Chapter 41 Blessing or Curse? Definitely A Blessing!
As more power flowed into Commander Ekquilore, his body began to slowly increase until he was 2 meters taller. A thin and transparent chain started to appear around his body as if it were going to suppress the sudden surge in power.
It was the «Chains of Mazi» activating, however, Commander Ekquilore's power stopped growing just before the effects of it rendered him as a greater threat, and so the transparent chains forming around him vanished.
During that period of time, Izroth felt the «Boundary Sealing Sphere» within his inventory grow restless and slightly vibrate as if something were disturbing it. It was as though the item was trying to force its way out of his inventory.
"Mortals, relinquish the «Boundary Sealing Sphere» so that you may die a quick and painless death, free from an eternity of suffering" Commander Ekquilore looked even more intimidating than before, but the party obviously would not listen to the words of a monster. Even more so when their only option was death!
Izroth still had around 11 seconds remaining on his «Flickering Steps». His afterimages were constantly flickering all over the hallway as he was observing the changes that happened to Commander Ekquilore.
The strange thing was that after Commander Ekquilore entered into the second stage, his stats and skills had no major changes whatsoever. The only notable difference was its increase in height and size, as well as, the stronger aura it released from its body. There was also a «???» at the bottom of its skill list.
"It can't be that simple..." Izroth thought to himself as he dashed forward continuing his assault on Commander Ekquilore. He was confident that as long as he was not the target of that «Demonic Suppression» skill, there would be no way to touch him during his current state.
But, he was already careless once this fight and would not let it happen again. So he was still on guard against that unknown «???» skill Commander Ekquilore gained from its second stage. Izroth began to gather energy onto his right index fingertip aiming for the back area of this giant Shadahi. He was going to use «Fissuring Point» to pierce through Commander Ekquilore's defenses.
The way Izroth moved when he used «Fissuring Point» was a bit strange. It was almost like when he was back in «Opal Town» and first learned the «First Baneful Sword: Destruction» skill. It was as though he were using specific motions to practice something...
After his battle in «Dungeon: Goblin's Paradise», Izroth discovered the best way to learn new skills was through actual combat. It had taken him a bit more than an hour to learn three C-Ranked skills while practicing it normally, however, it only took a single moment in battle to learn «Phantom Strike». With this in mind, he decided to test out his theory with this battle.
Commander Ekquilore swung his large fist downward at Halls who managed to grab ahold of the aggro. Luckily, the threat level seemed to reset itself when the boss entered its second stage and Halls had the opportunity to lock the aggro onto himself. This time, he would be ready for its «Demonic Press» attack.
Izroth's damage made it extremely challenging for Halls to keep his threat level high enough. However, he found the situation to be a good learning experience overall. If he could maintain aggro with the amount of damage Izroth was dealing, then he should have no trouble doing so with anyone else.
«136 Damage» [Fissuring Point]
«99% HP Remaining» [Commander Ekquilore]
«Blocked: 400 Damage» [Demonic Press]
«1,002/1,500 HP Remaining» [Halls]
This time Halls braced himself and only slid back a few steps, unlike the previous time he was hit and was knocked back over 10 meters. He used «Taunting Aura» to further reinforce his threat level for Commander Ekquilore.
As the party was fighting against Commander Ekquilore for a while, Izroth retreated back over 25 meters. Everyone was confused by his actions, but they did not halt their actions.
The reason Izroth left the range of battle was due to what was taking place within his inventory. He removed the «Boundary Sealing Sphere» from his storage and held it in the palm of his hands. "What does it want to do...?" Izroth thought to himself.
The «Boundary Sealing Sphere» was flashing with a multitude of colors, drawing the attention of everyone within the hallway, especially Commander Ekquilore. When he sensed that powerful energy he knew exactly what item that was and so his eyes turned crimson red as he charged towards Izroth.
〈Battle Alert: Commander Ekquilore has entered an enraged state〉
〈Battle Alert: Commander Ekquilore's Agility has been increased by 50%〉
〈Battle Alert: Commander Ekquilore's Attack and Magic has been increased by 100%〉
〈Battle Alert: Commander Ekquilore has gained the skill «Endless Rage», every 1 second its Attack and Magic will increase by 5%〉
Everyone was startled when they witnessed the battle alerts going off. Commander Ekquilore's HP had not yet approached 10%, but it still entered into an enraged state. Forget about this fight being too easy, wasn't this a little unfair?
