Boss Battle — Cerberock (2)

Grrrrrrr—!

The instant Aquaril broke into a run, the boss came thundering straight at us.

The gap between Aquaril and the beast vanished in a heartbeat. Her Agility was high enough to make her blisteringly fast — but Cerberock was every bit as quick.

Fwoooosh—! Kung—!

Cerberock struck first. Mid-stride, without so much as a wind-up, it belched a fireball from its jaws — a dark crimson blaze the same color as the flames clinging to its hide.

"If you would, Undine."

Pyororong~!

The fist-sized water creature that had been flying beside Aquaril's head shot forward. It was Undine, the Intermediate Water Spirit, called forth by Aquaril's ultimate —

A word on spirits, while we're here.

Every spirit is born with one of six attributes — Water, Fire, Nature, Void, Light, or Dark — and both their stats and their skill levels are semi-fixed. A Lesser Spirit is summoned with 30 points in every stat. Intermediate Spirits come in at 50, Greater at 100, Supreme at 150. And the Spirit King, the final boss of the spirit world if you want to think of it that way, arrives with a staggering 200 in every stat.

On top of that, the level of the Spirit Summon skill itself feeds into the spirit's stats and the levels of the skills it already possesses. Each skill level adds one point to every stat and one level to every skill the spirit carries.

Take Aquaril's Intermediate Water Spirit as an example. Her Spirit Summon is level 5, which means Undine's stats sit at 54 across the board, and the three skills she holds — Heal, Purify, and Water Cannon — are all sitting at level 4.

One last thing: spirits don't come with names. Undine is just what Aquaril decided to call hers.

And that concludes today's lecture on spirits.

Pwoooooosh—!

Undine surged ahead and blasted out a jet of water — her only offensive skill.

But as I said — fifty-four stat points and a skill sitting at a mere level 4. An attack from a spirit with numbers like that was never going to stop a boss monster's fireball.

Sssssssssss—!

Even so, water beats fire. The jet managed to bleed some of the heat off the incoming blaze.

Pwoooooosh—!

Undine never flinched. The fireball was practically on top of her and she just kept pumping Water Cannon into it. Then, a split second before the flames swallowed her—

"You've done well, Undine."

Aquaril cancelled the summon. Undine winked out of existence at the last possible instant, slipping the fireball by a hair.

She'd never expected Undine to stop the attack cold. All she'd wanted was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to bleed the fireball's speed before it arrived.

"Hah!"

Navy sword-light — the same deep blue as her hair — rippled along Aquaril's blade. She swung into the weakened fireball.

Seoguk—!

Boom—! Ba-boom—!

The fireball split clean down the middle, veered off to either side, and detonated. Having casually dismantled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the boss's opening salvo, Aquaril threw herself sideways.

Grrrrrrr—!

Kung—!

Cerberock's forepaw slammed down on the spot she'd just vacated. She'd slipped it by a fraction of a second. The beast had spat the fireball, then poured on speed to close the gap and chain the follow-up without missing a beat.

"Haaaah!"

Grrrrrrr—!

Aquaril and Cerberock went at it in earnest. Dark crimson flame rolled off the beast in waves, and every time a forepaw came down the ground cratered like a bomb had gone off.

"Hup!"

Chwaak—!

Aquaril refused to meet it head-on. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠She was strong for a four-star Fairy — stronger than most — but not strong enough to tank a boss monster by herself. She fought an out-boxer's fight, slipping the beast's swings and, whenever a window opened, sending a slash of sword-light into its hide. She couldn't carve anything deep enough to matter, but she at least drew blood.

Grrrrrrr—!

Kwang—! Kwang—! Kwang—!

Cerberock didn't let up. Attack, then another attack, then another. If nobody stepped in soon, Aquaril was going to eat one.

"URAAAAAAAH!"

Grrrk—?!

Kung—!

Abraham arrived at a dead sprint and rammed Cerberock with a raw, ragged roar. The man was bigger than I was — a mountain of muscle pushing a hundred and thirty kilos. When a body like that hit you while firing off Piercing Charge (Lv.28 / Common), even a boss monster got knocked sideways.

"Come on then, you son of a bitch!"

Grrrr— GRAAAAH—!

He piled Taunting Shout (Lv.31 / Common) on top of the charge, and Cerberock's aggro snapped onto him like a hook.

"I've got you, Abraham!"

Kanisia, who'd come running with him, unleashed her skill.

Seventy-six spears of condensed mana screamed toward Cerberock. The skill let her summon two javelins per skill level, and she was going all-out from the opening bell.

All seventy-six slammed home. The hide was so damn tough that only eight of them actually punched through.

Kanisia's attribute was Light. Super-effective against this thing — and she still only landed eight.

That was how high Cerberock's defense sat.

No. Eight only landed because it was Light. If Kanisia had been anything else, she'd have stuck fewer than that — or none at all.

"Haaaah!"

From behind the beast, Aquaril lit her blade with Sword Aura (Lv.25 / Advanced) and carved in. For all that massive body, the tail was thin as a whip — and she opened a long, ugly gash along it.

Grr—?! GRAAAAAAAH—!

The sudden sting in its tail made Cerberock whip around and lunge at Aquaril.

