"How long does it take?"
"I'm out of mana."
"My arms are growing tired."
Liam observed a worrying trend. While Mehphre turned fiercer the more he fought, the guild members began to grow fatigued.
The low mana began to become a problem. The guild was forced to use their limited stock of mana potions.
Radiant Shield shook as he didn't have any stance left to defend against the black spear crashing into his chest.
[-2102!]
The guild's healers were adamant about using their spells with maximum efficiency. From time to time groups of players were asked to stand closer together to squeeze into the area of certain skills.
All of this gradually slowed the speed at which Dream Avenue advanced.
However, not everything became worse as the fight went on. After getting used to the boss's skills and after some unfortunate sacrifices it became easier to dodge the skills.
Mehphre circled above everyone's heads, spewing flames. Liam showed no signs of fatigue, keeping his concentration at its peak as he called out the shapes.
The guild members reacted well, formed the practiced formations, and avoided the attacks with great familiarity.
Every time the boss used his skill the guild lost at most three members, which, this far into the fight and with various low HP bars, was quite satisfactory.
Thus, the fight continued sluggishly with both parties slowly whittling away at their enemy.
However, Dream Avenue still had one inexhaustible alley. Hailstorms continued to form, attacking indiscriminately. Yet the guild found it much easier to dodge, especially as the number of players decreased. Mehphre however regarded the hailstorm with complete disregard even after suffering damage every time.
The magical anomaly once again took a large part of his HP before moving on, pushing his HP close to the 100.000 mark.
Mehphre huffed angrily, his eyes growing darker by the second as a ferocious will boiled within him. His movements grew fiercer, but in exchange his aim weakened. With every breath scalding steam erupted from his nose.
"Dragons, humans, elves... You are all the same. Vermin. Rats blocking my path..."
Cyclone rolled her eyes complaining to a mage next to her:
"Ouh, he's rambling again."
"Is it just me or is his voice becoming more animalistic?"
"No, I hear it as well."
"Feels like he is losing his mind."
Suddenly Mehphre let out a hair-rising roar.
"Dare not to take me serious?! Suffer!"
The sound of a heartbeat echoed through the battlefield. Everyone felt their stomachs sink.
Suddenly the world distorted, and the players were once more standing on a black stone. A dragon head appeared in the sky, its world-ending roar freezing everyone in place.
Silver Blade's breath was stuck in her throat. Her ultimate skill was still on cooldown. There was nothing she could do to help the guild members.
[Bleary Mirage: Who has useful skill's left?]
[Radiant Shield: I can try something.]
[Melodious Edelweiss: I just took a mana potion, I can help.]
The guild members communicated rapidly. Eventually they came up with some options.
Some of the healers had a skill which freed themselves and one ally from immobilizing effects, using them on Radiant Shield and Melodious Edelweiss.
As soon as he was free to act Radiant Shield activated his mount's skill [Beastly War cry]. Somewhat similar to Balm earlier, his basilisk let out a fierce cry which echoed through the dark world, as if defying the intimidating dragon head.
The war cry had the effect of increasing everyone's STR, which indirectly increased their defence.
However, checking his stats after using the skill Radiant Shield felt somewhat embarrassed. While [Beastly War cry] raised his damage by about a hundred points, his magical defence increased by a measly 20 points, which was almost negligible compared to the 1472 points he had initially.
Surely it couldn't be much more for other players.
[Bleary Mirage: Don't worry, it's better than nothing. For a skill which can affect such a large group it's already quite good.]
Just as Radiant Shield felt reassured Melodious Edelweiss's angelic voice spread through the air, similarly using a skill to boost defence.
Since it was percentage based, Melodious Edelweiss's skill proved more potent. Radiant Shield smiled wryly as he watched his magical defence climb to 1716 points.
But Radiant Shield didn't have much time to be embarrassed as the blanket of flames fell on the guild.
This time, the skill finally unfolded its cruelty. More than sixty guild members lost their lives to the flames, leaving less than 200 survivors behind.
A moment later the black world cracked and returned the players their freedom.
"It's getting dangerous..."
"Yes. We have to hold on."
