The Nature dungeon's boss room was slightly larger than the average. Yet with all Levi's and Peter's minions and already felt crowded, even before the Essence walled them in.

Level 8++

(Nature Essence)

Health 100%

The almost neon glow of the Essence stood out against the darker, more neutral green of the vines, leaves, and flowers that made up the floors and walls.

Fighting an Essence was hard enough out in the open. Being in an enclosed boss room with one at any level was almost certain death. Once a thing had that much substance of dungeon power buildup in it, it was hard to dispel it.

Not that they had another choice.

Greg the ogre didn’t hesitate. He charged straight ahead, laying about him with his massive sword. Slashing in all directions as though he intended to single-handedly take down the Essence before anyone else even got a blow in, ignoring the fact that he’d just waded directly into its deadly bulk.

It was… a strategy. Taking advantage of the initial moments before the Essence had fully formed, Greg was already tearing it into pieces before it could retaliate, even if he’d essentially sacrificed himself in the process.

There wasn’t really a good way to fight an Essence in an enclosed space. Especially not coming off a fight that, while not terribly difficult, had left them with more than a few injuries.

Even as he analyzed the situation, his own sword whipped into motion, stabbing the new Essence creatures as they formed. Bristleblade easily popped the smaller ones with a single pulse of mana through its powerstone, while substantially weakening the larger ones.

Skarm, Tu, and Ward moved in tandem, stabbing and clawing before ducking away from any retaliation with incredible speed and focus. Good to see the gremlins putting their extra stats to work.

Lash and Iris, though, were not well suited for this kind of fight. They were never physical fighters, and against something whose innate defences were impenetrably high, their mental attacks specialty was practically worthless.

However, while they couldn't deal damage to nearly the extent of the rest of the team, nor could they use their mental control abilities to slow or stop the surging Essence, they did have a great many arms.

Essence Hares and living plants and slimes and even a handful of three-tailed Essence-made Vine Foxes split off from the twisting torus eager to envelop them all.

Iris and Lash snatched them from where they sprang and diverted their course enough that they missed their intended targets, buying that little extra breathing room so nobody died in the battle’s opening seconds.

Tink was even more poorly suited to these conditions. Essences were much harder to deceive with illusions, and he wasn’t exactly a strong fighter.

For a time the room was filled shouting and screeching, slashing and chomping, and the background burble of the Essence as it closed in, first from one direction, then another, flattening into a circular blade to strike massive damage against anyone it caught.

The loop-shaped Essence surged up the wall, shifting its position drastically, then pushed off and inverted itself over entirely, twisting in midair as it crashed back down. Suddenly, instead of a wall of glowing death surrounding them, it had half of them on the outside of its loop. Before they could adapt to its movements, it surged forward to trap them against the wall.

Despite their best efforts there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

Firelord fell first, the kobold mage having neither the agility of the gremlins or the speed of the higher level creatures, and no wall-walking or flying capability. He went down under a handful of spiky Essence Hares and the focused assault of a pair of Essence Slimes.

Bolt jumped back inside easily and raced from side to side across the circle, taking a bite out of the Essence first on one side, hurling it away, turning to skewer the creature that formed from the previous on his long spiral horn, then taking another bite from that side of the Essence in a repeated frenzy.

At least one of them was able to manage both the splitting and cleanup portions of the job.

Greg, less so. Before Levi could reach the ogre’s side, he was thoroughly swarmed by Essence creatures and didn’t see the surging Essence until it was too late.

His brief berserker run came abruptly to a stop, but he'd made a dent.

Level 8++

(Nature Essence)

Health 83%

The massive vibrant-green ring shifted and twisted in sharp, abrupt movements. Without warning, it would flatten itself out in quick deadly flashes, slicing into anyone within a half dozen feet of its twisting body, before returning to its bulky donut form and doing its best to engulf the attackers with its liquid mass.

This particular Essence couldn’t fully constrict its torus, the donut shape always maintaining a certain amount of distance within its loop. It wasn’t much of an advantage, but right now Levi would take anything he could get.

Ward, just that little bit slower than Skarm and Tu, jumped in an instant to slow out of the way of a strike from a blade-winged Essence heron. Stumbling, health reduced by a quarter, he failed to recover before the undulating ring that was the Essence itself slammed down on him.

He tried to claw his way free, but any damage dealt from within the Essence was instantly sealed. The gremlin seemed almost to be swimming in place, unable to reach the surface.

Skarm and Tu rushed at the Essence, clawing from the outside in a frantic attempt to rescue their kin. Their frenzy, throwing handfuls of Essence indiscriminately in all directions, quickly doubled the number of tiny Essence slimes who started firing at any enemy in sight.

Level 8++

(Nature Essence)

Health 78%

It was all Lash and Iris could do to keep half the new creatures in check, but they were quickly losing ground.

Despite their best efforts, the gremlins weren’t fast enough. Ward's health steadily drained to nothing. His little body went limp, falling to the ground unceremoniously as the Essence lost interest.

Something tapped on his back and Levi whirled. Bladefin. He’d lost track of the swarm in the chaos, but it seemed one copy had survived.

He had no time for games, throwing himself back as the Essence abruptly shifted directions and twisted toward him. A half-dozen Essence Slimes fired at him in waves. Fighting this many small ranged creatures really made Levi miss the sword he’d had in the first timeline. He’d have to see about finding a way to get Bristleblade the ability to expand into a shield one of these days.

Bladefin dove into Levi storage pouch before he could protest. It emerged a moment later, one man restorative stabbed onto its bladed fin by the cork.

Bladefin hovered impatiently in front of Levi, swatting away a jumping Essence Hare that tried to bite the flying fish.

Levi got the hint this time, opened the potion, and poured it into Bladefin’s gaping mouth. The fish promptly flopped over, eyes still and flashing with power as strains of mana visibly integrated into its body.

Then Bladefin began to duplicate, before the mana even finished integrating, popping out into two, then four, then eight, then finally twelve copies. The mana restorative, being a medium grade, was substantial, but not enough for a full complement of sixteen.

All twelve copies twitched and flopped helplessly on the floor for the first moments, the aftereffects of the elixir leaving them vulnerable. Levi did his best to protect them until they recovered, but the Essence creatures managed to take out two of them before they even got back in the air.

Still, ten Bladefins were a whole lot better than one, especially against a large number of smaller opponents. They set to work clearing out the smaller slimes and hares, darting this way and that.

Lash took it upon himself to help, hovering above the battle and using his long tendrils to nudge the Bladefins closer to their enemies, or snatching at Essence Hares mid-leap to provide openings for the fish.

With complete disregard for the creatures it had spawned, the Essence set its sights on Bolt next. The kalvex was fast and strong, and in an open confrontation Levi would probably put his money on Bolt winning in the long run. Being over double the Essence’s level gave him a reasonable advantage.

But this wasn't the open. Bolt’s strategy could only go so far.

As the Essence shrank, its inner loop tightened. There was no longer time for Bolt to build up enough momentum, nor for him to fully dispose of the forming Essence creatures everyone else was also creating. The graceful horned-wolf hybrid had a lot of health, but it wasn't infinite.

And when a loop of the Essence surged forward to envelop Crimson, Bolt threw himself into it at full speed. His horns raised at an angle to tear the entire section of Essence free of the rest, but his speed and angle drove him straight into the remaining bulk of the Essence behind.