The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen

Chapter 51: The Big Boss

(Friday, June 25th Game Day / Sunday, February 28th Real Day)

"You're red again Sigurd," yelled out Barik from a distance.

"Yeah," I replied without much care. "Troublemakers, what can I do."

Barik had been standing out in the rain in front of the dungeon portal, waiting for the group to gather. My one hour window to eat and relax was mostly wasted by the four stooges. Well, at least I made it on time.

Now, we could finally get this dungeon run started.

We were all on the fifth quest chain and needed the fifth boss. It was a moment we had been preparing for, for nearly a week now. To finish the dungeon before any other party, to gain the reputation bonus and a potential title to hang above our heads, some fame, some experience, and maybe even some extra coin too.

They were lofty goals, but they were reasonable.

Our party was experienced and our unit cohesion was top notch after days of grinding and experimenting. I was nearing fifty and the others had already passed the first mark nearly three days ago. As far as the leaderboards were concerned, we were in the top one-percent of the player base. We weren't in the top ten, but we were within the top one-hundred. That was good enough for me.

The levels themselves never meant much to us, anyhow.

It was all about proficiency and learned skills.

Barik was an excellent tank, significantly more developed than I. Allen and Ethan both were more proficient in their respective fields as well, so too, was the frost mage without a name. He had one of course, at least I assumed he did. He was a quiet guy, one that didn't talk much, so no one bothered to ask.

They were all well-developed and ready to proceed.

The only one that had lagged behind slightly, was me.

What I lacked in my singular proficiency though, I made up with being adept at multiple roles. I was a red mage as far as one could tell, a hybrid, jack of all trades type of guy. My tanking skills fell behind by a tier, as did my magic, and my bow proficiency was at least two if not three tiers behind a similar leveled player… but my versatility made up for it.

My Ancient Relic made up for it.

To think that scaling a mountain could have proved so fruitful.

Yeah, it was a nice feeling. Hard work, practice… time devoted to improving myself had created a player beyond reproach.

I may have been outmatched in individual skills, but the combination of my abilities put me a step above the competition at the moment. To say I was the most valuable member of the party wasn't a stretch, even if it was cocky and egotistical of me to admit it. There were certain truths, that didn't really need to be explained.

Now, we would put it all to the test.

"Are we good to go?" I asked as everyone had gathered in front of the portal.

Four nods and various responses followed, and we all turned and entered the dungeon for hopefully the last time. There wasn't much left to do, two hours of clearing trash mobs and four mini-bosses that we had killed a dozen times before, all for the single culminating event of the big boss.

The big baddy that had us too scared to even attempt it.

That goblin, with his inordinate amount of subordinates, to the point that it defied the logic and thematic style of the dungeon in its entirety, was the one that we wanted.

The first boss fell without so much as a hitch.

We had a lot of theories, for potential strategies going forward.

We would be facing off against fourteen goblins and my [Chain Lightning] was limited to five targets. The frost mage's [Freezing Rain] would be effective, but only if we could hold them all together. Ethan's [Flame Wave] was great too, though it couldn't do enough damage, quick enough to matter. So, we were limited with our options.

In order to challenge the fifth boss, we needed to be considerably stronger.

Strong enough that the second boss was killed with three people while two rested.

No other group had managed to take the fifth boss down.

Though, one guild ended up bragging about being the first to conquer the fourth floor a day ago, about a week late to the party, really. They were ridiculed in short order, a lesson to their public relations guy or gal, I'm sure.

One of the keys to our strategy, was to rely on my [Discharge] to disrupt and stun the mass of goblins, with the intent to keep them locked inside the [Freezing Rain] for as long as we could. The second step, was for Ethan to utilize his [Flame Spike] in conjunction with [Flame Wave], a two-part combo of Area of Effect magic that would hopefully take care of the [Outcast Minor Goblins] holding the front line.

[Flame Spike] was a straight-line skill shot that engulfed anything in its path.

It made quick work of the third boss's entourage, so there was definite promise.

We weren't sure though, how effective everything would be.

Multiple spells that required precise timing to effectively chain off each other, wasn't necessarily easy to accomplish. Barik also needed to essentially volunteer for a suicidal mission to run into the center and taunt them all, briefly holding their attention while I worked to off-tank the two [Outcast Goblin Guards]. In truth, with the fourth floor's boss setup of two [Goblin Guards], we had plenty of opportunity to practice tanking, with Barik on two, and with me on two during other runs.

We even gave it another go, to make sure.

I ended up tanking both [Guards] on the fourth floor, taking very little damage this time around. Thanks in large part to hundreds of opportunities to tank random goblins.

Yeah, we had made some pretty significant strides.

Alan had figured out an easy rotation to keep us healed, and both Barik and I were instinctively good tanks outside of our practical efficiency. Having two tanks with one doubling as an extremely bursty damage-dealer was quite handy, too.

And now, we stood before the fifth floor's boss.

Seven [Outcast Minor Goblins] front and center in a line, as if they were on a two row stage of sorts, being displayed for all to see. They weren't much but they would eat up my lightning if I wasn't careful. Behind them were the real threats though, two [Goblin Archers], [Goblin Priests], and [Goblin Guards] with one of each flanking the [Outcast Goblin Chief] directly in the center.

The big bad boss, wasn't really all that big at five feet tall and maybe a hundred and twenty pounds… but he was certainly bigger than the other goblins. Curiously, they all looked male and I had yet to see a female, well, I wasn't about to check for genitalia anyways… maybe they were asexual.

That was easier to process, too.

The thought of goblins reproducing down here in the dungeon was a bit disturbing.

Oh well, my mind was wandering too far on a tangent.

"So, which strategy should we try?" I asked after everyone had recovered and settled in. "AoE bombardment, then taunt and tank?"

"No tellin' if we can actually pull it off 'till we give 'er a go," said Barik as he jumped up and pulled out his sword. With his shield at the ready, he was eager to start.

"Let's just see what happens," chimed in Alan.

