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The boss still had 30,772 HP remaining. That last wave of attacks had been brutal, nearly 20,000 damage dealt to the statue in one round!

“My god…” Duskwraith’s mouth hung open. ‘What kind of monstrous damage was that?! And with 10% lifesteal, just one skill recovered over 1,000 HP!’

Rainbow and Lulu were also left speechless, stunned by what they’d just witnessed.

The boss seemed dazed from the relentless onslaught. It took a full two seconds before it finally turned around. Its vacant eyes locked onto Starry. Slowly, it extended its right arm forward. Cracking arcs of lightning began to wrap around it.

**Zzz—**

The sound of electric current snapped in the air. ‘Oh s̲h̲i̲t̲ oh s̲h̲i̲t̲ oh s̲h̲i̲t̲!’ Zane moved on instinct.

**Zzz—BOOM!!**

“Bone Shield!!” A crisp, youthful voice rang out at the critical moment.

A surge of crackling lightning engulfed the space in front of the boss, ravaging the entire dungeon with its fury. Electric aftershocks lashed across the battlefield.

Duskwraith’s entire team stood no chance. The attack slammed them with over 4000 damage each, killing all three in one synchronized flash of white light!

“Phew…” Zane exhaled, checking his HP, he was left with 5,013 out of 7,310. Behind him, Starry had barely survived with only 461 HP remaining out of 2,830.

If he hadn’t reacted fast enough to step in front and absorb the brunt of that blow, she would’ve been wiped out for sure. But the aftermath left him paralyzed, literally. A ‘Paralysis’ debuff hovered over his status bar.

Every movement felt like dragging dead weight. It was as if his body no longer belonged to him. Fortunately, the stone statue had entered a brief stunned state after unleashing that attack. It looked like the move had drained its energy.

‘Now’s the time! Finish it while it’s down!’

The paralysis vanished in an instant. Starry raised the Autumn Moon Sword in a sharp upward arc, unleashing a formless burst of sword energy.

‘The boss is weakened!’

**KRNNGG!!**

Chunks of stone shattered off the statue’s body, revealing a glowing core beneath. It was dull and inert for now, but visibly absorbing ambient energy from the air.

Then, a familiar beam of light fired upward from its arm.

‘The 30-second timer’s already up?’ Zane knew exactly what that meant. As he’d observed it already, this laser was insanely fast. There was no way he could dodge it. Starry, maybe. But not in his main body.

Zane finally recovered from the paralysis.

Fiery crimson erupted skyward. A flaming wall materialized directly above Starry. Then, Zane quickly downed a high-grade HP potion and a Bloodflow Tonic.

‘6,000 HP should be enough.’ Now all that remained was to see if the fire wall could block the laser!

Meanwhile, Starry’s gaze locked on the ceiling above, watching for the brightest flicker.

Suddenly, two violet glints pierced the shadows, ‘It’s coming!’ Starry instinctively tried to move, but heard a strange sound above her.

‘Tch, too slow?’

**Fssshh—!**

The Blazing Fire perfectly blocked the incoming laser. ‘Does that mean the Laser Beam counts as a ranged attack?’

The other beam struck Zane, dealing a clean 3,000 damage.

Unlike the Death Knight, who excelled at high-speed solo duels, the Demon King Statue was clearly designed as a stationary, area-controlling boss with devastating AoEs. At first glance, these skills looked terrifying, but in truth, they all followed a certain pattern.

First was the Laser Beam, triggered every 30 seconds. As long as the timing was right, players could avoid it by retreating five seconds before the blast and leaving a high-HP tank behind to soak the damage.

Next was the Thunderburst Cannon, most likely triggered automatically once the boss’ HP dropped to a certain threshold. But even that skill wasn’t invincible. It only affected the area in front of the boss with a massive shockwave.

There were two ways to deal with it: either dodge to the sides or behind the boss—though that wasn’t realistic, as the backline would never make it in time—or lure the boss to cast the skill at a wall, then take advantage of its brief vulnerability to deliver a brutal beatdown.

Unfortunately, once someone died in this hidden zone, they couldn’t re-enter. That meant they had zero margin for error, no room for sacrificing lives just to scout mechanics.

Even Zane, who was piloting two cheat-tier classes, was nearly wiped out. There was no doubt about it, Epic-grade bosses were still nightmares for players at this stage.

Having survived that round of laser attacks, they now had another 30 seconds to fight. There was still one unknown skill remaining, but they couldn’t afford to wait around.

‘Better close the distance first.’

Incidentally, Starry’s last Frenzied Blade had triggered the Lightfooted buff.

With all three buffs stacked, Starry’s movement speed reached a terrifying +144%, almost on par with Zane’s Rapid Stride! She easily closed in on the boss.

She executed a combo of Basic Attack + Icy Moon Slash + Basic Attack!

After that flurry of attacks, the boss’ eyes flared, it had recovered from its weakened state!

“Go down already! Invoke: Vines!”

The statue’s body was tightly bound by twisting vines, locking it in place. As expected, while it was immune to most status effects, binding wasn’t categorized the same way. It worked just fine.

Starry seized the moment to continue her assault with a Blade Dance + Basic Attack combo!

The boss’ remaining HP dropped to under 7,000! At that moment, it broke free from the vines. The five-level gap between them greatly shortened the binding duration! It only lasted less than three seconds.

It lunged toward Starry with a punch, though it was clear it wouldn’t land directly. But its basic attack was special, it included a follow-up magic attack.

Starry had no choice but to tank the second hit. Thankfully, the earlier lifesteal had topped her HP up; a 1000-damage hit wouldn’t kill her.

Zane had already used his only ranged attack to protect her. Now, he was left with just one skill.

The terrain warped, and the open floor transformed into thick mud, but the statue showed no reaction.

‘Right. It’s not even moving to begin with… so Slow had no effect at all.’

It was all on Starry now. Based on the current rate, she needed four more strikes to take it down. If she triggered Autumn Strike, it would only take two! Unfortunately, the 15% chance on Autumn Strike wasn’t that reliable. Three consecutive strikes, and still no trigger.

The Demon King Statue was down to less than 1000 HP! At that moment, its core began to glow faintly, then rapidly brightened.

Zane’s heart clenched at the sight. ‘Don’t tell me… its last move is a self-destruct?! Who could possibly survive that?’

‘Damn it, there’s no time for another basic attack!’

In a split-second decision, Starry tossed Starmew from her pet space straight at the glowing core. She nearly forgot about the little guy!

Starmew, ever the clever beast, instantly grasped the danger. Mid-air, it raised its tail and formed an Ice Spike in an instant! At the same time, its sharp claws surged with chilling energy as it activated yet another skill, Frost Claw!

Oh sure, because it wasn’t like everyone and their cat had gone magic-melee hybrid by now.

The light from the core kept expanding, one more second and it would explode!

Zane had witnessed the power of Thunderburst Cannon firsthand. This next blast wouldn’t be any weaker. They absolutely couldn’t let it go off!

**Shhk!**

The core’s internal defense was far weaker than its external armor. The Ice Spike dropped it to just over 100 HP!

**Clnk!**

And Frost Claw managed to finish the job flawlessly!

As the boss’ HP hit zero, the light in its core flickered out. And like a deflating balloon, it collapsed into itself.