First Boss Down

Draven was perplexed he didn't actually think dungeons existed. But here he was standing in The Dragonewt den. "AL how do you know the name of this dungeon? I have scanned the local area around us and if you look to your left there is a sign that says so. Draven spun around and to his surprise, there was a wooden sign next to the entrance that said The Dragonewt Den. Looking closer Draven saw smaller writing underneath. Once entered the the party has 1 minute to determine whether they wish to stay before the entrance is sealed. Only after defeating the first boss will it reopen. Just as he read the sign he heard a loud "swish.. Clank and metal bars covered the water pit leading back out the dungeon. 

"Well, shit I guess ill have to kill the first boss," Draven said under his breath. he wanted to bring the rest of the party here after they ranked up but there was nothing he could do about this situation. Draven walked over to the bars and tried to pry them open but no matter how much strength he utilized they didn't budge. 

< Those bars are made from Mana-infused Mithrill you won't be able to leave a scratch on that with your current strength.>

"Tsk" Draven clicked his tongue in frustration "Fine let's kill the boss and get this over with," Draven said as he fueled the lightning runes in his legs. "Wait! I'm here too!" Celine cried out before popping out of her invisibility. "Celine, how did you get in here? The dungeon is locked, isn't it?" Draven asked looking around to see if there was another opening. "No, I was here the whole time. I wanted to see what you were up to and spending some alone time with you sounded nice as well," she said while leaning her shoulder up against him. Draven's face turned red. Celine was a lot bolder than Jennifer he thought. It's not like he wasn't attracted to Celine she was gorgeous. Since ranking up her hills turned into small mountains he was looking forward to her ranking up again to see if that line of progression continued. But attraction aside she or Jennifer always picked the worst times to talk to him. They were in a dungeon and Draven needed to focus. 

"No Fair Celine! I was trying to spend some alone time with Draven!" Jennifer said becoming visible as well. Draven felt a massive headache coming on. He was very flattered he went from having no girlfriends to having two beauties fighting over him but like with Celine this was not the time or place for it. "Cut it out you two. We are in a dungeon, anything could come and attack us at a moment's notice. We are in unknown territory and are stuck here until we kill the first boss. If you two manage to get along and work together as a team with me until we are out of here I promise to take both of you on a date." 

Both of their heads turned red as the girls looked at each other. "He wants to date both of us? Jennifer asked. "Like at the same time?" Celine whispered back with an equally flushed face. Draven was overwhelmed he needed to leave this situation immediately before he was overloaded with embarrassment. He meant to say he would take each of them on a separate date to see how things went. This was embarrassing enough but seeing them blush and not immediately refusing the idea made him daydream about all the things he would do with them and he started feeling dizzy. So he did what he did best and started killing the nearby monsters to clear his head. 

After killing a few Giant Crabs he was able to think more clearly and wasn't as nervous anymore. "Less daydreaming and more killing. Unless you don't want to go on a date?" Draven called out. Seeing them not reject the idea he decided to try his luck. This way neither of them would get hurt and end up leaving the party. While he would score the ultimate dream of all men. Jennifer and Celine looked at each other dumbfounded, was this Draven's way of saying they needed to decide now or forget about dating him? A look of panic and then determination could be seen on their faces as they nodded to each other. They would rather share him than lose him. "We will talk about this later. let's show him we can work together and go on that date!" Celine said. They then rushed after Draven and started attacking the creatures he was fighting. 

Draven was currently engaged with a large slug-like creature. Its body was soft and jelly-like, physical attacks didn't seem to hurt it at all. Draven was about to breathe fire on it but before he could do anything blue flames of Hell covered the slug. It thrashed around before before going still. "That fire is really strong that slug was almost Bronze rank," Draven said complimenting Jennifer. Celine had gone invisible again and had just injected her poison into a Large crustacean creature similar to a crab but it had one gigantic claw while the other was tiny. Before she could take even a few steps away while becoming visible the creature collapsed and died on the spot. Celine walked towards Draven with a sway in her hips "That's all of them in this area." She said as she took her place on his right side. Looking around Draven nodded in agreement "Then let's continue. Both of you go invisible I don't want you two getting attacked first. You can start attacking after I have engaged with an enemy." Without a reply, they both disappeared immediately. Smiling Draven continued the path through the cavern system. They killed many more slugs, crabs, and other random aquatic-natured creatures until they came across an opening. 

