The tunnel to the boss room was short, and Lyn hadn’t asked any questions as they approached, thankfully. She remained focused on her new daggers though Normann doubted she’d be able to channel her anima through them too.

  Though her silence may have to do with they would be facing a boss soon, and even though the previous fights were simple, boss monsters rarely were.

  When Rifts manifested in the world as Dungeons, there was a set pattern that most seemed to follow, especially this early in the timeline. At a low rank, like F or E, this was even more true. Dungeons possessed a singular pathway that led its way various bosses that had to be defeated. Each boss was simply a more elite version of the previously fought monsters, so an inexperienced squad would have some idea of what to face. Most of the time, there weren’t any mechanics that had to be dealt with, just a straight forward “tank and spank” from the old video game slang.

  That didn’t mean they were easier, just not as hard as the higher rank dungeons, raids, and other complicated areas that Rifts eventually opened up to.

  [The Smoldering Hollow] was no exception: the three packs of monsters they had faced thus far had been isolated groups, each separated by a small section of dungeon so that unless a person tried, they won’t be multiple pulls. They had lucked out that this Rift had opened into a F-rank dungeon, but given his [Augury Log], he wasn’t too surprised at the difficulty level. He wasn’t soloing it, but most F-rank dungeons, if an operator was smart, could be soloed. Up until a person reached one of the bosses.

  Normann paused in the entry way to the next room. The tunnel they had walked through had small holes that let in ambient light from everywhere but nowhere specific, similar to how areas like this were lit in video games. Sure there was active light, like the massive holes in the larger areas that revealed rivers of magma, lighting and heating the areas, but that they could see as easily as they could was a small blessing of the SYSTEM, a choice made so that there wasn’t too much hardship.

  The passageway gave to a massive cavern, larger than the others they had walked and fight through to reach here. The ceiling stretched up nearly three stories and formed a dome around a small bulge of dirt, nothing outrageous or difficult to climb, but it certainly gave advantage to the large scaldren standing in the center, hunched forward and glaring at them. Its arms were massive, longer than they should be and stretched down until its knuckles touched the ground.It would tower over them, and its black armor glistened like the obsidian scattered within the tunnels. Every bit of it was covered, the plates glowing red and orange in time with the magma lighting the room. The only thing exposed was a thin slit for its eyes and nose. White glared out, visible against the black armor though they were far away. It rested a massive battle axe on a shoulder, wisps of flame drifted off its jagged edge. “That’s the boss?” Lyn asked in a soft and shaky voice.

  “Yep,” Normann said. He checked the tip of the spear he picked up from one of the dead scaldren in the room before. Obsidian tipped, sharp and refined, but sturdy too. Had he the will and desire, it’d make a fine weapon. But he needed a tool over a weapon and frankly it felt awkward in his hands.

  “How are we going to kill it?”

  “The same way anything can die,” Normann said.

  “That’ doesn’t make-”

  “Its so easy to think of the SYSTEM as a game. Most the ways we describe it are aligned directly to our gaming terminology. HUD. Hit or Health Points. Attributes. Ever wonder why?”

  She shook her head. Normann gave her a soft smile. “It’s easy to see this overwhelming power and just be caught up in the wave of excitement that you are in fact a super hero, all powerful and growing stronger as you fight. The answer to the question is pretty easy too. The SYSTEM uses numbers to describe and show how it works because numbers are universal. Humans understand that two is greater than one, so if we are shown two sets of something, and one is labeled as one and the other two, we have a general idea of the one we would prefer.”

  “So? I-”

  “But its easy to get caught up in the numbers. In seeing that two is greater than one, and forgetting that the one is powerful in its own right.” Normann shifted the spear to his other hand and grabbed a rock from the floor, tossing it up and down a few times. A good weight, nothing outrageous, and felt comfortable in his hand. The shape wasn’t as round as he’d like, but he could make use of it.

