A/N: It's been a while since I last did a boss fight in the story. I think it's time to do another one. Here, Slave and Yrel have recently been mind-controlled by the enemy. But that is the least of their problems, for the players must have the 14th-floor boss. The Raven Lord.
APRIL 17th, 2023. FLOOR 14, SHADOWS OF ANZU
The questline to breaking Slave and Yrel from the controls of the Inflamed Legion was a pain in the butt. Most of it involves waiting for Vashra to figure out a solution, and it took two days. Now Shinon and I had to find the Orb of Dominion, some dark orb that the Black Council uses to put Chaos's voice into everyone's head.
Even just holding that orb is giving me the chills. Why can't Shinon carry it? She has the quest too.
We approach the Arakkoa village, Shadows of Anzu, to turn in the quest log. Vashra waits for us in front of the ritual circle, with Slave and Yrel tied up in the center. As we passed through the village, all the other Arakkoa talk about the dark orb we're caring for them. Most of them are in disgust, I don't blame them at all for it.
"It's about time! You got the orb?" Vashra asks. I hand him the Orb of Dominion. "Ah...Look at this thing! Just looking at it gives me chills."
"Let's just get this over with before that...thing causes anymore mischief," Terokk says.
"I couldn't agree anymore," Vashra says.
After turning in, 'Orb of Dominion' We receive a new quest, 'Breaking the Illusion'.
"Let us begin the ritual. I shall handle the orb. Terokk, strangers. You will take care of the inner demons the orb might summon." Vashra says.
Vashra stands in front of Yrel and Slave. "Foolish insect. Chaos will burn you and the rest of your kind!" Slave says.
"You are not in your right mind, my friend. I will end this dark corruption that torments you." Vashra says.
Vashra holds the Orb of Dominion in the air, chanting an ancient spell. Slave and Yrel are reacting painfully to the dark magic. The three of us, me, Shinon, and Terokk, are just standing by watching Vashra work his magic.
"I do not like this," Terokk says.
"Me neither," I say. I couldn't care less about what an NPC thinks, but we do have an agreement. I don't like where this is going, when with something as dark and corruptive as the Orb of Dominion.
Slave and Yrel gives in. They fall on their knees and groan loudly in pain. Darkness overwhelms them, and a shadowy version of them appears. I'm surprised by the sight of them. Slave's Inner Demon and Yrel's Inner Demon.
"Quickly, everyone! Destroy them!" Vashra says. "I must maintain the ritual!"
Terokk rushes in, holding off both of the Inner Demons. "I will hold off their attacks. You strangers attack them from behind and the sides."
That's what Shinon and I do. I attack the Yrel Inner Demon. She takes care of the Slave Inner Demon. Surviving is easy-going since an NPC is holding all the aggro, but the devil spirits are having high HP.
I'll be honest, I got bored so easily over this quest.
It takes five minutes, but we destroyed the Inner Demons. "Kaw! ...The illusion is broken. You are free, strangers."
Vashra puts an end to the ritual. Slave and Yrel are both free from the darkness the orb enhanced them in. They both stand, a little shaken, but more calm and aware than they were under the mind control.
"Oh...by the light...What has happened?" Yrel asks.
"Ugh...My head hurts. I felt like...my brain is fried." Slave says.
"Just take it easy, friends. You were under the control of Iskar, the Raven Lord." Vashra says. "I'm sure you two have many questions, but there will be time to discuss later. But for now, you must regain your strength." Vashra approaches us. "It worked. Excellent. Now. I must destroy this hideous thing."
Vashra takes the Orb of Dominion to destroy it.
NEXT DAY
Yrel and Slave recovered very well. But the one thing they cannot believe is that they are in the same village together. Yrel is the leader of the Draenei. Enemy to the Orcs. Slave is the son of the Coldwolf Clan chieftain. Enemy to the Draenei. From the start, they didn't fight but argue.
It was annoying, but the argument dies down when they realize each other stories are different. To Yrel, the Orcs were traitors when they join the Inflamed Legion. That's only half true, that never happened to the Coldwolves. The Draenei attacked the Orcs in their desperate time of need, accusing the Orcs as traitors. That is also half true, the Battlesong Clan are responsible for their own actions.
