The fight began. Freya and her replica both glared at each other. Usually, one would be so set in their ways that it would be extremely difficult to conjure stratagems that you’re unable to think of in a normal scenario. Her very nature as a tank was to react to enemy attacks, so both she and her replica waited on each other. Realising the issue, she walked forth, inching closer and closer. Her sword arm lunged forth and was deflected off the shield of her replica. From then on, a much more intricate battle of slashes, stabs, blocks, parries, dodges, and subtle but amazing use of spells mixed into an amazingly complex battle.

“Heh,” Phil chuckled, “I’ve severely underestimated her.”

“I know what you mean,” Scarlet concurred. “I doubt there’s a melee attacker in our guild who could get through a defence like that.” The guild master’s eyes were glued to the fight, “The RC needs to update their dungeoneer classes, because that’s definitely not a regular tank.”

As more people sang her praises, August and I only became more worried as time went by. She didn’t appear to deviate from her usual style at all; the only reason these party members were astounded by her was due to the fact that she fought another tank. It was basically just a long fight with minimal offensive power. We, who had cleared this dungeon before, were the only ones to personally know what it felt like to rip yourself away from yourself and do something you’d absolutely never do. Black Hole was that thing for me, and simply surpassing oneself was that thing for August. But Freya? Who knew?

The battle went on for about five minutes, and the minor injuries coupled with exhaustion had snowballed into a sluggish fight where the two would distance themselves every couple of attacks to catch their breath.

“Freya, if you don’t do something soon, you’re going to die,” August’s words made her shake. It was something no one wanted to hear, but something she needed either way. So, she heeded those words, and dropped her sword and shield. She began undoing her armour with every chance she got, making sure to keep distance from her enemy.

“That’s smart,” Donna commented. “Her main issue is physical strength and energy. So she’s shedding the weight.”

As Donna explained, I realised the brilliance behind it. The mana potion she drank would have her mana almost constantly full, only dropping with many consecutive spell-casts. She had a lot of mana, and little energy, so she capitalised on that. To put that into play so quickly, she must’ve been thinking about it for a while, I surmised. Her light footwork was the ridiculously similar to that of Phil’s. In fact, it would be ridiculous to say she didn’t copy him. Now free from most of her armour, she bounced around more freely, using small spells here and there to distract her replica from the small but constant shift in location. She was leading the replica closer and closer to the edge of the island, until finally, a shift in the earth below her replica made the monster lose its footing, then a blast of wind pushed it off. It landed in the fire. After all that fancy fighting, the ending felt, anticlimactic.

A few people’s trials took place, a lot of warriors, assassins or tanks – basically anyone that wasn’t a mage – adopted a similar style and relied more on whatever spell they knew. For some however, like Phil, he did no such thing. Instead, the strength potion was taken advantage of, and he, with pure will, overcame his previous physical limits to overpower his enemy. He was becoming faster with every strike, instead of slowing down, as if getting into his groove.

By far, the most difficult and brutal fights to watch would be that of the healers. Man, those were horrible. With little to no offensive abilities, they resorted to slugging it out and healing themselves back, making for the longest most difficult fights any party member had to endure. Clarence, who wielded his shield and mace and had skill in close combat didn’t suffer as much as his twin sister, Claire. She, with arms like twigs, had the most ungraceful fight in the entire party. She had to win by flinging dirt in her opponent’s eyes and using rocks to smash into the monster’s head. But all of that was after many trials of biting, hair-ripping, eye-poking, headbutting, and so many other strange, but useful and hurtful tactics.

Despite our many victories, that didn’t say that absolutely everyone faired well against a replica of themselves. Trevor for example, had a particularly bad matchup against himself. His repertoire of spells was something he simply couldn’t face. In the end, to avoid death, he had to recall out. Three other dungeoneers did the same, leaving the party with twenty-one members.

Next time, I’ll use pills for those who recalled.

The dungeon bypassed August and I, probably because we did it already. Finally, we went to Heaven. The beautiful mountain summit and azure lagoon was such a refreshing scene. But, knowing what was there, I immediately activated Mana Perception. The mana-entity was raising from the waters and inching closer and closer.

For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what to do. I pushed everyone back as I did last-minute brainstorming. If I barely passed that with so many clones using Purist and the damn staff helping me, how in Hydra’s ass are they going to pass it? I wondered. Does the difficulty scale based on the person’s level? As I wracked my brains, the mana suddenly began forming a strange shape.

