Raiding

After another night of rest and recovery, we’re on day 6 of the 21 we get to prepare. It ticked over to midnight on the outside world while we were sleeping, which is a very strange feeling to have. Living with two different times and both simultaneously being accurate is weird.

I’m extremely eager to test out the new Raid dungeon. I’ve no idea what it’s going to be like, but hopefully, it’s going to offer even more potential power, experience and loot for us to gain than the other new dungeons did.

Olivia decides against accompanying us through the raid, telling us that she’ll supervise Emma and Lena instead.

She is pointedly avoiding looking at Belle the entire time she says this. I don’t say a word about it.

On the bright side, Paige is coming with us, deciding she’s ready to train and fight again. It’s not as easy to fluster her now as it was before, but it’s still possible. Some of her shyness has definitely disappeared after everything that happened. She’s still healing.

Then again, we all are.

Along with Paige, the rest of our raid party consists of Belle, Skylar, Mia, Ivy and I. A solid team, and I’m confident we’ll be able to handle whatever Gaia has in store for us in this dungeon.

Especially since I can now resume my role on the frontlines, since Paige is available to work with Skylar and guard Ivy against any attacks.

To get an idea of what we’re in for, I open up the description for the Raid dungeon, reading it aloud to everyone who’s coming along.

“Everybody got that?” I ask.

“What are the choices for Raids?” Mia asks.

I look down and shake my head. “There are none. I guess we just open one and hope for the best.” I tell her. Mia shrugs and accepts the answer.

Nobody else has any questions, so I check in with Elsa, who’s standing next to Mia. “Is Fateweaving active on all of us?” I ask her.

She looks around, studying each of us in turn for a few seconds, before looking back to me and nodding. “Then let’s go!” I exclaim excitedly, activating the Raid.

A gate of white light materialises in front of me. “Be careful.” Elsa tells Mia quietly, squeezing her hand.

On the other side of the gate, I step into a world with very beautiful, and very recognisable architecture. The layout looks a little different to what I recognise though.

We step into an area outside some large gates. The gates lead to a courtyard, and beyond the courtyard is a large church, with a huge bell on top, surrounded by stone gargoyles. Standing guard outside the gates are a knight clad in black armour, and a huge boar, also wearing armour.

Holy shit, holy shit.

I can barely contain myself from screaming with excitement as I read the windows. I look back around to the rest of my guild, who is following close behind me. “This Raid is themed after Dark Souls!” I exclaim excitedly. Mia groans at my words.

“Oh Gaia no, not that stupidly hard game you tried to get me to play a couple months ago!” She groans.

“Yep!” I reply, grinning. “Those things are level 200 and 250. We’re gonna have our work cut out for us on this one.”

Belle cracks her knuckles at my words. “Good. I wanna fight something strong.” She says, with a grin that mirrors my own.

I look back to the knight and the boar, both of whom are just standing there. I assume they’ll aggro when we get closer. Turning back to my guild, I lay out the strategy.

“That armour they’re both wearing is thick, it’s possibly made from vibranium. It’s unlikely we’ll be able to pierce it directly. Blunt **** impacts are a better idea for causing damage. With that in mind, Paige, do you think you can handle coming up the front, while Skylar guards Ivy?” I ask.

She thinks for a moment, then shakes her head. “Not yet. I wanna watch you first, please.” The earth mage requests.

I pat her on the head, and she leans into my touch, smiling up at me. “Of course sweetie.” I oblige her.

“Then you’ll be up front for the moment Skylar. You and I will be fighting the Black Knight. Mia, Belle, draw away the Fang Boar so Skylar and I have space to fight. Again, focus on blunt attacks.”

“If they function like the game, then they might be **** from behind, so trying to get behind them might be a good idea. Keep them separated. Paige, try and help from a distance, but focus on protecting Ivy more and getting back into the swing of things.” I brief them all. Nods of agreement all round.

I turn to the pair of enemies, patiently waiting for us to get within range.”Let’s go!” I shout enthusiastically, directing Mia and Belle forward. The two of them charge, and the Boar roars, starting it’s own charge at Belle. Skylar and I flank the two of them, and move to intercept the Black Knight.