"So you Coldwolves had nothing to do with the Battlesong Clan's actions?" Yrel asks.
"Of course not. We were against it from the start." Slave says.
"Well, then I apologize. I should have known better than this is all the Battlesong's doing." Yrel says.
"The darkness in this world is like illusions. We see things that are not real, and without a clear mind, it can so easily trick us." Vashra says. "I'm well aware that you three have your differences."
"Technically. I'm with them both, but I hardly trust the Orcs." I say.
"Thanks for the tip, stranger," Vashra says. "But in this world, we must not raise our blades against each other. We have a common and true enemy: The Inflamed Legion. You Draenei and Orcs keep having at each other's neck, and only the Inflamed Legion can benefit from this. Should you wish to defeat the devils, you must cast aside your differences and work together."
Yrel and Slave are silent. They face each other than look back at Vashra. "Even if we do, I doubt I can convince my people to do the same," Yrel says.
"The same goes for my father," Slave says.
"Trust me. We'll get there at some point." Vashra says. "But first things first. We must defeat Iskar. He has the power to control minds. With it, he'll have total control of everyone...and everything."
Vashra is right about one thing. I remember in the real world, Jihl Nabaat tried to use some mind control serum to take over the Sanctum. I was one of few who broke out of the serum. It only happened during my training years in the Guardian Corps.
Just like Jihl, Iskar must be stopped.
APRIL 20th, 2023. FLOOR 14, ELITE DUNGEON ENTRANCE
The Assault Team now prepares for this floor's raid boss. For my group, I'm going with my guild, the Lunar Twilight. It's been a while since I last raided with the whole guild. I'll admit, it's nice to be with the entire guild for a boss fight.
We are fighting with a group of 20 people. I have a feeling this floor's boss is going to be the Raven Lord. I already completed all of the Arakkoa quests and the ones that were close to facing him was when we had to interrupt the Raven Lord's dark ritual to summon a Pit Lord.
We failed to stop it, but with Yrel and Slave's help, we defeated the demon.
"I'm so excited! It's nice to be taking out a raid boss together, as a guild." Aerith says.
"I agree. With all of us, we might just earn enough Krystal's for a house." Hakomo says.
Lately, the Lunar Twilight have been farming hard to earn enough cash to buy a house since we are just living in Inns. It'll be nice to buy a house. I'm getting tired of living in Inns with strange people. Especially with Klein and his idiotic team.
I think the rest of the team can agree about wanting to buy a house.
Enough talk, it's time for us to conquer the dungeon.
The monsters in this dungeon are the corrupted Shadow Priests and the Harpies, and a couple of Legion demons. The Shadow Priests and the Harpies are by far the annoying monsters to fight against. Well, as a melee DPS for the Harpies, since they can just fly away. You'll have to be a ranger to take them down.
Luckily we have a decent amount of rangers and spellcasters here.
Shadow Priests are hard with their shadow spells, illusionary tricks included. I focus on cutting them down. Fighting in Vanguard is easygoing since I attack with a burst of speed. Just one heavy swing of my sword then I move on to the next target. I don't kill them, but I stagger or stun them enough for the rest of the raid team to finish them off.
We finally made it to the boss room at the end of the dungeon. Asuna of the Knights of the Blood Oath gives us a lecture speech. Nothing major, just telling us to stay focus, let the Crusaders hold off the enemy. Study the boss's attack patterns.
"You guys ready?" I ask, Rokel first, then facing the others.
They all say that they're ready. Raphael is defiantly pumped. He has his daggers out and ready to gouge something. Luckily, Asuna has begun to open the doors.
It's dark inside, but we all run right in. Once everyone is in, the door closes, trapping us inside. The darkness clears, the boss room is a fel corrupted platform, and at the end is the Raven Lord.
"You foolish insects think you stand a chance against the Raven Lord?" The Raven Lord says. "You will all dwell in darkness!"
The Raven Lord lands on the end of the platform. Its name and five HP bars appear. Not only that, but Shadow Priests also appear alongside the boss. They only have one HP gauge. They're mine!
Raphael and I focus on the Shadow Priests. One by one, they go down. The rest of the Assault Team focuses on facing the Raven Lord.
"Bend to my will, creatures!" The Raven Lord does some mind control spell. Two Swordman's become enemies and they start attacking us.
