Boss Time

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________________________________________________________________________________________

[Adult Ent (LVL 25) x2 Killed!]

+650 EXP

+1950 SC

+2 <Gacha Token>

[Level Up!]

+2 STR, CON, END, DEX, CHA, LCK

+4 WIS

+5 Stat Points

+6 INT

+250 SC

+1 <Gacha Token>

"Double miniboss," I muttered, watching as the two burning husks fell to the ground. This was the fifth miniboss that me, Vaquin, and Anir had fought since entering the dungeon seven days prior. Of course, I had been doing most of the legwork, but they had to step in a couple times to save me from attacks I couldn't dodge. Since ending in the safe zone, that first day, I had killed 304 Vine Whips, 183 Young Ents, four Adult Ents, and one Giant Vine Whip. In total, I had earned 3213 EXP, 10916 SC, and eleven tokens, including those which I had gotten just now.

I allocated my points, then brought up my stats.

[Status]

-Identity-

Name: Alistair Eil

Race: Human; Beastfolk (Cat);

Age: 0 (17)

Class: Fire Elementalist(15/100)

Rank: Mortal* (1.2x)

Titles: Blessed;

Alignment: Lawful Good

Level: 15 (626/800)

-Stats-

Health Status: 1122/1122 |1320| (+13.2%/m)

Mana Status: 7365/7365 |5890| (+19.2%/m)

Stamina Status: 960/960 (+8.6%/m)

STR: 96(80) (+1*2/)

CON: 132(110) (+1*2/)

DEX: 96(80) (+1*2/)

END: 96(80) (+1*2/)

INT: 589(491) (+3*2/)

WIS: 192(160) (+2*2/)

CHA: 156(130) (+1*2/)

LCK: 276(230) (+1*2/)

Points: 0 (+5/)

Well on my way towards my seventh awakening; even more so with the <Dusk Crown Ring>. I took out and bit a token, rolling all eleven of them.

[Rolling 11x Gacha Token…]

[Rolling…]

[Entry 175, 168, 191, 199, 28, 134, 193, 99, 203, 130, and 69 Rolled…]

[<Summon Card: Raven>, <Summon Card: Starlight Anya>, <Ring of Favor and Protection>, <Box of Never-Ending Confectionaries>, <Old Dragon Soul Fragment>, <Bloody Spine>, <Siegbrau >, <Large Heart Button>, Skill Book: <Gamer's Mind>, <SIVA Drone Capsule>, and <WIAB > Added to {Inventory}!]

<Summon Card: Raven>

Summon card for Rachel Roth, Raven. She is a powerful empath and mage, and is capable of manipulating her 'soul-self,' granting her a wide array of abilities.

<Summon Card: Starlight Anya>

Summon card for Anya, Test Subject 007. She is abnormally smart for her age, and can read people's minds.

<Ring of Favor and Protection>

Wearer's maximum HP and Stamina increased by 20%. Breaks when removed.

<Box of Never-Ending Confectionaries>

A large, sealed box, which will replenish with confectionaries of all kinds whenever closed.

<Old Dragon Soul Fragment>

A physical fragment of an old dragon's soul.

<Bloody Spine>

A deformed, blood-drenched spine, which can be used to summon the Brain of Cthulhu.

Recommended Level: 50

<Siegbrau > x3

Restores 20% of consumer's max HP.

<Large Heart Button>

A large button displaying a beating heart. +10% CON (+10%/).

Skill Book: <Gamer's Mind>

The reader attains the mind of a video game character, attaining complete control over their emotions, no matter the circumstances. Speaking in a bed fully refills their MP. The reader is granted immunity to all mental effects, such as induced-fear, confusion, nausea, and memory manipulation.

<SIVA Drone Capsule>

A capsule containing one cubic inch of SIVA drones, which are capable of breaking down and reconstructing matter according to their directions. Directions can be set through the capsule's computer.

<WIAB >

An inconspicuous leather bag. Indestructible. Returns to the inventory when lost. 

' Again, going through it in order... ' I thought. Summon cards for Raven from DC , and Anya from Spy-X-Family . Why a child was in the gacha pool for my system? I had no idea. Still, she was cute, and her ability was interesting. Daughter material, 100%. Raven was one of my teen crushes when I was younger, when I was able to watch the original Teen Titans cartoon. Obviously. Who didn't have a crush on Raven at some point in their life?

