The void shadow refused to show itself. It kept its skill going, fiercely attacking the friends. They had no choice but to patiently dodge. However, they quickly noticed something. Each time the void shadow came out of a tree, that particular tree would disappear. More light would flood in, washing away the gloomy atmosphere.
"Keep it up guys, we are halfway through!"
The friends encouraged each other. So far only Cyclone, Quickstep, and Watchful Eye had been hit once. And as the trees dissipated one by one there were less directions for the void shadow to attack from, making life easier for the players. Finally, all the trees disappeared and the world fell silent.
"Adventurers! Let us assist!"
Suddenly the mages of the Alliance of the Deer of Life went to action. They raised their staffs, chanting incantations. A wave of refreshing vitality ran through the battlefield. Whenever it hit a player, it reduced the void corruption stacks by one and healed for 500HP.
The friends were pleasantly surprised. Since none of them had more than one stack, the spell directly got rid of this threat for them. Only the heal was not quite enough to fill up their HP bars even if the effect of the goddess' blessing was added.
"Wow, so they are actually good for something.", joked Cyclone while jugging a health potion. Since it was so early into the fight the potion's cooldown should be over before she might need it again.
After making it through the boss's first skill the players were granted a few seconds to sooth their tense nerves. On Liam's advice Radiant Shield and Silver Blade took a void-quelling potion, increasing their void resistance by 40%. Soon the void shadow emerged from the floor, staring at Liam and his friends with narrow eyes.
"Let me face the beast!"
Radiant Shield let out a shout as he took the lead, rushing towards the void shadow. He slammed his hammer against his shield, unleashing a wave of light which slammed into the void shadow's chest. Instantly the piercing eyes were focused on the tank.
The player and the boss met. The void shadow swung its head, slamming the impressive antlers into Radiant Shield, who swiftly covered himself with his shield.
[Stance -21]
Just then three projectiles sailed past Radiant Shield's head. An arrow and two spheres of mana slammed into the void shadow. The surface of its body rippled, destroying the attacks but the damage still reached the beast.
[-317!]
[-217!]
[-171!]
"Damn! Acacia, is that the strength of your new bow?"
Cyclone exclaimed in amazement. Seeing that her damage was the lowest out of the three ranged fighters, she even felt a hint of jealousy. Her thoughts wandered to old man Mehyran, looking forward to drawing something powerful from his bag. But now the fight had only begun. Cyclone quickly prepared to cast her first skill.
After the ranged fighters opened the battle, it was time for the melees to show their might. Bloody Edge suddenly appeared behind the boss, unleashing four daggers of blinding, holy light, while swinging his own daggers through the air.
The void shadow was nailed to the floor by the holy daggers, but it only shook its body, ridding itself of the stun effect. However, the damage couldn't be escaped that easily.
[-311!]
[-114!!!]
[-23!]
The others acted simultaneously. In a short time, the void shadow lost about three thousand points of HP under the initial assault.
Liam was fighting quite leisurely, building up his Holy Marks. His combo ended in a [Double Slash]. His swords erupted with a sharp gleam as he swung them at the void shadow's neck. But suddenly something unexpected happened. The beast lowered its front legs and Liam's second sword actually missed.
Everyone stared ahead as time stood still for a moment. Cyclone was the first to comment with a chuckle:
"Expert, did you drink? How could you miss that beast?"
Liam rolled his eyes. His movements didn't freeze as he reacted quickly. Changing his skill to [Brutal Strike], he delivered a powerful attack and struck the beast's head from above. Holy light exploded, stirring up the surroundings, causing the beast to shiver for a moment upon receiving close to a thousand points of damage.
Only then did Liam explain himself:
"You should let someone check your eyes, Cyclone. The beast clearly dodged my attack."
"Haha, nice try.", laughed Balm as well.
"Tsk. I always told you that the enemies will begin dodging attacks eventually. And level 50 is the threshold. From now on enemies will start dodging and blocking attacks. The chance is still extremely low, but it will increase as the enemies become stronger."
