79 Chapter 79 (1/2)
Chapter 79
”Bwahahahaha, I do say, good shot old chap.” The Terminus was chuckling evil as he glanced at Z, who had just hit the boss's monocle with a piercing arrow. The projectile ignored 50% of the Terminus's base defense and hit for 71 damage. What's more, it cracked the monocle, which James was certain the Terminus had been using to better target the adventurers.
Since Z's newest plan, to survive, was enacted, the raid party had been doing its best to keep the Terminus occupied as the whittled down its life. The Knights, even down one member, were doing admirably. They were veterans of MMOs, they knew how to act without needed to call out their commands. Especially since James figured they didn't want to give anything away to the Terminus.
Skar's group, on the other hand, were a lot less organized, but were aiding in the best ways they could. Because of the difference in coordination, the Terminus seemed to be paying more attention to taking out the higher leveled Knight's first, though the boss was not missing opportunities to pick away at any member that was foolish enough to leave themselves open to an attack.
So far, the boss was sitting at a little over 1700 health, and the raid party was down to 8 members. That was because Manly the Dwarf had gotten himself caught in the Terminus's stun when it dropped below 80%. To his credit, the dwarf had tried his best to survive. The moment he was stunned, the Terminus had swung its mighty tail down at the dwarf, intending to crush the axe duelist in a single blow. However, while manly was stunned, there was still a cooldown the dwarf could activate, and he did.
The skill, simply called Rage, had a 10 minute cooldown, and only lasted for 30 seconds. During that time, the user's attack power was doubled, while his defense was halved. However, while rage was active, the user couldn't be dropped below 1hp, and he gained 5% life steal for all of his attacks. The ability also came with a cleanse. It was the type of cooldown usually saved for either the final burn phase on a boss, or one of those, oh shit moments.
So, as the tail came crashing down on the poor stunned dwarf, the adventurer realized it was an oh shit moment, and burned his cooldown. His dwarven form instantly became engulfed in glowing red energy, and either unintentionally, or as a part of the skill, the dwarf let out a ferocious roar. Then the angry dwarf rushed towards the Terminus, hacking and slashing away at the metal plating with his twin axes. Even with his attack doubled, the Terminus still had quite a high defense. That meant each axe swing, which took a little over a second for the dwarf to make, was doing a little over 30 damage. Which, 60 damage every 3 seconds, for 30 seconds, would still have equaled nearly 600 damage to the boss, if the boss had been standing still and taking it.
Instead, Manly got in about 6 hits, before the Boss swung his tail in a wide, rapid sweep, and sent the dwarf flying across the room. By the time manly hit the ground, and began running back towards the Terminus, his rage had failed, and even before he could get healed, a grenade ended his life.
Of course, Manly's actions had probably saved the tanks, who both had also been caught in the Terminus's stun. However, while Manly drew aggro, the healers had been able to use simple cleanse spells to remove the debuff and return the tanks to the fight. Needless to say, it was a war of attrition, and both sides were taking damage.
”Now I must say, your form is impeccable.” The Terminus laughed as he stomped the ground, attempting to send Skar and Oak flying. The tanks stood their ground though, their shields glowing with energy as they pumped up their defenses. The tremor also sent Gno-more scattering backwards away from the boss. The assassin had been attempting to sneak up on the boss, in order to launch a flurry of attacks. The assassin class had the ability to ignore 50% of an enemy's defense if the strikes were deemed as sneak attacks. However, Gno-more had yet to be able to apply any attacks on the boss, who always seemed aware of when the gnome was near.
James, and it seemed Z, had figured out why. The monocle, though cracked, still had a flash of data streaming across it, and as James zoomed in on the accessory, he could see the data was providing an overlay map of the area around the boss. It seemed the top hat it was wearing, was also acting as a radar, feeding the information to the boss on enemy locations in real time. So, not only was it aiding in targeting, it was also giving the boss quite the unfair advantage on the battlefield.
”And yours is sloppy.” Z called out, lining up another shot. The arrow flew true, smacking into the boss's monocle, this time shattering the accessory. The damage however, also dropped the boss below the 60% range, activating his AOE roar. And, Z's shot had caused him to leave cover, making him vulnerable to the stun this time as well.
”A fair trade, in my eyes.” The Terminus leveled his grenade launcher at the ranger, showing its teeth in an evil grin. ”My advantage for yours.” The grenades launched in rapid succession, and even though badgy, who had been steadily damaging the boss from its back, did its best to yank the boss's arm off course, the grenades still found their mark. The damage, one direct impact and two with splash damage, caused Z to burst into a white orb. The boss was now below 60%, but the party was down to 7. And, with Z's death, Badgy poofed out of existence.
”Badgy, nooooo.” Rue cried out as the honey badger disappeared, and James saw his core chat was mimicking the pixie as well. That little badger had won everyone's hearts between the last two streams. And, its valiant attempt to save Z's life merely cemented its place in the memories of all who were watching the fight.
The Knights, of course, were calling out in angst over Z's death. With Z down, they had lost another of their DPS, and were now predominantly going to be relying on Elm and his magical arrows to pull down the boss's life. What's more, James could still see the mini boss respawn timer, which was now sitting at 2 minutes. The raid had 2 minutes to go, before the Terminus had its ally respawn, and the party wiped. It was like working against a rage timer in a raid, but so much more terrible.
”Do it now.” Z's disembodied voice called out to the party, and James felt his heart leap in his chest. Of course part of him was looking forward to gaining even more experience from the party. Hell, with the death of Z, Manly, and Faust, James had already earned over 6,000 experience. However, as Z called out, James remembered the contingency plan he had enacted for the party.
”Order 66, got it.” Oak and Skar both exchanged looks and grimaced, before they rushed the Terminus, one on either side of him. By the glow on their bodies, James could tell they were both blowing their cooldowns. Oak's, as a shielder, increased his defense by 100% for 30 seconds, and reflected 30% of all damage he took back to the abuser. That meant that not only was he reflecting physical damage from the Terminus's stomps and tail swipes, but he was also reflecting the burn damage.