The clone Jester lunges at Nycteris, swinging all four weapons at him. The Nightwing bat screeches and jumps to the side to avoid the attack. A moment later, several mana bolts were hurled in its direction.

The clone used all four blades to deflect Hazel’s bolts, watching the spells shatter from the collision, sending bright blue particles in the air. As soon as Hazel stopped firing, the Jester copy saw an opportunity to attack.

It blitzed toward her like a lightning bolt, closing the distance in mere moments. Hazel could barely react to the Jester’s absurd speed. Panicked, she scrambled to raise her staff, using it as a shield.

Three blades clashed against the gnarled staff, digging into the wood as the Jester pushed against Hazel. As for the fourth blade, the Jester used one remaining limb and slashed at her face.

Hazel managed to note the fourth weapon gliding toward her face. She then jerked her head away, barely avoiding the blade and leaving a small cut on her cheek as a result.

Before the Jester could attempt to attack again, its attention was briefly pulled away from her when it heard Nycteris’s screech. It snapped its head around like an owl, so it could look at the nightwing.

Seeing this, Hazel saw an opportunity. She pulled one of her hands off her staff and placed it in front of the Jester. Then, she hurled a Baneful Sickle directly at its torso. The spell tore through the monster, cutting it in half.

The two halves of the Jester collapsed on the floor. As soon as they fell, they burst into purple particles. But Hazel didn’t receive a kill notification.

She narrowed her eyes angrily. So, clones didn’t count as proper kills, then. That in itself was rather annoying. It was one thing to be fighting against clones, but the fact that they couldn’t obtain any experience from them only made them more bothersome to deal with.

They were basically killing monsters without any benefit. No XP, no anything. And that proved to be very vexing for Hazel.

“Master...behind!” Nycteris called out to his master.

Hearing her familiar warned her, Hazel didn’t bother turning around to look and simply cast Mana Shield to block whatever attack came her way. The sound of metal clanging against her barrier could be heard from behind. When she turned around to see what it was, her eyes laid upon two more Jesters being recoiled from their attacks.

Before they could land and try again, Hazel lifted her staff and summoned two Cursed spears, and launched them at the Jesters. The menacing purple javelins pierced through their torsos, leaving a large hole in their wake as the copies exploded into fragments.

Sadly, this proved to be a useless effort. Even when Hazel managed to down the two Jester copies, two more simply appeared out of nowhere to attack. They sprouted two more arms like one of the previous clones and made a beeline for her.

“For the love of...!”

Frustrated with the never-ending clones, Hazel waved her hands together, activating Telekinesis. The jester copies were frozen in place for a brief moment, restricted by Hazel’s spell. Then, she smacked her hands together, making the two jesters clash against one another.

The sudden force of the collision killed them in an instant. Their bodies were twisted around as if they were attempting to fuse into some kind of jester ball. But before the fusion could be complete, purple cracks spider-webbed along their bodies. A moment later, they shattered in an instant.

Hazel breathed heavily after killing the clones. Her hands were visibly shaking as the overwhelming fatigue slowly took hold of her. She clutched her head in pain, feeling a sharp migraine assault her brain.

“Wonderful...” She grumbled. “Just wonderful.”

Her mana reserves were running low. Any attempt to cast more spells would put her at an even bigger disadvantage right now.

As if her problems couldn’t stop there, more Jester copies were coming out of the woodwork. What used to be two Jesters now became four. All of them with their attention set on the mage herself.

“Dammit...” Hazel muttered a swear. “Nycteris!”

Hearing her call, the Nightwing appeared next to her immediately. He expelled a low screech and glared at the newly made jester copies.

“Keep them busy for me, alright?”

The Nightwing firmly nodded, narrowing its crimson-red eyes at the clown-like creatures. A second later, he rushed toward the jesters with the determination to achieve his master’s command.

With the Jesters occupied, Hazel turned around to go find the bag that carried their supplies. Specifically mana potions. She rushed down a path between rows of chairs as her legs bumped against every seat and back she came across.

“I wish this damn dress had pockets or something like with my magic robe.”

Because Hazel’s dress had no pockets, she couldn’t carry a mana or health potion on her person. And because of that, she was scrambling to find their luggage that carried their supplies. Thankfully, making it over to where the fight initially started, the mage managed to find the bag laid out on the floor in front of her.

