29 Story III / Part XXVII: Before The Red Dawn (XV) / Raid Battle (II)

Florence and other assaulters successfully depleted the Abyssal Reaper's second big HP Bar after spending almost twenty minerval attacking it mercilessly. Well, they poured a lot of their love to Abyssal Reaper's face and body until successfully making the Abyssal Reaper really, really pissed off.

It suddenly broke free from the [Tree of Life] and as soon as it broke free from the [Druid] and [Sage] Class's spell, the Abyssal Reaper quickly attacked everyone with one [Instant Kill] Spell, [Eye of The Soul Harvester]. Before the Abyssal Reaper launched that, its eyes gleaming purple followed by six strikes from its scythe that hit everyone in the main floor. That terrifying and deadly strike ignores the target's [Evasion Rate], [Defense] and [Protection] Buffs.

It also had both of both of physical and magical damage to the target with nasty debuffs if the target can survive that. I, myself got that strike right in my chest but thanks to my [RA] [Racial Ability] called [EX Rank: Light Dragon Gods' Blessing], [A++ Rank: Magic Resistance], [EX Rank: Pure Soul], and [A+++ Rank: Pure Body], I can survive from those nasty debuffs and [Dark] Elemental Magic Attack. Even though I survived from those nasty debuffs, but I still received that deadly physical attack and it damaged my chest and stomach until it blew up me to the nearest boulder upon the impact.

It's an extremely painful damage to me that makes me hardly to breathe, and it makes my stomach aching. Moreover, it becomes worst since I'm still have a backache from defeating the Demonic Dragon couple of daesh ago. What a stroke of bad luck.

(Ah shit, I let my guard down) I wiped out white blood that is flowing out from my mouth and nose.

On the phase I and II, the scythe attacks from this monster was easy to dodge or block since we can read its trajectory and knowing when it will swing its scythe from the eye color who changed into purple from red. But on this phase III, the Abyssal Reaper throws its scythe to us and on the mid-air the scythe rotates fast like a wheel and hit everything on the raid area. We couldn't dodge but we only could protect ourselves from it or parry it with our weapons, as if we could. That scythe attack was also "homing", means the scythe will chasing the target.

"Haru…-san…ugh…" A woman walked to me with mouth filled with white blood.

"A-Ayumi-san?!"

I quickly grab her shoulder and make her drink a [Full Restore] Potion. After few minerval catching breath, she is able to take a full recovery again. Then, she told me that most of vanguards and scouts have fallen and the Mages are now focusing on restoring their health, only races who have [Dark Dragon Gods' Blessing] and [Light Dragon Gods' Blessing] could survive unscathed from that attack.

She points her hand to Robert, who stands on the northeastern side of the battleground with Kenzia. He and Kenzia seems fine even though that scythe strike, called [The Soul Harvester: Vortex of Purple Vengeance] almost wiped out the entire vanguards and scouts. I also saw Erick and Rania who are standing upside down on the ceiling.

"Julio-san seems fine, Vania-san is also okay…wait Haru-san, you must drink potion too, look blood still flowing out from your mouth and nose!"

(Ah right, I forgot that) I quickly picked a [Full Restore] Potion from my inventory and drank it, but when I was still gulping my potion, I heard Robert and Daendles talked in the party broadcast.

"Don't be such a fool Daendles-dono. Are your mentors in [Enchanter School] taught you to give up early when you meet a problem?"

"No, that's not I meant! But look around you Kenzia-dono! The Vanguards are completely wiped out!"

"But if we retreat, we will start from scratch again. So, let Kenzia and me buy you time to heal our friends."

"But still—!"

"Nah, nah shut up Daendles-dono. Look the western side. The Holy Elves seem fine. No need to worry."

"You also don't need to worry about me, I'm a Dark Elf. If you are aware, this place has [Dark Place] Trait, so I can recover easily even though there are lights here. Nah, we are done talking, let's go back to battle. I'm relying on you, [Enchanters]."

