“This is the second boss,” Wolfgang said. “The third is the most difficult, but there’s just something about this one that I can’t stand.”

I still couldn’t comprehend the idea of doing all this over again once we’d finished. We had taken this mission to enter the Singing Caves and rid Dark Talon of the Gnoll chief Mongrim’s presence, and perhaps to deal with Brinson as well. How could Wolfgang have already done all of this? Had he dealt with the gnolls in Dark Talon, found Koray and the other imprisoned raventaur, reported to the Sun-Touched, and received the same mission back when he was hovering at around level ten? The more I learned about the world, the less I knew of how it really worked.

A massive hump rose in the ground. It didn’t go down this time. The dirt slowly rolled off whatever was rising as the mound continued to grow. “Careful,” Wolfgang said as he started to glow white. “We’ll have something similar to the burning circles from before. There’s another part where—I don’t have the time nor will to explain it. You’ll all know what to do when the time comes.”

A tower of bulging flesh protruded from the earth and erected itself between us and our destination. It pulsated and quivered as if it were freezing and boiling at the same time. Its gaping maw hissed scalding steam into the sky. It was a worm much like the others but as tall as the towers in Firemane’s Run.

“How are we expected to defeat this?” I asked anyone with an answer.

Wolfgang stepped closer to the beast with a smirk on his sheep’s face. “This is The Mother Queen. You beat her just like you beat the rest of them. Hit it hard. Hit it often.” The tank charged.

Had it not been Wolfgang, I would have assumed the diminutive sheep was rushing to be the Mother Queen’s meal, but from what I’d seen so far from the tiny battle-sheep, I wasn’t worried. If Wolfgang could command such confidence in the form of a sheep, I could only imagine how inspiring of a leader he must’ve been in the form of the mighty drakkon.

Wolfgang let out a bleat as intimidating as a bleat could be. Mother Queen twitched and shifted. She had no eyes as far as I could tell, but she seemed to be staring down into Wolfgang’s soul. She opened her maw and shrieked something horrible. The cry was cut short by an arrow arching down into her throat. Max’s arrow took less than one percent of her HP. This was going to be a long fight.

Hendrix plucked a couple of notes and tuned his strings before starting his battle song. The music coursed through my veins as I charged into the fight alongside Nikk and the pets. All three were much faster than me, but I got there eventually. The immensity of the tower of flesh before me sent a chill through my bones and urged my legs to run away. I ignored the feeling as best I could and struck the beast with my wrench. My weapon sank into the flesh as if I’d hit a feather pillow, but a white ‘twenty-eight’ floated upward regardless.

“Healer, don’t worry about my health at first,” Wolfgang said. “I can take care of it for a while. Focus on making as many antidotes and health potions as you can. You’ll have to heal everyone in this fight. Be ready.”

Manalolz didn’t respond. I looked back to make sure he’d heard the tank’s orders. The healer was hard at work, mixing all sorts of herbs and depositing black and red potions into the pockets of his pink robe.

Mother Queen’s attention alternated between Wolfgang and Scallion. She smashed her horns and teeth into her target, dealing a fair amount of damage with each strike. Wolfgang cursed every time the boss shifted to the green wolf. Nikk was too busy scaling the boss like a mountain. The toadkin was half-way up the boss’ back, sticking his spear into flesh to help with the climb. Numbers rained upward from the boss, but her HP was still strong at ninety-three percent.

At ninety-one, Wolfgang had another order for Manalolz. “That’s enough mixing. Get ready to heal. Antidotes first, no matter how bad the health gets, alright? Do you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Manalolz said in an annoyed voice.

I threw my beads. I didn’t think it would work, considering the creature had no feet and still had a massive portion of itself underground. I was right, but now I knew for sure. I whacked it with my wrench, bringing her health down to ninety percent.

Mother Queen bellowed and shook the world. She stiffened and pointed her gaping maw to the heavens while a bulge wandered its way up the boss’ body. “What is this?” I asked.

“Pain,” Wolfgang said. “Antidotes first, healer.”

“Yeah, I heard you the first time,” Manalolz said.

The bulge crept upward. I was concerned about what was coming, but at the same time pleased with the free time to do as much damage as we could without Wolfgang or Scallion taking any damage. With the boss preparing whatever the bulge was about to do, she had no time to strike.

Mother Queen unleashed her attack. The bulge erupted from her maw. A sphere of bright green ooze launched into the sky and blasted into a deadly mist that rained upon the entire area between the cave's mouth and the slender winding road.

Green mist drizzled onto my skin. I felt nothing but wetness and warmth. The pain didn’t wait much longer to introduce itself. The mist sizzled on my skin, clothes, and scalp. Smoke or steam, I couldn’t tell which, hissed upward from my burning body. I fell to one knee, screaming in pain. I wasn’t alone.

Nikk fell from his position half-way up the boss. He plummeted to the ground, mist hissing on his skin, too. Hendrix’s music stopped. He fell to both knees, screeching in pain. His face was contorted as burn marks quickly formed around his eyes and mouth.

Wolfgang ran in frantic circles. I thought his thick wool might’ve helped him, but I was wrong. He bleated shrill cries of pain. Max remained on his feet, his bow dropped. His eyes were closed, and he breathed heavily as the mist sizzled on his skin like the rest of us. Buttons continued slashing and gnawing at the Mother Queen, steam rising from her disintegrating fur. Scallion lay dead beside her.

