MM - Chapter 125 - HUNGRY LIKE THE…

A horrified, gut-wrenching scream echoed through the tunnel. Mel fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face as Raine vanished from sight down the demon’s gullet. She tried to scream again, but her inhalation was trapped by a diaphragm that refused to unclench.

“Stop freaking out, I'm fine. You act like this is your first time seeing someone get eaten by a demon,” Raine’s voice shocked the group into action. They spun around, weapons up. Save for Mel, who, sobbing, threw herself into his arms. He patted her hair gently, “I suppose this is your first time, isn’t it?”

“How? I saw you get eaten!” Celeste demanded, furiously wiping at her cheeks.

Noting the pained twist of her lips and the deep furrows in her brow and cheeks, Raine held a hand to his chest, “Aww. You do care. Oh, and not telling. Trade secrets.”

Celeste’s jaw clamped shut. The indignation coloring her features perfectly matched her clenched fists and quivering muscles. Since the physical reassurances had soothed her, and she still wasn't letting go, Raine gently but firmly pushed Mel away. When he flashed his eyebrows and tilted his chin toward the flaming Avatar of Rhashkahal, everyone turned to look.

The boss had gone from happily patting its oversized belly to staring at the distant Raine with as close to a gobsmacked expression as a demon could offer. Realizing it had been fooled, it roared, smashing fists against its chest before launching at the group with Infernal Blitz. Flying forward, it smashed face-first into the barrier of its own arena. Its body compressed, and the group received a pristine view of its scrunched, pained features as its moment was halted entirely.

Fizgore bent at the waist, wheezing with laughter, “Brother is truly amazing.” Cupping hands around his mouth, he shouted at the boss, “Fool demon! You should ask how he did it as well, lest you remain a fool for life!”

The boss fell to its ass, then launched at the invisible wall again, snapping and snarling. With each second, it struggled more against a force that pulled it from behind. All too soon, it was bodily dragged across the ground while howling, claws leaving deep gouges in its wake. It didn’t come to a stop until it was back on the other side of the portcullis, where it hopped up and uselessly smashed its fists against the wall.

After watching the spectacle, Raine dropped a hand on his friend's shoulder, “I think Confucius just rolled over in his grave to applaud you, brother.” 

Fizgore’s laughter cut off instantly. He turned to Raine with an honest, touched expression, “Thank you. I knew you understood me from the moment we met, brother.”

Growing embarrassed by the depth of emotion from the handsome man, Raine turned away and cleared his throat, “So, what did everyone think?”

Talerra at least was happy to have a distraction from the horrid memory of Raine being eaten before her eyes, “That immolation might be the worst issue. If it could hurt you, then it will roast any of us alive.”

The others added their opinions in rapid succession, “No, its charge is worse. Whoever gets targeted will take several follow-up attacks before we can heal them. They’ll be dead for sure.”

“What about when it breathed fire? I'm not sure my Wall of The Guardian can stop that.”

“The way it used its tail wasn’t normal. Even when it couldn’t see him, the tail knew where he was. It’s like a second boss. I bet it has a few abilities we didn’t get to see, too.”

“Its mental ability is stigmallage,” Raine’s quietly spoken statement had Talerra and Fizgore gaping.

The others wore confused frowns while she shook her head, “How can we possibly win, then?”

Deciding to let her explain, Raine moved a few paces to the side and laid on the ground, “You've got an hour to figure it out. I'm taking a nap. Don't wake me up.” Ankles crossed and hands tucked behind his head, Raine’s eyelids softened, drifting to a close.

Despite lasting a mere minute and a half, Raine was mentally exhausted. Examining the boss’s every move to learn its patterns while staying alive was far from easy. Needing to constantly fend off its mental ability was the real problem. No matter the level, a Hierarch was not meant to be faced alone, even by grandmasters. After the brief clash, Raine wasn’t confident he could beat the boss even if he threw everything he had at it; however, he was absolutely sure it was possible.

Both its offense and defense are solid. Excellent body control and that tail really is like a second boss with the ability to track my movements even when its eyes can’t see me. It has plenty of skills and crazy mental strength. Worst of all, with its personality, it’ll definitely activate a berserk skill somewhere between thirty and fifteen percent health. That's when the real fight begins. I have to get used to its movements to the point my resources aren’t drained by that point. Otherwise, winning is impossible.

Wanting to be mentally refreshed for the next attempt, Raine tuned out the arguing of his companions and the steady thumping from the boss. He faded in and out of sleep while the only timer that mattered slowly ticked down in his interface.

[Locket of Rendition: (Lustrous Blue) This beautiful necklace contains a glimpse of what could have been, and what could be again (Durability 75/75) (Innate skill - Returners Privilege: Teleports the wearer to any location visited in the last 5 minutes) (Cooldown: 1 hour) (Usable in: 23 minutes 57 seconds)]

***

Raine hopped to his feet when the cooldown ended. Noticing him moving for the first time in an hour, the group perked up. A little annoyed they had been sitting and waiting for him this whole time, he sighed and trudged toward the boss without a word.

The second attempt against the Avatar of Rhashkahal ended in half the time. Raine was forced to use Unassailable Aegis when its tail slithered through the ground, spearing him through from behind. Held in place, he was helpless as the demon followed up with a flaming breath that melted the rocky soil around him into slag. Not finished, the boss leaped high, clasping two fists above its head. The combination of hits would have killed him without his invulnerability. Instead, he was buried so deep in the molten soil that he couldn’t free himself even with Lunge.

