章 65: Field of Fire
The first part of the plan was mostly successful.
Non-Elf players had held back most of the mobs while the Veterans lured away the boss. Thanks to that, only 10 or so Yellow Tusk Boars managed to follow the Dark Tusk Boar in the dense forest, easing the pressure on Samar.
The closely packed Yellowwood trees made their jobs even more simple.
Although the Dark Tusk Boar was a humongous and powerful beast capable of trampling the trees, it could not charge through the thick forest with impunity.
This allowed Samar and the rest of the Elves to maintain their distance from the boss and even increase it. .
The Yellow Tusk Boars that had followed the Boss into the forest had an easier time chasing Samar's group. They scattered into groups of ones and twos and overtook the Dark Tusk Boar, who was slowed down by the numerous obstacles.
Samar knew that they needed to get rid of the minions before their battle with the Dark Tusk Boar to prevent any complications.He nodded at Stivi, and she understood the message.
"Party 1, come with me to eliminate the mobs. Meanwhile, Samar will be in charge of the Boss Raid." Issuing the command, Stivi left with the five-player team.
Soon, the sounds of fighting emanated from the jungle. A few minutes later, Stivi sent a message to the guild channel, "2 Boars down, 8 more to go."
Samar breathed a sigh of relief and led the team to a suitable spot. It was a clearing surrounded by dense trees on all sides.
The open area was just large enough to allow the melee players in his group to maneuver around the huge Dark Tusk Boar with relative ease while the trees would provide cover to the magic classes and ranged DPS, allowing them to bombard the boss without worry.
Everyone had taken position and all they had to do was wait.
Time trickled by while they anxiously waited for the Boss's arrival. The trainees twitched nervously. They checked and double-checked their equipment, not daring to make a sound.
Even under such pressure, they held strong, showing more valor than Samar had expected. The constant updates from Stivi's party further strengthened their morale.
Stivi had led Party No. 1 to take down 6 more Yellow Tusk Boars in the past few minutes. As they hunted the last pair of boars, they had encountered the Dark Tusk Boar quite close to their position.
The Dark Tusk Boar had hesitated a bit, deciding whether it should go after Stivi's party or the ones in the woods; but in the end, it chose the larger target— Samar's group in the woods.
As soon as Samar came to know of this, he knew it was time to execute the second part of the plan.
"HardBro, prepare the Field of Fire," Samar commanded, and HardBro jumped into action.
The four mages in the team coordinated with him. They chanted the incantation for the FireBall spell and waited for the Boss Boar to arrive.
Crack! Boom!
The sounds of trees breaking into two and falling to the ground echoed closer and closer to their location, and Samar realized that the Boss was finally here. He signaled with his hands, and the mages launched the Fire Balls.
One orange glob of fire after another soared through the air towards the trees in Dark Tusk Boar's path. They exploded in a brilliant boom as they smashed against the trees and engulfed them in the red-hot flames.
Entire trees and branches caught the spreading fire, and soon the forest around the Dark Tusk Boar was set ablaze.
Angry howls and pained grunts of the oversized pig echoed through the forest along with the crackling of fire. Disoriented and agonized, the Dark Tusk Boar went on a rampage in the midst of the flaming trees, smashing and breaking trees.
Its rampage achieved nothing other than injuring its body even more.
The Wildfire continued to spread around the Dark Tusk Boar and it was grilled and roasted under its hot flames.
HardBro smelled the scent of cooked bacon in the air and grinned at Samar.
"The Fire field plan is a success," he commented before uncorking a bottle of Sheep's Milk and downing its contents with other mages.
Yep, the exorbitant mana expenditure required to create the Fire and Ice field was only possible because of the Mana recovering Sheep's Milk Samar had procured from Luni.
Samar had every reason to celebrate, but he knew the battle was far from over.
The Dark Tusk Boar was still very much lively, and the sounds of trees falling were becoming more frequent and louder. This meant its rampage was not directionless. It was moving closer and closer to the location of their camp.
"Everyone in position! All healers focus on BigSoftie. Romero will replace him as soon as his health falls below 30%. Ranged DPS, wait for my signal to attack."
As soon as Samar finished his instructions, the Dark Tusk Boar broke through the trees and emerged into the clearing, permeating the air with a smell of burnt flesh.
The glossy brown fur of the Boar had been charred black. Numerous cuts and burns, deep and shallow, were visible across its body.
Most importantly, the Dark Tusk Boar had already lost nearly a third of its Health!
It was also inflicted with a status condition 'Burnt', reducing its defense by a whole star.
Still, the injuries were not serious enough to hinder the Boar's mobility. If anything, the wounds only served to irritate it more.
The hulking figure came to a stop in front of the team and grunted with anger. It trained its bloody red eyes on every member of the team, one after another, striking fear into their hearts.
The trainees stood frozen on the spot, and even BigSoftie forgot to charge at the Boar!