"Wavemasters! Contain them!" Asuna orders. Yeul and Rokel do their polymorph spell to turn them into sheep. The Shadow Priests cast their shadow spells on me, I suffer a lot of damage over time. My HP is already red. I fall to my knees, exhausted, panting even. Raphael is busy finishing off a Shadow Priest he's focused on, and three more are about to assault me.
Before they finish their castings, I suddenly feel my strength returning, as well as my HP. I look back to see Hope is casting his healing spell on me. I smile, it's nice to have someone watching my back. Someone I can count on.
I return my attention to the adds and I cut them down.
"The winds will perish you!" The Raven Lord casts some illusion spell on five of the players. The next thing I know is that they're moving to the edge. They're not even running, it's like they're being pulled, or pushed by some force of winds.
The players try their hardest to run against the force. Two of them didn't make it and they fall over the platform, dying. "You better learn to fly!" The Raven Lord says.
The other three made it. When the adds are defeated, Raphael and I attack the Raven Lord. The Raven Lord blocks most of our attacks with its wing arms. I attack with all of my might: Swift strikes. Flips and kicks. Attacking in different angles.
The Raven Lord is down to two and a half HP gauges. By then, he instantly teleports himself over the platform. He flies, channeling some dark magic.
"The Raven God cannot protect you!" The Raven Lord shouts.
All of us become aware as soon as the Raven Lord begins to gather so much dark fel energy, it becomes deadly, unstable even.
"Everyone! Get behind me!" We all get behind Yeul. She chants an arcane defensive spell, then plants her staff to the ground, summoning a large magic barrier in front of her.
The Raven Lord unleashes a powerful blast. The blast impacts the barrier. Yeuls' spell blocks the attack but is struggling to hold it. By the time the blast ends, Yeul collapses on her knees. The attack clearly drained her.
Just when we thought it's over, we are clearly mistaking. The Raven Lord begins charging another Focused Blast. "He's casting another one!" Hakomo says.
"Etro, can you block it again?" Noel asks.
Yeul tries to stand, but she doesn't have enough energy. He feels back to her knees. "I...cannot. The spell took away most of my energy."
That figures. The Raven Lord is halfway through with completing his spell. If we don't think fast, we will all be wiped out. I realize Yeul is not the only Wavemaster here. Rokel can help out.
"Rokel! You have to block the next one!" I say.
"What? Me?" Rokel sounds pretty surprised. "But...I can't. I haven't raised my defense magic high enough."
"You have to try! If you don't, we will all die!" I say.
"He's about to fire!" Asuna shouts.
It's true. I can see it, the spell is almost complete. "Rokel! Do it!"
Rokel has no other choice. Time is up. Rokel rushes in front of the ground and instantly unleashes his energy barrier. The Raven Lord unleashes his blast the very second the barrier is up. Rokel struggles to hold the attack back, even less than Yeul has.
Rokel yells in agony, he can't take much more. When the Focused Blast ends, Rokels barrier spell shatters and he falls unconscious. I ran and catch him just before his body hits the ground. Blocking that spell sure did a number on him, Rokel went from full health all the way down to 7%.
That surprises me. When Yeul was blocking, she didn't suffer any damage at all. Just lost much of her mana.
Luckily, that was the last of the Focused Blast. The Raven Lord returns to the battlefield. The Crusaders continue holding off the Raven Lord while the rest of us attacks the boss from its sides. The rest of the fight was easygoing, now that we don't have the adds and we know the bosses' attack patterns.
The Raven Lord is defeated in a matter of minutes.
FLOOR 15, CRYSTALSONG
The fifteenth floor is a massive mountain land, mostly covered in crystals. Just like the third floor, it's not much of a towns-vile floor.
After the battle against the Raven Lord, we had to take Rokel to a town for him to rest up. Silica even offered to help after hearing what happened.
I leave the Inn where Rokel's staying in. The rest of the Lunar Twilight guild is waiting outside. "Rokel's fine. He just needs to rest." I answer.
Everyone was relieved to hear that, except for Raphael. "That's good to hear. I thought we'd lost him." Aerith says.
"He's a tough kid, he won't fall that easily," I say.