Hazel rushed toward the bag, desperate to get a mana potion. Sadly, life had different plans for her. Just as she got close to the bag, another Jester landed in front of her, as if falling from the sky.

The mage came to an abrupt stop upon seeing the monster. She raised her staff to try and attack it, but the Jester was faster, dashing toward her with its two blades ready to strike her down. Hazel changed gears and went to cast a Mana shield.

The barrier began to form around her as the Jester got closer. However, the monster didn’t even get a chance to strike its blade against her shield before an arrow could be seen piercing its skull.

The arrow didn’t stop and went right through its head, shattering its mask and then clashing against Hazel’s barrier. The mage’s heart nearly leaped out of her chest while watching the projectile getting rebounded off the blue transparent dome of pure mana.

Hazel shifted her head to see the culprit of the shot, witnessing Astrid appear behind the Jester she just killed. The dark elf proceeded to pull back another arrow in preparation to shoot another jester copy.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The mage scowled. “You do realize you could’ve killed me if I hadn’t cast Mana Shield right?”

“Which is why I didn’t shoot that arrow until you did.”

“You could’ve at least given me a heads up!”

“True,” Astrid shrugged. Her face then turned stern as she raised her bow above Hazel’s head and immediately loosed the arrow.

The projectile zipped past the top of Hazel’s head, striking the Jester copy behind her. She turned around just in time to watch the copy completely fracture, unable to maintain its physical form.

“Get a mana potion while you can,” Astrid instructed, preparing another arrow to shoot. “I’ll take down any more clones that get in your way.”

Hazel gave the dark elf a brief nod while making her way to the bag. Crouching down, she pulled out a mana potion before immediately downing it. A cool wave of energy washed over Hazel; a sign that her mana was being replenished.

Finishing off the potion, she tossed the glass vial to the side without giving it a second thought. She then joined Astrid to support her now that she was at one hundred percent again.

They were now back-to-back, covering each other's rears from any Jester copies coming their way. And like before, a pair of the copies appeared on one of the rows of chairs, staring down at the player duo.

Astrid fired several arrows at the jester copies, only for them to easily dodge them like it was a game of dodgeball. But just when they were about to charge, their bodies froze from Hazel’s Telekinesis restricting their movements.

No words were said between the two players. Astrid saw that Hazel obstructed the jester’s movements, and followed up with an arrow volley. Unlike before, the projectiles hit their mark, all of them striking the Jesters from head to toe.

Their bodies riddled with arrows, the copies were soon turned to fragments upon reaching their expiration date.

“These things are weak, but their numbers are a problem for us,” Astrid noted.

“Yeah, we need to find the real jester...”

From what Hazel noticed, the clones weren’t that much of a threat to them. This was because their levels were too low. But the problem didn’t come from their levels but their numbers.

Much like the Fractured horde, even a group of low-level monsters can be a considerable threat. If you weren’t careful, they could easily overwhelm you before you could even have a chance to either retaliate or escape.

So far, the real Jester had only been sending out a couple of copies when one of the previous ones got destroyed. While that didn’t seem like much of an issue, it was for Hazel and the others due to one fact; stamina.

Hazel, Astrid, and Nycteris were bound to get tired of fighting the Jester copies. And when they got hit with fatigue, that was when they lost the fight. It was a battle of attrition between them and the real Jester.

Which side will go down first? That was what this current battle boiled down to. And Hazel knew that if they didn’t find the real Jester soon, they were fated to lose this fight.

Hazel’s eyes darted around the opera house, desperately searching for the Jester that they needed to take down. She looked among the stage and audience chairs before her, hoping to find a lone Jester in the distance.

“The bastard has to be somewhere...” Astrid grumbled. “I bet it’s watching this unfold as if it was watching some kind of performance.”

Upon the dark elf’s words registering in Hazel’s mind, she was able to figure out a clue regarding the Jester’s location. Throughout the entire fight, The Jester displayed very sporadic or theatrical displays.

The dramatic bow, the hand-stand on Nycteris, even the dancing when it was dodging their attacks. These factors led Hazel to discover one vital characteristic involving the Jester. This boss was a showman.

