The Ruby Magician

Floor Eleven

Group: 6/6

Quest: The Castle of Willhelm held dark secrets, and your search led you further into the depths. Willhelm used to be a benevolent master of the estate, but his corruption was an insidious one, drawn from an unknown source beneath the castle. What will you find in the darkness? Could it possibly save the corruption above by preventing further catastrophe, or will it be the end of it all?

Wyn took a deep breath. His wandering mind was losing focus, and he thought about taking a break. But that would only frustrate him further.

It had been two days since his team cleared the ninth floor. The day after clearing it they took it easy to rest and then start the eleventh floor, only to stop in the middle of it due to the sheer size. It was a dungeon and cavern-like floor with smaller, winding paths, with plenty of dead ends and monsters, typical for the first floor of the tier. The enemies were still undead but more skeletons than zombies.

Magical skeletons that wore armor and carried weapons, and had abilities like base class Climbers.

Now, though, they had been climbing all morning, and Wyn guessed they had uncovered every possible dead end because they were turning around more often than they were advancing.

"This is a ridiculous floor," John said, plopping down on the ground. "We've been at this for hours!"

"But we've cleared a lot of it," Marcy said. "We haven't been injured, we've managed the enemies fairly well. I say it's been a positive climb."

"Agreed," Wyn added. "Keep your head up. We can keep pushing and break for a late lunch as long as we keep making progress."

"And knowing which path not to take is often still making progress," Cal said. "It doesn't seem like it but we're clearing this floor well."

"I'd say you're all doing a fantastic job!" Lance said, giving a thumbs up to the group. "For your first time here on the eleventh floor, you are advancing beautifully."

Wyn thought the gesture looked ridiculous and tried to hold back a smile but was having a hard time. The others had mixed reactions of laughing or being annoyed.

Lance was a Mapper, and one of the extraneous staff the guild had on retainer. Cal knew him from his days as a Mapper and had great things to say about him. He was an average looking man in all aspects, except his personality seemed to always be chipper. They were encouraged by his kind words and positivity when they started the floor, and Wyn was glad the man was still energetic.

John couldn't hold back a groan but relented as Tasha comforted him.

With their break finished, they resumed their climb.

Two hours later, they stopped for a late lunch just as Wyn promised. They decided to stop at a dead end to make use of being protected on all sides. Wyn was starting to get frustrated like John, but when Cal brought out the meals he prepared for the day, he quickly settled into a better mental state.

John did, too, as confirmed by the sounds he was making as he ate his lunch.

Wyn did some stretches after he finished his meal and thought through his plan for the day. He told them if they didn't make it far in the early afternoon they'd return, but according to the others they were making good progress. Despite the dozens of wrong turns, Lance was adamant that the map he was making was revealing a large floor more similar to the thirteenth or fourteenth floor, but was still over halfway discovered by their vast exploration.

The enemies they fought weren't at the level of the last boss, and had been dealt with in reasonable groups. So far the skeletons showed up in groups between four and six, and had enough equipment and magical abilities to be at the level of a mid or high second tier Climber. Which wasn't too bad with each group, but they had faced nearly three dozen of them already. Fatigue was starting to set in, and Wyn could tell only John and Cal were still moving at their normal speed while the others were starting to get sluggish. Even he was feeling the effects of constant walking and fighting for hours, despite his longer background of training and experience.

He understood how the higher floors could only be completed once a day, and even over multiple days at that. Still, he wanted to take advantage of their good progress by trying to finish the floor.

Once everyone was rested with food, drink, and mana potions, they set out once again.

The next group of enemies didn't take long to appear. Their clacks of bone on rock were obvious, and even Wyn heard them despite not being to able to see around the corner ahead of their current hallway. Marcy still warned them and readied her bow, while the others surrounded Lance to make sure he was protected. He continued to write notes on his small pad, constantly marking down details about the floor and monsters for future use.

As the monsters rounded the corner, the group was already in their positions. John and Cal were in the front, spread out to cover the wide hallway with Marcy slightly behind them crouched and Cedric standing directly behind her, both waiting. The two men's auras were active, boosting Marcy, who had an arrow drawn on her bow. Cedric already had a spell prepared that was timed based on Marcy's suggestion.

When they stumbled on groups, the team typically had a more even fight. The confines of the caverns limited how much both Marcy and Cedric could support with their ranged attacks, and Wyn's speed was more limited without more wide rooms to roam, but they still held out with John and Cal doing the majority of the fighting.

But in the other times when the were alerted to the skeletal enemies prior to their appearance, their performance was far better. Wyn had them setup for the eventual clash each time and made it so they sprang into action fiercely and with little room for the enemies to retaliate.

The skeletons that rounded the corner met the same fate, as they were blasted with a quick combination from Marcy and Cedric. She let loose her arrow that exploded over the enemies with a large splash of water. The skeleton that took the hit was knocked back onto its back, and the ones directly around it stumbled from the hit.

