This took off most of its health, due to it still being quite a few levels below them. A quick arrow to its vulnerable neck and it fell to the floor instantly. Another approached, and they used the same method as the first – however, Devin was able to get a shot in before it dropped. This first room contained a couple more Dragonkin and they were taken out easily – prompting them to move on to the next room. Max had to disable another trap in the hallway leading there, but as soon as it was safe they all walked further ahead – into a trap.
If it wasn’t for Ambrose catching a glance of something in the corner of her eye, they might have taken some casualties. As it turned out, fortunately, she called out, “UP!” quickly enough that the six Dragonkin diving down from the air above the entrance to the room lost the element of surprise. They all still ended up taking damage, as each member of the group got a face full of scales and steel. Domn3r was able to get his shield up in time to block most of it but the others took anywhere from 30 to 60% damage to their health points.
Domn3r used his AOE taunt and gathered all of the Dragonkin’s attention while Ambrose started healing herself and Mac who had taken the most damage. As soon as their health was stable, Ambrose started healing the Defender who was taking a whole lot of damage from the six mobs. The rest of them started attacking the Dragonkin one at a time, until the last one died from a sword strike from Domn3r. Taking a breather after surviving the close call, Max commented on the ambush, “I don’t remember that from my time here before – I would have been more prepared if I had. Does anyone know what’s going on?”
“I remember seeing in the patch notes a couple of weeks ago a mention of the Dragon Lair getting some changes, but I don’t remember any specifics. It looks like we found one of the changes – we’ll have to be more vigilant from now on,” Ambrose told them.
“Alright – Max, you’re on scout duty now. You’re in first to check out each of the rooms and let us know what is in store for us in them. If there are more ambushes I want to know about them ahead of time,” Domn3r ordered.
Using this method, Devin followed along as they progressed through the floor at a slower pace than usual. They only found one more ambush, but with Maxinista’s warning they were able to spring it on their own terms and only took minimal damage. The only other difficulty they had was fighting the increasing amount of Dragonkin as they got further through the floor – they were so numerous that they started using group tactics to fight.
As soon as they were being attacked by eight or more at a time, the Dragonkin would attack from above and from ground level simultaneously. When Domn3r would use his AOE taunt on the target on the ground, the ones in the air were usually out of range of the skill and wouldn’t be picked up by their tank. This led to either Devin or Bolt3n having to take aggro from the flyers to avoid air damage hitting their Defender. In the end, it wasn’t too hard because for the most part the Dragonkin didn’t do a whole lot of damage when they were prepared for it – the entire battle did take longer though.
The floor boss was similar to the Orc Village back in Altera Vita in the effect that it had Dragonkin with multiple classes. The main boss was a Hearthfire Dragonkin Warlock (Level 27) with a Defender and Healer as support – both level 26. The fight was tough only because of the DOTs that the Warlock managed to land on everyone in the party, Ambrose was working overtime to keep everyone Cleansed and healed through the entire battle. Once they took out the Healer – everyone knows you take the Healer out first – they focused on the Warlock as the two Defenders whacked at each other. Once the main Dragonkin was down, they interrupted Domn3r’s playtime with his counterpart and eliminated the opposing Defender.
Eager to get to the end, they all rushed down the stairs to the last floor – where Devin would try his luck at defeating the Dungeon Boss single-handedly.
Chapter 16
The bottom floor of the Dragon Lair was a mishmash of all the mobs that they had seen so far on their journey down. There were Shroombas surrounding Salamanders, Fire Drakes lobbing fireballs while being supported by Dragonkin, and even a couple of classed Dragonkin interspersed within. The different combinations made the battles a little tricky, but they used the same techniques that they had used previously and made it through without too much trouble. The main reason they had little trouble was because there weren’t increasingly larger amounts of mobs as they went through – just different combinations. They never faced more than eight different enemies total in each room.
As they approached the doorway to the Dungeon Boss, Devin was nervous about the upcoming fight. He had practiced everything he could on the way down, but he wasn’t sure if he was prepared for what he had to do in there. He felt confident in his accuracy with the bow, could use his Ice Arrows with regular frequency, and had learned tactics from his new guild friends. He hadn’t used his Druid spells all that much since the Deathly Chill mishap, but he had used plenty of spells during his other incarnations in the dungeon and felt like he could perform well.
“You impressed me on the way down here – I think you’ll do fine, Devin,” Max told him.
Ambrose chimed in, “Keep your regeneration on as much as you can – if you need it and don’t have it on then it’s already too late.”
“Don’t forget – if you see any lava DON’T CAST WATER AT IT!” Mac helpfully reminded him.
Bolt3n had some advice on shooting accuracy and told him to stay calm at all times – panic would mess with his accuracy. “Use your skills as soon as they come off cooldown – there’s no reason to hold off on using them. The quicker you can damage the Dragon the less time you’ll be at risk of burning alive.”
Domn3r just smacked him on the back and told him, “Good luck kid, you’re going to need it.”
