Chương 59: Chapter 58 - Portal Mage

Heywin joined our party, and his character card became visible to us. NPC Name: Great Dragon Heywin NPC Level: 461 Class: Time Mage Species: Dragon (Young) Health: 3, 800, 000/3, 800, 000 Class skills: Hidden Veyra saw it too. We met grins, and we seemed to be thinking the same thing. Heywin was pretty much a mini event boss. The rest of his stats, such as defence, were hidden, but his level told us all we needed to know. Heywin was completely overpowered.

"It looks like someone has already sprung all the traps," Heywin said. He casually stepped forward, into the dungeon which was already unusual. When an NPC entered a player's party, they tended to follow the player around with no agency of their own. NPCs would only complain if the player led them out of their quest's range, or if the player straight-up tried to lead the NPC to death, but typically, it was up to the player to be the guide. Heywin, however, took the lead right away, confidently stepping down.

"Are you two coming or not?"

"Of course, let's be careful," I said. We followed, and Heywin clearly wasn't planning on any sneak missions. His dragon head stayed proudly up, examining the walls, not one bit concerned for his safety.

"So this is Tielan's grave, huh? Can't say I miss the old grump." He paused, eyes snapping to the hallway to our left, as if sensing something. He snorted.

"Oh. Nevermind. It seems the portal mage is still… alive."

"What?" I asked.

"Did you feel something?" Heywin frowned.

"The touch of a friend's magic is never forgotten. Although, it looks like we have company as well." His perceptions must have been way higher than ours. We approached deeper, toward the boss room. The halls were still silent, until a few rooms later, I heard what Heywin had. The clash of metal, orders being shouted, and what sounded like arcane spells crashing into objects. Someone was here.

"Is it Zenith Protocol?" I asked, glancing at Veyra. She couldn't answer when Heywin already headed toward the sounds with no intent on stopping. Veyra and I silently followed, staying right behind Heywin's tail for his protection. He rounded a few more corners, until he entered the room where the sounds came from.

"Hello, fellow thieves!" Heywin announced. The boss room's double doors loomed ahead. Before it, a full guild of players was fighting a Sword Of TIme. The nametag of [Zenith Protocol] Henrift hit me first. The giant death knight, in tank form, slammed his greatsword down on the monster swordsman finishing it off. He collected the loot, and the room turned silent. Everyone's focus panned to us.

Zenith Protocol's full B-team was here with names like Monolith, Ducky12, Aurinn, CrazyPizzaMan, and half a dozen more players from the top five hundred. They seemed to be killing monsters as they respawned. The boss room double doors loomed tall behind them, untouched. All of them were players that could have certainly been involved in the Ray Dragon fight. It seemed Zenith Protocol only sent their main team, led by FireBrand, since only a limited number of players could enter the dragon canyon.

Everyone else stayed to grind levels with Henrift leading the group. I could have fought everyone here one-to-one. With Veyra, we could probably fight three or four at once. Ten in one room, however, would have given us trouble if nothing else. But we had Heywin, a level 461 NPC, whose status seemed to now be revealed to our opponents as well. Zenith Protocol's front line stepped back despite wearing all epic gear or above. Veyra and I stood tall behind the little dragon, and everyone's stances turned defensive.

"Great Dragon?" Henrift asked behind his helmet.

"Friendly?"

"That depends," Heywin said.

"I have business behind those double doors. Let me pass, and I won't kill you." Henrift's death knight voice was deep and rumbling, but he still sounded hesitant.

"Don't mind us. Take what you please." Their formation split into two as they stepped aside, giving us a clear path to the boss room. They still kept their weapons cautiously ready, but the path to the boss was clear. I wondered if I should test my luck, telling Heywin that Zenith Protocol was a sworn enemy. Heywin could easily one-shot them all for their gear pieces. Still, Heywin was an NPC. He was probably programmed to avoid randomly massacring players just because I told him a lie.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Besides, the real loot awaited in the boss room—against the monster that even FireBrand, the top two player in the world and the leader of the best guild, was afraid to challenge. Heywin walked straight past Zenith Protocol without a care in the world. He cast a levitation spell on the double doors. The heavy stone grinded open. He entered, and we cautiously followed.

The arena was pitch black, though the space felt tall and cold, as if we'd entered an abandoned cathedral. Far in the distance, at the very back of the room, four glowing chains tied down the limbs of a monster too dark to see. Heywin confidently continued forward, as if nothing was off. The double doors grinded shut, locking us into the boss room. Ethereal torches lit ablaze with a fiery ignition, and we finally had light. Torches encircled the arena with atmospheric blue glow.

Beyond the torches was an unknown blackness I couldn't see the bottom of. Falling most likely meant instant death.

"Ah," Heywin said, still stepping closer to the circular arena, now lit just well enough to clearly make out the bricks of the floor.

"So this is not a grave, but a container." He frowned at the chained monster.

"Tielan, Tielan, Tielan. I did tell you time travel was not the subject one should study, old friend." The shackled figure on the walls was just barely visible by the blue light. It was a wretched humanoid, or beast, with long dirty hair and a torn robe. Cut marks and bruises filled his skin. A giant quarterstaff was strapped to his back with a shaft too wide for human hands to pick up, but the man also seemed gigantic. His nametag read, Tielan, The Portal Mage (Level 435).

