The Demon let out a sigh, “So, straight to the fighting then?” it asked. Standing up straight, the armless Demon called Korbaias looked away from the dining table with reluctance and towards the party that was here to challenge it. “So be it.”

“Wait, I would be willing to,” Paladin started, now out of his momentary surprise from the direct request from the Boss Monster.

The Demon smiled as it casually spread its stance and lowered its body close to the ground, leaving its knees bent at a ninety-degree angle. It stayed there for a moment, possibly stretching before it turned its head left and right to pop its neck. It then stood up straight and started approaching them. It was strange because Colin expected this thing to move quickly and efficiently, accuracy and speed being the name of this things game.

But no, it was cool and unrushed as it came towards them. A wide, wicked, and manic grin spread wide across its face as it briskly came.

It was then that a screen appeared above the Bosses head and hovered there, announcing the fight.

Boss: Corbiaias. Health: 100%

At about the ten or eleven-yard mark, Korbaias bent down and moved in a blur of motion. His momentum paused in front of Paladin, his body in the air with his knees level with his chest. With a twist in mid-air, he swung his legs, one after another, into the giant Sumo’s chest, with each slamming into him with meaty thumps.

For the first time since meeting him, Colin watched as Paladin took two steps back from the blows as the Demon landed. Before the Sumo regained his entire balance, Corbaias landed with a crouch and leaped back up into the air.

This time, the Demon was intercepted by Larry, who announced, “Intercepting Shield!” The Familiar Demon was launched towards the Boss as if he was being pulled by an invisible line.

Before the Boss could headbutt Paladin, Larry’s shield got in the way, and the Boss got a forehead full of HellRime as it pushed itself back with the same attack.

The Boss landed a few meters away and took a few small leaping steps backward to get away from the group. If it was possible for its smile to get any bigger, it definitely did as it looked over the whole party arrayed against it. “Ooh, A HellRime Knight! Oh, that’s fantastic! I haven’t fought against one of your Order for a very long time. Although, an Incubus HellRime Knight? Their standards must have gotten low since I got trapped here.”

“Wrong on two counts,” Larry said, dismissing his shield and reshaping it into a set of greaves and gauntlets that hugged close to his body. “First, the standards of the HellRime Knights have not changed since their inception, and you know they wouldn’t. Traditionalism does not change in Hell, and you know it,” Larry growled.

“And what was my other wrong statement?” Corbaias asked, his sneer noticeable even from this distance.

“I’m not just an Incubus; I’m a Hollow Incubus,” Larry told him.

The Boss paused, not a single muscle moving as it processed what Larry had told him. Seconds passed, and Colin looked at Rielle and made sure his gaze met hers as before nodded his head at her.

She returned the nod as she sheathed her sword and redrew her bow and one of her few remaining arrows. Igniting it with Heavenly Blight, she took aim as she drew and held the pull for a breath before releasing. The green-gold arrow flew and missed the Boss as it took a step to the side at just the right moment, the projectile impacting and detonating against a wall.

“So I have a Hollow Incubus, some kind of Fairy, a giant of a fighter, and… I’m sorry, but what’s your deal?” it asked, looking at Colin. “I’m sorry, but compared to those around you, you seem kind of bland.”

“Me?” Colin confirmed before smiling at the Demon. “Why don’t we find out?”

“Why don’t we?!” it challenged, sprinting towards the group and blurring again. This time, it appeared in front of Larry and did that one-two mid-air kick again before blurring away. Larry managed to deflect both attacks easily enough but certainly better than Rielle. When he blurred over to her, the dodging Skill she had gained let her dodge the first kick to her head but take the second one to her chest.

Then it blurred again, and Colin stepped away from the group even as he put away the Lesser Infernal Edge. When the Demon appeared by him, Colin cast his Chill Touch spell with the same hand that blocked the first attack. The spell affected him with the touch and damaged the leg, interrupting the combo and causing it to leap back.

Boss: Corbaias. Health: 98%

Capitalizing on its loss of momentum, Colin pointed at the Boss and cast another spell, “Shadow Bolt!” Sending the thin shaft of shaped darkness at the Boss. It collided with its torso, sending it tumbling back several feet before rolling to a stop and getting back to its feet.

