Izroth, Luna, Vanaheim, Abstract, Sacred Blade, I Do Zero Quests, Feint, False Summit, Emberheart, Tagz, Ace of Saint, and Second Tyrant—these were the players currently present in the boss room with Ooudamu.
Excluding Luna, who was the player host for Ooudamu, there were a total of 11 players engaged in a battle against the raid boss.
Swoosh! Bang! Bang!
Tagz fired off two arrows, however, the arrows bent mid-flight and completely missed their intended target. It was not that Tagz's aim was bad, but that his arrows had been redirected due to the voice magic being used by Ooudamu. Unfortunately, he was not the only one to fail in his assault.
Everyone was having no luck when it came to landing a blow on Ooudamu. Even when they tried attacking together, it ended in failure!
"It's like she's predicting our every move! How are we supposed to do any damage when our attacks won't even land?!" Feint stated in a frustrated tone.
They had already been fighting against the boss for more than a minute and no one had yet to successfully land a blow. The voice magic was a huge problem that could not be avoided, but the biggest issue was Ooudamu's ability to read their every move and stay two or even three steps ahead of them with relative ease. It almost felt as though she was able to peer into the future!
"This isn't working. How is that plan coming along?" Abstract said plainly. He had just retreated next to Vanaheim after his surprise attack failed. His Death Stalker class specialized in ambushes, therefore, he was surprised how effortlessly Ooudamu avoided his attack. If he had not used a movement skill to escape just before Ooudamu responded to his attack, he believed that the damage he suffered would not have been light.
"I still need more time to prepare." Vanaheim replied.
Abstract gave a slight nod in response before he vanished using a stealth skill.
"This battle is too one-sided. We have to find a way to tip the scale in our favor—even if just by a small amount." Vanaheim thought to herself as her gaze landed on Izroth.
During the battle, Izroth had drawn most of Ooudamu's attention onto him. He was also the person who was closest to landing a solid strike against Ooudamu. Unknowingly, Izroth became the foundation for their plan to survive and Vanaheim used this to her advantage.
Instead of making Izroth a part of their plan, she decided to let him continue with his actions. Not only was he able to somewhat restrict the voice magic to the point where it directly affected them to a minimum, but his combat master class seemed to be the most suited to dealing with Ooudamu.
While Vanaheim was unaware of how many skills Izroth had acquired as a combat master, but theoretically, a combat master should possess a very versatile skill pool. Vanaheim believed that it was this versatile skill pool that allowed Izroth to hold out against the raid boss despite the usage of their voice magic and monstrously high foresight.
"Ha!" Feint roared as the ground beneath his feet froze with every step he took towards the direction of Ooudamu. Not being able to hit the boss a single time was demoralizing and naturally caused the members of Blue Oasis to become frustrated. However, that did not mean that they would give up so easily!
Feint stopped approximately ten meters away from Ooudamu and slammed his right hand into the ground. A few moments later, the ground underneath his hand cracked open slightly as a piercing chill blew outward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A barrage of ice spikes rose from the earth and was headed right for Ooudamu. This was one of Feint's more aggressive offensive skills, Glacial Rise.
"Shift." Ooudamu said as a powerful wave of mana swept out and made contact with the ground. At the same time, a series of tremors could be felt as the whole room shook briefly. By the time the tremors came to a stop, Feint's attack that was aimed at Ooudamu had veered right and completely missed her!
Ooudamu had shifted the ground with the voice magic and redirected Feint's Glacial Rise skill away from her.
"Hehehe, who knew there was a young Trephasia with such a powerful bloodline among a group of sea urchins." Ooudamu said as a sharp smile appeared on her face.
'Is this really the first raid boss?'
This thought could not help but cross Izroth's mind. Although he had not gone all out yet, even with Flickering Steps active and the use of Enhanced Instaneous Movement, his blade was unable to reach Ooudamu.
But, what Izroth remained unaware of was the lack of luck Blue Oasis possessed. In truth, Ooudamu was different from most raid bosses in that she lacked any offensive skills that were her own. However, Ooudamu made up for this flaw by fusing with the strongest host she came into contact with.
Since Luna's group was the first to locate Ooudamu and given that Luna was the highest level player among them, it automatically registered her as the strongest player present!
While a supporter, who was naturally weak when it came to their offensive skills, would be the ideal candidate to allow Ooudamu to control, the same could not be said in Luna's case.
Even though Luna had not acquired many offensive skills, she had one thing that separated her from other supporters—her voice magic. It worked as an offensive, defensive, and supportive skill. Though what truly made it terrifying was one of the abilities Ooudamu held as the queen of the water sprites.
The unique skill, Natural Peak, allowed Ooudamu to operate the skills of the person she took control of at a peak level and unlocked its true potential. In terms of the prowess at its peak, it was still far away from Zelfyrion's own use of voice magic. However, it could easily be categorized as an SS-ranked or even an SSS-ranked skill by player standards!
A skill of that level that could be used freely and appeared to lack any kind of cooldown? It was no wonder the group was having such a difficult time against Ooudamu! Blue Oasis could only blame their own bad luck for this situation! However, the biggest threat was one that even Izroth, who had spent the most time with Luna, had no knowledge of.