"Focus! Get your shit together!" Samar's loud voice broke through their stupor and BigSoftie charged to confront the Boss.
BigSoftie jumped high and smashed his shield into the Dark Tusk Boar's nose, executing a spectacular performance of his latest skill, Shield Smash.
-23
The damage from the attack was merely a tickle for the Dark Tusk Boar, but being hit in the face annoyed it. The boss stood on its hind legs and roared with anger before stomping its frontal legs onto the ground.
It was the Boss's signature move, Earth Shake.
Fissures spread from the point the Boar's hooves touched the floor. The forest trembled as if the entire ground itself was moving. The shaking ground made most of them lose footing and stumble.
This attack also caused them varying amounts of damage, taking away anywhere from 10% to 40% of their HP.
BigSoftie, who had lost a mere 36 points in health, recovered quickly. He immediately executed his second skill, Head Bash. He charged at the Boar without fear and headbutted its face.
Another small damage number appeared above the Boar's head but its ego was hurt more than its health bar. The Boss firmly focused its hatred on BigSoftie, determined to kill the pesky thing that dared to insult it.
Samar sent Zamir to test the waters. No matter how many times Zamir slashed the Boar, it did not even bother to look in his direction. Instead, it constantly jabbed and swiped at BigSoftie with its enormous tusks.
This was the moment Samar was waiting for.
"Ranged Fire, rain hell down on this beast!"
He commanded and unleashed the arrow from his bow. On cue, many arrows and Icy winds and Fireballs joined his arrow in the air and bombarded the oversized pig.
- 40
- 59
- 44
- 79
- 64
Attacks struck the Dark Boar one after another, and it lit up like a Christmas tree. It was frozen and burnt at the same time. Yet, so great was its anger towards the MT that the Boar did not even turn to look at them, allowing them to bombard it safely.
-44
-65
-84 (Crit)
-83
-68
The barrage of attacks continuously whittled down the Boss's HP until it had only 5000 left on its bar. Just when they thought the Victory was in the bag, the Boss roared and suddenly charged at BigSoftie with intent to slam into him with its body.
BigSoftie deftly used the huge size of the Boar against it and slipped through between its tusks. The Boar repeated the same maneuver once again but failed to inflict a severe injury on BigSoftie as he jumped out of the charging path at the last moment.
The more BigSoftie dodged the attack, the more he enraged the Boar. Even the minor injuries he suffered were quickly recovered thanks to a timely heal from one of the three healers.
Seeing its attacks being foiled time and time again, the Dark Tusk Boar was triggered into using its second skill, Mad Rage.
A dark purple aura spread around the Dark Tusk Boar's body, and its eyes lost sanity. They became blank and bloodthirsty, and all the aggro towards BigSoftie was reset because of the skill.
For the first time, the Boar turned its attention to a player other than BigSoftie.
Kiri was an archer in Party No.3. She was on an edge at the start of the battle but had lost her fear after BigSoftie showed that he could successfully control its aggro. As the battle progressed, she lowered her guard and started shooting arrows without a fear of retaliation from the Boss.
Kiri shot another arrow at the Dark Tusk Boar's behind, just like before, unaware of the change in its eyes.
After checking the large red 62 popping up above the Boss's head, she once again dived into her hiding spot and began to take out another arrow from her inventory.
The smooth sailing raid so far had made her lose all sense of caution. She was so engrossed in her own world that she missed the warnings shouted by BigSoftie and Zamir. She came out of her hiding spot, ready to shoot another arrow at the boss, while humming a tune.
Only this time when she emerged from behind the tree, the long black tusks of the Boar were waiting for her.
"Aaaah….!"
Her scream was cut short when the Dark Tusk Boar jabbed and impaled the frail girl onto its tusks and rammed her into the very tree she was hiding behind, instantly claiming her life.
The gruesome scene shocked the trainees.
Another Ax Wielding Trainee was hiding in a tree nearby, waiting for his stamina bar to recover a bit. Seeing the fate of Kiri, he panicked and jumped out from the tree in a bid to flee, but to no avail.
The Boar Boss noticed his presence as soon as he jumped down and charged at him. The beast stomped down on the player with its frontal legs and trampled him under its feet, turning him into a beam of gray light.
BigSoftie tried to regain the attention of the Boar, but it did not work. The Boar would charge after whoever attacked it and would not stop until either they were killed or someone new dealt more damage than the previous attacker.
Not to mention the huge boost in stats that the Boar received after using the skill Mad Rage, the two successive deaths had jarred the trainees. They were on the verge of panicking.
The Trainees had already stopped attacking while thinking of a way to escape. They had only stayed put for fear of jeopardizing their chances to join the Grandeur Guild.
Samar was aware that this stalemate could not last any longer. He had to find a solution to the Boar's Mad Rage skill. If he could not, the raid may end in minutes with the annihilation of Grandeur Guild's players…
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