Chapter Seventeen #2
“The last thing I wanted to hear after my whining was being told I stink.”
“Even if Rosie stinks… Rosie is still cute.”
“Thanks. I guess.”
“Mm.”
I then told Lupa, “Isn’t it nice not tanking? We might stink ourselves, but at least we don’t smell as bad as her. And we’re not the ones getting zombie guts on us.”
“Sev,” Rosie said. “I will come back there, pin you down, and take these intestines I’ve looted to wipe them all over you.”
“Sorry. You’re cute, Rosie. You’re our cute, amazing, wonderful, awesome tank who—”
“Save it.”
“… alright.”
At least the zombies kept on dropping Rotten Intestines for loot.
For how common they were, they sold for a nice profit at Marissa’s.
As for what she was doing with them… I had no idea.
They were one of those commodity items that only existed to be sold which meant that they had some sort of non-system use that made them valuable to daily life in this world.
“Master got in trouble,” Lupa whispered to me.
“Be grateful,” I whispered back. “The only reason she didn’t threaten you is because you’re cuter than me.”
“Mm. Not cuter. Master is cuter.”
“No way. I could never be as cute as—”
Rosie stomped her foot against the ground. “Stop flirting without me! I want to flirt too, you know!”
Teasing Rosie was too fun.
Still, I did feel a little guilty, so I left Lupa’s side to go hang out with Rosie at the front.
Lupa was genuinely bothered by the scent, but I wasn’t.
I wrapped an arm around Rosie’s waist and kissed the side of her head. “Thanks for tanking, Rosie.”
“I—I guess that’s better,” Rosie said, still pouting a little. “But you don’t have to force yourself. I know I stink.”
“Since when have we cared about that? That didn’t stop you from pouncing me the first time we were here.”
“I—I was pent up and high on adrenaline! I thought we were going to die! My hormones didn’t care that we were in a forest full of rotting zombies!”
“Such a horny girl. What am I going to do with you?”
“I don’t want to hear that from you. A guy who cums twice and is still rock hard has no right to ever imply a girl is exceptionally horny. What are we going to do with you is the question.”
Lupa called out from the back, “Get Teacher’s help.”
“Yeah, we’re definitely going to need help with you. I swear, even ten girls probably wouldn’t be enough for that monster.”
This is the best, I thought. All I had to do was be a basic, horny guy and my lovers thought I was a legendary unicorn of a catch who deserved ten women dedicated to milking me dry.
Not that I was thinking of actually getting any more women at the moment.
I had Rosie, Lupa, Stella, and there was one more girl I would soon have.
Though, I had no idea if she would actually like me in that way.
I had a pretty strong feeling she would, but she was a real person now, not a video game character.
But realistically, she was probably going to fall for me, and I was going to be happy to let that happen.
“There,” I said, pointing off to the side where a single spider lily could be seen blooming beyond the path.
“Wow… that flower is super pretty,” Rosie said.
“Even a place like this has beauty. Well, I think the whole dungeon is beautiful. It’s got the spooky aesthetic, the dead trees, the cracked gravestones, the cobblestone paths in the main area—ah, you can never go wrong with the classic undead dungeon style.
But yes, there’s also more classic beauty as well.
Actually, hang on.” I pulled out my phone.
I didn’t have a signal, but I was still able to get close and take a picture of the flower so I could send it to Stella later.
I’d probably also send it to Elma since Rosie gave me her number, but I hadn’t texted her yet.
I thought sharing our adventures would be nice with her since she was a budding adventurer herself.
“Rosie,” Lupa said. “Pet Master for me. He’s being cute.”
“Why don’t you do it?” Rosie asked.
Lupa looked straight at Rosie. “Because you’re next to him.”
Rosie’s eye twitched, but she still gave me a pat on my head for Lupa.
“Alright,” I said, getting us back on topic.
“That flower is actually the sign of where the secret boss is. There are a lot of things like this in the dungeons, and there’ll be way more as we get to the harder ones.
Little things off to the side that are just barely noticeable but stand out as unique.
They’re signs of secrets the majority of the time. ”
“Got it,” Rosie said. “It looks like… is that another flower in the distance?”
