Chapter 43: Dungeon Hidden In the Marsh Final

After whistling a bit at how powerful their new ally was Joshua was filled with more confidence in his decision to bring Lilly along. Although she wasn't much of a fighter herself the partners she could make were more than worth it in the end. Plus now that she had Tank he didn't have to worry nearly as much about her defenses going forward. All she had to do was synchronize with Tank's stats and then she would be able to withstand most attacks and the ones she couldn't wouldn't do nearly enough damage to even be a threat to her in the end. Tank was a blessing in more than just one way in that regard.

"So I guess I don't have to be the tank all the time anymore." Joshua said with a smile and got Lilly to laugh a bit.

"Why do you think I named him Tank after all?" Lilly replied getting Joshua to chuckle a bit before he got a bit more serious.

"Well then now that our path is clear are you ready to take on the boss?" Joshua asked before he turned to look at Lilly. He noticed her aura starting to shift. When her aura finally settled back down her hair was a dark greenish black color that was similar to the color of Tanks shell and even her skin seemed to harden a bit, but it didn't get to the point where it looked as though she had scales all over her body she just seemed a bit tougher than you would expect.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be." She said as she put one of her rabbits away and brought out Mr. Hoppy to get on top of. "I'll stay on Mr. Hoppy and stay on the fringe of the fight and attack from a far whenever I get the chance. Tank will be out front against whatever big beast we come up against." She said with a smile.

"That's perfect, I'll be able to go in for some clean hits whenever I can. I'll clean up any small fries as well if there happens to be any." Joshua explained before he stepped forward with Lilly following close behind on Mr. Hoppy. Tank simply nodded to their ideas and followed along with a determined look in his eyes. Joshua let his aura flare to full strength before pushing open the large gate until the boss room was completely revealed to him. The room was far larger than the previous one but had a similar lay out. The walls had large waterfalls along them that were parted by large pillars with carving of lizards all over them. The floor was in a large dome shape that was surrounded by a circle of water that the waterfalls poured into that seemed to drain out at some point to keep the flow going.

At the back of the room was a large cave like section with a platform at the top of it. On the Platform Joshua could make out a small figure that was sitting in a throne made of bones. The figure hissed loudly as they made their way into the room and seemed to glare at Tank furiously. The creature was even smaller than Joshua and stood a little over six feet tall after it rose from its throne, but even though it could stand on two feet like a human it was clearly some sort of evolved lizard. It's head was in the shape of a lizard and was hunched over a bit which made it seem a bit shorter, but it had bulking muscles that only seemed a little withered do to its apparent old age. When Joshua used the systems observe ability on the boss he was surprised to see that although it was level twenty-five it only had four stars next to its name. He was expecting something a bit more challenging, but he doubted this was all there was to the upcoming fight. The creature went by the name of Lizard Warlock which immediately explained the long crooked staff sitting next to its throne.

For a while the creature hissed in a weird patter towards Tank as if they were talking when Joshua could once again here Tanks voice project from his aura. "He is surprised that I have been freed from my cage. I can't believe I was trapped by such filth." Tank said with a hint of anger behind his words.

"He's not alone is he, I don't think there is any way we would be lucky enough for that to be the case." Joshua said as he looked down towards the ominous looking Cave beneath the platform the boss was standing on.

"No he is not. His little monstrosity of a pet is on its way." Tank responded as Joshua sent out an aura pulse so that he could sense the large presence that was heading out of the cave. He also noticed a pair of the acid spitting lizards climbing down from a whole in the ceiling while a few of the more aquatic lizards came in from the waterfalls around them. All of the lizards were waiting for the warlock to give the order to attack as they tried to surround Joshua's group. That's when loud footsteps started to come from the cave in front of him and got everyone's attention.

Soon a large figure that was even bigger than Tank made its way out of the cave and it was a terrifying sight to see. It was definitely a lizard which was no surprise, but it wasn't anything like the other lizards in the room. With every step the creature took, large amounts of acid dripped onto the floor that it stepped on causing the floor to cave in a bit due to the acidic saliva that was dripping from its mouths. That's right, mouths. The creature had two large heads that were both glaring around the room at everyone before both heads settled on glaring at Tank who didn't shrink away from its challenging glare. It had spikes all up and down its back which would make going for the spine far harder than with the other lizards. It also had a spiked tail that would be far more dangerous to try to block without getting skewered in the process.

