Ray and Luke walked side-by-side, falling behind a little as the group of perhaps fifteen Integrated made their way back toward the boss area.

  "I didn't want to ask in front of the others, but what's up with that patch?" Ray asked, pointing to Luke's chest. "You a spook now?"

  Luke tried to remember what Johanson had called it. "Temporary representative, or something."

  "What's that?"

  "I'm not sure," Luke said with a shrug, trying to concentrate on Weaver's Eye in case any more Beeblers showed up, but it was difficult with so many people around. "It's just for this dungeon. They wanted a representative and made me a deal."

  "You're going to be swimming in cash?"

  Luke shook his head. "No, nothing like that. They'll get me a place where I can heal."

  "How nice of the government to let you heal sick people."

  "Heh. Yeah. So, how are you feeling?"

  "What do you mean?" Ray asked.

  "You know what I mean."

  Ray deflated a little. "DIA helped me get free of the blame from Matthew, Joey, and Hans. That... That was a... rough. At that point, I could still sort of fight him for control, but I wasn't strong enough to win out. Relian made me watch as he murdered my roommates, and he wasn't quick about it either."

  "I'm sorry," Luke said, unsure what else to say. "Sounds rough."

  "It's not great, but it could be worse. Kind of numb to it."

  Luke nodded. "The emotion dampening."

  "The what?"

  "Guide put that in every Integrated to help us cope."

  "I'm liking that guy more and more," Ray said.

  "Yeah..."

  Ray nodded toward a steep incline just up ahead. "They were over there before."

  "Aggressive?" Luke asked.

  “Me?" Ray asked. “Or the boss?"

  Luke gave him a level look.

  “The Patriarch is aggro as hell, which is annoying, and it has a teleport skill. It’s short, but makes it hard to pin the fucker down. Also, the stupid support bugs keep healing and shielding him, bunch of simps if you ask me."

  “And what’s the plan?"

  Ray shrugged. “Tank and spank the bug boss while I deal with the healers."

  “And what was the plan last time?"

  “Same."

  “Great," Luke said with a sigh. “Who’s the tank?"

  “Curtis."

  Luke frowned. “He can tank?"

  “That big boy can do everything," Ray said, with a look of pure admiration on his face.

  “Oooookay."

  Ray blinked, then turned to Luke as the group of Integrated stopped. “There’s another tank too, but I can’t remember her name. Bianca or something."

  In the distance, across a wide swathe of flat ground, a group of Beeblers lined up. One stood half again as tall as the others. Even with the distance being too great to use inspect, it was clear which one the patriarch was. Before Luke had a chance to ask what the next step of the plan was, the Beebler Patriarch set off, charging toward the Integrated at incredible speed. It ran on two legs while its wings buzzed, judging by the sound reaching them long before the boss did.

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  The other Beeblers waved their arms about and made faint chittering sounds before they, too, ran. If Luke didn't know any better, he'd say the support bugs were exasperated at their leader's brashness. Curtis and another Integrated took a few steps forward and raised their weapons to meet the Patriarch.

  Integrated Blanchett. Anchor. Level 13.

  "Time to kill some healers," Ray said with a wink, before disappearing into thin air.

  Several other Integrated ran in a wide half-circle to bypass the boss and strike at its supporters. That left Luke standing alone with Rick, the leader, and a few mage-type Integrated.

  "It isn't slowing down," Luke noted.

  Rick's fist tightened around the short sword he carried, and he raised the other, a wand-like item, except with what looked like large glass beads at either end, popping into it. "The Patriarch is clever. Last time, it headed straight for our mages. That's why Curtis and Blanchett are sticking close to us rather than running up to meet it."

  "I WILL KILL YOU ALL, PUNY HUMANS!" the Patriarch shrieked in the distance.

  "And it has a teleport."

  "That's right," Rick said.

  Luke glanced to the fidgeting mages to their right. "Won't it just use that to strike at us back here again?"

  "Victor, don't forget your task!" Rick shouted before turning to Luke. "No. Victor over there knows a silence spell."

  Integrated Victor. Withermind. Level 12.

  "YOUR SMALL BODIES WILL FEED MY YOUNG!"

