“Remember, everyone! This is a red-orange tier portal! What’s on the other side is completely unknown! We’re doing this blind! That means let the merc lead.” Yelled a man decked out in modern combat gear, a rifle slung over his back. He lifted a glowing yellow-green sword and pointed it at the slowly-growing portal, looking at a watch on his other hand. “Three… Two… One… GO!” He ordered, and twenty-four people ran double-file through the portal that materialized partway inside the tree on the side of the road. Taking one last glance around, the yelling man jumped through the portal, which disappeared six seconds later, leaving no trace of its existence but a fine, softly glowing red-orange powder.

The other side of the portal was like a scene from a nightmare. Twisted, blackened representations of the previous world took the places of seemingly innocuous items such as trees and bushes, and apartment complexes had a menacing lean that made them seem to overhang the street where the twenty-five people stood in a loose group, looking like a cosplay convention where the costumes had no particular theme and were designed by time-displaced madmen. Combat armor stood side-to-side with full plate, and most of them were carrying guns as well as nigh-inexplicable throwback weapons.

“Okay. This looks like a standard otherworld raid but we’re still having the merc first. Novsha?”

A woman in odd-looking combat armor stepped forward, nodding. She was holding a normal-looking sword in her right hand, wearing a bracelet, and had a stack of thin metal plates on the left side of her stomach, but was otherwise unimpressive in modern-looking body armor.

“This looks like a recent one with one of the other guilds. See those?” She pointed between a couple of buildings, where there were two heat-mirage looking pillars. “Probably enemies. Can’t say I see any bosses, so I’m recommending mook clearing until we find one.” She kept her position in front, while the guild leader nodded appreciatively and began to order the group into five-man parties, usually one tank or off tank with two ranged damage dealers, the other two roles filled by melee damage dealers and utility.

The parties split up, moving slowly. The guild leader had placed the mercenary in his party and told her to lead the way, so they were moving towards the side of the street further away from the wavy walls of the area.

The mercenary held up her hand, signaling them to stop. She flicked the bracelet around her left wrist, and the whole thing lit up in a swirl of green, whereupon she stopped her hand facing up, and had three throwing knives fall into it. She grabbed one normally, letting the other two fall into an odd grip mostly under the influence of her pinky, then threw it into one of the hazy shadows.

The scream nearly drove the party to their knees.

Eyes watery, the guild leader squinted forward while shaking his head, and heard a few more quiet screams from the directions the other parties had gone in. Focusing on what was in front of him, he watched the merc throw the other two knives, then slap the bracelet again, causing flame to blow out of the knives into the monsters. They looked like horrific amalgamations of insects and humans, standing erect but on four legs. The black chitin had rainbow shimmers running along it that made them hard to focus on, but the experienced party quickly recovered and joined the merc in dispatching the lightly armed basic enemies. Only one of them looked like it would hit the merc, but after its blow was stopped before coming into contact with her skin, it had reprioritized targets and been rendered lifeless before landing another solid hit with either of the clubs it held.

The guild leader pulled out a blue-green stone from his pocket. “Party One, checking in. Losses?”

“Party Two, no losses.”

“Party Three, no losses.”

“Party Four, no encounters”

“Party Five. We lost Hinje in the first few seconds after that scream. We can probably keep up on our own though.”

The guild leader cursed under his breath. “Down to twenty-four…” he lifted the stone again. “Alright, keep clearing. Four, take Five’s clear route. Five, try to hold relative central position and run backup if any group calls for it. Report anything big and get someone with stealth to check it out from up close before heading in. Clear out the last few groups back there then move forwards.”

A few more isolated monster screeches and one exciting moment where three groups banded together to fight twelve of the monsters later, group Two ran into a far larger haze, the effect similar to what they’d been fighting up until that point. A huge haze stood in the middle of the street, undeterred by the complexities of what stood behind it. The guild leader looked at Novsha, who shook her head. “Never seen these things before, Hyrd. Best guess, this one will use sharp weapons and have some sort of uber-mandible-attack. Don’t expect it to be super accurate; we can’t see the damn thing yet.”

