“We split the summons, 3 Trolls, 6 nymphs and a Vala twin to each side of the hallway.” Cain declares. “We go when you’re ready Misha.”

“The timer started when we entered, let’s do this.” Misha agrees.

Mythryll orders a Treant to pick up Dimnys and shelter her, the Dwarf still dizzy from notifications. Even with two packs being fought at once, the Elite Naga are being torn apart by the party. The limited healing from the Vala twins is making life easy on Misha, she mostly only has to heal the tanks. Of course, with six of them, that’s still quite a bit of work, but manageable. The first section is all Naga Warriors, but as they turn a corner in the path they’re met with a flurry of water blades.

The Trolls move to block and charge their respective groups, while Cain adds the Naga shamans to his possible greater golem summons. They’re accompanied by very short blue creatures with webbed hands and feet known as Merkin. The beasts seem to have a real hatred for the Nymphs, chasing straight for them, but the Nymphs are up to the task, tearing into them with sharp branch like claws.

The Naga shamans are soft targets, even elite, and much higher level, the Trolls and spells have them dead in under a minute. They seem particularly vulnerable to Char’s lightning, a common weakness for water element creatures.

Watching the Nymphs flip off the Merkin who make throat slitting gestures in return is a bit surreal. It’s their first time here, it’s not that he trained them to dislike each other. It’s like they’re rival sidekicks or mascots, off to the side of the larger creatures battles just going at it full force. Even the still dizzy Dimnys is laughing at their antics.

Misha’s mana is still hovering around two thirds, so Cain keeps up this pace of pulling, not knowing how long the dungeon is, but knowing they’re on a time restriction.

The Trolls smashed into yet another pack of Naga Warriors as the Merkin charged the Dark Nymphs. It was a lopsided battle, a single pack was all that separated them from the first boss. The Naga Prince as the name plate in their interfaces called it was over 5 meters tall, and stared down at them from atop a dias made of coral and colored pebbles.

Dimnys had gained over ten levels and the notifications had slowed to a manageable level, so she was back on foot, surrounded by Treants.

“D, you stay towards the edge of the dias, behind the pillar. That should keep you away from his attacks. Prince sounds like a combat type not a Caster, so the rest of us are all in. Misha you ready?” Cain fires out in rapid succession.

As soon as they attack the boss he calls out bodyguards. Two large Naga join the fight, one with a trident, one with a staff.

[New Form Gained: Greater Golem Naga Champion]

[New Form Gained: Greater Golem Naga Wave Mistress]

“Focus on killing the Caster” Cain calls. Wave mistress sounds ominous, like she might have area attacks that would put Dimnys in real danger. Until the Dwarven Smith gets a few more levels, she will still be very low on HP, and even the lightning armor Char cast on her might not be enough.

He plugs Poisoned multi shots into the Wave Mistress one after another, watching the health bar rapidly fade to red. Twice she almost manages an ability called [Crushing Wave] but the Vala twins interrupt it with Shield Bash.

The Caster gone, they can get to business, everyone goes back to focusing on the boss, while one Vala and a Troll plus the Wasps focus on the Champion. He’s got a huge damage output, having already killed one Troll despite Misha’s healing. Even more than the boss is doing.

When the Prince gets to ten percent, the Champion enrages, chopping down the Troll in front of it and jumping in to save the boss. Elmira hits him with multiple thrown knives, finally getting a successful Paralyze effect, and the Champion is quickly killed, dying just before the Prince.

[Boss 1 of 3 Defeated]

[Level Up]

“Well that was rough. Next time we kill the Champion right after the Wave Mistress.” Misha sighs.

The aftermath of the battle is an odd sight. Trolls and Dark Nymphs are scattered all over a lush green grassy knoll of Razor Grass effects, Shadow Field gives the air an evening feeling, and the scattered Treants make it feel like they’re in a forest next to the beach. A very odd combination.

Ahead of them is a very different fight. Water walls being held up by casters block a valley at regular intervals, with spear equipped Warriors up on a ridge line with no obvious entry or exit. Are they meant to kill the casters with ranged attacks and just run through?

That gives Cain an idea. Why not try out his new Naga? He swaps the Trolls for Naga Wave Mistress and sends them to attack the casters holding up the barrier. As expected, the Spear Throwers can’t get down to attack them. They’re in bad shape before they kill the casters with their water magic, but they get the barrier down.

There’s a handful of Warriors in the floor in the next room, which are rapidly obliterated by repeated uses of Crushing Wave. Cain chuckles, not having thought to tell some to hold off on that long cool down spell. This time they barely get the barrier open before succumbing to spear attacks.

The way through the first bit of the valley is now clear, but it brings a new question. Do they try to run through, or do they kill the Spear Throwing Naga?

They’re on a timer, run through under the cover of Troll flesh it is, and then face whatever is at the other end. Dimnys is buried in a tangled mass of Treant limbs again and everyone else gets in a group between a circle of Cave Trolls. Then they run. Spears are starting to wear away at the Trolls health, but Misha has cast a long duration timed heal on them and they’re holding up well.

It’s when they reach the other end that they realize they’ve made a tactical blunder.. The second boss is right here, and the cliffs that the Spear Throwers were on all lead to this room.