The quiet little path had almost reached it's end. Infront of everyone was a sea of flowers that spanned hundreds of meters. Although it was a sea of flowers, the flowers were all wilted and it looked desolate. Without the trees around, their field of view broadened, and some sunlight managed to pierce the haze.
In the sea of flowers, was a girl who was lying on a leaf. Although she was pretty, she looked fierce and wild. Black veins throbbed on her green skin, and a dense aura of corruption emitted from her. She sensed that people had arrived, and suddenly turned her head to look at them with her red eyes. "Humans! It was you who eliminated Kunqi and saved Kunsa! You will pay for your actions!!"
"Not good! Prepare for battle! Shaking Bear, Lil'Dino, surround her! Ranged, prepare your magic! Prioritize dealing fire damage! Lele, prepare your Powerful Oil Flask!" ThornyRose quickly shouted instructions. Not good, the boss fight already started!
Stepping on the wilted flowers, everyone encircled Alice. Alice waved her hand and pieces of black tree roots shot out of the ground, piercing towards them like projectiles. ThornyRose raised her shield and blocked. Although the shield reduced a lot of the physical damage, it couldn't block the added corrosive damage. She began to lose 2 health a second. Zhang ZhengXiong had also slapped a piece away with his shield and was inflicted with corrosion. He roared: "Dodge the black arrows! If you get hit, you'll be inflicted with corrosion!!"
FrozenCloud, who was behind him, quickly leaned and dodged. The Assassins also gracefully dodged the incoming attacks.
Countless black projectiles continued to shoot out from the ground under Alice's feet. ThornyRose swung her sword, slashing apart the creepers that blocked their way, however their charging speed was still greatly reduced. Zhang ZhengXiong swung his saber, and the effect activated. Raging flames shot out of it, pushing back the evil energy. The creeping vines dodged away as if afraid. Madly swinging his red saber, he made his way forwards. The other melee chose to follow behind him, waiting to get into range.
Two fireballs, one large and one small, broke through the barricade and exploded on Alice's body. A huge amount of damage was dealt, followed closely by a piercing scream. Ye Cang furrowed his brows, the spell had failed to stun. "Careful! She's not stunned!!"
Zhang ZhengXiong took this opportunity to stretch out his right hand and shot a large, blindingly bright, fireball. It followed the path that Ye Cang's fireball had created, and again, exploded on Alice's body. Rays of light and blazing flames interweaved in the explosion. "Stun failed, but she's blinded!!"
FrozenBlood and the Assassins quickly jumped out from behind Zhang ZhengXiong's protection and began rushing over. ThornyRose felt like she was treading on ice. It was hard for them to advance with these creeping vines stopping them. Suddenly a black shadow flashed by above her head. Right Lele! He has that leaping ability! "Lele! Beat her down with all your strength!!"
Lin Le leapt through the gap left by the previous fireballs, and arrived beside Alice. With a spin, 3 Powerful Fuel Flasks splashed onto her, covering her in oil. Her scream, when it set ablaze, pierced to the bone.
ThornyRose knew Lin Le's Powerful Fuel Flasks had succeeded!
"She's weakened and stunned!!" Lin Le said as he activated the crystal on his weapon, enshrouding it in flames. He crushed two gold coins, and slashed with his blade. Whirlwind Strike! Shoulder Tackle! Rising Slash! He rolled to her back and summoned his handcart! "Lele's homerun!!"
Although there were roots holding alice to the ground, under Lin Les all out attack, she still became a screaming fireball that was sent flying towards ThornyRose and Zhang ZhengXiong. She had no chance at all. The three Assassins all complained in their heart. You should have told is earlier! They began to run back the way they came.
Lin Le's combo earlier had dealt a terrifying amount of damage to the boss.
Ye Cang drew his mithril rapier, and cast a flameblade on it! His sword was enshrouded in raging flames which made it look like a meteor as he rushed over. Straight Thrust combo! 5 flames pierced her head. It looked like a volcano had exploded in her face.
Alice fell and burned to ashes. Everyone looked stunned, it was over just like that?
"Be careful! Don't relax your guard until you hear a system message!!" ThornyRose roared.
In the sea of flowers, a large bulb emerged from under the ground. It slowly opened, and Alice emerged, looking beat up, but smiling meaningfully. Her eyes were full of rage. "I've underestimated you all, but do you really think you've succeeded…?"
Alice, who was covered in burns, touched the ground and began healing by sucking the power of corruption.
Everyone's heart sank.
"Don't let her heal!!" ThornyRose roared and was about to charge over, but a number of creeping vines and roots gathered in front of them, making it hard to advance.
Double Shot! Ye Cang had drawn his bow and shot twice. The barrier of vines and roots rose. The arrow penetrated through many layers of them before stopping. Physical attacks seemed to be useless. GreenDew's magic missiles were also blocked by the barrier. Little Ye Tian had kept count and discovered that the number of roots and vines was actually increasing! It would be hard to do anything unless they could get close, so staying at a distance with be useless. They had to go meet up with the rest of the party. "Sister GreenDew, let's go! Meet up with them, we can't do anything from here."
ThornyRose sighed. Everyone's skills were on cooldown. What should they do? This boss was too disgusting. Because of these damn roots and vines, herself, FrozenCloud and FrozenBlood and the others had pretty much done nothing. There were just too many.
"Lele, use the refined molotovs. Throw them everywhere!! Turn this place into a sea of fire!!" Little Ye Tian yelled from the back. ThornyRose and Ye Cang thought over it. This could work!
Lin Le turned back and shouted unhappily. "Call me Brother Le."
"Brother Le…" Little Ye Tian sighed. She corrected herself, unwillingly.
F**k! You still care about that at a time like this?! ThornyRose's chest tightened. She recalled the rumors of Lin Le back in town. Because he had chased BlackIce through many streets, he had gained the nickname Mad Devil Le. "Lele, hurry!"
Lin Le swung his bag hard, and set his surroundings on fire. A ring of flames encircled everyone and held back the black plants. The corners of Alice's mouth raised into a smile. "Humans have the filthiest hearts. Full of jealousy and betrayal…"
Everyone heard Alice's voice, but couldn't tell from where it came.
Ye Cang frowned. There was a purple pollen mist coming from the flowers. It went around the flames and came at them from above. Ye Cang interrupted the spell he had been casting and shouted: "Not good! The pollen!!"
"Everyone be careful!!" The shout of ThornyRose, who was beside him, seemed to get further away. They were all enshrouded in the purple pollen, and sunk into an illusion. Their minds felt muddled, and the flames around them grew stronger.
Ye Cang regained his senses and discovered that he was in the middle of a jungle instead of a field of flowers. This should be the hallucinatory pollen that Kunsa had warned them about. He recalled Kunsa's words. They had to differentiate between real and fake. In other words, there would be fakes of their team members? He heard some activity from the side and turned to see ThornyRose walk out. Without even waiting for her to open her mouth, a silver flash pierced through her. 5 flashes brought about 5 spurts of blood.
ThornyRose fell to the ground. "I haven't even said…"
She dissipated into black smoke.
"Congratulations. You've slain an illusory enemy, dealing 100 points of unhealable damage to Alice. Obtain +2 to all attributes and +5 willpower for 30 minutes."
"Ah, that felt so good…" Ye Cang looked at his right hand and murmured, then flicked the blood off his sword and sheathed it. He had wanted to do that for a long time. As for how he had distinguished between real and fake? That was easy, as long as it was ThornyRose, it was fake!
Ye Cang resolved himself once again.
Thornyrose who was also in the illusionary world felt a chill on her spine.