Stark, unbothered, kept advancing through the fog, he had already done this once before for the mini-boss, so the atmosphere and cries of souls that begged him to turn back didn't bother him anymore.
Lana on the other hand had never experienced such a thing, and so she couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable, if not scared.
Reaching her arm forward in the hopes of finally leaving the fog, she was able to grab something: Stark's shirt.
"…?" the boy stopped and looked behind him to see a Lana with a weird expression, paranoia stretched across her face as her pupils darted in all directions, "Can you please let me go? Why did you even follow me?"
Hearing his voice, Lana felt more appeased, but of course she didn't show it and instead let go of his shirt, "Don't get ahead of yourself, I just don't want you to steal all the rewards!"
'Tsundere ass attitude,' Stark rolled his eyes before continuing to walk through the fog, Lana following closely as she didn't want to be alone.
And after a few seconds… they reached the boss area.
[You have entered the BOSS area, there is no going back from here]
***
As they emerged from the thick, swirling fog and their eyes adjusted to the dim light, they were finally able to take in the sight of the boss area.
Surrounding them was a massive circle of abandoned buildings, eerie and desolate with no visible exit or means of escape. And at the center of it all, rising above the ruins, stood a grand mansion with shadowy windows and an imposing aura.
Behind them was obviously the silver wall of fog, but once you traversed it, there is no way to go back.
[One of the fifteen members of the 'Godless Demons' group is present here, kill it]
[Participants: Stark Heartsouls, Lana Moonless]
"Where's your weapon," Lana grabbed her bow and magic arrows, ready to fight.
"I don't have one," Stark replied while smiling.
"WHAT? B-BUT?"
"Don't worry about me and focus on yourself, I won't protect you after all," he replied and began walking toward the mansion.
"…" She knew he was right as she honestly had no reason to worry about him, but of course, there was also the fact they were BOTH participants in this, so she wanted him to at least be useful.
Lana followed closely behind Stark as they approached the grand mansion in the center of the boss area.
But as they reached the halfway point…
~SLAM~
With a loud creak, the massive doors of the mansion swung open, revealing a menacing figure that stood behind them.
The boss stepped out, its powerful presence emanating an overwhelming aura of authority and malice.
[Malakar, City Mayor (BOSS)]
This text appeared in front of both the classifiers when he appeared, and so the two of them took a few seconds to observe him.
Malakar, the City Mayor, stood tall and imposing in front of them. His elaborate smoking gleamed ominously in the dim light, adding to his intimidating appearance.
His eyes burned with a malevolent glow and his wicked grin sent shivers down their spines. He wore pure white gloves on both hands and shiny black shoes, giving off an air of wealth and power.
To further add to his sinister image, Malakar's face was half-hidden by a 'Black Sun' mask while a strange melon hat adorned his head.
Without a word, he raised a hand and summoned dark energy that crackled around his fingers menacingly.
Lana began to aim her bow at the mayor, and seeing that Stark was doing nothing actively scared her more than the boss itself.
On the other hand, Stark took a few seconds to use [Perception] and check the boss.
[Name: Malakar, City Mayor (BOSS)]
[Level: 15]
[HP: 45000]
[Strength: 471]
[Stamina: 289]
[Speed: 154]
[Defense: 829]
[Skills: Dark Pulse, The Cane, Abysall Shield, Godless Demon, The Mayor's Control, Hat Trick…]
The Mayor was slowly walking toward them, his stats were pretty good, although more on the defensive side than in the rest, and its speed was extremely low.
Stark smirked at the boss's stats, analyzing them carefully in his mind. His demeanor was calm and collected, a stark (get it?) contrast to Lana's nerves that seemed to be getting the best of her.
Without a word, he suddenly sprinted towards Malakar.
"Dark Pulse!" Malakar crouched, both his hands touching the ground, and veins of darkness immediately began spreading toward Stark and Lana.
When he was close enough to one of the veins, it would come out of the ground to try and pierce him, but of course, Stark had 'Focus' and was able to narrowly dodge them by rolling to the side each time.
'What the fuck is he doing, why is he rolling like this?' Lana pondered, and shot one of her arrows toward the Mayor.
"-628!" it hit him in the chest, but he was so focused on Stark that he wasn't bothered by such an attack.
Lana was shocked that Stark was going to engage with the boss head-on, something most people would consider suicide, strategy was key in the rifts, yet here he was doing random shit.
After 'Dark Pulse' ended, Malakar rose up to his full height (which was approximately four meters) and unleashed another attack.
"The Cane!" he bellowed, as a shadowy cane materialized in his hand. With a flick of his wrist, the cane elongated and lashed out towards Stark like a viper.
Stark reacted quickly, drawing upon his agility and reflexes. He dodged the sweeping strike by a hair's breadth, but then…
The cane turned around, controlled by the Mayor and able to defy the laws of physics.
Not expecting that, Stark only had a few microseconds to adjust, and so the best course of action was to put lots of aura around the area where it was aimed.
"-721!" he was hit, and although he protected himself, he still received a lot of damage, making him stumble to the ground.
[HP: 479/1200 (+100 from 'Soulbearer's Embrace')]
He immediately got up though, and with unwavering determination continued running toward the Mayor.
Lana shot another arrow at the boss, this time infusing it with the 'Dragon Breath' skill.
"-1219!" she was able to deal very good damage to the boss, enough this time to actually make him acknowledge her presence, but too focused on Stark to attack her.
"He is actually distracting him very well," Lana gently smiled, she was surprised that Stark was able to dodge all these attacks all the while closing the distance between him and the boss, that didn't explain how he would deal damage though since he had no weapon.
