Surfing the fearsome ice waves that surged back and forth, managing to keep me underwater until the sight of a glowing white above drew me to the surface of the waters.
Being washed up on a snowy surface that appeared as though it was a feature-less island with the horizon met with a vast ocean.
It didn't take much effort to notice the other islands circled by different sized icebergs.
"Talk about the perfect setting, with the gear I have traversing this landscape should…be…easy…Oh!"
Finding the icon that displayed the entrance to the next floor, which meant that the Floor Boss had already been defeated.
Somehow in the few hours my character decided to rest, an entire floor was cleared.
Getting on my way, I simply kept quiet as I walked through the intense wall of ice wind that encircled the island I stood on.
It didn't take many steps before I was absorbed by the white veil and drawn into it.
"Lyria, set up some cover for us. Ari, we need healing over here."
"Thane, I'm quickly burning through my mana, and where's Galdor?"
"Don't worry about me, Lyria, get back."
My eyes glazed over with a bright light before my vision cleared, leaving me in what seemed like a snow-sprinkled edge to the forest ahead with a singular path of weathered and cracked masonry lined by parallel rows of wintered conifer-trees stripped of all but their gnarled branches and dried bark.
With a scene of dead trees dotting the landscape, out of the scene a group of individuals were taking to battle against immense figures that resembled the dying trees.
'Hmm…there's about four of them. Well, they are holding their own, the last thing they should have done was walk into an obvious trap like that…' observing how the group were pushed against each other while the tree-beasts cornered them even further.
'If they're struggling this much I don't think it would have been possible for them to have cleared the last floor.'
I continued to deliberate over my thoughts while one of them was wounded and forced back, with only three of them capable of fighting back they were quickly forced back towards the entrance.
With their attempts eventually having them shuffle back past me but they seemed too distracted to take notice of me.
Taking the optimal chance, I rushed down the path of the grove, before encountering the tree-beasts:
"Askafroðull. Level 15."
'Yeah, I'm not taking a chance fighting this many of them if they're this strong' activating my most recent skill without slowing down.
"Cruelstalker." The moment I used the skill, I made sure to try and brace myself.
Stopping my sprint and coming to a light jog before it turned into a walk, with the transition bringing on a thicker and thicker haze over me that melded with the surroundings, until I was entirely absorbed into the scenery, as my presence faded away..
Passing by the Askafroðull without drawing any of the creature's attention and moving towards a constant low-volume growl that got louder the further I got from the tree-beasts.
Beyond the boundary of the accursed path, the growls had fallen silent with a rocky outcrop facing me and a leonine beast leaping atop it.
Letting out a roar that whipped past me with a thundering boom that almost knocked me to my knees.
"Aura of Domination has been used. All physical stats have been reduced for the duration of the Subjugation Event."
Race: ?
Class: Sword-Wielder Level: 10. Derived Class: Swordsman Level: 5
HP: 280
MP: 150
Blessing:?
Vitality: 29 (-10)
Strength: 33 (-10)
Agility: 44 (-10)
Endurance: 28 (-10)
Intelligence: 17
Dexterity: 39 (-10)
Wisdom: 22
Luck: 0
"All right, it's one thing to go out looking for the Floor Boss, it's another thing entirely when they come looking for me. Seriously, is this entire area the Boss Arena?"
A shadow shifted from the outcrop onto the ground in front of me. Its crazed dash let out a wave of snow and freezing wind, showering the entire scene as the snowfall reveals the same landscape, now with the sudden emergence of strange pillars formed from the frozen remains of the tree-beasts.
The beast stood at the converging point of the rows of pillars. Standing well over me with several sword lengths from nose to tail.
Massive canines that glowed with a blue hue glowing with a frenzy of yellow and white sparks that resembled the same colour of the beast's eyes.
The same sapphire colour that shifted into a deeper navy formed the mane that furled and lined the snow white fur of its muscular yet slender body.
