The winding path eventually led them to the largest room they had seen yet. It was significantly darker compared to everywhere else, with no gaps in the walls to let in natural light. The bit of light they did get, was emitted from a large, yellow, blocky mass that floated high above them. Cubes of varying sizes shifted in and out of it in a seemingly random, and mechanical way. The movements were jerky and stilted as the mass fluctuated idly, with small bolts of energy flashing out every time it reabsorbed a block.

"It's like a heart," Masuko commented as they all gazed up in mixed amazement and suspicion.

They remained right on the lip of the entrance, just before they were to drop down fully into the room, with the goal of gauging any and every possibility before jumping into the unknown.

"That's probably what powers the labyrinth," Kominato surmised.

Eijun crept closer to the edge and peeked down, eyeballing the fall distance. The last time they had to drop into a room, Eijun's knees protested the landing, and it took a considerable amount of effort not to allow the momentum to cause him to sprawl across the floor in a heap. He did, however, complain rather loudly, only to endure the teasing from both Miyuki and Kuramochi.

A downside to being a range class; Eijun's body wasn't as formidable or sturdy compared to a melee, that constantly has to throw their weight around to avoid attacks or land safely when they get knocked off their feet. Eijun normally has the safety of distance, with little need to throw himself around except for a few occurrences where a Boss specifically targets the ranged.

As Eijun was scanning the room below he belatedly noticed something amiss, "Uh, guys, there's no doors," he blurted out. Other than the door they entered through, there weren't any that would lead them out. Unless there was a door below them, hidden from their view by the outcropping they stood on.

Out of his peripherals, Eijun noticed the rest join him at the edge, as they finally turned their attention away from the mass above, to further investigate.

"This the Boss room?" Isashiki wondered as he crouched down as if he would get a better angle to confirm or deny it.

"Seems to be," Yuuki clarified, gaze returning to the mass.

"Fuckin' finally," Azuma snapped in annoyance. It didn't take long for Azuma to become fed up with the tediousness of the puzzles, and complained that there wasn't enough action. And Eijun couldn't agree more. He, too, would have preferred a bit more fighting. Other than the room with all the levers, there hadn't been any other mobs.

Without waiting, Azuma fearlessly leaped off the edge, "Azuma-!" Tanba called out, hand extended outward as if he had intended to stop Azuma from jumping.

They all knew it wouldn't have helped.

Eijun heard a quiet sigh and turned to see Yuuki close his eyes in resignation.

"Guess we're going," Miyuki said with a shrug. With a hand on the hilt of his greatsword, he hopped off the outcropping to the room below. One by one, the rest followed over the edge, some, Kuramochi, doing front flips for imaginary style points. Eijun couldn't help but laugh as he jumped, already bracing himself for the impact.

Just like the first time, his knees bent as he landed with a dull ache that shot up his calves. The fall this time was slightly higher and forced Eijun to throw his hands to the ground to steady himself on the balls of his feet, but at least it wasn't a faceplant. It was only slightly comforting to see that Furuya hadn't fared any better, as everyone else, including Tanba and Kawakami, made it look easy.

With his face toward the ground, Eijun noticed the indents that cut completely straight along the stone. He pushed himself to his feet and peered around, taking in the lines bisecting lines to create a perfect grid across the entire room. Each square was big enough for Eijun to lay starfished in the center and still have a few inches before he crossed into another. All the rooms and even the pathways had been solid stone, other than the occasional crack or crater scattered about.

Just another outlier to differentiate this room from the rest.

No sooner than they walked further in, did a sudden roar reverberate around the room, resonating from somewhere overhead, and froze them in their tracks. They just had time to shift their gaze skyward to see a large, gray thing fall from beyond the luminous mass, barely clipping one of the cubes as it passed.

It landed hard dead center of the room on two, hooved feet, shaking the area in its entirety with the force. It rose slowly to its full, massive height, lifting its bull-shaped head with glowing red eyes. Its body was made up of a solid shade of gray, identical to the stone of the walls and floors of the labyrinth. If it wasn't for the fact that it was moving, Eijun could have passed, what was clearly a minotaur, off as a simple, albeit, well-detailed, statue.

Immediately, everyone had their weapons out and at the ready. Eijun unconsciously summoned Aoi, his spirit of water, that took on the form of a dragon, roughly the same length of his entire arm. Scales a vivid, royal blue that darkened further down his body, leading to a tuft of fur at the end of his tail. Eijun stuck his left arm out for Aoi to coil himself snuggly around it, claws digging into the fabric of his sleeve until his chin rested on the back of Eijun's hand.

