Leon’s face stiffened even more than what it usually did as he beheld the floor boss. Was this something they were supposed to fight against? And how?
He quickly shook his head. He had beat Dibella even when she straddled the line that separated C and B rank. He had beat the other floor bosses when they were also at the very peak of B rank, with some even straddling the line between B and A rank. Surely, all of that was preparation for this.
Jet had told him a bit about the Tower of Trials on their journey up here. Lives were lost, yes. But the last boss had always been defeated. He was confident in the strength he possessed, so he should be able to stand a chance against this boss.
“You!” The boss spoke and stretched out its hand. The black flame around it flowed into its open palm, taking the form of a staff that it pointed right and Leon. “You and I will fight. None of the others matter.” It declared.
“Hey, Lex.” Jet said, speaking to Leon. He did not use Leon’s actually name so that the others would not hear it. “Be careful. We can take care of the other monsters.” He nodded at Leon and began pulling out creatures from his dungeon. The boss seemed to only be a mirror of Leon, so he was able to provide a good amount of reinforcement to their side.
Another thing that Leon noted about the boss was that it did not possess a millipede queen. He looked all around its body, but was unable to find a replica of Nedra.
‘Is that because she is my Spirit Companion?’ Leon wondered as he dismounted Fenrir. The Ice Wolf King was already eyeing its copy.
Whoosh!
Another wave of black fire tinted with green erupted around the boss, and replicas of Leon’s elite summons appeared one by one. Kaladin, Nero and Grokus. The only difference was that they gave off stronger auras that his own summons, and the fire within their bodies was a green color, not the unique colors that his own summons had. Their strengths were equivalent to that of floor bosses, so they were quite strong.
Caw!
Oris flew overhead, bathing the boss room in a colorless light that boosted the strength and morale of those on Leon’s side. Another thing Leon noted was that the boss did not have replicas of the monsters he had killed on this floor. It helped soothe his mind, as that would mean he had more powerhouses on his side. Plus, it had no support aura boosting the strength of its summons.
However, the floor boss dashed Leon’s hopes at that moment when a black domain spread out from it. The domain field extended all across the throne room, casting a buff on its minions, while combating the buff on Leon’s side, rendering it useless.
“Dammit!” Leon cursed and turned his eyes to the boss, allowing his own weaker domain to spread out and bringing back some effects of Oris buff, albeit to a weaker extent.
All of this happened in just thirty seconds, and it seemed the boss had grown tired of giving them enough preparation time. It pointed its staff forward, and its minions swarmed forward, eager to spill the blood of their enemies. As they rushed forward, the two meter tall Obsidian Skeleton walked forward at a relaxed pace. Its eyes were firmly fixed on Leon, who had summoned his spear and also began to walk forward. Behind him, Nedra parted to go and kill monsters around. She intended to wait for a perfect moment before striking at the back of the boss.
“Quite brave of you to face me alone.” The boss said when it stopped opposite Leon in the center of the room. It seemed to mock him with an intelligence that far surpassed the other bosses of the Tower of Trials. It was an eerie feeling that Leon did not quite like.
“Enough talk. Let’s fight.” Leon said, brandishing his spear. He had stopped some distance away from the boss. There was about ten meters of space between them.
“As you wish.” It suddenly grinned devilishly and pointed its staff at him.
Crack! Boom!
An explosion rang out under Leon and he quickly leapt up into the air, wrapping his body with a layer of Gravity magic to make himself lighter, while boosting himself up higher with wind magic. He looked down to see black fire erupting from the ground. Quickly, he aimed himself forward and turned the gravity on its head, making himself a speeding projectile that weighed multiple times than before, as he headed straight for the boss.
BOOOM!
Another explosion rang out as Leon collided with the floor boss. It had raised its staff to meet his descent, conjuring a shield right in front of it. Leon’s spear managed to pierce the shield, but he had not been able to damage the boss, as all his momentum had been bled off by the shield, and the magic of the boss. A similar purple glow radiated off its armor, as it reversed the effects of the gravity to cancel out Leon’s momentum.
But there was something off about its magic that Leon noticed.
‘It’s not as strong as I thought it would be…’ He noted quietly, but quickly stepped back. His eyes flashed with a purple light, and the tip of his spear burnt with a black fire as he thrust it back against the wind barrier around the boss. The wind quickly caught of fire, allowing him to push through the defense as it was burned away by his powers.
Ding!
The tip of his burning spear collided against the armor of the boss just as its staff whizzed by him, slamming into his side and sending him hurtling away.
“Argh!” He groaned in pain as he felt his mind and body freeze up. That had been a powerful hit. But Leon was now even more sure of his thoughts. This Boss’s skills were all low! Just as low as his. It was just its stat points that were high enough to breach the threshold of A rank!