Silent Acacia moved quickly, soon reaching the tenth plate. He kept his vigilance high as he fired out more arrows, deciphering the path ahead.
The thief carefully advanced. But as soon as he took another step forward, a sound suddenly drew his attention. Holes opened in the ceiling and piles of bones fell out, surrounding him.
"Ha! Knew it wasn't that easy!"
Silent Acacia grinned confidently. Before the threatening skeletons could even stand up, he had already left their encirclement, returning to the party.
The friends praised their thief as he arrived without taking any damage.
Nat far behind were the skeletons. Not capable of critical thinking they mindlessly ran into every trap as they approached the party, their rusty sabers raised high.
But Liam and his friends repeated the tactics honed during their clear of the other hallway. They drew back, letting the skeletons suffer from burn continuously before engaging in a fight.
Naturally they easily won this battle.
Achieving such an effortless success, the party didn't hesitate to send Silent Acacia again.
Soon the hallway was cleared. Although Silent Acacia was hit by the flames two times towards the end, this was nothing a few Tacaria couldn't deal with.
Thus, the party was full of confidence as they arrived before another towering, red door.
"Everyone ready?"
Seeing the party nod unanimously, Silver Blade touched the warm metal, pushing open the heavy iron door.
The room lying behind was similar to Fuyarhin's, except for the vents which were exchanged for randomly scattered stone plates.
When the party entered, they took a thorough scan, attempting to remember the traps revealed under the dim lighting.
A few seconds later another light turned on, falling on a figure kneeling on the ground.
It was a woman looking similar to Fuyarhin. Her long hair was pristinely white, her large wings mostly black.
She stood up and turned around, showing the party her smooth face adorned by golden lines and the darkness rising from her chest.
"I take it you have already killed Fuyarhin? Foolish! Why would you choose their side?!
When Reylar succeeds, it might be time to do a cleansing among our own!"
[-78!]
The party was not yet prepared, expecting a long speech. But Cyclone didn't care, attacking carefreely. Surprisingly the boss was already done, taking the first bit of damage.
Silver Blade glanced at her friend, finding a triumphant smile on the blond woman's mouth.
But a moment later Cyclone's face fell as the opponent took out a wand of her own, hurling an attack towards Cyclone.
Even Silver Blade didn't see it coming. Luckily though the mage dodged quick enough.
[Stance -20]
"Huh, that was close."
"You have taken aggro!"
"Sorry…"
Silver Blade rolled her eyes as she dashed towards the enemy, checking her status on the way.
[Head Priest Fuyerhan
Rank: Lord
Level: 9
HP: 3000/3000]
A moment later she reached the priest, smashing her shield at the woman.
The head priest's head turned, staring angrily at the tank.
"Die, sinners!"
Silver Blade held her shield before her, blocking the incoming attack.
[Stance -8]
"It's alright I can block a few hits."
"Keep your eyes open. She might change between physical and magical."
"Got it."
After fighting the other head priest, the party could already foresee some of Fuyerhan's moves. They kept their minds focused, dodging the conspicuous stone plates on the floor and approaching the opponent for attacks.
About 600 HP vanished quickly. At the same time the effect of Liam's sword finally triggered, adding a stack of bleed onto the head priest.
The veteran instantly grasped his chance to use a [Double Slash], profiting from the increased damage.
[-73!]
[-40!]
[-44!]
"Wow, an expert is an expert indeed!"
"You little…"
Fuyerhan growled angrily as a silvery light engulfed her wand. It stretched out, a moment later turning into a noble sword.
The head priest gritted her teeth as she swung her graceful weapon in a wide arc before her.
"Careful!"
"Evade!"
The party members didn't hesitate to jump back. Only Radiant Shield stayed, bravely catching the blade.
[Stance -8]
"Nice! Good coordination!"
But just as they praised each other, a burst of flame suddenly shot from the ceiling, engulfing Watchful Eye.
"What? How?"
Everyone stared perplexedly as the man escaped from the fire, directlyy eating a few herbs to quell the burn.
Quickstep frowned, looking at the ground.
"Those stone plates have moved!"
"Really?"
"Damn, that's insidious!"
The others came to the same conclusion, the pressure on their shoulders increasing.
"Hey, friends, we are still fighting!"
Radiant Shield complained loudly, redirecting everyone's attention back to the head priest.
As Fuyerhan lowered her sword, the party approached her again, dishing out another round of attacks.