As promised, Mia and Belle draw away the Fang Boar, pelting it with long range attacks so it continues to follow them and ignores Skylar and I. I lose sight of Mia and Belle, as Skylar and I start to engage the Black Knight. I trust the two of them to keep the Boar occupied.

I send a wave of freezing magic towards him to hopefully slow him down. I notice a slight change in his movement speed, and I’m satisfied that I can do at least something. Skylar conjures up a huge wrecking ball of shadow as he advances towards us at a jogging speed.

The wrecking ball smashes into his armour, but he barely seems to flinch as the shadow magic dissipates. He can definitely take a hit. He steps within range and hefts his greatsword up, bringing it back and slashing forward with surprising speed.

The attack, though very clearly telegraphed, happens so quickly that I can only just barely step backwards to avoid it as it comes. Skylar is already out of range by this point, stepping back and letting me in front of her.

A boulder rises into the air just behind the Black Knight, and I ready myself for the opening. Skylar combines her magic with Paige’s and together they hit the knight hard, finally managing to knock him at least a little off balance.

In an instant, I leap forward, a mace of ice already materialising in my hand, and I swing as hard as I can for his helmet. The clang of the magical metals echoes through the whole space, and for a split second, I think I might have done a bit of damage.

My weapon cracks and my magic disintegrates from the sheer **** of the impact against what I can only assume is vibranium armour. A fist of black shoots out, exploding against my helmet, denting the entire thing inwards and sending me flying backwards. If I didn’t have Gamer’s Body, I’m sure I’d have brain damage from the **** of the hit.

Half my health bar evaporates. I struggle to breathe for a moment before Gamer’s Body kicks in and heals my injuries. I have to take a moment to calm myself.

I can tank maybe one more hit, but even then, I’d have a sliver of health remaining. Is this really what it feels like to be hit by somebody at level 250?

I can feel Ivy’s healing magic topping up my health already, but with the Black Knight bearing down on Skylar, I can’t afford to wait. I can already see him drawing his sword back for another massive swing. I hear a yelp behind me from Mia, and a crash a moment later.

Ignoring the noise, I sprint forward, pouring mana into my frost magic, raising a barrier of ice between Skylar and the knight, and firing a blast of solid ice at him. The ice barrier manages to slow down the knights powerful slash long enough for Skylar to get clear, while my blast of ice knocks him off balance.

Going completely with the flow, I materialise a shield and sprint into the Black Knight, using my momentum to give as much weight to the impact as I can. Another loud CLANG!, and the knight actually staggers a step this time.

And that’s when Paige drops the huge boulder she’d prepared over his head, with Skylar adding as much magic as she can to the mix. The weight of the combined elemental magic leaves a very slight, almost imperceptible, dent in his helmet. I feel a flicker of hope in me, maybe we can do this!

The boar roars again, sounding closer than before. I risk a glance behind me to see Belle, bloodied and bruised, in the middle of getting up. The Fang Boar impales her with his ridiculously oversized tusks.

Or at least, that’s what would have happened, if she didn’t disappear from the Raid. The boar turns to Ivy and Paige.

I look back to the Black Knight, who’s already recovered from the onslaught of blunt **** elemental magic, and is mid sword swing again. Neither Skylar nor I manage to dodge this time, and the sword simply sheers straight through Skylar, her form disappearing completely from the dungeon.

Paige screams as the boar charges towards her, and despite knowing it’s probably futile, I direct more of my frost magic towards disrupting the boar’s charge, raising another barrier and hurling more ice blasts. The barrage works, and Paige manages to get clear.

I look back at the knight, just in time for a huge sword to take up all of my vision. The impact feels like a freight train, and the blade cuts deep into my stomach. I stagger backwards gasping from the pain, despite Gamer’s Body healing my injuries a moment later.

I look up to see a fist flying towards my face, and suddenly, I’m back in my Kingdom barrier, knocked on my ass in the snow. Ivy and Paige appear moments later. I look around at the six of us, all of us in various states of near ****.

Mia coughs, as Ivy starts to heal all of us. “I’m so jealous of you right now Gemma, that hurt!” She complains.

Paige nods wordlessly in agreement. I stretch my arm out to her, offering her cuddles. She sinks into my body gratefully, and I rub her back. This one isn’t gonna be easy.