"We're actually doing it!" Megan passionately shouted. "We're winning!"

"Don't get too excited," Nitana told her. "The boss hasn't even powered up yet."

That's true, I thought. Nonetheless, we had already dealt more damage to the Living Statue than we ever did yesterday thanks mostly to Kezo's monstrous DPS unleashed in full. And he wouldn't have been able to use his complete DPS build if it wasn't for me taking on the primary tanking role—sort of—so it was all thanks to me. Thank you, Herald Stone. You're welcome, Herald Stone.

Several vines shot out of the Living Statue, violently whipping in the air.

"Take care and evade!" Kezo yelled at us as he retreated from the boss. "Don't get entangled."

The thorny tendrils of the Living Statue stretched downwards, straightening into massive stakes that drove into the ground just as Kezo moved out of their way. One of the vines inadvertently hit my Totem. I didn't place another one, opting instead to inflict a fresh [Withering Brand] on the boss and place a new [Gnawing Rot] on the ground beneath it.

"I'm going back in," Kezo alerted us. Like during its earthquake skill, the boss also couldn't leave its spot while using this move as the rigid vines held it in place.

Fortunately, unlike the channeled quakes that would instantly kill Kezo in his DPS build, the vines bursting out of the ground couldn't. Or that was our guess anyway—the vines weren’t able to kill Megan or Nitana in one hit yesterday, so we assumed that would be the case with him as well.

So long as Kezo didn't immediately die, he'd easily lifesteal any damage back—if he could move. Which was why it was our duty to free him if he ever got bound as soon as possible.

"Just yell for help when you're caught," I told him.

"Got it," he answered as he weaved through the obstacle course of vines to reach the boss.

The Living Statue wasn't channeling as it sent its tendrils below us. It could and would attack anyone within its reach. But since it was rooted in place, we found out during our previous practice session that it couldn’t turn around. Kezo could safely poke the boss’ stony behind since kicking straight back with its hind legs wasn’t one of its moves in contrast to a real cow.

This was what inspired my brilliant strategy of repeatedly placing Totems behind it, forcing it to turn around to attack.

I evaded several vines trying to turn me into a Mardukryon lollipop. Our group had plenty of practice with this that we no longer get caught by the vines towards the end of yesterday’s training.

Behind the Living Statue, I spotted Kezo covering himself in black flames. Then he hurtled towards the boss and exploded. Megan and Nitana continued with their attacks from afar while dancing among the vines

Surrounded by black flames, the Living Statue somehow roared despite being made of plants and stone. It leaned to the left, and then to the right. I could hear its stone parts grinding against each other as it strained to reach behind it, to reach Kezo hacking away at its hind legs.

Bellowing in anger, Zoar Elab furiously swung its bladed arms, trying to stretch them as far back as it could, only to slice the air. It kept trying to turn around, but the vines anchored to the ground grew taut, stopping it. Through the boss's legs, I could see Kezo furiously attacking, his swords moving so fast that they became streaks of darkish red.

“Look at its health bar,” Megan said, pointing at the boss with both her wands, shooting a stream of fire from each like a blowtorch on steroids. Her trusty and ugly [Spell Bonded Totem] also spewed flames at the boss, copying her skills. "It's going down so fast!"

Well, not as fast as her enthusiasm made it out to be. The health bar was getting reduced at a snail's pace. But it was a much faster snail than yesterday.

If there ever was a snail racing contest—my sister had probably shown me a video of it before—this snail right here would win. We had already shaved off about a fifth of the Living Statue’s health. No doubt, shifting my LS points to increase the levels of my debuff skills contributed to this—thank you, Herald Stone.

A tanky debuffer—put quotation marks on "tanky"—was a role that suited me well.

I found my place in our party, an important one at that, even though I was only level twelve. The ignorant might choose a high-level summon instead of me, not knowing that every party needed a Herald Stone to guide them. Kezo, Megan, and Nitana were lucky to have me in their party.

Nitana? I looked left and right. Where did she go?

"Break vines!" It was Kezo's voice. "Help!"

I ran to the left, trying to get a glimpse of him through the dancing flames and the body of the boss. His health had plummeted. And it was not going back up—he couldn't attack to lifesteal!

"Got it!" Nitana surprised me with her alertness. She had moved near Kezo in anticipation of him getting entangled by the vines because he was sticking to the boss. Using her exploding fairies, she blasted away the vines and freed him.

Kezo’s health bar was quickly refilled the moment his swords bit into the stone exterior of the Living Statue. But then, another health bar was reduced.

"Megan?" I said, noticing that she suffered massive damage. I turned to her to find that a vine was constricting her body, the thorns along its length digging into her flesh, constantly hurting her. "How did you even get caught by this?"

"I'm so sorry," she sheepishly said. "I got too anxious that Kezo might die, so I didn't notice the ground moving." Out of the four of us, only Megan could save herself from the hold of the vines. Her own Totem turned around and incinerated the tendrils binding her with its searing flames.

