"Get ready to die!"
Eva's words sounded as if right from hell. Suddenly her body flickered. Her movement speed was unbelievable, rivalling Liam riding Drasky. In a blink she arrived in front of the veteran, her terrifying glaive swinging in a wide arc.
Liam's chest tightened. Alarm bells rang in his head. Mana gathered around him as he prepared for a flash step. However, he was shocked to notice that the mana flowed slower than usual. His eyes fell on the magical net covering the sky and he understood. This net not only prevented them from using their flying mounts, but it also impaired the use of magic. What a rookie mistake! He should have known!
Liam chided himself as he was forced to accept his fate. The glaive had already reached him. Even his friends didn't consider helping him, confident that their expert would dodge the blow.
[-5310!]
"What?!"
"Damn!"
"Wow, Mirage is just like us!"
Startled shouts came from all sides. The players still clashing with the guards outside had turned into spectators. They were surprised to see that Bleary Mirage, hailed as the number one player, couldn't dodge a regular strike of the boss. They even felt that maybe the gap between people wasn't as vast as they had thought. Even Bleary Mirage was only human. He made mistakes.
Of course, Liam's friends felt this even stronger. They knew that the veteran would be able to dodge such a blow ten out of ten times.
"Be careful! Magic is weakened here! Flash step will be slow!", warned Liam, his voice stern. It wasn't that he felt the need to explain himself. Instead, he informed his friends, especially Balm, so they wouldn't repeat his mistake.
Murmurs ran through the increasing crowd outside. From originally two dozen players it had already increased to four dozen. However, the fights slowed down as most people were eager to watch Hotpot's battle.
Silver Blade and Radiant Shield finally reacted at this moment. The male tank took the lead. An image of narrow, uncompromising eyes appeared behind his back and focused on Eva. Instantly the boss let go of Liam and directed her attention to the tank. Meanwhile Silver Blade quickly checked the boss's status.
[Gale Army, The Slayer of Mount Zvren, Eva Evrenour
Rank: Sub-Boss
Level: 65
HP: 97.000/97.000]
"Provoking my Gale Army! You won't leave alive!"
Eva definitely enjoyed spewing threats. Her glaive moved as if it weighed nothing at all, guided by the slayer's bulging arms. A single step and the boss was already in range. The glaive drew a half circle, stirring the wind, falling at Radiant Shield's head from above.
The tank narrowed his eyes. This boss somehow filled him with disgust. She didn't conform to his image of a hero. Radiant Shield puffed out his chest and the muscles all over his body roared to life. He didn't raise his shield. Instead, he waited for the perfect moment to abruptly smash his hammer upwards as if a sturdy tree rose to protect the forest behind.
Glaive and hammer collided and both warriors trembled. A tremor ran through the sky. Both Radiant Shield's hammer and shield supported each other as if there was an intricate connection. Invisible shockwaves spread, crashing into Eva, rattling her body.
[Stance -21]
Radiant Shield raised his head as he confidently activated his weapon's set effect. It allowed him to use his hammer in place of his shield to block an enemy's attack. Should he be successful there was a chance of stunning the enemy. And fortunately, he succeeded!
Standing behind the boss, Liam's eyes lit up. He instantly realised that Eva stopped moving. The veteran jumped into action. A shadowy figure emerged from behind the boss, cackling eerily, starting to stack Dark Marks on the boss.
Suddenly the already grey sky darkened. Night fell on the boss. A moment later a figure dropped out. Liam's basilisk Reen flayed his limbs and wings, somewhat comically, not able to match Drasky's elegant figure. Fortunately, the outcome was all the same. They landed on the ground, spreading a wave of dark magic, applying more Dark Marks.
[-980!]
Of course, Liam was not done yet. A swift strike with his sword instantly followed. A fourth mark was stacked upon the boss. Suddenly Liam raised his sword high. Violent, dark currents swirled around it. However, compared to the eerie dark magic used by beings of the chaos faction, Liam's darkness emitted a sensation of pureness as if it was the beginning and the end, a natural cycle of life and death.
