Rune Seeker - Book 3: Chapter 52: Yup, Definitely A Mid-Boss

It tore at Hiral’s heart to leave the battle below, but still he turned Drake in the direction of the tower’s silhouette on the edge of the island. If that was where Dr. Benza—and the Spear of Clouds—was, then that was where the party needed to go.

It didn’t stop him from taking some trailing pot shots with his Runic Blunderbuss as he went, though.

“How’s everybody on solar energy and health?” Seena asked, the four flying mounts lining up side-by-side as they raced across the sky. “Like Hiral said, this sounds like a Mid-Boss, and unlike with the ants, it’s probably C-Rank. We’re not going to be able to just walk all over it.”

“Topped off here,” Hiral said.

“Above eighty percent,” Seeyela said.

“Ditto,” Yanily answered.

“Left can drop the Banner of Courage as soon as we engage the abomination,” Hiral added. “If Dr. Benza really is nearby, there’s a good chance it will be after him or the spear. The buffs will help us bring it down faster.”

“Good thinking,” Seena said. “Look, I know we all thought we had another year before we had to deal with Bosses and Mid-Bosses, but it looks like that time is now. Since we don’t know if we’re going to have a chance to regain energy again after the Mid-Boss, try not to go all out.”

“Those clouds do look kind of ominous,” Seeyela said.

“I can taste them already,” Yanily said. “Their solar energy, I mean. My Cycling+ is practically salivating at what’s in there.”

“Glad one of us is excited about what might be in the clouds,” Hiral said.

“If there are Enemies, they have to be C-Rank at the most, right?” Seeyela said. “This is a dungeon, after all.”

“The Shambling Graveyards were A-Rank,” Yanily said. “And Elite.”

“That wasn’t technically in a dungeon, though,” Seeyela said.

“If we’re meant to fight them, probably C-Rank or lower,” Hiral said. “If we’re not supposed to fight them, however…”

“They could be any Rank at all,” Seena finished. “Whatever. We’ll worry about it when we come to it. Anyone see the Mid-Boss?”

“I sure see something,” Hiral said, his high Atn spotting a mass of black shapes sprinting towards the not-so-distant tower. “A smaller horde of Bristle Rats and… Yeah, there’s something bigger running with them.”

“See Dr. Benza?” Seena asked.

Hiral looked ahead of the racing rodents to the base of the tower. “I definitely see somebody. Three somebodies, I think.”

“Probably the doctor with Laseen and Fenil,” Yanily said. “He never seems to go anywhere without them.”

“We splitting up?” Seeyela asked. “Send somebody to the doctor while the rest of us tackle the Mid-Boss?”

“No,” Seena said. “As soon as we’re in front of the monsters, let’s cut them off. Yan, get up there and strafe them to buy us some time.”

“You got it, boss,” Yanily said. With a pat on the gryphon’s neck, Thunderclaws burst ahead of the other flying mounts, easily doubting his speed.

To Hiral’s right, Bliss neighed her displeasure at being left behind, but Seeyela just whispered reassuringly to the Nightmare. A shake of his own head, and… and did Drake just roll his eyes? The Dracolich didn’t even have eyeballs or eyebrows, but the gesture was unmistakable.

Putting all the moody mounts out of his mind, Hiral checked to make sure his weapons were ready. The three swords floated beside him, and he had his blunderbuss in hand. Ahead of them, lightning flashed as Yanily strafed past and let loose with his Chain Lightning+.

Three bolts of powerful electricity slammed into the crowd of the fur-covered Bristle Rats, then chained into their nearby comrades. Bodies spasmed and jerked, smoke rising immediately, but only a few dead monsters were left in the wake of the stampede.

Are these ones stronger?

Closer now, Hiral focused his attention on one of the individual rats until his View ability kicked in.

(Elite) Bristle Pack-Rat – Low-C-Rank

Still Low-C-Rank, but Elite now. That would explain why Yanily didn’t kill the whole pack with one blast.

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“They’re Elite,” Seeyela said, obviously picking up on the same thing.

“Mid-Boss is an Elite abomination,” Seena added. “Something called a Bristle Pack-Rat King. Unknown Rank, of course. Yan, focus your attacks on it. Soften it up. We’ll be with you after the next pass.”

“Got it,” Yanily said, circling around. Thunderclaws dove hard for the rushing monsters at the same time Yanily thrust his spear forward, and the raging, winged-lizard-like lightning leapt from his weapon. Eyes sparking with even more energy than the lightning bolt itself, the ability formed legs as it tore down from the sky, fanged mouth widening in anticipation of crashing into the Mid-Boss.

