Chapter 1896: Retaliation
Chapter 1896: Retaliation
Karl made a strafing run over the boss, and found that his dragon breath not only corroded the skin of the Titan, but it actually buffed the dryads.
His breath was a nature element ability, as were the constructs, and the influx of powerful magic increased their abilities for a short time after being exposed, granting them some aspects of the World Dragon’s Breath.
However, the [Blade of Divine Wrath] only worked in close combat, and didn’t apply its extra damage to all his ranged skills, so Karl was going to have to close the distance again.
As he closed the distance, Karl shifted into Tengu form, so he could continue to fly, but also get close enough to fight.
The power of the [Blade of Divine Wrath] coated his sword as Karl swooped behind the boss and flicked a half dozen fast attacks into its back before it realized the threat. The transformation had caught it off guard, and it didn’t realize that Karl had gotten close until it was too late.
Karl flitted out of the path of its retaliation, and the Titan changed tactics, casting a [Flame Blast] area explosion so fast that even Cara couldn’t stop it with [Nullify].
The badger was impressed.
It wasn’t often that she found an enemy that could get around her favourite methods of trolling mages, but this one had managed it. The spell also didn’t have any lingering effects, only the initial burst of damage, so there was nothing else for her to stop.
Vines lashed out from the Dryads, as the last batch were burned away. But on the flame coated body of the boss, they didn’t last long, and the dryads were continually trying to regenerate them.
They were Epic Grade summons, but they were a hybrid of control and healing, not a pure damage summon like Oathbreaker, who was greatly enjoying the chance to hack apart a Titan.
The Titan buffed itself with some sort of speed boost, And Karl was flung away again as he parried before Cara [Nullified] the buff. Then, he was back in combat again, only to be hit with that flame explosion.
The dryads all had healing auras going, which were keeping everyone healed, but there was a real risk that even with [Eternal Lightning], some of these team members might get two shot by that skill.
While Karl had a huge amount of damage reduction, and the skill wasn’t doing any major damage to him, just the amount that he could ignore with [Limited Invulnerability] was half the health of some of the Elves.
"Dammit, the Avatar doesn’t even feel those hits. No wonder that guy wasn’t worried about the power level," the berserker complained as a quarter of his health was drained in a single hit.
Cara winked at him and cast [Limited Invulnerability].
"If you just had more health, this wouldn’t hurt so much. Limited Invulnerability is limited, after all. You need to be properly tanky for it to work the way it’s supposed to."
The berserker laughed as he dodged a foot and hacked at the leg of the Titan.
He was considered properly tanky. That was his role here in the dungeon. But compared to Karl? You might as well be expecting him to go up two ranks at once. There was just no comparison.
"Can’t he tone down that weapon?"
"Nope. It’s the only thing that we have which does so much damage. My poking stick does one percent of maximum health per second, and Rae’s poison does the same, with up to five stacks. But she’s gone to clear out the rest of the dungeon.
And her poison is likely reduced by the rank difference."
Which was why she left, though Cara wouldn’t say it.
Plus, the stupid boss kept resisting the effects of her poking stick, and she couldn’t [Nullify] the enrage effect from the dungeon that was making her best toys ineffective.
On the other hand, the toxins from the thorns on the vines that the Dryads were using were really adding up. Even between Karl’s attacks, the boss’ health was steadily ticking downward.
The air shook as Karl increased his speed to make a strafing attack at the Titan’s neck, while it was busy with the vines.
His blade cut a deep furrow around the monster’s throat, and then Karl found himself flung away as a burst of flame hit him. If it weren’t for the fact that they had ten Epic Dryads, the group would have wiped by now. The healer was struggling with mana, and everyone was taking half their health in damage every five or ten seconds when the boss used that skill.
But they were winning.
When the boss finally reached ten percent health, it glowed with bright red light, and the magic users immediately brought up every defensive skill that they could use, while the Druids gathered the group and encased them in a dome of vines.
Karl could see that the boss was burning through its life force to boost its final skill, which Cara had failed to [Nullify] at least ten times now.
{I, uh, have to go see a guy about a thing.} Tian announced, then vanished back into his space.
No way was he taking that hit.
{I’m with the fox. I’ll go see what Rae is up to.} Cara agreed, then teleported to the spider.
"Fine, be like that."
Karl activated [Soul Harvest] and merged with the Haint as he stuck the Blade of Champions into the boss.
Soul energy flowed into Karl at a rate so high he could feel his Power Matrix shaking, but he didn’t let up. The red light of the boss was fading as the soul energy powering it was drained away.
But it was too late to stop it.
The blast detonated, turning the boss to little more than a ball of energy that the Blade of Champions and the Haint were eagerly absorbing, even as Karl was crushed into the ground with his entire body aflame.
The blast incinerated both Oathbreakers, tore through the vines, and the nature element barrier that the Dryads had created, as well as the defensive spells that the group had erected.
However, the Dryads weathered the blast, and their forms shielded the group from the worst of the blast.
[I get it now! That’s it!] Hawk cheered from his space.
He had finally grasped the last aspect of the fire element that he had been working on, and the Dark Flame Phoenix’s power began to soar as he reached into the Ascended Immortal stage.