Boss: Corbiaias. Health: 94%

Flailing his arms, the Boss attempted to regain its balance and succeeded after a moment of struggling. Corbaias took a single breath and stood up straight as he looked at the party. The grimace he had after the Shadow Bolt faded into a grin as he stood up straight. Rolling his neck and shoulders, he announced, “I guess it’s time for round two!”

Moving the two stumps of its arms to the sides, Corbaias grunted as his entire torso flexed with the exertion of whatever it was doing. With a roar, sparks of red-white energy flowed off its body and into the air around him. Each spark flowed near the glossy green metal that capped off its stumps, the Infernal Magic sinking into them. Then, with a burst of power, a pair of twig-like arms made of Infernal power sprung out of the caps and flexed in the air.

The Demon looked at the arms and shook his head, “you know, a few hundred years and still can’t conjure these right the first time.” Corbaias sighed, “Oh well, I guess you get to see me ease into this. But before you think I am going to play fair,” he said, raising his left fist to eye level and snapped his new energy-based fingers. Somehow.

All four doors that weren’t the door the party entered from, slammed open and four Plated Demons stepped inside the room. All of them were wielding four-foot-long blades and held them off to their sides as they stared at the Boss. The intention was clear, even if they said or did nothing else. They were awaiting orders.

“Oh, fuck no,” Colin cursed as he started sprinting towards the Boss and readied a spell. A moment later, the magic was ready, and Colin announced, “Choking Darkness!” Designating the area the spell would take effect around the Boss, Colin also quickly cast Darkvision and rushed into the cloud of darkness.

The Boss wheezed as he tried to breathe in the air that was made of shadow particulates. Colin could see the Boss and slowed his pace to a quiet jog as he moved around him inside the five-meter area of the spell. Going as fast as he could without losing his stealth inside the cloud, Colin redrew the Lesser Infernal Edge and held it in his off-hand. As soon as he was behind the Boss, Colin moved towards it as he took a look at the Bosses’ Health.

Boss: Corbiaias. Health: 92%

Getting behind him, Colin swung both at the Demon’s neck even as the Demon somehow reacted to him. It turned around and deflected both of his blades with its Infernal Magic-created arms.

But both his right arm and Colin’s Lesser Infernal Edge vanished as the energies of both collided for a moment then cut out. Colin and the Boss separated, and he checked the enchanted item’s mana supply, finding it nearly full as he exerted a little will to reignite it.

The Boss breathed heavily and, with lots of rasping as he tried to speak, “That’s- that’s interesting. A blade conjured-” He paused to take in a slow breath. “Conjured using Infernal Magic as a base… Did you know this kind of reaction would happen, Human?” he asked, looking around as if he couldn’t see Colin. It all must have been some kind of ruse; there was no way he could have seen him through the darkness to block him and not see him now.

“Human?” the Demon asked, his head turning to look around the mist.

Deciding to try this out again, Colin reignited the Lesser Infernal Edge crept closer to the Demon that was recreating his own arm. This time, the motion only took a few seconds as it swung its arm out to the side and another of the stick-like Infernal arms appeared in its place. It flexed the arm and its fingers for a moment as his opponent moved closer to him.

Then in a flash of motion, Colin moved in for the attack. He stepped in and swung both blades in towards its neck, each coming in from the opposite direction.

Again, as soon as he stepped in, Corbaias shifted his body to block and used both of his Infernal Energy projected arms to block. And again, the Lesser Infernal Edge and the Demon’s arm that touched it flicked out like a light being shorted. This time, Colin didn’t stop moving; he reignited his weapon and slashed at the Demon’s other arm, making that one disappear as well.

Before Colin could go in for a good hit with his Mythic Xiphos, the Boss twisted its whole body around and went for a full-body roundhouse kick. The attack knocked Colin away from Corbaias and tumbling out of the area of effect for his Choking Darkness spell.

Colin rose and looked around to see that none of the Plated Demons had moved from their positions, but his party had. They’d spread out to cover more space around the area of the dark cloud; all of them knew the spell’s effect and did not go inside. Instead, they all were paying attention to the motionless Demons and were ready to attack when they did.

Colin reignited his off-hand weapon and checked with Paladin, “how’re we doing, man?”

“Not too bad,” he responded. “These guys haven’t moved since the Boss called them, most likely why you used your choking spell, right?”

