The gust of wind from Bocce’s four powerful wings sent Elijah tumbling backwards. It soared high into the sky and began zigzagging through the air. Its movements reminded Elijah of a fighter jet he’d seen at an air show several years earlier.
Benjamin > Damnit, Bo! Why can that ostrich fly?
Sasha > Terror Bird, not an ostrich. They’re an extinct apex predator from the Americas.
Benjamin > Did they fly around on four wings?!
Elijah rolled his eyes as his friends continued to argue about the Terror Bird and the inaccuracies in its recreation. Bo once more reminded them he had nothing to do with the wandering bosses. Elijah sent his scout bats after the boss. They weren’t as powerful as his bombs were, but they also didn’t have an ongoing mana cost. He willingly made that trade-off; unsure how much longer this fight might take.
Black streams of lightning shot from the top of the cliff up at the boss. Benjamin’s ‘Dark Blast’ came close to hitting the bird several times, but its maneuverability had significantly increased. Bocce was capable of halting in midair then flying sideways, similar to a hummingbird, meaning that it was very hard to lead the target.
The scouts finally made contact with the bird, taking off a small amount of health. It looked like the hits were more of a glancing blow than anything. Elijah summoned them back again and sent them up with a ‘Dragontooth Bomb’, taking the slight drain to his mana in exchange for greater damage. The scouts had proven his bats could catch it, so he could afford to expend the resources.
Elijah noticed that the debug menu he’d called up from the boss had closed itself. That wasn’t something he’d seen happen before. In fact, he’d been ignoring the menu because it had shown him that all the boss’s stats were in the Master-tier except for its intelligence, which was only one. Not anything he’d be able to change yet.
“Oh crap,” he shouted when he re-opened the menu and saw that Bocce now had an intelligence of thirty. And with it, had access to mana. Elijah didn’t know what that meant, only that it couldn’t be good for them. He was about to alert the party when Bocce dived. Its mouth split open the wrong way and let out a terrible shriek.
The shriek preceded lightning bursting forth from its mouth. It tore a massive hole in the forest as it strafed the treeline. Thunder and the echoing of trees blasting apart filled the air.
Elijah teleported next to Benjamin on top of the cliff to get himself out of the way. The bird had twisted in the air and was aiming directly at where he had been.
He quickly dropped the monster’s intelligence back down to a single point, draining the remainder of the boss’s mana. He should have done that the moment he noticed it was within range for him to adjust.
Nicholas > Sound off, everyone good?
Bo > Good. Just missed me, heading to Benjamin.
Elijah > Benjamin and I are good. Sasha?
There was no response, and Elijah’s nerves prickled as the seconds wore on. Had he gotten her killed?
Nicholas > Sasha was near the blast. She’s trapped under some fallen trees.
Elijah > I’m coming to help!
He was about to teleport over to Nicholas to help rescue Sasha when the tank’s next message came through.
Nicholas > No! You three are the only ones with ranged attacks. Stay put and kill the boss.
Sasha > I’ll be fine, Elijah. Just kill this stupid chicken.
Elijah had just over one-hundred mana left. He could summon more bombs, but they struggled to catch up with the Terror Bird.
Bo shimmered into existence beside him and Benjamin, in full wraith form and ready to fight.
“Hey, Benjamin,” Elijah said, a plan forming in his mind as he watched another of the man’s attacks miss. “I’m going to need you to stop for a second, but be ready to blast it.”
He turned to Bo. “And I’m going to need you ready to catch me, if you can.”
Bo’s eyebrow went up, but Elijah didn’t stop to explain himself. He took off at a run towards the edge of the cliff. His teleport caught him as he ran, his eyes locking onto Bocce even as the bats covered his vision.
This was why he needed Benjamin to stop firing at Bocce, so that the mage didn’t accidentally hit him. He teleported directly in front of the enormous bird, causing it to stall in the air.
The momentum from his run kept him from falling immediately, but he only had moments to act. He called to the bats within his shadows and opened up the dam to his mana pool.
The Dragontooth Bats feasted on his remaining mana pool, then gluttony took control.
They’d feasted and now they wanted more. They burst from his body, causing the nausea from the mana drain to become even worse from the flashing shapes and jostling as they sprang free.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
As the last of his bats left his body, he fell.
He fell, but kept his eyes on Bocce. There were thousands of bats, and they bashed into the giant bird, tearing into its wings and body. A ‘Dark Blast’ lanced out through the sky and caught the creature square in the chest, tearing a hole and causing its feathers to catch fire.
The Wandering Boss had died; they had won. But Elijah was still falling.
A heavy weight hit him from the side and darkness enveloped Elijah like a shadow, but unlike the shadows of his bats it felt wrong. This darkness felt like it had teeth, and that it hated Elijah.
He was about to start struggling when he and the darkness slammed hard into something and rolled. That was too much for Elijah’s Mana Drain; he hurled his lunch into the darkness before it evaporated around him and he rolled to a stop across the ground.
He was hurt and dry heaving, but he was alive and safely back on solid ground.