Thick grey coloured plates of bone grew out of its back and braced its neck while armoring its limbs.
All six of its legs and both of its long and muscular tails possessed grey and violet spots whose pattern faded into the white colour of its body.
Lowering its posture and spreading its legs, the creature once again let out a terrifying roar.
This time the path of the echoing blast was followed by a rush of ice wind that consumed its path, washing over and knocking me back.
"All right, I'm definitely fighting you."
Shaking off the ice attack that had little effect, I stepped up against the leonine beast that had its tails raised in the air.
"Floor 5 Boss: Fimbulþul, the Hallowed Gate Guardian. Level 25"
"Title: The Sword of Winter [Deal 10% extra damage to Frost Chromatic Beasts and Draconic Beasts]" A prompt appeared below the visual of the beast's level.
"Floor 5? This should have been 3, unless..." While I wrestled with my thoughts, the monster pounced from pillar to pillar while the fur on its body rose on its ends.
With vibrant sparkles erupting from her body, a massive discharge ran up its tail before streaming out as electric arcs that carved and ripped apart the scene.
Catching the straying arcs as I tried to dodge, knocking me into one of the pillars.
Race: ?
Class: Sword-Wielder Level: 10. Derived Class: Swordsman Level:
5 HP: 280 (-70)
MP: 150
"From one hit…" Recovering from the hit I looked up to the beast perched atop that seemed to be reeling back from hurling a static coated ice mass.
The rapid blast of these ice masses slammed against the ground, cratering the area.
A much easier attack to avoid, what I hadn't realised was the beast had driven me back into the crowd of Askafroðull chasing the previous group.
"Stakes of Sha'uli" Using the skill caused an erupting mass of burning stakes, trapping any enemy that walked into it.
Rushing past the group and coming to a rest on the other side of the makeshift barrier.
The effects of the Floor Boss's Aura of Domination skill were still lingering, but I believed that there was no way the effect would last indefinitely…
"Hey you, over there! Why are you back here?"
Turning back to the hefty voice that called to me, I was met by a weary dwarf with wild blonde hair bound in several silvery shackles that matched the impressive armour pieces they were fitted with.
"I know you can hear me. I saw you before after you ran past me."
"I'm sorry, I think you may have mistaken me for someone else."
Throwing up a rain of bloodfire to shower the Askafroðull that tried to get too close.
"Right…they might have missed it but I saw your little hiding trick over there. You better get away from there, those things will tear you apart."
"Galdor, what are you doing, it's dangerous over there."
"Just a moment, Lyria." Lifting up a steel hand axe and raising his ornate shield before charging out and using one of his skills:
"Tenacity."
Causing a golden glow to cover him as he charged through the groups of the tree beasts.
Cleaving at them while maintaining his pursuit, he would break through the group to discover an impressive sight.
Battling a lion like beast with footwork that had him dancing and slipping past icicle bolts and lightning arcs, brandishing burning blades.
Galdor's furred lips curled into a smile as he pushed through them and broke out of their grasp on his way into the heart of such a fierce battle.
"What is he doing, Lyria?"
"Thane…" Another player leapt out from the safety of the cover, one of the dead root trees that happened to be felled before targeting the dwarf with a spell.
"Fortitude." The spell covered Galdor in a delicate green glow, allowing him to shrug off the attempts from the beasts to halt his pursuit.
"Well then, you think I still have you confused with someone else."
The dwarf rushed in and braced one of the icicle bolts Fimbulþul had fired at me with his shield while the green glow helped him to shrug off the electricity.
Managing to guard against its assault.
"Ohhh. Now that's cold. Hey! Hey! Are you just going to walk away?"
"Listen up, you don't want to be near me right now. If you trigger that beast it won't let up until it takes you down." Pulling out a vial of Healing Potion and downing it.
"Boy, you better…"
"Old man, you better watch your stats and make sure you deal with that Frost Effect that's been inflicted on you"
I knew that having other people around would lead to them getting in the way, which might have made the fight much harder.
