Arthur, Sylvie, and about seventy-five members of the trailblazers quietly walked down the tunnel leading to the boss chamber, with Tess' unit leading the way, while Arthur reluctantly was in the middle with the Captain. He would have preferred being up front, not only because of his sharper senses, but also because he didn't like the idea of any of his loved ones being in such a dangerous position. Although he did take some comfort in the fact that Sylvie was up there with her, so at least he knew she had some up there trying to protect her.

The walk down took a little longer than before, since they didn't jump down from the ledge this time. Instead Darvus showed off a bit, creating a flight of stairs in the rock wall, then raising the ground up higher when they reached the wall of bugs created by Tess. Everyone was shocked and amazed at her handiwork, as it was rare to see her do anything at this scale.

After a few more minutes Tess raised her fist in the air to signal for everyone to stop, they had arrived. The Captain and Arthur made their way to the front and looked around the corner. A few less of the bipedal frogs were there, but one of the large metal doors was also half open. After moving back around the corner the Captain nodded to Arthur, and a sound dampening spell was cast engulfing everyone there.

"Alright everyone, the doors to the boss are open so once the battle starts we'll keep on pushing through. Once the boss is identified General Arthur and Sylvie will attack, with conjurers providing ranged support," the Captain announced.

"Correction," Arthur interjected. "Sylvie and I will focus on the boss, the rest of you will focus on the other beasts. We'll see who can complete their assignment first," Arthur concluded with a smirk.

Most of the unit saw this as a challenge, a friendly competition that they planned to win. The Captain just shook his head in resignation, knowing that arguing with Arthur on this would be pointless.

"And lastly, watch out for one another. If you see someone go down be sure to administer one of their antidotes as soon as possible. Only treat the wound on the spot if it seems life threatening, then get them to a medic or emitter," the Captain added before he and Arthur then moved back into the formation as faster augmenters moved up behind the tanks, and the conjurors behind them.

As Arthur passed Tess she grabbed his arm to stop him. "Good luck," she said, and got up on her top toes and gave him a quick kiss.

There were some hoots and hollers from some who saw it, as well as some older mages who patted Arthur on the back, all showing some respect for him for having such a beautiful lover. Once in position next to the Captain Arthur nodded to him.

"Charge!" The Captain yelled, and the sound spell ended.

The tanks ran around the corner, making sure to keep in formation of a simple straight line, as their shields were raised in front of them. The frogs saw them coming, and started spitting large globs of poison.

"Water Barriers!" One of the tanks yelled.

They all immediately stopped and several water barriers formed protecting the line. The poison blobs harmlessly collided with the barrier, and were moved aside by the moving water, as the other tanks ran through to continue, followed by the remaining augmenters. As soon as the water barriers were dispersed a line of conjurers and archers was revealed, who quickly released a barrage of ranged attacks.

"Incoming!" A conjurer yelled.

The tanks that kept moving forward immediately stopped and raised their shields without casting any spells. Before the frogs could reach the tanks the spells and arrows rained down on them mercilessly as arrows pierced flesh and spells ripped through their ranks. Even the spells that missed created explosions that blew the beasts off their feet and created chaos on their side. With the chaos breaking the advance of the beasts, the faster close range attackers cleared the tanks and began cutting down the beasts.

Everyone from Tess' team except for Stannard were part of this wave, with Darvus and Caria working as a team to kill the beasts as quickly as possible as Tess supported them from not far behind. Using wind spells Tess was sending her seeds ahead of everyone, and began growing them as soon as they landed. Thorny vines with flowers entangled the poison frogs, holding them back as everyone else cut them down.

Several of the frogs managed to use the spikes on their fists to break free of Tess' plants. The augmenters however didn't allow this to deter them, and continued their attacks. The now freed beasts were now more focused ready to battle, using the spikes on their fists to either block or attack. Now there were serious injuries being taken by the trailblazers, as several were getting hit by the spikes. The spikes excreted the same poison they spit, meaning anyone who to be hit would require immediate attention.

The poison created from within the frog's body had a paralyzing effect that could make a mage's body go limp in seconds. While just inhaling the fumes from the concentrated globs they spit would leave a mage with a heavily intoxicated feeling. In an effort to prevent the frogs from taking advantage of this and killing someone, everyone wore a band on their right bicep that held three doses of the antidote.

Darvus had encountered a frog that had broken one of its arms loose, but managed to dodge its strike before swinging one of his axes down and severing the arm then used his other to chop down into its skull. As this happened he didn't notice another frog to his right that had broken free, until it was too late for him to defend. Luckily for him, Caria saw this and stepped in just in time to take the hit herself.

"Caria!" Darvus yelled as he saw his protector and teammate take a hit and go down.

The frog was about to strike her again, but Darvus was completely focused and ready for it this time. Channeling a tremendous amount of earth mana into one of his axes, the dirt from the ground rose up to the blade. As he swung down the soil fired out along his strikes path, ripping the frog in half from top to bottom.

