Liliana stared at the ten Minotaurs arrayed before a massive Minotaur statue that was pushing thirty feet in height and reconsidered her life choices.

She was still young. She could learn how to sew clothes. Or perhaps how to forge metal into useful implements. Perhaps weaving? That sounded peaceful. She could live in some small, inconsequential village in Gadria. Anywhere, in fact, that she did not find herself facing off against a colossal stone statue that was so clearly the boss of this level, it might as well be wearing a neon sign around its neck.

"Has everyone updated their wills recently? Wouldn't want any of us to have the wrong flowers for our closed caskets," Liliana called out, resigning herself to certain doom.

Alistair sighed in exasperation, running a hand over his face. "Lili, we are not going to die."

"Say that again but look me in the eyes, Ali." Liliana challenged, pointing at the giant statue that was bigger than six of him combined. "I use swords! Blades! I can't cut through marble!" She finished, her floating swords shaking to make her point.

"Was she not already aware of what the boss would be?" Anya stage whispered to Emyr. The entire group had left a clear space between the quarreling siblings, watching the show with amusement. They knew better than to get in between the two of them by now. None of them felt like being stabbed that day.

"She knew. Those two just like to fight. We’ve never actually fought the boss before without her bonds, so it’s the perfect excuse for her to be dramatic." Emyr answered with a smirk. That much was true, as the boss was of a higher level than their group could’ve handled the last two times they’d dived this dungeon. Even with their current levels, Liliana didn’t feel particularly confident they’d win.

Only once had they actually fought it, the first time they’d been mostly getting used to the dungeon itself, letting her bonds blitz through it so they could understand the pitfalls and tricks this particular dungeon employed. The second time they’d used her bonds as a precaution, while they took the chance to examine the boss’ tactics and patterns. You didn’t have to worry about much when you had overwhelming power on your side, but this time they were fighting without her bonds and had to be far more careful with how they proceeded.

Alistair met Liliana's gaze. "We're not going to die," he said slowly, enunciating each word.

"Giant. Statue. Made. Of. Stone!" Liliana hissed back, pointing at her swords. "Blades."

"Do you want a hammer? Is that what this is? Are you asking for a hammer for the solstice?" Alistair demanded, throwing his hands up in frustration at her theatrics.

Liliana reared back, a distinctly disgusted look on her face. "How could you ever ask that of me?"

"Well, I'm not sure what your point is then, Lili!" Alistair growled back, looking like he wanted to strangle her and was barely restraining himself from doing so. She almost wished he would, just so she could rid of the nervous energy buzzing under her skin.

Liliana folded her arms and glared, "my point is how in the crispy fried fuck are we going to take that thing down?"

"I'm partial to fire. Lots of fire." Emyr interjected, apparently judging it was time to lance the tension before the siblings turned their verbal sparring more physical in nature. He was the only one brave enough to dare, perhaps because he was also the only one the two siblings wouldn’t immediately turn on for daring to interrupt.

"You can't burn stone, Em." Liliana rolled her eyes.

"Not with that attitude," He retorted with a smirk as a ball of fire burst to life in his palm.

"Put that away before you hurt yourself, you damn pyromaniac." Liliana rolled her eyes, lips twitching with the urge to smile. And just like that, her nerves and anger dissolved as if they hadn’t been there to begin with. She could feel Alistair rolling his eyes in fond annoyance without even looking.

"Aw, that's an upgrade from a regular maniac. You give the best compliments." Emyr teased. Liliana snorted and shoved him. He raised his palm, still full of flames, in clear threat.

"Do we know the activation requirements of the boss?" Koth’talan interrupted the fighting, rubbing at his eyes. He looked ready to toss them all at the Minotaurs and just be done with it. Liliana would be sure he didn’t get the flowers he wanted at his funeral.

"It's either proximity based or dependent on how many of the Minotaurs we kill. We didn’t exactly pay attention the last two times we were in here," Alistair responded, looking over at the boss arena. His eyes caught on something and his eyes narrowed. “There, do you see those channels?” he asked, pointing to thin grooves carved into the ground.

The group crowed together, heads craning to see what he was pointing at. Anya actually climbed on Alistair’s back to see over the heads of their taller group mates. Liliana’s eyes narrowed as she traced the labyrinthine path the channels took before she rolled them. How on brand. She could respect the dedication the Minotaurs had to their bit.

“They end at that shallow depression at the feet of the statue.” Corbin said, having traced the same path Liliana had.

