THE MOMENT
"That's the boss room already?" Pyxis asked. The trio of teenage girls stood in a dim hallway outside a wide cavern. She brushed her blonde bangs out of the way as she peered into the room. "It feels like we got here pretty fast...and there's only one boss?" she asked. Emily, the girl with long silver hair, nodded.
"It's a Halloween dungeon," she said. "I didn't want to make it too hard, but I'm realizing I could have made it more challenging," she shrugged. "Only one boss per dungeon and I set up 12 dungeons between the 13 houses."
"Are we doing them all?" Valentine, the girl with long wine-red hair, asked.
"Pyxis and I are planning to," Emily said. "I think the rest of the team was going to try and drop in. It's easy enough that we'll be okay if you need to leave," she added.
"Thanks," Valentine nodded. "Well, let's finish this one and go from there." She glanced at her two teammates. "Ready?"
"Ready," Pyxis nodded.
"I'm all set," Emily agreed. Valentine stepped forward into the cavern. After a few steps, she noticed a large black coffin in the center of the room. It was surrounded by gravestones. When Valentine was far enough in Pyxis and Emily entered the cavern.
"Oh, it's the Vampire Lord," Emily said once she noticed the coffin. Valentine stopped and looked at her.
"You didn't know?" she asked. "You set up the whole Halloween event...," she said. Emily nodded.
"I can't worry about every detail," she giggled. "Each dungeon has a randomized boss for each group; but, there are only 12 bosses and they're all Halloween-themed."
"Wow, you can do that?" Pyxis asked. She was still new to the AlterNet and hadn't explored many dungeons yet.
"You can do a lot more," Emily grinned. "I'll show you how to make a dungeon sometime, it's super fun."
"Okay, what can we expect?" Valentine asked.
"It'll be simple," Emily explained. When we start the encounter he'll spawn a few waves of zombies before getting out of his coffin. Then, it's just like killing a real vampire.
"Here I go," Valentine nodded. She moved towards the coffin and a booming voice filled the air.
[Void Clones] As Valentine approached the coffin three more identical copies appeared next to her. Each one in the same dark red ninja garb with no mask with the same wine-red ponytail. Then, she reached forward; all her clones copied the movement.
RRIIIIIIINNNGGG Four loud rings filled the air.
"Oh, hold on," The four Valentines spoke as one. They all plucked their nodes out of thin air and answered the call. As she did, Emily and Pyxis became aware of moans and groans picking up around them. A hand burst out of the nearest grave and a zombie began pulling himself up.
”Yes, mom?" Valentine asked. Emily tapped one of the Valentines on the shoulder, all four turned to her.
"The encounter started," she whispered and pointed at the zombie that was already on its feet and headed to them. The clones looked around and noted almost a dozen zombies headed toward the group.
"Yeah, I’m still tackling the dungeon with my friends, thanks for asking," Valentine nodded at Emily while she listened to her mom on the phone. She hoped that by mentioning they were actively in a dungeon it would help keep conversation to a minimum. But, her mom kept talking on the other end about nothing in particular.
[Incineration] a deep voice filled the air and Pyxis fired a red-hot beam from her hand at one of the approaching zombies. The beam pierced one zombie, then continued on to another one behind it. Both walking corpses disintegrated into black ash. Emily dashed to her side to help Pyxis deal with the growing horde of zombies.
"Uhuh," Valentine replied to her mom four times; though, she only heard it once. All three girls were distracted and no one noticed a zombie approach Valentine from behind until it grabbed her and bit into her neck. The clone disintegrated into white dust and disappeared.
The confused zombie looked forward and moved on to the next one. But, Valentine had noticed him by now. The remaining three versions of her turned to face the zombie while keeping the node to her left ear.
"Yeah, I don't know how long this is going to take," Valentine replied to her mom as she rolled her eyes at the zombie.
[Clone Bomber] the deep voice boomed. One of the remaining three Valentines charged at the zombie and wrapped her arms around it in a hug. But, she exploded before it could bite down on her.
[Refresh] the voice echoed around Emily as two new clones of Valentine appeared next to the remaining two. They all spun around to survey the room but it seemed like Pyxis had dealt with most of the zombies already; the one that Valentine defeated was the last one.
"WHO DARES TRESPASS!!??" a gravelly voice yelled. The black coffin began to slide open.
"Mom? I have to fight the boss now," Valentine said. The coffin lid opened completely and fell onto the stone ground with a loud thunk. A swarm of bats flew up out of the open coffin and gathered in the air. "No, I can't pause it," she said. The bats coalesced into a humanoid shape; then, the vampire lord hovered above them.
"SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR LOVED ONES!" the pale man roared.
"Gotta go, I’ll come as soon as possible. I love you mom, take care," Valentine ended the call.
[Divine Light] the voice echoed around Emily and a brilliant golden light beam shone down on the vampire. He hissed and snarled and disintegrated into nothing.
[Dungeon Complete!] the voice filled the air and all three girls saw a notification in their view.
"So, you've gotta go?" Emily asked Valentine. The four clones shook their head and disappeared one by one.
"Are they all this easy?" she asked. Emily half-nodded and shrugged.
"Pretty much," she replied.
"Then, let's keep moving."