Arthur watched with curiosity as Tenevus retrieved two ornate scimitars with curving handles from behind and he clip-clopped his way forward leaving behind De-Armes and Ariel to face the commoner. As the commoner came into the room he let out a frightful bray and charged but before he could get close the commoner had already thrown out his cocktail bottle. He skillfully dodged, keeping the distance Arthur had warned him of and tried to close in again but the commoner was experienced, at least in retrieving bottles from the bag. There was very little wasted movements and his actions were swift and precise. Arthur watched Tenevus bobbing side to side dodging the thrown bottles trying to find a way to close in.
"Those bottles are really frightful, even to boss class monsters I suppose?" said Arthur with a chuckle.
"It depends on the level master Halo," said Leneus. "Our dungeon is fairly low leveled, if it was not, at our previous strength such bottles are nothing even to our mob class monsters."
"Ah, I do want to hear this story about how our dungeon became this weak," said Arthur and Leneus looked about ready to launch into a story but Arthur interrupted. "Not now of course."
"It's not much of a story master Halo," said Leneus.
Arthur gently rubbed the spherical cushion on the chaise longue as he watched Tenevus' deft movements. Low levels really shot a point across, even boss class monsters would have to be afraid of a commoner. Tenevus it appeared finally became tired of dodging and swung his scimitars around slicing through one of the bottles and Arthur sat up, squinting to take in the detail and his heart jolted. For normal molotov cocktails, slashing like that might have helped as long as the fire didn't go anywhere near the liquid but for bottles like these, they required no prior ignition devices. He didn't know the science behind these bottles but to him it appeared as soon as the liquid left the bottle it caught on fire. He hurriedly touched Tenevus' figure again on the map as he watched his robe catch on fire.
"Tenevus, do not slice at the bottles," said Arthur and Tenevus appeared to have heard him as, after he had ripped of the shoulder of the robe where it had caught fire and threw it onto the ground he stopped trying to slice through the bottles and tried to move in again similar to his previous strategy.
"That is one annoying incendiary device," said Arthur sighing but he also admired the brilliant mind that made such a concoction of chemicals.
Arthur watched as the piece of torn robe burned with ferocity until finally ashes were left. That was a hot fire, this peculiar liquid knew to kill quickly.
"Leneus, what do you think of the bottles?" asked Arthur leaning back again.
"I can infer from that just now master Halo that this is a particularly vicious alchemical concoction, deadly especially so for our dungeon monsters and this man appears to have a lot," said Leneus. "Perhaps it is an engorged bag."
"Engorged?" questioned Arthur all the while paying attention to the battle.
"Yes sir," said Leneus. "The outside of the bag might look the same but the inside is larger, it could be a spatial spell of sorts, there are many runes and spells to enlarge a space, this appears to be something basic."
"Oh..." said Arthur rubbing the bridge of his nose. "That's troubling, I was hoping I could calculate when he would run out."
Arthur watched Tenevus' pointless struggles and it appeared that he was not getting in anywhere quick, this man, this commoner appeared to be trained precisely for such a battle, his bag was close, his hands were swift, he was accurate to a certain degree and had good eyes on him. Certainly if De-Armes and Ariel joined Tenevus, then they would have no trouble finishing him off but then Arthur's though process sped up, he had heard them explaining that they had joined forces prior so then why still was this commoner alive.
"Tenevus switch with Ariel," said Arthur suddenly and Tenevus stopped moving and the commoner stopped throwing the bottles.
By Arthur's accounts as he had started counting when the commoner came in, he should have burned through 126 bottles of this so indeed that large bag might indeed have an engorged space but from how it looked her to Arthur it seemed his supply of these bottles were virtually limitless, he didn't seem worried in the least.
"Dungeon master, I can go on," said Tenevus looking calmly at the commoner.
"I know you can but I want to test all of your capabilities, switch now with Ariel," repeated Arthur and Tenevus sighed.
He heard Tenevus talking with Ariel who appeared to be frowning first but then the frown turned into a delightful grin.
"Thank you dungeon master for giving me this chance," said Ariel and Arthur opened up the mist to Ariel.
"Show me your skills," Arthur said simply.
"With pleasure dungeon master," she said drew her sword and her shield materialized on her left arm.
