40 (40) Damn Cowardly Doughskins

The next morning started with the loud thunderous sound of footsteps, shouts and cries. The noise forced Kraton and Lysine to wake, both had bloodshot eyes and felt that their body was full of lead, but they couldn't just ignore the noise else they get murdered in their beds.

Poking his head out of the Boss Room, Kraton found the two Golem Guards; Sapphire and Jade, mercilessly beating up a human knight. Muffled shouts or cries of help echoed out from within a large, twisting pile of Jade vines. From the size of it, it seemed as though two elephants could fit inside it, one could imagine how many unfortunate players were suffocating within the warped, stony vines.

Sapphire sent the knight soaring back through the Starry Corridor, a deafening crash ensued as the poor figure layed crumpled within his armour before dispersing into countless dots of light.

*CRACK* With just the small action of Jade twitching it's fingers, the mass of vines contorted abruptly and tensed up. A chilling disharmony of cracking and squelching leaked out of the vines, a dark pool bled from the base of the tangled mess and then the vines glowed brightly. Thousands of dots of light radiated outwards through the crystal vines, once all dispersed, the vines shrunk back into the ground only leaving the dried up stain as evidence of the decimation.

"What was the noise?" Lysine joined Kraton by the door, she arrived just in time to see the two Golems transforming back into their crystal state.

"I think... that there was a massacre," All Kraton could comprehend was that countless players had fallen victim to Sapphire and Jade's slaughter. It had only been a mere minute from when footsteps were first heard, and yet Kraton had only seen one player, the rest were already as good as dead. "Why didn't Barren wake?"

"When I kept punching him, his head appeared on the side of the crystal and he said he was still sleeping as the seven hours still wasn't up. He also said that there was no danger, the other two should have it under control."

After the two of them finished inspecting the remnants of the battle - and found nothing other than the dark stain - they decided to ask the Nagas if they knew what was happening. It was only 5.00 in the morning, yet it seemed like a large party, or multiple parties had entered the dungeon already. Since their may still be more players, it was a bad idea for the two bosses to ascend the steps in person, instead they messaged the Nagas through the Data Rock, displaying it as a Floor Message.

A message was swiftly sent back to Lysine, it was a message from Calea and it read: "A lot of parties are already entering, your crowd control training has really helped us prevent them from getting past! Jacob says he overheard one of them saying that this is the last dungeon or something like that."

"Oh wait, he also said that he remembered someone's name, or surname from when we were Forest monsters. He thinks it was when he ventured into a town and got slain by some people with a carriage. Something about how vile he was for a monster to approach nobility."

Lysine chuckled to herself, she remembered clearly the day when Jacob was complaining about how rude the humans were, from what Lysine recalled, his exact words were: "Damn pale, bipedal, doughskins. Why is it that the more delicate and vulnerable ones always have the worst mouths and the strong lackeys... Cowards they are!"

Lysine's smile suddenly froze, if there were already a lot of players starting to raid their dungeon at this time, how many players would their be at the peak time? What was more, it seemed like her conjecture about a famous person was correct. What was a person of nobility doing here? Surely this dungeon hadn't attracted that much attention had it, they only just recruited the Golems, so it couldn't be their presence...

At least with the Golems' helps, there wouldn't be a massive loss and stained record, in fact it would probably be a bountiful reaping. The only shame was that Sapphire and Jade could handle most players with ease, leaving Kraton and Lysine with nothing to do. Reaping the benefits without lifting a finger was ideal, but not at all entertaining.

Time drifted on, and by the time it came to midday, only three large parties had been able to hold the Golems off long enough to slip into the Boss Room. Whilst half of their party had been decimated outside, the other half was easily slaughtered by Kraton and Lysine. Even with five to ten players being able to make it into the Boss Room, they were still no match for the two Bosses as they were fatigued from being barely able to escape the the suprise attack from the two crystals. Yes, they had all initially thought that the crystals were purely ornamental as there were no prior records of these guards.

Half a dozen of the players in these parties could be considered elites, or idiots. They were players who had reached level 10 to 12, but were still challenging a level 9 dungeon! Even if the Bosses were level 14 and 16, was it really worth it to raid the dungeon? Bosses couldn't really be grinded like how the other monsters were, especially if they couldn't even beat the Boss, if that was the case, why bother raiding a lower-levelled dungeon.

Contrary to the 'elite' players, this was a small refreshment for Kraton and Lysine, very rarely did players over level 10 enter the Boss Room, the only reason why the level 7 to 9 players fought against them was to either gain combat or skill experience, or to compare how far off they are to challenge higher levelled monsers and dungeons. It was just the sake of convenience.

"Yaaawn-" Kraton almost swallowed his yawn when a loud sound came from behind him, Barren finally transformed into his Golem state. Kraton had forgotten that Barren was still here, there hadn't been a need for Barren to fight, and so it didn't move at all for the whole morning.

"Why the heck are you only waking up now! It's been way more than seven hours!"

"I'm a Golem, I don't sleep. Besides nothing was happening before."

"Before?" Kraton and Lysine echoed simultaneously.

*Boom* The doorway reverberated and faint hueish glows crept through the cracks. The blue and green glow was from Sapphire and Jade respectively, Kraton and Lysine had already grown accustomed to the glow during the day, but another faint glow also peaked through the cracks, a scorching, yet chilling aura pervaded into the room.

"Barren, hide as a crystal for now." Barren gave an understanding nod and returned to his inanimate form.

*BOOM* Another roaring explosion resounded as the doors flew open. A fiery phoenix engulfed the whole doorway, amidst it Kraton discovered the two Golems bound by the flames the elemental bird produced. Though unharmed, they were unable to break free from the binding.

As the flames thinned from the Golems' stuggling, a crowd of humans threw themselves onto the Golems, preventing them from breaking free completely. If Kraton was to step outside, he would find himself facing around a hundred human players, most of them were holding down the jade vines, or laid sprawled upon the ground. "Go in, we'll help restrain these Golems!" A united voice yelled above the sound of roaring flames, directed towards the remarkable figure who stood in the centre of the sea of flames.

The engulfed figure nodded towards the crowd, anyone would be touched by their sacrifice to help hold back the two beastly crystals. The figure recalled most of their flames, the phoenix flew around the person and covered them with a cloak made of pure elemental fire. The person made their way into the Boss Room where two Bosses stood prepared with their weapons raised.

As the figure stepped out of the chaotic flames behind them, Kraton's eyes seemed to change, there was something off... something familiar with the figure in the doorway.

"It's.. You?"