Vol. 2 - Chapter 31 – Iljnoks Raid I

With his visit over, plenty of time passed since the party of players entered this small settlement of the Gravelmark Kobolds, and Mathias along with Vek returned back to the central part of the settlement.

There Vek went to gather his four brothers while Mathias summoned the party who gathered immediately after his notice, looking ready for their challenge. Only after Vek and the other four kobolds returned to him, he began starting discussing about Iljnoks where slowly it descended into a debate, where all the players made their point on what abilities the bear used in the past fights.

"The fight would start slowly because Iljnoks has a bigger size, but each of his attacks would be devastating enough, so make sure you keep that in mind. His attack pattern in the early stage is easy to read, until he turns to the final stage when morphs his body into a smaller version, that boosts high agility and power.

Each of his attack patterns will be hard to read at first, but brace yourself until you get used. Afterward, you will have to keep your resources ready for a final push that would kill Iljnoks."

Mathias explained to them the patterns he knew from the Beta Phase, while Vivian also noted down what patterns she saw in this version, and there weren't contradictions.

Thus later on, with a consensus reached, and a strategy that settled down the gameplan for the players, only Vek with his kobolds brothers were out of touch and confused by the complex discussion the humans had, and for that Mathias took them under his wing and explained to them what to do in the fight.

"Little Vek, you and your friends will be the ones to hit the monster once it is out of position. When his defenses are opened, you will jump from the backline and strike with all you got. The fight will be a long one, or a short one depending on what that monster got hidden under its sleeves. I don't want mistakes from you that would expose you. Compared to humans who can take one or two hits, your kind is still fragile, even with the armor."

"Another notion I will have to add to you five, your Elder has entrusted your safety to me, so do as I say and you will not be hurt."

Anjo and MikeIron looked weirdly at Mathias who even lowered himself on his knees to talk level to level with the kobolds, unable to understand why he was so kind to some NPC's, but Paula and Vivian didn't gesture anything, and kept quiet, as if they understood something, but not fully.

"Yes, human Lord! We heard the orders from the Elder and we entrust ourselves in your leadership!" responded the four kobolds beside Vek understanding their role in the fight, while Vek bowed his head, as if bowing to his commander.

[Your Dignity has risen by 10 points.]

Giving them a confident smile, he turned toward the players after getting on his feet, and sharing the quest he received to them, it served as another boost to their morale, but when Mathias told something in the party chat, it got responded in an apathetic way.

@Mathias: MikeIron, Anjo if you notice the kobolds being out of position, try to divert the hits that might kill them.

@MikeIron: Man, I really can't promise anything, if I get myself killed in the process, what then? If you guys manage to kill the boss, where would be my EXP and level up? If those creatures die in the fight because they were to dumb to get hit by the bear, is none of my business as tank. Aren't they just NPC's this is part of the quest where the kobolds help us kill the boss, just like in the other games

Mathias raised his head to look at the black-american player with his ruby eyes going a bit cold and Vivian along with Paula could feel the shift in temperament the crimson-haired man was showing right now, which made Paula to quickly send MikeIron a private message.

@Paula: Stop talking

@Vivian: Idiot, stop being selfish in front of him since you are carried by him not the other way around.

@MikeIron: Did I say something wrong? Those kobolds are just NPC's, is my responsibility to protect them if they die? As long we clear the quest and defeat the boss, that's all that matters.

Mathias moved past what he heard, and if things would go so bad that the players he was teaming up would act out of order, and screw the quest requirements, and endanger the kobolds, he would just let them die, and continue the fight with the kobolds.

'I am not here to carry anyone. As you said if you get out of position and get yourself killed, none of my business.'

The way Mathias gazed was dead serious, and as he picked the kobolds, he moved ahead, while the players followed after him. Slowly, Mathias and the other 9, took on the path toward the tunnel, which lead to the cheering of the Kobolds who were aware of what was about to happen.

"Vek, you have to succeed! You are our champion!"

The young kobold gripped his hand on the dagger as the cheers flowed, and even trembled a bit with nervousness, but feeling Mathias large hand touch his head, patting it while the Red Aura around him made contact with his skin, he calmed down a bit, continuing to follow after him, as if he already learned the kobold settlement on his palm.

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Getting closer and closer to the tunnel exit, the group could see the stones being dropped down, with the entrance collapsed from the collisions Iljnoks was doing. However, by the moment they had arrived, it was silent, without much sign of activities from the bear monstrosity.

"Could it be that the monster disappeared?" asked Anjo, unsure of why it was so silent.

"No way, it can't be that bugged." replied MikeIron, preparing himself for the encounter.

Mathias who was at the front of the team, with the kobolds, activated his arcane buffs and waited for his mana to recover before advancing anymore, while Paula proceeded the same, giving buffs to all party members.

Only after everyone was buffed, even the kobolds, did the party proceed to get closer to the exit, where Mathias could see the bear sitting in the center of the room, seeming to rest, but his face, facing the tunnel entrance told the opposite, being filled with evil intent.

*SNIIFFF* *SNIFFF* (A/N: Stop, get some help)

Taking some deep breaths, Iljnoks got up, starting to sniff even more, and it seemed it picked on Mathias's scent, the one who gifted him with a "generous" present before escaping.

"Here it comes." mumbled Vivian, who touched her arrow holder.

