"Mere corporeal beings, I see you have come here to die!" said the Spectre, its voice a mix of honey and sunshine.
It closed its mouth but that didn't stop the blood leaking out…
Stanis sat shocked for a second, his mind elsewhere while the Spectres flew towards him. However, he was far too experienced to stay like this, his body taking control as it jumped off the Jaguar. The tier-two Jaguars hadn't yet killed off all their opponents and so it was up to the tier-threes to take on all the incoming Spectres.
Serb roared as he started charging, followed by the rest of the Jaguars who followed him to the T. Finally, Stanis broke out of his self-induced spell and began sprinting, his speed faster than the Jaguars. Behind him was Caleb and Orena, as well as Sil who ran half their speed as she prepared her spells.
"CAHCAHCAH" screeched the Spectre boss as it sped up, its hands filling up with boundless power.
It was a mere second later that both sides crashed, the Jaguars ferociously launching themselves towards the Spectres who received them with open, razor-sharp hands.
Serb's paw was thick with mana as he swiped towards the boss, its hands just the same as it countered. The collision was followed by an explosion as both forces met, Serb being flung back with an injured paw while the boss laughed.
However, there was no rest for the wicked as large icicles bombarded the boss, it shrieking with joy as the icicles barely tickled it.
"He-he Ha-ha"
Stanis kept his composure and began forming ice crystals, the boss narrowing its non-existent eyes and cutting short its laughter at this. This was no longer a laughing matter!
If it had been walking before, it was sprinting now as it more than doubled its speed, its non-existent eyes set on Stanis as its hands filled up with greater power than before. To its annoyance, it was forced to stop half-way there as Caleb smashed into it, his longsword so saturated with mana that it had no choice but to turn around. This was enough for Orena as she came from the back, her spear like lightning as it pierced through the boss.
In terms of roles between the Humans, Orena was purely damage-based and did the most damage out of the three. Sil was purely magic-based and so she did the second most damage, and in situations like this, most damage as her magic was far more effective than blades. As for Caleb, he was forced to play guard in such situations as the other two were fully offensive, meaning that they needed someone to protect them when they fucked up.
This was why the boss instantly rotated its head as Orena was doing far too much damage for it to ignore, its hands violently slapping before even turning around. Orena activated Lightning steps and dashed away, Caleb activating Warrior's dance as he began spinning and slashing and striking and diving around the boss.
It was at this time that a massive fire-bolt came flying in, far larger and more potent than anything Sil could create last month. It hit right into the boss's face, throwing it off guard as it fell from an upright floating position to a fallen floating position.
"Groundworks" shouted Sil, her combo ongoing as the lifeless ground below the boss came alive, splitting in two before swallowing the Spectre whole.
It wasn't a long wait until the Spectre broke out of the ground, mud fragments flying as it looked around angrily. No longer did it looked gracious or amused, rather ticked off and ready to do some damage. It, however, didn't have the time to give everyone the look as Serb and Niss leapt at it, both using fire skills as their claws burnt red hot, causing the boss to yelp as it couldn't dodge in time.
The strongest of the Jaguar camp had been showering the boss with attacks all this time but the boss itself still looked fine, its shroud now with blemish but still in one piece. Its hands were still recognisable as hands and its non-existent eyes weren't raging yet, meaning it still had quite a bit of life in it.
This was fine as Stanis was now finished, 9 ice crystals the size of his palm spinning around him. They simultaneously left him as they shot towards the boss, the Spectre actively running as it knew the danger of these. It was a pity that the ice crystals flew far faster than it could ever move, each one of them stabbing into the screaming Spectre. There was no leaking blood nor ghost blood, but you could see the misery on the boss's face, its expression now synonymous with anguish. This transformed the next second as it became the definition of angry, the Spectre roaring as mana began to swirl around it.
It wasn't tier-four yet and thus couldn't make a proper mana barrier, and this showed as Stanis used Blueshot spitfire, the pseudo-barrier it made becoming tattered and broken within a second, followed by a hungry fire-bolt which snacked on the barrier's remains.
Niss came flying in, her eyes the colour of anger as she smashed towards the boss's hand. The spectre boss was done with all of this shit and counteracted, catching the Jaguar by the neck mid-flight. They, however, were not done with doing their shit as Serb had stealthily sneaked behind the boss, activating Sharp claws as he struck, the boss's whole arm flying off.
It had no time to turn around as Orena used Dominance and struck its other arm, Caleb joining the attack alongside Sil as this arm, too, flew off by itself, the boss now defenceless.
It was now Stanis's time to shine as he activated Blueshot Spitfire once more, the countless bullets making quick work of the Spectre as its whole shroud became holey. He then formed 4 ice crystals in the short time he had and sent them flying, too, the Spectre unable to dodge any this time and so each of them hitting a critical spot.
The Spectre boss finally fell out of the air, its body soundlessly hitting the ground as it lay still. Stanis was about to cheer when he noticed its severed arm which was lying by his side. It was vibrating…
He only had enough time to scream "GET AWAY!" to Orena and Caleb before the Spectre blew up, its whole body exploding with a toxic light. Caleb and Orena had been too close and it showed as they were now groaning on the ground, their lower halves roasted to black.
Stanis was about to cover his nose when he realised there were no poisonous fumes, instead something far more sinister as looked towards the Spectre boss's body. It was once again floating, the shroud covering it disintegrating. The arms he had noticed vibrating had shot back towards the body and were once again reattached, the body baring itself for all to see.
The worst thing? That would be the fact that the light coming off the Spectre was no longer bright blue but instead a crimson red. As for its gracious face, that had been tipped down on its head…
Author's notes:
Well, looks like I have to adress a few issues.
Storage stones. I did completly forget about them this arc. I later made up a reason why( since spectres don't have them as they explode on death) but at the same time, that opens up the plot-hole of where the few Jaguars got their healing skills from. I think the best way to adress this issue would be by saying there are Storage stones, and that the Spectres do drop them. I just never talk about them this arc, although they do come back in the next arc.
The next issue about him transforming his whole body. There are problems which occur if he transforms more his body. Considering the fact that this is an issue, I guess that part hasn't come up yet so I won't really explain it. But I guess one of the chapters ahead will touch on it. It's not just because of appearance that he doesn't fully transform.