Seeing that the Mount Golem was charging up its wide-area attack, Daryl ordered everyone to get to their positions. Diniel retrieved Xeno’s Scorchstone Robe and threw it back to him, then flew away as far as she could. Melchor paired up with Xeno, and Daryl with Korinna, and they curled up under their respective Scorchstone Robes in mid-air.
Then a red stream of light burst forth from the Mount Golem’s eyes, melting away the ground as it spread rapidly in all directions. Diniel watched from a safe distance as the four others were pushed back while defending themselves against the wide-area attack that burned away everything else.
“<<Stream Arrow>>.”
As soon as the blast ended, Diniel started hitting back immediately despite the distance between her and the enemy. The arrow reached just the right spot above the Mount Golem’s head, and turned into a rain of countless ice arrows that buffeted the monster as it was immobilized by the cooldown of its own attack.
Diniel then turned away from the burning red Mount Golem and shot some ice arrows at the molten ground, creating some solid surfaces to use as a foothold. The four others emerged unscathed from the Scorchstone Robes and ascended higher into the sky, avoiding the burning parts of the ground as they headed toward Diniel.
“<<Adventuring Deity’s Protection>>”
Korinna reapplied her anti-terrain effect skill, extending it for two more hours. Meanwhile, Daryl changed into a spare set of red armor, and also took the time to talk to everyone while filling its cooling tank with ice Magic Stones.
“No more of the smaller Golems will spawn from this point on, so feel free to start attacking the boss monster, Sir Melchor. And Miss Diniel, please prioritize creating footholds for now.”
“Gotcha.”
“Just don’t expect me to hit so hard, boy.”
Melchor’s poor flying skill was sure to make it difficult for him to effectively attack the fast-moving Mount Golem. And Diniel must spend a portion of her Ice Arrows to regularly cool the molten ground, limiting her supplies and ability to dish out damage.
“Miss Korinna, well… Please keep your support as efficient as before.”
“I-I understand!”
Korinna nodded timidly, and Daryl smiled back. Having seen Korinna revive Xeno in just two minutes, Daryl now thought of Korinna as even more reliable than before. According to what she had said before today, the <<Blessing of Resurrection>> needed ten minutes to take effect, and <<Verses of Prayer>> would cut that time down to half at most. As such, she would need at least five minutes if she were to cast it right after an ally’s death.
But just now, Korinna had pulled off the two-minute revive without even using <<Verses of Prayer>>. Daryl’s sense of hearing had enabled him to hear Korinna casting the <<Blessing of Resurrection>> in advance, so he had some hope that her foresight would help him in the unlikely case that he died as well.
“Sir Xeno, you and I will switch more regularly from now on. We both must be careful not to overexert ourselves.”
“Hmm, that goes without saying.”
Xeno, despite having just died once, looked to be perfectly calm as he wiped the sweat off his face. Daryl felt sick to his stomach just thinking about his own death, but Xeno did not seem to care about it one bit. And then he felt somewhat frustrated at himself upon comparing Xeno’s state now with how he had acted in the previous battle.
By the time everyone had caught their breath, the burning red Mount Golem recovered from its cooldown time and started moving again, swinging its arms as it ran at full speed toward the team. Daryl unleashed a focused indigo blue blast of <<Combat Cry>>, and the battle resumed.
Korinna provided the two Tanks with as much support and healing as she could, while Diniel shot ice arrows at the ground near the Mount Golem to secure some foothold for the team. She then proceeded to land on one of the platforms and took aim, preparing to attack again. Melchor, after being placed on the ground by Xeno, crushed some Colorless Magic Stones in his hands.
“<<Defensive>>.”
Daryl stayed in the air as he dealt with the Mount Golem, while also taking care not to mess up his positioning. In an attempt to manipulate the monster’s attacking pattern, he maintained just the right distance for it to think it could punch him easily.
And as it turned out, the manipulation worked. The Mount Golem threw a hook punch at Daryl, and he tried to dodge it — but he had forgotten to take into account that the monster had become too fast.
“Ngh–!”
Blocking the hit just in time with his tower shield, Daryl groaned at the impact he felt as it was much heavier than before. Then, clinging his feet to the darkened rock surface below him, he quickly regained his posture. Korinna’s healing skill promptly healed up the bruises he had sustained, but as expected, the boss monster’s attack was painful to take.
Moreover, the Mount Golem was now able to run, so there was much less time for him to recover after being knocked back. It proceeded to shoot a heat ray at him, startling him enough to make him look away while putting his guard up. The red armor reacted to the rapidly rising temperature, activating its cooling function.
By the time Daryl got off the crumbling ground, the Mount Golem had caught up, and this time, it kicked him with the tip of its foot as if he was a pebble. Daryl tried his best to reposition himself so that none of his allies were too near, while also taking care not to stray too far from the enemy.
“<<COMBAT CRY>>!!”