The <Ring of Favor and Protection> is an item on got from killing Laurtec in the first dark souls game. Flipping overpowered in the game, and equally so in real life. It's effects completely negated the downsides of the <Dusk Crown Ring>, but I would never be able to take it off without breaking it.

The <Box of Never-Ending Confectionaries> was a... unique item, to say the least. I pulled it out and opened it, revealing a bunch of pastries, candied fruits, jellies and puddings, and candies. I took out a chocolate-covered strawberry, then closed the box. Opening it, again, revealed that the strawberry had reappeared. Essentially, an endless supply of food, albeit very sugary food.

An <Old Dragon Soul Fragment>, to go with my ancient version. I honestly don't know what I would do with it...

The <Bloody Spine> summon item from Terraria, to go with my <Celestial Sigil>. It'd summon the Brain of Cthulhu, which was a significantly-weaker boss - one I might be able to handle, now that I had the <Ring of Favor and Protection>.

<Siegbrau > is a limited healing item from Dark Souls, which would be very useful in dire circumstances.

A heart button to go with my book and grin ones. +10% to CON, which would somewhat make up for the <Dusk Crown Ring> without being a permanent thing.

The one I was the second-most excited about, <Gamer's Mind>. Complete immunity to mental effects, control over emotions, and instant mana regen upon falling asleep in a bed? Wild stuff.

Then came the one I was the most excited about, the <SIVA Drone Capsule>. SIVA were nanobots created during the Golden Age of Earth in the Destiny universe. They were capable of building entire colonies in days, and performing microsurgery in instants. Even just one cubic inch of them could build a house in a few hours, given the materials. Furniture and all. It could turn raw iron ore into pure iron bars in seconds, and make things like carbon fiber and aerogel regardless of the environment. Crazy stuff; if only I knew how to program.

Finally, the <WIAB >, which I knew nothing about. Its description was vague as hell, and I didn't recognize it from any form of fiction. I could only assume it was a bag of holding, of some kind, given its indestructibility and return magic. I'd have to see about that, later.

"Is that a strawberry?" Vaquin asked as he came up from where he and Anir had been watching me fight.

"Yeah," I nodded, pulling back out the confectionary box. "Go ahead," I said, opening it. Vaquin simply blinked and pulled out a jelly donut, probably not knowing what it was, and biting into it.

"What the fu-" A stone struck him on the side of his head, "-rick?! This is amazing!"

"Jelly donut. A pastry filled with jam of some kind. What is it?" I asked.

"Tastes like grapes," he answered.

I hummed, biting my chocolate strawberry. "Want something, Anir?" I asked. She considered it for a moment before grabbing a strawberry, too. "This chocolate is good. Do you think mother would like this as a birthday gift?"

"We just ate some, though," Vaquin looked at me dryly. In response, I closed the lid and opened it again, revealing the untouched contents. "Ah, magic. As usual."

"I see you're finally getting used to being around me," I grinned, putting the box back in my inventory. "Well, let's make it to the next safe zone, then we can quit for the day."

"Sounds good to me," Vaquin grinned. Anir nodded and fell in behind me as I picked up the Adult Ents into my inventory before continuing on down the path. This dungeon was getting rather boring, now. Seven days of wandering through a forest, killing weak enemies and unlocking trivial safe zones. At least I didn't have to start over from the beginning every time I entered... that would suck. The bosses and monsters were cool, but my control over fire was so good that a single, concentrated blast was capable of killing most of them. Even the groups of enemies weren't difficult to deal with, as I could just spray flames in a wider area.

While we walked, I was staring into the forest on either side of the path, wondering if the map continued on beyond where we had been. Was this an entirely new world? It was while I was thinking that I saw a glimpse of something moving among the bushes to our left. I raised a fist, stopping, and spammed <Observe > in that area. Trees, shrubs, flowers, and a door . A door, camouflaged into the trunk of a tree.

I motioned for Anir and Vaquin to follow me, and delved into the bushes, making it to the door in under a minute and pressing my hand against it. Sure enough, the bark of the tree folded inwards, revealing a chute down underground, with a ladder attached to its earthen wall. "Secret room," I muttered with a smile. "What do you have in store for me?"

