Jaded Series (Books 1-2)

Jin was stunned as she slowly chewed on a large, green mushroom and watched the enemy tree thrash while the horde of goblins that hadn't gotten flung around chased after Liraz and Hadia. At least that part of the plan seemed to be working. The only goblins that hadn't angrily gone after the pair of decoys were the ones who were more injured by the initial attack and the large chief who seemed to be trying to calm the tree down from his balcony throne.

Alim tapped her shoulder to get her attention and signed, "I don't think we should worry about the remaining goblins. Just focus on the boss."

"If anything tries to defend the chief, I'll take them out first while you keep the boss's attention. Okay?" she signed back, the mushroom still partway in her mouth.

They had discovered—well, Chompy and Clover had discovered—that if they took the time to eat the mushrooms from Karam's [Fragrant Mire] instead of just instantly dissolving them, the Boons that were granted would last longer. It took a little bit of focused intent to keep them from dissolving, and they wouldn't last very long before doing that either way, but they had a few minutes to gnaw on the fungi for better prep time.

When Alim nodded in agreement, picking a red mushroom for himself to eat while putting his [Mana Barrier] on each of them, she turned to Karam and Rayyan behind them. They were both chewing on blue mushrooms, and she finished swallowing hers to talk. Whispering aloud for Rayyan's sake, since he was still trying to learn all the Whisper signs, she told them, "Support from further back, shout if anything comes after you, and retreat to this spot, then I'll intercept it. Alim and I are going to try focusing down the boss to get the kill before cleaning up the little ones."

"What about the tree?" Karam asked nervously, glancing over her head to look at the enemy's Cultivating Guardian Home. "It seems really upset. I don't think it'll want us getting close."

Jin looked back to see the vines still flailing through the air, trying to dislodge the slime that was slowly melting them. It wasn't kicking things with its creepy root legs anymore, at least. Instead, it had dug those roots into the ground, and Jin had an idea about why it was doing that—call it video game intuition. "Kar, can you sense if it's healing?"

He shook his head and said, "It only works on allies. I think that includes neutral targets too, which is why I could do it on Mister Snuggleroot, but I know that's an enemy, so I can't sense it from here."

"That's fine," Jin replied with a sigh. Signing for Alim, too, she added, "I've seen game bosses do healing phases, and the tree hunkering down like that just reminded me of it. We should move fast, while it might be more focused on staying alive than defending the goblins."

The others nodded, and Karam incanted, "Become the light in the darkness," to give them his [Light Among Darkness] Boon.

Rayyan also gave his [Pearly Blessing] by whispering, "Pearl of sea, guard and mend; flow until the storm will end." Then he quietly suggested, "Try not to injure the tree more. Especially not with that terrifying dragon head. I believe if the boss is defeated, then that base will go dormant. I remember seeing similar foes in past Seasons that had fortresses or vehicles as part of their challenge, and those bonded items would often become capturable."

"Well, no promises on not hurting it if it attacks us, but I'll try to avoid complete destruction," Jin said, grabbing a few more mushrooms to let them dissolve for a shorter Boon stack. She gestured for them to follow and led them through the patch of swamp still separating them from their target.

Jin felt Alim's [Mark of the Defender] land on her, and she looked over her shoulder to glare at him. He simply smirked and signed, "I'll do mine next. I figure you want the opening strike, so you'll need the extra health and resistance first."

She rolled her eyes at his attempt to use logic to break her priority list, but she wasn't gonna argue this time. At this point, after all the fights they'd been in together on this floor alone, she had to just trust his judgment and chew him out only if it went badly.

There were a few goblins on the ground between them and the boss on his balcony, but Jin didn't want to risk attacking them first and alerting the boss to their presence. The biggest problem, though, was those thrashing vines that created a living barrier between her and the target. She wasn't worried about the slime on it or the ground with her little [Slime Companion] happily sitting on her shoulder; she was just worried about getting slapped across the swamp again.

Making a split decision, she ran low to the ground, crossing the threshold below the vines, then triggered [Vorpal Charge] towards the boss and [Leap] to speed through the air straight towards the Goblin Chief's exposed back.

The boss surprisingly turned towards them, as if sensing their presence, and met her charge with a large double-pronged hook on a chain swinging out from her left. The weapon she hadn't noticed before was glowing with violet light, and she realized too late that this boss could use magic like their shaman variants.

Jin moved her [Silent Spear] to try and block in mid-air as the attack shattered her [Mana Barrier]. The glow on the weapon seemed to dissipate from that collision, but her spear met the chain while the meat hook dug into her side. The immense force shifted her trajectory off to her right and slammed her into the side of the tree.

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She groaned from the impact and the two new puncture wounds bleeding profusely, feeling momentarily stunned before gravity kicked in. Reactively, she grabbed hold of the chain with her left hand, just to make sure she didn't get a chunk of her ripped out as she started sliding down the trunk.

