It was staggering how clearly defined the line between war-zone and break-zone was, just a few feet away there were monsters ripping each other apart, it made them feel invisible and was so surreal they could barely believe it.
"Right, before we do this, you should all look at your IDs again. Quick tip, before you fight a dungeon boss, make take a strict half-hour break and eat and drink immediately while you check your stats."
"Why strictly half an hour?" Kayla's question was hardly a surprise, but to Jonah at least it made sense.
"If I had to guess, it's because half-hour is a good amount of time to digest your food, but not so long that you lose the edge that the dungeon sharpened." Jonah spoke up confidently, but still looked to Lucas for confirmation.
"Exactly, so eat up, read up and then ready up. Don't take this boss lightly, when the dungeon first opened it killed a group of rookies that stumbled into it blindly."
They all sat down and pulled out their IDs as they started eating.
[Name] Jonah Quill
[Race] Angel (Unique)
[Class] Guardian Angel
[Charge] Orcette / Kayla
[Level] 7
[STR] 50
[DEX] 76
[CON] 700
[INT] 80
[HP] 4,750
[MP] 525
"As for new skills..." Jonah examined it carefully, then shrugged. "...Nothing new on that front, but I guess I haven't really done anything hence the sluggish stat growth."
"Yeah, that tactic you guys came up with was maybe a little too good." Lucas laughed, pointing out that none of them should expect much gain in terms of CON and HP.
[Name] Orcette
[Race] Orc
[Class] Shaman/Hunter
[Level] 8
[STR] 15
[DEX] 30
[CON] 30
[INT] 91
[HP] 85
[MP] 270
"I got new skills!..." The excitement was clear, lacking an effective melee weapon and a long range non-magical one, had limited her growth considerably. "...Looks like two of them."
[Primordial Energy Drain] Class skill that allows the shaman to drain the primordial energy of creatures that have their own supply, or other shamans. Free to use, but drains the life of the target without fail. Target must have less than half the INT value of the caster.
[Wither Away] Class skill that allows the shaman to drain the life from the target. Costs 10 MP per second.
"Well those are certainly power abilities, but I don't think I need to tell you..."
"...Yeah, they're dangerous, I'll be careful."
"Not just that, Orcette. If people find out you have it, they will naturally grow fearful of you. It might be best to just tell them, but it might also be better to hide it and hope that it never becomes know."
"I'll be open about it, I'd rather find out how people are going to react before we get too settled." Lucas gave a slow clap and an almost sarcastic congratulations.
"Glad you made the smart choice, consider it an additional test. Dangerous skills like that and their users are posted for security. You have an Angel with you, so the important thing was your willingness to be open since no one will suspect him of being party to unlawful murder."
"Yeah, I can't be a naughty girl with an Angel watching my every move. Even if he didn't stop me, he can't lie and he'd see justice carried out one way or another, just what a young Orc-maiden needs to have fun..."
"...A young human maiden too."
"Well, I'll be honest, it's all on you Jonah and I hope you're up for the job."
"Thanks. Now Kayla, ID."
[Name] Kayla Simmons
[Race] Human
[Class] Rogue/Scout
[Level] 7
[STR] 20
[DEX] 171
[CON] 25
[INT] 100
[HP] 27
[MP] 120
"Looks like I didn't get any skills either, but I'm glad, I want to master what I have first."
Jonah tousled her head between the long hanging twin-tails, whilst Lucas laughed and told them he would be happy to take responsibility for her if they wanted, which led to a five minute sobbing session when Kayla got emotional at them refusing immediately.
"If you were hoping to see mine..." Lucas made a gesture of apology. "...Sorry, Assistant Guild-Master's and Guild-Master's IDs are classified so every branch has some trump cards in case of attack."
"Smart, I assume the guild operates in many territories, that stops them from pressuring another branch on the others' abilities."
"Exactly, it caused some problems in the past, honestly you've already seen more than I like to show usually." Lucas frowned a bit, clearly not overstating his position and how seriously he took the discretion.
It was also clearly Jonah's fault, he had relaxed too much in light of having to show Jonah spiritual manipulation and was annoyed with himself, mixed with his lightning display as a result of Kayla running off.
