What kind of dungeon designer makes a dungeon that you can clear only 3 rooms and then fight the boss?

A bad one. Possibly one that’s as bad as the designer of the tutorial dungeon.

I’m not saying that they were made by the same person, but… Who am I kidding. Yes, I am. AltSys did a terrible job, and he should feel bad.

---

As we walked out of the tunnel, we realized that we had entered back into the forest. The party immediately went to high alert and looked for signs of enemies. We didn’t see anything.

Eventually, Jake motioned me over, and I walked over to him quietly. He whispered. “You’re the only one that has fought a boss. What should we expect? Normal video game boss fight?”

I frowned and whispered back. “I only fought the one, so no idea if that fight was normal. As for what to expect, I did have a relatively safe zone that I started out in. We might be okay here for a bit. The boss itself didn’t show up until after I had defeated hundreds of ads, though. The ads also came in waves.”

Jake was silent for a bit, and then the rest of the party huddled up with us. He whispered a bit louder, and I don’t know if it was for my benefit or if he wasn’t able to communicate that much information through the party link. “Okay, guys. Here’s what we know. We’re trapped in here until we beat the boss, so we’ll have to take it down. It has elemental in its name, so I bet that we can do extra damage if we hit with opposite types. Hit fire with ice, earth with air, and the other way around too.”

Sam grinned and fist-pumped. “Avatar [Sorcerer] is paying off already!” She went to give me a high-five, but a glare and a shush from Emilia, along with the fact that we were currently trying to hide from a boss, shut her up. “Sorryyy..” she whispered.

Jake continued on like it didn’t happen. “We probably should also avoid hitting with the same type if possible. Tim that means stick to [Mage Bolt] if they happen to be fire elementals.”

Tim sniffed and looked like he was about to say something condescending, but he stopped. Instead, he went with a simple, “Of course.”

“Okay, now the main question. Do we stay here and try to get some resources back, or go into the boss room?”

I felt a bit left out at that point since I had no idea what their health, stamina, or magic pools were looking like, and Jake either forgot to tell me or didn’t care about my opinion on anyone else’s resources. Either way, a decision was reached fairly quickly that we would try to get as much of a rest as we could since Tim was down to about 3/4 of his MP, and we had no idea how long the boss fight was going to take.

Megan and I were assigned to watch the perimeter as the rest of the party sat or laid down to rest because both of us were basically topped off (me because of my regen that never slowed down, and her because she had little to do in most of our fights that day). We both quietly circled the camp, but we didn’t notice anything before Jake called us back in a few minutes.

“I started regenning, but Andrew and Tim didn’t. Not even their stamina is going back up.” Jake whispered to me. He looked over at both of them as they were fidgeting and looking around. “Because of the boss room?”

“If so, then it’s different than the one I fought,” I whispered back. “I was able to regen SP just fine when I was in a boss fight as long as I was safe. Also, why would it only do that for those two?”

Jake frowned and thought for a moment. He finally whispered, “Okay, I have something I want to test, but it could be a bit dangerous. Do you mind doing it?”

I was really not a fan of how he worded that, especially in the middle of a boss fight with the boss’ HP bar looming in our field of vision, but I took the bait and answered anyway. “I guess. What’s the plan?”

“You have a few SP missing, right?” Jake asked, and I just nodded. “I want you to go out to the perimeter of our safe area. Just for a few seconds, enough that you would normally regain an SP or two.”

“Okay, I’ll go out there and hop up into a tree then-”

“No tree. Stay on the ground. That’s part of the experiment.”

My anger flared up, and the first thought that came to mind was, I’m gonna punch that stupid [Hero] in his stupid face. I took a step towards him to do just that, but I managed to stop myself. Why am I angry? Because I’m a guinea pig? Because I’ll be in danger? I looked at Jake. Or is it just because the [Hero] is the one who suggested it? I mulled that over for a second and then decided to just go with it. “Okay. I’ll do your stupid test.”

He gave me a wry grin. “Thanks, Titus, and I don’t mean to use you as a test subject, but everyone else has already rested some today, which might throw it off. How fast is your SP regen again?”

“18 a minute. That’s 3 SP per 10 seconds, or 1 SP every 3 and a third.”

“And what are you at?”

“245.”

“Okay, go out there and rest for about 10 seconds. If it works, you should be at 247 or 248.”

I cautiously walked out into the forest and sat down. I counted down from 10 in my head while I waited and expected to be jumped by whatever monsters were in this boss room. I hit 0, quickly got up, and then hurried back over to Jake and the rest of the party.

“What are ya at now?” Jake whispered as soon as I got back.

I checked. “Still 245.” I frowned. Where’s he going with this?

“Okay, same thing, but get up in a tree instead of waiting on the ground. Oh, but make sure to check your stamina after you climb in case you lose any.”

I lost one SP doing the climb, but I was soon up in the tree. I began my 10-second wait. I felt much safer, and part of it clicked. Wait, I feel safer up here. I felt safe whenever I rested. I didn’t feel safe last try... I reached 0 again and hopped down.

“And now?” Jake asked.

“247, up from 244.”

Jake gave a slight fist pump. “I knew it! Resting has a condition.” He grinned triumphantly.

Instead of playing along and asking what it was, I just said. “Yup. You need to be in an area that you consider safe in addition to actually resting.”

Jake deflated a bit. “Ah, man! I was hoping I was the first to figure it out. How’d you know?”

“Well, I’ve rested in combat quite a bit. In the tutorial, when Garrett held me up above the ants, during the boss fight I had with the giant ant, and then up in a tree a couple times while fighting wolves. So, what clinched it for me was the fight against the wave in town. Why did I regain HP when I was lying down indoors, but not when I was playing dead after the bear hit me?”

“I’m still a little mad at you for that, by the way.” Jake interrupted.

“Oh come on, I didn’t even do a good job of playing dead! I completely forgot about the negative HP buffer where people are still alive and can talk but can’t move. I’m just lucky that the bear wasn’t smart.”

I hadn’t realized that we had started to raise our voices until Emilia interjected. “Shhh! What is wrong with you two? Aren’t we in a really dangerous place right now?”

Jake and I looked at each other and then back at her chagrined. “Sorry. You’re right. Let’s just get Andrew and Tim feeling safe and then get everyone rested up.”

We got them up into a tree, and they seemed to relax a bit. Meanwhile, I took to experimenting. I found that I could be considered “resting” while leaning against a tree, standing, and even walking slowly. I couldn’t get anything more demanding than that to work.

While I did my testing, we somehow got everyone back up to full without any enemies coming to fight us. That made everyone in the party a bit leery, even the ones who are less used to video game tropes, but we chalked it up to good luck and stalked further on into the forest.

Soon enough, Jake called me back up to talk to him. “Shouldn’t we have seen enemies by now?”

“Based on my boss fight?” I asked. “Yeah. Definitely, which just means that each boss fight is going to be way different than the others.” Suddenly, Megan dropped back into visibility right in front of us and made me jump. “Don’t do that!” I chastised her.

“Sorry.” I could tell she wasn’t sorry. “I think I found something. Come take a look.”

