Five minutes had passed since Colette's group started to engage the Boss Monster, Plague Monstrosity.
The Monster was being pushed back by the group's teamwork, as well as Colette's outstanding commands. However, when Lux saw the monster jump backwards, he knew that it was about to start "Playing Dirty", and he looked forward to his friends' suffering.
'I'm not doing this because I want to see you guys suffer,' Lux thought as he readied to bite the pill (Panacea) inside his mouth. 'I just want you guys to experience this kind of hardship, so that it won't bite you guys back in the future.'
Just like Lux expected, the Boss Monster unleashed its Poisonous Smog which immediately incapacicated the Dwarves that were fighting against it.
The Plague Monstrosity bore the title "Plague Bearer", which meant that 10 out of 10, the effect of its Poisonous Smog would activate, dealing poison or disease status to everyone in the vicinity.
"Gah!"
"D-dammit!"
"It hurts!"
"Urk…"
"Blergh!"
Lux had immediately bitten the Panacea in his mouth, preventing any status effects from affecting him.
Eiko, on the other hand, was immune to the status effect from the Plague Monstrosity, so she was still feeling peppy after the Boss Monster's attack. The baby Slime calmly healed Blackie's and Whitey's status, allowing the two Summoned Slimes to resume their attacks on the Boss Monster, who just used its skill, Jackhammer, to send the poisoned Colette flying to the back of their formation.
Just as the Boss was about to unleash its other skill, Rampage, on Matty, Lux used the skill, Shield Bash, to cancel the Boss Monster's attack.
Since the Half-Elf had equipped Dawne, he was able to use the shield's two abilities, which were Shield Bash and Shield Throw.
"H-Helen, quickly, use Cure!" Colette ordered as she shakily propped herself off from the ground.
When the Plague Monstrosity attacked her, she still had enough wits in her to use her shield to block the attack, which mitigated the damage she received from it.
Helen coughed repeatedly, as she tried to chant the Cure Spell to cure herself from her disoriented state, but she couldn't seem to muster her wits, as if she had entered a confused state of mind.
Fortunately, Andy had remembered that they were carrying Panacea's with them and immediately ate one. After recovering, he made Helen eat one, allowing her to recover from the negative buffs that plagued her.
When Colette saw this, she hurriedly took out a pill from her storage ring and ate it. A few seconds later, the pain in her chest disappeared.
'I had completely forgotten that we brought Panaceas with us,' Colette thought as she ran towards the Boss Monster that was being held at bay by her Big Brother. 'We've relied so much on Helen that we forget this simple fact. I failed as a leader.'
After learning from her mistake, she immediately gave an order to anyone to use the Panaceas they had whenever the boss monster activated its AOE Plague Skill.
Lux smiled after hearing Colette's orders as he continued to attack the Monster, alongside the now recovered Colette.
A few seconds later, Matty once again joined the fight after he, too, used his Panacea, rather than waiting for Helen to cure him.
After a few minutes of intense fighting, the Boss once again jumped back and unleashed its Poisonous Smog. This time, however, everyone was prepared and had already taken out a pill from their storage ring, chewing on it with vengeance.
The Plague Monstrosity would always use its skill, Jackhammer, after using its Poisonous Smog in order to take advantage of its enemies weakened state to deal them devastating damage.
However, since its skill didn't work, it found itself being attacked by an angry Dwarf Paladin who smashed her round shield against its body.
"Shield Charge!" Colette shouted as she jumped after her sprint to smash her shield on the Boss Monster's chest, pushing it back.
Once they had gotten used to the Boss' attack patterns, the rest of the battle went smoothly.
Ten minutes later, the Plague Monstrosity finally died, leaving behind a chest as a reward for defeating it.
Everyone's faces, with the exception of Lux and Eiko, were pale after experiencing such a disgusting enemy.
They had eaten five Panaceas each because the Monster had used its Poisonous Smog five times as well.
