Braag was caught up in his excitement as his flamethrower destroyed the eggs before him. Suddenly though he shivered. He felt as if death was staring at him.
Not far away the queen’s eyes were transfixed on the dwarf, shimmering with emotion. An enormous amount of mana was suddenly gathering on its body, causing the entire cave to shake.
Red lines appeared in the air. The party wasn’t given much time. Suddenly a pillar of solid rock burst out of the floor. It shot into the air until forming a connection between floor and ceiling.
Braag was standing right in its trajectory. Caught up in his task of destroying eggs he canceled his skill too late.
“Ah!”
With a pained shout the dwarf was hit by the rock pillar, crashing into a nearby wall.
[-932!]
Close to half of Braag’s HP were gone in an instant.
The sudden change in the situation caught the party off-guard. Balm quickly twirled her wand. A comfortable magic fell on Braag as she used her regeneration.
But the next moment Final Fend cursed angrily. The young man had managed to dodge one attack, only to run headfirst into the next. At least he was less miserable than Braag, only getting pushed away by the rock pillar.
[-951!]
“No!”
A distressed shout echoed through the cave. It came from Bloody Edge. He and Watchful Eye quickly noticed that more than one attack targeted them.
Without hesitation they directly jumped from the platform only to be greeted by even more rock pillars. Watchful Eye was still alright, managing to weave between them.
But Bloody Edge was hit heavily in the back, getting bounced away like a tennis ball.
[-1180!]
Silver Blade watched the chaotic scene with a heavy heart. She realized that the skill simply moved too fast, giving the players little time to react.
The difficulty had obviously increased compared to previous fights. All she could do now was to use her skill [Aura of Ranged Protection], to try and mitigate some damage.
Balm was flustered as well, not knowing who to heal first. Usually she would always prefer tanks, but the ant queen was a strange boss.
Since the beginning it hadn’t moved from its platform, thus giving the tanks little to do. Eventually she decided to use her [Holy Strike].
A bright spear appeared above the Queen’s head, striking down fiercely. Immediately a wave of holy magic spread, returning some HP to the allies.
[+299!]x7
Multiple visions miraculously accompanied the skill. Momentarily a gorgeous, white wing flashed behind Final Fend and Silver Blade as the effect of robe of the sacred wing triggered.
Final Fend was granted another 300HP while Silver Blade received a shield blocking 300 points of damage.
At the same time white spheres of mana descended into the bodies of Braag and Fortune granting them bonus STR, INT, and AGI.
This was the effect of Balm’s passive [Boon of Life] which triggered with every third heal.
Fortune’s eyes lit up brightly. She felt the renewed strength coursing through her body.
“Nice, perfect timing, Balm!”
The mage exclaimed excitedly as mana concentrated at the tip of her staff. Instantly the first arcane bolt raced through the air, slamming fiercely into the queen.
At least it would if not for the shield appearing at the last second.
A heavy tremor ran through the solid rock. Cracks appeared on the shield’s surface.
“Nice! Keep going Fortune!”
“You don’t need to tell me.”, answered the female mage, looking at the still appearing rock pillars with worry.
She didn’t dare to take her time, quickly finishing her attack. However, the accuracy suffered under her hurry.
The second and third bolt missed directly. However, after the fifth bolt the party members watched in joy as the first shield finally broke.
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In the meantime, the party regained some stability. Focusing on the rock pillars and warning each other they managed to avoid further damage.
Until Fortune’s sixth arcane bolt landed on the second shield. This was the moment when a red line appeared, piercing right through the mage’s body.
Fortune shook. She gritted her teeth, quickly releasing another attack. However, with her mind disturbed it went wide, posing no threat to the ant queen.
“Ah!”
A startled scream could be heard. Fortune was catapulted by the erupting pillar. Silver Blade flinched as she watched the gorgeous woman flying helplessly through the air. Her flight was quickly stopped by the ceiling accompanied by a painful thud before she crashed into the floor.
[-1123!]
At the same time the buff brought by Balm’s passive receded as well. Fortune’s HP were back to normal. But with the single hit more than 50% were gone in an instant.
