The days blurred together as Felix accustomed himself to fighting without his left arm. Even as he grew to be comfortable with his every movement, the reality was that he was significantly weaker now than he was before. Regardless of if he was using the arm to strengthen his swing or not, it was a part of his body he was used to having, to being able to balance himself with it, to shove an enemy that had pressed too close away, or just exist with. Now, without half of his upper body, he was undeniably weaker. Surprisingly, he expressed the most frustration with having to eat without his left hand.
“If we had a table,” he explained, “I wouldn’t need the other hand to stabilize everything, but as it is, I don’t have any great options and I’m stuck with eating like a brute.”
In response, Muti had offered to hold his plate while he ate. He didn’t complain, and the rest of the Wanderers enjoyed watching the growing relationship between the two. Despite enjoying looking at the way things continued to change, Astrid had no inkling of how to evaluate how the Barbarians’ approach to “romance” would compare to a Human’s expectations. It wasn’t her problem, though, and she absentmindedly scratched at the scar at the corner of her eye whenever she thought about it.
What Klara had said nearly 2 years ago at this point repeated in her mind: Barbarians might look like Humans and they were people, but they weren’t Human. At least, not anymore.
Pushing those thoughts from her mind, Astrid threw the last of the feathered serpent steak in her mouth and chewed vigorously. Despite its good taste, she was getting sick of the same food for every meal of every day. At least the party stood near the end of the fortieth floor and there would be more creatures to hunt on the next. Interestingly, the “hostile environment“ of the fortieth floor wasn’t inherently dangerous but was instead massively skewed towards the monsters on the floor.
Wide open plains stretched between gentle, hilled slopes, and the lesser basilisks and ogres that inhabited the floor took advantage of every benefit that was afforded them. The vision of a basilisk, even a lesser one like those on this floor, was deadly. Astrid, Muti, and Felix didn’t face as much danger as the rest of their party did because their Fortitude was around 200, with their equipment. Now that they were level 33, almost level 34, they were nearly finished with the second watershed of Iron, and Astrid was feeling it as the party settled into position as individuals stronger than the monsters they faced. What she and Skandr had said about the monsters growing at the same rate that they did from now on was incorrect. The feathered serpents on the thirty-fifth floor did, but the monsters that they had faced since didn’t scale nearly so quickly.
All that was to say that Astrid, Muti, and Felix didn’t have to worry about the basilisk’s petrification gaze that Benedict could easily be harmed by and Skandr could even find himself facing his end if he managed to unluckily lock gazes with one of the serpents while they snuck out of their burrows. The crafty snakes settled in holes they made on the hill sides at about Human eye level, where they waited with their heads just inside and ready to lunge out and engage eye contact. Sudden movement always drew the eye, and locking eyes with the basilisks spelled danger, if nothing else.
Astrid was especially lucky in that her helmet's design, for whatever reason, kept her from experiencing any of the ill effects of the gaze. When Skandr flooded his hood with clouds to protect himself, that did nothing, so it must’ve been something to do with the magical nature of Dungeon silver and the enchantments on her helmet. The basilisks weren’t too difficult once the party closed in on them, especially when compared to the snakes at the party had fought just a few floors before. In fact, the basilisks were certainly victims of overwhelming force that they didn’t necessarily deserve. Regardless, they remained a pressing threat, and paired with the ogres on the top of the hills as they rolled massive boulders down before charging with all the power of a trained cavalry, it wasn’t a particularly pleasant floor.
Finally, though, they stood near the arena to get to the next floor. Frustratingly, they’d been about to catch up to Caelum and his party, but the Count and his lackeys slipped into the fight against the floor Boss before the Wanderers could catch up. Like on the thirty-fifth floor, the barrier outside of the arena no longer remained opaque, and the party could watch as the Count’s party dealt rather handily with the two headed ogre.
It didn’t look like they had lost any further party members, but when the Count turned to look at those who waited outside of the barrier, he initially couldn’t hide his amazement. He quickly schooled his expression, so as not to reveal his surprise, but anybody could tell that he hadn’t expected to see Felix delving nor the Wanderers to catch up to him.
“Why are you all together?” Astrid demanded. “Why did you mock our pain? What Skills were you trying to use on us?”
It was obvious that no sound could pass through the barrier, and she already knew that, but Astrid’s fury wouldn’t be sated, regardless of her knowing how irrational her attempts to vent it were. Caelum hadn’t actually done anything to her, though the hint of a mental Skill being exerted against her meant that he absolutely couldn’t be trusted. Worse still, despite the questions she asked, she knew why the other parties were working with Caelum. Again, the rest of his party members didn’t look at her as they retreated to the next floor, and she found herself grinding her teeth, thinking of the “cooperation” that had no doubt been forced on them. It was no better than slavery, so far as she saw it, and she wished there was something she could do.
“They won’t be able to leverage their numbers nearly so well on the next floors,” Skandr glowered beside her. “They won’t be able to throw numbers at drakes and rocs, even if they’re only lesser.”