She used her wings to glide into the air and float there and the first in a barrage of exploding bottles came flying at her and she did her best to dodge but her movements with wings were sluggish.
"Is this how she usually moves?" asked Arthur.
"Not so, master Halo, her movements are quick and precise in the air, I don't know what's happening," said Leneus as he too frowned.
Arthur thought of the possibilities. Was it space? No, he inferred, it couldn't be. The glass dome and Tenevus' room had similar spacing, high ceiling and plenty of space to spread her wings and fly. Wind, did her wings require wind? No that couldn't be the issue either, her dome did not let in any wings, it was covered on all sides by glass, so then what exactly was the problem, was it something psychological? Arthur delved in deeper when he noticed the timing at which this commoner threw his bottles, it was precisely timed at whenever she was about to attack. That was it, her wide wing-span gave more target to the man and she had to halt whenever she was to move forward because the man chucked the bottle out.
"Ariel, tuck your wings back," said Arthur quickly. "Use your feet, fight on the ground, the wings aren't giving you an advantage."
"Yes dungeon master," she replied and her wings disappeared as she landed on the ground with a thump and with glee Arthur realized that this commoner was surprised for a bit, for the first time since the start the commoner seemed to lose a bit of his cool.
It seemed this commoner had learned information about this dungeon, all the necessary details to pass through, this further strengthened his idea that this was perhaps a conspiracy.
"You are quick to spot the faults master Halo," said Leneus with a smile.
Arthur smiled back, "Indeed I am, it's a gift, one of many."
Ariel suddenly charged forward at an inhuman speed but the man again appeared to have expected it as he threw bottle down at her feet and jumped back dragging the bag with him. She barely dodged it, slanting off to the right.
"Why does he know so much of us, he knows much more than me," said Arthur. "Was that a spell, Leneus?"
"The boost was using a spell, master Halo but the spell itself did not allow her to move faster," said Leneus with a serious gaze.
"I would understand if he knew about the spells they use but he appears to know about the utilizations that are used with the spells as well, is this perhaps a skill she uses a lot?"
"It is a favorite of hers master Halo," said Leneus.
"I want this man alive Leneus," said Arthur gritting his teeth. "I want my questions answered."
Leneus did not reply and instead continued his serious gaze at the fight that was occurring.
"Does she have long distance spells?" asked Arthur as he watched her have a near miss again.
"I believe she has basic spells of the four elements," said Leneus.
Arthur spoke to Ariel again. "Use distance Ariel, use your distance spells, blast at him and the bottles from a distance."
"Understand dungeon master," replied Ariel and she glided back, surprising the commoner again which caused Arthur to surmise that this commoner was very well familiar with the boss class monsters' usual fighting style.
The commoner however did not let his surprise deter him for long and chucked another bottle. He was a professional then, maybe he ran a business related to this and had been in situations akin to this before, Arthur noted down mentally. Another bottle was thrown and with a spark a fire appeared in her left arm as her shield de-materialized and she chucked it at the incoming bottle and his eyes widened. That was a wrong choice, the chemicals exploding and catalyzed by the fire and sure enough he was right, it created an explosion that was bigger, the radius spread over seven meters to ten meters.
"Ariel, do not use fire," said Arthur. "It helps the explosion," he was about to sit back but he thought better. "If you have any earth type or water type, don't use those either, use something soft like wind, we don't want to shatter the bottle upon contact."
Ariel nodded and next to him Leneus said, "A brilliant idea master Halo, I would surmise now she can close the distance using this spell as she knocks the bottles back."
"That was the idea Leneus," said Arthur and as he said it Ariel executed it to perfection, knocking the bottle back towards the man who dodged with a shocked face.
Ariel took a step forward but Arthur spoke again. "Stay the distance Ariel, I don't want you capturing him yet, let's play a while, now we have his weakness."
He threw another bottle and she blew it back with wind again but this time to Arthur's shock he started firing the bottles at rapid speed and Ariel's spell of the wind could only get some of it.
"The gust is a spell, master Halo," said Leneus. "You miscalculated, spells require charging time and we are a weak dungeon so our charging time is relatively obvious."
He bit his thumb again, he did not have enough information on this world, all the plans he could come up with were half-baked but still Ariel seemed to be managing. She could blow one bottle back and dodge another and it also gave her enough time, now that the commoner himself needed to keep a safe distance and dodge as well. At a certain point Arthur saw that even Ariel was making very little progress and he sighed.
