Vol. 2 - Chapter 32 - Iljnoks Raid II

"Why did he change at 60%, last time we fought this monster it was at 25%. This is absurd, now we don't even have a chance to win." commented Anjo, who was looking at Iljnoks from where he got pushed.

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[Iljnoks - Lv. 45]( 72.560 / 120.000 HP)

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"Attack from long distance, Vivian, Paula. Don't give him chances of breaks." noted Mathias, keeping Vivian and Paula constantly on their top shape.

"Arcane Missile" "Arcane Missile"

[You have dealt 1776 damage to Iljnoks.]

[You have dealt 963 damage to Iljnoks.]

"[Skullpiercer Shot]"

"[Wrath]"

The girl's attack also did a substantial hit to the monster, continuing to hit Iljnoks until it got to [63.420 HP] and sending him into a frenzy again. He instinctively attacked the one that dealt the most damage to him, in doing so charging at Mathias where MikeIron and Anjo reacted and choose to intercept the monster, taking over the tanking job. Nevertheless, their strength couldn't null the monster's power and with a swift claw attack, they were sent off a journey hitting the walls of the room.

Mathias also charged forward after drinking his plethora of buffing potions, who consisted of the intelligence and strength potions that boosted the primary stats assigned to their name. The boost in power was enough to make a difference in the fight, and with his old partner Ragnius, he blocked the charge using the blade of the spear that collided with the sharp sword-like claw.

*ROAR*

At the moment the weird duo of monster and human were sizing one another, Vek and his team of kobolds sneaked some attacks angering Iljnoks even more, and moving his legs to strike them down, they got out of range just in time. With boiling anger from the hits he couldn't pay back, he soon outpowered Mathias pushing him back to the girls.

After pushing Mathias back the bear swiftly dashed toward Mathias and dodged Vivian's shots, making the huntress comment with frustration.

"Is this even possible? His dodges are so frustrating, it couldn't be a bug right?"

Hearing her observation, Mathias still with his focus on Iljnoks, took the chance to sarcastically remark.

"So this is the reason you guys blocked at this phase? It dodged all your arrows and you got stuck without finding a way to deal damage?"

"Arghh, yes! I hate to admit by his mechanics are just too advanced for beginner-level players. Do you have a solution, Mathias? How did you beat him at this point?" inquired Vivian, who drew once again her arrows to shoot Iljnoks who once again dodged.

"Predict his path of dodges, and also anticipate where he would most likely incline to dodge."

Saying that, he activated [Raven's Movement] to intercept the beast, and instead of trying to fight it with pure strength, he began clashing blows, blocking one another's attacks before their defenses broke and each got opened up to attacks.

Just like this, the beast managed to slash at Mathias's chest and shoulder causing in total a massive hit of [2130] but that exchange could be said to have been won by Mathias who executed again '[Eclipsing Rose]', '[Ghost Spear-Mars]' and ended up with [Treachery] whose two attacks, one jab and spin from a total of 7 hits got dodged, and then instead of ending the exchange with Bloodfall, he blasted a missile pushing the monster back while it was about to strike him down again.

The fight between Mathias and Iljnoks continued until the bear monster released a toxic gass from his mouth which hit Mathias headon and giving an unexpected debuff.

[You have suffered from 'Toxic Breath' and got paralyzed for 5 seconds]

'He got me, I didn't expect him to have such a skill. This is a new one.' thought Mathias as he was frozen on his feet holding tight on Ragnius, before seeing Iljnoks blast him with another heavy claw strike, sending him away from where he was, before turning toward the ladies group.

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On another hand, Vivian was absent-minded with her eyes lazily following Iljnoks, thinking about what Mathias's remarked, on predicting where Iljnoks dodge path would be, and immediately when she saw the monster charge at her, she woke from her absent-mindedness, lamenting on how stupid this moment of pause from her was.

"Ahh, I am so bad. What's wrong with me, to stare around like some heatstroke harlot."

Afterward, she gripped tight on her bow and began firing arrows in Iljnok's direction, while Paula was using her Nature Magic to summon vines with an attempt at slowing the bear monster down, but it was all for naught since her attempts all got destroyed with sheer might.

