"We are going inside."
Ken didn't lack any BP and he wasn't scared of low Nascent Soul cultivators. Besides, one of the monster's greatest strengths, the ability to strike terror in the hearts of its enemies, was useless against Ken. It was just a worse version of his Paralyzing Domain.
"Team Leader, are you sure we should enter? The monster sounds dangerous."
Bryce asked with clear unwillingness in his voice. He didn't want to go and fight something too strong for him to handle. As the weakest member of the group, he preferred adapting the same tactic the other groups used.
"Yes, but you can remain here if you are afraid."
Ken said indifferently. It was an easy way to get Bryce killed.
"No, I'm not the type of person to turn his back on his teammates. If you enter, I'm going in with you."
"Aren't you just afraid of getting killed without the team's protection like the guy who escaped the monster?"
Daisy rolled her eyes at Bryce's pretentious courage and followed Ken. She was also worried, but so far Ken always finished his fights the earliest no matter how many enemies he took on, not to mention she watched him kill thousands of the Four Seasons Sect disciples not long ago when he was still one substage lower.
Alaric took the front and pushed the double door open, revealing the same room they saw 3 times by now. In the middle of the platform in the center of the place, there was a human-size monster. It had distinctive features, and one might even mistake it for a human if not for the skin. It was bloody red.
The monster looked at them and waited patiently as they approached as if it wanted to fight in an organized manner on the platform.
"All right, Bryce, you are a heavy hitter, so you can take the front. Focus on blocking and surviving rather than on inflicting injuries. Tiara and I will attack it from the sides and back using our close-range weapons. Daisy, you have a good sync with Bryce, so you support him and prevent the monster from killing him. Alaric, I don't know much about your techniques, so you are free to aid in any way you think is best."
Ken explained the strategy to the team and everyone unsheathed their weapons, except for Ken who wanted to use Flash Unwind. Ken took most of the pressure off Alaric during their fights so far since the latter was injured, thus, Ken didn't get to see him fight much.
Bryce lunged toward the monster, his large club brandished and coated with Qi.
'Earth Shockwaves!'
He muttered his technique's name as he landed just a meter away from the monster and hit the ground with the club. The monster, which prepared to defend a direct hit and counter, was caught unprepared as the ground underneath it shook, making it lose its footing.
'One Step.'
'Flash Unwind.'
Ken's token radiated an extreme bloodlust for a moment, making everyone lose their breath. But they got used to it during their fights, so they didn't stop their barrage of attacks.
Ken's sword flashed in silver as it cut through the monster's side at high speed. They were used to fighting the bosses; if one didn't deal fatal damage in a single strike, the monster would regenerate almost instantly, at the cost of some Qi. After a while, it'd collapse from Qi loss and turn into a puddle of blood which would disappear into the ground, and the voice would congratulate them and offer rewards.
Tiara soon followed. She wasn't as fast as Ken, but she still came in time to take advantage of the monster's instability with a ranged attack.
'Frozen Flock.'
A flock of beautiful birds came out of her saber as she slashed with it from a distance of 10 meters. The birds seemed cute until one looked at their oversharpened beaks. They all crushed into the boss, melting as soon as they met with its body and making it deplete more Qi. The freezing energy made the creature's body colder and slower.
Alaric, unwilling to stay behind, launched his spear with incredible power.
'Sonic Throw.'
The spear pierced through the creature's chest and firmly lodged into the stone floor. The spear released sound waves that sent ripples in the bloody body of the enemy, causing extra damage.
However, the monster just walked through the spear and regenerated, without getting delayed at all. It blamed Bryce for its predicament, and it dashed to take care of the club user first.
Daisy already arrived behind Bryce and did her job to support him.
'Air Redirection.'
With a twirl of her spear, she created a strong gale that created strong pressure on the monster's left side, limiting its movement range.
Bryce used the chance to swing his club against the monster's fist while stepping to his right. Using Daisy's help, he effectively negated the strike successfully, only suffering a slight pain in his arms from blocking the heavy blow.
The monster bellowed in rage when it got another round of cuts and pierces from the trio that was on the offense and radiated an extreme bloodlust. The bloodlust was as strong as Ken's.
However, there was a trick to negating the bloodlust, and it was to counter it with equal bloodlust. Ken spread his Blood Qi in the room, protecting his group members from the pressure. Although it wasn't perfect, it weakened the burden by a huge deal, enough to allow the others to deal with what was left of it.
They soon found their rhythm as they cooperated to take down the boss. Ken and Tiara were dealing the main damage dealers of the group, slashing and stabbing the boss at rapid speed from its blind spots as much as they could. Daisy aided Bryce to deflect, parry, and block the boss' attacks, and Alaric was a wild card.
The new addition to the group did his best to be something between support and offense. He aimed mainly at the monster's feet and arms, weakening its blows but also helping to deplete its energy.
"Guys I can't hold on for much longer! I can't feel my arms!"
Bryce shouted in despair as he clenched his teeth and forced his arms to rise and block another hit that caused his body to shake.
They were depleting the monster's energy at an extreme speed. Kens' sword flashed as he used its elasticity to make it bounce from side to side, increasing the velocity of his attacks as he sent a pulse of Sword Qi into the monster's body with every strike.
Although Tiara didn't deal as much damage, her Ice Qi kept making the creature's movements sluggish and slower, allowing Bryce and Daisy to keep up with its attacks or else they'd be long gone.
"You must hold on, it's almost over!"
Ken said, allegedly encouraging Bryce. As if on cue, Alaric's next attack was off the rhythm, clashing with Daisy's technique and canceling it. The monster's strike directly crashed into Bryce who thought he could dodge again. A punch from a fifth-stage cultivator was nothing to scoff at, and Bryce found a bloodied hand inside him.
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