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“Do we really have to stay back here watching without doing anything, Leon?”
“Yes, Nord Glacier will stay here to protect you, Julia. Everyone else can deal with the boss.”
“But…”

Julia anxiously watched the frontline, constantly fidgeting with worry.
She had trained diligently for this moment, being one of the few and rare exclusive healers of Destiny Unchain Online.
Now she took her role seriously, and would become restless just by seeing someone be hurt…which made Sorleon grimace a little as he watched her reactions.

“I understand it makes you uneasy, you’re so kind and diligent after all.”

He gently patted her head to calm her down…but he remained determined on his decision, and refused to move from that spot.

“But you also need to get used to this environment. Everyone must protect you, and you have to survive until the very end…do you understand?”
“…I understand.”

She glanced back at the glowing wings behind her, and gave a reluctant nod.
She had the power to cleanse the miasma in that location, and it was thanks to her that all the players nearby were freed from the debuffs. That was the best use of her abilities.
That much was clear to her, she could understand that, but her emotions refused to accept it. All she could do was bite her lip and hold it in, until Sorleon’s eyes lit up with a new idea.

“Don’t worry. Look at them, they aren’t going down so easily, especially Crim. Just think of this as an opportunity to learn how large scale battles are carried out, and watch closely.”
“Ah…okay!”

When put as something to study, she instantly cheered up, attentively watching how everyone moved in the battlefield. Seeing that his sister-like cousin had regained her energy, Sorleon also turned to look at the boss.

“And also…I’m curious to see how *those two* will perform after their training with Master.”
“Huhh… I don’t really understand those things yet.”

Julia looked at him with confusion, and he just grimaced a little while once again patting her head.

***

While Sorleon’s Nord Glacier watched from a high vantagepoint…

“Woah?!”
“Kyah?!”

The giant made of miasma produced blades of black mana from its hands, waving them around like a whirlwind.
It used its waist crystal as a pivot, spinning around to slice all around it, forcing all the players surrounding it to jump back.
Even if its overall movements were slow, its large size meant its appendages gained quite a lot of speed at the extremes.
On top of that, all its movements were erratic and unpredictable. Even when players thought they were sneaking up on it, it would simply reverse its movements and strike back.

“This is so annoying..!”
“I never thought that fighting a humanoid enemy that doesn’t move like a human would be this tricky!”

Kasumi and Hinagiku voiced their disdain for the fight while relentlessly attacking the giant’s lower joint crystals.
The miasma that joined the crystals, like the sticks of a stick figure, was not physical. Instead, players would suffer gradual damage while touching it.
On top of that, there was no limit to each joint’s range of motion, making it extremely difficult to anticipate anything.
It moved in strange ways.
Only had small spots to attack.
And a size that twisted one’s sense of distance.
All of those features combined into a troublesome enemy to fight.
But Crim’s group had been analyzing its behavior, and had a good idea of the boss’ mechanics.
That figure made of miasma itself was a weapon, not its true body.
It was easy to get confused due to its humanoid shape…but they were not fighting a living giant towering in front of them. It was a magic construct built out of 16 floating crystals.

“And yet..!”
“Either way..!”

The giant’s arms swung around wildly, trying to swat off Crim and Suzaku, but they chose to use its wrist and elbow crystals as firm footholds to run up the giant.

“Master was faster!”
“Rage was faster!”

They shouted in unison as Crim swung down her scythe and Suzaku his demonic sword.
But before they could strike the crystals, they bounced off something transparent and stopped.

[Absolute Defense]
[4560/7000]
[Absolute Defense]
[3820/7000]

All of the players in combat received a notification in the corner of their view, showing the resistance of the barrier protecting the crystals…Absolute Defense.
Nevertheless, the two strikes were so powerful that sparks flew out violently and…

“”Break throughhh!!””

A high pitched cracked sound rang out…and the barriers shattered into countless crystal shards.

“Now, do it! Shoot everything you’ve got at its shoulders!”

The voice they heard likely belonged to Shao from Lan Canglong.
A moment later a barrage of fire arrows from the rear lines of players was shot at the giant’s shoulder crystals…which let out a high pitched sound as they shattered into minuscule pieces.

“Good, now its arms should be…no, it didn’t work!”

With their anchor points gone, the giant’s arms began to fall down, only to stop suddenly as the elbow crystals shifted up and became the new shoulders, regenerating the arms with no joint in the middle.
And then…

“…Woah?!”
“…Ack?!”

The giant began shaking its arms like whips, forcing Crim and Suzaku to jump back to avoid the black energy blades.

“This thing’s construction is so bizarre!”

Despite having lost pieces, its effective range had grown, and the blades swung around with even more speed.
Some players took too long to react to the change, falling pretty to the blades and turning into Remain LIght, scattering in the wind.

“Master!”
“Crim!”
“Oh, Hinagiku, Kasumi. I’m glad to see ye both safe!”

Crim was glad to see that the two fighting closest to the boss had gotten out unscathed, even if she was still mainly annoyed by the boss, carefully watching from a safe distance.
Nearby the other players were the same, watching the giant’s rampage from afar, and the only ones attacking used long range attacks.

“It’s going to be difficult getting close now. Be careful to not do something reckless, it might bait the rest to follow and get them killed.”
“We don’t want to cause panic amongst them, yeah.”
“Exactly…”

Then there was silence… Crim needed a moment to analyze the situation and decide the best course of action, until…

*”mmM? What the HECK is goin’ on here? I was wondering why I FELT that familiar mana and This is what I SEE?”*

An unknown voice, highly distorted like it came from an untuned radio, surprised Crim, as it seemed to be coming from just next to her.