The word escaped him before he could stop it, but it encapsulated his surprise perfectly.

On second thought, he shouldn’t have been surprised. There had to be some absurd reason the Spectral Lord had slain all Reavers in this trial so far. At least, out of those he learned about through Xera.

Luke balanced the frost essence well for a moment, and Xera slipped through an elbow joint. The sword pierced through the Spectral Lord’s arm. The boss didn’t seem to notice and only brought the blade back down to try and bisect Luke.

Fortunately, by now, the passive effect from Shadowmeld Spaulders had been activated. The moderate speed boost gave him just enough agility to avoid disaster. The only consequence was a medium cut to his upper leg. Luke rolled to the side, and white soil blasted up.

Quickly learning to listen to instinct, Luke threw himself back again rather than thrust with Xera. The serrated great sword sliced a loose strand of Luke’s hair, barely short of cutting open his forehead. With the Spectral Lord aiming its deadly sword mainly at Luke, Sooty found an opportunity.

The crow laid a Talon Strike into the creature’s breastplate; the crack widened, but the armor remained intact. She overlaid the ability with Spatial Feather’s active. The strike was turned into true magic damage. The impact showed itself immediately.

For once, the Spectral Lord was pushed back, even if only for half a moment. Sooty didn’t press and flew to gain distance. She shot up into the sky, just below the zone imposed air space restriction. The Spectral Lord’s armor released a high-pitched, unholy wail.

A pale red spherical aura roiled around its armor. Life began to suck out of anything within its range, including its summons. Sooty endeavored to wipe out the remaining banshees around her. The earlier Essence Screech had already weakened the frail creatures. Each one only required a strike or two of hers to die.

Perfectly aware the armor screech put Luke into a stunned state, Sooty placed Iron Feather around her Reaver. Xera sprang to life, forcing Luke’s arms up, placing her between Luke’s body and the massive serrated blade in mid-swing toward him.

The force blasted Luke back, and the Iron Feather crumpled. With Xera’s quick adjustment for Luke, the swing only caused moderate damage. Before he could regain himself, shadow chains sprang out of the ground and locked his legs in place.

Luke had no time to put his attention anywhere else but on the Spectral Lord. He tried to flow Essence to degrade the chains, but they were impeccable. No vulnerabilities could be found. The shadow chains only rooted him. However, he could still move his upper body.

Sooty was busy wiping out the summoned legions of the Spectral Lord. They couldn't be ignored with the Spectral Lord’s ability to heal off its own summons. Before the wrecking carnage coming his way could get in melee range again, Luke unsheathed Whispering Edge and activated Wraith Wail.

When Luke put Whispering Edge back in the sheath, the Spectral Lord had already shaken off the one-second horror effect. It hadn’t even lasted half the described duration. The same resistance applied to the slow, with the boss monster shrugging off most of the speed reduction.

Despite the vastly reduced effectiveness of Wraith Wail, it still did its job well. The shadow chains began to wither away. It, too, was a time-limited crowd-control effect. Luke pressed the maximum amount of Essence he could into his eyes. His attention strained on the shoulder and feet of the Spectral Lord.

Those minor adjustments paid off. He ducked down with his upper body, the serrated blade leaving a wave of wind above his head. He thrust Xera at the gauntlets that held the great sword, both of his arms straining to reach the apex of power. Frost flickered onto Xera and collided with the targeted gauntlets. The successful attack saved Luke. The serrated sword lost any strength in its next swing. With no proper grip, there was no power, and this let Luke redirect the swing with Xera.

Finally, the shadow chains vaporized, and Luke immediately applied his agility to the limit. During the process, Luke could gradually see health leaving his body, absorbed by the Spectral Lord.

He bet that the natural regeneration of his neckpiece and the health steal given by his two rings would be more than the stolen rate of the boss’s aura. The speed advantage only existed due to the boost from his shoulders anyway; a plan rapidly formed in his mind, and he had no time to recheck it.

Only time to act.

