NOVEL NEXT Chapter 171: Akashic Flames
[Chief Weaver]
A ring forged with the threads of a calamity-class aquatic spider. It is enchanted with an array core that can manipulate water.
Effect: Agi +10, Decreases air and water resistance
Web of the Vengeful: Upon hit, the chief weaver creates one 'Thread'. After 10 such threads are accumulated, the user can manipulate the threads at the cost of 1 MP/sec. The effect will last as long as one such thread remains.
What Lauren used was none other than the web of the vengeful. 10 rope-like webs were coiled around the monsters. Decrease in the air and water resistance was a permanent buff, and as expected of something that stemmed from a unique item, it had increased her mobility by 30%.
One had to know that this 30% buff was given to her who was perhaps the fastest player at this time. No one except Zyrus could observe her hacking through the monsters.
<I'll be going then>
"Thanks for helping out!"
Zyrus left the excited Lauren and finished off the remaining monsters. The battle thus far was within the players' control, and yet, they had lost 536 of their comrades.
War has always been cruel. Only in fairy tales could one win without the sacrifices of many. Everyone remembers the victors and the generals who led them, but what about those who died along the way? Even their own descendants would forget about them.
[Ding! You have killed all of the fiddler rays]
[The Star Marked Tyrant is enraged by your act]
The sudden warning texts caught Zyrus's eyes as he was surveying the battlefield. The system wouldn't bother giving such notifications under normal circumstances.
It was pretty obvious from the start that killing minions would lead to the 'final' boss making its appearance. Why did the system bother with sending a message then?
It was to warn them one final time.
Star Marked Tyrant was the strongest field boss in the entire second ring. It was well within its capabilities to wipe out an entire faction. The system didn't want such a tragedy to happen due to the players' negligence.
"Abandon the damaged ships but keep them close by. Marshals, station your troops on your main ships and prepare to engage. Send those with higher mobility and defense to the front lines," Zyrus's thundering voice echoed around the area.
The players felt the heaviness of his voice. No one dared to make a mistake at a time like this.
Ria and the others knew the reason behind his solemn tone. They would be facing a field boss without Zyrus for the first time– and it would be the strongest one they had seen thus far.
*CRRRRRACK*
[Warning! The Star Marked Tyrant has broken the seal that imprisoned it]
The ocean quaked and the clouds scattered apart. Regardless of their species, every player was holding their head under the loud rumbling sounds.
Some bled from their orifices while others barely held back the nausea. Just when things were starting to calm down, the environment took a sudden turn.
A hazy mist shrouded the entire sky while the water turned few shades darker. What surprised them the most was the sudden disappearance of daylight. Beautiful stars and celestial bodies were reflected in the calm water of the ocean, but no one was in the mood to enjoy this sight.
There was a sudden and heavy silence as the players awaited the arrival of the Star marked Tyrant. Zyrus had already told them about what he knew about the boss's skills- thus, he left the frontlines and moved towards the piled-up corpses that were settled on the shipwrecks.
*Swiiirl*
[Akashic Flames]
Hundreds of fiery vortexes lit up the sea from below. It was a sudden and unexpected attack considering how the field bosses behaved. They would first make a grand appearance and only use a skill when they were about to move towards the second phase.
It was fortunate that Zyrus had warned them beforehand. The Star Marked Tyrant was different from others. It didn't have a single normal attack. Unlike the vast majority of field bosses who had at best two or three skills, it had no less than 5 of them!
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
What was worse was that it would use them over and over as if they were normal attacks.
[|] Gale [|]
The players with wind elemental seeds responded to the attack by deploying the army formation. The fiery vortexes had a wide range and slow speed. Thus, the best way to deal with them was by dodging the skill altogether.
*Shwoooommm*
But how could a field boss's skill be that simple?
The flame vortexes rose from the ocean like the heads of a hydra. The entire warzone was filled with fiery tornadoes in no time at all.
Even though they knew it beforehand, the players were still caught off guard by the sheer scale of attack. None of the enemies they had faced thus far held the power to affect the environment like this. Only now did they fully realize why there was the word 'Akashic' in the skill.
Akashic Flames– Rising fire that could burn everything between the heavens and earth.
While it didn't cause them any direct harm, it had effectively reduced their range of movement.
"It's coming from the south."
