To my disappointment, the queue was only 2 groups long.
Our chance would come within 10 minutes, and thus Claire and Eva decided that it would be better to not bully needlessly.
And from the last woman’s words, I don’t think the rules are that chill about bullying anyway.
I would rather not get Claire in too much trouble.
"You are doing better with the sword now, but I think a longer sword will fit you more. Your range is too low, and with your skill, hitting is more important than critical, deadly hits."
Claire remarked calmly, her hands flicking to her pocket and pulling out a new cig for the wait.
"Yeah I thought so too, after a single painful attack, most opponents lower their guard as well, which means I can finish them off later."
I nodded back, stroking my chin in thought while observing the groups ahead of us.
Like most groups yet, they were dressed quite ordinarily, and some of them were even wearing armor and carrying shields.
"Also," Eva suddenly said, pulling my attention, "I was confused about something Aaron." she hummed.
"Your skill, doesn’t it feel that it’s ’too’ sensitive?"
Color drained from my face, oh shit.
The skill scaled with magic, and obviously mine was much more potent than other men or women who could use this skill, at my level at least.
I forgot that while this is a good thing, other people could notice the discrepancies too.
And being a magic type raider, Eva was more in tune with mana, which made her catch on it quicker.
"That’s true." Claire suddenly nodded, "His skill is working too well, for someone who is supposed to have little to no magic."
I could see the faint blush on her cheeks when she mentioned ’working too well’, but her words still threw me under the bus.
How was I supposed to explain the unnaturally high magic of mine?
"I will tell you later."
Playing half mysterious and half serious, I smiled at Claire.
She shot me a contemplating look, deciding whether to take the cue or push me more about the secret.
But in the end, she decided to let the matter slide for now as well, leaving Eva pouting in annoyance, since I didn’t promise her to tell the secret.
And to be honest I wasn’t planning to either.
I could trust Claire a little, considering our ’relationship’, but I was still clueless about Eva.
She was a woman I knew even less than Ruby.
And if Ruby could flip her nature after learning my class, who is to say Eva is trustworthy?
Amidst the chat, 5 minutes passed by and the group ahead of us went in, leaving us the first in queue.
During this Claire told me that the boss would be also one of the three earlier, and just like before, it being a gilded coohen was impossible.
The requirement was being at 6, and yep. I was 7.
And funnily enough, my luck was even shittier.
[ User: Aaron Cross ]
[ Level: 7 ]
[ Exp: 98% ]
[ Title: Otherworldly Soul (Legendary) ]
[ Class: Boy Toy (Common) ]
[ Race: Human (Male) ]
[ ~Stats~ ]
[ Strength: 25 ]
[ Agility: 23 ]
[ Stamina: 31 (6) ]
[ Intelligence: 17 ]
[ Magic: 60 ]
[ Additional Points: 5 ]
[ Skills: 1/5 ]
[ Inventory: 1/1 (Scabbard) ]
I needed just 2 % more exp for leveling up!
This monster would be level 6, so it would be a fair fight now, I guess.
Since statwise I was also around 6, just one more point in each stat than normal. (Keeping out the magic of course.)
And considering that I had to solo a boss, I am sure that it’s more than fair enough.
Though, time began to tick and there was no sign of the dungeon door opening again.
5 minutes passed, then 10.
"10 minutes..." Eva said with a tinge of worry, checking her watch again and again.
"That’s weird." Claire nodded, since it was a known fact that after 5 minutes, the boss gets buffed ridiculously.
So it was always advised to finish it before the 5 minute mark.
And after 5 more minutes, the boss room is opened, regardless if there was a team inside.
Yet... it didn’t.
Seconds ticked by, Claire and Eva began to sweat while I felt a strange gloom enveloping me.
It felt... weird. My goosebumps were going in a frenzy.
Seconds turned into minutes and another team appeared behind us.
It was Katie, her boyfriend and one another couple.
"Oh, Claire! Wassup?" Katie smiled widely.
Though Claire was in no mood to chat happily.
"Kate, fuck happened." Claire huffed a cloud of smoke, "The team before us went in, and the door hasn’t opened for the last 12 minutes."
Katie froze, her smile twitching before twisting into a deep frown.
The sight was funny but none of the people present were in the mood to laugh.
Whatever that was happening with this boss was unknown, and what’s the scariest thing? Unknown.
I was tempted to suggest the idea of breaking down the door, but then I dropped it.
If it was common knowledge that it’s indestructible or something, I would just appear foolish and stupid.
"Clay, what should we do?" Eva frowned, an expression that didn’t quite suit her angelic appearance.
"We can only wait." Claire closed her eyes, sighing, "Where is Jaq?" She turned to look at Katie.
"Jaqueline is on the 30th floor, she intends to conquer it this time." Katie shook her head, "We cannot call her, we don’t have the means."
And after a brief pause, she continued.
"And aren’t you overreacting, Claire? I admit that it’s weird but it’s just the second floor. We have nearly cleared 35 together."
Oh wow, 35th? I don’t know the approximation of the level at that floor, but I do know that reaching the 35th floor is really impressive.
Especially when this labyrinth only had 50 floors.
Maybe Claire was stronger than my expectations.
"Kate, I ain’t asking for advice. I would rather be prepared than to not be." she scoffed, "And don’t forget that it was this lazy attitude of yours that nearly got you killed."
Katie’s gaze turned icy, not liking Claire’s dismissive tone, but not saying anything in return either.
And maybe that was for the best, fighting here would be bad if there is something truly weird going on inside the boss room.
It would be better to be at our best conditio–
A creak.
A single creak yanked all our attention towards itself, as the magical boss room’s door opened with a loud screeching creak.
Claire moved closer to me while without being asked, Eva used the status armor on me.
Well thanks for being so protective, guys.
But... what the fuck is that...?
—----------------------
A/N: Damn you guys stopped talking