Survival Quest (The Way of the Shaman: Book #1) (29 page)

The boss summoned its minions two more times: when it crossed the 40% and then the 20% Hit Point threshold. After getting them stuck to the wall in the same way, I couldn't wait to see the boss's third ability: Web.

Well, we didn't wait in vain. When the Black Guardian had only 10% of its Hit Points left, we finally experienced this ability.

"BEWARE," a calm low voice echoed through the cave.

So this Dungeon even came with a warning. Such warnings are put in place when a boss is about to start using particularly unpleasant abilities, which have a good chance of ending the whole raid.

The tarantula froze and its body started to shiver, something raised up on its back and it started spewing out bits of web.

"Heads up!" I could not think of anything more original. "We continue hitting it, but keep an eye on the falling webs!"

"The minions are coming!" Clutzer's shout was full of desperation.

"Eric, try to pull them! We'll hit the boss with all we have! There's only 9% left, we've got to bring it down!"

Leite failed to dodge one of the falling webs and was immediately wrapped up. And not just wrapped up, but also losing 10% of Life every 10 seconds. What a snag!

"Clutzer, get Leite out or he's toast. No touching him, only daggers!" I shouted, summoning Healing Spirits non-stop on Eric and Leite in turn. I was wrong to berate the developers: the last phase of the boss was worthy of admiration. If I was playing in the main gameworld, I'd even applaud them, but now when with my death the Crafting stat was at stake, I was beginning to feel ill at ease. Had it been a mistake to come here after all?

Clutzer got Leite free after about a minute. The boss was still at 4% Hit Points, Eric had 30% of his Hit Points left, Leite had 20, Clutzer - 60 and I - 40. I only had enough mana for two more Healing Spirit summonings. That's where things became interesting.

Thirty seconds before the boss's leap, Clutzer got stuck in the web. We didn't have any strength or time to get him out, so I shook my head when Leite looked at me questioningly. We had to take the risk, or we'd all had it. With the remains of my Mana I healed Eric and let my hands drop helplessly. That's it. I was completely and utterly empty. Attacking with my Mallet was of little use, so I watched the others and dodged the falling webs. At least they didn't get you stuck to the floor, or there'd be no escape from this sticky rain.

Hit! Eric remained on the floor - the web had got him in the end. The wild chirring of the boss echoed through the cave, after which it crashed on the floor. The last lot of spiderlings still running about fell on their backs and the ones on the walls grew still, the web fell off Clutzer and Eric and silence enveloped the cave.

"This trip's getting way too freaky to keep with it, for real," came Clutzer's muffled wheeze and I was hit by an avalanche of messages:

Experience gained: +600 Experience, points remaining until next level: 1170.

Level gained!

Skill increase:

+ 2 to Intellect. Total: 40.

+2 to Stamina. Total: 29.

+2 to Endurance. Total: 9.

+1 to Agility. Total: 7.

Free stat points: 10.

Achievement earned!

Tough as Nails. level 1 (4 boss kills until the next level).

Achievement reward: damage dealt to all bosses increased by 1%.

My first thought after reading the messages was that I was getting slow: I never allocated the stat points I got for the spiderlings. The additional five points of Intellect would have helped a lot in this battle. To avoid repeating the mistake I immediately put all the stat points into Intellect and then had a look around. Our loot had to be somewhere nearby. My mana was gradually recharging, so I started to summon Healing Spirits on the battle-worn group, which camped in the middle of the cave and appeared to have no intention of going any further.

"Clutzer, get up! Our loot is here somewhere, let's look for it. Do you think we swatted that cockroach for nothing? And anyway, what's up with you people? We just brought down a boss! We did get knocked about a good deal, but we're all alive! Let's go - you're not going to give up half-way, are you?"

"Mahan, we barely managed to kill this one and you're saying we should keep going," said Leite, despondently. "The next one would gulp us down without as much as a glance!"

"Quit being such crybabies! You've all gained a level! Now we'll get some new gear too. We'll take this whole place out! Get up and let's go! Time's a ticking and tomorrow we have to be at the exit to start off for the main gameworld, but you're sitting here and sulking," I saw that my words were having little effect and barked: "On your feet! Fall in!"

