Chapter 82 - Bomber

The next day and night passed in the blink of an eye, and soon we began to prepare to face the second boss of the dungeon. This would be the last really difficult battle and the toughest so far as well. So, we couldn't mess up with the preparations.

"The boss chamber is a lot bigger than the rest of the dungeon and the boss can fly, so Gao and I won't have the chance to attack the creature. We will focus on defending. To make that possible, we will have to have a tight formation and move all the time together as a team."

Jalal wrote on a piece of paper that he asked me about and then he drew five circles. Jalal and Gao would be in the front, while Clarice and I would be behind, with Clarice in the middle. She had a shorter range than us thanks to her magic as well as her lack of strength parameter.

"Focus on hitting the wings of the beast. Once the boss loses its mobility, then we can join the offense, and the beast will have fewer chances to attack as well. Anything else wants to add something?"

It was a good strategy, but it was a bit bothersome since the boss will only have to attack in one direction… it would be better if the beast had to split its focus into several directions. For now, I decided to follow their lead and use my frost-enchanted arrows as well… if things get dicey, then I will have to use my other tools. I had the perfect one against flying enemies.

"If no one has anything to say, then… let's go."

Jalal and Gao pushed the stone door. They thought that they would need more power, but they easily opened and then the staircase leading to the boss chamber was found in front of us. We began to head down, and soon the stone door closed behind us with a large impact.

The path didn't become that dark because they could see light coming from the boss' chamber… Soon, they found the reason why. The boss chamber had those holes that emitted steam in the corridors of the dungeon. Still, instead of steam, they expelled powerful blasts of fire.

Despite the helmets and gear that everyone was using, they still began to sweat thanks to the impressive heat. At least the air wasn't stuffy enough that it made it hard to breathe. In the middle of the room, we found the boss… sitting at the top of a large boulder.

It had massive wings, glowing with hues of orange and red, which were folded close to its body, but I could see the heat emanating around it as if it were about to ignite at any moment. The creature's eyes, glowing like red gems, locked onto me with an intensity that sent shivers down my spine. I could feel the raw power emanating from it…

As we moved, the crow tilted its head, its long, sharp beak gleaming in the dim light. The air crackled with energy, and I could sense its anticipation. With a deep croak, the fire crow unfurled its wings, sending a gust of heated air rippling through the chamber. Sparks flew from its feathers, igniting the dust particles that floated in the air, and I could see the glowing embers dance around me like fireflies.

As the crow let out a roar that resonated through the chamber, I knew I had to use every ounce of courage and strength to face this fiery adversary. The room seemed to close in around me, and I steeled myself for the challenge ahead, ready to confront the storm of flames that awaited us.

Without hesitation, I used Rapid Shot with three frost-enchanted arrows… it felt like they multiplied in the air, but in fact, Clarice just used the same skill alongside me. The arrows flew toward the beast, but the boss launched its wings forward and then called forth several fireballs that exploded when they hit the arrows.

The fireballs were two times bigger than the ordinary ones fired by the fire crows, and they were a lot stronger since that single attack repelled our arrows.

'Seriously?'

I had planned to save mana, but soon I used identification. I was expecting to get a good measure of the power of the boss, but I couldn't see anything, the skill failed. It has some skill to counter Identification, and that immediately puts me on high guard.

"It is coming! Attack between the breaches of the fireballs!"

The monster began to fly around the chamber without even flapping its wings… that was insane. The monster was like six meters tall and ten meters wide with its wings open, so it should be pretty heavy, but then I recalled that thanks to their anatomy, birds were pretty light when compared to other creatures.

The monster approached the walls and then began to fly close to it while circling the chamber… when it got closer to us, fireballs began to fall from its wings like rain. We opened our eyes wide in surprise.

'It is like a fucking Tactical Bomber…'

I was expecting a lot of things in a boss battle like this, but not something like that. It was simply insane… we couldn't attack while fireballs were raining over us.

"Run!"

Jalal shouted and then we began to move to the center of the dungeon… We looked over our shoulders as the boss tried to fix its flying direction to hit us, but it was too big to redirect its body that fast. The fireballs hit the ground right behind us and then we grimaced thanks to the explosions that happened. Our formation has become pretty much useless now…

The monster stopped attacking and then tried to change its course to hit us in the next attempt. That showed that the monster couldn't waste that much mana… it was our chance. I used Power Shot and my arrow flew faster toward the right wing of the beast. The arrow pierced the wing, and the beast croaked, but not even a drop of blood fell from it.