The chains twitched, cracked, then broke entirely, freeing the portal mage. Tielan floated in place, examining his hands, awoken from slumber. He spotted Heywin and eyed him wordlessly. Then the boss grabbed his quarterstaff, kicked himself forward from the walls, and slammed his weapon down at Heywin with the force of a crashing building. Heywin cast [Elemental Barrier], and the quarterstaff made contact. The force of impact blew like a sizzling ethereal explosion.

Veyra's hair flared back, and I had to reinforce my stance just to not fall over. The barrier held, and Heywin didn't even flinch.

"Remember, young Veyra," Heywin said calmly, while the boss wound-up another heavy swing.

"We are time mages. Not time travelers. Attempt to send yourself to a new dimension, and this is where you'll end up." Tielan's quarterstaff slammed down on Heywin's barrier again, as if hitting a solid wall. The barrier's strength was complete nonsense. If that quarterstaff landed anywhere near me instead, the shockwave of impact alone would probably kill me, even if the direct blow missed.

"Can you defeat him?" Veyra yelled through the ringing in our ears. Heywin let out a laugh.

"I am a dragon. That is an old man, disheveled and torn apart by his own magic. It's time to put him to rest. But before I kill him, I want to see one thing." He turned around, showing his back to Tielan, who continued hitting the barrier in rage.

"I want to see you fight him," he said.

"The student versus the master. Assassin and Veyra, I want to see how far you have grown." Veyra lowered to a ninety degree bow.

"I'm sorry, Heywin, but I will die against that thing! Assassin and I won't win together."

"Oh, don't worry, I'll assist you," Heywin said.

"I would not send a young time mage to her death, and the same goes to your friend, Assassin. Fight at your absolute limits. Do not hold back, and trust that I'll keep you safe. Now, fight!" Heywin lowered his legs and hopped to the air, taking flight. His barrier disappeared, and the protection disappeared. Tielan's mad eyes found us. He spun his quarterstaff, winding a heavy attack. We bolted in opposite directions, Veyra to the left.

She ran to the edge of the arena and cast [Chronorift] under the boss, already pumping damage. Though with the boss being level 435, her attacks didn't even graze its health bar. I ran to the right, and the boss charged after me. Tielan wasn't the fastest monster I'd fought, but he still easily kept up with my running speed. I found myself nearing the edge of the arena, and was forced to face the boss. The tip of Tielan's quarterstaff froze, enhanced by a spell. He wound-up a heavy attack.

For a 435 monster, the attack was surprisingly predictable. I faced the attack head-on and hopped backward with the space I had and out of the way. The staff crashed against the ground, and a wave of frost shot forth. [Absolute Zero] was cast and aimed directly at my feet. Now that was undodgeable. I [Shadow Dashed] to the side and ran. It looked like the direct hits would be easy to dodge, but the AoE would make this difficult. Veyra continued hitting it with both [Chronorift] and [Ray Of Time].

That made Tielan's attention shift to her. He knelt down, loading energy to his legs, and dashed through the arena in mere seconds, slamming his staff down on her at the opposite side. She had a portal next to her and dipped in, back to the opposite side of the arena. Her portals had a six second cooldown, though, and the more mana she spent on portals, the less she would have for attacks. In a fight like this, six could be more than fatal if she was too close to the boss. I needed to keep him busy until then.

I ran toward the boss, drawing its attention to me. Its staff glowed a frozen blue, and the same attack came for the second time. We need to hit our contribution damage, I thought, and I decided to go for a risky idea. Instead of jumping back, I lunged forward, straight into his swing. The quarterstaff slammed the ground behind me, and the ice spread to our feet, about to kill me.

I slashed once at the boss's chest, Sablethorn stealing defence and leaving a single mark of evisceration, before I was forced to escape. I [Shadow Dashed], as far as the skill took me just as the ice tried to grab me. When my body returned, I saw the boss's quarterstaff already pointed at my face. A runic casting circle of inverted colors lit the ground under his feet, and I had no dash for whatever spell was about to blast me to orbit. Veyra's [Absolute Zero] found the staff immediately.

Just like she did with the Lost Travelers Of Time, she froze Tielan's staff and hit his casting hand with an icicle, hoping to stun his cast. But her frost was too weak, underleveled for the boss, and it had no effect. The boss's spell was about to go off, when a fraction of a second later, Heywin cast a rift under Tielan's feet, and a time spike pierced the staff, canceling the spell.

"Sharp timing," Heywin said to Veyra, floating next to her. He wasn't flapping his wings, but just floating still with magic.

"You hit him even before I did. If your frost was a little colder, you would have interrupted his spell. I am impressed."

"You'll be impressed by us both, dragon," I said with a grin as I approached the boss again.

"Give us a minute to learn its attacks, and soon you won't need to help us at all." I wonder, I thought, facing the boss that now had a single mark of evisceration waiting to be ripped open. How much defence do you have for me to take?