Appearing on the ground in his relaxed posture, Raine criticized the group, “Why are you relaxing? If I don’t tell you to take every perfectly good opportunity to train, will you waste away your whole life? You just saw a prime example of what not to do. Use it for image training so you don’t make the same mistake when it's your turn. Anyone slacking off doesn’t deserve to be here in the first place. Don’t think I won’t feed you to the boss to teach you a lesson.”

The last bit got their attention, and they hopped to it, jumping around like a herd of bunnies. Raine closed his eyes, envisioning the boss's every move from both attempts, determined to do better next time.

On the third attempt, he ‘died’ to a new skill that came out of nowhere. One second, he was airborne, dodging its tail, and the next, he was surrounded by a Thousand Infernal Needles. The little globs of deadly fire popped, expelling half their payload to launch at him in a blink. They stuck to his armor, damaging him repeatedly. 

Each applied a slight burn of fifteen damage, but there were over a hundred he didn’t manage to dodge. The five-second invulnerability of Unassailable Aegis wasn’t enough to save him; they continued to burn after the effect faded, chewing through his two heals and Greater Werewolf’s Regeneration. Thankfully, Returners Privilege didn’t bring the sticky bundles of joy with him, or he would have died even after escaping.

Raine felt his brain growing a little numb from the strain of holding off the boss alone. An hour's recovery wasn’t enough, but the strain accelerated his growth each time. Hopefully, when the final attempt dragged on for several minutes, he wouldn’t end up kicked from ZionLine for a broken mental state.

The fourth and fifth attempts fared much better. With no new strategies or skills, Raine managed to bring the boss to fifty percent health. With midnight’s arrival, The Tome of Seventy-Seven Praises to Bhima offered a brief reprieve, gifting him another point of Potency with its dose of everlasting wisdom: "Wanting, and the possession of strength, are not enough. One must hunger for power! Never forget that the wolf climbing the hill is hungrier than the wolf resting atop it."

[Potency: +1]

Surprisingly, the words were just what Raine needed to see. His voice came out a growl, deep in his throat, “Right. Hungry wolf. I can do hungry wolf.”

Raine was itching to go on the last two attempts. Performing nearly flawlessly, he brought the boss to forty percent before running out of Discipline and Celestial Power. Laying on the ground, he turned to observe his allies diligently dissecting the most recent fight before renewing their training.

This is it. I’m ready.

Mel and Celeste locked eyes, struggling not to glance at Raine. Speaking up, he gave them a reason to. “Soon as my mental strength recovers, we’re going in for real.”

Sucking air through their teeth, the rest of the group looked back at the boss, who was in the process of being dragged across the arena with bloodshot eyes. It no longer tore desperately at the ground but accepted its fate with building animosity. Seeing them watching, it bared sharp fangs, snorting flames from its nostrils.

Raine crooked a finger at his friends, “Come here. I’ll tell you the plan.”

***

The boss’s eagerness grew to new heights when it spotted the rest of the raid getting into position behind Raine at the edge of its arena. Muscles twitched erratically across its massive frame; hot, short breaths pumped from its lungs, and the tiny blue orbs it had for eyes widened as far as they would go.

“Ready?” Raine called out while activating a tickable dialog to everyone in the raid chat. While waiting, he glanced at his buffs, checking for the fifth time that everything was in order. Alongside Guardians Armament, Comfort, and Embrace, was the potion he’d drank a few minutes ago.

[Minor Demonic Protection Potion: (Common Grey) Minorly boosts Defense and Resistance against demonic abilities for 2 hours (15-minute shared potion cooldown)]

Once each person confirmed they were ready, Raine stepped forward, crossing the line he’d drawn in the dirt hours ago. Sticking its clawed hands through the portcullis, the boss grabbed the walls and launched forward in an all-out sprint. As it had every time before, it quickly lost patience. Infernal Blitz sent it blasting through the air.

Raine waited, not moving as the boss neared. By this point, he knew the timing better than it did. Their killing intent came together in a clash of wills that had both snarling. As always, Raine was instantly on the back foot from the overwhelming pressure. Instead of pushing back as hard as he could, he gave ground until his bloodlust sat on his skin. 

A shimmering glow lit up the dark, and possibly the worst weapon in his arsenal appeared.

[Staff of Four Winds: (Lustrous Blue - LVL 15) (Elemental Power +115) (DEF +20) (PHY +12) (CNC +24) (Durability 150/150) (Innate skill - Four Winds: Conjure strong winds to blind and deafen for 10 seconds in a 20 x 10-meter column AOE (Cooldown: 4 times per day)]

Vindictive satisfaction flared in Raine’s breast. While he may not have the skills to wield the staff as well as his other weapons, it was the perfect tool to deliver some long overdue castigation. Raine jumped high and slightly to the side, not enough to avoid the demon, but that was not his goal. 

Four Winds tore at the ground, lifting a typhoon of dust that swarmed into the boss’s eyes. It released a surprised grunt when its vision turned black. The howling wind in its ears masked the surprise that was in store for it. Just after Rupture robbed a chunk of its defenses, the boss’s flight was suddenly interrupted by two huge, rocky fists that crashed into the top of its head. [-10,189] [-24,443]

Its face slammed into the ground, and it slid the short distance to the arena's edge, where its momentum halted. Rocky could not remove its arms from the arena now that they were inside, but Raine had no intention of allowing the glahm to leave; it was all or nothing now.

Raine had purposely waited only thirty minutes to start the eighth and final attempt: there would be no ninth, no escape. This time, his back was to the wall. The pressure was on, and he was hungry.