All three of them sprang up and stood in a line.

"And now suck it up and go find that loot! Dismissed!"

Skill increase:

+1 to Charisma. Total: 6.

'Yes, Reflexes are a terrible thing,' I thought as I watched the others searching for the loot. When the united world Government was formed, it made year-long army training compulsory for all eighteen-year-olds. If you failed to take part, the best job you could hope for was being a street cleaner. During this training obedience to the commander's voice was hammered into you well and good; there was little need to say anything - even half asleep you'd carry out orders just to avoid the disciplinary unit.

Clutzer was again the one to find the loot. Did he have a nose for it or something? Aside from 120 gold each, from a small chest in a hole in one of the walls, the other items included:

Leather Bracers of Intellect. Durability: 50. Physical damage resistance: 20. Stamina: +2. Intellect: + 6. Item class: Uncommon. Minimum level: 13.

Mail Bracers of Strength. Durability: 50. Physical damage resistance: 60. Stamina: +2. Strength: + 6. Item class: Uncommon. Minimum level: 13.

Mail Bracers of Strength. Durability: 50. Physical damage resistance: 60. Stamina: +2. Strength + 6. Item class: Uncommon. Minimum level: 13.

Mail Bracers of Stamina. Durability: 50. Physical damage resistance: 80. Stamina: +8. Item class: Uncommon. Minimum level: 13.

There were no questions about who should get what. As I put on the new bracers I thought that there was only one bad thing about this Dungeon: all the items we got were of the Uncommon type, distinguished from common ones only by a relatively small stat bonus, +8 in our case. Now, if we got Rare or Epic class items, then... but I was drifting off to the land of dreams again. I might as well have remembered Legendary or Scaling items.

We didn't come across any obstacles on our way to the next boss. It's not like you could call a swarm of Rats that attacked us as soon as we moved down the corridor much of an obstacle. Eric was a living wave-breaker against a sea of level 5 Rats. They had just 500 Hit Points each, so we pretty much mowed them down. As usual, there was a 'but' - these kills yielded no experience. After the battle was over we simply divided the loot into four piles of approximately same size, without even looking at what they contained, and moved on. We didn't have that long until we had to return to the Dolma mine.

The second boss put a smile on our faces. Quite literally.

We kept moving until we came to the den of the boss - this time it wasn't sitting on the ground, but hovering in the air. A snow-white cross between a dragonfly and a scorpion hung about a meter above the ground. It had the body and the wings of a dragonfly and the head and pincers of a scorpion. You had to ask - what was the developer smoking when he came up with this one?

White Guardian of the Queen. Level: 19. Hit points: 200,000. Abilities: Mighty Blow, Laughing Gas, Frenzied Whirlwind.

"Right, it's debriefing time," Eric began, as the most experienced raider. "The 'Mighty Blow' should target either myself alone or anyone next to the boss. We'll have to check; if it's the latter we'll have to run away from the boss when it uses this ability. Frenzied Whirlwind will be like that Tarantula's Web, saved for the final phase of the battle. Mahan, you'll have to be careful how you spend your mana. What this Laughing Gas is - I have no idea. If we draw a parallel with the real world, this thing," he nodded at the dragonfly, "lets out a gas that will make us laugh. Knowing the kind of maniacs the developers tend to be, we can suppose that we'll be laughing until the time we take an antidote or die. We don't have an antidote, so, Mahan, your Spirits will have to sort it all out. This Guardian has fifty thousand Hit Points less than the spider, so it won't be ramming itself against the wall. At least it doesn't look like we'll have to deal with any additional mobs. Everyone ready?"

"Let's do this," Eric said again after we all confirmed our readiness. "Waste that winged bastard!"

I wondered what would happen if the next boss had a tail - would he shout "Waste that tailed bastard"?

We made quite a lively start. Every Mighty Blow only hit the tank, taking off 30% of his Hit Points, but if Eric caught the blow with his shield, the damage was laughable. The dragonfly didn't fly around the cave and we didn't have to run after it, so our combined damage was respectably high. In a couple of minutes only 60% of the boss's Hit Points remained.

