Novus. Day 38.
Astrid led the way to Dylak's Mansion, swinging her arms like a cartoon soldier and humming something off-key, as if she were headed to a picnic instead of a dungeon full of high-level bosses.
I have a very good hunch about this run.
She glanced back at her new team. The dead trees lining the path offered no protection against the cold wind, whipping the group's hair around. Helen kept tugging her hood back up every time it was knocked down. She looked annoyed, sure, but as chill as ever. Their new acquaintance, on the other hand, walked with both hands wrapped around her staff while scanning her surroundings like a cautious cat.
Once the far-off silhouette of the mansion appeared on the horizon, the color drained from her face.
"So," Astrid said, spinning on her heel and walking backward, hands clasped behind her back, "how far did your old team get, Kat?"
The petite girl swallowed and hunched her shoulders. "We ran into the kitchen first, and fought the cook. He… broke one of my teammate's arms, so we looked for a place to rest and heal him before stumbling into the library… where another boss was waiting there."
"Let me guess. That sneaky bastard poisoned you real bad and everyone panicked," Helen chimed in, sneering.
Kat stammered. "Y-Yes. That's exactly what happened. By the time we beat him, we had one fewer teammate, and another one was poisoned."
"You didn't go back to the kitchen? That's where you can prepare an antidote."
"We had no idea," Kat said, apologetic. "What ended our run, however, was the twins. We couldn't handle them, so our leader—" She squeezed her eyes shut, as if gathering the courage to correct herself, "my ex-leader decided to skip that fight and rush to the second floor. That's when the butler wiped us out."
"So the maids gave you trouble, huh?" Astrid said between hums. "Understandable. You were a big group in a cramped space, after all."
Kat opened her mouth, then closed it again, and the gesture made Astrid realize how her own words must have sounded.
Sorry, Kat, but Helen and I had never struggled against them. Brilliant, Bradford. Really reassuring.
"Could you go over the strategy again?" Kat asked.
Astrid's ears twitched with relief, glad to hear that Kat was ready to move on.
"We sweep the first floor, room by room. Then head upstairs. Easy."
"We take the housekeeper first, Astrid," Helen cut in. "Remember?"
"Ah, right. He's always roaming about, and he's the one with the most HP besides Dylak himself. Noted. He'll be priority number one, and our first real test of teamwork."
"Just don't stay in one place for more than three seconds, please," Helen told Kat, her tone dry. "I know you're a magic user, but don't make yourself an obvious target and everything will be fine."
Kat nodded softly, but something flickered across her face, the pained look of someone who had heard those same words more than once before.
I can only imagine how that wanker Earl used to treat her.
Astrid and Helen had found Kat at Moonlight's Inn the day before. She had been sitting with her head hung low and her face completely covered by her blue cloak, with no sign of her former team anywhere. She had looked as if she were trying to be as invisible and unobtrusive as possible.
But Helen had a different take. "Look at her. It's as if she wants the earth to swallow her whole, right? But something tells me she couldn't stand the idea of never being found, either."
Astrid had thought the same.
Kathleen was another stubborn girl whose self-imposed shackles kept her from leaving the Beginner's Town. So we had to drag her out and make her join the club.
Ha! What would Alan think of his guild slowly filling up with socially awkward misfits?
Kat noticed the stare and returned it, but her eyes soon drifted to Astrid's outfit: the gloves and hunting boots identical to Helen's, both boosting Agility, the red riding hood hanging behind her shoulders, and no shield or weapon in sight. Then the gaze settled on the standard white summer dress every female User started with, its red trim marking the enchantment Astrid had paid for in town.
I know what she's thinking. This dress offers the same protection as a bedsheet.
"Are you really sure about being in the vanguard?" Kat asked.
Bingo.
Astrid smiled kindly. It was a fair question, but she simply turned back to the path ahead and left it at that.
Behind her, Helen leaned in and whispered into Kat's ear, but the wind carried every word straight back to Astrid. "You'll understand when you see her in action."
Astrid pretended not to hear.
The wind picked up again, and the red hood on her back whipped behind her like a banner as she led them toward the mansion.
I really have a good feeling about this run.
*
Five hours later, the storm outside had turned into a nightmare of its own. Thunder rolled through the mansion at irregular intervals, and lightning flashed through the tall windows, which shook in their frames under the incessant wind.
