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19. A Boss Lair in Another World
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We took a brief moment for Lyra to replenish her mana. Bea was stretching and Wexel sat in silence. I admit that I myself was anxious with anticipation. Every party that’s tried to beat this boss has lost. *Will we really be the ones to do it? I hope so.*
Lyra gathered herself and slapped her cheeks gently trying to psych herself up. She drew her sword and the others readied their weapons as well. And so, we began our descent down the final stone staircase. There was a scratched in sign like the ones on previous floors, but instead of a number it just had the outline of a minotaur head.
The group reached the landing with slight hesitation before entering Balrung’s domain. I waddled forward ahead of everyone, ever vigilant. The only force I could feel was a massive power from across the dungeon floor. As I entered, and examined the surroundings, the floor seemed to be about the same as all the others… except.
*Bones… bones everywhere.* They looked to be a mixure of humanoid and monster bones and the smell, was rank. It was the stench of death. That much I remembered from my days in the old dungeon. I had to kill and eat to survive myself.
Our party arrived at the middle of the room when we heard a grumble. It was a small understated groan from the shadows. The ground shook. Out stepped the beast, Balrung, and our boss fight was underway.
Balrung was big compared to what I thought a minotaur's size would be, (*which I thought was slightly bigger than a large man*). Instead, it was bigger than the ogre I got knocked out by in the past when I met Lyra and this whole adventure began!
It had brown fur that covered it's body and was bloodstained in different patches all over. The beast had a large metal mace for its weapon, but only a loincloth for armor, at least sparing us a visual obstacle to battle around.
*This really was going to be a challenge. But our party has been working together for weeks now. It was time to show it what we were made of!*
“Alright, let's stick to the plan!” Lyra said as the group divided.
I was to maintain the front as Lyra conjured an attack from behind me, giving an opening for Bea and Wexel to strike at either side as she went left and he went right. Lyra began channeling her mana with her blade and aimed it at Balrung. The gem shimmered as the tip of the sword glowed and ejected a large chunk of ice in the form of a spear head barreling towards Balrung.
The projectile was fast, but Balrung was able to move his giant mace with swiftness as well. It struck the projectile, but in the beasts’ smugness the ice shard shattered into many pieces and still deflected back at him. He let out a small roar as they seemed to cut his cheek on the left side causing him to wince that way. In that moment, Bea striked!
Bea was in Balrung's blindspot and used her spark to flash forward with speed and her hatchet was ready to swing. She came down with an immeasurable force, but the attack seemed to only leave a surface cut as it barely cleaved into Balrung's arm, leaving a gash instead of cutting it off completely as she'd hoped.
Balrung growled at the ruse and swung it's mace Bea's way the moment he was attacked. Luckily, Bea was able to back off his arm as soon as she realized her attack failed. Of course, as soon as he was occupied with Bea, it was Wexel's turn.
In all this time, Wexel had taken it easy, letting Lyra and Bea train themselves. So, I was excited to see what he could really do. I watched as he braced downward with his sword aimed down behind him in his left hand and his shield aimed at Balrung in his right. Wexel pushed off the ground, jettison-ing upwards.
Wexel's shield struck Balrung's chin in a forceful uppercut, knocking the beast off balance. Balrung fell to the ground, dropping his mace, and sticking his arms out to catch himself while letting out an angry groan. In that moment, Bea shot forward again, slashing repeatedly at the open gash she had already made, while Wexel landed safely behind her.
Balrung groaned out a fearsome, painful roar, then batted the two backwards with a slap from his good arm, landing on his stomach. Bea and Wexel were okay as they quickly got back to their feet. Balrung rolled backwards into the shadows, and instantly rushed forward again on his feet.
*What? How?! Recovering so fast?*
Upon even further notice, Balrung's arm seemed to be fully healed. No wonder so many parties failed to put him down. But this was no time for distraction of thought or falter of action. *We've all got to strike at the same time and not let up!*
Bea and Wexel fell back to where Lyra and I stood. We would have to begin our assault all over again. But that wasn't going to be an issue as we've had to adjust to different battles situations throughout the dungeon everyday for the past few weeks.
"Again!" Lyra shouted.
It seems she wanted to run the same play and hope to get the same results, which did effectively work, but if there was some kind of healing factor we didn't know about, then it would end the exact same. That could be exactly what she was trying to find out though.
So, this time I stepped forward and used fire to cover the other two and draw Balrung's attention. Bea once again went left and Wexel right. Lyra charged up another ice attack, but Balrung wasn't waiting this time.
Balrung dashed right, faster than any of us could react! He formed a fist and punched so ferociously, that Wexel couldn't get his shield up in time and took a direct hit, getting blown backwards into a wall and cracking it from the force. His sword and shield fell to the ground.
Lyra was thrown off out of fear and panic for him that she miscast her spell and shot the ice shard, but only grazed Balrung's shoulder. It did a brief huff out of its nose in annoyance and then turned to face Bea.
*I've got to do something. I've got to slow him down so the others can strike!*
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End Part 19
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25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6y3Otwhfrs
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Author's Notes #9
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We finally made it to the Beast's den! Resuming the time jump at the beginning of volume 2. Orchestrating a fight in text and showing off every character and how they act and what their skills are makes for an exciting writing session. Sometimes you never know what you're going to end up doing. Some things work different in your head, and some times little details get thrown in. For instance, making Wexel left handed was just a spur of the moment thing, but it's a detail that's there in the heat of the battle!
Getting Lyra a special weapon and Bea a special ability was a top priority as I wanted these characters to obviously get stronger and grow not just on a personal level or having to be compared to Duc and all his powers, which don't always save him anyways. Hopefully someday we will see them all as powerful heroes and allies within their world. I'm looking forward to it!
𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹
Duck Fact #9:
The avian family Anatidae, commonly called waterfowl, is comprised of ducks, geese, and swans. The International Ornithological Committee recognizes these 174 Anatidae species distributed among 53 genera, 32 of which have only one species, and 8 being extinct. There are around 135 specific duck species in the world!
𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹
25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWWLHhrhkr
⋆༺𓆩The.Fellow𓆪༻⋆
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