After an immediate dodge, he swung Xera with a two-handed grip, and the blade sliced into the chain mail section near the Spectral Lord’s armpits. Xera diced her way in, and he felt the health steal flow back into him.

As he slid the blade back out, Luke used the motion to twist and jump around, avoiding another strike. This was a dance of combat, akin to when he fought the living armor knight.

He managed the dance once; he would do it again. He had to.

The Spectral Lord had shaped his movement, bringing him closer to the green-black pillar. As he came closer to the pillar, the abilities of the Spectral Lord began to strengthen gradually. At first, he thought it was a coincidence, but after the pattern continued to show, he immediately adjusted his trajectory.

Luke aimed for the Spectral Lord’s palms, the back of the knee, or the pit of its arm. He’d smash Xera against the cracked breastplate if none of those could be reached. He aimed to widen the crack gradually, and eventually, the results showed up.

But this boss wasn’t a pushover; its combat style adjusted when it realized powerful two-handed swings were too easy for this Reaver to avoid. The plated creature kept its blade in one hand and freed the other.

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At first, Luke couldn’t see why the Spectral Lord would do so; its blade became only easier to dodge with that style, but soon, the reason was apparent when its plated hand smashed into his chest.

[-110]

To make things worse, it turns out the screech of the Spectral Lord didn’t have a particularly long cooldown. Just as the screech reached its full auditory range, Luke cast Essence Fissure just in time, instead deciding to force the Spectral Lord up rather than down.

The boss lifted, quickly smacking into the air barrier around it. Sooty had finally cleared the Spectral army, bits of blood running down her body. The timing was on her side, and Sooty released another Reaver Beak onto its breastplate. The crack increased in severity, and shadowed mist stubbornly ate away at its center.

Even with the fissure in full effect, the Spectral Lord began to resist, managing to land a palm strike on Sooty. The bird let out a pained squawk and spiraled down toward the ground. Once the boss landed on the floor, Luke regained his faculties, and anger burned in the young man’s eyes.

No one hit his bird.

No one.

Maintaining a paradoxical, angry rationality, Luke’s frost essence deeply enveloped Xera, and the blade shredded the breastplate further. He snapped the blade back out and jumped out of the great sword’s range, successfully avoiding losing his arm. Infusion refreshed onto Xera and Sooty. The surge of strength helped his crow to recover.

“I’ll cover you until you’re ready, Sooty,” Luke said as he focused on the plated calamity before him.

The Spectral Lord stepped precisely as it had done when it achieved instantaneous movement; recognizing the pattern, Luke dodged toward Sooty and yelled out to her.

“Sooty, Shadow Wing, now!” he urgently instructed.

The corvid didn’t question and released the shade. Not a moment too soon, either. A great blade lost its power in slicing the shade apart, which saved Sooty’s life. The pale red aura continued to suck health away from Sooty.

Luke worked with the summoned shade, forcing the Spectral Lord away from Sooty. The Shade rotated every ability in its repertoire: Reaver Beak, Essence Screech, and Talon Strike. Each skill aimed at the cracked breastplate, the Spectral Lord used its blade and free hand to protect that spot.

Once the Shade and Luke had the boss focused on defense, the Shade left its Iron Feather on Sooty.

As a result, Luke concentrated his attacks on the monster’s back knee. Shadow chains erupted from the ground, drastically reducing his effectiveness. But he achieved his goal. The Spectral Lord distanced itself enough from Sooty.

Luke dodged the giant sword, white wisps passing by his face, representing energy that surrounded the Spectral Lord. A clenched plated fist smashed into his jaw, and his legs strained against the chains, trying to leave the ground.

Xera took over his arms, and her blade struck into another chainmail section of the creature’s body. Luke let one hand of his leave Xera’s hilt, and Essence Lance shattered point blank at the center of mass. A frosted layer appeared over the area, including the Lord’s armor.

A new portal ripped out behind the boss. And another legion of wraiths came out. Sooty had shaken off the strike and took over those wraiths. In the process, however, she left another Reaver Beak on the Spectral Lord’s breastplate, the trial boss let out a sound of frustration.

