1

After another twenty minutes of healing, the team was ready to move onto the eleventh floor while Angie and Jordan continued to recuperate from their injuries at the hands of the ogres.

The teammates cast their buff and light spells, moving the orbs up into the darkened room. Aside from the constant water spillage, nothing looked out of the ordinary.

Beneath his helmet, Damon’s face remained covered by the canvas wrap, only now it was crimson colored. He glared at Harper, who was standing a few feet away. “Are you coming?” he asked condescendingly.

She stared at him morosely. “Fuck off, Damon,” she muttered. “Yes, of course I’m coming.”

The orc turned from her and used his Leap spell to launch him into the next battle.

2

Damon’s feet landed on the enormous platform, and he was glad that they would not have to worry about creatures rising from the ground. The platform was raised one foot off the main floor and was covered with translucent tiles, each one was almost six feet square. Protruding from the center of each tile was an embedded sword with its blade pointed upward.

“Great,” Damon muttered unenthusiastically as he scanned the rest of the room. He saw two massive dragons at the opposite ends of the chamber, then noticed large staircases that led to a second level. Damon sprinted off the platform and headed for the shelter underneath the stairs. Harper jumped into the room next. “Pssst! Over here,” he urged.

From the center of the platform, she looked at him, not appearing to be in any hurry, then called down to the remaining members, “The bosses in here are huge and the floor is covered with swords. You’ll want to take to the walls.” She walked casually over to where Damon was, weaving between many swords that protruded from the platform.

As the other teammates jumped into the room, they examined the behemoths, which moved slowly, seemingly oblivious to the intruders. One dragon was bright yellow, while the other one was teal blue.

“Hey. What, are we back in the eighties?” Zack quipped.

The dragons’ forked reptilian tongues slinked in and out of their closed, fanged mouths, but their eyes didn’t focus on the team. Covered with a thick layer of jagged scales, their undersides were pale and appeared to be their only vulnerable spot.

“The ceiling is different,” Jordan said as he joined the team. The stone faces they had seen in the other dungeon rooms now covered the entire ceiling. “There must be twenty of them.”

“Yeah. And I think those swords have something to do with them,” Harper said, nodding at the equal number of blades that pointed upward.

As Rachel, the last team member, scrambled to their position at the wall, the two dragons shuffled closer to the center of the room, scraping the tops of their heads against the relatively low ceiling.

“Man, these guys are chill!” Zack enthused.

Lumbering slowly, the Yellow Dragon planted its scaled paw onto one sword sticking up from the floor. It roared painfully and backed away from it, inadvertently flipping the blade to the left. At the same time, a ceiling mouth opened at the other end of the room and a column of yellow fire flowed down to the floor. Under the intense heat, the platform tile cracked and the surrounding water started boiling.

The injured dragon turned and shot a burst of yellow fire at the teammates huddled near the wall. They dove out of the way, evading the flames, as a brick exploded from the wall.

“It’s a lever,” Harper shouted before she told the hunters and mages to run up the stairs to the second level. She turned to Damon. “Your orcs are going to have to start flipping the levers to see which one gets us out of here. But stay close together. If you spread out, you could end up blasting one of your teammates with those columns.”

The orcs bunched together and advanced toward the injured dragon. “If it fires again,” Damon shouted, “we’ll take a low position and cover our heads with our shields.”

They reached a sword and he flipped it over with his steel glove. A white light briefly illuminated from another ceiling mouth then blinked out.

As they drew closer to the Yellow Dragon, their Creature Description details appeared.

YELLOW DRAGON (Level 47)

HP: 631

MP: 321

STRENGTH: 71

CONSTITUTION: 63

DEXTERITY: 38

INTELLIGENCE: 32

WISDOM: 25

XP: 333

DESCRIPTION: Maybe a snake, maybe a lizard. Maybe a primary, maybe secondary.

The Yellow Dragon opened its mouth and Damon saw another burst of fire building at the back of its throat. “Down!” he shouted.

The orcs crouched and their shields went up. They groaned in unison as the metal became hot to the touch. Damon glanced over his shoulder at Harper. Meanwhile, the hunter’s aerial weapons and the mage’s spells started raining down on the Yellow Dragon, and it retreated a step.

On the other side of the room, the Blue Dragon roared and began rushing to the aid of the other dragon. As it rumbled forward, it crossed many swords, flipping them over. Quickly, columns of blue fire shot down from varied locations in the ceiling.

Damon looked up and saw the sculpture directly over the orcs spark. “Move!” he shouted and pushed Hammer to the right. The orc contingent hurried toward the center of the platform as the blue flames blasted down from the ceiling, just behind them.

“Geez. That was close,” Armando said, then saw the Yellow Dragon fire at them again. “Shields!” he cried, and the orcs turned instinctively, raising their shields.

