Chapter 25: (5) Gravedigger Tower
Hulk immediately leaped into a defensive position in front of the group.
Avoiding the beam, Apophis and White stepped to the sides and launched ranged attacks. Apophis's flame powers grew hotter and hotter, melting everything in their path!
Lord Enel started firing smaller beams at them, preventing Apophis and White from easily counter-attacking. They both began moving quickly, alternating between attacking and dodging!
Ceasar and Hulk raced across the room, moving into melee range with Lord Enel.
Ceasar used ~Light Push,~ the same ability he'd used against Apophis in their duel.
At first, it looked like the boss would resist the effect... But the ~Light Push~ worked, not only dealing damage but also applying the [Stoned] debuff against the boss, reducing his movement speed by 90%!
While Lord Enel struggled to deal with the melee combatants, White and Apophis took advantage of the opening in his defenses and unleashed all their firepower.
Lord Enel raised an energy shield which exploded, releasing a huge shock wave!
Chocolate immediately went to work trying to heal Ceasar and Hulk, but it was difficult. Hulk had already lost a lot of HP as their tank, and the last shock wave had come close to killing him!
White asked Apophis to protect her, then started preparing her most powerful technique. It would be amazing if it hit, but took a long time to summon.
Meanwhile, Ceasar took advantage of the Hulk's aggro, inflicting a lot of damage in melee.
Of course, the boss was far from passive!
Hulk came dangerously close to dying several times, his HP reaching as low as 5%. Fortunately, Chocolate had a real talent for healing. Every time he was brought low, she raised him back up again. The Chocolate-Hulk duo was solid, but couldn't last forever. Chocolate's energy declined quickly.
Ceasar was doing his best to debuff Lord Enel, rather than simply dealing damage. His ~Light Push~ could stun the boss, but only for a few seconds at a time.
Ceasar had a couple other tricks up his sleeve, of course. He used ~Unstoppable~ and ~Stroke of Steel,~ allowing Chocolate to regain some of her energy while the boss was suppressed!
Apophis released all his remaining power, transforming the room into a huge inferno! It was so hot that even the stone walls started to melt!
White grinned, finally unleashing the skill she'd been charging this whole time. Her ~Critical Bleeding~ dropped a DOT on the boss so heavy that it overcame his natural regeneration!
Taking advantage of this, the three DPSs chained all their offensive abilities off cooldown until Lord Enel was down to 30% of his maximum HP.
Then 20%.
At 10%, Chocolate's energy was finally exhausted. She couldn't heal anyone anymore, and the rest of the team felt the pressure.
That, of course, meant that Hulk would surely die in the next attack that the boss was aiming at him, and they would all lose the quest...
Apophis's heart sank as he realized they had come so close, only to lose it all.
But Ceasar decided now was the time to unleash a Legendary Skill he had hidden until now! He used ~Thor shot,~ an attack so mighty that it knocked down Lord Enel and shattered the stone floor that had already been weakened by Apophis's flames!
Everyone fell down to the lower floor, all their resources exhausted...
The boss lay on the ground.
He didn't move any longer.
Hulk finally sat up, laughing with excitement and raising his arms high in the air."Fuck yeah, we won! We really did it!"
Everyone burst out laughing—
An incredible explosion of power burst from the ground!
Lord Enel stood up, red-black life energy crackling around his body! "You deceived me, Apophis!" he screamed in pain. "You're the gravedigger of the Zetark, not their savior! Die!"
"Flee immediately!" Apophis shouted.
Apophis used his slight remaining energy to summon ~Susanoo~ and hold back the boss!
The impact between Lord Enel and Apophis caused a huge shock wave, throwing the other team members in a wide circle!
Apophis stared in disbelief as Lord Enel restored 10% of his HP in this final phase!
Apophis combined ~Susanoo~ and ~Flame Lord,~ cloaking himself with chaos flames as well as the spiritual skeleton.
White, who had taken cover, started making basic weapon attacks again. The other three team members tried to gather as much energy as possible while Apophis held the boss at bay.
The spiritual skeleton landed a flaming stab on the boss, blowing him out of the tower completely!
Lord Enel plummeted, consumed with flames, still screaming in agony.
Then he landed, crashing on the ground at the base of the tower among the corpses of the other enemies the party had already killed.
Server: Congratulations to the group of players "Apophis" who have completed the dungeon "Gravedigger Tower" in nightmare mode for the first time.
Server: Congratulations to the party led by the player "Apophis" for being the first to clear the dungeon "Gravedigger Tower" on Nightmare difficulty! A reward of 2 levels, 20 skill points, and a +5 boost to all primary attributes has been awarded to each member of the party. In addition, an engraved monument with their names will be installed in front of the dungeon.
Server: The boss "Lord Enel" will no longer be available, replaced by "Zerg Queen." Ironman difficulty can now be attempted by all players. Warning: Failure to complete a dungeon on Ironman difficulty will result in the PERMANENT deletion of your character!
Server: All dungeons on the planet "Era" are now unlocked.