Renjaolh's HP had swiftly dropped below ten thousand. He looked left and right, his black eyes revealing unbridled ferocity.
"You are adamant on keeping me here?! Fine! But I won't die alone!"
The dark elf's voice resembled the hiss of a snake. He raised his bow, focusing his aim on Bloody Edge. An insane amount of mana surged towards Renjaolh condensing into a pitch-black arrow.
Bloody Edge stared death in the eye. His instincts screamed danger. He knew that he had to dodge this attack!
The arrow was released from the bow. It produced an ear-piercing whistling sound as it flashed faster than a bullet.
Bloody Edge instantly activated [Dash]. Just as he moved a sharp feeling brushed past his head. The thief's heart skipped a beat. But as no damage came, he let out a sigh of relief.
"Watch out!"
Sudednly his friends shouted frantically. Bloody Edge's blood froze. He stood still for a second. A potentially fatal second.
The arrow missed its target and did a turn in the air, now aiming for Bloody Edge's back.
Seeing the situation turn for the worst Silver Blade finally reacted. She activated her mount's skill [Swift rescue]. Her gorgeous basilisk boasting shiny silver feathers and going by the name of Edok, named after Silver Blade's precious first stuffed animal, turned into a blur.
Flying even faster than after using [Dash] the basilisk arrived next to Bloody Edge. A magical light shone around Silver Blade and Edok. The moment it came into contact with Bloody Edge, the light formed a protective membrane around the thief.
It offered protection against magical and attributed damage and was currently able to block up to 3294 points of damage, which are equivalent to 75 percent of Silver Blade's magical defense attribute.
Silver Blade arrived just in time as the fierce arrow made up of purely dark magic struck right at this moment.
Boom!
[-8335!]
An explosion shook the surroundings as dark magic soared to the skies. Bloody Edge let out a shout as the terrifying arrow threw him and Dull away.
"Control your basilisk to stabilize yourself!"
Liam tried to advice Bloody Edge, but the thief's ears were ringing and he wasn't able to comprehend anything. The protective light surrounding his body had been evaporated as had his HP bar.
Bloody Edge was left with less than one thousand HP. If he had not lost any HP during the fight before he would have barely been able to endure the arrow without any help.
But since Bloody Edge had been hit by the boss's skills earlier, he was already wounded. If it weren't for Balm, Silver Blade, and his set equipment, which healed him slightly after landing a critical hit, the thief would have been sent to the graveyard.
Yet even after all of this his situation wasn't great. He sailed uncontrolled through the air before painfully landing on the dirt road. Dull was ironically dragged down by his rider. As Bloody Edge clung to his body the basilisk didn't manage to stabilize himself in the air and landed sideways on Bloody Edge's legs.
"Ahh, f*ck! It feels like my legs are broken!"
Bloody Edge cursed loudly, showing that he was indeed in pain. The others felt some sympathy but just then Laim reminded loudly:
"The boss has entered a weakened state. Finish it off!"
"Yes!"
"Right, got it."
Bloody Edge gritted his teeth, cursing inwardly. It wasn't that he blamed his friends for not paying him any attention. Instead, he blamed himself for lying around uselessly.
He commanded Dull to move his large body away while simultaneously trying to free his legs. Finally, after a few seconds, the thief managed to stand up.
But when Bloody Edge looked towards the side, he was just in time to witness Quickstep attack swiftly.
The female warrior combined the two skills of her basilisk called Tango. The white-feathered mount flapped her wings releasing a fierce wind filled with incredibly sharp windblades.
Next, Tango jumped forward, opening her wings wide. She let the wind conjured by herself carry her, arriving next to Renjaolh in a flash, striking at the dark elf with her piercingly sharp beak.
[-665!]
When Quickstep's attack landed Renjaolh's froze on the spot. His eyes shook with disbelief. Finally, he weakly fell from the back of his mount.
The black-furred Panton revealed a puzzled look for a moment. Finally, it was as if he realized something. With a flash the Panton moved with unprecedented speed and disappeared from the party's view.
No one was surprised by this as this was a pattern they had already observed multiple times when fighting against mounted enemies.
