JohnWillStab looked down on the fighting arena.

"There are two confirmed stages, one where he spams sandstorm and one where he uses emerald projectiles... "

"That said it'd be safer to assume he uses both abilities in both phases..."

"Group one, two and three, except for long-range DPSs, advance to the next crack and stay there until further notice!" John instructed from above.

They did as John instructed,

"Long-range DPSs, stay near the exist and fire at the boss none-stop unless he's casting the sandstorm ability or the emerald ability!"

And so the first shots rang out, while the tanks, close-range DPSs and healers snuck through the cracks, bit by bit, JohnWillStab watched the boss.

"THE RUDE SANDSTORM!" it exclaimed as from its body flew out millions of dagger-like shards of ore and rock, they flew out and circled back to him, it looked like everyone was able to dodge the ability so far, though the closer they got to the boss, the less time they'd have to do so.

As soon as the boss stopped casting the ability John exclaimed: "Alright, fire at the boss, groups one, two and three, advance to the nearest crack!"

The boss took a deep breath, "Deep breath..." noticed John.

"THE RUDE SANDSTORM!" it cried.

JohnWillStab exclaimed his command "Everyone stays in your crack and get down!" John ordered.

The razorblade-like winds cleared, he told them to advance.

The boss plunged its arms into the ground, everybody knew what was coming.

They all leapt behind cover and stayed still.

"EMERALD SPLASH!"

Like before, huge emeralds formed on the walls of the cave, John paid close attention to them specifically one of them, it twitched until it faced him.

"What the-?!" JohnWillStab jumped back and as saw the gem adjust its position to face him.

All the gems ejected themselves from the walls at once as they flew towards the people in the raid.

John dodged the one that was flung at him thanks to shadow step.

"DON'T STAND AROUND! KEEP MOVING!" JohnWillStab exclaimed, some players did as instructed, but a majority of them remained in place.

The few that kept moving (mostly the L.F.T.O group) survived, the rest got aim-botted by the car-sized crystals.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"The crystals aim for the players before they eject from the walls!" JohnWillStab exclaimed.

The boss let out a deep sigh as its armour began to lose its radiant glow.

"Groups one, two and three, advance!"

"Ranged-DPSs keep firing!"

JohnWillStab kept advancing the remaining players forward, finally, the boss let out a loud battle cry.

The shining ore on its back turned black and generic-looking,

"Is that an indicator of his mana? Does that mean he'll go melee now?!" thought John.

He shadow-stepped down to help the fight as the monster stomped the ground as cracks spread through it like shattering glass.

The cover of the cracks became their main downfall as rocks rained down on everyone inside,

"Quick! Leave your cracks!" John exclaimed, but it was too late, most of the casters were already dead or buried below mounds of rocks and emerald shards.

The few remaining players ran out to the front and lines and began dealing some actual damage to the boss.

Its rocky body was brittle now, the armour doing little to protect the golem at this range.

"Phase three!" John looked at the boss as it lifted a foot into the air once more and crushed Bonifacius with his armour into a pulp before sending the rest flying.

"BONIFACIUS!" cried Curstl as she moved in, plunging her spear through the giant's leg like he as made of crumbly butter.

"YOU BASTA-" he was cut off when the boss swiped at her turning her into a Curstl-coloured stain on his massive fist.

"Damn, we won't stand a chance without a tank!" Bromy exclaimed as they noticed it, the boss was removing his armour and grabbing the chain.

"Oh no..." taught JohnWillStab as the boss swung the massive chain severing Bromy and the remaining players including John in half.

Again, they respawned by the entrance to the first boss, slightly traumatized.

"..."

Twenty minutes later...

By now the outside was getting dark, most players set up sleeping mats or starter tents around the place as Pedecree continued cooking something.

John was sitting at his depression bench, like before.

"Don't let the fact you led dozens of players to their deaths get you down!" Foxly exclaimed patting John on the back.

"Well, he definitely lacks talent motivational-speaking-wise..." thought John.

"Right..."

"We didn't have any potions and we're short on people, you're doing fine!" Foxly assured John.

That was when the crusader, Bolst approached John.

"Undead, do you have a moment?" he asked.

John turned to face him.

"Oh, sure..." she stood up from his bench and followed the crusader.

"I'll talk to you later, Foxly!" he said waving back at Foxly.

"Sure!"

As soon as they were out of sigh, the Crusader turned to face John.

"I want to be the strategist for this raid," he said bluntly.

"W-what?"

"You killed us twice already, and each one of our runs takes around two hours if we take into account your breaks, I doubt anybody in our group want to lose any more lives!" Bolst finally said crossing his arms.

"I see..."

"If you refuse, I will be leaving this raid group," he said,

"He's one of our only tanks..."

"Alright." John relented.

"You can take the job..." John breathed a sigh, he didn't feel good per se, but he felt a massive weight was lifted from his shoulders.

"Fantastic, we'll attack in fifteen minutes!" he exclaimed.

JohnWillStab took a second to go over what he just heard.

"You want us to go now?!" John demanded.

"Of course! The enemy won't expect us to go face it after two terrible attempts!" Bolst said certainly.

"THAT'S BECAUSE IT KNOW WE'RE EXHAUSTED!" John rebuked.

"Nonsense! The flames of passion and adventure burst white within our hearts, undead! No glorified rock formation will stand in our way!" Bolst turned to leave.

"I shall inform my men of the plan, also - I shall change your strange team-layout," he added.

"What does he-"

"Rest assured, you can stay and cower like you always do, I shall strategies from the front lines!" he exclaimed before walking back towards the camp.

"MAKE HASTE, MEN! WE GO TO BATTLE!" he exclaimed.

"Dude... we're trying to slee-" one of the raiders began by was cut off by the intimidating tank.

"TO BATTLE!"

The raiders got ready as fast as they could.

"Have thou spoken to JohnWillStab about this?" asked Bonifacius, he calmly walked up to the Crusader.

"It seems he has finally seen through his pride and allowed me to take the title of raid-strategist!" he exclaimed proudly.

Bonifacius crossed his arms.

"I see... I do hope thou have not forced his hand in this matter..." Bonifacius said sternly.

"Of course not, what I do and did is just, and I won't throw away any more lives than necessary!" he explained.

Bromy approached him holding his scalpel,

"Say, you don't expect us to fight while we're completely exhausted, do you?" he asked menacingly.

"Ah, good to see you, healer!" he exclaimed.

Before Bromy could reply Bolst continued speaking.

"We won't be needing you in the raid!"

Bromy looked at him with a look a complete shock.

"What?"

"You heard me! My men don't need a crutch like you! We don't need potions or magic either! JUST THE POWER WITHIN OUR BLADES!"

He turned to the players "Any magic users unable to fight like real men can stay here, I won't be having you cowards ruin my run of this raid!"

"Run?" thought Bromy as he felt a chill run down his back.

"I knew I recognised his armour... he's a fan of that Dank Souls game!" Bromy exclaimed.

"So?" asked Bonifacius.

"HE'S A DIFFICULTY-MASSOCHIST!" Bromy exclaimed.

Bolst removed his armour completely leaving behind only a loincloth and his helmet which obscured any facial features.

"LET GO!" he cried as he sprinted into the boss room followed by the other, clothed players.

Bonifacius and Bromy ran after them, so did JohnWillStab.