  “You-”

  “Lyn, I need you to listen,” Normann said and turned to face her. He stood only a few inches taller than, but he held her frightened and clueless gaze. “It’s easy to think of this as a game. As something we play at. But people die and-”

  “I know that,” she shouted at him. The boss rustled behind them, but Normann didn’t step back. He stared down at her. “I know that.”

  “Maybe,” He acknowledged. “Maybe you do.”

  She looked away, frowning, while he stared down at her. It was hard to see a young girl like this and think of her as any sort of veteran. She was young, not even fully F-rank yet as she still was missing a component. Of the ones she had, [The First Victim] was not obtained through luck. Like all legendary eidolons, there were very specific circumstances to gain it, and none of the ones for it were pleasant. There were many trials that an operator often faced, sometimes before becoming one. As fresh a combatant as Lyn was, he was wrong to ignore her own capabilities.

  But she had a lot to learn.

  “Observe the boss,” Normann said. He turned aside and held out an arm for her to step forward. “Tell me what you see.”

  Lyn stepped forward slowly, inch by inch, though he stopped her before she moved into the room. “Stay in the entrance. Just look. What do you see?”

  Eventually she said, “Heavy armor, so probably tough defense. The weapon looks nasty, a fire enchantment perhaps? Or it could be something innate. The arena itself is strange; that it’s a hill suggest it has the higher ground and will be hard to move, possibly environmental. The hill itself has these slight discolorations, so probably forecasting dangerous abilities or spells. Doesn’t look to be any where that would summon adds, but we can barely see the tunnel on the other side, they might come up. The magma river over there looks to be pretty high and-”

  “If we had a full squad, how would we fight it?”

  “Like 4 people or-”

  “Striker, defender, troll, and aug.”

  “Troll? As controller?” she asked. He nodded. Right, the short-hand for controller wasn’t common yet. “Well, I don’t know if a controller is needed; nothing to manipulate or prevent that I can see. But the defender would probably have to try to move the boss of the center, while the striker and augmenter would have to weave between the environmental threats.”

  “Seems complicated.”

  “Probably a tough fight, lots of mobility. If the rings are something like fire walls, then it’d definitely be difficult. Maybe a controller would be necessary. Especially if they can slow the attacks down, or reduce the damage.” Lyn turned back to him, color drained from her face, and stepped back away from the entrance. “We really need a full squad. Even if we had all our components, this isn’t an easy fight. We need at least two others and hoping at least one is an augmenter, but even then…” She trailed off and looked up at him, eyes a little wet. “This isn’t something that we can do.”

  “Yeah,” Normann replied giving her another smile. “Seems that way doesn’t.”

  “Why did you enter here, we can’t beat it.” She shook her head and stepped back. “This isn’t a regular dungeon is it? You said we entered so there were less mobs earlier, and the bosses were harder.”

  “That was the intention,” he relaxed against his spear as he watched her work through the issues. He felt bad, guiding her through the thought process of why there was only two of them and why he wasn’t worried, despite the increased dangers that came from a weak squad like theirs. His time in Rifts and the variety they brought had taught him so many things, but there were some fundamentals she needed to grasp. Like the whole ‘manifesting her plating’; it would benefit her greatly if she was able to do so at this low level. The armor that was available went straight to defenders and augmenters first, given their importance in more balanced squads. A striker needed to survive though, and all the tricks she could use, including supporting herself with her components to the fullest, were important to that survival.

  “So this boss is going to be even harder.”

  “If we got it right, which it seems to be the case. Only three packs of monsters before the boss is below the curve if I remember for F-rank dungeons.” He tapped his chin. “Pretty good analysis. Have you had practice?”

  Lyn stared at him, mouth opened slightly.

  “Guess not,” Normann said and shifted the spear to his shoulder. “Okay, how long do you think this fight should take? A couple minutes? Ten?”

  “Why does that – fine, maybe ten minutes under normal circumstances. But if its even stronger? I don’t know, double that maybe.”

  “So twenty minute time limit?” Normann nodded. “That’s doable.”