The minotaur reached behind itself to pull out a giant hammer that had been strapped to its back and swung it forward with another roar. The gust the swing produced was enough to have them all stumble back a step; blocking their faces from the dust and loose debris it kicked up.

Belatedly, Eijun noticed everyone else had already fallen back behind Miyuki, leaving him to stand between them, and the stone minotaur. Eijun was pulled backward with a startled yelp by Kawakami, who gave him an apologetic smile.

They waited to see if the Boss would make the first move, or if it'll allow them to begin the battle at their own pace.

When all it did after the swing was rest the long hilt of its hammer on the ground, they knew it was going to wait on them to strike first. Which was perfect, but not all bosses gave such leeway, and would begin the fight as soon as their area was breached. Though, those were more common in standard dungeons from Eijun's experience.

"Raid bosses tend to be more confident," Kawakami quietly began next to Eijun, probably reading the confusion on his face, "In dungeon's, the bosses want as much of an upper hand as they can get, which often results in surprise attacks."

"In raids, they have good reason to be overly confident," Yuuki added on, Eijun peered around Kawakami to see that everyone else had lowered their guards slightly now that the threat of attack was gone. "Though, there still are raid bosses that will initiate battles immediately. More for the sake of quickly wiping parties out and not for the need to get the upper hand." Yuuki glanced Eijun's way momentarily before looking towards the Minotaur again, "It's always safest to assume that they'll try and attack first."

Yuuki twirled his spear rapidly in one hand; briefly glowing orange at the self-buff he applied, "Last minute prep!" He commanded, halting his spear to drive the blade into the stone by his feet. Instantly, the group began activating their own buffs onto themselves in preparation.

Eijun only had one buff, which, when Aoi was summoned, boosted his critical chance rate. With Ume, the buff would increase his attack speed that'll last for about thirty minutes before he has to reapply it.

Everyone had at least one or two buffs that they applied to themselves, everyone, but Miyuki, who appeared to have activated a total of four. Eijun wasn't familiar enough with the Warden class to know what each of them did, so he could only assume what they were. He sure as hell wasn't going to ask Miyuki; even though his curiosity was screaming to find out. Maybe he could get Chris alone sometime and badger him for details.

"Ready?" Yuuki asked, then paused and waited as everyone affirmed their status by repeating, 'ready', "Miyuki, on go," he continued, "Three."

Eijun took a deep breath, the familiar feeling of butterflies fluttering freely, almost nauseatingly, in his stomach.

"Two."

Miyuki angled his body slightly to the side, greatsword extended behind him, tip mere inches from brushing the ground.

"One."

He dropped his weight into a near crouch, face blank and eyes hyper-focused on the Boss. Eijun witnessed him take a deep breath in, and held it.

"Go!"

As soon as Yuuki's voice boomed across the room, Miyuki pushed off, shooting across the remaining distance towards the minotaur. He swung his greatsword up before bringing it down in an arc onto the Boss for an impressive cleave. The minotaur was quick to react, swinging its own hammer towards Miyuki, only for him to swiftly dodge by sidestepping and rolling behind the Boss, forcing it to turn and expose its wide back to the rest of the party.

Kuramochi dashed headlong towards the Boss, instantly going invisible with his stealth upon approach. The rest of the melee advanced in their own fashion. Whether that be a running leap for a smash attack, or a straight-arrowed dash, with blades leading the charge. Within seconds, they were on the Boss, beginning the execution of their combos.

Eijun moved forward slightly to shorten the gap between him and the Boss. He discovered it worked better for him to not stand at his max range. For one, the further away he stood, the higher chance his attacks had of missing; and two, if the Boss happened to move further away, it gave Eijun more time to adjust his position accordingly. Tanba and Kawakami seemed to have a similar mindset, Furuya; however, stood the furthest away as the rest of the range classes fanned out across the room. Though, it didn't appear to hinder his accuracy any as fireball after fireball hit their marks.

Eijun was preparing an attack when a sudden, overwhelming, rush of energy ran through him. A quick glance around the room showed that everyone had the same dark blue aura swirling around them.

A party buff, then.

Reeling his left arm back, Eijun poured the boosted energy into the palm of his hand, before he thrust his arm forward to release a jetstream of scalding water. Steam whipped across his face with the explosive force as the blast easily sailed across the distance to the Boss. Adrenaline pumping, Eijun continued, slapping his palm onto the ground, causing a geyser to form under the Boss, unleashing an eruption of boiling water. As a two-part attack, even after the geyser subsided, the water that rained down was still hot enough to do residual damage.