If his attack and magic increased by 5% every 1 second while it still had such a massive amount of HP, then wouldn't it be able to one shot all of them? Not to mention he also gained a boost to his agility.
The threat level on Izroth appeared to rise above Halls just from his action of removing the «Bounday Sealing Sphere» from his inventory. Not only that, but it also caused Commander Ekquilore to become enraged. It seemed as though he would do anything to obtain that item.
However, even with the 50% increase to his agility, Commander Ekquilore could still not keep up with Izroth's preposterous «600 Agility» while his «Flickering Steps» was still active. Izroth easily avoided the incoming charge and still had enough leeway to split his attention onto the sphere within his hands.
The «Boundary Sealing Sphere» was emitting a very calm energy, but behind that calmness was a ferocious power ready to devour everything before it. This was something they received personally from the Seer Tererestiaa and so whatever this item wanted to do should not be a bad thing.
Little thin colorful strings of light began to dance all around the hallway within the palace. When Commander Ekquilore saw the lights he immediately he felt an unimaginable sense of danger. However, before he could even take a few steps, the thin colorful strings began to wrap around his massive body.
An overbearing aura of suppression fell down upon Commander Ekquilore preventing him from taking any actions.
〈Battle Alert: Commander Ekquilore has been suppressed by the «Boundary Sealing Sphere»〉
Izroth observed Commander Ekquilore as the thin colorful strings coming from the «Boundary Sealing Sphere» wrapped around him in an endless stream as though a caterpillar was forming its cocoon in order to turn into a butterfly.
Izroth did not understand what was going on, after all, there was nothing listed about this on the item's usage. But how could Izroth know that all S-ranked magic items carried with it a hidden effect that one would only be able to rely on luck in order to discover? Not even the Seer Tererestiaa knew of this hidden power within the «Boundary Sealing Sphere».
Izroth took a moment to re-examine the «Boundary Sealing Sphere».
Magic Item: Boundary Sealing Sphere(Quest Item)
Magic Item Rank: S
Magic Item HP: ∞(Indestructible)
Magic Item ATK: 0
Magic Item DEF: 0
Usage: Seals or unseals the boundary between the Mortal plane and the Shadahi plane. This item keeps the balance between both worlds and if moved too far from the boundaries will lead to a disaster.
Hidden Effect: This item has the power to restrain and suppress any being trying to forcefully draw power from anything or through anyone affected by the «Chains of Mazi». During this suppression, the target will be unable to act for 10 seconds and lose 5% of its maximum HP every 1 second. If the target is affected by «Power of the Seal» they will also take 100% increased damage from all damage sources excluding the «Boundary Sealing Sphere»
Special Note: If one is not within the vicinity of the «Boundary Sealing Sphere» while within a realm not belonging to them, they will be rejected and lost between the boundaries forever. This effect will last for as long as the seal remains intact.
Commander Ekquilore struggled to break free from the bindings, however, no matter how much his strength increased it was like a small droplet of water consumed by the vast oceans.
If even the Seer Tererestiaa who was the keeper of the «Boundary Sealing Sphere» was unaware of this hidden power, how could a Shadahi like him know about it?
While everyone was shocked and stopped moving for a moment to take in what was occurring... When Izroth saw the effect of the item he only said one thing that snapped everyone out of their stupor, "Attack!"
When that word left his mouth, the party instantly tossed this bizarre occurrence into the back of their minds for now. This was a rare boss! If they defeated it, wouldn't the EXP and loot be spectacular? They must take advantage of this opportunity!
No one held back anything as they threw out every attack they had against Commander Ekquilore. With the help of the «Boundary Sealing Sphere», the boss monster's HP could not hold up under the merciless assault.
Izroth's «First Baneful Sword: Destruction» and «Sword Aura» were off their cooldown and so he used both skills together to deal massive damage to Commander Ekquilore. Those strange movements of his from earlier were still present within his movements, even more so now that he used the «First Baneful Sword: Destruction».
