n

n

n—

nEzra was the first person to make contact with the Colossal Mother Worm. Per Kieran’s instructions, she added trace amounts of Condensed Sword Force to each of her swords. This made the two slender blades release soft, dazzling brilliance.

nShnk!

nEzra’s blade drifted across the Colossal Mother Worm’s underside, dealing 4,000 to 5,000 damage. Although her two swords seemed identical, they weren’t. Each sword had a different Attack Power.

nAfter executing twelve fluid strikes, Ezra’s movement and attack speed increased considerably due to the passive effects of Flowing Sword Steps. Only once her attack and movement speed doubled did she activate the Flowing Sword Wind effect.

nAll of a sudden, Ezra performed an explosive lunge where she followed up with her rear arm executing a fluid, circle-shaped upward arc. The result was a gathering of revolving sword energy that expanded into a breathtaking wheel.

nThe Condensed Sword Force injected into the Sword Wheel refined its presence, creating an attack Ezra inwardly praised.

nKieran cracked a faint smile as he witnessed Ezra’s realization of his pointers. Pairing Sword Wheel with Sonic Thrust generated unbroken momentum.

nEven when the Colossal Mother Worm retaliated, Ezra stepped off her back leg, dodging the sand spears that sprung from the desert floor and the sand bullets the boss released.

nA few seconds later, Bastion rushed past Ezra and lifted his massive shield.

nBang! Bang! Bang!

nCountless Sand Bullets from the Colossal Mother Worm bombarded Bastion’s shield, driving him back. However, he all of a sudden stopped sliding as he felt a firm hand on his back.

nFrom the corner of his eye, he caught Kieran’s indifferent smile.

nKieran gave a subtle nod before mimicking Ezra’s Sonic Thrust lunging motion. The only difference was that his thrust was accompanied by three fearsome crimson tempests, seemingly created in an instant.

nCrrr! Whoosh!

nThe three crimson tempests ripped through the air while gradually forming a spiral. The head of each tempest converged to a single point while their rotational speed accelerated by 50%.

n‘So this is the effects of Blood Strengthening. Increasing the effects of an A-Rank Skill required a 15% Health sacrifice, but….’

nBoom!

nThe condensed Sanguinem Tempest collided against the Colossal Mother Worm’s torso.

n-503,164

nAlthough there was no Critical Hit, Sanguinem Tempest dealt tremendous damage due to all the strengthening effects Kieran applied. Furthermore, the tempest merged into one powerful attack instead of three separate attacks.

nNemean whistled after he watched slightly less than 20% of the Colossal Mother Worm’s Health vanish.

nHowever, while the others felt some astonishment towards Kieran’s damage without a Critical Hit, his eyebrows rose as intrigue flashed in his eyes. ‘Interesting, its Damage Reduction should be between 50 and 60% based on this number.’

nKieran calculated the damage in his mind prior to the impact. With Blood Strengthening applied to the attack, Sanguinem Tempest should have dealt well over 1.2 million damage. But, that wasn’t the case.

n“Scatter,” Kieran suddenly instructed.

nEveryone dispersed from before the Colossal Mother Worm as a dense gathering of sand and Mana collected before its maw. A large fissure opened in the sand once this Sand Blast pierced through the desert floor in a straight line.

nAt the same time, the giant blades on its back disconnected from its body and broke into smaller pieces, piercing through the sand with incredible momentum.

nOne of these shards slammed against Bastion’s shield, which sent him flying back at a frightening speed. However, as Camila and Sera used Mending Aura simultaneously, two soft glows encompassed his body.

nThe two healing skills quickly healed Bastion’s rapidly draining Health. Bastion’s gaze gained an intense light as he rolled in the air so that his body faced the ground.

nBang!

nBastion slammed his shield into the ground, forcibly stopping the momentum. His body jerked, but he held the handles of his shield tight and planted his feet on the ground.

n“Pua!” Bastion spit out some sand remnants that flew in his face. “You can’t get rid of me, you nasty-looking worm!”

nBastion sped toward the Colossal Mother Worm with heavy steps, sounding more like thuds rather than steps.

nAltair and Luna returned to the beast first, unleashing a flurry of attacks from different angles. Before moving, Luna would glance at Altair for an indication of his following action.

nThis way, Luna and Altair moved in matching patterns but opposite directions.

nThe Colossal Mother Worm grew furious after indecisively shifting its gaze between Luna and Altair. Eventually, it released an ear-piercing screech. The sound undulations created spiraling sand pillars that snaked around as if they were alive.

nThese numerous pillars whipped around, but Bastion didn’t allow this to disrupt the party’s momentum.

n“Guardian’s Embrace!”

n“Boundless Aegis!”

nBastion activated two large-scale protection skills. The first skill seemed like giant arms coalesced from Mana that shielded the party from damage, while the second skill looked like an ancient and mighty shield with a somewhat feeble exterior.