"Well fought.", said Bloody Edge as he trotted over together with his loyal mount.
"I feel like we took longer than necessary.", admitted Silver Blade.
"Don't worry, young lady. We are still getting used to mounted combat."
"Don't call me… whatever."
Silver Blade shook her head at Watchful Eye. Meanwhile Liam looked hopefully at Cyclone:
"Now it's up to you."
"Haha! Don't worry, expert! I will definitely draw your set equipment!"
Liam smiled faintly. These past two weeks his respect for Cyclone's luck reached a whole new level. Even in his past life he had hardly heard of a party gathering so many pieces of set equipment in such a short time.
Now apart from Liam everyone had at least three pieces of equipment, putting them far ahead of other guilds. Although looking at the ranking list one might think that the competition at the top was close, Liam was certain that no one on Falva Star could win against them in a direct clash.
However, even though Cyclone had proven her incredible luck multiple times, Liam was still nervous as the blond woman jumped down from her basilisk and approached the boss.
She reached out with her hand. Everyone held their breath. A few seconds later a bright light shone as Cyclone took her hand back.
A shining chest plate engulfed in yellow light was lying on her hand. It was crafted brilliantly, emitting strong magic.
The armor's main color was a pristine white. Yet on its chest were two symmetrical, stylized wings. One was completely black, while the other was white with a black outline. The wings strongly reminded one of the nephilims' wings.
Everyone stared at Cyclone dumbfounded, letting out sighs of admiration. The young woman raised her chin proudly, but her expression was unchanged as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Here. For you."
Cyclone spoke magnanimously while handing the chest plate to Liam who immediately checked its information before equipping it.
[Wisdom of the early nephilim
Category: Rare, Set
Level requirement: 37
Physical Defense: 24
Magical Defense: 21
Dexterity: +8
Attack speed: +0,2
Effect 1: Every time you dodge an enemy's attack you have a chance of 15% to unleash [Blessed Spear]. [Blessed Spear] deals 20% (PDMG) holy damage and heals you for half the amount dealt.
Effect 2: Every time you dodge an enemy's attack you have a chance of 15% to unleash [Cursed Spear]. [Cursed Spear] deals 20% (PDMG) dark damage and weakens the target's attacks by 5% for 3 seconds.
Two-piece Set effect: After dealing holy damage, empower your next dark damage by 10%. (cooldown 10 seconds)
Three-piece Set effect: Dealing dark damage afflicts you with a stack of devil's curse. Devil's Curse reduces all your defense by 3%. After gathering 3 stacks of Devil's Curse, you can share your stacks with enemies of your choosing. After gathering five stacks, everyone afflicted with Devil's Curse will be attacked by the curse and all stacks will be used up. (stack duration: 10 seconds) (cooldown: 20 seconds)
Four-piece Set effect: After receiving void damage, you will get 5% void resistance every time you deal holy or dark damage for the next 10 seconds. The resistance lasts for 30 seconds. Non-stackable.
Restriction: Bound upon wearing, AGI above 50 points, INT above 60 points
After the original nephilim came into being they wielded the power of holy and dark magic. Yet, powerful as they were, they still faced difficulties without suitable equipment. The nephilim gathered their wisest kin and figured out their own way of crafting equipment. This chest plate was one of their earliest successes.]
"Worthy of being a legendary set piece. Thanks, Cy."
Cyclone was surprised for a moment as Liam called her by her nickname, but she quickly showed a bright grin.
Liam was somewhat absentminded, still entranced in reading through the set effects.
Some time ago, when Liam received his first set equipment and showed it to his friends, they were surprised that the set seemed to empower holy as well as dark damage.
They suggested it might not be suitable for Liam. But he quickly reassured them, explaining that he was preparing for the class specialization at level 50.
Now that he collected three pieces of the set in his hands Liam was eager to reach level 50 but unfortunately it would still take a while.
Liam smiled faintly and directed his attention back to his friends. After distributing the rest of the loot, they were ready to set off.
But a few minutes after they left, a commotion suddenly broke out in the guild chat.