*Creeeeaaaakk~~*
The rust wasn't just for show. I pushed open the massive doors which created a quite unpleasant sound.
Inside was a large, dimly lit dome-like room held up by stone pillars. The walls were at least 300m across and completely open except for a few fallen pillars. In the center was the boss.
[ |Mercury| Corrupted Spirit Web Bear
Lv: 15
Type: Mini-Boss
Rank: Chief
HP: 100,000
Status: Asleep ]|
"Holy sht!" Apollo whispered. "We're supposed to fight that!? Imagine it's skills…
Any Ideas man?"
I put a finger to my mouth and gestured with my other hand for them to follow. We all tip-toed until we were about 50m away from the (when on all fours) 3m tall bear. Its fur is made of tightly woven grey physical mana threads that sway side to side despite no wind being present in the cave.
Beasts connected to the spirits always have odd powers, especially if they are physically here. This bear, from what I can remember, is able to use aura attacks with the help of the last few spirits it's connected to. What this means is he basically has an attack range farther than its physical body can reach.
"Be careful, this thing uses aura attacks for skills. Make sure you dodge any swipe made no matter how far away you are, and never take an attack head on."
"How'dya know that?"
"I've fought something... similar." I lied. It seemed to be enough for them though.
"Ok, Sokka, you come with me. Leena, you stick near the back with Apollo and use whatever summons you have. Apollo, start playing as soon as we begin attacking. As long as you two stay out of its general agro range, there won't be any reason for him to target you two."
They all nodded in acceptance. Sokka followed close behind me as we snuck up to the slumbering bear.
I pointed to a spot 10m away from the bear's left flank for Sokka to move to as I drew my sword. What needed to get done is an agro transfer sequence. Whenever someone gets hit enough, we swap places. The process repeats as long as the boss allows it. Sokka probably can only take 2 hits before he drops while I might be able to tank 4 when we block, so he'll be cutting away in the blindspot most of the time.
First I must take a few hits first to increase my DPS, second to contain the boss so it doesn't go after our other teammates. With the size of the blade on my sword, it can be used as a semi-shield when needed for stalling.
With the few usable items that dropped from the massive horde we killed, this first mini-boss has become much more manageable for me. Since most mini-bosses usually don't have many adds to assist them, it'll be hard for me to regain my health without Apollo's help.
Sokka and I both looked at each other and nodded. The sword was flipped off my shoulder into the air and crashed down HARD on the bear's head.
*BOOM!!!!~~*
- 7,422 [✧ 2s (Boss reduction)]
"Wh-"
We were all gaping. Apparently, I had been too caught up to remember… 'Fuck! I'm so damn op!' With my class, skills, weapon, and level, things of this caliber are bound to get rolled. 'But it can still squash me in a few seconds, so I can't get cocky.' Also, bosses only get more difficult from here, destroying an underleveled (for me) boss isn't as impressive as it may seem.
Quickly, I rationalized my damage and continued. With only one second left on the stun, I went to continue the combo.
I brought the sword around by spinning in place. With all my strength, I pulled the slab up diagonally into the bear's jaw. You could almost hear the air ripping with the speed I could now produce.
Finally, my team remembered what they needed to do. Sokka sprinted in with a piercing skill and drove his blade into the chest of the bear. After this, he started a flurry of slices and sweeps with the sword he got from the Elves.
Leena had summoned a decent sized wolf with deep blue transparent fur. Actuall, the whole body was transparent. She sicked it on the now recovering bear's legs. Apollo had started playing.
Not to be outdone, (it probably was impossible to be at this point, but still) I charged right at the bear. With [Bloodstorm Rush], there was virtually no downtime to speak of.
After arriving there, I used all the momentum to plunge the sword right into the bears neck area.
*Ka-chunk!~
-4,7-
*Zzzztztzztttttttz!!~*
- 3,039 [Ω⚡︎ - 8.5s]
"*ROOOOOAAAARRRRR!!!~*"
'E wasn't happy. I was flung away with a defensive aura skill that projected its body in an ethereal form over its own. He used this to swipe at me, who had been forced 5m back.
I pulled the sword in front of my body as I got ready to dash around him. The periodic reduced the swing to just the bear dropping its arm on my sword, which allowed me to just slide it off and continue.
This time, I had to swipe away flailing limb and backstep the bear's attempt at rolling over onto me. Fortunately, the defensive skill only lasted five seconds and we were back on the offensive immediately.
Even if it wanted to, the bear couldn't pay much attention to my teammates right now. WIth its massive size, turning around to face them was bound to take too long for it to be efficient because with every misstep and destruction that came up, I would send a powerful slash or destructive slam down upon it.
I swerved left and right while practically dragging my sword across the floor with every non-skill that was thrown at me. Deep gashes and sprawling cracks had been formed under and around our nearly blurred figures.
At the back, Apollo was playing his heart out. Every note brimming with power, vigor, speed, and various other states of buffs in a smooth rotation. Near him was Leena skillfully controlling her wolf to gnaw at the bear's legs or scratch its face for quick breaks and in between agro swaps.
Near when the boss came down to 50% was when his skills started flowing out more frequently.
Sometimes he would attempt to charge Apollo and Leena, but I would swiftly intercept him with the destructive combination of [Roaring Winds] and [Bloodthunder Crash].
*BOOM!!!~*
"Just 40% more! Look out for the rampage skill when we break past 10%"
I yelled as I performed the third interception. The bear rolled over a few times before jumping back up to take a swing at me. Without hesitation I met him head on (well more like stomach on) when I darted under the oncoming caws and through its legs. Under there, I hit a violent slash that lifted it up a few inches off the ground.
The MB (mini-boss) had around 20% of his 100k HP bar left. It's covered in deep gashes and bloody patches all over its body.
"*RRRROOOOOAAARRRRRRR!!!~*
A new thing happened this time. The skill he used seems to be a summoning skill where a smaller transparent spirit bear is produced.
"Sokka! You take the smaller one, it should have a lot less health. Apollo, don't let him die!"
""MMN!"""
Both instantly changed their attention towards the smaller one while Leena and I focused up.
"Leena! Let's get this bitch!"