The Chimera Summoner - Ch. 12

Ch 12--

The boss room opened up in a roughly circular cave, dotted with glowing blue mushrooms. In the center stood Brawly, twirling a lime green pool noodle.

On her breastplate was a big sign with the words 'boss rat' crossed out followed by the word RATBOSS. This one was circled and underlined.

Good. Wouldn't want to mix those up.

She waved enthusiastically as we entered.

"HEYYY!" She called. "Over here! You made it!"

As if we could miss the huge woman in gleaming plate armor. My heart sunk. There was no way we could beat someone with nearly eighty levels on us. Not even this goofball.

"Welcome to the final room!" She went on. "Beyond are the lifts that will take you to campus! Plus there's LOOT! All you have to do is beat the boss!"

She jabbed two thumbs into her sign, carefully avoiding the crossed out words and emphasizing the circled one.

"I was supposed to get a level one boss for you." She whispered, conspiratorially. "But that would be troublesome. Dungeon doesn't like when you steal it's stuff. So you get me instead! SO LUCKY!"

Yeah. Lucky. To get our asses beat by an ascendant Wayfinder. The dream.

"You'll be simulating a boss fight from the first floor?" Asked Jennie, cautiously.

"RATBOSS!" Nodded Brawly, happy.

"So you'll be toning all of this..." Jennie indicated Brawly. "Down to level one."

"Down to RATBOSS!" nodded Brawly, happy. She whipped the pool noodle around so fast I thought it might disintegrate.

Fuck. Brawly was going to kill us.

For the millionth time, it felt like, I watched my dream of attending Bayloft die before my eyes.

Jennie turned to me.

"Ok, let's make a plan." She muttered under her breath.

"Ah, ahh!" Scolded Brawly. "Should've done that ahead of time!"

She blurred and reappeared right next to us. The noodle smashed across me and Jennie, sending us flying like a home run.

"RATBOSS!!" She yelled, gleefully.

I landed, winded, and coughed.

Jennie recovered better, rolling and skidding to her feet. She freed her long knives, snarling. She vanished in a puff of white smoke as she activated her stealth ability.

"Sneaky wayfinder! Sniff sniff, sniff sniff!" Brawly commentated her own exaggerated actions. Then whirled and bonked Jennie on the head as she reappeared behind her.

Jennie reeled back in surprise, holding her forehead.

"What the fuck?!" Demanded Jennie. "That's not fair, a first floor boss wouldn't--"

Brawly bashed her again, reprovingly. "Sneaky rogue gets aggro for complaining!" She scolded. Then proceeded to charge.

Jennie yelped, and skittered away.

Soon it was a bizarre reversal of cat and mouse, Jennie fleeing at top speed, with Brawly traipsing along after her periodically swiping dramatically with the mock sword.

I'd caught my breath from the initial assault enough to concentrate on magic. I called Lucy, and while she formed, threw a heal at Jennie, who was rapidly accumulating bruises.

Luckily, she managed to keep any signs of arousal to herself.

"Booo! Healers are no fun!" Brawly yelled, sounding disappointed. She shifted focus to me.

Brawly barrelling towards me felt a lot like standing in front of a runaway train.

In desperation, I tried throwing my heal at her.

She slowed and watched curiously as the gold light swirled around her.

"You want to heal the RATBOSS?!" She shook her head.

Then it hit her.

"AHHHHAHAHAHAHA!" Brawly squirmed. "WOW! What a weird skill!! Knew you'd be a handful, but DANG!!"

Then she grinned. "I'll have to get you back for that inappropriate tactic."

My blood ran cold.

Luckily, at that very instant, Lucy's foot crashed into the side of Brawly's face. Jennie appeared on the other side, daggers flashing out.

Brawly vanished, wind whipping around the circular cave as she reappeared a few feet to the side.

Lucy and Jennie narrowly avoided attacking each other, in Brawly's sudden absence.

"OHHH!" Brawly howled in mock pain. "RATBOSS BLEEDS!!" She shook her head and roared.

Then she produced a black marker, and made a solemn tick mark on her shining chest plate, just under the sign.

"Sorry! You good?" Jennie asked Lucy, who'd nearly been skewered by her daggers.

Lucy blinked, looked at Brawly, then at me. Then keeled over with a pitiful whimper. She draped herself dramatically over the rocks like a swimsuit model, and held up a foot, shaking it.

"I need healing!" She cried. Then looked expectantly at me.

"NOT THE TIME, LUCY?!" I roared.

Lucy pouted and shook her limp foot again, plaintively.

"You're fucking joking me. This is a farce." Grumbled Jennie.

Brawly reappeared in a gust, over Lucy.

"I get it, girlie." Said Brawly. "That spell feels GOOD! Don't you worry, I'll help!"