She led us to a clearing that was about 200 feet in diameter and had nothing in it except for a stone pedestal in the middle.

“What do you guys think? Trigger for the boss or obvious trap?” Jake asked the party.

“I’m thinking both,” I replied.

Jake nodded. “Yeah, sounds about right.” He looked at the party. “Everyone go together?” The party agreed, and we moved towards the pedestal cautiously.

Jake walked up and examined it. “Huh. It has carvings on the top.” He paused for a second as if he was reading something. “My map says that’s north, so… To the north, we have a... Sun? To the east, we have a leaf. To the south, a snowflake. And finally, to the west, a… plant.”

“That likely means that each depiction corresponds with a season. And then, based on the boss we are fighting, an element as well,” Tim replied.

“Yeah, makes sense.” I nodded. I had come to the same conclusion. “So we have fire, earth, ice, and then… Earth again?” Confusion entered my voice.

“I think the leaf might be air then?” Jake replied. “Summer would be fire, fall is air, winter ice, and spring earth.” We studied the pedestal a bit more, and Jake spoke again. “I think we have to push one of them to start this off.”

“My vote is summer. The sun.” I mean, if we’re right and that’s fire, then that means that it’s the least likely to be able to hurt me. Wait. Doesn’t that mean I won’t be able to hit back with [Fire Strike]?

I didn’t have enough time to correct my possible mistake before Jake started reaching for it. “Yeah, if this goes like I think, then we’ll probably have to fight enemies for each one of these. Good call Titus. We should fight fire, assuming that is what it is, while we’re fresh since we don’t have any ice spells.” He reached forward and pushed on the sun symbol.

The symbol lit up, and the changes were drastic. The forest around us went from a snowscape with barren trees to a vibrant and warm forest with lush branches. Then just as suddenly, it cycled. The sun symbol faded, and the leaf symbol lit up. Leaves were suddenly on the ground, and it had dropped several degrees. That symbol disappeared too, and the snowflake lit up. The leaves were replaced with snow, and it was back to the temperature we were used to. That too faded, lighting up the symbol for spring. The trees suddenly burst forth into flowers, and the snow was gone.

Finally, that symbol faded from the pedestal too. It once again became summer in the forest. We heard wolf howls from all around us, and I noticed a small pillar about the size of Andrew appear on the north side of the clearing. I didn’t have too long to ruminate before the wolves became visible. They stalked towards us out of the north side of the forest. However, they weren’t the wolves that we were used to. Instead of bodies of flesh and blood, they were living flames that were vaguely wolf-shaped.

As they continued their slow stalk towards us, I whispered to Jake. “What does [Identify] say those things are?”

“Let’s check.” He muttered. He pointed his hand in the direction of one of them. “[Identify].” That broke the uneasy stalemate that we had, and the wolves charged. “[Identify] has them as level 5 elemental wolves! Remember, hit them with things besides fire!”

As [Mage Bolts], [Earth Bolts], [Air Bolts], and arrows flew (Sam must have been [Quick Casting]), I started counting. There were only 10 wolves. Well, it’s the first wave. It shouldn’t be that hard, right? That was when I noticed that the attacks weren’t landing. Huh, they’re usually better shots than that. We’ll get them easily in melee, though. I hadn’t paid enough attention to notice that the attacks were passing through the wolves, not missing them.

Just like that, they were upon us. Four of the wolves were faster than the others, and they lunged at our frontliners. Jake, Garrett, Lindsey, and I met their attacks head-on with attacks of our own. It didn’t go well for us. Jake and Garrett nearly lost their balance as their swings encountered no resistance. They also cried out in pain as the wolves leaped through them and then reformed on the other side. Lindsey’s strike also encountered no resistance, but she maintained her balance and dodged out of the way.

My punch also hit air, and I was too dumbstruck to dodge. The wolf burned as it passed through me. Except, I have [Fire Immunity], so it felt more like a pleasant summer day. “Huh.” I stared at the wolf as it prepared another lunge and then jumped through me again. “Not the smartest in the bunch, are ya?” Then I remembered that my party members were in a fight for their lives.

Turning around, I saw that the other wolves had closed the distance and that the party was in trouble since none of our attacks were working. I came to a quick decision. “Give me aggro!” I shouted.

The party was more than happy to oblige, and they ran all of their enemies over to me. I punched each of the wolves for no damage, but it did cause them to start attacking me instead. Soon enough, I was standing around with all 10 wolves taking turns leaping through me to no effect.

“As fun as this is...” I coughed as I got a mouthful of flame from one wolf that jumped extra high. “Any ideas for what we’re supposed to do here? None of our attacks work, and I’m pretty sure that we have to beat these guys to move on.”

“Hmm. I got nothin’.” Jake said.

“It would seem that our lack of ice damage could prove to be a fatal flaw,” Tim said gravely.

“Let’s hope not,” Jake replied.

The party stood around, staring at me for a moment, and I just sighed. “Well, you guys may as well take a load off and get any HP you lost back.”

“Can’t we only rest if we’re safe?” Jake asked.

“Well, [Hero], as long as you don’t get too close to me, I think you should be.”

Jake saw my point and took a seat a ways away from me. “Weirdest boss fight ever,” he muttered.

The rest of the party followed suit and sat down. Meanwhile, I simply watched the wolves attack me ineffectively. Hey, I wonder. Since the party was trying to take a rest, I figured I may as well give it a try too. I closed my eyes and tried to get in the right mindset. I am completely safe. A lick of flame hit me in the face and broke my concentration. I tried again. I am not in combat. I am resting. I watched my SP like a hawk to see if I would regain one of the few points I was missing. I wasn’t too optimistic and nearly gave up. Yeah, that would be a bit broken if you could rest even while being attacked. Then my SP went up by 1.

I jumped in the air and shouted, “Booyah!” Then I remembered where I was and saw the strange looks that my party was giving me. “Sorry. Just found out that I can regain my SP too.”

Sam spoke up first. “Wow, even with them chomping on your arms like that?”

I looked down and saw that I had a fire wolf hanging off each arm. “I guess so.” I shook my arms, and they fell off. “Hey, wait! Are they corporeal now?” I tried to punch and kick some of the wolves around me, but nothing had changed. “Darn.”

The party’s curiosity was piqued, though, so we ran some tests to see how long it took to regain SP. The normal regen rate was 1 SP per 3.3 seconds, but it took me around a full minute to get back 1 with the wolves attacking me.

“I wonder if being attacked means that my rest is interrupted, so it just takes that long to get 3.3 uninterrupted seconds?” I wondered aloud.

Tim put a damper on the mood, though. “As diverting as this science experiment on resting has been, we still haven’t solved the main problem. How are we going to kill those wolves?”

“I could try [Sunder], I guess?” Jake frowned.

I shrugged. “I guess we don’t have any better ideas. Give it a go.”

Jake picked one of the wolves out. His sword arced with electricity, and then there was the familiar boom of his unique skill. He reappeared behind it. “Nope. No dice.” Then the wolf jumped into his face, and I had to resist the urge to laugh at him as I ran over to pull aggro again.

