After Akimi destroyed the Qiuniu statue, one of the glowing lines connecting it to the boss vanished, and a defense reduction icon appeared beneath the boss's HP bar—proving that destroying the statues was indeed effective.
Not far from the boss, Kibaou also noticed the effect of destroying the statue.
His eyes lit up, thinking he had found the perfect strategy, and he immediately shouted, "Tanks, keep holding aggro! Everyone else, go destroy those bronze statues!"
Akimi, who was currently dodging the two elemental dragons, was shocked when he heard Kibaou's command—what a joke?! If the boss summoned more elemental dragons, there'd be no chance of winning!
But before he could warn Kibaou, the players—known for their quick actions—had already raised their weapons and rushed toward the various statues.
"You idiot, Kibaou! Tell them to stop!!"
Akimi shouted angrily while leaping to avoid another elemental strike.
But Kibaou just glared at him angrily and barked back, "Ignore him! I'm the commander! He just wants to hog all the contribution credit for himself! Keep attacking!"
Akimi was stunned by such words.
The other players hesitated briefly but soon picked up speed again and charged toward the statues.
As they did, the boss made its move once more.
This time, it slammed down its green and red claws.
In an instant, a green seedling sprouted from the ground, quickly morphing into a brown wooden dragon.
At the same time, crimson flames surged from the boss's body.
Instead of fading, the fire gathered in midair and formed a fire dragon.
These two newly summoned dragons completely ignored the tanks desperately throwing out taunt skills nearby.
They instead went straight for the players charging at the bronze statues.
"W-Wait! Stop rushing! Dodge now!!"
Just moments ago full of confidence, Kibaou now panicked, screaming in terror.
But it was too late.
The wood dragon, incredibly fast, coiled itself around one player and then bit down on his head.
The player had barely let out a scream of terror before his HP hit zero.
The fire dragon pierced through two players in a flash, then soared into the air.
The two it passed through were set ablaze, and within two seconds, their HP was also completely depleted.
The whole group was frozen in fear—only about ten seconds had passed from the boss's attack to the players' deaths, but that was enough to completely shatter their confidence, leaving only the raw terror of death behind.
"Aaaaah! Instant kill?! How the hell are we supposed to beat a boss like this?!"
"Run! If we keep fighting, it's suicide!"
"Kibaou! What the hell are you doing?! What kind of garbage orders were those?! Are you trying to get us all killed?!"
While the players shouted accusations, fear, and rage, the wood and fire dragons twisted through the air again, swooping down on them with no time to react.
In that moment of crisis, a tall figure stepped in front of the players.
Silver-gray hair fluttering in the wind, his snowy white cape billowing, he raised his massive shield—determined to block the dragons' assault.
"Thud!"
The wood dragon, faster of the two, slammed first into Heathcliff's shield.
The wooden dragon's charge was forcefully blocked by the shield.
Heathcliff took a few steps back from the dull impact, but his gaze remained calm.
He drew the one-handed sword mounted on the back of his shield, twisted his body slightly to absorb the force of the blow, and then used that momentum to slash at the wooden dragon.
The sharp blade left a deep gash along the creature's body.
Having landed a clean hit, Heathcliff didn't follow up with another strike.
Instead, he turned to face the incoming fire dragon and raised his shield once more.
When the fire dragon clashed against the shield, it, which had seemed ethereal before, suddenly felt solid—Heathcliff managed to physically shove it back with his shield.
After tanking the attacks from both dragons, Heathcliff's HP had only dropped by about one-sixth.
His expression remained composed, as if this had been nothing at all.
But the rest of the players were anything but calm—those very same wood and fire dragons had just instantly killed three people, and Heathcliff had repelled them by himself, barely taking damage.
The Knights of the Blood Oath members immediately lit up with excitement, shouting things like, "I knew the commander was the strongest!" and "Of course it's up to our leader to save the day!"
Faced with the praise of his comrades, Heathcliff said nothing.
He merely stared intently at the boss, watching carefully for its next move.
Elsewhere, Akimi, who had been chased around by the two elemental dragons for about a minute and a half, finally came to a stop—not because he was ready to counterattack, but because the dragons had vanished.
Their skill duration must have expired.
"The duration is about two minutes…" Akimi muttered, frowning as he watched the dragons fade.
"What a pain."
After Akimi stopped moving, Kirito and Asuna—who had been stuck "scratching" the boss with barely effective attacks—also ceased their assault and ran over to join him.
Shaking his hand out with a frustrated look, Kirito complained, "This boss is way too tough. We've been hacking at it all this time, and we've only shaved off about a tenth of its first HP bar."
Over ten minutes had passed since the raid group entered the boss room, but their progress was… less than ideal—three players dead, five heavily injured, and the boss's HP was practically untouched.
"We only stand a chance if we take out those bronze statues," Akimi said grimly.
"From what we've seen, if anyone so much as targets those statues, the boss ignores all taunts and instantly locks onto that person, summoning elemental dragons to intercept them.
The dragons last about two minutes each, and we've already seen four.
We still don't know if the boss has a cooldown between summons—or if it can just keep calling more."
Kirito, hearing Akimi's analysis, looked troubled too.
He turned to him and asked, "So… what do we do now?"
"Have the rest of the raid keep chipping away at the boss. I'll go take out those statues myself... With their skill levels, most of them wouldn't even be able to dodge a single hit from those elemental dragons."
Akimi clenched his fist slowly and said softly.
---------------
Exclusive access : 180+ch on paetron
Join now : patreon*com/DeCakraWnloverz