After emerging unscathed from the elite guard's skill, the party swiftly resumed their attacks. The dark elf kept targeting Silver Blade. He managed to break through her [Luring Barrier] but afterwards the tank still had enough stance to defend herself against the dark elf's spear.
However, Silver Blade noticed something as she wielded her shield. The opponent's moves were more fluid than usual. Blocking them had become more difficult.
Thanks to her training in martial arts since young, Silver Blade wasn't struggling too much, but Radiant Shield facing the other elite guard was under some pressure. He realized that if he was still at the same skill level as three months ago, he might not succeed in blocking all the attacks. Even now, one or two times the spear tip almost managed to slip past his defence.
NPCs exhibited higher combat skills. The difficulty of the flights increased by a level, forcing Radiant Shield to focus on the opponent's movements. However, the increase in difficulty was not sever enough so as that two elites would overcome the party. It didn't take much longer for the dark elf facing Silver Blade to fall. Immediately everyone came forth to assist Radiant Shield.
"You arrived in the nick of time, my friends! I am about to run out of stance."
Just as Radiant Shield informed his friends, he received another blow from the spear. His stance emptied out and he was injured for about one thousand points of damage. And yet his friends weren't at their peak either. They had used most of their skills on the first elite guard and were now waiting on cooldowns.
Liam's swords moved skilfully. A flash ran through his eyes as he noticed how the elite guard tried to take a step back. He adjusted the trajectory of his strikes, not giving the enemy a chance to dodge. His swords struck the guard's shoulder, flashing with a holy light. Instantly three swords formed from holy light appeared behind Liam's back, shooting towards the enemy. An explosion shook the cave as the Holy Mark above the guard's head exploded.
[-1008!]
[-504!]
[-60!]
[-1360!]
[-255!]
The damage numbers almost didn't stop popping up with what were essentially only two attacks. Liam alone dealt more than two thousand points of damage, and the others didn't show any mercy either. It didn't take too long for the elite guard to approach the mark of 30.000HP.
"I won't let you desecrate the territory of the Dark Mother!"
The dark elf spoke between gritted teeth. He swirled his spear and used the same skill as his colleague earlier. A wave of dark magic soon spread in all directions. The party had scattered in advance, awaiting the attack. The only unlucky one was Radiant Shield. With no stance left he had to opt to the use of [Holy Barrier] in order to withstand the attack.
[-8011!]
The tank drew a sharp breath. The enemies here were indeed quite fierce. Luckily his [Holy Barrier] was extremely sturdy, able to tank such a hit.
"Careful!"
"Ah!"
Suddenly Radiant Shield heard some startled shouts from behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed that Fortune was in the process of casting a skill and had refused to stop it before attempting a flash step. Unfortunately, she failed and was hit by the dark magic.
[-8978!]
Noticing everyone's looks Fortune felt a hint of embarrassment. She meekly defended herself:
"Sorry guys. I was just trying to practice…"
The others nodded lightly. No one would blame Fortune for a small mistake. Balm swiftly waved her wand, somewhat glad that she had something to do after all. Fortune only had 1533HP remaining and was in dire need of healing. A highly reinvigorating sparkle of lively, green magic fell on her and her HP recovered entirely.
"Thanks…"
The small intermezzo was soon ignored by everyone as they redirected their attention to the elite guard. As many skills came off cooldown the friends rushed towards the enemy, raining their attacks down on him. The elite guard stood no chance. He managed to deal some more damage to Radiant Shield before finding his end.
"Good job, guys!", praised Silent Acacia calmly.
"Mhm. Nice fight."
"Those guys were not weak. And yet they were only the door guards."
"Well, it won't be teeming with elite enemies inside."
"Guess you're right."
"Hey, did you also feel like the enemies were moving more skilful than in the past?", asked Radiant Shield.
"Hm, now that you say it…"
"Perhaps…"
The others appeared thoughtful. They didn't perceive it that strongly. But Silver Blade and Liam agreed with Radiant Shield's words. The veteran couldn't help but remind his friends again:
"Starting from level 50 the enemies will show some more skills in combat. They will dodge, block, and try to overcome your defence. Don't get caught off guard."
