"Damn you, heretic! Why do you meddle in this fight?!"
Jeddid shouted with raging eyes as the powerful force pushed him back. Although he only lost 100HP, it was more than enough to give the players hope.
But Jeddid was not done yet. Gritting his teeth he changed his moves. Suddenly the pools in all directions began boiling, turning chaotic. Figures resembling Jeddid came out of the water, surrounding the group from all sides.
All of the water figures held out their open palms and began attacking. Instantly the group was under heavy pressure. Fortunately, the figures didn't attack perfectly in sync so there was still some room to dodge.
"Careful, Fortune, behind you!"
"Edelweiss, turn left!"
"Braag, jump!"
Liam, annoyed that his blunder brought them in this situation, took it upon himself to keep everyone safe. He entered a highly focused state, perceiving every movement on the battlefield clearly and calling them out.
With their high trust in Liam's abilities the others followed his directions blindly. However, due to the high frequency of attacks even Liam wasn't able to call them all out perfectly. Thus, it didn't take long for Lenn to receive a hit.
The tank kept his calm as he was not yet in danger. Thanks to that he noticed something else. Fortune had used flash step to dodge one attack only to land right in the trajectory of another.
Showing a great reaction Lenn instantly deployed three small drones to form a shield in front of Fortune, managing to block most of the attack. Yet Fortune still had her HP reduced by half.
Melodious Edelweiss found it difficult to adapt to the chaotic situation. Listening to Liam's calls she barely managed to escape getting hit but now she also had to heal her teammates.
Liam realized that his friends were struggling. He leaned his body to the side, dodging a projectile while speaking in a calm voice:
"Guys, you are doing great. Nice save, Lenn. Edelweiss focus on yourself. Only when you feel safe should you try to help the others. Braag, nice dodge! Watch out, to your left! Quickstep… well your performance is splendid. Hold on for a while, guys. Harry has already reduced the boss to two thousand five hundred HP. Only twenty-five punches left, and we're done!"
Liam's unhurried voice had an almost hypnotic effect. The entire group calmed down and followed his instructions.
Attacks came from all sides, but the players kept dodging skilfully. Their movements resembled an awkward dance but there was no reward for being graceful, so no one cared.
The fight continued for a bit. The group fell into a routine, finding it increasingly easy to dodge the attacks. Only Lenn got hit once more, surviving by a slim margin thanks to Melodious Edelweiss's earlier heals.
Finally, Jeddid only had 100HP left. His beath was disorderly and his power waned once more. Harry stared at him, holding back his last punch.
"Old man, are you ready to surrender?"
"Surrender? Hahaha! I have at most a year left to live. What use is surrendering? Just end it already!"
"I..."
Watching the scene Fortune felt her eyes twitch. The attacks on the group hadn't stopped yet. Barely dodging another projectile, she angrily shouted at Harry:
"Big guy, go! End it!"
"But..."
Harry was clearly reluctant. He never had taken a life, and his heart revolted upon the thought.
Jeddid laughed boisterously. Eventually he shook his head and sighed.
"Whatever. Meeting someone this pure right before my death can also be considered a blessing. Let me free you from the decision. I never thought I could die on my own terms."
After finishing his speech Jeddid raised his staff and held its tip against his own chest. A magic circle appeared, and all the mana left Jeddid's body, gathering on the staff tip.
Harry watched on unwillingly as the old man unleashed his magic. There was no gory explosion or anything. Jeddid's body turned into water. It split into multiple streams flowing through the air in high arcs. At the end the streams fell into the pools and the scene fell silent.
A low sound echoed as Jeddid's staff fell to the floor.
"Finally..."
Fortune sighed in relief. With the boss's death his skill naturally ended.
[Congratulations on defeating the boss monster 'Jeddid Quadeo, Former leader of the cult of the jailed god']
[Received 24.200EXP]
[EXP: 42.600/55.566]
[Accomplished achievement: What are levels?]
