Nar was vaguely aware that help had arrived. His full suit of sense attributes was entirely taken up with staying alive in the face of the fungal nightmare’s true form.

  Just as Leon had warned him, the nightmare was far superior to the skull ripper he had faced, and once transformed, all he could do was survive within that maelstrom of limbs, fire and spores.

  The multi-colored spores, which inflicted all the status effects available to the shroomlings at once, burned into his lungs, and more than once he’d seen the flash of a status effect as the shimmering particles managed to overwhelm his aura and self-healing for a split-second, before being wiped out from within him. The fire was an obvious issue, and he sported several angry, red welts across his body and face, from when he’d been unable to get out fast enough. However, the real issue was those limbs, which came down on him with enough [Strength] to shatter rock.

  I can see why you need more than one tank, taking turns to face this thing and getting healed, Nar thought, recalling Sej and Sarke’s explanation. Even with a huge [Constitution] and [Toughness], you can’t just stand there and take it!

  The eyeless creature chased after him in a blind rage, and they fought their titanic duel within that cloud of flaming particles. It didn’t seem like the substance flaking off the white fungi of the Gloom was explosive, and their flames died easily, so at least Nar didn’t need to concern himself with sudden explosions. However, he was going at a prodigious rate already, and neither his aura nor his stamina would last forever.

  There was no point in alerting anyone to that fact. Kur would be aware of it, and tracking Nar’s status with nary a blink, and the rest of the domain party would arrive when they could. In the meantime, it was just him, the very aptly called nightmare, and the rain of fire around him.

  From the other side, he caught the sound and bright flashes from Mul’s punches, and resolved himself to draw a little bit more of himself to keep the aggro up against the brawler's explosive DPS, as well as that of the ranged.

  Arrows impacted against the beast's towering torso, some gray and others crimson, and it was a true shame that the creature had neither blood nor guilt for Rel’s curses to trigger. Lim’s gun rang in the distance, and once in a while, he caught sight of Cen's carefully aimed [Piercing Aura Projectiles].

  But there was hardly any visible damage to the boss. Even his aura cuts healed almost instantaneously, his aura continuing to ravage the beast from inside for only a few seconds longer. The beast’s massive HP was showing its value, and even though Nar had been focusing every other hit on the same limb, so far, he’d managed little more than a shallow, cauterized cut that insisted on trying to heal.

  This is not something that we can deal with on our own, Nar thought. Not at our levels at least. It’s already a miracle that I can keep it taunted… Pile. If only I had a few more levels on me.

  He should indeed be grateful. Had he not been capable enough to taunt the nightmare out of the passage, it would’ve likely crumbled already, spelling the end of each and every one of their journeys.

  This would be the kind of fight that would benefit from that aura edge, Nar thought, as he ducked in between two limbs, with a third crushing down just a hairsbreadth from his head. But he didn’t have the skill yet, so, all he could do was fight with his [Sword Aura], hold the beast’s focus, and survive. At least I can tank it.

  That alone filled his roaring heart with pride and gratitude.

  With nothing more that he could do but hang on and keep the beast focused on him, Nar submerged himself in a trance like state, the dungeon vanishing around him as his [Reflex], [NPC] and [Awareness] guided him through the storm of limbs and fire breathes. As for the spores, he allowed his aura free reign to keep healing him, glancing at it once in a while to make sure he didn't fully dry himself.

  Limb, limb, fire breath. Limb, fire breath, spores.

  There was almost a sense of peace to it. Of belonging. As he’d noticed before, his mind stilled as death beckoned at him with each attack, and he handed himself entirely to the combat. No dad. No worries. No complicated thoughts. Just him and a giant fungal monster bred for territorial invasion.

  Even his pain faded to the back of his mind. There was only the next dodge. The next stab into the creature's flesh.

  I wish I could kill it by myself.

  The thought rose within him, unbidden, and softly spoken, as though it were but a whisper. He longed to be able to slice this beast from head to bottom, leaving it dead at his feet in two cauterized, smoking halfs. Not because he wanted to feel the satisfaction of killing it, but to know he was able to clear his way of anything that blocked it. To unleash that… that blockage he felt inside, demanding to be released.

  Clear the way… Again, Nar thought, distantly. There really is something about that, isn’t there?

  The beast lumbered away from him, and in shock at the suddenness of it, Nar stumbled a few steps, coming awake from his trance and battle rhythm.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “We’re here!” Gad said, from his side. “Join the DPS. Me and Tun will handle it from now on.”

  “Got it,” Nar said, still stumbling.

  “And Nar? Great job,” Gad said, grinning at him, even as limbs smacked against her shield. “I told you there were many ways to tank.”

  A chuckle escaped his lips. Then he threw himself back into the fight.

  **********

  With the full domain party arrayed against the nightmare, and without having to fear for their footing, the auramancer parties unleashed the full complement of their might while the aethermancers stood watch, ready for any further surprises.

  They demolished through the beast’s HP, and while it had seemed insurmountable before, now it was simply a question of when, not if.

  It was impossible to tell who landed the killing blow, but between Raf’s [Cleaving Strike] splitting open the belly of the beast, Mul’s [Raging Fist of Fire] blowing a chuck out of it, and Nar’s [Aura Blade] slicing upwards into the beast’s main mushroom head, the nightmare ceased its movements at last, and toppled ponderously upon that clearing of raging white.

  DING!