"I'm ready when you guys are," stated the frost mage.

"Oi, time's a wasting," chirped Ethan as he rolled a small flame around his fingertips. "We've already been here for over two hours."

"Yeah, well then," I agreed with a shrug.

I guess it was time, after all.

Getting into position, Barik took up center next to me while Alan sat far behind us. The frost mage took position up on the left and Ethan took the right, filling out our loose formation. Whether or not that was for the best was to be decided shortly. Mainly, we wanted eyes on target from different vantage points, just in case shit hit the fan.

Taking a deep breath, I exhaled slowly as I focused on my target.

"Five," I called out as I brought my hands together and began to chant my three verses, intending to get one solid [Chain Lightning] off on the [Chief]. As my hands started to glow and electricity sparked and flickered about, to my right an intense flame had been gathered and was steadily increasing in size as the seconds counted down.

To the left, the dwarf swallowed the lump in his throat as he tensed his shoulders, waiting for the right moment to charge forth. Past him, far off from the group, the frost mage's hands were aglow with a cool white-blue luminance as slushed ice flowed between them, creating a sublimating effect as white gas began to permeate outwards.

"Chain Lightning!"

"Flame Wave!"

"Frost Bolt!"

We all yelled, completely in sync.

As the intertwined bolts of lightning surged out and cracked the air, a literal wave of flame rolled directly over the goblins, intermixing with the bolt of frost as if it were some pyroclastic flow with a raging thunderstorm spread throughout. The devastating scene unfolding before our very eyes was a sight to behold, but we couldn't admire our greatness. Without even a second to consider the effectiveness, I ran forward with the dwarf at my side as we raised our shields and barreled through the minor goblins at the forefront, bashing our shields and knocking the smaller goblins back, we went straight into the heart of the swarm.

Barik shot forward, diving behind the chief and picking him up as the guards and minors clustered around me. The priests were already healing the guards as I shouted out a [Call to Challenge], enraging and taunting the goblins into a frenzy and forcing them to pile on top of me.

Arms flailed randomly as seven swords were swung in my direction with two spears thrust towards my torso. The sound of two arrows as they whizzed past my head nearly broke my concentration but I couldn't afford a break. I was on the wrong end of an onslaught that I could barely hope to repel, but I threw out my shield and raised my axe in an attempt.

Swords cut deep into my legs and arms as I focused on deflecting the spears as an arrow hit me in the neck. Suddenly struggling to breathe as blood started to flow, I curled up and began to shake as rain started to fall and freeze on contact with my skin. A single beam of pure flame shot out across the mass of goblins in front of me as they screamed in reaction. The smell of burnt flesh and singed hair flooded my nostrils while electricity had begun to envelop me, ready to burst at any moment.

Only a second had passed and with a thrust of my arms outwards while expanding my chest, I discharged the built up electricity in a perfect circle around me, creating an explosion that rocked every goblin within five feet. Minor goblins flew through the air in every direction as the guards were knocked back a step, but they recovered far too quickly and with my haggard breathing I was quickly losing my stamina.

The first heavy thrust came without hesitation as I blocked it with my shield but then the second heavy thrust came and with my weakened state, a partial deflection was all I could muster.

Piercing straight through my biceps and out the triceps, my right arm was rendered completely useless as I started to choke on the blood that had been draining into my lungs. My stamina entirely depleted, I collapsed to the floor as another arrow found its mark in my chest. Swords pierced through me as I could barely make out a spear shaft curiously sticking out of my stomach.

Eyes hazy, I stared at the shaft as I fell forward.

Then everything went black.

By the time the color had returned, there were only two true shades.

Blue and gray… the world had turned dark again.

I was dead.

"Damn," I muttered to myself as the spirit form of Barik appeared next to me.

Ethan, Alan, and the frost mage showed up a few seconds later, as we all looked at each other in our ghost versions. The first attempt was a complete failure.

We wiped.

Entering the dungeon after a short run from the graveyard, there were a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. The fight ended too quickly to be of real use, but I did realize one thing, at least.

"What happened?" asked Alan immediately. "You just dropped, Sigurd."

"Took an arrow to the throat, crippled me from the start."

"Ah, shit," said Barik with a curious expression on his face.

"Well even if that didn’t happen, those priests were healing all the damage we did," stated Ethan with a shrug. "We need to kill them somehow, only the minors died."

Without the ability to see much of anything with all of the pyrotechnics going on, I was woefully short of information. All I knew, was that the archers were deadly. Too deadly to be left alone again, less I wanted an arrow to the knee or throat again.

This fight was rough.

"I couldn't really see anything, how many died?" I asked after gathering my thoughts. "And were any others close, or what?"

Silence filled the room as we continued to walk back, with everyone thinking over the fight from their perspective. Barik and I couldn't watch all of the goblins, what with being stuck in melee and concentrating on swords and spears flying towards us.

That left the mages, to be our eyes.

"Most of the minor goblins were about dead," said Ethan after some time. "The guards were near full health at the end thanks to the priests though."

"The priests and archers were basically at full health," echoed the frost mage.

Ah, so our Area of Effect strategy wasn't good enough.

Not with the priests still up, but that was expected.

"How about you, Alan?" I questioned sincerely. "See anything?"

"Nope, too busy healing you," he replied.

By the time we made it back to the fifth floor and entered the boss's room, all fourteen goblins were standing pretty in the same position as before. They had been reset and spawned at full health and with full numbers.

Yeah, we wouldn't get the easy way out.

It would be too convenient for the minions not to respawn.

"So, what do we do?" asked Barik as he checked the condition of his shield.

"I don't think freezing rain will work here," I bluntly stated. "May have worked alright for some of the earlier fights, but we need to burn targets here not outlast them."

"Can't kite the boss either, it'll just leash," Barik explained.

"Yeah, we need some changes."

Strategy was almost always left to me, but it was a group discussion and all input was valued. Unfortunately some of the guys weren't very vocal, which kind of hurt the process. Racking my brain trying to think of a way to fix our issues, the only thing that came to mind was having a mage solo the minor goblins or splitting into two groups.

