covers an ally, reducing damage taken by 30% for a period. Also prevents spell interruption.)
She was already preparing a second Ancient Veil, eyes locked on Kaelyra, ready to act if she got hit.
As for me, I focused on activating Explosive Sword, hoping to blow up the lizard's armor.
Kaelyra kept chaining Lava Spikes to crack and break the carapace.
Lyna kept blocking everything with her shield, tanking hit after hit, while smashing the monster's skull with her hammer, trying to stun it.
I kept striking its legs with Explosive Sword, trying to immobilize it. But even if I managed to, I had to hit exactly the same spot over and over, which was very hard.
I also used Lightning Body now and then to rush at it.
Just as we were about to win… the lizard let out a roar, and the ground shook.
"Elenya! Lyna!"
"Yes!"
"I know!"
The two of them immediately cast their protective skill on the whole group!
A wave of rats suddenly burst out of nowhere, crashing into our shields — and the lizard kept attacking without pause!
"Kaelyra, throw out some AOE skills!"
Without a word, she cast Shadow Wave, then activated Skill Fusion to combine two attacks into Abyssal Eruption!
(Shadow Wave: A wave of darkness rapidly spreads across the ground, dealing instant and damage-over-time effects.)
(Abyssal Eruption: A dark wave surges, making obsidian spikes randomly erupt from the ground under enemies in the targeted zone.)
A massive black tide swept around us, while obsidian spikes pierced through the rats from every direction.
I activated Ice Sword, sending small ice spikes flying in all directions.
We were terrified by that insane wave of rats rushing toward us. But even shaking, we kept fighting. Our lives depended on it!
Once the rat wave was down, and with Lyna still holding the lizard back, we all focused our attacks on it.
And after a grueling, terrifying, intense fight…
We killed the iron lizard.
We collapsed to the ground, panting, drenched in sweat, but happy.
We all got notifications saying we were the first to defeat the iron lizard! The first ones to take down the mini-boss!
That earned us a huge amount of reputation points… over 1,000 adventurer reputation points!
After that, we left the dungeon slowly, carefully, exhausted.
And once we were safe, we told everything to the guild mistress.
"Ma'am, the mini-boss, the iron lizard, is at least C-rank. And in our opinion, it's at the top of the C-rank."
"It's extremely defensive. Its armor makes our attacks almost useless, even with my armor-breaking skill," added Kaelyra.
We were all in agreement.
"And it can summon a wave of rats near the end of the fight. It's very dangerous."
"Understood. Thank you, ladies," she replied simply.
"You may go and rest."
We bowed and went to sleep.
"Good night, girls. Tomorrow, we can finally rest… and get our gear fixed."
"Okay!" replied Lyssara — the only one with enough energy left to talk.
The others just nodded with a tired smile.
And once we got back to our room…
We fell asleep immediately.