Cyclone cackled to herself. She never expected that the boss would help them like this, killing his own minions. Compared to the nimble and observant players the demons were simply… stupid. They didn't know how to dodge pre-emptively. Only after feeling the danger would they try to get away. But was it so easy to escape from an explosion?
After a while the skill slowly ended. The fire and ice lost its energy and dissipated. When the smoke cleared, everyone was surprised to realize that only eight demons remained standing, their bodies fraught with injuries.
The party didn't come out entirely unscathed. Radiant Shield had to protect Watchful Eye with his [Sacred Barrier] and Balm had to spread a couple of heals. But their situation was much better than the enemies'.
Fortune had also received Balm's grace, recovering completely. However, what was more important was that she managed not to have her cast interrupted. Finally, she could unleash her ultimate skill [Dominating Avatar of Magic], revealing its might to the world.
"Go!"
With a crisp shout Fortune swung her staff. An insane amount of mana congregated towards her. It gathered in front of her body, forming a giant figure. It was a humanoid figure constructed from deep blue mana, with a single red eye on its forehead, devoid of other details. The mana avatar's head almost touched the ceiling. It looked down upon the enemies as it exerted control over the mana in the room.
This powerful magic avatar followed Fortune's command. It took a few steps, causing he ground to quake, as it brought its fist down on one of the demons, mighty like an avalanche.
"No!"
A shout of despair sounded as the demon's HP emptied out. The friends watched with various expressions, awed by the damage this avatar dealt with a simple normal attack. Fortune felt exhilarated. She directed the avatar to attack again, using one of its three skills. A terrible force gathered on the avatar's fist. It crashed into the ground, creating a bright explosion, spreading shockwaves in all directions. Each demon received damage according to 130% of Fortune's magical damage.
However, this skill was not without cost for the avatar. It had 100.000HP, which decayed over time. For each move the avatar had to spend HP, hastening its demise.
"Die, monster!"
One of the demons standing further back looked around and realized that only two of his colleagues were alive. His eyes turned bloodshot as he waved his hand and threw a dark sphere of magic at the avatar. Yet his eyes suddenly revealed despair as the magic was absorbed by the avatar. It even recovered some HP.
"Haha, thanks!"
Fortune laughed happily. She felt as if this battlefield was hers to dominate. She couldn't wait but upload a video about this fight, waiting for the friends to compliment her power.
"You will not stop me, dogs!"
Suddenly Chratyo growled as he came charging from the side. The earlier explosion had injured him as well, drawing the boss's aggro. His fist shot through the air, slamming heavily into the avatar, causing it to stumble back a few steps.
"They discovered Fortune's weakness so quickly?"
Cyclone's question brought her strange gazes from her friends. If this was real life, wouldn't this be like revealing one's weakness to the enemy?
However, the mage didn't notice everyone's reactions. She stared at the magic avatar with a worried face. After all, it took double the damage from physical attacks. If the sub-boss kept this up, the avatar wouldn't survive for long.
Fortunately, Radiant Shield knew this as well. He ignored the pitiful few remaining demons and turned towards Chratyo. An indistinct image of sharp eyes formed behind Radiant Shield, fixing its gaze on the sub-boss. The latter instantly felt provoked. His aggro shifted to the tank as he pounced with his arms blazing with fire and ice.
Radiant Shield's chest tightened. [Target of Inquisition] was a skill to strongly secure aggro but in turn the targeted enemy would deal 25% increased damage against Radiant Shield. He couldn't afford to tank a magical attack under these conditions. Why was this damned demon so clever to switch attacks in a way which was favourable for it?!
"Step back!"
Silver Blade reacted hastily. She yelled at Radiant Shield while throwing her own body in the way. Although the boss was focused on Radiant Shield, trying to avoid Silver Blade, the female tank perfectly cut off the boss's path. The fists landed on her chest, striking her with more than seven thousand points of damage. Radiant Shield sighed in relief. With Silver Blade suffering so much damage he didn't dare to imagine the consequences had the skill landed on his own body.
