Bloody Edge's body shivered as his HP dropped dangerously low. Out of his originally around 5800 points only about 1800 remained.
Balm considered her options for a moment. In this situation using an area healing spell wasn't exactly great as it forced her allies to stand closer together, which would get them targeted by the boss.
Her only single target spell left at the moment was [Regeneration], but she would prefer using it on a tank since the skill was more efficient against continued damage. Yet after a short conflict with herself Balm decided to waste the skill on Bloody Edge since the thief was indeed only a single strike away from being killed.
With a wave of her wand, a vital green energy fell on Bloody Edge's head. He felt greatly invigorated as his HP slowly recovered.
[+2503!]
Afterwards the boss still wasn't done. He fired two more rounds, causing the party to scramble for an escape. Without the range indicator it was difficult to gauge the area affected by the skill. Silver Blade and Fortune each miscalculated once, suffering damage again.
In the meantime, Bleary Mirage was forced to use his skill [Holy Sword Trinity] once in order to trigger two holy marks or else his ultimate [Holy tempest] would be running out.
Finally, the plate on the boss's chest moved hiding the cannon. Steam billowed around the golem as if it was breathing heavily.
Balm decided to immediately use one of her skills. Pillars of bright light spread over the battlefield, inviting like comfortable sanctuaries. The central pillar engulfed the boss and its immediate surroundings and was quickly occupied by the melee players.
The injured party members felt relieved as they watched their HP recovering slowly. Simultaneously Balm's passive triggered, randomly boosting the stats of some of her friends.
Bloody Edge was one of the lucky recipients. His eyes lit up as he saw his chance:
"Be prepared, I will activate my ultimate skill!"
A brilliant light erupted as Bloody Edge came out of his stealth. Its armor reducing power appeared almost omnipotent. Be it scales, hide, or metal plates there was nothing it couldn't decimate.
The boss's defence was greatly reduced as attacks reached him from all directions. His HP plummeted dangerously.
A seconds later the situation was already over, and the boss began to move again. Its head turned left and right searching for a suitable target. But the party wasn't caught unprepared knowing that the boss's aggro would reset after its last skill. Everyone held back until Radiant Shield was back in control.
However, thanks to the attacks just now the tank was clearly struggling, taking longer than expected. Radiant Shield was forced to endure multiple hits by himself.
"Ah!"
Suddenly he let out a startled shout. The hammer slammed into his shield. His stance emptied out, causing him to tumble backwards. The boss chased his advantage, delivering another vicious blow to the tank's head.
[-631!]
[-1076!]
Cyclone winced, inhaling sharply:
"Eh that looked painful."
"Shield!", shouted Balm worriedly.
The others showed some care as well. Radiant Shield took a second to recover, stars swimming before his eyes. He nodded with difficulty to answer his friends. But at least he now had taken control of the aggro.
Finally, the party could continue attacking. Swords and magic competed against a single hammer. The golem was quickly losing HP but so was Radiant Shield.
And as the tank received healing from Balm, the boss appeared to be jealous. It took its hammer in one hand, raising the other towards the ceiling.
"Stop it!"
"Ahh, not again!"
The party members sounded exasperated. They tried to use some of their stuns, but the boss proved highly resistant. Throughout the fight he only got paralyzed twice by Cyclone.
Unfortunately, the party wasn't lucky enough this time as the golem completed its attack. It aimed its hand towards a spot on the wall connected to the pipe system. A whistling noise rang through the room. Faster than anyone's eye could follow the boss shot a bullet.
A small explosion ensued as the bullet crashed into the wall. The pipe shattered. A hole appeared in the wall. Specially prepared water began to spray into the room.
"No..."
"Disgusting!"
"Dear viewers, I am sorry for censoring the following scenes."
Cyclone, Balm, and Fortune wore annoyed expressions. Their robes had a certain ability to repel the elements, but it didn't last forever. As they were soaked by more and more water their robes began to stick to their bodies.