“Yuck,” Bo wretched. “Remind me to never save you again.”
Elijah looked back to where Bo’s voice was coming from and realized the darkness that had enveloped him had been the Wraith. Bo was now covered in grossness, which made Elijah’s stomach twist again.
He was trying to wipe the bile from his form when he suddenly stopped and looked up. Not focusing on Elijah, but focusing on something else. A split second later, Elijah saw it too.
[Boss Kill]
Your party has killed: Bocce, the Terror Bird!
XP Reward: 1800
Current XP: 13756 / 14833
~~~
[Kill Menu]
Player Benjamin -- 270 DMG Dealt (Kill) -- Selecting Loot
Player Elijah -- 150 DMG dealt -- 2nd Choice
Player Nicholas -- 58 DMG Dealt - 3rd Choice
Player Bo -- 17 DMG Dealt -- 4th Choice
Player Sasha -- 5 DMG Dealt -- 5th Choice
Elijah had to laugh, despite how sick he felt. They hadn’t seen a boss screen like this since the bugged version they’d run into during their second attempt at the Dragontooth Fort. He’d assumed he’d somehow managed to break the code that controlled it completely, but it was nice to know it was still working.
Which only led him to wonder more how the screen had bugged back then and if he’d actually had anything to do with it, or if it was the game’s AI messing with things behind the scenes. After all, if it hadn’t broken back then, he may never have gotten access to his Dragontooth King class. Which, in hindsight, was the start of the chain of events that eventually led to them being trapped in here.
He pushed those melancholy thoughts out of his head, trying to focus on the excitement about the experience reward instead. With one boss kill, he’d managed to pass level thirty completely, which meant a new perk as soon as he found somewhere safe to rest.
On top of that, he’d dealt the second most damage, which meant that he got second choice of the loot after the overpowered mage. Benjamin was turning into an absolutely massive powerhouse of a magic-caster and avoiding the obvious pitfall of being a glass cannon.
The kill menu shifted; he’d made his selection, and now it was Elijah’s turn to look through the loot menu.
The options were extensive, and Elijah could have spent several hours going over each item and considering which ones he’d want to pick. If this had been a standard single-player game, he probably would have made several spreadsheets weighing each item’s use as well as its pros and cons. But the rest of the party would be waiting on him, and they had other things to do today.
His mind settled on a toss-up between three items.
[Item]
Stewpot of the Dungeon Connoisseur
Rank: Apprentice
Description: Allows the user to use dungeon-grown plants and monster meat to create a stew that will boost stats. The boosted stats vary depending on the ingredients used. Cooldown: 24 hours.
~~~
[Item]
Bocce’s Stormy Heart
Rank: Journeyman
Description: Allows the user to glide and land safely. By channeling mana into this item, the user may fly for short distances. Excess mana expenditure can be channeled into an electrical attack. Cooldown: 6 hours.
~~~
[Item]
Enchanter’s Encyclopedia
Rank: Master
Description: This book contains information on Master-tier and lower-ranked enchantments, as well as information on the necessary preparations to bind enchantments to gear and weapons. Possession of this book also transfers a 50% increase to the likelihood of successful binding, as well as an increased chance of intuiting the resonant enchantment of an item.
The book and the heart were both enticing items, while the stewpot gave him nostalgia for the very first piece of loot he’d received from a boss drop in this game. Things had seemed so simple back then, and it made him feel a pang of regret; he’d only been able to experiment with it a single time before losing it to his death in the dev room. Was that worth choosing it this time?
He made his selection, and the loot menu closed. Somewhere deep in the treeline, Nicholas would receive it next, which reminded him of Sasha. He checked his mana—just enough to be able to teleport—and activated the spell.
Pain shot through his body—which was a novel experience as it usually shot through his skull when he screwed up—and he collapsed to the ground. Several seconds passed as he tried to figure out what had happened.
Was this some aftereffect of the mana drain from his bats sucking him dry? He clutched at his chest, feeling the rough cotton of his hoodie beneath his fingers. His chest felt like it was exploding from the inside out.
His hoodie?
He realized something was very wrong when he realized he was in his street clothes despite having armored up well before the fight with the giant bird. He should still have his sleek black armor made from his bats.
The bats. They were no longer making up his armor.
A realization and a fear dawned across him as he put the puzzle together.
He’d expended all of his bats in the swarm that had stalled Bocce enough for Benjamin to land the final blow. Every last bat had jumped at the chance to feed upon the boss, including the ones that made up his armor.
Fear overtook him. He was completely powerless right now, unable to use his strongest attacks and knew that they would return to him eventually, even if it took a respawn—after all he’d used the massive blast of bats once before in the past while fighting the Reaper army—but the knowledge that he was vulnerable right now made him hyperventilate. He hadn’t been this vulnerable since before…
Tom.
Tom was standing over him. Just as he had done back on the plateau after they’d defeated Whir. And this time not only was he vulnerable, but so was his entire team. He lashed out, but his sword refused to form in his hand. So he resorted to his hands and feet.