Friendly fire was a real issue.

We needed the priests and archers taken care of before we could worry about the guards or the boss. From there, I wasn't sure what should be focused first. Generally, if the guards could fall quickly you took them out, but if the boss did the most damage, then it needed to go. From our five second sample size, there wasn't enough information to plan around. I was at a loss on what to do.

This sucked.

"Positioning, let's start there," I exclaimed with some confidence.

"Yeah?" asked Ethan curiously.

"Need to ensure the priests die first, then the archers," I started to explain. "I think I can manage the minor goblins with my discharge to buy time for you guys to rotate after, but I can't do much to defend against arrows I can't see."

"Aye, this fucking ash and smoke has me fighting nearly blind," complained Barik, to everyone's surprise. "I can't see shit with my eyes watering, hard enough as it is."

That was the truth.

The environment was terrible, and the lousy conditions only increased the difficulty of the fight… we were already at a serious disadvantage before the fight even began. Toss in the huge number discrepancy and I was starting to wonder at what level were the developers expecting us to clear the damn place.

Ridiculous scenario, is ridiculous.

"Okay, how about this," I said with some enthusiasm as an idea hit me. "Ethan get up on the far right side, so you can easily and quickly flame spike in a straight line. Use flame wave first, of course, focusing on the secondary line. Follow up with a fire blast on the priest, if it happens to still be alive."

Scratching my head, I needed to figure out what to do with our frost mage.

Glancing at the frost mage, I got his attention then decided to explain his role, "do you think you can just fan far out to the left, get an angle on the other priest, and frost bolt nonstop on the priority targets? You're more efficient once you get rolling, right?"

"Yep, I'll get my chaining bonus and it's more mana efficient for a long fight."

As he nodded in agreement, his role was now solidified.

That left Barik and me.

"You're good with the chief," I said as I looked at Barik.

"Right, I can handle him for a bit," he replied with a grin.

"That just leaves me," I mumbled as I tried to think of the best place to tank all the little guys. "You know what, let's get all three of you casters to the right, I'll take the minions and the guards and pull them to the left, and Barik will take the chief where it is. Since the priests and archers won't move, you'll have line of sight, easy."

"Splitting the mobs?" asked Barik, with a tilt of his head.

"Yeah, I can kite with discharge and maybe even get a secondary spell off."

"Right, sounds good," he replied with a nod.

With everything settled, our strategy had changed slightly but not entirely. There weren't any boss mechanics that we were aware of yet, and it seemed likely that the primary difficulty was in the numbers. A technically difficult fight would probably come later in the game, for now it was a matter of overpowering creatures when outnumbered.

My faith in the group hadn't been shaken.

I was still confident we could pull it off.

"Hey, let me have one of those extra shields," I said somewhat randomly before we settled into position. Slinging a [Cracked Aspis] on my back and tightening the straps around my chest, I made sure that it was snugly in place. Keeping my [Old Aspis] attached to my left arm, I was now rocking two shields. With my [Crude Iron Hand Axe] in my right hand, I was now ready to go. My back was defended whether or not I paid any attention to it, my left would be easy to guard, and my right would depend on my ability to deftly parry and deflect.

All in all, it was something I could work with.

My overall dexterity was impaired and my shoulders and elbows couldn't move quite as freely, but that didn't matter. I wouldn't need full flexibility this fight. Mainly, I needed to survive attacks from all directions.

Especially, the not so wayward arrows… those spelt doom for me.

"Alright, let's get this shit show started," I said with some oomph.

Stretching my arms out and yawning once for good measure, I brought my hands together as I lowered into my stance. Knees bent, legs shoulder-width apart, elbows tucked in, and palms touching as a spark jolted them apart. The ash and smoke that clouded my vision was nothing more than a filtered screen as I began to focus. Eyes watering, the chief was my intended target.

The damp and dank, dimly lit surroundings were somewhat cramped and barely gave us room to maneuver but we would make do. The flames danced as an intense bright white light started to radiate from my hands, drowning out the weak torches that littered the cave walls. The black and gray rock interior clearly visible as lightning had gathered between my fingertips and illuminated everything around me. What came next would be deafening, with the cave walls amplifying the thunder and echoing throughout.

Ears would ring, but mine always rang.

"Through power…" I started to mutter, so only I could hear it.

And then at the peak, with power overwhelming me, I could no longer contain it. Thrusting both arms forward with a yell not vocalized, the silence of my scream masked by the thunderous roar of the chain lightning that pierced through the ranks of the minor goblins, crashing into the largest singular goblin standing at the center. Lightning spread like living tendrils as it arced, jumped, and bounced, connecting four other victims in its web of destruction.

The goblins panicked and shook as the paralysis temporarily took over their bodily functions, and in that moment where wide-eyed minor goblins looked back in confusion, flames washed over them in their entirety, sending them into psychological shock. Goblins burned and in the midst of those flames, I dove into the center of them all and shouted my taunts, commanding all of their manic desires to mutilate me.

I gave them a target to satiate their rage.

They charged, mouths open with spittle dripping and flying free as they cursed their profanities in broken English, completely consumed by their anger and blind to what I had in store. As the first wave crashed into me, I knocked a goblin flat onto its back with a shield bash, breaking its nose with the impact as blood dripped down onto my boot.

Swinging my right arm out and downwards I met another goblin's sword and parried with the hefty weight of my axe driving it back. Swords from every direction came next, three thrusts towards my midsection with two from the top, all easily avoidable as I double stepped backwards.

A simple dodge, I countered with a swing of my axe only to pullback and roll to the side, a feint to scare the minors as one of the guards lunged forth and attempted to impale me. The second guard followed up with a heavy thrust that was out of reach as I continued to sidestep and backtrack. Arrows flew left and right as I watched for a tell-tale sign of healing, that golden light that would envelop and enshroud a goblin, but it never came.

