The boss still didn't show the urgency of someone fighting for his life. He circled above the player's heads enduring the damage brought by Cyclone's lightning rope.
"Let me see if you have what it takes to kill this prince."
Endal's voice resembled that of a stern teacher. He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, white flames suddenly engulfed his and Tumbly's bodies.
Silent Acacia's lip twitched. His arrow was already in the air, about to hit the boss. But he knew that it was futile. As soon as his arrow got close to the boss it evaporated from the heat emitted by the flames.
"Prove your worth!"
Endal reached out with his hand aiming to the floor. A deceptively small spark separated. And another and another. They fluttered through the air making their paths hard to predict.
Liam squinted his eyes observing all the sparks closely. After a couple of seconds, he noticed one of them about to hit the floor. He instantly warned his friends:
"Over there!"
Everyone looked in the direction Liam pointed at. Right at this moment the spark hit the floor.
Bang!
A surprisingly heavy explosion ensued, and a bright light flashed, almost resembling a modern flashbang.
The friends hastily closed their eyes. But they didn't dare to do so for too long as they knew what was about to follow.
A heatwave spread through the cave as a ring of flames spread from the explosion, running along the floor.
Watchful Eye stood closest to the flames. He quickly opened his eyes again only to find that the flames were about to hit him. He hastily jumped.
Searing flames passed close to his feet, the pure heat paining him momentarily until it left just as quickly as it came.
A second later the flames reached the rest of the party. Radiant Shield gritted his teeth. The party had already found out that the flames couldn't be blocked. Only a well-timed jump or flash step allowed one to escape the damage.
But flash step was not an option for the tanks and jumping was difficult in the heavy armor.
Of course, his body's strength was high but the weight of armor in the game couldn't be measured with normal standards. Starting from level 20 everything in the game exceeded the realm of a normal person.
If Radiant Shield's armor were to appear in real life even the strongest non-martial artist wouldn't be able to damage nor wear it.
No time to complain! Jump!
Radiant Shield reprimanded himself as he gathered all the strength in his legs to jump over the flames. Uncomfortable heat travelled along his body, but he managed to avoid the damage.
The same couldn't be said for everyone unfortunately.
"Ah!"
"Damn!"
Shocked cries came from behind Radiant Shield. It were Fortune and Cyclone who both made the mistake of looking at the explosion for too long. Until they managed to recover from the flashing light, the flames were already upon them.
[-2041!]
[-2042!]
The two mages shivered as nearly a third of their HP evaporated. But the boss wasn't done yet. This was only the first spark to reach the floor.
Even Liam had a chill run down his spine watching the dense sparks in the air. Compared to normal mode, where the boss only released three sparks, this almost didn't seem like the same skill anymore.
The veteran fully focused on warning his friends. It was almost as if he had eyes at the back of his head. No explosion could escape his notice. He even told his friends when to look away and when to jump.
With Liam's micromanagement the party made it through two more explosions with minimal damage. Only Quickstep suffered once as a spark landed too close to her body.
Sparks continued to float through the air. Everyone held their breaths in anticipation. But for a few seconds no sparks seemed willing to come to the floor.
"Stupid boss, do something!"
Cyclone shouted at Endal to vent her nervousness. She waved her wand, sending a sphere of magical power. But it suffered a similar fate as Silent Acacia's arrow earlier, evaporating before it could deal damage.
Yet Endal only smiled with inexplicable meaning.
However, something suddenly changed. Multiple rocks inlaid in the ceiling began to give off a mellow light.
"Finally!"
The friends were relieved as they realized what this represented. These rocks were their way to break the boss's skill!
"Acacia, the honor is all yours.", announced Radiant Shield.
The hunter nodded, taking a deep breath. He vowed to himself not to let down the party's trust.
Estimating Endal's flight path Silent Acacia picked a certain boulder and aimed his arrow at it. His bow was drawn tight. Only the sound of flapping wings registered in his ears. His eyes switched between the rock and the boss.
Now!
Suddenly Silent Acacia opened his hand. The bowstring snapped back into place. An arrow shot out at an insane speed. It sailed through the air hitting the large rock.
With a low rumble the rock separated from the ceiling. It fell freely. One second, two seconds. Silent Acacia let out a dejected sigh. It was already obvious that the rock wouldn't hit the boss.
And indeed. The two passed each other narrowly. The boss continued his circles while the rock plunged into the abyss below. A thud echoed through the city as the rock shattered somewhere below.
Silent Acacia knew there was no point in being disappointed. He was just about to nock another arrow when Endal waved his hand.
Immediately the next spark sank to the floor. Liam hastily shouted a warning, but everyone was caught off guard, nevertheless. Silver Blade, Cyclone, and Balm were the only ones to look away in time.
Instantly the flames washed over the party before they could recover from the blinding light. Only Balm had more luck. This time she stood the furthest from the impact and managed to shake off the light's effect before the flames reached her. She barely managed to dodge.
Yet the brutal flames left the party in shock after dealing more than 10.000 points of damage combined. And it didn't end there. Two more sparks found their way to the ground.
"Listen to me! Cyclone, dodge! Edge!"
Liam did his best to coordinate the party. His stern voice rang in everyone's ears. After Liam's repeated demonstrations of his skills the party almost instinctively followed his words if he spoke in such a tone.
They made it through the next two explosions unscathed. But mentally everyone struggled to endure the increasingly tense pressure.
"Acacia! Acacia! You got this!"
Cyclone rooted for their hunter as he nocked the next arrow. The young man's originally tense face softened. Noticing this, the others also spoke some encouraging words.
Silent Acacia took a deep breath feeling the pressure ease up. He released his arrow. Watching its trajectory, he nodded confidently.
The arrow travelled through the air and collided with another rock, which promptly loosened from the ceiling.
Endal's eyes narrowed. The solid rock plunged from the ceiling coming right towards him. Its surface began to glow from the flames surrounding the boss but the rock managed to endure.
"Ouh!"
A groan escaped the boss's lips as he collided with the large rock. His body tilted, threatening to fall from the basilisk. Tumbly noticed what was happening to his partner and abruptly dived downwards to escape from the rock.
The basilisk drew a shaky curve and landed back on the floor. He stumbled for a few steps before coming to a stop.
Finally, the party saw their chance for revenge. They closed in on the boss, unleashing fierce attacks. Bloody Edge used his ultimate skill. Under the armor-melting effect the party dealt close to four thousand points of damage.
"Promising, promising.", praised Endal as he shook of his dizziness.
Silent Acacia couldn't comprehend the boss's attitude. His eye twitched as he asked:
"Shouldn't you be angry? Or at least displeased?"
"Haha, youngster…"
Endal only shook his head. Despite his genuine tone, he sounded increasingly condescending to the party. They put even more effort into the fight.
But with the next swing of Endal's sword he finally emptied Radiant Shield's stance. The tank watched the next attack solemnly.
[-1771!]
Endal revealed frightening power. If he only focused on Radiant Shield without using skills he would eliminate the tank within 11 hits.
But luckily Radiant Shield wasn't alone. As the damage spread amongst the party members Balm waved her wand to use one of her AOE healing skills.
Watching a lush tree appear on the battlefield, Endal for the first time squinted his eyes a little.
"You came prepared…"
Saying this the boss gave Tumbly a sign. The basilisk distanced himself from the players. Endal freely threw out three flaming spheres.
Yet as the melee players closed in and unleashed their next round of attacks the boss didn't engage them. Instead Tumbly flapped his wings and took to the air again, leaving behind the annoyed melee players.