Chương 13: [b1] 013 - A real Goddess damned boss

Fermi rubbed the spot on her chest, the tingling sensation of Grace's heal still lingering. The newest monster addition to the dungeon, the Rock 'Em monster, had proved more challenging than Burke had led on.

"You okay?" Silo asked as he pulled his sword from from the chest of the monster. It still unnerved her that they didn't bleed. She chuckled to herself at the thought. A week ago she would have been terrified to have had that thought. Now though, on only her second dungeon run, it barely registered as concerning.

"I'll ask again, you good?"" Yes, I'm fine." Fermi's eyes landed on Grace who was spinning in a slow circle.

"Where do you think we go now? Are we done?"

"Well, we cleared the same rooms as Burke's team. He said from here they went to the core room." Laura said as she counted her arrows.

"I kind of expected the dungeon to be bigger. It's been a whole day," Silo said. Laura shot him a disapproving look.

"We are not disparaging the hard work of the core." Silo blanched.

"I definitely wasn't doing that. I just—Burke's group got a new room added. I think we should just poke around and make sure we have everything discovered is all." Just then, a notification flashed in Fermi's interface. Achievement: The Curious Mind ► You have demonstrated that you do not take things at face value and will work to find the last drop of honey in that jar.

"Did you guys just get an achievement?"

"Ha! I told you. Come on, lets look around," Silo said. The Communications Center room was pretty much the same as it was the last time Fermi was here. Broken reflective glass—the same glass the core had rewarded Burke's team—on the ground and on the ceiling. Large lights around the edge of the room, and the demonic-leather chairs around a large metal table.

"Maybe it's back in the Mission Control room? That was the last one that was added. I don't see anything in here that—" She walked up to one of the lights along the right side of the room and it lit up. Not in a blinding way like it had during the fight. Instead, it was a gentle illumination that didn't hurt to look at. On the surface of the light was a drawing. She leaned in closer and closer, until her nose was pressed against the glass. The drawing changed and a soft chime sounded.

Her back hit against Silo as she leapt away and she yelled out in shock.

"Goddess, you scared me. Don't stand behind people."

"Guys, Fermi found something." The rest of the group huddled around the light drawing as text appeared over it.

"Tap on the wand to begin," Laura read aloud. Silo pushed to the front and tapped on the black wand. It started following his finger around the picture no matter how fast or slow he moved his hand. The text updated to, "Now tap on the silver stick with your other hand." Fermi tapped on it this time and the silver stick acted the same as the wand, following her hand across the screen. The text updated again a second time so quick she almost missed the first message.

"You were supposed to have one person doing this but fine I guess you could share if you really wanted to."

"Now, place the silver stick on the green circle and hold it there. At the same time, press the wand to the green circle where the silver stick is touching. Wait for this bar to reach green. Once it's green, stop pressing the wand and silver stick to the picture." A rectangle appeared at the top of the picture.

"That doesn't sound too hard," Silo said. Fermi pressed her silver stick to the green circle and Silo pressed his wand to it. The second the wand touched, a small circle grew around the tip of the wand and the bar filled from left to right. It changed in color from red to orange to green. The second it did, they pulled their hands away from the picture. A soft chime filled the room, and the text updated.

"Score: Excellent! Repeat this two more times."

"Did I just get tricked into doing a puzzle?" Silo asked.

"I think so," Laura said, patting him on the shoulder. The group made quick work of the next two attempts, getting a Very Good and Acceptable ranking for the attempts. Once they were done, a notification appeared for all of them. Door Unlocked ► You have unlocked a previously locked door. Explore the dungeon to discover where it leads. Fermi looked around the Communications Center but didn't see any new doorway, just the one that led to the core room.

Silo poked his head through the door to Mission Control and called out, "I found it! There's a new door here." The first thing Fermi saw through the doorway was a monster. Not in the usual sense of the word for the dungeon, but a true monster. Something that would haunt her dreams. It sat in a chair, though it didn't appear to have legs. It did, however, have arms—six of them. Each arm ended with pincer like claws that reminded her of the Scorpal from the dunes in the west.

