Liam landed behind Toxanerla who almost spewed poison from her mouth. But he wasn't intimidated. After a brief delay he swung his swords again. The witch tried to twist her body in an attempt to escape but Liam moved as if his eyes saw the future, hitting her anyways.
Toxanerla gritted her teeth. Her HP shrank again, now falling below half. Her expression grew unsettled. Suddenly she turned into a green streak of light and rushed towards the entrance.
"Sorry Cecily, I still have something to do. Let's catch up next time!"
With those words the poison witch disappeared. Both Liam and Cecily were taken aback.
"Damn! Are there no trustworthy witches left nowadays?!"
Cecily shouted in anger. Golden magic circles lit up on her hammer as she smashed it into the ground. But the weighty hammer only caused faint ripples on the earth as he and Cecily fused with the rocks just like a raindrop falling into the ocean.
Liam's face was grim as he felt a vast magic brewing beneath the ground. He checked his status. Out of nearly 21.000HP he had lost about a fourth. He was still afflicted with poison. He had used about half of his 486 points of stance but thanks to the effect of his ultimate skill [Holy Tempest] he had recovered most of it.
Before Cecily could make her move Liam pulled out two potions from his inventory. Downing the intermediate antidote and the intermediate health potion, his status was almost back to the state from before the fight. Most of his skills were still on cooldown for at least another 50 seconds.
After recovering, Liam scanned the ground with heightened vigilance. He could feel a tremor spreading as if an ancient beast was awakening. Seconds passed and finally there was some change. A mountain suddenly rose from the ground, occupying a fourth of the entire battlefield. But no, it wasn't a mountain! But a massive battle hammer made from rock and stone!
An immense pressure spread, and the wind was stirred as the hammer tilted, striking at Liam. His chest tightening the veteran instantly used Reen's [Dash], escaping from the affected area.
Boom!
Liam felt the immense impact behind him. The world groaned, rocks and dust were shooting in all directions. Liam took a deep breath, glad that he had reacted in time. However, the assault was not over yet. The hammer slowly rose towards the sky. Liam placed himself close to the edge of the secret realm. Since the hammer couldn't leave the secret realm, it was difficult to strike Liam in this position. He only needed to evade for a shorter distance, which he could do even without using [Dash].
However, despite evading the damage, Liam was slightly troubled. The duration of his ultimate skill was ticking down as the seconds passed. If this continued it might even run out.
Another hammer strike followed. Liam stared at the commotion with narrowed eyes. This time the hammer didn't move again. It turned into a cloud of dust. Liam could vaguely make out a figure inside and didn't hesitate to rush forward. A puddle of poison was at the edge of the dust cloud. Liam applied a flash step, recklessly diving into the cloud, appearing behind Cecily.
"What?"
The witch was somewhat weary after using such a big skill. She hadn't even reacted as Liam appeared behind her. His swords crossed, applying two Holy Mark before instantly conjuring three dazzling golden swords which shot at the enemy.
[-2243!]
[-1121!]
[-3028!]
[-190!]
Liam felt relieved as the duration of [Holy Tempest] was prolonged. While the dust cloud dissipated, he stayed close to the witch, landing another two normal attacks, further depleting Cecily's HP.
Finally, the witch recovered her wits. She gritted her teeth, took her hammer in her hands and spun rapidly, forcing Liam to keep his distance.
[Stance -16]
The skill ended quickly as Cecily didn't hit Liam.
"Adventurer, look how you overturned my beautiful home. You have to answer me for that!"
"Are you blaming me?"
Liam looked at Cecily with an amused expression. He only came to ask a few questions. It wasn't him who waved a mountain-like hammer around. But Cecily still blamed him and with a snort rushed towards him, swinging her hammer rapidly.
Jumping backwards, Liam dodged easily. He lost another 14 points of stance. Since dodging reset his attack speed he momentarily couldn't act. However, with his current stats Liam's attack speed was as high as 1,376 attacks per seconds. Many players wouldn't even notice this brief delay, yet Liam found it quite uncomfortable, like having a bad ping in old video games.
