Tasha acted first, casting Arcane Aura again on John, Lucy, and Wyn. The moment her mark appeared under her as she started the spell, the bosses acted. The staff-wielding boss lifted it high in the air and caused an aura of white to envelop the other two monsters.

  Wyn’s initial excitement completely dwindled as he realized they had a similar protective spell like him. It wasn’t magic armor like he now wore, but he could tell based on the dense white aura that it was some form of support magic. Potentially like Arcane Aura or even like Regen in preparation for battle.

  Everyone began activating their own abilities to bring out all of their strengths. Marcy flew above the group after summoning her deathhawk, and immediately began to fire arrow after arrow at the bosses. John’s Squire Aura pulsed around him and the others but he activated more of his skills before fully engaging. Several layers of magical energy now enveloped him, and he looked as bright as Wyn had ever seen him.

  Lucy prepared her new abilities, too, and Wyn was curious to see them in action. She looked more protected from the Drake’s Frozen Brand chainmail they found from the fourth floor boss, and she traded some items to obtain the helmet that matched it. It was a strange looking helmet with a bluish white horn on each side that curved out and up like a bull, along with black metal that covered her entire head with a nose guard. It was intimidating but also beneficial as it improved her Barbarian skills by one stage and her attack power by a large amount. She was easily their strongest Climber now, while John was still their most protected. She began to glow in a swirling black and red aura that enveloped her like a demonic cloud.

  Wyn and Cedric started their own abilities, and they formed a slightly new strategy. Cedric added a spell to his list that was in the same line of thinking as a trap spell to help along with Wyn and Marcy's traps. It was unconventional to use as most offensive Wizards primarily used attacking spells, but he wanted to see how beneficial it would be. When he finished casting it, a large area of visibly static lightning formed on the ground in front of and to the left of the Climbers. When the bosses stepped into it, they’d be temporarily stunned and damaged. If allies stepped into it, they weren’t harmed, but it did slow down movement from the dense magic. It was called Static Field. Wyn placed a Wellspring in front of and to the right of their group, hoping to force the bosses directly in the middle. They were told that these Fodakas were smart, and wouldn’t just mindlessly run into danger. So they wanted to force their plays.

  The bosses then moved, and they moved quicker than Wyn imagined for their size. They started straight for them, taking care to avoid the traps on either side. John met them first, his shield raised to defend a blow from the boss carrying the large sword. As the boss swung down, Wyn felt a sensation of danger from the attack. Not something magical but a feeling deep down. Something he hadn't experienced in some time.

  Worry. And fear.

  He honestly didn’t know if John could completely block a weapon of that size or an attack that powerful.

  That was when a small but dense barrier formed in front of and just above John, about his height and curved like a half-dome. The barrier completely blocked the attack and the sword bounced off with the boss recoiling from the ineffective hit. John then swung his sword through the magical shield, hitting the boss in the waist with a slash as though the barrier wasn't even there.

  Wyn was confused. Did John have an ability he didn’t know about?

  Wyn looked back to see Tasha hovering just above them, flying with translucent wings. Beneath her on the ground floated her healing and support Calling, Mongano. Wyn wasn’t sure why she brought him out first, instead of one of her others who were more suited to fighting. But the creature had a bright green glow around it, and Wyn saw another shield pop in front of Lucy when she was fighting the second Fodakas boss. Again, the monster’s weapon bounced right off of it, and Lucy swung her axe with such force against the monster’s shield that it caused the creature to stumble backwards and lose its footing.

  Meanwhile, Mongano was still floating, and more magical energy was permeating off of it as though its entire being was pure magic. Wyn didn’t know exactly how the Callings worked, but it appeared to be even stronger than before. He wondered if it was from Tasha’s equipment or if she was utilizing more of its potential abilities.

  Seeing that they would be better protected, Wyn activated Speed Up and rushed forward to help. The bosses were incredibly durable, but they could still be killed. It would take great effort, however. He moved to help Lucy while Marcy’s summoned deathhawk helped John, squawking in a deep voice and slashing with dagger-like talons against the massive sword-wielding boss. Wyn hoped to distract the sword and shield boss enough with Lucy to be able to pin it down well.

  As he stabbed into the boss monster’s thigh, another thick shield formed around him. But the boss swung and missed on Lucy, not even noticing Wyn. Then a loud crack hit the shield and dissipated, leaving it splintered from the damage. Wyn looked over to see the mage boss pointing its staff at him with a magical circle on the ground underneath its feet. A glow began to form at the tip of its staff, coalescing into a small but dense ball of green and blue magic.

