The boss reappeared, reaching up to stab its claws into Levi’s back while he turned. Gordon called out an alarm just a moment too late, swinging his sword around in an arc. Levi twisted and jumped on the gremlin boss before it could flee again, his shortsword flying from his hand as he tackled it to the ground. He slammed his elbow into its throat, ignoring its vicious claws as they dug into his arms in an attempt to free itself. “Two, Skarm, little help?”

His minions were already running toward him, ready to do their part. Two drove his dagger into the boss’s eye, while Skarm scooped up Levi’s sword and tossed it to him on his way to grab the boss’s wrists and wrestle them to the ground.

Level 1+

(Horned Gremlin)

Health 80%

Two refused to be deterred by the minimal damage output and withdrew his dagger, ready to stab again, but Skarm’s attempt to restrain the boss’s arms didn’t go as smoothly as anyone had hoped. He certainly distracted it, but as for actual restraint… the boss was strong enough to simply hold its arm up so Skarm was left dangling in the air, tugging helplessly at the wrist he’d set out to hold down.

This left the boss’s other arm free to deal with Gremlin Two. Levi had his sword in one hand, the other occupied with holding the boss’s head down so it couldn’t bite him or gore anyone with its horn. He couldn’t swing properly without risking hitting one of his own minions.

Level 1+

(Horned Gremlin)

Health 75%

Levi glanced up, surprised when the boss’s health suddenly dropped.

Level 1+

(Horned Gremlin)

Health 70%

Gordon had his sword and was slamming it down into the boss’s unprotected legs while Levi and the minions kept its upper half occupied.

Levi laughed aloud. “Good, keep it up!”

Skarm was biting the boss’s arm while it hurled Two away into the audience with its other hand. The fan gremlins squealed and scattered, apparently not wanting to get involved unless absolutely forced to, and Two got to his feet with a glare of fury.

His dagger lay on the sand where it had fallen.

Levi took advantage of the momentary opening to stab his own sword into the arm no longer holding Two. Skarm continued to savage the other arm, prompting the boss to bellow in fury and fling the offending gremlin away. Skarm crashed into the side of the second tier step with a horrible crack, then slid to the floor stunned. Levi checked his health quickly.

Skarm: Level 2

(Horned Gremlin)

Health: 6/50

He'd taken an uncomfortable amount of damage, but he should survive.

Levi returned to stabbing the boss, driving his sword down through its snarling mouth, but, as with Two's attack on its eye, its health was too high for what should have been a fatal blow by human standards to do more than moderate damage.

Level 1+

(Horned Gremlin)

Health 52%

Still, it was progress. Significant, measurable progress. Levi wasn't going to complain. He was surprised it did as much damage as it had, in all honesty. As soon as they got past the first few thresholds of dungeon levels, they'd not be even this vulnerable.

Still, by all accounts, it looked as though the boss would go down without much more of a fight.

Looks could be deceiving.

When the boss dropped to 20%, something changed. Levi took a moment to register exactly what.

The audience had gone silent. He looked up just in time to see them sprinting at them from all directions, a dozen gremlins with eyes gleaming bright with murderous intent. He couldn't defend from them all while still restraining the boss, and he wasn't confident in his team's ability to handle such overwhelming numbers on their own. Skarm in particular was underleveled compared to everyone else, and Levi had no intention of letting him die again.

He jumped to his feet and spun into the charging line of gremlins, lashing out with blade and fist to send them flying. He wasn't going for killing blows, just maximum chaos. They'd take some damage from anything he hit them with, and if he could keep them away from his allies long enough, attrition should play out in his favor.

Two squealed in pain, and a glance at his minion showed his health dropped to half. The boss had picked him up and was doing its level best to tear his arms off. Two resisted, so far, but it was not going well for him.

Levi snarled and grabbed the nearest gremlin within his taming range. "Submit," he growled, adding it to his roster as its eyes widened in panic and it went limp beneath his grip. "Protect Two." He threw it at the boss. The hapless audience member turned minion did its best to gore the boss's arm with its horn, but it still only had a few health remaining. A single punch from the boss's fist was enough to finish it off.

