Chapter 151

The Unshackled (II)

Myeala's various attacks began to overlap when she hit 70% of her Vitality. Diya got caged at the same time one of the chains lit up, aiming at Emma. An extra bout to watch out for was that the 'Storm of the Unchained' rushed toward Ryu. Luckily, the chain aimed at Emma as she had the wherewithal to immediately rush to Diya to break the cage. If they let the chain hit Myeala, two of their supports would get trapped just as the boss went into its second phase, potentially creating disastrous results.

Amelia hurriedly cast a shield on Senna but as her shields were much weaker than Diya’s, she also had to cast three healing skills in a row, still barely managing to keep Senna above 30% of her Health. The latter nodded in gratitude as she resumed her onslaught of weapons. Due to the abrupt shift in the nature of the battle, their formation crumbled slightly, prompting Diya to hurriedly call it out.

“You--you with soul patch, move back! The one with red hair, move closer! Reposition the boss back at the center!” just as the group managed to reposition properly, 30 seconds had passed and another chain lit up -- aiming at Amelia. The latter froze in spot for a moment, prompting Senna to groan inwardly and shoot a sword at the woman, sweeping it under her feet and carrying her sideways at an angle where the chain struck the boss.

“YOU CAN DO THAT?!” Kramer cried out incredulously. “What... what fucking class is that...?”

“Focus!!” Emma screamed out. “She’s entering her second phase!! It’s only gonna get harder from now on!”

Her words were less of a warning and more of a prophecy; every pillar surrounding the open-roofed terrace lit up and flailed out for a moment like tendrils in a storm. The sounds of the snapping were loud enough to send chills to their bones, not to mention that Myeala’s countenance had utterly changed; her expression was veiled beneath a bloody-red mask shaped like a mist, a pair of glimmering, ruby-red eyes glaring from the beyond.

“PUNY MORTALS, HOW DARE YOU?!! HOW DARE YOU?!!” she heaved back and roared, knocking back everyone near her to the edge of the terrace, flames of fury erupting around her in the shape of coalesced, red mist.

“... SHE’S ALREADY AT 8 STACKS?!! WHAT THE FUCK?!!” Emma cried out as she swiftly rushed forward. “WE HAVE TO END IT AT 10 OR WE ALL DIE!!” the warning came like a bolt from the clear sky to the rest that rapidly recovered and rushed forward as well.

“I WILL RIP YOUR SOULS FROM YOUR BODIES!!” a silver-laden chain appeared in one of her arms as she swung it forward; rather than taking a direct hit, Emma ducked sideways and dodged it, letting the massive chunk rip into the terrace, flipping up the floor and leaving behind a fifteen-feet-long gash.

The penultimate test of concentration and focus came just as Myeala withdrew her chain backward; one of the chains in the pillars awoke in red, aiming at Anton, while Sigmund became a target of the ‘Storm of the Unchained’. Furthermore, as though to add an insult to a wound, Myeala double-cast ‘Sweep’ and ‘Ripped Asunder’, combing them and overlapping them. Emma’s eyes widened like saucers as alarms of panic began to echo inside her mind.

Just then, a burst of blinding, golden light exploded and showered the world; glancing behind, Emma noted Diya heaving into the air, halo behind her spitting and expelling golden, liquefied beams of light.

“STACK FOUR AT LEAST!!” her voice crackled like thunder as layers of shields descended upon everyone, dyeing them golden. “EVERYONE ELSE NEEDS TO GET BEHIND BOSS!! IMMEDIATELY!!”

Her hurried tone pushed the winds into others’ backs, carrying them forward and out of the ‘Sweep’s’ cone; Emma, Kramer, Lukas, and Belric braved their hearts and souls and stepped in front of the boss. The chain from the pillar whipped out as did Myeala’s flurry of attacks; Anton found himself pierced and showered in blood and gore within seconds as Diya did something she never did before in her life -- multi-cast. In a moment of panic, she had stopped thinking and acted purely on instincts alone. Months of watching Cain erupting with two or three spells at the time was hardly ‘tutelage’, but she picked up on quite a few things, even if she wasn’t aware of it.

She simultaneously began healing three people, but two still remained in harm's way -- Amelia and Tae awoke, at last, noticing that their friends were in danger, swiftly showering Lukas and Belric in a burst of heals, ensuring that 'Sweep' didn't immediately kill them. Myeala's Vitality dropped down to 48%, causing her to cry out and summon yet another shimmering orb that locked onto Amelia, caging her.

Emma stumbled up onto her feet after being knocked back to the edge of the stage, her health at the measly 25% -- and that was through Diya’s constant healing and shields. Sweet fuck, I can’t even imagine how difficult the other three bosses will be!!