That was when Cedric's lightning spell cracked through the hall, blasting the skeletons and causing them to seize uncontrollably. The hit was far stronger as it reacted to the water-soaked enemies, hitting the entire group at once.

Still, the enemies were no pushovers, and weren't completely killed from the coordinated attack. They were weakened and stunned, however, which was the opportune time for both John and Cal to rush forward and hack through them with savage hits. Cal's mace smashed through the skeletons that were unable to dodge or block, and John's slashes with his massive sword cleaved them apart with obvious ease. With their enhancements they were able to clear the enemies in only a few swings, something they learned throughout the floor. Without their respective Auras or individual boosting skills active, it took several hits to fell one enemy even with their enchanted gear.

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It wasn't so much of a fight as a one-sided beatdown, but none of the team celebrated. They knew there would be more fights, and each took more of their concentration, time, and energy. The climb was a battle of endurance, after all.

The rewards were better than the other floors, but not by much. Some paltry coins dropped from them along with a few purple monster parts composed of the skeleton's bones, but otherwise the haul was meager.

Continuing on, the group traversed more turns and a few more skeletal groups over the next hour before finding a longer and wider tunnel. Lance immediately gasped seeing it, and Wyn was hopeful it was the end.

"Friends!" Lance said, his voice high with obvious excitement. "This looks incredibly promising! A new layout, long and wide like a welcoming hall to the boss! Although I don't need to tell all of you that, I'm just so excited!"

Wyn was surprised that a laugh chirped out of his mouth around his ragged breaths. Lance was nearly shaking with joyous energy. He wondered how the man was still so energetic and positive after most of the day spent walking or running in the dangerous environment, but he wasn't about to complain.

"It's about damn time," John said, stretching his arms over his head. "Going through this floor again would have been a chore I do not care to repeat!"

"If you think this floor was bad, just think how the next one is going to be," Cedric said, his lips quirking up into a tired smirk.

John froze in his stretches then grumbled. "You just had to ruin it, didn't you?"

The group laughed at John while slowly and cautiously advancing forward. There didn't seem to be any traps and no skeleton groups showed up, but as they started to see the end of the floor they slowed down.

At the end of the hallway was an alcove, albeit a massive one. There was what looked to be a throne the size of a building carved into the rock wall, and beside it was a large black opening big enough for a wagon to enter. At the edge of the opening was the familiar floor portal, red and closed.

But sitting on the throne made Wyn pause, along with everyone else. It was a giant skeleton easily forty feet tall, wearing a metal cap on its skeletal head and gauntlets that matched it. Beside the throne rested a huge cleaver that was chipped on the blade but had a purple sheen that covered it.

Worse, flying around the skeleton was a half dozen ghosts, all glowing with various auras but thankfully normal size. They looked like gnats flying around the large boss.

"Gods above," Cal said, his eyes wide with shock. "That's the largest boss I've ever seen!"

"We'll likely need to fly to even be able to hit it," Wyn said. "Otherwise we'll just be attacking that huge skeletal foot."

"I don't know if the typical boss strategy is going to work for this one," Cedric added. "That's an… unusual setup."

Wyn couldn't help but agree. Part of him was wondering if a theme for the season was going to be single bosses with minions. Their last fight with the blood-sucking boss was difficult - how bad was this one going to be?

But there was no point in trying a half-ass approach. Not when they discovered the boss on their first climb. John was right, if they could avoid climbing the floor again they'd be better for it.

It was now, and only now, to face and kill the boss.

"So we do a modified plan," Wyn said. "We stick to the original idea of the strategy, though. John, Cal, and Marcy focus on the boss, while Cedric and I will work on keeping the minions away. Tasha, if you can bring out a Calling and join us with handling the minions, then we can take down this boss our first climb."

"We will take it down our first climb," Marcy said. She patted Wyn on the shoulder for support. He nodded to her in confidence.

"At least we have some time to prepare," Tasha said. "Don't hold back, right?"

"Don't hold back," John echoed, summoning his sword.

Everyone started their preparations. Their bodies glowed with red, white, yellow, and gray auras, coated in their skills and spells. Wyn took several deep breaths as he was enveloped in the effects, then activated his boots to fly.

Surprisingly, even Lance was floating behind them while shrouded in a multi-colored aura that made his body shimmer in the dimly lit hallway. His brown and dark green cloak floated behind him like a thin blanket on the wind, despite there being no such breeze.

Wyn knew the man had several items that were between blue and purple rarity, all designed to hide him from monsters, evade them, and generally stay as far away from them as possible. It was still strange seeing the Mapper nonchalantly flying in the air looking like a godly woodland being, but such was the life of climbing.

Tasha, true to her climbing style, brought out Baratheon, as the behemoth was by far the best Calling to challenge undead creatures in a direct fight. He lumbered forward as the others floated around him, all moving forward to challenge the giant boss.

The skeleton's eyes lit with a deep blood red, prismatic in appearance as though both eyes were rubies the size of barrels. Each bone on its body cracked and groaned as it slowly moved, grabbing the cleaver beside it and standing to attention.

