Liam attacked together with his friends. As his swords completed the familiar movements, he had the leisure to observe how the others were faring. He was gratified to see that no one struggled to keep up. Thanks to months of training and Liam's advice his friends were all skilled players in their own right. Each of them would be highly sought after by other top teams if they weren't in Hotpot.
In fact, this has already happened. Everyone on Hotpot had received generous offers in the past, mostly from companies who wanted to form their own star teams. But obviously the friends rejected. As long as they stayed on Falva Star, there was no better team than Hotpot. Furthermore, they owned stakes in Dream Avenue. There was no way they would switch to the competition.
As Liam's thoughts were drifting, there was a sudden change in the battle. The Dark Mother had lost 10.000HP and finally began to take the players seriously.
"Adventurers, you surprise me. Well then. Let's see if you can keep up. Hahaha!"
The Dark Mother's laughter echoed through the room. The dark magic surrounding her engulfed her entirely before dissipating. The boss disappeared only to somehow reappear at the very centre of the room. She raised her bone staff high into the air. The red crystal pillars began to shine brightly. The faint rays of light connecting the boss to the crystals strengthened, resonating with each other. A second later the boss was covered in a red magical layer shielding her from harm. Silent Acacia sent a probing arrow, and he indeed dealt no damage.
"What do we do now?"
"I suppose we need to destroy those crystals!"
Everyone agreed with Silver Blade's guess. But before they could move, the Dark Mother began to attack wildly. She swung her staff, sending out attacks indiscriminately.
"What?!"
Cyclone was caught off guard. Her eyes were on one of the crystals when a ray of dark magic struck her waist, delivering a frightening blow. Cyclone scrunched her face, tumbling back for two steps.
[-6217!]
"That's cheating! She's ignoring Silver!"
"Haha!"
The Dark Mother only laughed. She indeed didn't care for the aggro as she threw at least two attacks per second, resembling a sentient laser turret. For a short while the friends were preoccupied with dodging and had no time to care for the crystals.
After a few seconds it was again Silent Acacia who found an opportunity to fire an arrow at one of the red crystal pillars.
[-0!]
"What? It didn't work?"
"Perhaps we need to fire at a specific pillar? Careful!"
While guessing, Silver Blade hastily warned Silent Acacia. Immediately after he fired his arrow, he drew the Dark Mother's ire who retaliated with three attacks, all focused on the hunter. Silent Acacia's heart skipped a beat. His thoughts raced. He realized that he wouldn't be able to escape all three magical rays. He had no other chance but to tank one of them.
[-6477!]
Silent Acacia took a deep breath after receiving that much damage. And yet this was already after Silver Blade's [Aura of Ranged Protection] reduced the damage by eight percent. But even with her help he wouldn't be able to withstand three hits.
Fortunately, they had a capable healer. Balm waved her wand and a dozen broad pillars shining with holy light appeared scattered through the battlefield. Silent Acacia and Cyclone rushed towards the nearest ones, enjoying the refreshing feeling running through their bodies.
[+3465!]
With more than three thousand points of HP healed every three seconds they would soon be back to full life. Meanwhile one of the holy pillars appeared below the Dark Mother. Its shining light clashed with the red protective layer but unfortunately there was no way to overcome the shield. Even as Balm's gorgeous robe shone with holy light, which gathered on her wand and struck at the enemy, it wasn't enough to affect the Dark Mother.
[-0!]
[-0!]
"Damn! What should we do? Nothing works!"
"Mirage!"
After a few seconds the friends had managed to strike each pillar at least once. But to everyone's surprise they couldn't deal any damage. Soon, they were out of ideas and turned towards Liam.
So far, the expert hadn't said anything. Not because he wanted to train or annoy his friends, but because they were already on the right track. As they didn't know how to proceed, Zeuerch let out a shout from the other end of the room.
"Adventurers. Try this!"
The Arachne swung her hand and threw a peculiar small mirror. It painted a beautiful arc in the air as starry sparkles followed it.
"I'll catch it!"
Balm realized she was standing in the best position. She closely watched the mirror and suddenly jumped high up, snatching it from the air.
"Good job!"
"Thanks. But what do I do with it now?"
"Use it to reflect one of the red rays onto another pillar!", explained Liam.
Balm nodded and was just about to rush towards the nearest ray of light when her instincts screamed. The Dark Mother's angry eyes were focused on the healer. Just as Balm was about to be hit, her body disappeared in a flash of sparks.
"Haha, too slohoow!"
Balm playfully mocked the boss. She reappeared right next to one of the red rays. Everyone was quite amazed as they watched the young woman. When it came to the proficiency of flash step, Balm was second only to Liam. This were great news as flash step was of vital importance for healers to escape enemy attacks.
Not knowing the thoughts of her friends Balm didn't delay and held out the mirror, using it to interrupt one of the red light rays. Striking the smooth glass, the ray was diverted, shining at a random spot on the wall. Balm hurriedly turned the mirror left and right until the light finally hit another crystal pillar.
Instantly there was a change in the situation. The pillar which was hit trembled and shone bright like a miniature sun. Everyone was forced to avert their eyes. The red pillar was like a battery charged with too much electricity.
Boom!
Finally, the pillar exploded, filling the room with crystalline dust. It was quite the beautiful sight to behold, like the last brilliance before destruction. When all the dust reached the ground, it would lose its light, and the pillar was soon to be forgotten.
Unfortunately, the friends didn't appreciate the beauty of the red dust. As soon as they could see again, they stared towards the Dark Mother.
The boss was struggling right now. The rays of light flickered like a broken light bulb, as did the protective layer. After a few seconds the Dark Mother realized that she had to cancel the shield, or she faced the danger of all the red pillars losing their energy.
"Well, well. What a move, adventurers. And also you, little spider! I won't forget you."
The boss's cold voice echoed in the room, sending chills down everyone's spines. But with the shield gone, the friends didn't hesitate. The resumed their attacks, eager to take out the boss. The first skills to damage the Dark Mother were Cyclone's and Balm's ongoing [Binding of Lightning] and [Pillars of Life].
[-429!]
[-29!]
Cyclone was quite annoyed that her skill still had not paralyzed the enemy. However, after being trained to rank 2, [Binding of Lightning] would last until it dealt damage equal to 120% of Cyclone's magical damage to the enemy. At 429 points per tick, it would thus last for 26 ticks. Those were more than enough chances. At some point the paralysis had to trigger!
The Dark Mother felt the unpleasant sensation striking her body. She made a light step and elegantly left the pillar formed from holy energy. The friends noted this little detail. This was something bosses below level 50 would not have done. If they had left the pillar, it would have been to attack someone.
Of course, this didn't have much impact on the fight as a whole. Liam and his friends rushed towards the Dark Mother. After not being able to attack for a while, most of their skills were off cooldown. They surrounded the Dark Mother and dealt all the damage they could.
Not one to take the blows without retaliation, the boss also swung her staff. Her attention was once again on Silver Blade. She released a ray of dark magic, which Silver Blade blocked skilfully. But at this point the friends had almost forgotten that the boss's attack could pass through people. Radiant Shield, who stood behind Silver Blade, ready to take over at any moment, suddenly saw an attack coming right at him. Although he reacted on instinct, it was too late. Radiant Shield couldn't defend himself, receiving a solid hit.
[-5721!]
Fortunately, Radiant Shield was not far from one of Balm's pillars. He took a few steps and profited from the potent heal. But his luck ended there. After only one round of healing the skill's duration ended and the pillars disappeared.
[+3465!]