Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 76

Once Gno-more was able to catch back up to the group, which to James, Rue, and the streams humor, took the assassin three tries, the rest of the raid went rather smoothly. Well, as smoothly as it could in a post-apocalyptic city that seemed to have countless falling dangers, more so than there had been before. And the occasional explosive trap that may have seemed like innocent gas leaks or electrical outages. James had obviously prepared for this. Not to wipe the party, but to whittle them down a little. It was only fair if they were going to be taking on the Terminus with a raid party, after all.

As such, by the time B.L.U was taken down, without dropping another Chainsword, to Skar's dismay, the party was showing some signs of wear and tear. The Knights, of course, were playing it cool, but James could sense the air around them was tense. They could tell the floor had gotten much more difficult, and they were uneasy about it. As the raid leader, Z was surely feeling the weight of the party's success on his shoulder, though the elven ranger showed it little. James, after having watched this particular adventurer for two weeks' worth of immersion, could notice it though. His smile didn't quite reach as high as it normally did, and his eyes seemed more focused, more intent, than normal.

"Man, what's the drop rate on that thing?" Skar was kicking B.L.U.'s tail, angrily staring down at it. The Chainsword was one of B.L.U.'s rarest drops, the only drop rarer being a pet version of B.L.U. So, it was easy to point out that Oak had gotten extremely lucky getting his sword. And, it also meant Skar's party was going to have a lot more farming to do if they wanted that very same weapon, because James doubted Oak would part with it. Between Oak's shield and Chainsword, the tank was wearing probably the most expensive set of gear out of any player in the game so far. Which was only fitting since he was also one of the few off tanks that was successful.

"You'll get one eventually, I'm sure." Oak was glancing over his gear, as the party waited for everyone's health to respawn. They had run into B.L.U. near the makeshift coliseum's entrance, and following the fight, had made the decision to do a quick rest, and completely heal up. Z had even broken out a campfire and was hard at work cooking up some dicken meat for the team, to give them the additional buffs for the Terminus fight.

"Probably when it's obsolete." Troll'd grinned at Skar, and the Death Knight shot the troll a scowl. When James had said everyone seemed worn, he meant everyone but Troll'd. That freaking hunter seemed unfazed by anything, and James was starting to wonder just how dense he was. Either that, or he really was just a giant troll. Knowing gamers, James guessed it could be the second part.

"Keep that up and I might forget to tank for you. Then we can see who is obsolete." Skar's comment made the troll wince, and everyone let out a chuckle. Gamers, especially those who raided in MMOs, were resilient. Give them a chance to catch their breath and rest up before a boss, and they could usually reset themselves. That was exactly what the group was doing now. James was growing impatient.

"Come on already." James muttered as he watched the party. Scanning over their information, he could see they were all back to full health, and Z was handing out the dicken meat to everyone. As they ate the tasty looking meal, James realized part of his frustration was actually jealousy. The meal looked delicious, and yet he was stuck unable to taste it. He would have to look into remedying that. If he could grow tentacle, maybe he could grow a mouth later….

"So eager to watch the Terminus fall?" Speaking of jealous… Rue was munching on more popcorn, a twinkle in her eyes as she glanced from James to the party.

"I'm just excited for the fight." James responded back, diverting his eye from the popcorn. He was unusually hungry this immersion session, and if he had to guess, it was in part due to his inability to eat much during the day. People always warned not to go to bed hungry, as it often led to some ridiculous gorging sessions while immersed. Mainly because when you were immersed, there were still some functions that could override the immersion experience. One of those, was hunger. A body's primeval need for food simply could grow too overpowering, and as such, you would spend your entire time immersed feeling hungry. In James's case, these hunger pangs that were starting, were not a good sign. It was only a matter of time before he became hangry.

"Liar." Rue chuckled and tossed a piece of popcorn at him, which bounced off his glowing form and simply disappeared. "You're starving."

"And? It's not like we can do anything about that." James grumbled, turning back towards the party. They were finally standing, checking over their gear, and going over Z's battle plan once more. It was a pretty simple plan, aided by the fact that Z and his team had already fought the Terminus before. Because of that, they felt confident in its attack patterns. Of course, they didn't know about the Terminus's latest upgrade.

"Maybe not right now…" Rue trailed off deep into thought, as James stared at her. For a long moment, she said nothing, and only seemed to open and close her mouth, as if wanting to say something, but uncertain about it. After another minute, she shook her head, and turned back on her mischievous smile. "Never mind.

Oh great, she was back to being not helpful. Durned pixie.

"You're so weird." James muttered back to her, though he was watching the raid party with growing excitement. They had established their formation, with Oak and Skar in the front, followed by Gno-more and Manly. Behind them, Z, Troll'd and Elm stood with their bows drawn, nocked with the metal arrows James knew came from the second floor. At the rear of the party, Med Ic, Olivia, and Faust stood, looks of determination across their faces.

Z had assigned each of the healers to one of the tanks, with their task being to keep the tanks alive. The DPS was to fan out and take cover behind the cars, doing their best to hit the Terminus's weak points, and wear down its health as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Faust was to prepare his strongest lightning spells, and blast the Terminus whenever he had the chance, while avoiding drawing aggro and getting attacked.

It was a solid plan, and the raid party, all 10 members, plus their menagerie of pets, plus the honey badger, strolled into the Coliseum looking exactly like a conquering party. As they walked in, Oak raised his hand, signaling the party to stop just as the doors closed behind them, locking them into the boss zone. Then, the warrior raised his Chainsword to the sky, in some strange form of salute. For a brief second, everyone looked at him strangely, before the members of the Knight's all grinned and did a similar salute.

"We, who are about to die, salute you." And with those words, they lowered their weapons again, their eyes once again focused on the Terminus's lair, though their faces bore grins, from some sort of inside joke. Skar's group just looked confused, but they were ready, and once again, they began to take up their positions. Once everyone was situated, Skar and Oak took up places near the Terminus's lair. The honey badger rushed into the lair, and let out a fearsome, especially given its small stature, growl. That honey badger really didn't care!

In response, twin red lights began to glow from deep within, and the very earth trembled as the Terminus rose from its slumber, its eyes focusing on the honey badger.

"I humbly accept your challenge, good sir." A deep, mechanical voice said from within the lair. "Prepare to die."