'Our attacks aren't connecting. Will I have to result to a more forceful method after all?'
If things continued down this path, it was only a matter of when, not if, they would be wiped out.
At the moment, Ooudamu was predicting their every move and responded accordingly. However, even if she could predict the next move, what if it was too fast for her to do anything about it?
'If I use Full Mantle Compressed Lightning Movement, it should be possible, but...'
The main reason Izroth was reluctant to do so was the long 24-hour cooldown time on his Full Mantle skill. Not only that, but the backlash from constantly using his Compressed Lightning Movement was not something he could easily ignore.
Given that there were other raid bosses after Ooudamu, could he truly afford to reveal his hand so soon?
'Wait, how could I almost forget about that?'
It suddenly dawned on Izroth that he had another option available! He had almost forgotten about it since he tossed it to the back of his mind, however, it would be perfect given their current circumstances!
'I'll need some time to use it.'
Bang! Bang!
Izroth's sword was once again repelled by the voice magic. As he was repelled back, he pointed his Sword of The Storm towards Ooudamu.
Bzzzt...! Bzzzzzt!
A streak of lightning shot out from Izroth's Sword of The Storm and constantly circled Ooudamu. Every time it circled, it created an additional layer of lightning until it formed a lightning cage that was around 10 meters in diameter.
This was the work of the Lightning Cage skill attached to Izroth's Sword of The Storm. It consumed 20 Storm Surge Charge stacks and paralyzed enemies caught within for 5 seconds. But, since Ooudamu was a raid boss, Izroth estimated that it would only restrict her movements for not even half of that time. But, his main goal was not to attack Ooudamu.
Izroth swiftly arrived next to Vanaheim who was near the back of the group.
Vanaheim was surprised when Izroth suddenly appeared next to her, but she remained calm in response. Though she was curious as to what his intentions were.
"I need fifteen uninterrupted seconds. Can your Blue Oasis handle it?" Izroth asked.
15 seconds? Could it be that he, too, had something he wanted to prepare against the raid boss? This was the first thought that entered into Vanaheim's mind.
"What will you do after fifteen seconds?" Vanaheim questioned in a serious tone as her sights never left Ooudamu who was locked inside the Lightning Cage.
"I don't have time to go into details, however, if you can buy me fifteen seconds—I can take care of the voice magic." Izroth stated in a carefree manner.
Vanaheim was taken aback by Izroth's words. He had a way to take care of that domineering voice magic? Originally, she planned to use a combination of fire, water, earth, and wind magic to create a large scale makeshift mirage. Using that mirage as the main cover, they should be able to keep Ooudamu confused long enough for the rest of the raid group to arrive. That was why she secretly had Ace of Saint going around the battlefield and casting Noise Suppression and Remove Scent on everyone.
However, she had never tried to execute such a complicated combination of elements before now and was struggling to make the progress she wanted. But, she felt that as long as she had enough time, it was not an impossible task to accomplish. Unfortunately, the one thing they were short on at the moment was precisely time.
"There's no guarantee she won't see through my mirage magic even if it is successful. That voice magic is too troublesome to ignore. If he truly has a way to deal with it, then that only increases the chances of our overall success." Vanaheim thought to herself.
"Everyone, change of plans!" Vanaheim stated which grabbed the attention of every Blue Oasis member.
She then continued, "We will buy 15 seconds for Izroth! No matter what, he is not allowed to be interrupted during these 15 seconds. Protect him at all costs! Is that understood?!"
"Yes!" Everyone responded in unison. Even though they were unclear as to why Vanaheim abruptly changed the orders, in the end, they trusted in her judgment and ability to lead. Although she was not a strategist like Niflheim or Nidavellir, her ability to lead a group in a time of chaos was second to none among the members of Blue Oasis.
Level-headed, calm under pressure, and leading with absolute authority—this was Vanaheim of Blue Oasis, captain of the 3rd squad!
'What decisive behavior.'
Most individuals would have hesitated with their answer or simply rejected the proposal outright. But, Vanaheim gave a swift and decisive answer by almost immediately giving out new orders. However, it was not that she blindly trusted Izroth.
Surviving the encirclement of hardcore raid monsters, finding the cure to the Phantasmagoria, having the ability to sense danger, and to top it all off, neither his combat prowess nor intelligence was lacking. Taking all this into account, Vanaheim determined that whatever Izroth had planned was something worth giving a shot. This was even more so considering that he seemed to have the most experience with the player host who was being controlled by Ooudamu.
Izroth did not waste any time as he moved off a bit further away from the fight. Not too long after doing so, the Lightning Cage vanished from around Ooudamu.
"Hehehe, you're not trying to escape, are you? Oversider." Ooudamu said in a cold tone. At the same time, Ooudamu's gaze locked onto Izroth in the distance. Since he held the highest aggro on Ooudamu and was registered as the largest threat present, he had immediately become her main target!
Izroth removed a black box with a purple crest on the front of it from his inventory. It was the item he acquired after spending 8 Spirit Vouchers on the Netherworld Exchange!