The atmosphere was tense, most of the players agreed to give John another chance to beat the boss, though his speech about "already knowing the boss's weakness" didn't help manage their expectations.
"Remember the formations!" John said as the group charged into the room.
There were only twenty of them since some remained above and spectated the fight, not willing to risk higher XP penalties.
"STILL HERE?!" demanded the giant boss as his body flashed brilliant colours, the ore all over his body becoming flush with twinking hues of red and green.
He stood up from his slumber causing tremors all throughout the dungeon.
"Everyone stay spread out and charge forward!" John instructed,
Unlike his previous plan, he didn't want the ranged DPSs to stay back since that would limit their access to healers and reduce their attack accuracy.
The boss took a deep breath, John learned to recognise this as his tell for The Rude Sandstorm, the AOE ability.
"GET DOWN!" John exclaimed as everyone dropped to the floor, seconds later a storm of razorblade-like ore and rocks flew out from the scale-like rocks covering the boss.
John looked back and saw that everyone was alive.
"Thank god... guess the trenches are just a distraction..." he thought.
That was the biggest gamble for John, is everyone got torn to bits on the first attack, most would most certainly leave the group.
"Everyone, crawl forward until he stops casting the ability," John instructed as he began making his way forward.
The players followed John.
The AOE wore off and John jumped to his feet.
"Everyone advance!" John exclaimed.
Again the players charged forward before the boss twitched his fingers and plunged his arms into the rock of the cave.
"Olivionion, Shadow-Step to the boss' head with me! Everyone else, keep running, don't stop!" John instructed.
"Right!"
Both John and Olivionion appeared atop the boss' head as two massive emeralds twitched to face them, they ejected from the walls of the cave, missing all the sprinting players.
The two massive car-sized projectiles flew at John and Olivionion who shadow-stepped off the boss seconds before the emeralds smashed into its head sending cracks down his entire body.
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"AHHH!" the boss let out a loud roar as it took in a deep breath.
"EVERYONE DOWN!" John commanded.
The players did as instructed.
"We're actually doing it!" XsuphicatR exclaimed emotionlessly.
"So far, that was all memory work... this is where things get tough..." John thought as the boss broke the chains off the armour it wore and grabbed them.
It pulled the chain back, intending to use it like a whip.
"BROMY!" John exclaimed hoping Bromy remembered what John told him before the fight.
"Alright!" Bromy's roots grew from the ground grabbing onto the chains as the rest of the group charged forward.
"RANGED DPSs! Attack the boss, do as much body-damage as you can!"
"Close-range DPS, avoid being crushed!"
"Bonifacius, try getting on top of the boss!"
"I shall!" Bonifacius exclaimed as he turned towards the massive chain, he cast master charge to zoom-across the chain and onto the massive boss's arm.
"TIS NOTHING PERSONAL, GOLEM!" Bonifacius exclaimed as he reached for his blade and cast Severing Slash.
The blade burst into light as the blade came down on the boss's arm and crumbled like it was made of paper.
Dust particles rained down as the entire golem trembled.
As the boss pulled harder on the chain its arm came loose.
Giving up on the chain it made a move to swipe at Bonifacius with its other arm only to find it held back by Bromy's roots.
Shootin' unloaded boomstick after boomstick upon the beast, cracking its body all over but doing little to severely damage it.
In the distance Pedecree stood, with his ammo-synthesis skill he created explosive pellets which he shot at the boss' cracked body, deepening the damage.
Suddenly Bonifacius' grip came loose as a chunk of rock flew off its shoulder.
As he was about to fall he felt his feet land on something, he looked back and saw XsuphicatR's scythe impaled in the boss' shoulder below Bony's feet.
"Many thanks, XsuphicatR!" Bonifacius called out only getting a thumbs up in return as the scythe faded out and once more appeared in XsuphicatR's hand.
Desperate, the boss let out a cry as its eye shattered, losing its vibrant glow and its arm sprouted once more, for a second looking like it was made from magical ore only to once more become rock.
"What the!?" John studied the boss' movements.
"FOOLISH MORTALS!" it cried as with its two arms it smashed down onto the ground onto a small group of casters, moments before death they saw the only other tank, Pnutbutterjerry casting Fortify-Defence.
His body looked like it was made from steel as the ground below his feet cracked.
"QUICK! GET OU!" he cried as his body itself began to crack in places.
The casters began fleeing as he cast Defence Stance causing see-through blue shiels to appear around him, they all pushed against the weight of the golem's arms as they too began to crack like glass.
Another crack formed in Pnutbutterjerry's steel body, travelling down his arm and reaching his face.
Just as the boss was about to crush him, he was shadow-stepped out by Olivionion.
"Nice block!" Olivionion remarked placing the man down away from the boss.
"Thanks for the save!" Pnutbutterjerry exclaimed sounding relieved.
Crown rushed over to cast a healing spell on him, taking a solid minute to bring him back to normal.
"Damn it! Why are my healing spell so weak!?" she thought.
Meanwhile, several ranged fighters attack the boss relentlessly.
"Firebolt!" Jordan exclaimed pointing his staff at the boss.
"Waterbolt!" Revenberry exclaimed doing the same.
As the two magic projectiles flew at the boss, they clashed, creating a massive explosion of steam that shattered its torso revealing the massive gem in the shape of a heart that stood within its torso.
"That must be its weakness!" John exclaimed looking towards Foxly who nodded understandingly.
"I GOT IT!" Foxly exclaimed sprinting towards the boss, Bromy used a root to grab onto him before tossing him full speed at the golem.
He had a hard landing but was fine thanks to his puffy clothes.
When he reached the heart he tried smashing it but to no avail.
He grabbed a fistful of seals only to be launched outwards by a blast of radiant magic from the heart itself.
Sensing their opportunity, Alex and Thal charged forward, grabbing Foxly mid-air and unleashing a massive ball of blue flames that climbed the boss and flew towards its heart, unfortunately for them, the boss covered the hole with its arms and got those blown off instead.
In the distance, Rootin' aimed at the boss and fired a single shot that pierced its skull and shattered its remaining eye.
The golem's body healed back to normal like when the last eye was destroyed.
"It heals whenever an eye is broken!" John realised.
"We should have destroyed both at the start!" he thought.
"YOU HORRID CREATURES! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!" cried the golem as the cracks on its body healed.
The giant cavity on its chest was also gone.
"I WILL USE ALL OF MY REMAINING POWER TO DESTROY YOU!" bellowed the golem as it plunged its arms into the ground, hundreds if not thousands of gems appeared all over every wall, the ore on its body began to glow and trembled, ready to be used for an AOE attack as the cave trembled.
"Too late!" John said smugly.
"PREPARE TO-!"
The boss' torso began full of cracks as Foxly detonated the seals he left inside the boss' torso.
Cracks formed and flowed down his arms and legs accompanied by sounds of shattering rock as he froze in place.
The boss was dead.
[https://i.imgur.com/kKMMHyu.png]