After being forced to endure one round of attacks the former cultist leader finally regained his movement. He stared at the players with narrowed eyes, sending chills down their spines.
"Damn heretics. You don't know whom you are messing with!"
"Hm? Of course we do. It's shown above your head.", answered Fortune jokingly.
The old man looked back at her, his expression showing that he couldn't comprehend Fortune's words. But even Quickstep and Liam glanced at their friend strangely.
"Are you Cyclone now?", asked Quickstep with a chuckle.
"Well, someone needs to lighten the atmosphere."
"Sure. I'm not complaining."
While the two women were joking around Jeddid finally swung his staff for his first attack. Lenn readied himself to block. A blueish sphere gathered at the tip of the old man's staff. It travelled only a short distance before crushing into Lenn's shield.
[Stance -26]
"That old man packs quite the punch. Please, take him down quickly, guys!"
"On it!"
The others also knew that Lenn couldn't tank forever. Like Braag he was only a tier 1 character as well. As soon as his stance was used up, he would receive quite frightening damage from Jeddid.
At that point Fortune had already completed the cast for her first skill. She had decided on a skill with a short cast time. It was [Arcane Explosion], the skill Fortune received as a reward after clearing the third dungeon.
"Edelweiss, give me some boost."
"Yes!"
The young bard's fingers caressed her lute, and an orange note appeared in out of nowhere. It swayed in the air, rushing towards Fortune. As soon as it touched the gorgeous mage, she felt a supportive power run through her body.
With a wave of her staff Fortune unleashed her skill. Instantly a swirl of mana formed above Jeddid's head and quickly exploded, sending shockwaves through the room. Fortune's hair and robe billowed under the power of her skill as she kept her eyes fixed on the enemy, curious about her damage.
Boosted by her own equipment effects and Melodious Edelweiss's buff it shouldn't be too low.
[-335!]
Upon seeing her damage Fortune revealed a frown. However, so was the result of percentage-based damage boosts. With the initial value being low the increase also wouldn't be too fierce.
Luckily her [Arcane Explosion] skill had an additional effect. When used on a single enemy it could be recast once with only half the cast time. Fortune quickly made use of the effect. Two seconds later another explosion shook Jeddid.
[-335!]
Of course, the others wouldn't stand still while Fortune fired her skills. The enemies exchanged more attacks. Jeddid had soon lost 10.000HP but Lenn was also down to half of his stance.
But then Liam advised the tank to switch to a different strategy. Instead of blocking every attack he only began to block every second attack. The four thousand points of damage he received in the meantime could be healed by Melodious Edelweiss.
This only worked with a bard like Melodious Edelweiss who could heal at a high frequency with her normal attacks. If the healer was Balm, it would be more efficient to wait until the tank lost thousands of HP before using [Heal] to rejuvenate them.
With the new strategy Lenn would be able to buy the party more time. But this only worked if he didn't receive additional damage from the boss's skills.
As his HP approached the 50.000 mark, Jeddid revealed his first skill.
"Oh jailed god, lend me your might!"
With a pious voice Jeddid raised his staff high above his head. A small magic circle formed above his head, sucking in mana from all directions. Suddenly a light rain of water fell from the magic circle. When it touched Jeddid the old man's body seemed to turn into water as well. A moment later only a puddle was left on the floor.
"Did the boss just commit suicide? Well, good for us."
Liam rolled his eyes at Braag.
"You wish! Guys, spread out. Keep an eye on those pools around us! He will attack from there."
"Got it."
"Mhm."
The group did as they were told, spreading through the room. It didn't take long until a disturbance could be seen on the surface of one of the pools.
"To the left!"
All eyes followed the warning. Right then Jeddid's body formed from water swiftly rose out of the pool. He waved his hand, and a pillar of water rushed towards the sky before toppling over.
Melodious Edelweiss instantly realized that she would be in the area affected by the pillar. Unperturbed she ran a few steps to the side.
"That's not too bad..."
The young woman was quite relieved as she watched the pillar of water fall, slamming into the floor in a straight line and dispersing.
The rest of the group were also quite relaxed. Liam watched them with a knowing smile as the boss continued his skill. Jeddid's figure faded. A moment later there were new signs of its emergence.
"To the right!"
"Twelve o'clock!"
"Behind us!"
Three warnings sounded out and the players looked at each other strangely. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the boss was ready to attack from three sides at once.
And this was exactly what happened as three pillars of water fell a moment later. Fortune and Lenn were both in danger, dodging swiftly.
Meanwhile Quickstep frowned, asking:
"Mirage, can't we destroy those pools?"
"Not really. Just like the boss they are above level 50. But they have no weakened status. Our attacks wouldn't exceed a single point of damage."
"But if the boss continues like this..."
"Don't worry, I have a plan B in mind."
Quickstep felt relieved, trusting Liam completely. She looked at the thirteen pools around them as five began to show signs of an impending attack.
Although the ensuing five water pillars covered most of the ground, the group still managed to dodge safely. Yet Liam decided not to take any risks.
"Guys, gather around me!"
Although everyone was confused, Lenn was the only one showing hesitation. But it was only momentary. The experienced gamer naturally knew the importance of listening to his leader.
Thus, the group stood closely together as seven of the pools were surging. But at that moment Liam took out an item. It was a black icicle.
No one recognized the item at first glance as out of the current group only Liam was part of the quest to assist Fuyerhan on Taragal's island, for which they were rewarded with the black icicles.
Thus, the others still had puzzled expressions when Liam activated the item and a bone-chilling coldness spread instantly. A layer of ice formed on the floor, growing up the players' bodies and encasing them in ice.
Their frozen faces still showed shock and confusion. Frozen in ice they could only passively endure everything happening around them. Seven pillars of water crashed into the ice statues. Yet when they disappeared, there was no sign of damage on the ice. Not even the smallest cracks.
The former cultist leader's expression must have been one of shock as he continued his attacks. From seven pillars to nine, eleven, until eventually thirteen pillars crashed into the ice statues with the might of a tsunami, enough to drown the entire room.
A second later Jeddid reappeared at his original position. His eyes staring at the frozen players were incredulous. He powerlessly waved his staff but the attack hitting Lenn dissipated like smoke.
Fortunately, the poor boss was saved from the awkward situation as the ice quickly melted thereafter. When the group could move again Fortune shook, complaining loudly:
"What an awful feeling! I'm not doing this again. I'd rather flash step all the attacks!"
Usually, Liam would answer something provocative, but he was busy rushing towards the boss. Before the boss's skill Liam had made sure that his ultimate skill had enough duration left. Now he still had two seconds. It was just enough to rush towards Jeddid, delivering a normal attack and a [Brutal Strike]. Two Holy Marks got triggered, dealing some damage and recovering his [Holy Tempest]'s duration.
[-566!]
[-283!]
[-872!]
[-74!]
To his own surprise [Brutal Strike]'s stun actually triggered again.
"Quick! Attack!"
The others were not prepared. Especially Fortune who could only use a normal attack and [Arcane Strike] as there was no time to cast a skill.
Quickstep was also a step behind Liam. However, the 'Windborn' effect from her equipment was still there increasing her movement speed. She arrived only a split second after Liam. Deciding to make the best out of the stunned enemy she activated her [Aspect of the Storm] skill.
A raging storm engulfed Quickstep as the limit of attack speed was lifted. Enjoying the feeling Quickstep grinned and stabbed both her swords forward.
[-335!]
[-197!]
[-167!]
[-98!]
Since it was the second time Jeddid got stunned, he recovered faster. Just after enduring the powerful mix of physical and wind damage he regained his movement, and the battle continued as before.