I breathed a sigh of relief I didn’t know I was holding. “Keyhole next,” I said. If they needed to be done in pairs with the bottom, that was the pair with the trap we just disarmed.
Fitz swallowed nervously and nodded. Another audible click and nothing went wrong.
“Bottom right,” I said, feeling better only to freeze. Was the lock paired with the key? The bottom was paired with the key, but it didn’t say the bottom was paired with the lock. Keys were usually paired with the lock.
I tried to say something, but it was too late. The bottom trap exploded, blasting Fitz in the face, and nearly killing him. An instant later I heard a loud roar from below, followed by louder and louder steps pounding up the stairs. A flight below us I saw the two-headed hound,
“I’m sorry,” I quickly said, using ‘Embrace of the Goddess’ on Fitz, bringing his health back up to where it should be.
“It happens,” Fitz mumbled, drinking a potion to bring his HP up even further.
“Keep on that puzzle, we’ve got this,” Olaf shouted, firing his hand-cannons as the hound came in range.
I felt like I should help but if this puzzle worked like others then it meant as soon as I solved it, we’d be through . . . or the other group would be.
“Lock,” I said. We were already in trouble on this one, but I couldn’t move forward until we got past this one. I just hoped it wouldn’t trigger on us now that we were out of order.
A click later and the lock trap disarmed and fell away, clattering to the floor in pieces.
I read the clue again.
‘A door of death and destruction –
Start at the bottom and end on the top.
Do not be so quick, for the bottom needs help from center, down, and up.
Right has no middle and can only be undone in pair with the bottom as this is the key to this lock.
Before the top can be unlocked, halve the door.
You will spawn your own destruction with the first mistake you make.’
The middle bottom to the top needed to be done last. But the bottom left still needed to be done. Not first or second but not so quick. The first rule was ‘Start at the bottom and end on the top’. I needed to assume that was true for all the traps.
“Bottom left,” I said, it was the bottom trap.
Fitz did as I requested, and the trap fell apart without exploding.
The next clue for this side of the door was ‘help from center, down, and up’. It was the hinge order and by starting at the bottom of the door, it ensured we ended on the top hinge.
“Center hinge,” I said.
Another disarmed trap fell apart.
“Bottom hinge,” I said, feeling more confident. I was trying my best to ignore the damage people were taking, more specifically, the damage Rose was taking as she tried to tank the two-headed dragon hound.
As that trap fell apart, I directed Fitz to the next trap, “Top hinge.”
Fitz nodded and set to work on it.
“Last clue ‘halve the door’. Start with the bottom middle and work your way up through the center and finish with the top trap,” I said, finally looking back to my friends fighting the monster dragon hound.
“I’m on it, go help them,” Fitz said, focusing on his work.
Rose had the two-headed draghound’s attention focused on her. It seemed to be hitting her hard and once again, Teak and Bloomin were struggling to heal her. Unfortunately, the beast was so large, I couldn’t see a way for anyone to get around the hound and attack it from behind. The damage dealers were hurting it, but in all that time, they had barely removed 23% of its total health. The clue wasn’t kidding about spawning our own destruction.
I looked around for a solution, a trick. Maybe a way to push it off the stairs, but I doubted even Olaf and Micaela had enough strength to do that.
“Door’s open,” Fitz announced excitedly.
More disappointment. The hound wasn’t called off.
I looked around again when I saw the ceiling. It was close enough. I leaped from the ledge, angling toward the edge opposite the beast. I flipped around, using the ceiling as a springboard, I shot toward the draghound duo. I aimed to do as much damage as I could, hoping to spot a weak spot but found nothing. I settled for the exposed neck, hitting with ‘Storm Lance’, hoping the lightning attack would stun the monster. The damage notice of -9,754-HP floated away, and the monster froze with the stun status. It worked. But that also meant this was not a boss. Just a really powerful monster.
