Sparks played on the void dweller's skin, but they didn't trigger any additional effect. A bolt of condensed magic slammed into its shoulder, marginally denting its carapace, dealing a bit more than 250 points of damage.
The fight against Oran went on. The melee players kept jumping away before Oran could attack them, slowing down their damage potential. Additionally, effects like those belonging to Liam's chest plate, which triggered when the player dodged an attack, remained dormant this way.
For a while Oran didn't appear to be that great of a threat but Radiant Shield was under a lot of pressure. He had to block the boss's normal attacks, which cost on average around 33 points of stance per hit.
After a measly six attacks the tank's stance was already dangerously low. He considered his options, coming to the conclusion not to waste his skills yet. It was more important to use them against the boss's skills. And one of those was coming soon as Oran's HP approached the mark of 50.000.
"Destroy small beings…"
Repeating the same words as earlier, Oran focused on the core at its waist. The sphere of condensed void energy began to rotate, quickly gaining speed. There was no need for Liam to warn his friends, everyone could tell that something was about to come.
A moment later a bullet formed from void energy suddenly erupted from the core. It travelled through the air at high speed, aiming straight at Cyclone. The mage wasn't in the process of casting a skill. Thus, she felt like the small bullet was easy to dodge. But for some reason her instincts screamed at her to get further away. Instead of a simple dodge Cyclone gathered mana and performed a smooth flash step.
Boom!
A low explosion suddenly came from the spot where Cyclone had just left. The bullet erupted with void energy, leaving behind a large cloud brimming with danger.
"Oh no, Zappy!"
Cyclone shouted anxiously. She wasn't entirely used to controlling a summoned creature yet. Thus, she wasted a second before she managed to get Zappy out of the void cloud. The lightning spirit looked obviously weakened, having lost half of its HP. Another hit and it would disappear.
However, Zappy wouldn't let this attack go unpunished. It raised its hands and shot out a bolt of lightning.
[-300!]
Unfortunately, the void dweller didn't get paralysed. At this point the friends had to accept that the boss was highly resistant to all control effects. Oran quickly resumed its skills. Bullets kept flying out of its core. Silver Blade dodged one closely, but it continued towards the back, shooting towards Silent Acacia. The hunter was surprised, scrambling to escape. Although he wasn't hit by the bullet, the explosion still reached him.
[-7369!]
The powerful explosion shook Silent Acacia's body, taking away about half of his HP. Without any defence against void damage the skill was naturally quite frightening.
But Silent Acacia was not the only one hit by the skill. Bloody Edge, waiting in stealth, didn't think he would be in danger and was hit by a random bullet. Additionally, there was Watchful Eye who stood too close to the boss, failing to dodge in time. Fortunately, the party had a powerful healer. Balm activated her [Pillars of Life] skill.
Immediately light shone towards the sky in multiple spots. Those who received damage from the boss's skill ran to one of the pillars, allowing the comfortable light to recover their HP.
[+6607!]
With one tick every three seconds it wouldn't take long to fully recover for Silent Acacia. However, not all pillars were safe. As Oran continued to fire, the void energy covered more of the ground, also bringing the danger to some of the pillars of light.
This went on for a minute until Oran finally stopped. Out of the immediate area surrounding Oran about one fourth had been covered in void energy, limiting the space the party had to dodge attacks. Especially the melee players were in an awkward position as only two of the boss's legs were accessible.
"We need to get him to move! Radiant Shield, can you lead him away?"
"Sure!"
Radiant Shield carefully retreated towards an area where there was less void energy. But Oran didn't make it easy for the tank. Preparing for its next attack the void dweller saw that its target had moved away. It scurried at a surprising speed, chasing after Radiant Shield in a flash, and attacking with its blade-like arm.
Taking a deep breath Radiant Shield tried to block. However, this attack was finally too much for him. His stance was used up and a part of the damage reached him.
[-2231!]
[-1049!]