Meanwhile, Mathias who from the moment Iljnoks sniffed at him, activated his movement speed, 'Raven's Movements' and channeling his mana for a spell, he signaled Vek to open the exit, which the kobold reacted at light speed as if he was synchronized with Mathias in that moment.

"Let us dance you damned menace. I've bested you once, I'll do it a second time, and this time it will be more convincing even without Fay."

Dashing from the tunnel, with his hand shining in a dark-purple light, he cast 'Arcane Barrage' on the monster while approaching Iljnoks, taking even the monster by surprise, while his party members couldn't even react properly, except for Vek who with his kobolds exited the tunnel and started encircling the bear.

Once the three missiles hit Iljnoks, with one dark-purple portal revealing itself from behind him, sending out a 'Chaos Arrow', Mathias who arrived in front of the bear without showing any fear, only a chilling confidence, moved with his spear, executing a new movement from Haycien's repertoire, called 'Eclipsing Rose' leaving the body of the bear monster full of crimson red thorns, causing the 'Bleeding' debuff.

This entire outburst of attacks dealt a staggering [9850] damage, with the bleeding constantly hurting the monster each second, and instantly with the monster fight started, Iljnoks focused on Mathias using his claws to hit him, but it missed the target as Mathias predicted his attack pattern.

Still acting as the main engagement force, being in the pocket, he slashed the monster large body with basic piercing attacks, before sending an 'Treachery' and combining it with 'Bloodfall' after doing the spinning attacks.

The sidestepping as he retreated and air jump, performing flawlessly the descending strike gaping the flesh on the monster's flesh, making Mathias seem similar to the characters from Marvel's.

Yet, Iljnoks who wasn't affected by the debuffs from 'Bloodfall' quickly sent out a claw strike, which collided with Mathias's 'Arcane Barrier' sending him flying and making him suffer quite the hit.

[You have suffered 642 damage.]

Vivian when started shooting her arrows at Iljnoks with some worry because she might draw the aggro away from Mathias and get herself killed. Shooting her 'Power Shots' three times, before she even knew the bear monster roared, sending a shockwave skill that targeted her, hitting her for a wapping [544] damage.

After that shockwave, Iljnoks charged at her with a highspeed unlike the size of such a monster, and using her 'Tracker's Leap' she dodged the initial charge, but with her jump being limited to only 15 meters, it wasn't enough to escape the aggro she drew to Iljnoks.

MikeIron and Anjo who were out of place since the fight began, could only curse and try taunt Iljnoks, their greatest foe, but it was for nothing. The bear monstrosity didn't even bother to stop for a millisecond and contemplate the curses, instead, it focused on intercepting Vivian, who woke facing a bear without her escape skill being out from the cooldown for usage.

"Careful there, human."

She felt herself pushed by a strong force, but the damage she suffered wasn't high, it was in the domain of decimals, and turning her head, Vivian saw Vek facing Iljnoks instead of her, swiftly dodging the bear attacks, and using the Fang Dagger to counterattack, sending the beast in a frenzy.

"Brother, you are out of position! Listen to the leader's instructions."

"Don't bother about me, I have free rein to act as I see fit from the human leader. Am I right?"

Mathias who bounced back from the collision of Iljnoks large claw appeared at the bear's back and sent out the 'Waning Moon', the juiced-up version of 'Piercing Rain' which and after executing the attack, he followed up with the 'Piercing Rain' that got boosted by the attack speed boost from the latter skill.

@Mathias: Give me some mana Paula. At least you and Vivian do not sleep, as for the rest, they can continue sleeping. You can also focus on your restraining spells, and slow the bear down as we discussed.

@Paula: Understood Mathias. But if I channel on the restraining side of my spells, there will not be heals.

Mathias didn't respond, focusing back on the fight, and moving like the waves of an ocean with bursts of attacks each available moment, while when Iljnoks was trying to fight back, he was fooling the creature with feints.

The other two melee participants also tagged in making their presence felt, with MikeIron doing his job for tanking the monster, and also attacking with his skill which were more based on his defense, and health which was translated into damage when attacking.

An interesting concept, and as such Mathias who was freed, appeared beside Paula who was concentrating on her nature spells of controlling the vines wrapping around Iljnoks, making the fight easier for the rest of the party members and even the kobolds who began contributing each time the monstrosity was opened.

The party looked confident as the health of the beast was melting in the face of the flood of attacks, and as the monster was rendered helpless in the face of the crowd control Paula was offering and Mathias's high paced attacks which were hitting like a truck, doing double damage when compared to the rest of the party with exception to Vivian and Vek.

Iljnoks in the time of 4 minutes that it took for him to reach 60% has filled with cuts that oozed green blood, which gave off smoke when touching the floor. The game plan looked to be stellar, without breaking. Only that, unlike what the party has recalled Iljnoks entered the next phase ahead of time, releasing a deafening roar, relieving the pain and attacks.

Soon, his body started to morph turning more compacted and slender, it reminded Mathias of the last phase Iljnoks entered in his fight. He immediately remarked this change, and the party instantly panicked because this was the phase they blocked from advancing.

"Why did he change at 60%, last time we fought this monster it was at 25%. This is absurd, now we don't even have a chance to win." commented Anjo, who was looking at Iljnoks from where he got pushed.

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[Iljnoks - Lv. 45]( 72.560 / 120.000 HP)