The party soon saw the first statue before them. It stood on a small platform in the shadow of a few strong trees. Compared to the devil's revealing clothes, this statue looked like an innocent young maiden. Only her face resembled the real Paradynim.
Two people knelt in front of the statue. Surprisingly it was an elf and a demon, worshipping the devil harmoniously. However, the party couldn't discern if those were real beings, some kinds of ghosts, or even illusions.
Listening to the footsteps coming closer the two people slowly stood up facing the party. Their appearances were outstanding. It wasn't surprising that the elf's beauty overshadowed everything else, but even the demon boasted outstanding looks.
A smile bloomed on the elf's face illuminating the world, as he addressed the players with a welcoming smile:
"Adventurers, did you come to worship our lady?"
Silver Blade glanced at her friends. Without answering the elf, she and Radiant Shield directly initiated the fight.
A quick check revealed that both enemies were level 36 elites, relieving the party of any worries. The fight ended quickly. Cyclone went to collect the loot without much expectations but she was pleasantly surprised. More recipes dropped.
Cyclone stored them in the guild treasury. By now Dream Avenue's profession players already begun to show their worth. Their products were of a high enough quality to be sold in the guild's store in Brobrity.
Although they couldn't attract the top players, there was a lot of money to be made from catering to the broad masses. The store was turning a profit and some of the guild's expenses could be offset by the store.
However, right now the demand exceeded supply. During the next round of recruitment, the guild could focus on inviting more profession players.
That day wasn't too far off. The guild had just made it past the 8000 points mark. They were only missing 2000 points until they could advance to rank two.
Thinking about all these things, Cyclone was in a good mood. She followed the party as they approached the devil's statue.
Under Liam's lead everyone took out their weapons and swung them at the statue. Cracks spread quickly along the innocent face before the stone devil shattered with a loud bang.
"AHHH!"
Immediately a crazed cry came from the sky. The friends looked up to witness a change in the battle.
Paradynim was in the process of unleashing a powerful spell when she suffered a backlash from the statue's destruction. Her magic went out of control, surging around her in an enormous black vortex.
Endal immediately saw his chance. He activated his power to the limit, fanning the righteous flame in his heart. The flame took the form of a giant, blazing sword, enclosing Endal's body within. The white-orange glow dominated the air, resembling a beautiful sunrise.
The next moment the sword plunged into the black vortex. A pained cry rang through the world. When Paradynim reappeared, she had a large wound in her chest, its edges burning with righteous flames, which prevented it from healing.
"Haha, good job!"
"Let's vanquish the devil!"
The party cheered as if they were personally fighting the devil. With the appearance of a devil, Endal naturally turned from their opponent into their ally. Everyone hoped for his victory.
In order to support him the party swiftly continued on. They found the next statue, eliminated its three guardians, and destroyed it.
Suddenly the situation changed again. The world rumbled and the earth shook. The party found it difficult to remain on their feet. They looked towards the origin of the earthquake and froze in shock.
Not far away laid a gigantic arm. It had pinkish skin and a fair hand. A pile of rubble surrounded it.
The party looked upwards from the arm and saw a half-destroyed temple floating above it. And even higher up was Paradynim staring at Endal. There was no love left in her eyes, only hatred. One of her arms was missing, and a bright flame was burning on her shoulder.
"Victory is near, my friends! Let us eliminate this evil!"
Radiant Shield's voice was brimming with excitement. He felt as if he was finally living his dream of being a great hero saving the world. He quickly brought the party to search for the next statue.
After a while the party found it at the edge of the world. They easily disposed of the three guardians. Cyclone went to grab the loot and shockingly received another batch of recipes.
"Not bad. I almost feel like staying here for a while and hunting the other elites.", said Quickstep, catching a disapproving look from Radiant Shield.
"Don't lose sight of the important matters, my friend. We are here to vanquish evil not to satisfy our greed."
