She thought that after the time they spent together in the Chaotic Dogma Realm, and then again with the appearance of the arms of lightning, that she could never be surprised by Izroth. However, she was quickly proven wrong. Could he even be considered a player anymore? Was he secretly a raid boss in disguise?!
Of course, everyone knew that such a notion was ridiculous. But, how else could his absurd power be explained? This was a hardcore raid for crying out loud!
'Who knew this would come in handy?'
What the raid group did not know was that the skill Izroth used did not belong to him. It was a gift from a certain entity he encountered in the Sea Palace Graveyard dungeon named Scagmag—the original owner of the skill he just used called Scagmag's Whale Song!
Skill Name: Scagmag's Whale Song
Skill Level: MAXED
Skill Rank: Unknown
Active: Unleashes Scagmag's whale song dealing 25,000 Damage to all enemies within a 100 meters radius. This skill ignores all enemy defenses. Deals quadruple damage to all non-boss sea creatures.
Uses: 2/4
Special Note: This skill can only be used while inside «Sea Palace» areas. Boss monsters damaged by this skill do not grant the user EXP or loot drops.
To be honest, Izroth never thought that he would use the skill after leaving the Sea Palace Graveyard dungeon. After all, even though he knew that other layers of the Sea Palace existed, there was no guarantee at that time that he would discover another location. Therefore, he had pushed the skill Scagmag's Whale Song to the back of his mind—given that it could only be used within Sea Palace areas.
Since Izroth did not require the skill to clear the dungeon, he chose to let it be, and he was glad that he made such a choice. If not, then he may have had to use his Third State: Heavenly Arms to deal with the Bikrosh.
While the Third State: Heavenly Arms appeared all-powerful, it was not without its weaknesses. For one, if Izroth attacked a specific target and that target survived, then the arms of lightning could only target that one individual. It was not possible to control every arm of lightning separately—at least not at the moment.
This would have made it so that he wasted a lot of precious time clearing out the Bikrosh. It was best to be well prepared for any possible scenario—this was even more so when the situation was unknown.
"Focus the remaining Bikrosh and clear them out before they enrage!" Zi Yi snapped everyone out of it and pulled them back into reality. There were still some Bikrosh who survived due to their Bulk hardcore effect. But, they had suffered a severe amount of damage and was left on the doorstep of death.
In the blink of an eye, the raid group finished off the remaining Bikrosh. Not a single sea creature made it to its enraged state!
The amount of experience from killing over 50 elite hardcore raid monsters was not small, and nearly every member of the raid leveled up once in the process.
Izroth, however, had only gained somewhere around 2% towards his experience. After finishing off the monsters outside of the Sprite Dwelling, his level had risen to 49. But, once he reached level 49, the difficulty of gaining experience had grown by leaps and bounds! Even defeating a hardcore raid boss like Ooudamu only gave Izroth 18% experience. But, this was to be expected seeing as how level 50 was an extremely important milestone for players in RML.
Once the final Bikrosh was eliminated, the water within the colosseum receded, and the eight gates closed.
"Eh? Is it over already? Did we win?" One of the Sleeping Gardenia members questioned.
When the raid group witnessed the receding water and closing gates, their first thought was that they had successfully cleared the colosseum. However, after noticing that a system had not confirmed their victory, they surmised that it was not over just yet.
Just as this thought entered their minds, two new gates appeared on the walls of the colosseum. One gate had a green gemstone above it, and the other gate had a silver gemstone placed over it.
'It looks like they're finally making their appearance... Though this raid sure knows how to be ruthless.'
From the gate with the green gemstone above it came a handsome male humanoid figure wearing loose-fitting clothes with webbed feet, brilliant green scales that ran along both sides of their body, sharp green eyes, and short turquoise hair. What stood out the most about this male was that his right arm was covered in a sizeable gauntlet-type armor, and growing out of his right shoulder was a beautiful green wing that spanned two meters.
As for the gate with the silver gemstone placed over it, a gorgeous female figure with elegant clothing made her appearance. She had long golden colored hair that fell to the ankles, eyes the color of honey, and yellow scales that traveled along both sides of her body. There was a silver wing growing out of her left shoulder that was the same size as the male figure's wing. She also wore a multitude of jewelry that was embedded with citrine gemstones. Though what stood out about her was that beneath her feet were five disks stacked upon one another with just a few centimeters of space in between them. Each disk approximately 20-25cm in size and incredibly thin. Every step the female figure stood, her feet never touched the ground, and the disks stayed the same distance apart. The male seafolk was named Heski and the female seafolk Mona.
