Zenith Affinity

“It’s about timing and baiting the Beast into devouring the first and third camps. You let him have the arguably weakest of the five elements while taking down the other camps before he can close on it,” Sky said.

“Damn, we burst down the first camp, and he picked up Fire and Nature, but we were able to defeat the Shadow and Blood Camps before engaging. Finally took the Beast down after that,” Ren said.

“You know, I thought for sure it would be easier just to stop the thing at the first camp,” Dread said. “But damn if that wasn’t a dumb idea. We nearly wiped right there. Thankfully, Jack here drew aggro while Jace and Lyss set it up. We had to retreat a bit, but we eventually took it down. Crazy dungeon, man.”

“Immortal Jack, sacrificing himself for the cause?” Dark Hero asked with a smile.

“I didn’t die, if that’s what you mean…I just went to sleep for a minute,” Immortal Jack said.

Dread and the rest of [Century] laughed.

“We died on the first attempt, but the Beast didn’t continue consuming camps until we were back on its trail,” Raze said, a hint of frustration in his voice.

Alisha was shaking her head at the story. “So, it's actually possible to beat this..Beast on Hard Mode? I feel like we struggled to come close to completing regular mode.”

“Absolutely, it’s definitely a step up,” Zedra said.

“Heh, that big bastard sent my ass into a wall. Can’t imagine a meaner version prowling around,” Helga said.

Ren snorted, “Yeah, it is easily the hardest thing we have fought so far, and we need to fight it at least, what, two more times?”

“Yeah, at least. Level 32 is when diminishing returns take effect, and we would be wasting our time to push any higher than 33. Personally, I say we get to 32, then find another dungeon or at least some open world content to take up our time,” Zedra said.

“Got any leads on where we might find some experience waiting to be harvested?” Baron Vane asked Zedra.

Zedra shrugged, “Honestly, we just had open world and crafting planned from 33 to 40. I think we should still do that so we can get more unique mounts and maybe map out a bit more of this area for later.”

Zenith Star Guild [★] was sitting outside of the Bloodfall Gulch Dungeon in the mid-afternoon, having spent the first half of the day on Hard Mode. Most of the guild was relaxing and having a bite to eat while they talked and planned. Outside of the dungeon's cavern entrance, where Elishna’s brood lived, was a fairly open area that had fairly decent sight lines. Ever since the guild took on the Bloodfall Gulch, there hadn’t been any threat to them while camping there.

Sky stood up and had her eye on something to the west. “You know, that cloud has been there all day, and it seems like it is coming up from the ground like a campfire or something.”

Ren, Zedra, and Zaria all got up to take a closer look.

“Strange,” Ren started, “Definitely not a campfire or a fire at all…it’s white like a cloud or something.”

“It’s definitely rising, and see how it’s like coming in plumes? It’s like sending bursts of clouds or steam into the air,” Sky said. She turned back to everyone, “We need to go check that out!”

“Okay, just hold your horses there, Sky. We still have a few runs here, and honestly, we should push to 33 even if it takes a bit longer,” Dark Hero said.

“33?!? Might as well be forever!”

“It’s not that bad, and it would be good to get a skill point before we check any random anomalies out like that,” Zedra said.

“I agree with Zed; this dungeon sucks, but at least we know it. We still don’t know about dying outside of an instance,” Kesa said. “Even if we have to run it 5 more times, that's only like another day or two. No big deal.”

“Good idea,” Dread said. “The more we can get out of this, the better, I say. Even though the drops kinda suck, it’s really the XP that we are here for.”

“Do you think that has something to do with the mob type we have faced?” Sherafane asked. She was sitting with the rest of [Nature Green], and it seemed they had been talking about the strange loot pools.

“Definitely. It’s like the dungeon is dropping processed monster parts that have been turned into makeshift weapons. Other things seem to embody ideals from things within the dungeon, like that [Beast Blood Ring] you got there, Dread. It is the same effect the Beast had, but it sort of takes the idea of its Blood Affinity into consideration,” Zedra theorized.

Dread nodded, “Yeah, sounds about right.”

Raze was nodding along, “It makes sense, but I wonder how that will factor in with dedicated drops later on? Like specific ones we know drop in places, will they still drop with the system?”

“I don’t see why not,” Zedra replied.

Humble Lotus, who had been relatively silent as the guild rested, stroked his beard like some old wise man and agreed, “Such a curious thing, how these dungeon instances work. I am overjoyed to see what they will be like later on.”

The second run at hard mode came, and this time all of Zenith Star entered the Bloodfall Gulch with the knowledge of how to beat the dungeon on hard mode. It wouldn’t be easy, but it would be possible.

Everyone did exactly one run, reaching up to levels 31 and 32. They camped for the night and then did it three times the next day. The highest parties were knocking on the door of 33, the [Sword Souls], [Century], [Affliction], and [Reality Check], while the rest were just around the end of 31 or just crossed into 32.

