As the fight continued the players slowly revealed exhaustion. Vren's skills became more difficult to dodge, and everyone had to take a break from time to time to recover their mana or similar resources.
But even Vren surprisingly appeared to weaken. He used his skills less and a hint of humanity returned to his dark eyes as his HP closed in on the 100.000 threshold.
About 220 members remained to face the boss, but some of them were healers or tanks with low damage. Still, Liam was gratified to see everyone continuing to attack even if they only dealt a single point of damage. It showed that the people cared about the guild.
Suddenly Vren revealed a struggling expression. He gripped his head, standing still despite the attacks coming towards him.
"Ahh! Lephrion!"
The world boss let out a shout filled with pain as he retreated swiftly.
"Stay away!"
Slamming his hand into the floor, he dispersed a huge amount of dark magic. It spread through the ground, coalescing into multiple batches which drove into piles of rubble.
Suddenly the rubble moved, rearranging itself in a humanoid form, dark magic filling the gaps between the rocks. Five cursed rock creatures stood up, their heads reigning above the crowd. They positioned themselves to shield Vren behind their tall bodies.
[Bleary Mirage: Attack Vren if possible. Those guys only have high defence but low attack!]
Movement came in the crowd, reacting to Liam's orders. Silver Blade and Radiant Shield decided to let the other tanks take care of those rock monsters, taking some time to recover.
Meanwhile those with big moves could finally show of their might. Cyclone, Fortune, and Braag unleashed their powerful AOE attacks, targeting all the enemies indiscriminately.
Others did the same, causing the six HP bars to shrink continuously.
However, the situation changed before the rock giants could be destroyed. Vren raised his head, regaining his arrogant smile, the earlier struggle seemingly suppressed.
"You won't trick me, Lephrion!"
His voice sounded hoarse, filled with darkness, as black magic surrounded him once more.
Vren stepped out of the protection of his summoned rock giants, approaching the guild members. Looking at him Silver Blade knew that the world boss had switched back to dealing magic damage, stepping forward to block him.
Suddenly the valley trembled as the rock giants all began moving at the same time.
[Bleary Mirage: Tanks, block them! They are trying to shield Vren! The rest, attack the world boss!]
Everyone complied with Liam's orders, resuming the battle. One could see less skills at that time as many players were forced to switch to normal attacks.
Vren's HP were diminishing slowly as he and Silver Blade faced off. The female tank remained calm, not afraid of taking more magic damage. In fact, she welcomed it as only this way would her passive come to play.
It didn't take long for the damage received to rush past the first threshold of two hundred times her current level and even reaching the second threshold of three hundred times.
At that moment the blinding image of a faceless nephilim appeared behind her, healing her for half of her max HP.
[+5953!]
Even Vren froze for a moment with a hint of frustration on his face. Maybe the boss realized the difficulty of killing the tank who was supported by many healers.
He gathered his power, raising to the air again. A magic circle formed, and a black sphere headed right for Balm.
"Quick, dodge!", shouted the young guild leader anxiously.
But the other healers glanced over their shoulders, shocked as Balm remained frozen on the spot.
"Why aren't you moving?!"
"Don't worry I know what I'm doing!"
Balm had a worried expression, realizing that not everyone would be able to leave the impact area. She wished she could do something to help her fellow healers, but she had no suitable skill.
Feeling the black sphere draw near Balm let out a sigh as she activated her skill [Preservation].
Her wand shone brightly in a soothing green light, attracting a large amount of mana. The light flickered, suddenly running down her wand like water and spreading over Balm's entire body.
Everyone only saw a green figure as the black sphere arrived. A deafening explosion obscured the sight. Every guild member worried for their healers caught up in the skill. A moment later a few figures broke out of the cloud of black rising dust, coughing but luckily alive.
The healers turned around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Balms figure. Suddenly a brilliant green light bloomed. Originating from Balm's position is spread through the entire valley, bringing a comfortable feeling to everyone it touched, driving away the dust around Balm.
However, despite its spectacular appearance the green light didn't have much of an effect. It could only heal for twice the damage Balm would have received, divided among the many guild members.
Although everyone felt the skill was somewhat lacklustre, no one blamed Balm. The guild members were glad that none of their healers died.
Vren on the other hand wore a heavy frown as his skill didn't kill anyone. He continued to throw attacks into the crowd, hoping to diminish the numbers.
This time the skill continued for quite a while. Despite Final Fend repeating the earlier trick, the lack of usable skills decreased the damage output considerably.
Mana potions were a rarity in Fate of Crunaboul at this point. They were only sold by secret merchants and most of the time there was not a high demand for them.
Only in big fights like this one would the mages find themselves out of mana, cursing their lack of preparation. Liam had expected this to happen, but he didn't deem the investment necessary.
Instead of buying mana potions he rather looked forward to finding the respective recipe. If Balm learned it, she would be able to earn a huge amount of gold for their guild.
But for now, he could only animate his fellow guild members to attack tirelessly. Soon, the magic circle shattered, taking away Vren's support.
The world boss crashed into the ground with unprecedented force, filling almost the entire valley with dust, losing 30.000 points of HP. Silver Blade, standing quite close to the impact, saw Vren laying in the crater, struggling to get up. A quick check revealed that he had entered a weakened state.
Silver Blade hastily relayed the information to the guild, prompting everyone to give it their utmost. Attacks rained down on Vren, who remained standing in the crater, once more holding his head.
The rock giants tried to protect him, but the guild's tanks did a good job in holding them back. When Vren regained his mind, approaching Silver Blade, he only had a bit more than 40.000HP remaining.
[Bleary Mirage: Don't waver now! Keep attacking! We are almost done!]
Liam did his best to keep the remaining members motivated. With their numbers dropping below 200, the importance of every single player increased.
Fortunately, the prospect of being the first guild to defeat a world boss kept everyone motivated. No one lost their spirit, working together to reduce Vren's HP bit by bit.
The world boss had shed his arrogance, focusing on Silver Blade with a sharp gaze, driving his menacing daggers.
[-500!]
[-250!]x2
The female tank, back at full health, remained composed. She had no difficulties defending against Vren for a while more.
A few seconds later an invisible ripple spread from Silver Blade. The third threshold for her passive had been reached. Vren frowned but kept up his attacks, only to find all his damage suddenly negated, like a tiger without teeth.
The other guild members weren't overly concerned. They had seen Silver Blade show an immunity to magic damage before. Only Liam and Silver Blade knew that for the next five second no enemy would be capable of dealing magic damage no matter who they targeted.
Unfortunately, Vren didn't use an AOE skill during that time, preventing the powerful passive from proving its might.
Nevertheless, every second bought was precious for the guild. During that time Vren's HP finally fell below ten thousand. His once majestic HP bar was reduced to a speck of dust, in danger of being blown away any second.
"We got this!"
"Don't give up now!"
"Brothers and sisters, attack!"
"For Dream Avenue!"
The excitement reached a new peak as the guild members dug out all their reserves, attacking with all their might. Liam was glad to notice the unity fostering slowly. Even if they died against the boss now his aim had partially been achieved.
Naturally Liam looked forward to everyone making it out alive, but he knew that one last test was still waiting for them.
When Vren's HP fell below five thousand, he suddenly retreated to the mouth of the valley, shaking off the players. His black eyes rippled as they took in the faces of his attackers. A black magic surged out of them, covering his own face and taking on the contours of someone else.