When I entered the green tinted boss room I immediately scanned my mind map. Vines covered the area below our feet. There were a few vine traps and light boulders but no jadinfray caves. Oddly, recharge orbs lined the edge of the room. I licked my lips and my heart sped. Despite the difficulty of this situation, I couldn’t help but feel a thrill at the thought of another fight.

Korren hefted her symbols covered war hammer. The weapon had a long golden shaft with a hammer and spike on its tip. I easily recognized the metal since I’d mined so much of it, Shimmery Copper.

“You only have experience facing a sword, so you don’t understand that the weapons we use are more a representation of power and energy, than what you understand as a weapon. Take my war hammer.”

“Huh?”

Around me, the sound of a familiar drumbeat ran.

“They were originally invented to be a way to damage armored enemies without needing to go through full plate. They were very effective.”

The gong sounded and Korren grinned.

A chill ran down my spine and I had the realization that her war hammer could probably bypass all the charges of my armor.

I bolted down avoiding a boulder and vine trap. Korren followed.

When I’d gone 12 squares and Korren 6, her hammer started to glow. She hefted it above her head and swung it. The blocks in a half circle around her burned with energy. When the light dissipated the nearby vine traps and a boulder had disappeared.

“What? Did that thing just destroy a boulder?”

I was so shocked I let her get three squares closer to me. I pulled on my bow, aimed at her and released.

She vanished and reappeared with a sword.

I flew down as fast as I could.

Her voice echoed through the mine.“The sword was, of course, the first tool designed entirely for the purpose of killing another sentient creature.”

“No, duh.” I collapsed a mass of boulders to force her to go around and continued my charge.

“With a sword, you can slash or stab your opponent. Parry or block.”

I didn’t need it but I collected an energy orb anyway. After traveling another couple blocks my bow recharged. I aimed my arrow at Korren but when she saw that she started traveling in a nonconforming zigzag pattern making it impossible to tell what square she was aiming for.

Her sword glowed and she slashed. This sword worked differently from the one Meeks had. 4 blocks around her glowed with intense energy.

She was still for long enough that I fired into the glow, hoping it would disappear before my arrow reached her. The glows canceled each other out.

I sighed. Of course, they would. I burst through more blocks and recharged my weapon.

I traveled around a couple traps and boulders. Korren closed in. When she was three squares away I thought I still had enough room so I didn’t think anything of it until her sword began to glow and my vision changed.

My armor had teleported me 3 squares away and lowered to 1 out of 2 charges. I swallowed and bolted down. Unfortunately, she didn’t give me a break.

“Watch yourself!”

She tossed something that looked like a grenade. It traveled through vine blocks and landed 6 away from her. But having a grenade in a world like this was ridiculous. At least that was my thought up until I once again vanished and reappeared a few blocks away.

“That is one of my ten auxiliary weapons, Miss Knight. Do keep count.”

I swallowed. This battle was not going well. With only my life left, I had to keep my distance from her.

After taking a deep breath I bolted down until my weapon once again had a nocked arrow. I pulled back and waited for her. She zagged on her fourth square to me, but I had the range and I saw the move coming. I loosed my arrow and she vanished once more. When she reappeared 5 squares away grasping a familiar bow.

“You’ve used this weapon for a long time now, but do you know what it’s symbol is?”

Too stressed to come up with a coherent answer I called back, “I don’t know. Rangers or something?”

I sidestepped a TNT crate. She flew after me without stopping her lecture.

“The hunt. Forest dwellers who must hunt or starve, and warriors who march in sending volley after volley at enemy troops.”

“Sure.” I swallowed and moved down one more block. My bow charged and I aimed at where I assumed Korren would land. When she was a square out of my range she stopped. In my mind map, I saw her pull back on her bow and aim. I dodged left but she hadn’t been aiming at me. In my hubris, I’d let myself become level with the bottom of the TNT crate from earlier, which I became aware of when terrible heat caressed my skin and familiar words whispered in my mind.

You are about to die. Want me to save you?

“No.”