Luke smashed Xera down onto Lord’s palms, and the shock pushed back the serrated blade before it could pierce into Sooty. The Specters were in the range of the boss’s soul leech aura manipulation.

The Reaver didn’t allow such a synergy to continue. He used Temporal North. Essence Lance rained a blizzard over the Specters. Sooty furthered the AOE and released her Essence Screech. The signature combination upended all of the summons.

Frost began to stack further over the Spectral Lord, weakening its armor, but it showed zero signs of suffering from the cold. The runes over Xera dimmed. The Essence Bond over her ran out.

Luke didn't let up, even with him entering into his short period of weakness. He tried to rend Xera through the Spectral Lord, but it revealed its final ability, perhaps due to finally meeting a Reaver that could press the creature.

Luke’s blade ran through the Spectral Lord, but he felt zero resistance. The boss had turned incorporeal, then shifted back as the blade left its body. However, Luke noticed this ability only came into effect once Essence Bond dissipated over the Spectral Lord.

A coincidence? Only a fool would think so. Luke flipped back, kept Xera in his left hand as he did so, and used his right to push off the ground as he righted his feet back onto the dirt.

The reach of the serrated blade proved too long, and it sliced partially into his arm. Luke tried to keep out of the short range of the health leech around the Spectral Lord. Unfortunately, even with that conscious effort, the boss teleported to Luke’s side again.

Sooty aimed her Reaver Beak at the hand that held the sword. The plate cracked, and the blade lost its aim. The sword’s arc missed Luke, albeit barely. The Spectral Lord took its free arm and tried to smash its elbow into the young Reaver before it.

Luke’s reflexes and speed were the most substantial attributes of his current stat and gear setup. The attack only managed a glancing blow.

“Lad, keep in mind, you’re not recovering enough with those partial blows and constant health drain; adjust your style,” Wayfinder advised.

The reminder brought his slowly lowering health to the forefront. His current health gain mechanics weren’t enough; Luke would lose sooner or later with the current path. But his eyes focused on the breastplate that was becoming ruined.

He could do this; the tides would turn, and he would make sure they did.

Sooty continued to pepper attacks over the Spectral Lord’s body, reducing its effectiveness against Luke. With the Reaver and his companion able to entirely focus on the Spectral Lord, momentum shifted their way.

The crow began to spend her shadow essence in her current strikes, and the essence started to degrade the Spectral Lord further. She reached a new level in its use, blinking in and out of existence; retaliation proved difficult, even for the ancient boss monster.

But the tyranny of tier wasn’t something so easy to overcome. A slight mistake and Sooty took another strike, this time a backhand of an armored gauntlet. The shadow’s Iron Feather heavily reduced the power behind the strike, but Sooty was forced away and hurt.

Luke guided the controlled seething anger; his eyes caught up, and the dynamic movement of the Spectral Lord couldn’t fool him. The boss managed to hit the Reaver with fewer blows. The combat fell into a rhythm. The Reaver had reinvigorated Xera and Sooty, Infusion strengthened them, and Essence Bond reappeared over Xera.

Just before Luke could cast Essence Bond onto the Spectral Lord, the boss turned intangible, then instantly moved once more—right beside the green-black pillar. Black chains wrapped around Luke’s body and ruined his aim. He failed once more to cast Essence Bond.

The Spectral Lord used the free moment of full strength to smash its serrated ghost steel great sword into the pillar with a two-handed cleave. The green-black pillar imploded, and green flame alighted over the Spectral Lord. The ordinarily pale blue ghostly eyes turned into a dark green.

Waves of heat radiated out, and Luke could feel it from here. The boss paced forward, green blast waves erupting from its steps. Not losing sight of his strategy over an unexpected turn, Luke cast Essence Bond, and this time, the Spectral Lord couldn’t avoid it.

The Bond wrapped around the boss, and the green flame waves weakened but were still overpowering.

A new phase began.