“CHAIN!! JAMAL, ON YOU!! FREE AMELIA!!” Diya cried out in panic as she saw that Jamal got a bit too into dealing damage, startling the man and causing him to use Blade Dash back and over the cage trapping Amelia. The chain landed just a second later, breaking it.

Wiping off cold sweat from his forehead and thanking the stars they had Diya in their party, he rushed back in and continued dealing damage.

The battle continued somewhat steadily; luckily, Myeala didn't overlap 'Sweep' and 'Ripped Asunder' again as it seemed it was a one-time thing. The group didn't rush it, but they had no choice -- Myeala's Vitality dropped by 10% at least once every 10 seconds, and a chain of cages, sweeps, and chain-storms had everyone's health going up and down like a heartbeat. Amidst the storm of chains that whipped left and right, some were far worse off than others; Emma and Kramer had taken the brunt of the beating, half their armor completely tattered and torn, the rest dyed red in their own blood.

Neither of the two could even count just how many times a massive gash or a hole was opened on their bodies, spraying out a river of blood. They’ve even grown slightly numb to the pain -- one akin to having one’s skin ripped clean off -- and were even actively running into certain hits if it was beneficial.

Another pickle came when right at the start of Myeala’s third phase. She roared and knocked back everyone again, sixteen chains ripping themselves free of the pillars and flying over to her, continuing to hover just above her head.

“You scorned filth!! I will not just murder you, but cage your souls and torment them for all eternity!! Face my wrath!”

Sixteen chains whipped out sideways and crushed the pillars and the half-roof above them, leaving the platform exposed wholly to the skies. The group became temporarily entranced and didn’t corral in time, causing only six to take the first whip of the chain, dealing a lot of damage to all of them. Diya’s previous boost had long since ended, and her shields and heals were much weaker -- not to mention that all three of the healers were running out of Mana by this point.

“GROUP!!” Emma cried out, racing forward through the scalding pain that seemed to come from her soul. “RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER!! THE REST OF THE FIGHT IS JUST BIG-DICK-CHALLENGE!! GO!!”

Everyone cried out as loudly as they could, largely to clench the last bout of courage they had in themselves and ignore the seeds of terror that were festering. Myeala’s chains continued to whip forward, buffs and debuffs repeatedly coming up and disappearing, health bars of everyone dancing. The first to run out of Mana completely was Amelia -- to her shock, she received a debuff ‘Weakened’ that locked her out of recovering Mana naturally for 1 minute.

She swiftly warned Diya and Tae, but the latter two had no mind to spare even a sliver of what they had left, trying desperately to keep everyone topped off.

At 5% Vitality, Myeala exploded in the final bout of rage, the speed at which she attacked increasing beyond reason; her damage, similarly spiked, forcing Emma, Lukas, Kramer, and Balric to swap with each attack -- right then, Tae also ran out of Mana, sitting down helplessly and praying. Diya ignored everyone except the four tanks at the front as she knew if they died... they all would.

4%...3%...

Barely a sliver of her total Vitality seemed like a sea that they had no chance of draining in time. With each new strike, tanks’ health kept going further down -- by now, nobody in the party was over 50%, the highest being Daniel at 42%.

Diya glanced at her Mana bar and noticed that she only had 4% left, enough for, maybe, two-three shields and a single party-wide heal. Tears swelled in her eyes, not because of the pain that was ripping through her very soul, or because of the possibility that she might die -- but because she would fail at keeping others afloat. Her one job. One thing that she was supposed to do... and she would fail.

Grappling with the stone in her throat, she spent the last edges of her Mana and passed out on the spot, her mind similarly expended. Emma glanced at the enraged Myeala’s health bar and noticed it was at 2%. Just a bit more... just a bit more... just a bit more...

Jamal grunted and drew whatever little of Mana he had left, channeling it directly into his sword and converting it into starlight at the expense of his health; Senna summoned every last weapon she had and charged with a flurry of a storm; Kramer roared, steeling his veins and ringing closer, taking the brunt of the attack and shielding others as much as he could; everyone charged out with all they had, with the last vestiges of strength and hope.

1%...0.7%...0.3%...0%...

Myeala cried out a storm as Daniel’s dagger sliced through her throat, banishing the last of the Vitality she had left and killing her. She stammered and struggled for a moment before toppling down onto her knees and then to the side, lying there motionless... dead. The storm subsided, and amidst the ashes and ruin of blood and gore that would make any normal person vomit their soul out... the group remained standing. Most of them, at the very least.