His own Perception 200 + Harvested 500 + 175 from the Epic-rank set he wore. This set was Perception-based, as it was the highest numbered stat among other stats in four items’ perks.
Eclipsed Horizon Set was a space-attributed set, and even though not all of its effects warranted their uses, the passive set effects of all four items—Spatial Awareness, Spatial Momentum, Horizon Reach, and Eclipsed Space boosted his use of the techniques of his Espada Ad Grimveil, making it perfect for him.
Phase 1 of his Unveiled Catastrophe was ready, as a dreadful black sphere of Void Veil appeared, encompassing all 100 Voidbound Rifts and power of space he severed so far with other techniques.
The Arcane Storm darkened as everyone observed what was happening inside with their Focus Fields.
Even though Ervagus’ body parts were severed into six pieces, his hands holding the blades were deflecting incoming attacks and protecting his body.
But he still lost 7.4% of his vitality before he eventually pieced his body together, connecting them with shadow energy, and he began spinning.
And he spun fast.
Shadowy black blades began unleashing from the spinning Ervagus, striking everyone and destroying the Arcane Storm’s flow as well.
Since the blades also pierced through the storm, everyone had to dodge them in case a few came their way.
Starlight Beast, Frank, and Viperfiend died, while Galvaren, Ashkar, and Benedict began their round two.
Ashkar roared in a wrathful manner as his horse Agramon died, boosting his stats by 50%.
Benedict revived as a black fallen angel appeared, holding a golden sword with black spots.
Galvaren transformed the field around him as his stats were boosted by 100%, going on a rampage as an ethereal field of a destroyed kingdom appeared around him, covering a 200-meter radius of the area.
But Ervagus was just as dangerous, if not more, as he appeared more like an abomination with his body parts threaded with black energy.
Benedict lost his control over the shadow as Ervagus wrestled it away and then…large black slashes formed around Ervgagus, striking Galvaren, Benedict and his fallen angel, and Ashkar, one-shotting them.
But thanks to their efforts, the team was prepared!
Almond knew they would die soon, so he also entered phase two as the Void Veil transformed, and overlapped his sword this time instead of creating a blade itself, looking more refined with his higher control, thanks to the set and the boosted perception, but mainly thanks to the Epic set he wore.
Now everyone was waiting to see who would Ervagus target with his shadow drifting.
Ervgus vanished from the storm and everyone was fully focused in their Focus Field.
But something crazy happened. Ervagus appeared, but…not just one Ervagus, not two.
Instead, an Ervagus appeared behind each one of them!
Everyone was shocked and terrified.
All except for Almond because he knew not all of them were true Ervagus.
He sensed the real one, who appeared behind himself!
‘Defend Maya! And Maya, you attack the one behind me! Freeze!’ Almond relayed this message only to Maya, Eliara, and Noah. The latter two because they were right beside Maya at the moment.
Eliara and Noah used their combo defense. Eliara conjured a metal bunker around them with a vertical window for Maya to shoot the arrow in front of her while Noah enchanted the bunker further.
Kayla dodged the strike because she went to parry the attack for Natalia with her skill in her Griffon form. Kira and Amir protected Lily as Kira used the Radiant Fortress of Radiant Grimlord Set as Lily was charging her attack.
Amir and Lily were struck by attacks and got injured, but not as high with the items they wore, and because the true Ervagus didn’t attack them.
Sylvia quickly went to tend to their injuries before they got worse.
Marcus defended himself, Jemma, and Talia as he was near them, using his defensive skill, Geostar Dome, and using his set’s effects with the remaining Mana, consuming it all.
Meanwhile, the true Ervagus who appeared right behind Almond intended to cut Almond into pieces because Ervagus sensed that Almond was the most threatening at the moment.
But that was Ervagus’ first mistake…and also last. It was the best decision on his part, but also the worst.
But Lily, with her High-tier Epic rank set of darkness attributed that Almond crafted, appeared right behind the true Ervagus from his own shadows she had also sensed the true one thanks to her S-rank Darkness Elemental Mastery.
She could practically see which one had the highest essence of darkness and targeted it.
Appearing behind Ervagus, she struck him with her full-powered Voidless Sunderer.
Almond’s lips stretched a grin, ‘Wonderful, babe.’
He displaced the space around himself, instantly facing Ervagus instead of turning around physically as it would waste time, even if it was in milliseconds.
Phase 2! Void Catastrophic Strike.
*BOOOM!*
Right as Almond had used that attack, he also sent Lily away since she could get hurt and also released the control he had over the space struck to Ervagus’ body pieces, making him whole again purposely.
Thanks to Lily drastically reducing Ervagus’ defense and that darkness shroud that seemed to have given him defense, Almond’s Void Catastrophic Strike took a whopping 68% of Ervagus’ vitality!
The terrifying void blade intended to destroy Ervagus completely, but Ervagus still managed to move and save himself. Almond had slashed vertically this time, intending to split him into two and finish him off with a fatal positioned attack, but that didn’t work as Ervagus dodged at the last moment. Ervagus wanted to dodge the entire body, but he couldn’t do that fast enough.