But at the time it felt as though I was simply returning the favour or even paying back a debt.
For having saved me, a cautionary warning was the bare minimum.
Focusing again on the beast, I coated my steel longsword in scorching bloodflames before I chased down the beast.
From pillar to pillar its speed far exceeded my own but that was fine as long as I could force the creature into the air, it wouldn't be able to run around like that.
Whilst in flight from its leap I used "Rush of the Rimelord."
To propel myself into the creature and bury my burning blade into its underside, only to be struck by one of its many legs, causing my grip to slip as I let go of the blade.
"Drakeblood's Maw." Knocking the beast into the pillar before it let out a crackling lightning blast, shaking me off as it crashed into the ground.
Race: ?
Class: Sword-Wielder Level: 10. Derived Class: Swordsman Level: 5
HP: 180 (-70)
MP: 85
"Look who made his way back." Galdor teased, after I landed close by.
Offering me a hand despite being a complete stranger.
"Now, I'm inclined to believe that tough bastard is the Floor Boss"
"Yeah…"
"Well how's about a little cooperation? Both of us have already made it this far into the Dungeon, it would be an awful pity if we were to die now." Galdor spoke with little in the way of subtlety.
"And what's to stop you from killing me off after we slay the boss?"
"Smart kid. But right now we aren't in any condition to fight another foe. We're already cornered from both sides."
He made a good point, while I had no real knowledge of his companions or what they could do, if they had made it this far they must have been competent to some extent.
Not to mention the dangers of challenging a Dungeon on the Global Mode, meant that they knew what they were doing or someone among them did.
"...Old man, if we do this are you willing to listen to what I have to say?"
"If it's within reason."
"That's good enough for me. Now tell me something…" Activating the "Cruelstalker" skill again to hide my presence while I spoke to the dwarf.
"Thane, they're bearing down on us on the left." The same figure summoned golden spears of light which she launched at the tree beasts, cutting down the closest ones, as she avoided the storm of arcs rippling through the scene.
Returning to their cover and finding that Thane was by himself. Asking him where Ari ran off.
Only for a massive cloak of darkness to cover the scene.
The blackened sky drew the attention of the sturdy horde, allowing an assault of multiple hidden strikes to cripple the tree beasts.
Allowing Lyria to let out another barrage of light spears that cut the vanguard of the tree beasts down when the veil of darkness was riddled with static, rippling and crackling before striking the area in a massive blast.
The blasted heath left behind by the assault of thunder was a hellscape or ashen earth and greyed streams flowing from the melted snow in a rush towards the craters.
From the scarred scene, Ari had braced herself for the assault to open her eyes, meeting the sight of her companion brandishing his shield in front of her.
With a quick glance at his status bar, she knew the danger Galdor was in.
Calling for Lyria to tend to him, when the ground shook once more as the leonine beast crashed into the ground after another violent strike from the stranger.
"Listen up Ari. The sooner we finish up these tree-beasts, the sooner we can help him out."
"Who, him? He seems perfectly fine without us. He ran by us like he knew what he was doing." Pulling out a Lesser Healing Potion and handing it to the dwarf.
"He won't be able to keep up that pace for long if he needs to watch out for the Askafroðull as well. Right now, he can stay in the fight as long as we can handle them."
"Hmm…It doesn't seem like we have much of a choice. If he dies it's coming straight for us."
"Hey, stranger! If you can keep that thing off our ass, we'll handle things or our side. You can hear me right?" Ari called to me but I wasn't in the right mental state for polite conversation as I tried to avoid the crackling arcs that were spurred from the writhing monster.
"Long range attacks, close range defences, great speed and power. Blindsiding seems like the best option."
Vanishing with the help of my "Cruelstalker" skill, I leapt through the wall of bloodfire and found myself beside the other players once again.
"Hey, old man. Is everything in place?"