Name: Heski, Angel of the Sea(Raid Boss)
Level: 55
HP: 31,278,500(100%)
Hardcore Effect(s): [Reinforced]
Name: Mona, Nimble Child of the Sea(Raid Boss)
Level: 55
HP: 31,278,500(100%)
Hardcore Effect(s): [Quickened]
Two bosses? Would they have to fight both of them simultaneously?!
But, the raid group did not have to think before the one called Heski leaped forward and slammed the giant gauntlet on his arm into the ground.
"Since you've come, let this place be your grave Oversiders! Oceanic Resurgence!" Heski roared as the ground to the colosseum shook. At the next moment, the field below the players of the raid group displayed signs of breaking.
"Dodge it!" Zi Yi shouted as she swiftly moved out the way of the cracking earth; however, it was too late for some of the Sleeping Gardenia members who were slow to react.
All of a sudden, a gushing stream of water erupted from under the feet of every member of the raid group! Those struck were shot into the air from the sheer pressure of the waterjet and received a less than friendly amount of damage.
Izroth avoided the waterjet as the arms of lightning had already left its dormant state and erupted from the purple ring at his back. However, not even a full breath after he dodged, his Soul Sense went off and caused him to evade once again instinctively.
Psst! Psst! Psst! Psst!
What sounded almost like a whispering hiss came from an object that soared past Izroth. As his eyes locked onto the object, he saw that it matched one of the disks that were under Mona's feet.
'The speed of those disks is going to be a bit troublesome.'
Izroth was not worried himself when it came to avoiding the disks. However, their current raid group was not exactly full of players that one would call agile. This made a raid boss like Mona to be one of their greatest banes!
Some of those who were fortunate enough to evade the waterjet were instead struck mercilessly by the disk. In total, there were eight disks that either hit players or missed some of the more alert raid members.
Izroth's eyes followed the disks as they converged onto the same path as if completing their task and returned from where they originated.
Mona kicked the air with her right foot as four of the disk fell into their original position at her foot. Then, with swift grace, she turned her body and swept outward with her left leg as the remaining four disks resumed their initial place.
"First Dance of the Sea: Hymn of the Waning Waterlilies." Mona launched one swift kick with both of her legs. The kicks were so fast that Mona's legs appeared as a blur when they moved as four out of five of the rings under each of her feet flew out at great speeds towards the raid group.
'It seems I will have to take care of her first.'
...
"Alright, I will head back to Amaharpe to meet with the Guild Manager. Since my Returning Scroll is still on cooldown, I will have to make the trip by land. The rest of you can concentrate on exploring every corner of this place. Captain Nifl- Captain Nidavellir, I leave you in charge." Asgard said as he left the group and was transported outside of the raid. This raid was a mixture of successes and failures; however, he believed that overall, his Blue Oasis had emerged the ultimate victors!
"You heard the guild leader. Feint, take a group and..." As Nidavellir gave out orders, Vanaheim walked over to an isolated corner of the room where a single player stood alone. This player was none other than Niflheim.
After Izroth left, everything thought that he would drop the matter and act as if nothing happened. But, it appeared that he had no intention of going back on his word. Some of the Blue Oasis members respected his choice. If they were in the same position as Niflheim, would they be able to give up a lucrative captain position just to keep some verbal promise?
When Vanaheim approached Niflheim, she could see that there was a calm expression on his face. However, she knew firsthand how deeply he cared about Blue Oasis and the sacrifices that he was willing to make to ensure its safety.
"Have you come to convince me that my choice was wrong, Tian Suyinwen?" Niflheim said.
Vanaheim, however, shook her head and responded, "I think you made the correct choice. Though I will say, Blue Oasis will not be the same without you around here. What do you plan to do after you leave this place?"
Niflheim was somewhat surprised by Vanaheim's words. He figured that she would try to convince him to stay just as the other captains had tried to do.
"Who knows? I may just wander around a bit now that I have more free time. After all, the world is a big place in RML." Niflheim replied.
"Are you thinking about joining another top guild after you settle down?" Vanaheim asked.
Niflheim sighed, "How can I think about such things so soon? Besides, my contract states that if I leave, I cannot join any of the currently competing top guilds for at least two years. For pro gamers like us in our prime, two years is as good as a death sentence."