"Hurry!"
"It doesn't break! We are too slow!"
"Do we have an emergency plan?"
"Sure! The plan is to do more damage!"
The friends gave it their all, striking the shield more than a hundred times and yet it didn't show any signs of breaking. As anxiousness spread, Quickstep gritted her teeth. With [Aspect of the Storm] still active she had no limits to her attack speed. She knew it was her duty to step up at this moment!
I need to be faster! Faster! Faster!
Quickstep's movements became a blur. Her swords were too fast for the naked eye to see. Her entire world shrank as she focused on the Dark Mother.
Suddenly Liam noticed something. He glanced at Quickstep, his brows rising involuntarily. He realised that Quickstep had entered a special state. Liam had done something similar before but usually no enemy could push him so far. Only the best players could enter such a state. The brain would truly resonate with the superhuman body the players had in the game, bringing out all its potential.
In his past life every player dreamed of entering such a state at least once. It was a tremendous opportunity to truly understand the potential of the superhuman body.
Right now, Quickstep's Strength and Agility were at 134 and 70 respectively. Considering that 10 points are equivalent to the upper limit of a normal human, Quickstep was as strong as thirteen people. During normal days she didn't even know how to activate all the strength. Her brain simply was not used to it. Out of the friends Silver Blade, due to her martial arts expertise, was actually the most efficient. As a tank it usually wasn't that obvious, but Silver Blade was great at softening blows and letting the force enter the ground.
But now Quickstep was catching up, even subtly overtaking her. Even the other friends noticed something but couldn't quite put it into words. They saw how the Dark Mother, despite being protected by a shield, was pushed away from Quickstep and how the female warrior constantly lowered the time between attacks. Her foot had just touched the ground when she tipped her toes lightly and appeared next to the Dark Mother again.
If my friends are giving it their all, I should also put some effort into it!
An excited grin formed on Liam's face. Observing Quickstep, he felt a hint of a challenge. If she continued like this, she might really come for his number one spot… in two to three years.
Liam narrowed his eyes. He took a deep breath, putting his focus completely on the Dark Mother. Time gradually seemed to slow down around him. He clearly saw the crackling lightning striking from the sky and the movements in the magic as Radiant Shield's hammer landed on the Dark Mother.
Liam felt the movements of each of his muscles. His ankles were nimble like a spring. Assisted by the strength of his legs they catapulted his body towards the Dark Mother. Passing by the boss his swords flashed with multiple attacks. Normal attack, [Double Slash], and [Cross Slash] looked like one movement but struck the Dark Mother five times, giving her a hard time.
At this point the friends couldn't ignore the strange sensation anymore.
"What's going on with Quickstep and Mirage?!"
"I don't know…"
"Ask later, attack now!"
The discussion was directly postponed. Everyone continued attacking the Dark Mother. And finally, a change could be seen. The protective layer started to churn, the light oscillating between bright and dim.
"No! NO! How?!"
Panic crept into the Dark Mother's eyes. She activated all her power in an attempt to keep the protective layer going. But she quickly realized that it would be futile. The attack she had been charging for more than half a minute was about to go out of control.
"If this is what you want, let us suffer together, insolent adventurers!"
The Dark Mother's voice sounded crazy. She moved her staff slowly as if it weighted a thousand tons, pointing it forward. An insane amount of mana was gathered at the tip. However, it was already too late. With a last strike from Quickstep's sword, the protective layer suddenly shattered, and the Dark Mother was hit with a potent backlash.
"AHH!"
It looked as if the boss was punched by a ghost. She shot through the air at an insane speed and slammed into one of the red crystal pillars. The cast was interrupted, the pillars calmed down, and the mana slowly dissipated into the air.
[-5000!]
"We did it!"
"Quickstep, Mirage, you were amazing!"
As her target disappeared, Quickstep suddenly woke up from her strange state. She was hit by a wave of exhaustion as her arms felt heavy as lead.
"What was that?"
Quickstep's confused eyes naturally found Liam, their walking encyclopaedia. The latter was recovering much better. One could only see a faint hint of fatigue in his eyes. However, he didn't answer everyone's questions immediately, instead urging his friends:
"Did you get hit by a stun? The boss is weakened! Attack her!"
The friends woke up after being reprimanded. They snapped around, focusing back on the boss fight. Silent Acacia was the first to shoot an arrow, perfectly striking the Dark Mother's heart.
[-2414!!!]
"F*ck!"
The hunter couldn't help but vent his emotions. His friends were also wide-eyed when their attacks fell on the Dark Mother. They instantly brought out everything they got. For a few seconds the boss's HP were reduced drastically. When the Dark Mother recovered, she was down to three thousand points. Finally, there was even some fear on her face.
"I can't… I can't be defeated by a bunch of lowly adventurers! Impossible!"
"Tsk. Times have changed, old ghost! It may be better for you to just rest!", mocked Cyclone.
The Dark Mother wasn't even in the mood to retaliate. Instead, she casted another spell. The red pillars began to light up again. But this time they didn't proved a shield for the Dark Mother and instead connected with each other. The rays of light were like a web of lasers protecting a valuable diamond. Each touch would deliver a lot of damage.
Unfortunately, this was not enough to save the Dark Mother. The players avoided the lasers skilfully while chipping away the last few HP she had. Finally, it was a sphere of water coming from Zorn which dealt the final blow.
"No… no! I can't believe it! If only I had a real body! Adventurers, this is not over yet!"
The Dark Mother wailed hysterically. Everyone watched in horror as the seams holding together her skin slowly became undone.
"Ew! I don't want to see this!"
A few of the friends couldn't endure the sight and averted their eyes. But the scene wasn't as disgusting as they had imagined. As the skin loosened there was no blood but instead the body contained a white skeleton. Some of its broken bones had been replaced with red crystals. It was covered in dark magic which served instead of muscles.
Cracks gradually permeated the skeleton. Eventually the force holding it together disappeared. The bones broke from the toes to the head. It was the skull which gave in last. Finally, it turned to powder, and a dark shadow shot out. It took the form of a female dark elf, with fine features and a beautiful face. Her slanted eyes were filled with hatred as she stared at the players.
"No! Mother!"
"The Dark Mother!"
"Protect the Dark Mother!"
Seeing the shadow, the dark elves were suddenly going crazy. They attacked the web produced by Zeuerch without caring for anything else. The Arachne had difficulties holding them back. At that moment the Dark Mother moved, shooting towards the dark elves. She tore a large hole into the web. Her shadowy body instantly seemed much dimmer, causing the dark elves great distress.
"Adventurers! Our tribe will forever be your enemies!"
Indey'min Kiyarohl, the leader of the dark elves, spewed a few threatening words while pulling out some black stones from his robe. He shattered them with his hand, and the entire room was covered in darkness for a moment. When the light returned there were no signs left of the Tribe of the Dark Mother.
Silence returned to the room. Going through two high intensity phases the players were exhausted and no one was in the mood to speak. Put they didn't have much of a choice when Zeuerch let himself drop to the floor, sighing lightly:
"We allowed them to escape…"
"Don't worry. At least your family is safe now!", answered Liam, who had recovered the fastest.
"Well, for now they are. But who knows if… no, when the dark elves will return?"
"You are right! If you need help, you just need to ask us! Those dark elves are our enemies as well."
"Thank you, adventurers! I will remember it."
"Mhm. Of course, we would be able to help you even more if you joined our guild. With more people there are more possibilities."
"Well… alright. I will do it!"