The rhythm of the battle shifted as the friends engaged Chratyo. Fortune controlled her avatar to dispose of the two demons still standing around, allowing everyone to entirely focus on the boss. The friends grinned as they turned towards Chratyo. Pummelling arrogant bosses while outnumbering them was one of their specialties. Although some of their ultimate skills were on cooldown, no one was afraid of Chratyo.
At least that was what everyone thought until…
"Haha, kill, kill!"
"Sow chaos, you demons!"
"Here I come!"
Boisterous voices could be heard. Everyone looked at the portal with shock in their eyes as another twenty enemies stepped out of Hell. Even Liam felt his stomach sink as the plot deviated from his past life. He silently admonished himself. He should have thought of this possibility. Letting a single demon survive might have averted this dangerous situation. Now with some ultimate skills on cooldown and the tanks already out of stance the battle would not be easy.
The first to react was Quickstep. Her [Hurricane Mode] was about to run out. But she still had enough time to unleash her ultimate skill. The female warrior rushed towards the newly appeared enemies and waved her swords, conjuring three towering hurricanes which occupied almost half of the entire bathhouse, trapping all the demons within.
"Good job Quickstep!"
"Silver, Shield, you hold the boss back. Everyone else takes care of those demons!"
"Alright!"
Bloody Edge sighed inwardly. During the fight so far he had assassinated a single demon. Although his new skills allowed him to survive well amidst a group of enemies, he wasn't really made to kill groups. He would much rather attack the boss. But he complied with Liam's orders.
Sneaking behind one of the magic-wielding demons his body turned visible and his daggers shining with blood red energy struck fiercely. At the end of his combo the enemy barely survived. But hit with [Boiling Blood] the demon went mad, wildly attacking his own allies, dealing at least some extra damage.
"Careful Quickstep!"
After the fight continued for a while, the demons, suffering attacks from all sides, finally managed to escape from Quickstep's hurricanes and now focused their bloodshot eyes on the female warrior. Quickstep gulped. Although it might look embarrassing, faced with a large crowd of enemies her best option was to run away. With her movement speed she could keep the demons at a distance even if she was unable to retaliate.
The others did their best to make use of the time bought by their friend. Fortune kept directing her magic avatar to attack while Cyclone rained down lightning, aiming to paralyze as many enemies as possible.
However, the situation wouldn't go on like this forever. Chratyo had more tricks up his sleeve. With proficient moves he sealed flickering flames in a few ice crystals and threw them like grenades. Even if the players could dodge, a force erupted from the ice to slow them down, whereupon the flame would be released, burning a large area. The spell was insidious and difficult to escape from, causing the players a lot of trouble. They temporarily couldn't deal with the common demons.
"The boss is mighty!"
The demons turned into bootlickers as they continued to chase Quickstep. There were a few ranged attackers among them. Throwing magical projectiles they forced Quickstep to dodge. The female warrior frowned heavily as she realized that she was about to run out of stance. She racked her brains but found no solution to her predicament.
[Quickstep: Guys, I could use some help here!]
Radiant Shield, having just shielded himself to survive the boss's skill, looked towards Quickstep and his eyes narrowed dangerously. He used his skills which had just come off cooldown to draw the aggro of a part of the demons. Unfortunately, it was already too late. Quickstep's stance emptied out, and she almost stumbled from the fatigue cursing her body. The demons still targeting here caught up in an instant, attacking with glee.
"Babe!"
Silent Acacia sounded anxious. He watched helplessly as Quickstep had no means left to defend herself. She went on the offensive, aiming to deal as much damage as possible before her fall.
At the last moment Silver Blade suddenly moved. She used her ultimate skill, conjuring a majestic, illusionary shield which extended its protection to the whole group. With [Luring Barrier] she also attracted a few demons to attack her. Sadly, it was not enough. Three demons still attacked Quickstep. After a while the protection brought by Silver Blade's ultimate skill was used up and Quickstep was the first to fall.