Ascending Endlessly: I Copy Skills

As the ground started shaking, the hunters started to rearrange themselves while the commissioner shouted orders to them. We were all aware that the boss monster was about to arrive; it was necessary now to switch to a formation designed to withstand a single powerful monster rather than a small army of them. 

As I retreated back into the rear, everyone looked incredibly nervous. Some of them were even shaking lightly. I'm sure all of them were experienced, so it went to show just how fearsome of a monster we'd be facing. After all, it was the strength of an A-Rank monster, and we only had one A-Rank hunter in our ranks. 

The forty-three B-Rank hunters would only just barely make up the strength required to kill it. I'd been in this dungeon before, so I was also aware of the boss monster which would soon be arriving; however, I'd just watched from up above with a group of S-Rank hunters surrounding me. There was no danger.

Now, being on the ground and among the ranks of those actually meant to kill it, I was amazed at their composition. Despite the fear they felt, these hunters were still about to face something terrifying together. It made me think of myself back in the D-Rank dungeon in Oasis, where every goblin would make my hands shake before I rushed in anyway.

The hunters stood in silence, their weapons and defenses raised, trying their best to keep in position despite the quaking earth beneath their feet. A large fissure formed in the ground across the plateau, splitting the earth and allowing something to emerge.

At first, it appeared to simply be a large boulder. However, several more stones followed it, resembling four fingers, gripping the ground and pulling more of it up out of the ground. The body came into view before two legs finally surfaced, bringing the boss completely into our sight. It was a golem the size of a five-story building, made completely of stone, the exception being a cube submerged into its chest cavity.

It looked like a cube made of glass, with a beating, fleshy heart floating in its center. This was the golem's core. However, defeating it wasn't as simple as just shattering the glass and piercing its heart. The golem wouldn't allow that to happen so easily.

"PREPARE FOR ENGAGEMENT!"

The commissioner shouted.

"DEFENSES UP!"

As he issued his commands, barriers popped up all around our perimeter. Those with defensive skills were all preparing for an attack. Shortly after, it was made apparent why. In front of the golem's core, a magical prism formed, lines appearing in the air and drawing it into existence. Rainbow light entered into it, creating a point at the end of the prism.

Then, as the light finally finished condensing, it shot out from the tip of the prism in a large, blinding beam, sweeping vertically through our defenses, scorching the earth beneath it and sending a deep, ear-piercing hum through the air. I braced myself as it struck our defensive line. Fortunately, the combination of various barriers barely managed to hold up. The mages scrambled to re-cast their skills.

"RANGERS, FIRE! HEAVY UNITS, ADVANCE! LIGHT INFANTRY, AWAIT FURTHER ORDERS!"

The commissioner shouted another order. A group of tankers separated from the parties, charging forwards with a battle cry towards the golem as its skill dissipated. In front of them was the commissioner, who would be the primary offensive force to combat the golem. 

Within a formation like this, where only one A-Rank hunter and forty-three B-Rank hunters were present to fight an A-Rank monster, he was the only one who could do significant damage to it. The tankers, if they overlapped their skills, combined with a large number of healers, would be able to sustain the monster's attacks for a little while, while the rangers would draw its attention towards the tankers and generally distract the boss.

The commissioner summoned what appeared to be a skateboard without wheels, tossing it in front of him and jumping onto it as it started to float. Woah, a hoverboard. Cool. It was likely one of his B-Rank skills, but it looked like a great one for transportation. He started flying way faster than the other hunters were moving, gaining altitude as he got closer to the boss.

Of course, I was happy to remain within the safety of the back line with the healers, rangers and defensive mages. I would wait until the battle was over and collect any spell signatures that were left behind. Of course, so long as everything went smoothly. With the arrival of the boss monster, the sphere to exit the dungeon was blocked off. It would have to die before we could leave. If worst came to worst, I still had a number of mana batteries I could use to defend myself if it came to it.

However, things seemed to be going as planned. The commissioner started his assault on the boss monster without a hitch. Of course, it was defending its core over anything else, so he would have to start by breaking down its body enough to at least make its physical attacks less of a threat; if he could take out an arm or a leg, or even all of its limbs, it would make the fight significantly easier.

The fight drew on as planned. Naturally, it was incredibly intense, but everyone was holding up well. The back line was managing to defend itself well from stray spells that were fired off from the golem, especially since the main targets were the commissioner and the tankers.

It was truly a terrifying sight; the mountains and ground being broken and burned by spells launched by the golem. Nevertheless, the commissioner and tankers were making progress. Cracks started to form on one of the golem's arms with a strike from the commissioner's skill. He seemed to be primarily a melee fighter, using a sword to make his attacks. 

So far, I'd seem him fire a beam out from it, and make several melee attacks with resulting explosions and delayed strikes. Each skill he held was quite powerful; he was, after all, an A-Rank hunter, and seemed to be a decently powerful one at that. The mobility of his B-Rank skill allowed him to easily maneuver around the golem's comparably slow body, too.

Finally, I heard cheering coming from the front line as the golem's left arm crumbled, breaking in half. That was good; it would make both offense and defense significantly easier. I expected the commissioner to start going for the core to ensure that the defensive hunters wouldn't exhaust their gates, but it seemed that he felt it necessary to go for the other arm first.

I was a bit nervous. Even B and A-Rank hunters had their limits, and we'd already been fighting for a long time. Everyone had certainly been conserving as much strength as possible, but soon, they'd start to get too tired to continue. With the commissioner as our only source of real strength against the golem, his stamina and gate's durability had to be taken into account, too. 

Despite my concerns, I still had to have faith. All of these people were highly experienced hunters, including the commissioner, and had probably cleared this dungeon numerous times before. If this is what they thought was necessary, I would trust them. They knew much better than me about this dungeon's clear method, after all.

Fortunately it went well. After about twenty minutes, the commissioner claimed the golem's other arm. However, looking around me, people were looking nervous, sweat pooling all over their bodies. Then, right beside me I overheard some murmurs.

"What's taking him so long? We can't keep this up. This isn't looking good..."

Oh my. It seems I was right. This was abnormal. Getting a closer look, I saw a couple of tankers on their knees, barely able to keep themselves upright. The commissioner's attacks were getting sloppy, too. Dammit. I started biting my nails.

This was always a possibility. Maybe he was off his game today, or maybe the golem was exhibiting unusual attack patterns. I don't know. Dungeons can be quite unpredictable. If this was beyond our forces capabilities, this could end very badly not only for me, but everyone here.

Then, the commissioner was hit by an attack for the first time since the fight began. The golem summoned a large ball of fire, launching it towards the commissioner. He had been able to dodge this attack before, but it seemed in his exhaustion, his senses had dulled. He only managed to get halfway out of the way as the ball of fire engulfed him, launching him back into a mountain.

I saw him limply land on the ground in the distance. Dammit. I need to do something. I don't know exactly how much I can do, but if I can land a good attack on the golem, I can give him a chance to return to the fight after he's been healed. I only have one idea for something I can do to damage the golem.

I summoned all of my remaining batteries and charged forward, ignoring the gasps of those in the back line who had just watched their strongest attacker be rendered useless. Let's buy some time.