Dungeon Core Online 46 Chapter 46

"Seriously, is every floor going to have pack mobs?" Oak was grunting as he swung at a velocity raptor, forcing the little mob back. The other two members of the pack were trying to flank Oak, as the warrior had activated his taunt immediately after the mobs had appeared.

Z's group had made it one street into town, before the pack of velocity raptors had attacked them. It seemed the mobs were attracted to the sound of battle, and James could see other packs making their way through his city towards the group as well. They were smart, agile, and deadly. James regretted putting so many into his city.

"Well, you know the way this works. Kill one, and the others should get weaker." Z let two arrows fly into the lead velocity raptor, taking its health down below half, stealing its increased movement speed from it. The other raptors called out in rage, but began to back up, eying the party cautiously. Seriously, had the developers added additional intelligence to these mobs?

"Oh, I think getting them below half slows em down." Oak took a step forward and swung at the leader, causing it to leap back. The movement was noticeably slower than its previous leaps. "Yup, definitely slower." Oak and the others cheered, even as Elm and Z launched two more arrows into the leader. Their combined attack did enough damage to kill the leader, stealing the other two of their buff. The fight just got a lot easier for Z's party.

"Yes." James cheered, shooting a grin at Rue. The velocity raptor packs may only count as one mob, but with the leader down, the team was going to be able to quickly finish this pack off. Then, it was just one more mob or pack, and James would win the bet.

"You know they're not going to make it." Rue was grinning devilishly, and she pointed back at the screen. James turned, and his laughter quickly died. He had been so caught up on the battle against the velocity raptor pack, that he had forgotten what was lurking for the party. There was no way James was going to win this bet.

"I hate you." James grumbled, and even as Z's group finished off the other two raptors, he couldn't' find himself joining in their celebration.

"76 more experience for that pack guys." Z was all smiles as he looked over the items he received. He made a motion with his hand, and James saw a new dagger appear at his side. The archer had never actually used a dagger from what James had seen, but he had been wearing a basic iron one. Now, he had what appeared to be a gear covered, bent hilt attached at his side. James knew what the dagger was. It was a special drop from velocity raptors, as their retractable bladed claws could be dropped as a dagger weapon. The blade resided within the hilt, and James watched as Z drew the hilt and pressed a b.u.t.ton on the back of it. The moment he did, the gears on the side spun, and the wicked curved blade extended from it. It was a dangerous steampunk cross between a karambit and a switchblade. James loved the steampunk weapons this floor could drop.

"Dude, that is awesome." Oak was looking down at the dagger, as he checked his own inventory. The warrior frowned, and James guessed he had not received one of the clockwork blades.

"Trade ya it for your pet." Z grinned down at the baby tricercog, which opened its mouth and let out a cute yawn.

"No way. Cera is mine." Oak knelt down and patted his pet on the head. During the fight, the little pet had been launching spikes at the velocity raptors, they attack only did a few points of damage, and only after the velocity raptor's stats had been reduced with the loss of their buff, but it was both adorable, and helpful.

"Cera? Like, Land Before Time?" Faust's face a mixture of disbelief, and humor.

"Shut up man. I enjoyed those movies." Oak looked away as the group broke out into laughter. James looked to Rue for the reference, but the pixie simply shrugged her shoulders back at him. It seemed whatever they were referencing, the pixie hadn't seen. Interesting.

"Anyways, should we get-" Z's comment drew short as a metallic roar ripped through the city, causing all of the Knight's to jump.

"What the h.e.l.l was that?" Oak had his shield and sword drawn and at the ready, as he glanced around nervously.

"Whatever that was, maybe we shouldn't fight it in the city streets?" Med Ic was glancing back towards the entrance to the city, and the others started to nod in agreement. The velocity raptor pack had ambushed the Knight's from an alleyway, nearly killing Med Ic before Oak taunted them. The healer likely didn't want a similar instance to occur, especially if they were fighting whatever had made that roar. Sadly, their decision time was up.

"Say goodbye to those resources." Rue was leaning forward in her seat, staring intently at the instance. Coming around one of the corner streets, giving it a clear view of the party, was B.L.U. flanked on either side by a pack of velocity raptors. Z's team was doomed.

"Run." Z's voice shook the party from their surprise, and as one they all turned and fled back towards the entrance. Even though they had a good couple of blocks between them and the mobs, the velocity raptors, and B.L.U. had a much higher movement speed than the adventurers.

"Z, they're gaining on us." The warrior had the slowest movement speed, and James could tell the tank was painfully aware of the fact. "I'll hold em off, you guys get out of here." Z and the rest of the party didn't even try to stop Oak, as the warrior turned, his shield raised, preparing to take on the approaching mobs.

It was a good plan. If Oak died but the others escaped, he would be able to rejoin them after his five-minute timer was up. If the entire party wiped, they would be sent back to the first floor, with an hour penalty before they could attempt the second floor again. If they didn't wipe, James also didn't lose the bet. He was all for this plan.

"You can do it Oak." James cheered on the warrior, but a moment later, his hope dissipated. The two Gatling guns on the mini boss's arms began to spin, and even as it advanced on the tank, bullets began flying towards the warrior.

"I hate being a tank." Oak grunted as the bullets slammed into his shield. James pulled up B.L.U's stats, curious just how much damage those Gatling guns did. After a second of searching, he found what he was looking for.

Clever Girl- B.L.U. can use guns! Bullets deal .25% of targets hp per hit. B.L.U. can fire 400 rounds per minute per gun. B.L.U. has a 1-minute cooldown after 400 rounds have been fired from a gun.

