“Go to heaven, all of you!”

Uratnim let out an angry roar. His blue eyes slowly turned pitch black. The ghost beads rotated wildly around him, turning into a blur.

Surrounded by black mana the devil child slowly levitated into the air.

An arrow shot by Silent Acacia arrived right at this moment. But with a pulse of the darkness, the projectile powerlessly dropped to the ground.

“Quick, s… ouh!”

Liam suddenly flinched, pain shooting into his head. He scrunched his face and gritted his teeth.

“Mirage? Are you alright?”, asked Silver Blade, her voice betraying her worry.

“I’m fine. Quick, dodge!”

Liam spoke urgently but it was already too late. Silver Blade missed the dark circle surrounding her and failed to react as a claw made from black magic slammed down from the sky.

“No!”

“Silver!”

The party members shouted anxiously as their tank disappeared within the attack. Radiant Shield felt a drop of sweat running down his forehead. He had barely evaded the claw, feeling its sinister air on his skin.

[-542!]

The others felt reassured seeing the damage number. Attacking Silver Blade with magical damage proved futile as always. However, only Liam knew the real horror of this skill.

“Silver, use [Steadfast]!”

Silver Blade, still engulfed by the black claw, complied without hesitation. A large illusionary shield appeared around her for a second before disappearing into her body.

Steadfast was a skill which could only be used within three seconds after receiving magical damage. For the next five minutes any incoming damage would be reduced by a certain amount based on Silver Blade’s magical defense.

Simultaneously a ghost face floated above Silver Blade, letting out a bone-chilling laughter.

With a glance at her status Silver Blade understood that she had been cursed. Damage numbers popped up above her in quick succession.

[-89!]

[-89!]

[-89!]

The others gulped heavily seeing Silver Blade lose almost one hundred HP every half a second. Cyclone imagined herself in the tank’s place and knew that she would be done for without Balm’s heal.

Just as the mage resolved herself to remain vigilant, a black circled appeared around her.

Cyclone lamented her fate, hastily dodging to the side. However, the quick movement broke her concentration, interrupting her cast.

“Stupid boss! Coward! Let me cast if you dare!”

The devil child in the air only scoffed looking at the claw which had hit nothing. He retracted it, aiming for another place.

The party members had already seen the horror of this skill. They paid full attention, dodging the attacks quickly. Uratnim didn’t manage to deal more damage before he was seemingly out of fuel, slowly sinking back to the ground.

As soon as the black magic enveloping him vanished, the boss was welcomed by attacks from all directions.

Bloody Edge appeared out of stealth, accompanied by four blinding daggers which tried to nail the Devil Child down. Although the stun didn’t trigger, he still followed up quickly with [Deadly Light].

[-65!]

[-40!]

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The thief frowned upon seeing his low damage.

“Hopefully you will give me a good dagger, devil!”

“Insolent! Are you already thinking about the spoils of war?”

The devil child glared at Bloody Edge, swiping at him with a swift turn of his body.

“Damn, the aggro got reset! Silver!”

The devil’s move caught Liam off guard. This was once again a difference to his past life. Luckily Silver Blade’s eyes never left Uratnim.

In a flash she appeared before Bloody Edge, shielding him behind her body.

“Reliable as always!”, praised Cyclone happily while flourishing her wand, initiating a new round of attacks.

The party watched with anticipation as the boss’s HP gradually emptied out.

“He’s almost down!”

“Ha! Easy!”

“Guess I will take the last hit again!”, proclaimed Fortune proudly as the cast for her arcane bolts was almost finished.

However, Liam unfortunately had to crush her hopes. He noticed the ghost beads gathering in a particular pattern, circling Uratnim.

Instantly a black shield hid the boss.

“Draw back! It’s the ghost skill again!”

Fortune watched with an open mouth as the party members retreated quickly. Holding her staff with a bright tip, she asked in a forlorn voice:

“But… what about my arcane bolts?”

“If you can hold them until the skill is done, I will call you a genius!”, exclaimed Liam half-jokingly.

Fortune’s eyes though lit up with motivation.

“Don’t forget your promise!”

“Sure!”

Cyclone overheard the exchange, immediately cheering for her idol:

“Show him! Fortune! Fortune!”

