After several days of hunting, dungeon crawling, and tinkering with the lightsaber, we reached the Boss Room on the afternoon of our last day here. Doing one final check of our equipment before heading in, I informed the two that we were on a tight schedule today. Wanting to avoid causing my father any more trouble than I already had, we needed to be back before those three idiots left.
"My stepbitch and her hellspawn are leaving this evening so we need to be back before they go. If I am not there, I will not hear the end of it for several weeks.", I sighed, adjusting my leather armor, 'Not only that, I do not want to screw up being able to do adventures for the foreseeable future.'
"It must be tough having those three be related to you.", Lucoa remarked, with a sympathetic smile.
"It is what it is.", I said with a shrug, "I only have to tolerate her for another twelve years. Once I leave the house, Roxanne and I can put this country behind and find a new home. If we find somewhere nice, we can move her family there to be closer to us."
"We would need to find somewhere where my aunty and uncle can find good work. It would also need to be cheaper so they can afford a bigger home for my cousins and themselves.", Roxanne stated, rattling off several more things their new homeland would need to have.
Helping the two of them adjust their armor, we approached the massive, stone boss room door once we were ready. Pushing it open together, orbs immediately flickered on inside, illuminating the enormous space for us to see. Glancing around the room to see what sort of boss monster we would be facing, Roxanne was startled to see that there was nothing inside the room.
"Did we break something? Where is the boss monster?!", Roxanne gasped, a bit disappointed.
"Dungeon Bosses only spawn once everyone is in the room and the doors are shut behind them.", Lucoa explained to her, "It is a measure to prevent adventurers from using the dungeon's system against the boss. If the doors could remain open, people would simply jump back out if they were overwhelmed or even attack through the barrier that keeps the boss monster in the Boss Room."
'Anti-cheat at its finest.', I thought, while we walked into the room, "Just out of curiosity, does the Dungeon Boss drop any unique items the very first time it is spawned? Presumably, we are the first people to have spawned it."
"You know, I am not sure.", Lucoa replied, as the door shut behind us, "I do not think anyone has thought to record that information before, but it is possible."
Excited to see if I would get a second piece of tech on this trip, I pulled my lightsaber off my belt and turned it on. Instantly powering up this time, I gleefully stood there watching a massive magic circle appear in the center of the room. Rising out of the floor, a massive, purple slime with a crown on its head appeared with a contingent of smaller silver slimes around it.
"What are those!?", Roxanne gasped.
"I…I do not know. I have never seen either of them in any of the monster encyclopedias I have read.", Lucoa panicked.
"Those are Metal Slimes and an Acid King Slime.", I informed them, using the spell Identify on the two groups, "Be careful, metal slimes have a lot of weight behind them. Taking a hit from one could break bones or crush you."
Just as I said that all the Metal Slimes turned into spheres and began charging at us. Gaining speed as they closed the gap between us, all of us rolled out of the way just before they reached us. Slamming into the door behind us, they shrugged the impact off and immediately rolled toward us again. Deciding to keep moving, instead of just continuing to dodge, I called out to Lucoa and Roxanne with a plan.
"Metal Slimes are weak against Acid and Fire magics.", I shouted, keeping an eye on the larger, purple slime, "Lucoa if we kite them toward you, can you melt them?"
"I wish I could, using my Fire Breath leaves me immobilized for thirty seconds after using it.", Lucoa answered, "It takes a lot out of me, I am sorry!"
"That is fine, I can use my lightsaber instead.", I remarked, "It does not appear the big one will make a move till we finish off the Metal Slimes. Once I finish them off, get ready to keep moving."
Nodding their heads, the women ran around the room on an intercept course with me. Motioning for them to jump, once they were close, Roxanne ran along the wall while Lucoa jumped over me. Dropping down to my knees, I spun around and bisected the ones chasing them with my lightsaber. Jumping back up before crashing into their corpses, I used one as a springboard and did a backflip over the ones chasing me.
"Fireball!", I shouted, casting the Fire Spell on them.
Melting the remaining survivors in an instant, all of them melted into the floor and disappeared. As soon as they were gone, the core of the Acid King Slime began frantically moving around within its body. Locking on to me a few moments later, several acid spikes shot out from its body toward me. Attempting to use the lightsaber to cut one of the spikes, instead of erasing it, my sword turned it into a cloud of superheated acid vapor. Pushing myself away from it with Wind Magic, I blinked several times and acknowledged I almost died. Had I breathed in any amount of the vapor, it would have liquefied my lungs and internal organs.
'Shit that was way too close. Actual Magic makes this a bit less useful than in the movies!', I thought, quickly recovering from that near-death encounter.
Quickly catching up to the women, the slime continued to pursue us with a barrage of acid spikes. As we waited for an opening to appear, the monster became increasingly agitated by its constant misses so it switched tactics on us. Stopping its assault, the mammoth-sized creature leaped into the air and came down with an earthshaking slam that shook the entire dungeon. Caught off guard by the shaking, Roxanne almost fell to the ground but I managed to keep her on her feet.
"I do not think I need to say this, but if it lands on us we are dead.", Lucoa laughed, enjoying this fight.
"Leon, do you have any suggestions?", Roxanne inquired, watching the monster do the same stunt a second time.
"I…I might have a plan, but it is a bit risky.", I said, looking at my lightsaber, "If I use Telekinesis to fling my weapon into its body, I can guide it into its core remotely. The problem is, I do not want to lose this weapon but I do not have a choice here."
