Peter sighed as he cleaned up after the meal. At least he knew they liked the food, since they had licked the plates clean. They had also fully emptied all the various barrels of drinks he had brought, including the water.

  He sighed in both contentment and worry as Zala and the others limbered up, looking like they were ready to rush straight into the boss fight now that the meal was done.

  “Onward then,” Zala encouraged.

  Peter just sighed. He had always been told that one should let food settle before putting in too much effort. But Zala was in charge, so he held his tongue. And, as he had expected, the walk to Elizabeth’s clearing was only about another ten?minute jaunt.

  “I don’t think I really let it sink in how big she was in the reports,” Greg marveled as he looked out upon Elizabeth.

  The lesser hydra currently had one head buried in the guts of a massive turtle it had placed within a huge stone bowl. Elizabeth looked far bulkier than the last time Peter had seen her.

  “I think she has been eating well,” Peter noted. “She’s put on a bit of weight since I last saw her. She’s wearing it well.”

  At that, one of her five heads swiveled in their direction.

  Mary snickered beside Peter. “You should never talk about a woman’s weight,” she teased.

  Then the other four heads slowly turned toward them. Elizabeth’s violet eyes blazed like distant orbs even from this range. Her green hide, patterned with black and brown, glistened healthily in the light.

  “I was just noting she looks healthier than when she was born,” Peter said with a shrug. “She should be proud.”

  “Why isn’t she moving?” Hank asked nervously, seemingly unable to look away.

  “Because she thinks she spotted another meal,” Greg growled as he unslung his anchor and took a lower stance, readying for battle.

  Zala was the first to move. She used her water affinity to propel herself forward faster than Peter could track. The instant he noticed she had moved, there was a loud crack.

  A tree snapped in half as Zala was violently launched out of the clearing. A heavy, whip?like tail was briefly visible as it slipped back into the swamp water where Zala had been thrown from.

  “Damn it all,” Greg growled as he charged forward, keen to keep Elizabeth’s attention.

  As the rest of the party spread out and closed in on the boss, Peter drifted toward where Zala had landed. She had been thrown through two trees and was barely conscious, panting.

  “What hit me?” she slurred.

  Peter placed a hand on her and channeled the vitality of the land into her body. Bones snapped and flesh squelched as her form was forced back into alignment.

  “Elizabeth seems to have a tail capable of supersonic speeds,” Peter said calmly as he finished healing her.

  “Guess it’s better to find out about that early,” Zala groaned as she pushed herself upright.

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  “Indeed,” Peter agreed, stepping back. “But if I know anything about you, it’s that you always give better than you receive.”

  He slapped her on the back, activating several buffs as he did—troll strength, oaken flesh, and more. “Go get her.”

  Zala grinned as she felt his mana surge through her. Her eyes dilated as she lowered her stance.

  “Feeding frenzy,” she growled as she activated her racial berserker skill, pushing her physical attributes even further. Her muscles writhed beneath her skin as they bunched, and then she launched herself forward once more.

  “Three seconds,” Greg called out. “If you disable a head, it only gives you a three?second opening.”

  Elizabeth circled warily around his anchor. Peter mused that he must have missed Greg landing a hit.

  Peter stayed at the edge of the battle, keenly aware that he was the only healer present. Both sides tested one another, senses sharpened, rhythms forming.

  And that was why Peter narrowed his eyes.

  His hand flashed out as he caught a ripple of movement. “Root bind,” he hissed.

  Elizabeth’s tail halted a breath from Cresh’s side as the spell took effect. Thick roots wrapped around the offending limb just in time to save her.

  Cresh hissed as she retreated, then launched a blade of wind. Elizabeth screamed as the end of her tail was severed.

  That moment of distraction was all Zala needed.

  “Rip Tide,” she growled as she slammed into one of Elizabeth’s necks. There was a wet tearing sound as all the liquid around the wound was violently drawn out. With a roar of effort, the dried flesh tore easily under her strength, and the neck was ripped clean in half.

  Greg brought his anchor down on another head, crushing the skull.

  “Reaping wind,” one of the rat twins hissed as they appeared in a blur.

  “Shadow sever,” the other followed.

  Blades of wind and shadow claimed two more heads.

  “Penetrating shot, multi?shot,” Mary whispered as she loosed her arrow. Three fist?sized holes tore through Elizabeth’s final head.

  For a brief moment, the world seemed to pause.

  Then Elizabeth’s massive body sagged and collapsed into the swamp.

  Everyone except Peter was panting.

  “Second wind,” he said, casting a stamina?replenishing skill.

  They did not all recover at once. Zala, in particular, struggled with the backlash from overusing physical enhancements, and Paul moved in to provide additional healing.

  “That was… more than I was expecting,” Greg panted as he summoned a towel from his spatial item and wiped gore from his face. “If this boss had more than lesser regeneration, we might’ve been in real danger.”

  “If her clutch had hatched, we would have been,” Mary said, nodding toward a nearby nest. “There are about two dozen eggs.”

  “You should leave the eggs alone,” Peter warned.

  “Why?” one of the twins asked.

  “The ants are watching,” Peter replied. “And not just a few. I’m also detecting several hundred goblins. The boss was fair game—but the unborn are under dungeon protection.”

  The party glanced around, and sure enough, countless eyes watched from the shaded trees.

  “Bleed me,” Zala whispered in awe. “The dungeon really could’ve buried us in bodies.”

  “I’m fine leaving the eggs,” Greg agreed. “You can’t really tame hydras anyway. Too expensive. The drops are worth far more.”

  “Drops?” Cresh asked.

  “Mostly raw materials,” Greg said. “But about ten pounds of raw gold.”

  One of the twins whistled appreciatively.

  Greg placed a hand on Elizabeth’s body and, with a grunt, willed it into his spatial storage.

  “I’m guessing that’s the entrance to the real dungeon?” Hank asked, pointing toward a massive marble gazebo in the distance.

  “Indeed,” Peter said.

  “I wonder what’s down there,” Mary began, stepping toward it—then froze as a grinding sound echoed.

  From the spiral staircase at the gazebo’s center rose an imposing beast. Twenty feet tall, plated in sandstone?colored armor, with long claws and deep black eyes.

  [Steve, Guardian Knight Pangolin]

  They stared as they took in his modifiers.

  [Knight, hearty, giant, well?fed, perfect specimen, armored, ablative armor, armor?piercing, retributive, still?growing]

  “That’s a lot of health modifiers,” Greg murmured. “And he looks healthy even before them.”

  “I’m more worried about the still?growing tag,” Zala said.

  Peter stepped forward, pressing a fist into his opposite palm and bowing deeply.

  “I greet you, guardian,” Peter said reverently. “We mean no harm. Reaching this point was our goal. If permitted, we will depart.”

  Steve studied them for a long moment before huffing and dropping to all fours. He let out a low chuff as he settled comfortably.

  “I believe we’ve accomplished our objective,” Peter said quietly. “We should leave.”

  “Y?yeah,” Zala agreed.

  The party re?formed and retreated in orderly fashion, leaving the dungeon behind.