Ashes of the Fallen

Yeah, it was a nice feeling. Hard work, practice… time devoted to improving myself had created a player beyond reproach.

I may have been outmatched in individual skills, but the combination of my abilities put me a step above the competition at the moment. To say I was the most valuable member of the party wasn't a stretch, even if it was cocky and egotistical of me to admit it. There were certain truths, that didn't really need to be explained.

Now, we would put it all to the test.

"Are we good to go?" I asked as everyone had gathered in front of the portal.

Four nods and various responses followed, and we all turned and entered the dungeon for hopefully the last time. There wasn't much left to do, two hours of clearing trash mobs and four mini-bosses that we had killed a dozen times before, all for the single culminating event of the big boss.

The big baddy that had us too scared to even attempt it.

That goblin, with his inordinate amount of subordinates, to the point that it defied the logic and thematic style of the dungeon in its entirety, was the one that we wanted.

The first boss fell without so much as a hitch.

We had a lot of theories, for potential strategies going forward.

We would be facing off against fourteen goblins and my [Chain Lightning] was limited to five targets. The frost mage's [Freezing Rain] would be effective, but only if we could hold them all together. Ethan's [Flame Wave] was great too, though it couldn't do enough damage, quick enough to matter. So, we were limited with our options.

In order to challenge the fifth boss, we needed to be considerably stronger.

Strong enough that the second boss was killed with three people while two rested.

No other group had managed to take the fifth boss down.

Though, one guild ended up bragging about being the first to conquer the fourth floor a day ago, about a week late to the party, really. They were ridiculed in short order, a lesson to their public relations guy or gal, I'm sure.

One of the keys to our strategy, was to rely on my [Discharge] to disrupt and stun the mass of goblins, with the intent to keep them locked inside the [Freezing Rain] for as long as we could. The second step, was for Ethan to utilize his [Flame Spike] in conjunction with [Flame Wave], a two-part combo of Area of Effect magic that would hopefully take care of the [Outcast Minor Goblins] holding the front line.

[Flame Spike] was a straight-line skill shot that engulfed anything in its path.

It made quick work of the third boss's entourage, so there was definite promise.

We weren't sure though, how effective everything would be.

Multiple spells that required precise timing to effectively chain off each other, wasn't necessarily easy to accomplish. Barik also needed to essentially volunteer for a suicidal mission to run into the center and taunt them all, briefly holding their attention while I worked to off-tank the two [Outcast Goblin Guards]. In truth, with the fourth floor's boss setup of two [Goblin Guards], we had plenty of opportunity to practice tanking, with Barik on two, and with me on two during other runs.

We even gave it another go, to make sure.

I ended up tanking both [Guards] on the fourth floor, taking very little damage this time around. Thanks in large part to hundreds of opportunities to tank random goblins.

Yeah, we had made some pretty significant strides.

Alan had figured out an easy rotation to keep us healed, and both Barik and I were instinctively good tanks outside of our practical efficiency. Having two tanks with one doubling as an extremely bursty damage-dealer was quite handy, too.

And now, we stood before the fifth floor's boss.

Seven [Outcast Minor Goblins] front and center in a line, as if they were on a two row stage of sorts, being displayed for all to see. They weren't much but they would eat up my lightning if I wasn't careful. Behind them were the real threats though, two [Goblin Archers], [Goblin Priests], and [Goblin Guards] with one of each flanking the [Outcast Goblin Chief] directly in the center.

The big bad boss, wasn't really all that big at five feet tall and maybe a hundred and twenty pounds… but he was certainly bigger than the other goblins. Curiously, they all looked male and I had yet to see a female, well, I wasn't about to check for genitalia anyways… maybe they were asexual.

That was easier to process, too.

The thought of goblins reproducing down here in the dungeon was a bit disturbing.

Oh well, my mind was wandering too far on a tangent.

"So, which strategy should we try?" I asked after everyone had recovered and settled in. "AoE bombardment, then taunt and tank?"

"No tellin' if we can actually pull it off 'till we give 'er a go," said Barik as he jumped up and pulled out his sword. With his shield at the ready, he was eager to start.

"Let's just see what happens," chimed in Alan.

"I'm ready when you guys are," stated the frost mage.