Ten minutes later. Cyclone was in a daze, staring at the faces of her friends around her. The party was back at the dungeon's entrance. They suffered a wipe!
Cyclone wasn't the same inexperienced player from the start of the game where a dungeon wipe would destroy her confidence. However, recently everything had been quite smooth sailing. Thus, this setback came unexpected.
Earlier, the friends narrowly made it through the second instance of the boss's fireball skill. The group recovered somewhat, drinking health potions and receiving some healing from Balm. Soon their skills came back off cooldown, and they pushed the boss below half HP.
But at that moment Loro repeated his skill again. This time the speed increased by another level. Everyone was flustered as they kept dodging. Even Liam couldn't focus on anything else. He had never experienced the boss displaying such speed before. In the chaos it didn't take long for someone to run into two fireballs. It was unfortunately Quickstep, who was consequently sent back to the dungeon entrance. But her boyfriend followed swiftly as Silent Acacia had to put some of his concentration on Korn, leading to his own demise.
With their damage diminished greatly the party advanced slowly and were worn down one by one by the boss. In the end only Liam remained but after his stance was used up even the expert couldn't do much.
Suddenly Silver Blade clapped her hands, drawing anyone's attention.
"Ok, guys. We have been through this before. No need to doubt ourselves, this is how a dungeon should be. Let's talk about what went wrong."
"It's not difficult to tell. Those fireballs are too fast. We need to learn how to dodge them.", said Quickstep. Silent Acacia immediately agreed, adding:
"Especially if the other skill is used simultaneously. The difficulty rises by another level."
"It's really troubling that those fireballs come at random."
"They are not entirely random…"
The last remark was made by Watchful Eye. Everyone looked at him with furrowed brows, contemplating what he could be hinting at. Just as Watchful Eye wanted to continue, Bloody Edge figured it out:
"Watchful Eye speaks the truth. Those poor dragon souls tend to gather above our heads. Thus, the rain of flames is less dense further out."
"Really? I didn't notice…", murmured Cyclone. She looked at Fortune and Balm who shrugged their shoulders.
"Alright, this is something worth keeping in mind. The next time the boss uses the skill we need to observe this. If it is as Watchful Eye and Bloody Edge said, we have to adjust accordingly.", said Silver Blade.
"I suggest sticking closer to the various pillars. They will serve as stable shields against the blood-shadow-lance skill."
Everyone nodded at Radiant Shield's suggestions. They imagined the battle in their heads, one by one eliminating their own shortcomings.
Liam watched everything from the side. He wore a light smile. It was as if his friends were slowly waking up. It has been a while since they had to take a fight this seriously. And yet he was not sure if it was enough. If Loro's speed kept increasing with his loss of HP, the skills might simply become impossible to dodge. A new strategy might be needed.
Soon, the friends ended their conversation. Everyone was fired up and ready to go. Inwardly they were actually quite happy that the dungeon presented them with a challenge.
After a complete wipe the group had to start from the beginning. They passed the mountainous landscape, fighting the wyverns along the way, and soon reached the temple. Swiftly solving the puzzle they found themselves facing Loro again. The fight started and everyone knew what to expect. The first instance of fireballs was easily overcome without injuries.
From then on, the speed ramped up. During the second instance of fireballs, Loro also used his shadow-lance skill. The friends were prepared and used the pillars for cover, avoiding the damage.
"Haha! We got this!"
Everyone was in high spirits. Soon, the third instance came. Noticing that Loro grabbed a dragon scale to whistle, the friends didn't stick around. They swarmed out, spreading through the entire hall. The dragon souls circling above followed, thus decreasing the density of attacks. The friends remained unscathed, feeling that victory was in sight.
But it was not that easy. Loro upped the ante again. His HP had already dropped below half. The stone dragon below his feet roared indignantly. Loro's eyes became bloodshot as he stared at the adventurers.
"Why can't you just leave?! Leave this sacred temple at peace!"
Loro once more took out a dragon scale and brought it to his lips.
