Reborn as the First Boss, Chapter 88

Chapter 88 – Backlash

Finally, we were at the boss room of the nineteenth floor. I’d managed to fill all twenty enchanted vials with Lesser Dragonkin ‘milk’, with the last batch coming from the boss of the eighteenth floor, Krubud Quickspell. That was an annoying fight, since Krubud was a Deathcaller Necromancer, and was able to raise the dead dragonkin in our wake as undead. Fortunately, he wasn’t undead, himself, so my enchantment spells worked just fine on him.

The last fight just before this room had pushed us over the line to Level 4 in Tier 2. My Greater Angelic Succubus race hadn’t offered me any new skills yet, but I expected that Level 5 would see some added to the list. Levels 2 and 4 had added new available skills to my classes and professions, though, and I’d grabbed them in a heartbeat. [Improved Shielding Magic] and [Fearless Aura] from the True Enchantress class were the best of the bunch, especially since we would be going against an actual dragon later on, but [Bed of Skills] from the Blessed and Profane Courtesan also had potential. Basically, if I slept with someone, I could gain one of their skills, and they could gain one of mine. The skills only lasted for 24 hours, but that still opened all sorts of possibilities.

Vek Hardbrand

Lesser Dragonkin Male

Level 9 Mind Breaker / Harem Lord

Titles: Well-Endowed, Virgin’s Bane, Violator, Breeder

Those possibilities would have to wait, however, because we had a boss to kill. Vek Hardbrand was apparently the Tier 2 version of a Mind Sorcerer and Slave Master, and his harem actually included more than just Lesser Dragonkin. Yes, he did have two female Lesser Dragonkin in his group (Battlemaster and High Priestess for their classes), but there was also a female High Elf Order of the Bow Initiate (archer type), and a Greater Catkin Shadowdancer (rogue type). All four had the Slave title, which was hardly surprising.

What was surprising was the way that the boss didn’t wait for us to make the first move. The moment we were in the boss room, he tried to hit us with a [Mass Charm], which could have caused problems, if I hadn’t taken that [Improved Shielding Magic] skill and put [Mind Shield IV] on everyone. My CHA far outstripped the boss’s attributes at this point, so the spell was rebuffed.

Unfortunately for the boss, I had also put [Backlash Shield] on everyone. The [Mass Charm] counted as an intrusion attempt on me and each of my allies, which meant that he took my CHA times three damage (times two for the shield, and another for Krenrena’s Blessing) from EACH of us. That was a total of 45,765 damage!

Of course, that much wouldn’t be enough to take down a boss, and his minions were still active, so the fight was on. Frostmaw shifted to his full size, and breathed a cone of icy cold over the enemies. The [Freezing Breath] skill meant that his breath not only did damage, but had a chance to slap those caught in its path with different cold-related debuffs. ‘Chilled’ was the most common, which gave a penalty to movement and attack speed, but I noticed that the boss got ‘Frozen’, locked in ice momentarily.

Rastran followed up with [Hellfire Breath], burning the front rank of enemies. Interestingly enough, the Voice of the World allowed enemies to be both ‘Chilled’ and ‘Burning’, since the effects did not technically counter each other. Of course, the minions hadn’t just been standing there. They had tried to move out of the way of the breath weapon, but Syllia caught them with one of her [Bloodbending] tricks, [Blood Lock]. At her current level, it just paralyzed those caught in the effect for two seconds, but that was plenty.

I was next, using the [Lightning Shot] spell and [Explosive Shot] skill together to add on another layer of agony. Thankfully, the room was large enough that centering the blast just behind the boss meant that there was still a good twenty centimeters between the edge and our front line. I had to be careful with using [Explosive Shot] in close quarters. The Area of Effect did not care about friend or foe, after all, and, at my level, the spread had a radius of just under five and a half meters. Big booms in small rooms were bad for one’s continued existence.

The enemy was looking ragged, having just received three overlapping AoEs, and the boss was looking like he was on his last legs. That didn’t mean we were going to let up, though. Linette and Astruth crashed into their line before the Battlemaster and Shadowdancer could recover, and Zazriel crashed into their High Priestess, her fists and feet cloaked in spells as the Celestial Spelldancer went to work. And then Jewell just appeared behind the High Elf archer, blades already hilt deep in the woman’s kidney and throat.

Angelina stayed back, next to me, ready to use healing magic on anyone who needed it, but it was pretty clear that the only healing we’d be needing was minor patch-ups, especially once Rastran and Frostmaw joined the melee. Meanwhile, I shifted my focus to the boss. My left hand held my Spellshooter, sending [Magic Missile] bullets boosted by the [Dragon’s Bane] and [Manaburn] effects, doubling the damage and then burning away 10% of the boss’s MP with each hit. My right hand held Demon’s Due, and its [Hellfire Blasts] also had [Dragon’s Bane], and were dealing [Stamina Drain], eating his SP. Not that the MP and SP drains were necessary, in this case. The Lesser Dragonkin was down before the third pull of my triggers.

Your party has defeated Vek Hardbrand and his harem!

You each gain 15250 xp!

Loot:

Staff of Mental Domination

Dragoncloak of Protection

Hunting Bow of the Lost Maiden

Elfwhore’s Leather Skirt

Defender’s Dragonscale Mail

Greataxe of the Draconic Defender

Shadow Dagger of Subtlety

Shadow Dagger of Distortion

Robe of the High Priestess

Bracers of Mighty Healing

Potion of Full Healing x5

Scroll of Dragonhide

Last Plea of Sylmare Adris

Thiszaa’s Last Note

24575 pp, 45960 gp, 23500 sp, 9528 cp

From the outside, it looked like an underwhelming battle, but that initial backlash had to have taken off at least half the boss’s health, even with whatever protections he had in place. Add in overlapping AoEs with status effects, our outnumbering them nine to five, and the generally powerful classes and professions we all unlocked, not to mention having powerful gear thanks to having our own Enchanter in the group? Steamrolling the opposition was to be expected.