I immediately summoned Arcana and questioned her on what was going on. Her jaw dropped, “Father?!” she exclaimed.

Fath–

A wave of white magic swept across at our entire group from the left. There was no time to think. I opened several void fissures and the spell was suck into them, saving the group. It reminded me greatly of that ghastly and absolutely horrifying blast of pure arcane energy that Ashfur shot from his mouth when we bound him. Finally, the mass of mana formed a white translucent dragon that towered over us. Its muscular structure was neither too huge or too small, but sat perfectly balanced in the middle. Its wings flared out and with one flap, it launched into the air, circling above us.

Shit, this didn’t happen the last time. Think, think! Mana the last time, arcane dragon now. What’s the difference? I looked back, drowning out the random screams from the party members behind me in the noise that was my thoughts. Of course, it’s them! The dungeon knows there are more people, so it gave us a higher hurdle to cross? My eyes kept glued on the dragon in the skies.

It released a sphere from its mouth, and the minute I saw it, I recognised the spell. It brought a flashback of the witch, Emily Crescent, when she placed me in a Phantasm spell. It was where she killed Kor’zha and August, almost snapping my mind in two. One of the spells she displayed in that illusion was Arcane Sphere, a mass of concentrated arcane that surpassed Divergence in raw strength. I flew in its path and activated Reflect, using Convergence to somewhat control the Arcane Sphere’s direction back to the dragon, but there was no way I’d get the spell to hit a flying monster.

It released another Arcane Sphere, then another, until it became a torrential downpour. I stacked Timedial twice and cast Riftshear to get the entire party out of there, then removed Timedial. We now looked at the monster circling the skies over yonder. “Guess this one’s serious, huh?” August summoned his longsword to his hands. His body began emanating a soft yellow hue of light, just like it did when he used past one hundred percent of quint usage. Windsail got him airborne, and he flew right towards the white entity of terror.

“Get going,” Donna snapped me out of my mind. A Phoenix Wave swept past August and set its warpath to the dragon. The translucent beast retracted its wings, dropping just enough to dodge the spell, but a missed Phoenix Wave always came back at its target. The fire spell engulfed the dragon, making it crash down into the summit’s tranquil meadows. August nosedived to it, giving it no chance and slicing down onto it.

But this boss was nothing more than a mass of mana forming an arcane creature. His sword went right through, ineffective. I expected him to retreat, but he did no such thing. Instead, he swung that sword like a frenzied madman, and for some reason unknown, the dragon couldn’t get up.

The mist-like arcane around his body began fading as August continued. That’s when I realised, there was something August did that repelled or dissipated magic somehow. Or maybe it was more accurate to say it destroyed flows of mana. Looking at the beast with Mana Perception, the usual rhythms and cycles that its mana flowed with were being disrupted with each swing.

I helped the young lunatic and bathed the monster with more Phoenix Wave spells powered by Purist, whilst incorporating Gravity Field to give the dragon as difficult a time as possible. Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering reached my ears in the skies. The dragon no longer had the strange arcane magic around it. It was now a normal, tangible dragon. Its tail whipped, and sent August flying over a great distance. I helped him regain a little control by slowing his momentum with void manipulation.

Another sharp-edged slice of arcane energy flew to me so fast I could hardly react, even with Avatar of Lightning. A leg was gone and blood spurted like crazy. I Voidwalked and healed myself just enough to stop the bleeding, then recovered my falling leg. With a couple deep breaths, I began stitching myself back together with Eden. This is crazy…

The minute I came back to the corporeal plane, August was flying toward the beast again. He dipped to the ground and used a nearby boulder to vault himself. Jumping from something with his ridiculous strength was actually faster than the speed Windsail afforded him. The beast’s neck was in his sword’s crosshairs. Just then, Arcana yelled for him to stop. So, he did, at the last minute, dropping his sword and uncontrollably slamming into the dragon. With the force that he did, both he and the dragon rolled a few times.

It was clear now that she didn’t want us to kill him. But, wasn’t that foolish? Technically, right now, he was just a dungeon boss. Is she crazy? Does she want to have civil talks with the hardest dungeon’s boss? Is he even in his right mind? I wondered, then revisited that last question. His mind, huh… An idea lit up in me. His mind! Hmm, but I only have Enthral. Worth a shot at least.