Just when the behemoth of a creature started to grin from both heads sense it thought it was the most powerful thing around, a glow filled the room. It was Tank that started to glow a bright white before his size grew even more and he became around the same size as the giant lizard that now looked more concerned. Tank glared right back before letting out a loud roar that shook the entire room in his rage. He then snapped his mouth shut fiercely showing off the power of his enormous jaw that was ready to tear into his opponent. The aura that was being given off by the two creatures was far greater than anything else Joshua had felt up to this point in a violent way. The only things he could currently imagine being even more potent would be the aura of that guardian wolf and one of the haze monsters in the city.

With a loud hiss the warlock leaped off the platform after grabbing his staff and landed onto a spot in between the spines on the giant lizards back. Joshua used his observe to see how strong the giant lizard actually was and wasn't surprised when it was level twenty-five with five stars next to its name. It was called the Two Headed Mutated Iguana and its name was a deep red that showed it was more of a threat than the warlock that set on its back. The moment the warlock had got into position Tank and the Iguana charged towards each other ferociously. The collision rattled the whole room and at first Tank had a bit of an upper hand sense his shell blocked off the crazed Iguana's claws from being able to do any actual damage. They shoved against each other for a moment while all the other lizards in the area were about to charge over and help out their boss, but Lilly and Joshua were having none of that.

Joshua charged over and blocked off the path of the two larger lizards that had climbed down from the ceiling and used an aura blast to knock them out of their ferocious charge and grabbed their attention. On the other hand all of the smaller lizards that were about to attack Tank from behind were suddenly blasted with a combination of water from Lilly and acid from Mr. Hoppy. The attack killed a lot of them and greatly hurt the rest. A few that were able to avoid in time raced over towards Lilly instead to try to take her down, but Mr. Hoppy jumped out of the way while catching one of them with his tongue and pulling it in to his mouth.

While all this was going on Joshua could feel the small surge in strength from Flutters boost ability and he used it to his full advantage. He wasn't going to let these two lizards live for long so instead of staying on the defensive he charged ahead and coated his blade in aura. When he got close to one of the lizards he had to dash to the side to avoid its acid spray that it tried to surprise him with while the other one flared out its dewlap in an attempt to confuse him, but he just closed his eyes and let his aura pulse guide him directly to his target. Before the first lizard could stop spraying acid Joshua dashed up underneath and slashed through its neck cleanly in one stroke putting it out of its misery.

Throughout his time in the dungeon he had already learned the best way to deal with these creatures and that was to go in fast and take them out whenever they left themselves open after an attack. That's why he didn't stop his assault and instead twisted his body as he passed by the now dying lizard and turned towards its partner that was still trying to confuse him. Before it can move away Joshua dashed forward and jolted to the side at the last instant when the surprised lizard tried to bite his head off. As he passed by its side he slashed through the scales on its skin and tore into its rib cage and gut. He kept pulling all the way down to the base of the tail and watched as the creature screamed as its guts started to spill out. That wasn't the end as an echo followed the same path and put the beast out of its misery.

Before Joshua turned back to go help out Tank against the real boss a dense green fog settled over the room and suddenly a message popped up on his screen.

[Your will has prevented the poisoning, but the weakening effect of the enemies attack was still somewhat effective.]

Joshua was surprised by this and he could tell that he had basically lost all of the strength of Flutters boost ability thanks to the thick fog, but sense he had the highest will in the group it was most likely even worse for the others. He turned to see Tank now being pushed back by the giant Iguana that seemed to be glowing with a new strength. Right away Joshua could tell that this was because of the warlock riding on the lizard that must have cast the spell. He could see the warlock glowing as well along with the dense fog coming out of its staff. Before things could take a turn for the worse as the speed of the iguana seemed to be turning into a problem for the now weakened Tank, Joshua dashed over and took the large beast by surprise.

Joshua charged over and attack the beast flank. Even with all of his strength and aura put into the mix his scale blade didn't do nearly as much damage as he wanted it to do. The blow merely created a small gash in its side and broke a few of the hardened scales. Apparently the buffs the warlock had placed on the creature were stronger than Joshua was expecting. "Lilly we have to separate the warlock from the iguana, otherwise Tank isn't going to be able to control the flow of the battle." Joshua shouted over to his partner.