“Any other bright ideas?” Tim asked the party. “Or is this fight just impossible without ice magic?”

“Well, it’s not a bright idea,” I said. “But maybe they have a really small chance of being hit when the attack isn’t ice? Or maybe they’re numbered, and you have to kill them in order.” I could tell the party wasn’t looking forward to either of those ideas. “Or maybe there’s something in this arena that could help?” I had to resist the urge to facepalm as I finally remembered. “Duh! The pillar!” I pointed at it.

Jake immediately caught on. “Right! I’ll check it out.” He jogged to it and then looked it over. “It seems like it’s on a track, I think I can move it!” He started pushing, and it slowly started moving down the track. “Wow, this is a heavy sucker.” I could just barely hear his muttering as he pushed. “Hey Garrett, wanna give me a hand?”

“On it,” Garrett said as he jogged over to help. The extra manpower paid off. The pillar started moving quickly along the outside edge of the clearing.

When it reached the northeast, Tim called out. “It’s changing the season!” I hadn’t noticed because I was still taking fire wolf attacks to the face every few seconds, so I wasn’t exactly watching the setting around us. Sure enough, though, the leaves were slowly disappearing from the trees as they pushed, and leaves were starting to appear on the ground.

I idly watched as it changed and then realized something. “Sam!” I called out.

“Yeah, what’s up?” She replied.

“If this changes these wolves into air wolves, light them up with [Earth Bolt] right away, got it?”

“On it!”

We both got into ready stances as Jake and Garrett finally finished moving the pillar all the way into the east position. It was now wholly Fall and the wolves... Didn’t change at all.

“Well, that’s a bit disappointing,” I said as I idly punched at some of the enemies to see if anything had changed. Nothing had. Honestly, I don’t know how long we would have been stuck there if it wasn’t for a half-baked thought. What if I try a [Fire Strike]?

My flame-coated fist struck a leaping wolf in the head, and for once, I actually felt resistance.

It was hard to tell who was the most surprised. The party members who were watching me goof around, me as I stood there staring at my fist, or the wolf who suddenly turned into a corporeal dark wolf and fell to the ground dead before vanishing into dust.

I started laughing and then called out, “Hey, [Hero]! Garrett! Get back over here, we figured it out!” As they shrugged and headed back over, I killed flaming wolves until there was only one left.

Jake saw what I was doing on the way over and said, “Seriously? You have to hit them with the same type of element? Well, it’s a good thing we picked fire first, or we might never have figured that out in time.” He looked thoughtful and then shook his head. “Yeah, that could’ve been really bad. Anyway, go ahead and kill it. We may as well get the next wave started.”

I was about to when Garrett interrupted. “Woah! Hang on a second!” I paused mid punch. “This is the last time we’re going to be safe, right? Let’s make sure everyone’s completely topped off. Also, we didn’t solve the element issue. We just kicked it over to the winter season.”

Recognition dawned on Jake’s face. “Ah, you’re right. If we have to fight all 4 seasons, winter will kill us since we don’t have any ice spells. We would be stuck in the same circumstances, except they would actually do damage.” He addressed the party as a whole. “Alright, let’s rack our brains. We need a way to deal ice damage.”

I sighed. “Didn’t we already try to figure that out? We don’t have any! Neither of our spellcasters has one, Andrew only has heals, and the rest of us just have ways of dealing physical damage.” The words were barely out of my mouth when I realized. No. No way. “I’m an idiot.” I facepalmed. “I’m an idiot. An industrial-grade idiot. The biggest idiot in the world. If you ground me down into pure idiocy, you would have enough for 10 lesser idiots and still have some left over.” The party looked at me like I had lost my sanity, so I decided to just demonstrate.

I punched the air and said the words “[Ice Strike].” It worked just like [Fire Strike], except for obviously it was cold instead of hot, and my hand was covered in ice and not fire. I cycled through the others. “[Earth Strike].” I was a bit surprised at that one since my hand was coated in rock as I punched, but then I was surprised at my surprise. Why shouldn’t rock be able to appear out of nowhere when I’m fine with fire and ice? After my ruminating ended, I realized I still had [Air Strike] to test, and it worked just as you would expect.

“I take it you didn’t know the skill could do that,” Jake stated.

“Nope,” I replied.

“That’s really weird that you didn’t automatically know how to use it. I mean, normally, the information is just there when I get a new skill.”

I thought about the feeling earlier where it felt like the skill was trying to tell me something, and also about how I instinctively activated [Fire Strike] the first time. “Maybe it only does that subconsciously for me?” I shook my head. “Either way, we have our ice damage now. Are we ready to kick off this boss fight for real?”

“Let’s wait for resources and come up with a plan. I mean, what if the boss can only be hit with the same element too?” Jake had a point, so we discussed strategy for a bit.

The main thing that came out of the discussion was that Sam was given both of our MP potions. They would have given me the stamina one if I had a place to put it too, but the lack of an inventory made that problematic.

We thought we might be overplanning if there were only 10 wolves a wave, but we decided to err on the side of caution. We didn’t know what other surprises the boss might have in store.

When everyone was finally was back to full, Jake gave me a nod. I punched the remaining wolf in the face with a [Fire Strike].

Immediately we heard a much deeper howl coming from the northside. Any doubts that it was the boss were erased from our mind as it came into view. This wolf-shaped flame was the size of a small house, and it was closing the gap to us rapidly.

Just as we planned, Tim immediately started chanting, “Orb of fire engulf my enemies and consume the foes that stand against me. [Fire Ball]!”

The orb of fire launched out of his wand and exploded against the distant wolf. When the flames cleared, the wolf was no longer ethereal. Unfortunately, that didn’t make it less intimidating. The giant wolf that was closing in on us easily dwarfed the other alphas that we faced. I was a bit concerned that we wouldn’t be able to take it.

My concerns were completely unwarranted. The wolf was hit by a [Mage Bolt], another [Fire Bolt], a [Double Shot], a [Backstab] from our [Rogue] who had appeared behind it, and then there was the familiar boom of Jake’s [Sunder]. The wolf’s HP bar that I had almost forgotten was just sitting there visible on my screen, dropped by a quarter. It gave one last howl and vanished. I just stood there, stunned. Well. That round was easy.

We didn’t have much time to relax, though. More howls came from the east, and soon enough, we got to see the air wolves. They were a bit hard to make out since they were composed of nothing but swirling air in a vague wolf shape, but fortunately, they also picked up some of the leaves from the ground, and we tracked them by that.

It was also hard to get a count on how many there were, but I would have, correctly, told you that there were about twice as many as the last wave.

I immediately charged to get their aggro and was happy to see Sam chucking [Air Bolts] at them to give me ranged support. It was still one hit per wolf, so we were making short work of them. Until one of them managed to hit me from the side, and I found out what the air element can really do.

I was knocked completely off my feet and a few feet to the side. I also lost 12 HP. “Ow,” I muttered as I dusted myself off and got back up.

I played the fight a bit more cautiously with the remaining wolves and made sure to keep moving. With Sam’s help, I was able to kill the remaining enemies without getting hit again.

