MM - Chapter 127 - BROTHERS IN ARMS

Rocky’s body collapsed, filling the arena with an avalanche of sound. “Talerra! To me!” Utilizing the raid leader’s privilege, Raine’s voice cut through the racket and drilled directly into the girl’s skull. She snapped from the shocked state she’d fallen into. The others, unable to see the undeniable changes in the boss, continued doing their best despite writhing in agony. “Healing potions!” Raine barked, sprinting with full Discipline toward Rocky 2.0.

The boss turned toward the giant, quivering lips parting in a fanged smile that promised instant death. Raine Lunged three times in rapid succession, appearing in the air between them. The Avatar of Rhashkahal’s form stretched again, its clawed hand streaking forward represented an end to all their hopes.

Unassailable Aegis shimmered to life, creating a thick layer of protective energy over Raine’s armor. His small, weighty weapon met demonic claws. Clang! The attacks bounced away from each other. The incredible force released sent Raine’s weapon hurtling backward toward Talerra’s summon. The demon wasn’t done; its fiery tail—now longer and more deadly due to the stronger flames fueling it—snaked over its shoulder.

[Fraction of Solidity: (PTC +20%) (PHY +20%) Upon command personify the sturdiness of the Unassailable Aegis preventing all damage and negative effects for 5 seconds (Cost: 40% of maximum health) (Cooldown: 5 minutes)]

While a waste to use aegis so soon, Raine needed more speed. He activated Fraction of Grace. Each moment blossomed as his Acuity jumped by twenty percent. That did nothing to fix his current predicament; he was dragged behind his flying weapon, barely able to maintain a grip on it. The tail, moving slower to his eyes, was just within reach. However, he lacked the strength to counter the force bodily dragging him away. He couldn’t lunge and throw his shielded body in front of the attack without leaving the weapon behind, for without it, they were doomed.

[Fraction of Grace: (FNS +20%) (ACU +20%) Upon command embody the Grace of Nirvana increasing Move Speed by 400% and Attack Speed by 150% for 15 seconds (Cost: 200 Discipline) (Cooldown: 5 minutes)]

Uncanny Acceleration immediately halted the dazzling club’s momentum. It whipped the other way so fast that even the boss couldn’t see the swing. The tip of the tail dissipated in a whoosh of displaced air as Raine’s attack blasted it apart. [Critical hit! -23,412]

[Uncanny Acceleration: (Beginner) With any melee weapon, ignore momentum and force while accelerating attack speed by 600% for one attack. Additionally deals 300% physical damage (Cost: 25 Discipline) (Cooldown: 18 seconds)]

Raine wasn’t done, not by a long shot. Lunge reversed his flight, sending him back at the demon even as it charged toward the summon behind him, which was already melting from the reduced proximity. The same heat flowed around Raine, unable to burn through aegis. “Get fucked! PuriPuri Comet Burst!” Raine brought Cassidy’s Comet straight down with a two-handed, overhead blow.

The boss, unaware of the danger and still considering Raine the lesser threat, tried to spear him with one of its horns on the way past. Horn met wand, and wand won in spectacular fashion. Crack! The huge demon’s horn shattered and an incredible force blasted its head straight into the ground so hard its feet reached for the ceiling. A pair of mind-boggling damage numbers appeared above its form, one from the strike itself, the other from hitting the ground. [-183k] [-183k]

[Cassidy’s Comet: (Marvelous Gold - LVL 23) (SP 0/12.5M) (AP 151) (PTC 57) (PHY 57) (Durability 240/240)]

[Innate Skill 1 - PuriPuri Comet Burst: Single target physical attack dealing 1950% physical damage with 1950% bonus force. Ignores all defense. (Skill name must be shouted to activate) (Cost: 20 Discipline) (Cooldown: 4.5 minutes)]

Lunging atop the fallen monster, Raine roared at the top of his lungs, giving the signal the raid was waiting for, “Go all out!” Zeroing in on his voice, Celeste and Rhino altered the direction of their attacks. Even Mel joined in with a Ray of Judgement that appeared above Raine and plunged into the boss’s upended ass. Its health dropped to below a million; they were in the final stretch.

Rupture and Debilitating Crush neutered its defenses right as Rocky 2.0 arrived with a powerful kick to the boss’s exposed torso. With 600k health remaining, it planted both hands on the ground and jerked itself free from the bubbling magma beneath it. Molten blood leaked down its face from the shattered horn as its hateful gaze swiveled to Raine.

Not ignoring me anymore, eh? Too bad for you: it’s too late!

Grace of Nirvana filled Raine with speed beyond his ability to control. He Lunged, and the world blurred. While he couldn’t perfectly control himself, he had an excellent grasp of how far he would move with each Lunge while under the effects of grace. He arrived right where he meant to be, directly before one of its flaming eyes. Cassidy’s Comet lashed out twice before the boss could respond. Its hand vanished to swat Raine from existence. Another Lunge evaded while bringing him to its other eye right as Talerra’s summon smashed a giant fist into its face. 