Robert and Kenzia charged through and damaged the Abyssal Reaper with their original skills but it doesn't deal much damage on the Abyssal Reaper since the [Priest] didn't enchant their weapons with [Light] Elemental Attribute. Then, they ran to Haru and Julio's position, and pulled them down before Abyssal Reaper's scythe struck them.

"What must we do now and where is Zikiya-san, Robert?"

"We need to focus on buying our friends some time to recover, right now. After that we will launch another full-scale attack again Ishizaki-dono." Kenzia helped Julio and Ridell to stand up.

"If you asked for Zikiya-san, she retreated with other Battlepriests to tend our injured and dying comrades."

When they were busy talking each other, something tries to emerge from the ground but it failed and then…

"TAKE THIS YOU SKULL FACE! ORIGINAL SKILL: [EARTH MOTHER'S PUNISHMENT]!!!"

Khazim emerged from the ground and struck the Abyssal Reaper with his hammer, but he couldn't deal much damage because his weapon isn't enchanted by the [Priests]. Then, a man emerged from the ruin shortly after the Dwarf finished his attack. They look terribly injured, but they are still standing with their pride intact.

"…Damn that bastard skull face buried us alive after tried to take our souls!" Said Khazim while coughing blood.

"Do not talk right now, you idiot. Otherwise, you will spill a lot of blood from your mouth like before."

"Heh, talk likes a big boss even though all of your body is covered with blood. How pathetic…"

The Abyssal Reaper launched [The Soul Harvester: Jaws of Death] when they are busy talking and throwing insult to each other. But Arnold realized that and channeled his mana to his greatsword. But before they can activate their original skills, something suddenly pulled them from their back into a dimension when they tried to combine their original skills and they fell into a room in fourth floor.

"Do you want to die? Charging and spouting nonsense like a (stupid) hero."

"Ah…" They stood frozen in place and fainted. Erick sighed and brought them into Healer's Room. He asked Zikiya and Yavia to tend them.

"Good, Erick had finished his job. Let's continue our battle everyone."

I nullified Abyssal Reaper's magic: [Eye of The Vengeful Reaper: Everlasting Nightmare] with my [Magic Resistance] Ability. What a nasty debuff that caused someone to see and hear fearful scenes.

"Are you okay Aniki?!"

"I'm fine! That was magical attack so don't worry about me! You must focus on yourself right now! DODGE!"

Robert and I jumped to different side to evade Abyssal Reaper Scythe's attack, [Wheel of Curse]. Then, Robert runs toward the left side and I run to the right. Robert casted [Water Bomb] and I enchanted it with [Light] Elemental Attribute Mana. Therefore, it's combined into [Holy Water Bomb], a [B+ Rank] Magic.

We need to stall this battle for another 13-36 minerval until all the vanguards and scouts fully recovered. Not wasting a single time to let its enemy think, the Abyssal Reaper launched another [Instant Kill] Spell called [Death Ray] to Haru's location but Julio suddenly jumps in front of Haru and blocks the incoming [Death Ray].

"ROBERT, SUPPORT JULIO NOW!" Robert and Haru are holding Julio's back to prevent him from knocked off or collapsing.

"UGGGHHH…THIS BEAM ATTACK IS RIDICULOUSLY STRONG!"

"Hang in there, Julio! Robert, do you have [Counter] Type Skill or Spell?!"

"I do! But it's a [Martial Arts] Technique! What would you expect from [Martial Arts] Counter Technique against a huge magical beam?! Asking me to go wutau-wutau?!"

"Cih!" Now what must I do? I was deep in my thought until I heard Julio's voice.

"My Lord, Robert-dono! Let me activate my [Paladin] Class's [Counter] Skill, prepare for a shockwave!"

"Eh? Wait—!" I quickly grab his right shoulder.

