Moments later images began to return to the light curtain. Not regular vision, but some sort of heightened light amplification. Looking through his eyes almost looked like looking through a night-vision or infrared lens, but that couldn't have been exactly it.

Everyone turned to Elisha who stood with her mouth open. Moments later she waved her hands in front of her. “Oh. OH! He ate a food thing that gave him the see in the dark buff. He told me about it but said it was not all that helpful because by the time you know you need to see in the dark you can’t see your inventory. So I told him to just put it in his first inventory space so he could find it in the dark.”

They continued to stare at her for a long moment before a low whistle from the light curtain returned their attention to the show. Forsythe was looking at a reddish throbbing outline of the Queen Grendel, apparently impressed by the size of her now that he got a better look. She was moving slowly in the cavern toward him, slinking along as if she hardly expected him to be able to see. However, in addition to being able to see her fairly well, there was the faint impression of the room including walls, stones, and holes in the floor.

Amelia was quietly impressed with the quality of that food that could give you nights eye in a place where there was obviously no ambient light. It would be one thing if it amplified the light, but there didn’t appear to be any. Forsythe watched the progress of the nightmare as it approached. Several times it halted as if unnerved at the silence and stillness of its prey and the fact it seemed to be looking right at her. Amelia guessed that it was a darkness predator and wasn’t used to seeing anything but panic.

“Strange one.” A low rasping voice hissed. “But, I smell your fear.”

“What does it smell like?” Forsythe asked, his voice tinged with what was unmistakable curiosity.

“Wow, he’s mad,” Raven whispered. “Oh my god, oh my god Aidan, do we get to see serious Forsythe?”

“Why is he mad?” Aidan’s eyes pinched in bafflement. “Wasn’t he looking for one of those?”

“Well, sure, but he doesn’t know where he is…” Raven posited and then she lifted her chin, waiting for Aidan to follow her train of thought.

“That’s true… If it’s Forsythe we’re talking about…” Aidan allowed slowly, his eyes blinking and his mouth slowly turning into a wry smile.

“How am I going to clean you and find my way back?” Forsythe asked, finishing Aidan’s thought for him. Forsythe was only concerned with cooking the Grendel and then finding his way back to the group.

“Examine.”

-----------------------------------

Grendel Queen - Name: Queen 450 (Boss) HP: ??

For over a century now the penultimate predator has used a variation of the common shadow teleport, mass shadow teleport, to transport herself and prey to locations where she has the advantage. She takes wolves, humans, and large game that has proven itself dangerous and exotic. She has a taste for strong opponents but isn’t sporting enough to fight in terrain that doesn’t suit her fighting style. Still, she will fight to the death, a matter of pride. She boasts an impressive 156-year record of cornering and devouring prey this way.

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Aidan looked briefly at Amelia and snickered. "Not just wolves."

Amelia rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the screen.

“Status Level,” Forsythe said calmly. There was no hint or concern in his voice. If anything he sounded lazy, uninterested, like he was looking at something that really didn’t have anything to do with him and not a special event boss that had popped up with the sole intention of eating him.

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Forsythe: 398 HP: 17,400

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He had just dismissed the window from his field of vision when Queen started to move forward. It reminded Amelia of a large cat. If a cat had a long whiplike tail. A tail with a spearhead at the end. Amelia scrunched up her face as she realized it was several meters long, and made little clicking noises against the stone while she walked. Scratch that, it was too alien to be a cat. Forsythe raised the tip of his sword lazily and pointed it at Queen.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Forsythe fight alone.” Amelia wondered aloud suddenly.

“That’s not going to be a fight,” Raven said dourly, straightening up as if the fight was just about to be over. “I changed my mind. You can watch him, Amelia.”

“Really?” Amelia raised an eyebrow. “Lost interest?”

“Yeah. He’s doing the thing I don’t like. It’s super mean.” Raven shook her head and stalked out without explaining. All eyes turned to Aidan, who was just smirking as he watched.

“Explanation?” Amelia demanded. Hunter added her head-bobbing in agreement.

“Ah, well, he does this thing,” Aidan said, and then seemed to trail off, seeming to find it too troubling to describe.

“Explain properly!” Amelia scolded him, scowling mightily.

“Haha! Are you mad? You look mad.” He danced back in the small room as Amelia took a threatening step toward him. “Fine! Raven doesn’t like it when Forsythe fights the way he does. He just sort of waits until the enemy tries all the moves on him. He’s really greedy and wants to see everything it can do. Then he demolishes them in a really brusque manner.”

“That’s it?” Hunter raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound mean.”

“For someone like Raven, it looks mean. Imagine her trying as hard as she can and he just patiently stands there asking her if she's had enough.” Aidan grinned. “Well, you’ll see.”