"Herald!" Kezo circled the boss to our side. Nitana was right behind him. He said, "We need your Totems."

The vines receded into the Living Statue's body. The boss began to move once again.

Kezo led it to the side so I could correctly place my Totems. And I went right back to Totem juggling while my three party mates attacked it.

Totems rose nonstop from the ground only to be hewn down by the boss. It was an almost comical sight, reminding me of a whack-a-mole game. When I thought more about it, that was exactly what the boss was doing with my summons. We were entertaining the boss with an old arcade game.

Not only old. Ancient! Arcade games were already decades old when I was playing computer games at Vanguard Gaming.

The boss' health eventually dropped to around seventyish percent, and it stopped moving. The golden crystals jutting out its body glowed brightly. Its vine blades grew even bigger and began emitting yellow sparks.

"It's doing that weird thing," said Nitana.

"Wow, it's only powering up now?" Megan said. "Feels like it took a long time to do it?"

"It's around the same time as before," I said. "Just feels longer because of how much we have reduced its health at this point compared to yesterday."

"Oh, you're right. It does feel that way. But there's no problem, is there?"

"It doesn't matter at all. The increased damage of the boss will be directed only at my Totems."

We slowly entered a zone of heightened concentration as we got closer and closer to halfway through the Living Statue's life. We mostly kept silent, moving in sync without the need for communication. In every situation, we knew what to do.

There had been many close shaves, but we managed to pull through without anyone dying. Nitana was on-point with her saves using her barrier sprite; Megan was even considering getting the same Ocadule or at least a Shard with a similar ability. This highlighted the need for a resurrection skill in our party. I mentally noted to ask Kezo about it. I hadn't seen any resurrection Skill Shard being sold in the auction.

"We're past fifty percent health!" Kezo laughed out loud as he ran away from the rippling earthquake.

"This is getting wild!" Nitana said, jumping over gnarled vines creeping on the ground, and then ducking to avoid a laser that swept across half the plaza.

"Phew, that was close!" Megan ran up to me. "I don't know how, but we're still alive."

"We're not going to fail here," I said through gritted teeth as I concentrated on Totem juggling as if the greatness of Herald Stone was on the line.

The Living Statue had busted out new moves as the fight dragged on. Instead of standing still for its vine attack, it broke off pieces of its plant body, dropping them to the ground. Each of those separated plants grew into clumps of vines that lashed at us if we got too close. They'd also chuck clumps of thorns here and there, restricting where we could run.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the boss would occasionally shoot lasers out of its eyes and strafe large swathes of the plaza.

This was an unforeseen challenge for my Totem juggling.

It already required tons of concentration to continuously place Totems in the correct positions to keep Kezo safe while sneaking in debuffs and heals at opportune times. Doing that while evading all the nonsense was an incredible strain.

But I was also an incredible person, and so this was meant to be the right level of challenge for me.

"It's powering up again!" Nitana warned. "And it's looking even weirder than before."

Huge chunks of the Mardukryon statue had broken off from the body of Zoar Elab, revealing the plant monster inhabiting it. Eyes and mouths flitted through the huge cracks, explaining why the boss could make noises. The mouth displayed rows of sharp teeth, gnashing in anger. Its multiple eyes would also shoot lasers—thankfully, telegraphed by a thin beam of light to signal the incoming attack.

Indeed, it looked weirder than before as it walked on both thick coiled vines and the remaining three legs of the statue. The weirder the boss looks, the stronger it gets; that was the rule.

But we were also at around a third of its health left. We just have to hang on.

"Is this the third power up?" Megan asked.

"Yes, the third time," I confirmed. "And it's only going to get more difficult."

"We need to kill it faster!" Nitana shouted at Kezo.

He shot back. "I'm doing my best! Need a few more—"

Suddenly, a shadow fell over him as about a third of the vines inhabiting the Living Statue congregated to its right side and formed into an axe head that was almost as wide as its own body.

"Move back!" I called out.

"It's fine," Kezo began to say. "Your Totems will—"

And we never knew what my Totems were supposed to do. They were definitely not going to save him from death if that was what he was going to say. In one massive swing, the boss destroyed the Totem behind it, Kezo, and the Totem in front of it—a destructive cleave-type attack.

“Kezo’s dead!” Megan cried out as if we didn’t just witness him get smashed by the blade. The blade was so gigantic that it should count as a smash instead of a cut.

Nitana sighed. "I guess time to leave the boss area.

"No!" I exclaimed. I moved forward and placed a buffer Totem as the boss came for us. "Don't leave this area." Once the boss no longer detected any players in its designated area, it would immediately heal back to full and all the destroyed parts of the area would be repaired for the next fight. "We must continue! Tell Kezo to come back here ASAP!"

"What do you mean?" Nitana asked as we ran away from the deranged plant monster wearing a stone suit. I placed Totems behind us to slow it down.

“If you die, immediately return here once you’ve respawned in the village," I firmly instructed them. "We're not going to waste all our hard work. Just keep coming back. I’ll hold down the fort as long as I can. Don’t stop coming!”