The Skyfire Helmet was a piece of gear that granted access to the skill Skyfire, a high-damage low-cooldown AoE attack. It didn't give any passive abilities, and its defense stat was average, but this one skill was the exact thing I needed to defeat the archdemon of Rivenvalius.
Conveniently, Skyfire was also something I could use to escape against Hashmal.
While I was still in the air, the stone minotaur tried to swipe me using its gargantuan hand, but it missed, allowing me to land directly on the wrist.
I activated my special attack, Silent Sting, and waited for the second of delay. Then, the adrenaline rush hit, and time seemed to decelerate to a snail's pace, much slower than a perfect dodge. With my immense speed boost, I sprinted up Hashmal's arm and shoulder, finally arriving at the nape.
With my glowing Laevateinn, I gouged the minotaur's stone neck, inflicting Armor Melt, a status condition that nullified the target's defense for ten seconds.
I pushed myself off Hashmal's body, and I activated Skyfire, bringing down a bolt of lightning onto the boss's head, creating a massive explosion. Even using my strongest attacks, that only brought Hashmal's health down to ninety-six percent. Fortunately, the burst of explosive damage on the boss's head had temporarily stunned him, causing him to fall to his knees.
"Sakimi!" I yelled. "Get here quick!"
Gravity pulled me to the ground, and I landed with a back-breaking thud, bringing my health down to eighty-four percent. If it wasn't for my armor and my Seraphic Ascent ability, which granted a fifty percent reduction to fall damage, I would have lost much more HP.
As Sakimi and I got on Vortigern, Hashmal shook his head and got back up.
Marigold cracked the reins, saying, "Let's get out of here!"
Vortigern sprinted down the corridor, quickly outrunning the boss. Whenever we reached a crossroads, he took a couple of seconds to sniff the air before choosing the correct way, this short delay was necessary, but it gave the stone minotaur time to catch up. There were even moments where Hashmal's halberd nearly obliterated us.
Eventually, the sounds of the giant's footsteps disappeared, and we finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel.
We've returned to the entrance.
Everyone collectively breathed a sigh of relief as Vortigern walked up the quartz steps. You don't know how happy I was to be able to see daylight again.
"Waaaah!" Sakimi wailed, hugging and shaking Marigold. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought we were dead for sure!"
"You're welcome," Marigold replied.
I smirked. "Yeah. I owe you one."
"Party members have to work together."
"You know, Marigold," I said. "You're surprisingly calm. Your quick thinking saved us from certain doom."
"I've seen my fair share of terrifying enemies, so I can usually analyze these sorts of situations with ease. Of course, I'm still just as afraid as when I first became an adventurer, but you eventually learn to hide it."
"I see."
Sakimi chugged water from one of Marigold's canteens and let out a refreshed "Aaaaah!"
She then said, "Ares, you got a weapon, and now, you've got the helmet. Does this mean we'll be fighting the archdemon now?'
"Only if you two are up for it."
"Heck yeah!" Sakimi exclaimed.
"Sure," replied Marigold. "I'm prepared."
I was already level twenty-seven, and the recommended level for fighting Enzo was around twenty-five. Additionally, I had two strong teammates.
Correction—three strong teammates. I couldn't forget about our spinebear, Vortigern.
I always get extremely nervous before a boss fight, but the stress from Hashmal only added on top of my anxiety. Before challenging the archdemon, I would have to prepare all the necessary precautions, considering that Serial Slain 2.0 is different from the original game. I'm assuming that the boss fight wasn't completely reworked, but even slight changes could cause me to mess up.
I could ask Virgil, but I doubt she would give me any hints.
"Marigold," I said. "How much money do you have?"
"Why?"
"We're gonna need teleportation runes if we're going to fight the archdemon."
"Ah. Good call. I've saved up about 250,000 Szerath from adventuring."
Holy crap! Marigold's rich! Just how long has she been an adventurer? I don't even know her rank. She had a whopping 250,000 Sz, while I only had some 7,025.
"One teleportation rune for each of us will be 90,000 Szerath total," Marigold said.
"Are you willing to buy it?" I asked.
"If we are truly fighting against the archdemon, I'm willing to make any investment toward the goal."
"Thanks," I said. "We might need this back-up."
Marigold nodded in acknowledgment. "Ever since the demons attacked my village, I've lived in the edge cities. I still remember how they devoured my family before my very eyes while I hid in the cupboard. I'm very much looking forward to tearing out the archdemon's heart."
