A Mage without mana was like a gun without bullets.
"Each of you, take turns sitting down and recovering your mana. Scoundrel, you first!" Nie Yan ordered after thinking for a bit. Like this, they could conserve mana potions.
"Got it!" Undying Scoundrel nodded. He quickly retreated to the side and sat down. He drank some Spring Water and started recovering his mana.
When Undying Scoundrel recovered his mana to full, he immediately stood up and jumped back into the fray. Next up was Summer Bug. One by one, everyone sat out to recover their mana. Though their damage output dipped, their sustainability increased by quite a bit.
Drakuru's roars reverberated through the chamber. Like a well-oiled machine, Nie Yan's team fought him from the moment the servers opened until they closed again.
Three days later, Drakuru's health finally fell to 20%.
With his health falling to critical levels, Drakuru's rage reached its boiling point. His entire body started glowing an ominous red. He roared out furiously, struggling to break free as his chains made loud clanking noises. The obelisk binding him rocked violently, on the verge of being snapped in two, as small chunks broke off and fell into the lava river below.
Nie Yan and company almost collapsed under the pressure. If Drakuru were to break free from his chains, they would be finished, and all their hard work would go down the drain.
As Drakuru was fiercely pulling at the chains, numerous black runes swirled out into the air before wrapping around the obelisk. It started emitting a dazzling black radiance, which functioned as some sort of reinforcement. Simultaneously, a pained roar escaped Drakuru's mouth. The chains binding him down tightened significantly, burning into his skin.
"Curse you Morphest! Even in death, you still won't let me off!" Drakuru howled.
"Everyone, we can do it! He only has 20% health left!" Nie Yan said excitedly after witnessing this scene. A spell was triggered that reinforced the chains and obelisk binding Drakuru!
"Crap. Boss, I'm out of mana potions and Spring Water! I'm also starting to run low on mana!" Undying Scoundrel anxiously cried out.
"I'm out too!"
"Same here!"
…
Even Tang Yao and Xie Yao were short on mana after giving away all their potions to the others.
This time, they were well and truly out. To make matters worse, after Drakuru's health fell to 20%, his health recovery speed increased by quite a bit. If they didn't maintain their damage output, his health would slowly rise back up.
"Shit! Boss, what do we do?"
"If I knew this was going to happen, I would've brought more mana potions."
"What's the point of regretting this now?"
Everyone felt vexed. Their damage output was about to plummet, and there was nothing they could do about it.
After firing his last spell, Undying Scoundrel helplessly lowered his staff. Glancing at his mana, he didn't even have enough left to cast something as basic as a lightning ball. He retreated to the side and sat down to recover his mana. However, without any Spring Water, his mana recovery speed was pitifully slow.
Before long, Summer Bug, Lustboy, and most of the others sat down next to Undying Scoundrel. They helplessly gazed at Nie Yan.
With the damage stopping from the Mages, Drakuru's health started slowly recovering. It went back up to 21% before long, and continued going higher.
Seeing their hard work slowly slipping away, Nie Yan said, "Sun, King of the World, follow me."
"Alright."
The three Shadow Dancers rushed up to Drakuru's side and let loose a flurry of attacks with their daggers.
Nie Yan brandished Zennarde's Sword. After several attacks, one of which critted for over 30,000 damage, Drakuru's health fell back down to 20%.
In order to cover Nie Yan, Sun, and King of the World, Bladelight activated Bulwark of the War God and repeatedly slammed his greatshield into Drakuru. However, it was to no avail.
Drakuru roared out in a rage. His aggro shifted as he started smashing down with his fist toward Nie Yan. BANG! BANG! BANG!
Nie Yan frantically dodged left and right. However, it was extremely difficult given the small space he had to work with.
Drakuru smashed down with his fist again. Nie Yan hurriedly jumped back to evade, landing right on the edge of the bridge. At the last moment, the fist opened into a palm and slammed down toward him.
There was nowhere left to run. Nie Yan was trapped.
Crap. I guess this is it… Nie Yan inwardly sighed. Sure enough, their struggling was futile. They were destined to wipe.
"No! Big Brother!" Sun cried out.
