Draconic Karma Dungeon

Chapter 29: Boss Battle

Calorose had been Hypnotized by the words of bishop Marthox 8 years prior when she was a 3rd tier with the Bard Class. To become a Charmer - and later Entraller, Hypnotist and Mindbender - one had to have started with Awareness or Charisma as their 2nd tier Class. As such, Marthox gave Calorose some extra attention, knowing she could become another bishop one day. Only when Calorose finally became a 5th tier and got the Charmer Class did Marthox let her out of his sight, so she could spread the faith of the broken goddess.

Before meeting bishop Marthox, Calorose had only learnt two spells: how to create water and how to create ice. And everything she had been told afterwards was either about her new faith or how to convert people.

Of Class Skills Calorose had 8. And only two of those were helpful in a fight against a Boss while having no allies.

Had she not been Hypnotized, Calorose would have run out of the Dungeon by now. She was definitely not meant for combat.

But she was Hypnotized, and so she proceeded anyway.

Knowing she would be up against a Boss, she started out by using the active Class Skill she had gotten as a 4th tier Acolyte on herself. The Skill 'Bless' would give her 10 minutes where one Ability Score would be raised by three and the rest by one. Calorose chose to raise her Charisma by three as she knew her only real chance to win was by Charming the Boss and having it stand down. Then she would be able to stroll right past the Boss.

As an Awareness/Charisma hybrid Class Calorose's physical Ability Scores were poor, so she intended to stay out of close combat as long as possible should plan A fail. Her Intelligence was alright but not much compared to her Awareness or Charisma. So, while spells were an option, it was not one the siren priestess liked.

Calorose really hoped her Charisma could overcome the Awareness or Charisma of the Boss. For her only other option was to pelt it to death with ice shards or to try and drown it with water.

The Hypnosis didn't even let her consider running away as an option.

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Unfortunately for Calorose - and this had nothing to do with any luck-bending Dungeon Rule -, a kirin's best Ability Score was Awareness: One of the two Ability Scores, which could be used to resist the 'Charm' Skill. While the siren had enough Charisma that she would have been able to Charm the kirin had it not been a Boss, the doubled Ability Scores it got from being one, made it able to resist the Skill.

The Skill 'Charm' would initiate a mental battle of minds and wills. The two beings' highest Ability Score among Awareness and Charisma would go up against the other's. The Skill would only work if the Charmer had at least 150% the Score of the Charmed. If it succeeded, the Charmed one would follow any suggestions the Charmer made, if they weren't too outside what the Charmed would have otherwise done, but only for a day. It could be reapplied, however.

In this case Calorose's Charisma and the Boss' Awareness would have been equal, if only the 3+ to Charisma from 'Bless' and the doubling of Awareness from 'Boss' was to be considered.

However, the kirin didn't only have 'Boss' as an Achievement.

Mimics start out with the Achievement 'Ambush Predator' and griffins get the Achievement 'Treasure Guard'. Likewise all kirins get the Achievement 'Avenger of Heroes', which in turn gives them the Ability 'Power of Fallen Heroes'. Said Ability would give the kirin a boost to its Ability Scores based on how many 'Heroes' had died nearby in the past 7 days. Whether or not the System considered someone a hero depended on a person's karma level, with 90% or higher being the threshold.

Part of why karma creatures had 'karma' in the name was due to their nature making them unable to get their karma level lower than 90%. Should it somehow happen, their immune system would start attacking their body as the loss of their nature would make the body seem like a foreign object to be killed.

A.k.a. the no-longer-a-karma-creature would get a severe allergic reaction to itself…

The Ability 'Power of Fallen Heroes' wouldn't have been enough to stop the kirin from getting Charmed by itself, but it was more than enough to turn the tides in favor of the Boss after it had its Ability Scores doubled.

So, when Calorose tried to use her Class Skill 'Charm' on the kirin the moment she saw it, it failed immediately.

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I guess I'm about to find out if my supercharged kirin can defeat a 5th tier. I thought as the siren prepared herself before entering The Field of Fallen Heroes. The Boss Room had been named that after kirins' innate Ability. 'Power of Fallen Heroes' gave kirins a boost to their Ability Scores depending on how many beings with karma levels of 90% or higher had died within 1 km of them during the last week but the boost would disappear once the murderer had died or a week had passed.

Dungeon creatures were made of mana and bound to the life and will of their Dungeon Core and as such didn't normally have a karma level. Because they, as an extension of me, would then have to have my karma level. And as I, and all other Dungeon Cores, don't have a karma level, they don't have one either.

But the nature of karma creatures meant they had to have a karma level of at least 90%. Yet as a Dungeon creature they couldn't have a karma level at all. This put my creatures into a karmic superposition of both having a karma level of 90% and not having a karma level at all.

In reality it meant they didn't have a Karma Aura, yet they still counted as 'Heroes' to my Boss's Ability.

'Power of Fallen Heroes' gave my kirin 1+ to all 6 Ability Scores each time a new threshold was reached. Each of the first 6 Heroes to die were a threshold, so after only 6 dead Dungeon creatures my Boss would get an additional 6+ in every Score on top of the doubling the 'Boss' Achievement gave it.

When 12 Heroes had died was the next threshold reached and from there the amount would be doubled for each threshold.

My Dungeon had 308 creatures before The Field of Fallen Heroes, which gave my kirin an 11+ to each of its Ability Scores. Not as much as 'Boss' gave it, but it's still a lot.

While one's Ability Scores at level 1 varies from being to being, it does stay mostly consistent. All level 1 beings had a total of 60 and the distribution of them was often mostly the same within a species or race.