“Hard to give orders without air,” Colin said, shrugging. “Think you guys can take them if Corbaias gives them orders?”

Paladin nodded, “most likely. It just depends on what sort of powers these things have.”

“Okay, I’m going back in. With any luck-” Colin started before getting a sinking feeling that came out of nowhere. Dropping to the ground, the Antagonist narrowly avoided a hook kick that the Boss had blurred up to him and attempted.

Paladin’s reaction time was impressive.

Reaching up for the raised leg as soon as Colin dropped, Paladin managed to catch the leg at the ankle and pushed him back into the Choking Darkness.

Stepping past Colin, the Sumo smiled and looked down on him, asking, “Can I try him?”

Colin nodded once, and Paladin gave him a wide, happy smile.

As he stepped forward, Corbaias rushed back out of the cloud and stopped for a moment, looking around the room. “Demons! Wipe them out!” he announced as Paladin continued to advance on him.

“So, now it’s you and me, big guy?” Corbaias said, looking up to see Paladin’s face. “This ought to be interesting.”

The Boss flexed all the visible muscles in his torso without any more preamble as the Infernal energies that made up his arms flickered. Red lightning danced along the Spindly arms made of his magic, and they changed and grew with every discharge. Instead of the idea of a working arm, there existed a pair of skeletal arms that moved as the Boss wished it. The arms were incredibly life-like for things made of pure energy and improbable given how there were no ligaments, tendons, or muscle.

Ah, magic and its ability to ignore the rules of physics, biology, and nature overall.

New arms in place, Corbaias moved towards Paladin in a casual gait and smiled at him with undeniable pleasure. When they got within striking distance, neither waited and immediately got into exchanging blows. The Sumo threw the first attack, a palm strike that Boss avoided by side-stepping the attack. It then threw a punch that Paladin deflected with a Ki-enhanced palm, then stepped in to attack again, this attack connecting and striking the side of the Bosses face.

“Hell yeah,” Colin cheered. “Bitch slap that Demon!”

Boss: Corbiaias. Health: 87%

He then turned his attention to the Plated Demons that were starting to move towards them. As they started moving, they got less rigid once they started coming towards the group. Three of them headed towards Larry, Rielle, and Colin without any issue. The fourth started moving into flank Paladin, and Colin was not going to have that.

Activating Kinetic Vigor, Colin drew one of his throwing Knives that had gotten little use in this Dungeon. Mainly due to fear that he would run out of them and need one at a critical moment, but now there was no need to hold back. As usual, Colin didn’t look at the knife he pulled out; he just drew and threw at the Demon. Sprinting towards it only a moment after, the blade took flight from his hand.

The throwing knife flew and impacted the Plated Demon’s shoulder without penetrating the chitinous shell, the thrown weapon’s effect imparting with a roar of flame. A flash of red fire exploded from the point of impact and left several scorch marks on the Demon’s armor. More importantly, Colin was given the few seconds he needed to rush in with the Lesser Infernal Edge ignited and the Mythic Xiphos ready.

The Plated Demon adjusted its stance to attack Colin quickly enough and took a straight pose with its sword forward. It swung left to right as the Antagonist stepped inside its range, Colin deflecting with his mythic Xiphos. It then twisted its whole body to press the blade into Colin’s still guarding weapon. Its weight was much more significant than his own, so the weapon shoved him back several feet and off-balance as he stayed on his feet.

“Aligned Strike,” Colin said, willing the attack skill to power both weapons. While the glowing red effect that the Skill had on his weapon was as menacing as ever, the impact on his Lesser Infernal Edge was much brighter. Instead of a dull imitation of a blade that the enchanted item created, it instead refined and defined the weapon’s energy blade. Colin was unsure why this effect was happening, and he honestly didn’t have time to figure it out.

Now, he readied his Indestructible Mythic Sword to take the Plated Demon’s next attack, holding the short sword in front of his body. It turned its body, standing sideways to Colin for a moment as it readied itself to pounce. A second later, it sprang forward, and Colin used the ready blade to deflect the sword to the side, using the attack skill to empower the deflection. With the same movement, he spun around and struck with the Aligned Strike empowered Lesser Infernal Edge.

