The trio emerged from the forest with a plan in mind, striding confidently toward Vormi, but stopping just beyond her striking range.
Vormi had not forgotten about the three Elves who had hurt her and escaped. As soon as they came out of the forest, her attention was focused on them.
Seeing them pause just out of her reach, she edged closer, eager to unleash her assault before they could react. Bosses in Dreamverse were just that smart but not as clever to see through the schemes of humans.
Samar watched with glee as she reacted exactly how he wanted.
In a bid to bring the trio within her striking range, she moved farther and farther away from the lake.
Vormi flung dozens of Draining Arrows in their direction but just as they were about to touch ViolentBear, they would fizzle out, enraging the Human-Serpent further.
Violent Bear was not using some amazing skill; no, he just made sure to stay a few inches away from Vormi's attack range.
The Draining arrows, which were condensed from Vormi's mana, could not sustain themselves out of her attack range. They would, thus, disappear harmlessly after leaving the attack range, before they could strike Violent Bear.
This tactic of infuriating Vormi worked like a charm. The human-faced-serpent was so enraged that she crossed the perimeter of the lake and exposed the Red orb to Samar's eyes.
As soon as the Orb lost contact with the lake water, Vormi flinched and moved back to dip it in water.
This confirmed Samar's theory; That Red Pearl was the key to defeating the Sanguine Serpent Vormi.
Samar immediately took charge of the team.
"Stivi, get in position. ViolentBear, let's start stage two of our plan." Samar commanded and the two obeyed without question.
The Natureguard activated the skill, Shield Wall, raising his defense by 150%. Samar followed exactly behind him in a line, allowing the skill to raise his defenses by 50% as well.
Vormi cautiously watched the trio move closer to her. Learning from her previous blunder, she did not immediately start attacking but let them gradually approach her.
She started another barrage of Draining Arrows once Samar and co had crossed halfway into her range of attack.
As numerous Draining Arrows flew towards them, Violent Bear made no effort to dodge but rather activated his second skill, Thorn Halo.
The arrows struck ViolentBear and removed nearly 20% of his health in one strike. Then his Thorn Halo activated and 10% of the damage he received was reflected back at Vormi.
Unfortunately, it did not garner the results he hoped. The damage number was so small that it hardly moved her HP bar.
Knowing that this method was futile, Violent Bear activated Insidious Embrace.
His aura completely changed in the eyes of Sanguine Serpent and he emitted a warm glow. Vormi, who had been born as a result of failed enhancement, immediately returned to the time when she was just born and her mother had provided warmth to herself and her siblings.
Vormi lowered her guard and the only person in her eyes was ViolentBear.
"Stivi, now!" Samar quietly whispered in the chat. This was the cue for Stivi to act.
The female Warblade jumped out of the bushes near the lake and charged towards the submerged tail of the Serpent. She jumped into the air and with all her might, she executed the skill, Beheading Slash.
Shiiik!
The Bronze-Copper grade Lacerbis performed its job and cleanly separated the portion connecting the Red Pearl to the Sanguine Serpent's Tail.
[Sanguine Serpent Vormi has lost her source of power and has been weakened.]
[Sanguine Serpent Vormi will lose 100 HP/sec until she can reunite with her Red Pearl.]
[Sanguine Serpent Vormi has entered Berserk state.]
Immediately after the notifications, a loud hiss sounded in their ears. The serpentification of the human face accelerated and Vormi's clear eyes became cloudy.
Vormi shrieked and hissed with anger and pain. She turned her neck and looked at the severed part of her tail. She lunged towards the separated part but she was a moment too late.
Stivi dragged the broken piece of tail away from Vormi and took it into her inventory. This foiled Vormi's plan of reattaching orb to her body through some mystical means.
Vormi lost the last vestige of intelligence after her failed attempt and became a creature governed by emotions.
She felt betrayed by Violent Bear and enormous rage towards Stivi.
Vormi did not know who she should deal with first - The person who had lulled her into a sense of security to betray her or the person who had actually severed her tail.
In the end, Vormi went after her betrayer first.
She quickly launched a Draining Arrow but its power was much weaker than the previous attacks. Instead of taking away 90 points of HP like before, it only dealt 62 points of damage to Violent Bear.
Vormi followed up the magic attack with a physical one. She slammed her broken tail at Violent Bear but he deftly stepped to his left and dodged the impact.
However, the acidic blood spurting from her wound still fell on his body and reduced the durability of all the pieces of equipment by a significant margin.
Samar took this chance to attack with his arrows. He dealt a steady stream of damage in hundreds but it was not enough to attract Vormi's hatred.
While he attacked, he could not help but notice a shadow of Pepico's movements in the way Violent Bear moved. Violent Bear's reflexes and the speed of execution were on a completely different level than Pepico but the basic movements were still the exact same.
Samar knew because he was the one who had practiced with Pepico for hours on end using his summoned beasts.
"Could Violent Bear be…?" Samar shook off this thought as soon as it appeared in his mind. He did not want to go down that rabbit hole and have his hopes dashed.
Just then, Vormi shrieked as she failed to land another attack on Violent Bear. She began to manipulate and gather the surrounding bloody water in her mouth, this time the process was much slower than before, when she had instantaneously cast the Blood Vortex.
Stivi jumped and attacked with Tempest Blade, mixing the skill with her Triple Hit Combo.
-109
-117
-127
-138
The damage numbers popping up were nearly twice as high than when she had hit the Serpent before, showing just how important that Red Pearl was to the Sanguine Serpent.
Stivi's attacks annoyed the Serpent but they were not enough to interrupt the Blood Vortex forming near her mouth. The glow only grew redder and larger every second.
Samar stopped shooting ordinary arrows and activated Flame Ward, giving all his attacks a 20% Fire Magic Boost. He then replaced his Ordinary arrow for a Fire Rune Arrow and launched the Homing Power Shot for the second time.
The arrow passed through the open mouth of Vormi and pierced directly into her throat. It also took away a huge chunk of her HP, more than what the three of them had removed in the past few minutes.
-1005 (Crit)
Vormi could not even shriek as all the energy gathered near her mouth lost control and entered her wounds, dealing another 5oo points of damage.
The Sanguine Serpent was left with just two thousand of her impressive Nine Thousand Five Hundred Health and was losing more every second.
She tried to gather energy and activate her last skill, Red Tide but without the Red Pearl she was truly powerless. She did not even manage to gather the required amount of mana for the spell before Samar interrupted her again.
Second after second, Vormi lost more and more health. Finally, she could endure no longer and succumbed under Stivi's sword.
[Congratulations! You have slayed a Tier 1 Boss, Sanguine Serpent, Vormi! You have received 13760 Exp.]
[You have completed the achievement, Sanguine Slayer.]
[Elven Faction Reputation +5]
The notifications sounded and white lights shone on the heads of all the three party members. Samar's levels jumped from Lv11 to Lv 13 while Violent Bear and Stivi both leveled up once each.
Violent Bear and Stivi went to collect the drops, while Samar checked the notifications and his stats.
When he returned, Violent Bear had a mischievous smile reminiscent of the familiar teen that used to follow him like a shadow.
The bulky Natureguard then said, "Guild Master, you are still as sharp as you were back then."