Chapter 448

“Twenty seconds to go.” James called out as he dodged back behind a car, his breath coming in short gasps. While he doubted there was actual exhaustion for his character within DCO, his heart rate was beating in the hundreds, and adrenaline, or simulated adrenaline at the least, had him on edge. They were so close, and yet, any error, well, any additional errors, would cost them this fight.

“Can’t you make that countdown go any faster.” Steve called back, his voice strained. The tank was doing his best to keep the Terminus occupied, but with less than 20 percent left in the boss’s health pool, the intelligent AI was making this battle more and more difficult from the party. While James and his team definitely had the advantage regarding the Terminus’s capabilities, they were still facing a boss. Not only that, but the Terminus was also extremely intelligent, even more so thanks to ‘Like a Sir’, and he’d been studying their patterns closely. Even while taunted, the boss was maneuvering himself in ways that challenged their DPS dynamic. Needless to say, The Terminus was learning, and its intelligence, was proving the greatest weapon the monstrous beast had at its disposal.

“Good show chaps.” The Terminus chuckled as it rotated its body, swinging its tail in a large sweeping arc. The attack targeted Steve, and the path of the attack gave the halfling no choice but to leap over it, much like one would leap over a swinging log. Only, this log was flexible, and happened to have a chainsaw running down the side of it.

“Quite the agile thing you are.” The Terminus said, stopping its attack mid swing, to reverse the angle of the attack even as Steve dropped onto the ground. The tank was caught in the side, and his small body was sent spiraling across the floor, his health pool dropping a decent chunk.

“Fifteen seconds.” James called as he peaked over the car, watching Rue’s form shine crimson as she sent a healing wave into Steve, empowering it with the extra blood she’d been stockpiling from the Terminus. That stockpile had nearly been full about halfway into the fight, but she’d been forced to use it to heal James…when he’d accidently gotten caught out. So fixated had he been on watching the battle, he’d realized too late the Terminus had maneuvered itself in such a way to have line of sight of James, and when it had fired its grenades, which Steve had dodged, James’s chest had been the next, or perhaps, the intended, target.

“Tell me good sir,” the Steampunk Dino King was looking sideways at James, even as its arms leveled their grenades towards Steve. “How do you know so much about me? I’m certain I’ve never come across a party such as yours.”

Steve’s health was nearly topped off, but Rue’s health reserves were gone, meaning until they managed to build up more bleed on the Terminus, she’d have to resort to draining James’s HP to empower her heals.

“You’re a popular boss. There’s tons of information regarding your skills and tactics.” James lied, watching the cooldown timer tick painfully down. His mana was yoyoing around as he channeled more healing spells of his own into Ifrit, as well as defensive ones. He’d utilized the few mana regaining items he’d acquired during their farming and looting, but their quality was rather poor. As long as he kept his mana above the threshold needed for Solomon’s Seal, it was alright. His plan, was to cast that cooldown, making himself go out of mana, or OOM, and then simply pray to the gods they won. This was it, all or nothing. A three-minute-long boss battle, and it was only the second floor. James, would be exhilarated, if he wasn’t so hyper focused.

Thunk thunk thunk. Three grenades erupted around Steve, who’d been rushing back towards the Terminus. The splash damage ate into his health pool, and Rue silently let out a curse. If Steve went down again, it was all over. The tank had fallen once already, thanks, again, to James’s mistake. His near death experience had cost Rue’s major healing spells, and the Terminus had taken advantage of that shift of healing focus, to murder Steve with a rather aggressive smash. The boss had, quite literally, flattened Steve’s halfling character with one of its giant, metallic feet. Something that James would revisit later, because he was pretty sure, in the chaos of battle, Steve had tried to stab the foot crushing down upon him, with a glowing dagger.

“You’re a terrible liar.” The Terminus called back, even as it continued its efforts on Steve. The dinosaur had positioned itself close to its own cave, using the debris, pillars, and the likes, to keep Ifrit from circling behind its back, decreasing the Djinn’s DPS abilities, while it took on Steve. The tactic was also allowing the boss to occasionally land hits on Ifrit, thanks to its sweeping attacks and wide AOE on the grenades. Sure, it had been funny initially, but James couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking when he gave the Terminus increased intellect.

“Five seconds,” James said, ignoring the Terminus. He felt bad, lying to the AI. As it stood, he considered the Steampunk Dinosaur a friend. Rue also often spent time playing games with the AI, whenever James was busy with his dungeon. However, to keep the experience legit, and to prevent any risk of his identity being revealed to players, James couldn’t tell the boss who he really was.

“Unfortunately for you,” the Terminus suddenly shot his head downwards, and this time, for the first time during the fight, he found his mark. “My cooldown hit zero again.” The words were muffled, as the Terminus was speaking through clenched teeth, as Steve was consumed by the boss. James winced, even as he watched Steve’s comical silent screaming, the halfling practically drowning in the dissolving liquid of the boss’s stomach. Already, Steve’s healthbar was ticking away rapidly from the effect.

“Dodge.” Rue cried out just as James felt a shoulder bash into him. Unnoticed by James, the Terminus had pointed one of its grenade launchers in his direction. The one that hadn’t been fired yet. The one that wasn’t on cooldown. The sudden sound of the weapons firing reached his ears as he slid across the dirt, explosive fire and debris raining down on him and Rue. He blinked in surprise at her, both from the fact she’d saved him, and, more importantly, the fact she wasn’t dead yet.

“How?” James asked, before it hit him. She’d activated her Vampire ability. Steve’s healthbar was almost fully drained, and not because of the Terminus. Rue had siphoned all of his life, in an instant, to create a temporary healthpool for herself to survive the blast. It was a last-ditch effort, and, it was exactly what they needed.

“Go Ifrit.” James yelled. He didn’t even bother to stand as he activated Solomon’s Seal, using his own racial cooldown, Primordial Manipulation, to empower the spell. The golden seal raced across the arena floor, before it shifted to a blinding blueish white. He could tell, thanks to his HUD, that the spell had been empowered with electrical affinity, and sure enough, the wisp like, lesser djinn creatures coming forth this time, sparked with electricity.

“As you wish, so shall it be.” Ifrit said, his voice filled with confidence. Lightning crackled around his form, dancing alongside his flames, as his size grew. From his blades, electricity arced all along the various protrusions, creating a crackling, static charge to his attacks. Without any time to waste, the Djinn barreled into the Terminus, forcing the dinosaur backwards, immediately taking all of the aggro upon himself, as the two giants disappeared from sight into the Terminus’s cave. From within, shadows danced and fought, illuminated briefly by raging flames, crackling lightning, and volatile explosions.

“You can do it.” James whispered, even though his Djinn couldn’t hear him. James watched his mana, and the moment he had enough, he gave Ifrit an attack speed buff. It was now or never. They’d entered the final burn stage, and it was solely on his Djinn, to take down the Terminus. All of their hopes and dreams, lay at the Djinn’s feet, and James watched the health bar of the Terminus slowly, painfully, whittle away. Three percent, two percent, one percent. Zero.