Zack and Damon screamed as they endured the brunt of the flames. Now all the orcs were hobbling, mostly due to their searing armor. Damon directed them to a steady stream of water that was flowing through a crack in the ceiling. As they stepped under, the liquid sizzled and bounced off their armor in beads.

“Let’s stay here for the time being,” Damon told the orcs, then looked to find Harper. He spotted her halfway up the stone staircase. “Do you have a plan?” he screamed. “Or are we just supposed to stand around, getting burned?”

The veteran mage ignored him. She watched the battlefield intently. Meanwhile, above her on the second level, Vlad blasted the Yellow Dragon with a Fire Bullet. It punched a hole into the monster’s chest. The dragon screeched and shambled forward, tripping more levers. It blasted yellow fire up at the second level just as Sierra pounded the Blue Dragon with the same spell. Her teammates jumped away from the yellow fire, but the rookie mage was late. The flames scorched her lower right leg as she dove for the opposite stairs. Sierra screamed and clutched at her leg, then immediately let go, realizing she was making the pain worse.

The dragons’ blood started collecting on the platform, but they seemed to be immune to the columns of fire descending from the ceiling. The yellow one lurched forward, flipping a set of levers. More flaming yellow columns descended from the ceiling, but some of the blue columns turned green, combining the colors of the two dragons. Meanwhile, Damon stood with the orcs. Their shields and armor had cooled, but he was still hot at Harper for not answering.

“Goddammit Harper! Do you have a plan or not?” he bellowed.

The veteran mage was still not looking at him, but she grinned. “Yes.”

3

Knowing they were more protected under the water, Harper walked to the orcs. As another of Vlad’s bullets flew over her head, injuring the Yellow Dragon even more, she explained what needed to be done. “I want you to split up. You are getting in each other’s way right now, trying to avoid the dragons’ fire, but the biggest reason is that I need you to bait them, draw them out.”

The Blue Dragon shambled toward them and sent more fire down on their heads. The orcs covered as much as they could with their shields. The flames evaporated into a burst of steam as it collided with the water downpour, but the blast caught Harper. Blue flames crept up her enchanter’s cape. She tried to douse them in the heaviest part of the shower.

“You were saying,” Damon said bluntly.

She glared at him. “You see those green columns?” she asked, pointing at the only three in the room. “All of them have to be green for us to move on. So, each of the two dragons have to trip every lever.”

The orc general groaned. “Do you know how long that’s going to take?”

As another of Vlad’s spells flew over their heads, Harper shrugged. “It’s what needs to be done.”

4

The orcs broke up. Damon teamed up with Hammer, and they took on the Yellow Dragon. Zack and Armando engaged the blue one. Since both dragons were on the perimeter of the platform, the two pairs ran in and attacked before quickly retreating in an attempt to get the beasts to chase them.

Initially, the strikes didn’t work. The dragons seemed content to waddle near the walls and breathe fire in retaliation. Still, a few more levers were tripped, and the orcs had to avoid an ever-increasing multitude of columns blasting down from the ceiling. As the attacks continued, the behemoths became more aggressive.

The Yellow Dragon ventured further, tripping over half of the swords. It slashed its claws at Damon and Hammer, catching the Alabama orc across his left thigh. He lost his balance and slammed against the platform, barely missed vaulting into a column of fire. He screamed as a large gash opened up on his leg.

Damon looked over his shoulder. “Armando! Get him outta here,” he barked, and the rookie orc scooped Hammer up and dragged him under the stairs.

The orc general ran in and took another swing with his sword. But the Yellow Dragon saw him coming and lowered its head to snap at him. Damon lifted his shield at the last second. The monster’s foot-long teeth crashed against his steel. Realizing that he saw the dragon’s move too late, the orc ripped off his face covering in frustration. He heard Rachel protest from the second level. “It’s impairing my vision,” he shouted back. He threw the bloody rag onto the platform and felt the top edge of his new cheek loosen. “Goddammit,” he muttered.

As red energy washed over his body, he knew Rachel had sent him a Mana Heal. He swept in and took another strike at the dragon while he pressed the flap on his cheek against his face. The dragon responded with a blast of yellow fire and inched closer to the center of the room. More yellow columns snapped on overhead and he heard Zack yelp, “Whoa!”

Damon glanced over his shoulder to see the former Marine just landing back on his feet, having evaded a column. He saw that Zack and Armando, who had returned, had goaded the Blue Dragon much further onto the platform.

Both dragons were bleeding from the many swords they had trampled on, and they started retreating to their original positions by the wall. The dragons didn’t turn as much as waddle backwards.

“No! No. Don’t let them get back!” Harper shouted. “We need them both to cross the room.”