≪ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ≫

Morning came, the sun illuminating the entrance to the dungeon like a luminescent alarm clock. Everyone was up and ready to go, but the [Flamesouls], [Nature Green], and [Pink Lotus] all requested two hours to clear the Bloodfall Gulch one last time. It wouldn’t take the entire two hours with how many times every party had completed the dungeon, but it would be good not to be rushed, and many were relieved at the acceptance. All three parties headed into the Gulch while the rest of the guild lounged around and waited, mostly breaking up into their parties.

“How are our younger parties doing?” Sky asked.

“Younger? You mean lower level?” Kesa asked.

“Yeah! [Quick Play] and what was the other one?”

“[The Ladder],” Zedra supplied. “I talked to Caligula from [Quick Play] the other day, and he said they are pushing up to level 22 and have already started hard mode on the Zaphid Caverns.”

“Ooh, very nice. Have they decided what affinities they will attune to at 25?” Sky asked.

“I haven’t asked, but I don’t think any of them are particularly rare. Shouldn’t be too hard to get them into tier 2, though they might not be ready by the time we have to leave for the other continent.”

Dark sighed, “We still need to acquire a few more parties, or we won’t have enough people to take the Guild Hall, regardless of what happens with the local story.”

“Uhhh, check your math on that, babe. As long as [Quick Play] and [The Ladder] get there, that is 50 people,” Kesa said.

“Are you sure?”

Zedra called it out, “[Reality Check], [Flamesouls], [Pink Lotus], [Nature Green], [Sword Souls], [Affliction], [Century], [The Traditionals], [Quick Play], and [The Ladder]. That is 10 parties for a total of…drum roll please…50 people.”

“I already knew. I just wanted to make sure you guys did,” Dark said, holding back a laugh.

“Of course,” Kesa said, rubbing a comforting hand on his arm.

They continued to relax and talk until the delving parties emerged from the Bloodfall Gulch, an hour and fifteen minutes having passed. They wasted no time and, as a huge group of 40 Zenith Star Guild members, they headed to the northwest. As they walked through the pathless wilderness, the constantly rising steam in the distance grew closer.

A plateau held the base of the towering columns of mist. It wasn’t just a single cloud, but a myriad of them that combined as they dispersed into the sky.

There was a winding trail that went up the front side of the plateau, the flat surface above moving into the base of a range of mountains that the guild had been skirting along for a while.

“Zed, wanna scout it out?”

Zedra shrugged, “Sure, one sec.” He hopped up the final bit of the path and engaged his [Veil of Shadows], disappearing. In just a few seconds, he slowly walked back down, facing the hidden surface of the plateau as he did so.

“Uh, Zed?” Dark asked.

“Shh!” Zedra said, panic lacing his voice as he stared at something up on the surface. As soon as he dipped below the edge, he made shoving motions to have everyone back up and go back down the trail.

No one spoke as they quietly walked back down the short, natural path.

Making it to the bottom, Sky turned to Zedra with a question in her gaze.

“Yeah, sorry. It is an interesting sight up there. I only needed to look around for a second, but it's a huge pool of blue water with a dozen or so mounds that are like…geysers or something?”

“That’s what’s causing the clouds?” Kesa asked.

“Mhm, and there is an open world boss up there too, a massive…and I mean, MASSIVE blue and gold tiger just relaxing up there.”

“How massive?” Ren asked.

“Like paws as big as a torso, and it’s like horse-sized? Maybe larger.”

“Damn, but blue and gold?”

“Like his fur matches the crazy azure blue of the springs, but the stripes are like…golden light. I think he’s a light, or sunlight affinity mixed with water.”

“A dual affinity creature already?” Sky asked.

Atticus looked confused. “Wait, wasn’t the Beast a multiple affinity creature?”

“No, those were not actually his affinities, just something he consumed temporarily,” Dark answered.

“Ah, but this…blue tiger is a dual type?”

“Definitely. Water and light or solar or something,” Zedra said.

“Okay, but he’s obviously connected to the environment, right? I wonder if he uses the geysers…” Sky pondered.

“I would be on it. His name is Zazed, The Refracted.”

“That is different from reflected, right?” Zaria asked.

Dark nodded, “Refracted light would be how it bends or changes perceivable directions as it passes from one transparent medium to another…”

“So…Zazed is going to move through the water and attack at weird angles and stuff, eh?” Dread asked, finally putting his two cents into the conversation.

“That is what I was thinking. If that is the case, and he can somehow move to any spot that a geyser blasts, then he can attack from any angle. That also implies that there might be a bit of incorporeality involved as well,” Zedra said.

“Alright, I have a plan. How deep was the water?” Sky asked.

“Maybe knee-deep at most? Hard to say at just a glance, but it didn’t look too deep.”