"I also feel like this dungeon took us long enough. Let's come to an end.", agreed Silver Blade.
"Ok, ok. Let's go."
Seeing that everyone was prepared to deal with the statue, Liam unfortunately had to dampen their enthusiasm:
"Be careful, guys. We need to make it through one last fight. Prepare yourselves and let Silver Blade attack the statue."
"Another one…?"
It was obvious that the party slowly got tired. But they activated their last reserves and got into position.
Silver Blade adjusted her mind as she faced the last statue. It was an exact image of Paradynim. The female tank stared at her perfect face as she raised her sword.
Suddenly she struck down. A large crack formed on the beautiful countenance.
"Mortal! I want you to die!"
Suddenly a hysteric voice came from the statue. It pierced everyone's ears. The party members involuntarily took a step back.
A whirlwind of black magic engulfed the statue momentarily. It quickly dissipated. What appeared was Paradynim, made of flesh and blood and with a burning rage in her eyes. A large wound could be seen on her chest and her left arm was missing.
Glancing towards the sky the party could still see Paradynim fighting against Endal. She had fallen into a defensive position and was in danger of being defeated any moment.
"Another clone?"
While the party was still analysing the situation the Paradynim on the ground already began to move.
"Watch out!"
Silver Blade hurriedly warned the others.
[Paradynim, High-level devil
Rank: Boss, Hidden
Level: 36
HP: 13.400/52.000
Status: Clone]
Paradynim raised her single remaining arm. A large magic circle formed above the party's heads. Immediately a crisp sound rang through the sky.
A long, black whip lunged out of the magic circle like a poisonous viper giving the kiss of death. Cyclone's head abruptly snapped towards the sky. She realized that the whip appeared above her.
"Easy!"
Full of confidence the mage hastily regulated her mana. Since she didn't start casting a skill yet, she managed to perform a beautiful flash step.
[Stance -27]
Unfortunately, the whip was deceptive. Although it emerged above the blond woman, it never intended to aim for her. Instead, it rushed to the side.
Balm was caught off guard as the black leather struck her shoulder, leaving a painful streak behind. The precious healer inhaled sharply.
[-2352!]
The amount of damage was shocking but luckily the [Heal] skill in the game depended on the caster's maximum HP. Thus, Balm had a lot of points in constitution. With more than 14.000 HP it would take some time for her to die.
However, the same couldn't be said for the other low-armoured party members. They felt their chests tighten, knowing the danger looming above their heads. But the party couldn't remain frozen in fear. Despite the danger they had to focus on the boss.
Silver Blade took the lead to secure the aggro before everyone else followed with their attacks.
Liam calmed his heart as he dashed towards the boss. His ultimate skill activated. Even Paradynim took a step away from him, clearly uncomfortable under the holy magic flowing along his skin.
The veteran abruptly swung his swords. Silver streaks flashed. His movements flowed flawlessly. But just as Liam finished his [Cross Slash], his instincts signalled a strong danger.
Yet Liam didn't panic. He made a large step, hiding behind the devil. A whip shot through the air but stopped right before it was about to hit its master.
Liam grinned as he activated [Holy wave] immediately followed by [Double Slash]. A wave of holy magic spread as his swords slashed at the boss. Five holy marks erupted with a beautiful explosion.
[-1537!]
"Ah! Mortal!"
The devil let out a shrill cry full of pain. Obviously, she had extremely low resistance against holy damage, or at least this clone of hers did.
Bloody Edge also noticed this as he used his skill, dealing powerful holy damage. Simultaneously the rest of the party felt disappointed figuring out that the devil proved highly resistant against all other forms of damage. The damage from most attacks didn't reach the triple digits.
Nonetheless, the boss was already heavily wounded and quickly suffered under the party's attacks struggling violently. As the fight went on the party also got used to the whips attacking from the sky, managing to dodge them more often.
Everything was on track to finally slay the hidden boss.