"Are we all ready?" Wrottzen asked, as the three prepared to face Timmit.
"Yup!" May said,
"All set! Let's go dude." Bojohn replied
After another couple of hours the previous night, the three were able to come up with a workable strategy and went to sleep. Now refreshed, the three set out from the small village to face the field boss.
Once the three started walking, Wrottzen asked, "Hey May, I never asked you last night but why did you tell those villagers that we were meeting someone in Gotham? Why not tell them the truth?"
"The People of the Land don't seem to register the difference between your voice and body." She explained. "Saying that you are actually a guy trapped in a woman's body probably would have confused them. They would have thought we were making the story up and been less likely to let us stay the night."
"Nice job thinking on your feet!" Bojohn complimented, "I never would have thought of that!"
"See? Bringing me has been helpful hasn't it?"
"Yes, it has." Wrottzen admitted as the three came up on the clearing where Timitt was wandering. "Are you two ready?"
"Let's do this!" Was Bojohn's response before rushing into battle.
"Remember the plan!" Wrottzen cried after him.
"Yeah, yeah. Assertive Force!"
Bojohn landed the first hit and successfully landed the debuff intimidate, lowering the field boss' attack.
"OK. Its our turn now!" Wrottzen declared pulling out the team's key to victory, a new blade named: Conquistador.
When striking an opponent, the Conquistador has a slight chance to inflict the infected status on the enemy, slowly lowering their Hp for a short while. Since the underleveled adventurers couldn't defeat Timitt with brute force alone, they planned to wittle down his Hp using the infected status along with normal attack runs.
"Bojohn! Start kiting Timitt but keep the aggro up! I need a couple of hits to get infected off."
"OK but I'm playing a dangerous game here!" He replied before leading the field boss in a circuit about the clearing.
"I'll make it a little less dangerous for you, Forest's Blessing!"
With May's defensive buff in place, Wrottzen rushed in and began striking Timitt with a series of normal slashes, decreasing the aggro sent his way.
After a short while, Bojohn cried, "Have you got it yet?! I can't keep kiting him like this! He's losing interest in me!"
"Not quite yet." Wrottzen replied, slashing again at Timitt. That was the one of the fatal flaws with their plan, the Conquistador didn't apply the infected status after each hit. In their planning phase, the trio had hoped that the status would be applied quickly, but that didn't seem to be the case.
"Wrottzen, look out! He's turning toward you!" May cried.
Turning with club raised, Timitt swung directly at the Guardian.
"Castle of Stone!" Wrottzen cried, glowing yellow with the skill's affect. "I'm only safe for 10 seconds here! You guys get the aggro back up!"
"Right!" Both May and Bojohn replied, launching skills at the field boss.
When Castle of Stone's affect wore off, Timitt was safely aggroed away, leaving Wrottzen open to once again attempt to inflict the status onto him.
"Alright!" Wrottzen said as the desired status was inflicted on the first hit. "About time some luck came our way. K guys he's infected! Switch to our usual attack pattern! Fortress Stance! Anchor Howl!"
"Got it!" May replied.
"Sure thing man." Bojohn chimed in soon after.
As TImitt closed in, Wrottzen stole a quick glance at the condition of his party members.
OK. May is in good shape at 70% health. I'm glad she didn't get hit much pulling aggro. He thought. Bojohn's at 30% though. That could be a problem. "May-"
"Heartbeat Healing!" Almost as if she was reading the Guardian's mind, May fired off a healing spell at the exhausted Swashbuckler.
"Bojohn, take a healing potion and start laying debuffs on this guy!" Wrottzen yelled, parrying the field boss' club with his shield. "It's the only way we're going to win!"
"On it!" He replied before jumping back into the fray.
Utilizing Bojohn's debuffs, Wrottzen's defense and May's healing capabilities, the three were able to whittle Timitt's health down to 65% before the infected status wore off.
"OK guys you know the drill!" Wrottzen said. "Switch from attack pattern Alpha to Beta!"
"K!" Bojohn replied. "We'll protect you again while you get the infected status off again."
"Be careful out there!" Wrottzen cautioned. "We're not at 100% anymore so don't take any unnecessary risks."
"Got it!" He replied. "Shall we May?"
"Let's go!" The Druid answered, already rushing off to fight.
While his friends built up aggro from the boss, Wrottzen assessed the situation once again.