Another two thrusts from the spears, barely dodged as one clipped the side of my armor and sent my insides twitching reactively to the side, squirming to avoid the pain that would have followed. A sigh of relief without the sigh, as there was no time to waste, and then, pain registered in my chest as an arrow had hit just beneath my collarbone.

Gritting my teeth, I continued my retreat, falling back until I heard the thud of the wall behind me hitting the shield strapped to my back. The soft thud barely discernible amidst the sounds of goblins screaming and swords clanging and clashing, but the impact clearly reverberated through my body as it startled me and distracted me.

A sword flashed across my face as my attention was brought back, my cheek stinging from the gash as my mouth felt as if it were split in two. Mouth burning and stinging, I winced as my mask fell to the floor. The ash that had been wafting through the air soon entered my lungs and caused me to nearly choke from the sudden change.

A cough, followed by a blur and a twitch reaction as I threw my shield up, blocking a sword's slash as it bounced harmlessly off. My health was fine, but my stamina was suffering with every hit. Another sword swing came from my left, and I blocked it with ease. Then two more swords from the right, deflected with my axe.

One sword stabbed through my thigh, then two glanced off my chest as I kept my eyes on the spears in front of me. There were too many swords to watch, and I was slowly being overwhelmed. A heavy thrust soon followed and with it, the opportunity to counter arrived. Jumping forward and ducking to the side, I rolled on the ground with my shield arm helping to absorb the impact and creating a small bounce at the same time. In a split-second I had traversed the ground between the goblins and the wall and quickly took a knee behind them.

They turned their eyes first as their heads and bodies began to follow, free arms waving in the air with weapons last. I was ready for them, they were a step slow. Curled up with my arms brought in, electricity formed around me and immediately began to circulate and expand in a field.

I only had half a second to go.

A spear came quickly as I held my ground, believing in my cast time.

As if everything was in slow motion, the spear inched closer millisecond by millisecond as I watched the lightning field expand around me, finally reaching critical mass and exploding in electrically charged brilliance. The instantaneous snap of thunder beat only by the flash of light that accompanied the discharge.

Every goblin in front of me was flung violently back into the rock wall just four feet away. Swords were dropped from the impact and even the guards were shaken beyond a reasonable degree. The momentum of their charge, disrupted and repelled by the expanding force of my lightning, all culminating in the sudden collision with an immovable wall.

Necks had snapped back and forth as heads and bodies collided with the solid wall behind them. Sounds were muffled by the electricity coursing through their veins, as minor goblins fell to the floor, some dead, some stunned. Those that lived, were rendered temporarily immobile.

They stared at me with those wide hourglass eyes, baring their fangs and clutching their heads and spade-like ears. Then two guards stood up, readying their shields and spears once more, with only a slight hesitation showing as they grew weary and wary. Caution had crept into their minds, as their reaction times were dulled by the thought process that second-guessed their every action.

Sticking to instinct and reacting off muscle-memory, I was now faster.

Spears thrust in my direction were slow, as my senses were heightened from adrenaline. Twisting to avoid the trajectory of the spear tip, I retaliated with a fury of my own. Rage had started to consume me as I wanted to inflict as much pain on them as they had done unto me.

I needed to reciprocate the favor that they had shown me.

A single minor goblin stood up first, only to stand without a head as it rolled on by.

Then another jumped up, with a sword swung immediately after… only for the sword to find itself without an owner as a hand fell to the floor. A third goblin was up, the same one with a broken nose and blood dripping across its face. Leaning in with a second shield bash, I sent it into the wall as its head was crushed between the two forces. Stepping back, there was a fourth minor goblin still alive on the floor but a swift kick and hack into the back of its neck ended it right then and there.

A heavy thrust and a lunge came from the guards but I blocked and deflected simultaneously, all the while shifting my feet so as to get an angle on the one-handed goblin clutching and screaming. A quick slash and it reacted, shifting its one hand from its other arm to its neck as blood seeped out. And then just as I had turned my attention back to the two guards that were now left, a bolt of bluish-white frost fluttered on by as frost flakes floated on down to the ground below.

Then, suddenly, impact occurred and a white frosty mist enshrouded the goblin only to be evaporated by the blazing hot fireball that followed it.

Flames bursting and radiating outwards, the heat could be felt on my face as the goblin guard reacted to the sudden strikes of the two spells. Roaring with its high-pitched voice and throwing its head back partially in fear and partially due to the pain, it waved its spear wildly about as it cowered behind its shield.

Digging a heel into the ground, I leaned forward and thrust my shield into its waist and shoved with all of my might, causing the goblin to tumble backwards into the rock wall. Completely off balance, the goblin guard struggled to get its footing as it slipped on the mossy patch beneath its feet. Taking advantage of the momentary lapse of functionality, I raised my axe in an instant, only to bring it down into the exposed face of the goblin. Bones crushed and shattered from the impact, the axe was wedged deep between the eye sockets as I shifted a boot onto its chest and kicked out.

Yanking the axe free from the executed guard, I turned to face the last one.

One on one, it stood no chance.

Then another frost bolt hit, and another fireball.

Explosions of white and red intermixed for my enjoyment as the polar opposites canceled each other out. Without any mercy, I raised my right hand and dropped my axe to the floor, shooting a single beam of lightning out and connecting the two of us as our fates were now interlocked. I stared on, at the pulsating lightning, the single tether of raw energy surging forth at predetermined intervals as it stripped flesh and burned the monster from the inside-out.

It wanted to scream, but it couldn't.

The guard resisted, it fought, it managed to regain its movement but its vocal chords betrayed it. The goblin wanted to curse me, it wanted to yell, but another frost bolt smashed into him, staggering him for a moment.

Then, a fireball impacted directly to the side of his head as it jerked violently to the side. The impact sent the creature careening to the deck as it struggled to get back up. The goblin guard tried to move, but my channel had never ceased. And then, with one last valiant effort, it stood up. Raising its head the goblin looked at me with defiant eyes as it fell back onto its knees. Keeping my channel steady, a half-second passed as the goblin finally collapsed onto the ground before me.