Lux watched them with a calm expression on his face. In truth, he was doing his best to prevent himself from chuckling after seeing his friends' nauseous faces.
Matty looked like he had eaten a fly, while the three magic classes were leaning on their staffs and seemed to be on the verge of puking.
Colette was the only one who had a better complexion, but her face was still pale as she gazed at her friends who were suffering in front of her.
"Big Brother, are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?" Colette asked after looking at Lux who looked fine compared to them.
"I'm good," Lux answered. "You did well, Colette."
Lux was quite impressed when he saw how much Colette's leadership and command skills had improved during the battle. If not for the fact that they had been taken by surprise by the Poisonous Smog at the beginning, they would have beaten the boss sooner without fail.
Colette flashed a smile after being praised by Lux before walking towards the treasure chest and opening it with both of her hands.
Lux was also quite curious to see what the treasure box contained because he only got a Beast Core during his dungeon run.
To his surprise, there were three items inside the Treasure Chest.
The first item was a bone shield, which was made from the Plague Monstrosities hard bones.
The second item was a necklace that increased Poison Resistance.
The third item was a Rank 3 Beast Core, which belonged to the Boss Monster.
Overall, it wasn't a bad haul after nearly fifteen minutes of suffering.
Lux wasn't interested in any of the items, so he didn't ask Colette to share them with him. A few minutes later, the group exited the Bronze Crypt and appeared at its entrance.
Their Clear Time was 1 hour and 48 minutes, which was a far cry from Aina's record of 39 minutes.
"Big Sister is truly amazing," Colette said as she looked up at her sister's rank in the Leaderboards. "She was able to beat this dungeon with only that much time. Truly incredible."
Matty and the others nodded their heads, while Lux only smiled with his arms crossed over his chest. Now that the Dwarves had experienced what the Bronze Crypt Hell Mode had to offer, it was now time for him to step in and keep his promise with Colette.
A Promise on which he would help her beat her sister's record before leaving the Leaf Village.
"Are you guys feeling better?" Lux asked.
The Dwarf children all looked at him and nodded their heads.
"Good." Lux smirked. "Let's go challenge it again. I will teach you guys how to do a Speedrun."
"Speedrun?" Colette tilted her head in confusion. "Big Brother, what is a speedrun?"
Lux chuckled as he patted Colette's head with a devilish smile on his face. "The reason why your sister managed to beat this dungeon in that much time is because she focused on killing the boss monster, instead of clearing the dungeon.
"Earlier, you guys focused on clearing the dungeon, instead of trying to beat her record. This time around, we will ignore clearing the dungeon and just focus on getting to the boss in the fastest time possible."
As if the last puzzle had fallen in place, all the Dwarf children's eyes widened in realization. They immediately understood what Lux was trying to tell them.
Seeing their reactions, the Half-Elf grinned as he summoned his mount, Jed in front of his friends.
"Your sister might be good, but she never acquired a mount while she was still here in Leaf Village," Lux said as he mounted his Rank 3 Warg. "Now, are you guys ready for Round 2?"
All the Dwarves nodded their heads with determination. The thought of having their names immortalized in Leaf Village's Bronze Crypt was an honor that they would fight to achieve.
Fifteen minutes later…
—-
Congratulations! You have beaten the current record of Bronze Crypt Hell Mode!
Your names will be added to the Hall of Fame!"
—-
Bronze Crypt Hell Mode
Date: 7th Day of the Month of the Chariot 1648 AD
Clear Time: 14 minutes, 28 seconds.
Challengers:
Lux Von Kaizer
Colette Van Goldenslayer
Eiko
Matty…
Andy…
Axel…
Helen…
—-
The moment they reached the boss room, Lux and Eiko didn't hold back, summoning all of their forces to gangbang the Boss Monster senselessly.
The Boss Monster died a pitiful death in just five minutes, and it wasn't even able to cast its Poisonous Cloud even once due to Diablo's and Pazuzu's Duel [EX], which canceled all of its attempts, making the battle end faster.
