50 Alive by a Hair
"What are you guys still waiting for?" Ren said, waking Isolde and Ragnar from their daze.
Isolde was confident with her skill, and she assumed that she was the main damage dealer within the group before Ragnar came into the picture.
But it wasn't the case now.
She felt embarrassed that she had questioned Ren before if he was good to be paid.
Clearly, he was well capable based on his ATP and skills alone. He could probably solo this cave — he and Leonel that is.
"The Dread Widow wouldn't die by itself," Ren called again and took the back lines when the Dread Widow shook its fur, and the [Burn] status was gone.
It gave a loud cry and zoomed towards them. Its eight legs were smashing stone floors, and within a blink, it had crossed the meters distance between Ren and the others.
Ragnar quickly regained his wits, tapped his foot on the ground, and avoided the incoming beast.
However, the following line in sight for the Dread Widow was Isolde.
Isolde gasped and was still out of focus when the Dread Widow suddenly loomed over her with its round mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.
Ragnar clicked his tongue and was about to auto maneuver and hurl his axe in the Dread Widow's way, but he wasn't confident that it would do enough damage to distract it, and Isolde could escape.
The Dread Widow's enormous talons reflected in Isolde's eyes; if she blinked, she would surely find herself back in the Village as a wisp.
"Aggro on me!"
Leonel's shout brought Isolde back, and she was given a second life when the Dread Widow's two front legs stopped midway from erasing her in existence.
The Dread Widow's head turned to Leone's direction before giving another loud battle cry.
"Come at me, you overgrown spider!" Leonel spat though his legs were shaking.
The Dread Widow ignored Isolde and the others, and its eight menacing eyes locked on Leonel.
"Leo, remember to cast that skill as soon as the Boss appears," Ren lectured and cast another [Multiattack].
But due to the low percentage chance and the Dread Widow's AGL and alertness, only a single fire managed to hit it, and the rest burned another area of its webs.
–547 Critical Hit!
[ Dread Widow suffered from BURN
–5% HP every minute ]
–28 (BURN)
Ren clicked his tongue. He could have ended the fight early if only four of his [Fire] hit its target.
"Ahahaha. Sorry. I got distracted." Leonel choked on his voice when the Dread Widow hammered her legs against his shield, followed by a bite.
Even when his guard was up, Leonel suffered from the Dread Widow's [Multiattack].
–24
–17
–15
–22
Ren immediately cast [Heal].
+10
Due to the [Heal] spell restriction of just replenishing 10% of HP even with Ren's high INT, he could do nothing about it but shook his head when only a little HP was added to Leonel's Health bar.
Leonel's HP was still flashing red, and just another skill of the Dread Widow, he would find himself in Venezia Village without a body.
Even if they died, they wouldn't suffer any death penalty as long as the party was still alive. Though they couldn't revive their main body as long as the dungeon boss wasn't defeated or the party wasn't killed.
However, Leonel wasn't worried since Ren wasn't worried.
Leonel still had another skill up his sleeve, which he unlocked when his DEF reached +20.
Ren cast [Multiattack] again. If he couldn't hit the Dread Widow with multiple fires, then he would clear the thick webs sprouting nonstop wherever it went so the others could move freely.
A single fire hit the Dread Widow, and it shrieked in agony before Isolde and Ragnar joined in and attacked the Dread Widow with their weapons.
Like Ragnar imagined in his head. His and Isolde's damage didn't even dint the Dread Widow's HP.
They weren't worried, though, since the beast was going to die soon if another fire from Ren hit it.
–540 Critical Hit!
[ Dread Widow suffered from BURN
–5% HP every minute ]
–27 (BURN)
"We got 'em." Isolde beamed in relief while feeling embarrassed inside. She didn't do much, and it was all Ren who mostly took care of it.
Ragnar didn't mind as long as the enemy was taken care of. He was busy guessing Ren's total INT for his magic damage to be so high.
Leonel was grinning from ear to ear. He had never once been defeated when Ren was around. As long as he did his job, Ren would take care of the rest.
The spoil of wars was theirs!
"Leo, activate [Last Stance] now!" Ren shouted when the Dread Widow was still standing with its eight legs with just a +5 HP bar flashing red on its head.
Leone was confused but was already heading Ren's command without thought. It was an automatic response.
Just as Isolde and the others were thinking of their loot, a notification popped on their screens.
[The Dread Widow entered BERSERK MODE!]
[All Skills and Spells increased by a level!]
[The Dread Widow activated its skill BITE!]