With the last of the small fry down, the boss reappeared in the east and howled. This time Sam was the one who forced it corporeal again, but I was concerned when I noticed it took 3 [Air Bolts] to do it. Are we going to have enough resources to take it later on?

After that, it was a repeat of the last combo. The boss was now sitting at about half HP.

We heard more howls from the east right after that.

I was surprised. “Do you think that means we didn’t need to change seasons at all?” I shouted to Jake.

“No idea! Let’s see what happens! If this summons the boss again, we can just switch it back to fire for the last spurt!” Jake replied.

I ran out to face the air wolves again, and it went slightly worse than last time. One of the wolves managed to make it around me without my notice, and it knocked me forward. I was then ragdolled around for another two hits before Sam killed one of them, and I was able to struggle back to my feet. Since that was the only damage I took, I wasn’t overly concerned, but I was down to 132 of my 180 HP.

No sooner had I killed the last wolf than we heard howls from the east again. Unfortunately, it seemed that we had spawned another wave of air wolves instead of the boss.

Jake called out to me. “Titus! Try to leave one alive! Garrett and I’ll move the pillar!” I nodded the affirmative and got back to fighting. As soon as it looked like I had aggro, they ran to the pillar while giving us a wide berth.

The temperature started slowly dropping as they began moving the pillar. I just kept fighting the wolves. I dodged and punched just like last time, and the fight was going well, but I lost count of how many were left. A wolf leaped at me, and I was mid-punch when I hesitated. Wait, is that the last one?

My hesitation cost me because that was, in fact, not the last one. I was launched backward. And then I was immediately launched forward. It turns out that two wolves had attacked me from both sides at about the same time. To make matters worse, the ping-pong back and forth killed my momentum, leaving me face-planting while moving less than a foot total. And that meant the wolves were back in position to attack again before I could get to my feet. I was launched back and forth yet again.

There was a chance that I might’ve just died there if I was alone, but fortunately, I had a certain [Sorceress] watching out for me. Before I could do my third impersonation of a ping-pong ball, she managed to hit one of them with an [Air Bolt], which left me being launched in a single direction. Progress.

I got to my feet and dodged out of the way before I could get launched by the one remaining wolf. With those 5 hits, though, I was down to 72 HP. “You about done yet!?” I called out to Jake and Garrett.

“Almost!” Came Jake’s reply. “Annnd, got it! Go ahead!”

With a sigh of relief, I ended the animate zephyr’s life. Then I remembered. Snow on the ground. South position. Winter. Sam has no ice spells. Oh boy, I have to fight these alone, don’t I?

The howls that came were even more numerous than before. I bit back a curse that would have just been censored anyway when I saw wolves composed of flowing ice shards run into the clearing. I don’t think we can make it. We still have earth left after this!

Jake, Garrett, and Emilia had regrouped with the party (I guess Emilia wasn’t sure she would be safe up in a tree when the wolves were coming from the same direction). I moved forward alone, and I really wasn’t liking my odds when I suddenly noticed an arrow fired at one of the ice wolves. And then a [Mage Bolt] at a second. Before I could ask what Sam and Emilia were doing, they let loose another attack and then ran off in opposite directions with a few of the wolves now chasing after them. And then, I was joined by Jake, Garrett, Lindsey, and Megan.

Before I could ask what they were doing, Garrett just shrugged. “We can’t hurt them, but we can at least buy you some time.”

“Yep, for an old man, he comes up with good ideas every once in a while.” Jake needled him. Before Garrett could reply, the wolves were upon us. They spread out a bit, but I still had 10 all to myself.

I dodged one leaping wolf and put it down with a well-timed [Ice Strike]. With some help to spread the aggro around, this should be easy! Of course, you know that I jinxed us as soon as I thought that.

Initially, it seemed like I was right. I had killed 5 of the ice wolves without breaking much of a sweat, but then I made a mistake. Two wolves jumped me at the same time, and I tried to hit both of them. I guess I focused too much on my right because I completely missed the one on my left. A feeling of cold washed over me, and I was worried enough that I checked my HP immediately.

I had only lost 2 HP, so I thought that I was completely okay. Until I tried to dodge the next wolf, and I was just a little bit slower than I remembered. I took that hit too and was down to 68 HP.

The system message explained it all.

System: You are chilled, and your movements are slowed

I sidestepped another leaping wolf and put it down. I spared a glance at the party. Lindsey seemed fine as she was leading 4 wolves in an elaborate dance that never let them hit her. Megan was running 3 of the wolves away since she was just about as fast as them. However, the main problems were Garrett and Jake. I managed to watch as one of the wolves landed a hit on Jake, and the chill took effect. Dang it. I need to finish this quick, or we won’t survive when the boss comes back!

I finished off my three remaining enemies and then reluctantly charged over to help the [Hero] who was struggling against 4 enemies and was barely moving. Aren’t you the [Hero]? Aren’t you supposed to be able to handle 4 mooks? I think I managed to keep my disdain mostly off my face as I punched a wolf that was in mid-jump at him. That attracted the attention of the other 3.

Jake was shivering hard, but he managed to get out, “Thanks, Titus. Garrett and then Sam. I’ll head to the pillar.” He took off at a run towards the pillar, or at least, he had the form like he was running. If we weren’t in such a serious situation, I would have stopped and laughed at him.

He had the form like he was running. He was exerting himself like he was running. He was also moving at a speed that would make glaciers honk and tell him to get in the slow lane.

I did end up watching him for a second because of how ridiculous his slow-mo running was, and I nearly took an ice wolf to the face for it. That got me focused back on the enemies that were trying to kill me, and 2 dodges and 3 [Ice Strikes] later, I was running over to help Garrett.

3 quick attacks took care of his opponents, and then I was ready to go help Sam.

---

Tim was not pleased with the current fight. Everyone except him had a role, even if his father’s role was to just stay back and [Heal] anyone who got in trouble. And Tim’s role? Sit back and watch.

Everyone else was trying to kite the enemies and take aggro in their one way. Megan was running the wolves off into the forest and then planning to hide and regroup. Sam had shot a few [Mage Bolts] at them and then fled to try to get some distance. Emilia was planning to climb a tree since the wolves they had fought up to this point hadn’t been able to handle that. And then the other party members had thought they would just stay in the frontline and dodge.

They had all decided this while ignoring Tim’s input in the matter. Tim had tried to get them to stop and wait for a second, but they ignored his request via the party link. It didn’t help Tim’s case that the party link was a fickle thing. All that he could really get across was “wait,” which made him sound petulant.

That wasn’t even everything because Tim was vexed for other reasons as well. He was exhausted with how the party was treating him. He couldn’t stand being treated like a child anymore. At the same point, his mind also contended with him. He knew that he was, in fact, still a child. He knew that his father still saw him as just a 9-year-old even though the system now counted him as 13. However, trying to be as unbiased about himself as possible, which can be a hard prospect, he knew that mentally he was even older than that now. His intellect and insight far surpassed what they should be, but only some of the time. That was what frustrated him the most since he didn’t know what was going on in his own mind (let alone the fact that he was pretty sure he was starting to go through puberty whatever that was going to mean for him in this strange world too).

