As Oscar had predicted, the large stone door at one end of the cavern down the right path was the boss door. By the time they’d retraced their steps and made it to the boss room, Caius and Riley’s bodies had already vanished. Azalea couldn’t see any evidence of the items they’d carried around their bodies.

“Do you think the bandits looted them?” Kyraa asked.

“No, I would have recognized Caius’ armor,” Azalea replied “And Riley’s staff. I guess they must have used a retriever.”

That had been a fairly recent discovery. Once your standing in Centralia was Good or higher, you could pay a fee to a new type of Terrian that appeared called a ‘Retriever’. Perhaps it had been a joke on the part of the game’s creators, but the retriever was an actual dog. Moreover, it was the same breed as a popular internet meme from years ago, one named “Doge”.When you paid the retriever in Yemon, it would dash off into the trees, returning a minute later with all the items on your body that hadn’t yet been looted. Azalea had yet to see one of the Retrievers appear, and now she felt a little sad she’d missed her chance.

“Well, that’s one less thing to worry about,” she muttered, reaching up to draw her spear. “Now we just have to take on the boss. Unless you’d all like to wait for Caius and Riley to return.”

“Nah, it would take too long,” Kyraa said, a slight grin forming on her face. “Some of us have lives outside the game, you know.”

“Oh, please,” Tankbabe retorted. “You just want the credit of beating a boss without him.”

Kyraa made no comment on that. Instead, she strode over to the door, and put both hands on it. She was the only one in the raid group that had C-Rank Intelligence. With a small glance behind her to make sure everyone was ready for the fight, she gave a firm push, and both sides of the stone door swung inward with a loud grinding noise.

They could make out the entire space this time around, and instead of a grand circular chamber, the boss’ chamber looked more like a storeroom, or perhaps a hideaway. Well, that certainly fits the bandit theme, Azalea thought. There were several crates and barrels stacked near the entrance, forming a short wall on either side of a narrow path that led deeper into the chamber.

“Tight corners,” Kyraa commented, clearly thinking along similar lines. “Damn.”

“Yeah, that really only does the melee fighters any good,” Centrogen said, glancing at Azalea and Tankbabe. So weird, Azalea thought. She’d only been using the spear for a few days, but already she was being considered one of the melee fighters. Maybe it was just because if she wasn’t, Tankbabe would be the only melee fighter. Well, the only one that didn’t rely on stealth, she corrected herself, glancing to the side at Oscar.

“Alright, we’ll treat it like a tunnel,” Kyraa ordered. “Tankbabe, you’re up front. Azalea, stick close to her back. Use magic until we have more room. The rest of you, keep your eyes on the front two as often as you can. We’ll keep them up with buff spells.”

They all nodded, and the tall broad-shouldered elven woman stepped forward. Azalea gave her a few feet, no more than the range of her spear, then followed after. Even though he hadn’t been ordered to, Oscar moved to stand behind her, his longbow drawn and an arrow knocked. She gave him a faint sort of smile as she cast a vitality and agility buff on herself and the two closest to her.

As they entered the chamber, Azalea was able to make out a little more detail on the barrels and crates. For the most part, they were unmarked, and there were no words to show what was inside. It wasn’t until they rounded the first bend that she noticed the first sign of anything strange. There still weren’t any enemies in sight, but one of the barrels had fallen off a stack to the left, and laid sideways across their path. A thick smell permeated the air, and some kind of liquid was leaking from the barrel.

“Ugh,” Tankbabe said, covering her nose with the arm holding her sword. “What is that smell?”

“Clearly not some kind of alcohol,” Oscar said. “It almost smells like…”

His voice trailed off. Then, without warning, he ducked low and jumped back. In the panic of the moment, he quite forgot there were people directly behind him, so he couldn’t make it more than a few feet away. Then Azalea recognized the smell. She hadn’t caught that scent in a while, since it had been years since gasoline had been used as a fuel source, either for vehicles or heating. She glanced back at the puddle of liquid around the barrel and suddenly understood. Unfortunately, it was far too late for her to react.

A flash of light came around the second turn in the path as a figure appeared, no more than a head and one extended hand. But she saw the flames that shot out from their hand, aimed directly at the barrel. Then the world around them erupted into a mess of noise and light, and the shockwave produced by the explosion sent her flying back.

In an instant, she knew they were in a horrible position. As she landed, largely uninjured thanks to the presence of Tankbabe and her shield, she realized that she was laying on a huge pile of items and coins. Of course, all the coins she was touching were automatically added to her balance, and her Yemon shot up by nearly a thousand. Then she looked around to see if anyone else was alive, and she could only see a few people. Tankbabe was stirring a few feet ahead of her, but behind her, there were only two other figures.

