They met up with the squad of players that had taken one of the other paths at the last split. Together, they were able to take down a fresh room of bandits with relative ease compared to the first fight. Orion approached the fight with a new perspective, making sure he checked all the corners before making a move. Neither he nor Indra got surrounded by bandits, for one. Though there was a small tough moment when facing two bandits armed with spears, none of them could figure out how to get past their reach and strike them down.
“Not a bad idea though,” Orion said, once they’d finished with the two spearmen. “Two spears to keep your enemy at a distance. They could cover for each other’s weaknesses.”
Doran nodded. “I thought a spear and shield combo was the better option, but now I’m not so sure.”
“I’m sure you’ll all have plenty of time to decide what weapon combination you want to go for,” Riley said. “Perhaps it’s not the best time to be discussing it now, however. You know, in the middle of a dungeon?”
“Right,” Orion said with a grin. “Let’s get on to the boss then, eh?”
“If the boss is what’s next,” Marxus remarked. “It took us so long to do these fights, the others might have found and beaten the boss without us.”
That thought hadn’t occurred to Orion. He redoubled his efforts to chivy them along. “I don’t want to miss out on this fight, y’all. Let’s go!”
The other squad, led by a thin woman with dark red hair, smiled at his eagerness but didn’t say much else. She had a spear like Doran, as well as an elaborate silver gauntlet on her left arm. It had several small jewels embedded in it. Judging by the words floating over her head, her name was Azalea. She had the title of ‘Slayer’. Orion found himself wondering what she had to do to get that, but he was sure it was badass.
As it turned out, they weren’t at risk of missing the boss fight. When they entered the next chamber, they saw that the rest of the raiding force had gathered. All of the other squads were intact save for one, who were talking nervously amongst each other. Their guide, a surly-faced archer that Orion recognized, met Riley’s eyes and shook his head, looking grumpy.
“Mage Barrage,” he muttered, unable to speak clearly across the distance. “Too fast.”
Orion winced internally. So far, they hadn’t met any mages, and he wasn’t sure how he’d tackle one if they did. Magic wasn’t something he thought he could face alone. At least not yet. Riley told them he’d be right back and to stay where they were, while he went and talked to Caius. “Make sure not to leave this ledge, or you’ll risk aggroing the boss.”
“The boss?” Doran asked, looking out into the cavern. They were at the edge of a large pit, with a long, steep wall that led to the bottom. They could slide down that easily without hurting themselves, but there was no sign of the mentioned boss until Indra pointed it out.”
“Right there.”
It was a squad, disheveled looking human, Orion saw, peering at the small camp that had been made at the center of the pit. He had what looked like half a dozen brutal looking warriors gathered around him, and they were watching the players around them with obvious hatred. He frowned thoughtfully as they just stood there, wondering why.
“Why aren’t they attacking us?” Doran asked, clearly thinking along similar lines. “It’s not like they can’t see us.”
“They probably think they can’t beat this many people,” Indra said. “We’ve got four parties of four people, and an additional experienced member for each squad. Maybe they can sense the power level of the guides.”
“You’re not entirely wrong.” Riley had returned. “But there’s another reason why he isn’t attacking. He’s a Felarian. They’re smarter than your typical NPC or bandit.”
“What’s a Felarian?” Orion asked, sensing - but not knowing why - that the word had some real significance to it. “Is that like a special breed of person?”
“Well, we’re not sure,” Riley told them. “It’s not the first we’ve come across, but they’re pretty rare. I’m sure you heard how Silver Village was almost destroyed by an NPC army before y’all joined?”
They all nodded. “Right. Well, that was a commander of the Felarians. He even attracted a few players to his cause. Ever since Caius killed him, we’ve had these popping up a few times.”
“So he’s going to be a tough fight,” Marxus said. “He looks mean, but not that tough.”
“Don’t go just off looks,” Riley warned. “It’s important to use your eyes, but not everything about a person can be learned on sight. You’d never know that Azalea is probably the second-best fighter among us, but she is.”
He gestured to the woman with red hair, who was currently giving information to her party several yards away. “She’s nasty with that spear, and I haven’t met anyone who can cast magic faster than her. She’s the best guildmaster we could ask for.”
“You’re not the guildmaster?” Indra asked, frowning. “I thought you were.”
“And I thought Caius would be,” he replied with a snigger. “He’s the best fighter in the game. I’m convinced he could solo this boss if he had to. But she’s the one who ended up in charge, and she’s a good boss.”
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The group talking to Azalea let out a groan of disappointment. Riley explained it. “Right, that’s the other thing. You all aren’t fighting this boss. You’re gonna sit here and watch as we do it.”
“What?” Marxus said, sounding even more disappointed. “But we came this far!”
Riley grinned at him. “Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of chances to fight. But a normal dungeon boss is designed to take on eight players of the same rank and make it a decent challenge. That’s eight players that know how to fight, I mean. Felarians are nearly twice as difficult.”
“So…” Orion glanced at the Felarian, then back at Riley. “You’re saying that they could pretty easily take us out, even all sixteen.”
“Now you’re getting it. We’ll be sharing all loot accordingly, don’t you worry. Caius just doesn’t think it’s a great idea for you newbies to take it on. He doesn’t want you getting wiped.”
