Jer Patch
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Chapter 36: Boss Battle
🕑 Added 2025-03-03 15:00:06 +0000 UTCThe sand shifted near the opening and I paused, holding a hand up.
“Anyone else see that?”
It moved again, like someone stirring cake batter. Then the sand vanished, leaving a dark impression.
I approached by myself, finding a deep hole with a set of stairs and the symbol for the path carved into them. The bottom was completely dark.
“Well, that’s new.”
“Eh,” said Hammy passing by me, marching down the stairs. “Not gonna worry at this point.”
He vanished as he crossed over the symbol before reaching the dark bottom.
Dengu darted after him almost in a panic. Lenna chuckled, chasing him as well.
Then it was just me in the arena.
The bright sunlight and clouds mocked me. I wanted wings and that feeling of moving through the air, with just a little more control than falling to my death.
I glanced once more at the open skies before marching down the stairs. The symbol brought me back to the fountain at the beginning of the path, and glowed above my head like the others.
Both Hammy and Dengu stood at the edge of the magical, healing water source. Dengu took sips of water while Hammy dunked his head.
I slowly approached, studying the statue at the top.
The raptor had gained additional mass, but the proportions of the quills hadn’t changed.
I dipped my left hand into the waters and the bone-deep ache in that hand vanished. Sighing in relief, I hoped my claws might work now. Still, I didn’t test them, wanting to give them more time.
Cupping my hands together, I took a long draught of water. The cool liquid tingled over my tongue, reminding me of soda for a split second. Some of the deep aches faded into nothing, but the need for rest remained. It seemed nothing but actual rest would help ease the fatigue of being awake for so long.
Sounds of birds and bugs in the distance cut off.
My head snapped up, studying our surroundings.
The tops of the four temples suddenly trembled.
[Your team has completed the Four Temples. Final Challenge unlocked.]
I lifted my hands out of the fountain just as the four symbols from the path glowed a bright white light and rose into the air. The lights rushed to the statue at the top of the fountain. It glowed from within, cracks forming over the surface before shattering into dust.
“That’s not good,” I mumbled.
“Final battle, right?” asked Hammy. He stepped away from the fountain and put his back to it, yanking the turtle shield in front of him. “We got this!”
Time to find out what waited for us.
Dark clouds rolled across the sky, blocking out most of the sunlight. The bright orb was barely visible through the clouds, but it still sat at the tallest point in the sky, unmoving.
The ground shook and a rumble echoed from all four corners of the world as the tops of the temples caved in. Shadows took over the openings to the four paths.
I stepped closer to Lenna.
Her fingers tightened on her bow, and she notched an arrow. She saw me looking and gave me a steady nod.
A heavy gust of wind rolled through the courtyard and slammed into the tall green ferns surrounding the area. They turned into dust, revealing a desolate landscape. Fallen, broken trees, boulders, and cracked piles of giant stone where the temples had stood were all that remained.
The uneven landscape provided plenty of places for beasts or people to hide.
“Let’s do this,” I whispered to myself, yanking on my spear. Anticipation built inside me. Once we finished this, we could finally leave and get some much needed rest.
My night vision kicked in, making it slightly easier to see with the shadows. I didn’t know if Hammy or Lenna had anything similar, but I hoped at least Lenna did. Her arrows would be a lot more useful if she could see what she was shooting at.
The only familiar place still untouched was the fountain behind us, and the pavers in the courtyard.
A low growl picked up when the rumbling ended.
The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up, and I crouched down, spear held ready.
Dengu roared in response, the trickling of water from the fountain providing a strange dissonance.
Then the growl came again, from my left. I twisted in that direction to see a set of talons on top of a fallen tree.
A head peeked up, with bright yellow eyes and razor-sharp teeth.
It stared.
[Greater Quilled Raptor, Level 35, Temple Challenge, Tasty.]
It had ten levels on us.
I grinned, my heart pounding.
Hammy swore loudly, drawing its attention.
The creature suddenly leaped, moving faster than anything we’d seen. It almost blurred as it flew towards us.
Claws reached out to Hammy, but struck the turtle shield instead, skidding across the tough surface.
Go turtle!
I stabbed with my spear, aiming for a leg, but I missed as I ducked under a tail that swung at my head.
Bright white spikes jutted from the tip in all directions, and something told me being hit by those would suck badly.
Three arrows sank into its lower side, and it leaped sideways away from us.
Its tail flicked at Lenna, and two thin quills flew from the end. She rolled away behind the stone fountain and the quills missed.
Dengu leaped, but missed as the Greater Raptor dodged, vanishing from sight behind a nearby large boulder. Dengu didn’t chase it, but the Quilled Raptor didn’t come out from the other side.
The lemurs had done this.
“It has stealth!” I yelled.
I focused on the area where it should have reappeared, looking for an outline and trying to break the stealth. I tried to track it, but couldn’t spot anything, so I reached out with my senses. Nothing showed on my prey-sense radar, but I heard an almost silent crunch behind us.
I twisted about, spear first, as I rushed in front of Lenna who was facing the wrong direction.
The raptor shimmered into view as it landed, dodging my spear at the last second.
Dengu crashed into its side, talons skidding along the reinforced scales on its back. The boss's head twisted over its shoulder and snapped at Dengu.
That gave Hammy an opening with his crystal spike. The glowing tip slammed into the creature, but not its leg like he’d intended. Instead, its tail took the impact.
The spiked tip crashed into Hammy, who yanked his weapon back, his face going white. Red dripped between his lips.
Lenna stumbled back, screaming, and fired again. This time, a flaming arrow headed right for the giant beast’s chest.
Dengu held on as it tried to jerk away from the flames.