"Scatter!"
Even without Silver Blade's reminder the friends instantly spread through the hall. They vigilantly stared at the dragon souls above their heads. The dragons roared along, their expressions portraying ire. Suddenly flaming stars came from the mouths, this time at an even higher speed, truly worthy of being called shooting stars.
Immediately the friends found themselves in trouble. They received a few hits and hastily downed health potions or asked Balm for healing. After the skill ended there were no casualties yet, but the situation had already become dangerous.
The fight continued some more. Everyone gave it their all, maximising their damage as much as possible.
"Go, go, go!"
"Shield, let me tank that lance!"
"Watchful Eye, how long do you need to meditate for?"
"Quickstep, do you have Hurricane Mode available?!"
"Use everything you have! He only has 20.000HP left."
Even the tone became somewhat rough as the friends fought with bloodshot eyes. No one wanted to lose after coming so close. But before they could finally end the boss, Loro decided to test the players one last time. A whistle sounded through the hall.
"Damn, too slow!"
"Scatter! Don't risk it!"
"Shield, get away!"
Liam glanced over his shoulder and saw his friends run in all directions. However, he had a bad premonition. If the flames' speed increased by another level, they might not make it through. Thus, he thought of a new strategy.
[Bleary Mirage: Guys, use Dive! Think of the lake! Use the speed!]
While reminding his friends, Liam set an example. He rose until he was just below the ceiling. There was a dragon soul next to him. He could already feel the heat building up in its maw. He didn't hesitate to dive downwards. His speed swiftly increased from five times his basic movement speed to about nine times. Just before crashing into the ground, he switched from vertical to horizontal. Only a white light could be seen rushing along the temple's floor like a racing car.
"Couldn't you have told us earlier?!"
Cyclone complained as she hastily copied Liam. When rising to the ceiling, fire already began to fall. Cyclone tilted left and right at random. It was pure luck that she wasn't hit before reaching the zenith and switching to a nosedive.
Everyone followed Liam's example. A moment later ten colourful lights chased each other on the floor. Fireballs dropped from the ceiling. Crashing against the floor they exploded into small-scale fireworks. It looked like some kind of lightshow, completely covering up the hidden danger.
Everyone gathered their focus, watching the path in front of them. Travelling so close to the ground it was easier to estimate the trajectory of the boss's attacks, but this advantage was largely negated by the speed at which they moved.
Seconds passed by. Everyone's chests slowly filled with confidence. No one had been hit so far! They could definitely do this! Another fireball crashed, a different one was blocked by a pillar, one more exploded behind Liam's back and… there was no and. The dragon souls stopped spewing attacks, their expressions betraying fatigue.
"Haha, we did it!"
"Quick, take the boss down! Don't let him use another skill!"
"Twenty thousand HP. That's nothing!"
The friends were exhilarated. In no time at all they appeared next to the boss, raining down attacks on the cultist, only now returning to their normal speed.
Radiant Shield's body trembled. He felt like the moment had come for him to show his heroic demeanour. He glanced at the indicator for his passive ability. He would gather stacks of 'Faith' for every time he got attacked which in turn increase his STR by 0,5% per stack, up to a maximum of 5%. Despite spending some time dodging the boss's skill not all Faith had decayed yet. He still had four stacks left.
With this in mind Radiant Shield finally activated his ultimate skill [Call of the Inquisition]. An intense, sacred arura erupted from his body. The illusionary image of a tall angel overlapped with him, protecting his body at its centre, as if it were a mech and Radiant Shield the pilot. Radiant Shield's physical damage and physical resistance fused into one stat. His cooldowns were reset. His attack speed doubled. He became a machine of war, its only limiting factor the duration which amounted to ten seconds plus one extra second per stack of Faith.
Everyone was amazed by Radiant Shield's sudden change. The tank marvelled at the power filling his body. There was no time to waste. The angel's perfect face turned towards Loro. He flapped his wings, his raised sword aiming for the boss's head.