Mana played around Krach's skin, giving off a refreshing feeling but his expression was deadly. He raised his staff, conjuring a sphere of surging water. With a swing the projectile got unleashed, shooting at one of the soldiers.
"Ah!"
The soldier let out a startled cry as he was thrown backwards, crashing painfully into the floor. The NPCs watching the scene all wore solemn faces, but the players appeared happy.
"Did he change to a mage? Great!"
"Nice, finally Lenn can be an actual tank."
"Hey, Braag, at least I'm somewhat useful!"
"What do you want to say with that?!"
The two dwarfs glared at each other, looking as if they were ready to punce upon hearing one more provocation. Liam rolled his eyes, berating them:
"Stop arguing and start fighting!"
"Yeah…"
Lenn turned his head focusing on Krach and rapidly dashed towards the enemy. He used his [Shield Dash] to knock into the orc. Just like Serreck before Krach didn't move a single step but at least he focused his attention on the tank. The next ball of water was flung towards Lenn.
[-3663!]
Lenn frowned faintly. After the fight against Serreck he only had about 14.000 HP remaining. Even with the help of Melodious Edelweiss he could at most survive 13 hits. Hopefully he could buy some time with his skills.
Liam also knew that the fight was not won yet. He urged everyone to attack while he himself also rushed towards Krach. One normal attack was followed by [Brutal Strike]. He didn't think that his skill would stun the boss but at least it could trigger the few Holy Marks.
[-248!]
[-124!]
[-382!]
[-238!]
Quickstep arrived at almost the same time. Attacking the enemy, she realized that Krach's physical resistance was slightly reduced. Even Braag could deal some damage to the orc now.
But the effect was even more exaggerated when the soldiers regrouped and charged at Krach form all sides. Each of their vicious spears now dealt 120 points of damage.
Thanks to the players' efforts to keep the soldiers alive, those were now their biggest reliance. Even Scholar Feng couldn't match them.
It didn't take long until Krach's HP dropped below half. The orc let out an angry snort:
"I carry god's blessing! You are nothing before divine might!"
The orc raised his head towards the sky, wearing a reverent expression. He gripped his staff with one hand and pointed it towards the right. The ocean surged. A torrent of water broke out and attached to his staff, taking the form of a long, winding snake.
Liam recognized the skill, quickly warning everyone:
"It's a sweep attack! Get ready to duck!"
"Don't worry, I got this!"
Lenn reassured his team as he proactively dashed towards the orc's staff. The others trusted him and continued to attack Krach.
A moment later the cultist's attack was prepared. He enjoyed the power filling his cells as he swung his staff. Immediately Lenn was about to collide with the snake formed from water.
The dwarf didn't panic and calmly activated his skill. Steam broke out of his armor, covering him in a layer of white smoke. The water snake came into contact with the smoke and suddenly coiled. Instead of continuing its path to destroy the delegation, its body made a loop and rushed straight towards Krach.
"What?!"
Never expecting his own spell to rebel Krach was unable to dodge. The snake slammed into his body, pushing him back and cancelling his skill.
[-1538!]
"Hey, good job Lenn!"
"Nice one!"
"Dealing more damage than me…"
The players gladly praised their tank. Only Braag was unhappy, feeling quite useless at the moment. He made up his mind to double his training so he could finally become a tier 2 character. On top of that he needed to spend some of his hard-earned money to upgrade his equipment. The thought alone caused him to shiver…
But Braag wasn't the only one dissatisfied with their damage. Although the others were already extremely strong for their levels, comparison breeds sadness. Not even Liam could keep up with the damage dealt by the NPCs. At this point it was more important for the players to keep the NPCs alive.
And so, the fight continued. Under the siege of the twelve soldiers Krach was gradually losing HP. He revealed more skills, attacking large areas, trying to take the soldiers down.
A lot of pressure thus landed on Melodious Edelweiss, who juggled her skills trying to efficiently heal the soldiers. It didn't take long until she had to drink a mana potion. It was a tug of war. Soon, Krach repeated his earlier skill.