“What the hell was that?” Kyraa shouted, weakly pushing herself to her feet. Everyone within the radius of the explosion had a massive agility and vitality debuff applied to them. Centrogen, the only other survivor, quickly cast a buff to both stats, but only turned them into moderate debuffs. Azalea copied her action, making the debuffs minor.

“Explosive barrel,” she groaned. “Oscar realized what it was before I did and tried to run away.”

She saw Oscar’s longbow on the ground but didn’t bother trying to scoop it up. Oscar could use a Retriever, or she’d pick it up after the boss fight was over. Centrogen coughed as if the smoke around them were really clogging her throat, and created a small magic light. “Damn. That killed nearly all of us!”

“We have to get out of here,” Kyraa said. “We’ll retreat to the first cave and wait for the others to get back here.”

That was a sound plan, but they discovered that the door to the boss chamber had closed behind them, and even Kyraa couldn’t push it open. They were locked inside. “Fuck. We’re stuck here.”

“We don’t really have a choice now,” Azalea pointed out. “We have to either fight or wait here for them to find and kill us.”

“Like we stand a chance with just the three of us,” Kyraa spat. She glanced at Azalea and added, “Four, sorry. Still, we’re shit out of luck.”

“Well, we’re dead either way,” Tankbabe said. She’d re-equipped her shield after it was knocked from her hand, and now stood protectively in the path, her body turned toward the inside of the chamber in case an enemy showed up. “We might as well go down fighting.”

“And let our loot be spread out even further from the door?” Centrogen said. “No. We’re better off waiting by the door. That way whoever gets here first can pick it all up.”

“That’s assuming there’s any loot left by the time someone can get here,” Azalea retorted. “Those bandits will probably loot us. Then our gear will just be added to the raid rewards.”

“That seems more likely,” Tankbabe agreed. “Nobody’s failed a raid yet, so we don’t know what will happen to our items. If we’re going to lose either way, we might as well actually give it a shot.”

Azalea agreed with her, to a point. Realistically, she was of a similar mind to Kyraa and Centrogen. There was no way they could complete the raid now. Four people against a boss fight, only one of them with any real experience being a melee fighter? They were doomed. But some small competitive part of her - a part that she’d only gained very recently - demanded that she die while fighting, not hiding out in the corner.

“Look,” she said, getting their attention. “Maybe we can treat this like a battle of attrition. If we move carefully and stick to these paths, we can whittle down their numbers. That way, when we come back, the raid will be that much easier.”

Kyra frowned thoughtfully, mulling it over. Then her face paled slightly. “Wait. I don’t think we’ll be able to do it again. Not for a while, at least.”

“What makes you say that?” Azalea asked. “You can just push the doors open again.”

“No, she couldn’t,” Centrogen said. “Shit, you’re right.”

“What is it?”

“I only got C-Rank Intelligence a few days ago,” Kyraa said bitterly. “If I die here, I’m sure my rank will go back down to D.”

“Oh,” Azalea said. She hadn’t considered that. She had two C-Rank skills herself. Would they also get deranked? Or had she gained enough experience to avoid that? She didn’t want to know the answer, even if she knew it wasn’t really up to her at this point. “Well, then we can just use Retrievers.”

“That’s assuming our items could be retrieved.”

“Either way,” Azalea said. Now she was starting to grow a little impatient. “If we die, we die.”

“There’s not really an if about it,” Centrogen said. “It’s basically guaranteed. We can only hope that we don’t lose everything if we die. We’ve got weeks of prep put into our gear. And we don’t have backups.”

They all realized the truth of that and made a mental note. Make backup gear for when they died next. If only they’d thought of that before. Azalea glanced at the strap of her rucksack, realizing she’d soon be saying goodbye to it, even if only temporarily. That was not a happy thought. Kyraa let out a long sigh. “Alright, let’s go for it. We’re fucked either way, so we might as well try. Let’s see if we can’t bring their numbers down a bit.”

“That’s the spirit!” Tankbabe said, chuckling. Out of the four of them, she looked like she was looking forward to this the most. “I’ll stay in front. As long as we don’t hit another of those barrels, we should be able to survive for a bit.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Azalea lifted her free hand, the one bearing the silver bracelet, as she heard the sound of running feet. The smoke from the explosion had more or less cleared now, and three bandits were running forward to check if there were any survivors. They stopped as they saw Tankbabe and her massive shield, but they pulled weapons out, clearly ready to attack.

“Though I walk through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil,” Tankbabe growled, positively grinning in excitement despite the odds. “For I am the evilest motherfucker in the valley.”

Badass quote, Azalea thought, hefting her spear and preparing to fight. She’d have to remember that one and tell it to Caius when she’d respawned.

C_P_Tuck

Sorry you're getting this chapter so late folks, had a rather bad morning today. But rest assured, you'll be getting one more today!