Hazel made the first move and conjured more than a dozen Mana bolts at once, hurling all of them at the Jester. As they zipped toward their target, she also applied Telekinesis to increase their momentum, making it difficult for the Jester to dodge or deflect them.
Surprisingly enough, the Jester went beyond Hazel’s expectations. It rapidly twirled its menacing scythe around, and when one of the bolts got close, the weapon easily deflected or blocked it.
Shards of bright blue mana shattered upon impact as each and every Mana bolt zipped toward the Jester. When the last spell was destroyed by the scythe, the boss stood there, triumphantly.
Hazel glared at the boss. “What is this crap? Are you on your third phase or something?”
The Jester made no effort to respond. Whether it even could speak or not was debatable, and honestly, not all that important in the grand scheme of things.
Without skipping a beat, the boss then blitzed toward the group, pulling its scythe back in preparation for a heavy swing attack. Nycteris then released a loud screech that reverberated throughout the opera house before zipping forward to meet his enemy halfway.
The Jester attacked first, slashing its weapon at the Nightwing’s head. He avoided it by ducking low, crawling on all fours, and closing the distance further. With both hands, Nycteris clawed at his enemy, aiming at its torso.
Despite Nycteris’s speed, the Jester was shown to be faster as it easily leaped back to avoid his claws, only having a piece of its attire getting torn as a result. But Hazel’s familiar wasn’t done and continued with his pursuit.
He slashed his claws at the Jester, desperate to land a hit, but each of his attacks was easily deflected by the scythe. When Nycteris pulled one of his claws back to strike once more, the sub-boss swung first and managed to cut the Nightwing, nicking his shoulder.
The familiar screeched before leaping back, realizing that he was vulnerable. He clutched his wound as purple mist steamed off it.
Even when Nycteris put some distance between them, the Jester, knowing that he was vulnerable, planned to finish him off while it still had a chance and rushed toward him. Before it could get close enough, the boss abruptly stopped moving due to Hazel’s telekinesis.
A second later, a volley of arrows struck the Jester, flinging it back from the force as it crashed into more chairs. Astrid then rushed past Nycteris and went after the Jester to hold it off. She fired more arrows at the boss, only for it to swiftly move out of the way in an instant.
Astrid did her part and kept the boss at bay, shooting her arrows while pushing it back and away from Hazel and Nycteris. As the dark elf and Jester fought, the mage went over to familiar.
“Nycteris!” Hazel shouted, rushing toward the Nightwing. “Are you alright?”
“Fine...” He said with a low screech. “But it’s...burning...”
Hazel glanced at her familiar wound, noticing the Purple smoke coming off it. She could hear the light sizzling of the Nightwing’s flesh from whatever was damaging him. Seeing this, the mage turned toward the Jester while it was busy fighting Astrid, setting her eyes on its weapon to try and identify it.
And what she discovered only worried her more.
Rank: Epic
A weapon that allows the Jester to reap the smiles of his victims with its acidic touch! Inflicts 25% Acid Dmg.
Her eyes widened upon reading the description. “Acid damage?!”
She took note of the purple mist emitting from the blade of the Scythe, believing that was the acid effect in play. She knew that the boss’s weapon was dangerous, but discovering the scythe’s true effect still surprised her.
They needed to be careful now that they knew about what the Jester’s scythe could do to them. Nycteris should be able to endure the pain since he was their tank. But Astrid and especially Hazel were different stories.
While Hazel’s endurance stat was a bit higher than likely the average mage class, she knew better than to believe she could endure the acid effects of the scythe. She could likely handle a couple of slashes from the blade, but if the damage and effects kept stacking up, even she would have a hard time dealing with them.
Hazel glanced at Nycteris, who was still clutching his wound. The Purple smoke hadn’t dissipated yet, telling her that the acid damage was still active.
“You can still fight right, Nycteris?”
“Yes...!” The Nightwing firmly nodded.
Seeing her familiar’s determination, the mage smiled deeply. “Good. Because I’m going to need you to damage it as much as possible.
“You...can count...on me!” He screeched before getting into a battle stance.
Hazel nodded, then issued an order. Keep it distracted for a moment, and I’ll provide you with the chance to severely wound it. Got it?”
“Understood...!”
Acknowledging his master’s command, the Nightwing flapped his wings and blitzed toward the Jester, charging at the boss like a rocket. Sadly, the boss noticed Nycteris too soon while fighting Astrid.
It spun its scythe around, forcing the dark elf to move back and avoid the acid effect of the blade, which allowed the boss to jump back and avoid Nycteris’s tackle assault. The Nightwing landed on the floor with a loud thud then turned his gaze toward the clown-like Fractured.
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The Jester leaned its head to side curiously as if examining the Nightwing’s movements and intentions. Nycteris scraped his claws against the floor, like a bull trying to intimidate its opponent. A loud screech expelled from his mouth, echoing across the Opera house as he made a beeline for the boss.
Astrid followed behind, providing a bit of support with her arrows. Getting close, Nycteris slashed at the Jester, aiming for its vital areas like its head, neck, or torso. The boss simply moved and danced around the Nightwing while swinging its scythe to deflect his claw strikes.
Even when Astrid had a clear shot at its head and fired an arrow, the entertainer seemed to have noticed and twirled its scythe in the direction of the projectile, diverting it with a single swing.
With its focus trained on Nycteris and Astrid, Hazel tried to get into position. She moved toward another row of chairs, setting herself right in front of the Jester as it continued its scuffle with the dark elf and Nightwing.
Once she was ready, Hazel used her staff and conjured all five cursed spears. Immediately after, she cast Telekinesis on them, having full control over the spears' every movement.
