"Go, go, go!"
"Let me through!"
"It's coming close!"
The friends urgently escaped the constantly shrinking place. Radiant Shield was the last to get out. He could almost feel the blades scratching his armour.
"Did everyone survive?"
"Huh, that was scary…"
Multiple sighs of relief could be heard. Radiant Shield also took a deep breath to calm his wildly beating heart. However, he wasn't granted any time to recover as the dagger-wielding half-elf instantly appeared in front of the party riding his blue-scaled winged snake. His weapon shone with a devastatingly sharp, white light which aimed right for Liam.
The veteran was almost caught off guard. At the last moment he managed to dive downwards. Aided by gravity he narrowly avoided the blow.
[Stance -36]
At that moment a pair of sacred eyes appeared behind Radiant Shield's back, targeting the boss, who instantly focused on the tank.
[Cult of Nexkra'nar, Pater Bariohl
Rank: Boss
Level: 68
HP: 132.000/132.000]
An invisible force built around Bariohl, causing his long, white hair to billow crazily. An immense power drove into his dagger. The next second he arrived in front of Radiant Shield and stabbed forward, his dagger unleashing a white blade light which might as well resemble a spear.
Radiant Shield wasn't flustered as he blocked the blow, barely pushed backwards. However, the symbol of a white dagger appeared, floating atop his head. Radiant Shield was puzzled and hastily checked his status. He had been hit with a Brittle effect, which reduced his physical defence by two percent.
[Stance -14]
While his friends were also starting to attack, Radiant Shield informed them of the effect. Obviously, it was important for everyone to know the boss's abilities even if they weren't targeted.
[-1065!]
[-822!]
[-385!]
Magical spheres and arrows landed on Bariohl, and a vast disparity instantly became apparent. The boss didn't boast a considerably strong magical resistance, very much to the liking of Cyclone and Fortune. A moment later the others arrived as well, attacking the boss from all sides. For a while his HP were decreasing rapidly.
Bariohl gritted his teeth, his eyes brimming with determination. He ferociously moved his daggers, targeting Radiant Shield. Although the tank blocked, the Brittle effect kept accumulating. With the potential damage the stance cost increased as well.
[Stance -16]
[Stance -19]
"Brother! Let me aid you!"
Only a minute passed but in the heat of the battle it was difficult to tell the time. Finally, Bariohl's brother had secured the children and arrived on his blood-red, winged snake to aid Bariohl in dealing with the intruders.
[Cult of Nexkra'nar, Pater Renriohl
Rank: Boss
Level: 68
HP: 112.000/112.000]
Renriohl, clad in flowing red robes, retrieved a heavy wooden staff from his back. With a single swing an arc of pure magic shot at the closest player, Watchful Eye. But due to its size even Quickstep was within the targeted range. Fortunately, Silver Blade had never lost sight of the second boss. She appeared instantly, this time being the one protecting her bodyguard from harm.
[Stance -15]
The tank blocked stably before shooting at the enemy on top of her gorgeous silver phoenix. She slammed into Renriohl, and the boss directed his fierce gaze at her. Strange, white flames began to burn on Renriohl's staff. He pointed at Silver Blade and a sphere burning with white flames crashed against her shield. Immediately a similar flame appeared floating above her head.
"Phasing effect? Reduces magical resistance?"
Silver Blade frowned and swiftly communicated with her friends.
[Silver Blade: We can't let those status effects accumulate. Do we have any means to cleanse them?]
[Balm: I have Star of Reflection. It reflects status effects and cleanses them with a chance of 65% every second. But it only affects one ally.]
[Radiant Shield: My griffon has Griffon's Halo. Able to cleanse status effects and reduce physical as well as dark damage. But the cooldown is quite long.]
[Silver Blade: How long?]
[Radiant Shield: 180 seconds.]
[Balm: Mine is 90 seconds.]
[Silver Blade: Alright. So you guys together do your best to cleanse Brittle and Phasing! We also have some potions if it gets too much for some reason. However, there are not many.]
[Radiant Shield: Yes!]
[Balm: Got it!]