All that together meant that Tim sat back, watched, and stewed. He watched as Titus took on 10 of the wolves and took a few hits from them. He sneered. The rational part of his mind immediately objected that without Titus here, the party would likely have been dead a long time ago. His rationality also told him that the only one who was dodging better than Titus was Lindsey. She was both facing fewer wolves and had experience fighting before being brought to this world.

Tim’s sneer turned to grudging admiration. He still hadn’t forgiven Titus for slapping him in front of the party, though. Even if Tim realized after the fact that he had been entirely out of line. That didn’t mean he had to like a literal demon just because the demon happened to help him correct one of his flaws.

His internal debate was interrupted when he heard Jake call out to Titus to help Garrett and then Sam. A quick check of the HP bars saw that the command made sense. Garrett had been dropped down to about half HP, and Tim’s father was moving to give him a [Heal]. Sam was also an excellent choice to save next. She did seem to be in the most danger since she was split from the party, had taken some damage, and was showing similar signs of being slowed down.

Tim’s idle watching was interrupted by a surge of panic from the party link. It was accompanied by the request “help me” over and over again. Tim looked over at the culprit, Emilia, and immediately gathered what happened.

Emilia had been up in a tree trying to wait the wolves out when she found out the hard way that they were not under the same constraints as the other enemies the party had fought. These wolves simply ran up the side of the tree and attacked her. She jumped out of it since she had no way to dodge up there, and she was soon beset by all three enemies.

The party link was flooded with concern for her, and Jake even turned around to try to go help her before realizing there was absolutely no way for him to reach her in time. He called out to Titus, “Change of plans. Emilia first, then Sam!” Both Titus and Tim’s father began running towards Emilia.

However, Tim made a rational look at the party and saw that Sam was still the one who needed help first. They were on opposite edges of the clearing, so Titus would have to pick one or the other. Sam had taken hits first, so she was both at lower HP and in danger of spiraling down faster due to her decreasing speed. And finally, from a completely objective perspective, Sam was the more critical party member since she was one of only two party members who could deal earth damage.

He fought back in the party link, sending a thought that was dumbed down to roughly, “No. Help Sam,” but he could tell he was being ignored. Even Sam was sending something roughly along the lines of “I’m fine.” Tim knew she wasn’t.

Tim was tired of being ignored, and he wasn’t going to allow a party member to die. He was going to help her.

The party could tell that he was planning to draw aggro, and the link kept transmitting that they wanted him to stop. He didn’t care. He wasn’t sure how the aggro worked. He didn’t know if it was simply the last one to hit them or the most damage that would’ve been done. He made a plan to deal with both. He started preparing a [Fire Ball]. “Orb of fire engulf my enemies and consume the foes that stand against me.” He chanted. Then he yelled to Sam. “Sam! To me!”

If he had better eyesight, he would’ve seen Sam’s eyes go wide when she turned towards him and realized he was planning to shoot a [Fire Ball]. She made one last dodge and then took off towards Tim at a heavily slowed run with her three ice wolves in hot pursuit. Tim waited and timed it. He calculated the distance and the AOE of his spell. And then he loosed. “[Fire Ball]!”

The orb of fire streaked out from his wand and impacted a tree a distance behind Sam. The resulting inferno engulfed the area, but Sam had made it just outside. The wolves ran past the slowed [Sorceress], and Tim immediately fled towards Titus and his father.

---

I had been a bit surprised at the sudden change of plan from helping Sam to helping Emilia, but I just guessed that it was something they decided with the stupid party perk.

I ran towards Emilia and saw that she was in a bit of trouble, but it didn’t seem bad enough that it needed both Andrew running towards her to [Heal] her and me to help her. I didn’t worry too much about it, though, and simply killed the first wolf I reached. Then I heard the explosion from across the clearing.

I looked over and saw the remnants of Tim’s [Fire Ball] and also him booking it towards me with 3 wolves hot on his tail. Ohh, clever. That’s why they kept Tim in the middle. That way, he could draw aggro and then kite towards me wherever I was. I ice punched another wolf. It’s eery how much planning they can do without saying anything.

I ice kicked the remaining wolf that had been attacking Emilia and then ran to meet Tim. “Good work! Thanks, Tim!” I said as I passed him and killed two of the chasing enemies with a single [Ice Strike] kick.

However, the last one seemed really locked on to Tim for some reason. I had to chase after the both of them to finally kill that one.

Megan was nowhere in sight, so that left only the 4 wolves that had been attacking Lindsey this entire time. I was a bit worried for her until I saw that she was still moving at the exact same speed that she had been this whole time. That meant she hadn’t taken a single hit. Wow. Never try to 1 v 1 Lindsey. She’s scary. I ran over and killed the wolves attacking her, and as usual, she didn’t say a word. However, her look spoke volumes, and it said, “Took you long enough.” I took offense at that, but since I had literally just resolved to not pick a fight with her, I managed to keep my trap shut.

I looked around the clearing. “So, where’s Megan at? I saw her run off. Is she okay?”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when she appeared behind me and yelled, “Boo!”

“Holy.. Don’t do that!” I yelled back.

She bust up laughing. “Oh, I would if it stopped being so priceless. Anyway, wolves incoming. You should take care of those.” She gave a little “off you go” gesture with her hand, and I glowered at her before turning and heading towards them. “Remember to save one for the season change!”

I ran over and punched two of the wolves without issue and then stood there dodging the last one. It was still very much winter. What’s the hold-up?

I looked over at Jake and Garrett and saw them shivering hard as they pushed the pillar. It turned out the slow effect was impacting their pushing and making it take forever. I sighed and then called out. “Hey, Lindsey, you wanna go help push, or do you wanna be on dodge duty?”

Lindsey just nodded and then took off at a jog towards the pillar. Andrew also went to help. That meant I was stuck with babysitting our one remaining doggo that was made of pure ice. I nonchalantly sidestepped another leap as I watched the season change.

I don’t know that we’ll be able to handle earth after all of this, though… That gave me an idea.

I shouted to the party, “Hey, why don’t we turn it all the way back to summer? That way, we can take a rest again?”

The party shared some looks, and then a teeth-chattering Jake answered, “Good idea Titus!”

Another wolf leap, another step to the left. Another leap, a step to the right. If our lives weren’t on the line in this fight, I probably would’ve killed the wolf right then to avoid the monotony.

Soon enough, it was back to summer. The heat was welcome, and as I made another dodge, I overbalanced slightly. Huh. Back to normal speed?

Once again confirmed by the system

System: You are no longer chilled

“Are we ready yet?” I called out.

“If you can hang in there a bit Titus, I think I’m thawing out!” Jake called back. Sure enough, his running still looked utterly ridiculous, but it was markedly faster now.

I just shrugged. “Sure, I can wait.” It took a minute or two, but the party was back up to full speed and had regrouped in the middle of the clearing.

“Alright, Titus, whenever you’re ready!”

I didn’t answer and instead simply punched the wolf on its next jump. A familiar howl echoed from the south side of the clearing, and I quickly ran over there to prepare to fight the boss.

