A few more seconds passed until the temperature in the room decreased slightly, marking the end of the skill.
The flames burning on Soar's body extinguished. The basilisk lowered her head, breathing laboriously.
Additionally the players were finally freed from the blind effect.
"Damn! Let's take revenge!"
Cyclone shouted loudly as she unleashed her [Binding of Lightning]. The light in the room flickered as the rope made of lightning attached itself to Soar's body.
[-448!]
Freed from their blindness the rest of the party also wanted to shake off the stifling feeling. They rushed towards the boss, raining down attacks. Silent Acacia directly applied his [Mark of Death].
Bloody Edge still held back with his ultimate skill but thanks to Silent Acacia his [Cut Throat] landed a critical hit.
[-486!!!]
Under the wild onslaught Soar quickly suffered close to three thousand points of damage even before Liam's holy mark exploded.
[-675!]
"You! Dare!"
Soar spoke in a hoarse voice full of malice as she retaliated. A dark spear left her beak, which was quickly blocked by Silver Blade.
[Stance -18]
Already knowing what to expect Silver Blade took a step back, giving up the spot so Radiant Shield could block the incoming beak attack.
But the boss changed tactics. Proving that this the friends had indeed chosen hard mode, Soar didn't attack with her beak but instead shot another black spear.
"Silver!"
Radiant Shield fortunately realised what was about to happen. He called out to Silver Blade as he jumped to the side and let the other tank deal with the magical attack.
[Stance -19]
Although her movements weren't perfect Silver Blade managed to block the attack. She frowned. Realizing that the pattern had changed Silver Blade prepared for another attack, but nothing came for the time being.
Rather it was the players who performed another assault before it was the boss's turn again. Silver Blade had also activated her [Aura of the Sloth] but it didn't proof very effective. Soar was barely slowed down as she stabbed out twice with her beak.
This time the tanks failed to switch quick enough. Silver Blade was forced to take one of the attacks before Radiant Shield shoved his body in the way.
[Stance -27]
[Stance -17]
The party was just about to counterattack when Soar moved first. She opened her beak wide sucking in a large amount of mana. A second, blue bar appeared below her HP bar, filling up instantly.
Subsequently a dark shimmer ran along her body, covering it like a second skin.
Noticing these actions the party attacked abruptly but without using their strongest skills.
[-0!]
[-0!]
Just as the friends expected their attacks didn't deal any damage. However, the blue bar reduced with every attack, albeit slowly.
Cyclone voiced what everyone was thinking:
"It's tougher than in normal mode..."
Everyone's faces were solemn. After throwing out one attack the melee fighters hastily drew back.
"Roar!"
Soar's roar echoed from the walls as she started to counterattack. She began to strike wildly around her. Beak, claws, wings, she used everything at her disposal. Her speed increased to a level which made it difficult to keep up.
Quickstep suddenly found herself face to face with Soar. A white and black wing took up all her vision as it aimed to swipe away her body.
The female warrior gritted her teeth. She didn't want to run away. She had her pride as well.
"I'll fight it out with you, stupid chicken!"
Quickstep activated her newest skill [Aspect of Storm], feeling the limitations of her body loosening. She ran forward, ducking at the last second, dodging below the wing.
[Stance -25]
More than a fifth of her stance was gone instantly but Quickstep didn't care. She wanted to prove herself. Pivoting on her right foot she swirled around, slashing at the boss with both swords.
A fierce wind came from her side. Quickstep jumped instinctively. The powerful tail scratched along the floor, passing right below the warrior's feet. Although she escaped the direct hit, the accompanying wind still pulled on Quickstep's legs.
[Stance -28]
Affected by the attack Quickstep landed unsteadily. She needed a moment to stabilize herself. Before she could retaliate, Soar swung her body and kicked out behind her.
Quickstep felt her breath stop from the pressure. The claw with four incredibly sharp tips came right for her chest. Quickstep hastily jumped backwards. The claw stopped barely a few centimetres away from her chest.
A drop of sweat ran down Quickstep's neck, but she didn't miss the chance. Her swords moved instantly, hacking at the boss's claw. She managed to get three attacks in before Soar flapped her wings, hastily speeding away.