The avatar’s head didn’t budge a millimeter from the blow. Nostrils flared, and a massive gout of flame rocketed from between its lips. Raine was there, the last second of his shield allowing him to bodily redirect a considerable portion of the fires into the ground. The raid capitalized on its immobility, throwing everything they had at the demon.

500,000.

But their enemy was a Hierarch—a living disaster—and it would not go down so easily. With a powerful flex of its body, the flames around it exploded outward, sending Raine and Rocky 2.0 hurtling away. Both dropped to a quarter health even as the boss's reformed tail flashed forward to finish one of them off.

“PuriPuri Rainbow Release!” Flying backward, Raine swung, and fantastical filaments of crystalline ice shot free from the melted ground under the boss. They lanced through its form, cold energy spreading painfully while holding it stiff. Yet they were merely the tip of what lurked beneath. An explosion of elemental ice tore upwards, bringing cessation to the molecular movements of everything in its way. The demon was held in place as the intense cold momentarily doused its flames. [Elemental weakness! -89,403]

[Innate Skill 2 - PuriPuri Rainbow Release: 11.1-meter circular ground-based AOE dealing 975% damage with 1950% bonus force and lift. Ignores all defense. (Skill name must be shouted to activate) (Cost: 39 of highest resource) (Cooldown: 5 minutes)]

400,000.

“Richtor, now!” Raine’s command had the final five members of the raid releasing the breath they’d been holding since the boss went berserk.

Outside the arena, Richtor stood in a low stance just as Raine showed him. The scroll clutched tightly in his shaking hands was pointed at the restrained boss. His group stood behind him, hands on his shoulders as bright lines danced across the crimson-colored, withered page. The lines jumped free, forming a three-meter-wide array of complex symbols. An instant later, they released a thick beam of deepest scarlet that burned a track in their eyes as it reached out and punched a hole straight through the boss. [-221k]

[Scroll of Cursed Gaze: (Marvelous Gold) Pierce your foes with a level 30 Cursed Gaze in a 1,000 x 3 meter column AOE]

With their flesh connected, the skill page drew from each of Richtor’s team, bottoming out their meager Demonic Power. Additionally, their physical support kept them all on their feet as the powerful ability’s backlash tried to throw them up the tunnel. Unfortunately for them, that was not their fate. Sensing the attack from outside the arena, ZionLine remorselessly pulled them off their feet. They were sucked inside where the boss’s killing intent cast them into darkness.

The momentary stasis of rainbow release came to an end. The boss was lifted high into the air before being thrown back to the frozen ground. The ice shattered, and a burst of blood shot from its body as a dozen more spikes pierced through. [-89,403]

With under a hundred thousand health remaining, Raine Lunged, appearing above its head. Its eyes snapped open, and the extinguished flames across its body reignited with a vengeance. Wand met tough flesh, releasing a Life Drain that gave Raine the health he needed to survive the immolation. Grace of Nirvana turned his weapon into a blur, and Parry sent its tail flying away in a random direction.

Suddenly, the boss vanished from beneath him. A blastwave to Raine’s left had him turning to see that the demon’s Infernal Blitz had already carried it to the far side of the arena. The shattered, melted remains of Talerra’s summon crumbled, a boss-shaped hole blasted clear through its body. The backlash from her pet dying crashed into her brain; she crumpled, unconscious. 

The Avatar of Rhashkahal had turned midair, its legs now braced against the arena’s invisible wall, ready to send it right back toward Raine. As he watched, the thing he wanted to see least appeared above its head. [+400,000]

Shit!

Raine had done his best to finish the fight before its regeneration ticked and came so close. If Rocky hadn’t died, his plan would have succeeded perfectly. They weren’t out of the fight yet. Raine refused to surrender when they were so close. There was a chance. It was a slim one and the last thing he wanted to rely on, but now it was his only hope. While berserk abilities gave massive boosts, the caster would grow equally weak once they ended. With a full-aspect berserk like the boss’s, that weakness would be even worse than usual.

The problem was he had no idea how long the demon's ability would last. Determined to survive at all costs, Raine Lunged toward Fizgore. While unable to handle more than one hit, the tank was, ironically, their best chance to survive. With his blunt weapon skills on cooldown, there was no reason to keep the wand. Thankfully, the roulette didn’t screw him over again and granted one of his five bladed weapons.

“Mel, to your left! Full heal!” Raine arrived before the girl and jumped into her blind, groping embrace. Soothing energy raced through Raine, bringing his dwindling health back to seventy-five percent.

Thanks, Mel. I’ll make this up to you. Promise.