For each level up the System gave two additional points. On which Ability Scores these two points ended up was decided by the System based on the being's previous actions and needs. As such, an observant being would end up getting a lot of Awareness, while a being that had lost an important fight might get a bit more in its Strength Score doing its next level up.

So, without considering any Achievements or Abilities my kirin had started with a total of 60 at level 1. It had gotten 18 more through leveling up, putting the total at 78. Then its Ability Scores got doubled giving it a total of 156. Right now a total of 308 Heroes had died near it within the past week giving my Boss an extra +11 to each of its stats. This gave it a current total of 204 points to its Ability Scores.

And then there was an additional +2 and 140% Toughness from 'First of Your Kind' and 'Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves', making this kirin's highest Ability Score Toughness rather than Awareness, as it otherwise would have been.

It also gave it the total number of Ability Score points a being of level 90 would have…

I forced the kirin's Status to show up.

Creature Status Species: Kirin Level: 10 Strength: 35 Dexterity: 39 Toughness: 55 Intelligence: 25 Awareness: 51 Charisma: 35 Achievements: Avenger of Heroes, Boss Abilities: Power of Fallen Heroes

Yeah… That Toughness is kinda ridiculous! And that Awareness too!

Unlike sapients, kirins couldn't get Skills and couldn't use magic, so the Boss wasn't actually as powerful as a level 90 sapient.

You are not meant to fight a Boss alone either. The System had designed it so a Party of 4 at level 10 could win against a 1st tier Boss. A normal Boss of this tier would have an Ability Score total equal to a level 48, but it would be alone against 4 sapients. It would be a hard fight for a Party of 4 level 10's and someone would likely die in the attempt, but it was possible to win. A Party of 6 level 10's would naturally have a much easier time winning - provided they could work together - and would have a bigger chance of everyone surviving.

Essentially, had the siren's Party survived to meet my Boss, they likely would have won. Or maybe not. It did have an unnaturally high Toughness Score.

Luckily for me, she's all alone!

Another thing the Achievement 'Avenger of Heroes' did, was that the first nearby Hero death caused the kirin's mane, tail, and hooves to set on fire as it got consumed with desire to avenge the fallen Hero. And when said avenging had happened, the flame would die down as the Ability reset. So, in a Dungeon setting it would likely never last the whole week.

It seems quite likely to me that she's gonna die to my kirin. But just to be sure, I better raise the wonky magic chance to 50%. As it only lasts 10 minutes, activating it while she's fighting my Boss would be the right time to do so. This is life or death for me after all…

Well… not actually. She would likely just take my Fake Core and leave with it.

Though, she might notice it's fake when she tries to take it… It was mostly meant to stop me from getting enslaved. Death seems somewhat harder to fake.

Hmm…

The 'Fake or Real Core' Rule might actually convince her that she got the real Core, though. What was the wording of that again?

Dungeon Rule: Fake or Real Core: Everyone and everything except the Core itself will think the fake Core is the real one. This can be overcome by related Abilities or active Skills of the same tier as the Core or higher.

So, as long as she is in my Dungeon she'll think the Fake Core is the real one. I highly doubt she has any Skills to tell her otherwise.

My thoughts were interrupted as the siren had finished her preparations and had started to head for the Boss Room.

Break a leg! Or neck if you like! I didn't actually want to know what would happen should she take my Fake Core.

The Tribesmen looked ready to jump into the fight the moment my Boss had distracted the siren. While I'm pretty sure that's not necessary, I appreciate the help regardless.

The siren had tried to take a spiked shield with her from the puzzle room, but as a part of the puzzle it couldn't leave the room.

While she fumbled with it, I considered ordering the kirin to attack but I decided it would be better for it to stay close to the unicorn bunny in case it was needed. And there was no way I would ask the bunny to leave the protection of its 4 burrows behind.

The siren then picked up the crossbow the Archer had been using and seemed to consider taking it with her, only to discard it in the end.

Guess she's taking the magic route. Fun stuff!

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Plan B then. Calorose thought as her Charm attempt on the Boss failed. The priestess knew she couldn't let the failed plan A faze her as her life was on the line. And more importantly: The goddess is counting on me to save her while the monster infection is weak and small.

The Boss, which was rushing to attack her, looked like a dragon, horse and lion hybrid with a long neck and odd-looking fur-covered horns. The lion-mane and -tail as well as its cloven hooves were on fire. Its eyes lacked irises and were an angry red color with flickering sparks of orange. A color which resembled the fire on its body.

Calorose had little time to dodge and only managed to move enough that the sharp teeth of the hybrid hit her shoulder instead of her throat, letting her survive the attack. Her shoulder was bleeding and she could feel the heat of its fiery mane as it began to set her clothes on fire.

Then again. Calorose continued her thought process. While this infection is still small it is certainly not weak. It must be drawing power from the heart piece of the goddess.

With renewed determination, Calorose shot three ice shards into one of the Boss' fiery eyes. The first two simply shattered against the eye, irritating it and causing it to water but barely doing any actual damage. The third malfunctioned and froze her in place for several precious seconds.

More than enough time for the monster to release her shoulder and tear her throat out like it had originally intended, while her back got shredded by unknown attackers.

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"Uh?" Emil Great Rat looked around confused. What happened? It wasn't that Emil didn't know what he had been doing. He knew fully well that he had been on a mission to rescue 'a piece of the broken goddess' from a 'monster infection'. But something had changed for him, and that was what he was questioning.

I don't believe in it anymore! Emil concluded after some soul searching. What do I do now? He questioned himself.