Chapter 459

The battle against Patches started off flawlessly. At least, initially. As the massive World Boss drifted into the clearing of swamp, a whole range of attacks flew out to meet him, spells, arrows, spears, and even a boomerang smashed into the mob. Still, its health barely ticked away, indicating exactly what James had been worried about. The level 60 World Boss was tanky, with 1500 defense, and an HP pool of 50,000. Along with that, it had innate damage reduction to magical and blunt attacks, thanks to its stuffing abilities. As if that weren’t problematic enough, its undead minions were the real threat.

That army of undead mobs, a wide variety ranging from snuggle woofs, to jolly dollies, and of course everything else on the floor, were boosted by the number of undead mobs Patches had at his command. And while James couldn’t get a full count of them, purely due to how many there were, and the chaos of the battlefield, it was clear there were enough to make the minion mobs more than formidable.

The problems began as Patches got closer to the group, and the rest of his army continued to swarm forward. Fel’s undead Dragon stood to block the actual boss, while flashes of red light erupted swiftly all across the battlefield from Alex’s sharkie’s laser beam. Ifrit was on AOE duty, and his fiery spells were leaving burning swamp in their wake, the hungry flames trying to consume all the mobs they could find, as well as erupting pockets of gas.

However, the pure size of Patches, his undead minions, and the general eeriness of the swamp, put the players on edge. Some of the adventurers snuck away as soon as Patches and the Undead dragon clashed. Another two, James noticed, had only launched initial attacks, but were now simply standing there, doing a whole lot of nothing. If he had to guess, they were trying to avoid drawing any type of aggro.

Meanwhile, unaware of all of this, the tanks, led by Trogdor, atop his Infernal Dicken mount, rushed into the swamp. A…mistake of epic proportions, that James had completely forgotten to mention. His swamp had quicksand traps underneath the murky waters. And while he was aware of it, he’d realized, all too late, that the players, who likely never actually went into the brackish water, weren’t. Trogdor’s dicken hit one such trap, and the Dragonkin was sent flying from its back, to splash deep into the water, his movements immediately hindered by the swamp. Luckily, even as he found himself set upon by multiple undead snuggle woofs, Rue’s crimson magic flashed, and his health pool was not only topped off, but she’d applied a buff to him, protecting him from status debuffs for 10 seconds.

The damage was done though, and with the tanks suddenly bogged down, literally, more and more mobs were moving past them towards the rest of the adventurers. The melee players prepared themselves, and Alex’s Giant Plaython did a good job slowing the approaching undead, but James saw one over eager halberd user go down under multiple Jolly Dollies. Something that he knew Alex had experienced all too well.

“Ifrit, go.” James said as he pointed towards the ground, activating his cooldown. It was early, sure, but if they were going to take on this world boss, he needed to do something to turn the battle in their favor early on. And while he was underleveled, it didn’t mean his was weak. Between Ifrit’s powerful form, and the fact his flames did an extra 15percent to undead, the mob was dangerous to Patches and his ilk. Furthermore, Ifrit’s swords dealt not only fire damage, but were slashing attacks. Those attacks, in particular, could cut a stuffed animal open, draining it of its protective stuffing, and decreasing its healthpool at the same time.

The plan, as his Seal of Solomon, upgraded from lesser to standard, thanks to his growth at level 50, was to use Ifrit to cut open as much of Patches as he could, for the duration of the skill. As long as the seal was up, Ifrit wouldn’t fall. And if they could decrease all of Patches’ stuffing in that time, it would decrease the World Boss’s healthpool by a whopping 50%, as well as remove his protections from Stuffed with Fluff.

“Gladly.” The Djinn growled, his deep voice rumbling as his flames roared. Magma sizzled and hardened as it touched the swamp, and Ifrit’s body floated, much like Patches, over the swamp, the djinn moving rapidly to engage the World Boss. James wasn’t keen to put his summon in danger, but knew this was necessary. And his Seal, which sprang to life, accompanied with ice wisps this time, lasted 20seconds now, plus 0.3 seconds per level, compared to the previous 15 seconds with 0.2 seconds per level. Meaning, for the next 37 seconds, Ifrit could go to town.

Immediately after the Seal was summoned, James dumped as many buffs onto Ifrit as he could. From the corner of his eye, he could see Alex’s mob’s glowing in a similar manner, the summoner having dumped as many buffs as he could into the mobs, as any proper pet class user would. Meanwhile, Fel, with a literal wall of bones swirling around her, glowed with a sickly green, her Skeletal dragon glowing in a similar manner as it clashed with the World Boss. The Skeletal Dragon was strong, which was only fair, given its massive cooldown, and its requirements. That being said, this was a World Boss, and the swamp around the two was already littered with broken bones and skeletal fragments. Fel’s efforts, James could tell, were merely in keeping the massive mob up and fighting for as long as possible. That was, after all, the task of the highest leveled players for this World Boss fight. They were to keep Patches contained, while everyone else, was on add duty.

“For glory and honor.” Trogdor roared, having finally freed himself from the Snuggle Woofs who’d assaulted him. The Dragonkin opened his mouth and let out a massive breath attack, the cooldown of his specific race, which blasted into one of the mobs to his right. Then, his form enlarged, his muscles rippling, as he activated his bloodlust aura. All around, players and pets glowed with red light. Barbarian Might. For the next minute, everyone’s physical attacks were amplified, and every player and pet now had life steal. He let out another roar even as he rushed towards Patches, his battle cry drawing aggro from all of the mobs around him. A blue light pulsed on everyone, and another buff appeared. Barbarian resolve, meaning each player and pet for the raid party, could survive a single lethal attack, and instead would have their life returned to 20%. Powerful skills, and fitting for a Goth King. But it also meant their cooldowns had all been blown, extremely early on.

They were committed to the battle, and now, they didn’t have any major trump cards to play. All James could hope, was that it was enough.

“Kill the adds.” James yelled aloud, trying to make his voice heard above all the chaos. At the same time, Rue was sending All-chat messages, echoing his commands. “Once all the adds are cleared, focus your fire on patches. If you have any AOE debuffs, snares, or the likes, use them now. Without his adds, we can win this easily.”

A halfhearted cheer went up around the group, as everyone continued to focus on their tasks at hand. The swamp was lit with varying arrays of light, as more and more spells and abilities were launched, giving the whole area a night club feel. It was if the battle were in slow motion, from the constant strobing and flashing of attacks, and before long, the chaos simply became too much. All sense of structure fell, all sense of order and logic was thrown aside, as it became a massive stuffing filled bloodbath. It went from a rough raid to a battle of survival. And all along, James couldn’t help but smile. This was what DCO was meant to be like, for players. This was exhilarating, and honestly, he was having the time of his life.

At least, that was the thoughts he had, before he suddenly found himself with a Jolly Dolly lasso around his ankle, and he was rudely dragged into the swamp water, his mouth, opened to cry out in surprise and fear, filling instantly with the disgusting, earthy water. The last thing he saw, before his head fully submerged in the dark abyss, was a shock of white hair, a flash of red, and the shine of metal.