My channel cut, the creature was dead.

And then as I turned my head, Barik fell.

As I had been thinking about my next move, the goblin chief used a heavy swing on Barik. He had easily blocked the blow with his shield, but the force of the impact brought him to a knee. And then as swiftly as the first strike, the chief thrust the halberd along the edge of the shield and twisted his grip, turning the hook-side of the halberd into the shield.

The instant the hook caught onto the shield, the goblin pulled back and brought Barik down to the ground. Already off balance while down on a knee, the sudden yank of the shield that was attached to his arm left him with no recourse. The dwarf was splayed out before the chief, unable to react or even defend himself as his face was buried in the dirt. In an instant, the goblin chief twirled the halberd around, bringing it behind him and then swiftly brought it down into the back of the dwarf as Barik's body twitched from the blow. Blood splattered upwards as the halberd disappeared into the small of Barik's back, and as suddenly as the attack had come, the dwarf's body went limp.

The attack was fatal… it was an execute ability.

I didn't have the time to shout or to even care that Barik had died, as I had received a battlefield promotion from off-tank to main-tank. What had been a semi-routine, planned fight with some novelty, turned into a freestyle affair with a wipe nearly at hand. The only way to salvage the fight, was to pick up the chief before he murdered the casters in short order.

Without thinking, I rushed forward, grabbing the spear of the nearest goblin guard that died a bit before as I met the chief midway. Thrusting the spear out as I intercepted the goblin just before it reached the casters, it easily deflected my attack with its halberd and counter attacked with a wide sweep that nearly clipped my legs.

Jumping back, I pushed forward once more and attempted a shield bash but was met with a heavy swing that sent me back on my ass. Recovering quickly, I taunted the creature as it attempted to run past me. It turned briefly to face me, but a frost bolt hit at the worst possible time. The goblin turned back onto the casters, directing its hate towards the highest threat. In desperation I threw my spear and it landed cleanly in the back of the charging goblin to no avail.

Chasing after it without a weapon, I caught up right as the casters began to run to the opposite side. I yelled, screamed at them to run towards me, but they were distracted and didn't hear me in their panic. The frost mage ran to the right as the goblin followed, while the other two ran to the left. I continued to chase, bee lining towards the frost mage as I watched him get trapped, caught like a rat and split down the middle in one fell swoop.

Stopping in my tracks, I had enough mana for one last cast but I had no weapon, I threw my head back and scanned the ground for the nearest weapon but couldn't see anything suitable, then as if glimmering in the darkness, my axe was visible a good twenty feet away.

I blinked and in an instant had traveled the distance, rematerializing out of the lightning on the other side, one singular flash step being all I could afford. Grabbing my axe, I rotated around and charged at the goblin that was now rushing towards Alan. Meeting it head on, I raised my shield and deflected the heavy thrust as it almost immediately twisted its hands and pulled back, hooking my shield on the edge and sending me falling onto my face.

Rolling over and lying on my back, I stared up at the chief as it raised its halberd above its head, preparing for a heavy swing or execute. Kicking at the goblins shin, I managed to break the goblin's foothold as it slipped and swung harmlessly into the slippery rock beside me. Sparks flying as metal bounced off stone, I rolled to my right and attempted to get back on my feet before it could retaliate once more.

It swung wildly, in a quick act of desperation to clip me.

The blow was shallow though, and didn't break past my leather armor as no pain had registered. If it did register, I was oblivious to it now. Circling the goblin, it swung weakly, in an attempt to poke and prod my defenses.

I deflected with my shield as I noticed my strength had started to wane.

Then a fireball exploded on the goblin and it reeled back in pain.

Taking advantage of the moment I swiped once with my axe and managed to cleave a small portion of its flesh off.

It wasn't fatal, but it was enough.

Its eyes burned with a demonic disposition as it hissed and cursed at me in non-broken English. It threatened me, semi-intelligently, as if it could scare me off. It reacted, as if it were real.

I responded with another attack as it parried my blow and countered with a lunge, thrusting its halberd at me with the point of the spear impacting soft tissue.

It barely hit but it connected, poking a small hole into my abdomen as warm blood could be felt dripping out and down my shirt. But then a golden light, a ray of warmth, descended on me and I instantly felt rejuvenated.

I glanced at the corner of my visual screen, where a small transparent bar was visible, where Alan's mana bar was supposed to be. Yet, instead of a blue colored bar, there was nothing, nothing at all. He was completely out of mana.

That was his last heal.

There were no more second chances going forward.

Reality sunk in, this fight was mine to lose.

Adrenaline was pumping through my blood as the room suddenly seemed narrower and everything was moving faster yet slower at the same time. I had acute focus on the boss, the goblin's movements were slow but my body lagged behind. My mind kept up with the new pace but my body was struggling to maintain my movements as I dodged the next attack with a complicated ease and attempted a counter.

My mind willed the axe forward but it came slower than I wanted as the goblin reacted with a counter blow of his own. Swinging my axe wide to deflect the oncoming attack with force, our weapons clashed and clanged together, sending sparks flying and bouncing off. The force of the blows repelling each other as the shockwave traveled down the shaft and through my arms, sending a tingle through my hand as I pulled back. My hand was numb, but I had no time to waste.

Gathering myself almost instantly, I saw the goblin shift its weight to the rear leg as it brought its arms back, and without a second passing by, I instinctively knew what was coming next. In a tenth of a second the goblin's shoulders tightened up as it grabbed the halberd with both hands gripping tightly, tensing its core and then twisting and thrusting forward with a heavy thrust.

A quarter of a second passed, I saw it coming.

My reflexive ability reacting faster than my mind could process and send the signal, I watched as my body contorted and twisted to the right as my legs kicked out powerfully but I was too slow. I watched the halberd's trajectory as it inched closer and closer, only to suddenly divert as the goblin jerked back.

I didn't know what happened, but it didn't matter.

My heart was racing, every tenth of a second mattered, I didn't have the time.

There wasn't enough time.

