As I stand there trying to formulate a plan of attack I hear screaming again as the other team gets slaughtered. This time I caught the assassin slips back into the shadow of one of the players. Everybody get against the wall I yell. This boss attacks you from your own shadow so the trick here is to not cast a shadow at all. If we can create a shadow of some sort in the middle of the room we can lure it there and then everybody can rush it. The faster we kill this boss the more of us who get to live. I search my bag to see what I have that will help cast a shadow and I pull out a couple of low-level weapons. I throw them into the center of the room to allow the light to cast a shadow off of the weapons. Everybody try and form a circle with your extra gear. If we can contain him to one shadow area then we should be able to defeat it.
As everybody started gathering up their extra gear we quickly formed a circle and all returned to the safety of the wall. Not long afterward the assassin fell for our trap and made an appearance. When he did one of the teams made their move and rushed into the attack. They were successful in lowering his health but since they didn't want to wait for the rest of us the assassin escaped back into the shadows. Now we had to figure out a different plan since I'm sure it won't be fooled by the trap again. Most bosses do have some learning AI and change their attacks based on certain circumstances.
I look over to our team leader and he is staring off into thought probably trying to think of our next move. He slides down the wall towards me and asks if the boss would be tricked if we just altered our trap slightly. I told him maybe but I wasn't too sure. Yes, I have fought a boss similar to this one but it wasn't in a group dungeon. I didn't want to risk anybody's life with half-ass decisions. The next thing I know one of the other groups rushes in and changes the trap around but before they could return to the wall the boss appears out of one of the shadows and nails two of the players. All you see is a quick blade stroke, blood going everywhere, then the players just shatter into nothing.
You fools! Next time warn the rest of us so maybe we could have helped you pull off this little stunt of yours. If you'd rather not have anybody help then don't come crying to us when your teammates are dying. Hey, Ryuu I think I might have a plan that could work. I look over to Jin and ask him what he had in mind. Well, he thought that since the first trap worked well but changing it to something else may not work we needed a decoy then. A decoy would work but it could also get the decoy killed too. He knew the risk of it and volunteers to be the decoy. Babe, I know you want this boss reward but I won't let you risk being killed just for a weapon. I'm not going to die as long as I have you by my side he reassures me. I agree with his plan even though I'm not happy about it. I go over to our leader and explain everything to him. At first, he refuses to go with it but after a little bit of persuading he agrees. I tell Jin that it's a go and he says that in thirty seconds he's going to move.
Thirty seconds pass and he sprints to the circle of weapons. As he is grabbing them to start rearranging them in a different design I rush in to put up my weapon just in time to block the boss's strike at Jin. After he retreats I start helping to rearrange also. Just as the boss is about to strike at us both our teammates rush in to block his attack again but this time they snare him so he can't retreat. Now that we have him where we wanted him we all start unleashing attack after attack on him. I use my Reaper's Slash and manage to take out a full health bar. Now that he was down to only two health bars the leader unleashes his Wind sword ability and the archer unleashes a multishot landing a critical hit. Now that he was down to only one health bar Jin uses his Shadow strike ability to vanish as the boss did and as we are all still attacking him he reappears and manages to get a double critical strike because he was able to hit his weak point getting the boss kill.
Now that the boss was killed we all rushed over to the remaining teams to see if there was anything we could do to help the injured people. Some of us had healing potions that we gave to the other players to help them survive. Once everybody had recovered we all teleported out of the dungeon and back to the town where we all went to the inn and got food. We mourned the player's who had died and also celebrated the victory. After everything was over with Jin and I went back to our place and just held each other. I told him I wouldn't know what to do if he ended up dying in this game and real life. He looked me in the eyes and said that as long as we were together we were going to get out of this alive and be together in the real world. All I can do right now is have the determination to survive. We kiss each other good night and fall asleep in each other's arms.