Radiant Shield gritted his teeth as he faced the powerful Draconian, his eyes betraying dread. The towering boss wielded an overbearing spear in his black, demonic gloves, barrelling it down on the tank.
The burly man had to activate every fibre of his muscles to avoid being pushed back. His stance was hurt badly. If it weren't for Seytor repelling the boss from time to time he would have already lost his stance before the rest of the party arrived.
Suddenly Liam and Watchful Eye appeared next to him. Radiant Shield was inwardly relieved but outwardly he chided them in annoyance:
"My friends, you finally made your appearance..."
"Sorry we have been held up by something important.", explained Liam calmly. Watchful Eye glanced at him but didn't comment, rather asking Radiant Shield:
"What are we dealing with?"
"The first Dark Herald. Level 33. Sub-boss. 17.700HP. I assume this fight would be a herculean task for our party if it weren't for the NPCs assisting us."
Watchful Eye nodded but he also wanted to make his own judgement. His staff flicked through the air as he began with a normal attack. A moment later purple flames erupted with a hit. Watchful Eye followed up with a skill, slamming the staff in the boss's flank.
[-8!]
[-259!]
The monk was startled as his attack barely dealt any damage. And even his skill, despite having already reached rank 2, felt somewhat underwhelming.
"He's indeed quite powerful. But no need to be surprised, Watchful Eye. Draconians usually have a high fire resistance."
Watchful Eye nodded at Liam's explanation, thinking that it made sense. But another issue bothered him. He couldn't help but ask:
"If bosses remain this powerful, wouldn't our normal attack eventually end up not doing any damage?"
Liam had arrived behind the boss. Although his movements appeared fierce, he was quite relaxed. Right now, Seytor was pressuring the boss, taking some pressure away from the players. Thus, the veteran was free to answer:
"You're not wrong. If we want to be able to fight above our levels, we need to strengthen our attacks. You know how to level up skills but what you don't know is that normal attacks can level up as well."
Everyone listening showed great surprise, immediately asking Liam to elaborate.
"It's actually quite simple. You only need to rank up three skills and your normal attacks will receive a damage boost. The only caveat is that one of those skills needs to be your ultimate skill."
Liam's words left everyone pondering. He made it sound simple but was upgrading skills really that easy? Thanks to Liam's early reminders the party was among the first players to upgrade their skills. Yet which of them hadn't secretly trained hours and hours, driven by the fear of being left behind?
And yet increasing a skill's rank would only become more difficult, never easier.
"More Vermin have arrived! Do you think there is an advantage in numbers? Are you looking down on me? Die! Die! I am a mighty Draconian! It is time to teach you fear! Do you know..."
Suddenly the party's thoughts were interrupted as the boss began to ramble. Cyclone rolled her eyes, throwing an attack at the Draconian's face.
"Shut up and fight!"
[-42!]
"You! Alright! If it's a fight that you want, then a fight you shall get!"
Suddenly the boss swung his spear in a wide arc, creating a violent gust of wind. No one, not even Seytor dared to take the hit.
As everyone evaded, the boss suddenly took out a black heart-shaped stone from who-knows-where, holding it above his head. For a second everyone had the illusion as if the heart pulsed. But it was quickly obscured as it emitted a massive amount of dark air.
The boss plunged his hand into the mass of dark air, producing a mysterious magic circle, his casting speed leaving many experienced mages in the dust. It was unclear if it was because of his own racial talent or something else.
The party had no time to ponder the issue as the boss held the magic circle in front of his body. The world seemed to dim slightly as the black air was controlled by the magic circle. It took on the form of raging black flames.
Suddenly the first Dark Herald opened his mouth wide, revealing sharp teeth worthy of a predator, before spitting out surging, orange flames.
Orange and Black intermixed presenting a strange beauty like the sky at dawn. Unfortunately, no one could appreciate it as everyone scrambled to escape.
