Chapter XXXI - Agora

"EEEEEKKKKKK!!!!" Artox exclaimed in a sound that was not befitting his size and build. He quickly hid behind the twins trembling as he used the two as a meat shield.

"UUUGGHHHH!!!" He exclaimed once more "I hate hate hate HATE!!!!! Spiders!!!!! I can't do it guys… I just can't do it!!!" He was practically crying as the giant hairy appendages of the beast moved.

All three of his party members burst out laughing bringing themselves to tears. "I can't believe you're scared of spiders!" Lisa said "We've killed so many crazy things such as giant bats and rats and you're scared of a spider?" She continued as she teased him.

"Common man, it's just like any other monster we've up until this point…" Mawu said trying to break free of his crazy grip.

Artox shook his head fiercely "Not… A… Chance!!!"He turned around to leave "I'm out, good luck to you guys, was fun while it lasted." As if expecting this result he was face-to-face with Marcus, Artox took a double take wondering how he had went from in front of him to behind him so quickly.

"Now now Art, we can't have you leave just yet, we still have 3 more bosses to kill. We'll all be right here next to you and will help you every step of the way towards taking out all of these 'disgusting' spiders." Marcus said grabbing Artox's shoulder and turning him around.

"Y-you will…?" Artox replied, his mental breakdown had clearly taken a toll on his maturity. Marcus nodded in response.

"Of course, we will, we would never abandon you and leave you out to hang high-and-dry." He said trying to comfort his old friend, patting his shoulder. "Now then, let's go over how to take care of this monster."

Artox reluctantly nodded and hung his head in defeat "okay…" Marcus smiled and clapped his hands together. Since they had to go through numerous slimes, the party had all ended up gaining a level.

This put Artox above the maximum levels of the enemies, so he had begun to receive a reduced amount of experience. Marcus had hit 25 which maxed out [Boost] giving him a 50% boost to all of his stats.

They took a step towards the massive spider, just beyond the barrier. The room was covered in spiderwebs and there multiple cocoons hanging from the ceiling, which would occasionally wiggle as if there was something inside.

<Agora>

Level 25

5,000/5,000 HP

"Okay so there's good news and there's bad news. Which do you guys want first?" Marcus asked.

The remaining three took a huddle away from Marcus and began their discussions, occasionally one would pop their head up and took over at Marcus and then to the spider's hollow before sinking their head back into the discussion.

Marcus shook his head and placed his hands on his hips and began tapping his foot impatiently. Despite them making fairly good time, they still had less than 30 minutes left in the dungeon before things went south.

The problem with not completing a dungeon in time was much worst than being kicked out or being locked out of the dungeon for a period.

Eventually, they all stood up and stared at Marcus before Mawu said "Bad first!" and everyone nodded in agreement.

Marcus nodded "Alright, Agora has a few nasty mechanics. First, she will lay eggs that are essentially impossible to kill with physical attacks, but even a basic level 1 tier 1 spell will one shot it, so Lisa, save your CD on them." Lisa nodded and sighed thinking there goes her DPS.

"She will do this throughout the entire fight, so keep an eye out, if they hatch, we will have more to kill. Next, she has a pounce and bind attack, this will most certainly attack Art, if we don't do enough damage, she will web him up and encase him and we will need to damage the cocoon to release him."

This almost made Artox faint "w-w-WHAT?!?" He shook his head once again and put both hands out in front of him moving them back and forth quickly "I can't do this man, no way, it's GAME OVER!!!" He yelled.

"Oh common Art, you've surely killed bigger monsters than this thing, get over it man, it's just a game!" Marcus said shaking his head once more.

"Anyways, onto the good. She's a non-poisonous spider, so we don't have to worry about Artox's HP as muchSee those 5 cocoons?" Marcus continued and pointed to one of the cocoons as everyone nodded. "There are 5 soldiers from Sterling City. They are all level 25 and are all Tier 1 Knights and can help kill the boss, however, we gain a fame boost if they all return to Sterling, so we should take the boss down and before she dies we free all 5 and kill her so we can get the fame."

Everyone agreed, this seemed sensible. With their battle plans drawn, everyone entered the room with Agora. Artox was the last to enter and with a trembling voice "Can't we just do another dungeon?" He asked one last time…

Marcus replied with a simple "No." Artox sighed and hung his head in defeat trying to psych himself up "it's just a game… it's just a game…" Artox whispered as Mawu engaged with a [Double Shot] hitting two of the six large beady ink blots for eyes causing Agora to screech in agony and began charging towards the group.

Artox reluctantly used [Envoke] as Marcus, Mawu, and Lisa spread out to engage the boss from a safer vantage. Mawu had engaged the spider with his usual [Rummage] which was nearing max after using it on every enemy in the dungeon, giving almost a 10% chance for increased drop chance. He then proceeded to continuously jab at the meaty femur.

Marcus was opposite Mawu chain unleashing both [Rush] and [Overhead Strike] working to burst the boss down.

Meanwhile Lisa was simply making sure [Whispering Winds] was constantly up on Artox whose HP was barely depleting thanks to [Deflecting Stance] which had long since maxed thanks to using it through the entire dungeon and blocking numerous attacks.

Shortly after a small egg dropped from out the rear of Agora and began pulsating and growing larger and as Lisa began casting [Wind Bolt] on the egg, Agora pounced on Artox who began flailing and unleashed a high-pitched shrill shriek that should have never come out of a man of his size. "GET IT OFF ME!!! GET IT OFF ME!!!"

Marcus and Mawu circled around to the front as they pushed themselves to attack the front two legs of the spider. As Lisa's Wind Bolt destroyed the egg Agora stopped it's assault of Artox lifting up on her two hind legs and unleashing a loud wailing sound at the death of her unborn child.

Artox quickly stood up surviving his worst fear, in his anger, found courage and began attacking the spider blindly as he started hacking at the beast in a blind rage.

Marcus inwardly nodded towards his friend's newfound courage and retreated back to the rear of the spider.

This sequence continued 3 more times before Mawu began using the pointy-end of his spear to cut open the cocoons saving the soldiers lives who began assisting with the beat down of the massive beast.

This was a turning point as the bosses health began to bottom out quickly, however this caused a strain on Artox as he had to continually use [Envoke] to reclaim aggro from the NPC Knights.

As the bosses health was rapidly draining it was constantly turning to attack different targets as aggression continued to change between Artox and the 5 other knights before the final blow was dealt and the massive spider collapsed to the ground under it's many wounds.

Agora slain!

1502+1652 EXP

Silver Chest dropped!

Silver Chest dropped!

Artox was even more shocked and yelled "WOAH I LEARNED A NEW SKILL!" It was through his rage that he had learned a special ability [Battle Cry]!

Marcus was surprised and happy that this confirmed his suspicions that the information was kept under wraps by other people and decided to keep his lips sealed.

"That's what happened to me earlier. I learned Overhead Slash" Marcus replied. "I was gonna tell everyone after we finished the dungeon as we are under a time limit."

It was at this moment that the 5 Knights approached Marcus and saluted the party. "We are indebted to you adventurers. Here take this and present it to our Lord at Sterling City." The knight extended his hand that was holding a golden coin with the head of a lion.

Marcus accepted the token and bowed to the Knights "We were glad to be of assistance sir, our mission is not yet completed here. The passageway out has been cleared of danger, return back and get some rest and we will exit once we have finished." Marcus replied pointing to the way out.

The knights saluted the party once more and left the group. They were past the halfway point and the time restraint was only closing in on the group…

<20:37> remaining….