Liam and his friends entered the next room. An uncomfortable temperature welcomed them. Every breath caused a faint searing pain to their lungs.
Right now, the smithy wasn't even in use. One could only imagine the heat if a dozen dwarves worked at the same time.
"This damn place again..."
Silent Acacia mumbled under his breath. He glanced to the side at Fellfell. The dog-like beast seemed to feel right at home. He sniffed the air before strolling around the furnace.
Suddenly Fellfell froze in place. He walked backwards, every step silent and careful. Suddenly he somehow disappeared from everyone's vision without a sign.
The friends were not surprised by the dog's escape. They looked towards the furnace. The smouldering tower was already big enough, yet it couldn't hide the body of the beast lying on the other side of the smithy.
It was obviously a basilisk. Its long, black-scaled tail gleamed dangerously under the flame's orange light. Its feathers were a mix of black and white and there was no crown on its head. It was obviously a female.
Suddenly the beast seemed to sense something. She slowly woke up from her nap. Her eyes opened and the party saw their own reflection in those white and green marbles.
When the basilisk slowly stood up it became apparent that she was definitely not a juvenile beast like the others so far.
"Ok guys. Don't be hasty. We know this fight is difficult. Let's go!"
Silver Blade spoke to everyone as she took the lead to engage the basilisk.
[Soar, first mature dark basilisk
Rank: Sub-boss
Level: 34
HP: 23.200/23.200]
"Enemies. Die!"
Soar's eyes quickly turned fierce looking at the intruders. She raised her claw high. Dark magic gathered below it as she suddenly stomped down.
The room trembled heavily. The tools rattled, the sound echoing from the high walls. A black shockwave spread with Soar as the centre like the aftermath of a brutal explosion.
"So early?!"
Cyclone exclaimed in shock as the unblockable wave reached her. Immediately her vision turned dark. The entire party was blinded.
Silver Blade instantly used [Will of the Vanguard] to shake off the effect. She quickly closed the distance.
None of the party members were surprised by the skill. They kept their cool, carefully getting closer to the boss. Meanwhile Cyclone and Fortune stopped moving and instantly began casting skills anticipating the blind to fall off before their skills are ready.
Silver Blade knew that it was important to draw the boss's attention now as she would be the only one able to block. Thus, she didn't hesitate to use [Luring Barrier] immediately.
"Grah!"
Soar let out a strange sound which was somewhere between a roar and a bird's cry as she pecked at Silver Blade with her beak.
The appendage made out of sturdy horn material was a natural weapon with sharpness rivalling precious spears. Silver Blade didn't have much time to think as the boss's head moved abruptly, crashing into her barrier.
[-1104!]
The female tank's barrier trembled heavily under the attack's power. Usually, this type of physical attack should have been blocked by Radiant Shield but he was unfortunately still impaired.
After the first attack Soar raised her head again. Seeing this, Silver Blade instantly stabilized her body knowing what to expect. Just like in normal mode the boss had the ability to attack twice in quick succession.
Dark magic gathered in Soar's beak as she abruptly brought it down, spitting out a magical spear which collided with Silver Blade.
[-861!]
"You can try to attack, guys!"
After stabilizing the situation Silver Blade informed her friends who immediately complied.
Silent Acacia cleverly summoned Zorn. Having escaped the boss's skill, the alligator immediately spat out a ball of water. Simultaneously Silent Acacia released his readied arrow. Since there was a risk to miss the attack, the hunter didn't use a skill but tried his luck with a normal attack.
A wooden click rang out. Silent Acacia frowned as this didn't sound like his arrow had hit the boss. Unfortunately, this was indeed the case as the projectile crashed into the furnace and fell powerlessly to the ground.
But at least Zorn's water ball collided with the enemy's wing.
[-167!]
Meanwhile the melee fighters looked quite comical swinging their weapons according to their hearing. Luckily, they had the experience from normal mode. During their very first attempt the party ran around like headless chicken after being affected by the blind.
