Return to Jorgaldur Volume II: the druid archer

Penultimate boss (III)

Goldmi was attacking one of the little ones without stopping. The good news was that its vitality had also been reduced by half in each division, so it was going down much faster.

The bad news was that they couldn't rest, and she had to conserve mana to heal. By now, they had partially hit her twice, which had inflicted her painful burns and concerned her sister.

Luckily, they had neither hit her full nor was her armor useless against those attacks. Besides, she had been able to dodge many others. But when two came almost at the same time towards her, she panicked.

"Wind Push!" she exclaimed.

There is no need to speak in order to cast spells, just think about them, but this time she let herself go and improvised, while trying to avoid at least one of the two.

Surprisingly, the spell affected the discs enough for them to change direction a few inches, and collide with the rock wall. Since it was impossible to bounce towards the elf, they did so towards the feline.

"I could have thought of this before," she reproached herself.

When thinking that the pain and risk she had been exposed to could have been so easily avoided, she really wanted to bang her head against the wall. But she soon forgot that feeling and concentrated on the battle they were fighting. Among other things, because her head wasn't tough enough.

She used Energy Link whenever she could, to help her sister a little, who was the one most at risk and needed it the most, although less than it could have been initially predicted. She may have lost the chance to rest, but she was continually refining her movements, using less and less energy to dodge attacks, and anticipating them more easily.

And when they finished with one of the small discs, she once again allowed herself the luxury of playing shred the disc.

"We can do the rest of them with our eyes closed," boasted the lynx.

They were resting after having slain the two little ones. Now, the one which remained couldn't enter the tunnel, so it had hidden.

"Really?" asked the elf, as if believing it.

So, she took out a huge handkerchief, with which she covered her sister's eyes.

"It was a joke!" the feline complained, before the two of them started laughing.

It greatly relaxed them to be able to joke, thus relieving the tension from the battle against the discs. As much as she bragged, the lynx had also been worried and anxious.

When they returned, the remaining disc had barely regained some of its health. This time, they weren't surprised that it Split when it decreased, plus there was one less.

Little by little, they killed both of them, so they defeated the floor boss and stopped to rest. After that, they would advance to the next floor.

The Oracle had explained that the beings in the dungeons take their form based on other living beings, although not the reason behind it. It was more or less evident in the slugs, spiders, worms or swarms, although they were confused about the similarity in the discs. Perhaps there was some being that they had never seen. What they didn't expect was what they had before them.

It was an eye one meter in diameter, which was floating and looking at them. Apparently, "based on a living being" didn't mean completely based, but could be only a part of it.

Suddenly, it moved and a glow appeared in the pupil, followed by a beam that was aimed directly at the lynx, who had come over to "take a look." She jumped as soon as she noticed the glow and the mana fluctuation, so her intuition allowed her to dodge the beam aimed at her.

"It looks like it's shooting where it's looking," suggested Goldmi.

And the following shots seemed to corroborate her theory, shots that were easily avoided. Although the eye could rotate on itself relatively quickly, it wasn't easy to follow and target the feline, which was moving non-stop around it.

Meanwhile, the archer tested the arrows and verified that it was a solid being, vulnerable to physical attacks, but resistant to magic. The Ethereal Arrow could barely break through the invisible mana barrier that was surrounding that spherical being, and the Wind Arrow, despite dealing physical damage, was also greatly weakened.

Of course, Light Arrow wasn't only weakened by the barrier, but was unable to pierce the eye itself, while physical arrows were the most effective method. In fact, adding Purifying Touch, Rough Arrow, or Void to them was counterproductive, as the barrier reacted, thus reducing their speed and, therefore, its piercing power.

However, Piercing Arrow was effective, as it isn't mana what is added, but power. And there was no problem shooting them three at a time.

But what pleased the lynx the most was that her claws were highly effective on their own, especially if she managed to grab the back of the eye. It began to spin on itself, while trying to reach whoever was attacking it from behind, but moving her at the same time and unable to get rid of her, since she was holding tightly. At least, after her second attempt

At her first attempt, she was taken by surprise by the quick reaction, and ended up falling to the ground, and hit by a beam. It was painful, but much less than the impact of a disc boss, and she was able to get revenge shortly after.

"Are you okay?" Goldmi asked, while applying Basic Healing.

"A little dizzy," her sister replied.

"I didn't mean that!" she was exasperated, before realizing that her sister was laughing at her, so she threatened to leave her without dinner.

The lynx's apologies weren't very convincing, but the threat wasn't real either, so they both enjoyed a kind of giant prawns, steamed, and dressed with various aromatic herbs. They were high-level beasts that attacked in large groups, at least in the game.

It was a tender and fluffy meat, although not as much as the sponge cake flavored with cinnamon and anise, or something in that world that was very similar to them. It was bathed in a cold, light and sweet cream, the goal of which was unclear whether it was to add a touch of flavor and freshness, or to whiten the snout of one diner, and provoke a fit of laughter in the other.