Balm contemplated for a moment whether to use her heal on Fortune. But at this moment the queen’s skill finally ended.
The rock pillars disappeared, and the queen laid down her body, looking exhausted.
“Dare to throw me around? Taste this!”
Braag was embarrassed by his unsightly appearance earlier. But his emotions quickly turned into anger towards the queen, giving him an outlet to vent.
With a thought his ultimate skill [Blessing of Wealth] instantly activated. An illusory golden coin appeared behind his back, rotating slowly. It emitted a sacred aura as if it was the truth of the world.
A panel popped up before Braag’s eyes.
>>> <<<
Name:
Braag the Virtuous
Level:
16
Race:
Mountain Dwarf
Class:
Missionary of Wealth
Primary Attributes:
STR:
30
INT:
28
AGI:
5
HP:
2176/2176
Mana:
96/164
(show more)
>>> <<<
>>> <<<
Secondary Attributes:
PRES:
10
MRES:
7
DEX:
40
CONST:
18
HASTE:
15
SRC:
3
(show more)
>>> <<<
God of Wealth's Favor:
127
Braag’s ultimate allowed him to strengthen his attributes depending on his current wealth. With 254 silver coins to his name, he could spend 127 points.
Very much to the dwarf’s distress, however, this ability was capped at ten times his current level.
Without thinking much about it Braag tapped on DEX, putting all his points into the dexterity stat. This was the attribute playing the highest role in increasing his damage output.
The coin behind his back sped up, shining a sacred light on the dwarf.
“Take this, stupid monster!”
Braag shouted excitedly. [Big Berta] had already come off cooldown. His launcher’s muscles bulge, spitting out the terrifyingly large bomb.
Bloody Edge was just about to approach the queen ant again when he felt something behind his back. Glancing over his shoulder, his body suddenly trembled.
“Are you crazy?”
Swearing at Braag, the thief hastily built up some distance.
Boom!
[-2533!]
A deafening explosion shook the entire cave. Cracks spread through the rock. Dust rained down, itching everyone’s throats.
Unfortunately for Braag, though, the Queen’s shield was still there to protect her. The massive damage was borne by it, causing it to burst into pieces.
“Nice!”
Fortune shouted excitedly. She loved to put such scenes in her videos. If it was up to her a video couldn’t have enough explosions.
But Silver Blade was no less excited. Finally, there was no obstacle left. It was time to slay the boss.
Her thoughts were mirrored in the other’s actions. Fortune, Bloody Edge, Watchful Eye, Final Fend, Balm… everyone instantly moved, attacking at the same time.
Attacks rained down on the queen ant.
With a last twitch of her body the boss monster finally collapsed. Her eyes closed and silence fell on the cave.
“Finally did it!”, exclaimed Balm.
“Good job guys! This might be the most difficult boss so far!”
“You’re only half right, sis. It’s also because we are short of three people.”
“Makes sense. At the same time, you and me couldn’t play a large role since the queen never moved to attack.”
A few steps could be heard as everyone gathered around Silver Blade. Fortune added her evaluation:
“The biggest credit goes to Braag. If he didn’t have a good way to destroy those eggs the fight could’ve taken forever.”
“I’m curious if the queen could’ve used that shield skill again.”
Everyone shivered thinking about this possibility.
“Maybe we should take care of more pleasant matters. Braag, why don’t you loot the queen?”
“Only the queen?”, asked Balm puzzledly. But looking past Silver Blade she noticed that the attendant’s bodies had vanished at some points.
“That’s stingy…”
“Well, it would be quite the loophole. Or else we could force the queen to spawn endless minions for us to harvest.”, chuckled Fortune.
Braag was already close to the queen when he heard Fortune’s words. While reaching out his hand he let out a sigh:
“Sounds like a dream.”
Quickly the boss’s body disappeared. A bunch of loot fell into Braag’s inventory.
However, confusion could be seen on his face when he stared at the item in his hand bathed in a deep green light with occasional flickers of yellow.
A moment later an excited grin formed on Braag’s face.
The others noticed the strange sight as well. Not feeling like teasing them, Braag quickly posted the item into the party chat: