Nervousness warred with boredom, but after what felt like hours, he finally got a message from Mr. Sinclair.
“The intruders will arrive shortly, prepare yourself.”
As if Xander hadn’t been sitting around as prepared as possible for a while now. In reality, it had probably been around twenty minutes, but he really didn’t like sitting still and waiting for some group of assholes to come try to kill him.
He gave the bone spinner one last hard flick and then set it down and watched it slow until it finally came to a stop. Now that the fight was finally here, his turbulent thoughts calmed and stilled just like the toy. His other fights had come at him so fast that he hadn’t really had time to be worried, he had just done what he had to in order to survive. Xander took a deep breath; there was no point trying to be anything other than himself. He was ready.
The heavy doors were shoved open, and three people entered cautiously. All three of them were dressed in armor, though one of the two men was in plate armor that looked much heavier than the others. He wielded a massive battle axe gripped in both hands, while the woman with them carried a heavy looking crossbow and the last guy had a pair of maces. Unsurprisingly, all three of them looked heavily muscled and had assorted scars visible. Clearly, these were no newbs, but dangerous and experienced fighters. Still, Xander couldn’t help but have the suspicion they weren’t up to Augustus’s level, though he didn’t know why he felt that way. They were also splattered with enough red blood and yellow mushroom spores that he couldn’t help comparing them to very angry hotdogs. Or maybe bunless hamburgers.
In any event, there were still three of them, and he only had himself… and the various traps, dungeon mobs, and magic. “Hey, sup guys,” he called, waving to them casually. Maybe if they weren’t totally unreasonable he could get them to just leave and avoid this whole mess until he was better prepared later. They all focused on him quickly without any surprise, and his heart sank a bit when he saw their expressions. Grimly determined and pissed off was the majority of what he got. The big man leveled his axe at Xander, and the weapon glowed with red energy, but it was the other man who spoke.
“Hah, what’d I tell ya’s? This so-called ‘Lord’ ain’t nothin’ but a pansy ass dryad bitch playin’ at bein’ a necromancer. You guys know the plan, so let’s get it done quick, yeah?” The axe wielder stomped straight towards the throne where Xander sat while the mace wielder headed left and the crossbow woman went right. Wendy and Carl Jr. stepped forward to intercept the oncoming fighter.
“Really dude? You’re just going to ignore me and insult me right away?” Xander asked, a kernel of anger already igniting inside. He was getting sick and tired of people looking down on him or mistaking him for things he was not. Granted, there was no way for them to know his situation, but he got the feeling that they wouldn’t have cared either. He gritted his teeth and tried to remind himself that being underestimated was half the point of both the way he was dressed and his casual greeting, but their attitude still grated as the warriors split up.
“Why shouldn’t I?” the talkative man taunted back, voice dripping with derision, “Yer just a weak ass monster who I’ll take great pleasure in ripping apart. Now, die for us like the useless flower fucker you are so we can finally get out of this dump…”
Eye twitching, Xander had to actively force down his rage, reminding himself that killing wasn’t something that he wanted to do if he could avoid it. Even if assholes like this made it tempting. “Don’t be like that,” he said, trying to keep his voice even, “Just pack up and leave, and no one has to die here today. In fact, I’ll make sure that– ARGHH!!” he screamed in pain as a crossbow bolt smashed through his right shoulder, the impact lifting him up slightly and slamming him against the boney back. While he had been distracted talking, the crossbow wielder had gotten enough of an angle to shoot past Wendy. She now grinned and held up a free hand, an orange glow forming around both it and the bolt, the latter of which promptly detonated a second later.
Xander’s ears were ringing, and he stared in mute shock at the place where his arm used to be. The green flesh was mangled and shredded around the cracked and blackened bone, thick amber blood oozing out steadily. His mind reeled at the pain and loss, and the only thing he could think was
Luckily for him, the problem solved itself, the charging man vanishing from view as a pit trap snapped open underneath him. There was a crash of armor smashing into the emplaced stakes, and a grunt of pain as the warrior was pierced in several spots by the multitude of sharpened skewers. “Oh for the sake of the fucking Nine!!” cursed the mace wielder. “I can’t believe you fell for another trap Kord! Delsa, keep the bitch busy!” he commanded as he came out from behind one of the trees that acted as columns and made a beeline for the pit.
Xander had recovered enough to regain some of his wits though, and just as the woman was about to step out from behind her own column, he waved his staff in her direction.
He still didn’t really have the time to be sitting around though, with all of the adventurers temporarily occupied, he had a few moments to himself. Focusing on his core, he cast another spell. Earthy brown mana flared from the swirling core as Nurture Vegetation sent healing pulses through his shoulder. Then he noticed that all of the lesser minions were still just standing motionless, so he sent out mental commands for them to attack while his arm regrew. He was pretty sure they would be destroyed easily, but every moment they could steal for him would be important. His arm regrowing felt weird. He might have expected either relief or pain, but there was neither. The magic fueling the process was warm and comforting, but his arm felt like it just sort of… stretched.
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Meanwhile, the mace wielder had made it to the pit and dropped down to the floor, trying to help out the armored warrior who seemed less hurt than just stuck. A small horde of regular minions was already heading for those two, so Xander sent Wendy to attack the struggling Delsa with the last couple of minions who had headed her way. That bought even more time for his arm to regenerate, which was both taking more time and devouring more of his mana than he cared for.