A scream to her left made her look to see Alim channeling his [Mana Sear] on the Goblin Chief, eliciting the pain-filled roar. The boss yanked on the chain holding her, making her wince in pain as the force pulled her back towards the enemy like a few video game characters she could recall, and she was surprised the boss didn't yell out, "Get over here!"

With that in mind, she knew exactly what to do as she triggered [Hollow Strike] and [Piercing Thrust] to drive her spear into the boss's chest before they could swing their other weapon down on her. Her attack didn't seem enough to actually stop theirs, as the curved sickle came down hard on her right shoulder. She grunted and used [Poker Face] to not scream, feeling lucky that the boss hadn't simply taken her head off instead.

Over the last ten weeks, she had gotten a lot more practice fighting slightly more intelligent monsters than those on the first floor. The goblins here were able to speak, even if it was in rather broken, small sentences, and it allowed them to coordinate with each other to a certain extent. They were usually still dumb and didn't use great tactics, but this Goblin Chief seemed to be a step above what she had encountered so far. Still, she didn't think this boss was smarter than they were.

With another grunt, this time from effort, she used her boosted Strength from her spear, [Solo Player] Talent, and her own new belt she picked up from the shop with her tower points, to lift the boss impaled on her spear and throw them to the ground below their balcony perch.

Unfortunately, with the sickle still embedded in her shoulder, she chose to fall with the boss instead of potentially losing an arm that she was fairly positive Karam wouldn't be able to heal back on. She managed to soften her fall by landing on the Goblin Chief, who was about as tall as she was and thrice as big around, but she was still in pretty bad shape.

Letting go of her spear, she focused on pushing the sickle back out the same way it landed. It didn't disarm the boss, but at least it didn't do more damage either. She then focused on removing the two hook prongs from her side, and she was grateful that she didn't have normal, Mundane kidneys anymore—at least according to Alim's more in-depth explanation about how her Crystal Caste body no longer needed to use the toilet.

Trying to buy some time as the boss shifted beneath her, she triggered her [Breath of Aži Dahāka] and opened her mouth wide as she spewed out a miasma of swirling green and purple fog.

Jin was relieved when Alim was by her side the next moment, helping to untangle her from the furiously coughing boss. That relief quickly vanished, though, when Alim signed a quick, "Sorry," before pulling the twin-pronged hook out of her. She had gotten used to taking hits during combat by now, but this one was nasty enough to make her head spin as she tried not to retch from the pain.

Alim didn't share her moment of disorientation, however, and dragged her back from where the boss was righting theirself, yanking her spear out of their chest as they staggered away. Putting himself between her and the Chief, Alim quickly signed, "We should pull back, so Kar can heal you."

As they continued backing away, Jin shook her head in the negative and grabbed a health potion from a shelf in her [Treasure Hoard], chugging that instead. She didn't like how sickly sweet the potions usually were, but it wasn't enough to make her not use them in fights. While she instantly felt better as the healing magic mended her, she was dismayed when she felt that the hook had landed some kind of bleeding Bane, keeping that pair of holes open to trickle her life away.

Not mentioning that part to Alim at all, she signed, "Keep searing it. Did you mark it with that taunt?"

He nodded, still trying to keep one eye on the boss, who was stumbling towards them out of Jin's fog and was trying to grab something out of a bag on their hip. Jin furrowed her brow, annoyed that the Goblin Chief seemed not to care about the retributive damage from attacking her, even though Alim taunted it with his [Mark of the Aggressor]. She was also trying to figure out what exactly the boss was doing now, as she sensed her Banes from the fog stacking up on them. Was the Chief looking for a potion like she had during the lull in exchanging blows?

Instead of a potion, the Goblin Chief pulled out a large, spiraled horn made from some kind of animal keratin.

She and Alim instantly reacted, realizing at the same time what that kind of item could mean, and rushing the boss in an attempt to stop them from using it. As soon as she saw they weren't going to make it, she reconjured her [Silent Spear] into her hand and planted her feet to throw it straight at the Chief's head as hard and fast as she could.

The sound of the horn began just as Jin's spear went straight through the boss's throat, abruptly cutting off the noise, and a second later, Alim slammed his shield into the Chief's chest, knocking them back into the miasma of Corrosion and Death.

Jin was about to follow after them and continue the assault against the boss when she heard her name called from behind her. Turning to find where Karam and Rayyan were, she saw the pair running as a pack of goblins chased after them.

Sparing a glance at Alim, who was still focused on the boss in front of him, she mentally commanded Clover, "Stay with Alim so he knows where I went."

Jin didn't linger as she turned and sprinted away from the boss, determined to do her job and defend her teammates.