Timitt is at 63% and dropping. Bojohn is at 45%, May is at 50% and I'm at 45% as well. Considering we've only used up about a quarter of the potions we brought along, things seem to be going well.
"Aura Saber!" He yelled, ready to join the fight once more. While the attack hit, it did not inflict the status needed. Patience. Patience. Wrottzen thought trying to calm down.
Although it didn't take as long as the first time, it still took 15 swings to inflict the status on Timitt once again. Switching back to their normal attack pattern, the three continued fighting until their enemy reached 50% Hp.
While Timitt reared his head and unleashed a huge roar, Wrottzen cried, "Its changing attack patterns! Be on your guard!"
"Healing Wind! Forest's Blessing!" May cried, simultaneously raising her allies' Hp and Defense.
"He's been pretty tame so far, don't you think?" Bojohn commented, waiting to see what the field boss would do.
"Yeah." Wrottzen replied. "And that worries me."
TImitt let out another roar, before his skin turned a reddish hue and he charged at the trio of adventurers.
"OK. Just stay on- GAHH!" Wrottzen cried as Timitt's club landed a direct hit and sent him flying.
How did he move so fast? He thought. And why did that attack do so much?! Glancing at his health bar, the single hit had decreased his health by 10% in comparison to 5% previously. His answer came as soon as he looked at the field boss' status.
"Guys! He's put a buff on himself: Rage. His strength and speed are much greater now but his attacks might be less accurate!"
"Thanks for the heads up!" May replied, dancing gracefully across the battlefield. "But I think it had another effect! Infected is gone!"
"That's impossible! We should have been able to get him down to 40% at the very least before that status went away!"
"Quit yapping!" Bojohn yelled as he launched yet another attack at the giant brute. "It doesn't matter why it's gone, just get it up again! Switch to Pattern Beta!"
Once again, May and Bojohn pulled Timitt's attention away so that Wrottzen could attack freely and inflict the status. Wrottzen rushed in once again sword in hand and swung hard at Timitt's back side only to have the Conquistador break on impact.
"Guys! We have a slight problem here!" He yelled. "Attack Pattern Beta isn't of any use to us anymore."
"Why not? Is he catching onto us?" Bojohn asked.
"No. Our trump card broke. I can't inflict infected onto him anymore!"
"But we were counting on that to bring in the win! What'll we do now?"
"Switch back to Attack Pattern Alpha!" May cried, "We'll have to think on the fly!"
Once the three returned to their original Attack Pattern, they ran into the same problem that was brought up in the strategy meeting: Timitt's Health vs. Potion Supply.
"We're using too many potions!" Wrottzen cried, blocking another blow. "We only have a dozen or so left!"
"I can only use so many healing spells!" May cried, she had long since begun healing full time.
"We need to try something different." Bojohn chimed in. "Anything! 'Cause what we're doing now isn't working."
Timitt was now down to 15% health but had made the three adventurers fight every inch of the way. The battle, now entering its second hour, was beginning to wear on the small party. Wrottzen was now at 25% health, Bojohn at 30% once again and May at 50% health. Each not willing to use anymore potions than necessary at this point in the battle.
After a little thought, Wrottzen replied, "Bojohn! Back to Pattern Beta! This time we're protecting May."
"Why? What are you planning?" Bojohn asked.
"May, tell us when all of your healing spells have gone off cooldown. While you're waiting, get your MP back to full."
"Got it."
"Bojohn, our objective now is to simply draw his attention. Dodge as many attacks as possible!"
"OK buddy but you still haven't filled us in on your plan."
"You'll see, now let's go!"
Using a combination of Anchor Howl and Hit-and-Run tactics, the duo of Wrottzen and Bojohn were able to successfully distract the boss while May's spells regenerated.
"They're ready!" May cried from the sidelines.
"Great!" Wrottzen said as he drank one of the final potions in their inventory. "When I give the signal, start firing off those spells nonstop at both me and Bojohn."
"Right!"
"Bojohn, I need a maximum amount of damage output from you. Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be." He replied.
"Let's go then."
As the duo charged at their oversized enemy, Wrottzen turned back and yelled, "NOW!"
Once May started casting the healing spells, neither Bojohn nor Wrottzen began worrying about defense. Instead both focused on dealing as much damage as possible to the field boss.
"We've almost got it!" Bojohn said excitedly as Timitt's health ticked below 5%.
"Hopefully he doesn't have another trick up his sleeve." Wrottzen replied as he continued to hack away at their enemy.