However, the damage done was already insane as the lower half of his body horizontally had vanished!
And for the next part, Maya and Natalia were both ready!
As well as Xavier who couldn’t do anything until now. He only had one armor he got from Almond, and it had a solid one-target defensive effect of completely nullifying an attack, so he was safe and ready to unleash an attack.
Xavier’s attack came first as it was pure light-type, fastest. He stabbed his rapier and it released a blinding white-golden light, consuming all of his Mana. This attack was offensive and debuff type both, as people struck by it would only see complete brightness in their vision and other senses.
*Swoosh!*
Natalia’s stun came second as it was the second fastest. The sound ring jolted Ervagus as he was stunned. He couldn’t enter Phase 2 Boss as it was interrupted and the Vitality he was healing also stopped.
Almond placed the Spirit Nuke right above Ervagus’ head while his eyes glinted, ”The fucker was healing? But this bit won’t help.’
Maya’s arrow came whistling with a boom right as Almond placed the spirit nuke, freezing Ervagus completely while he was stunned.
One second passed by.
*BOOOOOOM!*
Absolute cinema nuke.
[Congratulations. Your party has successfully defeated the fourth-floor Heroic Challenge boss—Shrouded Blades Ervagus.]
[Along with the challenge completion reward, an additional reward is in the process of generating based on the performance and contribution of the party members.]
[You have defeated Shourded Blades Ervagus in 37 seconds. Your party—Grim Breakers, has placed 1st rank in the Grimworld Heroic Challenge Leaderboard – Heroic Spirit Floor 4 Section.]
“It’s o-ver?” Jemma uttered, adrenaline rush still present in her.
Marcus groaned and sat down. He glanced at the flame bird and cursed, “Useless shit. How can it defend if it can’t react to Ervagus’ speed.”
Eliara removed the bunker, as she, Natalia, and Noah emerged, red-faced and with messed up expressions due to a high adrenaline rush.
Everyone was in a high adrenaline rush. Their heartbeats were gradually coming down, but the speed had peaked when everyone sensed multiple Ervagus’, one appearing behind each of them, and how they fought for their lives by giving their everything.
Sylvia also heaved a sigh of relief and reported to Almond, ‘Master, if the fight had lasted longer, Amir would’ve probably died. The clones most likely had darkness poisonous attributes in their attacks even if they were not powerful since my healing was prevented and the dark power was destroying Amir’s organs.’
‘Is he okay?’
‘Yeah, completely okay now that Ervagus is gone. My healings are working.’
‘Good job, Sylvia.’
“Everyone, gather up in the middle! It’s time to rest,” Almond said as he sat down, his brain already buzzing and aching.
He had maintained control of his Espada Ad Grimveil longer and used the techniques more times in this fight than the previous Heroic Bosses, so the stress on his mind was also more intense.
“I was completely useless,” Talia muttered as she walked alongside Jemma towards Almond.
“Like I was any useful,” Xavier sighed.
Jemma weakly smiled as she heard them, “It was the same for me.”
“But you had a role to play at least,” Talia rolled her eyes.
“Don’t beat over it too much,” Marcus casually said as he arrived nearby. “Even if you attacked, it wouldn’t hurt the boss much. Talia’s job was to buff Almond’s action speed, and she did it at the start. If it wasn’t for that, Almond would have lost more than just an arm during that clash.”
Natalia and Kayla caught up to them from behind before Natalia said, “Yeah, this boss was freaky. We didn’t expect it would be an assassin before we entered this hall anyway.”
Lily walked from the south since Almond had teleported her there and joined the group as she said “That’s right. Against an assassin who teleports like that and attacks individually, it’s hard to coordinate individual attacks all at once. Arcane Storm worked, but we couldn’t risk going inside as it was the stage for Almond’s summons, and we got plenty of time to prepare and recover with potions thanks to them.”
“True,” Noah muttered as he, Eliara, and Maya arrived from the north and everyone walked towards Almond who was lying on the ground several meters away.
“Almond’s summons did that job, but what’s with his crazy skills…”
“Yeah, those were insane,” Talia nodded as she looked at Almond.
“Without Almond, this would be impossible,” Kira arrived with Sylvia as she said with a wry smile. Amir was carried by Sylvia’s vines since he was unconscious.
“Is he fine?” Kayla asked in concern as she saw Amir’s pale face.
“Yeah, he is fine. He’s just recovering,” Sylvia nodded.
“I am getting better already,” Eliara blinked as she turned to Sylvia. “It’s your power.”
“Yes,” Sylvia smiled.
Everyone was indeed calming down as their minor injuries were getting healed along with their Mana.
As the party gathered at Almond’s location, he got up while rubbing his temples, “I’m going to rest. You all set up the camps and stuff. My mind’s buzzing with the heavy control I exerted.”
Saying that, he took out the magic tent as it expanded and he entered inside before calmly lying on the bed.