The Astralis Requiem group passed through the black stone archway, clutching their weapons tightly, all clad in sinister black armor, making the group look as if they had emerged from the realm of shadows.
The chamber that opened before them was like the pulsating heart of a corrupted plant, a vast space where the darkness was countered only by the purple glow of the inscriptions on the walls and a subtle blue shimmer from Lohan’s Mana flowing through the clones covering the players.
At the center of that sanctuary of bones and fossilized wood, the Arbor Guardian waited, its distorted human face on its trunk seeming to observe the group’s arrival with contempt, especially considering how easily it had killed that annoying little blue insect just moments ago.
Unlike the previous battle against the boss of the other dungeon that Lohan and Lisa had faced, where Brynn’s monsters had served as the main challenge they had to overcome, here the greatest combat power lay with the boss itself, a creature far more powerful than even an Elite monster of the same level.
The insects crawling over his body and along the walls acted merely as extensions of his will, scouts intended to hinder the enemies’ movements.
Lohan was firmly anchored with his main body on Lisa’s back and operating the Parallel Processing Core at maximum power, which he had evolved once again for this confrontation, as he felt the atmospheric pressure rise significantly in that place.
The battle began without warning; a heavy, deliberate movement by the Boss sent an immense roar echoing through the chamber, causing the floor to vibrate as a colossal wooden arm, the size of a large tree trunk, swept down toward Dee and VonB, who were positioned at the front of the group precisely to draw the monster’s attention.
The guild’s two tanks acted with extreme caution, dodging to the side rather than attempting to block the full impact, just as Halon had instructed; the air displaced by the blow was so dense that it nearly knocked over Palana and Tunder in the rear.
Lohan wasted no time, activating the constant flow of vitality through the Weaver Mother’s connections to whoever needed it, ensuring that Alice and Dylan, who, along with himself and Lisa, would be the two main damage dealers, had the necessary support to launch the offensive.
Alice, propelled by the agility of her Rare Base and the support of one of Lohan’s clones, became a blur as she scaled the monster’s right flank, delivering nonstop punches that not only dealt physical damage but also caused bursts of kinetic energy imbued with the refined biomass that Lohan injected into her tendons upon contact.
Dylan, for his part, took advantage of his double rarity to deliver thrusts that pierced the cracks in the Guardian’s black shell with his newly acquired spear, which glowed with a red light that sought to affect the corrupted wood, a light that, though not very effective, still created small openings that Lisa exploited with reminders from Lohan, who remained vigilant at all times.
With Lisa’s spiritual fire fused with Lohan’s holy light, the legendary fox leaped among the roots, leaving trails of white flames that burned the bark with an intensity greater than the monster’s ability to heal, inflicting clearly permanent and painful wounds upon it.
Although Astralis had the advantage of having only members with Uncommon Roles or higher, the battle was far from easy.
The Boss used the hive link to coordinate pincer attacks with the insects he controlled, which emerged from the shadows of the ceiling.
Grant and WyrmWood were working at their limits, maintaining crowd control and healing for the regular players suffering under the barrage of peripheral attacks.
Thorne, the berserker, let out a cry of pain when one of a wooden scout’s mantis-like legs pierced his shoulder.
Lohan reacted in the next millisecond, expanding his obsidian armor over the wound to staunch the bleeding, but the physical damage was already done. Thorne had to retreat to Grant’s safety zone, pulling a Thalendor health potion from his inventory and drinking its reddish contents while he waited for the accelerated regeneration to slowly take effect.
Samantha, the assassin, also suffered severe damage while trying to dodge an underground root that burst forth beneath her feet. The impact hurled her against a column of petrified wood, shattering part of Lohan’s protection and leaving her unable to remain hidden.
She remained on the sidelines of the main battle, focusing on catching her breath while Lohan’s clone worked frantically to repair her muscle tissue.
Lohan realized that mental exhaustion was mounting, both for the group and especially for him.
Managing twelve battle fronts while maintaining the offensive with Lisa was draining his biomass reserves at an alarming rate.
He needed to find a decisive advantage.
"Lisa, we need to do something. If this keeps up, I think the cost of victory will be too high..." Lohan said to his companion, voicing the concerns he felt as he assessed the battle environment.
Although they were managing to inflict permanent damage on the Boss, the ratio of damage they dealt compared to the damage they took back was subtly shifting in the monster’s favor.
Even though Lohan, Lisa, Alice, and Dylan were doing fine, dealing far more damage than they were taking, the rest of the players were experiencing the opposite effect, taking more damage than they were able to deal.
If this continued, a large number of them would surely die in this battle!
Even if the guild were to gain a significant advantage by clearing this dungeon, if the cost were so high, causing most of the players to die, lose a level, and perhaps suffer other hidden penalties, Lohan wasn’t sure it would be worth it.
Their advantage was that when Alice and Dylan were recruiting players for the group, they’d focused on players with uncommon classes; if, instead of uncommon classes, they’d had uncommon races, the price paid for death would be even more unbearable for them!
Hearing what Halon said, Lisa agreed as she realized how the battle was unfolding; then, with a resolute look, she replied, "We’re going to have to use the guild’s bounty for killing the Level 15 Elite, there’s no other way..."