Radiant Shield, standing closest to the boss, realized he had no chance of evading the damage. Since the boss's skill didn't appear to be of physical nature, he decided to use his [Holy Barrier] on himself. Simultaneously Silver Blade spread her [Aura of ranged protection] shortly before her fellow tank was engulfed in flames.
[-1495!]
[-1481!]
Radiant Shield, enduring the heat, inhaled sharply. The barrier of light shielding him rippled heavily. Judging by the enormous damage the tank guessed that the boss's skill didn't deal magical damage but instead fearsome fire and dark attributed damage.
Fortunately, the moves to prepare this skill were extremely conspicuous, granting the other party members enough time to escape.
"Draconian! Shouldn't you know how it is to live a bitter life?! Why are you aiding Taragal in his tyranny?!", shouted Seytor with a hint of sympathy in his voice.
"Don't you dare to talk to me about a bitter life! You have no idea!"
The boss answered with a deep voice as he ended his skill, yet flickering flames continued burning in his eyes.
Seytor immediately grabbed the chance to attack. Finally, it was time for the dwarf to prove his prowess. A surprising amount of mana surged towards his dreadful flail. Sand gathered out of nowhere, building a shell around his weapon, almost doubling its size.
With a grin the dwarf raised his arms high and delivered a powerful blow at the Dark Herald. A violent shockwave spread, almost pushing the players away as the flail and spear collided. Yet this wasn't everything.
The boss dispersed the sand with his immense strength but the small corns didn't vanish. Instead, they gathered in the air, taking on the form of a spiked sphere and shooting towards the Dark Herald once more.
"What?!"
The boss was surprised. He tried to retrieve his weapon, but Seytor naturally wouldn't let him. Thus, the Draconian could only watch as the heavy, spiked sphere slammed into his body.
[-1793!]
The players felt envious upon noticing the immense damage. One blow from Seytor rivalled the damage done by the players during the entire fight.
And yet he wasn't the only NPC as Repha also constantly unleashed her arrows.
Cyclone and Fortune shared a thought standing far away from the boss. They had easily avoided the terrifying flames and were now about to finish their casts.
Cyclone addressed her fellow mage with a stern expression:
"It's on us to uphold the honour of our party! We can't fall too far behind the NPCs!"
Fortune only smiled and nodded as the mana was already gathering on her staff, about to erupt, forcing her to focus.
The two women stared at the boss as they simultaneously released their skills.
Crackling sounded through the battlefield as blue lightning bolts gathered to form a rope, tying the boss and Cyclone together. Immediately the Draconian was assaulted by the continuous lightning damage.
At the same time a massive amount of mana gathered above his head. It condensed into a powerful spear of pure mana, striking straight at his head, causing even the fearless Draconian's scalp to turn numb.
[-42!]
[-162!]
Cyclone's damage was low but continuous while Fortune's damage was comparatively large, gaining a bonus since the target was without allies.
Yet the mages didn't have the impact they would have hoped. Fortune spoke with a wry smile:
"Well, it seems we can't compete with the NPCs."
"That's not quite true! My [Bindings of Lightning] will eventually match the NPCs and even overtake them!", stated Cyclone with a proud smile.
"Hm, what do you mean?"
"Did you forget that my skill remains active until it deals damage equal to my magical damage stat?"
"Sure, but... how long will that take?"
"Not long. At most... around two minutes."
Fortune rolled her eyes. Who knew if the boss could even hold on for two minutes? Under Seytor's and Repha's attacks his HP bar shrank continuously.
But she didn't want to dampen Cyclone's mood. Fortune was sure her fellow mage knew this as well. This was just the blond woman's personality. Thus, Fortune didn't comment further and began focusing on her next skill.
Meanwhile the boss was indeed under a lot of pressure. His sturdy black armor began to reveal cracks, none of those caused by the players.
He clashed with Seytor once more before swinging his spear around, targeting Radiant Shield, not adhering to the usual rules for attack speed.
Finally, the tank's holy barrier shattered, and his stance emptied, leaving his defence wide open.