With the good wishes of his group, they watched Devin as he entered the final room all alone. Once he was inside, he looked around at the massive room containing the Dungeon Boss. From what he could see, it was at least 1000 feet from where he entered to the back part of the room – with the sides only a little bit narrower. In front on him rose a tiered hill made of volcanic rock with stairs cut into it in various places, allowing those trying to traverse to the top easier access. Along the far sides of the hill, lava flowed freely down in sheets in parody of a waterfall and causing massive heat waves to emanate outward. Devin figured that it would probably be a good idea to stay away from the sides so that he wasn’t cooked alive. As it was, the heat was already oppressive, and he wasn’t even close to the lava.
From this distance, he couldn’t see anything on top of the hill, but he guessed that the Dragon was on top of it, waiting for him. He made his way forward, picking his footing through the porous volcanic rock strewn throughout the room. As he approached the bottom of the hill and stepped on the first stair, he was almost thrown off his feet as the ground started shaking. Catching his balance, he looked up and the sight that greeted his vision almost made him almost turn around and run out the door right then and there.
Rising from the side of the hill, one appendage at a time, was the Mighty Flame Dragon (Level 28). He watched as it slowly lifted its back legs and then its front two before lifting its massive body upright. He could see the tail – which was at least 20 feet long all by itself – just as the reptilian-like head lifted from the ground. It had black eyes, but with a fire behind them that Devin swore he could feel the heat from. As it stood fully upright, two massive wings – 50 feet in length each – unfolded from its back with a snap so loud Devin thought they had broken something.
While he was still stunned trying to comprehend the sheer size of the thing – it must have been 75 feet from head to tail – Devin didn’t react fast enough when a jet of flame erupted from the Dragon’s mouth. If he hadn’t had his Sidestep skill, his fight would have ended right then and there. Instead, he dodged a direct hit from the spout of flame but took a little damage due to being in such proximity to the attack. He reprimanded himself for letting his attention wander
during the most important part of this dungeon journey – the near fatal attack got his body and mind moving like nothing else could.
He ran away to get some distance between them – all the while dodging fireballs that the Dragon shot in his direction. His Agility allowed him to move out of the way of the deadly projectiles if he saw it coming his way in time. Once he had dodged four fireballs, he judged that he had gotten enough breathing room between him and the boss. He turned around and immediately cast Deathly Chill IV followed by Freezing Rain III centered on the humongous Dragon – while making sure that there were not any lava flows nearby to fill the room up with steam. Even if the room was large enough to prevent being cooked alive, the last thing he needed was a way for the Mighty Flame Dragon to hide from him.
As the ice-cold raindrops hit his opponent, the Dragon let out a tremendous roar that shook loose some stalagmites from the ceiling that crashed down throughout the room. Devin tried to cover his ears but couldn’t – he was being affected by a stunned debuff for the next ten seconds. He was able to watch the Mighty Flame Dragon launch itself into the air and hover there for a couple of seconds before heading in his direction. The stunned effect wore off just in time for him to dodge three consecutive fireballs heading in his direction. He took a little bit of damage from the heat again – and it was then that he realized he hadn’t cast his Nature’s Boon III buff yet. Ambrose would never let him hear the end of it if he survived this.
After quickly casting the health regen spell, he finally got a chance to look at how much damage his Freezing Rain spell had done to his now-airborne foe. He had done about 10% damage, which was more than he thought he could do with one spell. As he was attempting to cast his rain spell again, the Dragon quickly flew out of range and shot another couple of fireballs in his direction. Realizing the futility of trying to cast more spells, he again dodged the incoming projectiles and switched to his bow. He fired off some normal shots to see if he could hit it at this range – he came up just a little short.
Devin was reluctant to get closer because he would have less time to dodge anything flying his way, but if he didn’t he wouldn’t be able to do any damage himself. Resigned to this new plan of attack, he rushed toward the Dragon while firing ranging shots on the run. When he was finally in range, he shot an Ice Arrow toward its face, hoping for a critical hit. The arrow ended up hitting it in the chest and doing a modest amount of damage – around 5% of its health points were taken away. Not too bad – its water resistance must still be lowered due to Deathly Chill.
He continued to move while firing normal shots while his Ice Arrow was on cooldown. When the massive beasts’ health dropped to 75%, it changed its attack from shooting out fireballs to dive bombing Devin. He was caught mostly unprepared; he was getting ready to fire off another Ice Arrow when he saw it swoop down and rush through the air straight for him. He was caught flat-footed and almost ended up inside its gullet – even though a troll would have been quite the meal even for the giant Dragon. Luckily, his Sidestep was off cooldown and he just barely avoided that fate. Unluckily, his automatic dodge put him somewhere he wasn’t expecting.
Normally, when the automatic dodge was activated, the system basically “warped” your character to a spot a couple of feet away either to the left, right, or behind the previous location – depending upon what was clear at that time. If, say, you were in a long narrow corridor and a projectile came flying your way, the dodge would fail because there would be no safe place to jump to. In this instance, however, the Dragon was so large that when it barreled into him that he couldn’t dodge to the left, right, or behind. The only option was to go up – and that was how he ended up on the back of the Dragon.