Forsythe parried a clawed hand that came in from his left, pushing it back outward easily, though he did make a small grunt of effort. Then the right claw in the same manner followed by the face which he neatly pointed his sword at. The grinning visage of death in the darkness paused as Queen realized that to continue her bite attack would cause her to skewer herself right through her mouth and out the back of her head. She hopped backward on all fours lightly and knelt, raising her bottom menacingly. “[Tail Spear].”

He made a small sound as if he were impressed and then hopped using one foot to his left, with minimal effort and a great deal of grace. Amelia was impressed because it was flat out dark in there and even with his vision buff it was hard to tell the texture of the floor. Hopping one-footed seemed ill-advised because he also seemed to be landing on that same foot. It must have been some sort of movement skill or style that he had learned passively? Amelia would try and make a note to ask him about it later. The tail scythed where he had been and Queen turned slightly to appraise him in earnest.

The onslaught that followed couldn’t have been described fast enough by a commentator. There were small flashes as his sword came in contact with her claws, her teeth, and her tail again. Just as he parried the tail spear she threw at him and Amelia thought there would be something exciting on his end, nothing happened.

Forsythe made no move to counter-attack, instead, he seemed comfortable with parrying and dodging her blows.

“[Invigor].” Hissed Queen. She suddenly seemed faster, her image blurring slightly as she moved through the darkness. It almost seemed like parts of her moved through the darkness, as though the very shadows bent around her to allow her to move through them like a giant reptilian air fish.

“Command, Sacrifice Offensive Sword Abilities.” Forsythe called.

“What!?” Elisha and Amelia stuttered at the same time.

“Well, that’s interesting,” Aidan admitted. “You couldn’t do that in Last Sojourn. I guess he’s been watching Amelia. Raven might be sorry she missed this afterall.”

Amelia didn’t take her eyes off the screen, transfixed by the notion that he had just sacrificed all his offensive abilities. Warriors weren’t like Wizards in that they had a lot of schools or masteries to sacrifice. It was true, she supposed, academically that you could sacrifice your sword school’s offensive abilities and it would boost your defensive sword abilities in much the same way her sacrificing her magical schools boosted her enchantments. Furthermore, she wasn’t sure if what she was witnessing was folly or pure genius. Hypothetically, he could un-sacrifice the sword offensive school whenever he felt like it. It wouldn’t level up while he didn’t use it, but he wouldn’t take penalties when he decided he wanted it again. He would just lose the boost he had just gained for defensive abilities.

“Interesting. How will you best me when you cannot hurt me?” Queen taunted and moved forward fluidly again, easily parried this time by Forsythe. Her spell and his sacrifice weren’t comparable. He was once again easily flouting her attacks, more so even.

Forsythe didn’t answer. Instead, he turned on his heel and headed toward an opening on the far wall that led elsewhere into what now appeared to be some sort of cave complex. The Queen didn’t immediately follow, startled by the sudden and abrupt change in direction and his ability to navigate the darkness flawlessly.

“There is nowhere to run.” She finally taunted him, and a quick glance over his shoulder revealed that she was moving lightning quick through the room using the walls and ridges along the floor to propel herself faster.

“You got in here, otherwise you couldn’t teleport here from memory. So if there is a way in, there is a way out.” Forsythe answered snidely, as if what she had said were stupid and he wanted her to know it was stupid. “I’ll come back and eat you later after we defeat Void.”

“Foolish man. As if I would let you out.” Forsythe didn’t answer or turn back to look. He thought he was faster, which he obviously was, and was almost immediately at the entrance to the room they were in. Amelia could already see, when he looked up, that he had found a way out of their enclosure because there was light coming from one of the two branches that had revealed themselves. He started to turn toward it when there was whumph of air and suddenly everything changed.

Forsythe turned around slowly, and Amelia realized with a start that he was in a different cave now. This cavern was gigantic. Easily the size of the aquifer where they had fought the fish men and the Terror of the Deep under the Brack Castle. There was no water here, just barren floor and a hollowed out tall ceiling. Amelia sighed, knowing that this was just the Queen telling Forsythe that any time he got close to an exit she would teleport them somewhere else. She and Forsythe were both in the same relative darkness, and she could teleport them at will.

“You begin to see.” Queen taunted him and he turned around to face her, raising the sword slowly and with more interest than he had before. “If you wish to escape these places you must defeat me. If you can.” She laughed, a hissing sound like water hitting a hot frying pan.

“I liked it better when I thought you couldn’t talk,” Forsythe admitted. He parried her blows again, side-stepping magnificently every time her tail came into play. Minutes passed with no sign of him taking any of her blows. “Is that everything then?” He asked calmly. “Is it time for phase 2?”

No words this time as the infuriated Queen moved in close with him, taking advantage of the fact he wasn’t retreating as far back as most would have. She raked her clawed hands at him, confident that he wouldn’t strike her back, paying no heed to his sword. Sparks flew from her left, then her right, and her right again. She swept her tail at his feet and he simply hopped over it like it was the most natural thing in the world. Howling, she lowered her head and called, “[Dark Pounce].”

