Jude turned back to the group of monsters that were breaking free from their restraints. He then said, “Can’t let a magnificent way to start a boss fight go to waste.” He took a deep breath before shouting out as loud as he could, “Defenders and Attackers! Let’s do some damage!”
In unison, all the defenders, Bernard, Artem, Blair, one of the male lion-folk from Inyis’ group, and Theodore, spread out then slammed a foot down and let out a loud taunting roar at the creatures in front of them, making them focus their attention on them.
Each of them received different types of buffs as Mercer and the others assigned to the roles of buffers cast their spells. Since Mercer was the only bard, however, he was the only one playing a song through his chosen instrument, the violin.
Ariyana and Mica cast their buffs over the spell users and the buffers to help give an extra push to them before focusing on their assigned tasks.
Both of them, along with Inyis, had the Field of Illusions, and were tasked with using any illusion type spells to help the front line when they were in a tight spot. The only ones they were told not to use these spells on were Aranis and Roman since they too had the same field but decided to use it on themselves when need be.
As the first wave of creatures, that weren’t affected by Gravitational Force Increase, reached the front line, the defenders swiftly clashed with them.
After the buffers finished with the defenders they switched over to the melee attackers. Once they finished up, they too joined in with long range attacks. Their targets were the undead creatures that were coming towards them from behind the front line of monsters.
Liam watched as Artem parried a strike from a Skeleton Warrior, allowing Roman to come in from the side and land a few punches in before jumping back to dodge a strike from a Rotted Zombie.
Liam threw a couple of his Gravity enhanced Throwing daggers into both arms. After they sunk in, he quickly pulled them back with his mana manipulation. The zombie’s arms dropped to its sides almost as if they were too heavy to lift.
This allowed Roman to slam a few punches into the creature’s skull and stomach. Since the monster’s arms were dangling, Roman continued to punch it several times until it finally dropped.
As the creature dropped, Roman spun to his right and landed a few more strikes in to the Skeleton Warrior as Artem knocked it off balance.
Liam turned his focus to Blair who had swung her Axe down in a diagonal angle into two Rotted Zombies and one Skeleton Warrior. The force and heaviness of the weapon caused the monsters to stagger back and drop to a or both knees.
Avery didn’t let this opportunity slip by as she swiftly and preciously struck two of the monsters as quickly as she could. After landing a few strikes, Avery pivoted her right foot back to turn her body and dodged a strike from the Skeleton Warrior.
After allowing the monster’s sword to miss and collide with the ground, Avery kicked the Skeleton into a Zombie on the opposite side. Both creatures tipped over as she turned her focus back on the two Rotted Zombies and unleashed a flurry of strikes upon them.
After one dropped she continued on the next one.
Mercer released an arrow and split it into two having them collide into the skull of a Shredding Zombie that was getting ready to leap at Avery.
Liam noticed Ariyana suddenly appeared behind the undead creatures her teammates were fighting. She said something to them and started running to an open spot leading the few monsters she was able to distract away. He then watched as a sword slammed into her causing her body to disperse into a puff of smoke.
Liam glanced to his right and left. After slaying some of the monsters that had blocked their path they were able to push in some and spread out a bit.
Since the room expanded some, it gave enough room for them to let loose some Area of effect spells without them colliding with anyone from the other groups.
They had enough space for that, but were still close enough in case they needed help.
Inyis and her group was to his right and were fighting the wave of monsters closer to the wall.
Aranis’ group was right next to his left. However, due to their attack speed and great teamwork, they were pushing the monsters a little farther forward giving Liam and Jude’s group on the other side of Aranis’ group some breathing room.
Liam saw Aranis split into three copies of himself and attack a small group of undead creatures on his own while his team worked together to take down a small group.
Jude’s group was holding their own as well. As much as he didn’t like some of the people in his group, Liam had to admit they were doing a great job.
He saw Mia light an arrow tip on fire before firing it into the head of a Mummy Guard a few times. Theodore was tanking hits from several Rotted Zombies and Skeleton Warriors while responding with strikes from his axes.
Henry popped in and out while attacking some of the monsters going after Theodore with some impressive attack speed.
He then shook his head as he watched Jude destroy three Skeleton Warriors to pieces as he struck as hard as he could with his tomahawk-like axes.
Musclehead. Liam thought before looking at timers that were counting down next to each member of his party. Artem’s and Blair’s buffs were close to falling off. Mercer’s was next. Avery’s and Roman’s still had some time.
He looked at the monsters close by them and took stock on how close others were.
“Mercer rebuff Artem and Blair. Ariyana recast Echoes of Sound on Mercer and then once when the cooldown is gone cast it on Avery and Roman!” Liam yelled out.