  Victor didn't have much confidence in his own spell, but he cast it anyway, the threads creating a simple but flowing pattern. Before even checking if the spell worked or not, Luke moved to stand next to the mages, putting himself between the Patriarch and its intended targets. The boss charged into Curtis and Blanchett with both arms raised, gleaming swords held in long arms that gave the thing impressive reach. Rather than swing at the first two opponents, it teleported past them, ending up in front of Luke.

  "DIE DIE DIE!" the Patriarch screamed, bringing down both its blades in an overhead arc.

  "The silence didn't work!" Victor shrieked.

  No shit, it didn't work. Rather than flinch back, Luke threw himself forward and wrapped his arms around the thing's narrow midsection, hoping to put it off balance. It was like tackling a tree, unmovable, but Threads of Mana worked well enough. Luke threaded into its chest and soon found a massive monster core pulsating with mana. Just as he was about to chop at it with Needle of Life, Weavesense showed him a spell being woven into being right in front of him. Before he had a chance to react, force pushed him back with enough thrust to send him over the heads of the mages, skidding to a stop on the cold, hard ground behind them.

  "Ouch."

  "IMPUDENT WHELP! I WILL WEAR YOUR ENTRAILS AS EARRINGS!"

  Rather than charge at Luke, it chopped down, aiming a blow at Victor. Blanchett somehow made it in time and shouldered Victor out of the way to block the blow on her round metal shield with a loud clank. The force was enough to push her to her knees, and another followed. The Patriarch screamed as it struck again and again, denting the shield into an unrecognizable mess.

  "WORSHIP ME, WORMS!"

  Without stopping its attacks, the boss buzzed and took to the air, avoiding a strike coming from behind. Curtis grunted with annoyance, but jumped up and grabbed the Patriarch's leg, slowing it down. For a second, the Reaver dangled there, unable to reach up with his large sword. Instead, he brought out a short sword and buried it in the Patriarch's leg.

  That seemed to anger the boss more than anything else, and it swiped at Curtis with a long, thin blade, forcing him to let go and fall back down to the ground with a thud.

  Luke rushed up to Blanchett, who'd just tossed her broken shield aside to withdraw a fresh one from her inventory. "You OK?"

  "You should stand back, healer," she barked, throwing herself toward the Patriarch, who'd descended again to attack the mages.

  Well, she wasn't wrong, not really. Healers should stay back, but Luke wasn't like most healers. For one, his reach was still subpar, to say the least.

  Rick blocked a blow, saving a young woman from having her arm lopped off, but he took a nasty wound in doing so, and fell right in front of the boss. The Patriarch brought down a foot, stomping right on Rick's leg, before swiping back at Curtis, who was approaching again, forcing him back.

  Luke took the opportunity to rush in and use The Healer's Moment. First, he fixed the worst parts of Rick's crushed leg and then stitched up the yawning wound in his chest, spending perhaps a little less time than he would have liked. Once he was satisfied Rick wouldn't die, he rushed in with two threads, entering first Charlotte before continuing through her and into the Patriarch, forcing himself into the monster's mana channels and toward its monster core. Time was running out, but he had time to stab into its main mana channel with both threads, using Needle of Life.

  Time resumed. The Patriarch stumbled back, but backhanded Blanchett as it did, stopping her from following up. Its huge, dark eyes seemed to narrow as it saw Rick's health improving. It brought a hand up to its own chest, and its head swiveled, turning to Luke.

  "HEALER SCUM! PETTY, SMALL CRETINS! UGH!"

  The screaming was cut short, and the boss seemed to falter, much of its health gone from that one attack. A cold, dark glow burst to life around the boss, and its health started climbing.

  Luke peered into the distance and saw the support Beeblers arrayed with some fighting off Ray and the other Integrated, while the rest attended to their leader's health.

  "Shit," Luke cursed. With The Healer's Moment wasted, he'd lost his best avenue of attack.

  "Luke!" Rick shouted, and Luke turned to see two of the mages in need of healing.

  Curtis and Blanchett fought against the now healed boss. For the moment, they looked to be handling themselves fine, so Luke stepped back, rushing to tend to the wounded. With the support Beeblers in the distance holding their own while healing the Patriarch, this looked like it would turn into a long fight.