And with both hands, the mage hurled them at the Jester. The cursed javelins hurtled toward the boss with malicious intent. Despite its attention being on Astrid and Nycteris, it still managed to notice the five cursed spears barreling toward it.
The Jester then leaped in the air, avoiding both the cursed spears and the dark elf and Nightwing team up. But it didn’t learn from its previous mistake, and Hazel took full advantage of that.
With a flick of her wrist, she easily changed the trajectory of the spears, redirecting them back on the jester. Despite wearing a mask, the jester was surprised once more by Hazel’s homing spells.
However, it was just as prepared for an assault and once again twirled its scythe. As soon as the blade touched the spears, they were instantly disintegrated, without a single one getting past the weapon.
But Hazel wasn’t done. Although her spears were destroyed, she still had Telekinesis to work with. As soon as her connection with her five cursed javelins was severed, the mage set her sights on the Jester itself, firmly grasping it with her spell.
The boss froze in the air, completely ensnared by Telekinesis. But Hazel could feel a bit of resistance along with the added weight of the Jester’s body. The combined factors rapidly drained her mana unlike before, forcing her to act quickly.
Using both hands, Hazel swung her hands down which resulted in the Jester getting slammed into the ground from at least twenty feet in the air. Broken chairs were flung in the air from the boss’s descent. But the battle wasn’t over yet.
The Jester managed to pull itself up, clearly winded from Hazel’s telekinesis hold on it. It staggered while walking out of the crater. And in that moment, Astrid and Nycteris jumped in and attacked it together.
The sub-boss did its best to defend itself against the two, using its scythe to block Nycteris’s claws and deflect Astrid’s barrage of arrows. However, its movements were very sluggish and slow, allowing the two to cause some damage.
Its shoulder was clawed, an arrow pierced its leg, and even the side of its mask was nicked from a rogue mana bolt jumping in the fray when it least expected it. It tried to run away, putting some distance between it and its attackers, but Hazel didn’t allow that and once again restrained its movements like before.
Hazel’s hand visibly shook as she metaphysically held the Jester in place, knowing that this battle was nearly over. All she needed to do was play her part and restrain the boss when needed, allowing Nycteris and Astrid to deliver the final blow.
However, this fight was far from over...and the Jester had no plans to go down so easily. Even when the boss was held in place, it still possessed enough willpower to resist. Hazel could feel her hold against her enemy weaken as if the ethereal robes that were binding the Boss were slowly coming undone.
Then, as if knowing that it was close to being free, the Boss released a burst of energy using its scythe, sending out a powerful shockwave and blowing everyone back. Even Hazel who was the farthest back was caught in the line of fire and was flung over to the stage where the Jester was first spotted.
She tumbled along the floor, feeling her bones roughly smack against the surface. She at least sprained or possibly broke a couple of bones from the throwback alone. The mage, unable to move from the pain, lay on the stage floor.
Every movement she made only caused her body to flare up in pain, preventing her from doing anything. Her head then sluggishly turned to face the direction of the Jester along with Astrid and Nycteris.
Both of her companions were in similar situations as they were laid out on the rows of chairs before them. As for the Jester, it was standing in place after unleashing that burst, in the middle of its aftershock.
It was wreathed in a purple glow as if it was taking the form of some divine being. But Hazel knew better than to believe such a thing when this Jester was nothing more than a Fractured monster.
The clown-like bastard then whirled its head in Hazel’s direction, its glowing purple eyes glaring directly at her. The mage froze in place from the Jester’s stare, realizing its next mission. It planned to take her down first.
The monster followed through and marched over to Hazel, scythe in both hands. Hazel tried to move her body but was still in pain from the shockwave that flung her backward. She could feel that some of her energy was coming back to her, but not fast enough with how hastily the Jester was making its way toward her.
If she didn’t do something quickly, she was going to end up as the first causality of this battle. And that was the last thing she wished to happen after everything she was forced to endure after getting dumped in this dungeon.
As if responding to her desperation to survive, Nycteris appeared out of nowhere and tackled the Jester to the ground. The only thing Hazel heard was the high-pitch screech from her familiar before he and the Boss plunged into more audience chairs.
The two beasts rolled along the ground, destroying more chairs without a second thought. Nycteris lifted the Jester before clawing at its face and torso. From this attack, he was able to inflict a bit of damage on the mask it wore, leaving four claw marks across it.
This seemed to have triggered the Jester, because after that, in a fit of rage, it whirled its scythe around, deflecting Nycteris’s claw strikes before inflicting some grievous wounds of its own on the Nightwing Bat.
Nycteris howled in pain while stumbling back. However, the Jester wasn’t finished as it slashed at the Nightwing one more time. This time, the scythe sliced across his torso, leaving a large slash mark in its wake. Purple mist sizzled from the wound, a sign of the acid damage taking effect on Hazel’s familiar.
Before the Nightwing could attempt to retaliate, the Jester then delivered a heavy and devastating kick into his stomach, sending him flying backward from the force. Once again crashing into more chairs, Nycteris was unable to continue fighting as he lay there motionless.
At first, Hazel feared that he died, but she received no notifications regarding his death nor sensed their connection being severed. Which meant he was thankfully still alive.
But that still left Hazel with an even bigger issue at hand.
The Jester...
Realizing that the Nightwing was no longer a problem, the sub-boss shifted its attention back to Hazel, clearly determined to end her first. Thankfully, while it was having its scuffle with Nycteris, she managed to recover enough energy to pull herself up from the floor.
Of course, even with her standing before the Jester, prepared for another battle, a part of her feared that she wasn’t going to last long against it.
But...that was simply a risk she had no choice but to take to survive.