I yelled, watching some of the beast wade through the wall of fire. At this with point their numbers were little under a handful.
"They know what to do." Galdor spoke up with little hesitation as the rest of his companions joined him.
Lyria wondered what the dwarf meant by that, and with a short explanation they were ready to respond.
Even Ari, who would have sooner tried her hand at the beast on her own could not deny the skill she saw in my clash against Fimbulþul.
"I'll keep them all in one place and the rest of you will move in."
Pulling out the Mask of the Reviled as I walked away from the group, I used the "Aura of the Reviled" skill and instantly drew the aggression of the tree beasts.
Where before they shuffled on their way towards me, now they were embroiled with rage as they charged against me.
"Right then, Thane you'll watch over Lyria. Ari will go on the offence with our friend over her and I'll make sure those bastards don't gain an inch of ground." Galdor stepped up and used his skill again, enhancing Ari and I.
Rushing against the coming assault, I froze the group in place with the "Frost Effect" Skill before cutting them down, one after the other, as Ari was close by matching each attack with a killing blow.
Dropping each of them, one after the other.
Galdor was just as quick to take advantage of his bound opponents, as he bashed them into many splinters.
"Keep your eyes peeled." Coming from the blazing strike that the carved through the group tree-beasts that wandered through the wall of bloodfire, trying to pounce on the occupied dwarf.
"I knew you were there, stranger." Shaking off the charred limbs of the beasts as we watched Ari strike the remaining creatures that had managed to reach us.
Her skill with a dagger was quite impressive, and it seemed as though she had some knowledge of the game's mechanics.
Having chosen a Beastman avatar, more precisely, a Pantherian with a lithe yet muscular frame and slit amber-coloured eyes that shimmered beneath her thick brown hair.
Standing a few inches taller than the fiery-blonde Galdor, by virtue of her perched ears constantly alert.
"How long are the two of you going to stand there looking at me" Running past them to check on Lyria.
Standing in stark contrast to both Galdor and Ari, she stood tall enough to speak to me without much strain.
With silver hair that flowed alongside her robes, bound in a series of vines that sprouted from the flower holding her braid in place.
Despite the ethereal nature of her appearance, she was still human, a humorous thought that made him wonder just how much time she had spent on the creation of her character.
With a thoughtful and soft look about her, her sky blue eyes lit with joy to see Ari was safe, patting her head as she approached.
"I swear the two of you are going to give us a heart attack." She scolded her as she raised her staff to produce a light that covered Ari in a healing glow.
"Galdor, that was one hell of a plan." Thane greeted his friend with a firm handshake.
"Ah, you can save your heartfelt words for after we take that thing down. Hey kid, this is Thane, you'd be hard pressed to find someone with the right combination of reliable and competent, but is an effortless choice."
As the dwarf introduced his friend, I too shook hands with him, he seemed like an honest person, thanking me for my help, which managed to surprise me.
"So do you think we have a chance against it." Equipping his sword and shield, his light and impressive robes were armed with pauldrons, braces, chestmail and greaves of a stark white colour.
"Fighting with help brings its own pros and cons. But that's not important right."
Consuming a Basic Healing Potion and extinguishing the bloodfire flames.
"I'll get straight to the point. This will be a four-step approach to bringing it down. Are you all willing to follow my lead?"
Much to my surprise they didn't even hesitate when answering, armed and at the ready, they waited on me and Galdor.
"All right, first we need to ground it. If someone can hold it back for a moment I can pin it down."
"I see, would I be sufficient?" Thane stood up, raising his shield beside me.
"Then Lyria and I will cut it down. Galdor can watch our backs." Ari chimed in, standing in front of Lyria with her blades drawn.
I wouldn't want to waste the given opportunity, or have them back out at the last minute.
Running towards the rocky outcrop and catching the stalking beast's attention in my rush, it immediately gave chase by leaping through the petrified stumps.