“On it!” Mercer responded as he switched over to his violin and started to play his Resilient Defense song.
Since he was able to get it to level ten he was able to buff both the defenders at the same time.
“You got it!” Ariyana replied as she started to channel her mana before chanting.
“Avery and Roman after ten seconds have passed get close to each other. Once when you receive your buff from Ariyana use Wave of Ignition to try and clear some of the zombies closing in. Keep it running for ten seconds then jump back, replenish some mana, and shoot out a fire blast towards the Mummy Guards close by. Vocalize which one you are going to target so you don’t overlap the spells!”
“Alright!” Avery and Roman yelled out as they finished off their opponents in front of them as quickly as they could.
“Artem and Blair! Once when Avery and Roman release Wave of Ignition hop back behind them and replenish your health!” Liam ordered. “Also keep an eye out for any strays that get too close from the sides. If you can, try and grab the attention of any of loose monsters around; lead them right into the line of fire.”
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Artem and Blair let out a grunt of acknowledgement as they swung their weapons against the skulls of the Skeleton Zombies.
Avery turned to look at Liam and asked with a slight frown, “You didn’t try to make that into a pun did you?”
Liam looked at her with a confused look as he thought about what she meant. After realizing it he smirked and said, “I didn’t, if I tried to make a pun it would be better than that.”
Avery shook her head and readied herself next to Roman as they started channeling mana. They both angled themselves to give the cone of fire they were about to release enough space to give maximum damage and no holes.
As they started to chant, Artem and Blair released a taunting roar to grab a few new monsters’ attention.
Once when they got what they wanted they ran back behind Avery and Roman while pulling out a Weak Minty Health Potion. As they drank the contents they watched as the two attackers finished their chanting and released a powerful wave of fire from the weapons they held in front of them.
Liam watched as the Undead creatures caught up in the cones of fire washing over them, letting out loud agonizing screams and bone rattling noises.
Liam nodded as he was impressed with how they were doing. They were able to put a dent in the sea of monsters with their teamwork. It wasn’t a lot, but they were able to slowly whittle down the clumps of monsters that were throwing themselves at their feet.
However, in the midst of all the carnage, something felt off to Liam. He wasn’t able to tell what it was with the amount of monsters that were replacing the fallen creatures they slayed.
No, it wasn’t the fact that with each monster they killed more took their place. It was something else. It felt like right when the creatures were about to die from them they just suddenly lost all health.
Since he had the adding effect of keeping all information on the monsters he assessed above their heads in a semi translucent way, he was able to track the monsters’ health pool. And by keeping track of it he noticed that when they entered the last few health points left they would instantly die.
Before he could think more about it, Inyis called out from his right.
“Liam! We could use some help over here!” Inyis called out. “We have a group of Elite Skeleton Soldiers and Zombie Hyenas we can’t take on just yet!”
Liam turned his focus over to where Inyis was talking about. A group of five Elite Skeleton Soldiers and four Zombie Hyenas had some how made their way close to the left side of Inyis’ group’s defender who was busy taking on several Rotted Zombies and Skeleton Warriors.
The other members of Inyis’ group were handling the undead creatures on the other side making it possible for this group to almost surround them and cut them off from any reinforcements.
This group was stuck as vines wrapped around their legs and arms preventing them from moving closer. However, the vines were slowly breaking.
Liam thought about what to do. He couldn’t send Avery or Roman over there since they were about to have their hands full with the monsters approaching Artem and Blair. They also needed to replenish their mana and stamina after releasing their Wave of Ignition spells for the amount of time they did.
Artem and Blair were essential for not only defending the attackers, but to also taunting any loose monsters trying to get behind them.
Mercer was needed to not only buff the group, but his Archery was needed for the Thrashing Zombies that kept making their way over to them.
He could have Ariyana help out, but her Illusion spells helped distract some of the monsters while Avery and Roman landed some attacks or to keep the extra monsters from approaching them too soon.
Guess there’s no helping it. Liam thought before he yelled out, “Mercer, buff me with your Swift Footed spell. Ariyana yell out to me if any changes to the battle happen on our end.”
Mercer and Ariyana turned to look at him.
“Are you sure?” Mercer questioned.
“Yes, they need our help and everyone’s role here cant be outsourced for the moment,” Liam stated. “Don’t worry, you guys got this. Besides I need to stretch my legs sometimes. Can’t let you guys have all the fun now can I?”
“You can take as much of my fun as you’d like over here if you’d like to,” Artem commented with some irritation and grunts as he slammed his shield into a Skeleton Warrior.
Liam shook his head. “Come on, the faster I do this the faster I’ll get back.”