"I'll buy you a drink when we get back." The line slipped out and Jonah couldn't stop it, it was practically reflexive, an easy way to quickly pay back a favour so he didn't owe anyone.
"For real? Are Angels allowed to do that?"
Jonah simply explained that he understood it to be a human custom and had no knowledge of being unable to drink it or any innate distaste for the practice, but then he had an epiphany...
On his back were two cleavers he could barely control at the best of times and he had always been a lightweight in the old world. So he added that he personally preferred to not drink because of the danger an intoxicated Angel posed.
"Makes sense, we don't want our neighbors or new home getting cut up because you can't walk straight. Anyway, hasn't it been half an hour?"
"Yes it has, so let's get on with this. I'll try and leave it up to you three, but I'll step in if things get rough and have potions ready for you."
With that, they marched through the last fifty metres of forest, which was more dense than any other section they had passed through. The vines here were thicker than Kayla's arms and the steam from the decomposition in the soil was thicker than coastal fog, the smell of which was overpowering.
"Jonah, I think I sense Sir Slither." Hearing her use the name made Jonah and Lucas chuckle, but it annoyed Orcette to no end and she insisted they find a better name for the boss of a dungeon.
"Ha! Let us know what you come up with and good luck trying to get it to catch on." Lucas laughed before telling her to do it later though and them all to get their game faces on.
As they were about to clamber over the last trunk, they could see the enemy before them curled up asleep in a stone circle that looked like some kind of altar.
On either side was a giant pyre and at the back behind the coiled snake was a massive stone door covered in runes, but unlike the one at the entrance the runes were inert and gave of no glow or illumination.
Jonah could feel a kind of thrum though, like energy being contained and held at bay, but also emotions. "Lucas, I can feel a thrum of power, I assume that's the door waiting to come to life..."
"Yeah, you got it."
"...But why do I sense emotions?"
"Don't know, that's not my forte. I have two theories though, can you focus anymore and find a source?"
"No, the power is disrupting and even feeding off the feelings. It's practically vampiric in nature."
"Well that's terrifying, let's not joke about vampires right now, random monsters aren't impossible and we'd be dead in seconds. I'll keep an eye out, could be someone else lying in wait, if you see me act don't get distracted."
The three of them nodded and clambered over the trunk, Orcette ripping off a length of vine and wrapping it around her staff in the process and the snake coming to life the instant they had.
As it uncoiled and slithered closer the three of them moved into position and spread out to give each other room and see which target it focused on first.
The snake was massive, about a hundred metres long and five metres thick, its scales a mix of deep-green and brown which suggested it was coloured for camouflage but made Jonah wonder why it wasn't using that to its advantage.
The body forked into the twin heads at about seventy-five metres giving each one a healthy length of neck to be sufficiently independent and each head had a pair of fangs that hinged into use like switchblades from both the top and bottom jaws.
"Kayla, try to focus on evasion and critical hits to the eyes. Stay alert, it will writhe and throw its body around when you succeed. Don't take action if you aren't ready for the reaction."
Lucas suddenly whistled. "Sorry Jonah, that's catchy, can I steal that one?"
It was clear from his levity that even though he respected the threat it posed to newbies, he himself couldn't see it as anything to be taken seriously, which made the others feel a little more confident but not enough that they'd slip up.
"Be my guest and quiet, we aren't all as experienced or certain as you."
"Fair enough, about the other thing, give me a sign if it becomes obvious, yeah?"
"You got it."
Jonah became a bit concerned about how little space they had for a retreat and told Orcette to push up on her flank as Jonah did so on his, though he mad sure to stop before both heads decided Kayla was easier prey.
It was strangely quiet up to that point. There was the thrumming from latent power, the dip almost persistent hissing and the wet sound of the snake's tongues lapping the air or the snake opening one or both of its mouths as if showing off its fangs.
Then Kayla scored first blood with a doubled critical strike to the inside eye on Orcette's side which made the orb burst into a jelly like goo and the battlefield became as violent, chaotic and thunderous as the war-zone they had passed on their way.