by Arthur Stone
“The elephants are coming,” Ros warned them.
“Again? You weren’t using your pickaxe, were you?”
“No, but she shrieked as if she’d found a dead mouse in her pocket,” Ros pointed at Danger Babe.
The mobs lacked the capacity for surprise, or they would have been completely stumped at the view of three poorly-equipped low-level players laughing and bantering as they faced them off.
Even then, their surprise wouldn’t have lasted long.
“You kill the Scrum Queen Warrior. XP received: 7589. Points left until the next level: 480,356. Achievement completed: Brave Companions, Part Five. Achievement bonus: +1 to Stamina, +1 to Intellect, +1 to Speed. Bonus effect: permanent. Achievement unlocked: Brave Companions, Part Five (Stage 2). Kill 100 monsters whose level exceeds that of the party’s strongest player by 70 or more using your party’s resources to complete the achievement. Achievement bonus: random. Condition: the party cannot contain more than six players. The party’s median level must be at least twice less than that of the monsters.”
“So many presents, and it isn’t even my birthday,” said Danger Babe with a chuckle.
“Everybody received that one,” Tang corrected her.
“So, what’s the plan? Do we take that boss down, or do we chicken out? We’re strong, and we shall tear them all to pieces! We’re so scary, we’re even afraid of ourselves! They’ll never know what hit ‘em!”
“I like your attitude, but our equipment is not that much better than before.”
“What a pessimist you are, Tangh. Well, Ros, what’s next? Is it far yet?”
“If we don’t run into any obstacles, we’ll arrive in about two hours. But, given our traveling pace, we’ll be lucky to get there by noon.”
“We could skip the ore.”
“The ore is our chance to end our slavery, complete the quest, and get better equipment.”
“All right, shall we get going? What are we waiting for?”
* * *
Ros’ prediction turned out to be prophetic—they reached the Scrum Queen’s lair around midday. Their progress was primarily impeded by the “elephants”—at least two would come running whenever they heard the pickaxe. There would often be two pairs, and, a few times, three. The only thing that worked in their favor was that they didn’t all appear at once, and the party would normally manage to kill or seriously wound the ones that turned up first.
The lair of the quest boss was an enormous hall with a single entrance. There were no stalactites on the dome. Fluorescent moss hung down in garlands instead. The queen looked a little like a scrum lord, but much taller, and with an enormous pregnant belly—she wasn’t even in the last stage of pregnancy, the baby mob must have been long overdue.
“Attention! You have found a named creature that has not yet been added to the world bestiary! This is your third named creature. You receive a reward: +10 HP. You can receive the reward for discovering a new creature at the Academy of Magic.”
“That’s one big mama,” said Tangh pensively.
“So she is. But there’s just one of her, and we’ll get her if we don’t fall asleep at the wheel,” said Ros airily.
“I don’t quite share your confidence. This may be a regular boss, but it’s a boss nonetheless. Apart from that, we know nothing about it. What if the thing has a few nasty tricks up its sleeve?”
“We won’t know until we try.”
“What’s the plan?
“Well, I don’t have that much experience in group boss raids. There would normally just be me, or me and another guy.”
“In that case, you have more experience than either of us,” Danger Babe’s whisper was barely audible, lest the Scrum Queen might hear.
“In that case, we proceed as before. Tangh approaches her first, with our shields and your regen on him, and attacks at once. You heal him and dispel him as needed. I get behind the boss and sic my pet on her. Tangh, keep your taunts handy. Whenever the beast turns towards the pet, use them at once. Don’t allow the Scrum Queen to attack it.”
“Seems obvious.”
“Well, if it’s all so obvious, let’s go.”
“What if the boss uses a control skill on me before I get to it? Danger Babe will have to dispel me, and then she’ll be the next target.”
“In that case, I’ll command the pet to attack the boss, and then you try to divert the beast’s attention.”
“Seems to be a sound plan—I’ve seen worse. All right, let’s go. Cast your shields.”
The Scrum Queen didn’t stop Tang halfway to her precious body. She started to run away, seemingly unencumbered by her gigantic belly, shrieking horrendously. The slow norder tried his hardest to reach her, but to no avail. She just kept circling the lake spread out in the middle of the hall.
“Sic the pet on her. Tangh will run out of steam long before he catches up. Or we could try Sleeping her,” Danger Babe suggested.
Ros shook his head.
“We can’t. She’s shrieking with a purpose.”
“I don’t get it.”
“What is there to get? Don’t you remember it’s dangerous to make noises here? You make a sound, and the ‘elephants’ come running right away.”
“You mean she’s calling them?”
“She is. Get ready—shrieks like that are bound to attract a whole bunch of them.”