It might be hard to believe, but Rokel really is. People like him normally would not last very long in this death game, but he has. "I know that he is, which is why I invited him to the guild," Hakomo says. "Well, in other news, we've all earned enough Krystal's to buy a house!"
Everyone is sure excited to hear this, even Raphael. "That's amazing!" Spellbreaker says.
"Can we go see it now?" Aerith asks.
"Not yet. I still have to buy it." Hakomo says. "I'll meet you guys in an hour." Hakomo moves to the teleporting gate. "Teleport: Valley of Peace!"
Hakomo teleports out of town to the first floor. My guild is really excited about getting a house. They talk about what to do and how to decorate it. I feel like I'm back at home with Serah and the NORA gang of Snow's. Strangely makes me happy, almost like I've found my own NORA group, only much more mature.
"I have an idea, how about a feast to celebrate?" Elementalist suggests.
"But aren't we broke?" Raphael asks.
"We can just run a dungeon on this floor," Elementalist says.
That puts me unease. We don't know anything about the monsters on the fifteenth floor. If there's one thing Amodar taught me: 'What you know is dangerous to your enemy. What you think you know is dangerous to you'. "Shouldn't our usual hunting grounds be good enough?" I ask.
Everyone just looks at me like I said something stupid. "We'll make some faster cash on this floors dungeons," Elementalist says.
"Yeah. With our levels, and you and Raphael as Vanguard, it should be safe." Aerith says.
I suppose that's true. But still, I got a bad feeling about this.
FLOOR 15, BLOODSLAG DUNGEON.
The monsters in this dungeon are large Ogres. What surprises me is that they are not infused by Fel Corruption. They're probably the only creatures I know that aren't corrupted by the Inflamed Legion.
"Ah! Do you see? This will be a breeze." Elementalist says.
I'll admit, it is. Only thirty minutes, we've already earned ten-thousand Krystals, all together. "No kidding. I should think of start doing a skinning profession. I'll make tons of money selling animal skins." Raphael says.
"Why not become a miner. You might find some gold instead of making it." Spellbreaker says.
"Oh shut up," Raphael says.
Everyone else laughs at their little conversation. What a bunch of children.
We continue wandering through the dungeon, earning our cash as we kill the monsters. Only half an hour left before we meet Hakomo. I just hope Rokel will be awake as soon as we're done so we can share the news.
"Hey, guys! Look!" Aerith says.
We all turn to the direction Aerith is facing. Her face is light up. We all look, everyone is amazed, but I on the other hand am not. In fact, I'm worried with fear.
At the end of the hallway is a single diamond crystal floating on the ground.
It can't be...
"We hit the jackpot!" Raphael and the other Lunar Twilight team run in without hesitation.
"No! Wait!" I try to warn them, but it's too late.
As soon as Raphael touches the diamond, it shatters and unleashes its trap. The whole room turns red and some high-pitched screeching sound goes off. We all covered our ears and fall to our knees.
"It's a trap!" I shout, hopefully, loud enough for everyone to hear over the screeching.
I look up. It's just as I feared. Laughing Coffin members rain down. They're ambushing us. The murder players have us surrounded. There's no way of escaping.
"Laughing Coffin!" Elementalist says in fear! "Quickly! Let's teleport out of here!"
"No! There's no point in escaping!" I shout. "The trap they set up nullifies our teleporting crystals!"
My guild is surprised that I know about the trap, but this isn't the right time or moment for thinking. We have no other choice but to fight. But the odds are against us. Raphael and I are the only ones who can fight in this situation.
Laughing Coffin attacks. They all dogpile of Aerith and cut her down to size since she's a Cleric. She dies within two seconds.
Seeing her death puts me in a fit of rage. I attack the nearest Laughing Coffin, he blocks my first attack but I cut his arm off with my second strike.
We're losing pretty fast. Elementalist dies next, then Spellbreaker shortly afterward.
"Damn it!" Raphael charges to one of the Laughing Coffin members then stabs his daggers into his chest. "Die monsters!"
Raphael has the member knocked down, constantly, rapidly stabbing him. the member dies, but Raphael dies when three other members attack him.
I stand alone, against the crowd of the murder players. I can barely think of my own survival in this situation. Only one thing was in the mind, and it sends me into a mix of anger and despair.
The Lunar Twilight is dead.