"ACTIVATE PALADIN DIVINE SKILL: [RADIANCE REVERSAL]!!!!!"

[Radiance Reversal] is a skill that will absorb all damage received by the user and return it twice or more based on the user's active buff(s). This skill will also transform any [Non-Light] Elements into [Light] Element. It's super effective against enemies who have [Demonic] or [Undead] Trait also to enemies with [Evil] Alignment. That means this skill will give the user [DMG Bonus] against enemies with those traits around 300%—1000% depends on the skill rank.

A huge explosion occurred shortly after Julio activated his skill. It seemed the beam had returned to its rightful owner. We dealt 10 million damages with this skill, but we did this thanks to ridiculous amount of buffs that have been stacked to Julio. Well, the [Enchanters] and [Priests] did a good job to support us even though they are busy tending the injured. With Julio's counter skill, we shoved ten mini bars of Abyssal Reaper's HP and now we succeed to enrage it. Looking at that, the Knights quickly make a defensive line to protect the rear.

(Wait, did the damage that showed in my head literally 10 million damages…? How…?) When I lost in thought, Mikazuchi's voice entered my head and informing me dozens of vanguards and scouts are ready to battle.

"Entering combat mode…Leon, Naval, Zack, Ron, Masayuki, Irene, Olave, Pedro, Suzuka, Luck…"

I looked at my back and I saw my party members and vanguards had recovered from their wounds and they are ready to engage combat. It seemed Zack had cured by the Healers, now he is pumped up and smiling widely.

Meanwhile, on the third phase after Zack came back, the battle is getting even more intense. I ordered Daendles to fasten up our battle pace and raise our damage. I also secretly asked him to make the Mages cast more than 30 buffs on the vanguards and scouts by casting same buffs to us until their mana almost depleted before changing to next line of Mages.

From my experience, the third phase is when the Abyssal Reaper doesn't cast defensive or protective buffs on itself, so its defense is basically zero. If we can reduce its HP fast, we can save a lot of time and move to next plan, where we need to focus on defensive formation.

The battle itself last around two heverra longer than I thought. The problem wasn't the Abyssal Reaper used a lot of AoE attacks with [Instant Kill] Debuff, but when we shoved 999 its mini HP Bars and we left one mini bar, the Abyssal Reaper suddenly became a humanoid skeleton with physical body. It changed its attack pattern into rapid close combat attacks with [Instant Kill] Debuff that activated on every attack.

I wasn't anticipated this and our formation screwed. It struck and knocked off everyone but thanks to the [Priest] Class [Anti-Death] protection spells, all of our vanguards and scouts can survive that attack, even though they fell unconscious right after they received the Abyssal Reaper's attack. But the one who did the great job is Robert. He taunted the Abyssal Reaper and challenged it. He did that solely to save Vania who collapsed on the battleground.

I saw Robert unsheathed something like a sword, but it covered with black aura. He ran and slashed the Abyssal Reaper countless time. I didn't know what's that, but the sword can damage the Abyssal Reaper harder than our divine-enchanted weapons.

"I still…can't forget the humiliation that one of your kind did to me. Now, it's time for me to return the favor…"

I can't hear what Robert said to the Abyssal Reaper since he cut the broadcast, but I can clearly say he might be mad at the Abyssal Reaper since I saw he was glaring at the Abyssal Reaper intensely and then he attacked it countless time with unbelievable attack speed. His attacks alone enough to shove off the last mini HP Bar with billions of health points in just few minerval. Then, he stored his sword in his inventory and used his normal longswords again.

I, myself can't help but felt amazed with that scenery until I left my mouth hanging open for a bit long time. But I'm sure, since the Mages were tending the injured, most of the people were collapsed, and the battleground itself covered in dust and smoke from the Abyssal Reaper's attacks, I was the only one who clearly saw Robert's action. Does Robert hides something from me?

