Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Lyxiss! Lyxiss! Get it together!" They heard Bulko from behind, hurriedly casting healing spells on the unconscious half-elf.

Mike Cursed. Lyxiss had not only suffered the explosion but also the rebound from failing to cast the spell, even if Bulko healed her, she would not be able to cast spells in the meantime. Looking at the aftermath, they were not the only ones that had suffered.

The explosion had properly cleaned out the spore cloud, all the miniatures, and part of the tree-like reefs, increasing the size of the clearing. The boss had also not gotten away unscathed. The moldy white-gray fluff it was covered in was burned black in many places.

However, it was definitely not something they could dare to pull off again. The series of explosions was closer to an attack to deal the opponent 500 damage while they suffered 800. On top of it, the little health the boss had lost was quickly healing as the moldy turnip's big red eye looked at the party angrily. The orifices opened again to pump out fuzzballs.

"Any ideas?" Mike asked Mina. Lyxiss was out cold for now, so her idea of a lightning field was out. The fire was also out.

"I could try hitting the boss with <Plague Strike>. We just have to wait until it dies;" she suggested, shrugging her shoulders.

"We could also try Ice again!" Fin injected herself into the conversation.

"Right, Let's try those."

Mike's idea was to combine the two. It wouldn't hurt if Mina hit the boss with her sure kill skill. In the meantime, they would try ice skills to deal with the offspring. If that didn't work, they had to find something else, if it worked, they might not even have to rely on the disease slowly killing the boss.

Traveling through the shadows, the cat assassin appeared behind the turnip as she exited <Stealth> and struck it with <Backstabbing>, a typical assassin skill, and <Plague Strike>. She vanished again before she could get the aggro, relying on the Ring of Gyges.

The moldy boss screeched in pain and jumped up, standing on it's stubby legs. It had stopped creating offspring and turned around to look for the assassin that had already vanished. Minas <Backstabbing> had dealt a considerable amount. A small dark spot was growing around the wound, turning the moldy fuzz black.

<Abominable Mold Mount lv.97(Boss)

Health 778/1000

Status: Diseased, Deadly Disease, Down with the Sickness, Strong Malady, Sekhmet's Plague, Elufsiv's Feasting> Mina's strike had added more than just the <Plague Strike>'s deadly disease. Several effects of the dagger had activated adding varying degrees of diseases to the boss, blocking its regeneration for up to an hour, and stopping it from using skills for 10 seconds.

This was the time to stack damage on the beast, and Mina's companions quickly got to it. Mike's <Hailstorm> successfully wiped out the offspring while preventing the spores from becoming a problem.

Fin rushed in, becoming half the size of the moldy turnip, unleashing a storm of fists at the fuzzy foe. Her strikes and kicks in addition to the frost moths she continuously spawned and the hailstorm raging around them, froze and broke away the fine outer mold.

Under the outer layer of fur, it revealed a giant dark-gray ball, that looked like it was made of disgusting organic yarn, glistening with slime. Between the strands, they could see the dozens of orifices, that started bleeding red tears as the fairy kept abusing the boss.

The mold mount's chubby arms tried to swing at the fairy, but the size and cold made it too slow to be a danger to the quick melee queen with her shining crown burning over her head. Fin used the whole duration of Elufsive's Feast and only retreated the moment, the boss was able to use its skills again.

It was not a second too early, as just at this moment all the bleeding orifices opened and filled the whole clearing with a dark cloud of spores. The party quickly retreated, Bulko carrying Lyxiss. Where the spores touched the ground or the mushroom reefs, dark mold started growing.

It was not untypical for bosses to have different stages like in a game. Fin had put in all her power to lower the boss's health below 50%, possibly even jumping a stage of the fight. It was the only explanation for what happened next.

It didn't end with just the cloud that forced the attacker away, and would probably wipe a part if they stayed too close. They could not see inside but they could see the changes on the reefs at the edge of the cloud. Covered in the black mold they turned from environment to dungeon mobs.

Hundreds of red eyes, like those of the boss, appeared in the black mold that covered the reefs, as they transformed. Legs and tentacles grow from the misshapen heaps of mushrooms and got on their lumbering way to attack the party.

There was no way for them to estimate how many enemies they were suddenly facing. The had passed dozens of reefs running from the cloud and the cloud was probably spreading in all directions. Their numbers could be in the triple digits. There was only one silver lining.

<Fungus Treant(Elite)

Health 930/1000

Status: Diseased, Deadly Disease, Sekhmet's Plague>

Anything the boss spawned was still afflicted by the same diseases as the boss! Although they could not see the boss, the status effects managed to drain the health of the treants at a visible rate. The mobs lost roughly 5 health every second. It was probably weaker on the boss, but the boss was also affected by Down with the Sickness, so the effects would not have to compete with health regeneration.

"At this point, we just have to stall long enough for the boss to lose the rest of his health," Mike concluded. They didn't even have to fight the Fungus treants, seeing how the disease would kill them in a matter of roughly three minutes.

"No. " A lighting struck the closes treant and immediately decimated any health it had still left.

"I want to see that thing die," the half-elf said grimly. Lyxiss had woken up and she was pissed.

"We can't really enter the cloud, how do you want to go see it die?" Mina asked concerned. Their companion was usually rather calm and not one to climb on the barricades looking for danger. But everyone had a little switch somewhere.

"What is there to ask? Isn't it just a little explosion away?" she asked with a crazed smile. The cat assassin knew that smile, Seth had it sometimes. Usually when he was about to do something crazy.

"Stone Guard!" a massive semi-circle bulwark of stone appeared before them, facing the spore cloud.

"Look, Fin and Bulko can layer a bunch of barriers on top and then I will detonate them in one go."

They wanted to stop her, but Lyxiss had already made the decision. She was already in the middle of chanting. Bulko and Fin could only hurriedly use their barrier skills, while Lyxiss started floating, holding her staff to the sky.

"Are you seriously chanting Meteor right now?!" Mike exclaimed incredulously when he saw the fiery shine in the dark sky of this twilight dimension.

"No, I already did it."

The next moment they were swallowed by a blazing world of fire and the ear-shattering sounds of explosions, as her meteors fell from the heavens and ignited the spore cloud.

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