Radiant Shield and Balm swiftly made a plan. Right after the conversation, a majestic, sacred halo appeared behind Radiant Shield's griffon, dousing the entire battlefield in holy light. When the light hit a player, they felt invigorated and lost all negative status effects. Meanwhile Bariohl felt especially uncomfortable as the power unleashed by his daggers was reduced sharply. Fortunately the halo couldn't exist for too long.
For a while the fight continued in a controlled manner. Liam appeared behind Bariohl. Drasky opened its mouth, gathering swirling holy and dark magic. It condensed more and more until it was almost a singular point. Despite its small size it emitted an extreme amount of energy, distorting the air around it. This was Liam's newest skill [Oblivion Point], performed by Drasky.
After a necessary channelling time of one second the fox abruptly lowered his head and spit out the seemingly inconspicuous point. This was no ranged attack. It could only travel for one meter before it reached the tail of Bariohl's snake. The tiny point instantly erupted like an exploding black hole, turning the surroundings into a mystical show of black and white. The fierce impact was directed at Bariohl, violently slamming the boss into the ground. The accumulated Holy and Dark Marks erupted, delivering another blow.
[-585!]
[-863!]
[-171!]
"Intruders! I won't let you threaten the children!"
"But we don't…"
Before Cyclone could finish her complaint, the two sibling bosses already made their move. Renriohl turned into a red blur, instantly appearing above the gate. He placed his staff against the wall and suddenly magic circles lit up all over the room. This was one of the defensive mechanisms prepared in the safe room.
A moment later Bariohl also recovered from the blow and flashed to arrive next to his brother. His daggers erupted with piercing white light. It spread towards the surroundings and another wall constructed from sharp blades occupied the entire width of the hall.
"Intruders! Forfeit your lives!"
Bariohl's grim voice echoed through the room as the blade wall began moving towards the other side. Simultaneously all the magic circles started to randomly shoot strange magic runes through the room.
"Don't get hit by those runes! Attack the wall with all you got! We need more than one hole!"
"Woah!"
Cyclone tilted her body, almost falling off her dignified lightning hawk as one of the runes brushed right past her waist. She didn't know what effect these runes had, but since Liam sounded serious it was better to avoid first, ask questions later. Runes came from all sides, forcing everyone to stay away from the walls. The party slowly gathered towards the gate and started to assault the wall of blades there, while it was already moving in their direction.
It didn't take long until everyone noticed the problem. With the wall of blades constantly forcing them back, the room to dodge the runes shrunk step by step. It didn't take long for someone's attention to slip.
Watchful Eye was rotating his staff, delivering blow after blow to the wall in front. Ripples spread. The first inconspicuous cracks appeared. Just a couple more hits and he would break through.
"Careful! Watchful Eye!"
Suddenly Radiant Shield shouted a warning. With the wall of blades pressing forward, the friends were constantly moving backwards. Watchful Eye was unlucky and directly entered the path of one of the runes. He instinctively wanted to dodge forward but stopped himself in time to not run into the wall. However, this directly sealed his fate.
The rune landed on the tail of his Five-Coloured Dragon Carp. Watchful Eye felt a strange force binding him in place. His eyes opened wide as he was unable to move.
"Give him a barrier!"
Liam hastily yelled an order. Radiant Shield pointed at Watchful Eye and the taciturn man was enveloped by a [Sacred Barrier]. And it was not a second too late as the wall of blades reached him that moment. The dragon carp struggled in pain as multiple blades stabbed its skin. The wall was merciless, pushing both mount and rider back, dealing damage every second.
[-1602!]
[-1602!]...
The others watching the scene flinched.
"That must sting…", murmured Cyclone as she scrunched her face. She told herself to avoid ending up like this at any cost. Even though Watchful Eye wasn't directly hit, and [Sacred Barrier] blocked the damage it just looked too unsightly.
Conseuqently everyone paid even more attention to the runes flying around. Their damage against the wall of blades reduced as a result. Liam noticed this with a frown. He urgently encouraged his friends not to slack off. The wall of blades was already more than halfway towards the other side of the room. Soon there would be no space left to dodge.
A few seconds passed and Watchful Eye regained his movement. He instantly picked up where he left, striking the wall perhaps even more violently than before. Finally, the sound of breaking glass could be heard, and Watchful Eye was surprisingly the first to break through.