The Boss Room was a wide square room around 10 meters on each side. The layout was the same as the Sewers except the ceiling was higher.

“Sewerberus? Is this the game creator’s lame joke?” said Hawk while facepalming.

Sewerberus

That was the Boss’ name, a portmanteau of Sewer and Cerberus. The first Boss we faced looked disgusting instead of fearsome. It was as tall as two people, one on top of the other; as long as six people standing side by side; and as wide as four people standing side by side. Three rat heads branched out from it neck. The saliva dripping from its mouths sizzled when it touched the ground like acid. Patches of oil, grease, and other trash covered its grey skin. The beast stood on all fours. Its feet were thin but muscular and long unlike a rat’s. Its tail was thin and long.

“Here it comes…” said Dove.

The Sewerberus charged at our direction as we took steps towards it. I immediately put out my shield to defend against its attacks. On the meanwhile, Dove volleyed it with arrow after arrow. The three arrows dealt a mere 2% of the Boss’ Health.

The middle head rammed against my shield and pushed me back for two meters before I stopped it. I lost a total of 20% of my Health from the force it made. As I was being pushed backed, Hawk used Skadi’s Caress and bombarded the Sewerberus with his combos as he leapt above it. Despite this, the ministuns did not halt its push; it simply delayed the action for a fraction of a second. Master Zoe casted Kindness Drop on me immediately. Assuming it was used upon cooldown, Master Zoe can cast eight of those consecutively.

Once I halted its charge, the Sewerberus jumped into the middle of our formation and whipped its tail in a counter clockwise rotation. Reacting quickly, Dove readied her sword and blocked the tail, but it proved futile as she was knocked back and hit the wall, losing 53% of her Health. At the very least, the delay created by Dove’s seemingly futile defense enabled me move into a better position to defend Master Zoe, but I still couldn’t fully stop the swing and took 20% damage. Master Zoe moved away from the Boss and closer to Dove.

A Potion as well as Kindness Drop healed Dove’s Health back to a high amount.

“I can’t use Potions anymore!” exclaimed Dove.

Did this Boss limit us to one Item?

When the tail swing stopped, Hawk slid between the Sewerberus feet and began thrusting his swords upwards. Since his combo was not disrupted, his attack damage was becoming significant at 2% per hit, compared to the 1% he began with. As I thought, his abilities suited fighting singular stronger enemies better and his attacks would be the majority of our damage. The Sewerberus was down to a third of its Health. It stomped its feet at Hawk, but the attack was telegraphed and obvious, Hawk managed to roll away from the foot while slic\ing it.

The moment that attack ended, the Sewerberus rotated its body to face Dove who continuously pelted it with arrows from the distance. Flame Banner caught it mid-rotation and forced it to rotate back and attempt to bite me; however, when it reached half-health, it leapt back a distance away from us.

“Behind me!” I shouted at the top of lungs as soon as the leap began.

I was amazed. All three of them reacted without any hesitance. They listened to me, the worst Player here, to the useless Player throughout the Dungeon.

The Sewerberus shot liters of purple saliva. Despite my best efforts, the size of the Basic Shield prevented me from blocking the entire wave. The attacked burned our skins like acid and stinged a lot. The resulting damage: 37% on Master Zoe, 63% on Hawk, 60% on Dove, 34% on myself. The saliva was considered magical based on the relatively low damage it did to Master Zoe. Thankfully, this gave us the option for Master Zoe to heal Dove, since we couldn’t use Potions anymore, with Kindness Drop instead. The rest healed with Potions.

“Items are limited to one per Player.” announced Master Zoe.

Looking at our situation, we were in quite the pinch. While Master Zoe and I were healthy, Hawk and Dove were at less than two-thirds Health. If those two died, we lacked the damage to defeat the Sewerberus, which would result in our deaths as well. We could not use items anymore. The Boss was still at half-health. We had to perform even better in the second half to defeat it without casualties. The possibility of a stronger boss once it reached half-health existed. The only silver lining was that Master Zoe would not be running into Mana problems assuming we removed the remaining Health at the same pace.

