Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Tekar's shield vanished and a tremendous pressure descended on Monique once the protection was gone. She felt like a fish, as it suddenly became hard to breathe. She came to a halt, as she tried to acclimatize to the sudden change.

"Kuk, what dungeon are you from? Stop disguising as surface dwellers. The natives of this place could never harm our perfect immortal bodies!" the boss exclaimed when he finally got a chance to pause after being driven into a corner.

Not answering, she checked the creature's status.

<Aerial General lv.96(Boss)

Status: Burning, Poisoned

Health: 164/1000>

Several wounds burning with the toxic alchemical flame covered the body of the creature which was slowly turning a dull gray thanks to the smoke filling it. However, she wasn't much better off. Despite all the buffs she used, she was tired, it had taken a lot to finally corner the elusive boss. With Tekar's shield gone, she could the pressure in her ears, and small cuts from silent winds started appearing across her skin and armor.

<Brilliance of Fervor> had helped her keep up until now and chip away at the beast's health, as they fought a duel to the death. The boss was really something for being able to break the shield given by Tekar. Without the shield, Monique was now susceptible to the weird creature's invisible wind and air skills.

She could barely hear his rambling through her ripping ear drums. She used his rambling to gather her powers. The chosen of Athena intended to end it with the next attack, she had to end it, or she might lose not even knowing how.

"I can hardly understand what you are mumbling, but I get the gist. I will tell you the name of your killer. I am Monique Lest, a Lord of Minas Mar," she said under heavy breathing as she readied her skill.

A bright light enveloped her, as she used the <Outbreak of Fervor>, doubling her power for three minutes. But it didn't stop there. Tatzel's Sacrificed vanished within the huge phantom of a divine spear, as she executed <Iapeto's Stab>, which added another 250% damage to her attack.

Even when she herself only did physical damage, and her enemy was immune to physical damage, her buffs did not differentiate between magical and physical damage. The Tribal Flame of Ray, the alchemical fire from Alison, and Athena's divine power, she deemed this more than enough for a final strike, after multiplying their power by several times.

The massive divine spear directly disintegrated the phantom's translucent body. It vanished, together with the message that she gained experience. With the power of <Outbreak of Fervor>, she planned to rush back and help the others, but she returned to a field of black fog with almost zero vision.

This meant the shaman had succeeded in his weather spell and created a field of mist from the atomized solution he got from Alison. Not only was it highly toxic to the phantoms, they also could no longer hide in the clear air.

Monique returned to a party that was busy taking care of the remnants. With the fog field in place, Jonah had been the first to finish his miniboss and return to the party. Azul seemed to have also finished her miniboss.

Afterward, the party had been busy taking down the small fries, while they waited on their leader. Monique had heard notifications, but she had been locked in combat and unable to comprehend, that her comrades had already decimated most of the enemy.

"What now?" Tekar asked tired.

As the tank who constantly kept the aggro of several hundred beasts, he was the most tired of them all.

"We will take a good long rest and then we will take a look at the next floor," Monique said with a smile. She also needed a good rest.

"The next floor? This place has more floors" Alison asked surprised.

"Yeah, the entrance opened after I killed the boss. Follow me, we will camp close to it."

Monique didn't have the time to take a better look at the time, since she was worried about the others and rushed back, but she had seen the ground open at the place where she had killed the boss. As she led the party back, they quickly saw the place she mentioned.

In the middle of the meadow, a gorge had opened. Steam and dark red light emitted from below. They saw the beginning of a staircase leading down to the edge of this gorge.

"...Is that really a way to the second floor? It looks more like a pathway to hell." Shay commented with a frown.

"We will find out once we go down there," Monique countered with a laugh.

But first they set up camp to get some good rest. Although the boss was dead and theoretically the floor was safe, temporarily, they set up several barriers to protect and hide their presence, just in case, before they all went to bed.

…

Yulecat's Fury was surrounded by a big group of Mushroom fiddlers that kept jumping back and forth between the trees around them. It was clear they were trying to confuse the party, however, they were prepared this time.

"I beseech the nymphs-Downpour!" Lyxiss, their half-elven elementalist cast a water spell that led to a monsoon-like rains that drenched the whole area. After which Mike suddenly lifted his hands to the sky above. Even when they were in a dungeon, there was a skybox, so it counted.

"Hailstorm! Tempest of Maahes!" the sword demon shouted, activating the skill of his Armor and one of the skills he had gained with his blessing.

In a radius of ten meters around him, a heavy hailstorm started raging, but then he finished the second cast, the storm became even more violent and grew in diameter. While the party took shelter behind the shield, the mushroom forest surrounding them was covered in a layer of ice.

After Minas' tests, they had come up with a few strategies. Seeing their weakness to ice, the party had quickly changed their gears and came up with several combination plays centered around their ice skills to counter the spore explosions.

Although the heavy ice storm did not kill the creepy mushroom skeletons, it severely slowed them down, making it hard for them to move, or hide in the frozen wasteland. Not only was Mike quicker on the ice, the impeded fiddlers were also an easy target for Mina, playing the role of an assassin in a traditional style, by hiding her presence and killing them with her daggers.

Mike worked together with Lyxiss since his flaming fury would have molten the ice again. While the Elementalist worked to further freeze them, Mike went around, crushing the ice sculptures with headbutts. Similarly, Fin had also changed her strategy. Instead of using her full force to end her opponents immediately, she relied on the Frost Moth Dusters.

With quick, deliberate punches she increased her number of punches and the subsequently summoned frost moths. The swarm of frost moths themselves was already enough to push back the mushroom creatures, but then there was also Fin hiding among the moths, delivering deadly punches, once one of the creatures fell under a frozen status.

This way, they too managed to proceed quickly through the mushroom reef and reach lv.92 just before facing the boss of the forest. While the Mushroom Fiddlers were clearly humanoid skeletons controlled and armored by fungi, the boss was different.

<Hyphae Hound lv.98(Boss)>

It was a giant wolf skeleton, with easily six or seven meters of shoulder height. It had a mane and scales of mushroom caps, covering the bones like an armor. Only its skull and overall build were recognizable as that of a canine.

Upon seeing them with its dead, hollow eye cavities, and howled to the sky. A howl that sounded like the flapping of hundred of fleshy wings, mushroom caps rustling in the wind.

"Urgh! Cough!"

It came as a surprise when they suddenly all started coughing again. The howl was not just a sign of the start of the fight, it was a breath attack, enveloping them in invisible spores! They had gotten negligent!

Embarrassed they looked back up at the hound. This boss fight may get harder than expected.