Seeing what happened Tess' vines wrapped around them, creating a protective dome around them so Darvus could safely treat Caria. Darvus pulled the antidote from her band, and slammed one end into her thigh. The force was plenty to cause the needle to shoot out, and inject the antidote into Caria. He then focused on her injury, a stab wound on her right side just below her ribs. Pulling from a pouch on his belt he pulled out a roll of bandages, and clumped a wad of the roll at her injury before wrapping it around her to control the bleeding while he ran her back to an emitter. With the bleeding under control Darvus picked his axes back up and secured them to his back, before taking Caria into his arms.

"TESS NOW!"

Suddenly the protective dome whipped apart, slashing at all the beasts around, as Darvus took off in a mad sprint for the line of tanks. Spells and arrows flew overhead, taking out any beast coming their way. Darvus was seconds away from the tanks, and behind them the medical care Caria needed. Suddenly he saw Sylvie floating in his path with her right arm outstretched with her hand open and facing them. Her palm glowed white and a bolt of pure mana shot out towards them. Darvus' eye widened as he thought the attack would strike him, but instead it whizzed by his head and struck a beast chasing after him. The tanks stepped aside to create a whole for him, and he ran through to the emitters.

"Darvus?" Caria questioned groggily as he placed her on the ground.

"You'll be alright, just don't you ever dare get hurt like that again," Darvus replied.

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The attack outside the boss room was quickly won, but there was no time to celebrate. Everyone got back into formation, with the remaining augmenters taking up a position behind the tanks, while the first wave moved further back to give them a chance to catch their breath and get any injuries treated.

As Tess moved to the back of the formation her and Arthur's eyes locked. This was no time for affection, as the battle wasn't over yet and they had to move quickly. With a smile and nod Tess conveyed to Arthur that she was ok, which right now all that mattered to him.

Theo and another gravity augmenter grabbed the metal doors and pulled them wide open, running back into formation as the rest of the unit entered.

The air inside the dungeon was always humid, but inside the boss chamber the air felt thick and heavy from all the moisture. Moss and mushrooms grew in patches everywhere as pools of water about twice the size of a bathtub were scattered around, while further in a pond could be seen with a large lily pad near the center. A dragonfly looking beast, nearly as long as a person is tall, was flying over one of the pools. Several took notice, but paid it little attention as it wasn't flying towards them. However with a splash a frog jumped out of the water and grabbed it before falling back into the pool. The water remained unsettled for a few more seconds as the bug thrashed for its life, until finally the water became still, and the bug became the frog's meal.

"Captain, I recommend we start this fight ourselves," Arthur suggested.

"I agree. If we keep going deeper we'll end up surrounded." The Captain ordered a halt, and surveyed the area around them. "How do you recommend he draw them out?"

"Lightning spells would probably deliver the best results," Arthur suggested.

"I only have two lightning conjurers, and there are way too many pools."

"Hmm, I want to check something," Arthur said as he left the formation and approached one of the pools.

Arthur could have easily taken care of this himself, but he didn't like the idea of just handing them victory since he wasn't a regular part of the unit, however he had no problem giving them advice.

Everyone kept their guard up as they waited, expecting something to happen soon. Arthur knelt down and stuck one of his arms into the water, then using sound magic began sending out pulses of sound. With his eyes closed he waited for a response, and finally he did. The pulses acted like sonar or echolocation, giving him a detailed view from in the water.

"They're connected," Arthur said as he pulled his arm out and shook the water off.

"What?" The Captain questioned.

"The pools, most if not all of them, are connected by underwater tunnels. We don't need to hit all of them with lightning spells, just one with a strong one," Arthur explained.

The Captain gave the order and the lightning conjurer left the formation for the pool. The conjurer was in the dark yellow stage, so Arthur was confident in his abilities as he raised his wand and began the incantation. Golden sparks flew from the tip of the wand as its power built into a sphere, until it fired into the water. The spell hit the water with a cracking sound as it spread. Sparks shot out from several other pools as well, proving Arthur was correct.

Everything was silent, many wondered if there were even any beasts in the pools. Then out of nowhere a loud low grumble was heard coming from all of the pools, then it was silent again for a few seconds before hordes of the bipedal frogs lept from the water, and started charging towards them.

—————————————————————

Spells cracked, swords clanged, and shields banged as the battle raged against the beasts. Most of the augmenters had broken formation as they clashed with the frogs, leaving only a group of tanks to protect the ranged attackers, medics, and emitters. Even the Captain had entered the fray, his large shield being used for offense nearly as much as it was for defense. Arthur just grit his teeth as he held back waiting for the boss to show itself. Both he and Sylvie were levitating in the air, occasionally using their vantage point to fire spells to provide support.

"Where is it?" Arthur thought out loud in frustration.