The Demon froze in place for a few seconds as everything else roared with action, the Demon frozen in place. Then a line of blood seeped across the Plated Demon’s entire middle and the elbow of both arms. With a spray of blood, the severed top half fell free from the bottom, and both toppled to the floor.

“What the fuck?” Colin muttered, looking over the Lesser Infernal Edge’s now dispersed sharpness. Pulling his attention away from the weapon, he observed the battlefield for a moment to see where he was needed.

Larry was doing incredibly well, fighting off two of the Demons with ease as he switched from one target to the other with every attack. Rielle was fighting the other one in a one-on-one duel that she appeared to be winning. Her every move transitioned into the next with ease, and her attacks were doing alright, especially with the Rose Astral Spirit that was inhabiting her blade. The Druidic enhancement helped her pierce the defense of the armored exoskeleton.

Then there was the star of the fight with Paladin, and Colin would have to admit that he was impressed. The Sumo certainly wasn’t as agile or dexterous as either Larry or Rielle, but what he had was an impossibly tough defense and Skill to make it less necessary.

Corbaias would throw an Infernal Energy fist into Paladin, who would move to absorb the hit in his gut. The Boss would then start moving to throw another attack into the Sumo, only for Paladin to step into the blow and grab at the Bosses belt. He then twisted his entire body around, hauling the Demon with him as he threw it across the ring.

Boss: Corbiaias. Health: 71%

The Boss slammed into the wall, the blow removing at least three percent of the Bosses total Health. The Boss groaned as it rose from the floor and found all of its minions defeated. All four of the party members that were arrayed against him started coming towards him with Paladin in the lead.

“Stage Change!” Corbaias announced, grinning like a fool.

The battlefield was a perfect circle surrounded by four doors, not including the one they used to enter the room. With Corbaias proclamation, the room shook, and the entire floor cracked and fractured with the force. With the sound of a crumbling mountain, the outermost part of the ring shattered and fell. Into an area that had boiling lava and red crystal spikes poking through the surface.

The ring smaller, the risks higher, everyone turned to reface the Boss who was practically cackling like a madman. His energy arms were clutching his sides as if he couldn’t hold back the urge. “Alright, now time for the real event. Oh, I hate this part; it always hurts.” The Boss told them as he dismissed his arms. Then with a resigned sigh, he said, “Splitting Arm-aments,” he said, shaking his head as he started clenching his teeth.

Before Colin’s eyes, the Demon’s stumps for arms split from one set into two sets, with the other behind and slightly under the other. The second set was capped with the same glossy green metal as the original set. It resummoned its arms, two sets burning the air with infernal energy and both skeletal in appearance. With a brief gesture, both sets snapped their fingers more Plated Demon’s appearing from the doors along the walls.

Paladin was already readvancing as the Demon finished its transformation, palms alight with that orange Ki energy. As soon as he could, he started exchanging blows with the Demon even as Colin, Larry, and Rielle moved to intercept the new Plated Demons. These ones were Cinder Plated Demon’s, the fire variation of the species, the armored exoskeleton, and heavy maces burning red hot as steam rose from their surface.

“Larry, you got two?” Colin shouted.

“Oh yeah,” the Incubus responded happily, even as he sprinted towards one of the ones leaping from the doorways and onto the floating platform. It didn’t take much effort for the HellRime Knight to rush into one, grab it, spin it around and throw it towards the other he wanted. He then immediately ran towards both before they gained their balance.

Colin and Rielle took on the other two, with Colin focusing mainly on his use with the Mythic Xiphos to avoid draining the Lesser Infernal Edge’s mana too much in the battle. On the other hand, Rielle kept her sword lit up with her Rose Astral Spirit as she turned around with her opponent. The Demon fought and swung their maces, its every movement sending out gouts of flame and hot air from the joints in their armored bodies as they moved.

With her naturally more lithe movement and attacking style of dodging and attacking, Rielle was managing to fair pretty well. Even with the help of her Rose Astral Spirit, she wasn’t slicing through its armor, but she was working to gouge into it, time and time again.

Colin wasn’t fairing badly, but he definitely needed to put a few more attribute points into his Speed and Dexterity. The Demon wasn’t out speeding him, but he wasn’t running circles around it either. Its choice of weapon meant slower, more powerful blows, and Colin was rather annoyed. Especially since he was trying to avoid using more of his mana for a while. With any luck, he could save it for when it was time to fight the Boss again.