The ghosts shrieked and started moving sporadically, staying close to the boss monster while still flying in the air. Their pace improved greatly, and Wyn had doubts each of his teammates - himself included - could fly as fast as them.

They didn't need to, though. He could deal with the ghosts from a distance and had some ideas on how to keep them occupied.

As the Climbers marched forward, John and Cal let out war cries as their flying speed quickened. Baratheon was directly below them keeping pace on the ground, bounding forward on huge muscled legs ready to take the skeleton head on. The divine creature still only came up to the skeleton's knees, but it was strong enough to do some solid damage.

The giant skeleton lumbered forward, raising its cleaver and drawing in a ridiculous amount of black energy around the weapon. Everyone hitched in their advance, curious as to what was happening. Then the skeleton brought the cleaver down with an expected slowness that the team, including Baratheon, was easily able to dodge.

Stone shattered from the impact against the ground as a dense black cloud rolled away from the crash site. The cloud looked almost magically solid as it dispersed nearly twenty feet in all directions. John and Cal flew away from it to start attacking the skeleton from the sides, while Baratheon was jumping away as fast as possible. Thankfully, the black substance dissipated within seconds, not lingering and creating new obstacles on the battlefield.

Wyn had no idea what was in the cloud, but he did not want to find out. It also went without saying to avoid the attack, so he didn't bother announcing it to his team. Instead, he flew to the nearest ghost and cast Flash, stunning the spirit and causing it to raise spectral arms over its face. Slashing out with a glaive, the weapon passed through the ghost without doing hardly any damage.

Expecting that, Wyn then cast Regen on the creature. It flailed as the white aura coated its body, burning it from the outside as it screamed in pain. The monster slowly started falling to the ground in a swirling glide, like a leaf gently falling from a tree.

Then a crack of lighting tore through three ghosts, seizing them in place. Wyn flew beside them and cast Frostsnap, heightening the spell and causing all of them to freeze in chunks of ice. They crashed to the ground and shattered before the first ghost he fought ever touched the stone floor.

Looking up to the skeleton, Wyn saw chunks of its bony body were already falling to the ground from all three attackers hitting it. The most massive green aura was around it from Marcy's Hunter's Gaze ability, marking it as a target, and several arrows that shone with a white light were already protruding out one of its eyes. To Wyn's surprise, that eye was faint and nearly blacked out.

Tasha was beside him, next, flying on golden red wings, firing a thick ray of pure white light that scorched and fried the ghosts in seconds. It even burned the skeleton's body when it passed over it, causing swirls around the boss due to Tasha's erratic flight to try and eliminate as many ghosts as possible.

Wyn had a strange thought as he quickly surveyed the battle. Was the boss really going to be that easy? Especially compared to the difficult time they had with the boss on the ninth floor? The ninth floor boss was a tier boss, and they were naturally more difficult, but there shouldn't be that much of a difference.

Wyn received his answer just a few minutes later as the skeleton boss clattered to the ground in a heaping pile of bones. The ghosts had been destroyed far sooner than the skeleton was killed, which gave Tasha and Cedric the opportunity to add their strengths to taking down the primary target. No one even seemed injured as the massive body started to dissipate back into the tower, leaving behind the most impressive pile of treasure yet.

"Gods," Lance muttered.

Wyn looked to his right where the Mapper was flying in the air, wide-eyed at the rest of his team. Since he realized the others had the fight under control, he decided to stay close to the Mapper to make sure no other enemy came near him. The precaution was likely overkill, but he wanted to be sure.

"Yea, that was easily the biggest monster we've ever faced," Wyn said.

Lance shook his head. "That's not what I mean. Your team. You all are… wow."

Wyn couldn't stop from smirking. "I guess that's a good thing?"

"You could give some fourth tier teams a run for their money. I'm serious when I say that was one of the most impressive takedowns of a boss I've ever seen."

Wyn felt a large sense of pride swell in his chest. He was proud of his team and how well they worked together. It was nice to hear someone acknowledge it, too.

"Too bad we won't be coming back to this floor, otherwise you'd get a repeat performance," Wyn said, nudging Lance playfully on the arm.

Lance chuckled, but kept staring ahead.

"Come on. Let's get our rewards and your share."

Lance flew down beside Wyn as they met up with the others around the pile of loot. "And then I think I'll be taking the rest of the day off."

"Oh, we all are done after this," John said, carefully eyeing a sapphire the size of his thumb. "I sense a bath and nice dinner in my future!"

It didn't long for them to gather the treasure, carefully adding it to Cal's pack.

"Maybe I can make us something to celebrate," Cal said, adding the final sack of coins to his pack. "I need to go to the market to search for some ingredients, but it shouldn't be a problem."

John jerked his head from another gemstone and smiled widely at the Paladin. "Last one back to Alestead has to pay for the meal!"

Wyn tripped John while flying towards the portal after changing his weapon to a wooden staff. The man crashed onto the ground with a loud thud, then watched in horror as the others were nearly at the portal, including Lance.

Wyn playfully waved at his friend with no regrets.