The guild walked out of the circular room of the second mini-boss and into the next hallway. Soon after, the halls changed again, going from dirty aqueduct hallways, to clean halls with decorations here and there. They felt like they had walked into a manor of some sorts. There were windows on one side, but they couldn't see anything outside those windows. It was completely dark. The manor halls were no longer brightly lit either. Only a few candles every few meters gave off a faint light. It was barely enough to see the whole place.
In this place would they finally start facing some real resistance. The first group of enemies they faced was a group of five hunched over humanoids. They were greyish and seemed to be feeding on something. It was only when one of them finally heard them and turned around did they see what it was they were eating. It was another human being, alive but nonreactive. The other creatures finally turned around too, and they hissed at the players.
Immediately after, they jumped to the walls and ceiling, charging at them from all surfaces in the hall even jumping from one surface to the other on their way. This destabilized the players, as they didn't know where to put their attention. The lieutenants then kicked into gear, recognizing the creatures.
" Those are revenants! Stay sharp people or you will die " Marc yelled, being the first to react.
That was all it took to bring their minds into the game. Unfortunately for Marc, it was also all it took for the revenants to focus on him. The five revenants all looked squarely at Marc and charged right at him. With the distance between the two groups, a battle was imminent.
Kary, not wanting all the creatures to gang up on Marc, thought of a strategy.
" Team leaders! Get the attention of the revenants! Teams one, two, and tank team! Cover your lieutenants! Nala! Get the straggler, but be careful! " She hollered.
The three lieutenants understood instantly what they had to do. They started yelling towards the revenants, trying to get their attention and split them up. It worked well, as one revenant aimed for each yelling person, their blood-covered mouth wide open. Nala took her pick on the revenants that doubled on Kary.
Only, this fight was for from going smoothly. The revenants were fast, jumping at their targets and bouncing right off of them when they couldn't land a good hit, going right back onto a wall or the ceiling. The players didn't manage to land a single blow on the creatures as if they tried hitting them, they risked hitting their team leaders.
Seeing that this fight was going nowhere, Kary kept thinking, while defending against her opponent, of how they could manage to take those creatures down. She then thought of a plan. It was risky, but if it worked, they could strike down all the revenants in a matter of seconds. She decided to go for it.
" Anthony! I'm taking your too other guardians! Alex, Jake, come over here and grab this ugly's attention! " Kary ordered.
The two men did as told right away, running to her side and starting to yell at the revenant. The revenants' attention diverted quickly and he started charging at the two guardians, alternating between the two, not finding a weakness in their defense. Both men defended well, holding up like fortress walls.
Meanwhile, Kary injected a massive dose of her energy into the pendant again, pumping it to the maximum, until it was almost out of her control. She then pushed a little further and stabilized all that flaming power. She then pushed that power towards her hands, sheathing her sword. Her hands became bright as the heat in them started affecting the surroundings. the two guardians feeling all this heat scorching their backs, turned their heads to look. At that moment, the revenant saw the flaw, and charged right at them, all fangs bared.
Kary saw the creature coming and knew she couldn't delay any longer.
" Everyone close your eyes! " She yelled, unleashing that massive fiery power she had been amassing.
A small sun formed into her hands, as she raised them over her head. The small sun grew until it reached the wall on each side, lighting up the corridor bright as day. The five revenants screeched in pain, their flesh burning from the light they so detested. On instinct and sound alone, having their eyes closed, the three lieutenants struck down revenants close to them. Only Nala could keep her eyes open, being attuned to fire too, and she went after her own prey.
The last revenant was struck down by an unexpected player. It was Harold. The revenant had been going straight for him, seeing he looked the weakest. But now that it was agonizing on the ground, Harold's sharp senses guided his katana to the revenant's neck, beheading him in an instant. Harold was a swordmaster, with a fetish for Japanese swords. That was why he wielded a katana. To the revenant, that long flimsy sword looked like a child's toy. That was why it thought Harold was the weakest. On the contrary, the sword being longer than the others, it was harder to wield. It also only had one cutting edge, forcing the wielder to always switch the blade around for different directions of attacks.
When Kary heard no more screeching, she finally stopped pouring power into the small sun, dropping her arms down and staggering in place. This had been extremely draining on her energy, and she would need to rest a little again, before going further down in the dungeon. When she opened her eyes and saw the corpse of the revenant burning in front of Harold, she was surprised. She walked over to him, with the small strength she still had and patted him on the shoulder.
" Good work, Harold. I knew you had potential " She smiled while telling him.
Harold blushed all the way to his ears. He thanked her, under his breath, and helped her to sit down. Kary decided at that second to take him under her wing. She would train him and make him into a lieutenant when the time came to promote more people.
Everyone being busy resting, no one saw the small bat in a corner of the ceiling further away. It had been looking on for the entire fight. Once nothing else seemed to be happening, it simply flew off and left. Nala heard wings flutter but couldn't see where it came from, so she let it go. That would be what caused their hardships to come.
The bat that had flown off was none other than the next mini-boss. This mini-boss was not bound to his boss room like the others. If he transformed into his bat form, he could freely exit his boss room and roam around his zone. Of course, he couldn't transform back to his humanoid form and fight when he was outside his room. The game wouldn't let something so OP happen. But, even then, the fact that he had left his room and successfully scouted his future opponents, would be a massive boon for him. Because now, he knew how to talk them down. He had seen how the group of humans were not all at the same strength. And with this, he could control his servants to attack them first, to try and thin the herd. He also knew that the girl in command could create fireballs big enough to mimic the sun, thus weakening him and his servants. He wouldn't let that happen to him.
