Luke found himself in a different spawn point compared to last time, although the landscape was practically identical: snow, snow, and more snow. Add in a bit of ice for good measure, with one difference.
He saw the mountains immediately. A few parties were embroiled in battle, this time with an enormous bison with black ice swirling around it. With multiple parties engaged in battle against one monster, Luke’s interest grew, he inspected the creature.
[Onelius, the Ice Blessed] (Field Boss)
Level: 25
HP: 2950/3750
Also called the Black Death. The only entry on Orlan’s Ice Horde’s blacklist. Can spawn on either the first or second floor. Usually busy munching on unfortunate hunters or monsters it encounters. Without multiple parties, better to run and hope for the best.
Hunter parties surrounded the boss, but the results were sub-par to an optimist and disastrous to anyone else. Over twenty hunters worked in tandem to fight Onelius, yet four bodies laid out in the cold snow, unmoving. Seeing more dead hunters unnerved Luke, more for the stark reminder of how quickly life could slip away from you in a dungeon.
Luke knew the feeling very well. A tomb had tried its best to keep him in the netherworld permanently.
The rampaging titanic bison bombarded the hunter coalition with rotating black icicles. The AOE attack punctured a curse weaver through their chest. She stopped moving moments later. Uncaring for the fatal damage it caused, the bison bellowed to the sky, bones with teeth marks fell from its mouth.
Snow fell in pillars, destroying most hunters’ positions and posture. Three small constructs, conjured with pure ice, materialized next to the field boss. They charged immediately, attempting to trample over any hunter who failed to avoid the avalanche of falling snow above them.
While part of him wanted to help, Luke knew the aftermath of taking down a boss with other parties would be a headache. Listening to his gut, Luke spoke to his companion first.
“A field boss? I don’t like the sound of this blacklist, either. Come to think of it, a red list was mentioned earlier when we faced that Sloth beast. What do you think, Sooty? Should we help those hunters out?”
Sooty hopped up, flapped her wings, and flew closer to Onelius. She circled the masses of snow and ice around the boss. Onelius stomped with its front hooves, and a razor-sharp cone of force slammed into the four hunters attempting to tank the field boss together, blasting them back off their feet. Once the stomp effect broke through, the defensive line crumpled, and two bruisers had their heads knocked clean off.
“Nope, I’m good. Sorry, Xera, no bison blood for you; we’re getting out of here.” Luke walked in the opposite direction, planning to give the failed raid a wide berth.
“Aw….” Xera said, low enough that it’d be lost to the battle next to Luke.
Sooty let out a caw and landed back on Luke, carefully avoiding the winter cataclysm around the boss. She released a series of questioning clicks. Then sat back down, closing her eyes; she shivered occasionally from the constantly lowering temperature.
Temperatures continued to lower as Onelius flung ice and snow with deadly intent. Its three summons gored the hunter’s back line, trying to execute healers with their charges. Luke breathed out, and the moisture in his breath froze.
The Reaver kept leaving, but his steps slowed gradually. Eventually, the man’s back shivered as the screams dominated his soundscape. An errant ice crystal blasted past him, and snow exploded onto his body.
A woman’s voice entered his ears, begging for help.
“Hey you, the hunter running away. We’re overwhelmed and could use your help, please! Don’t leave us to die.”
Luke grew annoyed being accused of running. He didn’t beat the Spectral Lord to have some random woman insinuate he was a coward. Luke started to put one foot in front of the other again, guilt left him.
Frenzied strides ripped through the snow. Luke tried to ignore it. A hand clenched around his wrist. Luke slowly turned his body toward the source. An elvish woman with green eyes and black hair had ripped cloth covering her. She held a snapped staff. Her other hand gripped around his wrist.
“Please, I can tell you’re powerful; you could turn the tides for us. You step with excessive force and barely get affected by this cold. You’ve got to be a 1st tier,” She said.
“Lady, let go of me.” Luke ripped his wrist free; the elf woman tried to keep hold but failed miserably. This only gave the elf further proof of her opinion.
Luke spoke, annoyed, “You hunters chose to engage that big bastard; no way over twenty-five people came together without organization. I’m not a fool. You made your bed, now lie in it. Sooty, prevent her from trying to touch me or you again. Increase the force if you need to.”
Sooty resonated with a commanding caw, assuring her Reaver. She hopped and faced toward the elvish woman, who was shocked at the refusal, her brows high, eyes wide, and mouth slightly open. As Luke trudged forward for a few yards, he heard loud sobbing behind him. She continued to try to convince Luke with various words, but none shook him.
That is, until she mentioned one particular fact, “I shall never forgive your refusal to help us. My father will die sick and all alone because of you!” The elf woman shrieked, becoming crazed.