And that's when the fun began:

"BEWARE."

I didn't really see what the dragonfly did, but suddenly the whole cave was filled with plumes of green smoke. I managed to hold my breath in time and looked at the others. Eric wasn't breathing, continuing to take the dragonfly's blows, Leite seemed to be behaving normally, but Clutzer...

Just a couple of seconds after the smoke appeared Clutzer started to laugh uncontrollably:

"Leite, can you believe it? We're whacking a dragonfly. He-he. A flying buzzing fly that thinks it's a dragon. Ha-ha. A fly! Can you imagine - a buzzing fly! Buzz-Buzz!" Clutzer started to grimace, using his arms to imitate antennae, and tried to headbutt the White Guardian. After a few seconds Leite cracked up and joined Clutzer:

"You're some funky dragonbuzzer, man!"

Right, we'd lost our DDs and the boss still had 60% of Life left. We had to snap them out of it, but how? I jumped to Leite, turned him to me and prayed that the developers turned off the 'deal damage - go for respawn' setting in the Dungeon and started to slap him about the face to return him to his senses. Leite looked at me with glassy eyes:

"Mahan, you're here too! He-he. We're swatting some flies here, haha, but shhh!" Leite dropped to a whisper and pointed to Clutzer. "See that dung bug over there, with the huge antennae? I'm gonna chop them off in a minute."

What to do? I was fighting off spasms as my body began to run out of air. Eric, red from holding his breath, was already at 40% of Hit Points, but any Healing Spirit summoning would mean I'd join our DDs, who were now chasing each other, the boss all but forgotten. At least they're not using weapons and just sticking to headbutts. I looked around in desperation - it can't all end so badly, just can't!

Small mushrooms by the wall caught my eye. Not even the mushrooms themselves, but the shining rainbow that hung above each mushroom. Nearly fainting, I ran to the mushrooms, fell to my knees and started to eat them. All or nothing! I just managed to put a mushroom into my mouth before feverishly starting to breathe in the air. Two seconds, nothing happened, then five...

"Mahan!" Eric's shout was full of desperation and then turned into crazy laughter. No more tank. I grabbed the mushrooms and ran to the laughing group, calling Healing Spirits on my way. Eric was really getting demolished. Each hit of a pincer took off 10% of Hit Points, but this just made him laugh even harder. At least he wasn't trying to chase Clutzer and Leite, who had now started to hide from each other behind the mass of the hovering dragonfly. I ran up to Eric and managed to stick a piece of mushroom into his mouth between the blows, hoping that it would neutralize the poison. This really wasn't a good time to see the bar of 'Mighty Blow' starting to light up above the boss. It would bring Eric's Hit Points down by 30% in normal battle and one didn't want to think what it'd do now. Realizing that I could already be out of time, I began the summoning chant, half-expecting to see a message telling me that the Spirit cannot be summoned on a dead target.

Hit! The clank of the blocked attack told everyone in the vicinity that it had been caught by the shield.

"Mahan, I'm all right, get the others out!" Eric's shout took a great weight off my shoulders. Now the dragonfly's days were numbered. If the mushrooms allowed you to ignore the Laughing Gas, we just had to eat some quickly enough. As soon as Leite and Clutzer came to themselves the green clumps of smoke in the cave disappeared. We'd survived the 'Laughing Gas' ability, launched at 60% of Life: if this boss had a similar design to the tarantula, this ability will be used two more times - at 40 and 20 percent.

I was right. When we head the warning, Clutzer and I ran for the mushrooms, leaving the others to work on the boss. I took a mushroom to Eric and Clutzer gave one to Leite, so we survived the following explosions of the laughing gas without any losses. The last phase didn't present any problems either - the boss started to spin, dealing damage to the whole raid with its wings and pincers. On one hand the damage was quite substantial, taking off 10-15% Hit Points in 5 seconds, but on the other, in these 5 seconds I had time to summon 4 Spirits, completely healing the group.