[NR] Hold It Together - Chapter 498

The moment seems to freeze, as if time has stopped for everything besides one arrow. It streaks across the battlefield and over the heads of everyone except its target, the dungeon's only boss monster.

By this point the group has been beating on it for a while and everyone was beat up and worn out. Even Rosha, who had stayed back, had some bruises from needing to suddenly dodge charges. Of course the worst off was the tardigroid boss. Kind of hard to come out of a fight looking pretty when you're outnumbered three to one.

Well, that isn't really true. For most delvers, fighting a dungeon boss of higher level is something requiring a full team to handle. This boss just got unlucky with this fight.

And speaking of the boss being unlucky. It did dodge at the last moment, except Rosha had seen it coming. The arrow sinks right into one of the smaller cracks.

You might think that was bad luck on Rosha's part, but it most certainly isn't. The larger cracks had already lost structural integrity. As for the smaller crack she did hit?

That one was somewhat a load bearing sort of thing. It was barely kept together and with the introduction of an arrow, the last ghost of resistance vanishes as the monster's entire head shell shatters.

On the tardigroid's back, Jason can see shimmers of Energy try to hold things together for a moment. But only a moment as the System must have judged that they had done enough HP damage to allow for a kill shot. Not that Jason would have let things stand when he was so close.

Then the boss collapsed. Jason wasn't too shocked by this turn of events and was able to dismount before the body hit the floor. With a laugh, he looked at the others, "I wonder what we'll get?"

Courtney rolled her eyes, "You? Pfft, nothing much. The System is already going to be upgrading something for you because of the quest."

Rosha, "Though speaking of the System, when does the dungeon count as complete? I've got a bit of work to actually hit 25 because of my death, but I would expect a message about having completed the bottleneck's requirements."

Courtney, "Once we leave the dungeon through the exit portal on this floor. And specifically that portal as well. If we just backtrack, it won't count and we would have to do it all over again if we waited for the dungeon to respawn."

Jason, "It is going to have some last minute trap on the exit, is it?"

Courtney shrugs, "It shouldn't and I haven't heard of such a thing being reported. However, stuff like that is why the blanket requirement is what it is. Gives the dungeons some wiggle room in how they can be designed while providing stability for the delvers."

Rosha suddenly claps as the monster corpse finishes vanishing. "Looks like we can finally take a look at what we got! And with the portal out in this room we can grab it all."

All three turn their attention to the loot.

{Chitin Buckler Blank x2

Description: A rough estimation of what a buckler should look like. Good thing there is more than enough material for a skilled crafter to carve into proper shields. The material comes from the dungeon boss of “Invasion from the Deep Sky”, a tardigroid. While much of the tardigroid’s shell shattered during the fight, these two bucklers kept defending till the end.

Grade: lv32 Boss (Ingredient)}

{Void Lens

Description: The only eye lens that remained intact from the dungeon boss of “Invasion from the Deep Sky”, a tardigroid.

Grade: lv32 Boss (Ingredient)}

{Deep Sky Chitin Plate

Description: A section of chitin from the dungeon boss of “Invasion from the Deep Sky”, a tardigroid. It has managed to hold onto some aspects of the dungeon’s original home.

Grade: lv32 Boss (Ingredient)}

Courtney whistles, “Well, we certainly made out big time on this. The first two are interesting, but the plate? That is going to refill our coffers in a way I wasn’t expecting. Sure, we have the one Deep Sky item, but this? Every crafter in town is going to be drooling over it. Good thing we can turn it over to the local Guild and let them handle things. No way would we be able to get a good price otherwise.”

Rosha sighs, “The lens almost disappoints me. That is exactly the type of thing you expect to be for an accessory. Still will fetch a good price, except we actually want to sell it.”

Courtney nods, “The fact it has the word void means that it will certainly sell. Maybe not on the same level as something labeled Deep Sky, but nearly. I’m sure some astrologer will want it. That or a crazy mage.”

Jason coughs, “So is no one else going to comment on the level 32 bit? Because it seems we fought an enemy a bit higher than expected.”

Courtney shrugs, “I said about 30, not exactly. Though that is higher than I expected. Most reports tended to have it weigh in at around 29. If I had to guess, all the recent deaths gave it a bit of a power boost. Plus, of all the people to mention a monster being higher level? You?”

Jason, “I guess I just figured the dungeons would be more regimented with this kind of stuff.”

Courtney, “You would think, but no. They certainly aren't just magic caves the System manages, but at the same time they aren’t quite entities in and of themselves? A little hard to explain. Oh, and not a hivemind. That theory has been tested on and off for years.”

Jason, “Would be hard for it to be a hivemind with the constant churn the inhabitants experience. You’d be better off trying to look into if it was some kind of spiritual hydra or some such. Each monster acting like a head and growing back with time. Though the instanced nature of things also makes nailing down what is going on a bit hard.”

Rosha laughs, “Some mysteries are just there to make you confused. I’m sure if there is an actual answer, given enough time someone will figure it out. We just aren’t likely to be the ones doing it. For some reason, I don’t see us dungeon diving all that often.”