Despite Radiant Shield having a void resistance of 25% thanks to his set equipment, the additional void damage was quite strong. But at this moment the set equipment showed its might as the two-piece effect triggered. With a chance of 5% Radiant Shield would heal 3% of his maximum HP if he took damage from an enemy whose aggro was on him.
[+1129!]
It spoke volumes of the tank's HP pool that the heal was enough to recover the damage done by the void. However, with such a low chance it was more of a pleasant bonus than a real, reliable source of healing.
But this was where Radiant Shield's luck ended. His third set effect, which would heal allies for a percentage of the heal he received himself, had a chance of 10% to trigger but it didn't activate this time.
The young man's friends didn't think too much about what had happened. Except for Liam no one knew the exact effects of everyone's equipment down to the percentages. Thus, they didn't think anything special had happened.
Instead, the friends were somewhat impatient waiting for Radiant Shield to get Oran out of the void energy. As soon as they could attack again, the melee players jumped at the boss from all sides. Cyclone and Fortune were casting spells while Silent Acacia fired a [Biting Arrow]. Despite the skill's damage being increased as a pet was on the battlefield, Silent Acacia remained quite dissatisfied with his damage.
[-57!]
At least with Zorn by his side the hunter had an additional source of damage.
As everyone attacked, they slowly grinded down the boss's HP although Oran kept spinning his upper body, keeping the melee players at a distance.
Even Liam needed to use some tricks to stack his Holy Marks quickly. He activated his newest skill [Grip of the Dark], conjuring an eerie shadow behind the boss's back. But he didn't reactivate the skill to switch places with the shadow. Instead, he allowed it to apply Dark Marks.
Soon, the boss was afflicted with three Holy Marks and two Dark Marks. Liam rushed towards Oran and struck with Reychnalyn's Holy Sword, triggering its second effect.
[Reychnalyn's Holy Sword
Category: Unique, Set
...
Effect 1: Every other attack with this sword deals an additional 3% (PDMG) holy damage.
Effect 2: If your enemy is afflicted with two or more Dark Marks, you can choose to explode two of them and replace them with Holy Marks upon landing an attack with this sword. (cooldown: 120 seconds)
Effect 3: If your enemy is afflicted with at least one Holy Mark you have a chance of 10% to afflict them with blind for 2 seconds. (cooldown: 80 seconds)
…]
[-604!]
A ghostly laughter sounded out as the Dark Marks exploded, turning into black smoke. But immediately a holy light came from Liam's swords, replacing the Dark Marks with Holy Marks. Liam had no reason to hesitate. His swords moved naturally, switching to a [Brutal Strike].
Five Holy Marks erupted above the boss's head, momentarily illuminating the island.
[-1257!]
Oran groaned from the unpleasant sensation. A few of the spikes on its head broke. This was the first time the boss received visible damage.
The void dweller started to feel some anger. It came here to destroy this world but now it was pestered by some small fries. After delivering another blow to Radiant Shield, Oran took a small step back. Its core began to pulse, releasing a large amount of void energy which covered its body.
The players were on high alert but other than that nothing happened. Liam quickly gave his friends a warning:
"Careful. Every time you attack him, you will receive damage now."
"Oh no…"
Cyclone smiled wryly. She had just finished the cast for her [Binding Lightning] skill. Bleary Mirage felt Cyclone glancing at him and knew what she wanted to ask, answering beforehand:
"The skill will remain for a while. We can only attack."
Knowing she had no choice Cyclone completed her skill. A rope created from crackling lightning connected her and Oran. Instantly the first exchange of damage came through.
[-450!]
[-225!]
"It returns half the damage?!"
Balm exclaimed in shock upon realizing what had happened. She knew that a lot of work would be waiting for her.
And indeed, for the next few minutes every time the players attacked, they would suffer from Oran's retaliation. Balm had to be careful to use her skills efficiently, healing as much damage as possible with each skill.