  “Doable?” Lyn said. “Doable!? What are you talking about? We can’t kill that thing in twenty minutes.”

  “Who said anything about ‘we’?” Normann patted her on the shoulder. “This is your third lesson, but you’ll need to watch closely, okay? I’ll channel some of my anima, but this shouldn’t take long. Expect a quiz, okay?”

  “What?”

  “Just wait right here,” He said and tossed his rock into the air, catching it without looking at it. He turned before she could reply and walked into the cavern and the monster that waited for him.

  Normann’s [Augury Log] activated, giving him a small screen on his HUD. He shifted it off to the side, so it didn’t block his view of the boss in front of him as he approached:

  “Stay in the doorway,” he turned around and faced Lyn, walking backwards a few steps. Behind him, the boss shifted, plates clanging against itself as the heat of the room rose. Lyn remained in the entryway, trying to hide behind one of the sides, though failing miserably.

  Normann turned around and walked up the small hill. It wasn’t tall, but simply a long gradual slope that maybe rose up a few feet in total. Given the size of the room, it was enough to place him lower than the boss. He checked the time, just under three hours now, and transferred the rock to his right hand. He threw it as hard as he could.

  Behind him, a light flared briefly and a metallic shing echoed through the empty chamber just as the rock slammed into the chest of the boss. Tavanua roared and swung its massive axe over its head, heat coursing out as it ignited completely. Normann shifted his position slightly, crouching as a circle of fire formed above the boss. He held still and waited, staring up as it lowered it ax and pointed it at him.

  The circle of fire remained above them.

  ()()()()()()()

  Lyn pressed against the thin film of air separating her from Mr. Hawkins. He stepped out into the boss room and started the fight before she could act.

  That’s not true and you know it. She could have acted. She could have joined him, but he told her to stay back and watch. He’d been teaching her, though it hadn’t been useful, not yet at least. The whole manifesting her plating and chassis could have been, and she might have felt something, but ten minutes wasn’t enough time to even try.

  Lyn did feel her magic, no, her anima for a brief moment. It wanted her to use it, like the sun begging to finally rise and break the morning’s fast. It waited for her to to grab hold and explode with power and might. Obtaining her core, [The Bringer of Dawn],had opened her life up to something wonderful. She saw it as a blessing to change the world, to make it as she saw it could be. She wanted to use it. Mr. Hawkins seemed to understand that.

  He had taken the time and walked her through the process. The entire walk they had up to his room wsa filled with his voice, gentle guiding her through the separating the sensations of her body and her anima. The way he spoke about it being something foreign and familiar at the same time, as though it belonged and the rest of her was what was wrong; he got her.

  Then he had to step out into the boss by himself and start.

  There are ingrained rules of dungeons, things that occurred at every level. The SYSTEM sought their strength, but not their destruction. No matter the rank, if a squad were to lose half their members, rounded up, then the dungeon would offer an escape. A prompt would appear and if selected, the dungeon would immediately breach, releasing a horde into the outside world. The survivors would escape, but it would lead to devastation in the surrounding areas.

  Not many people would accept such an act, trying to make it as far as possible in the dungeon in order to reduce the destruction, but as a squad faltered and died, it became harder and harder. Operators used the SYSTEM, operated it, so to speak, but sentinels were the defenders against the monstrous and terrify dangers that came from the SYSTEM.

  They were meant to run into mouth of danger.

  Mr. Hawkins stood halfway up the small hill, crouching with the spear in one hand and glaring up at the boss. He hadn’t fought with a weapon yet, using bare fists and simply taking hit after hit. He had been slashed and hammered over and over again, but always stood up and kept fighting no matter the damage. An overhand chop of one monster should have shattered his collar bone and shoulder, driving deep into his chest. But Mr. Hawkins took the blow with barely a sound, moving with the debilitating attack into a powerful punch into another chest and knocked it to the ground.

