"CRAP! Who was born under an unlucky star, the small amount of sapphire phoenix bloodline they have triggered!" Jun shouted seeing the lions immersed in a blue flame.
Glancing at the lions they could see they were immersed in blue fire that continued to expand until it looked like bonfire covering both. They could see the pair starting to stand up. The group tensed as they prepared for what was coming.
"Uhm, are we in a bad situation?" Marcel panicked as he saw the lions getting on their feet.
"In a way yes. There is less than 1% for them to trigger the Sapphire Phoenix blood they have as the strand of he bloodline hey have is almost null, though the bright side is if you guys beat them now without my help, you maaay get something really good. "Jun said
*ROOOAR
[Blue Flame Lion LVL 28 (Captain) --- Awakened]
HP: 8,294/33, 175
MP: 5,568/27,840]
[Blue Flame Winged Lioness LVL 30(General) --- Awakened]
HP: 11,250/45,000
MP: 5,568/27,840]
"I wasn´t expecting for them to go up in ra —"The lioness and the lion jumped at Jun
"You want a fight you will get a catfight, come here Tiger!" Jun angrily shouted as he recovered while stretching his hand.
[Nightflash Jaguar LVL 45]
HP: 42,700/42,700
MP: 35,800/35,800]
"Tiger, cover me. Xol we would bait the lioness, finish the other and save some skills. Pray you get something good by killing both." Jun commanded toward his beast.
"Kingo, don't hold back, we´ll try to get the lion down first." Xol said as he shot a Mana Bullet.
Kingo got close to the lion and started attacking, soon the lion attention got redirected toward Kingo.
"Richter our Mana bullets are ineffective, use as much mana on Mana Punch and then retreat to recover your mana. Marcel did your skills cooldown got reset from the level up?"
"No, mana recovered but skills still on cooldown" Marcels said as he shot Flame Arrows.
The lion clawed Kingo as he turned, but Kingo managed to dodge the claw. The lion send a second claw once he turned completely to face Kingo, but he parried this second claw. The lion opened its maws and blazes could be seen, soon he shot a breath of blue fire at him. Kingo tried to dodge but was to slow to dodge, soon he exited the breath but had lost half of his HP, the lion quickly ried o engulf him again with the still active breath skill.
"Richer, punch his chest now" Xol commanded as he created mana chains to close its maws.
Soon Richer dashed and unleashed his Mana Punch as an uppercut toward its chest, the combination of the maws closed as he used the breath skill and receiving a punch made it so the lion lost a big chunk of HP.
HP: 4,926/33, 175
The lion quickly sent a claw toward Richter, but he rolled toward its tail dodging the attack. Kingo followed and slashed his side
"Go for the eyes and blind it Kingo" Xol commanded as he chained the paw and bough a second for Richer to dodge the second claw before the chain broke.
Kingo quickly repositioned and stabbed its eyes.
HP: 1,526/33, 175
*ROOOAR
The lioness that had been giving a beating to the jaguar turned hearing the roar around and got angered seeing the scene. It Jumped trying to bite Kingo.
"Duck!" Jun shouted as he sent a gust of wind toward the lioness.
Everyone ducked trying to grab hold of the floor, the gust of wind sent the lioness a few meters in the cave.
"Finish him! Tiger can´t hold down her for much longer. The general and awakened made her even more lethal than him" Jun said as he sent another gust of wind.
"GO" Jun dashed past the group and started sending more gust at the lioness.
"Everyone save Mana Bomb, other than that hit hard as you cooldowns end" Xol commanded as he stood up.
Kingo quickly sent Slash and Double Slash and retreated once the Lion tried clawing a him. Marcel used combustion and continued with Flame Arrows. Richer retreated and recovered his MP.
After a few more moments the lion fell dead. The group turned and saw the lioness crawling trying to not get pushed too far by Jun´s gust of winds.
"I can shoot one more gust of wind before I need to recover MP, got a plan?" Jun said seeing the group reach him.
"Un, can the Nightflash Jaguar bait him until Mana Bomb is ready." Xol asked with a serious face.
"It can with his speed but fighting the lioness is a no go, if she was still a captain, he could engage her barely but now is really dangerous for him. What you need exactly?" Jun replied.
"I need her to use the breath skill the lion used, then she would taste the Mana Bombs." Xol said as he pointed a he lioness mouth.
"I see, Tiger confuse her with you speed." Jun shouted at his beast.
The Nighflash Jaguar nodded and soon black lightning started coursing it and jumped randomly at the cavern area in front of the lioness not letting her advance and gaining her attention. A few second later the group nodded seeing their skill cooldown end.
"Make him claw her and then bait her to see if she uses the breath skill." Xol asked.
"Tiger claw her then stop two meters in front on her and taunt her, move to the side when you hear Xol command." Jun commanded
Doing what he was ordered the Jaguar clawed her and then stopped himself.
HP: 9,341/45,000
The jaguar tilted his head as he looked the lioness
*Grgrgr (What, too fast for you?)
*Roar (Insolent)
The lioness roared with her eyes bloodshot, opening her maws some blue blaze stared forming.
"Now" Xol shouted, the Nighflash jaguar moved and all three shot the mana bombs hitting the intended target.
*BOOM
HP: 1,541/45,000
The lioness lost her footing slightly and puked blood, soon she glared toward the group and extended her wings as they started glowing blue.
"Behind me!" Jun shouted with a grim face as he throwed a blue pill at his mouth.