The second the saliva spray ended, both Hawk and Dove rushed the Sewerberus. Slashing as fast as they could, the two ran circles around it with perfect coordination on both sides. Their movement caused the monster to move back and forth for two seconds. During this time, I ran towards it and Flame Banner forced it to attack me. Flame Banner lasted two seconds before it turned its attention to the highest damage-dealer: Hawk. Hawk realized this and jumped upwards the moment Flame Banner ended, avoiding the bite of the right head. During this jump, his swords sliced the left head one after the other. As he fell, he rode the momentum and pointed his swords downward, piercing the Boss’ back and continuing his combo. The Boss was now down to a third of its Health.

The Sewerberus repeated its counter-clock wise tail whip, but Hawk and Dove either predicted it or reflexively dodged it. I wasn’t as lucky and was sent flying towards the nearby wall. My body felt like it would break from the pain, but I kept going. The Sewerberus switched its aim to Master Zoe and charged towards her.

I ran immediately towards her, but I wouldn’t make it. As my heart beat in horror, Hawk and Dove ran to its sides slashed the front legs of the Sewerberus. The force of the charge threw back the two and took around one-fourth of their Health. While completely slicing off the feet was impossible, the two’s attacks threw off the Boss’ charge, preventing it from directly hitting Master Zoe, merely grazing her instead. Despite not being a direct hit, the attack still took 58% of Master Zoe’s Health. Master Zoe, Hawk, and Dove were all at less than half-Health. Master Zoe used her fourth Kindness Drop on herself.

Unexpectedly, Dove screamed in pain when she took the last instance of damage. No one had yet to feel any physical pain in Reality so why did she scream just now. Hawk immediately rushed to her side to help her up, but I noticed that her face filled with painfulness.

Even without Dove, we resumed attacking the Sewerberus, my final Flame Banner combined with Hawk attacks delayed the Sewerberus attacks until the next the cooldown of Kindess Drop; however, our efforts weren’t enough, and the Sewerberus charged Master Zoe.

A timely surprise attack from Dove managed to set the Sewerberus allowed Master Zoe to dodge the attack as well as buy the last few seconds of Kindness Drop’s cooldown.

“Heal Dove!” said Hawk.

“Heal Hawk!” said Dove

The two stated at the exact same time. Different orders, in this battle, this was our first encounter of it. My fear and worry grew. This was the consequence of a Party that did not always fight together. As I pondered on what to do, my worries proved to be for naught.

Unlike me, Master Zoe did not hesitate for a moment. She immediately healed Dove. Realizing this, Dove showed slight irritation on her face but put in away in favor of concentrating on the battle. Was Master Zoe’s decision made by rationally or emotionally? Now was not the time to question that.

The Sewerberus launched a third tail whip. This caught me off guard and reduced my life by 40%. Hawk and Dove successfully dodged in time, but the shockwave caused by it still took 20% of their Health. Master Zoe’s sixth Kindness Drop on Hawk, who fell to critical Health after that attack.

Almost there… the Sewerberus life fell to 15%, a few more hits would do it. At this point, I shifted to a more offensive play and began helping the two attackers deal damage. From the corner of my eye, I saw a grin on Hawk’s face.

At 10% Health, the Sewerberus crouched. I knew this action: the leap back into saliva spray. Should I attempt to defend? No, Hawk and Dove are too low health to survive it. There is only one path.

The four of us chased after without delay. Hawk, Dove, and I swung our swords with no restriction; even Master Zoe helped by whacking with her staff. Each point of the Sewerberus’ Health dropped one by one.

“MAKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” the four of us shouted in perfect unison.

The Sewerberus shattered into polygons. Our final attacks connected milliseconds before the Boss launched its attacks.

“WE DID IT!!!” we gathered together and cheered.

Congratulations! The Boss is slain!

Rewards: 1, 000 Fitts/person; 2x Elixir (Rare), Alchemist Staff (Artifact)

Naut City Entrance Gate will be opened at 12 noon tomorrow.

Hawk sat on the ground with a smile on his face. Master Zoe had a satisfied look on her face. Dove… fainted. Hawk immediately approached to aid her.