Balm's situation was still endurable. The robes of a healer were wide and hid her figure even after soaking up too much water. But Cyclone and Fortune who deliberately wore robes highlighting their figures became quite uncomfortable.
Luckily C came in clutch. A hot wind came out of nowhere, circling around the girls and drying them quickly.
Cyclone's eyes lit up gratefully thanking C in her head.
Yet their friends politely looked away focusing on the boss. They could only stand helplessly as the boss enjoyed the shower. The magically enhanced water seeped into the golem's body, causing the crystal on its chest to shine brightly.
Somehow the water had the ability to nurture the golem's body, regenerating its HP.
[+400!]
[+400!]
The party members sighed. They had no choice but to continue the fight. The boss's HP bar fluctuate back and forth but the general trend showed a slight increase, causing the party to frown. This was different from normal mode where they were able to out-damage the healing.
The bitter fight continued. A few seconds later the boss had recovered about 5000HP while Radiant Shield lost about the same amount.
Since the golem continued using its skill to attack in a wide arc some of the melee players had suffered hits as well. Eventually Balm had used up all her cooldowns.
At least the water coming from the wall decreased to a trickle until finally ceasing completely. The golem, however, took this as a sign to activate its skill again. It revealed the black muzzle on its chest.
The party quickly took the same positions as earlier. They worked together to avoid all damage form the skill, but this proved to be incredibly difficult. After a few minutes of intense fighting, it wasn't easy to uphold their concentration all the time.
Some of the members were caressed by a few bullets, their HP taking grave hits.
Fortunately, the skill ended before someone died. The party surged towards the boss, eager to take him down. But with their strongest skills more or less all on cooldown their damage potential was greatly diminished.
The boss's HP decreased slowly. Just as the party saw hope the golem repeated its earlier move and healed himself.
"How often can he do this?!", exclaimed Balm in annoyance. She wished her skills had a cooldown like the boss's. Especially for [Heal]. Balm glanced at Radiant Shield's HP which threatened to run out any second now.
Come on, come on, come on... now!
Luckily [Heal] became available just in time. The comfortable, green-coloured magic fell on the tank like the mercy of a goddess, saving his life.
Yet the struggle proved futile not much later. As the boss continued to heal itself, Radiant Shield's HP finally got used up. The tank showed an unwilling expression as he was sent back to the dungeon's entrance.
Everyone felt their hearts sink. Silver Blade took over the tank duty. She held on for a while thanks to her stance but afterwards she wasn't able to survive long either.
Next the golem was as if freed from its shackles. It took out the players one by one. In the end only Liam was left. He glanced towards the broken pipes at the ceiling. He refrained from moving, allowing the boss to hit him.
[-1871!]
The world changed and Liam was sent back to the dungeon entrance.
"Ha, wiped...", sighed Cyclone.
The friends had some fatigue on their faces but at least their mental states hadn't taken a hit. At this point they had long let go of their expectations to defeat every boss on the first try.
Instead of feeling bad about themselves they would rather discuss how to get past the boss.
"Could it be that we need to hold on until all the water is used up?", suggested Balm.
"It looks like it, but something bugs me about it. This doesn't seem in line with the game's style.", said Silver Blade.
"Perhaps there is a way to stuff the pipes.", surmised Watchful Eye.
The discussion continued for a while as the party came up with different ideas. Soon, they decided to return to the boss and first scout the room.
Fighting through groups of soldiers the party finally returned to the fields. The boss silently waited for them on the street ahead.
"Ok, so where is the catch?"
Cyclone spoke her thoughts out loud as she carefully scanned the pipe system close to the ceiling.
"Rarf!"
Fellfell barked carefully. Somehow the dog had sneaked past the golem, staring at the two gates behind it.
"Careful! Don't alert the boss, Fellfell!", warned Silent Acacia.
"Do you think it could have found something?"
"Seems unlikely. The gates shouldn't open before the boss is dead."