Let me say, having an ethereal being of pure ice the size of a house charge you is a bit nerve-wracking. No way I’ll be able to dodge something that big. I just need to hit it until it’s vulnerable and then get out of the way and let the party do their job. My plan made up, I stood my ground and punched it with 2 [Ice Strikes] as it phased through me. The icy chill that followed was way worse than the previous ones.

System: You are chilled, and your movements are slowed

I didn’t focus on that and instead spun around to see where the boss had gone. My spin was both sluggish and too late. The boss had already reset and leaped to phase through me again.

I did a quick check of my status and saw I was down to 54 HP. At only 7 damage a hit, I wasn’t that concerned about the damage, but the slowing effect was worrisome.

Unfortunately, my half-second distraction with my status was enough of an opening to take yet another hit. I was slowed even more and down to 47 HP.

The boss started circling around me, and I wasn’t even able to keep up with that. Soon enough, it had gotten behind me and phased through me again. Then again. Then again. On the last attack, I managed to lash out with an [Ice Strike] and barely managed to catch the boss with it. However, I was definitely losing the war of attrition.

I was freezing and could barely move. I checked my HP and saw that I was down to 26. I need at least one more clean hit, but I don’t think I can make it. I slowly circled and tried to keep track of the boss. It was a losing prospect, it was too fast, and I could barely even make the movements to spin in place. I took another hit and was down 19 HP. Then I saw something strange out of the corner of my eye. What is Tim doing? Is that a [Fire Bolt]!?

The bolt of fire struck me square in the chest. The wolf charged at me, but I spun around full-speed and managed to punch it with an [Ice Strike] directly in the face.

The reason for Tim’s actions became clear with the system message.

System: You are no longer chilled

The wolf turned corporeal, and instead of taking a face full of ice, I was hit with the body of a massive wolf. You’ll have to trust me that that was an improvement.

I was sent tumbling, but I got to my feet and ran away from the boss as the party unloaded on it once again, familiar thunderclap included. It was dropped to a quarter HP, and then it disappeared.

I wanted to just drop right where I was, but then I heard howling from the northside and remembered that I needed to go tank the fire wolves. With a weary sigh, I ran to the north to get aggro, and then I flopped onto the ground.

Sam and Tim were gracious enough to kill all of them off me, except one, with [Fire Bolts]. The rest of the party followed them over, and they all sat down a respectable distance away from me so that they wouldn’t accidentally get aggro.

There was a bit of awkward silence, and I just laid there and rested and watched the fire wolf leap and then awkwardly dive into me before reforming on the other side of me. Heh. Looks like they didn’t bother to give it a separate attack for someone who’s lying down.

My musings about poor design were interrupted by Jake clearing his throat. “Well, I think we need to discuss what Tim did during the fight-”

“Absolutely,” I sat up. “Great job Tim and thank you. You completely saved my life there. If it wasn’t for your quick thinking, I would have died, and the party would’ve been left to fight without any ice damage. I can’t believe I didn’t think to just hit myself with [Fire Strike] when I was that cold since I have [Fire Immunity].”

Jake coughed. “Uhh. Not exactly what I wanted to discuss. Though that is true, I guess. I was talking about his [Fire Ball] earlier in the fight.”

I was confused at that point. “What about it?” I looked back and forth between the party and Tim and then finally caught on. “Wait. Was that [Fire Ball] not a part of the plan? I assumed that was why you changed the plan to have me go for Emilia.”

“That would have been the plan if anyone else had been paying attention,” Tim muttered.

“Hey!” Jake interjected. “Emilia was in danger, and Sam said that she was okay.”

Tim’s gaze hardened. “One, Sam was in more danger than Emilia. Two, Sam is a higher priority than Emilia since she has elemental damage. Three, sidelining me from the fight was completely foolhardy.”

Jake took a few measured breaths before responding, but he kept his voice in control. “Okay. In order, first, Sam said that she was fine, and Emilia was asking for help in a panic. Second, I refuse to value one party member over another just because of utility. Third, you aren’t an adult, and we should be keeping you away from mortal danger wherever possible.”

Andrew nodded heavily along with the third point. “Exactly! If I had known how dangerous clearing a “dungeon” was, I wouldn’t have let Tim come here at all!”

Andrew actually put finger quotes around the word dungeon, and I realized something that was pretty obvious in hindsight. He really wasn’t much of a gamer in the real world, was he? That explains a bit.

Tim scowled at both Jake and his dad. “I am not a child.” He stopped, looked upward, and sighed. “Okay, I am, in fact, a child in most ways. I have only been alive for 9 years, and I have the body of a 13-year-old. I understand you still see 13 as a child, and that is fair and understandable. However, you should all have noticed by now that my mental capacity greatly exceeds what is normal for a 9-year-old. Or even a 13-year-old.” He fixed Jake with a stare. “What I am trying to say is that I deserve to be treated as a full member of this party. Not as a child to be coddled. Especially when one of our party members is in danger.”

“Fine.” Jake snapped and stoop up. “We’ll treat you as a full member of the party when you act like one. Which means that when we make a plan that you follow the plan.”

Tim also stood up and practically yelled. “I won’t follow a plan that is imbecilic and will get us all killed!”

I almost got up to get between the two, but I got hit by the fire wolf and remembered all the reasons that would be a bad idea. Fortunately, Garrett beat me to it. He stood up and got between them and said, “Woah, guys. Let’s all take a deep breath here.”

Jake’s breathing fell into a familiar rhythm, and then he muttered, “I’m going to go clear my head really quick.” He walked off into the woods, and the rest of us just looked at each other.

The awkward silence that ensued was thick enough that you would’ve needed a claymore to cut through it. Either the mine or the sword, I’m not picky. Either way, I wasn’t looking forward to spending 2 hours with the party in awkward silence while I got my HP back. The words were out of my mouth, almost as I had the thought. “Hey, wanna play Word Chain?”

Garrett looked at me, quizzically. “We’re in the middle of a boss room, with a party argument on hold, and you are literally being attacked by a fire wolf right now-” I shook the wolf off my arm, and it went back into its normal leaping attacks, “and you want to play a word game?”

I thought about that for a second. “Yes?”

Garrett only managed to keep his composure for a second before he bust up laughing. Most of the party soon followed suit. After a bit, Garrett wiped the tears from his eyes. “Sure, why not. It’s not like we’re supposed to be fighting a boss or anything.”

The awkwardness broken, we started our game.

----

As Jake walked off into the woods, he knew that he was being an idiot. Is it really okay to walk off alone in a boss room? He stopped and sighed. Probably not. Oh well. We haven’t seen any other enemies. I should be fine. The party’s also in range to help me if I need it.

He started walking again and just focused on his breathing. After about a minute, he organized his thoughts. Okay, so what was the trigger this time? It wasn’t Titus for once, so that was new, but why am I so upset with Tim? Is it because he didn’t do what the party said? Jake mulled that over for a bit. Yeah, I think that’s what’s upsetting me. Or maybe more specifically, that he didn’t do what I told him to do. I’m the party leader, so I do need people to follow what I say.

