After about five minutes of stomping through beavers and barricades, the party finally made it to the central area of the lake. The center of the lake held a very large, mostly submerged, dome-shaped wooden structure that put all the others the party had encountered to shame. More impressively, on top of said structure was Chuck, along with four other larger-than-average beavers whose power instantly told the party that they were mini bosses. The four beavers were staring in the party's direction, almost like they had been expecting them. Obviously, it was likely that the beavers had been expecting them, as the party had not been subtle about their movements.
Stopping a relatively safe distance from the waiting beavers, the two groups proceeded to stare at each other. The beavers were waiting for the party to do something, while the party was wondering if it was possible to approach the situation diplomatically. Normally, they would have attacked, considering that they had just torn through a beast's territory, but within the dungeon, the option might still be available. In the end, the decision was made for them as they felt Chuck burst with power.
In response, the party didn’t do much more than start their enhancements. Mainly because the four mini bosses were still on the large wooden raft, but partially because they wanted to see what the Beast Lord would throw at them. Out of all the fights they had had so far, they felt like the fight they were about to have with Chuck would probably be one of the hardest. The reason for this was the presence of four mini bosses, whereas before they had encountered two at most.
They wondered why there was a sudden increase in power, and if they had been able to read Dan’s mind, they would have learned that he was just testing things out. He had first tried two mini-bosses plus the boss, but that had clearly not been enough to push the trio, so, naturally, he had doubled up.
The trio watched as the water began to build behind the bear-sized beaver, and in a matter of seconds, they witnessed a 10-foot-tall tidal wave being hurled toward them. The incredibly vast wave passed over and through the large wooden nest the four beavers were standing on, leaving them and the nest intact. Of course, the party wasn't going to just float there and let the wave come at them unhindered, even if it wouldn’t do much. That said, and more accurately, the two guys weren't really planning to do anything as they already felt Adriana pumping energy as she mobilized her mana.
It wasn't long before a wave of similar size appeared behind the trio and hurled itself at the incoming attack. Granted, even if the two waves were flowing fairly fast, the party had stopped at a respectful distance from the nest, which meant it took a little bit of time for the two massive creations to clash, canceling each other out in an enormous splash. The clash sent ripples throughout the lake as the water was put into even more motion, shuffling the large wooden raft.
For some reason, the trio had been expecting to find all four beavers still on the raft. Yet when the waves clashed, and their vision was restored, the party was shocked to see that only Chuck and one other beaver were left on the wooden nest. It seemed they had underestimated the cunning of the enemy, who had used their tidal wave to hide the advancement of three of the mini-bosses. At the very least, they still had some distance to cover, and given the number of mini-bosses and their powers, the trio knew it was time to kick things into high gear and boost their enhancements even more.
Arctur noticed the wooden spikes coming at him and his friends, and he quickly erected a green barrier, stopping the two attacks from the wood-using beaver that had stayed back with the lord. Meanwhile, the other three beavers kept advancing. From what they could tell, two of them were of the metal variety, their coats turning darker but also gaining a slight sheen as they sped through the water, no doubt boosting their enhancements as well. The last beaver was one of the ones that had greater control over water, with this one even more so, considering it was a mini-boss. The water beaver, as the party had seen with the rest of its kind, was glowing blue as it used its particular ability to speed forward at least until the party finally acted.
Adriana dove down, aiming to take down the water beaver, which then proceeded to mimic the mermaid's actions. This left Alexion and Arctur sharing a look before Alexion moved forward. The elf unleashed a particularly strong lightning bolt at the two metal beavers to get their attention while Arctur moved towards his left, looking to stay back and support while also dealing with a certain wooden beaver that was now focused on him and only him, constantly sending wooden missiles towards the guy with the glowing green eyes.
The lightning scuffed the hide of the beavers, only causing minor damage. That was fine with Alexion, as he wanted the two creatures focused on him, especially once he saw Chuck dive into the water and not resurface, meaning it was likely going for Adriana. Naturally, with this development, things were getting serious, as dealing with two mini-bosses would be a rough fight unless he began using a techniques, something he definitely planned to do. Alexion also guessed that the mermaid would have to go all out, as dealing with a lord and mini-boss would prove very difficult for her. Alexion also knew why the lord was going for the mermaid; after all, his girlfriend had essentially single-handedly canceled out the lord's own attack, which put the beauty at a higher threat level than the two guys.
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Adriana’s underwater battle was a rather dull affair. Once she and the beaver had gotten close enough, they both began an exchange, which she naturally started to win. From previous experience, she knew that there was little chance of killing the mini-boss outright unless she spent way more mana than she wanted to. Or unless she used a technique, something she wasn’t keen on doing either. So far, there had only been a few times where she had thought about using one but had held back out of pride or to get a decent enough fight in. As such, she was happy to pressure the beaver, who was managing to put up a much better resistance than the platypus mini-boss had.