He nodded, then turned and began to issue orders.

“Alright. This is another blind fight, so we’re going to lead with only half our tanks… Novsha, LJay, and Rikhars, I want you to be the closest… engage at twenty-five feet. Everything else we’re probably going to have to figure out as we go, so save any burst abilities on your weapons.”

The three chosen as the frontline walked towards the blur in the middle of the road, each taking out their own variety of ranged weapon.

“Engage in 3… 2… 1… Go!” yelled Hyrd.

The crack of a gunshot from LJay’s left hand signaled the beginning of the fight, and the following scream from the monster inflicted such a huge pain on its listeners that half of them fell where they stood. Rikhars and Novsha were both able to shake it off in a very short period, allowing them the first close look at the monster.

It was like a larger version of what they had been fighting before, except for a crucible-like growth on its back that seemed to be pulsing. It tilted its head up and they heard a sound like water through a straw…

“Spread out!” Novsha yelled, as a spray of pinkish liquid sprayed out of the thing’s mouth, towards the arranged guild. The large majority of the guild reacted quickly, activating movement abilities on their gear to get out of the fall range of the spray. Just before the spray landed, Hyrd teleported back into it, picking up one of the three who were still down from the scream, and teleported out, leaving a man and a woman to be hit by the liquid.

The scene quickly turned grisly as the small droplets that the spray had formed into during travel simultaneously exploded with enough force to turn most of the woman’s innards into outtards. Shaken and pockmarked, the man’s plate armor crumbled and fell to the ground before promptly busting into flames.

Meanwhile, the three frontliners continued to run at the beast. The giant clubs it was carrying rocketed down at both LJay and Novsha. The former dodged the strike and got in close enough to give it a strike with his sword, which was glowing with electricity. Novsha, however, stood directly in the path of the strike, allowing it to be stopped in midair as red runes glowed on her metal plates. When the boss withdrew the club to strike again, she moved. Blueish runes glowed on the boots she wore as she seemed to run through the air, upwards at about a thirty-degree angle.

A hand crossbow’s twang from Rikhars marked his entrance to the fight. The bolt lodged itself in the insect’s carapace, where it seemed to dissolve into a growth of vines that began to work their way around it.

“Start the attack!” Hyrd yelled from the back, holding a blue bow almost as large as himself at the ready, launching an arrow that appeared crystalline into the boss, landing just below the head and piercing generously into the hard carapace.

The guild began to follow his order, using ranged weapons to attack even as they spread out to avoid another pink slime explosion.

Novsha jumped off of the hardened air, falling towards the pulsating sac on the back of the monster and taking one of the layers of thin metal plates off. Bending her legs as she landed on the very back of the boss, she slapped the metal plate onto the back of the thing, whereupon a thin line of black runes appeared around the outside of it and it appeared to stick.

“Hyrd! I can probably interrupt another pink spray if it uses it, but spread out it’ll probably switch patterns!”

Thinking quickly, the guild leader responded to the information by revising orders. “All tanks to front! Geria, set up a barrier where you are! Gather behind the barrier after it’s up if you’re a damage dealer, and be ready to split!”

The battlefield reformed again, this time with six people around the boss and the other seventeen clustered around a teen who was frantically placing stones from a pouch on her belt.

Another piercing scream broke almost nobody, only one or two of the damage dealers falling to their knees as the straw-like suction sound started again.

A woman’s maniacal laughter began, followed by a huge thump that caused the boss to fall over itself, landing on the ground and dripping pink fluid onto the ground.

“Burst!”

Reacting with the precision of a group that had spent countless hours together, the people gathered behind the sweating teen seemed to explode with light, weapon and armor abilities activating in sync. Streaks flew from them into the fallen insectoid, battering it with force. LJay took out his pistol, and, curiously, shot the pink slime on the ground, which summarily exploded.