Before Leonel could react, the gaping mouth of the Dread Widow filled with razor-sharp teeth took a chunk of his flesh.
–240 Critical Hit!
[ You suffered from Poison
–5% HP every minute ]
It was a good thing that Leonel activated his skill [Last Stance] that allowed him to resist any attack with 1 HP once a day. If he didn't, he was afraid he was back in Venezia village as a ghost waiting to be resurrected.
His HP dropped to +1, but Leonel wasn't out of the rocks yet. There was still the effect of the Poison that would sink in a couple of seconds.
And before the Poison could claim Leonel's life, Ren timely cast [Heal] and saved him by a hair.
+10
–5 (POISON)
Isolde and Ragnar didn't just stand and watch. They both charged at the Dread Widow and killed it with a bullet and a cleaved in the head with an axe before the two immediately backed away when the Dread Widow was about to explode and filled the area ten-meter radius with Poison.
<CONGRATULATIONS on defeating the DREAD WIDOW
REWARDS:
❶ 1,000 EXP
❷ 5,000 Gil
❸ Dark Thread x5
❹ Sharp Talons x8
❺ Dark Poison x1
❻ Dress of a Black Widow x1 >
Everyone sighed in relief when the notification appeared on their screen except Ren, who looked over at Leonel seriously.
"Leo, consume Health Potions and get your Health back ASAP."
"Right. Since I still have the poison status on me. It would be idiotic to die when we finally defeated the Boss," Leonel said with his dopy smile before consuming Health Potions to replenish his HP.
"Shouldn't it be better just to die and respawn in Venezia Village than consume Potions? You wouldn't suffer a death penalty since we defeated the Boss, and you will revive with perfect health, too, saving your Health Potions in return," Ragnar commented.
"Is that right?" Leonel questioned, but he still drank the Health Potions. It wasn't because he didn't believe Ragnar. It was just that he tended to lean on Ren more.
"Ren, we should return to Venezia and get some rest in the inn. I really need to get this Poison off me." Leonel drank another bottle of [Health Potion], but his HP was still reducing due to the Poison.
[Antidote] were only available in towns and were inaccessible at this early stage.
Though a [White Mage] already had the skill for it. But since there was no White Mage within their group, all Leonel could do was to wait it out until the Poison status was gone.
In order to access Towns, there were specific ATP requirements for each class that had to be met. Like for the mage class, INT must be +30 first, while for the melee, their STR must be +30.
This was to ensure that the players were ready to accept much more challenging quests and proceed forward without dying multiple times along the way.
The developers could be kind if they wanted to. Though mostly they were sadistic and loved to torture their players.
"Don't worry. That's only a low-level poison. It would disappear after a minute," Ren said.
"I see." Leonel drank another [Health Potion]. "But how do we get back to the Village? Do we have to log out and log in?" Leonel asked, and Ren nodded.
"There's no logging out from the Boss's room. We could log out once we're in the hall outside those doors, and we will automatically appear in our last save spot once we log in," Ren explained further.
"Rather, is this really a Boss fight?" Isolde asked with a frown on her face. "The rewards we acquire aren't firstblood rewards. There should be at least a platinum chest, right?"
Ragnar agreed with her. "There aren't any notifications of first blood either."
Leonel blinked in rapid succession after he drank [Health Potion x10] and the [Poison] status finally disappeared and left his HP in peace.
"Come to think of it. Wasn't the Boss too easy?"
"Easy?" Ragnar smirked. "You almost died back there if not for Ren's timely heal on you."
"Shut up. That's not what I meant," defended Leonel. "I mean, it should be easy for a ten-party member with all their ATP's in the two digits.
"Think about it. They could easily defeat the Boss here if they had one or two mages."
". . . True," murmured Isolde with a deep frown on her forehead, thinking of their fight just now.
Ragnar huffed a smile at Leonel. "I'm surprised that you actually made sense for once."
"Huh? I'm always making sense."
Everyone's attention focused on Ren when he was silent at the side.
"Was that really the boss?" the three asked simultaneously.
Ren's poker-face face didn't budge before the corner of his lips rose in a concerning smirk.
"Who said that it was the Boss?"
". . ."
". . ."
". . ."
"Huh?" a flower sprouted on Leonel's head. "If it's not the Boss . . . then who?"
"Who . . . ?"
Everyone went still at the sudden ghastly voice of a woman. It was like the sound of winds passing through trees in the middle of the night.
"Who . . . ? Who killed my adorable pet . . . ?"
