Melodious Edelweiss nodded and changed her tune. A melody invoking images of vengeance and bloody battles sounded through the battlefield. But it was quickly drowned out by the noise of the attack and terrified screams.
"AH!"
"Damn you cultists!"
"My hand!"
Melodious Edelweiss flinched as she watched the soldiers being buried by the giant's attack. Finally, Serreck stopped his prayer. The water making up the giant instantly lost its support. It rained down, washing over the harbour area.
The soldiers got revealed again. They were laying on the ground, their armours showing cracks but luckily none of them seemed dead yet.
Melodious Edelweiss took a deep breath. She could feel a power brewing in her hands. Every soldier had lost more than ten thousand HP, which now fuelled Melodious Edelweiss's ultimate skill [Song of Vengeance].
The bard narrowed her eyes dangerously. She played one last note, her angelic voice ending in a crescendo.
"Mabavr!"
Serreck opened his eyes, his emotions in a state of extasy from the prayer. A grin lingered on his ugly face. But suddenly it froze. As Melodious Edelweiss's voice reached his ears, he suddenly saw the illusion of a terrifying, bloody army, with their weapons raised and roaring for revenge.
Even the battle-hardened orc had to gulp. Instantly the army arrived, passing through him.
[-9914!]
The resulting damage brought shock to everyone. Lenn exclaimed loudly:
"Damn. Remind me to never anger Edelweiss!"
"How can someone so delicate looking be so fierce?"
"Edelweiss, you're insane!"
Melodious Edelweiss only smiled shily. She had already switched skills, embracing the injured soldiers with her [Song of Healing]. Suddenly she had a weird sensation, though. Searching for the source she realized that Serreck was staring at her with fearsome eyes.
"The boss has switched aggro! Lenn!"
Liam, having realized the danger as well, quickly urged their tank. Naturally Lenn didn't dare to hesitate. With his skills already off cooldown he repeated his [Shield Rush], slamming into Serreck.
But to his surprise it wasn't enough! Serreck only glanced at him briefly before walking past him with heavy steps, adamant on taking out Melodious Edelweiss.
"You think you can ignore me?!"
Lenn felt a crack in his pride. Fortunately, he had more than one skill to secure aggro. A small capsule appeared in his hand out of thin air. He threw it out. The capsule painted a beautiful arc as it emitted red smoke. It precisely reached Serreck, exploding against the orc's head.
While his attack was still in the air, Lenn already urged his group:
"Attack him quickly! My skill lowers his defence!"
Of course no one stood around idly. Liam and Quickstep were already on their way. They reached the boss in a flash, letting their swords work.
Quickstep only hesitated for a moment before decided that it was time to use her ultimate skill. A small sphere of raging storm appeared which quickly transformed into a horrible tornado, engulfing Serreck within.
The orc remained stable, but the damage was still considerable. Thanks to Lenn's skill, Serreck received about 70 points of damage per second from Quickstep's ultimate. But this was not all. Although the female warrior's favourite skills were still on cooldown, she could still use a normal attack, swiftly followed by a [Double Storm Slash].
[-338!]
[-169!]
[-288!]
[-604!]
Quickstep and Liam coordinated their attacks beautifully. Together they took away more than 3000HP in a short moment. Serreck's HP bar was slowly reaching the halfway mark and the orc was not amused.
"Vermin!"
Serreck used another skill. His staff turned into a blur as he wildly lashed out at everyone close to him. Lenn tried to block but his stance was finally running out. He was pushed back, suffering close to a thousand points of damage.
Liam and Quickstep on the other hand showed why they deserved to be in the tournament's final match. Their senses were raised to their peaks, barely capturing the orc's movements.
With crazy agility they each dodged one blow before retreating rapidly. Although they might be able to dodge more attacks, there was no need to waste their stance like that.
While Liam and Quickstep performed beautifully, the opposite was happening somewhere else. Krach used the exact same skill as Serreck, striking at the soldiers around him. None of them managed to block even once, getting thrown around and receiving frightening damage.
