Eighteen hours earlier, the day before.
The earth shook as a huge metal golem fell to the floor. Its joints finally stopped emitting steam, the bright core on its chest dimming.
Star Gazer took a deep breath. The boss had taken them a lot more time than they planned. But the fight was indeed difficult. Other guilds definitely wouldn't be faster than them!
Severed Fang's eyes gleamed in the shadow of his hood as he looked past the fallen boss towards the rear wall where two doors had opened.
"Boss, where do we go now?"
"Don't be hasty. Recover first, then we will take the right door!"
"Yes, boss!"
Star Gazer nodded, satisfied with his team. Since the last dungeon he had changed a member, bringing in a powerful healer who already learned flash step. Their old healer has been delegated to the second team. If she wished to return, she would have to proove herself first. Star Gazer only accepted the best in his team!
***
Elsewhere Nest of Flames was caught up in a heated fight. Phoenix Feather was rather frustrated as the boss showed a strong resistance against her fire magic.
Fortunately, her sister Cherry Blossom was making up for it. She danced around the tall chunk of metal, unleashing ice spikes and blizzards. The boss's movements slowed under her powerful magic.
Although their party advanced somewhat slowly, they showed great control over the fight, avoiding a lot of the boss's skills.
Yet this was already their sixth try. The boss's movements were already ingrained in their brains. Finally, it fell under the heavy blade of their single warrior.
"We did it!"
Cherry Blossom cheered brightly, uplifting everyone's mood. Phoenix Feather smiled. It was good to have her sister, who could always stay optimistic even after six tries.
***
Phoenix Feather couldn't know that it wasn't only her guild who almost exhausted themselves against the boss.
Force of Nature needed a full eight attempts. Mainly because their melee-focused team struggled against a particular, often-used skill of the boss.
Ironically though they spent less time on their eight tries than Nest of Flames took for their six. Thus, they were among the first to enter the next hallway.
Fighting through some small groups they arrived in an enormous cave.
Earthquake drew a sharp breath. He turned towards the side, smiling at Callida, making an inviting gesture with his hand:
"Honey, I'll let you take over..."
***
Mountain Lord patted the fallen golem, speaking with an admiring voice:
"This is why I admire dwarves. What other race builds such impressive constructs? Dwarven craftsmanship is just the best. And so is their architecture!"
"Haha, you're right boss!"
A female elven mage looked strangely at the tall orc who just agreed with Mountain Lord.
"Imp, is something off with your brain? Should I get you a mirror?"
"Damn, how often do I need to tell you not to call me Imp, Cat?"
"As often as I need to tell you not to call me Cat..."
The other party members only rolled their eyes, used to those two quarrelling all the time. Seeing them like this no one would guess that these two were a happy couple approaching their tenth anniversary.
Mountain Lord laughed along for a bit before directing everyone's attention back on the dungeon.
***
Since the day before all the guilds were labouring in the dungeon, but not all of them had chosen 'The Empire's Traitors'. Some tried their luck in a small human duchy where there was less competition.
Others were eager to show off, competing for the busiest dungeon which laid within the Red Steppe. This dungeon had become slightly famous because the popular magazine Gamer's Weekly had promised 50.000 credits for the successful first clear.
This was a clever marketing stunt. Although gaming had become more and more popular for a long time, it was still its own scene in the past. Only through Fate of Crunaboul could gaming become truly mainstream.
Many journalists specialising in gaming profited immensely. Gaming Weekly, already at the forefront of gaming journalism, naturally wanted to cement its position and even extent their reach to older people who had left the scene for a while.
Thus, an investment of 50.000 credits could be considered a small sum yet the return was great as especially the casual gamers got extremely hyped up even though their chances were slim.
Liam and his friends had also learned about this, but they couldn't overthrow all their preparations for 50.000 credits.
This amount of money would still be alright if only divided between the ten party members. But for the guild it was but a drop in the ocean.
Thus, they had already forgotten about the contest after entering the current dungeon.
They continued down the hallway, fighting through groups of soldiers, not knowing how much progress the other guilds had made. The party didn't expect much variations but the dungeon had some new surprises prepared.
Stepping on pressure plates caused scalding steam to erupt from some pipes running above their heads. Triggering a hidden button caused a large net to fall from the ceiling.
Luckily Silent Acacia remained vigilant and discovered most traps in advance. Thus, the party recycled an old trick and used the traps against their enemies.
With this they advanced quite swiftly through the hallway. The party passed through a thick gate and entered an extremely spacious room.
The floor was surprisingly mostly made up of neatly arranged fields. A few crops randomly grew out of the special, dark soil.
Unfortunately, the fields were permeated with signs of battle. It had been a long time since lush crops filled this cave.
"I still can't believe that dwarves managed to build a farm down here.", sighed Cyclone. She looked towards the ceiling where a broken, complicated pipe system was.
Through Liam's explanation the group learned that these pipes delivered water enhanced with magic but also some natural herbs. Together with the almost blindingly bright crystals inlaid in the ceiling the water nurtured crops for the dwarves to eat.
"I agree with you, my friend. What a pity that this place has been destroyed by battle.", said Radiant Shield.
"Mhm. Those soldiers hide here but instead of repairing the ingenious water system they repair that stupid piece of metal."
While speaking, Balm narrowed her eyes at a metal golem sitting on a stone path in the centre of the room prompting everyone to focus on the dungeon's first boss.
Made of a strange, light green-coloured metal the kneeling golem didn't show any movement. It held a tall hammer in its hand. Its head consisted of a simple square block with a red slit, which appeared to be a sensor of sorts.
Thick metallic plates made up its sturdy body. Between their gaps steam escaped in rhythmic busts as if the piece of metal was breathing.
A large red crystal emitting faint magic was inlaid in its upper body, which sat on top off four thick legs formed like a cross. The legs were stretched flatly on the ground which made it look as if the golem was sitting on its 'butt'.
It was a pity that this fascinating marvel of engineering and magic showed signs of damage and dirt all over its body.
"Ok guys, you all know the drill. Let's go!"
Silver Blade spoke up, ready to begin the fight. She looked at Radiant Shield who understood the signal to begin. He stepped forward on the stone path, approaching the boss.
Suddenly the golem seemed to sense something. The slit on its head and the crystal on its chest both began to shine brightly. A burst of steam came out of its body as it turned its head towards Radiant Shield.
The emotionless, even faceless head brought a stronger feeling of dread than some bosses who spewed baseless threats. This emotion became even more prominent because of the scratches and dark stains on its head which were like scars telling of the battles it had been through.
With a grating noise the boss pulled in his legs until they formed a triangle shape. Then, with steam coming out of its 'knees' it pushed its body upward. Standing at its full height it was almost twice the height of Radiant Shield looking down on the tank.
The latter quickly closed his eyes in anticipation as a red light flashed from the golem's 'eye', blindingly bright, signalling the start of the fight.
"I'm going!"
Radiant Shield announced courageously before rushing towards the boss.
[Patched-up Hammer Guardian
Rank: Sub-boss
Level: 33
HP: 19.400/19.400]
The two combatants quickly collided. Radiant Shield rammed his shield into the boss's leg, receiving a blow from the hammer as answer, which he managed to block.
[Stance -22]
"It has improved! I can take six attacks before my stance will be used up!", informed the tank.
The others kept the information in mind as they rushed to strike. Cyclone instantly began with a [Lightning Strike]. During the first run she felt quite stifled throughout the fight since the boss showed a high resistance to lightning damage. She needed to gauge how much worse it got.