Rows and rows of intricate bows lined the walls, their mere presence emitting a great threat, creating a zone of danger. And yet the party couldn't leave the zone as long as the cultist Phorina remained within.
"Ok, don't freeze now! Keep attacking! Stay vigilant!"
The friends kept an eye on the bows while continuing their battle against the boss. The bows remained unmoving, sparkling mysteriously. But no one felt reassured. The party knew that this was only the silence before the storm.
And finally, the storm arrived. Suddenly four entire rows, eighty bows, began humming as magical arrows appeared, their tips gleaming with a suspicious green light. The friends instantly felt all the fine hairs on their bodies stand up. They scanned the walls, looking whether they were in the aim of one of the arrows.
"Just dodge!"
Liam hastily shouted a warning. He knew that the arrows would shoot in a straight line. With twenty rows at various heights this basically created twenty plains which could potentially be targeted. And at the height of one of these plains Phorina was floating right now, which naturally meant that the party members were also staying around that height.
Finally, everyone recognized the danger. They hastily tried to ascend or descend, at least get away from the three rows showing activity. But would the boss grant them so much time? Ominous whistling sounds echoed through the entire tower as eighty arrows were released, turning into beams of light, piercing everything in their path.
Although it might sound like a long time had passed, it didn't even take a second from conjuring arrows to firing. Still unaccustomed to the skill not everyone managed to dodge in time. A beam of light slammed into the tail of Radiant Shield's beautiful griffon, sending the duo tumbling. Another crashed right into Korn, whom Silent Acacia had summoned to aid against the boss. The winged tiger let out a pitiful wail as he was thrown against a wall by the force, causing Silent Acacia's heart to ache.
[-4922!]
[-10.604!]
The arrows missing their targets all crashed into the wall, producing low thuds like galloping horses, each one striking one's mental barriers. Fortunately, the friends had iron wills. They showed not a bit of fear as they quickly swarmed at Phorina and resumed their attacks on the boss. The latter still had too much HP remaining.
Thus, the battle continued. The friends seemed to be in control, fighting steadily. But the bows lining the walls showed no signs of disappearing, always posing a threat looming over the players' heads. From time to time, they would prove their might as two to ten rows erupted, filling the air with piercing arrows.
It was impossible to dodge them all, especially if two or three neighbouring rows fired at the same time. The party's HP bars fluctuated wildly, and Balm finally had some work to do. She decided to activate her ultimate skill. A splendid star appeared high above, shining its light upon Balm. Within the sparkling silver there seemed to be a die rolling again and again, continuously landing on the number six.
Balm felt the empowerment brought by her ultimate skill [Blessing of Light]. All her skill had their cooldown reduced by 20%. The probabilities of all chance-based effects increased by 15%, harmonizing well with Balm's passive.
The healer worked hard, tirelessly bestowing heals upon her friends. Various additional effects were triggered. The heals might spread to other allies or might be repeated. Those embracing the comfortable healing magic might see their attributes empowered or a single cooldown reset to zero.
And Balm was happy to heal as much as possible, even telling Silver Blade to tank a few hits instead of blocking them, as [Blessing of Light] had its duration prolonged by 5 seconds for each 10.000HP healed.
Blinding light was conjured by Balm time and again, sending blessings to her allies. Yet it was necessary as the bows shooting from the sides were not easy to dodge, especially since the friends couldn't just stop attacking the boss.
And after a while Phorina increased the difficulty by another level.
"How long do you want to delay me?!"
An angry shout followed as Phorina unleashed a pulse of energy which pushed all the players back. She prepared a familiar skill. An arrow was nocked in her bow, stirring up the stale air, a fierce power boiling within. Her movements abrupt, she shot around, aiming the sharp arrow tip right at Cyclone.
"Too easy!"
The mage felt like she was already getting used to the rhythm of the battle. Sparks exploded where she stood and with a flash step she appeared some distance away. Where she had just left, a green light shot by, dispersing the sparks. However, right at this moment the bows outside resumed their activity. Cyclone felt a chill run down her spine. Before she could react, an arrow crashed into the belly of her lightning hawk, prompting the dignified mount to cry out in pain and anger.
[-11.886!]
As the boss bombarded them with two skills simultaneously, the situation became even more dangerous. Balm started sweating as she struggled to keep everyone healthy. Some of her skills were not that efficient in this situation. [Heal]'s cooldown was too long.
Soon, it became impossible to help everyone. The others had to take potions, but those came with a cooldown as well. And amidst the stressful situation Balm couldn't avoid being hit herself.
The scene went on for a few dozen seconds, and the party showed looks of exhaustion. Finally, what had to happen, happened. Cyclone was hit by two attacks in quick succession, and her HP were instantly depleted. She was sent back to the graveyard.
Silver Blade couldn't help but sigh lightly. Another damage dealer was gone. A few seconds later Phorina put her bow down and it was time for the friends to retaliate but their revenge turned out somewhat lacklustre. The depletion of the boss's HP was even slower.
At this point no one retained much hope, yet the friends kept fighting in order to get used to the rhythm of the battle. Soon, another dreaded moment arrived when Silver Blade ran out of stance. From then on, she could only block the boss with her body, prompting Balm to use more of her skills to heal the tank, leaving the others with less support.
One could imagine how this continued. The friends worked hard but only reduced the boss's HP slowly. Meanwhile Phorina paraded her various skills, striking fiercely while Balm's heals were on cooldown, unable to help. The friends were picked off one by one. After a while only Liam, Balm, and the two tanks were left. There was no big surprise left. After Silent Acacia and Radiant Shield used up their stance they were unable to hold on long enough for Liam to kill the boss by himself.
Soon even the two tanks were gone. Now having Phorina's attention almost entirely for himself Liam smiled wryly. Under the boss's bombardment he was forced to dodge so much that even his [Chaotic Tempest] couldn't recover all that Stance. Eventually even Liam was removed from the temple, leaving Balm all alone.
"Eh, listen, we really don't want to fight with you. We are actually on your side, you know…"
Balm wore a wry smiled but her attempt at persuasion was met with the cold, sharp tip of an arrow.
***
"You held on longer than I foresaw."
"Yeah, I don't think the boss is that difficult. A few more tries and we got this easy."
"Don't get complacent. We didn't even push her below half HP."
"But we still have those speed potions. Once we are confident, we take the potions, and the boss won't even know what hit her!"
"Sure, but for that to work we still need to get used to her attacks."
"I feel like it's mostly those bows along the walls. There is just too little time from the moment they light up to the arrow arriving."
"I agree. Are there no additional indicators?"
When Balm appeared in the storage room where the party triggered a checkpoint, she could already hear the others discussing the fight. No one was disheartened. Instead, they felt confident. A few more attempts, learning the signs of the various skills, and the friends would definitely overcome the boss.
There was not that much to discuss. The party decided to rest for a while, teasing Bloody Edge for his comical death. After everyone was back in full spirits they entered the boss room again.
"She's still working on that portal. At that pace the invading army will have already left again by the time she is done."
"Perhaps we should just lend her a hand?"
"Guys, focus."
Silver Blade's stern voice shut everyone up. They solemnly watched as Phorina turned around and said her part. There was no convincing the stubborn cultist. She was adamant on battling the intruders. Phorina revealed her weapon and the fight started anew.