For its part, the Rat-King changed from running on all four limbs to just two, then swung its left arm around. Defying all semblance of physics and reason, a wave of the monstrous rats followed the gesture. Like a giant arm itself, the shield of smaller Bristle Rats blocked the trio of Chain Lightning+bolts completely. Even the residual charge usually left in the air seemed to get absorbed by the strange, giant limb. And when the attack finished, the Rat-Kinglowered its arm, the surviving rats rejoining the herd.

“Looks like we have an idea what the trick is,” Seena said as the other party members flashed past over the Mid-Boss and its ilk.

Meeting up with Yanily a few hundred feet ahead of the mob, Hiral and the others leapt from the Reflections and took up position between Dr. Benza and the approaching monsters.

“Maybe I should go check to see if the Spear of Clouds is okay,” Yanily suggested. “You know, wouldn’t want it to fall into any furry hands.”

“You’ll get plenty of time to drool over the spear when we’re done here,” Seena said.

“If it’s really the weapon it’s said to be,” Hiral interrupted, “Yanily having it might be the best thing for everybody.”

“This is a wild dungeon, isn’t it?” Yanily suddenly said. “You think I could take it with me? My own S-Rank spear?” Then, to the weapon in his hand, he added, “Ah, not that I don’t love you.”

“Focus,” Seena said, the rushing monster horde closing to two hundred feet and giving no sign of slowing. “There’s a lot of them, but don’t let them get by. Hiral, you, Left, and Right are on boss duty. Sis, help them out. Yan, you and I are on the adds. No matter what, they don’t get to Dr. Benza.”

“You got it, boss.” Yanily darted out to the side, his weapon spinning through his hands as he went. Distant thunder seemed to boom from his motions, and lightning began trailing behind his movements.

“Don’t die,” Seena said, tapping Hiral on the shoulder and then striding out to the opposite side of Yanily. Li’l Ur sat on her shoulder with his small tome floating beside him, blue circles surrounding his hands. With a pulse of solar energy, the sheath-like shape of the phoenix overlaid Seena’s body, fiery claws forming at her bulky, gauntlet-covered hands, and the flaming head of a bird of prey wrapped her face.

“I’ll keep its attention,” Hiral said, lining up his blunderbuss and pulling the trigger. “You stab it.”

“Simple plan,” Seeyela said. “I like it.” She vanished with a bamf at the same time Hiral’s shot got blocked by another sweeping arm of interlinked rat bodies.

The reactions are fast. Hiral threw aside his blunderbuss, activating his first stack of Ever Changing+, and launched himself toward the Mid-Boss. Runes of Impact surrounded his fists as the Rejection under his feet shot him out to the side, then back in to get around the multi-rodent limbs. Even with speed that cracked the ground at every step, the Rat-King’s eyes followed Hiral, and it brought a wall of gnashing rats up between them.

Hiral blasted out with another pulse of Rejection to prevent himself from charging headlong into the writhing wall of claws and teeth, then spun on his heel. Like before, Separation mixing with Expansion trailed his roundhouse kick, the crescent wave cutting into the many targets. Blood geysered into the air, but where Hiral expected Killing Spree+ to jump upward, he didn’t even get a single stack.

That didn’t kill anything?

He barely had a chance for the surprise to register before the wall of rats suddenly transformed into a tidal wave. As if the whole thing was liquid, the rat wall leaned and then rushed at him like a raging river.

Hiral leapt back, the runes around his fists fading as he whipped out his RHCs and pulled both triggers. The paired blasts vanished within the churning rat flood, leaving him to spin and power away with Rejection. On his left, Seena battled her own roiling mass of rats, and a pillar of purple flame shot to the sky in his peripheral vision.

“How are there this many rats?” Yanily asked, lightning and thunder crashing on the far side of the boss-swarm.

“And why are they so difficult to kill?” Right asked.

“You didn’t distract it very well,” Seeyela said.

“Sure seems like I got its attention,” Hiral countered.

Another Rejection-powered leap shot him off to the side at the same time a hammer made of rats crashed to the ground. No sooner had it hit than the rats making up the building-sized weapon flowed after Hiral in a hissing, spitting wave. Another spin and two more pulls of his triggers still didn’t kill anything, and he sheathed the guns. Up and over his shoulder came the Emperor’s Greatsword, the weapon erupting to life in its fallen-star form as he channeled solar energy into it.

Spinning around, his feet skidding along the ground, Hiral swung straight down at the approaching rats. Energy pooled into the sword’s Gravity and Expansion runes, and a cone-like hammer of massive gravity met the rushing horde at the same time the sword hit the ground.

WHAAAAM! The ground shook from the force of the blow, and finallyKilling Spree+ jumped up in stacks. With the massive attack, he’d killed a staggering… nine rats.

Nine!?

The increased gravity faded immediately after the attack, and even though the ground was cratered in the shape of the blow and blood flowed freely, the rat mass immediately continued their charge.

Just how were they supposed to stop these things?