Chapter 47: Killing Cliff

In less than three minutes, Cliff's total health pool dropped to around 50%, which eased the tension among the group slightly.

"This boss turns out to be quite easy after all."

"Yeah, it's not as hard as we imagined."

Lu Yang did not lower his guard. Seeing the boss's health drop below 50%, he began to observe Cliff's left hand.

"Humble humans, taste Cliff's wrath!" A ball of frosty energy suddenly surged into Cliff's weaponless left hand, which he hurled toward the spot where Blue Feather was standing.

"Blue Feather, stop casting immediately and dodge Cliff's skill!" Lu Yang shouted.

Blue Feather's spellcasting was already halfway through. Although he hesitated for a second, upon hearing Lu Yang's warning, he immediately bolted a few steps to the right, narrowly avoiding the skill.

The icy energy landed in an arc right where Blue Feather had been standing a moment ago, dissolving into a puddle of water with a soft splash.

"What kind of skill is this? It doesn't feel like it deals any damage," Blue Feather asked.

"Is it a slow effect?"

"He didn't even target a secondary aggro. What's the point?"

The others were puzzled.

Lu Yang shouted, "Nobody let your guard down. A boss's skill is never useless; it must have a purpose. Remember, everyone must dodge immediately the moment you see him use this skill."

"What about us in melee?" Xia Yuwei shouted.

"Melee dodge as well," Lu Yang said.

Xia Yuwei acknowledged with a hum and grew much more cautious. Half-Life Morning Light and the other mages also began to tread carefully.

Ten seconds later.

Cliff's right hand once again condensed a ball of frosty energy, this time hurtling toward Lu Yang. Lu Yang took two steps to the left and dodged the icy projectile.

However, yet another puddle of water appeared on the ground.

Zheng Yuan watched Lu Yang's movement with a look of disdain on his face, thinking to himself, "It's just a slow skill, what is there to worry about?"

As it happened, another ten seconds later, Cliff condensed another ball of frosty energy in his hand and threw it straight at Zheng Yuan.

"Dodge!" Lu Yang shouted.

Zheng Yuan was right in the middle of casting a spell and ignored Lu Yang. He stood his ground until his Fireball went off before attempting to move. By then, it was already too late, and the ball of icy energy slammed squarely into him.

With a soft splash, a new debuff appeared on Zheng Yuan.

System Notification: You have been struck by icy energy, movement speed reduced by 70%.

"Oh, my food, your body has been washed clean. Now let me roast you and eat you up!" Cliff's left hand suddenly condensed a ball of searing flame energy and hurled it at Zheng Yuan.

A look of sheer terror crossed Zheng Yuan's face as he hurriedly tried to run away. However, with his movement speed reduced by 70%, he crawled as slow as a snail and was hit dead-on by the flame energy.

A roaring fire surged up from beneath Zheng Yuan's feet.

"100"

Zheng Yuan's total health pool was less than 90 points, and he was burned to death on the spot instantly.

"The damage is this high?" Zhang Zibo exclaimed in astonishment.

Lu Yang shouted, "Everyone must be extremely careful. Don't let anyone else get hit by the water orb."

He was worried that too many deaths would result in insufficient output.

Xia Yuwei and the others nodded repeatedly. Having witnessed the boss's skill firsthand, no one dared to take the water orbs lightly ever again.

Continuing their assault, the boss's health quickly dropped below 10%. Seeing that the boss had less than 5,000 health points remaining, everyone's faces lit up with excitement.

"That's great! We're going to pull this off."

"He's really about to go down."

Excitement also painted Xia Yuwei's face, but right at that moment, Half-Life Morning Light suddenly shouted, "Group Leader, I'm out of mana."

"Me too, I can't cast Fireball anymore."

"Mine's gone as well."

"So is mine."

The four mages ran out of mana one after another. In truth, their mana should have run out much earlier, but during the battle, Cliff had repeatedly hurled water orbs at them, forcing them to interrupt their attacks and dodge, which was the only reason they had lasted this long.

Blue Feather chimed in, "My mana is running out too."

Watching the boss's health tick down to 9%, 8%, 7%, Xia Yuwei knew that if the healers ran out of mana too and nobody was left to heal the defensive warrior, the fight would completely fall apart.

Seeing this situation, Xia Yuwei gritted her teeth and yelled, "All melee classes, push the DPS! We must kill the boss!"

Epic bosses had a very high chance of dropping Silver-tier equipment. Even if all twenty members of the raid died, securing the loot would make it entirely worthwhile.

"Let's do this!" Zhang Zibo and the others understood the stakes and echoed the cry.

Yet, just as their voices faded, the blue ice ball in Cliff's hand was tossed down toward the ground.

Liquor Clear Wind, Xia Yuwei, and the others leaped backward in fright.

With a muffled thud, a blue circle formed around Cliff's perimeter.

By this time, Blue Feather was completely out of mana, and Liquor Clear Wind was left with less than 300 health points. If he continued to tank the boss, he would undoubtedly die. However, no one else had his tanking technique. Facing this dilemma, Liquor Clear Wind gritted his teeth and prepared to use Taunt once more.

