“An interesting tactic you have there!” Paritor shouted, standing a few meters from the Blighted Fengharl’s right shoulder. He left his assigned position behind the boss, probably when he noticed my health bar going up and down, wondering what the hell was up. It was a funny sight alright, looking like a haunted house’s flickering light. “A Replicant Totem spam build?” he asked.

“That keeps the boss moving,” I said.

“I’m yet to encounter this variant.” Paritor shifted closer for a better look. “Typically, the target is kept stationary by a string of CCs from the Totems. Taunt is also a CC, yes, but this is… a different execution.

“The more the boss moves, the less it attacks,” I said, placing a Totem next to Paritor.

He got a small shock when the Fengharl suddenly twisted its body and bit the Totem beside him. But he was quick to react, ordering his hounds to taunt the boss. I took the aggro back with another Totem to my right—now, the Fengharl’s back, since it had turned—and continued Totem Juggling. It was such a better name than Totem spamming. I should trademark it!

“I admit, you got me there.” Paritor laughed. Thankfully, he took the prank well. It was satisfying to see him warming up to me.

Who wouldn’t like Herald Stone, the Most Likable Bloke Ever?

“Just demonstrating my control of the boss,” I said. “This might look wonky, but it gets the job done.”

“As good a CC as any, it appears. You are actually keeping this boss pinned, despite your low level.”

“I can’t do this without Melonomi’s help.” I threw a nod over my shoulder at her.

“Psssh, any healer can replace me,” she said, turning away. But I spied her lips curving into a hint of a smile. “Oh, hey! You got heals too. I’m really just an add-on.”

“It’s nothing compared to yours,” I said. Just how much validation did she need? “Plus, you also have awesome buffs. I’m going to croak like Paritor’s toad without you.”

She chuckled at my lame joke. “I swear, you’re not gonna die on my watch.”

“And that’s why I have no worries using this risky strategy.” I raised my [Tower Shield] to her as a proxy thumbs up.

The Fengharl chomped me, bursting my [Greater Pyro Shell] because I failed to Head-On Block. Stupid move. I grimaced, then laughed, playing it off like I intended to mess around. Melonomi chucked a green glass tube at me that pulsed healing waves when it shattered on the ground.

“Low health commensurate to your level,” said Paritor, still engrossed in analyzing my build. “Coupled with raising your Healing Received modifier—the result is trivializing the Totem’s health cost. Brilliant!”

“So long as I don’t die because of this,” I said. I relied on Armor-stacking and my shell to get tanky rather than prioritize making my health bar longer. It was only hard, not long. That is not what she said. If my health were too high, it’d be harder to keep up the cost of Totem Juggling and [Greater Pyro Shell] even with Melonomi around.

“I commend your ingenious way of sustaining Replicant Totem spam.” Paritor tried to keep his voice from cracking as he held down bubbling laughter.

That got me to smile. Our situation was ridiculous—we discussed strategy while the spiky mound that was the Fengharl turned this way and that, like an overexcited dog about to go for a walk. This must be the first time Paritor had seen a boss manhandled like this.

Manhandled? Nah, it was Kezo doing the manhandling. I just did the handling.

There was a joke there somewhere.

“Typically, a healer or two aren’t sufficient to support a player of even level,” Paritor continued, “so outlandish mechanics are employed. The Necro Hug, for example.” He referred to a necromancer build that sacrifices Totems with a ritual spell after it had cast its supported Skill Shard to regain health. SpartanDonkey had mentioned it. “Yours is a solution so simple, yet so risky.”

“Fortune favors the bold!” I said. I added quietly in my head, Until it doesn’t.

We soon discovered that the Fengharl attacked faster and harder as it neared death, a common mechanic of bosses. On top of other debuffs, it also had a high chance of inflicting Freeze with its strikes. The Fengharl became a whirlwind of icicles and claws, sneaking in a few stray hits before my next Totem was ready. I had to time [Compelled Frenzy] between Totems to ensure the boss wouldn’t go after the others.

Megan was on point saving my ass whenever it got Frozen. Though [Cleansing Flames] could now counter Freeze, I didn’t want to clear my debuffs and lose tankiness. Not to mention [Cleansing Flames] could only remove five negative ailments compared to the definitely more than that I suffered. If the odds decided to screw with me, I might not even remove Freeze and would just reduce my tankiness.

One really unlucky time, the Fengharl destroyed both Totems with a cascade of icy waves, then showered me with a flurry of consecutive critical hits in one breath. I almost died despite Melonomi’s buffs. Actually, I would’ve died were it not for Nitana coming in with a clutch barrier sprite catching the last strike about to end me.

My luck continued when [Chorus of Delirium] kicked in next, causing the Fengharl to hesitate. Paritor’s hounds taunted the Fengharl before it could shake off its confusion.

“Thanks, Nitana!” I was already patched back to full health. I then retrieved my property—the boss’s aggro. “Thanks too, Paritor! I got this.” A shame someone had to share in my rightful burden.

“Just a bit more, guys,” Kezo said. “And. There. We. Go!”

A massive bloom of golden ribbons, like dozens of magical party poppers, was followed by the blue and purple light signaling our prey’s death. Megan joined in with her sparklers. “Hurray! We’re like super doing good now!”

