Are you an IDIOT?! ... or am I?

Even More Dungeon Shenanigans

Since the wolf was no longer alive, Reaper's HP stopped decreasing. The Ranger leaned on the Bard, still under pain from her missing arm. Voyager looked at his girlfriend and held her in his arms as he reached to strum a few strings on lyre. His instrument started to glow as he put his hand where Reaper was armless. A soft glow of magic emitted from his palm and the Ranger's arm reappeared in a flash of light. Voyager let out a sigh of relief as he held his girlfriend close. It's a good thing I saved that healing spell. He said as he looked up and saw his MP bar, already halfway depleted. The Bard dug into his pocket to pull out a small MP potion and drank the blue liquid inside. The bottle faded away as he leaned on a tree trunk behind him while Reaper rested in his arms, occasionally checking on her HP bar to see if it was filling up as it should.

Everyone in the party wanted to wait until The Ranger's HP was recovered, before they continued on their quest. While resting, Download held out one of his hands and the Timberwulf he had just captured came out as a skeleton from his shadow. The wolf was about to howl, but the Warlock suddenly held his finger up at it and spoke in a commanding tone. Sit! At his word, the wolf sat in attention. You think you can howl in victory, when ya almost killed my friends? No! Bad dog! He said as he crossed his arms and gave the undead wolf a stern glare.

Gnash, as he named it, lowered his head and started whimpering, his ears flopped down. The Warlock gestured to Reaper. Out of all of us, the one you gotta apologize to is Reaper, 'cause you ripped off her arm. The wolf got on down on his ribs and belly-crawled to the Ranger. He whimpered as he looked up at Reaper, pleading for forgiveness.

Reaper turned to look at Gnash and giggled. In his eye holes were green orbs of lights. Even if the creature was undead, the lights in his eyes still held personality and expression. From trying to kill me, to being a big ole fur baby. She smiled as she patted Gnash's head and pulled him closer so that the dog could rest his head on her lap, petting him and scrunching his nonexistent cheeks. I'm just glad that no one died. But, now that you're in our team, you're gonna be helping us, isn't that right boy? Who's a good skelly boy? You are! Yesh you are! Gnashy's our goodest skelly doggo!

From her baby talking, Gnash's tail wagged furiously from receiving, not only forgiveness, but affection from his master's friend. The wolf looked in Download's direction as if saying: Look, Master! I did a super good job apologizing! The Warlock shook his head as he smirked and chuckled. After a few more minutes of resting, Reaper was finally fully recovered. Suddenly, the game window popped up in front of everyone in the party.

|| Floor Mission completed! ||
|| ✓ Collect 40 Hender berries ||

Looking around, everyone noticed that Hamon was nowhere to be seen.

For sure, that's my idiot at work. Lunaris said as she stood and dusted off her shorts.

As if on cue, the Rogue popped out from the shadows of the trees. I did more than just collect the berries, I also found different kinds of herbs, fruit and even this cool rock. Hamon said as he revealed a violet stone that was hollowed in the center. I have no idea what it is, but it looks cool and it's glowing.

It was Download who spoke up. Yeah, whatever ya do, do NOT let it break. Unless you're okay with all of us here having an un-curable poison counter that deals a good 20 DMG per second. It's called Toxinite. A lot of Warlocks attach it to their undead and yeet them to a tough opponent. In short, a suicide bomber. He said nonchalantly. The Warlock took a closer look at the stone and nodded slightly. They're hard to spot 'cause they're small, but you can find 'em under most fungus covered rocks.

Hamon smirked. Do the counters stack?

Download nodded. Yeah, but it negates other debuffs and it only lasts for about 10 seconds maximum, which is why we don't usually use it unless we really NEED to.

Hamon's smirk turned into a grin. That's all I need to know. He said with a low chuckle as he pocketed the Toxinite.

Once all fully healed and rested, the party continued on their quest. Reaper used one of her passive Ranger skills, Beast Friendship, to allow her to ride Gnash as a mount. With the skeleton Timberwulf, the party advanced much faster than expected. The undead dog's speed and strength, along with the buffs coming from Download, Reaper, and Voyager, let the party conquer floor after floor of the dungeon. As long as Gnash didn't take too much damage, the skeleton could stand most physical attacks and deal lethal blows that finished off opponents with ease.

The party walked up to the exit door of the 14th floor, having just finished the floor missions. It only took us 2 days to reach this floor, but my gut's telling me difficulty's gone up after this door 'cause this is the halfway point. She said before touching the door and a game prompt message appeared before her.

|| Warning! ||
|| You are about to enter a boss dungeon. ||
|| Will you proceed? ||
|| Yes || || No ||

Reaper looked to her friends first, before making her choice. She saw them all nod. Her boyfriend took her hand and smiled at her. The Ranger smiled back at him and squeezed his hand lightly.

Reaper held up a hand and selected.

|| Yes ||