  Wyn left Lucy and their boss and focused on the mage Fodaka. As he started to run towards it, the ball of magic stopped growing in intensity and left the staff with a sharp crack, flying towards him like an arrow at top speed. He mentally registered that the boss was focusing on him, and changed course to run sideways instead. With his enhanced speed, he avoided the path of the magical attack, and was relieved to find it didn’t change course. Instead it missed and kept flying out of the temple’s entrance before exploding against a rock wall in the distance, completely obliterating it.

  The mage began to gather energy for another attack. This one looked different, though, being blue and white, and instead formed a misty aura that enveloped the two other Fodaka bosses. It overlapped their already dense white auras in a swirling white and blue, moving far quicker and faster than the static aura of protection. It reminded Wyn of how John stacked his aura skills one after another.

  Wyn didn’t remember this magic being in the information provided about the bosses. The information was limited, but Nigel had said it mostly attacked them with magic or protected itself, and the other guilds reported the same. Why was this encounter suddenly different and harder?

  The bosses began to move quicker, their bodies avoiding blows easier and their feet moving faster on the smooth stone. One of them even had shallow cuts and bruises heal in moments. John and Lucy were starting to get pushed back as well, though Mongano continued to protect them with summoned shields. Marcy and Cedric were primarily focusing their attacks on the combative bosses to ease the burden on John and Lucy, and even their attacks were getting dodged or shrugged off relatively easily.

  Wyn understood what was happening. The magic wielding boss was enhancing and healing the others. It would be a tough fight if it continued, which would make essentially any progress at killing the others moot if they were healed enough. They might have to leave again if even one of them were injured enough to be removed from the fight, too. If that happened, they might not make it out completely unscathed this time.

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  “Take out the mage!” Wyn yelled, before adjusting himself. It would be his new target.

  Marcy flew over him and shot an arrow at the mage who raised its staff and blocked it with a well-timed barrier. It then raised a circular protective dome around it, which continued to block more arrows. As it was protected a new magical formation appeared under its feet, and it began to verbally speak in a language Wyn didn’t recognize.

  “Shit!” Marcy said, flying low close to Wyn. “It’s chanting a spell! We need to stop it!” She pulled back another arrow that was glowing red, her Ignite spell. It flew in a red line to the boss and exploded against the magical shield, but it held firm. The attack didn’t even appear to have left a mark.

  “How is it that strong?” Marcy asked, drawing another arrow.

  Wyn looked at the barrier. It didn’t seem much different, but as he focused he could sense a familiarity. Something similar to Tasha’s Shell spell rather than his own Shield spell, like the aura being denser and more translucent.

  A thought struck him. The barrier protected against magic, which was why it held so well against Marcy’s attack and her arrows. They were now completely magical from her new equipment. It likely wouldn’t fare as well against physical, non-magical attacks. Or at least he hoped.

  It was worth a try.

  Wyn changed his weapon to a warhammer while running at the boss and swung at the protected mage. The weapon hit with a satisfying crack, confirming Wyn’s theory. The mage stopped its chant and growled a deep, primal sound that sounded more animalistic than human. It was a stark reminder that these were monsters. Nothing more.

  Wyn promptly hit the barrier again, and again, and then a fourth time, smashing it as it broke into magical pieces that dissipated in the air. Not a second later a glowing arrow pierced the mage as small, precise and visible curves of air erupted from the arrow and slashed the mage all over its body. They only left shallow cuts but left dozens of them as the boss cried in pain.

  Changing his weapon back to a spear, Wyn mentally activated his Silence Attack skill. He hadn’t had too many opportunities to use it as most of the monsters on the lower floors didn’t use magic, but he felt a deep satisfaction watching the orange aura from his weapon transfer to the mage as he stabbed it in the thigh. When the mage raised its staff and pointed it at Wyn, its face morphed from anger to fear as nothing happened.

  Wyn didn’t want to squander the opportunity and kept pressure on the large boss, stabbing and slashing at it with his weapon while Marcy simultaneously peppered it with arrows. Each of her projectiles sunk into the monster nearly halfway up the arrow shaft, showing that the mage wasn’t nearly as dense as the others. It didn’t have the same protective aura, either. Wyn activated Flash to blind it, then continued his attacks while the monster covered its face and stumbled.

  “Go help the others!” Tasha said, flying towards Wyn and Marcy. “Cedric, on the mage!”

  Wyn turned back to see that John and Lucy were struggling to deal with the two physically stronger bosses. The deathhawk was already gone, likely suffering too much damage and being unsummoned. Cedric had activated his illusory ability to project copies of himself, while Lucy was knocked back several feet, rolling on the ground. She quickly stood to return to the fight, yelling in anger while raising her axe to fight. Her magical armor from Tasha was gone, and blood sprayed from her mouth as she yelled.

