The party made their way through the tunnel as Morgana illuminated their path with her staff, radiating a light purple-colored glow until they reached a giant pit.
Morgana extended her arm to one side, signaling the party to stop as the drop from the edge was at least 20 meters.
"Once I go down there, the boss will come out…" said the trickster as she explained her next course of action.
The massive arena at the bottom of the pit was the home of a "world boss" called Terrador, the Earthbound Basilisk.
World bosses were monsters that roamed around specific areas and were meant to be challenged by large parties of adventurers, meaning that even if someone was a higher level than the boss, it didn't guarantee it would be an easy fight.
When a world boss was defeated, they wouldn't respawn in the area for five to ten days. However, since the Nightfang Stronghold hadn't been cleared for years, Morgana concluded that no other party had recently defeated the boss either.
"Well, we are still pretty lucky…" said Morgana carefreely as she stretched her arms and back.
"How so? If no other party has been here for a while, that means you'll have to fight it, right?" Conrad asked.
"Yeah, the fight will be hard. But we are lucky since this is the weakest of all world bosses," responded Morgana with a smile.
"Y-you have fought it before?" interjected Angie.
The trickster giggled. "Quite a few times…" she muttered as old memories came to her head.
Back when Aegis was just a game, the developers suddenly came out with the "world boss" update, and the first one they introduced was none other than Terrador.
The only reason the boss was level 100 was because that was the maximum level back in those days, so the parties that challenged the boss were around that level too.
Once the other world bosses were added to the game, fewer people challenged Terrador and moved on to the new content.
However, after the Red Calamity, the players stuck in the real version of Aegis went back to challenge the boss occasionally since killing Terrador helped maintain trade between nations, as the merchants could use the tunnel shortcut for days once a party cleared the encounter.
Morgana remembered the different times she encountered the boss, both in the game and the real version of the world.
She thought the monster was quite strong the first few times she fought it. But, with a good and synchronized party, the encounter wasn't anything out of their control.
After the Red Calamity, she revisited the boss along with a party of two to three people from her clan as level 150.
While the encounter still proved to be somewhat challenging and dangerous, their damage was high enough that they could end the fight quickly without needing a large number of people.
Morgana kept reminiscing and was brought back to the present moment as Conrad asked if she would be fine. After all, they heard her say she was level 102 in Scar Town, and while she did defeat the boss many times before, this time, she would be going alone and at a lower level.
The trickster smiled mischievously. "That's why I changed gear. I'll be able to do a lot of damage to the boss with this setup. All I gotta do is not get hit!" she exclaimed.
While Morgana's mage gear would buff her damage dramatically, it had a very low defense, and she couldn't rely on her level to protect her from getting injured.
When she fought a low-level boss, like the fire gnoll from Nightfang Stronghold, she only dodged the monsters' attacks out of instinct, but they wouldn't have affected her if they landed anyways.
Even when she received a fireball attack head-on, it proved to be useless as all she felt was a tickle.
However, this boss was much stronger, and the gear she was using was considered for players who had a "glass-canon" build. These were players who had an incredible damage output but could die very easily with one or two attacks.
Morgana used a skill called "slow-fall" on herself, creating a gray mist around her feet before turning around and winking at the teenagers, then jumping into the pit with excitement.
The teenagers' peeked their heads down and noticed Morgana falling slowly and gracefully, with only the light of her staff illuminating the surroundings until her feet touched the ground.
As soon as she landed, a ring of fire lit up around the massive arena, working as a wall to prevent people from climbing back up and as a light for the battleground.
With a roar that reverberated around the cave, shaking its structure, Terrador unborrowed from the ground to greet its challenger.
The basilisk was a tad bigger than a commercial plane, its face a mix between dragon and snake, with six short legs, a long tail, and a body covered in tough scales.
Making eye contact with Morgana, Terrador unleashed an earth ripple attack that broke the ground in a straight line, but the trickster was able to swiftly dodge it as the shock reached the backside of the arena.
With a quick motion, Morgana pointed her staff at the boss.
"Death Mark," she muttered, producing a bloody symbol to appear on the boss' forehead. It was a skill that would increase the damage against the marked individual.
Terrador turned and waved his tail with full force, producing a massive airwave that created earth spikes on the ground it covered.
"Blink," said Morgana a moment before the airwave hit her body, teleporting her a few feet away from her spot and landing in a safe position.
"Curse Fire," she continued, generating a ball of black fire around the tip of her staff and shooting straight at the monster, hitting the side of the body and burning off the scales on the affected part.
However, the fire never dissipated. Instead, it kept burning the side of the basilisk and damaging it, albeit slowly. That was the effect of the "Curse Fire," a black flame that had to be cleansed with magic to put out, or it would keep burning until the target was vaporized.