"This new phase is too new for me. I can't predict where he will dodge, or how he will attack." said Vivian who couldn't believe how lucky or broken Iljnoks was in that moment, managing to dodge all her arrows.

Meanwhile, Paula was breathing hard, from her stamina that was drained by the 'Vine Control' but she still was sensible enough to notice the struggle Vivian was, and in an act of encouraging her, she remarked.

"It will be fine, Vivi. Just focus on what you have to do, we got this far and even got this monster to 45%."

The girls couldn't hold Iljnoks in place, and the beast continued charging for them, in the passing Anjo with MikeIron dashed to intercept him, wanting to get the aggro back and allow the fight to flow as it was at the begging, but it failed miserably for them, unable to even hold the monster in place for 15 seconds.

When Iljnoks was about to hit both Paula and Vivian, the huntress was quick to act, grabbing Paula and escaping using 'Tracker's Leap' leaving the bear monster to eat her dust.

*GROWL*

Roared the bear monster as he watched his prey escape with a large jump, but what followed next was an arrow hitting him right in his left eye.

This didn't affect his vision at all, as he shifted targets, focusing on the weakness of the group, Anjo and MikeIron, who were relieved the monster returned back to them as if they gained the aggro again. What they didn't know was that Iljnoks could feel who was the strongest and weakest person in this group, wanting to avoid Mathias as much as possible and focus on the rest of the players.

"Good, this is our chance, Mike. You have on the leash I will start slashing him."

The Guardian executed his skills which Iljnoks took head-on, while Anjo slashed its body in a rapid fashion, burning his mana using the skills under his arsenal. Things looked successful for the two until their attacks started being dodged and with an instant skill attack from Iljnoks, their health was cleaved in half.

"Human, move away. You will die."

"SHUT UP, LITTLE RATS! WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING!" shouted Anjo, feeling frustrated of the fact his attacks were dodged by the bear.

Vek, could see from the side how malicious the eyes of Iljnoks were when looking at the two humans he was fighting, and there was a dark aura around his large hind legs, which give him a bad feeling, and without telling the two humans that were in close range he dashed forward, and hit the two players just when Iljnoks attacked, blasting the entire ground.

*ROARR*

Opening his mouth revealing his decayed mouth, Iljnoks used a shockwave attack which blasted Vek into hitting the room's wall.

[Vek] (3740/ 5000 HP)

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Mathias who recovered from the paralysis, charged back at Iljnoks, making the beast once again fight with its archenemy, ignoring the rest of the players and the kobolds, until he managed to push Mathias back after 2 minutes of fighting, with his 'Arcane Barrier' collapsing from the damage accumulated.

MikeIron, seeing Mathias being pushed back, used his movement skill to charge at Iljnoks and attack, while Vivian was firing her arrows. Vek and his kobolds weren't idle either, being a part of the damage dealers of the fight.

Paula was having the hardest job to fill, being required to heal MikeIron whose health melted whenever Iljnoks was hitting him, and Mathias could notice that her mana resources even if they were recovering, were drained on healing this tank who from his view looked more like a meat tank, only good at draining the healer of its resources. In addition to this, there was even the gall this person had into asking Paula the impossible because of his incompetence.

"Paula! Heal me or this raid will fail. Don't laze around!"

"I am trying my best."

"Arghh, this is what you call trying? Why am I constantly at 25% HP?"

Mathias and the kobolds looked at the MikeIron in a weird way. Vek didn't understand much about the stuff the black man welding the large shield and armor was talking about, but he understood that it was wrong to ask the cleric of the team to solely focus on just one person. However, Mathias, unlike Vek, had a complete understanding of what was happening, and he acted on it without saying anything to the team.

Dashing from where he was attacking Iljnoks, he appeared before MikeIron, sending a straight right punch on his face, blasting him away, and taking over tanking, opening his mouth when Anjo stopped from fighting looking vigilantly at Mathias, saying in a cold, and merciless tone.

"If you stop fighting, I will kill you right now. I'll not be sitting here and letting people drag me down. As for that incompetent fool, he better get his mind in place. He is just a trash newbie player who doesn't know how to use his defensive skills and anticipate the attacks of the monster. You guys would be dead by now if not for me and the healer."

