"Talk later! Attack now!"
Liam cut everyone off as he swiftly rose to the sky. The oppressive pressure was gone, and the boss was visibly weakened. If they didn't attack now, they would miss a major opportunity. The others also understood this logic and didn't dare to delay. Eight people rose on their flying mounts, turning into beams of light as they dashed towards Phorina floating in the air, her posture speaking of fatigue.
The first to arrive was Liam. It was important for him to stack a few Holy Marks now as his [Chaotic Tempest] was about to run out. A sacred, golden light spread above Phorina and Liam fell out of it, striking the boss like a shooting star.
A wave of holy light spread, impacting the boss. More skills followed in quick succession. Liam danced around the boss with his sword engulfed in holy light, unleashing his entire might. Soon, five Holy Marks erupted. The weakened Phorina trembled as her HP were swiftly reduced by more than four thousand points.
Yet Liam was not alone. His friends arrived a moment later, their skills off cooldown, unleashing a terrible bombardment at the boss.
A few seconds later Phorina shook her body, getting rid of the momentary weakness. Her eyes became stern. In such a short while she had lost more than twenty thousand HP, leaving her with about 132.000 points remaining. For the first time Phorina felt that the intruders might actually be able to threaten her.
The boss didn't know that the friends were still unsatisfied. Without Bloody Edge and Watchful Eye, they lacked a lot of potential damage. They couldn't help but feel some doubts. With two damage dealers missing it would not be easy to take down the boss.
Liam also had similar thoughts, but he urged his friends to continue the fight. They had to experience more of the boss's skills to prepare themselves. Thus, Silver Blade took the lead, securing aggro, and the battle continued. The female warrior blocked Phorina's magical arrows, and her stance was chipped away attack for attack. Meanwhile everyone else attacked, steadily reducing the boss's HP.
Just now, as Phorina entered a weakened state, Radiant Shield had activated his ultimate skill [Call of the Inquisition], fusing his physical damage and physical resistance in a single stat, joining in the attack. It felt great to pummel the enemy with a massive, angelic hammer. But now that his skill had run out, he didn't have much to do, waiting at the side, prepared to jump in should the boss use physical attacks.
And Radiant Shield didn't have to twiddle his thumbs for too long. Phorina suddenly separated herself from the players, dashing towards the wall. She placed her bow away and long, knife-like daggers appeared in her strong hands.
"You are seeking death so I will grant it!"
The boss was becoming increasingly colder. She crossed the daggers in front of her chest, her body visibly tensing up, her muscles slightly bulging. Suddenly she pushed against the wall and disappeared from everyone's view.
Everything was happening faster than expected. Although the friends knew what to expect they were slow to react. From one moment to another Phorina appeared above Balm, her daggers poised to strike.
"Ah!"
The healer only let out a scream as the boss's body blurred, appearing like an x-shaped strike which seemingly passed through Balm's body. In the nick of time a barrier of light emitting an impervious aura appeared in front of Balm, shielding her from harm.
[-10.232!]
The barrier shook and cracked from the pressure, but it held on. Balm took a deep breath. She showed a thankful smile while instantly rushing in Radiant Shield's direction, as did the rest of the party. Balm ignored the boss who returned to her original position, looking down on the fleeing healer with a snort. Phorina turned into a blur, again leaning against the wall, repeating her actions a moment later.
At this point the whole party had gathered around Radiant Shield. The tank flexed his body, his face showing pure concentration. Suddenly there was a stir in the air. Phorina appeared, her narrow eyes fixed on Liam. The latter looked back with confidence, trusting his teammate.
And Radiant Shield did not disappoint him. Before Phorina could perform her attack, Radiant Shield appeared in front of her, his shield raised in a protective stance. He would not let his friends come to harm!
Bang! Radiant Shield's body trembled as the boss heavily crashed into his sturdy shield. He was pushed back, losing 47 points of stance, about one fifteenth of his total. Meanwhile Phorina, dissatisfied, returned to her original position.