"Alright, I'll distract him with all I've got." She said with a look of determination while Joshua jumped out of the way of the iguana's tail swipe. Lilly quickly formed another torrent of water that blasted into the side of the iguana and pushed it back away from Tank long enough to give him a breather. That was followed by a ball of acid From Mr. Happy that smashed into the spot that Joshua had slightly injured. Even Flutter got busy and shot some silk over the iguana to way it down a bit and take away its obvious advantage.

The giant creature grew angry and was about to charge over to retaliate, but it was lifted off its feet by a powerful torrent attack from Tank that was much stronger than Lilly's. Although at the moment Lilly had the same stats as Tank she wasn't nearly as use to using them. Plus the amount of water that Tank was able to amass at his size was far greater than Lilly. The blow smashed the angered iguana into the wall and Joshua took the opportunity to make his move. He charged over and jumped up onto the creatures back while avoiding the spikes. Its scales in that area were too thick for him to try to slice through with his current strength, but that wasn't his goal.

Joshua charged an aura blast into his scale blade once again, but this time he leaped towards the warlock from behind and swung the scale blade like a bat with the flat of the blade heading to make contact with the warlock. Just as Joshua expected the attack was blocked by a shield that shimmered into place around the surprised boss, but the force of the attack sent him soaring off the knocked over lizard and Joshua quickly gave chase. "Tank keep that overgrown iguana busy for a moment while I take this annoying bastard down." He shouted to his partners.

"As you wish." Tank simply replied before letting out a large roar that shook the room. He charged over fiercely and crashed into the lizard that was trying to get back up. The impact sent it onto its back feet and pushed it in the opposite direction of the warlock. Now Joshua was alone with an angry and hissing lizard warlock that shot acid out of its cane in Joshua's direction. Joshua easily avoided the attack and realized this guy was basically a support for the big guy Tank was fighting. Outside of its support abilities everything else was just basic alongside an annoying shield, but Joshua knew exactly how to deal with that.

He launched himself towards the warlock that smirked and created another barrier to protect itself, but that was exactly what Joshua was expecting. He avoided a few more sprays of acid while charging another aura blast in his scale blade to kill the annoying creature. The warlock was preparing to take on the blow, but Joshua dashed to the side at the last moment surprising the creature while smiling brightly at what he saw coming from the other side of the warlock. A large blast of water that Lilly had sent over smashed into the lizard's barrier from the warlock's blind spot causing it to start fracture a bit as it was sent soaring right into Joshua's path.

With a wide grin Joshua swung his blade with everything he had and crushed the remaining portion of the barrier as he aimed for the warlock's neck. Although the first part of his attack was blocked the following echo strike sliced the unprotected warlocks head clean off. With a sigh Joshua turned around and charged back over to help Tank, but the sight he saw amazed him. Now that the warlock was down and all of its buffs and debuffs had vanished Tank was showing the iguana who was boss. With his full strength Tank used what Joshua thought must have been his clamp ability as he bit down harshly on one of the iguana's exposed necks before tucking his head into his shell a bit. The situation made it impossible for the iguana to attack Tank properly while it slowly started to bleed out.

Joshua took the opportunity to speed up the process as he repeatedly slashed into the giant iguana's under belly over and over again until the wounds became too numerous for it to stay on its feet anymore. That's when the large creature fell over and you could suddenly hear a large crunching sound as Tank ripped off the head he had been latched onto and tossed it to the side. He then walked over and stomped onto the slowly dying lizard's back before ripping its other head off and putting it out of its misery. Tank let out a loud roar at its victory and Joshua simply smiled at the situation.

[Congratulations on clearing the hidden dungeon. You will be rewarded properly based on your score…Calculations complete. Due to clearing the hidden quest of the dungeon extra credit will be given to your group's evaluation….Check your inventory for your reward. From now on you will gain an extra twenty percent of experience when killing monsters in this dungeon. The dungeon shall be placed on the world map and your achievement shall be noted.]

Joshua smiled at the notice before looking at Lilly who had come walking over. All in all he got a lot out of his first true dungeon experience, he even gained three levels…make that four sense he could feel another surge in strength spread through his body from killing the boss and completing the dungeon. They were both now level twenty two and they had gotten all of that in just a couple of days. "Well I guess were done for now. Are you ready to head back?" Lilly asked looking a little tired from using the torrent ability multiple times.

"Done? Oh we're not done just yet. Now it's time to grind this experience bonus filled place like there's no tomorrow." Joshua said with a big tired smile.