Kary and her guild kept moving forward, encountering group after group of revenants. What she found weird was that the groups she encountered were all the same size than the first one. Never larger or smaller. This wasn't normal, and it caused her sixth sense to tingle a little. Nonetheless, they pushed forward. Kary had to use her mini sun trick a few more times, even though she didn't want to. She had the feeling she should keep her energy for the boss battle, but unfortunately for her, the creatures were too strong for her allies, forcing her to use it.
After forcing their way through a dozen groups of revenants, they finally found a room, whose door was a lot larger. They guessed it was the boss room and decided to stop and rest a little before going in. They took a half-hour break, before getting back up and pushing the door in. They walked into the room, in the center of which could be seen a large seat, almost like a throne, with a man sitting on it, his eyes closed. The party walked further in, waiting for the notification to sound. But then the doors slammed shut behind them, a group of revenants standing before them. More revenants started coming out of the shadows, their eyes red with killing intent. They had been duped. The moment later, the man on the throne opened his eyes, and with that, the notification finally sounded in their ears.
" Dungeon Notification. You have been caught roaming around 'Vampire Lord Marcus Filii-Noctis' manor. He has deemed you as unworthy and sentences you do death. The third mini-boss event starts. Good luck! "
Kary understood then and there why her sixth sense had been tingling. They had been played all along, the mini-boss knowing they were coming, and forcing them to waste as much energy as possible. Her men were far from being in top shape, from fighting so much already since the start of the dungeon. To top it off, the Vampire Lord had been sending them wave after wave, without giving them much time to rest. The waves of revenants had alternated between, fighting the lieutenants, focusing on the weaker members, and then focusing on Kary alone. Now she understood this wasn't random at all. The Vampire Lord had been forcing them into a corner, trying to waste out Kary's energy, so she couldn't replicate her little trick.
The fight started with the multiple revenants jumping on them. They were numbered around two dozens, which was already five times more than the smaller groups. Kary wouldn't let her allies be spread out.
" Group up! Form a circle around me and Nala! " Kary shouted. " Nala, I'm counting on you, we can't let a single one in the center of our formation. If one tries to land here, rip him to shreds " Kary added, looking at the lioness.
" Yes, Master " Nala said, smiling viciously.
Once the men had formed in a perfect circle, the fight stabilized. They were no longer exposed to attacks on their backs, Nala and Kary covering them from the center. Only it didn't take long for the Vampire Lord to notice the stalemate. He decided to break it quickly. He faded into darkness and reappeared right behind Kary without being seen. Kary barely sensed his presence, before it was too late. The Vampire Lord Marcus had already stabbed his hand through her stomach. Once that was accomplished, he pulled out of the formation, looked at the humans and licked his hand. He then laughed at the top of his lungs, as Kary collapsed inside the formation. Nala was the first one to notice. Then Harold did, feeling something was wrong. When he saw that he yelled. " NO! Guild Leader! "
Anthony was the first to look behind, he saw Kary on the ground, clutching her stomach, blood pooling around her. He then looked back in front of him, to see Marcus licking his hand. Anger welled up inside him, like the fires of a volcano. He erupted in rage. He left the formation running straight for Marcus. He wanted to personally kill him.
Inside the formation, Kary was slowly losing conscience. She was losing blood at a fast rate, a had barely enough energy left inside her to rotate, meaning she could not even stop the bleeding. She looked back up, her eyes becoming blurry, and saw Nala standing over her. At that moment she fainted.
When Kary woke back up, she expected to be in the reincarnation hall of the guild building. But when she looked at the ceiling, she could recognize the patterns from the manor. She lifted herself on her elbows and realized she was still in the dungeon. Everything was quiet around her. When she turned her head to look around, she saw the rest of her group. She got up slowly, still weak from such a blood loss, and walked over to them.
Carol was the first to notice her friend was up. She walked up to Kary and blocked her path.
" We couldn't help him " She said to Kary, sadness written all over her face.
" Help who, what happened? " Kary asked, getting worried.
She then noticed a shield on the ground. She recognized the shield right away. It was Anthony's shield, right next to the rest of his gear.
" What happened? " Kary asked, her face draining of its blood.
" When he saw you fall, he rushed at the Vampire Lord. We couldn't reach out of the formation to help him, and by the time we killed our way through all the revenants, all that was left of him was his equipment. Marcus had killed him " Carol solemnly said.
" Where is he now? Is he okay? Kary panicking asked.
" Yes. He's fine. He messaged me from the guild reincarnation hall. He went back straight to cultivating as soon as he got up. He will be waiting for our success at base " Carol told her, trying to be positive.
Kary was stunned. The man who was considered the strongest tank in their guild couldn't even hold on against that boss.
" Then how did you all kill Marcus? " Kary asked.
" After killing the revenants, all that was left was him. We started surrounding him and eventually, we managed to start hurting him. After a while of taking hits, he tried to transform into a bat and flee. But Marc threw his ax at him and managed to severe a wing off. He then transformed back to human form, an arm missing, and we managed to finish him off. Harold gave the killing blow if you want to thank him " Carol explained.
" Thank you for telling me, Carol " Kary said.
She then messaged Anthony. She told him she was fine, that Nala had drained her energy to keep her from dying. Nala was now resting inside her consciousness. Anthony replied to her that he would be waiting for their return. Kary promised him they would win and come back stronger.
Kary then turned around with a look of hatred on her face.
" Men! " She yelled. Her guild members all got into attention. " We have a dungeon to conquer. Let's finish this and go back home to give our lieutenants his equipment back. We will not lose! " She shouted with a convincing tone.
" Aye, Ma'am! " They all answered together.
Kary turned toward the exit. She had decided to make the dungeon boss pay for his underlings' doings.