Creating a firebal below me, I started climbing down the ladder, wary of sneak attacks, for about ten stories. The ladder ended in a broad cavern, complete with stalagtites and stalagmites jutting from their respective positions. Under the light of my fireball, it was pretty cool-looking. I split the fire into multiple pieces and sent them to varying positions around the room, providing a semi-consistent illumination. The cave continued on in both directions, but one end was walled off, a wooden door sitting right in the middle. ' Looks like my first cave house in Minecraft, ' I chuckled to myself as Vaquin came down behind me. Anir simply appeared beside me, a dagger in her hand.

"These instant dungeons have secret rooms, then?" Vaquin asked, shouldering his great-ax again.

"This is a mini-dungeon," Anir replied. "The cave extends and splits off in multiple directions, leading to larger caverns. That door leads to an underground fortress. They both go further down."

"Multiple paths, then," I said. "Can you sense any enemies?" I asked. Anir could use her magic to sense other sources of mana, which she distinguished based off of her experience.

"Insects and... something organic in the caves, and undead in the fortress," she said. I had slowly been getting her to talk more, rather than the couple-word sentences she had used when we first met. "The cave section is more treacherous, as far as terrain goes, but the monsters are weaker. Opposite goes for the fortress."

I hummed in thought. "I hate bugs, so we'll go into the fortress," I decided. "Besides, I've always wanted to kill a zombie!" Vaquin almost commented on my words, but the sight of Anir with a stone in hand silenced him. I smirked and started circumnavigating the stalagmites towards the door. It was bigger than it looked from a distance, more than four meters tall. It was rimmed with a rusted metal, but the wood appeared undamaged in any capacity. Placing my hand against it, I found it to be surprisingly warm to the touch.

"Ironwood," Anir analyzed. "More durable than steel, magic absorbent, and very resistant to weathering."

I hummed, trying the handle. Sure enough, it was locked, but the hinges were on the outside, which I pointed out to my companions. "Break the hinges, and try not to damage the door."

Vaquin had a look that said 'say no more' and stepped forward. With grace, he brought his great-ax down on the hinges, splitting them in half with his monstrous strength. The door fell outwards, right onto me, but I put it in my inventory with a thought. Ironwood would be useful, at some point, I was sure.

The room beyond the door was dark, so I sent a few wisps of flame into it, only to dismiss them as soon as I saw the giant skull in the center of the room. Why? Because its detached jaw twitched. It was easily as tall as I was - which, admittedly, wasn't that big of a feat - with a silver crown on its head. I quickly used <Observe > on it.

[Prince Ri, Bonestorm]

Level: 80

Health Status: 24000/24000

Mana Status: 40000/40000 (6000/m)

Stamina Status: 50/50

I coughed lightly at the sight. "N-ninth awakening…?"

"What?!" Anir whisper-demanded.

"Undead Prince, well-past ninth awakening," I whispered back. "I can take him."

"You're only sixth!" Vaquin said. Maybe a bit too loud, because the sound of rattling bones came from within the room. I turned to see a small skeletal figure getting up, bones locking into place via threads of mana, all connected to the gem hiding within its skull. It looked over at us with glowing eyes before opening its mouth, where a magic rune appeared.

I tried to shoot a fireball at it, but the scream it released dispersed it with the force of magical wind it conjured. Torches across the room burst to life with a putrid green flame, which split and converged over the massive skull in the center of the room. I found myself being pushed through the doorway, as did Vaquin and Anir, as a wall of fog blocked us from exiting.

"Shit, I think we skipped right to the boss!" I exclaimed, charging my faux kamehameha and equipping the <Ring of Favor and Protection>. My eyes flicked around as bones began to float, coalescing into dozens of skeletons, spread around the room, as that green fire burned within the eyes of the Prince's skull. It started to float, but no body formed beneath it. Instead, a cyclone of bones swirled around it, spinning faster and faster until a wind churned up the dust on the floor.

I released my faux kamehameha, blasting through three of the grunt skeletons on the way towards the boss, only to strike a barrier around the bones, deflecting the beam off into a corner of the room, killing four more skeletons.

