MMORPG: Rise of the Strongest Shadow God

The spectral phantom that Duke Ceylan had split from his own body proved to be extremely durable but surprisingly weak in offense. Its attacks lacked the terrifying force one might expect from a final boss. The two abilities it used were simple and predictable, posing little real danger to either the tank or the rest of the party.

For a group of their skill level, the fight itself was fairly straightforward.

Still, none of them dared relax. If the phantom had some hidden mechanic waiting to trigger at the end, such as a devastating self-destruct, they could not afford to discover it the hard way. Everyone pushed their damage output as hard as possible, determined to end the phase quickly.

When the phantom’s health dropped to roughly ten percent, a faint crimson glow began to seep from its body.

Until now, Duke Ceylan had remained in the background, watching the fight with a faint, mocking smile. But as the red light spread across the phantom’s form, the Duke’s expression finally shifted into something more serious.

"Mortals," he said coldly, "your strength exceeds my expectations. But against me, it will ultimately amount to nothing."

The phantom suddenly shattered.

Its body broke apart into countless streams of dark energy that rushed back toward Duke Ceylan like a river returning to its source.

At the exact same moment, the Duke’s own health bar dropped by twenty percent.

Flynn blinked in surprise.

"So the phantom was actually part of his body?"

Let-There-Be-Light nodded firmly.

"Exactly. Every bit of damage we dealt to the phantom was being transferred to him. It just wasn’t showing up right away." He shook his head in mild amazement. "That’s a pretty nasty surprise mechanic."

Having reclaimed the phantom’s essence, Duke Ceylan raised his voice again, his tone filled with authority.

"Agud, my most valiant knight! Though you betrayed me once, I command you now to fight for me again!"

A dark gray radiance erupted from the Duke’s armor and shot into the air, merging with a floating orb of pale light that hovered above the battlefield.

The two energies fused together, and slowly, a familiar silhouette formed within the swirling light.

Agud.

The very first boss they had fought in the Ceylan Ruins.

"Are you kidding me?" Not-A-Bystander groaned. "We have to kill this guy again?"

As he spoke, he instinctively began scanning the room for somewhere to take cover.

The memory of their first fight with Agud was still fresh in his mind. Back then, they had barely managed to survive by ducking behind the narrow corridor walls to break the boss’s line of sight. That trick had been the only reason they made it through.

But the main hall offered no such protection.

The space was wide and open. A few stone pillars stood scattered around the chamber, but they were far too narrow to provide meaningful cover.

"This is going to be a problem," Not-A-Bystander muttered as he moved forward to engage.

This version of Agud looked different from the one they had fought before.

In the courtyard, even as an undead gatekeeper, Agud had worn ornate armor decorated with bright heraldic colors. Now, however, he appeared as a solid mass of pitch-black energy. His entire form resembled a living shadow, the outlines of armor and weapon barely visible beneath the swirling darkness.

Amy wrinkled her nose.

"Ugh. He’s hideous."

"He really is," Peerless Blood-Sword agreed.

Then he added with a smirk, "Still looks better than someone named Night-Stalker, though. At least he looks tough instead of like some femboy."

Flynn rolled his eyes and casually spun one of his daggers between his fingers.

"Don’t run off after this," he said. "Let’s settle this one-on-one."

"Bring it on. I’m not scared of you."

"Yeah, we’ll see about that."

Let-There-Be-Light and Not-A-Bystander exchanged tired looks. They were in the middle of a boss fight, and these two were still arguing like schoolchildren.

Well, Bryer was barely an adult, so that part made sense. But Night-Stalker normally came across as calm and mature. It was strange seeing him deliberately provoke the kid like this.

Despite the constant bickering, neither of them slowed their attacks even slightly.

Agud himself fought very differently this time.

None of his previous abilities appeared. Instead, he wielded a new weapon: a spectral lance that moved with frightening speed. Whenever he used the skill, the weapon stabbed forward three times in rapid succession, all within a single second. Each thrust struck with enough force to send the target flying several yards backward.

When Agud used this Triple Strike on Not-A-Bystander for the first time, the party was caught completely off guard.

Each individual hit was not particularly devastating, but the three strikes together shaved off a huge portion of the tank’s health. In an instant, Not-A-Bystander’s health bar plunged dangerously close to the twenty percent mark.

Let-There-Be-Light’s expression immediately darkened.

He quickly cast a protective shield and followed it with a healing spell, his eyes locked on the tank’s health bar as he concentrated.

After seeing the new ability once, everyone remained on high alert, expecting more surprises.

But none came.

Agud simply repeated the same Triple Strike over and over again. It seemed that this time around, he had been reduced to a single trick.

When his health dropped to fifty percent, Duke Ceylan suddenly let out a cold laugh.

"I must admit, you mortals possess some skill," the Duke declared. "Very well, Agud! I grant you the sharpest spear and the sturdiest shield. Fight on, and defend our kingdom!"

Agud jerked the reins of his undead steed, and the creature reared up with a hollow, ghostly scream.

The long lance in his hand vanished. In its place appeared a shorter spear and a heavy shield.

"Upgrading his gear in the middle of the fight, huh?" Flynn joked.

The effect was immediate. As soon as the shield appeared, Agud’s defenses rose sharply. The party’s damage output dropped to roughly two thirds of what it had been before.