I pulled August away with the void and placed a great gravitational weight upon the dragon. I flew down to it and activated all ten stacks of Purist, then used Enthral. It resisted greatly, but with consecutive casts of the spell at ten times the potency, the dragon eventually fell for my irresistible charm. The portal to leave the dungeon appeared right after.

In my status window, the arcane dragon was placed as a pet of mine. Hydra’s ass… It was hard to view it as such. I grabbed August and cast Riftshear to get us back to our party. They stayed and looked at us instead of going through the gate that appeared next to them.

“Well?” Scarlet initiated. The rest of the party hung onto my reaction with anticipation laden in them.

“Uh,” I scratched my cheek, “August defeated it.”

“Do you take me for a fool, Eric?” she retorted, calling my lie.

I was caught, but how was I to explain that the most difficult monster in Yunaris was now my pet? I kept my mouth shut.

“August,” Freya lost patience, “what really happened?”

“Psh,” August shrugged, “no clue. I can’t keep up with all his spells. But we definitely didn’t kill it.”

“The only way you can defeat a monster without actually killing, is by taming it,” Scadia reminded them and there was a long pause of awkward silence and staring. I moved slowly and hid behind August like a child behind their parent.

“Am I so gorgeous that you can’t stop ogling?” I asked, earning a scoff from Scadia. She left, and subsequently, other people exited the dungeon. August and I followed and we all returned to the guild building, earning a hearty welcome back.

I checked my status window and inventory, but there was nothing of note there. Nothing special happened for this dungeon run. Plus, we were skipped for the replica fights, I thought back on the ending of Hell. I concluded, after having August concur with my suspicions, that there was nothing more to be gained from this world. Hethekk the Scryer, the witch, as well as the spirit lords of the void told us that our business was in Yunaris. But it seemed like this chapter was coming to an end.

“So, time to return home, huh?” August said whilst we savoured the full-bodied draft caressing our tongues. A small party was underway, and despite August and I clearing the big dungeon already, this time around was the true cause for celebration. Not only did an entire group experience it, they were all First Flight members, cementing them as the greatest guild. This meant that a lot of information about the dungeon could finally be accessible to other dungeoneers.

I exhaled with content after taking a sip, “Well, not quite. I still have a lot of exploring to do in Steyza’s world.” We were leaned against the wall, watching the other members revel, “Of course, we’ll go to our family first. But the next adventure is probably Jynnak. I’ve got a big business venture for the elves.” As well as a huge opportunity for Methelia, I thought of my previous plans to build a bridge between Tyrr and Methelia. They get K&A’s potions, and we get their architectural marvels. Of course, that would just be the agreed upon transaction. Many other things would be shared. “So, you comin’?”

He smiled, “Maybe once I get all the quint from the sword.”

“Oh yeah,” he reminded me of my staff with the mana, “I’ll stay home until I get all that mana then.”

But before any of that could happen, there was still something I needed to tend to in Yunaris. Later that day, I visited Freya’s mother. My hands immediately began warping light magic around themselves, and just then, a new spell came to me.

Convalesce. It was simple, but damn strong. Unlike Renew, it could be cast on someone far away from me without the use of Light Link. It was way more potent than Renew or even Eden as it could only be cast on one target at a time. Eden still won the multi-target race though.

No idea I was so close to getting another spell. A malicious grin pervaded my attempts at staying serious. The Glacierhearts looked at me with some suspicion, but August wasn’t ruffled, and therefore Freya wasn’t. Her brothers chose to remain calm.

Just to be sure, I summoned a clone, hit him with an Ice Javelin and used Convalesce on him. Worked like a charm. The wound closed in the snap of a finger and it repaired the mana pathways that were destroyed when the Ice Javelin pierced. It also calmed his mind, as light magic often did. Convalesce was a very complete form of healing, and certainly my strongest.

Observing the woman’s life essence and mana, I cast the latest addition to my light magic family on her. Within a mere second, her life essence brimmed and her mana flowed in full swing. Her eyes shot open and she immediately sat up, taking in her surroundings. “My children,” she smiled upon seeing them, “I’m, finally awake…” Her eyes began watering, and Freya’s followed soon after.

One minute after, just enough so I could finish casting Riftshear, we teleported back home. We stood at the crossroads of the King estate and Archibald estate where we bumped fists.