However, when I was busy thinking that, the Abyssal Reaper's third big HP Bar broke and it returned to normal huge ethereal ghost like before, but its eyes turned purple and gleaming brightly. Suddenly, ten purple thunders appear from the Abyssal Reaper's body and they struck everyone who is still standing. The thunders even broke the [Eight Wind Protection Barriers] Spell that supposed to able to defend against spell or skill that has [A++ Rank] or lower.

Now, I understand…was that spell supposed to wipe out all of us instant, eh? But you should try harder…since my [RA] [Racial Abilities] almost reached the highest rank and there is no way a purple thunder can damage me. But I won't expect too much on you, since you don't have brain to think.

On another place, three Arachnes are standing upside down on the ceiling while busy pulling the vanguards to the [Gate] portal and making sure they landed safely on the specific spots after teleported. But since most of the vanguards now are being treated by the Healers, and only scouts remain. Feeling bored, Rania glances at other two Arachnes and suddenly she came up with an idea in her mind. It's none other than to tease them.

"Yumina and Rekia, I've never thought two members from Nephilinae and Argiope Familia Arachne Demi-Human would join this battle. I thought you would just laze around every day or ravish your husbands, no?"

"........." Rekia didn't say a single word.

"The same goes for you, Rania from Latrodectus Familia." Yumina glared at Rania.

"My, my! How scary! I told you women with attitudes like yours would be less favorable in front of men. Look at Rekia-chan. She is calm and quiet. I—" The three of them dodged mana beam that flew straight to roof.

"You two…less talking and keep your focus…we are…still in the middle…of battle…." Rekia talked with flat tone.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING RANIA?! FOCUS YOU IDIOT!" Mikazuchi shouted from [Broadcast].

"Fine, fine Mikazuchi-chan…Oh My Maker, how troublesome…!"

On other side of the Boss Room, two women are jumping between floating stones. They launched offensive spells along with melee attacks from their enchanted weapons that have been imbued by [Light] Element. They rush to the Abyssal Reaper with high speed and dodged every beam attack and stones that come from unexpected angles. The [Samurai] slices a small beam attack and a stone that came at her from left and right into two. Meanwhile, the [Prodigy] assisted her by casting defensive barrier around them.

"I picked Samurai as my first class but they've never taught me, "How to Cut through Ethereal being" and this is my first time…Oh, what a thrill! Activate [CS] [Class Skill]: Magical Blade Technique No. 5…O Blade of Ethereal Realm…The Blade of God, The Blade of Neverending Fate…I Summon You O Ethereal Blade of…" Suzuka took a deep breath after jumped from a stepping-stone.

"Indeed, in Yamato Island, Samurai aren't taught to cut through ethereal beings, but to cut through flesh and bone. Shall we test our blade then? Activate [CS] [Class Skill]: The Seeker of Nothingness…The End of Everlasting Miracle, The Blade of Wisdom and The Blade of Light. I Summon You…"

"…PURGATORY!"

"…RADIANT BLADE OF TRUE SEEKER!"

Suzuka and Ayumi struck the Abyssal Reaper from its head down to its lower body causing it to split in half momentarily followed by a small explosion inside its body shortly after that. They jumped back to a safe area to catch their breath. But they got scolded by Mikazuchi since they were chatting during their rest. The leader of [White Falcon] Party also got scolded by her since he chatted unimportant things with her on the broadcast.

One the fourth phase, the other scouts and I are focused on lowering their DPS while waiting for the recovery of most of the defenders and vanguards. They must spend two heverra to stall the boss while the Mages focused on giving protection, defense up, evasion up and magic resistance buffs. Meanwhile, the Abyssal Reaper has changed its attack pattern since we broke its third big HP Bar.

Now the Abyssal Reaper focuses on raising its [Magic Damage], [Evasion Rate], and [Magic Resistance]. We keep stalling the battle until we didn't realize five heverra has passed and all vanguards have returned to battleground. Now, we can continue to Plan F.