At the mention of a father, Luke shook violently. Ice unconsciously swept out from the young man. The Reaver realized a troubling connection: the higher his intellect stat rose, the less he could forget, memories became detailed and repressed times commanded attention. Two faint memories flooded the surface of his mind.
Thanks for your cover, man; I’ll be able to call home to my family for another day because of you.
“Josh.” Luke’s hands gripped tightly around Xera’s hilt.
Your service helps keep the last pieces together, son. I’ll always be proud of you. Keep doing what is right.
“Dad.” He fully took Xera out, having made a decision.
Luke stopped his bodily reactions; the ice receded and swept up onto Xera’s surface.
“I was wrong, Xera, bison blood it is. Sooty, get ready.”
Xera remained silent due to the elf’s presence but shook in excitement. Sooty groomed herself, stretching her legs and wings.
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The Reaver’s eyes slowly landed on the desperate elf woman, “Get up. Emotionally blackmail me again, knowingly or not, and you’ll regret it.”
Trying to recollect herself, the elf woman used her destroyed staff to rise out of the snow, “We have to hurry; you can’t take on the Black Death by yourself. The sooner you reinforce the raid, the better. I’ll add you in.”
[Meluia Bostel has invited you to a raid. Accept? Y/N]
Luke accepted with his free hand. He kept Whispering Edge in its sheath. Luke broke into an extreme sprint; snow blasted from his path with his full-force steps. Frost continued to build on Xera, creeping up his right forearm. With his vision stat negating any chance of being snow-blind, he scanned the ‘raid’ he joined. The four tanks panicked in trying to control Onelius. The boss had mauled an archer that had gotten too close with its head. The body count near doubled, less than fifteen raiders remained standing. He sensed Meluia running back with him, her pace too slow to have any hope of keeping up.
She panted heavily, seeing the new raid member continue to widen the distance; she yelled out, “Be careful, work with the raid, or we’ll all die.”
“Let’s show her how wrong she is, Sooty, Xera, Wayfinder. Same rules, but I’ve got an extra idea that should make for a deadly entrance.”
Infusion danced, covering Xera and Sooty. Luke’s previous cast on himself when carrying the two bodies remained with full stacks. He examined Onelius. Black ice floated around it, smashing into any nearby targets. The moment the tanks let up, the boss intelligently tried to execute any ranged damage sources or healers. Luke noticed an old scar on the beast, under its neck. He switched the stored ability in Temporal North to Essence Lance.
“Not the first raid you’ve wiped out this spawn. Let’s loosen the limits. Sooty, use your feather when you can get the most use out of it.” Essence Bond lit up Xera’s runes; Luke used the instantly refreshed Cooldown to empower Sooty next.
Sooty rattled, zipping off his shoulder, charging the field boss. One of the three ice beasts Onelius created rampaged toward her. A black mist merged with her beak. She sped up, straining her wings; shadow essence covered her body, and she vanished. The ice construct blinked in confusion, spotted Luke, who wasn’t far and pawed at the snow to ready its next charge.
It never got the chance.
Sooty appeared next to the ice beast’s eye, her beak pierced in deeply, and she left the pest, focused on the real target. With the obstacle now half-blind, Luke passed by, not worried about the crippled roadblock. A few back-line healers and ranged damager dealers glanced gratefully. Sooty’s help stemmed the death rate among them.
Two constructs attempted to rampage. The remaining bruisers teamed up to keep them pinned down, preventing the worse outcome. With their central command broken down, the ranged damage split their attention, leading to non-existent results.
“Did their raid leader die? What a disaster,” Luke observed.
While the healers kept the half-wiped raid alive, the damage dealers were all over the place. Without concentrated effort, their presence was currently useless. The four tanks kept Onelius occupied, but they were being worn down quickly. Exhaustion etched their features, plate or dense chain mail armor shook while slipping grips caused shields to wobble. In less than five minutes, one would end up making a fatal mistake.
Luke sent instructions to Sooty over Reaver’s Link.
Open up that old scar for me, pal. I’ll take care of the two remaining summons here and keep this back-line alive; better safe than sorry.
Sooty returned a feeling of understanding; she blinked out of existence, shadow wisps remained where she vanished. She reappeared shortly after, several feet from the field boss’ aged scar. Shade clung to one talon; she beat once with all her might and accelerated. Activating Spatial Feather’s ability, turning her next strikes into true-magic damage.
Her speed allowed her to avoid the colossal bison’s defense. Black ice swept past where she appeared less than a second ago, smashing into one unfortunate warrior. Sooty’s element-backed Talon Strike ruptured the targeted scar, and the bison bled heavily, damaging it for 93 points.