The next attack came and all I could muster was a quick tumble, hitting the earth hard with my shoulder and rolling onto my back. Managing to return to my feet, I stood up and assumed a defensive stance with my shield held high. I turned to face the goblin and pressed the attack, but as soon as I brought my axe up another heavy thrust was forming and I instinctively knew I couldn't dodge, it was too late.

I swung downwards and met the halberd's head with the blade of my axe, sending it slamming into the floor as I carried through with the swing. My focus was completely zeroed in, having reached my zenith, my max, I could properly parry.

Another attack came, and I deflected it easily as I saw everything happening.

But I could feel it.

My reactions were starting to get sluggish, my responses were dulling… my mind, was getting tired. The goblin raised its halberd and swung down without much effort, yet I was barely able to deflect it in desperation.

I could see it clearly, I could see everything happening as clear as day despite the watery eyes and the ashen dimly-lit interior. The room was so much brighter than it was before, so much closer, as if everything had been enlarged. But my reactions, my reactions were getting slower and slower.

Faster, I needed to be faster.

Then the next attack came, and I barely managed to deflect that as I lost my axe. I watched it fly off to the side and realized my stamina had depleted. My body couldn't do it any longer, I wasn't strong enough.

My endurance had given in.

The goblin readied its next attack, with an endless stamina that I envied.

The axe-head of the halberd cleaved into my shoulder, but I muscled out of it. I couldn't feel my right arm, but the next attack was coming. I needed to block, I needed to raise my shield. Yet, as I did so, it shattered just like that, with wood splintering off and flying in every which way. Pain registered clearly in my chest as I looked at the shallow but large wound that had split me open.

I had fallen onto my back from the blow, and now looked up as the goblin towered above me. My head was throbbing and I was frantically trying to move my hands and legs to get back up, but then I saw it. I saw what was going to happen long before it happened. The goblin chief had brought the halberd back along the ground, switching grips and then bringing it behind its back.

Raising it to the sky as if it was a tribute or offering to the Gods.

How long was this going to last.

It was taking its sweet time.

I couldn't tell how long it had been since the execute movement had begun, but it certainly felt like it was over ten seconds by the time the halberd had started its descent. As it came down I was helpless to move, I was trying, but it felt like something had sapped all of my strength as the realization finally set in.

I was completely out of stamina.

My body was no longer responding to my mind, and in truth, I wasn't even sure if my mind was working properly at this point.

I was coherent, but only so.

Then it hit, and in an instant the world turned black again.

By the time my vision returned, the spirit world had welcomed me back once more. That world of blue and gray, distorted and blurry with only the flowing river in the sky to direct me towards my destination… it was depressing.

We were so close, yet we failed.

I took a deep breath and then followed it up with a rapid succession of smaller breaths. I was gasping for air. My chest heaved up and down as my hands were shaking and my mind was pounding. As the adrenaline had faded, I was now regressing to a state of normalcy. My overly focused senses were shifting back to normal.

My view seemed to widen and darken simultaneously, no doubt in reaction to my pupils no longer being dilated. It was an uncomfortable feeling, as I realized that everything was for naught. To come so close to killing the boss, only to fail at the very end wasn't a happy thought.

If we wiped midway through, that was fine.

Maybe even if it was a quarter or three-fourths of the way through, that would be alright with me. But I was certain, that the boss was only a few attacks away from falling. I didn't know how much health it had left, as I didn't have the time to check.

All I knew, was that it was really, really close.

Letting out a sigh, there was little reason to get upset.

We could always give it another go… we were close enough to get it done.

I sat for a minute, in my spirit form, trying to relax.

My head was actually starting to hurt, but hopefully it was only temporary.

Well, I only had to wait for the guys now.

The others would appear any second, arriving with their ghostly selves at any moment. Yet, another minute passed and I was still sitting alone at the graveyard. A few minutes went by, and five ghosts of strangers materialized next to me as some other party had wiped inside the dungeon. Alan and Ethan, though, never showed up.

Something wasn't quite right here.

They were still alive somehow, which didn't make sense.

"Maybe they leashed it and reset the boss," I muttered to myself.

Standing up, I ran back into the dungeon and made my way through the five floors until I came across the other four members of my party, alive and well in a room filled with corpses. Corpses of goblins were strewn about, fourteen to be exact, as the party was sorting through the loot. Sorting through the loot and fourteen corpses… that meant one thing, and one thing only… we did it.

There was no way that could be true.

"What took ye so long Sigurd?" asked Barik with a huge smile.

"Well, fuck that," I said out of character as I shook my head and started to grin. "You mean we managed to kill the little fucker after three of us died? You're shitting me."

"Hah, damn right we fucking did it!" cheered Ethan enthusiastically as the others joined in. "And we were the first to fucking do it too, hell yeah!"

I was still somewhat disconnected from it all.

They were yelling and cheering but it became incoherent to me as I watched the scene unfold. A part of me wanted to celebrate too, to jump up and down and shout or whatever people did when they were excited… we had the world record for this dungeon.

That made us, for a brief moment in time, somewhat special.

Sure, it wasn't a big thing, it wasn't a serious raid.

This was nothing more than the second instanced dungeon in the game, and we happened to get here first while the game was still relatively new. We were ahead of the curve and there wasn't a lot of competition at the moment… but that didn't stop us from feeling good.

Ah, but my head hurt.

I taxed my mind a bit too much, during that fight.

My brain didn't work as well as it used to and one of the lingering effects of my Post-Concussion Syndrome was mental fatigue, along with issues concerning cognitive functions of a higher order, apathy, personality change, tinnitus, and irritability to name a few. Normal things for most people, just on a whole different level… and now, I was tired. I was extremely tired, actually.

I felt exhausted.

"That was really intense though," said Ethan after he calmed down a bit.

"It was, and all I could do was watch," chimed in Alan. "Was positive, once I was out of mana, that we were going to wipe and have to restart the whole thing."

"Sigurd pretty much willed us through it," said Ethan as he gave me a pat on the shoulder. "You're pretty fucking good, you know that?"