But even as he side-stepped a downward smashing blow, the Cinder Plated Demon viciously pulled the weapon towards Colin in an upward swing that caught him in the belly.

You have taken 54 points of damage and now have 546/600 Health remaining.

The blow knocked him back several feet but not off of them. Colin immediately retaliated with a tricky maneuver of his own. Throwing one of his knives spinning up in the air towards the Demon, drawing its eyes away from Colin. At that moment, he reclosed the difference and lashed out at its exposed belly. His blade gouged into the hard and burning exoskeleton, producing a gout of dark flame that burned Colin’s arms.

You have taken 37 points of damage and now have 509/600 Health remaining.

Ignoring the pain as best he could, Colin then spun around again, ducked low, and thrust the Mythic Xiphos up into the Cinder Plated Demon’s soft insides. He withdrew his blade for good measure, grabbed another throwing knife, checked it, and stabbed the lesser chill throwing knife into the wound before hurrying away. As Colin watched, the Demon howled in pain, its bodies coloring becoming darker and darker by the second. When the Demon collapsed a moment later, it practically shattered as it hit the ground, chunks falling away as it landed.

Turning towards Rielle, he found her watching the fight between Paladin and the Boss. He watched the battle for a moment before checking on Larry. While both of his opponents were still alive, they were also dying of death by a thousand cuts. Each had patches of Hellish Ice covering swathes of their bodies, and both were missing their maces. The HellRime Knight not letting up on his assault long enough for them to re-acquire them.

It was over a moment later, Larry finishing them off in a grandiose fashion by freezing their heads with HellRime and smashing them together. Both burst like frozen overripe melons and let the bodies fall to the floor.

Paladin, compared to Larry, was starting to have a hard time. Corbaias’ four arms added layers of complexity to its attacks when it didn’t just attack with two at once. But Paladin was still holding his own surprisingly well, trying to focus any hit he took on his torso and belly. That was if he didn’t manage to deflect it with his Ki-infused hands and wrists. It was an intense exchange, Paladin trying to get the Demon to move into his rhythm, but the Boss’s high mobility style of fighting made that impossible.

That didn’t stop him from still trying, however. The Sumo attempted to move the Boss into a hold long enough to throw or redirect, but the Boss just kept out of range for a grab. Every attempted grab was turned into a palm thrust or body check against his opponent, and the Boss was being whittled down by the higher leveled Player.

Boss: Corbiaias. Health: 48%

Colin watched when Corbaias dropped his smile for any other expression for the first time in this fight.

A scowl covered the Demon’s face as he took a single ten-foot leap backward and away from Paladin. “You know what?!” the Demon yelled, dismissing his arms and waving both sets of stumps for all to see. “I’m done with this! Stage Change!”

The Proclamation started another chain reaction in the room. This time, the floor shook, but it wasn’t the stage’s floor that was causing them to rumble. A giant skeletal claw emerged from the floor and gripped the stage in its palm from underneath them. It took Colin a moment and a use of his Appraisal Skill to know what it was.

Skeletal Dragon Claw. Weight: Unknown. Item Quality: 10.

The claw of an unknown but slain dragon that attacked the Dungeon known as ‘Zagan’s Besieged Fortress before it became a Dungeon. Little is known about the Dragon other than it was one of the largest known to have ever lived and that it died to Zagan himself.

The purpose of the claw didn’t become clear unless it was simply a backdrop for the stage now.

Only a few seconds had passed, and Colin looked to see the Boss focusing on resummoning his arms again. It followed suit like last time; the energy when he resummoned them reconstructed them more whole, more like living arms. Only these arms were emaciated and stringy, the energy part of the arms made it hard to tell. But Colin was sure, though, that the Boss had managed to reconjure the arms with tendons, cartilage, muscle but with no skin. The Boss growled at the less than optimal transformation before dropping into another fighting stance and leaping at Paladin.

Two fists connected to the Sumo’s body, one to the chest and the other to the face. Colin knew some things about Paladin’s abilities, and being resistant to abilities and attacks that knocked you around was a key thing. So when the massive Sumo was forced back a step by the combined blows, it took him and Paladin by surprise. Enough so that when Corbaias landed on the ground, he moved right into a four-armed handstand then threw himself feet first at Paladin’s head.

