As elevator slowly came to the stop, Lucas was greeted by the grand sight. They stood in an enormous banquet hall, with long tables that spread throughout the whole length of the hall. On the walls stood tapestries woven from what looked like a thousand different plant, every fiber brimming with colour and regality. Scenes that were depicted included the conquests of Viridi dryads that Lucas probably had seen in the lower levels. The additions were what caught the eye. One scene showed what looked like a coronation, row of figures frozen in the eternal cheers for the newly crowned king. The king that was their last adversary and just in time Lucas noticed him. He was seated at the throne that stood at the far end of the hall, his long black hair braided to resemble a bark of the tree. He wore what would pass at the medieval courts on Earth, only difference being that it was completely woven from gold and purple flowers, with a cloak completely black. He was gazing at them with his indigo eyes as they carefully moved in the hall, reacting only when they were somewhere in the middle.

“So, you are the ones who broke through my defenses, who slew my son on the wall. Tell me, strangers, why? Are our actions any different from countless other races and peoples of multiverse?” he asked.

No one from the party dared answering, not knowing what to say. Truth is they didn’t had a particular thought about the conflict they were now recreating, except as learning experience about power dynamics that they knew awaited all of them as soon as Earth fully integrates into the wider multivrse.

Their last adversary just sighed before continuing: “I guess you really don’t own me anything, I just hoped to get some information before the battle for the destiny of my people begin.”

Lucas rushed to activate his pre-battle buff and the activated “Eye for details”.

“Jona, Last King of the Dryads, Warlord level 50”

Lucas frowned but felt a sort of relief. Although his opponent out leveled them by a large margin, he was a support class, more suited for leadership than to single combat. He saw the other seen the same and were preparing to rush him before inevitable reinforcements arrive.

“Father, let me deal with these interlopers.” a feminine voice from the shadow of the throne came, startling everyone who weren’t the king.

“No, my daughter, I already lost one child today. This is my fight” the king responded to the yet unseen threat. As he finished, he took from his belt a giant horn and blew in it three times. As the last blow finished, a half of dozen figures rushed in the hall from sideway doors that went unnoticed until now. Lucas inspected them.

“Dryad, Honour Guardian level 34”

“Dryad, Honour Guardian level 34”

.

.

.

“Dryad, Honour Guardian level 37”

Thankfully they weren’t too over leveled and their numbers advantage were slight, giving Lucas hope that they would come out on top.

“I DECREE you to stop these invaders. Slay them, and do it quickly” King spoke, showing the full array of his class.

Suddenly, they started rushing at them with speed that would probably look like teleportation to the people with low Perception and pre – System humans. Maraya, however, was neither and she already jumped into action, mumbling “Cordon line” as her shield made a now familiar transparent barrier that stopped their enemies in their track. Michael was already lobbing his grenades, a testament to the level of their teamwork. Lucas also went to work, quickly weighing his options, and deciding to go at the boss instead of adds. He activated his best skill, already spinning and threatening to pierce right through the heart. To his surprise, a sword came from the shadow and blocked him, instantly stopping him and forcing him of balance. He activated “Dodge” in a second he touched the floor, rolling to the left to avoid a strike. Unfortunately for Lucas, his roll landed him right at the feet of the King, and a vicious kick sent him rolling, feeling a rib or two crack.

“You took 110 points of damage”

He cranked his Agility, standing up mid – flight and landing on his feet. He scanned his immediate surroundings, locating his party and immediately running toward them, activating “Guiding strike” as he ran next to one of the honour guardian, slashing him beneath the armpit and leaving him crying in pain. Delighted at the precision of his new skill, he jumped over the barrier which held their enemies at the distance, landing right next to Michael. He quickly threw Lucas a bottle, which Lucas greedily drank, making delighted sounds as pleasantness coursed through his body and knitting his broken ribs back to healthy state.

“You restored 250 health points via health potion”

As the potion was finishing his work, he spotted the dryad that caused him to fail in the last attack. He inspected her and felt a familiar rush of adrenaline as information came to him.