A snake created from water swept over the battlefield. The players managed to duck quickly but the soldiers showed mixed reactions. Unfortunately, two of them died to the skill. Even Scholar Feng took damage, but he was still pretty healthy, and the players didn't have to worry about him.
Now with two soldiers less the damage naturally slowed down. Krach had 10.000 HP left and his attacks were as strong as ever. Even Lenn's situation was getting worse, his HP reaching a critical margin.
Luckily, enough time had passed. The cooldown for intermediate potions was seven minutes. Since the moment of Serreck's death, those had already passed and Lenn could comfortably drink another potion.
[+5000!]
The potion alone might not be enough to keep the tank alive but with Melodious Edelweiss's support and his own skills he was able to hold out for a while.
Gradually Krach appeared to lose his cool but there was not much he could do. He used one of his skills to trash around wildly, throwing all the melee fighters away but it only delayed the inevitable.
Another two minutes passed, and the orc was almost dead. A bomb exploded on his chest, and it was ironically Braag who took the boss's last few HP.
"Ha! Who said I was useless?"
"No one said it. But everyone was thinking it…"
"Lenn, can't you let me have my moment?! Where does that negativity always come from?"
"You…"
"Stop! I can't listen any longer!"
Suddenly Fortune exploded, glaring at the two dwarves. She was done with them arguing all the time. After the difficult fight she was breathing laboriously, her hair dishevelled. Coupled with her angry eyes Braag and Lenn feared Fortune might turn into a witch any moment now, turning the two dwarves into frogs.
From the side Melodious Edelweiss looked at Fortune with admiring eyes. She was annoyed by the dwarves as well, but she never would have dared to tell them to shut up.
Just as the situation turned somewhat awkward, Scholar Feng let out a command:
"We have no time to waste! The high priestess might free herself any moment now! Board the ship! We need to leave!"
"Yes, sir!"
The soldiers followed the order but one could see from their movements that they were not indifferent about the loss of their comrades. The players watched as they carefully carried the bodies onto the ships, feeling lumps in their throats.
Even as they told themselves that it was just a game, the immersive world made it difficult not to get emotional.
However, this sentiment turned by 180 degrees as Braag looked at the two sub-bosses laying on the ground. Those were monsters and they granted precious loot. Braag didn't show any scruple as he walked forward and touched Serreck's corpse.
A flicker of light covered the body. An item appeared in Braag's hand, and the corpse disappeared. Braag calmly studied the item before breaking out in joy. It was actually a set equipment suitable for himself! With that he had two pieces of set equipment, unlocking the first set effect.
[Hephoros' gloves of wealth
Category: Rare, Set
Level requirement: 40
Physical Defence: 22
Magical Defence: 26
Dexterity: +8
Strength: +5
Effect 1: Hitting more than two enemies with a single attack increases your damage by 10% for 5 seconds.
Effect 2: Buffs which increase the damage of your AOE attacks are 10% more effective for you.
Two-piece Set effect: Every time you lose money you have a chance of 15% to regain 20% of it. Capped at 1 gold.
Three-piece Set effect: Once a day you can pay 50 silver to spin a wheel which gives a random minor buff lasting for one day.
Four-piece Set effect: ???
Restriction: Bound upon wearing, STR above 80 points, INT above 50 points
These gloves were made from a wyvern's skin by Hephoros, one of the earliest followers of Serotan, the god of wealth. The creation brought Herotos much renown under the dwarven blacksmiths, but they also brought his doom. After being hunted by wyverns Hephoros fell down a cliff, leaving him and his gloves missing for years.]
Noticing Braag's excited expression the rest of the group got curious, pestering him for the item's description. Realizing that it was a set item suitable for the dwarf naturally no one would ask him to give it away.
After putting on his new pair of gloves Braag sorted out the rest of the loot. Although it wasn't of bad quality, Liam, Quickstep, and Fortune were not really interested, being mostly clad in set equipment.