Eijun had a brief moment of panic at having just used an AOE attack whilst the melees were still directly on the Boss. Quickly, he scanned everyone he could see, searching for signs of injury or irritation. Though, thankfully, they all appeared perfectly fine with only intense focus on their faces. Eijun supposed since he had yet to be yelled at, and no one else seemed concerned, he'll continue to go all out with reckless abandon until he was told otherwise.

Bringing both hands together in front of himself, palms forward, Eijun braced his stance as he pulled a large amount of energy into his hands; charging up one of his strongest attacks. While once unleashed, the skill would do a tremendous amount of damage, it had a caveat that he could not move. If he did, he would have to restart the charge all over again until he could complete it. However, quicker than normal, the skill had built up more than the required amount needed to cast it, and soon after, Aoi smoothly slithered from around his arm right as the initial blast was set to go off. Aoi swiftly merged with the torrent as it jetted out from Eijun's palms to manipulate it around his body, forming a larger, liquified version of himself. With a roar of his own, Aoi crashed into the minotaur. Aoi then spiraled up around the entire length of the Boss until he shot up way past the tips of its curved horns. Several meters above the minotaur, Aoi flipped himself around to dive down directly atop the Boss's head in a glorious burst of steam and smoldering water; steeping its stone exterior in the hot liquid to deal damage over time.

The initial force of its release always managed to propel Eijun backward, causing his boots to slide against the ground as he dug his toes down to slow himself. By the time Eijun fully righted his balance, Aoi was already flying back to retake his position around Eijun's arm.

No sooner than Aoi made himself comfortable again, the extra boost that had been pumping through Eijun's veins instantly disappeared as the party buff wore off. The effects had been so sudden that it took the majority of its duration for Eijun's body to become accustomed to it, but its loss was just as abrupt; leaving Eijun feeling disoriented and empty with its absence.

Eijun refused to let that distract or slow him down.

Distantly, Eijun heard Miyuki call out a warning, and immediately, the melee all backed away from the minotaur as it began to twist, using the momentum of its hammer to pull its spin at a higher velocity. While they were out of direct reach of its weapon, the draft it created gave it additional reach, forcing the melee to back up further or risk getting sucked in. That same current of wind the Boss generated repealed their ranged attacks as well, causing all their skills to be randomly misdirected into walls or back at each other.

Eijun just barely managed to duck away from an aimless, repelled bolt of electricity, when a high-pitched buzzing noise appeared from behind him.

"Hold your fire!" Yuuki shouted out.

Eijun had already halted his attack and didn't pay any mind to Yuuki, not when the sound steadily grew closer. Instead, Eijun hurriedly spun around, expecting to find an Add of some sort, only to see a red beam of light skim across the entire width of the room, beginning at the wall behind Eijun to presumably reach the one parallel to it, "Behind!" Eijun yelled in a panic. It wasn't moving very fast, but they had yet to figure out what would happen if anyone were to be touched by it.

He backpedaled as the laser drew closer. When it was near enough for Eijun to feel the heat radiating off of it and smell the scent of burning hair, he instinctively hopped over it, landing safely on the other side, "Oh, that wasn't so bad," he said to himself, slightly amazed with how easy it was to avoid.

Everyone else only had a moment to observe before the Boss slowed to a halt, instantly turning on Miyuki and swinging its hammer at him. Miyuki quickly brought his greatsword up to easily block.

And just like that, combat started up once again, though this time, everyone had to maneuver over the laser mid-fight as it harmlessly passed across the room to disappear when it reached the other side.

However, now that lasers had been introduced, they became more frequent. Starting with one that would appear at random from a wall before fizzling out at the opposite end. Then, to two; either from the same area or separate. While two wasn't much more difficult, it forced them to keep constant vigilance for where the lasers were at all times.

If anything, they were an inconvenience.

It was when the lasers stopped altogether after being so consistent, that unease filled Eijun.

The minotaur paused its attack rotation to let out a roar that dropped them all to their knees. It then gripped the handle of its hammer with both hands to raise it high above its head, before slamming it downward. The motion was vastly different from what it normally displayed from its attacks, that it didn't appear to even be an attack.

Unfortunately, Miyuki was still in its path. He just barely got his feet back under himself enough to roll out of the way, choosing to avoid it completely rather than try and block. The hammer collided hard on the spot Miyuki had just been, the sheer force of the collision violently shook the room. Those that managed to stand were toppled off balance once again as the quaking seemingly intensified.

