Dungeon Core Online 157 Chapter 157

"Would muffins really be considered candy?" James couldn't help but ask. It was literally one of the only thoughts that flowed through his mind, amongst the other streams of thought trying to process what in the name of DCO he was watching. A portal had opened above the secret boss, the same color as the light brown energy flowing from his fist, and a moment later, a portly humanoid figure, with a muffin for a head, appeared. The rest of his body was human in appearance, and he was clothed as James figured a stereotypical baker should be, complete with the large white hat, atop his muffin head.

"Eh," Rue waived a hand, making the bag of gumdrops disappear from her clutches, replaced with a muffin. She took a bite out of it, chewing thoughtfully, before she turned her attention back to James. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if there was an upgrade that allowed the secret boss to summon something outside of the realm of just candy. Probably has to do with the realm of sweet treats instead." She shrugged. "You should know by now not to question things in DCO."

She had a very good point. No matter how much James read about DCO, and how much he tried to learn through the forums, the core chat, and just looking at all his own unlocked features, there was no telling what DCO would throw at him next. The game just seemed to be endlessly evolving and changing. He could only imagine how much time must have gone into creating it.

Following the summoning of The Muffin Man, the secret boss battle began once again anew. The Perfect Cognivore, utilizing his cloaking ability, was launching harpoon attacks all around The Candy Man and his new summon. However, the Muffin Man definitely seemed to be a trump card for BLANKs secret boss.
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While the Candy Man was taking the brunt of the attacks from James's boss, The Muffin Man actually summoned a massive oven, and began baking up treats. Every minute, the oven would ding, and 13 muffin mobs would leap out. James had watched half a dozen batches already appear, and run off around the duo, before burrowing into the ground.

Meanwhile, The Candy Man had reclaimed his candy cane axe, and was simply watching, intently, for the next sign of the attack from the Perfect Cognivore. An army of gumdrop slimes hopped along in all directions as well, seeking out their target. The moment they caught The Cognivore, James had a feeling his secret boss would not be able to escape unscathed. And the damned Candy Man, seemed to have an extremely high armor rating. James figured BLANK had really buffed his Secret Boss's traits, in order to make him nigh impossible to bring down with both physical and magical attacks. It was highly possible the whole point of the massive boss was to create a gumdrop army to overwhelm adventurers. It wouldn't be the first time James had encountered a boss that did just that.

"Struggle all you want chap." The Perfect Cognivore's voice growled from behind The Candy Man, followed by two harpoons. "Your efforts will just make my victory sweeter."

James facepalmed with his tentacles, while Rue broke out in laughter. While the Terminus generally avoided puns, James knew his pixie had been trying to get the AI to adopt them. She told the second-floor boss AI that it was a necessary staple of a Dungeon Core, that puns were important, harkening back to the glory days of Divine Dungeons. This was apparently the result of her goading.

The Candy Man grinned, sweetly, into the space around him. As he did, the oven once again dinged, and another baker's dozen of muffins leapt out of the oven, rushing off onto the battlefield. A split second later, a loud eruption suddenly shook the earth, and James starred in awe and horror to see The Perfect Cognivore, suddenly visible, standing in a crater, covered in muffin remains.

"Too many sweets can lead to cavities." The Candy Man said, as he chuckled. His bolos followed his laugher, flying rapidly towards The Perfect Cognivore. James's secret boss swatted at the weapon with his massive, Chainsword tail. However, the revving weapon failed to cut the taffy, instead getting junked up by the gummy candy. The weight of the three jawbreakers pulled The Perfect Cognivore's tail violently towards the ground, trapping him in place.

"This does appear to be a sticky situation." The Perfect Cognivore growled in response, even as he struggled against the bolos holding him trapped. His eyes darted around the battlefield, likely looking for any sign of additional muffin mines. Unfortunately for him, there didn't seem to be a visible indicator of where those muffins had sunk into the ground. Not even a single muffin top.

"Time for your just desserts." The Candy Man grinned with his frosted mouth as he neared the struggling Perfect Cognivore. Another ding signaled the release of even more muffins. This batch ran and created a circle around the Perfect Cognivore, trapping the area completely around him in additional mines. It was extremely similar to the style of trapping Crikey used, and James had to wonder if BLANKs top players had seen the Muffin Man before.

"I do like to enjoy my dessert as an appetizer." The Perfect Cognivore replied, his eyes darting between the Muffin Man, the army of gumdrop slimes, and The Candy Man. No matter how you looked at the situation, James knew his secret boss was in a bad place. And if he fell now, James wasn't sure his players would be able to bring down The Candy Man. At least, not without a lot of losses on his side.

"Do something." James whispered, urging his players to react. After all, there was an extremely large crowd of players… James did a double take as he looked at the battlefield around the Perfect Cognivore. Following the cinnamon cloud from The Candy Man, many of James's players had backed away from the two giant bosses fighting, likely figuring it was best to stay out of the range of destruction of the two massive figures. However, probably a hundred or so players had stayed relatively close to the battlefield, watching and cheering on the Perfect Cognivore, completely uncaring of their safety.

Or at least, James had been certain there had been that many. Now, all he saw were floating orbs…meaning they had died. However, neither The Candy Man, nor The Muffin man had taken any actions other than those to bring down the Perfect Cognivore. How then, had his players-

James saw it a moment later, as shadows seemed to shift and move back into the foggy area that depicted the BLANK owned territory that James couldn't see. While many of the shadows disappeared instantly, one paused for a moment, watching the chaos unfold. The figure took a glance from the Perfect Cognivore, back to The Candy Man, before he turned and faded out of view. SoulDemon. BLANKs players, probably assassins, rogues, and of course the PhantomBlade, had used the Secret Boss battle to gank James's players, catching them completely unaware. In doing so, James was down roughly a hundred players, and BLANK had just gained probably a decent chunk of Core Essence. That was not good.

"Rue, we've got a problem." James turned towards the pixie; his tone serious. If something didn't happen soon to even the battlefield, James wasn't sure how well this day of the Dungeon War was going to go. And while he was sure his players wouldn't make the same mistake on the 5th day of the war, he had been hoping they wouldn't completely throw the third day. But if The Candy Man and Muffin man continued, combined with probably BLANKs avatars…it was looking grim for his dungeon.

"So do they." Rue chuckled as she pointed back towards the Secret Boss Battle. The Perfect Cognivore's entire body was glowing faintly with a golden light, while his eyes narrowed on The Candy Man. BLANKs secret boss was standing above him, his candy axe raised high for his killing blow. The boss, it seemed, shared in BLANKs arrogance.

"Is that-"

"It is." Rue's confirmation caused a rush of excitement to flow through James. He had been so worried about the loss of his players, that he had forgotten his Perfect Cognivore had one last set of skills to use. A special set of skills that had been honed to do massive amounts of damage, and to kill its target, no matter what it could be. An attack so devastating, so powerful, that nothing would be able to survive it, not even The Candy Man. Because, in preparation for BLANK, and whatever the min maxing, power gaming duo would devise, James had given The Perfect Cognivore a last ditch, trump card of his own.

James was suddenly extremely happy there were no longer any players from his side close to the secret boss battles. However, he was extremely hopeful that some of BLANKs players were still lurking in the fog of war on the map. Because the Perfect Cognivore was about to go nuclear, courtesy of his final unlocked skill, Apocalypse Now. And when he did, everything around him, meaning the Candy Man, the Muffin Man, the gumdrop army, and hopefully those damned muffin mines, were going to be exposed not only to massive damage, but also, radiation.

Chapter end