The pet met the first two, and that was when the Scrum Queen turned to attack as well. She didn’t take off any health initially. The method was different—the pet received an unpleasant debuff, and its HP bar started to shrink rapidly. It seemed to be taking more damage, too—most likely due to a lowered physical defense.
Ros didn’t have time to get into the details. He dispelled the pet and helped it dispatch the enemies. Just in time, too—two more arrived, and the queen cast another debuff.
The tightest spot happened when four pairs of “elephants” appeared at once. If each of them managed to land a blow at the debuffed pet, the shadowcrawler would fall. It would take Ros a minute to summon another one, and a much weaker one at that, and they couldn’t afford that.
The pet’s AoE skill came in handy. Six of the “elephants” got hit by Sleep, and the remaining two didn’t take off much HP. Ros dispelled the shadowcrawler and healed it. And then the massacre began.
They were lucky that the Scrum Queen didn’t cast her debuffs often, and would emit a specific shriek each time she did so. When Ros heard the sound again, he cast a shield on the pet and used its Ghost Water Shield ability. This helped—he managed to dispel the shadowcrawler before it lost half its HP.
There weren’t any further precarious moments. The mobs didn’t arrive in groups larger than two pairs, and that didn’t present much of a problem. Before long, the companions were feeling bored of the fight: the “elephants” appeared rarely, and only in pairs. No surprises anymore.
“It appears there are few mobs left in the area,” Ros declared. “Time to deal with the boss.”
“I’ve already spent more than half my Vigor,” said Tangh, trying to catch his breath.
“I’ll have the pet attack her.”
All covered in shields, the shadowcrawler tore into the beast’s back. The Scrum Queen gave a deafening shriek and started to spin, aiming to reach the pet with her paws. Tangh finally caught up, and managed to stun the boss with one of his abilities. Then he switched the target’s attention to himself using standard tank methods.
The Scrum Queen’s attacks weren’t that strong, but they could hardly relax. As soon as another pair of mobs came running, she would instantly debuff Tangh. Danger Babe responded with a shield, preceded by two regens. They held on, although there were moments when the norder went down to just a third of his HP.
They were nearly done when two pairs of “elephants” appeared at once.
“Ros! Your Shield!” Danger Babe yelled.
She was right—his Shield wasn’t strong, but would still absorb some damage.
One of the “elephants” dashed sideways, heading for the girl. Ros hit it with Sleep and warned her:
“Cast your Sleep as soon as the bastard starts moving!”
“Roger! And then?!”
“We’ll finish off these three, and then take care of the remaining one!”
The mob kept on trying to attack Danger Babe and none other. It got stopped time and again, and the girl kept running off, somehow managing to heal Tangh even as she ran. Once the pet freed up, Ros commanded it to attack the last mob, which soon fell as well.
The boss collapsed some ninety seconds later. As soon as its carcass hit the floor, the moss all over the cave started to move, and hundreds of tiny scrums came out—from hamster-sized to cat-sized. All this horde rushed for the exit, squeaking in unison. There were so many of them, it created a stampede at the choke point. Tiny mobs ran over each other, forming a multilayer stream. The three victors looked at all that multitude making a run for it—the half-pint mobs didn’t even try to demonstrate any aggression.
“You kill the Scrum Queen. XP received: 171,316. You gain a level. Points left until the next level: 521,644. Your Mental Power grows by 1. Your Summoning grows by 1. Attention! You kill the Scrum Queen with a small party! Every member of your party receives one undistributed primary stat point. Congratulations! This is the first time in the history of Second World that this monster was defeated! Your party did it! And you did it with few resources! Your party has destroyed a monster 60 levels above the party’s strongest player! Achievement earned: Daredevil Killers. Achievement bonus: +75 HP. Bonus effect: permanent. “Attention! You kill the Scrum Queen! Your party was the first to do it! No one has ever managed it before! You receive a bonus: the title of Monster Slayers, Second Degree. Title bonus: +4 to Attack, +4 to Defense, +2 to Strength, +2 to Disguise. When you join a guild, a party, or a raid, all the members of the respective guild, party, or raid receive half the bonus. The bonus is permanent or lasts until the title is renounced.”
“We are heroes!” exclaimed Danger Babe in a voice that was weary and excited at the same time.
“The title isn’t that high-class, and the bonuses aren’t that good, either,” declared Tangh.
“It’s still valuable. There are only three of us in the whole world, and there will be no one else like us. Any clan will be eager to have us, as you well know. And there’ll be a pretty icon next to our names, too. Oh! They won’t start hunting me now like they hunt Ros, will they?”
“They won’t bother about what’s technically an entry-level title. But you were right about the fact that any clan will be glad to have you join.”
“Well, yeah. Our bonuses are nothing compared to Ros.’”
“My point exactly.”
