They had to fill in a mana stone to get past the entrance of the third cavern. Bog hadn't lied. There was indeed a swamp past that way. Jean placed another barrier stone at the entrance. So that both Atha and Bog could be safe.

As soon as they made a step inside the swamp, they saw something glow in the dark. It looked like a lantern's hook. Then, a big fish came up from the water.

"That up there is the dungeon core," Morris pointed at the glowing crystal. "It merged with the boss mob."

"Well, it is going to provide light, then. All the better for us to fight it," Jean joked. In reality, their situation was grave. A boss mob-dungeon core mix benefited from all the mana of the dungeon core and all the sturdiness of the boss mob. They were going to be in for a big fight.

"Jean, aim for the eyes. Leander, try to paralyze it. Morris, as soon as it comes close, do an axe bash. I'll pull it," Dorian finished with the orders, and he banged his shield with his saber a couple of times.

"Don't get in the water with it," Jean added to that as he aimed at the eyes.

Leander aimed at the maul of the fish, which looked like a balloon fish and had the spikes to prove the resemblance. Said spiked began to glow, and it took just a second for Leander to place a barrier around all four of them before the fish catapulted its pikes at them.

"You have to be kidding me. A long ranged boss," Morris grumbled as he watched the spikes make dents into the barrier.

"We need a new plan. It won't come," Dorian had been trying to pull the giant fish to him with a taunt, but it seems it was smarter than that.

"Jean and I will take care of it," Leander said, splitting his focus between the barrier and the arrows he was aiming.

"Arrow barrage," he yelled, and, a second later, Jean yelled "Mamba strike!"

The paralyzing arrows went to splinter into the scales of the fish's maul, while the big snake made of mana crashed into its right eye, sinking its fangs, injecting the poison, and then disappearing.

"Repeat," Dorian commanded, and the fish began to trash wildly. Its maul hanging open. It had no teeth, and it seemed that its spikes were its only defense.

"Fireball barrage," both Jean and Leander shouted, and their fireballs went flying towards the fish. But, it dived into the swamp, and they fell harmlessly into the water.

"What is this? Turn-based training? Get out and fight, you cheater," Jean yelled. The fish did get out of the water, but with all its spikes regrown and an evil look in its eyes.

"Leander, focus on the barrier," Dorian commanded as he braced himself against the wall. The fish bombarded them with spikes again and, once again, the barrier held. But, the soul shard on the staff began to blink in and out of mana.

"I can do this. You focus on keeping the barrier intact," Jean placed a hand on Leander's shoulder, who was looking at the soul shard with worry.

"I can put up the last two barriers," Leander said, and he stopped feeding the current barrier and used his fourth spell slot. Then, he blinked. Wait, he had two more slots, not just one. He smirked and used a levitation spell to get the boss mob out of the water.

"Jean, do the honors," Leander said with a chuckle. He would have liked to help with his arrows too, but, he still couldn't split his focus on more than two things.

"With pleasure," Jean aimed the bow at the eyes and then reconsidered. It hadn't taken the pest out, the first time. It might not work the second time. "Can you turn it so that I can see the underbelly?"

Leander moved the fish slowly so that its underbelly was showing. As Jean expected, it was nice and soft looking.

"Fireball barrage," Jean screamed and soon, the fish's underbelly was on fire. It began to look around frantic with its one good eye, but Jean was not finished.

"Arrow barrage," Jean summoned a thousand arrows and sent them flying to the underbelly. Blood began to gush out of it, but not enough for Jean to feel like he had taken the blasted fish out.

"Behemoth barrage!" Fifty scorpion's bolts splintered from the single one that Jean had shot and dug deep into the underbelly. The flesh split open, finally, and the guts fell down into the water.

"Wow," Morris murmured as the light of the fish finally went off. "Jean, remind me to never piss you off."

"Yes, it will be your funeral," Jean bragged, and Morris gave him a slight punch to the shoulder. "I am a good swimmer. I'll go get it. Besides, I am not weighted down by an axe or a shield."

Jean dived into the water and swam until he could see the corpse of the giant fish. He took off his dagger and cut off the dead dungeon core. Still, just to be safe, he bashed his dagger's hilt to the dungeon core once he broke the surface.

Jean padded to the platform where his partners waited, and he handed the broken core to Dorian.

"It was quite weak, as cores go," Dorian noted. How had such a core broken away from a lab?

"Do you think someone sets them free?" Morris asked, and all eyes turned to him. "I mean, Armaros couldn't have been let out by Fluffs alone."

"What does Armaros have to do with this?" Jean asked, and the three original members of the Try Hard Party paled. Oh, the cat was out of the bag. And now, they would have to explain to Jean that they were harboring a dungeon core whose dream was to be surrounded by hamsters.

doravg

Please — check out my other fat loss book: The Zone. You can find it here. The MC wants to become an adventurer, but first, he needs to lose all the weight. Or, at least, enough to rise his endurance.