“Martina, Court Assassin, Shadow Blade level 46”

The assassin was completely covered in leather from various animals, a breath of fresh air from various shades of plant and wood armor dryads usually wore. She was standing next to the King, the two of them looking like they were in a heated discussion. Happy to play the party breaker, Lucas repositioned slightly and immediately launched himself at the assassin. His strike found his target this time, albeit not exactly as Lucas hopped. She noticed him and managed to move all of her vital parts out of the way, taking the hit in the thigh, although the rapier went all the way to the hilt. She screamed in pain and immediately corrected herself to face Lucas, anger flashing in her indigo eyes. Just as Lucas started to move again, he heard a roar from behind him and King blew his horn. Two of the soldiers that were pressuring his party disengaged from that battle and rushed Lucas. He was forced to dodge, losing the initial advantage he got with his strike. King’s daughter stepped back into shadow and immediately disappeared, while Lucas got entangled with two guards. He quickly sent “Guiding strike” at one of them, finding a place that wasn’t covered enough in plant armor they wore, and piercing him in the torso. The guardian went to the ground and he quickly activated his parry skill to avoid being hit by the second guardian. He punched his sword, impact staggering guardian a bit. Delighted once again, this time by how much easier fights were with a proper parry, he went for the throat, but was stopped as he felt something skewering through the flank.

“You took 314 points of damage”

When the sword was pulled from him, taking a big chunk of his flesh with him, he quickly activated “Dodge”, somersaulting backwards, creating distance from his enemies. John spotted his trouble and quickly fired two shots. One took down already wounded guardian and the other forced the assassin to once again dissolve into shadows, buying Lucas enough time to fall back to his party, dismissing the prompt that informed him that the guardian was dead for good.

“You are healed for 350 points”

“Thanks” he quickly muttered to Hannah as he went back to scouting for his nemesis, stopping only to inform the rest of the party to stay away from the patches of shadows, as the female dryad used them for quick strikes. When it looked like she remained content to stay in the shadows, he decided to bait her out and hopefully take a powerful tool from the enemy arsenal. Just as Maraya took down another of the guardians, dropping their number to three, he readied himself for a strike. Sure enough, King took his horn again when he saw the number disadvantage giving Lucas his cue to launch himself at the King. This time, however, he expected the blow and stopped himself a meter early, just as the blade emerged from the shadows. Content that his bait was taken hook, line and sinker he jumped forward and activated “Guiding strike”, aiming at the horn. Skill once again struck trough, Lucas’s sword piercing at the weak point of the artifact, breaking him in two. King roared in rage, but he was already on his way back, activating “Dodge” as soon as he noticed the swing from assassin blade, using that as another burst of speed.

“No more hiding, little dryad” Lucas taunted the assassin “come out to play”.

Assassin just snarled in rage, exiting the shadows and starting her sequence of attack. Lucas had to admit she was good, as he weave a parry where he could, dodge where his couldn’t. Hearing another shot from John rifle, he guessed that another one of the adds dropped down, inching them closer to the final confrontation. The dryad in front of him seemed to came to the same conclusion and her attacks started to get more intense. Unfortunately for her, she found herself a match. Although Lucas couldn’t stagger her with parry, nor found an opening via dodging and maneuvering, courtesy of her much higher level, he could avoid her attacks for days. And with numbers going in the favor of the Lucas and his party, it was just a matter of time when he will get reinforcements. Confirmation for that came in about five minutes, as Lucas saw his opponent getting pelted with bullets, Michael laying suppressing fire. Sensing danger, she quickly retreated, dissolving into shadows. Lucas angrily shouted, cursing his carelessness to let her be that close to the shadows, but quickly took the opportunity to strike at the last remaining honour guardian. He activated “Infused piledriver”, acutely aware that he had limited number of them available after this. He spun and struck directly at the head, severing spine from the rest of the body and dropping the guardian.

“You have slayed Dryad, Honour Guard level 38”

When he recovered from strike, he regrouped with the rest of his party, taking from Michael a stamina and mana potion, just in case. Even the ever careful Michael hadn’t carried enough potions, as he warned Lucas too use them carefully, as they were on their last reserve. He nodded and then focused on King, who now stood alone but prepared for them.

“Come now, invaders. Let’s finish this, just you and me” he spoke and the party got ready for the final phase of the final boss battle.