The group quickly jumped at Jun back, Jun placed his hands in front and created a Mana Shield. A few seconds later the lioness wings were fully extended and the whole lioness body was glowing in flames. The lioness flapped her wings and a flaming blue bird was launched as a bird cry was heard in the cave. The bird collided with the shield and cracks started appearing.
Having blocked the bird, they glanced at the lioness, she was out of Mana and slowly regenerating it. Soon she flapped her wings and jumped at the group. As she intended to send a claw a black shadow appeared on her back, biting her neck. The lioness started thrashing trying to throw the jaguar but the jaguar didn´t let go easily.
"Hit her with all you got." Xol shouted.
Kingo unleashed Iaido Strike and Batou Strike and continued with normal attacks while Marcel shot Flame Arrows. A few second later the lioness fell. The group sat and trying to recover their breath as they paned from the battle.
"Big brother Jun, how did you know they had the blood of the Sapphire Phoenix?" Xol asked trying to recover from the fight
"I´m have made some research about some beasts that have inherited blood of mystical creatures." Jun said as he sat.
"And why didn't you tried to tame it, seeing what it can do" Kingo asked this time.
"I had various reasons; when I saw her, I thought her level was too low even with the captain monster rank. The Sapphire Phoenix bloodline is too thin, and it doesn't make it stronger than other high-level beast I can tame. Lastly a captain is very difficult to tame, and a general is even harder to achieve." Jun explained as he stood and walked toward the Nighflash Jaguar. "How you feeling Tiger, any serious injury?"
"Uhm, why do you call it tiger if it's a jaguar" Marcel asked as he stood up.
"Well his name is 'Tiger' after all" Jun said with a smile.
"Why did you name it like that?" Richter asked.
"Well because its funny" Jun replied maintain his smile.
'Here we go again' Xol though as he facepalmed himself and shrugged.
"You could have gone with other names, but you have to go with 'Tiger'." Marcel said bewildered
"Like?" Jun said
"Blackie" Marcel said
"Sparky" Richter continued
Xol walked away having heard this conversation various times in the past years.
"Does anybody mind if I start collecting the loot" Xol shouted to the group.
"Nope go for it" Jun replied with a smile he enjoyed this conversation very much never getting old for him.
[Acquired the following items:
Awakened Blue Flame Lion Fur X1
Awakened Blue Flame Lion Fangs X3
Awakened Blue Flame Lion Bones X4
Awakened Blue Flame Lion Claw X3
Awakened Blue Flame Lion Core X1
Awakened Blue Flame Lion Blood X2
Mana Crystal X10]
[Acquired the following items:
Awakened Blue Flame Winged Lioness Fur X1
Awakened Blue Flame Winged Lioness Fangs X4
Awakened Blue Flame Winged Lioness Bones X5
Awakened Blue Flame Winged Claws X5
Awakened Blue Flame Winged Lioness Core X1
Awakened Blue Flame Winged Lioness Blood X4
Awakened Blue Flame Winged Feathers X10
Mana Crystal X15]
'Did the awakened state affect the drops?' Xol though furrowing his eyebrow and taking out an item to check.
[Awakened Blue Flame Winged Lioness Blood
A bottle containing drops of blood from a Blue Flame Winged Lioness with little traces of Sapphire Phoenix Bloodline.
Sapphire Phoenix Bloodline awakened.
Need alchemy side job or other side jobs to get more information.]
Seeing the 'Sapphire Phoenix Bloodline awakened' line Xol checked another item and confirmed they both had the same line.
Seeing the group was still "debating" Jun naming sense, Xol sat in a corner and started trying to get the feeling of giving shape to mana like the chains, after using the skill and getting used to the sensation he tried creating a cube. Xol didn´t manage to create anything on the first try but kept trying. Some tries later he managed to create an unstable cube, the walls were unaligned, and the mana seemed erratic compared with the solid shape the chains had.
A few minutes later the group gave up on the discussion on changing the name or fixing Jun´s naming sense. They scanned the surrounding for Xol, once they located him, they went toward him. Currently Xol was still trying to stabilize the cube, he had managed to align the walls, but the mana was still erratic.
"Getting to work on teacher Izuriel task I see. What did the lioness and lion drop?" Jun asked seeing the cube Xol was trying to make.
Xol read at loud the things he got from the loot and the quantity.
*Sigh
"You didn't get the rarest drop; seems you guys were unlucky" Jun sighed once Xol finished
"But wouldn't the getting both cores be considered as lucky" Richter asked with a confused face.
"You could argue you did as getting the core is really lucky but the rarest and most sought drop is the crystalized element of the monster, in his case their beast flame. Seeing as you got the most dangerous possible boss monster Blue Flame Winged Lioness if you had gained her beast flame, no matter if you sold it, use it to enhance your fire attunement or for alchemy or blacksmith you have really profited moreover it would have gotten an awakened state making even rarer. " Jun said as he shook his head.
"Well it can´t helped, Kingo help me treat Tiger, the rest explore the cavern and try to find anything worth it" Jun said as he looked toward Marcel.
Getting the message Marcel nodded and turned toward Richter and Xol.
"Come you guys lets see if we can find something" Marcel said.
Nodding they followed the group.
"Wouldn´t it had been better for me to go with them in case they found a strong monster?" Kingo asked turning his head and seeing them go, some fear in his eyes
"Nah, with Xol´s Mana Sonar they can avoid danger, it's better for you to check nothing enters the cave as I treat Tiger." Jun lied as he wasn't sure if it be suitable for Kingo to get his first blessing as apart from the boss, he was very passive attacking so Marcel could get the most contributions and experience.