Wyn willed himself to stay on his feet, breathing heavily. He didn’t expect to push himself so hard, but it was necessary. A quick Regen on himself helped his bruised thigh and likely broken left forearm. He contemplated using another mana potion but decided to wait until after the next fight. Based on his mark, he still had just under half remaining. With his class ability to regain mana while also being healed, his Regen spell cast on himself cost him next to nothing. He would likely be close to half by the next monster wave, which was enough before needing another potion. Digging through his bag, his arm screamed in agony but he pushed through. He pulled out another mana potion to replace the one missing on his belt in case he needed it in a pinch.

  “I have a third of my mana left,” Tasha said. “Who needs healing before I use another potion?”

  John stepped forward along with Cedric, both stumbling. Their climb had been about an hour, but they already swept through eight groups of monsters, each one progressively more difficult. The past two waves came less than five minutes apart, while the first few were nearly twice that.

  “Hurry,” Wyn said. “Take a minute to catch your breath then we need to keep going.” He saw Marcy sweeping between the loot piles picking out anything that looked interesting. She didn’t bother with the coins or gemstones, instead only picking up monster drops and items. They were on a time crunch but still wanted to secure at least some of their rewards. As long as they weren't in danger, which were few and far between. There were at least a half dozen green rarity items behind them sitting unclaimed.

  The most recent wave was the less amount of monsters but also the hardest by a wide margin. It was a champion group of four beasts that were large and durable with thick leathery hides but also quick with their movements. It was a rough combination that required Tasha to bring a Calling to help manage. Still, they overcame, but Cedric and Marcy both used a mana potion due to the amount of spells they were using.

  Once the two men drank their own potions, they continued on. Marcy stowed away several items, though Wyn didn’t stop to see what they were. It wouldn’t be worth identifying them since they were pressed for time. But they made for something to look forward to after they cleared the floor. The thought of finishing and being free was the little bit of hope he clung to.

  Wyn felt fatigue wanting to settle in but he shoved down the discomfort. It was mostly a mental battle anyway, something he learned while in the military. The body could endure quite a bit more than the mind thought possible, and now with their bodies soaked in magic that was even more true. Wyn only hoped the others felt the same. They quietly advanced without much discussion, jogging towards the orange glowing light in the distance. It was closer, but they still had some ways to go. Wyn assumed they were nearly three quarters of the way there.

  A few minutes later, Marcy slowed down to draw an arrow and fire it behind them. “Behind us!”

  Wyn had an idea to gain some ground. At this rate, the final leg of the floor would be a constant stream of monsters, something Wyn wanted to avoid.

  “Keep running!” Wyn said. “Marcy, trap the area behind us to buy us some time and distance!” He turned and saw the monsters were about forty yards away but barreling towards them. They were the wolf-like variety that were mid size and nimble but not overly strong. Unfortunately there were over a dozen of them.

  Wyn placed a Web charge from his necklace behind them and to the left, then a Wellspring glyph towards the right side and away from them. He hoped that by staggering the trapped areas it would cover more ground and catch more of the monsters. He had no expectations to hurt them. The idea was only to slow them down enough for the team to gain a little more ground before they engaged.

  Thankfully, Marcy picked up on the plan and placed one of her chain traps on the ground closer to them but still staggered from Wyn’s traps. The monsters quickly ran over them and were restrained.

  Wyn started jogging back with the group while Marcy fired another arrow. This one was one of her new effects, and was perfect. It was more of a utility spell and didn’t damage at all, but rather hit and exploded in vines that lashed and twisted in a good radius. It caught several more of the monsters and made them trip and fall to the ground. All of the monsters were effectively caught, much to Wyn’s relief. But he knew it would be seconds before they broke through and continued their advance.

  That was fine with Wyn. The group continued to run to the end and he was gaining both health and mana from the monsters caught in his Wellspring. It was enough for him to cast Speed Up and easily catch back up to the group while Marcy sprinted behind him. Her Boots of Striding already gave her an increased speed, and she had the teleporting effect of Cloud Jump to use if she needed. The goal was just to gain more ground.

  It didn’t take the monsters much longer to catch up but the group had ran another couple hundred feet before they felt comfortable to stop and fight. As their normal strategy, Tasha protected them while the melee Climbers stood their ground. The fight was easier than the previous champion group, and they were able to escape mostly unscathed save for some minor injuries. The few piles of loot littered the ground, and Wyn spotted another blue rarity item in one of them and a potion in another.

  “Everyone go ahead,” Wyn said. “I’ll collect the better items and catch up.”

  “I’ll help,” Marcy said.

  Wyn nodded. With her boots, she could easily catch up to them. She wasn’t as fast as Wyn’s speed boost but it was a constant effect of her gear, and it made her faster on average.

  The item was a belt made of black cloth, thin without any buckle or loop. It was foreign but Wyn couldn’t tell what other kind of item it could be. Marcy carried several potions in her hands and they quickly put them in Wyn’s pack while the others ran ahead.