It was nowhere near enough to kill the nearly level forty Player, but it did knock him flat on his back and dave him for a few seconds. Long enough for the Boss to land on him and start wailing on him with both sets of arms.

Rielle didn’t let him do that for more than a few seconds. After realizing that Paladin was down and the Boss was trying to kill him, she turned her Heavenly Blight on the Boss and kept her stare going. As per usual, the Skill engulfed the Boss in a green-gold flame that was dealing damage, but he barely reacted to it. Corbaias didn’t even flinch; he just stopped punching and turned to look at Rielle with an assessing gaze.

“Celestial power and the Fetish Blight, hmmm,” he hummed, rubbing at the burns forming on its torso. “Better take care of you first before this starts to rash up.”

In an instant, the Boss blurred over to her and swung his two right fists into Rielle’s torso. The Death Fey twisted around to avoid the attack and attempted to attack with a sword chop downward. The Boss then kicked up into her guard and knocked her back a step away, immediately going into another two-handed punch.

Colin and Larry were not idle. Both hurried over to assist her only to have Corbais snap his fingers, and more Demons appeared. This time, two were Hunchbacked Wretches, and the others were more Cinder Plated Demons. Both types leaped past the Dragon’s Talons and made their way over to join the fight.

“Shit,” Colin swore. “Paladin?! We need you!”

“Ugh, I’m coming!” he yelled, his tone groggy as he started slowly getting to his feet. The Boss must have really rung his bell to make the nearly impervious man react this slowly.

“Great,” Colin muttered. He was more prepared to take on the weaker enemies than Larry, given that he could keep himself safer from the Wretches Psionic magic. “Larry, Help Rielle! I got these,” Colin ordered, turning to face the oncoming Demons and undead.

For her part, Rielle was not faring well against the Boss. He was a mobile type of warrior, much like herself, but unlike herself, he was versed in getting up close and personal while she preferred to shoot a bow from afar. She was getting more adept with blades, but they still weren’t her favorite means of fighting. Corbaias, however, was in his element, and that gave him the distinct advantage.

She had already taken several hits over the last few moments of their exchange and was getting hurt pretty badly. Her Health was down to a third of its total number, and she was having a harder time avoiding his attacks due to it.

“Annnnd… Got you!” the Demon proclaimed as one of its energy-made hands grabbed her by the throat and lifted her in the air. The other arms quickly grabbed her arms to hold them to her sides while the last arm simply stayed up and ready.

Energy like electricity danced up the magic made arms and burned into her arms and neck, dealing much less damage than it felt. She tried to kick at him in an attempt to get him to release her, but he barely flinched against her weak attacks. His gaze was practically a vicious smirt as he reared back all of his arms and readied himself.

A sinking feeling entered Rielle’s stomach as she realized what the Boss was going to do. She squirmed against his grip even harder but again to no avail. The Boss simply took a heavy breath and threw her towards the nearest edge.

Larry watched as Rielle, one of his Master’s companions and someone he wanted to know better, flew at the edge. She tumbled, tried to grab at the edge as she rolled, but was going too fast, and she passed over.

A little-known fact about Demons. Demons are the embodiment of the seven deadly sins and reflect them somehow, Squash Demons being the exception. Incubi and Succubi, like Larry, are usually a combination of the sins Lust and Envy, being creatures that inspire and feel these emotions exceptionally deeply. As with all Demon’s variations do exist, like with the Gilded Succubus, a being of Lust and Greed. Larrimortias LeGrelle is currently amongst his kin, being a Hollow Incubus.

It was at that moment that the Boss looked to see who he’d be finding next and found such a being frozen and glaring at him. The HellRime armor that Larry wore tightened around his body, molding, and darkening where the armor it had worn had punctured its skin. The red-black stained HellRime coated its body like a second skin before it thickened and cracked in many places. What was previously a helmet looked more like the skull of an untamed, unthinking Demon with its three-foot-long, curved and barbed horns.

Hollow Incubi were considered to be near-legendary creatures being Demons of Lust and Wrath. Right now, its wrath was lusting after the blood of Corbaias.

