DCO- Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 35

James wasn’t sure what was more terrifying. Z completely disappearing, along with all of his pets, as if he’d never been there… or a giant pitchfork, which had caused the aforementioned disappearance, flying around, randomly stabbing at everyone it could.

No sooner had Z disappeared, than the pitchfork, magically floating in midair, had lunged at the next closest thing. Oak managed to block the jab from the spikes, catching the blow with his shield, but the force had pushed him back. James had seen his health take a bit of damage as well and figured the level 75 unique floor boss had a built-in pierce mechanic.

“I don’t see a revive orb.” Med Ic said, as he turned his gaze towards James and Rue, a look of both judgmental accusation, and questioning, crossing his face. “What happened to him?”

James shrugged, honestly uncertain. His prompts hadn’t told him what would happen if an adventurer tried to wield Hokey Pokey. He knew if Old Man Jenkins had picked the weapon up, then a powerful demonic presence would have taken over the boss, and they’d be fighting that. But as for Z, James honestly had no idea.

“He’s not dead,” Rue answered, “if I had to guess, he’s been teleported to a different location. Look at his information in the party window.”

Med Ic’s eyes glanced to the side as he scanned the information. It was likely the healer had just intended for James and Rue to give him a quick answer, and was treating them as a go to wiki, rather than investigating anything too much. James couldn’t blame him for that. It was an easy thing to do. Who better to ask, than someone who worked on the game, after all?

Only, James and Rue weren’t actual developers. And they barely had any extra information regarding what was going on, compared to the adventurers. For now, Med Ic, and the others, didn’t know that. They would though. Soon.

“It’s greyed out.” Med Ic said, his face taking on a puzzled look. He glanced at Oak, who was continuing to dodge the swinging pitchfork, and attempting to strike it with his axe in between blocks. Faust was casting spells at it, and Ifrit was currently swinging his own blades at the object. It reminded James of someone trying to swat a fly. If a person was of course, close to thirty feet in height… and it was a seven-foot-long fly with dangerously pointed teeth…

“I don’t feel like it’s maneuvering appropriately,” James muttered as he watched the fight. Since he was a pet class, all he had to do was keep himself out of danger and keep his buffs up on Ifrit. Meaning, he had a lot of time to sit back, and try to figure things out. While figuring out what had happened to Z was the biggest concern, of course, watching the pitchfork he couldn’t help but question what the developers were thinking.

It was clearly crafted out of obsidian. And yet, it was bending and twisting midair, more like a Japanese dragon, or perhaps a snake from the ancient retro games, than anything else. James didn’t have to be a scientist to know Obsidian wasn’t fluid. If he had to guess, that fluid state was how they justified giving the unique boss its passive 25% chance to dodge incoming damage. Between that, it protection from nonmagical sources, and its defense stat of 1,666, the Unique Floor Boss was proving quite tanky.

“If he’s not here, where is he?” Med Ic said after a moment. He’d paused to cast a heal on Oak. Elm, with Z gone, had taken command, and was calling out battle plans for the party. Technically Z was just a DPS for the party, with the addition of his pets being able to fill in roles as needed. With him gone, they were only down damage, nothing more, nothing less. It was less of a serious concern, from a safety point of view, than if a party’s tank or healer was suddenly removed from the premises.

“I’m not sure, honest.” James answered. “I didn’t know Hokey Pokey could make a person disappear like that.”

“Yet you were quick to question Rue grabbing it.” Med Ic countered.

“That’s because he’s got a crush on me.” Rue countered, before James could come up with an excuse to justify his actions. From the way Med Ic saw it, James had been protecting Rue. And it made him seem guilty.

“Rue,” James started, but she giggled and cut him off.

“Nyx here doesn’t like the idea of me putting myself in any danger. Whatsoever. Honestly,” she heaved a fake sigh, “it’s so exhausting. And yet,” she shot James a wink, “what can I say. I’m a sucker for that kind of chivalry.”

James could feel his neck heating up. He was pretty sure Rue was just lying on her feet to get Med Ic off his back, but he had to admit, her words rang true. James didn’t want Rue getting hurt. He’d do everything in his power to protect her. And he hated the idea of her taking pointless risks. Call it chivalry, or whatever, but he cared about her. And there was nothing wrong with that.

The lie worked. Med Ic grinned, and a chuckle bubbled out.

“Ah, to be young again.” he said, shaking his head. He turned his attention back to the party that was fighting the boss. Hokey Pokey still had A LOT of his health pool remaining. “Still, we need to figure out what happened to Z,” he nodded up and to the left, implying they should check the party screen Rue had mentioned. “Wherever he is, he’s taking damage. And I know he’s got a crazy amount of potions, healing items, and other tricks up his sleeve. But he’s not invincible. Even with his menagerie to keep him safe.”

Sure enough, Z’s greyed out information, health bar included, was still active. They couldn’t see any buffs or debuffs on him, but his health was noticeably dropping slowly. The way it inched downwards made James think that wherever he was, he was under the effect of a DoT ability. Either from a skill, or perhaps the area he’d been teleported to was just passively damaging to adventurers. Either way, without a healer with him, sooner or later, he’d die. Would his revived orb appear back on the floor when that happened? Would something happen to empower Hokey Pokey, if that happened?

Even more concerning, when James focused on Z’s information, pulling up the party chat skill, he noticed a block on the message feature. Wherever Z was, they couldn’t send him information, either.

“Any ideas then?” James asked. The benefit of the Demon Lamb and the zombie sheep earlier, was that all of the other mobs on the floor were now dead. All they had to worry about was the flying pitchfork. No stray dicken blasts, nor random exploding sheep, and no Old Man Jenkins. There was still the off chance that Charles the Dicken appeared, but past that, they could focus solely on Hokey Pokey. Which meant, they had enough breathing room to try and sort out the fight. Even more so, thanks to their level difference. Hokey Pokey may be a Unique Floor Boss, but the Knights Who Go Ni were still almost 10 levels higher than him a piece. Combined with their gear, and all of their various class boosts, they had the stats to handle this fight without a constant feeling of panic or imminent death.

“I’ve got a few,” Med Ic said, and the healer held up a hand to rub his chin. He looked from James, to Rue, and then back to the pitchfork. “Probably not the most brilliant plan, but a plan, nonetheless.”

“Well, if it gets this fight over with, and gets Z back,” James said, applying another stack of buffs to Ifrit as he spoke, “I’m all ears.”

Med Ic’s grin practically reached his eyes. “Here’s the plan.”