[Skill <Fire Manipilation> Leveled Up! (92/100)]

[Skill <Fire Affinity> Leveled Up! (56/100)]

"I don't think I can take him with all of the bone-zos everywhere!" I said, stopping the beam before I ran out of mana.

"Leave it to me," Vaquin grinned, hefting his ax and swinging heavily in a horizontal line in front of me, releasing a blade of wind mana that cut through bones and sent the rest flying through the air in an arc all the way to the other end of the room. I took the opportunity to run in that direction, sending fireball after fireball at the heads of the smaller skeletons while looking at the big boy in the center.

Anir followed me closely, not attacking anything, so I assumed she was just going to protect me, during this fight. Vaquin occasionally swept with his ax, cleaving down entire groups of skeletons, only for them to regroup into a slightly smaller pack, as only a few bones were destroyed during this process. "Go for their heads! There's a gem in there that's keeping the suckers undead!" I yelled at him, returning my focus to the boss.

It finally reacted, looking at me with piercing eyes of flame and opening its jaw in a phantom scream. Bones shot from the whirlwind around it, towards me, but they were intercepted by small bolts of mana, courtesy of Anir, which reduced them to dust. "Thanks," I said, getting a nod in return.

A quick <Observe > told me that the thing was regenerating mana faster than it could use it, so exhausting it was out of the picture. I either had to overwhelm its shield, which was also a no-no because it had eight-times as much mana as me, or find a way around it. "Physical damage, it is!" I exclaimed, pulling out an <Excalibur >… only to trip over it.

[STR Requirement Not Met!]

"Shit!" I returned it to my inventory and brought out the <Yamato >. Fortunately, it didn't make me fall into a pile of dust and bones. ' Katanas are cool…! Space-rending katanas, that can turn into an arm for some reason, and split man and demon…! ' 

I ducked under an approaching hail of bones and rolled over my shoulder, Dark Souls style, then took the katana out of its sheath and rushed towards the giant skeleton, only for a huge arm to form out of the bone cyclone and strike me in the side, sending me across the room and into the wall with a heavy thud.

[-200HP]

"Agh!" I let out a grunt, falling to my knees.

"Your Highness!" Anir yelled, teleporting to my side.

"I'm f-fine," I waved her off, getting up and glaring at the boss. "That was nothing. Vaquin! The boss needs some physical attention! Destroy the bones surrounding it!"

"You got it!" Vaquin laughed, swinging his ax into the air and jumping with its momentum, crashing down on Prince Ri with a slam that sent a shockwave through the room. I conjured a flame and launched it at the unguarded heads of the reforming skeletons around me and Anir, destroying their stones and killing them. While doing that, I ran back towards the <Yamato >, which was sticking out of the ground near a wooden door to the side of the room.

Snatching it up, I turned and brought it up to block the bone club of what appeared to be a skeleton golem - an amalgam of broken bones that stood at three meters in height. The <Yamato > cut through the bones easily, slicing the club in half and continuing up into the golem's side, where it got stuck due to my poor edge alignment. It didn't matter, though, because I used the sword as a handle to spring myself up, coalescing fire around my foot and slamming it into the golem's multi-skulled head. The bones cracked under the heat and pressure before shattering, allowing my foot to connect with the cluster of gems that was between the skulls, which also broke. The entire thing collapsed in a heap, taking me with it.

[Skill <Swordsmanship > Leveled Up! (3/100)]

[Skill <Elemental Combat> Leveled Up! (2/100)]

I took a moment to regain my bearings before picking up the <Yamato > and moving towards the boss, which had its storm of bones whittled down into fine pieces by Vaquin's relentless assault. Anir had been dealing with another two bone golems, dispatching them in seconds before teleporting over to me and sheathing her daggers, instead summoning a gilded longbow with a single-word chant.

Her arrows fired at an insane pace, striking skull after skull of any skeleton who dared approach me as I shut my eyes and felt the energy within the <Yamato >. It was different than mana, if only slightly. The same root energy, coming from the mana realm, but it passed through another plane of existence before coming into the sword, pulsing through it like a heartbeat. Contained within the energy were… instructions. They told me to sink into a stance and grip the handle in a certain way, before ripping it from the scabbard, out towards my target.