  John surprisingly looked fine, but Wyn figured it was the multiple layers of auras that continued to surround him, as well as the magical armor that coated him. If Tasha was protecting one of them continuously, Wyn was happy it was John. The Squire was currently trading blow for blow with the large sword boss and somehow standing his ground. The monster was over twice as tall as John, and far bulkier with a sword that was at least John’s size, but John was better protected. Despite looking only like a human, he was absorbing hits on his shield and striking back with his sword with a strength that was seemingly god-like.

  Wyn sprinted forward to help. While looking powerful, John wasn’t a god. He was still a human. And he could be injured and die like one.

  He mentally activated Feeble on the monster, though cursed when he saw the spell fail to take effect. The skull appeared briefly above the monster but then faded as quickly as it appeared. As it did, the blueish white aura around the monster faded as well.

  Was that from his failed spell? Did Feeble somehow remove the beneficial effect instead of reducing the monster’s power? Or did the aura have a function that protected the boss against magical effects like Wyn’s spell, and it merely served its purpose?

  Wyn didn’t have time to think about it. Nor did he care in the moment. It happened, and that was that.

  If he couldn’t affect the monster, then he could at least affect himself. He cast Decay and shortened his spear to a short sword. Then he ran to the monster’s legs and started slashing. While John kept distracting the boss, Wyn focused on damaging it as much as he could. He noticed his attacks landed heavier and cut deeper as John’s Squire Aura improved his physicality, and his movements were sharper and more precise. Still under the effect of his speed skill, he attacked as fast as possible, slashing and stabbing furiously. In seconds he landed several hits that brought the monster down to one knee, where he and John ramped up their assault to try and hurt the boss as much as possible.

  Suddenly Lucy grunted in pain, and Wyn looked over to see her rolling on the stone, leaving a not insignificant trail of blood. He was about to leave and heal her when a white aura fell upon her, thick and dense. Mongano remained floating in the air where he was first summoned as magical runes formed on the ground beneath him showing he was still casting his healing and supportive magic. It wouldn’t last much longer, though, as the visible aura around the creature was nearly spent, being far more dull than the original bright light.

  This fight needed to be over sooner rather than later.

  Wyn decided Lucy could manage on her own. She was resilient, strong, and scrappy. Plus, the more she was injured, the stronger she became. Which afforded her an advantage against a more powerful opponent that John didn’t have.

  Currently, the best strategy was to kill one boss then move to another rather than slowly kill each one separately. So, Wyn stayed with John. Soon the mage boss would be killed from the combination of Marcy and Cedric, and then they would join, too.

  Which was exactly what happened less than a minute later. Wyn knew the mage boss was killed both from Marcy and Tasha flying overhead, as well as from the two remaining bosses angrily roaring in response.

  The fight turned for the better, then. Tasha instructed Wyn to help Lucy, who was struggling against her opponent, then ordered the others to focus on John’s opponent. They systematically and quickly killed the monster, connecting attack after attack of sword strikes, spells, and arrows. The magical protection the boss had faded quickly, and though its armor and naturally tough body were impressive, they couldn’t match against three Climbers beating it down.

  While that boss was handled, Wyn mostly helped Lucy by protecting her, not bothering to heal her. Physically she was better in just about every area besides speed, and even then Wyn could tell she was impressively fast. Her arms and legs were cut and bruised, and blood dripped from her face with each step, but it seemed as though her power grew the more she became injured. It was a strange dynamic but he didn’t question it. She handled it well, and even reminded him several times when they weren’t climbing to wait on healing her unless absolutely necessary. Instead, his focus was on Shields and well-timed uses of Flash.

  He recovered a fair amount of mana using Decay, and kept focusing on swapping spells to try and activate Chaincast. The fight neared its end as the ability activated when he tried another Feeble, and the spell doubled against the boss. It shrank several inches and slowed drastically, becoming far easier of a fight.

  Soon the others joined them as a bolt of lightning blasted into the monster’s back. That was the heavy, final blow as the boss fell to both knees. A few more hits and one final chop from Lucy’s axe sealed the monster’s fate.

  After ten minutes of fighting, everyone paused and rested. No one said a word. They looked at each other, then at the piles of treasure that laid at their feet.

  Lucy was the first to smile and laugh, which made the others do the same. Their cries of victory echoed out of the temple entrance but no other monster was around to hear it.

  They’d done it. Together, they defeated the bosses of the eighth floor.

  Tasha stood before them while they basked in their success, staring ahead.

  Wyn knew that look. He’d seen it before, on their first full month of climbing. It was the look of determination. Of resolve.

  He knew exactly what she was thinking, and what she was about to say. Apparently the others didn’t, however, as they were still celebrating their victory and admiring the spoils.

  After they collected their rewards, they wouldn’t use the floor portal to return to the base. Tasha wanted to step inside the ninth floor.

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