The boss’s first phase alternated between five attacks, all insanely damaging, but just barely doable with the right strategies.

  The basic quarterstaff swing hit like a truck, dealing enough damage to one-shot tank players, but it was still relatively easy to dodge. The evolved basic swings were much harder: the frost slam that spread [Absolute Zero] on the ground at the point of impact, and the time slam variant that did the same thing but spread a rift of time magic instead. Both would kill me instantly if they hit in any way at all, but I had a small opportunity to land a hit during the wind-up.

  The most dangerous spell was the boss’s dash. It could jump across the whole arena, crossing the space in under a second, and it could combine the dash with any basic attack variation. The dash was unavoidable without our own mobility spells, meaning that Veyra had to always save her portal for it, and I had to [Shadow Dash] out.

  Lastly, there was the boss’s unknown spell, the effects of which remained a mystery, since Veyra and Heywin kept canceling it. Tielan, the crazed time mage, hadn’t gotten past the spell’s cast time a single time, but he loved using it regardless, letting me free stacks of evisceration during the casting animation every time.

  “Very good, don’t be afraid!” Heywin was saying while I duelled the boss. I ducked under a basic attack for one more evisceration stack. It then cast the frost slam, and I was forced to [Shadow Dash] out. Veyra’s [Chronorift] continued pumping damage, though we’d only taken its health bar to 99.3%.

  Its dash slam has a ten second cooldown, I thought. With my boots reducing dash cooldowns, [Shadow Dash] was on a four second cooldown. That meant, I could freely cast my dash if only six seconds had passed from when the boss had used its dash.

  I was forced to hit the boss every ten seconds. More than that, and the defence I stole with Sablethorn started transferring back, and my stacks of evisceration would slowly disappear, one every second. It didn’t matter where I hit it; my dagger just had to graze its skin to keep stacking more.

  I counted to ten, and the boss’s dash came off cooldown. It cast it on Veyra, and she portaled out. That gave me an opportunity to run in, hitting it in the back.

  Tielan turned around, slamming me with time. I hit it again during the wind-up. The time magic slammed on the ground, opening a wide rift, and I [Shadow Dashed] out. Tielan couldn’t dash after me, since his dash was on cooldown, and for the next four seconds, I quite simply ran, waiting my own cooldown

  Really, fighting the boss was an intricate mind game of “if this, do that, if that, do this.” We couldn't face certain attacks head-on, meaning we had to play around those, only going in for attacks when it was safe.

  Ever so slowly, my defence rose. Tielan wasn’t an armored being, and he had far more health than defence, but I brought my defence stat to 800, still continuing up.

  I kept hitting for a minute longer, until I hit a cap at 1038, having stolen everything. A lot of high level tank players had upwards of 1500 defence, but over a thousand defence was already considered a good amount. At a thousand defence, my skin was tough enough to make steel swords bounce right off, and I took around 75% reduced physical damage from all hits. Not that the damage reduction would save me. Even 25% of the quarterstaff’s slam would crush me to bits.

  A high defence stat did, however, give me one potential benefit for this fight, beyond just converting it to attack force.

  That was, the power of blocks and perfect blocks scaled with defence.

  I need the contribution damage, I thought. It’s worth the risk.

  When Tielan’s next basic attack came, his giant hands swinging the quarterstaff overhead with the weight of his whole body, I planted my feet to the ground and faced it with The Immortal.

  [Perfect Block!]

  The weight of a level 435 boss attack crashed down on me. My legs took the sheer force of the attack, muscles screaming. I gritted my teeth, putting every bit of energy into my stance, until I pushed the quarterstaff aside, making it crash against the ground next to me.

  I pounced for the boss, thrusting both of my daggers into its torso, then slashing wildly for a total of five stacks of evisceration, bridging the total to 67 stacks.

  Its next attack came in the form of a punch—an uppercut as it tried to knock me out of its melee range. Once again, I held The Immortal for the perfect block.

  The fist hit my dagger and froze in place, unable to crush through all of my blocking effects. 1043 defence, with perfect blocks amplified by 500%.

  I slashed again, cutting Tielan’s arm and chest. The idiot of a boss started casting a spell in melee range. Veyra and Heywin blasted it with time magic, canceling the spell, and I continued filling Tielan’s skin with seven more stacks.

  I was on a roll. Now that I knew I could block basic attacks with over a thousand defence, the pace of the fight increased tenfold. A level 435 boss or whatever, it didn’t matter—I could actually duel this motherfucker.