Count Dylak, the humanoid boss the dungeon was named after, ticked every box of the vampire stereotype, from the lustrous red cape over black clothes to the pale skin and the large canines. Still, he was a menacing, imposing demon, the kind that would make anyone's knees give out, and from the corner of her eye Astrid could see that Kat's were not far from it.
It's all right, Kat. We've got this.
Astrid faced the Final Boss head-on. Her last two battles against him had taught her his habits, like going for a bear hug whenever she was within reach or swiping with his clawlike nails whenever she circled to his flanks. Thanks to the spacious throne-like room, she could leap, dodge, and dash back in, all while releasing one fireball after another at a range no mage would ever consider comfortable. The only evidence of the flames biting back at her was the black soot smudging her face and white dress.
Dylak could do nothing but absorb attack after attack, unable to land a single hit of his own. Astrid had heard "How foolish of you to challenge me!" and "You wretched imbeciles. Your blood will make a fine vintage!" so many times that it felt like watching the same theater performance over and over again.
I could even recite them from memory and replace Dylak on the next raid.
Helen was doing her part just as well. She blended into the dark corners and struck the moment she found an opening or a weak point, and every time lightning flashed through the windows, the shadows shifted and Helen vanished with them. Sometimes all Astrid could catch was the silver gleam of her weapon as it sliced and stabbed through the dark. Her strikes registered as "Critical Hits," each one eating a considerable chunk of Dylak's HP.
After so many attempts at beating this dungeon, the two of them finally moved like a single fighter.
But it won't be enough.
Astrid scanned the room for Kat, who was hiding behind a pillar. The petite girl peeked out at her, and Astrid met her eyes with a look that seemed to say, "You'd better be ready."
Kat nodded from a distance and stepped out from behind the pillar, pointing her staff at Dylak. "Ice Crafting…"
The incantation could take several seconds to complete, but Astrid had already factored in every one of them.
"Helen!" she yelled, and the girl in the shadows leaped out, slashed the backs of Dylak's legs, and forced him to his knees.
That was not enough, since he could still roll and dodge, so Astrid made him eat a fireball to the face, though the point-blank tactic stung her fingers.
"Kat!" she yelled next, and the startled girl focused and took aim.
"Right!" Kat answered as snowflakes drifted from the tip of her staff. The magic circle in front of it conjured a large, pointed chunk of ice out of thin air, and the moment the final Words of Power escaped her lips, it shot forward. "Frostfang!"
The javelin-like spell tore straight through Dylak's torso and impaled him, and the throne room fell abruptly into complete silence, with only the wind rattling the windows.
Kat's face lit up as a breathless laugh rose in her throat. She even jumped in celebration. "We did it! Nice job, guys!"
She lowered her staff and ran to Astrid's side, but Astrid did not so much as glance at her. Her eyes stayed locked on Dylak's body.
"Not yet, Kat, stay sharp" Astrid yelled, and from the corner of her eye she saw that Helen had already slipped back into the shadows. "Don't forget this boss has a Second Phase!"
"Second Face?" Kat asked, perplexed. "Right, you mentioned it yesterday, but what's that?"
Astrid turned and blinked at her. "Huh?"
The Frostfang, still lodged in Dylak's torso, shattered into pixels and vanished, as if the System itself had cleaned it up to make way for what was about to come.
Dylak remained bent backward in an unnatural arch, his chest pointing at the ceiling, his hair spilled over the floor and his head almost touching the ground. Astrid and Kat watched as the hole in his torso regrew the lost flesh and organs, while his musculature swelled and his whole body gained size, and two curved horns pushed out from beneath his hair. Then he rose, slowly, with the shadows hiding his face except for two red dots where his eyes should be, the tips of his horns outlined against the dim light.
Lightning struck outside, and for an instant it lit his face, revealing two large fangs that protruded from his mouth like those of a saber-toothed cat. His right arm now ended in a swollen mass of pale, knotted flesh, and from it sprouted gigantic claws, curved and as long as swords.
A System window appeared above him, and Kat's voice broke. "W-What the hell is happening?"
"'Regression to Primal Evil,'" Astrid read aloud from the message. "'Overfiend Dylak.'"
Dylak tilted his head in one snapping motion, like a puppet whose strings had been yanked, and Astrid's eyes widened. "Stay back!"