“Compared to?” Nitana monotonously asked. “What were we before?”

“Superbad,” Megan sheepishly grinned. “I mean, not really. Kezo’s way not bad.”

“Major improvements, guys,” Kezo said, clapping his hands. “But this fight took longer than it needed to. The fault’s on me. I should’ve remembered Fengharls can’t be Burned and made sure our party’s ready with equipment to switch in. I have a new pair of Blighted swords with Decay instead of Burn, but I forgot to set them with Shards. Sorry about that.”

“I apologize as well.” Paritor raised a timid hand. “I should’ve been prepared to switch Bleed skills. My summons performed sub-optimally because they continued trying in vain to Burn.”

“We’ll do better next time.” I felt Kezoer than Kezo. Cheesier? “What’s important is we don’t forget the lessons we pick up in our practice sessions.”

“I got an idea,” Megan said.

“Is it a good one?” Nitana was quick to quip.

“Yeah, it is!” Megan tried to poke Nitana with her wand, but the latter parried the sticks with her staff. “Let’s redo the Fengharl fight.”

“That is a good idea, Megan,” said Kezo, giving her two thumbs up.

Round two wrapped up half the time of the first. The Fengharl melted like a pile of ice, which it kind of was. This time, I controlled my skill rotations carefully and ensured that Paritor wouldn’t take over my role. A huge dishonor if it happened again.

That said, killing the enemy quickly was an underrated tanking strategy.

“Hurray for more Blighted Tokens!” Megan cheered.

I checked my inventory. “This many already? The rewards exponentially increase the harder the mission. Very much worth the Essence and Gli I’m missing out on.”

“Nice work on the debuffs, everyone,” Kezo said after the Fengharl died. “Note how the boss is way softer after our adjustments. Don’t forget that reducing defenses is a huge part of DPS.”

“Sometimes, messing with the enemy’s stats is better than raising your own,” I said.

“Herald, is your new skill, the one with the green dust, from this event? A debuff?”

“Yes, I bought it from Chief Nogras. It’s a debuff that gets stronger the more debuffs the target has. Besides that, it’s not reliant on Burn or anything specific.” Please don’t ask me about the debuff Shards you gifted me. I breathed a sigh of relief when Kezo moved on to compliment the others.

But I wasn’t so sure if I should be relieved just yet.

After this, we would face an even stronger enemy. I should be able to survive with Totem Juggling.

Should?

Hopefully. Maybe. Not sure.

It depended on how hard the enemy would swing—and it’d be hard, coming from a level seventy monster. That’s what she said. If worse came to worst, there was the dreaded Plan B—have Paritor join in tanking with his summons. There would be a loss of party DPS, but we should be able to entertain the enemy enough that Kezo wouldn’t be bothered.

“Let’s get moving to our next battle,” Kezo said. “I’m assuming you haven’t encountered this monster before. Heads up, this is a different fight than you might be used to.”

I arched a brow and scrunched my nose. Sounds ominous.

“Are we sure we’re not inside a haunted house?” Melonomi asked, gazing at our enemy floating above us.

“We’re in a cave that’s a biohazard zone,” said Nitana, “that’s turned into a haunted house.”

“She looks terrifying.” Megan’s voice wavered as she stepped back.

“Is that even a she?” Nitana said. “Yeah, I get with the long hair and dress, but it looks—”

“Squall Banshee,” Megan read the monster’s name. “Banshees are all she’s, sheesh.” She giggled at her pun.

The [Lvl 71 Arcane Blighted Squall Banshee] was a gaunt humanoid figure hovering among the stalactites. She was draped in torn cloth that might’ve been previously white but became an abstract art of purple and green muck. Her long limbs reached past her bowed knees, flesh and muscles all shriveled, and grayish skin oozing slime. Her toothless gaping mouth stretched past her neck to her sternum, an empty void darker than the shadows. Glowing white eyes that lacked pupils stared down at us.

Before starting this mission, Kezo briefed us about this fight.

The Squall Banshee was like Paritor—she summons minions and buffs them. She could also inflict nasty debuffs; I might be forced to use [Cleansing Flames] in this fight. On the defensive side, she wasn’t particularly beefy or durable, but she did have insane Evasion stats.

This was problem number one.

The way to overcome it was either through very high Accuracy or Critical Ratings—crits ignore evasion—both of which Megan and Nitana lacked, especially given the almost twenty levels between them and the boss. The third option was reducing the Banshee’s Evasion, which was unavailable to us. That left Kezo and Paritor.

And that led to problem number two.

“Is the enemy truly not coming down?” Paritor asked. “I sorely regret not investing in different kinds of summons.”

Kezo had explained that only long-range attacks would work against the Squall Banshee. Or flying up to her, another option we didn’t have. Paritor could buff his summons’ Critical Rating, but he couldn’t test if that were enough because only his Asipu goblins shoot up. Even my poison bottles couldn’t reach her.

Subtract Paritor. Kezo was our only hope.

“My long-range attacks aren’t… great,” Kezo said. “Let’s just put it at that. But I’m confident I could crit more than half the time. During the Great Hunt, it’s best to ignore the Squall Banshee and stay away from far it. But I want our party to face it now for practice.”