Orion opened his mouth to say something, but Riley stopped him by raising a hand. “I know, I know. You’re super eager to fight him, and you’d probably be alright. But we’ve already accomplished the goal of this training dungeon, which was to show you just how different combat is in this game. So until you get some real training, take your time. You’ve got ages to learn, so don’t go being suicidal just yet.
He didn’t like that, but he knew it would be pointless to argue. The other parties, also clearly disappointed, were taking a step back from the ledge, clearly intent on obeying. If they rushed in alone, they probably wouldn’t be much help. Worse yet, they’d be a liability. “Fine. But that training had better be soon, and worth it. We’re going to learn the game one way or another.”
“I thought you were fine with waiting for the training,” Indra said, as Riley moved back to his guildmates. “That was the whole point of you inviting us, so that they could teach us.”
“I know,” Orion said. “But I didn’t think they were going to keep us out of fights like this.”
“It’s probably for the best,” she replied. “By the sound of it, that’s going to be one hell of a boss.”
“Probably,” he agreed, but without much conviction. “Who knows, maybe we’ll learn something by watching them. They’re clearly not E-Rank.”
“No,” Marxus said. “Someone told me they were the first people to get B-Rank in their main skills. They say that Caius is nearly A-Rank in Strength.”
“So it’ll definitely be worth watching,” Indra said. “So let’s watch them. We can just start training tomorrow.”
“I get it,” Orion said shortly. He was not pleased with the same point being stated so many times. “Now get off my back.”
“Didn’t expect to get a chance to show off so soon,” Riley said, reaching the bottom of the pit with the others. The new players waited safely on the ledge above, ready to observe their fight against the boss. “Man, my group does not look happy.”
“That’s good,” Caius said. “They’re eager. They’ll learn faster than the others. At least you convinced them to sit back.”
“Not that it was easy,” Riley replied, looking at Orion. “I’m still half-convinced that one will jump in anyway. He didn’t want to miss out on the experience.”
Strangely, that made Azalea smile. “The total opposite of how I felt at the start. I wasn’t keen on any fights.”
“Yeah, but you turned out to be a total badass,” Riley assured her. “So they’ll be fine. Besides, not everyone is getting the benefit of Caius teaching them how to fight. That’s something the other players, even the fellow first wave, won’t have.”
“You’ll be teaching them too. I’m sure that guy will want to learn the staff from you.”
Riley made a face at the thought. He didn’t see himself as a teacher. It wasn’t quite… in character for him. And despite the rough start he’d had in the game so far, he was still determined to stick to the character concept that he’d made when he decided to try the game.
“Enough chatter,” Caius said, cutting the back-and-forth short. “Let’s get this over with.”
It was a short fight - if you could even call it that - as the lead guild took on the boss. Orion watched as Riley and Oscar branched off to the sides, and Azalea took up a position on Caius’ left-hand side, just a few steps behind him. She cast a quick spell over all four of them before the encounter started, and they all moved with a little more agility and balance.
“I gotta learn that spell,” Indra said, watching with interest.
Caius charged the leader. He crashed through the two figures to confront the man directly. The enemies tried to stab him from behind, but Azalea, hot on his heels, jabbed at both, forcing them back and away and giving Caius a clear field. The two bosses swung at each other with fierce speed and brutal power, but it quickly became clear who was the better fighter between them.
“How the hell is she doing that?” Doran asked, gesturing at Azalea as the woman dashed to one side, avoiding the downward slash of one of her opponents, then darting back in and jumping, ramming the point of her spear into the man’s shoulder, right above the point at which his shield protected him. She took down the other bandit with a rapid lightning bolt, thrown like another spear.
To the left, Riley was taking on two at once, and dispatched them with even more ease than he’d done the bandits on Orion’s first meeting with him. One of them had a spear which outranged him by a great deal, but that posed the monk no problem. When it was thrust at him, he flicked the end up, high in to the air, then knocked out the bandit’s legs. He slammed the butt of his staff into the stomach of the other, making him drop to his knees with a grunt, then smashed it into the back of his head with a quick flick. The spearmen fell right after as Riley stomped down.
On the right, they couldn’t even see exactly what Oscar had done. One moment, the two bandits were running full-speed at him. The next, Oscar was behind them, his dagger planted in the back of one, between the shoulder blades. He ripped it free, and the bandit fell without a sound. They had no clue how he’d killed the other one. Just like on that day with the PKers, he’d gotten a kill without Orion seeing it.
They directed their attention back to Caius and the boss just in time to see the grizzled warrior beat the boss’ sword out of his hand with one casual powerful attack. Before the man could react, the sword came back up and out in a back-handed slash, opening a deep - and fatal - wound in the boss’ neck. Words appeared in everyone’s field of view, alerting them that they’d completed the dungeon.
“Damn.” Orion wasn’t sure if it was Marxus or Doran who’d said that, but he agreed with the sentiment. Even with the obvious skill difference, they hadn’t taken a single hit. They hadn’t made a single mistake. “They got this good after just three months?”
“Think how good we’re gonna get,” Orion said, glancing around at his friends with a grin. He could tell that he no longer needed a week to convince them. It was almost enough to take away the sting of missing out on this boss fight. Almost. But there would always be more fights, he thought. They’d get a chance next time.
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