After entering through a gate sealed the opening they had just walked through shut. It was made of the same material as the metal covering the entrance to the dungeon. Looking around they stood in a vast open space under the mountain. Small clusters of Lizardmen-like creatures with the main difference being wings. Each carried a spear as they marched around their territory. Draven scanned the largest of the bunch.

Dragonewt Officer (Boss)

Level 25 Bronze Veteran

Health: 300,000

Mana: 90,000

Draven whistled "That's a lot of health." He said out loud. "Jennifer, you stay invisible for now until I'm attacking the Boss. Celine I want you to see if your poison works on one of the guards." Draven said pointing to one nearby that was gathering water by himself. Celine made her move as she silently approached. She held her finger out and was about to stab when the Dragonewt noticed her presence or perhaps her killing intent and quickly became alert. Celine didn't hesitate and stabbed multiple times. Unable to see his attacker he still managed to deflect the first couple of attacks but one penetrated his defense. Before he could scream for help he was already on the ground dead. 

Draven was impressed that was a level 20 Elite Guard with 90,000 health. Celine was level 15 but hadn't ranked up yet so being able to one-shot that creature showed how deadly her poison really was. However, he couldn't leave all the guards to her as they were able to notice her presence the level gap was too large for her to do as she pleased like usual. Looking around there were still over 40 guards marching around their base camp while the boss made his own patrol and had a group of another 5 guards following him. Draven did not want to underestimate the boss it was higher level than him and he didn't want to fight him along 40 some other elites. "Well I need to gather shadow essence anyways might as well do that now." He thought to himself. "Stay here while I deal with the Trash mobs," Draven said as he sunk into the shadow. He targeted a large group of 12 who were all connected to the same shadow and began to drain them of their stats and energy. He felt himself becoming stronger. Al told him this would only be a temporary boost, not a permanent stat gain. 

At first, the group didn't notice anything wrong and continued on their path. within a few minutes, the first of the bunch became a bit sleepy and started to lie down as the rest of the group became alert while doing their best to wake him up. But as they shook their comrade they too started to become drowsy as one after another collapsed. Soon the whole group was unconscious and Draven continued to drain them of their essence. 

<They 120 are all dead you have gained Shadow essence.>

"Nice!" Draven said happy with the results. That took about 15 minutes to accomplish he was sure the process would be even faster with fewer enemies in the group as he latched on to a group of 5. He was correct as he finished the job with them in a mere 7 minutes. 

<You 50 gained Shadow essence.>

This was all too easy Draven spent the next hour doing this to all of the guards gaining him another 330 Shadow essence. He felt incredibly powerful at this moment but he needed to regain his mana. Staying within the shadow and draining a creature was taxing. He had plenty of mana left but he would not fight the boss with anything less than 100% Mana. After hitting loot all Draven found a safe spot and started regenerating his Mana pool. once he was topped off he stood back up ready to take on the boss.

"Okay, once I have the entire group focused on me I want Celine to poison the guards. make sure to hide after every attack I don't want one to notice you and get a lucky swing in. Jennifer you're going to burst down the boss with me make sure to use your illusion to make it seem like it is the one attacking." Draven said in a hushed voice. "Okay!" they whispered back eager to kill a boss. Draven thought of doing the same shadow drain trick with the boss but he was worried it would have a trick up its sleeve that would put him in a tough spot. In the game, most forms of crowd control and cheese tactics never worked on the boss. Draven was confident in being able to kill it without relying on that so he wouldn't risk it. 

Instead, Draven opted for a High-burst encounter. A tactic that relied on hitting the enemy with everything you had at the beginning of the fight before they could react ensuring all your high-damage attacks landed. Draven then thought of a large-scale combo attack as a wide grin began to form on his lips. He had to stop himself from giggling as he began to put his plan into motion. "Sorry, Celine you might not be needed after all he said with a smile."

Draven had unbeknownst to his enemies created a giant flat cylinder made of earth high above their heads. While holding the spell he created a wall slightly larger than the circumference of the cylinder around the boss's group that shot spikes out impaling some of the guards. Draven then let the Cylinder fall into place. Before the cylinder could land Draven then formed a fireball in the center as soon as the cylinder landed a shockwave reverberated through the cavern. Draven then expanded the fireball causing it to explode within the small enclosed space. The earthen wall shattered outwards as the fire rampaged within before dying out. 