“Perfect. Here is what I am thinking….”

≪ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ≫

The front liners from every party stepped onto the plateau first, a shield wall of players that all locked onto the lounging tiger. When Sky stepped up, she immediately locked eyes with the huge creature. It had tensed the moment it saw her, perhaps recognizing the [Luminous Corona] aura that Sky kept active.

“He’s beautiful…” Sky said, utterly transfixed by the majestic creature.

Zazed slowly stood up, but kept his golden gaze locked on Sky.

“He seems to like you, Sky,” Kesa said.

“Or he wants to eat you,” Dark said.

“Probably that,” Zaria laughed.

“If he is a mount, I am definitely calling dibs!” Sky said.

“You know you can’t do that,” Zedra said.

“I know…”

The front liners moved into the water, acting as a moving wall for the main damaging party. [Affliction], the party that was designed around their own name, was determined to have the greatest chance at consistent single-target damage. They sat dead center of the formation Sky had designed, surrounded by melee fighters and tanks, hoping to capitalize on the continuous damage brought to them by the use of affliction-focused builds.

Zazed made the first move, letting out a roar that resonated in everyone’s chests, causing ripples and waves in the huge pool of shallow blue water.

About half of the geysers all blasted up at the roar, a starting point for the battle.

“Here we go! Be ready for some kind of movement ability!” Sky shouted.

The tiger didn’t advance. He just stood there staring at Sky. Then the geyser between her and Zazed blasted up, obscuring her view of the tiger. The health bar above the boss disappeared when he did.

Lines of light, not unlike the reflections of light on the floor of a pool, moved out from Zazed’s starting point. They accelerated and reformed into several ethereal versions of Zazed, each slashing out at the front line as a tiger only made of its stripes and claws. The golden stripes seemingly ignored all incoming damage as they attacked.

“What the hell!? How do we hurt it?” Dread called out.

“Them! There are three of them!” Sky yelled back.

“It's using the mist from the geysers! Wait till it reforms and stun him!” Zedra called.

Most of those who relied on sneak attacking and intense bursts of single-target damage were sitting back and waiting for an opportunity. The rest were solely focused on maintaining their distance from one another, making sure not to collapse the formation. It worked out well as healers cast defensive and regenerative spells on those engaging.

Other supporting players, like Atticus, waited to drop their damage-enhancing/enabling abilities, ensuring that they had a good spot to hit.

The glowing stripes of sunlight all retreated at once and reformed into the full form of Zazed.

Atticus, Sera Cavendish, Kira Maple, Dabriel, and Asheera Flamesong all acted at once. A half-dozen status effects landed on the tiger, just as it reformed. Like a cascade of preprogrammed actions, the single-target damage users all appeared, daggers, swords, and magic all digging into the tiger.

On top of that, Selena Blackmore led [Affliction] in applying their deadly DoT’s. Curses, corrosion, hexes, bleeding, burning, and more all stacked up on Zazed. The tiger’s health began to fall, and Selena kept her finger on the trigger of her most potent new ability, [Curse of Amplification]. This level 30 ability enabled her to proliferate all afflictions on the target.

After the sequential burst damage dealers had dropped Zazed’s health into the low 80 percentile range, the afflictions were just ramping up. Zazed didn’t appear to care in the slightest, though he did growl. The rumbling roar invoked a primal sort of fear that the players hadn’t felt since before they had powers.

“Brace for some sort of AoE attack! Shields and damage reduction-” Sky was cut off as the rumbling from the massive tiger resonated with the water around them.

The water underneath the formation of the guild exploded upward from the ground, launching most of the casters and ranged damage dealers into the air.

Sky had been standing next to Sera Cavendish and Atticus as they were launched up, and she reached out to grab them. Sky was able to put a hand on Atticus, but pulled fur as they reached the apex. Sera locked onto Sky like a lifeline, and the celestial's wings exploded out, and she desperately flapped to keep from dropping back to the ground.

The rest of the casters that were caught in the geyser blast weren’t so lucky, though a few were quick enough. Cadmeas Odalfus from [The Traditionals] and Lyssa Marshal from [Century] were able to cast movement abilities and land safely.

Atticus crashed to the ground with Sherafane, Elyndra Faesworn, Jace TheMighty, and the back half of [Affliction] all took devastating fall damage. Thankfully, the healers who were scattered around behind the tanks had fully avoided the geyser.

Sera and Sky landed hard, but didn’t take any serious damage. Golden elemental spells landed on those that had crashed down into the water, all while Zazed pounced over the tank wall and tried to close in on Ren and Dread. The second line was full of melee fighters that were strategically set up to deal damage after tanks had increased their threat level enough to draw aggro.

With the dispersing and reforming of the parties, Zazed was now inside the front line, and Gary, the tank from [Affliction], was currently holding aggro with a long cooldown ability as others moved in to deal more damage.

