Kazuya cackled as the ball of electricity ricocheted off his block and careened into the three-man group currently taking down one of the Adds that was summoned; exploding in a glorious display of lightning bolts, causing the trio to be flung backward from the impact, leaving them to the mercy of the rock golem they were fighting. Luckily, they were skilled enough to get their feet back under themselves quickly, avoiding the oncoming barrage of stones.
"Goddammit, Miyuki!" Kuramochi shouted; rolling behind the golem and, the Assassin that he was, went invisible with his stealth. While Kazuya could no longer see him, he knew Kuramochi was constantly on the move, whittling the golem down from the shadows.
"You're supposed to aim those back at the boss!" Isashiki bellowed, barely dodging a stone-fist as it plummeted towards him. He spun, slicing at the golem with his twin-daggers in rapid succession before ducking out of the way of the opposite arm. Being a Duelist, Isashiki specialized in swift, hard-hitting attacks that were aimed at the enemies' weak points.
Kominato, a Blade Master, darted forward, driving his sword deep into a crack in the stone on the golems' side; stunning it temporarily. Kominato elected not to comment on Kazuya's "blunder", though he knew he would pay for it later, instead, focusing on taking the Add down as fast as possible; knowing they won't be able to touch the Boss again until all of them were defeated. Currently, Isashiki, Kuramochi, and Kominato are fighting one of the three Adds.
Yuuki, a Dragoon, Tanba, an Archer, and Shirasu, a Brawler were, quite literally, entangled with an ent. They were hacking their way through a never-ending growth of roots, breaking out any and all of their fire-based skills for the extra damage. Yuuki's spear opened a path for Shirasu and his gauntlets to make contact with the ent at the core of the roots; with Tanba raining a hail of arrows onto its entirety, keeping the growth rate at a crawl.
Azuma a Destroyer, Kawakami a Warlock, and Masuko a Warrior was evading the poison from a naga. The snake-woman excreted a toxic slime, making melee attacks riskier, though thankfully, Azuma and Masuko had long-reaching weapons. Azuma with a large ax and Masuko with a broadsword. Kawakami was able to snare the naga in place with chains, allowing the other two to get off free damage while the snake was immobilized.
Leaving Kazuya to hold the Boss' attention, that of which was a very beautiful, pissed-off electrified-nymph that was currently hovering in the center of the clearing of towering trees that blocked out the sun; surrounded by a light blue energy field that shot out orbs of lightning. Nothing can pierce the energy field, other than its own balls of electricity, but even those barely hurt the Boss. However, little damage was better than no damage.
Once the three Adds are defeated, the bubble will break, releasing the Boss back onto the ground where they can resume beating away at her until she dies. If they're quick enough, then they can take her down before they have to repeat the phase. And Kazuya really doesn't want to go through this again. On his part, it's a lot of waiting. Blocking the orbs was too easy and honestly required little thought, hence drawing entertainment out of annoying the rest of the raid members.
If Kazuya went towards one of the Adds to help fight, the Boss would follow him, flinging the explosive orbs at him, and subsequently at the others as well, slowing the progress down. If they don't kill the Adds in a timely manner, then the nymph will release all the energy she was attempting to build through her shield, spreading a pulse wave of electricity that even Kazuya couldn't defend against, disseminating them in one fell swoop.
The rock golem toppled to the ground in a pile of debris, before its remnants dissolved into a cloudy mist. Kuramochi was quick to dash towards Azuma's group, passing by Yuuki's on the way. Being the fastest out of all of them, he could reach the furthest group to assist a lot sooner.
Kominato and Isashiki darted behind Kazuya right as another ball of electricity came speeding at him. Kazuya lifted his greatsword, holding the blade diagonally across his body, waiting, watching for the perfect timing. As soon as the orb was mere feet in front of him, he activated his block, creating an orange-tinted shield directly in front of him. The ball smashed into the block, continuously pushing against Kazuya as if it were trying to dig through the barrier. Not that it would ever be able to break through Kazuya's shield. With a smirk and a tight grip on the hilt, Kazuya swung his sword out, shattering his own block into glittering shards, smacking the ball at the right angle to send the orb careening back to the Boss. He watched as the electric ball easily sailed past the forcefield and exploded against the chest of the nymph, barely phasing her in the slightest.