Ros approached the carcass in silence and searched it. The items he received were displayed in the party inventory menu, but he still commented aloud:
“An excellent quality charm, rare gauntlets, a bag, and a recipe for some kind of halberd. You have no charm slots on your belts, so none of you can wear it. The gauntlets are for tanks, so our norder gets them. As for the bag… Hey, Danger Babe, what kind of bag have you got?”
“Nothing special, as you can see.”
“Right on. This is yours, then. Eighty-five slots and a 17% weight reduction. Much better than yours.”
“Don’t you want it yourself? I hardly ever have to carry anything heavy.”
“I have a whole bunch of bags, all of them much better than this one, so don’t argue.”
“I feel like I’m suddenly becoming rich.”
Ros placed the charm in the slot on his belt, having made it visible first. He noticed his companions’ baffled looks, and explained:
“Strangely enough, the belt didn’t get confiscated. There’s a bug in the confiscation system—they didn’t touch bags. The belt has four item slots, and each contained a bag. If they took the belt, the bags would fall out. A paradox, in other words. So, the system decided that leaving them was the best solution.”
“It’s a game, after all, and no script can account for everything,” noted Tangh. “What are we going to do next?”
“We should rest and have a snack. And then we’ll search the cave for secret caches and valuable minerals. The best stuff is usually right near the boss. Given the size of the hall, and the fact that we’ll have to be slow and careful, we’ll spend the night here, I reckon.”
“What about the recipe?”
“Told you already—it’s for a halberd. High-level players only—150 and above. And requiring lots of ingredients that we don’t have.”
“We should try once we get them. You should get lots of bonuses and XP for crafting it.”
“Did you get a Soul Crystal from the boss, Ros?” Danger Babe inquired.
“I did.”
“Will you be able to raise it? Make it your pet?”
“Whoever manages that will rule the world. It cannot be done. An elite mob is the best you can hope for.”
“What if it’s the same as with Luck—you need something leveled to 100 or higher?”
“Unlikely. It would make sense for the developers to rule this possibility out completely.”
“Why do bosses drop crystals, then?”
“You need them to enchant the most expensive items. The chance of breaking an item with such a crystal is negligibly small, even without high Luck, so the enchantment always applies the maximum effect—occasionally, with additional bonuses. You can also enchant a regular item twice this way, and without any risk. Three is harder—there is a risk, and it is no longer negligible.”
“What about the charm?”
“The stats are nothing special. It would suit you, though. It has a bonus to healing and spellcasting speed. But not much.”
“That’s a pity. I’m terribly slow in this chainmail.”
“Not much of a problem. If we find or make a belt with a slot, I’ll give it to you. I can’t offer you mine—I have to carry so much in it that you wouldn’t be able to move with your stats.”
“I’ve never seen belts with slots for bags,” Tangh observed. “They usually have slots for elixirs and charms, and that’s that.”
“You don’t see many such belts.”
“What’s the item class?”
“Legendary.”
“Really?!” Danger Babe looked at him in awe.
“Really, really.”
“How cool!”
“Let’s spread out. We should search everything a dozen times over. Explore every nook and cranny. Resource levels are high, and our Perception stats aren’t. So we’ll have to compensate by investing our time.”
“Why don’t we forget about it?” Tangh suggested. “We still have two bosses to kill, and there’s not that much time.”
“You’re prepared to leave all this treasure here just because of that?”
“I guess not. Let’s start looking.”
* * *
Their diligence was rewarded well. Apart from tungsten and zirconium, other rare finds included fifteen lithium and platinum veins, a couple of diamonds and tourmalines of excellent quality, and a chrysoprase of the rarest “flawless” grade. They found a clutch of Scrum Queen’s eggs in the corner of the hall, under a thick layer of moss. No one knew what they were for, but they took them all. Ros also spent a long time with his pickaxe mining for lapis lazuli—there was a very thick vein with lots of outcroppings of this ornamental stone here.
They only found one secret cache in the cave, but it was a pleasant find—a leather pouch of rubies. There were eight of them; all of excellent quality.
Having studied the forum, Ros announced the result.
“The rubies alone will be worth at least three thousand in gold.”
“Heaven itself must have sent me to Rallia when this whole thing began,” the norder commented.
Danger Babe was so exhausted by her real-life problems and an intense day of gaming that she didn’t even react to the news about their
newfound wealth. Norder noticed it, and said worriedly:
“My dear, you should get some rest. You spend too much time here, and I don’t think you have a proper capsule.”
“I don’t. And even if I did, there’d be nowhere to put it. The entire apartment is cluttered with old furniture. Once we’re done with the quest, I’ll try to spend less time here. Classes will start soon, too, and I’ll have to spend some of my time at college.”