She brought the pool noodle crashing down on Lucy's petrified form like a meteor from heaven.

"YOUWWWWWWCH!" Lucy cried, scampering away holding her ass.

"Can you two take this seriously?!" I yelled.

Jennie looked scandalized.

"They're doing ok." Defended Brawly.

"I'm talking to YOU." I jabbed a finger at Brawly. "And YOU." A jab at Lucy, who stuck out her bottom lip and gave me huge puppy dog eyes. "I'm not getting kicked out of Bayloft just because you two clowns were too busy fucking around."

Brawly got a gleam in her eye. "Oh you wanna fight for real, little support??"

Oh fuck.

Brawly was on me before I could blink.

The noodle battered my arms, and legs in a brutal, bruising barrage as I frantically tried to protect my head.

I'd never done much consideration as to how I might die. But death by flotation device would have been low on my list of preferences. Very low.

I swiped a [tempest strike] at her, hit only air, and received several sharp blows to the head as a reward.

I stumble-dove backwards. Somehow, Brawly was already there, cackling madly. Her soft training sword played a staccato rhythm on my body as she tapped me with impunity.

"I was actually a drummer in a band while I was at Bayloft!" Said Brawly, conversationally.

I was vaguely aware of her fending off attacks from both my companions as I scrambled to stay on my feet.

"We were called Brawly` and the bammin' slammin' band band!" She reminisced fondly. "Those were the days. Ohh you got me!!"

One of Jennie's daggers had finally clipped Brawly, by the finest of margins.

Brawly vanished and reappeared in the center of the arena, dutifully checking another tick mark on her armor.

"One to go!" She said encouragingly.

Good. Good to know what our goal was, at least.

Jennie and Lucy were both panting, slumped slightly as they tried to recover from their furious assault.

I could feel bruises forming all over my body. Skeptically, I tried healing myself, but was unsurprised to find it impossible to activate the skill.

"Your band was called the band band?!" I asked critically, trying to buy time.

"Guleè and the bammin' SLAMMIN' band band." Corrected Brawly, firmly.

"...why?" I asked, goading her to keep talking.

"Cause we were bammin and slammin!" She answered, slapping the noodle on the cave floor with a sound like dynamite.

"Not what I was--" I muttered.

I surreptitiously hit Lucy with my last bit of healing, bringing her back to fighting condition.

"Hey now that's cheating, getting me talking about the band band to give your friends a breather. Ratboss does not approve of such trickery!!" Brawly shook her finger.

The rest of the fight became a classic game of protect the healer. Brawly tried to pummel me to death with a pool noodle. Jennie and Lucy tried to create enough threat to force her off of me. I tried to keep my teammates healed JUST enough, without emptying my finite pool of Pleasure.

Ten of the longest minutes of my life later, we got our third and final tally mark from the Tank professor.

It took all of our combined efforts. Mostly Lucy and Jennie 'overwhelming' Brawly with relentless barrages of attacks while I was able to sneak up behind and made a pitiful attack with my camp knife. I couldn't even charge up a [tempest strike].

Nonetheless, Brawly counted the touch as an attack.

Perhaps because she genuinely could tell the difference between our strongest blows and me essentially dropping a knife exhaustedly along her back.

She held up the shredded pool noodle, causing us all to flinch.

But she dropped it to the ground in surrender.

"Noooooo! RATBOSS will have his REVENGGGGGE!" She cried, adding a tally mark. She looked thrilled for us.

We dropped to our backs in the dirt, as one.

"I'm never getting up again. Bury me here." Groaned Jennie.

"Uuufuginmmmmf." I said. Immediately regretting using the energy to make sound.

"Come along first years. Come see your loot!" Coaxed Brawly, bending over us each,curiously, in turn. "Good loot! Shiiiiiny!"

Jennie stared at the ceiling like she hadn't heard.

Lucy managed to flop over onto her stomach, leaving her perfect rump in the air, fetchingly.

I hauled myself to my knees.

"Are pool toys ruined for anyone else?" I asked, then started doggedly crawling for the back of the cave where I could see a chest, and some elevator doors.

"Awww but I have so many." Grumbled Brawly, producing another from the air.

Evidently the high level Wayfinder had a personal inventory Skill. A coveted power, both for convenience and utility.

I wondered what kind of Catalyst she'd used to get it, as I crawled.

As I passed Lucy, the exhausted familiar raised her head and gave my ass a firm slap.

She resumed her collapsed position.

The girl had priorities.

I found the little wooden chest empty.

I glared at where Brawly had been, and found her right over my shoulder looking into the chest with wonder. She pointed.

"Ohhhh a common mana regeneration ring!" She said, innocently. "Maybe for a summoner who's got no regeneration when her familiar is active?! Who knows!"

I looked down and in the center of the chest lay a small brass ring.

