Spells, arrows and giant rocks soar into the sky above my head, sinking into the oncoming battalion and obliterating the middle section that I had softened up. I continue to release more blasts but at a reduced rate due to the drain on the mana. I also notice that several patches of ground under the rest of the ursine battalion immediately in front of us becomes fluid, sandy, icy and covered in vines as the AOE slowing spells take effect.
Dosan: Ratatoskr is going to burst through and widen the hole!
Ifalna: Diamond formation! Go! Get ready for melee impact!
With them properly slowed and with our focused targeting of the remaining ursine directly in our path in the middle of the battalion, they are dropping like flies before even getting to lay a finger on us. With our wedge formation, Ratatoskr is able to ram into the various ursine who didn't go down due to our ranged attacks. Their shields and mighty strength are just not enough to stop such a large and bulky rat.
Parrying, then slicing my way past a couple of disorientated ursine, I had forgotten about the explosions that are now bursting forth every time I nick an enemy. Three ursine disappear from the space they occupied right in front of me as my spells discharge and their health hits a single point. Keeping the momentum up, I throw out a Fire Blast to the enemies in front of our melee to my left, helping them dispatch a couple of hardier tanks as I keep moving.
Glancing back quickly, I see that the two trailing ends of our wedge formation have joined together to provide a solid barrier between the enemy and our squishy ranged. Our formation has almost broken through to the other side of the middle battalion without a single loss on our side. Though we have decimated nearly half of this particular battalion.
As we rush past them, we are only aiming to defeat the ones who will be directly in our marching path. The sides of our diamond formation leave the rest alive, albeit slowed, stunned or snared. Our objective isn't to defeat everyone yet. We don't want to be decreasing their numbers too heavily, since that will make Chief Branko all the more powerful.
Breaking through to the other side, the resistance has been almost non-existent. I guess when they aren't getting healed, while we are, it really makes a difference. So does the damage that we are pushing out in a focused manner. For the first time, I notice that all the ursine are between levels 22 and 26.
No wonder they are dropping like flies. It was more evenly matched when I was a lower level and we were killing the much higher level tainted in the fortress. Now we are just breezing through these guys. I'm sure that the boss will be giving us some trouble, considering how much of a boost he is getting.
We probably could have done this with just our original party of five, but if that were the case, we wouldn't be helping everyone else level quickly.
Now that I have an unobstructed view of the giant ursine stomping his way towards us, I notice that his weapons and armour also increased in size with him. Thankfully, if you could call it that, the boss is using a two-handed hammer and not using a shield.
Getting past a shield that size would suck for a tank, especially one as small as Kazzrak. Taking a gander, I reckon getting hit by that double-headed hammer is probably going to hurt, especially since it is the same size as I am at the moment and likely to get bigger.
Right then, a whole bunch of spells from our casters land on or in front of the boss, slowing him down a little bit at a time. He must be fairly resistant to crowd control now that he is so massive, since the different spells only last for seconds at most. The only ones that look like they are working are the slowing effects.
Raining on the boss's parade, Grace keeps a low orbit of the battle, but makes sure she is out of the range of their attacks, most especially the boss. As she is flying around, she periodically switches between sending several Twilight Fire Blasts at the boss and sending streams of Healing Flames into our melee and Kazzrak.
When he is almost upon us, Chief Branko makes the ground tremble as he roars at us in challenge and raises his hammer to strike.
Dosan: My, what big teeth you have!
Kazzrak: Ha, least your pasty white ass isn't his first port of call.
Ifalna: I have a sneaking suspicion that you aren’t going to want to be the one that he cleans his teeth with.
Sybaal: Maybe stay away from the chompers, eh? Just in case you didn't see how big they are.
Kazzrak: Well, first off, I need to dodge his giant bloody anvil of a hammer; then we'll see how close I can get to his pearly whites. I don't fancy myself as a toothbrush.
Ifalna: Everyone! Make a V formation around the boss! Ezekial, where are you?
Ezekial: I am almost about to plough into the backs of these unsuspecting ursine. Really, these guys need to look around more because they are tunnel visioning after you guys something chronic.
Ratatoskr and I scoot around to either side of the boss and hold the line here. All of the melee behind us take up defensive positions against the rest of the ursine so that our healers, ranged DPS and Kazzrak are safe till Ezekial and his melee arrive to help completely surround the boss. We want to manoeuvre the ursine melee away and separate them from their chief so that he is in the middle and we are preventing his allies from entering our circle of death.
Our job is now to not defeat any more ursine till we down the boss.
Thankfully none of the ursine want to tangle with the legs of Chief Branko, so they are staying well out of range of his giant hammer. This means that I don't really need to worry about them trying to flank me from the inside, as I stay right on the edge of the boss's range.
Shouting out a taunt, Chief Branko slams the hammer into the ground, aiming for Kazzrak, who dodges off to the right unscathed. Jumping quickly on top of the hammer’s handle, he then dashes up over the boss's guard and Slams his shield right into his sensitive nose.
