Almost the instant Modona’s figure became illusory, the combined assaults of Howard, Caitlin, and Glyn all missed their mark.
Whoosh—
Modona’s form reappeared a good thirty feet away, its face awash with fury.
“I never thought I’d underestimate you, allowing you to seize the opportunity!”
“Now, I’ll show you the true face of despair!”
“Struggle, wail, suffer, and plunge into the boundless abyss of darkness!”
As Modona’s chant echoed, an eerie black mist materialized from thin air.
In the next moment, this mist enveloped Howard, Caitlin, Glyn, Abby, and Aisha.
[Ding! Awakened Howard, you are now under the influence of the skill—Dark Descent. Your attack power is reduced by 5%, accuracy by 20%, Dark Element resistance by 50%, and the chance of being afflicted with negative statuses has increased by 50%! Duration: 30 seconds! ]
Seeing the notification, Howard’s eyebrows knitted in concern. “Quickly, get out of this mist!” he urgently shouted. “It’s lowering our Dark Element resistance!”
Dark Element resistance pertained to one’s resilience against Dark Element skills.
While most of the vampire’s abilities were blood-related, elementally, they belonged to the Dark Element.
After all, there wasn’t a Blood Element in the spectrum of elements. Such an arcane force naturally fell under the domain of the Dark Element.
A lowered resistance meant that all of Modona’s skills would inflict augmented damage upon Howard and the team.
As for the increased chance of negative effects, it referred to the likelihood of being subjected to control effects or debuffs.
Under normal circumstances, perhaps they’d only be affected by one such control effect or attribute reduction for every five times the BOSS attacked them.
After being affected by Dark Descent, however, every second attack from the BOSS could inflict them with a detrimental state.
So, despite Dark Descent dealing no direct damage, the gravity of the situation wasn’t lost on Howard. His face paled with the realization.
If they remained under the influence of Dark Descent while continuing to battle Modona, their fate was sealed.
Fortunately, apart from Abby, Caitlin, Glyn, and Aisha—all seasoned in numerous combats and having been lectured by mentors—understood the situation even without Howard’s warning.
They immediately began to retreat, attempting to extricate themselves from the smoky grasp of Dark Descent.
From a distance, Daniel observed the scene and nodded approvingly.
It seemed his teachings had truly taken root in the minds of his students, a realization that filled him with deep satisfaction.
“Think you can escape? Can you really outrun your fate?”
“Blood Rage!”
As the enraged roar echoed, Howard, who was hastily retreating, was suddenly alarmed to notice red luminescent dots flickering beneath the stone bricks under their feet.
“It’s a trap! Scatter, now!”
With a swift roll, Howard not only dodged the impending danger but also pushed Abby to safety.
Just as Howard knocked Abby clear, the spot they had just vacated exploded in a torrent of blood-red light. The fearsome energy obliterated the stone bricks.
“Ahh!”
Glyn’s agonizing scream rang out again.
His class was an awkward one—neither strictly Physical nor strictly Magical.
As a result, he lacked the speed of warriors and archers and didn’t have the lifesaving skills like Blink that magi possessed.
Even when he sensed the impending doom, he couldn’t escape in time.
The surge of blood-red energy caught him, tossing him aside with a gut-wrenching pain shooting through his legs.
Fortunately, both Aisha and Caitlin were unharmed. Seeing Glyn struck down by Modona’s skill, Aisha rushed forward, her very presence as healing as an angel’s, tending to Glyn’s wounds.
It was undeniable—the role of a priest in boss raids was absolutely vital!
Without Aisha, Howard and his team would have long been exhausted to the point of immobilization.
And Glyn? He might have met his end multiple times by now!
Howard whisked Abby out of the reach of Dark Descent’s skill range.
Spinning on his heels, he dashed back to Glyn’s side. Seeing Glyn still in the process of regenerating his HP, Howard hoisted him up and sprinted at full speed.
They made a narrow escape just before Modona could unleash another round of skills.
However, once they were out, the expressions of Howard, Caitlin, and the others grew grave as they stared into the mists.
If they didn’t re-enter, Modona would seize this opportunity to swiftly regain her HP.
By the time the mist dissipated, they would be faced with the daunting task of starting the fight all over again.
The silver lining was that they had already witnessed most of Modona’s formidable skills.
In the ensuing battles, they wouldn’t need to be on such high alert. .
