Marching further into the depths of the Demon’s den, we started to notice the scattered decayed bodies of the soldiers that went inside here a few days ago… Seriously, the Npcs are still at the back. I know they are up to something… But what?

“Ishmar, Charlotte. Stay with me, okay?”

“Uh okay”

I decided that it was best that my party was as near as possible to the Npcs, so we slowed down from the rest of the players. Who knows what could be at the front, that made them so afraid to stay there…

“Hey, why are we this far back? We were racking in experience weren’t we?” Ishmar asked.

“The npcs are way back… I am starting to think that they are reserving their forces for a real threat.” I answered.

The soldiers always sacrifices their life before adventures… So why? Unless...

“Ishmar, do you have a inspection scroll?” I asked as he walked beside me.

“I have one, why you ask?”

“I want you to use it on the general”

“Huh? Why?”

“Just do it… And report back to me”

…

“Leader… He is a npc but I can’t identify more than that. My low level scroll is to low for it” He said, with a sulk.

I see… I can't confirm my suspicion...

Suddenly a big tremble could be felt on the floor, something big was coming. I stumbled, but Ishmar quickly grabbed me before I did. Thankfully, a rogue class based character has the [steady feet] skill.

“Thanks”

“No worries, you are our leader after all… Besides… You didn’t leave me”

“Heh, who am I to lead if I am the one abandoning my comrades and not the other way around…”

“Hah, I guess!”

Raid Boss Started

Heh, looks like its starting.

Quickly everyone readied their weapons towards the shadows. We could see nothing other than our torches that lid the surroundings. But then… Two glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness. Swaying left and right as if it was moving towards us. A hand stuck out of the shadow, a creature could be seen. A giant Demon with horns and wings…

“Diablox” Someone said…

No way, that’s a high level mob if I remember right… Heh, a fitting raid boss against low level players.

“ROAAAR!” [Fire breath]

Shield raised, the vanguard blocked the sudden firebreath in perfection, protecting everyone behind.

“SHIELD BASH!” Someone yelled at the front, making every vanguard rush toward the Diablox and toppling him over.

Nice… Even though their leader was a douche, there is at least someone with skills.

“BACK ROW FIRE AT WILL!” The tone of the same person shouted, with inspiration, Arrows, firebolts, ice bolts, all sorts of artillery attacks crashed onto the Diablox, critically hitting him since he was toppled over.

Even the healers sent their holy arrows against the creatures, since the vanguard did a good job tanking the creature that tried to use brute force to bash them away… It would have worked if the players didn’t work in harmony, but they did. The vanguard blocked together, the healers healed them when they took damage…

Diablox now in panic tried to back away. Showing its back as it ran into the shadows, the players quickly took the chance to do the extra damage as it did.

“FOLLOW!” the same person ordered us once again.

As we did… I noticed that the Npcs stood there quiet… What’s going on? No.. I must help with the boss… Running with my party towards the other players, we quickly cornered the Diablox that now had two other Diabloxs as allies against a wall.

The other difference is that they now had a weird burning line shared to one another.

“WE HAVE AT LEAST 4 GROUPS, LEFT SIDE TAKE THE LEFT ONE, RIGHT SIDE, RIGHT BOSS, MIDDLE THE WOUNDED!!”

“DPS TARGET THE WOUNDED!”

Heh… He is good, Veteran raid leader? I kinda feel guilty for kill stealing now…

Just like that, The vanguard and healers split up against the three Diabloxs that had a hard time against the heavily armed Tanks that kept getting healed, but drained the mana out of the healers.

As the wounded Diablox fell and started to burn but kept the weird line shared between the Diabloxs the guy ordered once again “MIDDLE GROUP, THE LEFT ONE FIRST! TOGETHER WITH DPS”

Focus targeting, nice.

After a while we easily fell the second one just by overwhelming it, happily we tried to kill the last one… But…

Out of nowhere, the burning corpses started to be revived, The first and the second Diablox got ressurected and rejoined the battle with a big explosion that knocked every tanks away. It caused the group to get disorganized and the once good leader didn’t say any orders… We started to panic… Did the Diabloxs cast some fear curse at us? I trembled together with the other players. The fear of death coursed through my spine…

You have been cursedFear in 20 seconds

No! I can’t… I must run… That was when Diamond who hid inside the scarf, casted some weird soothing spell on me that calmed my nerves… What am I thinking?!

Curse removed

Still, one by one, players started to sprint in fear. If we leave our positions right now, how will we survive?

Ah, shit what is with this burning heat, we are still in Winter’s Grasp aren't we?, I wish that it was… colder in… here…

Heh… If they fear the front, what happens if they fear the back?!

[COLD AIR]

A sudden burst of frost started to cover the ground behind the players… They trembled… Watching me walk closer as the unaffected tanks stood ground alone at the front. Struggling to survive alone without their friends that abandon them at the front lines. They probably knew that a curse had been casted on them and proudly sacrificed themselves for the good.

“There is no way out, go back and FIGHT!!”

So this is how the other group of NPCs got annihilated… Fear took over, the soldiers ran… This explains the scattered death around here, I hope.

And the burning line shared between them must be a clue… Shared line… Shared death?

Do you have to kill them at the same time?

“EVERYONE GET BACK TO ORIGINAL FORMATION AND KILL THEM AT THE SAME TIME!” I shouted with a gigantic axe appearing out of nowhere.

As the cold took over them, they nodded and they went back to the original formation, which the healers quickly drank their remaining mana potions to keep the tanks up.

My fear overtook the Diablox Curse… heh, please nerf.

“THE SHARED LINE IS THE CLUE, WE DID IT BEFORE, WE CAN DO IT AGAIN!”

“YEAAAAAHH!” Everyone now cheered up, took their battle stances and fought the Diablox.

[COLD AIR] Off.

A few minutes later, we had finally killed the trio bosses… Everyone now sitting on the floor out of fatigue as they shared the drop of the boss and threw potions around, I started to clap...

“Sorry guys, I might have been a douche for kill stealing before…Besides, you guys got all the loot anyways... But to tell you guys the truth, I am proud that you guys stood ground!” I bowed…

“It was a good fight, I hope that I meet you guys again in the future”

“Hah.” Someone laughed and slowly walked towards me and stretched his hand out.

“No, I am the one who should be sorry, I was unreasonable when I didn’t let your party join because of my grudge” He said, with a smile. “I am Frank”

Friend request FrankAccept/Decline

Heh… I took his hand and shook it…

Friend requestAccepted

“Anyways, I thought the rumours said tha….” I was about to say, though the players that was resting a moment ago looked behind me with a grim expression… Why? No… Don’t tell me...

“STAB!”

… I knew it… Shit… The fight haven't ended yet...