Kazzrak is the epitome of a bloody crazy dwarf, if you ask me. However, I can't say I haven't done similar in the past. So I can't fault him all that much.
Reeling back from the blow, Chief Branko is stunned for a few seconds. It's enough for Kazzrak to keep slicing him up and gain the much-needed aggro for later, when I and all the rest of the DPS start putting the hurt on. Unfortunately, he can't reach the boss's eyes and can only sink his axe into the meat of his nose.
Parrying a couple of blows from the two warriors directly in front of me, they unfortunately disappear as the spells in my swords trigger and ignite the area around them.
Damn.
Trying not to defeat these guys is proving to be much more difficult than taking them out. It means that I need to change to Frost Swords on both weapons, so at least they will be slowed a little when I parry them. I duck and weave, parrying when necessary to keep them from moving forward.
It's so damn hard to stop myself from riposting when halting their attacks. All my training wants me to finish them and move on, but we all know what will happen if that happens. It's okay though, this isn't the first time I have had to keep adds alive while we down the boss, and it probably won't be the last.
Taking a look back, I see that Kazzrak is doing his dodge tank thing and occasionally deliberately using his shield to redirect himself in mid-air by slamming it against the hammer as it’s coming for him. Some of the attacks are also blunted by his shield, but always on an angle away from him, as this bleeds away the damage he would have taken, even with the shield up.
He doesn't take any blows head-on, as that would just be dumb with a boss this size.
Before I can parry the next strike from the two ursine in front of me, they disappear, and suddenly Ezekial is standing right behind them, dual daggers in his outstretched hands. A V formation of felorian melee tanks and DPS are already pushing the ursine that are still behind the boss to either side as they force them backwards.
The entire space behind the boss is now free and clear, and I can see the rest of our felorian ranged and healers move up into position to start putting the hurt on the boss. That's a whole lot of DPS, basica
lly three and a half battalions.
Ezekial: What up, dude? You having trouble with these weaklings?
Sybaal: Yeah, I'm having trouble not removing them from play. You took your time.
Ezekial: Oh, right, haha. I've just been going on a killing spree clearing the way for the felorian melee. Whoops.
Ifalna: Idiot. Alright, everyone, no more melee deaths. Period.
Dosan: Yeah, Ezekial, if I'm not allowed to let my minions kill all these guys, then you aren't either.
Ifalna: All melee, your job is to now push the ursine back and try to box them into a circle. If we can just hold them still till the boss is defeated, he won't get any stronger.
Han: On it. All melee DPS and tanks, push the enemy back on my mark. Ready, mark!
The line of ursine begins to steadily be shoved further away from the boss. This way we will have more room for our ranged attackers to spread out in a semicircle behind him, and they won’t be in harm’s way then. It also has the added benefit of keeping everyone occupied.
Our melee is keeping the ursine away from our more vulnerable classes, while our original healers are now less strained trying to keep everyone up to full health. All the ranged DPS are now spreading out behind the boss for some good old smack-the-bear time.
Ifalna: All ranged DPS, start attacking the boss and keep up any slowing abilities you have when you can. Use all cool down spells in ten seconds, and then go nuts with burst damage.
Stepping back out of the melee line after kicking an ursine in her unarmoured knee with the heel of my boot, the felorians move together to fill my empty slot.
Now I get to have some fun myself. I turn to see the boss has grown again from the felorians defeating a large number of melee when they joined up with us.
Looking up and up and up at the boss, this must be what the drunk shrimps in real life feel like when Ifalna walks over to them to kick them out. No wonder they squeak. The chief is now literally twenty-four feet tall. He could probably climb over the fortress walls with no worries now.
Looking back down to see Kazzrak dodging with a tuck and roll, he then springs up under the boss's guard to slice into the gaps between his armour plating. At least there is one positive to him being so big, we can now get between the large plates a lot easier.
Sprinting behind Chief Branko while rebuffing my swords with the awesome Fire Blast Sword spell, I sink in as many Frost Spears as I can cast as I run around to his back. The other ranged DPS from our initial raid group are following behind me. Knax, Gene and the other mages are all using Frost Spear as well, which slows the boss in all aspects by 25%. Even though it only lasts a few seconds, we are keeping up a constant stream.
Knax is certainly keeping up with the rest of the raid in terms of DPS. With everything going on, I haven't had much time with him recently. I'll have to remedy that soon. The determined look on his face makes me smile before I pull my attention back to the boss.
Once the debuff is on the boss, we start to use other spells as well, rotating them so that Chief Branko is always slowed. The other classes must be doing similar things, as his movement gets even slower.
Ifalna: Mark of Vengeance is on the boss! Burst now!
Running up to the back of Chief Branko's legs while casting multiple Fire Blasts into the back of one of his knees, I bring both swords up and pop my cool downs just before I strike. The purple flames of my swords explode from the impact, causing his leg to crumple a bit before he catches himself and locks it back up again.