After all, what good were powerful skills?
Apart from instant-cast skills, the others had a casting delay.
As long as Howard and his team timed it right, dodging these skills wouldn’t pose too great a challenge.
After what felt like an agonizing thirty seconds, the mist finally began to clear.
Modona’s figure emerged once more, and, as expected, his HP had indeed recovered by about 10%.
Seeing the situation, Howard charged forward fearlessly. With a 30% boost to all his attributes, he felt emboldened to clash head-on with Modona, even without resorting to his Mighty Thunder.
As the Frost Arrow Spell formed, the Soul Nurturer granted Howard a Mana Shield. Its defense value, tied to his MP, was staggering, furnishing Howard with the confidence to face Modona directly.
Witnessing this, Glyn, still recovering from his injuries, couldn’t help but sigh, “Is this the power of special equipment? Once I save up enough, I’ll definitely buy a Legendary-grade special equipment for myself!”
What Glyn failed to grasp was that not all special equipment was created equal. Not every piece could elevate its user to Howard’s level.
It was undeniable, though.
With his special equipment combined with the 30% boost to all attributes, Howard surprisingly stood a chance in a direct confrontation with Modona, without even needing Glyn’s interference.
Spotting this, Caitlin’s eyes sparkled as she called out, “Howard, try to control her. If you can hold her for just two seconds, I’ll take my shot!”
Emboldened by Caitlin’s words, Howard’s assault grew even fiercer.
As soon as his Gravity Spell and Frost Arrow Spell cooled down, he unleashed them again.
Even if the chances of his skills successfully controlling Modona had diminished, with repeated attempts, he was bound to succeed at some point.
Caitlin stood poised, ready to act.
The moment Modona was restrained, she darted forward like a bolt of lightning.
Her blade danced upon Modona, swiping over twenty times in quick succession.
The aura of the blade wreaked havoc within Modona, causing its veins to rupture.
Yet, Modona was, after all, a vampire. Its abilities were intrinsically tied to blood.
As Howard attempted once more to control it, Modona’s form astonishingly transformed into a pool of blood, effortlessly evading the incoming skill.
“What the hell?!”
“How can it turn into a puddle of blood?”
“Does this mean… we can’t even touch it now?”
For a moment, Howard and the others were completely taken aback.
However, Howard quickly reasoned that either the duration of this skill was incredibly brief, or its cooldown was significantly long.
Otherwise, couldn’t it just continuously transform into blood and avoid any peril?
The creator wouldn’t allow such a game-breaking creature to exist in this world.
Sure enough, in less than three seconds, Modona reverted to its original form.
The fierce battle raged on once more.
By the time Howard triggered the control effect of his skill again, Modona’s cooldown hadn’t yet reset, and it was frozen once more.
Whoosh—
Like a flash of lightning, Caitlin moved, causing a dramatic drop in Modona’s health bar as its HP plummeted.
Witnessing this, Abby, Glyn, and Aisha couldn’t help but breathe sighs of relief.
If this momentum continued, it was only a matter of time before Modona met its demise at the hands of Howard and Caitlin.
With devout fervor, Aisha began chanting her spell.
Before long, both Howard and Caitlin found themselves under the blessed effects of Aisha’s skills.
Attack power increased by an additional 10%!
When dealing damage, there’s a chance to inflict double the harm to Dark Element monsters!
The sheer potency of these effects almost made Howard shout in astonishment.
Truly befitting of an awakened with an S-level talent, these enhancements were incredibly overpowering!
With these two boosts in play, Modona’s health began to deplete even faster, its HP rapidly decreasing.
In just under two minutes, Modona’s health bar was perilously low, teetering on the brink of depletion.
Even Modona’s demeanor had shifted; its face had turned ghostly pale, marked with an expression of sheer terror.
“Impossible! How can your attributes have surged so much?”
“Why… Why aren’t my skills affecting you?”
Amidst its panicked cries, Modona’s health bar was completely drained.
However, just as Howard and Caitlin began to break into smiles, they sensed that something was amiss.
Why hadn’t there been a system notification when Modona’s form dispersed?
They knew from past experience that even defeating a minor creature would trigger a system alert, granting them experience points.
Now, having felled a Diamond-grade BOSS, it was unthinkable not to receive any notification.
“Wait! Modona isn’t dead yet. Caitlin, be on your guard!”
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