Just like Fuyarhin the black color on Fuyerhan's neck suddenly began to wiggle, seemingly alive. It spread over her face, giving her a ferocious, almost demonic appearance.
"You don't deserve master Reylar's gifts!"
Growling like a wounded beast the head priest distanced herself from the group, flourishing her wand.
A red glow gathered at the tip of dark ebony. She pointed forward, ready to use a skill.
Liam's eyes lit up. He grinned, deciding to show the group a little trick.
While everyone stayed apprehensive, ready to dodge whatever Fuyerhan was about to throw at them, Bleary Mirage suddenly dashed towards the head priest.
Although the others were surprised, no one questioned their expert.
Fuyerhan, however, felt provoked. She pointed her wand at Liam, sending a ball of red light towards his feet.
A red blinking ring of light appeared around Liam, indicating the incoming danger.
But the warrior only sped up, leaving the area, before it was covered in flames.
Dodging the skill didn't cost stance, thus Liam stayed confident despite drawing the opponent's attention.
A moment later he reached the head priest, swinging his sword.
[-51!]
"Die vermin!"
Fuyerhan's expression became increasingly crazed, swinging her wand faster and faster.
Two red rings appeared below Liam's feet. Coupled with the low travel distance, those spells arrived almost instantly, forcing the veteran to concentrate entirely on dodging.
However, with the way Liam moved, Fuyerhan was within the area affected by her spell as well. Surprisingly she suffered from the flames.
[-30!]
[-30!]
[-30!]
The other party members stared slack-jawed as Bleary Mirage danced around Fuyerhan, who continued to burn herself.
"F*ck! Who came up with this?!"
"Can't she move away?!"
Cyclone even leaned against a wall, pretending to yawn while Liam did all the hard work.
Half a minute later the head priest lost about 300HP from her own skill before stopping her actions.
Liam panted slightly. He stared at the opponent, a grin forming on his face involuntarily. Pulling off such a maneuver wasn't easy, even for him.
Clapping echoed in the room.
Liam's eye twitched as he looked at Cyclone.
"Nicely done, expert! Good job!"
"What are you doing over there? Attack the boss!"
"Coming, coming."
Silver Blade chuckled as she approached as well, ready to draw Fuyerhan's aggro.
Two more rounds of attacks passed quickly, the boss not able to make things difficult for the party.
When Fuyerhan was almost running out of HP, she let out a deep roar. Her wand transformed into a sword again, enveloped by a red glow.
She swung it fiercely at Silver Blade.
The two tanks were confused, not able to discern the nature of the attack. Thus, Silver Blade braced herself as she blocked with her shield.
[Stance -8]
[Stance -15]
[-32!]
"Whoa, what's going on there?"
"It's two attacks in one. Physical and magical."
"Damn? How are we supposed to block this?"
"We need to kill her before she kills us!"
The others nodded solemnly, bringing out everything they got.
[-185!]
[-25!]
Two more attacks reached Silver Blade. The magical damage was almost negligible, but the physical took a huge chunk of the tank's HP.
"Don't stop attacking!"
[-48!]
A brilliant sheen struck Fuyerhan's head, finally taking the last of her HP.
"Haha, last hit!", exclaimed Cyclone smugly.
Fortune took a few steps back for a perfect shot, speaking heroically:
"The party stays victorious, felling the opponent on their first try, thanks to everyone's contributions."
But while everyone was celebrating, Silent Acacia suddenly pointed at Fuyerhan.
"What's going on with her?"
Attracted by the thief everyone looked at the head priest. She was kneeling on one knee, her sword used as a crutch, her head lowered, covered by her wild hair.
Fuyerhan trembled strangely, struggling with something.
Suddenly the black color enveloping her showed signs of retreating as she raised her head slowly.
"Adventurer. I can't end like this. Are you willing to spare me just this once?"
Everyone was surprised by this request, not sure what to do. They turned towards Liam.
"Spare her if you want to meet again in the future.", explained Liam with a shrug.
"Will she be enemy or friend?"
"Who knows?"
Radiant Shield rolled his eyes looking at Liam's grin.
"Does it matter?", interrupted Cyclone. "It's a game. If there is more story to get, we should naturally let her go."
"Sounds reasonable."
"I'm with Cy on this one."
Gauging the party's sentiment, Silver Blade sheathed her sword, turning towards Fuyerhan.
"We will spare you!"