She lunged to push Kat out of the way as Dylak charged at a speed Kat would never have believed possible.
Helen was quicker. She slipped between them and repelled his enormous claws with her blades, and the clash of metal rang through the throne room. But in her haste, she had not thought about a good landing, and Dylak seized the opening to pounce on her, jaws wide open.
"Don't let him bite you!" Astrid yelled.
From where she stood, it looked as if the boss had, but Helen's voice proved otherwise. "I know!" she managed to say beneath his weight.
She had driven a hunting knife into the roof of his mouth, wedging his jaws open. The wound was not fatal, though. Astrid could tell from a distance that the blade was nowhere near his brain.
"Get up, quick!" she yelled at Kat, who had fallen to her knees.
"Have you been fighting this demon all by yourselves?" Kat muttered, her face paler than ever.
"Yes, but now we have you! You saw how effective your magic was! So get up and look for an opportunity to attack again!"
With that, Astrid charged forward to help Helen. At the sound of her footsteps, Dylak locked eyes with her, tore free of the knife, and jumped back.
"You all right?" Astrid asked, and then she saw it: a large fang wound in Helen's arm.
"A red potion and I'll be as good as new," Helen said reassuringly, though Astrid wondered whether Dylak would let her pull one out of her inventory and drink it with only one hand.
"Then heal," Astrid said with a nod, charging forward as she called out to the one in the backline. "Kat, get ready!"
Astrid's boots hit the floor hard as she charged, and within seconds she remembered exactly why they always went down in this phase of the fight.
Her fireballs no longer staggered him. He tanked every one of them while swiping at each spot Astrid had just left behind, the wooden floor giving in easily.
He's taking damage, but he just doesn't care.
From the corner of her eye, Astrid caught sight of Kat in the distance, her staff rattling in her trembling hands.
And she's not casting!
After taking refuge behind a pillar, crouching low, knowing full well that Dylak's claws would drive through it, Astrid took the chance to get a proper look at her teammate. Snowflakes were drifting off Kat's shoulders and hair, above and around her, as if she were inside a snow globe.
Her mana is leaking out. Her mind is completely adrift.
"Bloody hell, Kat!" Astrid yelled, dodging a claw that tore low through the pillar. "What are you doing?!"
"I-I…" Kat answered weakly, and raised her staff as her teeth clattered. "I-Ice C-C-Craft—"
A faint magic circle bloomed in front of the staff. At the same moment, Helen leaped out of the darkness behind Dylak, her knives aimed at his neck. But Dylak was ready for her. He turned in one fluid motion and received her with his claws, which sank into her stomach and came out through her back.
Astrid watched it all happen as if it were in slow motion: the blood spurting from Helen's mouth, her look of disbelief, and her arms flailing forward like a doll's, limp and without strength.
Kat's chilling scream pierced the air, the snowflakes swirling around her. Astrid only clicked her tongue.
Helen's done for, just like this run, she thought as her body began to move on its own. Dylak's monstrous arm was still extended with Helen impaled on it, and his guard was wide open. In a cold way, it was the same kind of opening Helen had created for them before.
Kat's fighting spirit is no more. If we're going down anyway, I'd like to try a spell I've been dying to test, and it leans a little into suicidal territory.
Three seconds until contact.
Astrid dropped into the stance of a sprinter on the starting blocks, her body leaning forward, one leg bent and the other stretched behind her, and then she dashed like an arrow and jumped, carrying the momentum into the air. She leaped ten feet up, and her fist caught fire in a burst of flame.
A punch was not very ladylike, and her teacher would surely have fumed if she had seen it, but Astrid had tried channeling the mana into her feet and it had not come as easily. And there's only a one-second window to do this, so a punch it is.
Helen's body had begun to break apart into pixels as Astrid's fist flew through the air, a foot from connecting with Dylak's face.
I'll concentrate all of my mana into a single hit! So eat this, you bloody piece of…!
Dylak turned, and his eyes now gleamed an unnatural yellow.
No way.
Her survival instincts kicked in and overrode any bloodlust. At the last moment she crossed her arms in front of her, and the mana stored in her fist did not dissipate. Instead, it was released between her and the boss without her thinking.
The force of Dylak's kick sent her flying upward, through the ceiling and into the storm, and everything went blank.