<The guards are dead the boss is still alive>

AL announced the progress leaving Draven stunned he didn't think the boss would survive that. I guess the Title Boss isn't just for show" Draven said as the Dragonewt Officer climbed his way out of the crater formed from the explosion. It seemed badly wounded but after checking it still had 150,000 health left so Draven didn't let his guard down. Wait for an opening Celine and poison it but only if you think it is safe to do so don't take any unnecessary risks. Draven said out loud knowing she would hear him. 

Enraged The Boss spread his wings and flew towards Draven at an incredible speed. Draven was disappointed the attack was so simple he dodged out of the way and then used a lightning rune in his leg to catch up behind it before jumping on its back. Draven then grabbed a hold of its Wings and pushed off its back with his feet causing the Boss to nosedive into the ground skidding across the cavern floor. Draven then pushed off even harder and with all his might he ripped the wings off the Dragonewts back. Blood splattered all over Draven as he now held the wings of the creature in his hands. He then tossed them to the side.

The boss screamed in agony before turning around and blasting Draven with a breath of fire from point-blank range. The flames were too much for Draven to handle as he was not as resistant as his father was. He quickly kicked the boss using another lightning rune. raven punted the boss so hard it flew away before crashing into the cavern wall. Celine didn't waste this opportunity and injected her poison into the wound on its back before running away again. The boss too hurt to notice her presence before it was too late stumbled to its feet and went to charge Draven again. But before it could reach the halfway point it collapsed unmoving onto the ground panting for breath. Draven took his sword out and with a casual slash, he removed its head. 

"I expected more but he is only the first Boss maybe the others are stronger? Draven thought to himself as a glowing blue circle appeared on the ground in front of them. 

<This is a circle of teleportation. This will likely take you back outside there should also be another to come this point as well. However, only an assumption that could the bottom ocean for all I know.>

"Thanks that's helpful AL" Draven said rolling his eyes He was going to use the circle regardless so what was the point of the dark and foreboding commentary? Draven then went to loot the Boss and to his surprise he received items. Not resources but actual gear! It dropped a pair of boots, a shield, and a ring.

<You received 100,000 gold that has been automatically added to your adventurer ID.>

"Check your ID's did you two get any gold?" Draven asked the girls who both turned visible after the boss died. Celine looked at her card "Yeah I got like 15k gold." She said looking quite happy. Jennifer did the same with hers. "I got 5k." She said with a pout frustrated that she got less than Celine. "Seems it is distributed based on participation then," Draven said with a thoughtful expression. "Okay, we're done here. Let's head out and meet with the others you guys need to rank up before coming back. To be honest you guys should rank up twice before coming back." They entered the Circle together and in a blinding flash of light they teleported away. 

To Draven's relief, they ended up back at the entrance on the Lizardmen village side. The rest of the gang had been very worried. If they weren't already aware that James had left Ironforge they would have already gone and retrieved him but with him gone, who else could realistically do anything to help? They had to trust that Draven would handle whatever caused the water he entered to seal shut and be gone for so long. 

Draven then went on to explain everything that had happened starting with the existence of dungeons leading up to the Boss. "These dungeons could be scattered about all over the place we should consider that from now on when exploring and let everyone in Ironforge now so they can start looking for the entrances as well." Greg said looking ecstatic to do a dungeon in real life. His choice of being a tank was going to finally Pay off. "I agree but we need to make it very clear that no one is to under any circumstance enter the dungeon without being properly prepared. Preferably have myself or my dad along in case they can't handle it. We don't need people running into them under-leveled just to die." Draven replied. He then looked over and saw Celine and Jennifer talking with Rebecca and May. While Both Jennifer and Celine were red in the Face Rebecca and May had a look of shock on their faces. Draven didn't need to be a genius to guess what they were talking about. Feeling his ears heat up he called for everyone to make their way out and back to Ironforge so that they could rank up. 

Not wanting to deal with Greg's slow ass Draven picked everyone up with his Psionic magic and flew back home before dropping them off at the adventures guild. He gave them all the rest of the orbs they earned and told them to make sure to rank up again when they were done. He wanted them all to be level 20 as soon as possible so they could explore the rest of the dungeon. Speaking of Orbs Draven pulled out the Bronze Veteran Orb from the boss This one has to be worth something he said before swallowing it whole. 

<You leveled up to 24.>

<You leveled up to 25.>

<Congratz Draven you have reached Bronze Veteran. Time to Rank up!>

"Here we go again... AHHHhhhh!"