Forsythe looked up immediately and found her after she vanished from his vision, almost making Amelia the viewer dizzy with the rapidity of the movement. Queen was falling from the air directly above him with all four deadly claws drawn downward in a classic pose a monster springing on an unwary adventurer. Forsythe raised his sword straight up and seemed to wait. He paused for a moment, watching her fall in that instant.

“Too short, Fours…” Aidan whispered from Amelia’s left. He was shaking his head. “Her arms and tail are longer.”

Forsythe seemed to reach the same conclusion and looked down at his feet. He raised his left foot off the floor and then seemed to strain with his right, the scenery blurred as he flew backward almost two meters, landing on that same foot before he looked up again. The Queen was regarding him warily from where she had fallen on the floor, talons clicking irritably against the stone floor and tail swishing with that nightmare spearhead at the tip.

“Command, Activate Sword Offensive Ability,” Forsythe said lightly, immediately assuming a stance where he was once again pointing his sword at the Queen.

“This is where Raven starts to get mad.” Aidan grimaced. “He’ll knock her health down to just under 66% to see if she has a 2nd phase. If nothing happens he'll proceed to 50% or lower. Then he’ll stop again once he triggers it if she does.”

“Why?” Hunter asked, bafflement in her voices. “If he can do it so easily?”

“I told you. He wants to see.” Aidan shook his head. "It doesn't happen often but sometimes something will just catch his full interest."

Further debate was set aside as the Queen moved in, her moves suddenly dangerously close as they were parried. Without the bonus to his defensive skills, she was getting pretty close to hitting him. The difference this time was Forsythe wasn't limited to just defending and her blistering attacks were almost immediately met with counter-attacks.

“[Riposte - Godspeed].” Forsythe blocked a left claw and immediately drew back his saber in a straight line, delivering a brutal pinpoint attack series that poked holes directly under the Queen’s large toothy maw. She grunted and started to draw back but he stepped forward, as if anticipating the movement. He was glancing up slightly, watching her bar fall.

The attack ended and Queen reeled for a moment, lowering her head and getting ready to use her tail. Forsythe stepped in immediately and turned the blade flat as he smacked the top of her head with incredible force. The ringing sound that accompanied the blow said full well that even while it hadn’t been as damaging as using the sharp end it had a large effect on the enemy’s state of mind and morale. If nothing else it rang hollowly in the open space and sounded rather, embarrassing.

He had literally just stepped in and canceled one of her attacks as if to say he could have done it at any moment. She froze as the ringing slowly faded, the flat of the blade staying on the top of her head. Before it could become a standoff Forsythe turned the blade so the sharp edge was down once again and pressed it to her head, yanking it backward with speed and leaving a long visible red damage cut. Her bar fell again even as she scrambled away, hissing at him.

“Phase 2?” He asked casually, the camera tilting. He was apparently cocking his head at the creature.

“Hissssss…” Speech seemed to have fled Queen’s mind. She had just dropped below two third’s health, and, her stance did in fact change. She was low to the ground, almost as low as she could be. “[Hopeless Reach].” Her front two claws began to sink into the ground.

A warning flashed on Forsythe’s health bar, indicating he had been struck from behind cleanly for nearly 20% of his life. He stumbled forward, whirling around and then freezing. He stood stock-still as he watched her clawed hands slowly recede from blackhole like circles into the darkness. He turned around and she hissed at him, pulling her hands from the floor slowly.

“Wow, she can teleport parts of her body!” Elisha exclaimed.

“Command, Sacrifice Sword Offensive Abilities.” Forsythe called out calmly. He dropped his sword from pointing at her and instead held it in a vertical guard position.

“Countered already.” Aidan shook his head. “He really is a monster.”

“How do you figure?” Amelia wanted to know. “I don’t see anything to indicate he has a plan.”

“He only takes action when he has a plan. Otherwise he just stands there.” Aidan explained. “Her new move is already useless.”

Queen hadn’t moved from her spot, cocking her head at him quizzically. From a predator point of view Forsythe had to be a rather odd specimen of prey. She lowered her back half toward the floor and immediately struck her tail downward. “[Hopeless Reach - Tail Spear].”

Forsythe took a running step forward and turned in mid-air, bringing his sword up in line with the tail that appeared behind him. He caught it at the tip and pushed the spear, licking across his saber’s edge the whole while, to the left and outward. As the tail retreated he glanced quickly back at the Queen and saw her hands sinking into the floor. He immediately fell to the ground, looking upward as the claws passed above him in the darkness easily missing him. He got to his feet and looked quizzically at the Queen. Amelia could tell because the camera once again tilted, indicating he was cocking his head. His voice nearly froze Amelia’s blood.

“Is that everything then?” There was just the mildest hint of politeness in that emotionless query.