Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 72

For five long seconds, the players were stunned, and so was everyone else in the stream. There was utter silence on the chat, and even Rue was quiet as everyone watched Charles the Dicken emerge, 20 foot of demonic black feathers and fury. His eyes glowed a deep crimson, and fangs protruded past his beak. Atop his head, flames roared where normally a roosters comb would be, and two horns sprouted on either side. He was terrifying.

What was more terrifying though, was the effect his cry caused.

A Clucky Carol- When Charles emerges from his egg, he will let out a loud cluck. This cluck will instantly enrage all Dickens on the floor and give them +30% to their base stats. Dickens will begin to aggro the nearest adventurers

Even while everyone else was stunned, James shook himself free of the stupor to pull up his dicken's stats. It was easy to find one, given the fact they were now 6 ft in height. Well, that and the fact they were all now engulfed flames similar to those atop Charles's head.

Dicken (1) Level 10

Type: Demonic Poultry

HP: 152* (55+25+55+17)

MP: 29* (10+5+10+4)

Atk: 28* (10+5+10+3)

Def: 17* (5+5+5+2)

Unique Traits

Birds of a Feather: Dickens double all base stats when in groups of 5.

Flock together: If dickens are repeatedly struck by nonlethal damage, the offender will pull the agro of all dickens within a 10 x lvl yard radius.

Upgrades:

Growth Hormone (Max)- +25 to hp, +5 to all other stats. Dickens grow to 6 foot in height

Demonic Mutation- Gain access to demonic skills

Gren-eggs??? (2) - Dickens gain the ability to lay….eggs? Dickens can temporarily take flight and drop explosive eggs on enemies. Dicken eggs do 5 + lvl fire damage in a 2 yard radius. Upgraded versions allow one enhancement level per upgrade.

Upgrade: Eggro (2)- Exploded dicken eggs release a baby dicken chick, which will aggro the nearest adventure, pecking them for 1 point of damage per second for 5 seconds. Upgraded versions increase the amount of dicken chicks hatched per egg.

H5 N-fernal 1- Dicken strikes apply one stack of bird flu debuff. At 10 stacks, players suffer a 10% decrease to their stats. This debuff will increase every 10 stacks

Embryotic Mutation- Dicken chicks have been marked as carriers of H5 N-fernal 1. Dicken chicks will now apply 0.5 stacks per two strikes on enemies.

Active Buff:

A Clucky Carol: The dickens have been visited by the ghost of dickens past, present, and future. They are now receiving +30% to all base stats, and have entered an enraged state. Will attack the nearest players. 4m 55s remaining on buff.

Okay, so maybe his dickens had gotten a little out of hand. That fact became evident as the first flock of dickens attacked the three low level adventurers who had remained to fight the world boss with Z and his gang. They had pulled away from the egg after realizing they couldn't do any damage to its outer shell, which put them dangerously close to a flock of dickens, which zeroed in on the poor players. Normally, when his dickens, at normal chicken size, had overcome players, it was hilarious. Now, watching ostrich sized, flaming monsters tear into the players…James felt slightly sick, though he was also laughing hysterically.

Of course, the antics only caught Z and the others off guard for so long, and even as the poor under leveled players were decimated, Z regained his bearings enough to take stock of the fight, and deliver some well timed orders.

"Oak, mass taunt. Faust, AOE over Oak, Elm, start burning down dickens to drop their party buff." As he called out his orders, his members began carrying out their tasks.

"Med-Ic, I need you to prepare a mass dispel, you know those giant dickens are about to flood us with debuffs."

The healer nodded and began chanting, even as the others played their part. Z had rightly gauged the threat of the enraged dicken mobs as being the highest priority. Something MMO veterans regularly understood. You never ignored the boss adds in a fight, it was the easiest way to get your party split and wiped.

"What about-" Even as Skar started to call out, Z was already barking the next set of orders.

"Skar, take the boss's aggro and keep him busy. Gno-more, start stacking debuffs if you can on the boss. Troll'd, do what hunter's do best."