An imperceptibly-fast arc of mana passed through the air as I swung, resulting in a deep gash across the back of Prince Ri's skull, leaving his cyclone untouched. He turned towards me and launched a blast of bones at me, which I jumped to the side to avoid. This allowed Vaquin to get in a particularly-devastating hit, blowing away half of the boss's bones for a few moments. I used the opportunity to dash forward and drive the <Yamato into one of the creature's massive eye sockets.< p>

[Critical Hit!]

It screeched, sending a blast of air that struck me in the chest and sent me flying back, but the attack had done almost half of its health, on top of what Vaquin had accomplished. The seventy damage I sustained was worth it, then. Still, the <Yamato > was still in the now-unburning socket, jutting out at an angle.

All of the bones on the creature burst out in a wide AOE attack, sending Vaquin flying and forcing Anir to take cover behind a pillar, before all of the bones in the room shot towards the skull and started forming a behemoth body to match the skull, which slammed its feet on the ground and roared.

"Second phase, baby!" I laughed, forming another kamehameha and releasing it towards one of the guy's legs. It bounced off of its shield, but I condensed the beam further, and reduced it to only a pencil's-width, allowing it to apply enough pressure to one spot to burst through, before bouncing back and forth within the barrier a thousand times. The Prince let out a scream as roughly one-sixths of the bones making up its body were destroyed by my attack, sending it down to one knee, but also leaving me without much mana.

I summoned my Stand and selected the spot right in front of me and that right below the <Yamato >, blinking. Suddenly, with another step, I was there! Grabbing the hilt of the <Yamato >, I ripped it out and did a backflip off of the Prince's jaw and away from the boss, returning it to its sheath before sending a phantom arc through the tiny hole in its eye socket and into the empty cavity of its head, where the crystal keeping it alive was. A loud shattering noise sounded through the chamber as all of the bones making up the massive skeleton Prince collapsed in a heap, ending the battle.

[Safe Zone Reached!]

[Skill <Fire Manipulation> Leveled Up! (93/100)]

[Skill <Closer > Leveled Up! (7/100)]

[Skill <Swordsmanship > Leveled Up! (6/100)]

[Prince Ri, Bonestorm (LVL 80) Killed!]

+3240 EXP

+9720 SC

+2 <Gacha Token>

+1 <Craftsman Gem>

[Level Up! X4]

+8 STR, CON, END, DEX, CHA, LCK

+16 WIS

+20 Stat Points

+24 INT

+1,000 SC

+4 <Gacha Token>

Anir caught me and set me down, a smile on her face for the first time since I had met her. Vaquin wore a similar expression, returning his ax to his back as he approached. "Holy hell, that was a rush. Haven't had a fight that good in a while, even if I was holding back."

"Are you okay, Your Highness?" Anir asked, setting me down.

"Yeah, I'm better than okay!" I grinned like a madman. "That was freakin' awesome! Did you see how I slashed the inside of its head, there at the end?! That was so much more fun than just blasting things from a distance!"

"Maybe the mage life isn't for you, after all?" Vaquin chuckled.

"Nah, I'll just do both. I used fire magic around my foot and kicked through a big bone boy's head, earlier, so I can probably do it with a sword," I said. "Speaking of," I picked up the <Yamato > and sheathed it before putting it into my inventory. "Foolishness, Dante. Foolishness. Might controls everything. And without strength you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself!"

Anir and Vaquin shared a look.

"Anyways," I shrugged and climbed up the bone pile. "Can human bones be used in alchemy?" I asked, looking at Anir.

"Y-yes…?" She replied.

I nodded and laid down on the pile before taking all of it into my inventory, leaving behind only the giant skull and the silver crown it wore.

[Bonestorm Skull]

A dense skull containing the remnants of a deceased Prince's soul. The crown it wears is fused to the bone, as if his title became a part of him after death.

I nodded to the skull in respect before adding it to my inventory

"Well, this place counts as a safe zone, so we can push our way through the fortress backwards, when we come back," I said, looking at the tears in my shirt. "Damn, and I liked this shirt…"

A stone struck me in the gut hard enough to feel like a punch. "No cussing!" Anir chided.

"I thought only Vaquin got the stones…" I grunted while the knight in question laughed his ass off. A stone went right in his open mouth, making him cough and spit it out. Then, it was my turn to laugh.