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Delsa was regretting letting Tor talk her into this fight. They had all earned another level fighting all the minions, but it had been an exhausting and grueling slog that had been one of the most annoying experiences of her professional life. Between the jump scares, the seriously annoying pits, and the Nine-be-damned toxic spores, the whole dungeon had just ground away at their resources. Now even the trees themselves were trying to entangle her while the skeletons moved in, crude bone clubs in their hands. The three regular ones were mostly harmless, but the larger one could probably do some damage.
She grunted and whipped a spare short sword from its sheath on her hip, cutting through the questing roots in multiple places. While not exactly a blade fighter, she knew how to handle the weapon and had more than enough agility to avoid cutting herself. Still, the fight was far from lost. All she had to do was get free and kite the useless skeletons while taking shots at the boss. Dungeon Lords were supposed to be absolutely terrifying, but her Boom Shot skill had easily torn off an arm. A good head shot or even a solid torso shot could probably end the fight immediately. Not that the weird necromancer boss would give her much of a chance after her first sneak attack.
With a final series of slashes, Delsa managed to roll away from the tree and its roots, popping up to her feet preternaturally fast, crossbow springing back into her hands as she started running again and trying to get a line on her target. The boss was no longer on its throne, but hadn’t gotten far either… but… she had to stifle a curse as she saw the ridiculous thing had almost entirely regrown its arm already. Minions, traps, toxins, and now insane regeneration? How was any of that fair? She glanced back at the open doors leading out of the throne room, debating about leaving the two other idiots to die, but gritted her teeth and let fly with Triple Shot instead.
The second large skeleton moved to interpose itself, taking all three bolts right to the chest, and Delsa frowned to herself. This fight was a shit show, but that wasn’t anything too new with Tor and Kord. They were tactical morons for their level, relying on brute strength and raw tanking ability to hack their way through most fights. Still, they normally managed to blunder their way through successfully, split the loot properly, and didn’t give her any shit about her proclivities. Not to mention they were both actually pretty damned good in bed. Moreover, while she could probably make it out on her own, it would be easier with them in the lead.
She dodged three incoming swings from minions with ease and darted into another shadow, moving to get all the way around behind the boss before firing Piercing Shot this time. The armor piercing bolt blew right through a minion that jumped in the way, and actually increased in speed and power thanks to the skill’s ability. The enhanced bolt glowed with power as it slammed into and then through the boss’s back in a welter of golden blood, and the rogue grinned. She was probably overly concerned, her team was much stronger than this boss, and she was dealing massive damage with each hit. The larger skeleton swung at her, and she dodged away from its slow and clumsy strike with ease, her short sword taking another minion apart and getting covered in more yellow spores. Yeah, this was doable, if still annoying.
—-----------
Xander clenched his jaw at the new wound that the damned archer had inflicted and started healing that wound too, feeling his mana keep dropping like a waterfall as he fought through the pain. The axe wielder had nearly gotten out of the pit by this point which meant that shortly he would have to deal with all three of them again. His eyes darted around the room looking for options. He really didn’t want to die again, whatever Mr. Sinclair said about resurrections. He had no solid proof that he would come back again and didn’t want to test out that feature.
His eyes lit upon the place where his special trap lay, and he hesitated for just a moment. If it went off successfully, he would almost certainly kill whoever triggered it, and-
Another flash of pain cut off his thoughts as another bolt slashed through his ear, taking it off entirely. “ARRRGGHHH, KNOCK IT OFF!!” he screamed at the archer, clapping his newly healed and tingly arm to the side of his head. “Hah! Fuck you, I don’t think I will.” the woman replied, grinning with triumph before taunting ”Tor was right about you bein’ a pathetic bitch”. Xander ducked behind Carl Jr as another trio of bolts thudded into his bodyguard and his anger began to bubble up again.
Even as he sent those orders, he began running towards Delsa while making sure to keep his bodyguard between them at all times. She was far faster than them, but that was part of the plan. He knew that it would be incredibly hard to catch her, but he just needed to get her close enough to the trap to spring it manually. More brown mana flooded out of him to patch his wounds, and he made a slight detour to one of the fallen minions. Reaching out with Dungeon Maintenance, he tried to reclaim its mana for himself. His own grin blossomed as a small chunk of mana flowed into him. Good, he hadn’t been entirely sure the feature would work that way, but he now had even more resources at his disposal as long as the adventurers didn’t claim the downed minions first.
Unfortunately, the two warriors had fully recovered by this point, and were coming straight for him. The heavily armored Kord ignored the minions, their weapons bouncing off him with no effect, while Kord followed behind and used his maces to bash them apart. Xander grimaced as he realized that even those two were faster than himself, and cut sideways to impose a hidden pit between them, but this time the men were more cautious and just followed his footsteps exactly. “Dumbass, do ya really think we’re that stupid?” Tor sneered, taking out a small pouch and lobbing it at the seemingly empty spot. There was a small *WHUMP* as the bag detonated and ripped the cover off the pit.
“I get that we’re fighting… but could you all at least try to be less assholish?” Xander asked with some anger seeping into his voice. “Awww, did I hurt the necromancer bitch’s widdle feelin’s?” Tor laughed evilly as they closed in. “If so, good, ‘cause we’re gonna murder the shit outta ya and loot yer corpse.” The man smashed apart another minion, his strength so formidable that it ripped apart both the bone armor and the animating vine beneath in a single blow. Xander changed direction again, pretending to avoid another trap and hoping to get the men to waste another bomb or slow them down, but Kord’s axe was glowing red and he slashed it through the air even though he was still a good ten or fifteen feet behind. A crescent of magical red energy sliced through the air, catching Xander totally by surprise.