Ashariel and Zaria, like the true valkyries that they were, wasted no time in stepping up to either side of the huge beast, one with light and the other with fire. It might seem like both elements would do poorly against a dual affinity creature with both light and water as its aspects, and indeed they did do a bit less damage than normal, but using their largest attacks while its attention was drawn elsewhere was perfect timing.

Salazar Dread and about four rogues or ninjas closed in behind Zazed, fully flanking the open world boss. It hadn’t cleansed the afflictions from the first burn phase, and Dread was happy to add his own. Red blood, seemingly from nowhere, began to splash out of the tiger, like it had a watery shield hiding the flesh beneath it.

His [Beast Blood Ring] added the Blood affinity to all of his attacks, and since he was already focused on the Blood Affinity, it was a flat increase to his melee damage. In addition to the continuous casting from [Affliction], any stacks of [Bleeding] were enhanced with Dread’s ability [Blood to Bleed].

Zazed’s health dropped down to 50% when the fight changed again. The boss ignored aggro and threat, and started slashing out with huge swipes of luminous water. It bent around shields, flowed through the water at their feet, and burst up from geysers. Along with all of that, he fully turned ethereal and cleansed his afflictions, bringing all damage to a halt.

Healers were desperately throwing shields, regeneration, and burst healing, trying to counter every one of the myriad attacks Zazed threw out while in his ethereal form. This was a phase where survival was key. No damage could be dealt, and yet Zazed was attacking and throwing out abilities at a rate that he hadn’t shown so far.

“Hang in there! Be ready to collapse on him again!” Zedra yelled out. He and the sneakies were all once again waiting for their opportunity.

The damage phase continued for nearly 30 seconds, but thankfully, Zazed was facing a group of 40 people, and there were eight healers. The moment Zazed rematerialized, no longer looking like a series of golden lines of light, the blue fur moved around like it was floating in water. Atticus was the first to respond with a [Shocking Field], but a half dozen more CC attacks rained down on the open world boss.

It was Humble Lotus who landed a definitive blow. [Soul Lock] is an ability that activates when he lands a consecutive series of attacks. It causes a 10-second stun on the boss. The ability was hard to land, especially on a boss like Zazed, but it was perfectly timed after he had absorbed the many other CC attacks.

Rogues and Ninjas popped up, dealing devastating blows while afflictions began to build once again. The huge single-target damage dealers rotated out, allowing other damage dealers in, all while casters and ranged attackers dropped damage on it.

The burn phase lasted much less time, but the entire guild was focused, and it dropped to 25% health in about 20 seconds.

Every geyser burst upward, and a torrent of water began to lift into the air as if filling a bowl that was turned upside down into a dome.

“What is happening?!” Ar’Gen yelled.

“Final phase! It’s transforming!” Zedra replied.

Sure enough, the tiger began to change, turning into a swirling ball of light and water that began to spin the entire dome of water as it filled.

“Looks like we are gonna have to damage it while underwater. [Affliction], you have to lay as much damage as you can as soon as it reappears!” Sky called out.

“We’re ready!” Selena Blackmore replied.

The water level passed the height of everyone just as Zazed reformed.

The name above his head read: ‘Zazed, Luminous Monarch’

“Now!”

[Affliction] and the few others who also used afflictions all attacked at once.

Zazed replied in kind.

A devastating beam of sunlight blasted out of his open maw. He dragged the beam across the field, dealing devastating damage and even knocking a few people into a near-death state. Everyone seriously hit by the beam, except for the tanks and other high-health brawlers, was brought down to less than 20% health, but afflictions continued to build up as the guild recovered.

A debuff appeared on Zazed’s head, a [Daze] condition on account of using such a powerful blast.

Healers were already casting as Helga and Dark Hero charged the tiger. Without a second thought, every rogue, ninja, duelist, and single-target specialist arrived around the huge tiger, now closer to the size of an elephant.

Speaking was impossible underwater for all besides the tritons and the myrim, who thrived in those conditions. The difference was the stats that came with being a tier 2 being. Vitality pools that made any normal tier 1 being look like a bug, enabled the extended held breath, even while attacking at a slower speed due to the water.

At 10% health, Zazid began to attack again, but he was faced with a circle of shields and weapons all crashing down on him. He had nowhere to go and nothing to do besides attempts at attacking. He seemed unable to change into his ethereal mode, and he was eventually brought down.

The giant dome of water burst with his death, releasing a tidal wave of mineral-heavy water to crash over the edge of the plateau.

This wasn’t a raid group, but it was an open world group, and drops were randomly assigned.

It was Mia Hyabusa that got the prize which she promptly showed off, “So uh, [Zazed, Luminous Monarch Mount Summoning Stone], I guess it’s time to start rolling?”