Dungeon Core Online 23 Chapter 23

It took nearly 8 hours for James's experience to climb closer to 10,000, and his first rank. While he had seen a burst of experience courtesy of mob based achievements, the progress had begun to slow. This was due, in part, to the fact that he could only gain these achievements once. It was also do the fact that the players who were doing their dives now, had all started to play a little more cautiously.

The great thing about gamers, was how quickly they adapted. After their initial deaths, and the realization that they lost experience when they died, the players began to play a lot more cautiously. James had to sit and watch the groups hunted down mobs that they could find in smaller packs, while working to avoid Old Man Jenkins. Generally, they were able to spot the 10 foot tall boss from a good distance away, and quickly turn tail and run. The only place he could really hide was the corn field, and players started avoiding that area altogether. Z's group wasn't the only group to run into sacrificial lambs in the corn field. James was wondering if there was an achievement he could unlock related to the field, the sheep, and popcorn. There had to be.

James scanned through his character sheet quickly, and found it hard to keep his excitement contained. He was sitting at 9,842 experience. One more party, all he needed was one more party to wipe, and he would hit his first Rank. And none too soon, as a few of the adventurer groups had managed to reach level 2 .The saving grace though, was that those who had managed to farm enough experience, usually cleared the instance of all the mobs, meaning they had been kicked from the dungeon for an hour. They obviously had wisely chosen not to engage Old Man Jenkins again so soon

A flashing on the screen pulled James's attention to one of his 10 instances, all of which currently had 20 out of 20 adventurers populating the screen. Many of these teams were new teams, still on their first round of farming the floor. Most of the previous teams had left the dungeon earlier, making their way to the rapidly growing town at the base of the mountain. A vast majority of the players were actually down there, likely choosing to be more casual, and take their time with the game. That and the race for players to establish their own niche market, skills, and housing areas. There was a lot of work for players to do in setting up the dungeon town, and James knew some of the first adventurers in the dungeon were going to be taking advantage of the rarity of items right now.

James focused on the screen that was flashing, casting a sideways glance at Rue's tent. The pixie was still asleep, meaning he would likely be able to do his rank up before she woke, and surprise her. For some reason he really enjoyed the thought of showing her his progress. He could be a successful dungeon without her, after all.

As the screen before him enlarged, he had to stare for a second, to double check what he was seeing. Preparing to square off against Old Man Jenkins was Z and the Knights Who Go NI. Amidst the constant coming and going of players in the dungeon, and the string of boss fights James had been watching, he had lost track of the group that had discovered his dungeon. He quickly pulled up their information, and was surprised to see they had all reached level three already.

James had expected such growth would take a little more time from players, but he figured the more hardcore groups, which The Knights Who Go Ni obviously were, would maximize their farming potential. If he had to guess, they had been killing mobs faster than the others in their instance, essentially allowing them to steal experience from other groups. An underhanded tactic perhaps, and one that James had seen as a flaw in the instances, but it was the nature of MMOs.

While their levels surprised him, James had to grin as he finished doing his basic math. The group wasn't foolish enough to try and take the boss on close to leveling. It was likely after they hit level three, they had decided to hunt down the boss, in another attempt to claim instance first. However, if James had to guess, they had still killed all the mobs that stood in their way as they searched for Jenkins. That meant, if their party wiped, they had enough experience that James would hit his next rank. He could hardly wait.

"Alright guys, you remember the plan?" Z had his bow out, an arrow already nocked, as he motioned towards Old Man Jenkins. The boss was currently leaning against the barn, smoking on his pipe contentedly. His straw hat was pulled low over his eyes, and he was just barely staring at the adventurers. The boss seemed entirely unworried about the group preparing to take him on.

"Something about me taking all the hits, while you guys pick off his health?" The warrior Oak had picked up a basic shield sometime between the first dive, and his current dive. James wondered if there was already a basic goods shop open, or if someone had been working on their craft and was now able to make basic armor? He had seen players simply spam basic crafting skills nonstop in order to improve their skills enough to make such items. Basic gear, especially in the start of a game, could earn a nice amount of currency.

"More or less." Z shot Oak a grin, and looked back at Elm. "Though, in theory, you shouldn't be taking too many hits."

"Have we checked for any other mobs in the area?" Faust was glancing around, taking note of the dicken coop that was near the barn. James did a quick check, but was disappointed to find the coop was empty of his mobs. Where had they gone?

"I don't see any. I'm sure the other players have been doing a good job of keeping them cleared out." Their server did have 15 other players not counting them. In total, the first floor had 46 mobs, not counting Old Man Jenkins. James was sure most of those mobs had to be engaged with other adventurers, or spread out on the floor, or dead. James was silently hoping for option three.

"Alright, well let's take this boss down, and claim another instance first achievement. I want to hit level 5 as soon as possible." At his comment, James checked Z's character sheet, quickly opening the Skills tab. Sure enough, his suspicion was correct. It seemed adventurers, at least archers for sure, didn't unlock their first actual skill till level 5. If he had to guess, the first few levels just improved their basic stats.

"Good luck." James said, curious to see how the group would fair. Sure they had two more levels than they had before, but his boss mob was still level 5. Old Man Jenkins also hadn't really been fighting the adventurers yet. In fact, the boss rarely killed the parties, it was usually mobs in the area that landed the final blows.