It roared as the arrow made contact. The sound was nearly stunning, but didn’t have the ear-splitting power of some of the creatures I’d fought. That was going to be a life-saver.
I darted at its side with my spear, but only grazed it as it rolled over. Dengu went flying, and Hammy stumbled, using the shield to keep upright as the spike impaling him was jerked out.
Blood gushed everywhere.
“Again?” Leanna rushed to Hammy.
“I stabbed it, though,” he said before whimpering as he crashed to a knee, hand still gripping the shield.
The creature tried to vanish behind a fallen tree, but this time I kept track of it.
Dengu scrambled to his feet and joined my side. He watched the area around us as I tracked the fucker. I faked losing the boss, but kept watch out of the corner of my eye, careful not even to blink in case I lost it.
“Dengu, ready…” I whispered.
The raptor lowered itself closer to the ground and growled deeply.
I felt the vibrations through my boots and grinned.
We had this.
I inched closer to Lenna and Hammy as she healed him using the crystal. I didn’t dare look to see how he was doing.
Then, it moved!
“Shield!” My hand snapped out, pointing. Dengu lunched himself into the air.
Hammy shook but raised it in the correct direction, with Lenna behind him.
Dengu slammed into the side of the creature, knocking it off its trajectory.
I leaped, keeping low to the ground, barely flying above its surface. The Great Raptor’s tail flicked in my direction, but I pushed off the ground with one foot as it approached, leaping just enough higher. Three quills rushed under me.
Lenna stabbed at the creature using a long knife as it wrestled with Dengu. It screamed in pain, slowing slightly as it started to take damage, but Hammy crumpled behind the shield, finally unable to hold against the weight of the beast.
I landed out of reach and raced from the other side, trying to get back into range.
“Hammy!” yelled Lenna.
The spiked tail hit Dengu, who jerked back, releasing the beast from his talons. Lenna took the opportunity to retreat to Hammy, her bloody knife held ready in case the creature took the opportunity to charge her. I was going to try to prevent that.
I sliced at the boss as it raced by, burning a thick line along its closest leg. It stumbled, and I jabbed the point in. It screamed, talons stretching out at me. Then Dengu hit it’s back, roaring his own anger at the boss. It crashed to the ground in front of me, unable to stay upright with Dengu’s weight, given the injuries we’d caused. It almost took me with it, but I was able to dodge back just far enough.
I yanked back on my spear and stabbed again, this time forcing the tip deeper.
I must have hit something major, since it blinked once, then went still.
[You have gained bonus experience from combat for surviving against level 35, Greater Quilled Raptor. Your experience has been banked.]
Dengu stood on top, his jaws clenched around the back of the Great Raptor’s neck. Blood oozed from several wounds on him as he released his teeth. He roared at the sky.
“Great job, buddy!” I yelled.
The dark cloud slowly dissipated until the high noon sun blazed down on us once again.
Lenna stood next to a bloody fountain. Hammy rested with his head just above the water’s surface.
“Is he good?” I asked.
A thumbs-up came from Hammy, so I turned back to the carcass. Dengu waited attentively next to it, eyes on me.
“Can I have the heart?”
He nodded.
I cut into the Greater Raptor, finding its lower chest to be armor-free. I sliced easily through the torso. The heart sat close to the surface, and I yanked it back before biting into it. Silky smooth dark chocolate pudding hit my tongue. A treat from back home, I never thought I’d taste something like it again.
[You have devoured a Greater Quilled Raptor and gained two stat points in Quickness.]
That made sense, given how fast it moved. Though, I’d kind-of hoped for an increase to my stealth, after seeing it hide.
Dengu dug in as soon as I cleared the dead creature’s side.
[Congratulations on completing the Dungeon of the Four Temples.]
Light shimmered around the fountain, and four objects appeared resting on the edge: a leather quiver glowing faintly in the light with strange symbols burned into it; a bleached white bone reminding me of a dog toy; a hunk of silver metal; and finally a round token.
Reward time!
A rush of notifications blasted across my vision, making me stop.
[Second Quest(Path to Citizenship): Complete a Dungeon - Completed. Dungeon of the Four Temples.]
[You have unlocked the Third Quest(Path to Citizenship): Craft a needed gift for a friend!]
[Your banked experience has been applied.]
[You have leveled 13 times.]
The pain hit me all at once and I crumpled forward, my knees slamming into the stone pavers. Everything burned, and my mind went blank. I just sat in the pain, hoping it would fade, for seconds, minutes, hours, days? I couldn’t tell.
Finally, something poked my shoulder, then poked me again.
“You okay, Alex?” asked a familiar voice.
I twitched, opening my eyes.
Which, somehow, hurt.
“Can you get up?” Hammy knelt next to me, a look of concern covering his face. He reached to help, and I stumbled to my feet with his arm under my shoulder.
“That…” My voice came out rough, and I stopped trying to talk.
Lenna stared at me from next to Dengu. Her eyes were wide.
Even breathing hurt. But at least the pain had subsided enough that I could stand.
“You leveled too much at once,” said Lenna. “You have growth shock.”
I frowned, flinching at the pain in my face.
She chuckled at my expression. “It means you hurt pretty bad. Your body changed rapidly all in one go. It’s the same reason you try not to increase a single stat by more than 10% in one go.”
I didn’t mention that I’d just done that to more than one of them with this go-round. Only Charisma was still under 100 stat points.
“Worth it…” I whispered, feeling someone use Insight on me.
“I can’t see your level.” Hammy’s eyes grew wide as he spun to look at Lenna. “But I can see yours.”
“You need to use your Insight more often,” said Lenna. “Alex hit level 38, growing 13 levels all at once.”
“Loot appeared as well,” said Hammy, holding up a hunk of silver metal.
[Indestructible Ingot, Soul Bound. Blocked.]