It's got Fire too.

If a tank's taunt peeled off that fast, Cerberock had to be carrying Fire on top of Dark. Montblanc's intel hadn't mentioned that. One of two things, then: she'd left it out on purpose, or she hadn't brought a Water attribute along when her party cleared this thing.

"Abyo-byo-byo-byo-byoop~!"

From way back, Oralisa dropped into Barrage Mode (Lv.27 / Rare) and started pouring arrows into Cerberock's face.

Grrk—! Grrrrrrr—!

The eyes, at least, weren't armored like the rest of it. Cerberock squeezed them shut and snarled, thoroughly pissed off.

Pajik—! Pajijik—!

Every so often a tiny fork of black lightning crawled over a spot an arrow had hit — the effect on Oralisa's bow.

Mana Shatter had proc'd. Five percent is a coin toss you almost never win — but so many arrows were punching into Cerberock's face that the bow's effect was bound to go off sooner or later.

"Hmph."

Everyone was doing their job against this thing, and doing it well.

"Guess there's nothing for me to do."

Everyone except me.

Unfortunately, I had exactly zero useful plays. Black Barrage (Lv.15 / Rare) was a Dark skill, same attribute as the boss, so it wouldn't bite. Will-o'-the-Wisp (Lv.14 / Rare) could apply Burn, but that was equally pointless against a creature that already had Fire. And jumping in to tank beside Abraham wouldn't help either. Abraham was a Light-attribute tank — Cerberock's worst matchup. If I stepped up, I couldn't hold aggro half as cleanly as he could.

Which left me with one job.

"Multi-Heal!"

Heal-bot. That was me. I stood in the back and kept slapping the skill on the party like my life depended on it — which, to be fair, it did. You're the leader. You can't just stand there with your thumb up your ass.

"Play~ play~ go team!"

I threw in a little cheerleading while I was at it.

Twenty minutes into the fight, give or take.

Aquaril and Abraham worked the aggro like a pair of dancers who'd been doing this for years, while Kanisia and Oralisa poured on the ranged fire. The party was steering the battle cleanly, barely taking a scratch.

GRAAAAAAAAH—!

Then Cerberock, which had been spinning in place to swipe at Aquaril and Abraham, suddenly threw its head back and roared — a sound that shook the air.

"Everybody watch it!"

Something in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that roar put a cold needle through my spine. I shouted the warning to the others.

And in the very next breath—

Boom—! Boom—! Ba-booom—!

A ring of fire detonated outward from Cerberock's body.

"Kyaaaaah!"

"Gaaaah!"

No tell. No wind-up. The blast simply happened, and Aquaril and Abraham vanished into it.

"Aquaril!"

"Abraham!"

Kanisia and I both went white. Neither of us waited for the other. We just ran — straight at Cerberock, toward the Fairies caught in the explosion.

The gray dust settled. Two shapes resolved out of it.

"Hah… hah… khh—!"

Abraham's Durability was high enough that he'd ridden out a boss's point-blank detonation on his feet. Aquaril had not.

"Aagh… khhhh—!"

She was rolling on the ground, every inch of her scorched, making sounds I never wanted to hear from her again. Skin that had been as fine as white jade was twisted into something ugly.

Grrrrrrr…!

Cerberock started toward her. Abraham was still standing. Aquaril was down. The beast had done the math on which one it could finish.

"Hey, you fucking bastard!!!!!"

Something in my head snapped clean in half. I dumped Lust Release and charged.

Grn—!

Cerberock flicked its tail at me like I was a fly. It was going to bat me aside and be done with it.

That was a hell of a mistake.

I'd been playing heal-bot in the back line, so the thing had written me off. What it didn't know was that the highest stats in this party belonged to me. I didn't have a skill I could throw at it right now — but stats alone were more than enough to make it hurt.

"ARABTIKA HWANGTOMO!!!!!!"

I threw the sword away entirely, took the tail across my body, and put everything I had into a punch aimed at its hind leg.

Peok—!

Yipe—?!

The fist landed and Cerberock screamed, hopping clean off the ground.

That's a genuine punch from 116 Strength — 108 plus 8 — you son of a bitch. You dare leave my Fairy looking like that?

It must have actually hurt. The beast came down favoring the leg.

Grrrrr… GRAAAAAH—!

Now it was pissed. It came at me.

"They've always said a beating's the only medicine for a rabid dog, you bastard!"

I ran straight at it.

The jaws yawned wide — it was going to bite me in half. I didn't hesitate. I threw myself into that open mouth, tucking my knees to crush my profile down small enough to fit.

"Alan! You insane bastard—?!"

"M-Master, what are you doing?!"

Kanisia and Oralisa's voices cracked from outside as I vanished down Cerberock's throat. They thought I'd just fed myself to it.

I hadn't. I'm not that kind of crazy.

"Nngggggh—!"

I drove my arms up and locked every muscle I had. The jaws, which had been slamming shut, began to creak back open. Cerberock was trying to crush me. I was trying not to be crushed.

"Heh… heheheh! The inside of your mouth won't be as tough as that hide, will it?"

I held — every ounce of strength I had poured into keeping those jaws apart — and fired Black Barrage down its throat.