Liam didn't panic as he forcefully controlled the mana in his body. Two seconds passed in an instant. The next wall of blades was already right in front of him. Should it push him back, it would be difficult to perform another flash step. One more second passed. Lastly the wall arrived. But all it touched were a bunch of sparks as Liam disappeared.
Even the veteran felt relieved as he momentarily made it to safety. He glanced over his shoulder, urging his friends.
[Bleary Mirage: Fortune, Cyclone, go!]
The two mages looked at each other. They could see the troubled expressions in the other's eyes. They knew how difficult it was to perform two flash steps in quick succession. The general sentiment was that one had to wait at least five seconds in between. Some top players might be able to come close to four seconds. But now the two mages only had three. How were they supposed to do this?
"Come on, you got this!"
"We are counting on you!"
"You're not any worse than Liam!"
The rest of the party noticed that the two mages didn't have much confidence, hastily shouting some encouragement before they were forced to dodge another attack. Fortune and Cyclone knew that there was no time to waste. They steeled their hearts and dashed at the walls of blades which were constantly coming closer, posing an increasingly pressuring danger.
"Let's do this!"
"Yes!"
Fortune and Cyclone appeared in front of the wall of blades. Cyclone was hit by a flame on the way, but she shrugged it off. She completely focused on the mana in her body. She guided it along the familiar pathways just as she did many times before. Sparks filled the air and the two women disappeared.
"Ah!"
"Not good!"
Two startled cries could be heard. Fortune, seated on her wise, blue and black owl, immediately suffered some damage as the mount's behind touched the wall of blades behind her. And although Cyclone didn't receive damage, she appeared with another wall right in front of her, filling her vision. She froze for a moment, and the wall of blades advanced towards her, finally pushing against the head of her dignified hawk. The sharp blades pricked her mount and pushed it back under a lot of damage.
Both mages were startled. Their flash steps were not precise enough. Both ran into the enemy's walls of blades. Such was the difficulty of flashing towards a space between two moving targets.
Now, startled by their mistake and the ensuing damage, they panicked. With such a state of mind how could they pull off the even more difficult flash step? The two mages fumbled and the damage began to stack up.
"Wake up!"
"Cy! Fortune!"
"Hurry up and getaway!" The shouts of the other friends didn't really make the situation any less chaotic.
"Don't try to flash! Stabilize your flight first! Avoid the damage!"
It took a second for Liam's advice to register. Cyclone and Fortune adjusted themselves and attempted to get away from the walls, stabilizing their flight in the safe space in between before going for another attempt.
However, just as Cyclone was focused on this, a small, inconspicuous flame touched her body. Instantly a fierce damage burned her HP bar. The mage's eyes shot wide open, her mouth opened but no sound came out. Her HP dropped to zero and she was sent back to the checkpoint.
Cyclone's death shocked Fortune. She was too hasty as she distanced herself from one wall and as a result touched another wall. Her HP already dropped below half. At this moment Radiant Shield came in clutch bestowing her with a [Sacred Barrier].
The feeling of security allowed Fortune to stabilize herself. She drifted away from the two walls and swiftly gathered her mana for a flash step.
Liam looked to his left and Fortune suddenly appeared. Although she looked beaten and battered, she had indeed made it. However, according to his estimations it might not be enough…
"What should we do now?", asked Fortune while tilting away from another little flame.
"We need to interrupt those staffs. I will attack the middle one and you can take the left one."
"What about the right?"
Liam lightly shook his head and Fortune obviously understood. The right staff should have been Cyclone's responsibility. There was no helping it. Now they could only hope for the best.
Liam and Fortune pushed their flying mounts. They weaved between the flames, swiftly approaching the two bosses who were staying close to the back, fully focused on their spells. On the other side the rest of the friends felt the space shrinking more and more. Soon they wouldn't have much space left to dodge.
Hurrying, Liam and Fortune reached their targets. Fortune didn't hold back. Normal attack, [Arcane Fall], normal attack. Liam did the same, not saving his skills. Under their assault the two staffs quaked heavily, unstable. They instantly lost the ability to maintain the spells. The white flames grew chaotic, surging along the staffs.
"Ahh!"
Renriohl let out a scream as he suffered a heavy backlash. The chaotic flames burned his body, dealing 15.000 points of damage, causing the boss to suffer a terrible loss.
"Brother!"
Two anxious shouts could be heard. The two clones of Bariohl turned around and touched the wall, activating the preinstalled traps. A few magic circles formed, spewing a dense mass of white runes which surged towards Liam and Fortune from all sides, leaving them no room to dodge.
The two players instantly felt the danger. Another flash step brought them out of the encirclement. However, this time the runes were relentless, chasing after them. Fortune was quickly caught up. Hit by dozens of tunes she felt as if bound by a sticky cocoon. Her mobility was reduced to zero.
Liam was somewhat better off. He used a skill belonging to Drasky. The fox randomly jumped through the air looking playful and elegant. It was a strange sight as he didn't appear particularly fast but still crossed vast distances with each jump. Black-white traps were left behind in the air, quickly turning invisible, waiting for someone to walk in.
Meanwhile Silver Blade, Watchful Eye, and the rest watched the dangerous walls coming closer and closer. They could only attack sparsely as they were still dodging the ubiquitous flames. If things continued like this they would soon be squished by the walls and burned by the flames, dying a gruesome death.
Suddenly the three walls of blades slowed down simultaneously. Even the density of the flames decreased starkly. The friends were granted some room to breathe. They looked towards the boss and were just in time to see Fortune being drowned in runes and Liam running away frantically.
"Fortune!"
Balm couldn't help but shout anxiously as Fortune, covered in runes, was attacked by one of the clones. She hastily bestowed a [Light of Regeneration] upon her friend to keep her alive.
"Quick! We need to break through and help them!"
Silver Blade realized that thanks to the efforts of Liam and Fortune, the pressure on everyone decreased. Finally, they could freely attack the walls of blades. Swords and arrows rained down, focusing on a single point. These walls proved to be less durable than previously. Soon they managed to create a large hole in the first wall. Without the runes there was no need to create more. Instantly everyone focused on attacking the second wall.
The fierce white blades continued to tremble under the onslaught. However, they still held on. There was less and less space. Everyone's hearts were in their throats. The sound of glass breaking could be heard, but there was no joy among the players. The wall of blades had almost reached the end of the room. The party couldn't retreat any further. Their backs were against the wall. And the flames continued attacking relentlessly.
Although the friends struggled, helping each other with skills, it only delayed the inevitable. Eventually there was no space left. The wall of blades was like a bed of nails, pressing the friends against the wall.
"F*ck! It hurts!"
"Like a thousand needles!"
"Gotta be top ten worst deaths! Damn you, C!"
The friends cried indignantly as they watched their HP bars decrease by one or a few thousands per second. Bloody Edge was the first to lose all his HP. He even showed a smile of relief as he was freed from the ugly situation. It didn't take long for the others to follow. Silver Blade was the last to go. At least she didn't feel much as her thick armor prevented the blades from pricking her body.
Liam sighed as he watched everything, feeling pity for his friends. In his past life this skill was quite notorious. Many players died a similarly wretched death. There was indeed a ranking of the worst deaths in the game and 'Being pierced by the wall of blades' always remained among the top ten.
However, now that everyone had died, this left only Fortune and himself alive. Fortune was caught by the runes and attacked by the boss. Even with regeneration she wouldn't survive much longer. Liam could only accept reality. This… was another wipe.