  The group continued their advance, facing another three groups while getting ever so closer to the end. The orange glow beckoned them like a warm reprieve, calling for them to kill faster and run harder so they could reap the rewards of their efforts. Each step forward was agonizing, both in the sense that it brought them closer to the end but also closer to the next guaranteed monster wave. It was a strange, nearly disheartening feeling. The light started to feel almost divine in nature, as though Wyn was inching closer to the end of his life each time he focused on it though welcoming the sweet embrace of rest and peace.

  But he ultimately knew the truth. It only signaled the final boss area, which was likely going to be a greater challenge than killing all the beasts combined.

  The orange glow truthfully served the Climbers beneficially in two ways. One was that it was a guiding beacon showing them the correct way forward. With how expansive the floor looked with the temple looking to be the size of a city, it was nearly impossible to determine which way was which in the sense of classic directions. The intermittent glow of lanterns helped to see just how large the area was, but they gave no other sense past light. Wyn didn’t like staring at them too long, either, as a sense of dread and vastness creeped up within him and he hated that feeling. Plus, it was far too much of a distraction.

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  The other benefit of the orange glow was that it was an actual magical barrier. When the group would get close to the final area, it was unique in the sense that the dragon was literally separated from the rest of the monsters by that orange magic. Per the information of the floor, the barrier would only drop when no monster was around it. So they had to clear whatever last wave of beasts came. Then it would open to reveal the final fight of the dragon.

  During their current beast wave, Wyn was handling the final large beast while the others caught their breath and looted what was valuable. Wyn was nearly at a point where he was ready to leave everything behind, as his movements became sluggish. John’s Aura had disappeared as he bent over onto his knees to catch his breath. They had been running or fighting for the better part of two hours. Or at least that’s how long Wyn thought it was. His sense of time had been skewed a few monster waves ago.

  He cast a Shield to block another hit, not trusting his body to dodge. He’d be able to recover his mana with a potion once the beast was dead. Survive was the only thing running through his mind.

  Still, he could see the magical barrier in front of them. It unfortunately blocked any sight or sense from penetrating it, and Marcy had told them she couldn’t sense anything past it. But it was a mere twenty yards ahead.

  The others were equally fatigued except for John and Lucy. They were the only ones not chugging water from their water skins. Lucy continued forward, not waiting for the others to catch up. She dropped the cork to a mana potion, drank it, and then dropped the vial. It clanked against the stone floor and rolled harmlessly away.

  “Potion up,” Wyn said, backing away from the hulking beast towards the end. “Run to the barrier and go inside! Hopefully this is the last wave!”

  “Bring it closer!” Marcy called, shooting the monster with an arrow. It distracted it enough for it to completely miss a large claw strike, and Wyn stabbed it in the side again, forming another hole to go with the other half dozen. The beast gave a pained cry and stumbled, though it wasn’t dead.

  Wyn started trotting to the end. He couldn’t hear any other monsters, and desperately hoped the only fight left was the dragon. At this point, though, he didn’t know how they were going to fight it being as tired as they were.

  But he had some ideas. And he planned to use every one of them to their advantage.

  Marcy was right behind Wyn, slowly shooting arrows into the final beast as it nearly crawled to them. It was right on the brink of death. The delay, though, was giving them time to make it to the end.

  The others drank mana potions except for Cedric. He pulled out a vial that held a blue shimmer. It was the Mana Recovery Potion. “I’ll drink this once we’re inside. I’ll try and overwhelm the dragon with as much lightning as it can handle.”

  “Good,” Wyn said. “Tasha, Marcy, set up the usual boss opener. Then start flying to take the advantage.” It didn’t need to be said that the dragon could also fly, but also having them in the air gave them a bit of a fair chance.

  A few seconds later, everyone was standing in front of the barrier, including Lucy. She held a hand out and touched it but couldn’t progress.

  Marcy shot one more arrow before turning and joining them. “Should be any second.”

  There was a brief shimmer in the barrier and Lucy’s hand fell through, followed by the rest of her. The others quickly joined her.

  Wyn blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted. The area was large and spacious in all directions. Not nearly as big as the floor itself, but far bigger than any other single area he’d visited in Alistair. There was no ceiling he could see but was able to see by floating orbs of orange light about twenty feet in the air spread evenly roughly thirty yards in all directions. On the other side of their entrance was a stone arch that was wide enough to easily fit ten people walking side by side and tall enough that the floating orbs still hovered below the top. The familiar floating red portal was nestled inside.

  In front of the arch, though, about fifty yards away, was their final enemy. It was a dragon. Currently it looked harmless, curled up under translucent wings as though it was napping while waiting for them. But Wyn knew the power and danger that the monster contained.