Jake then played the devil’s advocate. But what if my orders are bad? Do I expect people to follow bad orders? And what about the orders that I gave Tim? They were to keep him safe, but also mostly to appease his dad. I don’t doubt that he could handle an ice wolf or two.

He claimed that Sam was in trouble despite her saying that she wasn’t. I would expect her to know better, but.. Jake spared a glance at Sam’s health bar and saw that it was much closer to half than he had expected and also that Emilia was much closer to full than he had realized. Though he knew that at least some of that could have been from [Heal]. Jake resisted the urge to facepalm. Dang it, Sam, if you had gone down with the entire party charging over to Emilia, I’m not sure we would’ve been able to get you back up before you died.

Okay, so Tim did actually have a point there. I got hit by those slows, and they can stack up really quick, so Sam was in trouble. A few more seconds could’ve been the point of no return for her. Jake thought back over the conversation. What else did he say? He prioritized Sam over Emilia because she’s the only one with an earth spell? I really don’t want to think of people just as their utility to the party, but if Sam died, I’m not sure we would be able to handle the next phase.

Jake sat down and leaned against a tree. Dang, it. Looking at this calmer, I’m pretty sure that I owe Tim an apology. Jake hit his head lightly back against the tree a few times. I’m also going to have to have a chat with Emilia and Sam. Emilia because she panicked and hijacked the party’s plan, and Sam because she didn’t tell us how much trouble she was in. Jake laughed a little. I never realized that being the [Hero] meant that my biggest concerns would be handling party drama. I guess the [Demon Lord] doesn’t concern me as much because he feels so far away, and my party is so close by.

Jake got up and stretched a bit. Okay, back to the party. I’ve calmed down. Jake started to make a mental list of things to do. Apologize to Tim. Try to work something out with him and his dad so that he can have a more active role. Talk to Emilia and Sam privately. Jake looked around and remembered where he was. Oh yeah. And then finish the boss fight.

----

“Halo Combat Evolved,” I said.

“D? Hmm. Got it! Deus Ex!” Sam said.

“Uhh. Hmm.” I stammered, trying to come up with something.

Sam started counting. “Aaaand, 10! Time’s up! I win!” Sam shouted and fist-pumped.

For those of you who don’t know how word chain works, it’s a game where you go in a circle, and you have to say a word matching the theme. In this case, it was video games, specifically shooters. The twist is that the first letter of your answer has to match the last letter of the person who answered before you. Repeat a word, answer outside of the category, or take longer than the time limit, and you’re out. It had come down to just Sam and me, and I had found myself surprised at the games she remembered.

“Well played,” I grumbled. “Are there even any shooters that start with X?”

Sam thought for a minute. “I can’t come up with any, so you probably would’ve needed google to find one. And it would probably be pretty obscure.”

I raised my eyebrows at that. “That confident in your shooter knowledge, eh?”

Sam gave a mock gasp and turned to Lindsey. “Oh dear, it would seem he doesn’t know.” Lindsey just rolled her eyes as Sam turned back to me. “You are speaking to the queen of FPS[1].”

I gave her a mock bow. “Your majesty. My apologies, if I had known, I would’ve kissed your ring and prostrated myself before you.”

Sam kept up her serious face all of two seconds before breaking and snorting. “Heh. Prostrate.” After regaining her composure, she decided to elaborate on her earlier statement. “I played a lot of first-person shooters back on earth. Honestly, since Lindsey came with me, they’re basically the only thing from earth that I miss. They were my stress-relief, and the thing I did for fun.” She looked downward for a second, and I barely caught her next whisper. “And one of the few things I could beat Lindsey at.” Without missing a beat, she looked back up and was back to her cheerful self. “I wasn’t quite good enough to go pro, but I think that was mainly because I couldn’t stick to a single game. So, yeah, I’m pretty dang confident in my shooter knowledge.”

I was about to reply when we were interrupted.

“You guys look like you’re having fun.” I looked up and saw that Jake had returned from his walk. “Sorry for losing my temper.” He looked at the resident wizard. “Tim, you raised some valid points, and if it’s okay with your dad, I would like you to help kite the next wave.”

Andrew looked like he was about to object, but Tim gave him a level stare that took the wind out of his sails. Instead, he just sighed and said, “Fine. 2 wolves only.”

Jake looked to Tim first and saw him grimace slightly, but then nod. “Okay, Tim will aggro 2 wolves the next round.” Jake looked at Sam and Emilia and was about to say something, but then he stopped. I barely heard him mutter, “I think that one can wait a bit.”

After that, Jake came and sat down with the group and asked, “So what were you guys playing?”

Just like that, we continued our game of word chain.

All in all, the topics were pretty nerdy. We had anime and manga, fantasy books, multiple genres of video games, and then… Economics. That one was thanks to Emilia. I was surprised that Jake took 2nd that round, but then I remembered that he mentioned going to college for a business major.

Overall, I think that silly game helped me learn more about my teammates’ backgrounds than anything else we did.

Tim cleaned house on the role-playing game theme. That surprised me quite a bit since we all had several years on him, but he mentioned that there wasn’t much else that he could do for fun when he was stuck going around in a wheelchair on earth.

Both Jake and Lindsey had quite a contest when the theme turned to anime/manga, though it turned out their interests were pretty different. Jake preferred action anime, whereas Lindsey tended to end up reading romance or rom-com manga.

Garrett swept us when the theme changed to fantasy novels, though. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and even a lot of obscure web-novels were brought up by the surprisingly well-read [Berserker].

Andrew finished around dead-last in most of our games, a position that was usually only contested by Megan or Emilia, but he barely squeaked out a win in the tv-series theme. He mentioned that he hadn’t really had much time for things like that since he was juggling two jobs and trying to take care of Tim.

When it was Megan’s turn, she picked famous landmarks. She completely destroyed everyone. When we asked her about it, she just shrugged and told us that she had traveled a lot.

I felt a bit bad when I decided to pick the one and only thing that I knew was a guaranteed win. Programming. There were only a few words said by anyone else that round.

The thing that surprised me the most was that I finished between second and fourth most rounds besides that. I was able to recall a lot of different games, series, and franchises, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember playing, watching, or reading any of them.

Could that be a side-effect of being brought over? I asked myself. I then came up with a way to try to test that theory. “Hey, what’s everyone’s favorite memory from their theme they picked?”

Sam almost jumped up. “Me first! Me first!” She gathered her thoughts a bit. “My favorite memory from first-person shooters has to be a Halo 3 tournament we had. It was down to the final round. Team Slayer. My team was down 47 to 49. Our opponents just needed one more kill to win. I was under fire, and my shields had been popped. We were about to lose the game…” She trailed off dramatically. “Then I picked the sniper up off the ground and no-scoped the guy! It ricocheted, and I got not 1. Not 2. But all 3 kills we needed to win!”

“What? No way they lined up for you like that!” Jake said.

“It’s true!” Sam said. Lindsey gave her a level look. “No, I’m serious! I mean, the other 2 were complete luck, but I no-scoped the one guy for real! I just got super-lucky because the shot bounced off a corner and then hit a guy I didn’t even see before hitting a fusion coil to kill the third!”

