“What’s this about a raid boss or whatever?” Nora asked, crossing her arms while still holding the pistol.
“It is a term that refers to a boss able to fight well above its level. Since that boss is level two hundred and thirty, we can expect it to have the standard combat power anywhere between two hundred and sixty to three hundred.” Diane explained, pursing her lips.
“Does that make it some kind of big shot?” Nora asked curiously, tilting her head to the side.
Diane looked meaningfully at me, so I explained. “In comparison, Nora… your actual level is four hundred and sixty-two. However, because you don’t have any skills, your true combat power is actually below that point. If you were to fight with your normal methods, it’s possible that this boss would surpass you. And that’s not taking into account that it has three cores hidden within its body. Unless all three are destroyed before they can regenerate, it can’t receive a fatal blow.”
Nora clicked her tongue at that. “It’s like that damn lizard Aetra’s always complaining about, then. Given the size of that thing, I don’t know if my spear could reach it. This gun shouldn’t have any problems, though!” She said proudly, holding the gun up as if it were a revered treasure.
However, Bella shook her head. “Looking at that thing, the water bullets alone won’t be very effective, right? That thing isn’t made of fire, it’s made of lava… So water bullets will just cause that lava to harden, but it won’t necessarily pierce through.”
I nodded my draconic head at that. “That’s right. We’ll have to change the ammunition if we want to raid this boss.” As I said that, Diane produced another magazine, and I began a rather annoying process. First, I enchanted a single water bullet shot in my water dragon form. Then, I had to cancel my dragon form, switch to a dragon form made through Martial Intent, and load a normal bullet. Then, it was back to the water dragon form to repeat the process.
Since this wasn’t something that I could do in the middle of battle, I filled two magazines in this way, and also refilled Nora’s current water bullets. “Nora, you’re in charge of fighting the boss.” I told her in a deep, rumbling tone, my claws digging into the ground. “Its three cores are located in the center of its forehead, its right chest, and its lower abdomen. I don’t know its exact regeneration rate, but you’ll need to destroy them all quickly.”
“And what’ll you be doing while I’m fighting the big guy?” Nora asked with a raised brow. I pointed my tail towards the hordes of fire spirits walking around the base of the mountain.
“We’ll be dealing with those to make sure that they don’t interfere with your fight. As things stand right now, you barely have an advantage. If we let the extra mobs enter the fight, I doubt you’d have any chance to win at all.”
Hearing my honest assessment, Nora clicked her tongue again. “I really don’t like that tone of yours.” She said, before turning to walk towards the boss. At the same time, I shifted into my fire dragon form.
Diane and Bella walked alongside me as we approached the mobs. “Brute force it?” Diane asked, likely referring to the plan that we had come up with before Nora joined us. I nodded my head, and she jumped up onto my back, sitting down once she found a comfortable position. Bella let out a low sigh, joining her a moment later when she found somewhere that she could still shoot from.
“The experience here should be pretty good at least, right?” I asked, looking back at the other two. We were in a dungeon about a hundred levels over their own. If the experience wasn’t good, there would be a serious problem.
“Not as much as it could be, since Nora’s handling everything.” Diane answered with a shake of her head. “That said, it’s still loads better than a dungeon our own level. I’ve hit one hundred and thirty-five since we got here.” Bella nodded her head, as if to say that she reached the same level.
With a rumbling chuckle, I charged forward towards the spirits. I focused on shrinking my Ghost Zone, making it only cover Diane and Bella. If I wanted to distract these monsters, I couldn’t do that from my stealth.
Sure enough, their eyes immediately shifted from the human-sized chimerae to the giant dragon charging towards them. Bursts of fire shot towards me by the dozen, and I used my wings to defend the two on my back while closing my eyes.
I could feel each impact, but the heat wasn’t a problem for my scales. I let out a loud roar, stomping with heavy claws whenever I sensed a nearby spirit. This was little more than a brute rampage, but it was certainly effective at keeping their attention on me, even as the sounds of gunshots rang out from above.
Shifting my perception, I watched Nora’s battle while flailing my arms about. The markings on her skin were lighting up as she flew through the air, wings having sprouted from her back. Whenever the markings on her arms lit up, her figure seemed to flicker in the air, shifting a dozen meters at a time and leaving behind an afterimage.
The lava giant, for its part, let out a furious roar, swinging its oversized sword to try and swat her out of the air. However, with the power of her runes in full effect, it seemed that she was able to avoid him without any problem. She aimed at his lower abdomen, firing off a water bullet that sent her flying backwards. The water bullet struck the giant, releasing a burst of steam as the lava cooled.
Gritting her teeth, Nora steadied herself and quickly shot the second round, a ki bullet shattering the area where she had previously struck. I could see the crystal shards of the core being broken within the rubble, and the giant let out a roar of pain. “Not so tough now, are you big guy!?” She cackled, speeding forward with a manic expression.