"Less talking, more attacking! The boss is weakened!"
This time the players didn't need such a long time to recover. They regained their spirits and took revenge against the weakened boss.
With every HP Mehphre lost, everyone's confidence continued to grow.
95.000... 93.000... 90.000...
"Ah! Die for me! My life won't end here! I am a mighty draconian! I..."
"When does he shut up?!", exclaimed Cyclone, her ears nearly bleeding from the boss's crazed complaints.
"I feel like he isn't right in his head."
"How does he emit so much black air from his wings?"
The players mocked the boss as they continued their attacks. From this point on Mehphre became increasingly fierce. He took to the sky, unleashing six rounds of flame attacks.
However, as the guild lost more members it ironically became increasingly easy to coordinate and avoid the flames. Facing six attacks only four players were incinerated by the flames.
[Bleary Mirage: Keep it up, we've got this!]
With decreasing HP Mehphre gradually entered a crazed state. His speech grew widely incoherent. He wildly thrashed his spear in all directions, making life difficult for the tanks. Even the frequency of his attacks increased.
When the first tanks began to fall, everyone's hearts skipped a beat.
Eventually Liam sighed as the scenario he dreaded set in. The boss used his life-draining skill again. Spots of bloody light lit up along his skin, blood running down his black scales. Five spikes scattered in the surroundings.
The spikes were caught by Liam, Bloody Edge, Quickstep, Balm, and Silent Acacia.
[Quickstep: What should we do now? I used my last bit of stance to dash away from the flames!]
[Bloody Edge: My situation is similar.]
[Bleary Mirage: We need to climb his body!]
[Balm: Climb?!]
[Silent Acacia: I still have some stance.]
[Bleary Mirage: Use your flying dash if you still have stance left. I will go for the head!]
With no other options the friends listened to Liam.
Mehphre unleashed his cruel devouring force at the players. With little stance and mana left there was not much they could do to defend. Gradually the skill caused the first casualties.
Meanwhile the friends pushed their way through the crowd, closing in on the boss. Suddenly Mehphre turned his head. Everyone's hearts skipped a beat.
Cyclone watched in worry, praying for luck in her heart. And perhaps the goddess of luck listened as Mehphre didn't aim for the likes of Quickstep who were out of stance, instead looking in the direction from which Liam and Silent Acacia were approaching.
Liam let out a sigh of relief. He and Silent Acacia immediately used their [Flying Dash] to get out of the skill's range.
While the veteran had enough stance left to directly fly towards Mehphre's head, Silent Acacia could only ensure his own safety.
Quickly Balm, Silent Acacia, Quickstep, and Bloody Edge, arrived next to the boss.
Balm had the easiest job. Still seated on her basilisk she dug her spike deeply into the boss's knee.
[-3000!]
"AH!"
Next it was Quickstep who used her basilisk as leverage to do a short jump. She managed to cling to some spike growing at the height of Mehphre's waist. Next to her was a spot of light. With a fierce stab she punctured it.
[-3000!]
Mehphre began to sway form the pain, which didn't make the job easier for the others. Bloody Edge and Silent Acacia jumped onto the ten-meter-high body.
Holding onto scales and spikes they climbed like nimble monkeys.
"Wow, I didn't know you could climb that well!", shouted Cyclone.
"You got this!"
"Hotpot! Hotpot!"
"Dream Avenue! Dream Avenue!"
Excited cheers came from all sides. Everyone realized that this was their last hurdle. No one even cared as Mehphre continued his skill, claiming more lives.
After a short but exhilarating climb Silent Acacia and Bloody Edge pushed one last time and managed to reach Mehphre's wings. Clinging to the left and right sides of the boss, they grinned at each other.
"Haha, well done, Edge!"
"You're not so bad yourself, Acacia!"
The friends laughed brightly as they finally stabbed with the two spikes which were the last nails to Mehphre's coffin.
[-3000!]
[-3000!]
"AAHHH!"
Mehphre let out a cry of agony. He shook his body violently.
"No!"
"Ow!"
Silent Acacia and Bloody Edge were shocked as they lost their grip. They were thrown off, about to slam into the floor.