He was facing toward the tail initially and he held on to the spikes protruding from his rides’ back as they rose into the air again. He looked behind, expecting to be blasted as the dragon felt him holding on for dear life. After about a minute with no reaction, Devin realized two things: One – either the dragon didn’t know he was there or couldn’t turn its head in his direction, and Two – he LOVED flying. He remembered that back in the real world he was scared of heights but ever since he was trapped here that fear had gone away. It could be something like that wasn’t copied over or I don’t have the same fear of falling and dying that I used to have. Either way, I’m enjoying this.
Turning himself around, he got closer to the front of the dragon until he was able to wrap his own massive legs around its neck. Obviously, it doesn’t know I’m here because it didn’t react to me moving up on it. Coming up with a plan, he checked his mana and health points and saw that he was full up after the down-time on top of the Dragon. Figuring this would be his chance to end this fight quickly, he took a deep breath, steadied his nerves, and cast Deathly Chill to reduce its resistance again. His ride didn’t react – as he had hoped – since it didn’t know where the spell came from. He then chain-cast three Freezing Rains with the first one above and slightly behind, the second spell above and in front, and the third right on top of them. Attempting to dodge the first, the Dragon flew ahead into the second and then tried to backtrack, which put it square into the third.
Confused, the Dragon let out another massive roar that shook the room and Devin narrowly missed being impaled by a falling stalagmite. He had been expecting it this time and was able to cover his ears in time, preventing a stunned debuff like the last one. He then checked his mana points and was able to cast another Freezing Rain directly above again, adding to the already massive amounts of damage the Dragon was taking. As its health dropped to 25%, the Mighty Flame Dragon dove for the ground, landing hard and causing the ground around its landing place to shake. If Devin had been on the ground, he probably would have taken damage and been knocked off his feet – fortunately, he was riding a “mount” at the time.
This was what he was waiting for – he figured that the boss would land sometime during the battle so that melee fighters could fight it. He instantly cast Entangling Roots, keeping it stuck to the ground for a couple of seconds so it couldn’t rise back up in the air. He didn’t want to be on top of it when it died – he wasn’t sure he would be able to withstand the crash damage. Checking his mana again, he saw that he had regenerated enough to cast his Freezing Rain spell again centered over them. As soon as he did that, he aimed an Ice Arrow into the back of the Dragon’s head, followed up by his Flurry skill. The damage from the rain accompanied by the donkey punch full of arrows was more than the Mighty Flame Dragon could handle. It fell to the ground with a resounding thump as its health points ran out, causing Devin to fall off at the unexpected collapse. He picked himself up and looked at his fallen adversary.
I wonder if I could ride one of those again – that was awesome! I’ll have to see what Krista can do. As he thought this, he remembered the whole point of this dungeon expedition was to kill the Dungeon Boss and to capture the dungeon. He was expecting something to happen once the boss fell, but that didn’t seem to be the case. He attempted to loot the dragon, but it wouldn’t let him – he didn’t have a bag to put stuff after all. The only thing left to do was to check the final chest which he saw earlier was located at the top of the hill. He walked up to it, touched it, and a screen popped up in front of his face.
Congratulations!
You have successfully captured the dungeon: Dragon’s Lair! The Dungeon Player now has access to this dungeon as well as:
- Expanded Dungeon Territory
- All monsters currently used by the dungeon: Dragon’s Lair
- The ability to combine the two dungeons together with further expansion
- Buildings and NPCs can now be employed outside of either dungeon due to expanded Dungeon Territory
Further expansion from capturing additional dungeons will further add potential benefits.
Current Dungeon Total: 2
With a smile on his face, Devin added to the guild chat the results of their expedition into the dungeon. He also invited Domn3r and hi
s group to come into the boss room and take the teleporter back to the beginning of the dungeon with him. They heartily agreed – since they didn’t want to have walk all the way back up – and together they found themselves back at the entrance.
Devin turned to the group who had guided him through the dungeon and thanked them again for all their help. “If it wasn’t for you guys, I never would have made it through – not only were the mobs more numerous than I could fight myself, but the experience fighting with you was one I will not easily forget. I learned more about my own abilities and how to fight as a group than I ever have before. I don’t have anything to repay you all for the help right now but check again in a couple of days and we might have something for you – I’ll talk to Krista about it. Thanks again and I’ll see you soon!”
Domner, Max, Mac, and Bolt3n all told him that they enjoyed dungeon-diving with him and they would have to get together again the next time he wanted to “Expand the Dungeon Territory” again. Ambrose gave him a big hug, which was a little funny looking due to her small stature as a High Elf and him a Troll. After she was done, they all walked out of the dungeon, leaving Devin alone in the entrance.
“Krista, can you hear me?” he asked the air.
“I sure can! Nice job, Devin! I got the notice that you had expanded the dungeon territory and I’m so pumped to see what I can do now! Do you want me to respawn you or do you want to walk back yourself?” Krista asked.
“Go ahead and respawn me, it’s been a long day. I’ll tell you all about my adventures later – now I need to chill for a while. Get it? Chill? Cause this was a fire dungeon…whatever, it sounded good in my head…”
Dungeon Guild: A LitRPG Dungeon Core Adventure (Glendaria Awakens Trilogy Book 3) Page 10