“I’m not so sure about that,“ Astrid disagreed. “I do think that they’ll truly start to follow behind in levels now compared to the rest of us, but given that there’s so many of their number already missing, who can say that Caelum won’t throw away more of them if he needs to? Or, at least make some of their number retreat to allow the party to be comprised of the strongest?”
Skandr pursed his lips, but didn’t disagree. Muti scoffed as she spoke up. “They can not compare to us in Class quality. The time is nigh at hand in which it is proven that we are superior. Do not allow worry to consume you.”
“Just look at how they dealt with this Boss,” Felix said, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. “Let’s see how we do on it, and compare ourselves.”
Astrid nodded and rolled her shoulders. The two heads of the ogre were very different from each other, and its status as a Boss couldn’t be ignored either. Its attributes would be boosted, and Astrid guessed that it would have several attributes well over 400. She made sure all of her equipment was ready as she glanced at her Status.
Interestingly, Alacrity had effectively become her highest attribute, or would soon. With her boost from Steady Load, now rolled into her equipment Skill, she gained slightly more Alacrity per level than Power and Fortitude. The party’s plan for the fight against this ogre demanded that she draw deeply on that Alacrity to deal with one of its Skills in particular. In fact, she, Muti, and Felix all needed to rely heavily on their Alacrity—which was over 200 with equipment and Skills—to most effectively deal with this shaman and warrior hybrid. The party strode forward, and the Wanderers watched as the passage to the next floor glowed with an infernal light.
Astrid didn’t need to say anything as Muti rushed forward and faded into stealth. The more magically inclined half of the Boss would heavily buff up its other half if given the opportunity, and that opportunity didn’t need to be longer than maybe 15 seconds. As soon as Muti’s figure passed the threshold into the cave, Astrid knew what she would be doing, and her familiarity with her Ambusher friend was rewarded with the sound of a basso roar that shook the ground. Regardless of Muti’s success, she, Felix, and the others needed to get over there to support their ally as soon as possible, as the Boss could potentially trap and kill her.
Astrid pushed Alacrity-aligned mana into her legs and blurred forward, the wind whipping through her helmet. As soon as she started down the path towards the monster's den, Muti launched past her. Astrid couldn’t say whether the Barbarian woman had been bodily thrown or if she had jumped, but it was obvious that the ogre wanted everybody out of its home as it shouted a challenge and thundered up the slope into the brighter light of the day.
Before Astrid could get the warrior head's attention, the shaman head pointed towards her and released a spell without further movement or any chanting. Lightning crackled towards her shield, and as she pushed mana into it to fortify herself, she managed to keep her feet as the electricity jolted deep inside her bones. She fought the urge to scream as the warrior’s spiked club fell towards her with an implacable strength. Astrid pushed mana into her greaves to keep herself from being thrown away while she shifted her position to keep the attack from throwing her away. The Dungeon silver of her shield screamed in protest from the attack, but she and it both held as she fought to continue the attack.
Now that she could see it beside her, Astrid guessed that the ogre was at least four and a half meters tall, well over twice as tall as she was. Despite its size, it didn’t lumber, but could move with a respectable speed given its bulk. While she couldn’t outmaneuver it as its spell continued to work its way through her system, she knew that it wouldn’t compare to her speed as soon as she recovered. Both heads glared at her, massive tusks in their mouth dripping with saliva as they screamed at her in their guttural tongue.
As the magically capable left head began to utter an incantation, Felix made his presence known. The warrior head tried to command its arm to strike him away, but he was too quick and his positioning perfect. His axe was buried in the side of the Boss’s right knee before it could react. Felix jumped back as he activated Jaguar’s Pride, his Alacrity shooting up by another 20 as he dodged the deadly club. The shaman head had also didn’t mind focusing on the only person that had struck them directly so far, and Astrid finally was able to shrug off the effects of the lightning as Benedict continued working overtime with all of his Skills working together.
Felix dodged the next two swings of the club and kicked as Skandr chanted something behind the party. Astrid knew what was coming and grinned as the mage threw its hand above its head to call a thick bolt of lightning onto Felix. Skandr’s cloud darted out and caught the lightning within itself before flying into the two ogres faces. Lightning crackled and blinded the beast as Skandr’s Skill and spell turned the Boss’s strength against itself. It roared as it raised its uninjured left leg and stomped. The earth underfoot pulsed in a wave away from it, threatening to knock every one of the Wanderers prone. The three closest to the monster were the first to experience the effect, but none lost their footing as Astrid stepped closer and channeled Spectre Burst into her hammer. With her greaves still keeping her grounded, she twisted with her whole body before smashing her hammer into the outside of the Boss's already injured knee.
The monster didn’t care, and stone shot out of the ground under its feet to cover its exposed legs just before the hammer landed. Astrid’s attack cracked through the stone and hit the knee, but with the magical reinforcement, the Boss wasn’t injured, but instead merely inconvenienced. As the stone fell away from its leg, Ashtrid saw that the wound that Felix had scored against the Boss had faded. Then, the shaman side spread its fingers and thrust towards the ground.