nDue to Bastion’s low skill level, his large-scale protection skills were far from perfect.

nNevertheless, the two skills activated together acted as decent protection. In fact, Bastion’s eyes widened when he witnessed a marvelous interaction between his skills.

nThe two immense arms grabbed ahold of the shield as if it mimicked Bastion’s shield action. All of a sudden, an outburst sounded from Bastion.

n“WHAT?! A Combination Skill? No way, I created a Combination Skill!” Bastion was baffled by the situation and couldn’t help but laugh merrily. His sudden inspiration inadvertently created a unique skill.

n“Oh my gosh! An A Rank Skill!” Bastion howled.

nIt was his highest skill rank to date. The two skills used to protect the team were C Rank skills, but after their fusion, their potential skyrocketed to an A Rank.

n“My brother! That’s amazing! But focus!” Nemean shouted back. While he was delighted about Bastion’s progress, it wasn’t the time to celebrate. The boss before them was plenty difficult.

n“Right, right, my mistake,” Bastion chuckled sheepishly while saving the notification for later.

nThe sand spirals barraged Bastion’s newly created skills, creating numerous cracks after three seconds.

nIn that span, everyone adopted ideal positions, with Kieran in the center right beside Bastion.

nWhen the Colossal Mother Worm realized its attack was ineffective, it flailed its head with even more violent shrieks. The shrieks created tremors in the sand beneath their feet as Kieran squinted.

n‘I’m not sure what happening because of my reduced Perception, but….’

nKieran planted his hand on the ground, sending a pulse of vitality underneath. After unleashing Sanguinem Tempest earlier, he regained enough Health to reach full capacity, but he decided to control it.

nA symbol expanded from Kieran’s palm at the blood pulse traveled underneath the desert floor.

n“Wrath Eruption!”

n“Blood Bind!”

nKieran first activated Wrath Eruption, creating an intense geyser of blood. However, he was far from done. Kieran controlled the activation range of Blood Bind and employed the present blood to strengthen Blood Blind’s restrictive effects.

nThe Colossal Mother Worm naturally didn’t appreciate the restraints, but Kieran smirked and kept his hand against the ground. After deepening his understanding of Blood Mania, he learned that Blood Blind could be turned into a channeling skill to increase its effectiveness.

nHowever, the downside of this action was that Kieran could no longer move. He’d have to supply and control the excess blood. After all, Kieran always wondered why a pool of blood remained after the Blood Binds manifested.

nKieran had no issue with adopting a passive role. He had faith in his party’s capabilities while he became the crowd controller.

nLux drew back on his bow while Alice angled her staff and chanted a new flame spell.

n“Accel Shot: Triple Puncture!”

n“Inferno Sphere!”

nWhile Lux used another charge of Velocity Charge to enhance his attack, Alice unleashed a new flame spell—one that produced frightening heat fluctuations.

nJudging by the raging Mana in her vicinity, it was clear Inferno Sphere was a step above Firestorm Burst.

nKieran noticed a few sparks of blue flames after analyzing the growing Inferno Sphere.

n‘Blue flames burn far hotter than red flames. Alice’s Fire Affinity must be approaching S Rank if she’s producing blue flames already. Excellent. I knew her talent with magic was exceptional,’ Kieran thought.

nWhoosh! Crrrr!

nLux and Alice unleashed their attacks simultaneously. Lux’s arrows, which possessed two mirage images, pierced through Alice’s Inferno Sphere. The wind shell encompassing the fired arrows assimilated some of Alice’s flames before puncturing the boss.

nSzzt! Pssh!

nThe violent flame crackled before engulfing the boss in a condensed sphere of sweltering flames.

nThe Colossal Mother Worm’s Health soon dropped below 20% with the team’s exceptional teamwork. A monster that possessed nearly 2.8 million Health in the beginning now possessed less than 360,000 Health.

n“Everyone, unload your skills!” Kieran said while suddenly releasing Blood Bind. The boss entered a Berserk state, so control skills would no longer affect it.

nKieran activated Accel Shift after releasing his control and shifted 20 meters instantly.

nOnce he stood before the boss, Crimson Ashrune’s sharpened edge crackled with a wild presence.

nCrrrck! Bang!

nA gruesome noise occurred as Kieran leapt and slashed down with an enhanced Wild Crash. The crystallized blood formed a bloody image of a large spiked hammer moments before the skill made contact.

nThe attack reduced the Colossal Mother Worm’s defense, symbolizing the beginning of the party’s final onslaught.

nThirty seconds later, the Colossal Mother Worm slammed against the desert’s floor and exploded into a decent collection of loot.

nEveryone sat back on their butts and heaved a sigh of relief. The battle wasn’t overly long, but it required extreme focus, which was mentally exhausting.

n