And so just like this, the fight against the boss of this rift began.
"Aura Smash!" after getting up from the cane hit he received, Stark focused his aura around his hand, ready to attack the Mayor too.
With a powerful shout, Stark unleashed his Aura Smash towards the Mayor, the giant crimson fist hurtling towards its target.
But of course, Malakar saw the attack coming, and so he used the hand that wasn't carrying the cane to use another skill.
"Abysall Shield!"
A shimmering black barrier materialized in front of Malakar just in time to intercept Stark's Aura Smash. The impact created a shockwave that reverberated through the air, causing the ground to tremble beneath their feet.
"-627!"
The shield after being hit by such a powerful attack obviously cracked under the immense pressure and was destroyed, meaning the Mayor wouldn't be able to use it for a while.
"-1171!" Lana also used another arrow infused with another one of her skills, dealing more damage to Malakar.
It seemed like they were doing it slowly, but little by little, the Mayor was receiving more and more damage.
[Boss HP: 41355/45000]
Lana was a very good support, dealing damage from afar while Stark held him off.
'Our chemistry is surprisingly good, although I would prefer if he could actually do something…' Lana hadn't noticed the appearance of the abysall shield right before Stark's attack hit, meaning that she thought he dealt medium damage to it.
Stark continued his relentless assault on Malakar, dodging the boss's attacks with expert precision and slowly but surely approaching him.
And when he was only a few meters away now…
He dashed forward.
"The Cane!" the boss still had his cane in his hands, and so he tried to hit Stark with it.
Stark rolled on the ground, and once it came to him, instead of taking the hit like last time, he literally just used his fists to hit and break it.
"…?" The Mayor was taken aback.
"Got you," Stark smiled as he had completely closed the distance now, he was in the perfect range to attack the Mayor.
And so he did: before Malakar could even use another one of his skills, Stark focused his aura and…
"-3712!" even with his powerful defense, Stark's aura and stats dealt massive damage.
"WHAT?" Lana was astonished, even going as far as stopping to aim with her bow to make sure the number she was seeing was right, and it was.
'Calm down, Lana, focus on the battle,' She shook her head and began arming her bow to shoot again.
"-3819!" Stark was even able to punch the boss again as it hadn't had the time to counter the first one.
"Hat Trick!"
The Mayor used another one of his skills, and suddenly, his hat was enveloped in a dark, ominous energy. The hat lifted off his head, spinning wildly in the air before shooting towards Stark like a spinning blade of darkness.
Stark barely had time to react, but he managed to deflect the hat with a swift movement of his arm.
"-281!" it dealt him some damage, but not enough to actually be worried.
The hat ricocheted off a nearby rock and soared back towards Malakar, who grabbed it and bowed like a gentleman afterward, a smirk could be seen on the visible half of his face.
Stark backed away after that, sensing that the Mayor was going to keep attacking.
And after a few back steps… he found himself right next to Lana, who was still aiming her bow and arrows at Malakar.
"-718!" she hit him in the chest again, then armed another arrow right after.
Malakar on the otherhand was spinning the cane in his hand, almost enjoying the show.
'I'm low on HP…' Stark thought, he had received two hits already.
But as he thought about that… a panel appeared in front of him.
[Dealt massive damage to BOSS ENEMY, regaining 59HP!]
The 'Soulbearer's Embrace' Necklace perk activated, and he was able to gain some of it back.
'Oh shit, it's small, but it might actually make the difference…' Stark, regaining his confidence, smiled.
"I'm gonna go back, keep doing whatever you're doing, i'll keep him away from you," Stark spoke to Lana, then began dashing away before she could reply.
"I-" she sighed before smiling, "You better do your job."
Stark sprinted back towards the Mayor, his determination burning brighter than ever. Malakar smirked as he saw Stark approaching, readying himself for another round of combat.
"Dark Pulse!" the Mayor summoned the veins into the ground again, and every single one of them went rushing toward him.
This time, however, Stark had a new strategy in mind.
"Clone Frenzy!" he used his latest skill.
[Description: Summons a clone of yourself that acts and fights just like you do, giving you a temporary additional character to control in battle, the clone does damage based on how much aura you give it, but its stats are extremely reduced, and its HP is set to 1, cooldown period of 30 minutes between each clone]
And suddenly, his aura started seeping out of his body and headed right in front of him, forming a perfect replica of Stark, ready to assist in the battle against the Mayor.
"…" The clone's eyes were completely white, some aura pouring out from them like a fire, and its expression was neutral.
Its eyes were locked on Malakar with unwavering focus, awaiting Stark's orders.
"Let's do this," Stark muttered to his clone as they both charged towards the oncoming Dark Pulse veins.
The clone mimicked Stark's movements (almost) perfectly, matching his speed and agility as they weaved through the rushing veins.
"What the?" Lana was confused, why were there suddenly two Starks?
She aimed her bow at the Mayor as he smiled at the upcoming enemies, then fired again.
"-528!" somehow, it felt like she was doing less and less damage… was there a reason to that?
Meanwhile, Stark and his clone dodged and countered, working in perfect synchrony to break through the dark onslaught.
"The Cane!" feeling threatened for the first time, the Mayor summoned his cane in hand, then elongated it… towards the clone.
'Ah shit…' Stark knew that his clone's HP was set to 1, meaning it couldn't even defend such an attack without dying.
And so he positioned himself right in front of the cane and deflected it with a powerful slam.
"-72!" he received almost no damage thanks to that.
And then…
"Aura Smash!" now only 5 meters away from the Mayor, Stark decided it was time.
And so, both his and his clone's hands began glowing with a bright crimson aura.
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