A loud rumble began to fill the room as random squares of the grid were shaken loose, to slowly fall out of place and plummet down to earth. Pillars of light shined up from the new holes in the floor, overpowering the lumination from the glowing mass above.

They weren't given time to marvel over their loss of floor, as the Boss lifted its hammer to swing it, once again, at Miyuki, who rolled the opposite direction underneath the hammer and to his feet.

Eijun pushed himself up and ran closer, around one of the holes. He momentarily paused to peer down it, only to see nothing but clouds, before he forced his gaze away to move away from the opening, lest something knock him into it. Eijun skidded to a halt at a decent midway point, safely away from anywhere he could fall, to continue to rain, quite literally, damage down on the Boss. All while his heart thundered loudly in his ears.

Soon, the lasers returned, three to four at a time. Slowly, they began to push Eijun back little by little in his effort to avoid them; searching for cross-sections that'll allow him to jump two at a time to safety.

Again, the lasers stopped, and the minotaur roared, immobilizing them on their knees while it brought the hammer down, "Block it, Miyuki!" Kuramochi called out with a touch of panic.

Like the first time, Miyuki dived away to avoid it, "No one can block it, dumbass!" he snapped back in annoyance as he leveraged himself onto a knee with the support of his greatsword, braced for impact. Again, the room shook as more cubes fell away, revealing the expanse of sky beneath. Eijun's heart nearly stopped as several on each side of him separated, bathing him in natural lighting.

With the force of the quakes, getting to his feet to run would be nigh impossible, which led him to the daunting realization that if one was unlucky enough to be on a cube that was falling, there was a high chance they wouldn't make it off in time. His eyes darted around, taking stock of everyone to make sure they were all safe, and when he counted eleven heads, he mentally sighed in relief.

The Boss slowly lifted its hammer, but instead of attacking Miyuki straight away, it turned its back to him, to face Eijun directly and lowered its head so its horns were parallel to the floor.

Eijun's eyes widened in dawning horror as the minotaur charged, "Sawamura!" he barely heard someone call over the deafening beat of his heart and his own racing thoughts. Unconsciously, Eijun backed up a step but immediately hit the wall behind him. Desperately, Eijun glanced at both sides, both sides that were now missing chunks of the floor. The only path was straight ahead of him, where the minotaur was swiftly closing the distance; its long strides easily cleared the gaps in the ground.

So where the hell should he go?

He could feel the vibration through the floor with its every step, growing stronger the closer it got. It was only when the Boss was nearly on him, that Eijun kicked himself into gear.

On pure adrenaline, Eijun turned and ran. He ran until he was at the very edge of a hole and lept, gaze focused on the ground on the other side.

Behind him, Eijun heard the Boss collide into the wall, the force strong enough to create a blast of dust and rock. The sudden squall it kicked up hit Eijun mid-air and propelled him over the gaping hole and to solid ground, where he tumbled and rolled before he finally came to a skidding halt on his face.

Hastily, Eijun peeled himself off the floor, "I'm okay!" he exclaimed in reassurance, though more to reassure himself than anybody.

"Sawamura!" Tanba called out as he ran over. He fell to his knees in front of Eijun, setting his bow down beside him to help Eijun into a seated position, "Are you okay?" he needlessly asked, eyebrows pinched in concern.

Didn't Eijun already say he was, or did he hallucinate that?

"You're bleeding," Tanba observed. And now that he mentioned it, Eijun did feel a warm wetness on his upper lip. Tanba reached into a pouch strapped against his thigh to retrieve a small vial filled with red liquid, and forced it into Eijun's hand, "Drink that, it'll stop the bleeding."

Eijun made to pull the cork out, only to pause at a dull ache on his hand. He lifted it to see Aoi gnawing on his thumb in irritation; he must have gotten smacked on the ground as well, "Ow," Eijun gritted out with his own ire and flicked Aoi's head away. Aoi swiftly retaliated by biting down on the soft flesh between his thumb and pointer finger, not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to threaten that he could if he wanted to. Eijun glared at the dragon, before deciding to ignore his tantrum and popped the cork, downing the vial's contents in one shot.

"Thanks," Eijun said, wiping the blood off his lip with the back of his right hand. Almost immediately, the hot ache in his nose began to fade until it was nonexistent. Tanba simply nodded in response; reclaimed his bow, and helped pull Eijun to his feet.

With a loud crack and a shower of debris, the minotaur finally freed its horns from the wall before its gaze honed onto Miyuki, who had planted himself in front of the very opposite wall, "Everyone move closer!" Miyuki shouted, "It's targeting the furthest person!"

