“A nuke of pure devastation,” Almond grinned. “But to land it effectively, the boss needs to be immobilized. The previous Heroic Boss, Kizalor, could easily dodge, reposition, or counter with a defensive skill within the one-second delay this attack requires. It’s safe to assume this boss will be just as capable, if not more, so I can’t afford to waste it carelessly because we’d only have one chance. I can’t use this attack again in a short time even if I have all recovery items in the world.”
Everyone was surprised. They didn’t know Almond had such a skill.
“Is that attack a new effect of your spirit explosion? I guess it must have upgraded from the level-up boon skill option,” Lily said.
“Yep. So let’s start brainstorming with a bit of practice, “Almond smiled as he summoned his current strongest spirit wraith—Crimson Skylord Galvaren.
“I can give my all and try to freeze the boss,” Maya said. “But for that to work on a Heroic boss with such high stats, I’d need to weave a good move.”
“Same,” Natalia nodded. “I can do two things. I can use my specialized class’s third skill, which has a powerful stun effect. I can also use Action Mirage to copy Maya’s skill of freezing, but my skill is pretty good, I think.”
“Alright. And Maya, Nyssara will join you in your attack to boost its freezing power,” Almond nodded as he stood up. “Let’s work on this.”
Turning to Galvaren, he said, “Galvaren, you will fight these two. Don’t hold back, but don’t kill them.”
Galvaren grinned at Maya and Natalia as he conjured his broken, heavy sword. “Bring it on, ladies.”
Maya and Natalia glanced at each other before jumping back several meters away, activating Fortification and Body Enfold.
Maya also used Weapon Enfold as she conjured her Hailspring Revolvers and empowered both guns.
Galvaren jumped with a fiery aura, his wings blazing.
Maya’s bullets shot at him, but Galvaren used Abyssal Sky Rend (A), slashing his broken sword that created a molten black obsidian slash, destroying her bullets and promptly using another skill—Crimson Dive Bomb (S) towards Maya.
‘Shit!’ Maya canceled her another attack, and as her circlet of Starfrost wisp shone.
Natalia used her third specialized class skill—Celestial Songstress, as all four of her instruments glowed and buzzed, unleashing waves of sounds based on Natalia’s desired frequency as it affected the stun’s effectiveness.
Galvaren’s dive bomb shattered Maya, but only her icy afterimage while she appeared ten meters away. The epic item’s effect saved her from that attack, or she would’ve been terribly injured.
Meanwhile, the moment after Galvaren dive-bombed, Natalia’s skill struck him.
Galvaren didn’t have a defensive skill, but he tried to destroy the waves of Celestial Songstress, albeit he failed as the waves continued and stunned him as these waves had the attribute of passing through enhanced in them. They were sound-based and required a proper defense to block.
Maya took this chance as she went into the motion of pulling string while her Aquafrost bow materialized starting from the string.
*Swoosh!*
The bow had the highest freezing chance, and she gave it her all, consuming 70% of her maximum Mana to bolster it with her ice elemental mastery.
Galvaren swung his sword to strike the arrow, but it still exploded and burst into a thick, freezing mist that froze him.
But Galvaren’s body burst out in flames just half a second later as he took to the skies and roared. “I’m just getting started, ladies!”
Almond injected Spirit Syringes into both Natalia and Maya, recovering them so they could continue.
Maya and Natalia were surprised as their stats also increased by 20%, though the notification said that it was only for a minute. They continued fighting as Galvaren was very strong.
“I have a stun-like skill, but it won’t work on a floor boss. It’s a melee-type one where I can enchant my shield and bash into the opponent’s head to give a concussion and stun,” Marcus said.
“Your job is to defend and buff, Marcus. Keep your mana for that instead of attacks.”
“Gotcha.”
“I’ll summon my Dreadspire Elementals,” Lily said while watching Maya and Natalia duking it out with Galvaren. “They are pure elementals and will debuff the boss. After summoning them, I’ll work on the Voidless Sunderer so you can nail your attacks at the highest potency.”
“Good,” Almond nodded.
“Brother Almond, you also slashed off Kizalore’s arms like a knife chopping through butter, so technically, you can also disable the boss, right?” Marcus asked as he blinked curiously.
“Yes, but I want the number one spot in the leaderboard for us,” Almond grinned as his eyes glinted. “So we will work towards finishing off the boss in one shot, one combo. No need to let the boss access his phase two.”
Marcus was dumbfounded, “We can do that?”
Lily raised her eyebrows as she guessed something since she knew about Almond’s legendary class skills and his third skill of the class that he had yet to use.
“We will do that,” Almond nodded. “That’s why I want Maya and Natalia to up their game and create a solid control-type attack combo that can immobilize the boss for at least one second.”
“Alright, stop,” Almond shouted as clapped loudly.
“You two. Sit down in meditation and perceive your skill room. Maya, you check out your strongest freezing skill’s skill rune and fiddle with it to increase freezing power. You should also learn how to utilize the freezing attribute of your ice element more so you can empower the freeze. Use the water element’s property to bolster the freeze. I’m sure you’ll come up with something since you have mastery over both elements.”
“Natalia, your skill is more powerful because it’s hard to block, and it stuns the body and mind both with those chaotic sound frequencies. The problem is that your skill is wider. Make it more compact and targetted so the stun and overall effectiveness is enhanced.”
“Arigatou, sensei!” Natalia nodded as she cupped her fist and sat down, causing Marcus to laugh and others to smile.
Maya also nodded and sat down in meditation.
“Almond, I’ll spar with Galvaren. Recovery him, please,” Lily said, appearing eager and filled with anticipation. “You are going to fill up the syringes, anyway, right?”
“Bwahaha, I like that spirit, young lady.” Galvaren laughed, eager to fight as well.
“Why does she usually know what you’re about to do?” Marcus scratched his head.
“Because he is my darling,” Lily said as she winked at Almond.
Almond chuckled and recovered Galvaren. He then summoned Ashkar, Benedict, Nyssara, and Sylvia.
“You four, attack Lily with your long-range attacks, and Marcus, your job is to deflect and defend against these attacks to protect her. You have higher stats than these four, so exercise your body to its full extent and refine your combat style in a way that allows you to defend against attacks properly and quickly.”
“Aye, aye, captain. This sounds super fun!”
“We will waste no more than an hour here, so do your training with full focus.”
As everyone began their training in this empty hall, Almond went down to fill up his spirit syringes.
He returned shortly after sucking several monsters in one of the 29th floor’s sections, filling up his five spirit syringe.