“It’s blood activated. See how it’s designed to direct it? If you kill the Minotaurs in the arena, the blood flows to the feet. I think when the basin is filled, the boss activates.” Alistair decided, pointing out the path for those of their group that hadn’t caught onto it yet.

“We weren’t exactly paying attention to where the blood was going last time,” Emyr said dryly. The bloodthirsty mage rarely paid attention to where the blood he spilled went, just that it was being spilled at all. Most didn’t, to be fair to him. It was a rather ingenious method of activating a boss, Liliana had to admit grudgingly.

“We’ll need to be more mindful this time,” Alistair decided, and Liliana huffed. That was all well and good, but it still didn’t solve the problem of how to deal with the boss when it did activate.

Liliana glanced around their group before her eyes snagged on Koth’talan. "Lava." She said, earning curious gazes when she didn't elaborate. She didn’t think her statement needed any further elucidation. It was all quite obvious to her.

Koth’talan regarded her with exasperation, "yes Lili, I have a Lava affinity. Thank you for noticing after nearly four years." He drawled.

Liliana rolled her eyes with a huffed, "Lava melts stone." She said slowly, as if talking to a child.

Alistair's eyes lit up. "'Talan, do you think you can make a pool big and deep enough to trap the boss?" He asked eagerly. Liliana sighed. How had it taken them so long to catch onto that?

Koth’talan looked at the boss, and the arena for several moments, hands clenching and relaxing. His eyes took in the area and he was clearly running calculations in his mind as he gauged the available space, the material of the floor, of the statue, and the minions standing idly by.

"If you lot can keep the rest of the Minotaurs off of me, and the boss doesn't get up. If it's moving around, I won't have the time to get the lava deep enough without risking collateral," he finally said, looking back at Alistair.

Liliana looked around the corridor they were still in that opened into the arena. "Murder hallway?" She asked.

Alistair blinked, then looked around them. The hallway was maybe six feet wide. "If we can further shrink the width here, we can make it so only one Minotaur at a time can pass through." He said, grinning at Liliana, "guess sometimes even you can have good ideas."

"I will cut off your feet and leave you here to die," Liliana threatened.

"Then who will you steal desserts from?" He asked. Liliana paused for a moment to consider that eventuality before deciding her revenge was more important than getting extra sweets. The cafeteria workers might even thank her.

"The suffering would be worth it." She decided with a smirk. Alistair rolled his eyes and turned to Diana, a clear snub.

"I can work up some blockades. Can you assist with that? We'll want to vary the elements used to counteract whatever affinities the Minotaurs have," he told the girl, who looked at the walls critically before nodding.

Liliana, Emyr, and Corbin pulled further back. None of them had the affinities or the skills to help with the endeavor. In that moment, Liliana distinctly missed Basil. His Nature affinity would've worked well with this plan, but he rarely went through dungeons with them anymore. Something Liliana knew was her fault.

Not that there was anything she could truly do about it. She could apologize all she wanted, but apologies were empty when you didn’t make changes. And how was she supposed to change her nature? To become something she wasn’t just for someone else’s comfort and happiness? No, that had never been who she was.

Alistair and Diana started erecting a murder corridor, thick metal and stone thickening the walls, spikes of ice, metal and stone decorating them. A great sheet of ice spread across the floor from Alistair, turning the footing treacherous. Columns of thick crystals as big around as Liliana erupted, climbing to the ceiling and further crowing the hallway, jagged protrusions jutting out of them, ready to rip into unwary flesh. It took them ten minutes to fill the hallway and leave just enough room for a single Minotaur to pass at a time.

Liliana’s hands filled with vials as she called out, “catch.” Tossing the Mana potions to her brother and Diana.

They greedily drank down the potions, letting their Mana pools refill from the heavy drain of continuous manipulation skill usage. When they had both recovered, the sweat drying from their foreheads and their panting breaths evening out, Alistair nodded. The group fell into their normal structure, the one deviation being Koth’talan, who stayed near the front. As soon as the minions were taken care of, he’d need to rush out to start working on that pit of lava.

“So we’ll thin the herd,” Alistair grinned when several in the group groaned at the pun, “and keep them from activating the boss. Hopefully, we can kill all ten of the minion Minotaurs, which will give Koth’talan ample time to set up the lava pit. If not, we’ll focus on keeping them off of him while he does it if the murder hallway is compromised too badly. The main objective is to keep them fighting us here, away from the channels.” He looked around at all of them, his smile dropping and face serious.