“You’ve got it.”
“I’m guessing… we follow the flowers, and they’ll take us to the boss?”
“There’s only one way to find out, right?”
“Right!”
So, with Rosie in the lead, we went off the path and marched deeper into the woods.
Each flower we found revealed another one in the distance and, after the fourth flower, they started to come in patches that grew denser the deeper we went.
Then we came across the hauntingly beautiful sight of the Crimson Maze’s entrance.
Forgotten Cemetery had four sections. There was the main level 4 – 9 dungeon that we already cleared with Otto at the end.
Then there was Princess’s Tomb, the entrance to which was behind Otto, that featured multiple bosses and was full of level 35 – 40 enemies.
There was one more section connected to that, but spoilers.
Then there was Crimson Maze, a level 20 – 25 section with an important boss guarding the entrance.
We weren’t going to deal with the rest of the maze, only its “gate boss.”
“It’s—it’s so beautiful,” Rosie said. “Does… something like this really exist out here?”
“Mm. What Rosie said,” Lupa said.
The entrance to the maze was a clearing in the woods filled to the brim with spider lilies. But they didn’t only cover the ground. They crept up the trees, connected to vines that reached all the way to the treetops.
There was something else different about them, though, and it was that the vines these spider lilies were connected to were covered in red-tipped thorns.
And at the center of the clearing was a floating patch of white fog.
Sometimes, you didn’t have to cross through white fog, you just had to step inside of it.
Also, I made sure to take another picture of the flowers.
“Okay,” Rosie said. “Sev, forbidden knowledge time since we’re going up against something twice our level you said.”
“Right,” I replied. “It won’t be difficult.
I promise.” It might have technically been twice our level, but it was twenty to our eleven.
That was doable. Fighting something level 140 while only 70, however, was not.
“If we could survive against that hyena, we can survive against this. So, see those vines?”
Rosie and Lupa both nodded. Even though Lupa was complaining about the smell earlier, she still came up close to us now that it was time to get serious.
“Those are part of the boss. We’re basically going to go up against a giant flower.
A living, evil flower that wraps its vines around its prey, bleeds its enemies to death, and then absorbs them into the ground once they’re dead.
The main body we’ll be attacking is a giant, stationary flower.
It can’t dodge and it can’t block. The vines are all we have to worry about.
Three more vines will burst out of the ground every 25% of its HP we take out.
Lupa, I have no doubt you’ll be able to sense them and dodge them.
Rosie, the vines don’t deal much damage themselves, but they inflict a nasty DoT that you have to watch out for.
If you get the DoT while you’re over 80%, wait until you reach 60% and then drink a potion.
If you get the DoT while you’re under 80%, just drink a potion immediately to play it safe. ”
Rosie took a deep breath. “Got it.”
“Lupa, me and you are working together on this while Rosie tanks. Each vine counts as a severable limb, but we need to attack near the base—where they come out from the ground. We sever them, and the boss won’t have any way of attacking back.”
Lupa nodded. “Cut limbs near bottom.”
“Right. Now, because this boss is at least level fifteen, that means it has an ultimate. At 20% of its HP, the main flower is going to start spinning around while releasing thorns and clouds of spores. The thorns are going to be unavoidable damage that put that bleeding dot on all of us, so get ready to heal. The clouds of spores are pretty big, but easy to dodge. They move slow, glow red so they’re easy to see, and go away after just a few seconds.
Try not to get hit by them. You’ll get paralyzed if you do.
Make it through the ultimate attack, which lasts for about ten seconds, and we win.
The rest of the fight after that is beating it up until it dies. Got it?”
They both confirmed they were following.
“Great. One last thing. A bit of an environmental hazard. Flowers will randomly spawn around the arena that are like… baby versions of the boss almost. They’ll latch onto you with their own thorny vines if you step on them, so just be careful of where you step.
If you get one on you, all you have to do is—well, in the game, you had to dodge roll to get them off, but you can probably just tear them off in this world.
Also, just before the fight ends, I’m going to let one latch onto me. ”
“Will you be fine?” Rosie asked.