Scarlet was also relentless as she used «Flaming Spear», «Fireball», and «Ignite» on Commander Ekquilore. Even though Scarlet had an MP regeneration skill, she still needed to drink a «Lesser Mana Potion» to regain some MP after using so many skills within such a short period of time.
Halls used his «Shield Smash» and Luna cast a magical attack skill for the first time called «Holy Smite». She usually reserved all of her MP for healing, but after seeing the damage from the battle alert and how rapidly the HP of Commander Ekquilore was dropping she decided to drop healing for now and also focus on damage.
Though Luna would not completely drop her attention from healing and be sure not to use too much of her MP.
Skill Name: Holy Smite
Skill Level: MAXED
Skill Rank: D
Mana Cost: 30
Cast Time: Instant
Active: Calls down a holy smite dealing 40% of the user's magic as damage.
Cooldown: 2 seconds
75%...
50%...
25%...
It did not take long for Commander Ekquilore's HP to drop down to 25%. Just as it did, eight Shadahi Crawlers appeared and rushed from down the hall at a fast speed. They were trying to heal Commander Ekquilore once more.
This time Izroth was prepared as he stopped his assault on Commander Ekquilore and turned to meet the eight Shadahi Crawlers. Although they were fast, Izroth was still faster.
He positioned himself in such a way that when all eight Shadahi Crawlers were within a 3 meters range of him, he struck out with his palms in all directions. One could not follow the movement of Izroth's palms with their eyes alone due to the hundreds of afterimages they formed, hiding his true attack amongst them.
Eeeeeeeeeeeergh!
Izroth managed to strike every single Shadahi Crawler using the skill «Myriad Elusive Palms». As he did so, every single hit was aimed directly at the head of the Shadahi Crawler in the area where their eyes were located.
Izroth was unsure if they possessed a vital point there, however, the head was usually always a safe bet when it came to weak points. He was correct as all eight of the Shadahi Crawlers took critical hit damage.
«Critical Hit: 400 Damage»
«Critical Hit: 400 Damage»
...
The Shadahi Crawlers only possessed high agility. As for their other stats, they were all 0 excluding their HP which was only a meager 350. Although Izroth made it look easy, it was already very difficult to hit eight targets moving at high speed. But to also land a critical hit against every single one of them was some terrifying accuracy!
Halls, Luna, and Scarlet were all speechless when they saw Izroth's movements just then. Or rather, because of the fact that they couldn't see his movements. All they saw were the eight Shadahi Crawlers rushing out towards them and before they knew it every last one of them was eliminated.
"Is the Combat Master class really so fearsome...?" Scarlet thought to herself. Usually, damage classes had high single target damage or average to low multiple target damage. However, Izroth and the Combat Master class did not seem to be limited by such a tradition.
Scarlet was not the only one with those thoughts, the same question passed by Halls and Luna's mind.
The suppression effect of the «Boundary Sealing Sphere» finally ended. Commander Ekquilore was very dangerous at this moment. He was in an enraged state and 10 seconds had passed. That meant his original «600 Attack» was now «1,500 Attack» and his «300 Magic» shot up to «750 Magic».
If any of them were struck by such a devastatingly high attack, they would not be able to survive. The only one who could live after one hit was Halls and even then he would not last long even with Luna's healing abilities.
Izroth formed a small smile on his face finding the situation amusing as he thought to himself, "Is this a blessing or a curse?"
Commander Ekquilore sat at 10% HP, but he was now free from the suppression and his focus was only on Izroth. With Izroth's «Flickering Steps» having run out, Commander Ekquilore was now much faster than him thanks to the 50% agility increased he received from being enraged.
Commander Ekquilore had Izroth in his sights. Even though Halls used «Taunting Aura», it was completely ignored. "You shall hand over the «Boundary Sealing Sphere» and your life!" it was obvious that Commander Ekquilore was angered for falling into such a pathetic state.
How could he face his lord if he did not successfully retrieve the «Boundary Sealing Sphere» when it was right in front of him?
Izroth took a deep breath as he prepared to face Commander Ekquilore. All it would take is one hit and he would be eliminated. But, a grin found its way onto his face as he finally received the alert he had been waiting for since the start of the battle against Commander Ekquilore.
〈System Alert: Congratulations, Player Izroth has created a new skill. Please name the skill〉
This was definitely a blessing!