Levi continued to charge around the perimeter, scattering gremlins away, then grabbed the next one he saw whose health was low enough to tame. "Your turn."

He had enough mana and stamina to do this twice more before he ran out, as long as he didn't do anything too extreme or activate his sword again.

Gordon bellowed a war cry, stabbing the boss through the back with his greatsword. Levi wanted to shout for him to stay back, but his battle instincts were stronger than his protective ones. "Keep it busy," he ordered, stomping the next gremlin's head into the sandy floor.

His wild swings had reduced their number by half, but that still left five very angry gremlins plus the boss teetering on the edge of enraging.

Level 1+

(Horned Gremlin)

Health 11%

Levi threw his newest minion, and this time it succeeded in stabbing the boss somewhere it couldn't immediately shrug it off - right through the shoulder, just above where Gordon's blade continued to stab.

The boss was too single-minded to be distracted. It hurled Gremlin Two to the ground, stomping on his chest with both feet as it jumped up and down in fury, eyes shifting to a sinister orange glow. It snatched the new gremlin from its back, snapping its horn off inside its body without seeming the slightest bit concerned, spinning faster than it had yet moved, and hurled it into Gordon's face. Gordon and the gremlin stumbled back, falling in a heap, neither prepared for the maneuver.

Skarm finished off another of the audience gremlins, while Levi ran two through in a single stroke. "Take care of the last two," Levi ordered, then ran to engage the boss before it could finish off anyone more.

Gremlin Two's name went grey.

"No you don't," Levi snarled. He ran up the steps as he circled around, gaining height as he neared the side where the boss fought Gordon. Hurling himself into the air, he slammed down on the boss's back, mana flooding into his sword as its jaw spread out just in time to clamp down on the boss's head.

Levi wrenched the sword to the side, pushing more mana into the blade as its jaws tore the back of the boss's skull away.

Level 1+

(Horned Gremlin)

Health 4%

Levi swung the sword again, in a horizontal arc this time, and swiped the boss right across the neck. If it had been any stronger, the blow would have only scratched it, but with mana flooding the weapon and the boss already down to a minimal amount of health, it sheared straight through. Its body collapsed, the head flying to land with a dull thud in the sand.

Levi spun, ready to continue fighting, but Skarm had done his work well. The remaining enemy gremlins were dead.

"Sorry," Levi said, unbinding his temporary minion who still clung on at 1 health. "I've got enough gremlins for now."

Its eyes immediately snapped to Gordon, claws extending, lips curling back from its pointy teeth...

Skarm casually swiped his claws across its chest, finishing it off.

Skarm has reached level 3!

Skarm has 1 stat point available.

"Good job, Skarm."

Even if health was an inefficient use of stat points from a purely numerical standpoint, Skarm needed the regen. Levi put his point in Strength.

Skarm Unassigned Levels: N/A Stat Points: 0 Ability Points: 0 Primary Type: Horned Gremlin Horned Gremlin Level: 3 Subtype: None Strength: 1 Health: 55/55 Health Regen: 2 /minute Psyche: 0 Mana: 0/0 Mana Regen: 1 /minute Spirit: 2 Stamina: 70/70 Stamina Regen: 3 /minute

Levi exhaled, then dropped to his knees beside Gremlin Two.

Gremlin Two: Level 4

(Horned Gremlin)

Dead

Revive (17 hr)

Unbind

"You fought well," he murmured, then gathered up his minion's body and stuffed him into the backpack. The pack had stood up surprisingly well, but was beginning to look a bit worse for the wear.

For a moment he considered if it might have been a better plan to keep the extra gremlin, but he knew himself too well. As much as he could tell himself it would be strategically advantageous to have an extra minion and then unbind it once it was no longer needed, he couldn't bring himself to discard anyone once they'd fought together. Temporary minions as a strategic option in a given fight were one thing, but once they were traveling companions it would feel wrong.

Gordon was panting in pained rasps as Levi helped him to his feet. "And this dungeon is only level 1?"

"Maybe on the more difficult side of level 1, but any variation between dungeons is minimal in the long run. No dungeon should be taken lightly, whatever its level. This is as easy as they come."

Gordon considered this a moment, then shrugged. "Are you sure I can't have a healing potion?"