[Quest Failed:]
[First to the First Boss]
“I guess that means they’re done,” I said aloud, trusting that everyone else received the same notification.
“Yippee,” Peter mumbled.
“The door to the boss is over there.” Blossom pointed at the wall with the banner displaying the queue.
[Boss Queue:]
[Big Money: Fighting]
[Winners: 1]
[Ninjas: 2]
“Ninjas? Huh, I guess Daisy, Landon, and Darlene finally made it,” I said. “I wonder when they got here. Maybe they’re still getting the rules or something.”
We’d all been too busy with strategizing for the upcoming boss fight to keep track of the queue line. Blossom was an [Archer]–a [class] obviously focused on [archery] and similar things–while Fern was a [Princess Thief]–giving her [skills] in stealth and with a dagger. Blossom and I were to handle ranged attacks while Peter and Fern fought close combat and Bethany backed us all up with her [Shields] as necessary. Honestly, with all five of us together, I didn’t think this boss fight was going to be all that bad.
The banner updated just as the hidden door in the wall opened, leading into white light which kept me from discerning any hints as to what the boss might be.
“Alright. Let’s do this thing. I don’t want to give Daisy and them a chance to overtake us like the boys did.” Blossom marched up to the door with Fern on her heels.
Bethany nodded at me and Peter and then followed them. Peter and I came up last, and the five of us stood in a line at the wide doorway.
“Team Winners for the win!” Peter stepped through first, and the rest of us followed suit.
The blinding light disappeared within a moment, and when I could see again, I discovered that we were in some type of lush garden, standing on green grass and surrounded by tall plant stalks that formed a wall around the circular clearing. It was the view of garden plants that bugs probably experienced with their tiny size.
“What’s the boss? Grandma’s old tomato plants?” Bethany smirked.
A howl sounded in response to her question, and the wall of greenery across the way shuddered before giving way to a towering, fuzzy squirrel with red eyes and fangs.
[First Floor Boss]
[Vengeful Squirrel]
[Level 5]
[Health: 200/200]
“That’s going to be a little tougher than tomato plants.” I gazed up at the beast which was almost triple my height.
“There’s still five of us and only one of him,” Peter said. His sword appeared in his hand. “We can handle this no problem.”
Peter rushed towards the [Squirrel] who screamed and dashed to meet him. Fern sprinted off to the side to try and flank the beast since she needed surprise to activate her most potent [skill]. Blossom launched an arrow into the furry beast which looked no worse than a splinter as it landed in his shoulder. The boss didn’t even react to the wound as he lunged towards Peter with his claws extended.
I put my hand out. “[Push].”
At the same time, Bethany’s [Shield] appeared in front of Peter, but luckily the monster was big enough that my [skill] was aimed above her defense and still managed to land.
The [Squirrel’s] claws racked against the glow wall, bringing it down, but my [Push] shoved it back several feet before it reached my brother. Peter wore his [Armor] now, and Fern was nearly in position to make her move. Even though my [skill] did no damage and Blossom’s arrows only did a measly 1 damage each, I was feeling confident in our ability to take this boss out without too much difficulty. As Bethany put it, it was just a matter of going slow and steady.
Peter buried his sword into one of the [Squirrel’s] legs while Fern produced a dagger and stabbed the other one.
Stolen novel; please report.
They each did a reasonable ten damage, bringing the boss’s health down to [176/200].
The [Squirrel] screeched and threw both of them back before me or Bethany could act to protect them. The boss then put both hands out and screamed again, this time the soundwaves became visible to my eyes.
I put my hands over my ears, but that did nothing to muffle the sound.
“Guys,” Bethany said.
I looked at my sister and cursed. The plant stalks which surrounded the fighting area were shaking and out of them poured over a dozen human-sized pill bugs with their shiny black shells and spindly legs. They all wore the same banner above them.
[Garden’s Bane]
[Level 2]
“Crap,” I shouted.
Peter stood up and reproduced his sword. He started back towards us, but I motioned him away.
“No, Peter. You and Fern should worry about the boss. Beth, protect them. Blossom and I will handle the bugs,” I said.
Peter nodded to me with a concerned look, but he refocused his attention on the further enraged [Vengeful Squirrel]. Fern got to her feet and resumed her sneaking as Bethany backed away from the bugs coming towards her.