Blasting me with several sparked icicles to cut me off, Thane wasted no time springing into action, cutting them down while the thunderous discharge from them knocked him back.
The Leonine beast tried to pounce on us while Thane was stunned, when the creature was pierced in mid-air by several light-crafted spears, ripping through it as it tried to land on its feet.
The beast fell into a cloud of darkening smoke with no scent only an inescapable void that rapidly grew to surround it.
From its binds, entangling the confused beast whose thrashing gave birth to a fearsome thunderstorm, ejecting violet arcs from its spiked fur with another oppressive roar.
"Aura of Domination has been used. All physical stats have been reduced for the duration of the Subjugation Event."
"Dammit, it's lashing out. We've almost got it, but we need to remain focused." Thane moved to my side, brandishing his shield to take the impact of the violet arcs.
The beast was now blind and grounded, however approaching it had become even more dangerous with everything it was doing.
Ari would have been exactly what we needed to end the beast at range, but at the moment, she was the sole reason the creature remained in one place.
Using the "Spear of Glacias" skill to run it through before activating the "Firestone Ward" skill to set it alight as it was bound in the darkness.
With Lyria casting as many long range spells they could muster till the creature leapt towards shelter beyond the flames, where Galdor and Thane were ready for it.
Exchanging bow after blow, as it was charging another lightning blast, while Galdor rushed it alongside Thane, together they knocked the beast back.
In its flight, Lyria continued to pelt it with a rain of blessed spears before.
Using the "Rush of the Rimelord" and the "Curse of Ash and Blood" skills in tandem, I emerged from my invisible vale to strike down the creature.
Driving my burning blade into its side, prompting Fimbulþul to swipe at me, sending me crashing into them.
Ari's seemed to have taken to mimicking my attempt, using the opening in the beast's attention to rush past us to deliver three slashes across its chest.
The attacks struck with such force that in the beast's attempt to tear her apart with its open jaws, she tear clean through it, landing beside her in a heavy thud.
It tried moving its hanging jaw as it struggled to its feet, when a blast of black and crimson flames erupted from its insides.
Now burning on the inside. The creature crashing into the dirt as a steaming corpse
The violet coloured thunderstorm that they knocked the beast out of continued to grow.
The grey clouds gathered above and before any of us realised what was happening, a white and blue bolt carved through the skies and blasted the Arena.
Blinding us all and scorching the scene leaving an ashen waste land, with dark heavy clouds above, the earth rumbling and the burned corpse of the boss.
As the winds scatter the ashes, something emerges from the smoldering remains.
As consciousness gradually returned to the party, our senses emerged from a shroud of disorientation.
The world around us began to sharpen into focus, revealing a scene that defied all reason and sent shivers down our spines.
Before us stretched a desolate, grey wasteland, as though an ashen snowfall had blanketed the very earth.
No signs of life were present; only silence, broken occasionally by the eerie whisper of the wind.
The air was heavy with an unsettling stillness, and the sky above was an ominous canvas of heavy clouds.
Suddenly, a strange and unsettling phenomenon began to unfold above. The heavens cracked open, and a surreal rain began to fall.
But this was no ordinary rain; it was a deep crimson, as if the very sky bled profusely.
The drops splattered against the ground, creating macabre patterns on the lifeless landscape.
As the party's gaze fixated on the source of their bewilderment, their hearts pounded with dread.
Amidst the pooled crimson rain, an immense, cracked, and scorched corpse lay before them. It was a grotesque sight, like something from a nightmare.
But what chilled them to the bone was the sight of movement within that decaying behemoth.
Something writhed and squirmed, hidden beneath the grotesque exterior.
Fear and curiosity battled within them as they took hesitant steps toward the enigma, their fate forever changed by the accursed bolt of lightning that had brought them to this nightmarish realm.
Letting out a destructive wave of energy, causing the darkened clouds in the sky to swirl into a menacing shape.
"...I don't think it's over. Looks like this might be the end for us." I said, as I picked up my blade.