“The boss can not activate before the pit is ready. We have Lili and Corbin’s bonds to fall back on if absolutely necessary, but that would be the same as failure. Understood?” Alistair asked, meeting each of their eyes for a moment. The group nodded in agreement, hands tight on weapons and bodies thrumming with excitement for the fight.

They’d been in this dungeon for over ten hours at this point. This boss fight would likely be their last of the day before they headed back. They might explore a little further just to get an idea of what awaited them the next time they came in, but even with Stamina potions, they’d be pushing it. Not having Marianne had slowed their progress slightly, not to an extreme extent, but they weren’t making records today.

Alistair nodded at them and turned to the hallway, his skin glowing as his skills and spells activated. The others followed his lead. A small muted rainbow of colors washed over them all as skills and spells buffed and empowered them all. Liliana’s own rushed through her, reinvigorating her tired body. She could fight for longer than this. The superhuman capabilities gifted by the System ensured that, but it didn’t mean ten hours of fighting and constant movement didn’t have some kind of toll on her.

With one last look over the group, Alistair stepped forward and activated one of his aggro grabbing skills, the resounding battle cry rolling over the arena and drawing the attention of all ten Minotaurs. They released their own bellowing war cries and charged as Corbin’s flute began to play. Liliana’s eyes scanned over the Minotaurs, information flashing before her eyes.

Devout Minotaur

Level: 252

A chimeric creature with the features of both man and bull, but with none of the reason of a man and without the less aggressive nature of a common bull. These Minotaurs are similar to common Minotaurs but differ in that they have devoted themselves to a greater power. They hunt out offerings not to increase their own power, but that of the one they serve. They seek the most powerful of adversaries to lay at the altar of the one they kneel before.

Rank: 4

Health: 35,000

Energy: 16,860

Highest Affinity: Light 89%

Highest Stat: Vitality: 3,500

The affinities changed beast to beast, but the stats in general stayed the same. Not much difference between these Minotaurs and the ones she’d seen before. High Health, moderate Energy stats in comparison. They were sponges, probably meant to last, and bleed, for as long as possible before the boss came to life.

It was a good strategy. Anyone fighting them would waste a good amount of Mana and Stamina getting through the minions before they had to face the boss, which undoubtedly had even more Health. She wasn’t sure yet, as her [Identify] currently only identified it as ‘a curious cult idol’.

She remembered it having a truly ridiculous amount of Health before, but that hadn’t mattered all that much when Lelantos, Polaris and Nemesis were focusing their considerable combined strength on it. And later she’d been rather focused on getting Lelantos to drop the leg he’d stolen from the body and convincing the tiger he couldn’t keep it as a chew toy. She was certain he wanted the head, as he usually did, but couldn’t fit his jaws around it to take it.

The first Minotaur made it to the hallway and shoved its way through, body scraping against spikes and jagged protrusions without a care for the way they cut into its body. Liliana’s eyes narrowed as she watched it, wondering if the beasts had no sense of pain. Or perhaps it was a symptom of their purpose for existing. They were meant to bleed to activate the boss, so it made sense they didn’t care if they were injured. Maybe it even gave them some kind of buffs.

Liliana’s theory was proven somewhat as the Minotaur finally got within range of Alistair’s shield. Its muscles had grown in size, so subtly, Liliana only noticed it because she’d been watching for some such effect.

“They get stronger the more they bleed,” she warned the group, who traded grim glances and scowls at the information. Corbin frowned as his song changed, diverging from the one meant to weaken skin. Which Liliana doubted these Minotaurs would need if they were so eager to bleed.

The Minotaur bashed against the wall of light before him as spells fell down without mercy. Fireballs, bursts of shadow, cutting water and pelting stone. Liliana’s [Hail of Bullets] and [Wind Blade] joined the fray, opening up weeping wounds on the beast as it raged. Behind it, other Minotaurs were hacking and trying to bulldoze through the conjured obstacles.

“Lili, Anya.” Alistair barked out as his shield fell. He stepped back as Anya stepped forward and Liliana vanished with a blink.

Anya met the beast fist for fist, the ear shattering booms of the collisions only serving to further excite the wolf girl. Liliana twisted from where she appeared above the beast, her naginata coming down and sliding into the creature’s shoulder and her swords drove down. Liliana vanished again before the beast could retaliate, its arm limp from where she had severed muscle and tendon.

