Izroth made his way forward until he reached the area where the flames were located on his Energy Vision Sense. When he arrived, he instantly deactivated his Energy Vision Sense to prevent his Essence from being continuously drained. Since he did not know what to expect, he had to reserve as much Essence as possible.
'A dead end?'
Although Izroth had reached his destination, there was a wall blocking his path. The wall was made of some strange material that almost resembled that of glass, however, one was unable to see their own reflection on it.
'Do we have to turn back and find another way to enter? However...'
Izroth furrowed his brows inwardly. Who knew how long it would take to find a way into that room? Even if by some chance he did manage to locate it, by then, perhaps it would already be too late.
As he pondered his next course of action, Izroth moved his hand forward to see if it was possible to cut through the wall. But, the moment his hand came into contact with the wall, something unusual took place. The wall rippled like a water surface when a pebble fell through it. At the same time, Izroth's hand sunk into the wall!
Izroth pulled his hand back and saw that nothing had happened to him.
'I see. So it's like this...'
This time, Izroth walked forward. Just as it looked as though he was going to run into the wall, his entire body phased right through it as various ripples formed throughout its surface. Once his body finished moving through the wall, the ripples stopped and it returned to its original state of a smooth surface.
Izroth immediately examined his new surroundings when he stepped through the wall. As he did so, he rested the palm of his hand against the glass-like he had just walked through. But, he found that no matter how much pressure he applied, his hand was incapable of phasing into it.
'A one-way trip, is it?'
Izroth's gaze brushed past the five figures that were currently... Dancing? He recognized that five players as members of Blue Oasis! One of the five players was a captain! But, why were they dancing during a hardcore raid of all things?
That was when Izroth's eyes locked onto the figure above the beautiful pond in the distance. Besides a few key features, that individual looked like an exact copy of Luna!
...
"Hehehe, although this voice magic has its limits, it is still quite the powerful magic—even for a member of the Trephasia race. How did such a young Trephasia acquire this magic? Is she a pure-blooded? Well, it not that it matters, hehehe." Ooudamu said in a playful tone.
Back when she tried to use the voice magic to command those in front of her to die, she found that it had not responded. But, that much was to be expected. After all, the power over life and death was something that did not belong in the hands of beings of the Mortal Realm!
After a few moments of fiddling around with the voice magic, it reached the point where she commanded Abstract and the other members of Blue Oasis to dance. Unable to resist the influence of the voice magic, the members of Blue Oasis had no choice but to comply. They wanted to cough up blood from anger! They were practically being toyed with by this raid boss!
"Captain, I don't know how much longer I can suffer this humiliation!" Feint stated in a cold tone with a gloomy expression on his face.
"Have patience. Right now, she does not consider us to be a threat. We need to keep it that way until reinforcements arrive. Otherwise, with just us, we don't stand a chance." Abstract responded.
Abstract was finally able to speak as the curse had been removed! However, it was by sheer luck that this occurred and that the consequences had not followed. At some point, Ooudamu had used the voice magic and commanded them to laugh.
But, instead of being affected by the curse, it was erased by the overwhelming power of the voice magic! This caused the curse to become ineffective the moment Abstract burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter with the other members of Blue Oasis.
He had already resumed the leadership role and discovered that Luna was somehow being controlled by the first raid boss, Ooudamu. But, he was not foolish enough to make a move even if they had to suffer some humiliation. As a captain of Blue Oasis, he had set aside his own personal feelings and look at the bigger picture.
Though what he could not figure out was how this boss worked. It was the first time he had seen such an intelligent boss within RML. For some reason, it felt as though she possessed her own personality and an ability to make her own decisions.
"I've heard of bosses gaining more intelligence the deeper we get into RML, however, I never expected it to be at such a high level already. Is it because we're doing a hardcore raid? Whatever the reason, at least she hasn't attacked us seriously. As long as we don't resist, for now, we can find an opportunity to counterattack." Abstract thought to himself.
...
'Does that transformation how something to do with the Trephasia race?'
That was Izroth's first thought when he saw Luna levitating above the pond.
Not too long after Izroth entered, Abstract and the other members of Blue Oasis were shocked. Reinforcements had arrived! At least, that's what they originally thought. Instead, it turned out to just be one person who's body was constantly flickering in and out of existence.
"It's him? Is he alone?" Abstract thought to himself as he inwardly frowned. If Izroth truly was alone, then it would not help their situation. But, Abstract's biggest worry was that he would anger the boss and cause her to start fighting seriously. This was bad! He had to warn Izroth without drawing too much attention.
"Maybe I'm worried for nothing. After all, no one in their right mind would attack a raid boss head-on in this kind of bizarre situation." Abstract muttered to himself.
"Hm? Hehehe, a new toy has arrived." Ooudamu said as her gaze locked onto Izroth who had just entered into the room.