"So we have reached that point, huh…"
"We need to be careful in the future."
The friends slowly accepted the explanation. They realized that from now on they had to observe the movements of their enemies closely. If a monster showed signs of dodging, the player had to adjust the trajectory of their strike in time. This added another layer of skill to the fights and even their party would need a while to get used to it.
"Well, even so I'm still disappointed in you, expert. I never thought you would be outsmarted by a simple monster. Perhaps Quickstep should take the title of the number one in the federation."
Liam's eyes twitched as Cyclone continued to joke. Just now, he had simply not expected the void shadow to dodge as it was the first time it happened in this life. But now that he missed the attack, Liam could already predict that this wasn't the last time Cyclone would use this situation to poke fun at him.
Annoyed, Liam increased his concentration as the fight continued. For a while the void shadow was a bit passive. It clashed with Radiant Shield while being circled by the ten players and attacked by Korn, who was summoned by Silent Acacia.
But this didn't last for long. Suddenly the beast let out a roar of annoyance. It jumped and floated in the air, looking down on Liam and his friends. Just as it opened its mouth for a skill, an arrow engulfed by the illusionary image of a black tiger reached it, piercing deeply into its flank, causing the void energy to grow turbulent.
[-1078!!!]
"RRAAARR!"
"Damn, babe, you're so fierce now."
While Quickstep laughingly praised her boyfriend, the void shadow in the sky didn't appreciate the attack at all. Its eyes showed even more rage as they focused on Silent Acacia.
The young hunter felt a chill run down his spine as he stared at the void shadow in the sky.
"No! Look away!"
Liam recognized the situation, hastily trying to warn Silent Acacia. But it was already too late. As the young man stared at the void shadow, a flash ran through the beast's eyes. Silent Acacia felt as if a sword pierced into his eyes and a terrible headache assaulted him, freezing him in place.
"Shield! Holy barrier!"
"Got it!"
The tank didn't dare to hesitate. With a thought a brightly shining barrier enveloped Silent Acacia like a sturdy protector. The next moment the void shadow acted. It opened its mouth wide, and a powerful beam of violet and black energy shot towards Silent Acacia.
A terrifying impact caused a shockwave to spread to the surroundings. The holy barrier trembled heavily and the ground below it cracked but it barely held on. With Radiant Shield's current strength [Holy Barrier] could defend against about 14.000 points of damage, which was like a second life to Silent Acacia who had around 14.700HP. Meanwhile the boss's attack dealt more than 9000 points of damage, which clearly would have been quite dangerous for Silent Acacia to endure.
But seeing the power of the boss's skill, the players couldn't help but show some respect. The cracked rocks were perfect evidence of the force contained in the ray of void energy.
And yet the void shadow was not done. Its violet eyes scanned the battlefield, searching for another prey. A second later it stopped on Cyclone. The mage instantly averted her eyes as her thoughts raced. Her skill was just about to finish casting. She decided to take the risk.
A second passed, feeling like an eternity to her.
"Dodge!"
"Cy, leave!"
Hearing the shouts of her friends Cyclone gritted her teeth. Right then her cast had finally finished. Without looking she pointed her wand in the direction of the boss and unleashed her skill.
Crackling lightning sounded through the battlefield. A cage made from lightning surrounded the void shadow, blocking its movements from all sides. Simultaneously Cyclone didn't dare to stay any longer. With her spell already cast it was easier to gather mana for a flash step, and she disappeared in a rain of sparks.
The next moment the void shadow raised its head in preparation for its attack. It was dismissive of the bit of lightning around it but as it came into contact with the crackling cage it suddenly froze. Sparks shot through its body. Unexpectedly the paralyzing effect had triggered.
And simultaneously the damage from Cyclone's [Bindings of Lightning] arrived as well, together with a thin bolt of lightning striking from the sky.
[-217!]
[-163!]
[-40!]
[-572!]