"What do you need us to do?", Lucoa asked.
"It can freely move its core around anywhere in its body. Since we have only one shot, it needs to be distracted so it does not dodge my weapon.", I stated, "Also, once my weapon enters its body, quickly cover your mouth and nose. The vapor it will create could melt your organs if you breathe it in. We will still get burns on the rest of our bodies, but the potions we found here in the dungeon should patch us up."
Seeing no alternative options here, Roxanne and Lucoa ran ahead of me to draw its attention. Suppressing my mana to the limit, since slimes worked off of Mana Sight, I instantly disappeared from its view. Believing I had died, it completely disregarded me and turned its attention toward the women.
"We have not known each other long, but it has been fun!", I cried, throwing the lightsaber like a spear.
Using what little control of the Force I had, I stabilized its flight path and guided it into the slime's body. Vaporizing everything in its path, by the time the slime realized what was happening, my weapon pierced through its core. Immediately covering our faces, the slime violently exploded sending its purple goop all over the place.
Feeling it splash onto my body, I braced myself for immeasurable pain but nothing happened. Waiting a few moments to see if it was a weaker acid, and when nothing continued to happen I looked back to see what was wrong.
"Leon, do not look over here!!", Lucoa screamed.
"What do you mean!? Is something-", I began to say, till I saw something amazing.
Standing on the opposite side of the room, Lucoa and Roxanne were standing there in tattered clothing. Watching their armor and clothing continue to melt away, I looked down at myself and noticed the same thing was happening to me. Using the Identify spell on the goop, everything became clear now. The Acid King Slime's goop was only caustic to living creatures while it was alive. Once it is slain, it is only effective on non-magical items like most armor and weapons.
'So basically it is a big fuck you to all adventurers who fight it. Unless you have magical equipment or have a mage casting a barrier over the party, all your shit gets destroyed afterward…stupid fucking dungeon!', I thought, as the goop began seeping into the floor.
Leaving us almost completely naked, I handed the women spare clothing they had in my Item Box then all of us got dressed again. Once we were situated, I reclaimed my still functioning lightsaber and headed toward the large chest that had spawned in the center of the room. Opening the chest without wasting any time, we were greeted with a small pile of gold and a familiar armor suit.
"It is a T-45 Power Armor Suit!!", I shouted, hoisting the heavy armor suit out of the chest, 'It is not ideally what I wanted, but I will take it for now!!'
"What is a Power Armor Suit?", Roxanne inquired, "It looks like a knight's armor suit."
"It is a Lost Item!!", I told her, quickly looking it over, "Well, it is missing the power source, its weapon systems, and it may have some circuit board damage, but it is still fixable I think. This is a new project for me to work on!"
Stowing our loot away in my Item Box, the chest disappeared and we were abruptly teleported outside the dungeon. Looking up at the sky to estimate the time, I quickly realized that we only had thirty minutes to get back. Scrambling for the boat, Roxanne asked if the dungeon was going to disappear now that we cleared it.
"Only Rank 4 and 5 dungeons disappear when they are cleared. Rank 1 through 3 stay intact though you have to wait twenty-four hours before entering them again. It will not let you in if you attempt to enter before then.", Lucoa told her.
"I hate to be that guy, but please focus on running and not talking.", I pleaded, "I would like to continue exploring my father's airspace after today!"
Understanding what I stood to lose here, the two of them remained silent till we got back to the boat. Turning the engines on, I got us unmoored and headed back home in less than a minute.
—Bartfort Main Island—
Arriving just as my stepmother and step-siblings arrived in port, I cursed our luck and told Lucoa to stay below deck. Doing as I requested, Lucoa hunkered down while I ran over toward them. Stopping roughly ten feet from them, I bowed my head respectfully and wished them a safe trip.
"My apologies for being late. Please have a safe journey back to the capital.", I said, in the politest tone I could muster, 'I hope you all end up eaten by monsters or taken hostage by pirates!'
Catching up to me, Roxanne immediately bowed her head as well but remained silent. Looking over at us for a moment, Zola and Merce could have cared less about anything I said. Stopping where he was, Rutart's eyes locked on Roxanne like a bloodhound to its prey. Sensing his gaze, Roxanne froze up, unable to lift her head or move her body.
"Leon, who is that with you?", he inquired.
"This is my friend Roxanne.", I answered, glancing up at him, "Why do you-"
Noticing a twinkle in his eye, the same Zola had for her servant, I immediately moved between Roxanne and Rutart. Knowing his horny ass would be all over Roxanne, if I did not stop him, repairing the Power Armor now became my top priority. The next time we crossed blades, I would crush him like the insect he was.
"Come on Rutart, stop wasting time!", Zola scolded him, pointing to the floating platform they were on.
"Coming mother.", Rutart replied, quickly catching up to his sister and mother.
Following him with my eyes, I watched him whisper something to his mother before boarding the ship. Unable to hear what he said over the noise of the harbor, a knot began to form in my stomach.
"We should get moving.", I told Roxanne, snapping her out of her paralysis, "Forget about that idiot, we made a lot of money and need to sort everything out."
"Right…", Roxanne said, with a shiver.
Heading back to our ship, I waited for Zola's ship to leave the harbor before telling Lucoa to come topside. Asking her if we could sell our goods to her now, she agreed to our request and asked us to follow her to the Guild Hall to complete the transaction.