Naturally, this was unrelated to the damage dealt. Liam brought his sword down, slamming it against Eva's thick armor. The boss growled in pain. The dark magic erupted and, triggered by [Dark Strike], the four Dark Marks did so as well. Eery cackles sent chills down everyone's spine. One could even see some strange patterns forming on the boss's armour as her resistances were reduced by a terrifying twenty percent.
[-698!]
[-1848!]
[-980!]
"Haha, well done my friend!"
Radiant Shield watched the entire sequence, his eyes shining. It was always amazing to observe Liam's battles. He felt that no matter how much others improved they could never match Liam's natural smoothness, his ability to blend one attack with the next, reducing the delay between skills to a minimum.
Liam almost managed to squeeze all his attacks into the short window during which the boss was still stunned. Only towards the end did Eva regain her movement. She gritted her teeth, and perhaps because she had just been immobilized, didn't get stunned again by Liam's [Dark Strike].
But still, Radiant Shield figured that now was the right time for him to assist Liam. He couldn't let the poor guy be responsible for dealing all the damage by himself, right? Well, at least that was what Radiant Shield told himself. But perhaps he simply wanted to join in on the fun. Thus, the tank directly activated his ultimate skill [Call of the Inquisition] at this moment.
A faint melody filled the air, as if heavenly beings were singing. The image of a mighty angel overlapped with Radiant Shield's body, emitting an aura of pure faith. Yet its eyes were stern, staring at Eva as if she was the biggest sinner. Radiant Shield knew his time was limited. He didn't hesitate.
The angel image raised its shield, with shone in brilliant golden light, and slammed it into the boss. [Shield of Faith] was activated, aided by the ultimate skill, dealing 60% damage. Taking advantage of the boss's reduced defence, the damage was quite considerable.
[-1614!]
The shield slammed into Eva's tall body and the boss was pushed back. Radiant Shield felt great, standing stable as a mountain, as if the real boss was himself. Exhilarating! Radiant Shield let out a laugh as his attacks continued violently. Thanks to his ultimate skill, even his attack speed was improved. He was able to easily block Eva's glaive and still get an attack in before blocking again. Absolutely invincible!
The only slight disadvantage of Radiant Shield's [Call of the Inquisition] was its duration. Although it could be improved with Faith stacks gathered through Radiant Shield's passive skill, these Faith stacks were gained from being attacked. Obviously, the tank didn't have time to gather many stacks yet. Thus, his ultimate skill ended even before the boss regained her resistances.
Of course, Liam didn't remain idle while Radiant Shield unleashed his power. The veteran continued attacking the boss. One from behind and one from the front. Together they put a lot of pressure on Eva. The surrounding spectators were amazed to see the boss's HP bar dissolving.
But the Slayer of Mount Zvren was not so easily defeated. Her expression became increasingly ferocious. As her HP dropped below 70.000, strange black patterns slowly emerged around her eyes. Her long hair began to dance wildly.
"Adventurers! I considered going easy on you. But you don't know how to appreciate favours! Good, good! Let me show you the might of my Gale Army!"
Eva's voice was hoarse, sounding quite frightening. She grabbed her weighty glaive tightly. Chaotic wind suddenly began to engulf her. The female soldier crouched lightly, the glaive behind her body, her dark eyes staring ahead. Suddenly she shot out, her body turning into a black spear which shot across the battlefield.
Radiant Shield standing in front of her was instantly alarmed. He barely managed to raise his shield before the black spear crashed into him, pushing him away, almost throwing him off his basilisk.
[Stance -29]
On the other side of the battlefield, the guards revealed terrified faces watching the spear shooting at them. They could already see their bodies crashing into the surrounding houses.
Fortunately, Eva had enough control over her power. She stopped just in time, turning her body on the spot, her glaive swinging in a wide arc. The skill had not ended yet as a black light wave spread from the boss, increasing in size as it went, threatening to engulf the entire battlefield towards the end.