Not a moment later, Timitt, made a huge jump into the air and retreated back about 10 feet.
"He's going to go enraged again!" Bojohn warned.
TImitt roared and slammed his club into the ground creating a series of cracks.
"No. This is different." Wrottzen observed. "It's an AOE attack! Bojohn, RUN!"
One more club smash was all it took for the cracks in the ground to become huge unavoidable fissures. Both Wrottzen and Bojohn were caught in the attack, depleting what meager reserves of health they had left.
As his Hp hit zero, the words 'You are Dead' appeared in front of Wrottzen along with a one minute countdown. So this is how death works here. Wrottzen thought. It's almost peaceful in a way.
Once the timer reached 30 seconds, May appeared in front of him babbling words he couldn't hear. That's right May is still there. Hopefully she can get back to the village OK. He thought offhandedly, stuck in the peaceful bliss that came with dying. Suddenly, a flash of light appeared from May's hands and Wrottzen's health and MP restored to 25%, ending the countdown at 14.
"Wh-What happened?" He asked, trying to sit up.
"Wrottzen! Thank God you're OK!" May cried, before collapsing into a crying fit in her companion's chest. "You can't leave me all alone out here!"
"It'll… be OK." Wrottzen replied awkwardly. "But how am I still alive?"
"I… hic… I had enough MP left to cast a resurrection spell." She replied, beginning to calm down.
"Thank you!" He replied, "What about Bojohn? He was caught in the attack too."
"I only have one resurrection spell." May admitted, "And you were closer."
"OK, you need to get out of here." Wrottzen stated, quickly turning serious. "I'll distract him using Anchor Howl while you make a run for it."
"That handles me, what about you?"
"Don't worry about me. Just run to the village and wait there. Bojohn and I will be along in a week or so."
"You're planning to sacrifice yourself so I can escape? No, No, NO!" May cried, banging her fists into Wrottzen's armor. "You can't leave me out here all alone. You and Bojohn are the only people I know here. I don't want to be alone…"
As he looked down onto May's flushed face, eyes still puffy and red from crying, Wrottzen realized just how lucky he was to have found Bojohn that first day. When I got trapped here at least I had my best friend to help work things out. He thought. May had no one. She was thrown into a new world where she knew nothing and no one until she met us. That's why she insisted on tagging along. She just didn't want to be alone.
"Fine…" Wrottzen said, May's face lighting up at the response, "Since we can't escape together, we'll have to defeat Timitt together. I'll enter Fortress Stance and draw aggro while you hit him with everything you have."
"OK." May said, calming down a little more.
"If we do this, promise me one thing." Wrottzen asked, "If I fall again, just run. I'll be able to fight with my mind at ease if I know you'll do that."
"O…K" She responded slowly.
"Good. Now I have an idea that might let us win. Let's stagger our attacks. While he focuses on one of us, the other will attack. Ready?"
"Yeah."
The two climbed out of the fissure and traveled to opposite sides of the clearing. Once in position, Wrottzen charged. "Aura Saber!"
After striking Timitt with the single move, he began to retreat, kiting the boss along with him.
"Now May!"
"Centripetal Motion!" May flew in with her staff spinning rapidly above her. Once the skill was complete, she also began kiting the boss, this time away from Wrottzen.
"Good! I think one more time will do it!"
"All right. Maybe we can-" At the most inopportune time, May tripped on one of the upturned rocks on the battlefield and was left wide open for an attack. Timitt, not one to pass up such a golden opportunity, brought back his club to deliver the final blow.
"KYAAAA!" May screamed in horror.
"Shield Swing!"
In the nick of time, Wrottzen arrived and deflected Timitt's swing away from May and into the ground.
"I won't let you touch her! Cross Slash!"
Activating one final skill, Wrottzen attacked Timitt ferociously bringing him from 1% to 0 Hp.
As Timitt disintegrated and the two received Level Up notifications, neither adventurer spoke, relieved that the job was done.
"Are you OK?" Wrottzen asked, finally breaking the silence which had fallen on the clearing.
"I'm fine, but my ankle is sprained." May replied. She blushed slightly before asking, "Could you carry me?"
"Of course."
May hopped on the Guardian's back and the two walked in silence back to the village.
AN: Hey guys! Sorry about the slight wait but here's the new chapter and its an action filled one to boot! I hope you enjoy!