Chapter 66: 66 – A Small Hiccup

"Time for round two," I said as we stood right outside the perimeter of the boss area. Zoar Elab, the Living Statue, nonchalantly wandered in the middle of the ancient plaza, unaware that it was going to be my latest victim. From killing a pathetic level eight mob to a colossal level fifty-eight boss, it was all in a day’s work for Herald Stone. "Well, if we're going to be technical about it, we're at round seventeen or so."

Kezo, Megan, and Nitana laughed at my joke. We were in high spirits and stood straighter than yesterday, filled with hope compared to the discouragement at the end of our previous practice. That was the effect of Herald Stone, uplifting others on his wings.

Getting more serious, we needed to succeed here. It would raise the morale of our party, the weakest party to join the Great Hunt, if we were able to kill this boss. And that was what we were about to do…hopefully.

"Seventeen?" Megan said, giggling. "It’s probably more than that."

Nitana snorted. "I don't think anyone was counting."

"Buffs up, guys," Kezo said. Excitement oozed from him as he wore his complete DPS build. Occasional black and red lightning streaks jumped from one spike of his armor to another. It must be a special effect of wearing the full set of this red armor.

"I'm ready," I immediately said with a grin because I didn't use any buffs.

I only cast [Healing Touch] on myself. With its secondary effect of Heal over Time, I could continuously spam Totems left and right, up and down, inside and out, with no worry about the health cost. The main heal of [Healing Touch] was a big help, more so with my very low health pool, but I didn’t want to rely on it. I’d be casting two Totems every second if everything went smoothly, and I’d rather not be distracted with another skill.

As for [Greater Pyro Shell], I did not need it. Whether at level one or level ten, it couldn't provide a speck of protection against the might of the Living Statue in my state.

I also didn't bother hitting myself to proc [Ancestral Constitution]. While it did give plenty of regeneration, especially when the stacks were maxed, it also massively increased my health pool, significantly lowering the ratio of my regeneration to maximum health. It didn’t synergize with my strategy at all.

Amusing how I planned to be the tankiest and I was now squishier than before.

After our party finished prepping, Kezo raised his sword and said, "Showtime! Remember, no pressure, especially on you, Herald. It’s a new strategy so it’s normal if there’ll be mistakes.”

“I understand,” I assured him. “No worries.” Herald Stone doesn’t make mistakes—although that was probably better said after we won.

“I'm going in first!" Kezo declared, casting multiple skills as he charged forward.

Stepping on the snow-covered stone blocks paving the plaza alerted the boss to his presence. The Living Statue faced us and bellowed in anger. It raised both its hands above its head, gathering power for its homing energy ball.

I readied myself to enter the fray.

The boss threw the energy ball in Kezo’s direction. That was the sign it was safe for me to enter.

I galloped into the boss area followed by Megan and Nitana. “Kezo, we’re here!”

An explosion followed by a hurricane of electricity covered our party leader as the energy ball hit him.

But he came out unscathed thanks to Nitana's barrier. The energy ball was the only real danger to him, assuming he wouldn't make any mistake dodging the AoE skills and the vines.

Kezo slashed the air, sending enormous waves of black flames at the boss to make sure he got its attention. Then he turned tail, running diagonally to our left.

The boss followed him; the two of them were on a path perpendicular to me. This view made my job of placing the first Totem easier.

Thankfully, both Totems could be used from afar. I placed the [Superior Replicant Totem] in the middle of Kezo and the Living Statue. This was the moment of truth if my strategy was going to work.

The Living Statue passed the Totem. The multi-faced goblin statue glowed blue and cast [Enraging Taunt]. The boss stopped in its tracks, kicking up earth and snow as it braked. It grumbled as it turned around. Dozens of thorny vines shot out of its joints and the cracks of its stone body. Those formed into lengthy blades.

"I got it!" I said as I applied [Withering Brand] on the boss followed by the other Totem behind it and [Gnawing Rot] beneath its stone hooves.

The Living Statue slashed the Superior Totem, instantly dispelling my summon. Then it turned around to kill my other Totem. I noticed that it moved slower than before with my debuff.

"Yes!" I triumphantly shouted. Let the Totem juggling begin!

Black flames covered Kezo. He dashed towards the boss in the blink of an eye, appearing like a hurtling meteor. A huge explosion swallowed the colossal Living Statue. The health bar of the boss slowly but surely lowered a sliver at a time. Amid the flames, Kezo was slashing away like it was what he was born to do.