"Ariel switch with De-Armes," said Arthur and she paused at which moment the man threw another bottle.
Ariel swiftly dodged and despite being upset she moved back to the frightening huge demon monster De-Armes who seemed to be lazing about sitting casually on the floor and Arthur saw the man making another move.
"Watch out!" he yelled and Ariel turned but De-Armes used a similar spell and the bottle flew back to its origin.
His spell, it appeared was more powerful than Ariel's. He tapped on De-Armes figure and the mist to him opened up.
"You're finally letting me in skeleton scrap," said De-Armes with a cackle and Arthur grit his teeth.
For sure the demon was powerful but he had a bad attitude and a fowl mouth.
"Screw it let's go!" roared De-Armes and charged with a high velocity forward and it was tough to believe that such a huge body could move at such velocity, it was like cutting through the wind.
The man tried a similar tactic to De-Armes which he dodged with a sneer and then stopped to look.
"What are you doing De-Armes, take him down," urged Arthur.
"Screw it skin n' bones, I'm doing it my way," said De-Armes his mouth wide open in a wicked smile.
Arthur clenched his fists his eyes surging with fury when a hand was placed on his shoulder.
"You need to calm yourself," said Leneus. "De-Armes is always like that, he does his own thing, don't control him, give him tips."
Arthur nodded grudgingly and took in a deep breath. He could accept De-Armes rebelling but he couldn't accept being insulted. He proceeded to watch as De-Armes initiate his high speed movement again and the man appeared to be taken aback, it seemed he wasn't quite used to De-Armes fighting style but he could have sworn he heard that the Sky-Demon was also part of the last battle they had.
He looked at Leneus with a curious gaze who proceeded to explain:
"De-Armes has keen battle instincts, it's built in and he's the most powerful boss class monster in the Blue Lands Dungeon, he can change his battle and strategy to suit needs so the De-Armes you once faced might not be what you face again, Ariel is a stringent follower of rules so she can easily be read through but she is tough to break, Tenevus can change if he wishes but he has the wisdom to understand the nuances of battle and De-Armes, well he a beast of instinct."
Arthur nodded at the detailed explanation. Leneus succinctly explained the details, the weaknesses and strengths of the three boss class monsters and he filed them away mentally amongst his other notes. He proceeded to watch De-Armes quite literally running circles around the commoner who seemed to be loosing his calm as the Sky-Demon closed the gap between them and Arthur had to admire the tactics. Occasionally when one appeared to hit him he would use his wind magic to blow it away back to its origin forcing the commoner to dodge.
"If De-Armes was there the last time why did they have so much trouble with this man, why did he escape?" Arthur asked the key question.
"I don't know," said Leneus putting on a clueless face.
Arthur felt his danger senses tingling, there was something unexplained. He quickly pressed on Tenevus and the mist connected.
"Tenevus, it seems De-Armes has the man handled," said Arthur all the while watching the battle where De-Armes appeared to be playing around.
"He does," agreed Tenevus. "He is strong."
"We are both in agreement then so why did you have so much trouble last time, how did you lose so many monsters?" asked Arthur. "How did he escape?"
"He had a trump card," said Tenevus taking in a deep breath. "He had the bottles wired to him, wore it like a jacket, we let him go and he threw the jacket of bottles at us and it blew up obliterating the normal monsters and it slowly killed the elite ones, burning them to cinders, we barely survived."
"So then De-Armes isn't playing around," said Arthur coming to a realization and he looked at Leneus who looked back, troubled.
"Those bottle can be worn like bomb jacket of all things," said Arthur clenching his fists, the cloak he wore looked large enough, it could certainly fit the bottles and so there was reason to suspect he wore the bottles like armor.
"Damn it all!" burst out Arthur.
The plans that were forming in his head were scrapped and he revised new ones. How could he find out whether this man had his armor of bottles on underneath the cloak. It seemed however he didn't need to plan any further as with careful precision De-Armes ripped the man's cloak of revealing a row of bottles and De-Armes quickly jumped back with an alert gaze.
"He has it on," groaned Leneus and looked towards Arthur who had his eyes closed trying to go through the plans.
"Come and hit me!" roared the commoner, for the first voicing himself and he chucked another bottle. "What's the matter!"