Hazel eyed the bag in one of the rows a little away from her before taking another glance at the Jester. The boss leaned its head in a ninety-degree angle, creepily staring at the mage. A moment later, Astrid struck first and dove at the clown entertainer with her daggers.
The Jester noticed her presence in time to spin around and deflect her attacks with its scythe. It twirled the weapon effortlessly while fending off against the dark elf’s rapid strikes.
With their enemy distracted, Hazel hastily cast Telekinesis and pulled the bag toward her. It zipped through the air and then landed in her hand. She then rummaged through the bag and pulled out another mana potion.
Downing the bottle, she felt the cold and crisp liquid pour down her throat until it was empty. A moment later, Hazel’s mana was then replenished, feeling a wash of energy come over her.
Feeling energized, Hazel set her sights back on the Jester who was still fighting Astrid. The dark elf continued to slash her daggers while trying to get closer to her enemy, only for the boss to deal with each of her attacks easily.
Astrid used [Quick Step] and blitzed toward the Boss, closing the distance and allowing her to land a proper head. She let her blade cut through the Jester’s side before she immediately jumped away as she saw the scythe being swung down on her.
The resulting attack from the Jester destroyed several more chairs, leaving a considerable space around it and Hazel. The undeniably visible evidence of their battle prolonging for so long. With no apparent end in sight for either side.
Now that her mana had recovered once more, Hazel joined the battle, hoping to change the tide and finally finish the Boss fight. Five cursed spears were conjured before the mage. Then, they were fired one after another.
The Jester once again noticed the spears, pulling its attention away from Astrid to defend against Hazel’s spell barrage. It swung its scythe and instantly destroyed each cursed spear that came in its direction.
However, while it was busy with the spears, it still hadn’t noticed an unknown attack coming its way until it was too late. After firing all five cursed spears at the Jester, Hazel used that opportunity to conjure a Baneful Sickle.
But instead of hurling it directly at the boss, she fired it in another direction and then used Telekinesis to redirect it back to its intended target from a different angle. As soon as the Jester took care of the last cursed spear, its head spun to the left as it finally noticed the Baneful sickle, just as it was mere inches from it.
Despite knowing that it was likely going to get hit, the Jester still attempted to leap away from the spell. Or it would’ve if Hazel hadn’t entrapped the boss with her Telekinesis. Frozen in place, the Baneful sickle zipped toward its target with malicious intent.
In an act of deviance and pure willpower, the Jester used all of its strength to resist Hazel’s telekinesis as it swung its scythe in front of the spell, determined to survive its attack. And it succeeded with great results.
The spell clashed against the Scythe, causing the Jester to get pushed back from the force and crash into more chairs, damaging the opera house even further. Meanwhile, Hazel suffered from a sort of rebound effect due to the Jester’s force of deviance against her telekinesis.
She clutched her head and collapsed on her knees. The world around her started to spiral, making it difficult to see anything. Despite literally seeing her surroundings spin around like a top, she still managed to spot the Boss. Though, what she was looking at wasn’t what she expected.
After getting flung backward from blocking Hazel’s spell, the Jester stood back up before angrily glaring at the mage. Its eyes flashed purple for a brief moment, displaying its indignant rage toward its adversary.
And responding to that rage, the Jester hefted its scythe and swung it in Hazel’s direction, sending an acid wave attack like it did with Nycteris. Still disoriented from the rebound, Hazel knew she couldn’t dive out of the way like before, and instead cast Mana Shield in hopes that it was enough to protect her.
The barrier was conjured, forming around the mage as the acid wave attack barreled toward her. It soon struck Hazel’s shield, causing a slight shockwave from the collision. But a moment later, the barrier shattered to pieces as the wave maintained its course.
Although she was completely out of its range, Hazel was far enough away from the attack as the wave cut through her side like butter. Even her staff was unable to withstand the wave strike and split in two. Both halves clattered to the ground as a searing pain coursed through her body, causing her to collapse on the floor. She then began to feel every bit of the acid burning through her skin.
Much like with Nycteris, her wound sizzled like boiling water scalding her skin. She continued to writhe on the floor, feeling every last bit of pain from the acid burning her wound.
Hazel lay there in pain, unable to do anything about it. Her eyes trail over to the Jester, who was menacingly marching over to Hazel, mostly likely attempting to finish the job. Up close and personal, at that.
Hazel struggled to move, grimacing in pain from the slightest motion. She couldn’t even use Telekinesis because her mind was too clouded from her injury. She couldn’t focus on anything except the burning sensation radiating across her wound.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
As the Jester got closer, making its way over to the stage. Just as it was about to climb up the platform, Astrid appeared from behind and lunged toward the Jester, driving both of her daggers into the monster’s shoulder.
Although it had no voice, the boss displayed its surprise and possibly pain as it flinched before trying to pull the dark elf off it. It managed to do so and turned its attention to Astrid instead of Hazel.
Astrid seemed to have wanted this and prepared for battle. However, judging from her heavy breath, trembling arms, and the multiple wounds on her body, she wasn’t going to last long in the fight. And yet, she seemed determined to win. Or at least, determined to fight to the fullest and not die in vain.