After a few more attacks, Xeno pulled the boss monster’s aggro to himself, switching with Daryl. Unlike Daryl, Xeno dealt with the Mount Golem by staying close to it, increasing his ease of evasion while also limiting the types of attacks that could actually hit him.
Meanwhile, Daryl grit his teeth through the pain and waited for Korinna to heal him. Eventually, a <<Blessing of Recovery>> created a green aura around him, treating his wounds.
Xeno ran a higher risk of dying upon hit, but he was taking far fewer hits compared to Daryl. Besides, the Scorchstone Robe rendered him impervious to the heat ray, the enemy’s quickest attack, giving him a considerable advantage.
However, unlike the Fire Dragon, which had been practicing against for some time, today was the very first time Xeno had taken hits from a Mount Golem. Although his performance could be considered good enough since he was able to dodge the sped-up Mount Golem’s grabs and stomps with complicated aerial maneuvers, he would be in a great deal of pain just from being hit once by a normal attack.
“<<Combat Cry>>!”
As such, whenever Xeno took a hit, Daryl would pull the monster’s aggro to him and switch in as the main Tank.
When the Mount Golem turned to Daryl, a signal arrow flew past him. Hearing that, Daryl tried his best to keep the Mount Golem still and waited for Diniel to use her skill. But then a moment passed without hearing her voice, causing him to question in his mind what was wrong.
Since the boss monster was much faster now, it was difficult for Daryl to keep it in one spot by manipulating it to attack by punching and stomping, unlike during the earlier phases of the fight.
Eventually, he was knocked away by one of the hits, and it was then that he finally heard Diniel’s voice.
“<<Stream Arrow>>.”
Having waited for the moment Daryl was knocked away, Diniel’s skill rained arrows down right on top of the mount Golem’s head. Not all of the arrows hit due to the Mount Golem proceeding to chase after Daryl, but they still did good enough damage. Since avoiding the Mount Golem’s stomps was more difficult in this phase, Daryl was very much thankful for Diniel’s quick thinking.
After this point, Daryl kept himself alive by playing it safe and manipulating the enemy to use its weaker attacks, while Xeno did all he could to stall for time and avoid its instant-death attacks. Thanks to the two Tanks, the Mount Golem did not once turn to the three others, and the situation was steadily shifting in the team’s favor thanks to Korinna’s support.
“Ah.”
However, even Paladin, which had one of the highest AGI ratings among Tank-type Jobs, was not as effective as an evasion-based Tank as Hannah.
This meant he was not necessarily able to avoid every instant-death attack, and now, he was trampled flat by the sped-up Mount Golem.
Daryl was momentarily shocked to see Xeno die so suddenly again, but he quickly snapped himself back and properly pulled the Mount Golem’s aggro. Then he heard a voice calling from above him,
“Two minutes until revival! Can you hold it until then!?”
“I’ll be fine!”
“All right! Please pull the aggro in the meantime!”
Korinna had seen this death coming, too, and had used <<Blessing of Resurrection>> beforehand. She was also budgeting her mental energy well enough that, if Daryl’s situation were to grow too severe, she could use the <<Verses of Prayer>> to make the revival take effect immediately.
Afterward, Xeno continued to die occasionally, and each time, Korinna’s foresight allowed her to use <<Blessing of Resurrection>> and <<Verses of Prayer>> at the right timings to keep the Tanks’ workflow going. Using <<Blessing of Resurrection>> so much resulted in Korinna building up a high level of aggro, but Daryl’s liberal use of his skills always kept the Mount Golem’s attention away from her.
In order to not build too much aggro, Korinna also decided to reduce the frequencies of her support, healing, and <<Verses of Prayer>> — and to not cast any for Xeno due to how often he would die. At first glance, this might seem outrageous, but the team would lose their only means of revival if Korinna were to be killed, so this was in fact the right choice to make.
“XENO HAS RETURNED!!”
“Don’t fall into the lava — it’s a hassle to get your stuff back up.”
“I’ll try not to!”
Xeno, despite having died so many times, showed no signs of being discouraged as he accepted the Scorchstone Robe back from Diniel and gulped down a vial of Blue Potion. Then, without re-equipping his armor and buckler, he threw the Scorchstone Robe over his clothes and flew toward the Mount Golem again.
“<<COMBAT CRY>>! Bring it on!”
He went on to be stomped and crushed many more times. The frequency at which he needed to be revived made him look bad as a Tank, considering that Daryl had yet to die even once today. The spectators were probably disappointed, and Diniel TOTALLY was disappointed in him.
Still, Xeno was not at all discouraged. His ego was on a whole different level from those like Garm and Daryl, and could even be considered his strongest weapon. The silver aura of his <<Combat Cry>> shone as brightly as ever.
“Hah hah…”
And Daryl was frustrated that he had been unable to reach his ‘limit’ so far after coming so close once before. He was in fact almost at his physical limit, but it did not quite feel like he was.
“<<Blessing of Recovery>>. <<Blessing of the Sacred>>.”
And the reason was that he now knew just how excellent Korinna was.