"On my count." Z leveled his bow at Old Man Jenkins, his eyes narrowing as he took aim. He began to count down from five. Elm drew his own bow and copied Z, while Faust took up a stance, preparing to cast. As they took up their positions, Oak let out a sigh and walked forward, shield in hand.

"Always a tank, never a DPS." He grumbled. If James had to guess, warriors were a dual class, and Oak was stuck playing the tank because the rest of his teammates had grabbed DPS or healing classes.

"One." As he cried out, he let his arrow fly, and Elm's arrow flew through the air. James was impressed at their timing, as both arrows impacted into Old Man Jenkin's eyes at the exact same time. The boss let out a wicked roar, grabbing angrily for his pitchfork as his pipe hit the ground. In his rage, the boss stepped on his own pipe, crushing it.

"Uh." The sound of the crunching pipe seemed to enrage Old Man Jenkins even more than the two arrows. And the boss angrily ripped the arrows from his eyes, turning to glare, blindly, in the direction of the adventurers.

"I think you made him angry." Oak called out to Z, as he ducked under a wild pitchfork swing.

"You're not going to like him when he's angry." James responded to Oak's comment, chuckling to himself. So what if no one could hear his comment, it was funny.

"Well, it's your job to keep the angry boss from getting me." Z let fly another arrow landing again in the boss's eye. Elm followed suit, and James had to admit, he was impressed with their coordination. Roughly eight hours of dungeon diving and resting, and they had polished their abilities and teamwork this much already. James could tell this was a group he would need to keep an eye on.

"As long as you keep him blind, I'm sure it'll be-" Oak's comment was cut short as Old Man Jenkins smashed his pitchfork onto the ground, making the earth crack and tremor. The warrior cursed as the ground around him blasted apart, and he was sent flying sideways.

"That's new." Z and the others backed away slowly, keeping up their attack on Old Man Jenkins. The rain of arrows and magic missiles were definitely doing damage to the boss, just not much. James figured they would either need a larger team of level three players to take the boss on, or would need to be level five or higher, with their skills. Right now, James just couldn't believe they could take out his boss.

"You get the feeling he wasn't really trying against us earlier?" Oak had regained his footing, and was staring at Old Man Jenkins, as the bosses eyes narrowed. The greater distance appeared to decrease Z and Elm's accuracy, as their arrows had missed Old Man Jenkins's eyes enough that they had healed.

"You're being paranoid." Z let another arrow fly, and the missile sailed through Old Man Jenkins's hat, pulling the straw hat from his head and pinning it to the barn behind him. The boss touched his now naked head, running his hand between his two horns, as he looked down at the adventurers. It was the type of look you would give to a child that had annoyed you. It was the look you had when you were about to punish someone that had misbehaved.

"E" The pitchfork hit the ground, "I", the pentacle formed, "E" a red pentacle appeared under Oak, causing the warrior to cuss. "I" both began glowing, and Oak took up a stance, steadying himself as he closed his eyes. James guessed he was preparing to be sent flying. "O." The donkey summoned and blasted Oak, sending the knight flying. His form crashed down onto the dicken coop, sending wood and feather remnants flying. Luckily for the group, the coop was empty. James had silently been hoping the mobs would have respawned in it in time for the fight.

"Let's go." Z and the others started making their way towards Oak. Z and Elm were firing arrows as they headed towards the knight, while Faust simply stayed near the group. It seemed the mage couldn't cast and move at the same time.

"Get off my farm." The words from the demonic farmer took the adventurers, and James, by surprise. Previously, the boss had only ever said his E-I-E-I-O line. As he spoke, and the adventurers paused, he swung his pitchfork in a wide ark, sending a blast of wind, and loose debris, smashing into the entire party. James was certain that attack had done at least 5 points of damage, possibly more based off of the way they all winced.

"Uh-" Med Ic, the previously quiet cleric, was staring at Old Man Jenkins. The boss was now holding a flaming pitchfork in his left hand, a wicked smile on his face as he looked at the cleric. A second later, with inhuman strength and speed, the pitchfork was flying towards Med Ic. The cleric looked like he wanted to run, to dodge, but before his mind could process what was going on the pitchfork smashed into him. The pitchfork implanted into the ground, leaving a glowing orb where the cleric had been. The move did 30 points of damage, after all.

"Alright, maybe you had a point." Z's voice held a hint of humor to it, as he helped Oak to his feet. James knew the group had likely entered the fight well aware they might get wiped, but willing to risk it in order for an instance first.

"Do we keep fighting gallantly, or run?" The entire group was already backing away as Z spoke, and James grinned as another flaming pitchfork burst into life in Old Man Jenkins's hand. While the pitchfork, courtesy of the Pitch a Fit skill was amusing, James was grinning for another reason. Grinning for the same reason that his boss was as he let another pitchfork fly, smashing into Faust and causing him to become a glowing orb.

Z, Elm, and a bleeding Oak all turned to run, and as they turned, they came face to face with the source of Old Man Jenkins and James's grins.

"Mooooooooooooooo" A mad cow, eyes blazing with rage, charging at breakneck speed towards the bleeding Oak. There was going to be no escape for Z and his group.

Chapter end