MMORPG: The Elementalist

Amethyst Slashes rained down upon the Skelewing Dragon, dealing both physical damage as well as humiliation to the Tier 5 Boss. Under Qin Ruo’s deliberate direction, devastating physical strikes sought out the most vulnerable part of the Skelewing Dragon—its wings of bone.

Before the eyes of dozens, the Skelewing Dragon howled in agony. Its great bony wings, which helped to hold up its massive body, folded up under the withering assault of the Amethyst Orc. Losing its balance, it tumbled out of the sky!

Already half-frozen by the Compressed Frost Bullet, only to lose its Barrier on top of that, even a Tier 5 Boss like the enormous undead dragon could no longer withstand the furious attacks of the Tier 5 Miniboss, which had been set upon it.

However, the Skelewing Dragon was not to be taken down so easily!

In its rage, it lashed its tail out at the one who dared to tread upon its dignity. Almost 10 m in length, the tail caught Poochie before it could return to the ground.

Bang!

With no way to correct its flight in mid-air, the little fellow could do nothing but watch as a great shadow came whistling towards it. Unable to dodge, it suffered the full force of the Skelewing Dragon’s wrath, and was knocked down to the ground!

Thud!

Watching from a distance, a dozen hearts trembled due to the scene.

All along, everyone had thought of Poochie as cute, clever, nimble, somewhat devious, greedy, and lustful… (Well, these were the opinions held by a certain individual)

To see it suddenly struck down by the Skelewing Dragon’s merciless attack was heartbreaking, especially for Violet Orchid and Snowleaf, whose hearts leaped right out of their throats.

The only one present who did not seem to be showing any concern was the Pet’s ruthless master, Qin Ruo.

With his thorough understanding of Poochie’s physical toughness, he would naturally not break a sweat over a little thing like that. The Skelewing Dragon was essentially a Magic-Type Boss with relatively weak physical attacks. Although it was loud and scary, it could not actually do any real damage to Poochie with that sort of attack.

There were no additional effects, just a few hundred HP lost. Poochie could take it.

There was even less reason for worry as Violet Orchid immediately applied Recovery on Poochie, so Qin Ruo ordered his Pet back into the fray without the slightest regard. While he requested more Frostramparts from Snowleaf behind him, he began to swiftly conjure as many Aquaramparts as he could.

Thoom!

After Poochie hit the ground, the Skelewing Dragon came crashing down as well an instant later, along with the Amethyst Orc.

There was a deafening crash, like that of an airplane landing in the real world.

The earth shook!

Not letting up on its onslaught, the Amethyst Orc leaped back to its feet and charged at the fallen dragon!

This was exactly the kind of opportunity that Qin Ruo had been waiting for.

The Skelewing Dragon was a formidable foe while airborne, and the gap between a Tier 5 Boss and a Tier 5 Miniboss could not be so easily closed with just a few of them. However, if they could somehow keep the Tier 5 Boss on the ground, its combat effectiveness would be tremendously reduced!

Now that they had gained the upper hand, he needed to prevent the dragon from taking flight again, and establish the Twelve Frostramparts Formation.

However, the Skelewing Dragon was more resourceful that Qin Ruo had realized! Although it had been momentarily stunned by the Amethyst Orc’s strength and ferocity, the moment it reached the ground, it brought its wings down in a mighty sweep. An immense wave of fire burst out in all directions!

Chilled Effect canceled!

Skelewing Dragon’s movement speed restored!

Even as the Skelewing Dragon broke free of the Chilled Effect that Qin Ruo had placed upon it, the billowing flames it sent out completely engulfed the White Tiger Shaman, the Amethyst Orc, as well as Qin Ruo and his party, all of them within 30 m of the dragon.

‘Damn!’ Qin Ruo cursed silently. Even though the Skelewing Dragon’s attack was largely blunted against the Elementalists’ dual defenses, the four Aquaramparts he managed to bring out had instantly been blasted away into worthless steam!

Snowleaf had it a little better. Since Summoners did not have any kind of Barrier magic, Snowleaf had remained beyond the reach of the Boss’ attacks, and the Frostramparts she conjured together with the Cryospider were still standing.

Now that this had happened, the Twelve Frostramparts Formation would be delayed, and the golden opportunity created by the combined efforts of the Amethyst Orc, the White Tiger Shaman, as well as Poochie would now go to waste.

At the center of the blazing conflagration, the Skelewing Dragon managed to spread its wings and take to the air once again. Howling with fury and vengeance, it unleashed a torrent of area-attack spells upon Qin Ruo. Poochie was caught in radius of effect as well.

He had screwed up. He never expected a concerted attack by both the Amethyst Orc and Poochie to be so effective, otherwise he would have already prepared the Twelve Frostramparts Formation in advance. Qin Ruo cursed his own failure.