With a stomp, a layer of HellRime ice covered an entire third of the stage’s floor, and Larry took one easy step along the ice before blurring himself.

“Oh, fu-” the Boss attempted to say before feeling an Ice Covered fist impact into his head.

The Boss recovered quickly, a benefit of being both a Boss creature and a Brawler type class, and readied himself to fight this beast. It was watching when Larry vanished from where he’d struck before and came at the Boss again. Corbaias watched as the Hollow Incubus was practically speed skating along his own conjured HellRime at rates no mortal under level fifty could accomplish or follow.

It was then, just before Larry struck, that the Boss noticed the cold. The cold was oppressive, sunk into his flesh in a moment, and was prickling his nerves the instant Larry got close. Corbaias managed to raise his Infernal Energy arms to block the attack, only for the straight punch to coat the arm in HellRime. Along with the HellRime, the arm vanished a moment later with a flash of red-white synonymous energies.

Corbaias blurred away from Larry as he followed through with another attack, a mist of cold exuding from the ice-coated fist.

The enraged Larry turned immediately towards where the Boss was standing, feeling where he stood on the HellRime. Bending his waist low, the skull upon his head opened wide as he howled in his uncontrollable anger. The Challenge towards its opponent being crystal clear with the HellRime Knight Skill taking hold.

“Fuck,” Corbaias swore, reading the prompt that informed him of the Challenge. “Fine, let’s do this.”

Then before he could move, the howl turned into a beam of ice blue, and infernal red energy erupted from Larry’s maw. The attack only lasted a long moment but carried kinetic force along with the energy throwing him back and damaging him. Larry closed his maw and breathed for a long moment; it was as he rose that Corbaias struck at him himself.

The Boss screamed as he struck using both Infernal Fists and as much power as he could to send Larry flying.

Impacting the wall, Larry was about to fall into the boiling lava below when spider legs of ice erupt from his HellRime shell and grabbing the wall. Turning its shining gaze towards the target of its ire, Larry grabbed ahold of the wall himself and bracing himself. With a roar, Larry sprang towards Corbaias, landing on the ice several meters away and coming to a crashing stop.

Slamming its clawed hands into the ground, hundreds of needle-thin spikes erupted from the sheet covering the floor, damaging the Boss before they shattered.

Then Larry conjured a two-headed battle-ax and came at the Boss with Blinding speed. His first attack landed, slicing into Corbaias’ gut as he turned around and raised the blade above his head to bring it down on the Bosses. The Demon activated a movement skill to move a few feet away and out of reach. It leaped back at Larry, blowing him away with a pair of blows that blasted Infernal Energy with the impact.

Boss: Corbiaias. Health: 16%

Colin had finished off the last Wretch not without injury, but he was still in decent Health thanks to Paladin.

DevilWalker Health: 289/600.

While he wanted to watch Larry fight the Boss, amazed that his Familiar had so much power, he was more concerned about Rielle. He knew she was still alive; Nox had assured him that if she died, the contract he’d signed stated that a prompt would tell him. The problem was, he had no idea if he could help her.

Going towards the edge where she was thrown off, he looked around and didn’t see her. He started walking around the edge as the seconds passed, trying to see if she’d done something interesting to survive but still, nothing.

“Nox, how long do you think Rielle would have survived in the lava?” Colin asked.

He got the impression that Nox shrugged, “definitely not this long, and I swear that you would have received a prompt if she died.”

“Then where-?” he said before another scream broke the ambient noise along with the two’s fight.

Rielle was standing on top of one of the Dragon’s claws, sword broken in her hand but lit with the Rose Astral Spirits power. She jumped off the claw and pounced towards the Boss below, sword ready to kill.

“Fuck you,” Corbaias spat angrily, raising all four hands and channeled more Infernal Power into them. They glowed in that Hellish light for a moment before becoming fully formed arms that still sparked with his magic. Bringing the heel of all four hands together, an orb of red light created in the middle and grew with every moment. A few seconds later, it was the size of a baseball, and Colin was already hurrying over to help her.

At the same time, so was Larry, and Corbaias turned his attack to face him. With a beam attack of his own, he announced, “Zagan’s Blast Wave!” sending the burst towards Larry.