She'd gotten pinched by one of them as a child and still remembered the pain that lasted for days. The body was clearly made of metal; the same overly smooth, overly polished metal that much of the dungeon seemed to be made out of. It was boxy and hollow, the top of it ending open like a basket instead of having a head.

"What do you think that thing is?" Silo asked.

"Identify seems to think it's called a Star Coordinator. I—I don't know what that means. It won't give me any details about it other than its a level five boss." Fermi sucked in a breath. The Rock 'Em monsters had been level two and they had been a challenge to take down. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"I'm only level three," Silo said, and Fermi echoed the sentiment. She was close to level four, but not there yet. Not at the rate the dungeon was giving out Experience Chips.

"Well, I'm level six, Laura is seven. We should be fine, right?" Grace said. All eyes turned to Laura, the defacto expert on all things dungeons for her group.

"I don't know, Burke didn't share anything about a boss. The only thing the Elders ever said about them made them seem dangerous." She furrowed her brows, concentration lines marring her forehead. Silo went to speak and Fermi squeezed his arm. A second later Laura seemed to have her thoughts together, eyes brightening.

"There was one thing though. I remember Atlas telling a story once, from when he was young. He had spent days in the dungeon alone, pulling the boss and running out to reset it trying to figure out a sequence for the boss's attacks."

"You're saying we can run out the door, and it won't follow us?" Silo asked, looking skeptically at the doorway.

"I think so, I don't know. I remember him saying that's what he did. I don't know if it counts for this boss or just that one, I—I don't know. This is all new—for all of us. There's only so much that transfers from the Elder's experiences to ours." Fermi glanced back at the exit portal, it was just on the other side of the Mission Control room they were standing in.

"Worse case, we just run out, then run out the portal, right?"

"I think that works," Grace said. Silo rolled his neck, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

"Okay. Okay let's do this."

"If Grace calls retreat, we all run out, understood?" Laura said.

"Why me?"

"Because you're the healer. You know better than any of us during a fight if things are going sideways." Grace grimaced, but nodded.

"Okay, yeah I can do that." The group huddled around the doorway. Fermi pooled mana in her veins, then stepped into the boss room right behind Silo. The entire back wall lit up, words flashing across it. ► Boss Engaged! Good luck. The Star Coordinator came to life, its six arms flailing about and pressing buttons in front of it. As it did one of the wall panels along the at the far left side of the room and out popped five Ankle Biters.

"Which do you think we attack?" Fermi started to ask, but Silo was already rushing forward. He slammed his sword into the Star Coordinator, the sound of metal on metal ringing out in an almost deafening clang. Laura unleashed a quick burst of arrows, each one bouncing off its body as well. A health bar appeared—it was still at 100% health. A few meters in front of the boss, in between it and the large back wall, a pillar rose up out of the ground. On it a small white rectangle was encased in glass.

The Ankle Biters rushed towards it. Fermi acted on instinct and rushed towards it as well, charging a rank 1 Wind Buffet as she did. She unleashed it at the cluster of Ankle Biters just as they reached the pillar, knocking them back. The glass case was on hinges. She lifted it up—then went flying. One of the arms from the boss had come hurtling across the room and slammed into her. She blinked rapidly, spots flashing in her vision just like when she'd gotten punched by the Rock 'Em monster.

A heal from Grace came hurtling across the room, bright and pulsating. It restored most of Fermi's missing health and she jumped to her feet. The Ankle Biters were approaching the pillar again. She had no idea what their goal was or what the white rectangle in the box was for, but she felt in her bones that it was important.

