Return to Jorgaldur Volume II: the druid archer

Penultimate boss (I)

"It's just another disc, it'll be easy," assured the lynx.

Her sister looked at her. And then to the disc. Yes, it was just another disc. But five meters in diameter.

They had been exploring all morning and leveled up to 26. And, short after a frugal meal, they had found that place. At first glance, Goldmi thought it was a fearsome enemy, especially if it could move as fast as the little ones, but the lynx seemed to be very confident. In fact, the worst part was that she not only seemed to, she was.

Since she wasn't a mage, not even a battle mage, the reacquisition of Exit Gate hadn't come until now. Although useless at the moment, it allowed her to mark places to reach them in the future, although now she had none of them nearby. After all, a dungeon wasn't a good place for a portal.

As a skill, she had regained Stab. It is a dagger attack with the purpose of piercing the weakest points, and it can even kill instantly. It isn't easy to land it, even more difficult than Sword Thrust, as it is necessary to execute it from closer. However, despite its difficulty, when combined with Tangle, it had been a great combo against some enemies. So, she had it at 8, despite its high energy consumption.

Since it didn't look like that the disc itself could enter the tunnel, or block it, they decided to try to attack from there, ranged. It seemed like a safe bet, and the first Light Arrows hit, pierced and damaged their target, though they were far from killing it.

As they had assumed, the huge disc didn't follow them into a tunnel in which it wouldn't fit, but did something that wasn't in their plans. Something as simple as it was effective. It hid.

The cavern didn't have a homogeneous shape, but narrowed and widened through different places, thus there were several areas out of their range of vision, from the tunnel entrance. It was a somewhat inappropriate strategy for a being that belonged to a low-level dungeon, although it is true that it was a boss, and it wasn't a very sophisticated action either.

"I'm going to take a look," the feline announced, to her sister's sigh and concern.

She didn't approach the huge disc, but advanced to the other side of the cavern, with the goal to locate it. If she did, they could use Visual Link to make the elf see it too, thus bringing it within range of Curved Shot.

The other option was to approach the exit, the passage to the last floor, probably making it leave its hideout. But it was also more risky, since it was closer to its current position. Only if the plan didn't work would she carry it out.

She advanced through the cavern, while watching for any movement. It was easy to spot it, as it glowed brightly, but it wasn't until she almost reached the wall in front of the tunnel entrance that she was able to see a section of its outline.

"There it is," she announced.

Goldmi was about to shoot, but, suddenly, the floor boss moved in the direction of the lynx, speeding up as it was approaching. Although, for her, it wasn't difficult to avoid it, because it was keeping its trajectory, a straight line.

By anticipating where it was going to be, the archer fired arrows three at a time, hit all of them and lowered her opponent's vitality a little more. What none of them expected was that it didn't stop, and hit the wall. And, even less, that it bounced, like a billiard ball.

But the most worrying thing was that it didn't bounce at the angle that could be expected, but in a totally different one, so heading directly towards the feline, and barely slowing down.

Too close to the wall and with no time to react, she was hit directly by the disc, which not only burned her but sent her flying. It may have been an ethereal being, but, instead of completely going through her, the mana contained within it pushed her back, as well as burned her.

"Sister!" the elf cried in horror when she saw the huge animal flying and wounded.

The burns were deep, because, in part, the being had penetrated inside. But, despite the pain, she got over it, spinned on herself and landed on all fours, though she was unable to stand. The force of the impact made her roll over several times before coming to a stop, since the damage she had suffered was preventing her from regaining her balance earlier.

Immediately, the elf used Life Link to share the pain with her sister, and help her to recover. Though prepared, she found it hard not to scream as she healed herself, and prayed it was enough for her sister. She couldn't take more than a quarter of the damage in its current level, or use it again for a few minutes.

While gritting her teeth and enduring the pain, the lynx rose to her feet, just in time to Jump off and prevent the boss from colliding with her again. It hurt to jump and land, but she didn't divert her attention from what was important.

Again, the disc bounced off the wall, and, again, it headed for its prey at breakneck speed. She barely had time to react, but this time she was waiting for it. In fact, she had started jumping as soon as it had hit the wall. And, as soon as she landed, she began to run, while enduring the deep pain caused by moving her scorched muscles.

She Jumped again to avoid it two more times, before reaching the tunnel entrance, where her worried sister was awaiting her. She had been firing at the disc, even attempted Void to try to slow it down and help her sister, but it had been completely useless. She had harmed it, but it was still far from enough.

Immediately, Goldmi applied Basic Healing to her sister nonstop. She was scared, terrified at the thought of losing her, even though the damage hadn't been fatal. Although serious, it was far from hopeless. However, a couple more hits and it would have been lethal.

"Enough, I'm fine," the lynx stopped her, moved by her sister's honest concern.

"Are you sure? Doesn't it hurt?"

"A little, but you know that the pain lasts a while, even if it's completely healed."

The elf stopped applying the spell, not entirely convinced, while the lynx stretched her muscles. She needed to feel them again, to feel that they were fully operational.

Her sister didn't stop staring her, concerned, at which the lynx turned to her.

"Perhaps, to fully heal, it would be nice to eat something while you recover the mana."

"I see you've recovered," the elf growled, unable to hide a smile of relief.