Second World

"Shit! So it is really as Peniel said," Jack cursed.

"Why does he get it while we don't?" Giant Steve asked.

"Your ice resistance affected the rate of the buildup. The higher your resistance, the longer you can last," Peniel answered.

"Is there a way to eliminate the buildup?" Jeanny asked.

"By leaving this dungeon, or completing it before everyone got frozen," Peniel answered.

They all looked at each other.

"We've come quite far," Jack said.

John shrugged, "We will just lose one level if we die in this dungeon, right?"

The others' expressions said that they had no problem continuing.

Jeanny nodded, "All right! Let's proceed. Now that we know we are against time, let's pick up the pace!"

Everyone nodded.

"Yeah!"

"Right!"

"Have at thee!"

Everyone showed high spirit. They advanced forward by running, no longer applied caution.

They met another two waves of monsters after. At the end of this second wave, John, Flame, Jason, and Viral were also afflicted by the Slow status.

Seeing half of their team was already afflicted, Bowler asked worriedly to Peniel, "What if all of us get frozen here? Are we going to stay in this place forever?"

"No. If everyone is frozen. This raid will be considered a fail and everyone will be sent out minus one level," Peniel answered.

Jack turned to Bowler, "Come on. This is originally a game. You don't think Wilted would have designed a game that traps their customers forever now, do you?"

"Can't help to worry. I'm getting really slow now, you know. Have to put in a lot of effort just to run," Bowler replied.

"Yeah. You are truly slowing us down," John said.

"You are one to talk! You are also getting a Slow status already!" Bowler retorted.

"Don't worry, people. Once we meet the boss, it will be over soon. Whatever the boss is, my companion will make short work on it," Jack declared to motivate the others.

"How do you get that companion anyway. It was indeed very powerful," John said. He had seen firsthand Arlcard's performance via the hologram platform in Saint Edge's Guild Hall.

"We get the report also. It said your companion mowed down Saint Edge's members without breaking a sweat," Jeanny added.

"I don't like to burst your bubble, but I'm afraid you won't be able to call your companion here," Peniel told them.

"Huh? Why is that? Our other summons worked just fine," Jack said.

"Companion is not a summon. They are considered as another person. This dungeon allowed only ten people to enter. There are already ten of you here," Peniel answered.

"What? Why didn't you tell us this rule before we enter this dungeon?" Jack asked.

"Why didn't you tell me you plan to call Arlcard?" Peniel scolded back.

"Don't worry. We only need to open one spot, right? Let's just kill the most useless one here to make up for space," John offered while pointing at Bowler.

"I will kill you first!" Bowler said, taking a fighting stance.

"That won't work. Your party is already registered when the first ten people entered. Even if one dies or left this dimension afterward, your party is still considered as full already. No new addition is allowed," Peniel said.

"Damn… Should we leave and retry again? Well…, tomorrow, considering the cooldown time," Giant Steve asked.

"We've come this far…" Jack said again.

Everybody looked at each other again.

Seeing everybody's down expression, Jeanny uttered, "As Jack had said. We have come this far! Even if we fail, we will only lose one level. We can use our current run for reference next time. The scout team never make it this far and this long. We need to reach the boss first to see how feasible it is for our next run."

"Okay."

"Fine."

"Let's go."

Everyone agreed but with much less zeal this time.

They encountered another monster wave again. After they were done, it was Olddemon that got the Slow status.

While they were worried about who would be next, the terrain sloped down to a huge dry basin. They could see the entire basin. At the center of the basin sat a large yet strange-looking creature. Not so strange to Jack since he had seen a similar-looking creature before.

"My money on that is the boss," Viral Cora said.

"It is," Jack said. "I fought something like that which get me the legacy item that makes this whole legacy dungeon possible. This one is slightly slimmer though. The one I fought before also didn't have those two protruding skeleton things on its back that look like it wants to grow wings but decided against it halfway."

"Good. It's a good thing we reach the boss before all of us get slowed or frozen. We should…" Jeanny paused. "Uh, I just got a Slow status," she said.

"Damn! We should hurry up then. Will be difficult to fight the boss if all of us get the handicap. Not to mention if get frozen mid-fight," Giant Steve uttered.

Bowler shifted uncomfortably. Since he was the first to get a Slow status, he would also be the first to get frozen. He felt like he carried a ticking bomb inside him.

"All right! All the ones that not yet slowed, which mean the three of you," John said while looking at Jack, Giant Steve, and Balo. "You three engage the boss. We will stay at the back and provide backup."

Jack rolled his eyes. "You sent your summons also to accompany us!" Jack said to John.

"Fine, fine," John said. He called out his entire arsenal. The avatar, dirt golems, and giant lizard. Only the Fae stayed behind since it was a ranged attacker.

The others who could summon also did the same. Olddemon opened up his Hell Gate spell to call out his hellhounds. There were three this time, meaning that Olddemon had leveled up this spell since the last time to at least level 10.

Jack called out his wolf pack and rock golem.

They decided to let their summons engage the boss first, but Olddemon suggested letting him do the opening strike. He took out a magic scroll.

"This is a scroll with an enhanced spell that let me increase my spell range and power," the old veteran said. "I will snipe him using my Hellish Explosion. I won't be able to use that spell once you all traipsing around the beast. Might as well use it first."

Hellish Explosion already had a very long-range, but Olddemon still used the enhanced range scroll for precaution. If the boss started acting once they came into its area of perception, it will be harder to target it.

They walked slowly until the limit of the enhanced range for Hellish Explosion. It was also the range by which they could use Inspect on the boss.

*

Ice Demon Fiend (Rare elite boss, Demon), level 50

HP: 530,000

*

'A rare elite of nine levels higher,' Jack thought after seeing the boss' data. It also carried the name Fiend instead of Spawn. Meaning it was a different type of monster than the Ice Demon Spawn he had fought.

If he was alone, he would be sure that he won't be able to win against the boss. At least not without Arlcard's help. But with his friends' support, he thought that maybe there was still a chance. Even if most of his friends were under Slow status.

"What can you tell us about this boss?" Jack asked Peniel.

"As I said before, I can't say for sure about its complete arsenal. Considering it is a rare elite, it sure packs quite an amount of surprise. Anyway, this Ice Demon Fiend is both strong and fast, unlike the spawn who is lacking in speed. It also had a natural ice aura. So whoever gets close to him will have the environmental buildup further accelerated. But unlike the spawn, it doesn't have high resistance against physical attack. It's still weak against fire except for its mouth area."

The boss was still sitting leisurely on its spot while they chatted. Logically, it should have seen them already but it just ignored them. As long as they didn't attack or get into a minimum set distance, it won't do anything. Talk about the convenience of the gaming system.

Jack looked around the basin. There were countless ice spears stabbed randomly all around the basin. He felt gloomy seeing those spears because he knew what they were for. He told the others about those spears.

Olddemon completed his spell formation and unleashed the powerful spell without delay. They watched from the distance the flash that turned into a tiny red orb of energy above the Ice Demon. The appearance of this orb drew the demon's attention that it looked up. The orb then exploded with a devastating force covering a large area.

"Forward!" Jeanny uttered her battle cry.

Everyone started running forward. The summons took point with Jack, Giant Steve, and Balo followed closely. The others trailed behind slowly due to their slow status.

When the dust subsided, those with high mana sense already found out the result of their first strike. The boss' aura didn't reduce at all.

"Crap! It was not hurt at all!" Jack uttered.

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