Sakimi and I were silent for a moment. I've never heard Marigold speak so gravely before.
"I'm sorry for mentioning something so dark," Marigold said.
"It's fine," I replied. "We all have our own reasons for wanting to defeat the demons. In any case, we should head back to Mechanicsville and prepare for the battle."
***
When we returned to the city, we went straight to the bank, where Marigold withdrew 90,000 Sz. Then, she went to the magic shop and used the funds to buy three teleportation runes, handing one to both Sakimi and me.
The rune was minuscule, no larger than a pebble you would find on the ground. A purple design had been etched on its face, resembling a trident with a slash going through it.
If push came to shove during the boss fight, we could use these runes to escape. Normally, main quest bosses and dungeons were held in closed arenas that prevented players from running away, but teleportation runes were an exception that could get you out of any situation.
The final thing that I asked Marigold to buy were twelve Medium Healing Potions, which would equate to four for each of us.
Afterward, Sakimi, Marigold, and I took the remainder of the day to rest. When we woke up the next morning, we took off for Mount Candoskr, directly in the center of Rivenvalius. Enzo's palace was built on the peak of the mountain, overlooking the continent below.
During the travel, I explained my plan to the other party members.
"Sakimi, your job is to throw ice magic at Enzo since it's his primary weakness. He normally starts the fight with a fire shield around his whole body, so it may take some time to break through it."
Sakimi nodded her head.
"While you do that," I said, "I'll use Skyfire to periodically eliminate the hordes of demons that spawn in. All the while, Enzo will be shooting fire at us, so I trust that Vortigern can evade the attacks while we ride him."
"Vortigern is the fastest spinebear I know," Marigold said.
"Good," I replied. "Finally, once we break his fire shield, I'm gonna hand my Skyfire Helmet to you, Marigold, so you can destroy the demon soldiers while I run in for a close-quarters fight against Enzo himself. Sakimi, I want you to back me up from range, but make sure that Marigold doesn't get overrun."
Marigold and Sakimi both said, "Got it."
My plan was the classic raid strategy that most players used.
When I first played the game, I took my time by going through the demon-infested towns, but that took much too long, without any good loot to show for it. The only good part was that I recruited a couple of NPCs to help me out, but I already had an amazing party right now. I'm confident that we could take down the archdemon without too great of an issue.
The route to Mount Candoskr would take about a week. By nightfall on the first day, we made camp in the woods and exchanged guard duty.
The second day, we passed by a ravaged city, but all the buildings had been burned down, and there were no survivors.
On the third day, we entered demon territory. We tried to avoid any major cities, but wild demons would often attack us. Luckily, Marigold and Sakimi picked off the enemies with ranged attacks, so we didn't have to slow down our pace.
On the fourth and fifth day, we passed through the badlands, a stretch of haphazard rock formations, low vegetation, and high humidity. Wild demons rarely lived in this area since it would be hard to catch any prey. By the end of the fifth day, we could faintly see a singular steep mountain on the horizon.
On the sixth day, we neared the foot of Mount Candoskr, where a gigantic city stretched out on three sides of the mountain. We took a detour around and took a break by a stream, where we slept through the night.
After waking up on the seventh day, we stumbled across a small out-of-the-way village full of friendly humans. Before we could make it any further, a demon patrol arrived, and we hid behind a stretch of dense houses.
While I watched from behind a crack, the leader of the demon patrol spoke with the village chief, who was a diminutive but charitable-looking old man.
On the other hand, the patrol leader was over six feet tall, had aristocratic clothing, and his goat-shaped horns added an aura of imposition.
After a few more seconds, the demon slapped the chief and started yelling at all the other villagers.
"I'm going in," I said to Marigold and Sakimi.
"No, wait," Marigold said.
She was too late to stop me. I jumped out of hiding and yelled, "LEEEEROOOOY! JENKIIIIIINS!"
I activated Lightbringer and used Angelic Blaze, wiping out the entire demon backline in one fell swoop. The remaining enemies drew their weapons, but Marigold shot them with her arrows. Next, I ran up to the startled patrol leader, unleashing a whirlwind of strikes until his health dropped to zero, and he dissipated into glitter.
All the villagers stood around in shock. I turned around and said, "You should all be safe, now."
The chief's calm face turned into one of utter fear. "No...you don't understand. Now that they're dead, Enzo is going to punish us. Thanks to you, we're all gonna die!"