Mercer looked at him with some concern but relent as he switched to a flute and started to play the fast upbeat song that gave the Swift Footed buff.
Liam stretched for a couple of seconds before pulling out the Gravity enhanced daggers and giving them to the two Shadow Hands. He then pulled out his Shadow Moon Blade and Moon Shadow Blade before crouching down and pushing off his back foot and sprinted to the group of monsters breaking free.
Right before the last vines snapped, Liam approached the edge of the group. He swung his weapons across each creature as he danced within the group of monsters. His Shadow Hands trailed behind him, echoing his attacks with ones of their own.
After the last vines broke free, Liam jumped out of the way from a snarling maw snapping at him and a sword swinging down from his side.
Liam continued to dip duck and dodge while striking each creature several times, trying to keep their attention on him. He continued this dance for a while, chipping their health down as well.
“He’s fast,” Inyis muttered as she watched Liam spin, jump, and juke while attacking each of the creatures. “I was not expecting that at all.” She then turned her attention back on her team and barked out orders, feeling safe now leaving their left side to Liam.
Once when he felt like he had their undivided attention he jumped out of the group and kited them a bit farther back from Inyis’ group and his own. After landing some blows on the monsters, Liam noticed how sluggish their movements were. The strikes landed by his Gravity enhanced throwing daggers released the Weight Increase effect they came with.
While he attacked in the group he came to realize something about the Weight Increase effect. In the description it stated it would stack up to eight times. However, he learned that there was a requirement for the stacking to happen. You had to strike the same area in order to make the effect stack.
After learning this, Liam was able to stack it three times. Even though it was stacked that low, the effects activated was still noticeable especially on the Zombie Hyenas who were faster than the Elite Skeleton Soldiers.
Liam was able to catch his breath before they reached the area where he was waiting for them. Once when they had reached the right amount of distance, Liam started chanting, “Hidden within the dark, I call upon you to bind my targets. Grasp them with the tendrils you possess. Remind them why they should fear their own Shadows. Grasp of the Shadows!”
After chanting the spell several shadowy tendrils shot out from their shadows and wrapped around their legs, arms, chests, and heads.
Liam opened one of the flaps from his potion belt strapped to his leg. He then pulled out two muddy looking liquid filled vials.
“Luckily I restocked on some of this before leaving the Bubbling Potion,” Liam muttered before running around the restricted group and splashed some of the liquid over their bodies.
After emptying the contents, he then sheathed one of his daggers and placed an open palm out before chanting, “Come forth heat of flames and burn the pyre before you. Become the tool that will help. Light and burn!”
A flame the size of his palm lit up and flickered a bit. Not wasting time, he threw the flame towards the group of oil drenched enemies. Before the flame could hit one enemy, Liam controlled the flame and manipulated it to split into three separate flames.
Not watching the flames land, Liam repeated the process until all the creatures were engulfed in flames.
“Alright, now that they are taking some damage, I should add some more before the flames go out,” Liam muttered as he got as close as he could.
Liam focused his control over the Shadow Hands and manipulated them to start flying between the creatures, striking every chance they got.
He watched as his Shadow Hands chipped away at their health with the burn damage caused by the fire.
After a couple of minutes had passed, all five Elite Skeleton Soldiers and four Zombie Hyenas dropped to the ground as their health hit zero.
Again, that weird feeling hit Liam as he stared at the fallen monsters. The feeling only made itself known as each monsters’ health dropped to zero.
What the hell is going on here? Liam thought as he stared at them. He quickly shook his head, figuring he wouldn’t get anywhere trying to figure something out he had no clue about.
He then turned his attention over to Inyis and saw she and her group had moved in closer to his group not allowing any more monsters to cut them off from their left side.
Looks like she learned from that mistake. Liam thought as he approved of her adaptability. He then shouted out to her before running to his group, “Stray monsters taken care of. Let me know if you need help again.”
Inyis spun to look at him with a surprised look. She thought he would just take their attention off of her group long enough for her to send a couple attackers to help him when she had the chance.
She looked at the smoking pile of dead undead creatures before looking back at him.
He was able to take care of that group by himself? Inyis began to think. Is he really just a crafter? Inyis shook her head. Don’t question one’s class Inyis. It’s not the class that makes one able to fight. It’s their skills, adaptability, and ingenuity that makes them able to fight. And I think he has had to live up to that to be able to do that.
She then turned back to her group and looked at them. A smile slowly grew as she muttered to herself, “Looks like we have a lot to work on if a Crafter is able to hold his own.”
“What’s up?” the female Nature Fae questioned with a confused look after shooting out a blast of water towards a Skeleton Warrior who slammed against a raised wall of stone.
Inyis shook her head. “Nothing Lapis, just setting future goals.”