After careful preparation and checking all my stuff twice, I decided it was finally time to head down to fight the boss. White Mage and Hero were the two jobs I decided to equip. Most of the True Dungeon Diver skills were not really combat helpful. I was hoping to find a way to either leave the dungeon or contact my girls, and the result was failure. Not only that, but I didn't get better at combat either. That is not completely true. Every time a job went up, your status increased slightly, so even though Hero hadn't budged in some time, I was a better fighter now than I had ever been before.
Few people were able to level like I was, so it was uncommon in this world for someone to have so many status boosts from low levels. I had the feeling that each level led to exponentially increasing stat boosts, so it wasn't like I was super overpowered. Someone with 5 level-5 jobs may be stronger than someone with one level five job, but nowhere close to someone who was level 25. You could probably fight a six or a seven, but there were limits. In that respect, I was a level 19 mage… but adding all my other stuff, I probably could fight a level 25 or so. Maybe I could survive against a 30 if I really gave it my all.
So, the real question came down to what level this boss we had to fight was. He was only the dungeon's first boss, so that meant he had to be somewhat easy.
Screeeeeeee…
"The Shrieking Wraith…" I read the name given to me after entering his boss room. "Weakness, Spirit Fire."
I ducked out the way, trying to keep my distance from it. Fortunately, since the entire tenth level was just a single room devoted to this monster, there was plenty of space to move. As long as I ran at full sprint, I could get ahead of it, and it seemed easily distracted. Celeste was buzzing around its head keeping it from focusing on me.
Unfortunately, its greatest weakness was something unique to Miki. If only I had her here, we could definitely kill this monster with ease! Ah well, I guess I had to depend on Exorcism and Ghostbane instead.
I made sure to keep the floor Sanctified, although the Wraith was flying and I was getting the feeling that sanctify land only worked for ghosts that walked. Flying ghosts were uneasy hovering over sanctified ground, but they didn't show the signs they were being injured like the sizzling noise at their feet. I thought about using Create Cushion to try to force him down to the ground, but he slipped out of it with ease.
Instead, I quick attacked with Ghostbane, backed up, shot out an Exorcism, and then ran away once I attracted too much aggro. Then, I'd let Celeste dance around him shooting off airstrikes. It seemed effective, as we were able to deal a stream of damage and he hadn't gotten a hit on either of us. Well, that wasn't entirely true. His screech attack must be a mind stun attack. However, I could cure that with some Refresh.
There was only one real issue. I was starting to run low on mana potions. I mean, I still had ten, but I also had twenty floors to go. As my mana started to get eaten up after fifteen minutes of fighting, I found myself resistant in taking another one. I was just starting to back up and allow Celeste to continue her bombardment while I recovered mana the long way when the wraith roared and a skill triggered.
He glowed a golden color, and suddenly moved much faster. Celeste tried to dodge, but he took her off guard. With a backhand, he struck the fairy's entire body. She went flying like a bug, striking a nearby pillar and collapsing.
"Celeste!" I gave out a cry.
I took a step forward but stopped as I realized the Wraith had his eyes trained on me now. With Celeste knocked out, the Wraith could now focus on the only other person in the room. I gulped. This fight wasn't over yet.