  From the information on the floor, it was a wind and ice dragon. It was supposedly an adolescent, but even then was still the size of a carriage. Wyn did not have the desire to see what an adult dragon looked like. This one attacked using its dagger-long claws and bit with razor sharp teeth, while its tail could swipe or slam as strong as a tier three Fighter. It was almost entirely magical, though most of its magic was in increasing the durability of its scales and strength. Its defensive capabilities were fitting for a boss, as it majorly resisted all magical attacks and had an incredibly durable hide that mostly shrugged off physical attacks. The only magical attack it possessed was blasting wind and ice shards from its maw like a powerful, miniature hailstorm.

  Overall, it would be a powerful foe. The strongest one the group faced yet. Despite having resistances to pretty much everything, it was still able to be killed. Though attacks wouldn’t do as much damage as normal they would still hurt the monster. That much was certain.

  Wyn tried to swallow his rising fear. Seeing it in person made his legs tremble.

  John stepped forward, his face a strange mixture of hesitation but determination. He pulled out a blue rarity potion and drank it. Wyn recognized it as the other potion they found, the Reflex Elixir. He then immediately cast several skills in quick succession while Tasha started her own spells.

  Marcy summoned her deathhawk and then quietly jogged ahead of them. The dragon was still sleeping, but they all knew it was only a matter of time before it would wake up. She knelt down halfway between the dragon and placed a trap. Wyn followed her and placed a Wellspring glyph on top of his last Web charge overlapping behind Marcy’s so that the dragon would first enter both placed spells then be trapped in Marcy’s spell.

  When John’s Squire Aura coated his body on top of four other shimmering auras of his skills, Tasha’s Arcane Aura coated him in a final, magical set of armor. It also coated Lucy and Wyn as they each readied themselves to fight, though they both didn’t have the same dramatic effect as John. He looked like a shining otherworldly entity with how many effects he had on himself. Though Wyn knew it was needed. He was their primary defender, and the dragon was in a league all on its own. Wyn knew Tasha would be guarding John like his own heavenly angel to make sure nothing happened to him, too. As long as he kept the dragon’s attention on himself and she kept him supported, they had a far better chance.

  Cedric began their final test by starting his own spell, and Tasha started on a Calling after placing the armor. Their preparations were nearly done, and the fight would soon start.

  The boss tactic was to have Tasha summon Baratheon and be a defender alongside John while Tasha remained their primary support. Keeping both of them healthy and strong made sure the boss had two opponents to focus on, which already put the enemy at a disadvantage. The rest of them would focus on dealing as much damage as possible to make sure the battle wasn’t one of attrition. If John or Baratheon went down too early, the plan could fail. Everyone else had their own strengths and means to hurt their opponent, and for the most part it was straightforward.

  Except for Wyn. With Tasha being their main support, Wyn was able to provide detrimental statuses to enemies to keep them weaker. When everything was combined, the scales should be tipped heavily in the Climber’s favor.

  He only hoped those very scales still applied to a damn dragon. One way or another, they were about to find out.

  Cedric pointed his rod at the dragon and launched a powerful beam of lightning that struck the dragon on one of its wings. Static quickly washed over the monster like a wave, and the hit boomed in the area. Wyn raised a hand to cast Feeble so they could truly begin as Cedric downed the recovery potion and started his next spell.

  The dragon huffed while the remnants of Cedric’s lightning dissipated. It slowly unfurled its wings as though waking from a deep slumber, not as though it just took a hard hit from Cedric’s spell. Or really any hit at all. The wings and scales weren’t so much as blemished as its body shone with a brilliance that struck Wyn in both beauty and terror. The dragon beat them towards the ground, kicking up dust all around it.

  The fact that Cedric’s spell seemingly did nothing against the dragon filled Wyn with a deep sense of fear. But he continued to cast Feeble, hoping to rectify that.

  A familiar skull appeared above the dragon for a moment then vanished as soon as it appeared. Wyn cursed seeing the spell fail. The dragon then breathed in heavily, looked up to the ceiling and bellowed a roar that rattled Wyn’s teeth. The others felt it, too, as they all flinched from the sound. It was unlike anything Wyn heard, sounding both beastly and majestic at once.

  He needed to move to engage the monster but found his legs were frozen.

  Not John, though. He stepped forward and pointed his sword at the dragon. His confidence was admirable, and it gave Wyn hope. The dragon lowered its head and stared at John with two large, catlike blue eyes, snarling in defiance. It was easy to see even from their current distance.

  This was Wyn’s last obstacle. They needed to kill a seemingly impossible monster. And more than that, Lucy needed to survive. She was his and Arabelle’s means of escaping from the Assembly’s burden once and for all.

  A loud thud rocked the stone floor and Wyn looked over to see Baratheon beside him, standing stoically. John was soon with the angelic Calling and the two stood to meet the dragon in the traps.

  The dragon walked forward and into the traps, momentarily pausing from the Web and Wellspring effects but then pushed through them from sheer strength. It then activated Marcy’s trap as stone chains flew from the ground and wrapped around the dragon’s legs.

  The monster continued its stalk, snapping the chains and ignoring Wyn’s traps as easily as it would walk through ankle deep water.

  Wyn felt his heart fall in his chest. “Shit.”

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