There was other discussion that went off that, but I was too absorbed in my own thoughts to pay much attention. Sam has a very specific memory of playing video games, but I definitely don’t. And it sounds like she isn’t the only one. Why am I different? Why can’t I seem to remember any specific memories before the day of Comic-Con?

“Titus. Hey, Titus!” Jake called out to me.

“Huh?” I finally snapped out of my thoughts and looked at him.

“Wow, you were really zoned out there. Everything okay?”

I looked down at the fire wolf that was trying to chew on my arm. I shook it off and then answered. “Yeah, I think I’m fine.”

“Ready to finish this boss fight, then?”

I checked my resource pools and saw that they were, in fact, full. “Oh, yeah. Sorry guys, I wasn’t paying attention.”

Jake chuckled. “No worries, we were havin’ fun. Anyway, up and ready, everyone! Let’s finish off this boss! Garrett, let’s go.” Jake and Garrett jogged over and moved the pillar to spring while the rest of the party got in position.

I moved over to the west side of the clearing and then got a nod from Jake. I ended the last remaining fire wolf and then heard the familiar howling of the next wave. You would think that the progression would’ve been 10 wolves, 20 wolves, 30 wolves, and then 40 wolves. You would be incorrect. 50 earth wolves came running out of the forest.

I heard Sam try to swear and then immediately shout, “[Quick Cast]! [Earth Bolt]!” There was a delay of a second or two before the next one. “[Earth Bolt]!”

Huh, must be the spell cooldown. I guess I hadn’t noticed it before.

Unlike last time, the party didn’t spread out as far, but just gave each other enough space so that they didn’t accidentally aggro wolves that were attacking other party members.

I got to work immediately. I hit one leaping wolf with an [Earth Strike] and dodged two more that had been hot on its heels. I lashed out with a quick kick that killed two more wolves, but there were too many. Three wolves leaped at me, and I was only able to dodge two of them.

Part of me wondered what effect these wolves were going to have. That part of me didn’t have to wait long to find out. The wolf hit me, and I immediately stumbled backward.

System: You are staggered

Oh. That’s not good. My balance was just a bit off, and I was starting to get used to it when I got hit again, and it got worse.

I started spiraling downward even faster than when I fought the ice wolves. I tried to punch while I staggered around, but it was nearly impossible. I only landed one hit. Meanwhile, I was starting to panic. These wolves did 12 damage a hit, and I had taken 9. 6 more hits, and I was dead. Focus Titus! I took another hit and staggered, but I decided to just drop to the ground. I managed to just barely roll out of the way of an attack and get back to my feet.

“Sam! I could use some help here!” I shouted.

“If I cast any more, I won’t have enough for when the boss gets here!” She shouted back.

I grunted and managed another kill and then managed to duck under two leaping wolves. “Then, use a mana potion or something!”

“On it!” She shouted. I didn’t see her chug the potion, but soon enough, the [Earth Bolts] were flying again. She bought me enough time and breathing room for the stagger to wear off. I managed to get a couple of kills after that, and we started making some real headway. Then Sam called out, “Taking 2nd potion! Out of mana!”

Fortunately, I had finally cleared out all the wolves that were aggroed on me. I moved on to assist Garrett and then Jake. Sam focused on helping out the others, and soon, we were down to the last enemy, which was currently attacking Lindsey. I punched it right as Sam yelled out, “Wait!”

The boss’ howl rang out, and Sam groaned. “I’m not going to have enough mana for this.”

“Do we have any more mana potions?” I asked.

“Nope! We’re out! Titus, you’re going to have to get a hit or two in!” Jake shouted.

I ran towards the giant ethereal earth wolf and prayed that I would only need one hit. Sam’s first [Earth Bolt] flew out. I watched and then waited for the 2nd. It took a lot longer than expected, but it did come. Ah, no [Quick Cast], she’s conserving MP. I swallowed back my nerves as the colossal wolf charged me, and then I punched it in the face. The earth wolf ran through me.

System: You are staggered

No sit. Thanks, System. I thought sarcastically as I barely managed to stay on my feet. I checked my HP, and that hit had done 37 damage putting me down to 23 HP. One more of those and I’m dead! I tried to turn and face it, but I was still stumbling around like a drunk.

The wolf charged. A third [Earth Bolt] hit it, and Sam called out, “Completely out of mana!”

I panicked and did the only thing I could think of. I fell to the ground and kicked upward with one of my legs in an awkward [Earth Strike].

That was enough. The wolf turned physical and landed on me heavily. I don’t need to breathe, but I still gasped out of reflex.

The wolf had me pinned. I didn’t see anything but its giant teeth coming in for the kill.

Then I heard a familiar thunderclap. The wolf fell off me and then faded into mist. The HP bar that was visible to all of us disappeared.

I collapsed and just laid there with my arms spread out. “That was way too close.”

“Woo!” Jake shouted. “Achievements! Nice! And that had to be worth a Level up! Wait! 2!” He paused, and he must have been checking his status. “Aww. What? I’m just at 10 like everyone else. Wait! It says I can upgrade my class now!”

The celebration was cut short by a sudden rumbling noise coming from the pedestal in the middle of the clearing. It slowly started sinking into the ground, and then a grey obelisk started coming up from the earth alongside it.

I looked at the obelisk and then at Jake. I motioned to him, “Go ahead [Hero].” I didn’t get any of the experience for that fight, so I wouldn’t have a use for it, even if I could activate it without giving myself away completely.

Then I got an unwelcome surprise.

System : Yo, it’s me again. You’re going to want to go claim the obelisk before the hero does. There’s an achievement for it. Also, you’ll want to stockpile your skill points til you have 10. You’ll like what you see. Trust me on it. Gotta go before I get caught. Best of luck.

Wait! I have questions! ... And he’s gone. I groaned out loud before I realized it and got a funny look from Jake as he was walking over to the obelisk. Has AltSys been watching this whole time? If so, why did he speak up just now? And can I even trust him? Jake was getting closer to the obelisk, and I had to make a decision. I stood up with a sigh, “Wait [Hero], can I try claiming it first?”

He looked at me and frowned. “I don’t know, man, are you sure you’ll be okay? Last time you got launched.”

I didn’t answer and instead just dropped out of the party, walked over, and touched the obelisk.

After I got the familiar prompts…

System: This obelisk does not belong to an allied faction. Would you like to claim it?

Yes.

System: Initiating claim

System: Zone, Faroff Forest, has been claimed by the Demon Lord Faction

I did, in fact, get the promised achievement.

System: New Achievement. Conqueror. Class Perk Points Gained 2

System: New Achievement. First Conqueror. Class Perk Points Gained 2

I’m finally going to be able to get magic! I inwardly cheered and was about to go into the perk selection page when I was interrupted.

“The system just told me that this zone has been claimed by the [Demon Lord],” Jake said with his eyes narrowed, and his sword pointed in my direction. “Care to explain, Titus?”

[1] FPS – First Person Shooter(s). A type of video game where the main goal is usually to shoot enemies. It is distinct from Third Person Shooter(s) by the placement of the camera (first person you are looking through your character’s eyes. Third person you generally are looking over their shoulder)