[WP] The life of a final boss is tough. Fighting the same players over and over again until they eventually figure out all of your skill and abilities in order to beat you is a rough job. But you’ve been doing some studying of your own. It’s time to put it to the test.
“Annnddd… the new subroutines are live this patch, so good luck big guy!” Devone said, as his greatest champion knelt before the shrine to his god. “Try not to get creamed out there.”
“Yes Milord,” Drynx, lord of despair and once hero of the realm said, drawing his sword. “Thank you for giving me this opportunity once again.”
“Server reset is on Friday. Make me proud.”
Devone’s presence vanished from the small shrine, and Drynx turned his attention over to the book shelf in the corner.
He would make his master proud for once. Today was not the day that the end of the expansion proved to be a joke.
He had learned from the initial campaign. He had watched as he wiped party after party, one by one, all recorded for the glory of Devone, and then been crushed again and again.
But not this time.
Drynx clenched his fist and the book burst into a flurry of digital particles and swept his way out of his bedroom and over to the main hall. This time…
This time…
The top guild in the country grinned at each other in their VR headsets. Top of the line emotional computational transmitted it across the land so that everyone could see every raw detail, with a few… simple exaggerations or manipulations to make all the gender swapping work out correctly. After all, gamers would be gamers.
Swords drawn, they assembled into a phalanx formation and swept forward.
“Alright, we don’t know what changes they made for this patch, but we should see some flash backs to the initial fight. Rogue, keep on distraction and DOTting, Cleric, keep him off balanced, lay down some debuffs. Paladin, draw aggro.”
“And what are you doing, oh glorious wizard?”
Terrence grinned under his hat and adjusted it on his head. “I get the hard job; countering his kill spells.”
The party laughed. They’d never seen Terrence fuck that up yet, but he was also the highest level wizard in the guild, so he could be telling the truth.
“Alright, break the sacred pact on my mark,” Terrence said, throwing up a hand. “5!”
The pact had been obtained by the freshly excavated dungeon to the far south, dug out of the ground after countless players dumped gold into the merchant caravaneer’s coffers. There would be a quest after this about that, they were sure, but this was the last big boss encounter. But this was the lord of despair.
“4.”
The rogue stood by, casually counting out how many items he had on him. It wouldn’t do to run out.”
3.” The paladin spoke, hefting her axe. She laughed, twirling it. At last, she could get her revenge.
2.” The cleric shifted nervously, flicking through what divine clout he had at his disposal. He didn’t like this, and he certainly didn’t want to be the first party to wipe.
“1.”
The pact exploded in the paladin’s hands, and the doors blew off of their hinges as the last words of the fabled heroes echoed across with blasphemous intent. A bloody scream as the hero plunged his weapon through the sorceress’s throat, to seal the greatest evil of all away.
The land was covered in drought and fissures from the lack of water. The Desert Age would soon end, with the blood of Drynx.
“At last,” Drynx said, rising from his ice thrown, tossing aside his white hair. “Someone has heard the call of the pact and freed me from my prison. Shall you admit I was right all along?”
“There is no right here,” The paladin said, thumping her tower shield on the ground. “There is only the end of this cycle. Return the ocean to where it came!”
“And yet my people, they have moved from the mountain islands they were trapped upon so many years ago. They fill the great valleys. Where shall they go?”
“They shall find their places. We all need the water, Drynx. Do not pretend a moral high ground,” The wizards threatened, lowly.
“I will make a moral high ground of your corpses,” Drynx threatened, lowly.
Then the icelord drew his mighty rapier, and the entire room frosted over.
“DOT!” The rogue pointed, watching his health tick. “CAREFUL!”
“Divine magics have been diminished in this area,” The cleric shouted. “Paladin, watch out.”
The paladin scowled at Terrence, flashing him a murderous gaze from her blue eyes. “Dispel this, you idiot, before he wipes us.”
Terrence stepped forward and eyed Drynx.
They remembered each other. They remembered that first encounter, where the fight had glitched.
When Drynx had been dishonored.
There was no need for that now.
Drynx’s lips curled into a smile.
Terrence dispelled the debuff.
The axe came down upon Drynx’s thigh in a spray of liquid nitrogen and blood, catching the paladin by surprise as she froze in place. “Dammit!” She cursed, rallying her deity.
Drynx picked her up casually, looked her over, and hurled her into the rogue, sending them both sliding against the ground.
Arrows decorated his form. They etched his armor to his body and his clothes to his bare arms; the great knight was little more than a pin cushion, but still he stood.
“You idiots,” Drynx roared. “Nothing less than the sun itself can quench my light.”
The paladin stumbled to her feet, spitting blood on the ground. “That’s fine,”
Drynx eyed her, glaring.
“I specced into solar damage,”
The paladin burst into a radiant spectre of light, and Drynx saw his programming flash before his eyes.
Not this time. He wasn’t going to wipe this time. Not to the first battle. Not when his army lay before him, shattered, those that were most loyal to him melted.
Drynx swallowed, then took a step backwards.
“What’s the matter?” The burning paladin asked. “Scared?”
The boss took one last step back; into the area where there were reduced polygon counts to prevent the fight from lagging.
And then Drynx stepped into an area of poor collision, and teleported to the other side of the room as the software auto corrected his position. He was larger than a player model, so the system spat out errors trying to fit him through the invisibly walls, slamming him into the physical wall where his body phased through, rapidly moving back and forth up and down. Halfway through the wall, the sound engine broke spectacularly, sending an agonizing shriek into the room. The rogue failed to deafen himself and fell over. The paladin succeeded.
Then Drynx dropped right outside the fight’s door, where reality was just an inky black void to save on hardware rendering. He adjusted his armor and stared as the shrieking error noise continued.
One by one the party failed and fell to the ground, just leaving the paladin.
“You’re still here?” Drynx laughed, raising his arms.
“I’ll be here until you die, you fucker,” The paladin swore.
“Then you won’t like it when I do this,” Drynx said, stepping inside of his own room again.
Then his eyes flicked to the other side of the room.
Where his second instance had spawned. The fight was reset.
But Drynx was still here.
“At last,” Drynx said, rising from his ice thrown, tossing aside his white hair. “Someone has heard the call of the pact and freed me from my prison. Shall you admit I was right all along?”
“What the fuck,” The paladin swore, paling.
Drynx was delighted to hear Devone laughing in his head.
At last.
He had pleased his god.