  He stumbled but never faltered, constantly moving where the attacks weren’t. It wasn’t graceful or smooth. It was more individual pictures It was slow and methodical. A foot down and then two fast stabs passed by. A simple swing of an arm and an aggressive slash would be blocked. As the mobs hacked away at him, Mr. Hawkins was a mountain in movement, methodical in each position as he took them down.

  Lyn danced best she could within the chaos centered on him. She should be stronger; she had three of her four components, almost a full operator, and had been active for nearly four months. But Mr. Hawkins didn’t move like a rookie. There was no hesitation as his actions or his words. He stepped in the boss room alone.

  And he was going to die.

  The boss leaned forward and roared, the room shaking as small trails of dirt and pebbles fell from the ceiling. It had a health bar and she could see its name: [Tavanua, Corrupted Scaldren Warlord]. The small debuff next to it was from Mr. Hawkins, providing the bit of information. The fire surged above it as it drew back its ax and swung again, the mass of heat and flames following the arc.

  Lyn screamed, or she thought she did. The boss arena was consumed in an inferno as the fire raged and grew, engulfing everything. She couldn’t see anything beyond the flames. The heat forced its way through the thin film that prevented her from entering, though the fire didn’t pass through either. The heat did, and it pushed it back until she stood down the hallway, unable to see the health bar of the boss.

  Her HUD displayed Mr. Hawkins’ health bar though. A little flame debuff was next to it, and the red bar slowly dropped, inching closer and closer to zero. He had a massive amount of health though, and some strange ability to keep going after it fully depleted. The last fight it had dropped off and yet he still fought, smashing a fist into one of the scaldren’s faces over and over until blood dripped down his knuckles. He nearly collapsed, but he was alive.

  She doubted he could live through this though. They had only fought again physical damage. Nothing elemental. Taking a punch or a sword or ax was one thing. Operators’ bodies were sturdier than normal humans and could recover a lot faster. But fire was something else all together. Even with her higher Form and Brawn, Lyn stepped away from the overwhelming heat in front of her.

  She could do nothing. Any closer and she’d start taking damage. Her attention remained on his health, watching it slowly drop. As Mr. Hawkin’s health reached zero, the heat dissipated instantly. The pressure forcing her back and the painful air was gone. No smoke or fumes remained, as if the heat had never been present. The tunnel darkened, and she felt as thought she stood in complete blackness, staring at the emptied health bar of Mr. Hawkins.

  Slowly she walked forward, hands cradling the two spear heads he’d given her. It should go up by now. It should recover if he was alive. The debuff remained, but she’d seen those remain on the dead; his icon wasn’t grayed out either, despite his health bar remaining empty. With the heat gone, she approached the smoke-filled entry way.

  The transparent film was gone as well, except she couldn’t see in the room. Black smoke filled it completely, though it seemed to lessen, as though it were sucked out by a vent or something. The health bar of [Tavanua, Corrupted Scaldren Warlord] was gone, which wasn’t a good sign.

  Lyn remained behind the threshold, waiting as the smoke continued to disappear. The outline of the boss gained detail and she could see it was still, leaning forward with an arm out. Her HUD changed slightly, drawing her eye to Mr. Hawkins’ health bar. Or more specifically, the burn debuff that was now gone.

  “You can step in now, Lyn Hills,” Mr. Hawkins said. His voice was weak and shaky, barely raised, but she heard it through the silence of the boss arena. “It’s over.”

  She said nothing. She didn’t move. She couldn’t. She watched as the smoke finally disappeared, revealing Mr. Hawkins standing before the boss, still as a statue.

  He had his left arm up, blocking the massive ax blow from [Tavanua]. His arm was black, charred and mangled, but it held in place as a dull red and black light glowed around it. In his other than, the spear was angled up and stabbed straight through the helmet of the boss. His body shook, as he let go and stepped back. The boss fell forward, driving the spear further into its head. Mr. Hawkins collapsed to his knees, breathing heavy. His left arm remained in place

  He had soloed an F-rank boss, one that looked like it should need a full squad, and he did it with a simple weapon, no components.

  Lyn stood in the doorway. “How?”