"Got it."
"We will keep it in mind."
The friends came together to talk for a few seconds, getting rid of the tension, while Cyclone approached the bodies for their loot. She put on a nonchalant attitude, not even praying beforehand, looking as if she didn't expect much from the loot. But inwardly she was looking forward to it. Who knows, the first legendary item might come from a common mob?
Thinking this, Cyclone slowly reached out with her hand. An item appeared and Cyclone's face showed a disappointed expression. It was simply an uncommon chest plate. Cyclone didn't care much and threw it into the guild treasury. Now she didn't have much hope as she touched the second body. A light flashed and Cyclone felt a piece of paper in her hands.
"That's ok…"
Cyclone's mood improved a bit. A piece of paper usually indicated either a scroll or a recipe. Both were not terrible loots. Cyclone did a brief check and suddenly froze before letting out a shout of delight:
"Haha! I'm the best!"
The others were taken aback, placing all their attention on Cyclone. The blond mage was too excited to even tease them. She directly revealed the information about the item.
[Recipe: Intermediate Damage-Against-Player Potion
Effects: Use to learn the recipe for 'Intermediate Damage-Against-Player Potion'.
Requirements: Intermediate alchemist
A powerful potion which can tip the scale towards your favour when facing other players. Us with care when fighting with friends.]
Everyone's eyes lit up. Damage-Against-Player potions were quite famous in the circles of PvP players. There were only a handful of alchemists who had the recipe for Basic Damage-Against-Player Potions.
The first person who got his hands on the recipe was a player called Master of the Nine Cauldrons. But instead of using this trump card to join a guild at very favourable conditions, he decided to found his own organization, the Divine Alchemy Society. He managed to attract a lot of alchemists. Even the other players with the Basic Damage-Against-Player Potion recipe joined him.
Thus, the organization gained quite some fame and had become one of the biggest gathering places for profession players. They might not be good at fighting, but their money-making abilities were among the top. Thus, it was not surprising that Cyclone and her friends were excited getting their hands on this precious recipe.
However, there was another obvious advantage. The potion would be a great advantage in the battle against Galaxy. Sun's Knight was already in talks with the Divine Alchemy Society to buy basic potions. But now that they had the intermediate recipe, they could save some money, reducing the volume of basic potions they were about to buy.
Cyclone and Balm immediately made the arrangements. They informed Sun's Knight while Cyclone placed the recipe in the guild treasure for a price of one contribution points, asking Flirting Fairy to redeem it immediately.
After getting their hands on the recipe the friends were in a great mood. They thought that even if they didn't manage to recruit the NPC in time it would have been worth coming here. Their steps were light as they decided to continue. Radiant Shield and Silver Blade took the lead, pushing the big gates open.
A corridor revealed itself to the party. However, this one stood in stark contrast to the rough tunnels outside. The floor was draped in fine, red carpet. The walls were smooth and straight, covered in various decorative patterns which had been engraved into the grey stone.
A few artful paintings hung from the walls, showing the Tribe of the Dark Mother at its height being in a leading position among the dark elves. They even celebrated some victories against the high elves which didn't occur often in the history of Crunaboul.
However, the friends didn't feel much awe for the past glory of the tribe. They blatantly invaded the underground castle. The sound of their heavy footsteps was dampened by the soft carpet. Yet it didn't take long for the first group of enemies to notice them. Five dark elves surprisingly emerged from a door to the right and instantly threw themselves at the players.
The party didn't dare to underestimate the level 52 enemies just because they were of common rank. They fought in an orderly manner using everything safe for their ultimate skills. In this way the dark elves didn't stand a chance. They soon fell after barely using up Silver Blade's and Radiant Shield's stance.
Afterwards Liam led the party towards their target. They faced a few more ambushes, handling those calmly. They also veered off the path once for a treasure chest which gifted them an uncommon ring which went to Fortune, increasing her INT by a few points.
Following the labyrinth of corridors for more than half an hour, the friends finally got closer to their target. They passed another tall gate and entered a spiralling staircase leading deeper underground.