Chapter 156: Wild Boss (1/2)
”{I think there's something about your aura,}” Higure noted curiously as she watched her devourer slice deep into a giant treant with green-auburn leaves and a sort of crown around its truck made of thorns.
'Is that so?' Rakna replied blankly and pulled his greatsword out. He jumped back to retreat from the many sharp roots that shot toward him from underground. To the side, Tyran stomped on a large root and blew a fire breath to the treant with a roar.
”{Yes, it is so. Last time you caused a Stampede. And now a Wild Boss came at you. There must be something about your Aura that attracts monsters… Perhaps your smell is tasty to them? Or is it that you're just too luckily unlucky?}”
'Is that sarcasm I hear?' The therian deadpanned and turned Sonata into a bow. After all the small evolutions it had gone through, the bow was now a lot more threatening than at the beginning and there was a bit of red sheen to it. It was closer to a longbow. 'It's more than enough strong,' Rakna thought as the familiar feeling of his bladed arrow appeared in his hand.
”Scatter,” he ordered out loud and Allan who was at the forefront, crushing and taking the roots of the treant along with Tyran, retreated together with the Dreorin. The Treant King let out a growl akin to wood grating as its entire body was ravaged by both red and black flames, courtesy of the succubus of the party.
”[Dáinsleif,]” Rakna muttered and shot the spell construct with Sonata. It whistled in flight and pierced the creature in the middle of its face. The blades rotated and exploded a second later. The werewolf lowered his bow as the cold implosion went on. When it died down, the treant had a large hole in its body and was seemingly inert.
”There is no kill notification…” Flavia noted from the back together with Nyx and Marie who hadn't had the occasion to do much against the Wild Boss. It was true that being in numbers meant more power but it was an unspoken rule in any organized team to never act all at once if there was no need for it. It would only make things complicated otherwise.
”You're right,” Rakna nodded and Sonata silently shifted back to a Guandao. As if on cue, the wood that composed the treant began to move again but this time, it wriggled like a gelatinous mass as it mended itself.
”Ew, creepy,” Allan helpfully said.
”This thing has no regeneration ability in its status,” Rakna said musingly. ”But its wood magic is probably the reason… It can use that magic on itself because it is made of it. So… as long as it can cast magic, it can rebuild itself.”
”Could you drain its mana?” Evelyn suggested as the treant was almost fully restored.
”I could. But it would be slow. Its level is 50. It also has high attributes as a Boss. At best… I could perhaps drain eight MPs every half a minute. But I don't think it would let me do that so easily.”
”If I may,” Nyx spoke up. ”If it is not much trouble, could you hold it off for me? I know most of you have spells powerful enough to finish it but I would like to experiment something more… big with this element of mine,” she said as she raised her palm with black lightning sparking around it.
Rakna hummed as the treant started moving again with an unearthly roar. ”It's no problem. But I don't think an extended fight against this thing would be favorable, even for me. And… it also stopped holding back,” he added as, on top of the sharp roots, a rain of auburn leaves started falling in masses.
They swirled around the Wild Boss before glowing and rocketing toward the party. Rakna reacted quickly and erected a barrier in front of him. The leaves embedded themselves on the GHB and cracked it. The others shielded themselves with their own skillset, except Flavia and Nyx who were standing behind the werewolf in the first place.
”Flavia, do you think you can use your Wood Magic to counteract this?” Rakna asked.
”No,” she shook her head. ”Taking control of someone else's magic would require me to be leagues above their level. And it's not the case here.”
”Well then… Tyran, Evelyn, focus on burning the leaves. Allan, protect Nyx while she figures out her spell. Flavia, Marie, Pronos, with me. We'll hold him off,” the werewolf instructed and whirled his oscillating glaive.
”You got it, boss,” Allan laughed and placed himself in front of Nyx. ”[Nua,]” he intoned with his hand extended forward and a screen of void matter appeared, swallowing all the leaves getting close to it.
Rakna nodded and blurred away with Flash Step once the flames of his companions had started dealing with the deluge of leaves. He reappeared in front of the treant and promptly hacked with his weapon to destroy the roots around him that were even harder than stone.
”[Coiled Winged Serpent,]” Marie's voice echoed soon after, and her giant snake was summoned in no time. The reptile huffed a cloud of poison before lunging at the treant. It ignored the countless roots in its way, even letting them stab into its body, and coiled around the massive tree creature.
The Treant King roared in anger and numerous spikes were formed from the wood of his trunk to skewer the snake. But, even when its entire body was being pierced, the snake didn't let go and began to constrict the treant even more, causing several cracks to appear on it due to the pressure.
Marie grinned. ”Unfortunately for you, my snakes don't die unless they've expended all the mana that they've been invoked with. And squeezing you… doesn't consume a lot,” she said and closed her hand into a fist, making the snake's grasp even tighter.
The treant growled but before it could anything else, it saw some of its roots suddenly changing course right back into his body. From above, Flavia floated with her eyes glowing with power. She waved her hand and her telekinesis got hold of the roots. She redirected some of them with a bit of effort from her part and outright severed the rest from the main body.
The former teacher smiled as she felt the Wild Boss' glare on her and casually pushed her glasses back in place. ”Oh my, have I inconvenienced you? I apologize for the discourtesy,” she said with a dark, obviously sarcastic tone that even made Allan shiver in the distance.
”{Oh no… It's too late. The pure and lovely lady has already been corrupted by you,}” Higure lamented exaggeratedly and Rakna rolled his eyes.
'Don't blame me. Blame the old man for always telling her to be more assertive,' Rakna retorted and extended both of his arms to the sides. ”[Star Hearth,]” he uttered, and interestingly, the sound of a forging hammer echoed around him for a second as he conjured dozens of blades around him.