"I don't know. I can sense the weird mutated mana, but I can't pinpoint it," Sylvie replied as she fired a bolt of mana at a beast, blowing its head clear off.

Arthur enhanced his vision with mana and was searching further out, hoping to see some sign of where the boss was hiding. He could see the furthest ends of the chamber but saw nothing out of place, not even another tunnel. That's when Arthur remembered the underwater tunnels, and quickly descended to the nearest pool.

"What is it?" Sylvie asked.

"We're missing the first place we looked," Arthur stated, then thrust his arm into the pool.

He sent out a series of sound waves so powerful that ripples could now be seen in the water. Even though everything came through more clearly, he wasn't able to see any further than a few pools. He quickly took flight again and repeated his actions at another pool, then another, and another. With every pool he checked the more complete his map of the underwater tunnels became. A few minutes and six pools later he still had not actually found the boss, but had mapped out enough of the tunnels that was confident where it was.

"Come on Sylv, I think I know where the boss is," Arthur said as he took to the air.

"Finally, but why only think?" Sylvie asked as she followed.

"The tunnels aren't exactly a maze, they all are interconnected, and ultimately are all headed in the same direction."

Arthur then stopped over the largest pool that held a giant lily pad with a sickly looking yellow flower.

"We should have checked here first. It only makes sense that the boss would be in the biggest pool," Sylvie commented as they floated above the pool.

"True," Arthur created a ball of lightning at the tip of his finger. "But we also expected it to show up after the attack started." He then fired the baseball sized ball of electricity towards the flower.

Even after enhancing his vision as much as he could he couldn't actually see the boss in the water. The only reason he even attacked was because it added up for it to be hiding it here. He was left with only one conclusion, that it must have been hiding under the lily pad. The spell struck the water right by the lily pad, creating a small splash as it dispersed through the water.

For the first few seconds nothing happened, making Arthur wonder if either his spell was strong enough, or if he was wrong about the boss being there. However soon the water sloshed and a low roar was heard from under the water. Soon the lily pad began to rise out of the water as it moved close to the water's edge, and Arthur and Sylvie moved to get a better look of the beast as it emerged.

The lily pad acted as a shroud hiding the beast, until a thick, sickly dark green foot with three short claws for toes stepped out of the water and planted firmly on the rocky ground. Then another came out, and lifted itself up to reveal another frog like beats. Unlike the previous frogs that could move on two legs, this one appeared to only walk on all fours. It had several sharp fang -like teeth sticking out of its mouth, and a black horn situated between two large half open red eyes. It then leapt out of the water and crashed back down on the rocky ground, causing the ground around it to shake. The beast's body shook as well, revealing that the lily pad was actually part of its body as it flapped back down.

"I guess it's time for us to earn our pay," Arthur commented as he took a fighting stance, his fists balled and held up ready to attack.

"Speak for yourself," Sylvie replied as she floated beside him and generated several brightly glowing balls of pure mana around her. "I don't get paid, so this is more like charity work for me."

Arthur rocketed forward with his right fist pulled back as lightning coiled around his arm. Once in range Arthur threw his fist forward and struck the beast. The electricity ran and sparked across its body as its body rippled like a wave from the impact, however the beats didn't move. Arthur looked up at it to see it's red glowing eyes now wide open, and focused on him. Arthur instinctually jumped back, just in time to avoid a vine like appendage that came from its back.

"It seems to use its fatty looking body to take hits," Sylvie commented through their bond, then began firing bolts of pure mana.

"But based on its reaction I clearly did hurt it," Arthur replied as he worked to come up with a plan.

The bolts continued to rain down on the beast, as it tried to use its vines to try and counter attack. Both Arthur and Sylvie however were more than fast enough to avoid the powerful strikes.

Deciding to try something new, Arthur created a large powerful looking ice spear, and to top it off charged it with lightning. Using all his might Arthur hurled the spear at the frog. The frog's body rippled again from the impact, but this time it roared out angrily as the spear lodged in its body while sending out a surge of electricity.

"Well that did something," Sylvie commented.

"That it did, let's try that again," Arthur replied as he quickly created two more spears.

Arthur ended up creating five additional electric ice spears before the beast finally died. After which Arthur and Sylvie focused on helping the Trailblazers finish cleaning up the remaining beasts.

"You know it usually takes us longer to take down an A ranked boss," the Captain commented to Arthur after the last beasts were being slain.

"Don't be hard on yourselves, being a Quadra elemental just gives me a lot more options to work with," Arthur then grinned. "I'm like a Swiss Army knife, so many options."

"A what?" The Captain asked, having never heard of the tool from another word.

"A Umm, name in progress for a new tool Master Gideon is working on. It's a bunch of different survival tools in one," Arthur lied, knowing he now had to contact Gideon on another project.

Then just as Arthur saw Tess walking towards him, covered in muck and blood that wasn't her own, everyone froze as a sudden overwhelming pressure was felt.

CLAP CLAP CLAP

"Not bad, pup."