"It's actually stunned!"
"Cyclone's luck at play…"
"Make something of it! Attack!"
"How? We can't reach it!"
"I'm still casting!"
The friends were amazed that the paralysis took effect as the boss proved quite resistance to all kinds of stuns so far. But now the void shadow was flying in the air, and the players were on the floor, unable to take advantage of the paralysis.
But suddenly Silent Acacia showed a grin.
"Time to take revenge…"
Murmuring to himself the hunter used his newest skill [Tactical Repositioning]. Suddenly a grey fog surrounded his and Korn's bodies. A moment later the fog receded and the two partner had swapped places. Luckily Silent Acacia had directed Korn to fly close to the ground at the last moment…
However, if the skill only had this single effect, it wouldn't be that useful. But Silent Acacia considered it extremely powerful as the skill also reset the cooldowns of all his standard skills, albeit this came with a decrease of his damage for 30 seconds.
With all his skill ready Silent Acacia didn't hesitate. His body became obscure as [Stalker] was activated, and a target appeared in his vision on the boss's body. He instantly followed it up with [Biting Arrow]. Holding his breath, he aimed carefully and let go off the bowstring. An arrow shot out surrounded by the illusionary image of Korn's biting maw, rushing towards the immobilized void shadow, perfectly hitting the target. A frightening critical hit was produced.
[-1293!!!]
Silent Acacia didn't even look at the damage number as he unleashed a normal attack and a [Flurry], dealing another 965 points of damage as one of the arrows landed another critical hit.
Unfortunately, Silent Acacia didn't have enough fury stored for another attack. But it didn't matter that much as at that moment the sparks surrounding the void shadow died down. The boss regained his movement and the void energy on the surface of its body began to churn chaotically. It was literally boiling with rage.
The boss moved its head. It ignored the fact that it touched the lightning cage again, staring at Silent Acacia with vengeful eyes despite [Stalker]'s obscuring effect still being active.
The hunter didn't dare to repeat his earlier mistake, looking away and getting ready to dodge. When the ray of void energy crashed down on him, he nimbly jumped to the side, avoiding the attack.
[Stance -24]
Having missed its target, the void shadow let out another roar. Right then a black creature flashed past its face. Korn had raced towards the sky, attacking the boss with his claws.
"Damn, when has this become a one versus one fight?"
"Guys, let's sit at the side and watch Acacia battle the void shadow. I think he got this."
Silent Acacia was exasperated as he listened to his friends' jests, rebuking:
"I didn't ask for this! Only because you guys have a bad taste in weapons."
"Babe, did you just insult my beautiful swords?"
Silent Acacia quickly shut up as he felt a piercing gaze targeting his back. Fortunately, the boss switched targets at that moment, focusing on Quickstep, which diverted her attention away.
Simultaneously Fortune was done casting her next skill. Magical explosions erupted next to the boss. Now it wasn't only Silent Acacia who was facing the void shadow alone as all the three ranged fighters began pestering it with normal attacks.
The boss floated in the air, continuing its skill. But as no one made the mistake of looking into its eyes, none of the players were stunned, thus easily dodging the void beams. After a while the void shadow swayed faintly, appearing exhausted. It landed back on the ground just as its HP were reduced below the 55.000 points mark.
Immediately the friends surged towards the boss from all sides. Most of their skills were off cooldown. Relentless attacks reached the boss from all sides. Although it managed to dodge a strike of Watchful Eye's staff covered in flames, this was only a small part of the entire damage. When the players calmed down, the void shadow had lost another five thousand HP.
But the boss wasn't without its own strength. Under its attacks, Radiant Shield was finally out of stance. The void shadow's eyes narrowed as it rammed its head forward, its large antlers nearly denting the tank's armor.
[-2878!]
Radiant Shield was taken aback. Although the damage was not that frightening, he noticed something special. The entire damage was of a void attribute and each hit added two stacks of void corruption. Immediately additional damage began to affect the tank, weakened by the void-quelling potion.