The orcs ran to the walls and began striking against their tails and backside. The Yellow Dragon turned and hissed at Damon. Its long, reptilian tongue flicked hot saliva onto the orc’s arm. It seeped between the gaps in his armor, and it felt like boiling oil had been poured on him. He screamed and whipped his arm. That only moved the scalding liquid to his hand.

“Aah, aah!” he gasped as he ran in for another strike.

The boss’s HP was down to 99 out of 631.

The dragon relented and started moving forward again, flipping more levers. As the yellow, green, and blue columns of fire illuminated the room with an intense analogous glow, the teammates began turning off their light spells. The hunters and mages on the second level started directing their barrage to the backside of the dragons, pushing them toward each other. The monster’s long, spiked tails whipped violently across the columns, immune to their colored flames, but they did flip more levers.

The three orcs continued their attacks until they heard Harper yell from the second level, “That’s it! The Yellow Dragon has flipped every lever. All you have to do is…” She stopped suddenly, then screamed. “No, Vlad, no!”

An instant later, a Fire Bullet ripped through the Yellow Dragon’s chest wound, killing it. The behemoth crashed to the floor, covering many of the levers the other dragon still had to trip.

5

The Blue Dragon reacted instantly, pounding across the spiked platform and clambering over the corpse of the Yellow Dragon. From its elevated position, it blasted blue flames at the three orcs on the floor. The stream of fire was prolonged as the dragon released its fury. The orcs’ shields protected them a bit, but they sustained deep burns from the fire and their scorched armor. As they screamed and scrambled for cover, smoke rose from their burning skin. The dragon finally withdrew the flames, then panted like a dog left in a car on a hot day.

The hunters and mages blasted the Blue Dragon, trying to drive it away from the orcs and off of the dead one. It worked. The Blue Dragon retreated, still gulping for oxygen. Harper ran down the stairs and over the platform to speak to the orcs. As the healer’s spells rained on the orcs, Harper told them they would have to move the dead dragon to the wall.

“It’s covering many of the levers the blue one still has to cross,” she said.

Damon shouted in frustration. He glanced up at Vlad, irritated that his actions had placed them in the predicament. “The dragon is huge,” he seethed. “I don’t think the three of us can do it.”

Standing between the colored columns of fire, the light drew a sharp contrast to Harper’s worn face. “You’ll have to try,” she said, then quickly moved to her side as more flames shot from the Blue Dragon

While the orcs sought refuge in the shadow of the Yellow Dragon, Harper inadvertently swung her hand through one of the green columns. She screamed as two of her fingers were vaporized instantly. She dropped her staff and gripped her left hand as blood squirted from her partially severed ring and pinkie fingers.

“Aaah! Aaah! You’re... you’re going to have to do it,” she groaned as sweat dripped from her agonized features. “I’ll… I’ll do whatever I can to help.” With that, she retreated to the wall as the members on the second level continued to attack the Blue Dragon and sent healing spells to the veteran mage.

6

Damon turned to Armando and Zack. “Let’s get this over with,” he grunted, then leaned into the carcass of the Yellow Dragon. The other two followed his lead, planting their shoulders into the monster’s thick, reptilian hide. As another burst of blue fire shot over their heads, directed at the teammates on the second level, the orcs pushed.

The Yellow Dragon didn’t move an inch.

“Fuck. This is a waste of time,” Zack moaned, and he was right.

The dragon’s dead weight moved inward easily enough, but its frame stayed solidly rooted to the platform. Damon glanced at Harper, who was still standing under the stairs, clutching her bleeding fingers. In the green and yellow lights, her pale face gleamed like a ghost’s.

“Try again,” she said, then grasped her staff, which was leaning against the wall. Her bloody stumps curled around the shaft, and she pointed the instrument at the orcs.

“Alright. One more time,” Damon said to the other two warriors. They leaned into the carcass and pushed. Far behind them, Harper launched Dirt Squall and a heavy wind blew against the orcs and the dragon. While chunks of dirt tinged off their armor, the corpse rolled slowly. “Go, go, go!” Damon shouted as their momentum picked up.

As the orcs heaved the monster forward, they swerved around the flaming columns. The yellow and green beams did nothing to the corpse, but they had seen what it had done to Harper.

As the squall spell continued to drive them forward, the Blue Dragon ignored them. The hunters and mages had drawn its aggro. Below them, Harper kept her spell going, and the orcs heaved the dead dragon off the platform, exposing the levers that still needed to be tripped.

Harper called the teammates to the floor. They baited the Blue Dragon with gestures and attacks, leading it to the remaining levers. It was an arduous task, as each lever didn’t correspond with the column above it, so figuring out which levers hadn’t been touched became an effort of concentration. All the while, the monster kept attacking the team and Thao suffered a nasty burn to her neck and shoulder. After thirty minutes of juking and jiving between the columns, nineteen levers had been switched. Only one yellow column of fire remained.

“It must be on the perimeter,” Sierra guessed, but the others weren’t sure.