Frankly, at this point, the traps and ‘trash’ were more of a threat to us than the bosses, since they often came in closer quarters where we couldn’t bring all our force to bear. It reminded me of an argument I’d overheard on the road to Stonebreak, when we were going to take on the Goblin Hero. Two of the men-at-arms had been arguing about which was stronger, a bow or a trebuchet. Naturally, in terms of damage a single shot could do, the trebuchet was superior, but the bow could be used at closer ranges, and didn’t need a whole crew to operate. The debate ended when a Rogue dropped his stealth right between them to say that a dagger in the right place at the right time could beat both of them. More wars had been started, lost, and won by a dagger in the dark than any bow or siege weapon.

I shook off those thoughts, and turned my attention to the loot. More coin was always welcome, of course, but the gear was what really interested me. The [Potion of Full Healing] did exactly what it said, healed any creature in Tier 2 or lower to full HP in an instant. Very useful, for the times when we actually took damage. The [Scroll of Dragonhide] offered a single use of the [Dragonhide] spell, increasing the target’s Defense by the user’s INT and causing them to take half damage from Fire. Useful, especially with a dragon being the next fight.

The [Staff of Mental Domination] gave a 20% bonus to all mental spells, extended the duration of all mental spells by 50%, and made all mental spells 50% harder to counterspell or dispel. Oh, and it had a special ability called [Enslave the Mind]. If someone spent more than a day under the effects of a mental spell cast by the wielder, it automatically hit them with a [Slave Brand], enslaving them to the wielder. Nice, but not really useful for my playstyle.

[Dragoncloak of Protection] was tailored to look like a dragon’s scales. It boasted a 50% resistance to fire damage, immunity to fear effects, and added the wearer’s highest attribute to their Defense. That’d probably get combined with another item one of my minions was wearing, since most of its abilities were not very useful to me, with all my abilities and resistances already.

The [Hunting Bow of the Lost Maiden] would be Syllia’s. She wasn’t a primary bow user, of course, but it would give her a traditional ‘elf-ish’ weapon that would take attention away from her [Waterbending] and [Bloodbending]. Creating weapons from water or blood as needed was nice, but backups were better, and the Bloodbender already had a nice enchanted dagger.

The [Defender’s Dragonscale Mail], [Greataxe of the Draconic Defender], and [Robe of the High Priestess] would all be broken down or sold, unless one of my pets wanted spares for their existing kit. The effects of the [Bracers of Mighty Healing] were obviously going to be moved to Angelina’s bracers, giving her even more healing power. Likewise, the two daggers were going to Jewell, more as backups than anything, though the two blades were made of shadow energy, and had some interesting properties, if we really needed someone assassinated.

Elfwhore’s Leather Pants

Type

Pants

Rank

Uncommon

Price

8150 gp

Weight

0.5 kg

These skin-tight leather pants have been enchanted to stretch and move along with the wearer’s body, even when leather would not naturally move that way. Unfortunately, while it does offer some protective benefits, it does little to preserve the wearer’s modesty, due to its tight fit and secondary enchantments.

+50 CHA

Conforming – These leather pants conform perfectly to the wearer’s body, even if such a thing should be impossible for leather. They also change to fit the wearer if they change shape.

Environmental Tolerance – The pants are enchanted so that the wearer is never bothered by hot or cold environments. No matter how hot or cold it gets, she will be perfectly comfortable.

Whore’s Curse – The wearer is cursed to always be wet and ready for action, while also being unable to wear any undergarments.

The leather pants from the elven archer were a pure upgrade to the [Succubus’s Leather Pants] I’d been wearing since before I killed my first Hero. Well, if you ignored the curse attached, which I fully intended to do. As a literal sex demoness/angel, being ready to go was never really an issue for me, and the self-cleaning enchantments on my gear made messes no problem at all.

The ‘Last Plea’ and ‘Last Note’ were found on the elf and catgirl. They differed with the elf woman’s note being written in an elegant hand, with wording and tone that suggested a noblewoman’s education, while the catgirl’s message was written in blocky script, and spoke to someone who was raised in the slums. Unfortunately, they both covered the same information, talking about how they had been captured, and then forced to serve the Mind Breaker both as bodyguards and as part of his harem. They both wanted whoever found the message to find whatever was left of their families, and tell them that they were finally free.

Sadly, the Voice of the World was not so merciful. According to Syllia, both Sylmare and Thiszaa were real people, once. However, this would be the 667th ‘Last Plea of Sylmare Adris’ recovered from the dungeon, and the 448th ‘Thiszaa’s Last Note’. Every time the dungeon reset, the two slaves were returned to their post, and no one had found a way to actually free them from the dungeon’s shackles. There was a theory that enslaving the Harem Lord that controlled them would allow someone to then claim ownership of the women, and then free them, but doing something like that would require a [Tier 2 Slave Collar], or a Tier 2 advancement of the Slave Master profession. And few who gained such things were the type to let slaves simply go free.

The story of Sylmare and Thiszaa was part of the reason why the Dragonskull Caves had the reputation it did. Sadly, it seemed that story would have no happy ending. But it did serve as a grim reminder that there were worse fates than death out there in the world.