Right at that critical juncture, Lu Yang suddenly shouted, "Liquor Clear Wind, fall back! Black Armor, use Taunt and activate Shield Wall!"

"It's finally my turn!" Xiao Liang roared at Cliff. Just as Cliff was about to charge toward Liquor Clear Wind, he only ran halfway before turning his head to chase after Xiao Liang instead. Reaching him, Cliff brought a heavy club down right onto Xiao Liang.

"Shield Wall!" Xiao Liang planted his shield diagonally into the ground, sheltering his entire body behind it.

With a loud crash, the wooden club smashed against the shield. Just when everyone expected Xiao Liang to take over 170 damage, a red "-102" popped up from above his head.

"Why is the damage so low?" Liquor Clear Wind asked.

"That's a defensive skill for shield warriors called Shield Wall. I'll explain it to you in detail later," Lu Yang shouted. "Xiao Liang, don't move, you're surrounded by water."

When Xia Yuwei and the others saw Xiao Liang hold the boss's aggro and wanted to step up to deal damage, Cliff consecutively hurled three water orbs that completely sealed off the paths, forcing melee classes like Xia Yuwei to remain on the outer perimeter, unable to attack.

"Oh no, we can't get in. What do we do now?" Zhang Zibo yelled.

The ranged players were out of mana, and the melee players couldn't get close. With Shield Wall active and chugging potions, Xiao Liang could tank at most 10 more hits, yet the boss still had 4% health remaining.

Despair washed over the faces of Xia Yuwei, Zhang Zibo, and the others. But right at that moment, a precise fireball struck Cliff squarely on the head.

"400" (Critical Hit)

Xia Yuwei and the others turned their heads and saw that Lu Yang had just stowed a potion bottle back into his backpack while his second fireball was already forming in his hands.

"Whoosh!"

Another fireball slammed into the boss's face.

"400" (Critical Hit)

The boss's health plummeted to 3%, leaving a mere 1,200 points.

"Lu Yang still has mana! Keep it up!" Blue Feather shouted excitedly.

"Keep going!" Half-Life Morning Light yelled.

"You can do it!" Zhang Zibo cried out.

"Let's go!" Xia Yuwei encouraged.

With just three more fireballs from Lu Yang, the boss would be finished. Finally noticing Lu Yang's position, Cliff hurled a water orb directly at him when his health dropped to 2%.

Seeing the water orb tracing an arc through the air toward Lu Yang, Xia Yuwei and the others screamed, "Dodge!"

Lu Yang knew full well that he should dodge, but he simply could not. At this moment, Xiao Liang had less than 200 health points left, and the boss only needed two more strikes to kill him.

To prevent Xiao Liang from losing EXP, Lu Yang decided to showcase the pinnacle of Fire Mage mechanics.

"Brother, hold on! Your big brother will absolute not let you lose any EXP," Lu Yang shouted.

Xiao Liang had absolute, unwavering faith in Lu Yang. Watching his health bar shrink further and further, his heart remained completely steady as he firmly held his ground in front of the boss.

A second later, the water orb exploded right over Lu Yang. If Lu Yang had dodged, the boss would have instantly turned around and bashed Xiao Liang to death.

In that scenario, even if Lu Yang eventually killed the boss, Xiao Liang would undoubtedly die first. Now that Lu Yang had taken the water orb, the boss's next attack would default to casting a fireball.

"Oh, my food, I have washed your body clean. Let me roast you and eat you up!" With only 1% health remaining, Cliff unleashed a fireball toward Lu Yang.

The small fireball, glowing with a fierce red light, traveled in an arc toward Lu Yang. Since Lu Yang was already affected by the slow debuff, it was far too late for him to run. Just as everyone thought Lu Yang was about to be burned alive by the fireball, a flash of white light erupted from his body.

"Blink!"

The moment Lu Yang cast his fireball, he blinked onto another puddle of water, re-entering the slowed state.

Cliff was left with barely over 100 health points. After throwing the fireball, Cliff had also smashed Xiao Liang once more. Just one more club strike would finish Xiao Liang off, but as Lu Yang stepped onto the puddle again, Cliff's aggro snapped back to Lu Yang.

However, even as Cliff began condensing fire elements, Lu Yang's fireball streaked through the air in a clean, brilliant red line.

With a sharp pop, it struck Cliff squarely on the skull.

"400" (Critical Hit)

Cliff's eyes instantly went hollow. His left arm, which had been raised halfway, dropped vertically to his side. His body tilted backward, and he crashed heavily to the ground.

System Notification: Cliff has been slain.

System Notification: You have gained 4,128 experience points.

System Notification: The raid led by Lu Yang has successfully defeated the Epic-tier dungeon boss Cliff, recording the achievement in the official history of "Second World." Congratulations to all players in the party.

Three consecutive system notifications left the group, who had yet to fully recover from the shock of the boss's defeat, trembling with an urge to cheer out loud.