I sprang back into the open air and used my ‘Zephyr of the Open Field’ to jump off the air, aiming for the ceiling again. I bounced off again. And again, I drilled into the neck of the undead lizard dog.
A dozen more times, the hound was dead, and we were all breathing a sigh of relief.
“How do you think the other side is holding up?” I asked Olaf.
“Hopefully better than us,” Olaf said. “At least, that’s what my heads up tells me.”
I added, “I really hoped they made it through whatever puzzle they had better then we did. I wouldn’t wish that monster on anyone.”
“Everyone, heal up,” Olaf ordered before sitting against the wall and taking out his own canteen to drink.
A few minutes later we were on the move again.
The last flight led to a door in the ceiling. There was no puzzle that I could see and no clue to what was on the other side. I barely touched the door when it swung open to reveal the grinning face of Rock. “Took you lot long enough.”
Baby got through the last puzzle without making a mistake as I had. I was a little jealous. I would need to ask her about that later.
The room above was square and larger than the tower was round. The stone was similarly smooth and just as dark as the tower below. Though, I had a feeling the floor was much larger based on the large iron gate ahead of us.
When the last person came through the trap doors both swung shut and the iron gate slowly began to raise.
“Boss fight,” Olaf warned. “Tanks at the ready.”
But nothing came out of the gate. As the gate fully raised a treasure chest rose out of the ground with it.
“Mimic?” Icyhot asked, confused.
“Someone shoot it,” Pwn said.
Olaf quickly added, “with something weak please.”
As the weakest among us, Eagle Eyepatch stepped forward and shot a single arrow. It pinged harmlessly off the chest.
“Anyone else think this is too easy?” Heath asked.
All at once, several people shouted, “Idiot!”
Heath just shrugged. “What? It is.”
“That might be true. But as you’ve been told in the past, you don’t say that out loud,” Baby advised him waspishly.
Heath raised a questioning eyebrow and asked, “Says the girl that almost got me blown up by that door . . . what, six times?”
“Your door didn’t spawn a two headed undead draghound duo?” Olaf asked.
“No,” Heath answered.
Rose sagged slightly. “So that was the freaking boss?”
Olaf and the rest of our side sagged in relief.
“Wait, you guys fought the boss? Without us?” Rock asked, getting multiple shrugs in reply. “That’s just not fair. I feel cheated.”
“Get over it,” Olaf said, walking to open the chest only for the gate to slam shut just in front of him.
From all around us, a deep, gravelly, and most unsettling voice said, “You killed . . . my . . . beloved.”
From a shadow in the ceiling above us someone . . . or something dropped, landing with a heavy thud. It was a draghound, though much different from those we already killed.
This one was massive, twice the height of the two-headed variety. Its three heads glared at us, steam leaking from their mouths.
“Now,” the middle head spoke.
“We will,” the left head spoke.
“Kill you,” the right head spoke.
“All,” the middle head finished.
“Boss fight,” I said, getting agreement from the group.
Then Heath spoke up again. “How did it get up there?” Which is when two large wings spread out to the sides of the
“What do you think, Bye-bye?” Olaf started. “You got this right?”
I looked around the large room. It had some room to move through the air but not nearly enough. Plus, we didn’t yet know what kind of abilities it had. It would be a real shame if I died from falling again.
Rose barked, “I’m first!” She blurred from view, crashing her shields into the boss.
“Left head,” Rock said, joining the fight.
“Not fair,” Heavy protested even as he blurred from view to impact the right head. “I wanted the left head.”
Rock laughed. “Ha, you snooze, you lose.”
“Damage dealers, take up position,” Olaf yelled, already running to get into position with the other midrange damage dealers.
The trio roared in anger, snapping one head after the other at the three tanks then swiping with its claws.
“Just like the drake,” Rock commented then ducked. “But with more heads.”
The attack pattern was indeed similar. The draghound trio dealt more damage than the elder drake did, but it seemed to have fewer hit points.