It was always putting on a show. A display as if appealing to an audience. And right now, if what Hazel and Astrid were doing was something like a performance on stage, then the Jester could possibly watch it unfold with front-row seats. Or in this case, private seats.

Hazel darted her eyes over to the walls that had dozens of private boxes displayed. She scanned every single one, feeling close to finally spotting the real Jester. And sure enough, she did.

The clown-like boss was seated in the middle of the other private boxes, eagerly observing the performance of its copies attacking Hazel and her allies. However, as soon as the mage spotted the boss, it immediately knew that its cover was blown.

Despite wearing a mask, Hazel could tell that the Jester was in a panic, realizing that it was discovered. It then reached for the edge of the box, attempting to jump out and possibly hide somewhere else.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Hazel shouted while raising her staff at the Jester boss.

She then conjured five cursed spears, hurling them at the target. The malicious spears of cursed energy zipped through the air, closing in on the Jester.

The boss didn’t hesitate and instantly leaped out of the Private Boss, escaping the range of the spears. Oh, so it thought.

“Like hell, I’m letting you escape so easily!”

Using her free hand, Hazel hastily activated Telekinesis. But instead of using it on the Jester, she targeted the cursed spears. Putting all five of them under her control. The violet-cursed spears then halted in mid-air as if caught in some invisible net.

Hazel could feel her connection with the spears through Telekinesis. She had all of them within her grasp. This was something she had been practicing during her training session for their battle with the Sub-boss.

While testing the limitations of Telekinesis, a sudden thought occurred to Hazel. That thought was if Hazel could cast Telekinesis on her spells, allowing her to control them after being cast.

And after a couple of experiments, her theory was a success. Not only that, but Hazel’s spells were weightless, diminishing the mana cost by quite a bit, allowing her to use Telekinesis more when applying it to her spells.

And it was time to make use of it. A wicked smile formed on her face. And what she did next was icing on the cake.

With a single motion, Hazel swung her arm back, forcing the spears to change course...and continue their pursuit of the Jester. All five cursed javelins turned around and made a beeline for the boss, relentlessly to take down their target.

The jester looked behind and noticed the spears coming its way. It went into a panic, flailing its arms and legs around to move in the air, but made no progress. And just before the cursed spears could hit it, the Jester conjured two more arms and pulled out more blades, placing them in front of it to act as a shield.

The spears then made contact with the Jester, somehow either rebounding off the blades or grazing it as it sailed past their target. Hazel witnessed the Jester’s miraculous survival with a dumbfounded expression.

Continuing its descent, the Jester crashed into more of the auditorium seating, kicking up dust and broken-off pieces of the seatings. During this moment, Nycteris finally regrouped with Hazel and Astrid after dealing with the other Jester copies.

“We need to do another volley attack, now!” Hazel urged.

“Right!”

Both Hazel and the dark elf raised their weapons, preparing to hurl more spells and arrows at the Jester while it was down. They were, unfortunately, too late and they were hit with a massive explosion, flinging more seats and debris at them.

Nycteris rushed in front of them, using his body as a shield. Multiple chairs and the like struck the Nightwing’s body. But thanks to his sturdy body, they merely bounced off him without inflicting much damage.

The shockwave soon seized, preventing any more debris from being thrown at the group. Knowing that the initial attack was over, the Nightwing moved away to allow Hazel and Astrid to proceed with their assault.

That was when they spotted the Jester sub-boss, emerging from the spot where it crashed. But something was different compared to before.

Walking out of the crater of chairs and debris, the Jester faced Hazel’s group. An ominous aura emitting from its body. It was an oppressive energy that caused all of them to quiver with fear.

But that wasn’t all. The Jester was wielding a large scythe that was resting on its shoulder. The weapon possessed a chrome black color as its base with red and orange designs engraved in the handle and a blade with red mist emanating off it.

Hazel had never seen such a weapon before. But she did know this; that scythe was dangerous. Very dangerous.

Approaching the group, the Jester pulled its scythe off its shoulder before twirling it around, displaying its technique and skills with the weapon. After pulling off its little performance, the scythe was then directed at them.

The Jester locked eyes with Hazel, seeing a flash of red in its eyes behind the creepy smiling mask. Hazel responded by gripping her staff, preparing for another battle against the Boss.

It was time for Round Three.