Manalolz looked worse than any of us, dead wolf included. He didn’t scream or complain. Instead, he winced and grimaced as he reached his arm into his deep pocket. It emerged, holding a fistful of black antidote potions. I had to look twice. The sleeve of his pink robe had disintegrated, but that wasn’t what stole my attention. The flesh on his arm didn’t look much better than his sleeve. The skin in some parts burned to the point of exposing bone. The mist rained on the bone and continued to sizzle.

The healer rushed to Wolfgang, popped the cork from an antidote. Wolfgang shouted. “Not yet! Wait for the mist to stop.”

“But it hurts!” Manalolz screamed.

“We’re all in pain,” Wolfgang said. “Using anything now would just be a waste. Trust me. And heal yourself first when the time comes.”

I looked over everyone in the party once again as I waited for the mist to stop. I hadn’t realized how much damage the mist had done upon first glance. It was evident by the burns and screams, but each member of the party was hovering around five percent of their health, myself included.

The last of the mist settled upon the party. “Now!” Wolfgang shouted.

Manalolz poured the powdery contents of an antidote on himself. His HP didn’t change, nor did the severe burns on his arm. I felt weak. I nearly retched. My HP was still dropping despite the mist no longer raining. Everyone’s was, save for Manalolz. The mist was still damaging as it lingered on us. The antidote must’ve stopped the damage over time. Wolfgang had prepared the healer perfectly.

Mother Queen roared. Her rigid figure softened and returned to its initial twitchy, flowing state. I resumed my attack despite my quickly draining life. Nikk and Max joined me. Hendrix played his song, which immediately increased the party’s damage. Wolfgang kept the boss’ attention at all times now that Scallion lay dead beside him. He seemed happy about it, but he had very low health. A little bit of shared aggro didn’t seem like such a bad thing, in my novice opinion.

The boss resumed her attack. She struck at the sheep tank, but Wolfgang dodged the attack. Manalolz ran into the boss’ range. His health was back to full. His burns healed, and even his pink robe had been repaired magically. He popped two corks and blew the contents of each phial onto Wolfgang, the antidote first, and the healing potion second, just as he’d been instructed.

Wolfgang’s HP rose back to a hundred percent. His wool whitened as the blood was magically cleaned out from it. Manalolz came to me next. I pummeled the boss as our healer tended to my wounds. The antidote powder cleaned my skin, hair, and clothes of the poison and gave me a euphoric feeling as the healing powder replenished my HP.

The healer continued from one member of the group to the next as we resumed our damage dealing on the massive worm. Mother Queen didn’t take it without protest, however. Her strikes quickened. Wolfgang dodged many, but not all. By the time Manalolz was finished healing the damage from the mist, our tank was already back down to ten percent HP.

“Don’t worry about my health,” Wolfgang said. “Start making more potions. I’ll call out if I need you.”

Again, Manalolz didn’t acknowledge the order but went straight to work obeying it. The sheep’s wool was drenched with blood. One of his little legs was twisted, and Wolfgang refused to put any weight on it. Dodging attacks was going to be difficult.

He managed quite well. Mother Queen pounded her horned head on the ground over and over. The injured sheep darted to the left and the right as the attacks kept coming, dodging them all while keeping Mother Queen’s attention fixed solely on him. It was a brilliant display of skill and leadership. I found myself wishing I could’ve seen him battling in his prime. I once again felt useless as I stood there offering nothing but the blunt strikes of my wrench. If my beads didn’t work, which they didn’t seem to against bosses, I could not do much else unless the environment provided something, and a glance around revealed nothing of use. I didn’t dare attack the terrain like I’d done against Brinson since we had limited land to use in the first place.

Despite feeling useless, Mother Queen’s health was going down. We’d already gotten her to about seventy percent. Manalolz showed that he could handle the poison mist. Wolfgang showed he could handle Mother Queen’s strikes. As long as we all continued doing as we were, the boss would fall.

Mother Queen hit sixty-six percent. Her body went rigid again, and she roared. I dreaded seeing the bulge again. The mist hurt. Even though Manalolz proved he could handle it, I still didn’t want to feel that burn.

The boss bellowed and shook. Nikk, who’d recreated his climb from before, was sent flying. He crashed into the ground, spear in hand. He sat up, dazed, blinked a few times, and ran his tongue over his eyes.

A shadow washed over the toadkin. He looked up, so did I. Mother Queen hovered her head over him, her gaping maw facing downward. It was the first time she’d set her focus on anyone other than Wolfgang or Scallion. Something about that fact chilled my bones. Perhaps I’d taken Wolfgang’s tanking for granted. Seeing Nikk being stared down like that reminded me that the boss could turn on me any second if it wanted to, and that thought was enough to fuel nightmares for months.

“Nikk, listen closely,” Wolfgang said, his small woolen chest puffed out to get as much volume from his voice as he could. “Something is about to happen to you—something you’ve never experienced before. Don’t panic. There’s a way out if you do what I tell you.”

The toadkin showed no sign that he was listening or not. His bulging eyes widened and fixed on the massive maw above.

“Hit the green sacs when they pop up,” Wolfgang said. “And again, don’t panic. Do you understand?”

Nikk nodded, his eyes still skyward.

Mother Queen groaned, like a creaking ship. A stream of spit dripped from her maw and splashed onto the ground beside Nikk. Faster than I could follow, the boss slammed her head into the ground where Nikk sat. He was swallowed. Mother Queen dove deeper as a seemingly endless portion of her body rushed out from her previous hole.