  Nar pushed away the notification, and stared, heart pounding against his temples, at the bundle of fungi flesh before him. Not even dead for five seconds, the fungal nightmare looked like something that had been decomposing for weeks.

  The white dust from the Gloom continued to fall upon them, leaving them stranded in a silence that was as surreal as the shimmering twilight of the passage had been. Already the dust began to cover the beast, and the delvers, who panted in place.

  Opposite Nar, Jul raised her head and looked back towards the cave entrance.

  “Are they still there?” Mul grunted.

  Jul pressed her lips and nodded.

  “You can go back now!” Mul snapped at the invisible rogues. “The job is done you fucking cowards!”

  “Mul!” Kur hissed at him.

  “Mul nothing!” Mul hit back. “These people have been here for three days! Three fucking days! And with twenty parties! Are you telling me they couldn’t have figured it out?”

  Nar raised his eyebrows at the brawler’s words, and considered the dead war machine before him.

  “We could fight it. But they could have resolved it,” Mul continued in the suffocating silence. “Fair enough, we had what it took to kill this thing, and we wanted the gains. But if they couldn’t face it head on, they should’ve come up with a different way. The damned passage would have regenerated for Pile’s sake! They could have blown the whole thing to pieces and drown this fucker and its mushrooms. What was their excuse?”

  “Even blowing up the passage would’ve been risky,” Row offered, but her tone betrayed her doubts. “They could’ve fallen down too.”

  “Risky? Is that any reason not to—”

  Mul’s tone shifted mid-sentence, his rage walled off beyond his reach by the invisible red circlet around his neck. The brawler sighed.

  “Never mind,” he said, and wandered off towards the edge of the cliff, from which they could still see the red clouds from Miasma Point, and the agglomerate of white tents.

  “Alright, harvesters, get to work,” Kur said. “Sej, if you can tell us what to do before you head back to grab Sarke, that would…”

  Nar wondered over to where Mul stood by the edge of the cliff, and he too, stared out at the distant shore. Up close, the apprentice camp had seemed a haphazard collection of tents, erected without care in order to be set up quickly, and then dismantled just as fast. However, now staring down at them, he couldn’t help but realize how small and tiny the white shapes looked.

  Cramped together, as if they were scared, Nar thought, his expression blank as white dust wafted past them, blown by the quiet, gentle breeze. Now that the fight was over, and his senses weren’t taken up by keeping him alive, he smelled the touch of damp in the hot air. Like a wet, warm cloth pressed against his nose and mouth. It was the smell of abandoned death.

  “I shouldn’t have said that,” Mul said, staring down at the opposite shore with a vacant expression.

  Nar shrugged. “It was the truth.”

  “We’ve all heard about that damned Circle while you guys were over by the tents. This could make things worse for Kur,” Mul said.

  “It was the truth,” Nar said again. “They didn’t need a three-party domain. They didn’t need an aethermancer party. They didn’t even need someone like me. They just needed to get it done. I don’t know why they didn’t, but I hope it weighs over them. This was their failure.”

  “Was it? The assassins came in here chasing after Leon's people,” the brawler reminded him.

  “And? When that trash kept quiet about the dungeon corruption, didn’t we have to get ourselves out of that mess?” Nar asked the brawler, his eyes still on the tents below. “Did we sit down and wait to be saved? Or did we get the job done? We’re all delvers here, even if they still call us apprentices. We can’t control whatever happens in a dungeon, but we still have to get through it and get ourselves out of the mess. It doesn’t matter who’s to blame for it. And as for the Circle, if anything, maybe this just shows that Juf just isn’t the party leader we thought she was.”

  At his side, Mul sighed, then nodded.

  “Yeah… That’s what I thought too. It’s just hard sometimes to tell between what’s mine and what comes from the rage,” he said.

  “Isn’t the rage part of you?” Nar asked, looking down at his party member. “You’ve always been an angry shit.”

  Mul snorted, and a chuckle escaped his lips. “I have, haven’t I?”

  Nar nodded.

  “Are you alright?” he asked. He had a feeling there was something far more important underlining Mul’s explosion.

  “Ah… I will be, don’t worry,” the brawler said, patting the back of Nar’s thigh. “After all, I have always been an angry shit. Why should that be a concern now?”

  Mul shook his head. “Alright, there’s a pile of dead mushroom flesh-thing to harvest, and I bet it’s going to be disgusting as fuck. Let me go see if I can make the shit brains turn his stomach inside out, eh?”

  Nar grinned at him.

  “You do that.”

  Mul nodded and made to leave, but then looked up at Nar again.

  “Thanks,” he said, and with that, he left Nar alone by the cliff.

  The swordsman stared back down at Miasma Point, on the other side of the lake. The Great Lake waters looked pure black from that height, the perfect backdrop to contrast with the white dust gently swirling around him.

  Maybe Juf isn’t the party leader we thought she was…

  The words came back to him as he stared out at the tiny encampment, sandwiched in between the expanse of black waters and the towering thorn brambles of the Hungry Jungle.

  Is she an obstacle to us? He wandered, his expression taking an emotionless edge.

  Given the importance of the Circle, and the upcoming Merit System, and the fact that their futures depended on the outcome of both, maybe the blue party leader truly was an obstacle. Maybe Dak was one too. And if so, he wondered if something should be done about that…

  Obviously, he didn’t mean to get anyone killed. But he could make Kur so successful that everyone else looked incompetent by comparison at least, no?