Adriana assumed this was because the beaver was focused more on water magic than the platypuses, so it was able to hold off her magic with greater ease. In fact, the beast was even able to counterattack with a few pressurized water shots here and there. Sadly, for the beaver, Adriana knew she needed to end things; they were still outnumbered after all, and not by weaklings. However, just as she was spending mana to squish the mini-boss, Chuck came into view, followed by Alexion’s warning.
“Lord dove in, possibly coming for you.”
The lord had appeared from the gloom of the lake and was approaching fast, but more importantly, in a splash of power, Adrianas attack was interrupted. Now facing a two-versus-one scenario that she could not dismiss, Adriana was forced to be on the defensive as she retreated slightly deeper into the lake. She couldn’t get closer to Alexion as she knew he was dealing with two beavers, and though Arctur was an option, their green friend was the key to turning the battle. Hopefully, he would end his target quickly and move on to assist Alexion, unless the storm elf decided to fully unleash himself. Granted, she doubted it; her boyfriend liked to live a little too dangerously for her liking.
Arctur had been testing the waters with the beaver mini-boss; the beaver kept sending wooden spikes towards him, and he had dodged, blocked, destroyed, or deflected them without issue. Then, in turn, he had sent some destructive beams its way while also ensuring to boost Alexion’s resilience and speed. The elf was staying put as the two beavers got closer, and after the latest water slash attack that only left shallow cuts on their skins, Alexion was charging up one of his favorite attacks. Meanwhile, Arctur decided to get on a half-destroyed nest that had floated along with them as they had pushed through the lake.
Throughout all of this, Chuck had watched the progress of his underlings, and Arctur had made sure to leave the lord alone, hoping it would continue to observe. Not because Arctur was scared of fighting it, but because they were truly in a tough spot. The other two might have forgotten as they tended to be battle junkies, while he often ended up supporting them, at least while using this particular form of his. If he did switch to anything else, well, things would be much different.
Anyway, the party was still in the middle of the lake with plenty of D Rank beavers behind them. Sure, there were adventurers keeping them busy, but if a large enough group of the beasts joined in their fight, things could get really dicey. With that thought in his mind, and as if it could read his thoughts, the lord dove into the water. Then, once it didn’t surface again, Arctur made the exact guess as Alex, but the elf beat him to warning their mermaid.
However, now that the lord was on the move, Arctur felt compelled to finish the little game he had going on with the mini-boss. He dumped enough mana to know that the result for his target would be death, and as he did so, the mana seeped into the wood all around him. The wood from his raft, as well as the pieces floating around, gained a slight green hue, and seconds after, a rain of sharpened wooden projectiles launched into the air. With his attack on its way, Arctur looked away from his target as the shadow created by his attack covered the surface it stood on.
Alexion launched a lightning bolt, but as he had done many times before, this one had wind and water swirling around it. The attack was directed at one of the beavers that was coming straight for him. He had made sure to slow it first by condensing the water around it, and the beaver had not attempted to break it apart as fast as it should have; the creature was apparently confident that its partner would assist it if it was truly in danger. The beaver's thinking and some godly mana had allowed Alexion to unleash his lightning bolt, which struck the beast even as it tried to dodge. Alexion had ensured that he had some targeting concepts while also directing the attack with his will, at least to some extent. Then, all of that, plus the sheer speed the projectile had traveled at, meant the mini-boss had little chance to dodge.
Arctur watched as the beaver mini-boss was struck by the lightning bolt, the attack carrying enough power to seriously injure but not kill the beast. Of course, there was still the other metal-infused beaver, now closer than ever to Alexion, as the elf had done little to stall it, expecting Arctur's help. Arctur was looking to help, and he sent wooden spikes and beams of green energy its way.
The thing was that the beast ignored the attacks that did strike, and it did manage to dodge plenty of them. The beaver was locked onto Alexion, and as it got closer and closer, the elf even attempted to hastily crush it, but the beaver powered through, spending plenty of its mana.
Alexion watched the beaver closely; the creature was about to strike with its tail, which had grown a darker hue. In response, Alex got ready for the attack.
Finally, the mini-boss got within striking range, and Alexion used mana to speed up his movement by manipulating the water around him. Yet, at the last second, the beaver's tail glowed brighter, and its attack sped up, striking him in the shoulder and causing him to spiral away in pain. The attack hadn’t broken anything, thanks to Arctur’s earlier buff, but it was not pleasant, and to make matters worse, the mini-boss was continuing its pursuit.
Arctur had tried to stop the mini-bosses from getting an attack off by dumping plenty of mana into some restraints. Yet, as he had started to mobilize the mana within his soul, a sharp and sudden pain interrupted him.
