10/6 10:48 (Autumn, Day, Sud Midrar, Undead Dungeon)
Amber swung her Unique Arma at the two Skeletons only for one of them to force her to step away as its sword thrusted right for one of her eyes, buying enough time for the other Skeleton, this time armed with a bow, to shot right through the Lich and forcing the Phoenix to move away from the three.
This was an error as the two Monster brought the Lich enough time for it to Cast its Spell.
A bright purple sphere formed above it before it exploded, releasing a wave of Negativity the next instant that washed over the Lich, the two Skeletons and the four Mates all together.
Mafel and Sabel were fortunately unharmed from this attack as Luna deflected the Curses that would have landed on her Mates with her Aura to concentrate them on herself and herself alone, her Nullification being overwhelmed by the triple assault as she trembled briefly as did Amber.
Meanwhile the Undeads were not only unharmed even if all three of them were actually Targetted by the Spell itself.
Not only were they unharmed but they were also strenghtened further, all that thanks to their Innate Skill "Minus Reversal", an incredibly dangerous one that as a start greatly lowered the Magnitude of Holy Resistance while not only turning Curse Resistance into Curse Absorption but also enhancing the owner's Existence if they fully Absorb a "Cursed" Status Alteration.
And differently from the Grudge Elemental of before, there is no chance of the Undeads to die because of too much power as this Skill explicitely and safely Boosted their Existence and Existence alone.
Amber roared, a wave of fire released in an instant from her mouth to rain down upon her three opponents only for the Lich to intervene, Casting a Barrier against the Fire-Attribute to once again block the attack to protect its Skeleton guards from the attack and creating an opening for the archer to shot the Demon-blooded one right in the heart.
She hurriedly rose her sword, blocking the arrow and being sent flying back, landing on the balls of her feet before launching herself left, dodging a purple beam sent by the Boss before rising her blade to hastily block the sword held by the Skeleton swordman, her legs bending slightly because of the weight of the blow.
Her eyes narrowed in concentration, flames fleeing from her mouth as she roared in concentration, her blade sending the Monster flying back as her strenght suddently and explosively increasing.
"Good. She started to actually use her increase in strenght following her C-Rank advancement." Luna commented satisfied as Amber moved at speed higher than ever before despite, or more precisely because, of her weakening caused by the Curse.
After all now she found herself having to bring to bear the entirety of her power to fight properly despite the Curse's weakening her body.
Amber jumped forward at full speed, even faster than she was just moving with her explosions to the point that she reached the swordman before it could even react, her blade burning brighter and brighter as it fell again and again upon the Skeleton and as time passed, her strenght and speed increased as she started to consciously use her newfound power at her best.
At seeing that Sabel didn't hesitate, her eyes narrowed in focus as she started to push against the Aura around her using the Vital Mana gifted her by Luna and moving it within and around her own body until, a short but very long-feeling two minutes later, her own Aura started flaring violently from her own body before fluidly mixing with Luna's.
This last one, after all, had already mastered how to mix her Aura with others' thanks to her experience with combining with Amber's and her Familiars' own and was more than able to synchronize with Sabel.
Following the black haired one's gaining of her newest Skill, Mafel herself started to imitate her with her own Vital Mana following the memories of all three of her Mates about the use of Aura itself.
After all with Sabel's Innate Skill "Status Alteration Resistance" in effect on all Allies within her Aura, she had enough concentration to try and copy her Mate's process.
Amber, meanwhile, was concentrating on the Boss and its two followers, at the moment consisting of two Skeletons armored and wielding swords as its previous minions were killed by her, her sword flashing all over the pace as the Curse on her already ran its course and she moved now with even greater speed and strenght than even before.
She moved left, dodging a beam of No-Attribute Mana Casted automatically by the Lich's Staff while it itself was Chanting another Curse, the sixth in total from when the battle started and the forth for this specific set of skeletal subordinates, before responding in kind with a wave of fire to try and disrupt its Casting and the corrisponding Spell.
It stopped its chant only for the skull upon its staff to continue on in its place while it proceded to fortify its Barrier against the flames and its two minions jumped out of the way, sending flying slashes at the Phoenix to push her away from the Boss.
A purple mass concentrated above the Lich's head, pulsing before exploding in a wave that would wash over all seven of them.
Or at least that is what would have happened if Luna didn't suddently open her eyes and released a roar, sending forth a pulse of Vital Mana that precisely disrupted the sphere, destroying it and sending a backlash back at the Lich, forcing it to still as Vital Mana coursed throught its body.
Amber saw that and more specifically the Lich twitching in pain as flashes of Energy erupted from its body in irregular intervals, its body trembling because of the continued assault.
She didn't hesitate, her lips stretching in a sharp smile as she launched herself at one of the distracted Skeletons, impacting it with a kick followed by an explosion that sent it flying beyond the border of this Floor.
A couple of seconds later, it reappeared above it, only to fall an additional 10 meters at high-speed, landing hard on the ground and creating an opening for the one covered in flames to sent a bursting sphere at the occupied Lich.
Fortunately for it, the other Skeleton jumped in the way of the attack, shielding it with its own body.
The Lich tried to Cast another Spell only for it too to be destroyed by the Lunarian and Energy violently erupting from its body and bringing it to its knees again, a strident yell escaping from its maw.
The Skeletons didn't hesitate, moving in response to its command one towards Luna to try and stop her from interfering with the Lich's Casting while the other jumped Amber, intending on distracting her and in so doing prevent her from helping her Mates.
The blonde merely smirked, confident on not needing to help or even turn towards the three and concentrating on her opponent alone, trusting them to handle themselves, before attacking the sword...man? Swordbone, yes, she nodded to herself, satisfied by the name she just came up with.
Luna turned towards the newly named swordbone, her Aura opening slightly to allow it entry before closing down around it hard, forming long tentacles that immobilized it completely while not killing it, well aware of the fact the Lich could not Summon anymore once its limit of two active was reached and the process of Dispelling them would require either time or Energy.
However this was not all as the moment after it was captured, Mafel finally Unleashed her own Aura, her Holy- and Curse-Attribute mixing with their Aura thanks to her Innate Skill "Holy Curse" as Blessings filled not only Mafel, Sabel and Luna but also the so-called Swordbone and the reason for such was very simple.
The Skill "Minus Reversal" had a very important and relevant downside.
To easily explain it, if you consider the Existence Value of a Being to be "100", Blessings increase that value by, for example, "10" while Curses instead lower that value by let's say "10"; however with this Skill, the Value would be "-100" and following that, the same Curses of before would render it to the value of "-110" while the same Blessing would render it at "-90".
In other words, Blessings would actually weaken them instead of strenghtening them.
Following that Luna's Aura filled the floating platform completely, proceding to heal and strenghten all four Mates while weakening all three Undeads thanks to Mafel's influence.
Amber released her Aura fully before severing the Skeletons limbs in an instant and kick it to the ground hard, the Aura forming even more tentacles to immobilize it.
The next second the Lich that was futilely trying to Cast, had its Spell destructively interfered with before the Aura solidified around it and bringing it on its knees, smashing its head in the ground hard and forcing it to look up to Luna, the Lunarian's eyes shining brightly before she rose her left leg and stomping on its head hard, cracks spreading all over its body before Energy violently erupted from it, killing it.
The Magicule Crystal appeared in the air and was quickly shattered, Magicules absorbed quickly and efficiently by all four of them.
*Luna Gains 10.000 Magicules.
*Luna Gains the Ability Skill "Counter-Spell" E.