Why are they always battle maniacs? I thought to myself, shaking my head as I continued to roar. My main focus was on watching how fast the core regenerated. If it was like that hydra, where the regeneration was almost instantaneous, this boss would be impossible for our current group.
As I thought about that, a message came in from Nuoda. Drake? Are you free right now?
Sorry. Boss raid. Talk later. I responded, not having the spare attention to worry about a conversation.
Thankfully, the regeneration process of the cores seemed to be rather slow. The first one hadn’t shown any signs of regenerating when Nora shattered the one in its chest. With a pained cry, the giant fell to the ground, lava splashing out in a wide wave.
I widened my eyes, flying into the sky to avoid the wave while watching in confusion. The boss still had one more core, so why had it suddenly fallen like that?
My answer came as the wave washed over the fire spirits, seeming to absorb them. I let out a roar of indignation when I noticed that it was absorbing their cores to replenish its own. After the initial splash, it stood up, both of its destroyed cores fully recovered. In addition… “Nora, fourth core formed in its throat!” I shouted, and Nora clicked her tongue in annoyance.
Thankfully, I had prepared the spare magazine, and Diane helped her practice switching. Otherwise, with the shots she had already spent, she wouldn’t have had enough left to finish the fight. “Make sure he can’t do that again!” She called back, and I nodded.
I scanned the area for more spirits that it could potentially sacrifice for its healing skill. Its first burst had destroyed all of the ones out in the open, but I spotted a few coming out from behind a cave where the boss had sat previously. Without hesitation, I dove towards that cave, forming a bubble around my body with Martial Intent-X.
With a loud crash, I slammed into the cliff face above the cave, jostling the duo on my back while bringing the rocks down to close up the path. “We’ll take care of these later.” I growled as Nora began firing off shots once again.
As long as she didn’t have to worry about the boss healing again, Nora didn’t have anything to worry about when it came to this fight. The boss was slow enough that she could dodge it in midair, and two shots was enough to destroy a single core. Granted, she fumbled a bit when she had to change her magazine, but that was only a minor delay.
After a few more shots, the boss was finally slain. Its body splashed down to the ground in a deformed mess, but this time there were not enough spirits nearby to reform any of its cores. Although we waited to see if there was going to be another phase, this time it seemed well and truly dead.
“Let’s hurry and clear out the last of the spirits in the cave, and then gather the loot. If we’re lucky, we can get the key right away. Otherwise, we’ll need to repeat the boss fight.” I told her, returning to my normal form once the two girls had gotten off my back.
Nora nodded her head, switching magazines and opening the tunnel I had sealed off with a water bullet, which subsequently killed the spirits behind the collapse. “Get on with the looting, then. I’ll see if I can find a chest. That’s the big thing we’re looking for, right?” She asked, walking into the tunnel.
I made my way over to the spirit’s body, looting it without a second thought. Three pieces of heavy armor, two spirit king cores, and a ring. However, no key. Admittedly, the amount of loot was far superior to a normal boss.
“In here!” Nora shouted, seeming… unusually happy. Arching a brow, I followed her voice. There was a massive, black chest hidden at the back of the cave, which Nora had already opened. Most of the items she got were scattered on the ground, such as a greatsword that looked like a smaller version of the boss’s own, or a necklace.
However, she was firmly grasping one of her drops without any desire to let it go. It looked like Diane’s pistol, but made of black stone with red, volcanic veins running along its surface. “Firearms can drop in dungeons?” I asked in surprise.
“…Apparently so.” Diane muttered. “Does it require ammo?”
Nora blinked, aiming the pistol at the wall and pulling the trigger. However, nothing happened, and her lips pursed. She tried to slot in the magazine from Diane’s pistol, but it still did not have a response. “Did I get a broken gun?”
“It probably needs a different type of ammo.” Diane said, shaking her head. “I’ll ask the forge when I log out later.”
That said, we each took our turns opening the chest. Bella got another pistol, but there wasn’t much else to note, aside from a pile of cores and miscellaneous gear that none of us would use. Not even a single skill book, which was extremely disappointing to me. And, of course, no dungeon key.
“Let’s head back to the entrance and wait for it to respawn.” I said with a sigh, gathering up the loot in my inventory and leading the others back out to the entrance of the dungeon. “Typically, dungeon bosses take about thirty minutes to an hour to respawn. We’ll need to keep fighting it until we get the key.”
As I explained that, there was a sudden, violent crack in the air. I recognized the sound as someone moving beyond the speed of sound, and instantly assumed a defensive position. The others were briefly disoriented by the noise, but soon followed suit.
“Yo, this where you were hanging out, Drake?!” A familiar voice called out, and I widened my eyes in surprise. Standing at the mouth of the cave was a tanned bearfolk woman with dark hair and red eyes. “Your friend said that you were in a raid fight, so thought I’d come check it out.”
“Kelly?!” I asked in alarm, having honestly not expected to see my old teacher again any time soon.
