Naoya's heart was pounding as he faced off against Niraxia, the fearsome sea dragon. Memories of his previous defeat against this formidable boss flooded his mind, but this time he was determined to emerge victorious.
He quickly scanned Niraxia's stats on his screen, taking note of the dragon's health and weaknesses. "Lightning," he muttered to himself, mentally going through his list of units. "I have just the ones to exploit that weakness."
With a confident smirk, he strategically placed his units on the battlefield, ready for the countdown to end and the battle to begin.
As Niraxia made the first move, Naoya watched intently, bracing himself for impact. The dragon let out a deafening roar, but to Naoya's surprise, the attack dealt no damage to his units. However, he noticed that Niraxia's attack had lowered his unit's defense for three turns.
But Naoya was undeterred. When his turn came, he selected his unit Ignis and clicked on the "Burnout" spell, channeling his magic to take advantage of Niraxia's weakness to lightning.
A burst of flames erupted from Ignis, enveloping Niraxia in a fiery inferno. But as the flames licked at the dragon's scales, Naoya realized with a sinking feeling that the sea dragon's natural habitat had made it resistant to the fire-based attack. The fire quickly evaporated, leaving only minor damage in its wake.
As the system panel announces "Niraxia's turn," Naoya watches with bated breath as the sea dragon charges up a powerful water sphere and takes aim at Niwatari, his trusted healer. The attack lands with a sickening thud, causing her health to plummet by 310 points. But just as Naoya fears the worst, he hears the comforting chime of Niwatari's passive ability, Resilience Aura, kicking in. It grants her and her allies a temporary boost to their defenses, buying them some precious time to regroup.
"This is bad," Naoya mutters to himself, racking his brain for a solution. "I don't remember the old strategy that I used to defeat this sea dragon."
His fingers fly over the interface as he selects Denkou, and clicks on "Thunderous War Cry." Denkou lets out a deafening roar, bolstering his defenses and boosting his critical chance.
As Niraxia's turn comes around again, Naoya braces himself for another attack. True to form, the dragon unleashes a devastating AoE attack, "Water Breath," hitting all of Naoya's units. Ignis takes 150 damage, Niwatari takes 130, Denkou takes 100, and Kazuchi takes a staggering 190. Naoya lets out a sigh of relief, knowing that if not for Niwatari's passive, Ignis would have been wiped out.
"That's close, now then time for the best part." He pauses for a second before pressing Kazuchi on the system panel. "Everything now!" He grins as he selects "Thunderstorm Dance." Kazuchi charges up his dual blades with lightning and dashes towards Niraxia, dealing a massive 1,900 damage.
The Thunderstorm Dance stuns Niraxia. He then clicks the settings on the system panel and enables the "On-Voice command." "Aria! Use Moonlit Blessing!"
"Understood!" Aria waves her staff towards Naoya's units, giving them a boost to critical strike, agility, and defense for two turns.
"In this way, I can hear everyone's tho-" He was interrupted by a guy's voice.
Ignis grumbled, "That guy sure is dumb. I mean, why did he pick a fire element in this ocean place?"
"Well," Niwatari replied calmly, "he's our summoner, so we have to listen to him."
Kazuchi added with a shrug, "That's right. Even if Naoya-dono fails, he can just defeat it again."
"Aria, is it just me or are they talking in the middle of the boss fight?"
Aria looked at him. "Um, I think you ARE listening to their conversation."
Naoya muttered to himself, "Is this one of the features? First, I can summon banners as they appear in the real world, and now I'm in the game. It's weird but fun at the same time."
Ignis spoke up, "Summoner, retreat me already! I am useless in this fight!"
"No! Not yet! I'm gonna need you to cooperate with me!" Naoya replied determinedly.
"Tsk! Fine!" Ignis grudgingly agreed.
"Now that Aria's buffs are activated, I just have one chance to make this work," Naoya said to himself, as he selected Full-Combo Unit on the system panel. The five units started an elemental reaction combo.
"Feel the heat of my flames! Ember Explosion!" Ignis aimed and unleashed his fiery attack at Niraxia.
"I'll show you my fastest yet most powerful attacks. Electric Blade Form: Shockwave Dance!" Denkou exclaimed, launching an attack that triggered an elemental reaction of "Overloaded".
"My turn," Kazuchi declared, his body poised in a combat stance. "Electric currents surge through my blade," he continued, his voice growing more fervent. "As I draw it forth, lightning's deadly aid, Raikiri!" With lightning speed, he dashed forward and slashed Niraxia.
Niraxia's health plummeted to zero under the combined assault of the units' buffs and attacks. The units and Naoya cheered each other on, their adrenaline still pumping from the thrill of the battle.
"That was something..." Naoya muttered, his heart still racing from the excitement.
"Yeah! It was all thanks to my flame!" Ignis exclaimed proudly, his chest puffed out in satisfaction.
"Naoya-dono, that was a good experience. Call me when you need me again," Kazuchi offered with a nod.
Naoya acknowledged him with a small nod, then turned to the system panel and congratulated himself on his victory. "Congratulations! You beat Arena mode (Easy Mode)!" The screen displayed his reward of 50 Chronos.
Naoya nodded at the system panel and then congratulated himself, saying in the screen, "Congratulations! You beat Arena mode (Easy Mode)! Rewards: 50 Chronos."
He fell silent as he realized that he was now back in the real world, in his exact bedroom. He stayed quiet for a moment, lost in thought. "That was easy mode...?" he muttered to himself.
He flopped back onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling in silent contemplation
Suddenly, a bright portal appeared in his bedroom. "Master! Your commands are accurate as always!" a voice boomed.
Naoya muttered a half-hearted "Thank you" before the voice continued. "Eh? Master? What's wrong? What's with the face?
"Nothing... I just realized how much of a pay to win I am, but I still stick to easy mode," Naoya sighed, his disappointment palpable.
"Master, Master! You do realize that there's an event right?" Aria exclaimed.
"Hm? What event?" Naoya asked, turning his attention towards her.
"Free 10x pull daily and 200 Chronos every login 7 days, and it's my sister's next banner," Aria informed him eagerly.
"Your sister... Ahhh... right..." Naoya trailed off, his mind wandering.
Naoya then sat up with widened eyes. "Ahhh! I remember now! There's gonna be new mechanics for elemental reactions!" he exclaimed.
"That's right!" Aria confirmed.
"When is the next banner?!" Naoya inquired, excitement growing in his voice.
"4 days left," Aria replied.
"Ack, will 10,000 Chronos be enough..." Naoya muttered to himself, deep in thought.