However, the new equipment also seemed to limit Agud’s own offensive power. His attacks became noticeably less dangerous, making the fight easier to survive even if it took longer.

Eventually, when Agud’s health fell to ten percent, Duke Ceylan recalled him. Just like before, the Duke’s own health bar dropped by another twenty percent.

The next phase began almost immediately.

One after another, the Duke summoned the remaining two bosses of the dungeon: Rhaess, the Head Maid, and Gaimer, the Sword Master.

Just like Agud, both of them appeared as figures formed entirely from condensed energy rather than flesh and bone.

They also fought with completely new abilities rather than the ones they had used earlier in the dungeon. Unlike Agud, however, neither of them underwent any kind of transformation during their respective fights. Each remained in a single combat form from beginning to end.

By the time Gaimer finally fell, ten full minutes had passed. For a five-person dungeon encounter, that was an exceptionally long battle.

Duke Ceylan himself was not particularly difficult to defeat, but the length of the fight was starting to wear down the party’s focus. At their current level, a prolonged war of attrition was something players simply could not afford.

Ten minutes into the battle, Let-There-Be-Light’s mana reserves were nearly empty.

He had been drinking mana potions the moment their cooldowns ended, but even that was not enough. By the time Gaimer collapsed, his mana bar had been drained completely. His potion cooldown still had ten seconds remaining.

Even so, Let-There-Be-Light could not help feeling impressed with how far they had made it.

The potions and elixirs they were using had all been crafted by Bitter-Melon, and they were far superior to ordinary consumables. With a twenty percent increase in effectiveness, they were invaluable in long fights like this.

For example, a standard mana regeneration potion normally restored ten mana every five seconds. When crafted by Bitter-Melon, it restored twelve instead. Over the course of a minute, that added up to twenty four extra mana.

That was often just enough for one more crucial heal.

When Gaimer disappeared, Duke Ceylan’s health had been reduced to only twenty percent.

The Duke slowly descended from the air and landed on the stone floor below.

He shook his head and raised his voice.

"I am reluctant to admit it, but you have proven yourselves worthy opponents."

Then he lifted a hand.

"Come forth, my child. Though you betrayed me, I am still willing to name you my heir. You shall inherit this kingdom of the undead!"

A surge of energy swept across the hall.

The recently slain Prince Markel rose once more, his body now formed from shimmering magical energy. He dropped to one knee before Duke Ceylan and spoke in a loud, solemn voice.

"I return with a heart full of repentance. Believe me, Father. I will not fail you again."

Flynn twirled his daggers and gave a crooked smile."What a touching family reunion."

Not-A-Bystander snorted. "The writing in this game is so cheesy. Alright, let’s go."

Markel proved to be significantly stronger than the other summoned bosses.

Without the Trinity Stone, he could no longer absorb the power of other mages. Even so, his dual role as both a damage dealer and a healer made him extremely frustrating to fight.

Let-There-Be-Light’s expression grew increasingly tense as the battle continued. When Markel’s health dropped to sixty percent, he finally spoke up.

"Bystander, get ready to use your own potions," he said through clenched teeth. "I’m out of mana, and my cooldown isn’t up yet."

"Using pots!" Not-A-Bystander replied immediately, his muscles tightening.

He knew Let-There-Be-Light well enough to understand what that meant. The healer would never ask the tank to rely on personal consumables unless the pressure had reached a critical point.

Unfortunately, health potions also carried a one minute cooldown, and the hundred or so health restored by a basic potion barely made a difference during a fight like this.

Markel’s greatsword carved through the air with frightening speed. Each blow tore away a large chunk of Not-A-Bystander’s health.

Before long, the tank’s health bar hovered dangerously close to empty.

Let-There-Be-Light managed to squeeze out one last healing spell using the small amount of mana regenerated naturally, while Not-A-Bystander quickly drank a potion.

It still was not enough. Markel’s relentless attacks continued pressing him toward death.

Flynn frowned as he watched the situation unfold.

’This wasn’t going to work.’

If things continued like this, the fight would end in a wipe. He glanced at the struggling tank and made a quick decision.

"Bystander, fall back," Flynn said suddenly. "I’ll take him."

"You?" The others stared at him in shock.

This was a boss, not a normal enemy. Could a Rogue really tank something like this?

Bosses were notoriously difficult to kite. Even earlier, when they tried doing something similar with Rhaess, it had only slowed her down temporarily rather than truly controlling the fight.

But before anyone could protest, Flynn had already acted.

Several small bombs flew from his hands, exploding around Markel as he unleashed a sudden burst of damage clearly intended to pull the boss’s aggro.

Not-A-Bystander bit down hard on his lip. After a brief moment of hesitation, he chose to trust Flynn.

He stopped using Shield Bash and Avenger’s Shield entirely, focusing instead on parrying and dodging Markel’s attacks to reduce his own threat generation. His plan was simple. Once Let-There-Be-Light regained enough mana and his own health stabilized, he would pull the boss back again.

The idea of a Rogue stepping in to do his job stung his pride as a tank.

As Not-A-Bystander stopped using his major abilities, his threat level quickly dropped.

Amy and Peerless Blood-Sword also deliberately reduced their damage output to ensure Flynn climbed to the top of the threat list.

It did not take long, Markel’s spectral form suddenly shifted.

The prince turned toward Flynn and charged as his greatsword came down like a bolt of lightning.