I slipped it on, and felt a little warmth as it attuned to me, sizing itself to my finger.

My stamina started rising, slowly. I sighed in relief.

Jennie appeared, disheveled but unwilling to miss loot.

"Woah, is that a common dexterity trinket?! Perfect for a backstabbing stealth specialist! Wild." Said Brawly.

I looked at the empty chest and a brass necklace with a small black flower shone dully where my ring had been.

I handed it to Jennie.

I went to move on, but Brawly's hand kept me firmly where I was.

"Ohhh shiny new running shoes for a mobility based off-tank. Weird. Only two students. But three pieces of loot. Crazy." Brawly strode away abruptly, whistling a piercing...tune?

A pair of racecar-red sneakers sat in the loot chest.

I shared a skeptical look with Jennie. I made an offering gesture. The mobility would be excellent for her. But Jennie refused immediately, tiredly handing them to me.

"They're obviously for Lucy." She said. "They're her color."

I took them, grinning. "Oh you know her color do you?"

Jennie went scarlet, and tilted her head so her long black hair obscured her face.

"Let's go." She muttered, heading to the lifts.

I went and fetched Lucy from her heap on the ground with the sweet lure of new shoes. She got up, but insisted on trying them on, and modeling for us. I clapped and coo-ed, earning a grin and a wink. Jennie just nodded, seeming impatient.

"Well it is a race. Dungeon tokens, remember?" Jennie grumbled.

"Oh you're not the first ones. Only people who went down will come up through the lifts. People who went up and passed the maze will have beaten you to campus." Said Brawly, from the center of the room.

"Both ways were the right answer?!" Asked Jennie.

"Yeah! Clever, right?" Brawly nodded, hugely.

"Some test if there's no wrong answer." Grumbled Jennie. "I thought I was being clever, bringing us down."

I shook my head.

Brawly grinned. "Eir's got it, then."

"You were right." I said, studying the professor. "The wrong answer was indecision. Taking a strong idea and committing, for long enough to see it though. That's what they wanted. Zigzagging and changing your mind is how you fail this."

Brawly nodded. "Or giving up!"

"How would you know if someone did that?" Asked Jennie.

"Oh we are monitoring the whole warrens during the test." Brawly said nonchalantly. "Can't have students dying down here."

Jennie froze, horror dawning on her face.

I got it a second before she spoke, and paled.

"You monitor the whole warrens...?" Asked Jennie in a high pitched voice.

Brawly nodded seriously.

"The whole time?" I clarified, magma running under my collar.

"Of course." Said Brawly. "Got to say, not many people find time to hook up, but it doesn't seem to have slowed you down too much."

I wanted to vanish, like Jennie did, but never reappear.

Jennie looked like she was seriously considering doing just that.

"Relaaaaaaax!" Said Brawly, waving a hand. "No one was sitting there WATCHING. We just made sure it was consensual and went back to monitoring other students." She paused. "You were quite LOUD though."

"I'm transferring." Said Jennie, faintly.

I snatched her arm, trying to power through for both of us.

"Quit tomorrow. Let's finish this first, at least." I bargained.

Jennie nodded, looking shellshocked.

"I'm already going to be labeled a deviant." She muttered to herself. "I'll be lumped in with YOU!" She added in abject despair.

"Hey now!" I protested.

I got her in the lift and closed the bronze grate, giving Brawly a wave and getting an enthusiastic one in return. As the lift rose, I saw another party, five members strong, entering the arena. They looked extremely well equipped.

The lift rose fast. I hadn't realized quite how deep we were.

It took nearly a minute to reach the surface, but at last, sunlight hit our startled eyes. We squinted, straining after our long tenure with glowstones and phosphorescent mushrooms.

"Welcome to Bayloft, freshmen." Said a stern voice. "You have officially passed the first test. Please step aside and wait."

My eyes adjusted and a stocky, ancient woman in a sharp black robe came into focus. She was built like a boulder and shaped like one too. Short and round and unmovable.

Oh fuck.

"Principle Maule!" I blurted. "The Earthshaker! The walking mountain! You're so famous! You know that. Oh fuck. Are you really ninth Ascension?"

Principle Maule raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"I am just now remembering that you don't like the 'walking mountain' moniker!" I yelped.

"Please step aside and wait." She repeated.

"Smooth." Jennie dragged me away with an eyeroll.

We stepped aside and were swiftly greeted by a bubbly girl in a Bayloft sweater and a pair of stylish gold-rimmed glasses.

"Hi, I'm Emily! I am your student mentor! Lucky you! Right this way, have some snacks and water!" She gushed, blonde ponytail swishing wildly. She leaned in a whispered. "Did you two really fuck in the tunnels?! Sooooooo cool."

Jennie groaned, squeezing her eyes tight shut.