When a method is as tried and true as locking an enemy in place through disabling one or more of their legs, it is good practise to keep utilising the method. I continue to slash my swords into the same spot, while only occasionally casting another Fire Blast, seeing as my mana is hovering around 20 percent.
Various colours across the entire spectrum are exploding, splashing or sinking into the boss as everyone is throwing everything they have into downing this guy. Chief Branko looks like a really angry porcupine with the massive amounts of arrows sticking out of his back.
With all this damage being done to Chief Branko, he still has 60 percent health left. Well, it was at 90 percent before the burst, so it really goes to show just how much damage we are doing right now. I don't think anything would be able to stand up to this much damage for very long.
In three minutes, we have him down to 15 percent, at which point I can hear Dosan's distinctive laugh.
Dosan: Well, that's interesting! Bonding an enemy isn't allowed in duels, so there is no point in stopping for me.
Ezekial: You just tried to bond the chief of the ursine, didn't you?
Dosan: Uh, nope. The spell is inactive on my hot bar, and I was just remarking about it.
Kazzrak: At the 15 percent mark. Yeah, right, pull the other leg, mate.
Ifalna: Phrasing! Ha! Been a while, guys…
Dosan: Kazzrak! We are in public company! How could you say such things?!
Sybaal: Focus, people, we are nearly there.
Ifalna: Haha, okay. All DPS, my Mark of Vengeance is off cool down, popping it now!
All of a sudden, the ground shakes with an almighty bang, and everyone within a twenty-yard radius of the boss is stunned and can't move for another twenty seconds.
Bloody hell, of course he would have another mechanic we didn't know about. We forgot about the most obvious part of boss battles. They always have health- or time-specific mechanics. I think this is going to suck a bit more than we planned for.
A deep mirthful growling fills the air. “Mwahaha, you unlocked my special ability. Now I don't have to keep attacking just this single, annoying little dwarf anymore.”
Crap, his threat meter must have reset with that move. Oh shit. With Kazzrak just standing there, unable to move, Chief Branko swings around and charges at the ranged DPS.
In the process, the same knee I have been laying into smacks me in the chest with explosive pain that feels like I’ve just been hit by a car. Ugh, I have no idea how Kazzrak keeps taking that kind of punishment.
I'm flung backwards, sprawling on my ass with 10 percent health left. Thankfully Ifalna's barrier was on me. I can't get hit by this guy, not if his knee whacked me for six. His hammer will one-shot me for sure.
Doubling over in pain, it fades a moment later when soothing warmth heals me back to full health. The boss's laughter is all I can hear now that everything is coming back into focus, though I’m still stunned.
Opening my eyes now that I am not in excruciating pain, I see that Chief Branko has virtually swept an entire battalion of our DPS away in the few seconds I've been down. This is not good.
Ifalna: We need another tank to take the boss! NOW!
Swinging his hammer back on the upswing, Chief Branko starts to bring it down again on another section of DPS.
Another roar fills the air and I'm momentarily freaked out as I see another ursine almost twelve feet tall rush past me where I'm still stunned on the ground. The pieces click into place and I realise his name tag is friendly and it's actually Halvard.
I almost crapped myself thinking we had a second boss to fight. ’Cause I have to say I've been surprised with a second boss before and it's not fun.
Really, really not fun.
Before Halvard can make it to his father, the chief cleaves another battalion away with his hammer, and I see Halvard literally grow to sixteen feet tall immediately afterwards.
My brain immediately registers that having to fight both of these guys in a raid would only work if they were downed first, before they became powerful. Because I would seriously not want to be on the bad side of both of these guys. Which, if I think about it, could have very well been what might have happened if things didn't pan out the way they did.
Revelations, revelations.
With his increased size and even though he isn't as large as his father, Halvard leaps forward with his own hammer in a massive haymaker. The hammer impacts against the side of Chief Branko's head and actua
lly sends him tumbling end over end from the expelled inertia.
Here is where the laws of gravity and force really help us out, even as the shock wave makes everyone's legs tremble.
Grace continues to send Fire Blasts down onto the boss, and they keep him almost permanently on fire from their napalm effects.
Roaring in battle lust and swinging again on a downwards stroke, Halvard's hammer is deflected from the path it was on and crushes into his father's shoulder instead. Both attacks took off a good three percent health each, so now he is sitting on seven percent as the ranged DPS who are left keep up the good work and sink whatever they have into the boss.
When this stun wears off in a couple of seconds, there is no way I want to get in the middle of a father-son dust-up. Not while giant hammers are involved. I'll play it safe and stick to being a ranged mage for a bit, I think.
When titans are playing, a good rule of thumb is to just let them play.
Chief Branko grabs hold of Halvard’s hammer with one hand and pulls him off balance as he gets up, sending Halvard down to one knee. Taking his own hammer one handed, he slams it into the ground and causes another shock wave to be sent out, stunning everyone again in a twenty-yard radius. All the ranged DPS and some of the healers are now stunned, along with Halvard.
Dream Stream Reality: Publisher's Pack Books 1-2: (A LitRPG Adventure) Page 37