"You can't protect them forever!"
"We will see…"
Balm's eyes sparkled as she watched Radiant Shield's heroic display. The boss did not give up right away. In a blink she appeared above Quickstep. But with the party standing close together this was not far away from Radiant Shield. The tank managed to arrive in time, withstanding another blow. The same scene repeated twice more before Phorina begrudgingly stopped her attempts. She rushed towards the wall and swapped back to her bow.
"Nicely done, Shield!"
"Yeah, good reactions!"
"Well played!"
The friends quickly praised their reliable tank before once again dashing at the boss. A green, spiralling arrow arrived first, aiming for Quickstep. The valiant warrior wasn't intimidated, dodging with a skilful swerve of her mount. All the training had paid off as the party got quite skilled with their flying mounts. And almost equally important was the confidence coming together with the skill.
Phorina only managed to fire one attack before Silver Blade arrived in front of her and slammed her shield against the boss, drawing Phorina's attention. Subsequently, the fight could continue in an orderly manner. The friends did their best to lower the boss's HP, advancing slowly.
Crackling lightning could be heard as a cage formed around Phorina, trapping her within. The boss turned her body, touching the lightning with her wings. Instantly numbing currents drove through her body. Phorina froze on the spot, paralyzed.
Cyclone's eyes lit up but only for a moment. Even if the boss was paralyzed for a second right now, it didn't really bring any advantage. At most her next attack would be delayed for a second. But so what? As long as the paralysis didn't interrupt a skill it wasn't that important.
And indeed, a second later Phorina regained her movement, firing another arrow as Silver Blade. The tank frowned faintly. She only had a third of her stance left. Soon, the boss would be able to break through, and the battle would enter a difficult phase.
But before that Phorina decided to reveal another skill. Despite comfortably sitting on 110.000HP the boss was in a hurry to get rid of the intruders. She suddenly took a deep breath and closed her eyes, placing one hand on her forehead. Everyone could feel a terrifying force brewing. Mana was attracted even from outside the temple, obediently fuelling the boss's spell.
"Ignore her! Keep attacking! Don't let off!"
The friends showed some caution but upon hearing Liam's words they continued bombarding the boss. Cyclone grumbled inwardly, considering that now would be the perfect moment to paralyze the boss. It seemed the goddess of luck might be asleep at the moment, forgetting to bless her favourite mage.
The others shared similar thoughts. Radiant Shield raised his hammer and activated one of his newest spells, [Sacred Shackles]. From his hammer golden light suddenly erupted, flooding the entire space.
With each enemy it came into contact there was a chance to have golden shackles appearing on their arms, binding their movements. Radiant Shield stared at the boss with anticipation. He saw the metallic, golden shackle forming on Phorina's arm, slightly illusory.
But before it could form completely the shackle trembled and shattered. Radiant Shield let out a sigh. He shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. Powerful bosses simply had too high of a resistance against stuns.
Resisting all attempts to stop her, Phorina easily finished her skill. She raised her hand now storming with condensed mana high and pointed towards the sky. Instantly streams of green lights erupted like water from a fountain, streaming towards the wall of the room. There, these streams turned into magical circles which devoured the mana and conjured rows and rows of intricate bows, all pointing straight ahead.
Everyone felt their blood freeze. What Phorina had conjured wasn't just a single bow but at least four hundred lining the walls in twenty rows from top to bottom, targeting a large area in between.
"Eh… I think we better shift the battlefield elsewhere…"
Cyclone's voice quivered faintly as she imagined what would happen if all of these bows fired at the same time.
"Could it be so easy? The boss has no reason to follow us."
Silent Acacia also wore a grave expression. His opinion was shared by the others. So what if they got out of the range of these bows, could they continue to attack the boss afterwards? Phorina had already proven that her range was big enough to reach the entire tower. There was no escape.