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The tall dancing flames made it hard to make out the boss for a couple of seconds before they faded away. It was a slight problem I hadn't considered, but I continued spamming Totems. I simply hoped I was placing them correctly—not too far from the boss that they couldn't taunt it, but also not too close that they couldn't hold the boss for a second.

"Now, you guys can attack too," I told Megan and Nitana. Since all of us were already fighting the boss, we wanted Kezo to sufficiently damage it first to make sure he'd be the target for subsequent energy balls.

"I can't believe this is really working!" Megan celebrated. She placed her [Spell Bonded Totem] near the boss while staying far away having learned her lesson from dying several times yesterday. I estimated that she had died more times than I did.

Nitana was positioned closer to the boss so she could cast her barrier sprite either on the Totems or Kezo. We left it up to her to decide, and she was doing a good job so far. She was our backup in case I messed up, which shouldn't happen—oops, except this time.

I mistakenly placed a Totem to the left of the boss. It hacked it with a sideways swing of its blade and then proceeded to attack Kezo before I could summon the next Totem. Nitana was there to protect our main DPS.

"Sorry, I missed that one," I said after putting the Totems in the correct positions to make the Living Statue spin in place.

"That's what I'm here for," she answered as she cast a continuous stream of fireballs at the boss, one of her new skills for single target damage instead of her usual AoE-oriented spells.

During our previous practice, Nitana contributed more to our party DPS after making this adjustment. And it seemed she made more improvements to her build after we parted ways yesterday.

But the one who had the most change was Kezo. He was in his element using his DPS build. Now able to concentrate on attacking, he consistently whittled down the boss' health at more than twice our previous speed.

The Living Statue threw another energy ball at Kezo. Nitana negated it just in time; she correctly saved her barrier sprite skill for it instead of using it on a Totem.

The boss reared up on its hind legs.

"Earthquake incoming!" I loudly said for everyone to hear. They didn't need me to tell them that; we all knew what the boss was about to do, having succumbed to this powerful AoE spell many times before. But I just wanted to hear my voice. Everyone should hear my voice and listen to me.

All of us ran away from the Living Statue. Its front hooves came down, slamming the earth. The snow was blown away by the impact, the stone blocks cracked.

"Go! Go! Go!" Kezo urged us on. The expanding quakes were right behind him. The stone blocks of the plaza moved about, grinding against each other as if they were floating on water, the earth beneath moving freely.

In this situation, I didn't need to cast Totems because the Living Statue stood still while channeling the skill. The Totem would immediately die anyway to the quakes; we had already tested that yesterday with Megan's own Totem.

It was only a simple matter of waiting this thing out before engaging the boss again. That was the hard part.

The ground calmed down. "It's coming again!" I said. I planted a Totem and we retreated further.

The boss ran after us but was caught by the taunt of the Totem. It swatted it away before continuing forward. The next Totem in its path was protected by Nitana, buying me a second to place [Withering Brand] on the boss. The Totem after that simply got trampled, and so did the one after it.

"I can't start Totem juggling," I said, clenching my teeth in annoyance. We continued fleeing from it while I plopped Totem after Totem behind us like breadcrumbs leading the way. It was difficult, probably impossible, to put a Totem behind the boss if we were running away from it.

Lesson learned. We should spread out after its AoE attacks, and I should be further away than the others so it would chase them, giving me the needed opening for the correct placement of the Totems to begin our strategy.

"It needs another target," said Kezo. "I'll head it off."

I wanted to tell him to stay with the group because I was going to figure something out, but he was right. That was the only way to salvage this. "Okay, I'll catch it the first chance I get."

Kezo veered left while the rest of us headed right. The pesky giant statue chose to go right as well. Kezo unleashed a flurry of attacks to get its attention. The boss finally turned around and chase him.

"Good job," I called out as if I was the leader of our party. I headed back to the middle of the plaza and left a Totem there. "Lead it this way!"

Kezo followed my instructions, zooming past the Totem. The boss was about to catch up to him when it got taunted by the Totem. I quickly placed another Totem behind the boss.

"And we're back in business, ladies and gentlemen," I said, cackling as I flooded the area with [Gnawing Rot]. Totems here, Totems there, Totems everywhere!

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