  The tip of its staff suddenly glowed with inverted colors for a time slam. I went into stance for the block, deciding to test my luck.

  [Perfect Block!]

  My vision flickered black, and the impact nearly knocked my consciousness from the sheer exertion of muscles. My stamina was about to run out, and I noticed my health bar dropping.

  [Immortal Parry - Active Conditions Met]

  [Blood Desperation - Active Conditions Met]

  The boss’s stance was suddenly broken, the quarterstaff way out of position and its neck completely open. I activated [Eviscerate] and jumped in for one last hit, driving both of my daggers straight into its throat.

  All ninety-eight stacks ripped open for a critical strike into the millions. Tielan’s skin received bloody cuts all over, and he let out a scream of pain.

  His health bar dropped to 74%, and I quickly [Shadow Dashed] out, toward Heywin.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  “Magnificent!” the dragon said proudly, still floating in the air. “Yes, you two have once again proven yourselves. You are phenomenal fighters. Grow some more, and the both of you will turn into the most feared beings of the dragon canyon. The whole wilderness.”

  “I’m all spent,” I said through a heavy breath, honestly feeling like I was about to collapse from exhaustion. Next to me, Veyra kept spamming spells, barely even listening to conversation. Heywin grinned at her performance.

  “Her concentration scares me,” Heywin said. “She is a great mage indeed. Very good at spotting patterns. Every important detail stays in her head. I would trust my life to her. If only her spells had a little more power behind them.”

  The boss dashed to us again, and Veyra was about to portal out, until she noticed Heywin’s [Elemental Barrier]. The barrier blocked the quarterstaff, and Heywin once again took control of the fight.

  “It’s time I put my old friend to rest,” Heywin said. “You two have proven yourselves. Leave this to me.”

  Heywin’s eyes turned serious as he faced his old friend. The crazed portal mage continued hitting the barrier, and Heywin sighed. Two runic casting circles appeared below and above him—the very same spells that had executed SoulShadow.

  The chains and shackles hit first, grabbing all of Tielan’s limbs. The quarterstaff fell from the portal mage’s hand, clattering against the ground. He squirmed and struggled, growling mindlessly, a death stare directed at Heywin.

  “In your madness, you forgot how to cast the very spells that granted your title,” Heywin said. “It’s time to rest, old friend. May your legacy live on with Veyra.”

  A spike of time burst through the arena, piercing the chained Tielan for an instant 10% damage. Another spike came from the walls. Tielan’s eyes glowed, screams louder.

  “Goodbye,” Heywin said, and the largest spike so far crashed down from the ceiling, piercing Tielan’s brain.

  Slash.

  [You have assisted in slaying Tielan, The Portal Mage. Experience divided by contribution.]

  [You Leveled Up!]

  [You Leveled Up!]

  [You Leveled Up!]

  [Congratulations On Clearing The Portal Mage’s Crypt]

  [Items will be divided randomly to party members by contribution.]

  [You have received: Frostfang Feater x4 (Epic Crafting Material), Mythmaker’s Bow (Legendary Unique Bow, Event Item), The Portal Mage’s Research Paper Three (???)]

  Heywin faced the corpse of his former friend with a solemn look. He puffed through his nostrils, turned around, and took a proud pose. “That’s how it’s done.”

  I lowered my head, and Veyra did the same. Subtly, however, she had the chat-box open, sending a message.

  Veyra: “I got some trash epic armor. This won’t help for Worlds. We need more.”

  Assassin: “You’re not thinking of fighting Heywin, right?”

  Veyra: “We can’t but he clearly got the good drops. He got by far the most contribution in.”

  “Heywin?” I asked. “Thank you. Did you get the loot you were looking for?”

  “Let’s see…” the dragon said, and began laying out all of his loot drops, levitating each of them in front of him. “Frostfang feathers. An amulet, a spellbook, and most importantly, his research papers! Although… it looks like the third paper is missing.”

  “How much are you asking for the spellbook?” Veyra asked in a flurry of words. She sat down before Heywin’s loot drops.

  I summoned the third research paper to my hands. “I got the third research paper. I’d gladly trade this for one of the other drops.”

  The dragon eyed us both suspiciously. “Now, I am very interested in the research papers… But the spellbook is also very important. My former friend’s items must leave this place in good hands.”