Astrid kept a special eye on the rest of her party as the Boss made this latest attack. The recently distressed stone turned into mud and made Astrid and Felix both sink up to their knees in the mud. Just as soon as her feet touched the more solid ground that lurked underneath, Astrid used all her strength to jump as high as she could as fast as possible, but she was slightly too late. The mud turned back into stone when maybe three centimeters of her boots remained buried. Her inertia shattered most of that stone, but the boss was prepared for her and she couldn’t escape its hit in time. The only option that remained was to hunker down and raise her shield.
The blow was devastating, and Astrid felt her arm, shoulder, and collarbone all snap with that single hit as she was sent flying a dozen meters. She rolled on the ground as she activated Body and screamed in pain as well as challenge. She regained her feet and forced herself not to use a second charge of Body just yet, even though her left side begged for escape from the pain. Instead, she thanked the Duchess above that Felix had been able to entirely avoid the trap from the Boss. He continued to hold his ground, repositioning with Guardian’s Wrath to keep from taking any of those deadly hits himself, but unable to strike any real decisive blow himself.
The mage tore its attention away from Felix to focus on Skandr, its eyes literally crackling with rage. With such an obvious tell for its Skill, Skandr was prepared and shot a thick spear of lightning back at the attack just in time to keep himself from being vaporized by two thick lightning bolts that shot out of the left ogre head’s eyes.
“This quick casting is too much, is Muti done yet?”
“More spells, less questions!” Astro replied as she screamed and jumped into the air towards the monster's face.
Even with the half finished ritual in the cave still strengthening it, the shaman half couldn’t shoot another powerful spell so quickly, so she committed heavily. Astrid’s hammer, strengthened by Immortal Warrior’s Body and another use of Spectre Burst, smashed into the ogre‘s chest. A faint blue barrier tried to hold back her attack, but shattered. Its chest caved in as deathly energy corroded its dark tan skin to a sickly black.
A rush of mana so thick that Astrid could see it flowed out of the cave and purged the deadly energy from the Boss's chest.
Astrid had to fight from turning to ask what was happening with Muti just like Skandr had, as she wanted her attacks to actually be permanent. Fortunately, both of the ogre's heads whipped around at the same time and screamed in rage before going back towards their home.
“Nope,” Felix grunted as he darted forward, planted both feet, and swung with his whole body to send his axe into the Boss's knee once again. Even though the first wound had already healed, there now was no ritual providing automatic shielding anymore, and the ogre‘s leg buckled as tendons were ripped by the attack. It kept from falling to its knees, if only barely.
“Come on,” Astrid screamed as she activated Immortal Warrior’s Aura, and made several quick, un-enhanced attacks at the Boss. It wasn’t the time for her to try to deal a deadly blow, instead only needing to make sure that Muti wouldn’t find herself trapped behind the Boss's portcullis alongside the enraged ogre. She might be able to find victory that way, but it would be potentially deadly as the rest had to deal with the trapped entrance to the place where the ogre kept its magic items. Fortunately, with Astrid and Felix both destroying the ogre’s shins, it couldn’t escape to its home in time.
“I am here,” Muti called out with a tone that let Astrid see the grin as she danced from one large stone to the next until she stood at the top of the entrance into the cave. There, with both blades bared, she jumped towards the Boss. Its club swung upward with a surprising speed, and Muti was thrown high into the air as a result.
Astrid have been concerned by the crunching sound, but instead she cursed that she still had Aura going. As such, she took the damage from the attack Muti sustained and her legs both turned jelly underneath her. She gasped and used both of her remaining charges of Body to get her legs back to working condition. As she got back to her feet, the Ogre obviously expected Muti to be out of the fight and turned to face those on the ground. It stomped again, and the ground shuddered underfoot, but as the mage raised its hand to continue with the second half of the attack, Muti fell back into the fight.
With maniacal glee, Muti dropped from the air and, with both blades pointed down, into the ogre. Its heads reared back and screamed as swords plunged up to their hilts between the heads and into the torso. The shaman hand reached back to grab her, but she used Shadow Leap to disappear from the head and reappear under the mage’s arm. Shadow coated her blade as she cut through flesh and sinew until the monster’s arm was cut free.
The ogre threw its head back and roared in rage, swinging its club wildly through the air as it fought to hit Muti with its club. A thick bolt of lightning shot forward and smashed into the Boss’s chest, and it stumbled as Astrid pushed the last of her mana into a Spectre Burst, raised her hammer, and jumped forward. She smashed the hammer into the deep wound between its heads, and the pulped flesh immediately necrotized. Its roars weakened as Astrid raised her hammer again as she perched on its shoulders. The hammer fell three more times, and the Boss’s corpse fell.
Two Headed Ogre Boss slain. 3,360 experienced gained, split among party.
Astrid rolled her shoulders back as she groaned. “So,” she said, looking at the rest of her party, “how did we compare to the Count?”