I did my utmost to be sure I wasn’t in the air at any significant HP percentage just to be on the safe side. Other than that, I let my dps go. I leaped, rebounded off the ceiling and did everything I could to electrocute, burn, freeze, and stab the monster to death.
At 75% HP remaining all three heads roared, “NO!” Its wings exploded outward, knocking everyone back. Just as quickly it leaped into the air.
“Run!” Olaf screamed, seeing what was coming.
All three heads were breathing a stream of fire, torching the ground below as it tried its best to incinerate all of us.
After a minute, the draghound trio crashed to the ground. By then, the damage was done, five players were dead. Teak Tree, Pwn Star69, Quaker State, Elara Whisper, and Eagle Eyepatch.
“Pwn’s going to be displeased,” I grumbled.
Rose charged in first. She yelled, “It’s weakened! Attack now!”
Players didn’t need to be told twice when it was time to inflict damage. In the 30-Seconds it was weakened, we chopped off almost 5% of its total HP. Then it was back to its normal attack pattern which our tanks had down. Being down four damage dealers slowed us down.
Now that I knew his transitions were every 25%, I didn’t hold back. I attacked whole-heartedly. I jumped and stabbed with every chance I got. I increased my damage output, but it wasn’t by much, or enough to make up for the four lost players.
“Transition incoming,” Olaf warned. “Spread out and be prepared to run!”
Just as before, the draghound spread its wings, pushing anyone close to it away for it to quickly jump into the air and begin its crop dusting runs, which didn’t seem to have much of a pattern to it.
We lost six more people. Heavy Metal, Arch Angel, Rodger Bucks, Sin Full, Hodge Podge, and Basher Slasher. It was not good.
We were fighting a losing battle now. With only two tanks, the third head starting shooting fireballs at random targets.
“Bye-bye, equip your shield and get in here,” Rose yelled.
“Belay that,” Olaf said, rushing in himself with his maul in hand. “Do whatever you can to kill this thing.”
We just didn’t have enough damage dealers left nor enough healers. Still, I did what Olaf asked me to do. I pushed my damage as hard as I could.
Olaf fell before we even made it to the next transition. I was about to jump in again when Dawn Rises shifted into some kind of monster bear configuration and took up the spot. She actually seemed to be able to manage the damage better than Olaf.
“Transition,” Rose warned, taking over for Olaf.
Everyone scattered as soon as the words left her mouth.
The undead draghound trio flew around breathing flames in long swathes. I finally saw the pattern. It wasn’t a pattern at all. It was only targeting one player at a time and chasing them. Unfortunately, if that one player happened to run too close to another player, the other player got toasted. That was how we lost five more of our party. Icyhot Jelloshot, Micaela Crushhammer, Bloomin Flowers, Dixie Eastwood, and Heath Rickards.
Rose, Rock, Duncan, Baby, Dawn, Dixie, and I were all that remained when it finally landed.
“Fight as hard as you can,” Rose yelled.
And we did. At 12% our two healers ran out of MP. At 10% it enraged. By 8% I was the only one left. Despite my maneuverability in the air, I couldn’t dodge three heads firing balls of fire at me.
Combat has ended with no one in your party capable of reviving you. You will be automatically transported and revived at the nearest graveyard.
And just like that, everyone was respawning just outside the Flatlands Camp.
Chapter 33
“I hate this tower,” Olaf complained, firing his hand cannon at the small horde of draghounds.
We were back to square one. The doors to the dark stone tower were closed when we returned the next morning. When Olaf and Micaela reopened them, it looked as though the tower had reset itself. That was proven true when we went up the stairs and found the first barricade had been reset. That one was easy enough to get past. Working the second puzzle box with different shaped blocks from the first time was . . . annoying.
“And done,” I said, pressing on the charred black block of wood in the center.
I hadn’t expected the door to open so I wasn’t surprised when it didn’t. Instead, I went to help with the horde until they were finally recalled.