"Take out the Ankle Biters!" Laura and Silo switched their focus from the Star Coordinator to the Ankle Biters. Two of the five Ankle Biters dropped almost instantly, swords and arrows slicing through them. A chime sounded through the room and the back wall flashed again. New text appeared: ► Monsters Initializing in 10… 9… 8 Fermi spun around trying to figure out where the next wall opening would be, just in time to see one of the boss's arms coming right for her again.

She dropped to the ground and braced for the impact, but it never came. The arm stopped just shy of her. She peered up at it trying to understand why it hadn't hit her when the claw turned to face her, like a snake fixating on its target. The pincers opened wide and a hole opened up in the center of it. A burst of liquid shot out from the hole, coating her. An intense burning spread across her entire body. She screamed, frantically wiping at the liquid but it kept burning.

"Grace! It burns! It burns! Oh Goddess it burns!" She ran toward Grace, her only thought was trying to get the burning to stop.

"You have a debuff!" Grace shouted back. Her hands glowed blue for several seconds as her face contorted with effort.

"We've got another wall opening over here!" Silo called out but Fermi didn't care. She just needed to stop the— The spell Grace was casting finally finished and her veins burned an intense icy cold as the magic penetrated her. Once it passed however, the burning sensation was gone. She gasped for air and for the first time noticed her health: she well below half.

"Fermi! Get these off of me!" Fermi tore her eyes away from her health bar to see Silo surrounded by four Ankle Biters. She pulled at her mana while marching across the room. Laura shot three arrows at one, taking it down but the other three were firmly clamped to his ankles. Another countdown flashed on the far wall. They had another ten seconds to take down the remaining monsters. Just as a heal flew past her and hit Silo in the back, bringing his health above half, two of the boss's arms swung round.

"Don't let the liquid get on you!" Fermi called out, but it was no use. One of the pincers opened right in front of Silo and unleashed a liquid. Fermi managed to dodge it, but he was dragged down by the Ankle Biters. Laura leapt back, firing an arrow at the first arm. It didn't even seem to register the hit. The second arm circled back around without spraying them. Fermi didn't take the time to consider why that might have been, instead just focusing on the Ankle Biters.

She used Wind Buffet to knock two of them off Silo, but also sent him tumbling. Then a Rammer connected with the side of her knee. She howled in pain, eyes darting around trying to figure out where—the third wall opening appeared. It had unleashed three Rammers into the room. She called out for a heal for herself but was drowned out by Silo's calls for heals.

"Something's wrong with Grace!" Laura called. Fermi spun round to see Grace's mouth opening and closing, neck flexing with a silent scream. She slammed her chest with a closed fist and clawed at her throat. What in the Cursed Gods was happening?

"Fermi, jump left!" Fermi didn't bother to look and jumped to her left as Laura had yelled. And good thing she did, a second Rammer was coming after her. Grace's screams finally broke through into the room.

"I couldn't heal! None of my magic would listen! I—""Can you heal now? Silo needs—" Laura's voice was frantic but got cut off as she focused a Rammer charging toward Grace. A fast and narrow heal went out and connected with Silo who was now on his feet. Fermi called for one of her own when another countdown started. They still had an Ankle Biter running around, the three Rammers, and the boss. They still hadn't figured out the pillars. How were they going to take on another set of monsters?

"Retreat!" Grace yelled, firing heal after heal into Silo and Fermi. One of the boss's arms came down behind Grace and squirted a jet of murky brown liquid right as Grace took a step backwards. She seemed to struggle to move, like her legs were stuck in thick mud.

"I've been slowed!" she called out. Laura side stepped the puddle, running back towards the door. She stopped and shot off arrow after arrow, trying her best to take down any monsters she could while the group retreated. Fermi was the last through the door. They kept running until they were half way across the Mission Control room when a notification flashed. ► Star Coordinator fight 1 has ended! The group stood, leaning against the weird lights scattered around the room, mouths agape.

"What, in the actual hell was that?" Silo asked.

"A boss. A real, Goddess damned boss," Laura said, then spat out a mouthful of blood.