Blossom launched an arrow into the one closest to Bethany, but it clinked off the bug’s shell.
“I’m not sure I can help,” she told me.
“You just have to hit under the shell,” I said. I pointed at the one she’d hit and focused on only the head of the bug. “[Push].”
The [skill] understood what I wanted, and the bug flung backwards, landing on its back. The legs wiggled in the air until Blossom’s arrow found a home, and then the bug disintegrated into dirt.
[Garden’s Bane Defeated]
[10 XP Gained]
Bethany, Peter, and Fern were all shouting at each other about the boss, but I ignored them to focus on flipping the bugs so Blossom could kill them. We went through a dozen and a half of them before they stopped coming through, and I only managed to finish them off because I leveled up and my [MP] replenished. I was still down to only [19/30 MP], and that was with some of it recovering during the fight.
With the minions taken care of, Blossom and I returned our attention to the floor boss.
[Vengeful Squirrel]
[Health: 102/200]
“Almost halfway! Good job, guys,” Blossom shouted to the rest of our team.
Fern stabbed her dagger into the [Squirrel], and it’s [health] dropped below one-hundred. The boss howled as before and dashed away from the two melee fights. It then put its arms back out and did the summoning scream from earlier.
“Gosh dang it,” I said. “Blossom and I will handle the bugs. You guys keep going.”
I turned back around to see even more of the [Garden’s Banes] pouring out of the plants. The problem was that I didn’t have enough [MP] to flip all of them with my [Push], and we were only getting [7 XP] from them now so there was no way I’d level up again in time.
“Come on, Madi. What’s the problem? Let’s tear these bugs apart,” Blossom said, an arrow already nocked in her bow.
“I have to figure out a better way to do this. My [MP] won’t last,” I said. I studied the creatures as they crawled towards us, very aware of how little time I had to think of a solution. I didn’t dare just start flipping them one by one since that would leave us in a bad spot when I ran out, and I really didn’t want to know what hitting [0 MP] would do.
It was stupid, but I decided to call up my System screen at that moment to see if there was any chance I’d gotten a new [Skill] that could help.
[Skills:]
[Push: Level 3] [+]
[Pull: Level 3] [+]
[Push All: Level 1] [+]
[Skill Points Available: 1]
Blossom yelled at me, and I dismissed the screen before I could read what the new [skill] did. The bugs were nearly on top of us, so I did the only thing I could. Putting my hands out, I used [Push All], focusing on all the bugs coming towards us instead of a single one. I really hoped it did what I thought it did.
All of the [Garden’s Banes] flew backwards, and a couple of them landed on their backs. Blossom was quick to capitalize on my unintentional solution, eliminating both.
The notification box went off with the [XP] update, but I was already focusing on the next grouping of bugs. Blossom seemed to understand that my [skill] would only flip some of the monsters, but she was fast enough with her bow to handle the surprise.
Using [Push All], we were able to work our way through the rest of the bugs as easily as before, perhaps even easier given we could take out multiple at a time. Once we finished with that set–a total of twenty–Blossom and I high-fived and looked back to where the others were still dealing with the floor boss.
[Vengeful Squirrel]
[Health: 45/200]
Blossom nocked an arrow. “[Power Shot].”
The arrow flew straight, digging into the [Squirrel’s] chest far deeper than any of her other shots and taking it down five damage instead of the usual one.
Despite his size, the boss was nimble and able to dodge many of Peter’s and Fern’s strikes. I held both hands out and decided to try something that was either going to help a lot or do nothing more than piss the boss off more.
“[Pull]. [Pull].” I directed them at opposite arms. The magic grabbed the [Squirrel], and for a moment, he was held in place by the [skills], allowing Peter and Fern both to land solid hits.
Bethany waved at me and gave a thumbs up, signalling I should do it again. I repeated the gesture and words, and the boss once again locked in place for a single second, allowing Peter and Fern to provide the killing blows.
[Vengeful Squirrel, First Floor Boss, Defeated]
[100 XP Gained]
The [Squirrel] disintegrated into dust, just like the bugs, and all five of us cheered. Before I got the chance to congratulate the team, blinding white light filled my eyes, transporting us out of the boss chamber. We’d done it. We were moving on to the second floor of the Dungeon.