She then switched to a cold tone and continued, "Should I have him dance? Or... Should I have them fight to the death?"
Izroth's body flickered and in the blink of an eye, he appeared next to Abstract.
"What happened?" Izroth questioned, however, his gaze never left Luna in the distance.
Fast! That was the only word that came to the mind of those present. Was that some kind of high ranked movement skill?
"She's being possessed by the first raid boss, Ooudamu. We're currently being influenced by something she calls voice magic." Abstract swiftly explained their predicament.
Possessed? When Izroth heard that word, the look in his eyes became cold. He considered Luna to be one of his people, therefore, how could he sit back and allow someone to control her in such a manner?
'Voice magic? How troublesome...'
Izroth had witnessed Luna's voice magic firsthand. While it was provided great assistance to her allies, it was a dreadful experience for her enemies.
'But, one of its major downfalls is its cooldown time. Although it's not long for a skill of its power, it's still not too short.'
Izroth knew that the effects of Luna's voice magic varied depending on what word she spoke. When it came to crowd control effects that prevented players from attacking or moving freely, it tended to last less than 30 seconds. Since Abstract and the others were under a crowd control effect, it meant that she must have used her voice magic not too long ago.
"I see. Then, I'm going." Izroth said as his boy started to flickering in and out of existence.
Going? However, before Abstract could respond, Izroth had already left! The only thing remaining was a flickering afterimage. What was he doing?! Did he plan on attacking head-on?! That was death wish!
Izroth unsheathed his Sword of The Storm as a powerful gust of wind was released from his sword. He moved at high speeds towards Ooudamu and appeared at the edge of the beautiful pond in an instant. Without hesitation, he swung his Sword of The Storm in a perfect sideways arc towards Ooudamu.
Izroth was not concerned about dealing a lethal blow to Luna. As long as the Preserving Breath of Life Talisman was in his inventory, he was confident in keeping her alive. Right now, he needed to find a way to force Ooudamu to leave Luna's body.
Unfortunately, it was much easier said than done. This was not like the time with the Phantasmagoria when he could cure it with something in the environment itself. If he was not mistaken, this was a power that belonged to Ooudamu. At the moment, there were only three methods that he could think of to save Luna.
The first was to find a way to dispel whatever skill or ability Ooudamu was using to possess Luna. The second was to defeat Ooudamu and force her to abandon Luna as her host!
"That body does not belong to you. I'll have you leave it." Izroth said in a serious tone. However, just as his sword was about to make contact with Ooudamu, a single word entered into his ears.
"Repel." This word echoed and reverberated as a powerful wave of mana swept across the entire room.
At the same time, Izroth's Sword of The Storm was halted as if it had collided with an invisible barrier.
Booooom!
All of a sudden, Izroth's arm was blown backward by a terrifying force as his Sword of The Storm was completely repelled. This was... Voice magic! However, it was too soon for her to use it again! However, before he had time to make his next move, Izroth heard yet another word drift by his ears in a playful tone.
"Weightless."
Out of nowhere, Izroth felt as if his body had become lighter than a feather as he was pushed back from the pressure generated by the wave of mana. But, Ooudamu did not stop there.
"Jump."
Izroth jumped uncontrollably into the air. Since he was weightless, he bypassed the original jump limit for players and easily soared more than 15 meters into the air!
"Heavy. Heavy. Heavy."
Wooooooooosh! Craaaaaaash! Boooom!
A large cloud of white dust flew out in every direction from Izroth's impact and with the increase to his overall weight, there was a crater imprinted onto the ground.
When the present members of Blue Oasis saw this it sent chills down their spines. What a terrifying skill.
"How the heck are we supposed to fight against something like that?" Tagz asked in a slightly shaken voice.
Although the others did not say it as openly as Tagz, the same thought had crossed their minds.
"A skill that can control the actions of others without a cooldown time? Is such a thing even possible? No, the system shouldn't give us an impossible task. However..." Abstract said to himself. But, he was unable to ignore the evidence before him. The voice magic being used by Ooudamu did not seem to possess a cooldown time! If that was the case, how were they supposed to lift a single finger against it?! Was this really the first raid boss?
"Hehehe, is he already dead-" While Ooudamu was still in the middle of her sentence, a sharp blade accompanied by an overbearing aura shot out from the cloud of dust and suddenly appeared before her face. The tip of the blade was just centimeters away from piercing through her brows. Naturally, this blade belonged to Izroth!
Just as he was about to slam into the ground and take a massive amount of fall damage, Izroth activated the Falling Feather Steps skill that was absorbed by his Apparel of Insatiable Transcendence. This allowed him to land safely without receiving any fall damage. Then, using the cloud of dust as a cover, Izroth used Enhanced Instantaneous Movement to immediately close the distance and launch a counterattack.
'The cooldown on her voice magic is virtually nonexistent. I have to find a way to neutralize it, otherwise, my actions will be limited.'