“Haha, thanks!”

At this moment the first black ghost came for Fortune. The determined mage endured the backlash, taking a step to the side. Immediately she could feel the mana in her body threatening to go out of control.

Although this dealt no damage, the sensation was far from pleasant. It was a challenge to every caster who wanted to cast while moving. If they lost their concentration, the skill would be lost and go on cooldown.

In Liam’s old life the best mages were able to perform multiple Flash Steps while casting. But at this point he was already impressed that Fortune could take a single step without faltering.

And her performance hadn’t ended yet. Another ghost bared its fangs, eager to take a bite out of the gorgeous human. Fortune forcefully calmed her breath and jumped to the side.

“Oh no!”

Suddenly Quickstep exclaimed in embarrassment. Watching Fortune had distracted her for a moment, which a ghost instantly made use of. A freezing cold invaded her as the illusionary being traveled through her body.

[-1192!]

Noticing the huge chunk of her HP which was missing, Quickstep admonished herself. A mistake like this was not acceptable for her as a pro player.

[+672!]

A comfortable energy washed over Quickstep, chasing out the coldness. She nodded thankfully at Balm while [Regeneration] slowly brought her back to full HP.

“Damn, that guy has to be deliberately targeting me!”

A distressed voice could suddenly be heard. Fortune spoke through gritted teeth as another attack advanced towards her.

The mage’s thoughts moved quickly. Feeling the pressure on her head she surmised that she wouldn’t be able to uphold her cast if she took another step.

Fortune glanced at Quickstep. She did a quick estimation before deciding to stay in place.

Closing her eyes the woman put all her concentration on her own body, doing her best to keep the mana under control.

At this moment a coldness ran through her blood, flesh, and bones. Fortune couldn’t help but shudder. Her mana instantly looked like it would slow down.

[-1620!]

No, no…

Fortune gathered every bit of her will. She was determined to overcome her own limits today.

Just one more second… one more…

“Genius, open your eyes! We need you to kill something!”

Liam’s voice filled with praise reached Fortune’s ears. The mage’s eyes suddenly shot open, appearing bloodred and exhausted. She didn’t think much, instantly unleashing all her arcane bolts on the first thing she saw.

After the devil child’s skill ended, the shield around his body didn’t disappear. Instead, it suddenly emitted a strong suction force.

The ghosts which seemed to have dissolved after traveling a certain distance mystically reappeared. They turned into black energy, rushing into the shield.

Gradually the shield changed into a giant ferocious ghost wearing black armor and protecting Untrim in its core.

But as soon as it was formed, bolts of concentrated magic bombarded its body. Even without aiming closely it was difficult to miss the tall body. Five of Fortune’s arcane bolts slammed into it, piercing holes through the ghost.

[-304!]x5

The ghost let out a painful wail, its terrifying eyes staring at the mage.

“Good job genius! You can rest, we will take over now!”

Fortune felt an indescribable feeling of acknowledgement hearing the word ‘genius’ from Liam’s mouth. The last time she felt fulfilled like this was when one of her videos broke the ten million view mark within 24 hours.

Liam himself didn’t think much about it though. He looked at the less than five hundred HP the tall ghost had left.

“Quick, kill it before it can attack Fortune!”

“Yes!”

Instantly the magic and swords crashed into the ghost. It wasn’t given any chance. With a loud bang its body broke apart revealing Untrim’s small body.

The devil child had clear signs of exhaustion on his face, sinking slowly to the ground.

He was at once welcomed by Liam who held back just now. [Cross Slash] and [Double Slash] crashed into the devil child’s body.

“Phenaroa! This won’t be the end!”

Untrim shouted in a dry voice, looking into the distance with shaking eyes.

Gritting his teeth he pointed at one of his ghost beads. Thousands of wails sounded as the bead suddenly exploded. The entire battlefield shook. Liam and his friends were pushed backwards.

They watched helplessly as a black portal like a pool viscous oil appeared below the devil child, who was quickly swallowed up.

“Don’t you dare to escape without leaving your loot behind!”, shouted Cyclone angrily.

As if it heard her, the portal contracted. A bright light erupted momentarily before subsiding and revealing a black chest.