Sure enough, the Boss lowered its head again, and charged at Miyuki, while the rest of the party followed after it at a safe distance. As soon as it was within range, Miyuki side-stepped around it so it crashed into the wall again, "Attack while it's stuck!" Miyuki ordered, and immediately, they all converged upon it, getting in as many free hits as they could.

The party buff abruptly coursed through them all, boosting their damage output significantly. Eijun was still unsure who was responsible for it, but already, he was a big fan of its benefits.

Even though deep down, Eijun knew he still wasn't doing nearly as much damage as his seniors with his lower-level gear.

In a moment of awe, Eijun couldn't help but observe Miyuki, as he had yet to get a good angle of him in action. But now, Miyuki didn't have to worry about tanking and could pummel away at the Boss like everyone else. Eijun didn't think it possible for someone to move a sword of that size as quickly as Miyuki was, though it did help Eijun understand a little bit about what Tanba said on how Miyuki's own attacks hurt him. Since it really did appear as if some of his skills were fueled by blood.

Too soon, the buff dispersed and the minotaur freed itself, but thankfully it seemed to be done charging across the room. Miyuki had instantly swapped back to tank mode and slowly led the Boss back to the center, while the party pieced their way around the holes in the floor and remained generally close by to avoid having it run around again.

Unfortunately, the lasers made a return, now five to six at a time, with a near-constant wave of them that they had to dodge. They had found that getting touched by one wasn't too detrimental, as it would merely shock and temporarily stun whoever couldn't evade in time. It wasn't bad for the ranged classes, but for a melee, it could stun them during an unfavorable moment of the Boss's rotation, leaving them unable to avoid oncoming attacks.

The Boss brought its hammer down for a third time, knocking what little floor they had left into the sky below, which also, unfortunately, made evading the lasers even more tricky, to where, in some cases, it was safer to get hit by them than try to jump over.

They all unanimously began to feel rushed with the knowledge that they would not survive if the Boss continued to remove the floor, especially since there was no way to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Thankfully, before it could do it for a fourth time, the minotaur dropped the head of the hammer onto the ground in an effort to support itself, only to, ultimately, collapse to its knees and crumble to dust; leaving behind a large chest in its place.

Every one of them was left panting heavily through their victory cheers, while some even flopped heavily onto the ground in utter exhaustion. Eijun was one of them, as his limbs felt like lead with his adrenaline crash.

Yuuki meandered up to the chest and popped the lid open, to reveal a golden light that promised excellent treasures. They all waited with baited breath for the verdict as Yuuki peered at the contents, "Well," Yuuki began, "Azuma will be happy," he straightened up with what appeared to be a giant, legendary ax in his hand.

"Hell yeah!" Azuma bellowed as he marched forward to claim the reward. Eijun couldn't help the sudden bout of jealousy that Azuma, who already had a legendary weapon, was lucky enough to get another. Most loot would only offer one rare weapon per run. It was almost unheard of for a chest to contain more than one legendary weapon.

"What are you gonna do with your current one?" Shirasu asked.

Azuma hummed in thought, "Probably reseal it to sell."

"Oh yeah?" Isashiki jumped in, a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth, "With what sealing charm?" Azuma growled in response, swinging his new ax at him, only for Isashiki to dance out of the way with a laugh.

As the ax had yet to be unsealed and appraised, it was no better than a basic ax that a forester would use to chop logs.

"What else is there?" Miyuki wondered.

Yuuki reached back in to pull out what looked to be armor, "There's some legendary light armor." Eijun immediately perked up at that, but then remembered that both he and Furuya wear light armor, and both were in need of it. Yuuki turned to regard them both before he rummaged around in one of his many pouches to produce a twelve-sided die, "Pick a number between one and twelve, and whoever guesses the closest to what it lands, will get the armor."

Eijun jumped to his feet, ready to blurt out his number, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Furuya beat him to it, "One."

Eijun narrowed his eyes at Furuya. That was the number he was going to pick. So instead, Eijun went in the opposite direction, "Twelve!"

Yuuki nodded his head once and lightly tossed the die up and let it fall to the stone. Eijun and Furuya both crowded forward to watch it roll. When it finally stopped, it revealed the number nine. Eijun loudly cheered as he received the armor, hugging it to his chest. He was utterly overwhelmed with joy.

"Congrats," Yuuki said with a small smile; Eijun cheered some more.

A/N: AOE = Area Of Effect