The sound echoed like a drumbeat.
The crystal screen pulsed above them:
Boss Encounter Initiated: Bronze Challenger. Difficulty: Easy (?). Attempts: 58.
Bert grinned from ear to ear. “Piece of cake.”
“Do not underestimate it,” Leo warned, flipping pages in his notes. “The dungeon wouldn’t designate a solitary enemy without hidden mechanics. This is a test.”
Harlada raised her hands, frost sparking at her fingertips. “Then let’s test it fast.”
The goblin shuffled forward, spear dragging a screech across the stone.
***
Bert charged first, cleaver high. His boots thundered against the arena floor as he bellowed: “DIE, PUNY—”
The goblin sidestepped. Just a tiny shuffle.
Bert’s cleaver struck the ground with a deafening clang. Sparks burst. The weapon lodged in the stone, stuck fast.
The goblin tapped him gently on the shin with its spear.
Bert screamed like he’d been impaled, flipping backward into the dirt.
The crystal pulsed:
Bouldering Bert – HP: -3. Status: Pitiful.
Harlada clapped both hands over her mouth. “Oh no. It is a trap.”
***
Leo swallowed hard. “Phase one: extreme counters.” He scribbled madly. “Note: boss possesses improbable dodge capacity and devastating minimal-contact damage. Conclusion: brute force inadvisable.”
Bert wheezed from the ground. “It tapped me.”
“Yes,” Leo said grimly. “And you nearly died.”
The goblin scratched its belly again. Then yawned.
***
Harlada darted in next, gloves flashing. She sent a burst of frost across the floor, ice forming beneath the goblin’s feet. “Ha! Try dodging that!”
The goblin slid once, twice—then planted its spear like a walking stick. It steadied instantly. Then it flicked the spear sideways, knocking Harlada’s legs out from under her.
She shrieked, landed flat on her back, and smacked her head against the ice she had just made.
The crystal pulsed:
Harlada Houdini – HP: -2. Status: Embarrassing.
“OW.” She sat up, rubbing her skull. “I hurt myself more than it did!”
“Observation confirmed,” Leo muttered. “Environmental hazards generated by allied incompetence are more lethal than the boss.”
The goblin picked its teeth with the spear tip.
***
Leo adjusted his spectacles, inhaling deeply. “Very well. Tactical binding.”
He thrust both hands forward, and crimson filaments of webbing shot across the chamber, glowing bright. They wrapped around the goblin’s legs, its torso, pinning spear to chest.
“Yes!” Leo shouted. “Immobilized! The fight is ours!”
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The goblin tilted its head. It looked down at the bindings, then twitched.
The webbing snapped like wet string.
Leo paled. “Impossible.”
The goblin blinked once. Then hurled the spear across the arena.
It whistled through the air, struck Leo’s notebook, and pinned it cleanly to the wall. Pages fluttered down like dying birds.
The crystal pulsed:
Warrior Leo Vince – Notes Destroyed. Status: Mentally Broken.
Leo collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest. “My notes…”
***
The goblin stood calmly in the center of the ring, expression vacant.
The adventurers huddled together in the corner.
“Okay,” Harlada hissed. “New plan. We hit it all at once. Overwhelm it.”
“Yes,” Leo agreed shakily. “Triangular formation. Diversionary strikes.”
“I smash,” Bert grunted, yanking his cleaver free of the floor.
“On three,” Harlada said. “One—two—”
“THREE!” Bert screamed, charging early.
They all rushed in.
***
For thirty glorious seconds, chaos reigned.
Harlada’s frost covered the floor in jagged sheets. Leo’s webbing shot in crisscrossing arcs. Bert swung his cleaver wildly, hacking chunks out of stone and air alike.
The goblin hopped once, twice, dodging each attack with casual shrugs. Its chipped spear whirled in a lazy arc, knocking them back one by one.
Bert crashed into a wall.
Harlada spun face-first into the ice.
Leo got tangled in his own filaments and tripped over his quill.
They landed in a heap at the goblin’s feet.
The goblin tapped each of them on the forehead, one at a time.
The crystal pulsed:
Party HP: Critical. Status: Ridiculous.
***
The adventurers groaned, dragging themselves upright.
“This is humiliating,” Leo muttered.
“It’s one goblin,” Harlada moaned.
“I hate bronze,” Bert coughed.
The goblin raised its spear again, eyes glinting faintly red.
The crystal screen pulsed once more:
Phase Two Initiated.
“What?!” all three shouted at once.
The goblin’s body stretched. Its helmet cracked apart, falling away. Muscles bulged grotesquely. Its skin turned dark, eyes glowing crimson. The chipped spear straightened into a gleaming bronze glaive.
It bellowed, a roar so deep the walls shook.
Leo’s quill dropped from his fingers. “Oh. That explains it.”
Bert gulped. “Maybe… smash later?”
Harlada whimpered. “We’re dead.”
The goblin stomped forward, arena floor trembling with every step.
***
The adventurers threw themselves back into the fight.
Harlada unleashed every ounce of frost she had, blasting the goblin’s face with icy shards. It barely flinched.
Leo spun out webs faster than ever, filaments layering into a sticky net. The goblin ripped through it with one swipe.
Bert screamed incoherently and swung his cleaver—only to watch it shatter against the goblin’s armored shoulder.
The crystal pulsed cheerfully:
Cleaver’s Edge Destroyed. Rogue Weapon Slot: Empty.
Bert stared at the hilt in horror. “My baby…”
The goblin’s glaive came down. The three of them scattered just in time, the strike carving a trench in the arena floor.
Leo gasped. “Its damage output is catastrophic!”
Harlada shouted, “English, professor!”
“It hits really hard!”
***
They fought desperately, slipping, screaming, barely dodging each blow. Every attack they landed glanced off bronze-tough skin.
At last, panting and bleeding, they collapsed in a pile at the edge of the arena.
The goblin loomed above them, glaive raised high.
The crystal screen pulsed:
Attempts:59.
The glaive fell.
Darkness swallowed them.
***
They reappeared in the cages above the lava, chains swaying gently.
The crystal screen chimed:
Boss Encounter Failed. Attempts: 59.
Bert wheezed. “That was… not… easy.”
Harlada groaned. “I think I have frostbite. From my own spell.”
Leo lifted a trembling hand, eyes wild. “Statistically…” His voice cracked. “…we’re doomed.”
The lava burbled approvingly.
The Maze of Many… but will you survive what’s next?
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