Astrid was the first to strike. She blitzed toward the Jester and slashed her daggers at its face. The Boss retaliated with its signature scythe twirling technique, allowing it to easily deflect and block her attacks. The sound of metal clashing against metal reverberated throughout the opera house, filling Hazel’s ears with its irritating clanging sound.
Even when the dark elf was on the offensive, the Jester had the edge in their fight. It still possessed plenty of stamina to use while Astrid was running on an empty tank right now. It wouldn’t be long before she hit her limit.
The Jester soon shifted gears and started attacking Astrid, swinging its scythe against her blade. She was being pushed back from the force of its blow, causing her shoes to skid across the floor.
Astrid nearly fell on her butt before repositioning herself. Only to get forced back from the Jester’s persistent assault. Hazel knew that if she didn’t do something, then her partner would end up being the sub-boss's first causality.
Helplessly watching the fight, she got an idea. A very reckless and stupid idea. But it was the only solution to their current issue regarding their opponent.
In the middle of the fight, Astrid glanced over at Hazel, soon locking eyes with the mage.
[Hazel Thatcher: Try to get thrown onto the stage.]
Astrid briefly read the message in between blocks against the Jester’s strikes with a concerned expression.
[Astrid Skogr: What are you planning?]
[Hazel Thatcher: Just trust me. This is the only way or we’re dead.]
As if sensing the urgency in Hazel’s message, Astrid turned to the mage while giving her a firm nod. The dark elf then used [Quick Step] to move behind the boss. The Jester spun around to maintain eye contact with its opponent, then swung its scythe toward Astrid.
She raised her blades to block the attack, only to get flung backward onto the stage like Hazel wanted. Her back scraped against the stage floor as she slid near Hazel.
The Jester leaps on the stage, whirling its scythe down on the dark elf. Astrid rolled to the side, narrowly dodging it. A good quarter of the blade dug deep into the floor, briefly inhibiting the boss.
That was when Hazel saw her chance. Blurring her hand forward, she instantly cast Telekinesis, practically pouring all of her mana into the spell. The Jester was once again locked in place, unable to move, even if only for a second. But Hazel wasn’t just keeping the boss from moving.
She also needed to use this opportunity to get that damn scythe out of its grasp. Clenching her hand, she tightened her grip around the Jester then yanked it back, simultaneously pulling the Jester away as well. And when she did, she also managed to get the Jester away from the scythe.
Which meant now was the time to put things to an end.
“Pin it down!” Hazel shouted.
Astrid didn’t give out a response as she hastily pulled her bow and drew four arrows at once, aiming right at the Boss’s legs and foot. She loosed the arrows and hit her target, piercing both of the Jester’s legs into the floor.
The boss was surprised by this but eventually attempted to get out, before setting its eyes on Hazel. She was standing up while conjuring a Baneful Sickle. It levitated above her, spinning around like a frisbee with more purple energy swirled around it from a different spell. Her decay spell.
The two spells clashed against one another as if refusing to cooperate. But Hazel had no patience for this and used all of her will to make this spell work.
“Fuse already...dammit!”
She continued to infuse Decay into Baneful Sickle, desperately pushing their abilities together. Hazel knew she couldn’t win with Decay or her cursed spells alone. Decay will be able to weaken its defenses, but she would need to hit the monsters to do that. Even then, the Boss wouldn’t be incapacitated for her to cast one of her cursed spells afterward.
She needed a stronger effect. Something that will destroy the Boss in a single strike. A spell that was strong enough to destroy anything in its path.
Then something clicked, and the resistance she felt from her conflicting spells finally ceased as they began to merge into something else.
[Element Curse and Element Rot are being merged together!]
[Element Curse and Element Rot have become Element Entropy!]
[Skill Baneful Sickle is Evolving!]
[Skill Baneful Sickle is now Skill Entropy Sickle!]
[Skill Decay is Evolving!]
[Skill Decay is now Skill Entropy!]
The shade of Hazel’s former Baneful Sickle became darker as if a dark and menacing force took hold of it. Even the energy it emitted was far more potent and dreadful than before.
Hazel took one last look at the Boss, staring right through the mask and into its eyes, seeing the fear in them.
“Die, you bastard!” Hazel roared before hurling her Entropy sickle at the Boss.
The spinning sickle barreled toward its target, making direct contact with its body. There was very little resistance from the Jester as Hazel and Astrid watched the spell tear right through the enemy with ease.
The two halves of the Jester fell to the floor as purple cracks rapidly spread across its body. Much faster than the Fractured previously killed, even with the assistance of either decay or her other cursed spells hastening their demise.
Then, unable to maintain its form for long, the boss disintegrated. Instead of going out in an explosion of purple fragments, its body simply turned to dust, as if the very fragments that made up its body were rotted away as well, leaving the player pair to witness a rather somber yet devastating death.
[Sub-Boss Fractured Jester has been defeated!]
[You have Levelled Up!]
[You have Levelled Up!]
[You have Levelled Up!]
[You have completed one of the Three Objectives of the Tutorial Dungeon!]
[Congratulations! Your rewards will be distributed shortly!]
[Conditions have been met! Player is capable of undergoing a Class Evolution!]
Seeing the stream of notifications, the corner of Hazel’s lips curled into a slight grin. “Hell yeah...”