The troll hunter grinned at this, and James watched his quiver shimmer as he changed the type of ammo he was using.

"But, stick to your dicken arrows." Z's comment came a split second later, as if the veteran player knew the hunter was going to be over eager. James knew the parties had stocked up on items for the Terminus, which would have included higher leveled ammo for the archers. Of course Troll'd, in his excitement, would have wanted to use those, to increase his dps.

"Manly, take on the dickens around your party, but make sure to only focus one at a time, keep their groups under 5." Z took a breath, glancing at the last member of the party. "Olivia, keep Skar alive."

The cleric, whose hands had been glowing as she buffed Troll'd, her boyfriend, flinched and she turned to Skar. The death knight had already summoned a wall of bones around himself, and his shield and mace were glowing with dark energy. James knew the death knight could drain hp from enemies he engaged, but the abilities he used also drained his own hp instead of his MP pool. A good death knight was fearsome, and with a proper healer, could be practically invincible. James was interested to see just how good Skar and Olivia were. Especially given the healer's habit of favoring her boyfriend. Relationships could really kill party dynamics at times.

With the orders issued, the fight went from chaos to control in under a minute. With practiced ease, and the increased damage buff given to all 10 high level players from their demonic farm gear, they not only were able to burn through the buffed dickens, but also managed to keep their own incoming damage to a minimum. That increased damage reduction against tier 1 mobs from the set really paid off.

After the group managed to clear all 20 dickens on the floor, it was time for Charles the Dicken to be burned down.

Honestly, the fight became quite anticlimactic after that, mainly because this was a raid party of the top players on the server, and because Charles the Dicken was only a level 20 World Boss. Sure he had a high health pool, and wicked abilities when it came to synergizing with the floor, but the high level players were just too well prepared and versed in the way James's first floor worked.

Of course, he expected that. They were together to take on the Terminus after all. If they couldn't take on a level 20 mob, even if it was a World Boss, they didn't stand a chance against the new and improved level 29 Terminus Rex. This battle had simply been an appetizer for the main course that was going to be the Terminus Fight.

And, judging by the excitement going on in chat as Charles was slain, his Fowl Twist not being enough to allow him to bring down even one of the raid members, James knew he had given the people just what they wanted. They had a taste of this raid party, a taste of what they could do. Now, they wanted to see how they would stand against the king, the Steampunk Dinosaur monstrosity that remained undefeated. Perhaps today, that would change. But first, as Charles let out a final pathetic cluck, there was one more activity for the chat, and the raid party, to undergo.

The moment Charles had been slain, his body erupted in flames, and a large egg-shaped chest appeared. However, at the same time, every player glanced at an invisible screen, and James could tell they had all received some sort of achievement. A moment later, they all began to erupt in laughter. James, of course, wanted in on the joke, so he pulled up Z's information, and quickly scrolled to the adventurer's achievement page.

B.B.C. (Bigger Blacker Cock)- Successfully defeated Charles the Dicken. Reward: 750 xp, 1x Infernal Dicken Egg.

"What's in the egg?" James, Rue, and the chat all questioned as they stared down at Z and the raid party. Never mind the chest, which James was certain also could contain some interesting loot. What was in the likely once per character egg? What secrets, what wonderous loot, could such an object have?

"Can we-" Oak already had the egg in his hand, and James was staring at the miniature version of Charles the Dicken's egg.

"Open it." James whispered, but to his dismay, Z shook his head. Every member of the raid party let out a sigh. They had expected it, but they were still dismayed.

"Let's grab the loot from the chest, and head to the second floor." The elven Ranger flashed them all a smile. "I know, it may have some eggcelent loot. But first, let's take on the boss we came for. Besides, I'm sure the egg won't spoil." Z laughed at his own joke as everyone else, including chat, let out a groan. Partly from the pun, partly because Z was now making his audience, which he of course was unaware of, wait to see what was in the egg. That was just cruel.