With Anya facing the Minotaur head on, Liliana appeared and disappeared above and beside it. Only staying long enough to strike before she was gone again. It wasn’t as good as flying, but in the hallway she didn’t have the space for it and had to default to the dizzying process of using constant Spatial skills. Always careful to never appear behind the Minotaur, where another was already waiting and trying to force its way around. She didn’t want to end up trapped between the two of them.

Alistair had drawn back, working to keep the obstructions whole and blocking the rest of the Minotaurs from getting through to overwhelm them with Diana’s aid. Emyr kept up a constant barrage of fire and shadow spells, the occasional burst of bright starfire mixing in with them. He was similarly hindered by the close quarters, unable to utilize the more powerful spells his class was known for.

The Minotaur fell and Alistair seamlessly stepped forward again to take the attention of the next beast, giving Anya and Liliana a moment to rest as they recovered from the drain before they had to step forward once more.

Again and again, they followed the same pattern, shifting seamlessly. They were a well-oiled machine of death, years of fighting beside, and against, one another meaning few words needed to be said as they all flowed around and with each other. Minotaurs fell slowly but surely, their bodies becoming obstacles for their living brethren in turn as they were moved to the side. Blood coated the floor, turned to ice under Alistair’s command. Keeping it from activating the boss too early.

Liliana fell into the rhythm, mind hazing as she focused on the next strike, the next blink, the next dodge and the next switch. Her focus tunneled until it was only the beast before her, the blade in her hand and the weapons floating around her, jumping to her command. When the final Minotaur fell, she blinked, unprepared for the lack of further adversaries in her way.

“Lili, drink a potion,” Corbin’s low, melodic voice drew her back into her body and she shook her head, looking down at herself.

The close quarters combat had not been kind to her. It was not her ideal battlefield, and the very defenses meant to corral the Minotaurs had been uncaring that she was an ally. Her arms, sides and back were covered in deep gashes and cuts, and one of her ankles looked horribly broken. It had been crushed between two Minotaurs when she’d accidentally teleported too far and too low. Her knee ached from when another Minotaur had managed to grab her before she’d blinked away. Liliana shifted her weight and grimaced when she felt bones grind.

“Yeah,” Liliana said, and frowned when her voice came out raspy. The taste of copper and dust hung heavy on her tongue and throat.

Liliana leaned against a clear and mostly clean wall, not willing to sit down when the ground was coated in frozen blood. A potion bottle filled her hand, and Liliana gulped it down. The taste of sweet berries undercut with herbs and magic washed away the taste of blood before the potion began repairing the damage she’d suffered. A check of her Health showed her she’d been dropped down to a little less than half Health.

The gentle, sweet music of Corbin’s healing melodies filled the air, and Liliana closed her eyes as her body itched. Even her bones itched where they were being healed, and it was by and far one of the most uncomfortable feelings she’d ever experienced. She’d almost prefer the pain over the feeling of her very bones itching.

Liliana drank a Mana and Stamina potion as well. She wouldn’t have to worry about poisoning herself. After the boss fight, they’d probably head back. Too many potions in too short a time could poison the drinker, as the ingredients weren’t always, technically, safe for consumption.

[Poison Resistance] helped make it safer, but it was not as effective against poisoning from Health, Mana and Stamina potions, probably a type of checks and balances from the System if Liliana had to guess. The skill had to be raised to a rather high level before it made a noticeable difference in such instances, though Liliana knew from experience hers was high enough she could drink far more potions than others who were less dedicated to raising the skill.

The stronger the potion, the faster it poisoned the drinker. No one had discovered a way to make the potions non-toxic in anything but small quantities. And not enough people did, or could, raise [Poison Resistance] high enough to be able to ignore the toxicity of the potions they drank. Which was good for healers, as they’d be out of a job if strong potions didn’t poison those who drank them too often.

“Everyone ready?” Alistair asked them after they’d had some twenty minutes to rest and heal.

Liliana opened her eyes and looked around, noting the torn clothes and bedraggled appearance of their group. No one looked to still be injured, though. Slowly, the group gave their assents and Alistair nodded, turning to Koth’talan.

“You’re up.” He told the man who nodded, looking at the boss, face set in determination as he strode forward.

The group followed after him, spreading out. Prepared to jump in and fight if the boss woke up unexpectedly. Now, they just had to wait and then they could fight. And luck willing, none of them would need to regret ignoring Liliana’s advice to revise their wills.