Isashiki let out a battle cry as he charged headlong at the ent, blades slicing through roots like butter. He and Kominato were only able to achieve a few hits before the tree was collapsing to its knees with a groan, its wooden limbs protesting with the movement as they grew lifeless. Only mere seconds after, the naga released a screech as she melted down into a green pool of toxic slime, forcing the melee classes to dodge out of range of the growing puddle of ooze, or risk being poisoned.
The effect of all three Adds dying was instantaneous as the Boss's bubble crackled, the nymphs building energy backfiring into a mini-explosion inside the interior of the force field, shattering the shield while dealing massive damage to the Boss.
"Gather on Miyuki!" Yuuki shouted, watching the rest of the unit dash towards Kazuya, making sure everyone was en route before running as well. Kuramochi slid to a stop several feet behind Kazuya, the first to arrive despite being farther away.
Kazuya observed the falling body of the Boss as she plummeted to the earth, bolts of electricity and smoke obscuring her form. The closer she got, the more tense Kazuya became as the raid members continued to arrive around him. He only had a split second to get the right timing to protect the whole group, and if he was off a fraction of a second, it would be fatal. If the rest weren't within range of him by the time the Boss made contact with the forest floor, then those who lagged behind would take serious damage. They need to be at least eight meters around Kazuya to be protected from the oncoming assault. It was Kazuya's job to prevent as many deaths as possible, after all. During his time as the main tank of Seido, he has yet to have a raid member die during one of their runs, and he would like to keep it that way.
He impatiently glanced over his shoulder, taking stalk of all those behind him in a mere second, noticing only Masuko wasn't quite within range. Gritting his teeth, Kazuya returned his gaze to the Boss, focusing his eyes on the mass as he slowly released a breath. Kazuya let his ears block out the yelling from those behind him, narrowing his world to solely be on the gap between the nymph and the ground, knowing there were meager seconds before everything could potentially end. Kazuya watched the distance grow smaller, lifting his greatsword in preparation. With a fleeting thought that Masuko should be close enough by now, he gripped the handle with both hands so the blade was perpendicular to the earth, and drove the wide tip of the sword through the packed dirt the exact moment the nymph crash-landed in a cloud of dusty debris. Kazuya's greatsword lit up in white light, casting a ring of light to circle him along the ground, shielding Kazuya and everything inside from any and all damage for the next fifteen seconds.
A pulse of electricity shot out from where the Boss landed, coating the ground with wave after wave of deadly voltage. Bolts bounced away from their group as the protective barrier repelled all harmful effects, allotting them a short reprieve before they were to jump into the fray once again. Kazuya observed as the waves continued out to the surrounding trees, watched as the volts traveled up roots and lit up the interior of the massive trunks with a light blue glow.
As the dust settled around the boss, slowly revealing her form laying amongst the loosened dirt, the waves of electricity fizzled out. Small sparks continued to light up around her body, before those, too, faded. Kazuya lifted his sword out of the ground right as the timer on his barrier reached zero, white luminescence dimming completely.
Without giving the Boss a chance to recover, Kazuya dashed forward, before leaping at her, greatsword held over his head for a powerful cleave. He swung his weapon down the same moment he landed mere inches from the nymph's idol form in an explosion of light and cracked earth, kicking up the dust that had just settled. The Boss let out a crackled screech at the blow, but that was cut short by the rest of the raid joining in. All of them dealing as much damage as they can before the Boss rises.
Out of his peripherals, amidst the volley of skills raining on the Boss, Kazuya notices the nymphs now taloned fingers dig into the dirt.
"Get back!" Kazuya shouted over the barrage of attacks, as one, everyone halted their skills and backed away from the Boss. The nymph bolted up from the ground, surrounded by her signature veil of lightning. Her previous beauty had morphed into something more demonic; glowing blue eyes framed by protruding brows and sharp cheekbones. She opened her mouth to reveal rows of jagged teeth as she let out an ear-piercing wail that stunned everyone in their place. Kazuya was quick to sidestep behind the Boss as soon as the stun wore off, pulling her attention back to him in the process, and already prepared to block the immediate strike.
With this positioning, the rest of the raid unit was relatively safe to freely unleash their skills upon the nymphs exposed back and away from the tasering swipe of her claws. The only thing they had to watch out for was the AOE attacks that included several shockwaves around her. If anyone got caught in the first blast, then it was almost guaranteed that they would be hit by the following waves, as well. It was mainly detrimental for melee, however, considering the majority of their unit was close combat, which meant she could end up taking out more than half of their raid if they weren't careful. Part of Kazuya's job was to watch the Boss's rotation and call out the moments she was about to release her AOE, allowing the melee classes to dodge in time and not get stun-locked to death.