The players didn't waste a single second and left the whole left flank. Zyrus was the only one who was speaking without using the system. And in the next instance, it was proven correct that sometimes shouting with a loud voice was more effective than a simple message.
There was no sound except for the players scrambling away, but still, those who were far away from the southern flank saw something approach from below.
100 meters…50 meters…10 meters….
A creature bigger than a football field emerged from the ocean without making a single sound. Its movement should have caused massive waves, but there was no such thing.
Like a sharpened knife slicing through butter, it passed through the ocean's surface and rose into the sky. The boats abandoned by players didn't even last a second before they were 'torn' in half.
<Fire the cannons>
*Bang*Bang*Bang*
A hail of cannonballs fell upon the gigantic creature, but its effects were lackluster to say the least.
-12,-56,-34,-0,-78,-42
….
…
.
Not a single attack dealt damage in triple digits. It was a single instance, and yet, it seemed like an eternity in the player's eyes.
The Star marked Tyrant had an appearance similar to a manta ray. It had two large wings that stretched for more than a hundred feet and a tail that was twice as long.
Unlike the typical rays they had faced thus far, it didn't have their distinct organs. No mouth or fins were present on its enormous body.
It looked down on the players with its deep red eyes that were bigger than the longboats. On its head were two golden horns that emitted a fair halo.
*Bang*Bang*Bang*
One after another the attacks landed on its bluish black skin, and none were able to leave a single mark. It could very well retaliate against the players, but instead, it chose to let them attack.
To show them that it was futile. To show them that no matter what they did, only death awaited them.
For that was an act befitting of a Tyrant.
This was what true terror looked like. Normally, Zyrus would do one thing or another to keep up their morale. He would stand at the frontlines and provoke the enemies, keeping their sights locked onto him. But what about now? It was apparent that he had no intention to move from the pile of corpses.
<I'll go out first>
Kyle walked out from the deck of Tiamat and pointed his swords at the Star marked Tyrant.
[Skrastreg]
Dozens of red lines appeared on the enormous monster.
[Skrastreg]
-10000,-10000,-10000,-10000,-10000
…
..
.
Two rows of damage numbers overlapped above the star marked tyrant's head. Not even the field boss was able to react to the hyperspeed attacks, much less the players.
*Grrrooooarrrrr*
"Kuh-"
"Careful!"
"I'm alright," Kyle leaned on Lauren's shoulder despite his trembling legs. His combination of skills allowed him to approach a target within a kilometer range and deal a significant amount of damage. Even though he had suffered a blow in return, he had fulfilled his job.
<It's not invincible. Nothing is.>
Ria didn't speak the next words as they were obvious. The players had one job, and that was to kill the monsters.
[Akashic Flames]
The star marked tyrant flapped its wings and sent the nearby fiery tornadoes towards the ships. At the same time, it dived down into the ocean to evade the players' attacks.
<Kyle, Druv, activate your equipment>
"I'll go first," Kyle drew his swords at the ascending field boss and painted its skin in a crimson hue.
Even though it had a high evasion rate and strong defense, there were ways to get around it. One such example was the mask he was wearing.
[Anubis' Judgement]
A mask imbued with Anubis's punishment. May the judgement befall your foes.
Effect: Deal additional 10% bleed damage to sinners.
Scales of Duat: Inflict [Weight of The Heart] in a 33-meter radius.
Weight of The Heart: Make the enemies kneel down for 1-10 seconds based on their sins, and increase damage received by them by 30%-60%, Cooldown: 3 months.
Anyone who attacked him was deemed a 'sinner'. The additional bleed damage was just 10%, but it was calculated based on the receiver's HP. The higher their health the more damage they'd receive.
The star marked tyrant had a whopping 10 million HP. Such an existence was hard to kill even for an army that numbered in thousands.
Zyrus activated Ghoul reanimation while keeping an eye on the battlefield. The players were making clever use of the army formations. Those with metal elemental seeds hindered the field boss's movement while those with water element defended against the fiery tornadoes.
'At this rate, it won't be long before it goes into the second phase…'
He also hurried up in his use of mana to cover all of the corpses. Zyrus was in a race against time as both the system and the star marked tyrant could 'steal' the corpses away from him. Both of them had to be busy with one another for his plan to succeed.
[Activating Ghoul Reanimation]
[Target selected]
Emerald flames lit up from his palms and engulfed the entire shipwreck.