"Oh great, a percent shred attack." James watched as bullets flew into Oak's shield, slowly cutting away at the warrior's health. The only saving grace was that because the mini-boss was moving rapidly towards the tank, the bullets were not all hitting their target. Moving, it seemed, made the guns less accurate. However, only 50% of the bullets needed to hit the warrior, to kill him. Though James wondered how much hp the warrior could naturally regain per minute. Maybe he could the onslaught long enough to keep the others alive?

"They're not going to make it." Rue motioned towards the Knight's. They were almost to the exit of the city, but the velocity raptor packs had split away from B.L.U., rushing down alley ways, away from the tank that had tried to block their advance. That meant while Oak was doing his best to hold off the much larger mini-boss, the small velocity raptors had nearly reached their targets.

"Ugh, seriously. Why are they this smart?" None of his other basic mobs actually hunted like this. They all simply followed the basic commands he gave them and were pretty linear in their attack patterns. These raptors though, acted with as much intelligence as a sentient mob would. Had the developers really decided to make them smart mobs? Was this some cruel joke by the developers, to pay homage to the Jura.s.sic Universe? James silently cursed the developers, and Rue, as the velocity raptors broke out of their alley way, right next to Z's group.

"Last stand." Z yelled out as he dove forward, narrowly dodging a leaping velocity raptor. As one, the Knight's spread out and began launching attacks at the pack. It was four level 13 adventurers, against 6 level 15 velocity raptors. The action was intense, and James wasn't sure if he wanted to watch the Knight's fight, or see Oak against B.L.U.

"Holy hand grenade." Med Ic called out, lobbing his holy blast into a group of three raptors. He had positioned himself in front of Faust who was frantically waving his hands, chanting. Z and Elm were launching arrow after arrow at the raptors, while trying to draw the pack away from their magic users. James could tell they were used to trying to kite mobs, but the velocity raptors were much faster than normal mobs, making it much more difficult on the archers.

"They might do it." James whispered as he saw two of the velocity raptors faulter, vines wrapping around the mob's feet. The moment they were trapped, Z and Elm began launching their attacks into the mobs, while Faust started casting another spell. However, the brilliant raptors caught on quickly, and while two of them rushed to help the trapped mobs, the other two started moving around the group, their eyes focused on Faust.

"Faust." Z saw the raptors flanking his party and rushed forward towards the mage even as one of the two raptors leapt towards him. The party leader smashed into the raptor, dropping his bow in the process as he drew his dagger, driving the blade in the creature over and over. Adventurer and mob dropped to the ground, as both struggled to free themselves from the other.

"Hurry up Faust." Elm was firing two arrows at once into the velocity raptors and had managed to bring one of the trapped ones down. However, the other one had been freed, and they were rushing at the group of magic users. Med Ic's hands were glowing as he was frantically healing Z, while using his own body to shield Faust. The group was doing their best to not die, and James admired that. Also, if they killed two more velocity raptors, that would count as a pack, and James would win his bet.

"Who are these people?" Rue was staring incredulously at the party as they struggled against the mobs, doing their best to stay alive.

"They are the Knight's Who Go Ni." James said, his voice filled with excitement and admiration. Z had just freed himself from the raptor and had regained his bow. Elm was working on another raptor, and they were using their bodies to protect Faust. Judging by the cast time, James knew the mage was working to summon his magic missile barrage. The spell was bound to bring down at least two more of the raptors. There was hope.

A cry from up the street caused James to wince, and he watched as B.L.U's chainsaw like tail cut into Oak, causing the warrior to instantly turn into an orb of light. Without pausing, the mini-boss, who had simply rotated its torso to cut through the warrior, rushed towards the velocity raptor pack, and the Knights. Z glanced at approaching mini boss and let out a curse. He knew their time was running out.

"No no no no no." James had his tentacles over his eye, as he watched the fight playing out. They were so close, just a few more seconds. The mini guns on B.L.U.'s arms were smoking, still on cooldown. There was no way the giant mob would be able to interrupt Faust in his casting. And with Z and the others keeping the velocity raptors at bay, there was still hope. At least, that was what he thought. One of the raptors let out a caw like sound, and a moment later, three of them leapt onto Med Ic, instantly killing him. Even as the cleric fell, two more of the raptors leapt at Elm. The archer was already damaged, and the attack brought him screaming, to the ground, before he burst into an orb of light.

"You really need to learn to cast faster." Z swung his bow like a baseball bat at one of the raptors that leapt at him, a grin on his face, before he burst apart, leaving the mage.

"Not my fault." Faust grumbled, and even as the raptors leapt towards him, his magic missiles appeared all around him.

"Ye-" Even as James cried out in victory, his eyes went wide. The danger of spells that automatically targeted enemies, was that they usually weren't selective. They would go for the closest targets. In this instance, the moment the missiles began to appear behind Faust, it was the three full health velocity raptors that were jumping towards him. As such, the five missiles all launched into he full health mobs. Three of the missiles brought down one of the raptors, while the other two missiles launched, one a piece, into the mobs. That meant, when the raptors landed on him, killing him and creating a party wipe, only two of the needed 3 velocity raptors to count as a pack, had been killed. That meant, James had lost the bet, by a single raptor.

"Oh, better luck next time." Rue's eyes were filled with joy, though her knuckles were white. She had been just as engrossed in the battle as he had been, and she knew she had come dangerously close to losing 100 resources to the bet. The Knight's Who Go Ni were definitely not a group to under estimate, and James knew they would only continue to get stronger. He couldn't wait to see what happened then.