The unfortunate girl had no way to parse his meaning before the boss arrived, looming tall over them. The intense fires that Fizgore had been protecting her from all this time wrapped around her, snuffing out her health in less than a second. She melted in a flash, leaving behind a pair of suede boots.

“Taunt, left and up!” Raine shouted as he blasted into Fizgore’s side, carrying the tank away from the boss as fast as his Discipline-fueled legs could carry them.

Doing as he was told without question, Fizgore pointed over Raine’s shoulder and yelled, “Ya Mutha!” The uncalled-for insult struck deep, filling the massive demon with pure madness. It roared, limbs shaking with fury as it scrambled after the duo on all fours. Any thoughts of skills or tactics vanished as it sought to tear them limb from limb.

[Cape of Unnecessary Toxicity: (Marvelous Gold - LVL 25) (HP +175) (Discipline +150) (DEF +50) (RES +50) (Durability 200/200) (Innate skill - Ya Mutha: Taunts a target consuming them in irrational rage for 30 seconds (more effective on foes with lower Demonic Power) (Cooldown: 10 minutes)]

Fizgore could only guess what was happening when Raine shifted him to a princess carry and picked up speed. He clung on desperately, wrapping his shielded arm around Raine’s back where the source of the heat was coming from.

Grace of Nirvana allowed them to stay ahead, barely. Raine ran like the wind itself. He jumped, turning parallel to the ground and using the stone buildings as a racetrack where it was either win first place or die. The demon was right behind them the entire time, tail whipping forward to stab at his back. Raine angled them higher, Connection pressing them into the arena barrier as they traveled toward the ceiling.

The boss blasted after them. Raine Lunged to dodge, but Fizgore’s weight was no joke. The boss closed in, its tail lashing toward the couple. Raine turned, positioning his friend's shield for him, “Deflection!” He shouted, and Fizgore immediately activated the skill.

[Deflection: (Beginner) Utilizing the shield, turn aside a physical attack negating 80% damage force (Cost: 8 Discipline) (Cooldown: 10 seconds)]

The remaining force was just the kick in the ass Raine needed to get ahead again. They reached the ceiling, where he landed feet-first. With his Connection cranked up to the maximum, they ran upside-down with ample uses of Lunge. The boss fell, snarling. Tense seconds passed as the infuriated monster slowly descended. It reached the ground, jumping again. It was a simple matter to Lunge out of the way before watching it slowly fall again.

When grace had three seconds left, it happened. The ephemeral flames surrounding its body winked out, replaced by the blue fires from before, except they were a shadow of their former self, sputtering weakly. Its killing intent tanked, growing so weak that the others could make out blurring outlines of what was happening.

Immediately releasing Fizgore, Raine fully charged a Leap and tore through the air toward the boss. He crossed the arena in less than a second, slamming into the demon right as its regeneration ticked again. Its health jumped all the way back to a million, but that was far from enough to save it.

Raine opened with Rupture despite its Defense already being stripped away along with its strength and speed. Great Divide, Guillotine Slash, and Uncanny Acceleration cut into it one after another. His greatsword was a blur, slicing out chunks of its health five times per second. Celeste and Rhino joined in, not needing to see clearly to understand that the big bleeding blob of fire needed to die. 

Before grace ended, the last tick of regeneration had been undone. Raine didn’t stop cutting as he sidestepped around a feeble swipe and lash of its tail. It tried to bite him one last time. Raine didn’t even need to Lunge to slip beneath its chin. Borrowing Talerra’s Ghost Step, he spun in place, cutting four times, each reaching deeper into its throat. The boss’s health plummeted until the last beat of its demonic heart released a gush of molten blood from its ruined throat to splash across the ground.

[Due to hindrance from a higher power, all loot and achievement rewards +2]

[Obtained 1,022,400 Superiority (10,650% bonus for defeating a raid Hierarch 5 levels above you)]

[Obtained 426% Attunement (10,650% bonus for defeating a raid Hierarch 5 levels above you)]

We did it. We beat a Hierarch... Way to fucking go, team.

[Regional System announcement: Congratulations Alaric’s raid for being the first to clear a nightmare difficulty demonic invasion!]

[World System announcement: Congratulations Alaric’s raid for being the first to clear a nightmare difficulty demonic invasion!]

[Achievement for first to clear a nightmare difficulty demonic invasion: Grand Inquisitor’s Token]

[Grand Inquisitor’s Token: This rare token is proof of meritorious deeds against the forces of evil and corruption. Redeemable at any Grandam Tribunas for a level equivalent reward of choice]

As Raine snatched his token before it could finish materializing, the boss exploded into multicolored lights that brought daylight to the dark tunnel. Even though he wanted to, Raine wasn’t about to sink to his knees in relief with the shower of loot tumbling down around him.

The glory of the moment was punctuated by Fizgore’s scream as he plummeted to the ground, “Brooooooooo!”