"Are all of you ready?" Colette asked as she looked at her party members who were raring to challenge the Hell Mode of the Bronze Crypt.
""Yes!""
"Okay. Let's go."
The little blonde Dwarf decisively chose the Hell Mode of the Bronze Crypt, teleporting them inside the Dungeon.
The Dwarves found themselves standing in front of a creepy forest. It even made Helen subconsciously shudder.
Lux and Eiko stood behind the Dwarves as they looked at the familiar scene with confident expressions on their faces.
After a good night's sleep, Eiko was no longer afraid of challenging the Bronze Crypt again. The fact that she was now perched on top of Lux's head showed that she had already overcome her fears after eating a plate full of bacon.
"Vanguards at the front, Mages flank our healer," Colette ordered as she, Lux, and Matty stood at the front of the formation.
Lux had already informed his friends that he didn't plan on summoning any of his minions to fight inside the Bronze Crypt. To his surprise, the Dwarves liked this idea and even asked him not to summon Diablo, Ishtar, and Pazuzu, no matter how the expedition fared.
Although the Dwarf children didn't want to admit it, they had become accustomed to being surrounded by Lux's skeletons, which had given them a sense of security. This was something bad for their development, so they supported their Big Brother's request with a unanimous vote.
Only Eiko was allowed to summon her Devil Slime and Angel Slime to battle.
Lux held the sword Oathbreaker, as well as the shield Dawne, in his hands. Because he had become so accustomed to standing in the rear with the protection of his Summons, his close combat abilities had not been used for a long time.
Now that the tournament in Barbatos Academy was drawing near, the red-headed teenager decided to get serious and once again refine his sword and melee combat techniques in order to prepare for the battle that was to come.
His current role in the party was a Magic Swordsman, so he walked two meters away from Colette's left side, giving them some space to maneuver, just in case something unexpected happened.
Matty kept the same distance as well while he walked on Colette's right side. He had his guard raised to its peak as he warily scanned his surroundings for any surprise attacks.
Eiko, on the other hand, was perched on top of Helen's head. Her Papa had told her that he planned to fight solo for the time being, and ordered Eiko to act as Support for Helen, Andy, and Axel, just in case they were attacked by monsters.
Blackie and Whitey hovered above the mages, ready to fight at any given moment.
Just as Lux predicted, after moving a hundred steps inside the dungeon, several Elder Ghoul rose from the ground and attacked their party.
Helen let out an ear-piercing scream as her legs were grabbed by a pair of rotting hands that had come up from beneath the earth.
Andy and Axel hurriedly swatted the rotting hands with their staff, forgetting the fact that they were mages.
Fortunately, Whitey reacted in time and cast Holy Blast on the Zombie's hands, making them let go of the Cleric's legs, who had almost peed herself from fright.
Andy fired two consecutive fire bullets at the ground, forcing the Elder Ghoul to surface. Axel, on the other hand, cast a water blade to slice off the Zombie's hands, preventing it from using its hands against them again.
Although they had been caught by surprise by the Zombie's ambush, all of them had been baptized by the Nightmare Mode of Orc Dominion. Fighting against Rank 1 Monsters was no longer an issue for them.
Lux battled the Elder Ghoul in front of him, while paying close attention to his friends behind him. When Helen had been freed from the ghoul's clutches, he focused all of his attention on the enemy that was in front of him.
The Half-Elf unleashed the techniques that Vera had taught him when he was still a child. He had practiced these movements thousands of time in the past, until he fainted.
As Lux executed move after move, he realized just how strong his body had become. Now that fainting was no longer an issue, he can exert all his strength in his attacks. Lux's blade cleanly hacked the Elder Ghoul's limbs from their sockets, rendering it helpless.
"Kaizer Sword Art First Form," Lux said as he thrust his sword forward. "Piercing the Heavens!"
The sword instantly pierced through the Elder Ghoul's head, killing it instantly. Soon, the monster crumbled into pieces, leaving only dirt behind.
Colette and Matty had also finished dealing with the monsters in front of them. The little blonde Dwarf looked at her friends with a critical gaze. After seeing that no one was seriously hurt during the skirmish, she ordered the group to advance deeper into the maze.
With every battle they fought, the Dwarves were slowly getting the hang of fighting the monsters that would sneak attack them from the side, under the ground, and in the air above them.
The Half-Elf chuckled internally as he watched Colette's frustrated expression deepen whenever they came to a dead end. He had no intention of guiding them towards the Boss Monster's location this time though.
For him, this was an experience that his friends needed to experience so that when they encountered a similar incident in the future, they would be able to deal with it calmly and keep their wits about them.
One and a half hours later, Colette's group finally arrived at the end of the maze where the Final Boss was waiting for them.
Lux sneakily placed a pill inside his mouth, but he didn't bite on it. He only planned to use it once he had been affected by the Poison Cloud of the Plague Monstrosity.
Having a pill in his mouth would save him precious seconds of experiencing excruciating pain from the effect of the poison cloud, which the Plague Monstrosity unleash whenever it was cornered.
This was a very painful experience that would soon be experienced by his friends, who were fighting the boss for the very first time.
Lux hoped that after this boss fight, his friends would not overly rely on their healer when they needed to be cured from negative status effects. Why? The answer was very simple. Although Clerics and other healing classes were able to cure these negative buffs on their comrades, things would be different when they were also subjected to the same negative buffs.
'Fortunately, Eiko is immune to poison and diseases,' Lux thought as he held his weapon, and shield firmly as the boss Monster roared at them. 'She'll take care of Helen and the others, while Colette, Matty, and I deal with this monster.'
As soon as Lux took a fighting stance, Colette's determined voice reverberated in the surroundings.
"Shield Charge!" Colette shouted as the round shield in her hand glowed brightly.
The little blonde Dwarf, charged forward, followed by Lux and Matty, who were only a few steps behind her.
The Plague Monstrosity summoned two Elder Ghouls to fight with it, as it gave another resounding roar of outrage.
Soon the sounds of weapons clashing, and spells exploding, spread across the Boss Room as Colette and her friends fought with everything they had against a monster that took the meaning of "playing dirty" to the next level.