In the next moment, the wing of the monster began to burn and soon my arrow fell from the wound… at least I confirmed that I caused enough damage to hurt the monster.

"We have to change our plans! The wings are too tough!"

Jalal clenched his teeth… the feathers of the boss were a lot tougher than the feathers of the ordinary fire crows. Our best option was to attack the head of the beast. Still, it was hard to believe that the monster wouldn't try to stop the arrows. 

"Wait until the last moment and then attack the head of the monster!"

That was a risky idea… there was a chance that the attacks wouldn't make the monster stop the rain of fireballs, after all. Still, we assumed our positions and then aimed our bows when the boss turned to face our direction. All of a sudden, I had this idea, but I hesitated to put it into action since we didn't plan for it… it could make the plan work, but it could make it fall completely. In the end, I made my choice.

I changed my arrow in the blink of an eye and then fired a lot sooner than the others. The monster used fireballs to stop my arrow and repelled it, but then a large curtain of smoke emerged thanks to it. It was an arrow enveloped with two scrolls, Magic Smoke Bomb and Ink of Power.

The monster soon began to cross a huge curtain of smoke. Before it could leave, it was bombarded with several arrows that Clarice and Rebecca fired… I waited until the beak of the monster appeared from the smoke and then I used Power Shot again. The arrow flew in a straight line toward the eye of the monster, making it croak in pain. The other arrows pierced the face of the beast, making it shake in the air as well.

When the monster saw us preparing the next volley of arrows, it stopped flying toward us and began to flap its wings to launch a barrage of fireballs toward us instead.

"Wait! Now!"

Before Rebecca and Clarice could attack, I launched a single arrow enveloped by a scroll of wind enchantment… it exploded with one of the fireballs and then made them fly to the sides. They still flew in our direction, but they exploded behind us instead.

In the next moment, Rebecca and Clarice unleashed her barrage of arrows before the monster could flap its wings again. I was honestly surprised that they followed my lead without hesitation, but that was something that I could think about later.

I just had this great idea of adding scrolls of frost enchantment to frost-enchanted arrows… perhaps they can freeze the parts of the body of the targets like that. If I had thought that sooner, I could have frozen half of the face of the monster by now, but it couldn't be helped.

The monster flapped its wings again to move away and launch another barrage of fireballs, but thanks to the distance, we could move away just fine and avoid the projectiles. Still, the monster insisted on using that kind of attack, so we had to keep running for a while.

Eventually, the beast attacked the place that we were heading and that forced us to slow down. The space ahead was filled with hot air and the monster attacked again… our only options were left and right, but the left had a hole in the wall that was emitting a burst of flames and the path to the right led to where the boss was and in the direction the next attack came.

Rebecca used Firebolt on the space ahead and then cooled the air and the ground for us to pass. We did exactly that, and the beast croaked in annoyance. Some blood was falling from its eyes and moving. That much wasn't helping. 

I aimed an arrow at the other eye, but from this distance, it was unlikely that I could hit… I considered the Hunter class skill, with Critical Shot, I probably could make an arrow pierce the other eye and even through a few Fireballs, but I needed to get closer… the monster could move too much while it was one hundred meters away.

"The monster is cornered! We can do this! Advance! We will protect you guys no matter what!"

After raising one hell of a death flag, Jalal sure looked confident in his plans. It was the right call to make the fight end faster, but it would make him and Gao suffer a lot of damage if they weren't careful enough. Still, both of them looked determined, and second-guessing the party leader at such a moment wasn't the best of choices.

"All right! Let's go!"

We fixed our formation and then began to march toward the boss slowly. The creature was flying without moving to either side or above and below. It looked like it was thinking of the best way to dispose of us.

"Hide behind us!"

Jalal's shout made us follow his lead automatically. The monster flapped its wings and then the fireballs came hurling in the air toward us… they pointed their weapons toward them and soon swung them from one side to the other. Since we hid behind them, a bunch of the fireballs passed around us without hitting anyone, but some others exploded as soon as those two hit them with their weapons…