Vol. 2 - Chapter 161 - A Fight With a Mid Class Rare Boss!

"Jigagagaga!!" (Monster voice)

"Hurray! We have a rare boss to grab!"

It's boss round 2!!

The effect splendidly piled up this time when I used [Rare Monster Summoning Flute (Boss only)].

The monster this time was a doll wearing an exorcist costume, with long white hair extending till it's waist, a kabuki face1, riding a segway with a fan on it's each hand.

The rare boss of <Tsukumo2 Bamboo Forest Dungeon>, the <Shaman Marionette>.

Well, the probability of summoning it is 70%, after all.

I swear for a moment I felt as if <Giant Bamboo Doll> had turned into a rare boss and beckoned me, saying "Let's have a rematch", but it must've been my imagination. Yeah, it should be so.

"Move as we have discussed earlier! And pay attention to the stray bullets lest you get hit by them, their magic power is extremely high! Especially you, Hannah, evade even if you have to roll down!"

"I know!"

Due to the effect of <Magical Spell - Switch>, Hannah's RES status has changed back to its default value. I fear even a light strike would be enough to shave off her HP to a dangerous level. I have reinforced her defense as much as I can, but if I'm being honest, it's barely enough to prevent the worst case scenario.

"Jijijiji一一一"

"<Aura Point>!"

Sierra made a move first, pulling the <Shaman Marionette> aggro who began to move towards her.

<Aura Point> is the enhanced version of <Defense Stance>. A skill to firmly pull the enemy's aggro towards herself during the combat.

The <Shaman Marionette> turns toward Sierra, opens her fan and waves it towards her.

"Ji, jijiga一"

As soon as it waved the fan, three magic balls fired from the tip. It was a light attribute magic, the <Triple Light Ball>. A mid-grade low rank magic.

"Don't avoid it!"

Earlier in our strategy meeting, we had decided to first check what kind of damage a mid rank boss can rack on Sierra without using any of her skill.

She's completely devoid of any buff support right now as I didn't ask for Lana to cast <Everlasting Demon's Blessing>.

Considering it's just the beginning, requirements were ripe.

The magic <Triple Light Ball> clashes against Sierra's <Kite Shield> in multi-hit.

"...... I see. It's certainly impactful."

Sierra might have muttered it only to herself but I was able to hear it just as well. It seems the attack strength holds quite the punch, enough to push back Sierra slightly. Though her HP didn't seem to be affected at all.

Oh-ho, as expected of our Bastion Sierra.

"Should we act now, Sierra?"

"Ah, yes. I've made you wait, Your Highness Lana."

"Let's go then! <Lion's Blessing> and <Everlasting Demon's Blessing>!"

"Let's go! Let's chase after him. Support is up to you, Hannah. Ester, let's go!"

"Ok! I'll do my best!"

"Leave it to me!"

"Jigaaa!"

Ester and I dashed off in the opposite directions.

The strategy was simple一 literally corner the boss to the wall. The <Shaman Marionette>'s movement speed is high due to her riding on a segway and it's also hard to approach her because of the setting "the more you try to approach, the more the boss will distance itself".

However, there's also a tactic to reverse its pattern and drive the marionette to the wall by purposely distancing yourself until you get her to the desired position.

It's a recommended strategy, since it's not tough to drive her into one place as long as two people cooperate. The only problem was you'll be more exposed to its attack, so it's necessary to tank on his attacks.

"Jigaaa!"

Now it's my turn to end this.

"Jijiji!?"

"<Induction Cover>!"

The marionette tried to invoke the full area burst spell <Light Wave> as a last resort, which was the standard pattern used by the <Shaman Marionette> when being surrounded.

I had informed Sierra beforehand to use <Induction Cover> as soon as the marionette was surrounded. Everything went as planned, and the full area burst spell was pulled through by Sierra, leaving the <Shaman Marionette> full of gaps.

"Now. <Braveheart>, <Brave Slash>!"

"<Triple strike>! <Quick lightning thrust>!"

"Jigaaa!?"

The second unique skill of [Brave]4; <Braveheart>. I have only used it once in the battle but the buff it provided was tremendous. There couldn't be any better chance than now to use it.

"Wah! Hang on, Sierra, I'm going to heal you <Mega Heal Blessing>!"

Sierra, who pulled the full burst spell, was almost shaved half of her HP. Lana, who was surprised to see that, immediately healed her by using high rank recovery magic.

I don't need to worry about them, it seems.

The development afterwards was just a one sided massacre. Without the mobility of a segway, the corner driven <Shaman Marionette> was forced into an intense battle where we surrounded it to not let it escape, held him down to that position, even if it meant taking some damage and thoroughly continued to give her damage.

The tactic was based on the <Shaman Marionette>'s inability to use close range attacks or attacks with knockback effects by which we could have forcefully made a break with.

When the effect of <Braveheart> ended, the <Shaman Marionette>'s HP dropped to critical level, and a familiar red effect emitted from the fans she was holding.

"Incoming <Unique> attack from above! Pay attention!"

What came to my mind was the in game, the [Puppeteer Style: Giant Bamboo Ax Beheader]. It was the scene of giant axes dropping down like a meteor I had seen multiple times on screen. Though it's quite hard to imagine from my current position.

"Everyone, move as planned!"

"Jigaaaa!!"

It was the final killer technique of the <Shaman Marionette>, and also its last resort.

With the addition of rage mode due to the boss HP reaching critical points, the power of this skill has risen even further. The front lines would collapse if any of us got hit by it and at worst, we could be wiped out by an all-out attack.

<Shaman Marionette> fans turned into eight giant axes which revolved around itself as the center and then poured down incessantly one after another.

However this attack has a weak point, which is its narrow attack range due to its straight arc shaped attack pattern. In other words, this can be avoided by taking a roundabout route. Hence,

"<Sonic sword>!"

"<Lance assault>"

"<Material shield>!"

Ester and I immediately opted for agile skills used as emergency maneuvers. The split and corner strategy was successful precisely because I knew about its attack method.

The <Shaman Marionette> has stepped forward a little to initiate attacks again.

I immediately dashed in an arc, avoiding the attacks. Fortunately, Ester didn't lag behind either.

While Sierra simply withstood the onslaught of the attacks by using another defensive skill, <Material Skill>, which offers unusually high magic resistance.

"Now, <Lightning Strike>!"

"Jigagagaga!?"

My follow up two hit attack, <Lightning Strike> splendidly scored a critical hit, which has a high chance to occur when the boss has just finished using a unique skill, putting it in a stunned state.

"Now or never. Commence all out attack!"

At my cue, everyone released their strongest <Skill> and <Magic>.

"Ji, gaga...... ga..."

Finally, the <Shaman Marionette>'s HP fell down to zero and soundlessly vanished with a huge effect.

As expected, a mid-class boss was incomparable to your ordinary joe.