Chapter 7: First dungeon raid 2

Marcus and the Phoenix party spent a small part of the day in the dungeon.

Marcus found out that Oliver's party was quite good and very capable fighter. He also found out that Oliver was a [Knight]. 'A good job, but very troublesome in the beginning villages, it can only get skills in larger towns or cities and they cost a fortune' he thought as he finishing killing another [Giant bat].

'I've killed quite a few of these damn things, I'm finally leveled up' he thought.

[Level up!]

[EXP: 25/5000]

[Strength +1]

[Stamina +1]

[Vitality +3]

[HP:300->330]

[Title unlocked <Giant slayer>]

[Title given when player slays five monsters with a greater level]

[Effect: +10% damage to monsters who are higher level]

Marcus was stunned at what he was looking at, he had never heard of a title like this before. 'When monsters get to [Soldier rank] fighting monsters of higher levels your damage decreases, but to think it's 10% extra damage no matter the rank, this is an invaluable title to have' he thought. 'I wonder if they gained it?' he thought as he watched the party fighting.

He looked at the [Giant bat] the rest of the party was fighting.

He sat down and watched them fighting it. He saw how the whole party was steadily improving while fighting.

'They are an impressive party to say the least' he thought.

[Giant bat Slain!]

They cheered in happiness.

"We leveled up!"

"We got to level 3 and we haven't even finished the dungeon!"

"This is amazing!"

Marcus watched them celebrate as he drank some water, giving him some Stamina back.

"Good job guys, we'll have a short rest before we go to the boss room" Marcus said.

Everyone nodded.

Oliver sat next to Marcus.

"I'm surprised how smooth things are going" he said chuckling.

"You guys have a good team here" Marcus said.

"Without you we would never be this far" he said.

"You probably would have, but at a later stage, you would be killing all the lower level beasts and playing it safe" Marcus said taking a bite of some bread.

"Do you have a strategy on the boss we could use?" Oliver said.

The party sat in a circle to listen.

"The boss is a level 4 [Gaint bat], but is by itself so we don't need to split up" Marcus said.

"Thats easy, if it's like all the other ones this is a pice of cake"

"We got this in the bag!"

Marcus cleared his throat and everyone went quiet.

"It may be the same monster but it's a comepletely different beast" Marcus said.

"What does that mean?" One of the tanks asked.

"It's a [Soldier rank] beast" he said before pausing to let the news settle in.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

"What does that mean exactly?" Oliver asked.

"None of you read the book you were given did you?" he asked face palming.

"That big book that's in our inventory at the beginning?" the female mage asked.

"Yes, the information book" he said again.

"Nope"

"I didn't read it"

"Me neither"

"I don't like to read"

They all said and Marcus sighed. He understood why they didn't read it, it was really big and had a large amount of pages, even he didn't read it the first time.

"Doesn't matter, I'll explain what was in the book" he said. "There are different ranks of monsters in Eldergard starting on normal, soldier, elite, chieftain, general, king and lastly emporor. All these ranks may seem like a fancy name but each rank holds more power then the last" Marcus said.

"What rank have the monsters we've been fighting so far?" the male mage asked.

"We've been fighting normal rank monsters" he answered.

"And how strong is soldier rank compared to normal rank?" Oliver asked a bit of sweat on his brow.

"If one level 4 soldier rank monster fough 2 normal ranks of the same level it would walk away without a scratch" Marcus said.

Everyone froze from hearing those words and their confidence from mere moments ago disappeared.

"Maybe we should quit while we're ahead, we leveled up and got some experience under our belt" the female Swordsman said rubbing he back of her head.

"That's a great idea, we can just come back when we level up some more" Oliver said.

"No need, we're gonna kill it today, I already have the necessary items and a strategy" Marcus said.

"Really?!" they all asked at once.

"Why would I come to a dungeon unprepared?" he asked rolling his eyes under his bangs.

"Then what's the strategy?!" the female swordsman asked.

"We keep as quiet as possible until we can keep it in one spot and attack all at once" he said.

"What would that do?" the female mage asked.

"The bat is blind and only reacts when it hears things" he said. "You, how long is the duration of your [Mud slide]?" he asked the female mage.

"It can last for 4 minutes, but it's cooldown time is 6 minutes" She said.

"I see, that's just fine, with that we'll be able to finish this faster then expected" he said with a grin that creeped everyone out.

Marcus stopped grinning and stood up.

"Let's go, no time to waste" he said.

Everyone stood up and shook off their fear.

"Oh yeah, I'll be giving some of you some items and a word of advice" he said as he gave Oliver and the female Swordsman 5 [Stun bombs] each. "When I tell you to back up, get to the nearest wall you can get to and stick to it like white on rice" he said seriously.

Everyone nodded.

Oliver read the [Stun bombs] info.

[Stun bombs<normal>]

[Once thrown, enemies are stunned for 1 minute]

[Effect does not stack]

"When the mud slide duration ends one of us will throw one" Marcus said.

They nodded as the got to the boss room door.

"You don't have to defend them for this one" he said to the female Swordsman. "Both tanks will be upfront, as long as you don't do to much damage and you don't make a lot of noise, there will be no danger of you guys getting attacked" he said to the two mages.

"Why do I have to be upfront for the boss fight?"

"Alright"

"Understood"

He touched the door and it started to open by it self.

Everyone got their weapons ready.

"Take silent steps forward" Marcus whispered.

They stepped in and saw a bat that was twice the size of the other [Giant bats]. It's fur was black like the rest, it's giant red eyes that seemed to looking directly into their souls, it's fangs that threatened to tear into their flesh and Swords that it had for claws ready to rip them to pieces.

[Giant Bat<Soldier>]

[Level 4]

[Health: 2000]

[Speed: 700]

[Attack: 850]

Skills:

[Blood sucker]

[Grows stronger when biting enemies]

[Attack +500]

[Effect1: bleed effect chance +100%]

[Cooldown: 4 minutes]

[Screech]

[A loud screech generated by giant bats that stuns enemies]

[Effect 1: stun chance +100%]

[Duration: 10 minutes]

[Cooldown: 3 minutes]

Everyones blood ran cold when they saw the stats this monster had.

Marcus knew that it would look like this becuase to beat this boss you would need a raiding team that was at least level 6 and all had [Silver grade] equipement to beat a boss like this normally.

'Time to begin' Marcus thought with a smile on his face.

To be continued...