Surprisingly, the carapace started to fall away from the boss, leaving a smaller thing that seemed like a dragonfly with the crucible on its back. There was an audible drone as the boss took off, leaving the ground and spewing a bunch of the pink slime as it charged the group from the air.

Most of the pink slime seemed to stop and explode midair, only a few droplets getting through to the group as the dragonfly flew over them, and more specifically, the stones.

“Split up again! Tanks, try to draw aggro!”

The six people in the middle gathered closer together as the others split up, running without firing. The dragonfly tried a few more strafing runs as they spread out, but quickly retargeted to the largest group it could see, in the middle.

As it charged up the middle of the group, the six dodged out of the way, allowing the pink slime to explode harmlessly between them.

Five passes later, the boss was on its last legs, the health bar in the corner of everyone’s vision creeping down under the sustained fire of the guild.

Finally, it turned red- literally- and shook in place, taking one last swipe at the tanks in the middle, but this time spraying the pink fluid in a much wider arc, one that would catch all six standing in the middle even if they were to dodge like they had been.

“Death or Glory!” Rikhars yelled, jumping at the boss and putting the shield on his left hand between himself and the dragonfly. It lit up in yellow runes, then a similarly-colored wall appeared behind him, shoving forwards much faster than he moved. As the pink slime made contact with the barrier, it was flung back on into the boss and took out the sparse remainder of its health.

A cheer went up from the guild, having defeated an unknown boss with almost no losses.

“Nicely done, everyone.” Hyrd began. He turned, looking for the man in a normal shirt instead of armor. “Jarles, minus ten CP. Standing in there was silly. Geria…” He paused to consider. “Total plus ten. Minus ten for not getting out of the first attack and forcing me to pull you out, plus twenty for that barrier saving us from a wipe when it transformed. LJay plus five for being the first to use the explosives against the boss. Rikhars…” He laughed.

“I’m giving you ten. I feel like I should be telling you off, but it works. I’d give you CP, Novsha, but your price is clear and you aren’t part of…” He was cut off by a rumble, and he ran to pick up the loot bag the boss dropped and threw it into his inventory as a wave of orc-like enemies appeared from around a corner just a few feet away from the party. One of the members was summarily dispatched by three simultaneous swings, which fortunately bought just enough time for his compatriots to jump out of the way, allowing the six tanks to rush into the fray.

The ensuing chaotic fight spat in the face of the organization from before. With orcs running freely past the font line, the element of surprise on their side, and the spread-out position they had been in before, a few more members of the guild fell under the swords and axes of the orcs before they regained their footing and fought a retreating battle of attrition that finally killed them. As the last orc fell, however, a bass growl shook through the tired and battered group.

“Ogre!” Hyrd called, recognizing the sound.

Novsha, the last one around the most recent corner the had turned, cursed loudly. “Fucking Boss Class! Mooks spawning!”

“Three tanks on the boss, the other two distract the mooks! Utility and DD from One and Two and damage from Three on the boss! Others on adds!” Hyrd yelled, his bow expanding in his hands and gaining a green glow on top of the blue one. As the ogre came around the corner, he shot the bow. The arrow disappeared from where it left the bow, coming up at the ogre from under Novsha’s left hand.

Misattributing the stinging arrow to the mercenary who had just split an orc in half with her sword, the ogre charged her, ignoring the other fighters who were still caught up in battle with smaller enemies. She turned to face the boss with a surprised look on her face, then let the first overhanded hit from the enormous club land like she had with the previous boss. Not waiting for it to retract this time, she took the red-glowing plate and slapped it onto the boss’s left shin, striking out with her sword at its right afterwards. Roaring at the mite between its legs, the boss crouched and swung the club over a 270° arc, hitting two members of the guild and four orcs, knocking them through the fray and killing them all as Novsha rolled into the free space.

“Smarter than usual!”

