The fierce fight continued. Soar began to frequently use her blinding attack. Combining it with her other skills she put enormous pressure on the players. Soon, Silver Blade's stance was broken and Radiant Shield quickly followed.
Flames burned fiercely, taking away a copious amount of HP. Balm was forced to use her skills on cooldown, yet she was unable to keep up.
Everyone could see that one of the party members would die soon. Thus, they could only increase their vigilance. The party stopped attempting to go for some greedy hits when the boss was about to use a skill.
Consequently, this slowed down their damage output. And additionally, this also increased the duration of Soar's self-protecting skill.
The party struggled for a while before the blinded Quickstep was hit with a ball of flames. Despite her great performance earlier she was now the first to return to the dungeon entrance.
The party's damage decreased again. Silent Acacia gritted his teeth, attacking with all his skills as soon as they came off cooldown.
It seemed as if Soar was angered. She used her frenzied skill to freely attack the battlefield, focusing on Silent Acacia.
Under her continuous attacks the hunter quickly ran out of stance. A glint flashed through Soar's eyes. She stabbed forward with her beak, emptying the hunter's HP bar.
The rest of the party was disheartened. This was Silent Acacia's second death which meant he had no revive left. Even if the party won the fight, they would be missing two sources of damage during the subsequent fights.
Thus, the friends discussed briefly before deciding to restart the dungeon.
With a thought from Silver Blade the relevant option appeared. After everyone accepted, they were directly sent back to the entrance.
The party gathered in the storage room, discussing the process. They tried to come up with ways to defend against Soar's blinding skill. But since even Liam had no way to prevent it, the others could only make baseless guesses.
Eventually they came to the conclusion that they needed to get used to fighting blind. Even if they couldn't cause big damage, they had to be able to dodge.
After the brief discussion the party sstarted the next run. No one was discouraged. Only Watchful Eye couldn't keep his characteristic neutral expression as he recalled his role during the first boss fight.
When the party faced the hammer guardian again, the bodyguard had to climb down into the narrow shaft. He did so without complaining but the reluctance could be read on his face.
Thanks to Watchful Eye's sacrifice, however, the party managed to defeat the boss without casualties. This time they left the room through the right door which led them to a straight corridor without enemies.
"Do you think this will be like in normal mode?", asked Cyclone while strolling along the corridor.
"What exactly?", inquired Silver Blade.
"That we don't have to repeat the puzzle."
Silent Acacia nodded as if to manifest his wish:
"Definitely!"
While talking the party reached the next door.
"But if that's the case, another fight should we waiting for us right behind the... door."
Right as Cyclone's words fell, Silver Blade pushed open the door. Red light flickered as an alarm rang in everyone's ears.
The party members readied themselves as they entered the next room. The door shut behind them. Three golems jumped down from a place outside the party's vision.
Everyone's expressions turned stern as the difficulty of the upcoming fight was still fresh in their minds. But they could only face it courageously.
A violent battle ensued. Between dodging crossbow bolts and the hammer golem's skills, no one could remain undamaged. But luckily the damage spread across the party surprisingly evenly. This made it easier for Balm to heal everyone with her AOE spells.
Thus, the party managed to easily make it through the fight. Almost deceptively so.
Everyone felt elated when the three golems ceased to move. The friends high-fived and praised each other before moving on.
A cable car waited for them. It directly brought them to platform number 3, skipping the entire puzzle. Silent Acacia felt deeply thankful towards C.
Unfortunately, the upcoming battle in the weapon workshop still had to be fought. The party repeated their earlier tactics and made it through.
After a short break to recover everyone gathered in front of the door towards the smithy. Their bodies were tense from anticipating the upcoming difficult fight.
But there was no escape. They entered the smithy, waking up the dark basilisk.
This time the friends tried a different tactic. They scattered through the room, sticking close to the wall or hiding behind anvils in an attempt to dodge Soar's blinding skill.
But when the dark wave washed over the room it didn't spare anyone.
The party could only fight honestly. They faced the same difficulties as before, struggling to escape the boss's skills.
But learning from the first try the party didn't attack greedily, instead staying vigilant and moving at the first signs of retaliation.
Quickstep repeated her series of attacks against the boss. With [Aspect of the Storm] she circled Soar freely dodging wings and claws and landing quick blows with her swords.
Ultimately this was only a drop in the ocean though. Soar still had a lot of her blue bar left. The rest of the party remained vigilant and managed to escape mostly unscathed before Soar's skill ran out.
"Damn blind again!"
Cyclone cursed but she was already prepared. Swinging her wand, she unleashed [Raining Thunder]. Lightning gathered below the ceiling. Affecting a large area, it was easier to hit the boss.
The crackling of lightning was deafening since everyone was focused on their ears instead of their eyes. A violent bolt flashed, striking Soar's back.
The boss shook her body letting out a pained cry, clearly revealing her position. The friends didn't hold back and attacked fearlessly.
When the boss made her next move, she attacked Silver Blade with her beak who didn't manage to block. The tank felt a piercing force slam into her chest causing her to tumble backwards.
A moment later the party finally regained their vision. When Liam laid eyes on the boss he instantly shouted loudly:
"She's paralysed! Attack!"
This was a rare opportunity. Throughout the two fights this was only the second time Soar got paralyzed by Cyclone's passive.
The friends let go off all caution, throwing all their abilities at the enemy while Bloody Edge used his ultimate skill.
In a short time, the boss lost multiple thousands of HP.
"Raaa! Die! Die!"
Soar let out a strange cry. She spread her wings wide, her menacing gaze sending shivers down everyone's spines.
Mana surged towards the boss. Her eyes gradually turned black as did her feathers. An extremely oppressive pressure spread.
"Expert!"
"On it!"
Finally, Liam's preparation came into play. He took out a jade green feather from his inventory. A mystical sheen played around it as mana spontaneously condensed to create green sparks.
With a thought Liam activated the basilisk king's feather's effect to boost a basilisk's ability.
A bright light erupted and shone on Soar. Immediately the dark basilisk began to struggle.
When Liam first explained the effect of the king's feather to the party, they didn't understand why he would want to strengthen the boss.
Only after they learned that the dark magic erupting from the boss was an external force trying to control the basilisk did they understand.
With the help of the feather's might Soar struggled against the dark magic. Slowly the sinister magic was pushed back. Her eyes returned to normal.
After a few moments the boss slumped to the ground looking exhausted. Unfortunately, the initial control was still in place. The dark basilisk's hostility didn't fade. But Liam's actions prevented the boss from entering a stronger state.
Seeing Soar like this the party advanced bravely. But before they could attack the boss suddenly recovered her energy. She stomped her claw and blinded the players.
Following this Soar directly spewed flames again. The friends were unprepared, suffering greatly. Bloody Edge and Watchful Eye were directly taken out while Radiant Shield lost a huge amount of HP.
A shock ran through the party. When their vision recovered, they realized that Soar's feathers were shining in a red light. The boss had entered berserk mode!
At this point Soar used her skills even more frequently. The players were forced to spend almost the entire rest of the fight in darkness. When they finally managed to strike down the basilisk only Liam, Silver Blade, Silent Acacia, Balm, and Fortune were left.
"What a... strong enemy...", said Fortune between deep breaths. A moment later she had recovered enough to make a few comments for her viewers.
The rest of the friends spent a few seconds of silence. Only when the door opened, and the revived players came in did the scene turn lively again.
Cyclone was at the front, sprinting towards the basilisk. She anxiously looted the boss, praying for a set item for herself.