Sooty clicked her beak and melded back into the bison’s looming shadow; Onelius war-stomped the ground with its hooves. The snow under its mighty legs exploded back, shoving aside any attackers.
The crow, however, avoided the tactic. In fact, she revealed herself perched on the neck of another Ice construct Onelius previously summoned. Sooty Reaver Beaked it at the base of its skull. The blow proved more effective dealing 197 damage.
While Sooty continually attacked the thrashing summon, Luke dashed up, using both hands, he chopped Xera through its front legs. The Reaver and his companion stabbed into brain matter once the construct fell forward. Unable to cope with the immense damage, it turned into lifeless, shattered ice.
“One more to handle,” Luke said.
The field boss grew enraged once its eyes settled on Sooty. It batted aside the four tanks with its head, using its tremendous strength. Black ice appeared under where they fell, causing a deep freeze in their bodies. Onelius trampled over an Enhancer that landed in its way, killing him.
“There’s the enviable mistake. Terrible way to go,” Luke winced.
With a gargantuan being called The Black Death coming his way, Luke shelved his previous plans.
“The rest of these people will have to handle the last summon by themselves. Focus, Sooty. It looks like you made it angry.”
Sooty expressed herself with an indignant caw and pecked Luke in the ankle.
Luke sighed, “Okay, fine, we made it angry.” His admittance assuaged the crow.
Nearby raid members scrambled to escape from Luke’s vicinity. None of the healers bothered to give him any buffs or absorption shields. Any DPS either focused on the last remaining Ice summon, which Luke could barely accept, or skittered to the back.
A slight sense of disgust built up in Luke. He helped them immensely, only for them to turn their back on him at the first sign of difficulty.
“For that, you ungrateful louts, I’ll take all the loot this guy drops. Sooty, once we kill him, keep anyone away.”
Sooty beat her wings, gaining altitude for the rushing disaster headed their way. Luke had built more than enough Frost Essence, his entire forearm coated white, and Xera sheened with ice. He adapted his posture, ready to spring forward. Normal essence flooded his eyes, and he better understood the boss’s patterns.
Onelius galloped, his horns merged with black ice, aiming to skewer Luke. The boss already had thin ice over its wound, stemming the bleeding. Luke’s view was occupied by the massive horns about to gut him.
Sooty grew alarmed, and an arcane feather floated protectively around Luke. She desperately dove, aiming to mutilate the bison from above.
The Reaver had intentionally waited. Frost Fall Reave descended, the blast back from the Spectral Heart’s ability halted Onelius. Unlike other times, the ambient frost did nothing to the monster. However, it had no answer for the initial force, and attack power reduction effect the ability introduced. The timing enabled Luke to put the boss under a fleeting stun.
Luke used the tension in his legs and strength stat to spiral toward the old scar. The thin ice layer would prove child’s play to puncture. Xera pierced through, eviscerating the re-exposed wound. Blood poured in copious amounts, painting Luke’s face.
“We’re not done here.” The frost from Luke’s forearm flooded into Xera’s blade, pulsing inside the boss. It proved resistant, however, and this trick of his wasn’t as effective as it usually was.
“Not enough?” Luke scoffed, “You asked for it.”
The Reaver plunged Xera deeper in; with the cover of the Onelius’s head, he transformed her into a wand, and Ruinous Echo invaded its body. With the additional weakening, he formed an Essence Lance at her tip, inside the boss.
Luke heard the muffled, excited words from Xera within. Essence Lance exploded, and the ice shards shredded most of Onelius’s organs. The boss began to hemorrhage all over his body.
A minus 377 popped over Onelius.
The tenacious boss raised its head, readying to smash it down on Luke. Luke knew he couldn’t afford to take Xera back out. He hung from Xera with one hand and took Whispering Edge out with the other. He plunged that blade into the gaping wound before him, and Wraith Wail infected the boss from within.
That nuance allowed it to take full effect, and the boss was forcibly put into horror and slowed. Sooty spiraled toward its eye, and Reaver Beak ripped into the weak point. It roared in pain, losing half its vision. The black ice around it sucked into the boss, and arctic winds blasted an incredible radius around the boss. Dark frost covered the small wounds around its body.
The raid group catapulted back, smashing dozens of yards back. Luke had to make full use of his strength stat to hold on. Sooty’s build left a weakness in her strength. She helplessly rocketed up into the sky.
The aftermath of Onelius’s defensive measure claimed two bruisers’ lives. Their bodies limp in the snow; another unlucky healer joined them as she coughed up black blood for the last time.
Luke stirred Whispering Edge within the boss, continually trying to pulse frost with minimal success.
“They don’t call you The Black Death for nothing.” He whispered lowly, “And I didn’t become a Reaver for you to stand in my way, overgrown bison.”