After a couple of hours since they began the fight, the Boss finally went down, combusting into a glittering bang and the echoes of her dying howls. All in all, it was one of the easier raids they have run. The Boss herself wasn't necessarily strong, but her stuns could quickly turn the tides of the fight. For Kazuya, the Add's were the most annoying part of the entire battle. Regardless of how easily, or smoothly the raid went, they still celebrated and shared high-fives amongst themselves, and on certain occasions, praised the MVP during the fight. Whether that be who dealt the most damage, or who played a major role in the mechanics necessary to defeat the Boss. This time around, everyone played their part to a T, with minimal damage to the raiders and zero fuck-ups. Kazuya was just glad they didn't give her the chance to summon a second round of Adds.
As the sparkles and ash settled, a shimmering treasure chest was revealed where the Boss's corpse had dissolved. The reward for defeating a raid Boss. The contents were unknown, other than a general idea of what it could contain. If they were lucky, they'll receive something ultra-rare, like gear, or a material that can't be obtained anywhere else, thus, meaning they can sell it in the Auction House for a hefty sum. Any loot they sell from a raid was divided; fifty percent went straight to Seidos funds, while the other half was split between everyone that participated. Unfortunately, they do have sessions that end with mediocre drops, and the divided funds aren't entirely worth it. Basically, running raids was a gamble on top of risking lives just to finish, and hope the end rewards were worth that wager.
Kazuya hated the runs that were astonishingly difficult - and took hours upon strenuous hours - to complete, solely to obtain gear that was weaker than what they were already rocking with material that was obscure, but useless.
And apparently, this was one of their unlucky days.
Being Captain, Yuuki was always the one to check the contents of the chest. Not that anyone else was unable to, but it was to avoid any arguments on who will open it, and worst case, to prevent possible theft. So when the chest popped open, and the golden light vanished, everyone knew it didn't contain any legendary equipment. Yuuki rummaged briefly through the items before letting out a sigh.
"Please, tell me there's something decent in there," Isashiki said, though he himself didn't sound hopeful. The past few raids they have completed recently had loot that disappointed.
"There's an Orb of Lightning…" Yuuki began, and they all waited with bated breath, for something that they could make use of. But Yuuki let the sentence trail off, meaning there wasn't.
"That's it?!" Azuma bellowed. "I need to upgrade my weapon!" He swung his ax out to punctuate his point. Azuma had all legendary gear, they all did: however, he absolutely despised the look of his weapon. It dropped from a raid that led them into the swamps, where the Boss was a bloated frog. His ax's appearance was themed off the warted toad, making the entirety of it a sickly green with lumps along the handle to mock the texture of the Boss's skin. At first, Azuma refused to use the new ax simply because of its exterior. It took a lot of coaxing to get him to switch his old one out. While it did look hideous, it was still a huge upgrade, and ever since, Azuma has been desperately waiting for a Boss to drop an ax so he can switch.
"Well, there is some heroic gear," Yuuki added.
"How much is the Orb of Lightning going for on the market?" Kominato inquired with a sigh of his own.
"Roughly one-hundred-fifty gold." Kazuya piped in with a shrug, drawing everyone's attention to him.
"Only one-fifty?" Kuramochi reiterated, disappointment clear in his tone.
"The Orb of Lightning is a finicky crafting material. People have found other ways to enhance their gear with electricity with higher success rates." Kazuya explained, "It's usually the people that don't know other methods that buy it. It's a gimmick"
"So this was a waste of time!" Azuma shouted.
"Pretty much," Kazuya replied with a smirk. While he was irked by the worthless loot, too, he also took great amusement watching Azuma lose his temper.
"Then we're done here," Yuuki said as he pulled the orb out from the chest. While it wasn't the best loot, it was still something. They didn't spend hours in the dense forest only to walk out empty-handed. "Make sure you all have everything. It'll take us a while to navigate back out."
Everyone holstered their weapons as they prepared the journey to leave with copious amounts of complaints and irritated sighs.
A/N: Adds = Mobs (or enemies) that are summoned by a Boss
AOE = Area of Effect. Skills/attacks that hit a large area or multiple enemies at once.