The HellRime encapsulating Larry shattered with the attack, the Infernal Ice not reacting well to the strong Infernal attack. While his rage-built power-up did give him an incredible boost, it did not increase his Health or heal him. All that damage that he had accrued from the fight here was enough that this final potent attack finally did him in.

Larry stumbled to the floor, his body stopping its forward momentum with the help of his instant loss of strength. He didn’t even see Rielle before he died, and his essence returned to Hell itself.

Rielle landed, her broken sword shearing a little more of the Bosses Health before she backed off and dismissed her Spirit back to its Pocket. Colin sprinted past her and had drawn and ignited his Lesser infernal Edge, coming in swinging. On the other hand, she chugged a vial containing mana potion and waited a few seconds for the brew to finish.

The Antagonist focused on using his Lesser Infernal Edge to destroy the arms, a feat that now took a few seconds of prolonged contact, then using his Mythic Xiphos to cut at him.

Once her mana was as high as it could be, Rielle focused her Heavenly Blight Skill on the Demon, stacking her damage on top of his without getting in his way.

Paladin got close to the fight and paced around the Boss and only stepped in if Colin was knocked away, having to do so only once.

Boss: Corbiaias. Health: 02%

Not taking any chances, Colin activated Aligned Strike with both of his weapons and Kinetic Vigor. With the Red-white energy of the attack skill-enhancing his attack, he swung both at Boss. The Lesser Infernal Edge slicing into his chest and the Mythic Xiphos gutting his belly below it.

Boss: Corbiaias. Health: 00%

Corbaias, the Boss of the Dungeon called ‘Zagan’s Besieged Fortress,’ crumbled to the floor, landing on his knees. He looked down at the blood that was oozing out of his wounds with a small smile. “Oh, I have to admit. Out of all the fights that I have had here as the Boss of this Dungeon, I admit. This has to be my favorite.”

With a wet-sounding cough, Corbaias fell forward onto his face and officially died.

You have killed Corbaias, the Dungeon Boss, and have gained 60,000 EXP. You now have 189,257/256,914 until level 21. You have killed 4 Plated Demons, 6 Cinder Plated Demons, and 2 Hunchbacked Wretches and have gained 12,390 EXP. You now have 201,647/256,914 until level 21. Your Voracious Mythic Xiphos is now level 13. The minimum and maximum damage has increased. Your Aligned Strike Skill is now level 9. Damage per Alignment Rank has increased. Your Short Blades Skill is now Level 13. Your damage, attack speed, and reaction time with short blades has increased by a small margin. Your Demonology Skill is now Level 3. The Demonic Lore and Knowledge in your head has been expanded due to use. Your Summoning Magic skill is now level 7. The available options for free and directed summons have increased. Your Summon Familiar Skill is now level 7. The capabilities of your familiar have increased by a small margin.

After he dismissed all of the prompts denoting what he’d gained, another Prompt appeared.

Congratulations! You have defeated the Dungeon, ‘Zagan’s Besieged Fortress’! To claim your reward, activate the Loot Box of the Boss to claim the prize. Whoever activates the Loot Box will get the main reward. Still, all party members will receive an appropriate but lesser reward for their participation. Once again, Congratulations!

Colin just wanted to collapse. He had no idea how long they’d been in the Dungeon, but it had to be at least most of the day. He fell to his butt on the floor, just breathing in and smiling. Looking down, he saw that the Bosses body had already melted away into the bloody-red sludge that all of them were familiar with. As it formed into the red orb, he noticed that this one actively caught the light as he looked at it, making this one look special compared to the others.

“May I?” Colin asked, pulling out the Loot Upgrade Token that he’d received earlier on this floor and showing them the Coin. His meaning was clear; if they said yes, he would use it on this Loot Box and see what happens.

Paladin and Rielle shook their heads and urged him to go ahead.

So he reread the item’s description to get this right and touched the copper token to the Boss Loot Box. The Coin was sucked inside the Blood Orb and the entire thing vibrated hard enough that ripples could be seen on its surface.

Then the Loot Box burst open, none of its residue hitting any of the trio, and three bursts of light flying towards each of them. Rielle and Paladin got leather sacks that were tied off with a thick drawstring that, when opened, revealed Copper Coins, potions, and a few gems of multiple colors.

Colin’s reward took a few seconds longer to integrate itself above his arms, but when it did, he smiled upon his good fortune.