The second boss went very much the same as the first. Swarmed and beaten within seconds, with nothing they needed in the chest, but this time the coins just auto-split the first time that someone touched one.
“Oh, now it seems to be the default setting for the dungeon. The others who come in will love this if the setting doesn’t just apply to us. Though, if they don’t have a storage bag, I wonder what will happen?” Ophelia noted as they finished adding the items from the second boss to Thor’s bags.
They moved on to the third boss, letting Bob lead the team, but the closer they got, the more that his frustration was growing.
He was stuck at the bottleneck, and there was a missing ingredient for him to advance.
But there was hope that the last boss would help him break that, and judging by the look on his face, Karl was certain that Bob wanted to fight it alone.
“Alright, give it a go. The ladies will keep you healed.” Karl agreed before Bob could ask out loud.
The warrior prepared himself, and Thor refreshed [Eternal Lightning] on him while bringing up [Circle of Protection] on the boss’s platform.
If Bob was going to fight alone, that was about as much as they could do for him, and [Eternal Lightning] was a much more potent skill than any defensive ability the warrior had. It would also improve the reduced damage effect from the circle of protection, and he should be able to hold off the boss with minimal healing.
The Ogre Lord’s club crashed down on Bob’s shield, which glowed with golden Holy light as [Eternal Lightning] activated, then [Titanic Slash] crashed down on the beast’s shoulder, carving a deep furrow in the armour and causing a spray of blood.
But between two Peak Commander Rank opponents, the battle was incredibly evenly matched, and only the extra abilities from Thor were keeping Bob in the fight.
The two warriors circled as they tested each other with quick strikes, then a flurry of harder attacks intended to put each other off balance.
Karl had never noticed before how similar the fighting style of an Ogre Lord and a Warrior Class Elite was. But other than their weapons, even their skills were similar.
However, Bob was quickly gaining the upper edge with superior sword skills, and the Ogre Lord was taking repeated strikes whenever a strike was blocked or parried well enough that he was left out of position.
It was clear to Karl what Bob was missing, though.
He wasn’t understanding the change in energy patterns between Commanders and Royals, and Karl wasn’t certain that fighting Commander Rank ogres would help him in that regard.
It might actually be better for him to spar with Karl, so he could experience the feeling of Royal Rank power repeatedly without needing to risk his life.
It wasn’t really something that most Elites did when they were in the field. There were plenty of other targets to fight, so Karl hadn’t thought about it. But for someone like Bob who was stuck at the bottleneck, it might be just the thing.
After a particularly brutal exchange, Bob stepped back and gave a nod to the Golems. He had realized it as well. The answer to breaking the bottleneck wasn’t the Ogre Lord.
The Golems were on the wounded dungeon boss in under a second, and three seconds later it was falling dead to the ground, while the final chest of the Dungeon appeared.
[Cooldown Timer 24:00:00]
Bob sighed as the reality that he hadn’t made the advancement sunk in, and Karl went over to give him a conciliatory pat on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry too much. I’ll spar with you while we’re here, and you might find what you’re looking for. I can tell that you’re so close to understanding, but there is no way to explain it until you already understand.” Karl informed him softly.
“Thanks. I’m sure it’s something small that I’m missing, but I just can’t seem to get it.”
With a somewhat defeated sigh, Bob opened the final reward chest, and then smiled down at the interior.
“I think this one is for both of us. Check this out.” Bob laughed, motioning for Karl to come inspect the loot.
On the top of the pile of armour pieces and weapons sat a single skill book. [Bone Crusher] was a budget version of [Shatter] that caused extra damage that bypassed armour.
Karl called it a budget version because it didn’t stack on top of another attack, it was an attack skill of its own. It also didn’t do as much damage, Karl guessed, as the book was only the mildly decorated Tier 2 book, and not one of the fancy ones that skills like Shatter would create.
“Oh, that does look good. Any warrior class can use it, so I should be able to, I think. And then I can make a copy for you, one for Ophelia, and a copy for the Church library.” Karl agreed.
“Should we wait in here while you do that? Or will they take a long time?” Ophelia asked.
Karl shrugged. “I will find out once I’ve learned the skill, I guess.”
He picked up the book and opened the cover, letting it teach him the new skill.
Then he checked with [Skill Book] to see what it would take to make the copies.
“I need Commander Rank blood and bone dust. That’s easy enough, I can borrow some from Rae or Hawk.”
Tessa provided a pen and paper, and Karl sighed.
“I’m really going to need to start carrying writing tools with me, so I don’t always have to borrow a pen and paper when someone wants a skill book. Alright, this should be fairly short. Most warrior class books are.”
Karl began to write out the skill, and finished the first book in under ten minutes, which made Ophelia laugh.
“The KISS principle holds true for all warrior skills, I guess.” She joked.
“KISS principle?” Tessa asked.
“Keep it simple, stupid.” The berserker replied, snorting with laughter.
“Berserker friendly books is what we called them when I was in the Academy.” Bob added.
Karl finished the second book and then handed both over to the group’s warriors.
“Alright, let me know if you can’t use them, and we will give the spare to the church.”
Ophelia laughed at the hope in his voice as she opened the book and learned [Bone Crusher] at the same time Bob did.
“Sorry about your luck, you’ll need to make another one later. But tomorrow, I think. We’ve got a birthday lunch to get to today. They should be almost done with the cooking by now.” The berserker reminded him.
Karl wrapped his arm around Dana’s shoulders as Bob sorted through the rest of the chest, and Thor laughed in Karl’s mind.
[What’s so funny?]
[You don’t need to rub on her, she still smells like you.] Thor laughed.
Rae joined in. [Only humans would think that a shower would wash away the scent of skin to skin contact. She will smell like you for days.]
Karl took off a glove and let his hand brush the back of Dana’s neck as he moved to help load the loot into Thor’s bags, which made all of the beasts laugh.
Now the scent wouldn’t fade until at least the end of the day.