Like most bosses Cecily's attack speed was much slower. Before she could swing her hammer again, Liam had landed another two strikes, continuously reducing the boss's HP. Five Holy Marks shone brightly above Cecily's head but Liam momentarily had no way to trigger them.
"You damned adventurer!"
Cecily's eyes turned increasingly bloodshot. Venting her frustration she activated another skill. The ground at five random locations turned dark. Liam remained on guard as he kept up his attacks. But just as his swords were about to land, two pitch-black rock spears shot out from two of the spots. Liam's pupils narrowed dangerously as his instincts screamed alarm. The spears travelled at an insane speed and their angels were tricky. Liam instinctively knew that even flash step would be too slow now.
A golden light erupted from Reen as Laim activated the basilisk's skill to block 30% of all incoming damage. Simultaneously he shifted his body slightly to evade one of the rock spears. Yet the other perfectly crashed into the basilisk's back.
[-4938!]
"Hehe!"
Cecily grinned seeing her attack finally land. Despite the defensive skill Liam lost about a quarter of his HP. His expression turned solemn as he warily glanced at those dark spots on the ground.
"Take this!"
Thinking her enemy was distracted Cecily swung her hammer again. However, Liam wouldn't make mistakes like that. He danced around Cecily to avoid her hammer and positioned himself in a way that Cecily's body would block two of the possible attacks. Black and white swords raced through the air, striking the witch's shoulders.
[Stance -15]
[-2243!]
[-1121!]
"You! You!!"
Cecily's chest heaved as she constantly felt her HP being drained away. Yet she appeared unable to deal with a mere adventurer. She was quite confused at that. She had only been at home for about four years. How had adventurers grown to such a height in such a short time? The heritage of witches was profound but like many witches Cecily took pride in her own magic, not relying on her heritage too much. But now she felt a sense of crisis, considering whether to change her attitude.
Liam didn't know the NPC's thoughts. The Cecily before him was far weaker than the one he remembered from his previous life. He was quite curious how her story would continue and if it altered from what he knew, but first he had to win this battle.
With a whistling noise another two rock spears came from behind Liam's back. This time he was prepared. A swift flash step brought him out of danger, and he swiftly commenced his attacks on Cecily. At this moment the golden light which always surrounded his body faded, causing him to sigh. [Holy Tempest]'s duration was up. Only ten seconds were missing until both [Cross Slash] and [Double Slash] would come off cooldown.
"No, no, no!"
While Liam felt regret, Cecily became increasingly anxious. Two hammers came out of the ground next to her. They attacked frantically, leaving no gaps, forcing Liam to keep his distance with [Dash]. Simultaneously he couldn't let the stone spears hit him. His stance was depleting bit by bit. Fortunately, Cecily couldn't uphold such an intense attack. After a few seconds she lowered her hammer, gasping for breath, and even the spots producing the stone spears disappeared.
Liam's eyes lit up as he saw his chance. His skills were off cooldown. Rushing at Cecily he unleashed his favourite combo, causing the Holy Marks above her head to erupt with blinding sacred light.
"Wait!"
Cecily tumbled backwards, waving her hands in front of her. She came to a stop, put her weapon away, and placed her hands on her waist.
"Adventurer! Cede your aggressiveness! I, the great witch Cecily Hellstone, have merely been testing you. You have gained my approval!"
Liam eyed the witch before him, her head barely reaching his chest yet her nose was up in the sky. He couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Her status revealed that the red name was turning green, but her level didn't lie. She was still level 59. Clearly there was no test, it was just her excuse for loosing. However, since he came here for answers Liam didn't expose the witch and instead decided to play along.
"A test? Great witch, you startled me! But I am glad we can end this fight. I never wanted to become hostile towards you. I only came here to seek answers."
"Of course. I… knew that. Adventurer, you may ask your questions!"