The Gift of Loot Chapter 16: Chapter 16: The Burning Boss

Read chapter 16 of The Gift of Loot by Jack_Golightly on NovelPedia.

It turned out that level two dungeons were at least a third bigger than level one, so they weren't as close to the boss as they thought. No matter. They stuck to the path, and Zach had a ball going through the chipmunks. Every time one shot fire at him, he turned it back against them. He made it look easy . Finally, they came to where the path ended at an open meadow bare of everything but ash. In the middle, sitting on a nest made of charred sticks, was... "Is that a chicken?" Thomas asked Zach. "What is it with these dungeons and chickens?" "No, bro," Zach said, his voice filled with awe. "That's a baby phoenix." Thomas did a double take, then squinted ahead. Christ, was he getting old enough that he needed glasses? But then the chicken-like thing shuffled in its nest and twisted its head around to groom its blackened feathers, and the shape of it became clearer. It was basically a fat bird about the size of a Labrador with dark, gritty ash feathers, which didn't help him spot it against everything else that was burned. Except here and there, the feathers sparked as if with glowing coals. Now that Zach pointed it out, Thomas saw that the proportions were juvenile. The body was rounded with a slightly oversized head and a beak that looked too large for its body. Its tail was short and stubby, with feathers that had not grown in yet. But most importantly, Thomas was certain that he and Zach could scoot around the perimeter of the meadow to get to the exit door visible on the far side. "It looks like this is an optional boss," he said doubtfully. "Yeah, but that's a phoenix ," Zach said. Thomas waited a second, wondering if he was going to elaborate. When he didn't, Thomas said, "And?" Zach turned to him, eyebrows raised. "You're a healer, dude." Oh. Duh. Phoenixes in mythology were all about rebirth and fire. And, if he remembered his Harry Potter lore correctly, they had healing aspects tied to them too. Thomas turned back with narrowed eyes, looking over the phoenix again and wondering what would drop from it. Chances were good that Zach would be the one who dealt the killing blow, as he'd done so pretty much all the way here. That would nullify Thomas's Gift of loot, but bosses typically dropped loot no matter what. If they got something healing-based, it might be just what he needed for Derek. "All right," he said. "How do you want to play this?" Zach grinned. "I got a trick up my sleeve. Leave it to me." He stood up from their hiding position, which had been just ducking behind a burnt fallen log, and strode confidently across the meadow straight for the phoenix. "Wait, we should have a plan," Thomas started to say, but then sighed and reluctantly followed. But Zach turned and waved him back. "No, bro, I got this. Stay back about twenty feet. This could get hairy... or flamey." He flashed a grin. "This guy's insane," Thomas muttered to himself. They had no guide, no idea how this boss would fight, and his teammate wanted to solo the thing. Nevertheless, because he was not fireproof, Thomas stood back, checked his dagger and penknife, and readjusted his grip on the maul. He'd rush in if things went bad. The baby phoenix watched them approach carefully but made no move until Zach was about ten feet away. Then it slowly rose on stubby legs to let out a rattling hiss, shivering its head at the same time. Little flames danced off its feathers. Thomas was disappointed to see that there were no more eggs in the nest with it. He liked the bosses where he could get additional rewards for ruining the boss's setup. His thoughts snapped back to the fight when the hiss turned out not to be a warning at all, but the sound of gas igniting because suddenly a gout of pure flame—blue at the tip and fading toward orange and red—shot right for Zach. Zach turned, and in a movement so smooth that he almost certainly had dance classes, pirouetted and redirected the stream of fire back to the phoenix. He'd done the same move with the chipmunks