***

There was another burst of flame, but this time, Qin Ruo and the other spellcasters had already retreated to a safe distance beforehand, leaving the White Tiger Shaman and the Amethyst Orc to control the battlefield.

There was no sense in trying to withstand powerful magic like that!

Even with their defensive spells trained to the highest levels of Skill Mastery, and the Resistance bonuses provided by their equipment and Class features, Qin Ruo did not dare linger for so much as half a heartbeat to face the destructive wrath of an enraged Skelewing Dragon.

As he withdrew, he continued to squeeze out another batch of Aquaramparts. At the same time, he calculated whether or not he could repeat the same tactic with the Amethyst Orc and Poochie.

However, even if the same tricks did not work twice on a highly-intelligent Tier 5 Boss, it would be another half a minute before the Skelewing Dragon could bring its Barrier back up. Without the protection of its Barrier, as long as Poochie or the Amethyst Orc could land an attack on it, there would be another knockdown—creating an even better opportunity than before.

The only problem was, there was no way the same plan could work anymore.

In the time that he spent thinking this over, both the White Tiger Shaman and the Amethyst Orc had lost enormous amounts of HP to the blazing tides, which were radiating outwards from the Skelewing Dragon.

Without assistance from Qin Ruo and the other players, the White Tiger Shaman soon lost its Barrier completely. It now had much more difficulty fighting back, suffering a clear disadvantage in direct combat against the Skelewing Dragon. If not for that little bit of healing still being provided by Violet Orchid as a Radiant Priest, it would not have held out for long even with its 10,000 HP.

“This is a serious mess.” At the rear, Subjugator and the other close-combat warriors nodded in agreement.

Although things went well at first, the Skelewing Dragon’s reflexes and cunning proved to be far beyond what they had expected to deal with. If they could not gain control of the situation soon, Qin Ruo’s plan to use the White Tiger Shaman would turn out to be nothing but a waste of a Sealed Mana Core.

“We’ve gotta count on Qin Ruo now—he’s always full of surprises. Even a Tier 5 Elite Boss like the Deadwood Commander was done over by his strategies. This time, we even have the help of a Tier 5 Miniboss—there’s no way we can’t beat a Tier 5 Boss!”

As Subjugator said this, a hand was raised from amongst the assembled players. It was Judge’s. “Great minds think alike.”

With a sudden fondness, the two men clasped hands.

Steel Dude decided to ignore the intimate scene, straight out of “Brokeback Mountain.” Turning away from Qin Ruo and his collection of Aquaramparts, he said, “I suppose we have some kind of plan now… Where’s Fateless?”

The Head-Crushing Machine suddenly noted the absence of the party’s main Bandit.

As soon as he asked, the two Bowmasters nearby, Mad Dog and Bird Hunter, quietly tilted their chins to indicate a tomb at the edge of the battlefield.

“There are some Demon Faction players over there. He’s gone to check them out.”

“Check them out? Check out my balls! I’ve been sitting here with nothing to do, dying of boredom—the two of you spot some Demon Faction players and decide to keep quiet about it?”

Mad Dog and Bird Hunter exchanged looks. How could they tell him that they only noticed it themselves after Fateless had already begun moving towards the enemy players? It was a huge disgrace for a Bowmaster, and not something they were eager to share with everyone. Even with a name like “Fateless”, that Bandit had talents which put them to shame.

“Brother Steel, please don’t forget that Sister Orchid instructed us to protect her, not run around attacking everything we see.”

“That’s right. Exactly.”

Finding a good excuse to fall back on, the two cunning Bowmasters harped on frantically.

Steel Dude’s fist opened and closed several times before he finally decided not to seek out a fight with those Demon Faction players.

“Damn it all. That bastard Tiger Cub… He’d better not let me catch him at a bad time, or else I’ll… I’ll take his head off with one swing!”

Venting his frustrations at the top of his voice, Steel Dude turned his attention back to the battle at hand.

Something else was happening!

Even as it held the upper hand now, the Skelewing Dragon had mercilessly summoned two Necromancers, equivalent in power to Tier 4 Bosses.

Necromancer:

Tier 4 Magic-Type Boss, Magic Attack 240-270… 10,000 HP…

These two “grunts” did not worry the Amethyst Orc and White Tiger Shaman at first. Even the various Elementalists, bringing up their Barrier and Shield spells anew, all had plenty of experience dealing with Tier 4 Bosses. They all pulled back to draw the enemy towards them.

However, they all underestimated the ruthlessness of the Skelewing Dragon!

The instant the Necromancers descended upon the battlefield, they both raised their Barriers!

This was immediately followed by a litany of dark incantations, as they each cast their spells beneath the shelter of the Skelewing Dragon’s outspread wings. Tendrils of dark energy rose up from all across the graveyard, pouring in towards the two Necromancers and gathering into a black void over each of their heads.

The assembled players stared in shock!

Unbelievable! The accursed Boss was preparing to cast a Tier 5 area-attack spell!