"Wow! It's fleeing! That was amazing, Quickstep!"
"Nice job, babe!"
Quickstep breathed laboriously as cheers reached her ears. She turned her head smiling at Cyclone and Silent Acacia with exhaustion on her face.
The others were similarly impressed, especially by Quickstep's no-look dodge of the tail attack. But their praises were subdued as they focused on the boss.
Soar dashed away from Quickstep at a high speed. She made a turn before preparing to attack the next player. Everyone remained apprehensive.
Suddenly Soar sped up, aiming her sharp claw to the front. The friends were surprised for a moment, wondering why the boss would attack empty air when they noticed the vague outline in front of Soar.
Bloody Edge froze in place staring at the claw enlarging in his vision. His thoughts swirled as he never considered that the boss would be able to discover him in stealth.
The thief's actions were delayed momentarily, which caused him to suffer.
[-1493!]
Bloody Edge rolled away as the claw delivered a heavy blow. But Soar wasn't prepared to let him go. She immediately followed up with her beak.
[-1567!]
"Ah!"
Bloody Edge screamed in shock. Who would be able to remain calm lying below a huge beast which continuously stabbed with its beak?
"Let me assist you!"
Seeing the thief in a precarious situation the friends naturally knew they had to do something. Radiant Shield shouted loudly, mainly so Balm wouldn't use her heal simultaneously, and activated his own [Holy Barrier].
Bloody Edge saw the golden light shield his body. Soar clawed at him again but this time she was obstructed. This allowed Bloody Edge to quickly calm down. As Soar raised her claw again, he instantly rolled away, finally getting out of danger.
His expression however was anything but happy as he knew that his lack of attention had cost the party a valuable spell.
Seeing that its prey had escaped, Soar didn't chase after Bloody Edge. Instead, she rushed towards the rest of the party.
Everyone struggled to escape her fierce attacks. If somehow possible they tried to get in one or two hits. The blue bar above the boss's head slowly decreased.
Finally, the boss seemed to run out of steam but not without landing hits on Balm, Zorn, Cyclone, and Radiant Shield.
"The big chicken is almost done! Get ready, guys!"
Silver Blade encouraged everyone as she carefully approached Soar, who had stopped in place. Only a sliver was remaining of the blue bar.
Soar looked exhausted. The protective layer on her body flickered unstably. But before it could completely go out Soar abruptly raised her head. Her sharp eyes pierced the players.
To everyone's dismay she quickly raised her claw and unleashed another wave of dark magic, applying blind once again.
"Oh no! Expert, is there no way to dodge the skill?", asked Cyclone in distress.
"Not that I know. Only Balm's reflect could help."
Hearing this Fortune's eyes lit up. She hastily signalled to their healer. Balm didn't have much time to think carefully and immediately used her [Reflect] on Fortune.
The next moment the black magic arrived plunging everyone into darkness. Only Fortune retained her vision.
"Huh?"
Soar let out a surprised sound. Affected by [Reflect] the boss couldn't escape the blind effect which should have hit Fortune.
Weak from its earlier skill and now with its vision impaired Soar decided to curl up on the floor and hide behind her own wings.
Fortune's eyes lit up. She quickly informed her party while unleashing the skill she had been casting. Mana gathered on her staff. She controlled it carefully knowing that the immobile boss posed a great chance.
Suddenly the first arcane bolt shot out.
[-228!]
With enough time to aim carefully Fortune effortlessly hit three bolts. Meanwhile her friends attacked under her direction.
Unfortunately, the blind effect against the boss only lasted two seconds. Afterwards she stood up again, scanning the party with angry eyes.
The boss immediately continued attacking. If Fortune attempted to determine the kind of attack and inform Silver Blade and Radiant Shield she would be far too slow. Thus, the tanks had no chance but to let the targeted Silver Blade deal with all the attacks.
Surprisingly the party was lucky. During the duration of the blind Soar only used a single physical attack and three magical ones leaving Silver Blade with 34 points of stance remaining.