"Huh?" I asked, a bit confused at the moment.

"You tanked all the goblins on the side, the guards included, killed them by yourself, and then picked up the chief and managed to tank without taking any damage for a good fifteen seconds," he explained, long-windedly.

That was it… fifteen seconds.

It felt like an eternity, a duel to the death that lasted at least a minute. Sure, I was aware that time was slow, it's always like that when your adrenaline is rushing. A hundred-mile per hour fastball isn't that fast when you're focused. But, only fifteen seconds… that seemed wrong.

"Is that so," I said nonchalantly.

I was having a hard time getting excited now, and actually wanted to log off.

The guys went on, talking amongst themselves for a bit as I tuned out and closed my eyes. I felt sick from overexerting and taxing myself mentally. It had happened so many times before that I recognized it the second it hit, but it had been awhile since my last episode. With the game, I never expected to have this issue.

Soon, the chatting became incessant and the flood of voices was only making my headache worse. I switched their voices off and had it auto-transcribe into text, but that too became too much. A stream of text flooded my chat box and quickly formed into a large wall of text that was simply too long.

I didn't want to read it.

They were excitedly discussing the events of the fight, filling in Barik, who had missed the end of it as he was running back. Ethan described a flurry of movements between the goblin chief and me, something they couldn't quite follow in the middle of it all going down. All Ethan did was spam his fireball over and over, even as I fell to the ground and was split like a watermelon.

Then after I died, two more fireballs hit and the chief collapsed on the spot.

If I had lived another four seconds, I could have witnessed the end.

Closing my eyes, I tried to retrace my view of the fight, but in my mind everything happened relatively slowly. I saw the attacks wind up before they were released, saw them coming and their trajectories. There was time for me to react, to move or attempt to counter, even if my body couldn't quite move as fast as I wanted.

It wasn't a flurry of movements by any sense.

Ah, it clicked.

Somehow, it slipped my mind with all of the celebrating.

"Have you guys had adrenaline rushes in-game?" I asked, butting into their conversation somewhat randomly. "Heightened senses and all, the whole shebang?"

"No, can that even happen?" Ethan questioned immediately.

"I 'ave had some," answered Barik right after. "I hear it depends on the connection yer mind is able to make with the game."

"Is that how it is?" I stated while thinking over what had happened. "That whole fight, was a huge adrenaline rush, everything was in slow motion for me, but it taxed me heavily afterwards. I'm pretty fatigued right now."

"Whoa," said Ethan somewhat comically, doing his best Keanu impression.

I couldn't even laugh.

Was I even playing a game anymore?

Everything was so realistic, from the supposedly limited Artificial Intelligences that governed the Non-Player Characters like Selene and Katherine, to how real it felt to be here. When they said this was a Virtual Reality… I never thought it would be so realistic that I would find myself questioning my own reality on a daily basis.

Hell, I was even suffering from an in-game headache and had a simulated adrenaline rush. This was beginning to be a bit too real, even for me.

"Yeah," I said bluntly. "I'm thinking, I'm going to log out guys, I'm tired."

"Hey wait a minute," Barik yelped out. "Ye ain't goin' anywhere buddy."

"Yeah!" yelled Ethan as he practically skipped over to the back of the room, where a dirty chest had been sitting out of sight. "We've got treasure to deal with first lads."

Right, there was loot.

Oh, this was the fifth boss… that meant potentially excellent loot.

"Hah," I laughed out loud as I realized my mistake.

"So what's in it," asked Barik impatiently as Ethan fiddled with the chest's lock.

All of us had crowded around the small chest as we impatiently waited for it to open. Biding our time by nervously shuffling back and forth, we were excited and anxious to see what would be offered. We were the first to clear the dungeon, so there was a possibility we would have something rare inside.

Maybe, that is.

It could be entirely random, too.

We didn't know, and we didn't want to wait any longer to find out.

"Gods, ye take far too long," Barik finally spouted out as he pushed Ethan aside. "It's just a damn little lock, what takes ye so long."

"Oi I got it, step off," countered Ethan as he finally popped open the chest while pushing Barik back. "You lot are too impatient, chest isn't going anywhere."

At this point no one really cared about what was being said as we all eyed the contents of the chest. As the lid to the chest fell backwards and the insides started to glimmer and shine in the darkness of the dungeon, my imagination ran wild at what there could be.

Was there gold?

Maybe there were jewels, gemstones, or magic crystals?

Perhaps a rare item, like an enchanted dagger or a scroll that taught a rare skill… the possibilities were endless. I wanted to know, Barik wanted to know, Alan wanted to know, so too, did the frost mage.

"What," Ethan said dejectedly.

"That's it, huh?" stated Barik with a slight sigh.

The four of them backed off as if the chest was empty, much to my confusion.

"Step aside if you're done," I said, trying to budge them so I could see what had caused the sudden depression to spread like a pathogen. Brushing past them, I looked down into the chest that had a number of silver coins and hundreds of copper coins.

That was it?

Couldn't be… a chest of gold or in this case, copper and silver was nice but, there had to be more. I wasn't sold, that couldn't be it. They wouldn't have hyped us up with a chest after this incredibly difficult boss only to provide us with some coinage.

That was almost blasphemous.

I wanted to cuss at the developer, if this was the case.

"Nah, there's gotta be something else down underneath," I said as I started to sift through the coins and felt around the chest. Parting the coins and running my hands through them, I finally made contact with something that wasn't a coin. Grabbing the circular object, it felt a lot like a ring.

"There's a ring," I said with some shock.

Pulling it out and inspecting it, I was actually kind of surprised.

The [Silver Ring of the Outcast Goblin Chief] was an enchanted ring that offered plus five-percent or plus ten, which ever was lesser, to your Endurance and Vitality stat. A scaling item, that would grow with you as the game progressed, up to at least plus ten Endurance and Vitality. That really wasn't too shabby.

No, it was quite strong.