[Received title: Defier of odds]
[Effect: When fighting against a (sub-)boss monster of a higher level than you, your level difference will be reduced by one when calculating damage.]
[You are defying conventions. Defeating those above your level comes to you easily. All bosses would do good not to underestimate you.]
A series of notifications assaulted the players, signifying that the fight had indeed ended. Before the group could sort out the information the EXP instantly elevated Braag, Melodious Edelweiss, and Lenn to level 41 while Bleary Mirage, Quickstep, and Fortune got close to level 43.
After distributing her attribute points Melodious Edelweiss read through the achievement while remaining somewhat puzzled, looking at Liam for answers.
"Mirage, what did we get that achievement for?"
Liam was quite surprised himself. Everything that happened after Jeddid entered berserk mode was not within his calculations. But the outcome was excellent. He sorted his thoughts before responding to Edelweiss:
"The achievement is for defeating a boss at least ten levels above yourself."
"Really? But we didn't actually defeat the old man. How did we still get the achievement?", asked Quickstep.
"To be honest, with a gap of ten levels there is no way for us to win normally. The achievement can only be gained by using tricks or during special situations. So, it's not surprising that we got it even though we would've been defeated without Harry."
Melodious Edelweiss nodded accepting the explanation. But she still had a question:
"I still don't quite get what the achievement does..."
"Let me explain with an example:
You are level 41 and face a level 43 boss. Apart from the boss having higher stats your damage will also be reduced by a certain amount per level difference. But thanks to this achievement, during the calculation your level difference will count as 1 instead of 2, retracting less damage. In this fight against Jeddid your damage would increase by about 60 points per attack, which is not that bad."
Everyone's eyes lit up in understanding. Their thoughts quickly spun further. The achievement might not be enough to help them defeat bosses of higher levels as the stat difference had a bigger impact than the level difference. But it might allow them to defeat some bosses they just barely failed to overcome before.
Furthermore, the achievement would be a great help in dungeons, reducing the time they would take for a run greatly.
All in all, everyone was more than satisfied with their gains. Yet this wasn't all. Braag was the first to stare at the staff on the floor.
"Go on, loot it."
Liam encouraged Braag as he was also extremely curious. He had never experienced the situation where Jeddid only left his staff behind.
Noticing that everyone came out of their stupor, Braag didn't hesitate much longer and picked up the staff. Instantly his body froze as his eyes shone with joy.
His reaction drew everyone's curiosity. Especially Fortune felt a strong itch. She was the only staff user among the group. If this weapon was suitable for her, she naturally had the right to acquire the staff.
Braag noticed everyone breathing down his back. He let out a sigh as he turned around and directly handed the staff to Fortune. The young woman was feeling strong anticipation. Braag's action already showed that the staff should be suitable for her. Wearing a bright grin, she grabbed the weapon and checked its information.
[Staff of the jailed god
Category: Unique
Level requirement: 50
Attack Damage: 62-66
Attack Speed: 0,6
Intelligence: +15
Source: +21
Effect 1: Every time you use a skill you have a chance of 40% to deal an additional 20% of the damage as water damage.
Effect 2: Every third normal attack recovers your mana by lvl*5 points.
Effect 3: If your HP sink below half you free yourself of your shackles. For 60 seconds all your skills have their cast time reduced by 40% and the cost for flash step is reduced by half. (Cooldown: 300 seconds)
Effect 4: Once per day if your HP were to reach zero, a spark of vitality keeps you alive, saving you with 1HP and giving you immunity to damage for 3 seconds.
Restriction: Bound upon wearing; INT over 150
After Lekraxc had been confined by the emperor, his mighty staff had been confiscated. The dynasty's weapon makers were highly interested, studying the staff day and night. Eventually the emperor took the staff back out of respect for Lekraxc, but the weapon makers were able to forge this intimidation based on the original.]
"Oh my god..."