BOOM! Nie Yan was sent plummeting down into the lava river below. Just as everyone despaired, he suddenly shot out a web line at the bridge. With a hard tug, he looped below the bridge and landed back on the other side.
A shared sigh of relief escaped everyone's mouths, as they watched Nie Yan land next to them. This action of him nearly gave them a heart attack!
Young Seven waved his staff. A white light fell over Nie Yan, restoring his health back to full.
Drakuru never stopped attacking. With Nie Yan gone, he shifted his focus to Sun and King of the World. Under his furious assault, the two dodged around frantically. He let out a roar and stomped down hard on the ground, creating a powerful shock wave, which sent them flying off the bridge and plunging towards the lava below.
Nie Yan ran to the edge and shot out a web line. It all happened on instinct, there was no time to think. Then, he rolled out of the way. The web line missed. Both King of the World and Sun fell to their deaths in the lava.
Sun was doomed from the start, he was out of range for Nie Yan to save. However, this wasn't the case for King of the World. Nie Yan did all he could to rescue him, but as the palm of Drakuru came down on him and was about to crush him into a meat patty, he could only roll out of the way and let King of the World fall to his death too, lest all three of them died here.
Drakuru's health returned to 21%.
"One Strike Vow, Mistaken Smile, come up with me!" Nie Yan said. Even though he knew going up to fight Drakuru was pretty much throwing their lives away, there was no other choice. Besides, the only way out of this instanced world was to either kill this boss or die.
Drakuru suddenly let out a furious roar and started thrusting his palms at Lil' Gold like a sumo wrestler.
Lil' Gold was gradually pushed to the edge of the bridge. He fought hard to get back to the center, but Drakuru stubbornly blocked him. THWAP! He was struck by another palm thrust and staggered back. His foot landed off the edge and he lost his balance. Clawing at the bridge with his front paws, he finally plummeted down toward the lava.
Nie Yan was powerless to help. He would only end up getting dragged down with Lil' Gold if he tried to use the web line. There also wasn't enough time to unsummon Lil' Gold back into his pet space. Before he'd get halfway through the chant, Lil' Gold would've been turned into roasted dragon meat.
SPLASH! Lil' Gold plunged into the lava river.
Lil' Gold has died.
Nie Yan's heart sunk. With Lil' Gold dead, they had lost a powerful tank and damage dealer. This uphill battle only grew steeper.
In an instant, all of Drakuru's aggro was focused on Bladelight, who was gradually being overwhelmed. Just as it looked like he was about to share the same fate as Lil' Gold, Smoke Stub and Lei Su came rushing over. They pincered Drakuru and tried to draw away his attention. However, Drakuru ignored them and went all out on Bladelight, even critting several times.
Bladelight was forced to the edge of the bridge. One more step, and he would fall into the lava below.
As everyone despaired, Kalenna waved her staff. A white light wrapped around Bladelight, forming a protective barrier.
Drakuru stopped attacking midway and instantly retreated several steps. He appeared to be deathly afraid of the white light wrapped around Bladelight.
Charge!
Bladelight took the opportunity to rush back to the center of the bridge.
BANG! Drakuru's fist slammed into Bladelight, somewhat hesitatingly.
−552
With the damage Drakuru dealt to him greatly reduced, Bladelight was elated. This meant he could freely attack Drakuru without care!
Kalenna wasn't done yet. With another wave of her staff, blue rays of light fell over the casters. Their mana quickly started recovering.
"Wow! Mana Recovery +500%!" Tang Yao exclaimed in shock after checking his status. Like this, he would no longer have to worry about running out of mana! As for the others, all they would have to do was sit down for a while, and their mana would be back to full.
Seeing their mana recovering, Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the others got back up and started attacking Drakuru.
"Everyone, keep up the DPS!"
"Don't let up!"
Drakuru's health had already recovered to 25%. To here and no further. With their mana bars quickly filling up, their DPS increased significantly and Drakuru's health started falling back down again.
Kalenna's might far exceeded anyone's imagination. Apart from increasing their mana recovery rate, she had also buffed their various other stats, increasing their damage output by more than 200%.
What a frightening battle angel!
"We can do this! Kill the boss!"
A shower of spells arced through the sky and bombarded Drakuru.