Then giving MikeIron a cold stare on where he got sent flying, he told with a dead-serious tone.

"Get your mind in place and you better don't do something stupid. Rusted Iron stay put right there and contemplate, with you or without, it will be the same."

"Paula, I want you to focus your attention on the entire group, not just a tank who doesn't know how to do his job." ended Mathias saying, continuing the fight againt Iljnoks, while the players who got briefly paused because of the sudden burst of emotions Mathias had.

MikeIron, who got up from the ground after being punched in the face by Mathias, even heard his sarcastic mockery, calling him 'Rusted Iron' looked with total aggression, as he cursed back.

"Motherfucker! You got a problem with how I do my role? You fucking rasist!"

Mathias scoffed, ignoring that ignorant person's curses, and he was even preparing to exit the party and PK him if he would attack back, but from how things progressed in the fight the guardian didn't act, instead moved to contribute on attacking the boss.

@Anjo: Calm down for now. We need this arrogant bastard to kill the boss, afterwards, we will PK him and take all the loot that drops from him.

@MikeIron: That's what I will do without you even telling me that. Hmph, he has the gall to call me an incompetent tank? As if he had any idea what it takes to fulfill that role.

It was a private conversation, and Paula along with Vivian didn't know what their plans was after the fight, but the fight continued without bickering, with Mathias fulfilling the role of tank and DPS-er without problem, making the Guardian feel even so smaller.

The fight progressed with some ups and downs, but they managed to get through the second phase of the fight even surviving a resource-consuming mini-phase where Iljnoks began recovering his health until it reached 50% HP from 35% HP.

The monster's health got once again chopped and when it reached 25% HP, it roared like it was consumed by darkness, pushing away all the party members. The body of the bear started releasing a dark mana and its body shrank, even more, turning more skeletal-like.

It was a horrific morphing, which made Paula scream in fear when it saw the nightmarish monster that looked more demonic than ever, with his body sprouting bone spikes from his head like a devil's horns, and with his spine having spike bones.

*ROAR*

Mathias who rebounded from the initial shockwave which allowed the bear monster to transform into its last phase looked with his crimson eyes at the demonic monster with a dead cold seriousness, and with Ragnius who was moments away from upgrading itself, he awaited the monster attack in guard.

The bear charged with a speed that toppled his initial agility and strength, and with his mind being crystal clear thanks to 'Arcane Intellect' he moved his hand along, blocking Iljnoks attack which triggered the long-awaited rebirth of his weapon.

[You have suffered 345 damage.]

Even if the attack was blocked, his arms got numb from the strength the monstrosity was displaying, but he managed himself, feeling spirited by Ragnius whose rusted blade and low-quality shaft wood began suffering changes.

[Your 'Soul Bound' item, Ragnius has surpassed his former limits, and reached a new stage, becoming a Normal Rated item.]

With that notification, the party members could see Ragnius releasing a dark-crimson light, while the rust began peeling off the blade, dropping on the ground like flakes, and revealing a sharp dark-crimson blade, and also a black wood shaft that had a small crimson mark on it.

"Partner, we still have a long way to go to fully recover you, still, thanks for the boost in power!"

Mathias who once again collided weapons with Iljnoks claw gritting his teeth bracing for the impact, but the force he felt was slightly elevated because of the new strength Ragnius augmented him with.

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[Ragnius]

Rating: Normal (Growth)(1%)

Durability: 352/450

Attack Power: 195-375 | Critical Chance: +3% Attack Speed: +5%

* 5% increase in your attack power

* 10% increase in maximum health.

* Attack speed will increase by 0.5% for every attack that connects.

* There is a small chance that your attacks will ignore 35% of the enemy defense.

* There is a very low chance of the spear releasing the ego ability

A spear forgotten from the annals of history, yet it still gives off small fragments of its splendor and glory.

A spear that was once thought to be the sole weapon of a saint brought to the status of a scrap weapon ignored by everyone and looked down upon, however without the rightful master, the spear will never break off from its past.

It will be the symbol of fear to the enemy and a symbol of protection to its master.

Conditions of Use: Chosen by Ragnius' slumbering ego.