[-70!]
With the first tick of void damage, the void resistance blessing triggered and began to offer some healing. It was enough to cover the ongoing damage for a bit, but the situation quickly turned serious despite the green-robed mages trying to cleanse the void corruption stacks.
Liam watched with some worry as Radiant Shield was increasingly affected by the corruption. He thought about warning his friends but eventually decided against it. It was not bad for them to find some things out on their own, especially as the danger wasn't that big.
Thus, the fight continued for a bit longer until Radiant Shield was afflicted with ten stacks of void corruption. Suddenly his heart skipped a beat. He felt a strange irritation growing in his mind.
"My friends, something strange is going on!"
"What?"
"I'm not sure yet…"
Radiant Shield trailed off. At that moment his eyes suddenly took on a violet hue. He turned his head, staring at Silver Blade.
"Shield? What's going on?"
The tank didn't answer. Instead, he raised his hammer and slammed it into Silver Blade. Despite the shock Silver Blade reacted smartly. She didn't waste her stance, enduring the blow with her body. As they were both tanks Radiant Shield couldn't really hurt her.
[-14!]
"Shield?!"
"Hey, what are you doing?"
[Radiant Shield: I am not in control of my body.]
[Silver Blade: So you can only chat?]
[Radiant Shield: Yes!]
[Silver Blade: Any idea for how long this will last?]
[Radiant Shield: There is a timer of ten seconds. Six left.]
[Silver Blade: Ok. No reason to panic. I will block your attacks and the others continue as before!]
Everyone nodded calmly, realizing that the situation wasn't that terrible. However, they couldn't help but feel hints of worry. If the one attacking his teammates wasn't Radiant Shield but one of the damage dealers instead, they might be in trouble.
Thus, the friends quickly theorized what could have happened to Radiant Shield, naturally figuring out that it was the effect of the void corruption, which was finally also confirmed by Liam.
With this in mind the friends continued the fight, staying wary of the void corruption. But while Radiant Shield mindlessly attacked Silver Blade, the boss didn't switch targets.
The void shadow raised its leg and kicked at Radiant Shield. The tank stumbled upon receiving a painful blow to his back. Instantly a refreshing magic circled through his armor. Defying the low probability of this happening, the armor gifted the tank some healing, struggling against the damage.
[-2878!]
[+1129!]
[+752!]
[-350!]
Radiant Shield's HP bounced like a rubber ball between the void damage and various healing effects. But overall, it was slowly reducing. Balm kept an eye on the tank, ready to save him should the HP drop critically low.
Luckily a few seconds later the void corruption on Radiant Shield ran out. He lost all ten stacks and regained control over his body. At that point the two tanks decided to switch. Silver Blade activated her [Luring Barrier] and slammed her shield into the void shadow's head, successfully taking the boss's aggro.
Radiant Shield was granted a break and could recover some stance, although this was only happening extremely slowly.
After successfully making it though the situation the friends realized the danger of the void corruption stacks, making sure to avoid them. But the boss was determined not to go easy on the players. As his HP reached the halfway point, the void shadow turned into a violet cloud and jumped towards the centre of the battlefield.
"Vooiidd…"
An eerie whisper came out of the void shadow's mouth. It transformed back into the image of the deer of life, slamming its front hooves into the ground. Void energy surged into the ground. A web of cracks spread through the entire battlefield, shining with an ominous violet light, getting denser the closer they were to the boss.
"Avoid those cracks!"
It was Silver Blade who shouted the warning. Even without knowing about the skill she could tell where the danger would be coming from, as could everyone else. They scrambled to avoid the cracks, standing on the safe patches.
A moment later void energy suddenly erupted from all the cracks, violently shooting towards the air, creating walls of energy. Everyone expected the walls to disappear again, but this didn't happen. Instead, they remained, and new cracks spread through the ground, causing everyone's stomachs to drop.