Hyrd cursed again. While the adds were being dealt with, they had far fewer people available to fight the boss with six of their seventeen remaining members tied up with as many orcs. Suddenly, a touch of movement from far away caught his eye. “CANNON! GET DOWN!” he screamed, as a brightly glowing orange ball hurtled at them, propelled by a yellow cannon and single manning orc.

While he dodged down, he saw Geriathrow two stones out of the corner of his eye, glowing incredibly brightly even as she fell down, knocked out.

Energy overuse? At this level? What is she… His internal monologue was interrupted when the orange ball made contact with the bright green sheet Geria had summoned…

And bounced, directly into the Ogre, knocking it flying when the cannonball suddenly exploded on impact. It bowled over half of the remaining orcs, dazed by its wingless flight. Hyrd jumped back up quickly, shooting an arrow directly into the orc manning the cannon before yelling new directions.

“Rikhars! Get Geria far enough out to recover! If your adds were just taken out, retarget to the boss!”

There were a couple of seconds before the boss got up, shaking off its daze and roaring again. With Hyrd yelling orders, however, it made the decision to cut the head off the snake- heading straight for him and ignoring the others. It reached into the street, its overstrong hands punching through the asphalt like a hot knife through butter, and ripped up a chunk of street, throwing it at the raid leader.

Hyrd teleported to the side, avoiding the projectile, but the instant of disorientation nearly cost him as the ogre’s club plummeted at the archer. At the last second, Novsha appeared in front of him, arms out as the club crashed into whatever sort of body shield she had.

“Last one of those I can take!” she yelled, before teleporting again. Landing on the ogre’s shoulder, she slapped the last metal plate she had onto the right shoulder before jumping out and landing midair on a clear platform, her boots glowing again.

“Get ready to burst!” she yelled, trying to take control of the situation.

Hyrd stepped backwards, but the Ogre kept coming. He prepared to teleport out of the way of the next strike as it came down. When it was half down, he blinked again before a horrific combination of a thump and a crack resounded over the entire street and the ogre pitched forward, its left leg behind it and its upper body partially embedded in the street. He reeled in shock at whatever the mercenary had done, catching only the back end of her next word.

“-rst!” he grinned self-deprecatingly even as he did as much damage to the boss as he could possibly fit into the next few seconds. It was the right command, but he hadn’t had the presence of mind to give it first. Even though she was taking control of the fight away from the guild, he was glad for it as she almost continuously threw knives from her bracelet into the monster. As it began to stand up, she triggered the bracelet while rushing forward.

The wave of flame took off a notable portion of the boss’s remaining HP, leaving it on only five percent. His guildmates continued to aim around the mercenary that was notably smaller than the target as she took a few steps up into the air, her boots glowing and her sword gaining a rainbow glow as she ran before jumping, stabbing the sword she held into the join between the Ogre’s body and neck for multiplied damage, where it appeared to dissolve a notable portion of its body and killed it.

As its bodydisappeared, the mercenary grinned, imitating a curtsey before walking to the bag in the middle. “Pick of the second boss’s items, as payment.” She reminded the guild, picking it up and carrying it over to Hyrd.

“I’ll take the rune scroll,” she said, taking out a small scroll with an unmarked outside.

When she put it in her inventory, Hyrd looked for the glow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue? He thought, thinking of the assorted rarities. However, when she flashed an electric purple, signifying a legendary rune, even the mercenary was shocked.

He shook his head, going through the motions as he totaled the contributions from the fight, including a thirty point bonus to the passed out Geria for single-handedly taking off nearly thirty percent of the boss’s health.

He granted a pause, walking over to the mercenary who was fiddling about in her inventory screen, holding a few of the metal plates from earlier in her hands.

“So, your armor is kinetic absorption?” he asked. “It doesn’t work without those plates.”

She laughed. “It works, but it won’t stop much,” she said, shakily, “Your guild managed to avoid me pretty well while I didn’t have it.”

He smiled. “Good,” he said, then shoved the knife he had been concealing in his hand into her throat, instantly killing her.