Silver Blade still had to suppress a chuckle as Quickstep barely graced the boss with one of her swords while the other missed completely. The tank quickly turned her head away, staring at Bleary Mirage.
Liam had his eyes closed, focusing on all his other senses. Not only did he hear the basilisk's movements he also felt the powerful magic the creature emitted. The wind stirred up every time it moved its wings.
Although he couldn't land accurate blows, he could at least make sure that every attack of his dealt damage. His movements were still fluid as he chained [Cross Slash] with a normal attack.
[-228!]
[-114!]
[-366!]
But before Liam could land his full rotation, he felt his instincts screaming in alarm. In his perception a large amount of mana was surging through the basilisk's body.
"Not good! Retreat!"
Shouting an urgent warning Liam immediately ran backwards.
"Ouh!"
Suddenly Liam groaned as he ran into something. He could feel the cold metal of an anvil touching his leg. Cursing inwardly, he noticed the temperature in the room suddenly raise by another notch.
The rest of the party were also escaping chaotically. Some managed to escape while others collided with objects in their way. Silver Blade tried to help but she couldn't direct everyone at the same time.
In this situation Soar finally unleashed her skill. A billowing sound was all the party heard. Soar opened her mouth and unleashed a wall of orange flames. Even her body was set on fire.
The flames spread over the ground dangerously heating the stone flooring until it glowed. Liam felt the heat rushing towards his legs. He held his breath glancing at his HP bar but fortunately it didn't move.
Others were less lucky. Radiant Shield moved too slow in his heavy armor and felt the searing heat washing over him.
[-2631!]
The tank was shocked as the terrifying fire damage burned away his HP. He gave it his all as he quickly left the skill's range. If he stayed too long, he would have suffered the damage repeatedly.
The party had found out much about this skill in normal mode. During their first run Radiant Shield tried to block, which indeed worked for a short while. But the continuous reduction in stance was too much of a price to pay.
However, the party had never faced the situation of being blinded while the boss unleashed his skill. The result was quite horrifying as other than Radiant Shield, Watchful Eye and Cyclone were unable to escape the damage as well.
Both of them suffered more than 2700 points of damage, taking away more than a third of their HP.
"Ahh, hot hot hot!"
Cyclone did a little jump which quickly reduced the heat around her legs. She felt strange not hearing anything from her two friends.
"Balm, Fortune, did you not get hit?"
"No."
"Luckily not."
Hearing the two voice coming from close behind her, Cyclone's eyelid twitched. She realized that she must have stood right at the edge of the flame.
However, the danger for the ranged fighters wasn't over yet. Soar held the flame back for a moment before raising her head straight up. Suddenly she released the fire in bursts.
Flames sailed through the air in disorderly batches, hitting random spots in the smithy.
The blinded players shivered as they anticipated the threat. Everyone focused intensely.
Liam didn't move as he heard two attacks slamming into the ground to his left. But suddenly he perceived a strong heat like a falling star coming from above. He instantly used flash step to escape.
The others tried to dodge as well to some success. Quickstep managed to escape one attack only to be immediately targeted again.
[-1998!]
Bloody Edge was also hit, destroying his stealth, which unfortunately proved useless against the boss's indiscriminate skill.
[-2032!]
Although the damage was less than during the skill's first instance, it was still a heavy blow to the players.
"Stupid boss, let me see!"
Cyclone shouted to suppress her anxiousness. Suddenly she felt the heat coming for her. She was just about to dodge when she noticed that the fire would miss her.
However, the attack came for Fortune instead. The mage was already deeply focused. She controlled the mana in her body while feeling the flames closing in.
With a burst of sparks Fortune suddenly disappeared and reappeared somewhere else. A perfect flash step! Even her cast was barely delayed.
Fortune felt elated but to her misfortune no one had seen her performance. Even Silver Blade's sight was blocked by the furnace.