Especially this early in the game, when the other rings that had dropped were only plus-three to an attribute, this one was at least plus-five for me and wouldn't cap out until it hit ten. If I wore four of those, I might not have stamina issues in combat anymore… hell, I could probably run forever.

That didn’t even count the bonus to health as well.

It wasn't that bad at all.

An item that could last you quite a while, disguised as a minor double attribute ring.

Hah, it was perfect for a tank.

"Catch," I called out to Barik as I tossed him the ring. "You'll want a few of those."

"Eh," he replied before actually looking.

Then his eyes seemed to widen as he looked over the details, glancing at me once then back at the ring. I knew what he was thinking, he wanted it. He only hesitated because we were both tanks and could use it equally.

"Roll ye for it?" he asked, somewhat expectedly.

"Hah, nah," I replied with a smirk. "You keep it, it will benefit you more right now."

"Ye sure?" he asked again, not wanting to take my kindness for granted.

"Yeah man, you're the main tank, 'grats," I replied with a nod.

The others looked on, a bit confused as to what had just transpired. I didn't even bother to include them in the discussion but, that was only natural. Items went to who could use them at this point, then it was split by value after. Everyone would get their equal cut eventually, and we had been running together for almost a week.

Plus, they were all from the same guild.

To deny their tank a tanking item, would be pretty stupid.

I was content with my decision.

"Right," he said with a nod of his own. "Thanks."

The others looked at me but I ignored them as I combed through the rest of the items on the floor. Barik ended up filling them in on the ring and its properties and they didn't have any complaints. It was expected, anyways.

As I started to gather the random swords, spears, shields, bows, axes, and jewelry, I finally came across the one unique item in the entire dungeon.

The halberd that belonged to the [Goblin Chief], the one that easily cut-up three people, was lying on the ground next to the corpse of the comparatively large goblin waiting for someone to grab it. It was a two-handed weapon, an axe, and a spear, all in one. The [Chief] had used a variety of skills from both the Axe and Spear proficiencies, such as [Heavy Swing], [Heavy Thrust], [Lunge], and [Quick Thrust], and the last one that caught Barik, [Jab 'n Hook], was one that belonged to the Halberd tree specifically.

That meant, you could utilize three different proficiencies with one weapon.

In itself, that was a bit broken.

Triple the amount of abilities compared to someone using a regular spear… well, there were drawbacks. The weapon was heavier, larger, and definitely more cumbersome. There was also the appearance factor, and it didn't really look as cool.

Yeah, aesthetics were important in an MMORPG.

Well, I was white with red blood stains and somewhat fluffy on top of hardened leather, but I didn't care much for appearance. Everything was practical, and cheap. Fur kept me warm in the harsh winters, the leather offered some minimal protection for the time being, and it at least all fit within the realm of a winter warrior.

Yeah, my fur coat was pretty badass though.

I liked that one, quite a bit.

"You taking that halberd?" asked Alan as he walked over and stood next to me.

"Oh, hadn't thought about it," I replied honestly. "Was just thinking of its usefulness, wasn't really thinking about actually taking it and using it."

"You lost your two-handed axe last time, didn't you?"

"Ah, it's been repaired," I answered with a shrug. "My one-handed axe fits better with the shield combo anyhow, so there was little reason to bring along the other axe."

"Take it," said Barik, having crept up behind me.

"We can split the other stuff mate," offered Ethan in addition. "Might as well take what you can use, I know I'm not coming back to this shit hole again."

Hah, yeah.

He had a point there.

"I don't see any of us returning here really," I laughed out half-heartedly. "Alright, I'll take that and we already split most of the loot earlier so, I'm headed off now."

"Right, have a good one," said Barik, with slight smirk.

Giving them a partial wave, I grabbed my stuff and headed towards the exit, parting with only a simple phrase, "night guys." By the time I reached the exit, I had fiddled with my bag and set all of my items inside, the only thing left was the halberd that was in my right hand. It was considerably heavier than my other two-handed axe, but that was understandable. Really, it was expected to be heavier, so that was normal.

What caught me off guard was that it was enchanted… and not only that.

It wasn't a simple regular weapon.

"Wait this…" I mumbled to myself, stopping right before the portal exit.

In my hands, was a named weapon.

That [Goblin Chief] dropped a [Defiled Halberd of Reaving].

The properties and stats were nearly identical to a normal axe and spear in damage, as most weapons were considerably close in damage range, but the durability was exceptional. A [Rare Grade] item of [Good Quality], with a special effect added on… it was something else, really. Both named portions of the Halberd seemed to have its own effect, with "Defiled" incurring a penalty to one's Vitality, to the order of minus eight-percent. On the other hand, "Reaving" gave a bonus of plus twenty-percent to [Execute] success, which was already quite high on its own.

So, I would lose roughly eight-percent of my total health when using the weapon, in order to almost effectively guarantee an [Execute] on a disoriented, weakened foe that couldn't defend itself. Eh, I didn't know if that was worth it.

I didn't get to use [Execute] very often.

Well, that didn't really matter.

It was rare, and of good quality… that meant a few things.

The durability was excellent compared to the trash I had been using prior, no longer would I have to worry about this weapon shattering mid-combat or the blade warping and bending from a hard hit. The blade's sharpness was almost assured as well, meaning I could stab and cut a few people without any worry of it becoming dull.

Convenience and peace of mind, was what it was.

That's what this weapon offered me.

Comfort in knowing that the weapon was reliable.

Yeah, I was keeping this guy.

It was already versatile, and fit my playstyle… now, all that was needed was some better armor to go with it, and I would be one of the most decked out players in the game, for a short while. Things were looking up, and I hadn't even turned in the fifth quest chain.

Wow, I almost forgot about the quest chains.

But, that would have to wait for another day, as my head was still aching considerably. I needed to rest… to close my eyes for a bit, relax, and sleep. The quests could wait until tomorrow, they were already registered as complete, anyways.

We were the first to conquer this dungeon, and the timestamp proved it.

That was special, yeah.

I was kind of happy.