Back during the second phase, Daryl had sworn to never die today. He had figured that the fight would be all over if he were to fall, especially since Korinna’s full capabilities were unknown to him then. At that point, being pushed to his physical and mental limits meant he had to try and step over the line of what he had considered himself capable of.
But then he got to see Korinna revive Xeno so often and with such consistency, not to mention her adequate support and healing from a Tank’s point of view. Her performance had never even suffered whenever Xeno died.
Now he knew that even if he were to die, Korinna would be able to get him back in action soon enough. This knowledge caused him to subconsciously trust her, which in turn kept him from reaching his mental limit… thus preventing him from going beyond it.
“<<Stream Arrow>>.”
In anticipation of Daryl taking another hit, Diniel attacked again, chipping away at the Mount Golem’s defenses. The pain in Daryl’s body made him feel as if he was about to explode, yet he still did not think he was at his limit. He felt like he was irritated, but his mind was in fact perfectly calm.
The team had a chance at winning this fight even if he were to fail at breaking his limits. Things were getting more difficult, though, as Xeno was starting to die more quickly, resulting in Daryl having to take over for longer periods of time.
Still, Xeno’s deaths were not without meaning. He gained a better understanding of the fight with each death, and in the end, he started stalling for time more effectively by equipping only the Scorchstone Robe.
“XENO HAS RETURNED!”
“Gah, we’re down to the bad-tasting Potions now!”
He was dying as often as ever, and the high mental energy consumption of his <<Combat Cry>> meant he also had to drink Blue Potions more often. But his stalling tactics were becoming more and more effective — and while he was nowhere nearly as fast as Hannah, he was excellent at his complex aerial maneuvers, allowing him to stay close to the Mount Golem without being hit as much.
Additionally, Korinna’s performance was at an expected level of efficiency. Daryl had thought of the Channeler’s revivals as unreliable due to how much time they needed, but Korinna had managed to revive Xeno in just two to three minutes each time. Being able to do so this quickly meant things were not too much for Daryl to handle, and Korinna seemed to not need that many Blue Potions, either.
Korinna’s foresight was a result of her life experiences and her time with random parties, and since she was quite used to situations where her teams were close to annihilation, she never panicked whenever Xeno died and could keep up her support and healing for Daryl. This strength Korinna exhibited now was what Tsutomu had seen on the Monitors.
Diniel, despite being a slacker by nature, was attentive to the small details, making her good at securing footholds and timing her attacks. Her trick to delaying the Mount Golem’s attacks — by shooting at its joints at the right moments — also greatly contributed to Daryl and Xeno’s survival.
Melchor, without the ability to fight in the air, could not do much of anything as he stood on a platform, the sea of molten rock spreading out before him. The vibe he gave off suggested that he would do something to help if absolutely necessary, however, so it was reassuring for the rest of the team just to have him there.
All in all, they had a good chance of winning if they were to not make any major mistakes. Daryl, understanding the situation as such, stopped concerning himself about that ‘limit’ state, and played it safe by manipulating the enemy to prioritize punch and kick attacks.
Then, at one point, the Mount Golem prepared to unleash its second wide-area attack. This had not happened during the previous run, but Daryl had read up on it before, so he knew what to do — and that this attack would be much nastier than the first time around.
“Wide-area attack incoming! Sir Melchor, please hide in the robe with Miss Korinna!” Daryl ordered, then promptly went to hide in Xeno’s Scorchstone Robe. In a corner of his eye, Diniel had already retreated.
The second wide-area attack would not result in the Mount Golem being immobilized, so they had to be ready to resume combat immediately. This was considered one of the most troublesome moves in the final phase, and Daryl recalled Tsutomu saying it was lucky that it had not happened during the Clan’s first attempt.
At any rate, the team should be safe this time, as the monster’s aggro was on Daryl. While Daryl planned the moves he would make immediately after the wide-area attack ended, Xeno started talking to him as they were both wrapped in the silver gleam of his <<Ember Aura>>,
“It’s dazzling.”
“…Yes, it is. Maybe you should dial it down a little bit.”
“I HAVE dialed it down already. But it’s still bright. I swear, it’s like I’m suffering from success…”
“You should practice some more, then,” Daryl half-seriously joked back at Xeno.
Then the wide-area attack’s impact hit them both. After being blown away by the wind pressure, they then suddenly heard a thunderous roar.
After the impact subsided, Daryl poked his face out to see the Mount Golem with its arms crossed… and a large number of black rocks stuck to its torso.
“Oh no–“
Then, the Mount Golem swung out its arms, shooting out the rocks like shotgun pellets. Daryl defended with his tower shield and was blown away, while Xeno was squashed by some of the heavier rocks.
The Mount Golem proceeded to close in on Daryl, giving him no time to make heads and tails of his surroundings before punching him, knocking him further away.
“<<Blessing of Resurrection>>. <<Blessing of Resurrection>>.”
And then his folded dog ears picked up something quite disturbing — Korinna’s voice, casting her revival skill twice.