  “You’ve seen how I fight,” Veyra said. “I seek the portal mage’s spellbooks. Time Freeze was fantastic, but it’s not enough to survive in the wilderness.”

  As always, Veyra was good at speaking to the NPCs. Heywin clearly considered her words.

  “Hm,” Heywin said. “This might be because I’ve turned into a dragon…” He gave us a defensive stare. “But I do want to keep the treasures I have obtained. This spellbook is extremely valuable.”

  “Of course,” Veyra said. “I wouldn’t want to rip you off. We have plenty of loot to trade. From me, you can have this armor.” She summoned a black fur hide armor, fit for a ranger. “And of course, Aiden has loot as well.”

  “I’m offering the third research paper, of course,” I said.

  Heywin didn’t look convinced, eyeing us dubiously. He had reason to, after he’d done over seventy percent of damage. The loot he got would be way better. I bit my lip, knowing I had one more item to offer. I quickly skimmed through the stats and abilities of Mythmaker’s Bow.

  It was genuinely a good item. I could probably squeeze 20 thousand gold out of it. Was it even worth it to risk it to trade for a spellbook that could or perhaps could not be good?

  Veyra was looking at me with puppy eyes that said please. She really wanted that spellbook.

  I sighed. Well, I am also getting loot for my contribution on Embridge... Might as well go for this.

  “I’m also adding this bow to the trade,” I said, summoning the bow. “Also, Frostfang Feathers. We’re trading all of our loot for the spellbook.”

  “Oh!” Heywin said, now with genuine surprise. “Now, that’s an interesting item.”

  I showed the bow closely. The black greatbow seemed like an old forgotten artifact, one good cleaning away from being great again. It wasn’t as flashy by appearance as some other legendary bows, but its limbs certainly had character, and the stats were fantastic.

  “Goddamned Mirella’s bow!” Heywin said. “Well, isn’t that a surprise? Tielan had this all this time? I wonder where old Mirella disappeared.”

  “I’m willing to trade it, and all of our other items, including the research paper,” I said, “all for that one spellbook.”

  Heywin puffed hot air through his nostrils, thoughtful. “Little devils. This is starting to get tempting… Veyra would make good use of this spell indeed. I am interested in seeing what you do with this spellbook.”

  He kept grunting at himself, until he said, “Very well. I will accept this deal.”

  [Offer Heywin Frostfang Feater x4 (Epic Crafting Material), Mythmaker’s Bow (Legendary Unique Bow, Event Item), The Portal Mage’s Research Paper Three (???)]

  [Veyra Receives Astral Defiance (Mythic Spellbook)]

  [Accept trade? y/n]

  We both saw the text that read mythic. The best rarity in the game, available only to the very best of the best. We looked at each other, and I saw the dumbfounded smile on Veyra’s face. Silently, we both clicked, yes.

  Heywin grabbed his items with levitation. He then levitated the spellbook to Veyra’s hands. She held it gently, face full of awe as she hugged the book close to her chest.

  The little dragon grinned. “Thank you for this raid, Assassin. I suppose I will now pick my mountain and start hoarding gold, or whatever dragons do. I hope to hear great things from you both. Let us meet again!”

  He made one last proud pose before he teleported away with all of the traded items.

  Veyra and I slowly turned to each other with huge grins on our faces. For a while, we were silent.

  Until she burst into a laugh. “A mythic spell? Is this real? Are you kidding me?”

  I didn’t even know what to say. I’d traded over twenty thousand gold worth of items to obtain that. But somehow, I didn’t regret it in the slightest. The child-like enthusiasm on Veyra’s face made it all worth it.

  I smiled, until a loud grinding of stone came from behind us. The boss room doors were opening.

  Not on their own. Someone was pushing them open. [Zenith Protocol] Henrift.

  “Oh, shit,” I thought, and I immediately grabbed Veyra’s hand.

  I was not in the mood to fight. Not in the slightest. As cool as it would have been to attempt to wipe out a top guild with Veyra’s new spell, the fight against Tielan had really tired out my muscles. We’d lose.

  I quickly channeled a teleport out of there, now that we still weren’t in combat. I picked the first teleportation location from my menu, hoping it was safe.

  [Teleporting to the Guild Hall…]

  A ranger’s arrow flew at our heads from the doors just as my vision flickered, and the teleportation went through.

  Only then did I read the text of where I’d accidentally sent us, realizing I’d agreed to never teleport us to this location. Oh shit.

  I found myself in a small wooden house.

  20 chapters ahead on !