If it weren't for Melodious Edelweiss's efforts to heal them, the soldiers would have bitten the grass at this moment.
"Well done, Edelweiss! Keep it going! We still need them!"
Liam didn't skimp on his praise. Edelweiss was partly embarrassed, but she also felt a great pride. She was even more determined to fulfil her role in the team. But unfortunately, Krach had other plans.
After pushing away the soldiers the orc didn't give chase. Instead, he took on a prayer pose.
"Oh no, it's that skill…"
Fortune looked worriedly towards the ocean. There, another water giant was forming quickly. And with its first attack it was already aiming for the heavily injured soldiers.
"What now?!", asked Melodious Edelweiss, afraid of seeing the soldiers under her care die.
"Lenn! Ultimate!"
"On it!"
The dwarf didn't hesitate. With a wave of his hand a swarm of small drones appeared, taking position above the soldiers. They connected with each other, creating a dense net which prevented the use of magic.
Lenn was just in time as the giant's fist arrived, its dreadful shadow engulfing the soldiers. Their wary faces looked towards the sky, prepared for their doom. But then a shocking scene happened.
When the massive fist which looked as if it could destroy everything in its way came into contact with the drones, it simply fell apart. The magic stabilizing the water was dispelled and it only poured down as a swell. Although it was uncomfortable it was not enough to harm the soldiers.
The giant froze for a moment as if in disbelief. Water surged, rebuilding its hand. To everyone's pleasant surprise the giant raised its fist and again punched at the protected soldiers.
"Haha, great! This thing really isn't the smartest!"
Fortune laughed happily watching the giant's attack dissolve again. And her joy didn't end there as even the last punch targeted the soldiers.
"Great! That's what I call an efficiently used ultimate skill!"
Yet while Fortune cheered, Lenn could only show a strained smile. During the appearance of the water giant, Serreck naturally didn't stand still. He was still fighting fiercely, striking Lenn with his heavy stick.
[-3193!]
With each blow the tank took a lot of damage. Luckily, he was within the range of Melodious Edelweiss's [Song of Healing] which at least gave him some support.
But at this point the bard had managed to heal everyone but Lenn back to full health. In order to save mana, she had to stop her skill and switch back to her normal heals. Those weren't as potent as the skill, which made the situation more dangerous for Lenn.
Everyone did their best attacking the orc. Braag kept attacking despite his low damage, as did Liam, Quickstep, and the soldiers. Together they step by step shaved off Serreck's HP.
The orc growled attacking Lenn with blow after blow. Soon he revealed another skill, invoking his god to boost himself for a while. Listening to Liam no one attacked the orc during that time, focusing to get away from him. Fortunately, Serreck didn't act rational. Instead of taking down Lenn first he lashed out at everyone, spreading the damage.
Eventually the skill ended, and the orc needed a moment to reorient himself. His enemies made use of the opportunity to unleash as many attacks as possible, chipping away another portion of HP.
Two minutes later Serreck was on his last leg with only four hundred HP left. But Lenn wasn't in a great position as well, having already taken a health potion.
Another word formed from magic crashed into the orc's back. It was Scholar Feng who finally reduced Serreck's HP to zero. The orc lost all his strength, rolling on the floor and crashing into a house. He was buried below some rubble and didn't come out again.
"Finally, we managed to take one down…", said Fortune with a relieved expression.
"Don't celebrate too early!"
Just as Liam responded with a solemn warning, the situation changed on Krach's side. The orc watched his peer fall and rage bloomed in his eyes.
"You dare! Heretics! Sinners! How dare you defy the jailed god?"
Suddenly a hysteric voice reached the entire island as it began to quake as if a monster was waking up beneath it.
"Krach! Accept the blessing of our god and vanquish these evildoers!"
"Yes, high priestess!"
A bluish light broke out from the cultist temple, travelling through the air and falling on Krach. The orc opened his arms wide, embracing the power. His black clothes billowed, and a blue sheen settled around his staff.
It only took a second for the situation to calm down. When Krach opened his eyes again they were filled with an icy blue sending chills down everyone's spines.
"Prepare to die, heretics!"