Still, she waved her arms and tried a different spell. Launching Acid Fly, she directed the familiar directly in front of the dragon’s eyes. The reptilian’s pupils crossed, and then the behemoth was transfixed. It stomped across the floor and the levers at a much faster rate. As Sierra skirted out of its way, the mesmerized dragon pounded to the corner of the platform, flipping the last lever.

The final yellow column turned green, and then all the columns of fire retracted back into the ceiling. With the flames gone, all twenty mouths shone bright green light down onto the continuing battle. The mages hammered the Blue Dragon with more Fire Bullets, then handed off the kill to Rachel, who finished it with a Boulder spell. As the behemoth slumped to the platform, not far from the Yellow Dragon, one of the green lights in the ceiling exploded. Water blasted through the opening with a force they hadn’t seen before. The members hurried to the walls as the deluge pounded through the lone hole in the floor. It didn’t slow for another few minutes, but even then, the water spilled through the ceiling at a fierce and steady rate.

The teammates waded through the water and craned their heads, staring into the small, dim space that wasn’t obscured by the flowing stream.

In the middle of the pack, Sierra raised her hand to her brow. “Is that daylight I see?”

7

After determining that it really was daylight filtering through the water flowing from the ceiling, the teammates jumped and celebrated despite their wounds. Hammer wrapped his arms around Sierra and roared, “Finally!” Having suffered significant injuries, they bounced more conservatively than the other members.

Harper approached the revelers and held out her arms. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” she yelled. “We still have the make it through the final boss, and it’s going to be the biggest fight you’ve had yet.” As the teammates settled down and started rubbing the injuries they had re-aggravated with their boisterousness, she reminded them of one important fact. “We lost two people in the final boss battle of the tower, and we were lucky. Do not underestimate what’s ahead.”

As the veteran mage gazed up at the small opening in the ceiling, which was ringed by the endless outpouring of water, she continued, “Let’s get ourselves fully healed, then we’ll scout the room before entering it.”

Damon agreed. Rachel had already wrapped a swatch of new canvas around his grafted cheek and was sending him Mana Heals at a constant rate. She had also bandaged Harper’s partially severed fingers, but all the healing spells in the world weren’t going to stop the pain the veteran mage was experiencing.

The others had less extreme wounds. The orcs, Sierra, and Thao had various stages of burnt tissue from the dragon’s fiery breath. Hammer had a large gash on his left thigh, but that wound was already closing.

Damon sent Armando to the lower floors to check on Angie and Jordan. Minutes later, he returned with the pair, who said they were ready to go.

While the teammates continued their healing spells, Harper asked everyone about their XP totals. “We usually leave this to nighttime, but since it appears we’ve reached the end, I’d like to designate all your attribute points to constitution before the big boss battle.”

Damon raised his eyebrows at her decision. It went against her logic of designating points into three categories. He wondered whether it was because she wanted to bump the teammates’ HP stats, or if she was just being lazy. With the friction they’d already had that day, he decided not to call her out on it.

Not all the members had kills. The orcs had taken down most of the grass ogres. Damon, Zack, and Hammer had nabbed two grass ogres each, lifting them to levels 71, 67 and 64, respectively. Armando had bagged one grass ogre, which bumped him to level 62.

Harper and Sierra had each nailed one ogre, which moved them to level 72 and 68 respectively, while Vlad got one ogre and the Yellow Dragon, putting him at level 64.

Meanwhile, Rachel had taken down two major bosses: the Worm Witch and the Blue Dragon. That bumped her four levels to 58.

With most of the healing done, the team discussed possible strategies. “I’d like to get a peek at what is up there,” Harper said, then rode on a boulder up towards the entrance.

Knowing she was going to get soaked from the water flowing around the hole’s perimeter, she unequipped her enchanter cape. She ascended toward the opening, staring at the green columns of light that illuminated her teammates. As her head passed through the rim, she saw that the glowing lights were dark and opaque on the other side.

She stopped halfway, with only her torso exposed in the final room. She didn’t want to take the chance of entering the room fully. As she directed her light orb throughout the floor, she saw water bursting through fissures in the ceiling and the walls. There were a few more spots where she could see daylight sneaking through.

But there were no monsters. The room was empty. She scanned the interior, taking in every detail. There were no switches or levers. The orange-stoned walls were caked with moss and scatterings of earth, roots, and grass. She searched for insignias or any other clues about the room, but nothing stood out.

Harper sighed, then descended back to the eleventh floor.

“Did you see anything?” Damon asked, and she shook her head.

“No. The room appears to be empty.”

Angie snorted. “Yeah, right. We’ve been through that before.”

The veteran mage shrugged. “Yeah, I know. I guess we won’t know what we’re up against until we enter the room.”

Damon grunted. “Should we change anything?”