Not long after the hunting horn recalled the beasts, Sin commented, “That was somehow easier.”
“It helps when you know what to expect,” Icyhot added.
Olaf was focused on what came next and said, “The question is if Bye-bye should screw up the door purposely, so we get the duo and spare the other team.”
“We said we would,” I commented.
The door two floors up had the same configuration, but the clue was now different.
‘A door of death and destruction –
Start at the top and end on the bottom.
Do not be so quick, for the left needs help from up and down.
The key lies on the right and must be unlocked to free the left.
Everything is inside out on the bottom so be wary.
You will spawn your own destruction with the first mistake you make.’
Top and bottom had obviously been switched in the order of things to come.
“Top first,” I said. “Then the key, that will be an error so brace yourself. Lock next. Top then bottom of the two in the center of the door. Top hinge, bottom hinge, center hinge. Bottom center right, center left, far right, then far left.”
Fitz nodded and went to work. It was just as I said. When he did the trap where the keyhole would be, it exploded. Fitz shook it off quickly and took a potion before continuing on.
As expected, the duo came pounding up the stairs and Rose was there to meet it. I took the same approach to defeat it this time as I did last time. Abusing my unique ability to jump off the air and transfer fall damage through my weapon.
After we killed the duo, we went through the trap door and face the trio. I just hoped Olaf’s plan would work.
From all around us, a deep, gravelly, and most unsettling voice once again said, “You killed . . . my . . . beloved.”
And again, from a shadow in the ceiling above us something dropped, landing with a heavy thud.
“Now,” the middle head spoke.
“We will,” the left head spoke.
&
nbsp; “Kill you,” the right head spoke.
“All,” the middle head finished.
It was the same as the first time.
“Tanks go,” Olaf ordered. “Everyone else, encircle and move to maximum range. Melee, be prepared to run on my order.”
Everyone spread around the boss. The idea was to create a clock with the tanks being twelve o’clock. When the boss transitioned, we’d call a time and the people in that zone would run to the wall, spreading farther apart as they went. The idea being that the draghound trio would fly toward whoever they were targeting and hopefully everyone else would move into the center while the target ran for it.
“Transition incoming,” Olaf called. “Melee out.”
I ran like everyone else getting out past the 30-yard range and waiting.
“Three o’clock,” Olaf yelled.
Sin and Icyhot ran for the wall, angling away from each other.
“Icyhot, it’s on you,” Olaf yelled. “Heath, haste!”
Heath began plucking an extremely fast beat and yet when he sang it was slow and drawled, “Time is on my side. Yes, it is!” Icyhot did indeed run faster, staying just ahead of the flames chasing him around the room.
Meanwhile, every spellcaster and range damage dealer with us was hammering at the draghound. Burning through the boss’s HP with a purpose and urgency we didn’t have the first time we fought it.
“Crashing,” Olaf yelled. “Tanks, remember to pull it into the center as soon as it stands up. Melee, get in position to start damage.”
We knew the path Icyhot was going to take. As such, we knew approximately where it was going to crash. We just needed to wait and be in the right place.
With a thud, the draghound trio crashed, its stamina spent.
“Now,” Olaf yelled, firing his hand-cannons, one after the other.
I leaped and struck, cycling between a melee strike and a magical strike, making sure I did maximum damage. With that round, we dealt 11% of his HP in damage. With everyone alive, it was easy.
Another transition, and Baby was flying for her life, aided by Heath playing that same song on his guitar. That time we dealt 13% thanks to a few lucky critical strikes.
One more transition had Heavy running. Unfortunately, even with Heath’s speed boost, Heavy couldn’t outrun the fire. That almost turned into another wipe. Thankfully, Dixie figured out she was the next one targeted and ran. Unfortunately, Hodge Podge was standing a little too close to her when she figured it out. One fall and only 7% of its HP was taken.
World Tree Online: The Order of Epic Grinders: 4th Dive Page 56
