At the very instant Riekan finished talking, a great amount of energy burst out of his body once more, prompting a large wave of mana to envelop the entire room as Valyr was pushed back a couple of meters in response.
Though, having gone through the phenomenon before, Valyr already knew how to mitigate the mana wave's effects, employing a quick [Elusive Dash] just as he had been pushed back, only to reappear in the spot he previously stood sometime later.
Gripping tightly onto his blood red spear, Valyr then watched as the aura radiating off of Riekan's body gradually grew stronger with each passing second, eventually reaching a point where it seemed to have reached its limit.
However, just as Valyr thought that Riekan was about to make his move, the aura emanating from Riekan seemingly broke past its limit as it ballooned to a far higher level within seconds. Accompanying it was yet another wave of mana, which Valyr promptly avoided with a quick [Elusive Dash].
Seeing that the aura emanating from his opponent had finally stabilized sometime later, Valyr finally got a closer look of what he was up against, activating [Analysis] to see if there were any changes to his stats.
While doing so, he could not help but look at the external changes Riekan had gone through amidst the transformation of sorts. For the most part, there was a vengeful air about him, with his body exuding the same feeling, which seemed to have aged at least 10 years thanks to the transformation.
As for the intent to kill Riekan had brewed during his fight with Valyr, after undergoing through the transformation, it seemed to have compounded thanks to the vengeful air he gave off, giving one the feeling that the only acceptable outcome for him was Valyr's death.
With all of that in mind, as well as taking into consideration the feeling Valyr had that Riekan's proficiency with swords and magic had undergone a substantial increase thanks to the transformation, an expression of dread could not help but appear on his face as he looked at the status screen that had appeared in front of him, informing him of Riekan's current stats.
Ding!
[Riekan the Vengeful Magic Blademaster (Ancient Elite)] (Level 15 Boss)
HP: 5000/5000
MP: 373/1000
Stats: 83 VIT, 88 STR, 63 AGI, 61 DEX, 102 INT, 41 WIS, 41 PER, 41 LUK
Remarks: You were definitely lucky to have gotten this far.
"An Ancient Elite…" At this point, Valyr could not help but let out an exasperated sigh, only for it to be cut short as Riekan sent out a mana-infused slash at him. In retaliation, Valyr activated [Crimson Blaze] and threw a quick fireball at him. Unfortunately, with the disparity in their stats only becoming greater due to the transformation, Riekan avoided the fireball without any difficulty.
Seeing how effortless Riekan dodged his attack, Valyr knew that his only choice at this point was to run around in circles once more if he wanted to avoid most, if not all of the attacks Riekan sent back at him. However, while starting to run around the room, he could not help but curse the game for the fact that he was fighting against an Ancient Elite in a dungeon made for a Rank 1 class holder.
Aside from the fact that it was the tier of rarity that came after Mythic, for something to have reached Ancient tier meant that their power was unsurmountable. Or, if they had not yet reached a level of power that could shake the world with their every move, that meant that the potential they had was vast, if not limitless.
Though, as he pondered over it for a bit more, Valyr eventually recalled a few quests with dungeons connected to them that one could obtain at the same rank he was currently in, recalling that these quests also had Mythic Elite and Ancient Elite tier bosses. Nevertheless, that did not excuse the fact that an Ancient Elite tier boss would normally be found in a dungeon made for Rank 3 class holders and higher.
Of course, with his life teetering between the boundary of life and death, Valyr placed all of the tangential thoughts and countless profanities he wanted to spew out at the back of his mind, wondering how he was going to get closer to Riekan. After all, with how constant and how destructive the attacks were being sent at him, Valyr knew that Riekan had gained his second wind.
Fortunately for him, at some point, Riekan stopped sending out attacks at him, allowing Valyr to take a bit of respite. Though, just as he thought that his opponent was gearing up to send a highly destructive attack at him, Valyr instead saw something else as he took a look at Riekan.
Out of nowhere, two magic circles had appeared on both sides of where Riekan stood, the expression on his face that of murderous intent as he gave Valyr a deathly glare. Yet, surprisingly, he reined in his murderous intent from acting on the urges he felt, continuing to channel energy towards the magic circles to his left and right.
Eventually, once he had exhausted a certain amount of energy, two figures appeared on each of Riekan's side, both of which were beings Valyr did not expect to see in this final room.
I may be grateful for having you free me from my miserable vessel, human. However, with what you've done so far, you've only caused me to exhaust more and more of my energy. But as long as I can see you die with my own two eyes, all of the energy I've exhausted so far will become worth it," said Riekan in a grim tone, halting the infusion of more energy onto the two magic circles. Then, pointing at Valyr, he gave an order to the two figures that had appeared.
"Eir… Nak…"
"Remove the human out of my sight."
Whoosh!
At the very instant Riekan had given the order, Nak speedily dashed to where Valyr was, forcing the latter to start moving as he used [Analysis] on his charging opponent. Then, seeing that a crimson fireball was heading towards his way, Valyr took a quick glance at the goblin pyromancer near Riekan and activated [Analysis] as well, jumping in response to avoid the fireball.
'And here I thought I was only going to face against a strengthened Riekan. Then again… it would've probably been worse if he had the same mechanic as the other two.' Valyr inwardly cursed as he checked the information he had received from the system on the two.
Fully expecting the two to have gotten stronger in some way, shape, or form, Valyr was pleasantly surprised and relieved to find out that the two retained the stats they had from when he fought them earlier, instilling a bit of hope in him.
Now, with the relief of knowing that the two mini-bosses' stats remained unchanged, as well as the fact that no minions accompanied them, Valyr dodged both of the attacks Eir and Riekan sent out before turning around to face Nak, who was still running to land an attack on him.
Though, rather than dodge the attack he would receive from Nak before retaliating, Valyr decided to interrupt Nak's rhythm instead, throwing an overcharged [Crimson Blaze] at Nak's face, which caused the latter to scream out in pain. Then, similar to what he had done earlier to Riekan, while Nak was still blinded, Valyr focused all of his strength towards his arms as he thrust his spear towards Nak's head.
Bang!
'-539!!!'
Though a quick attack to his chest would have killed Nak thanks to the damage dealt by [Crimson Blaze], Valyr wanted to let Riekan know that he wouldn't go down without a fight, with the blood red spear piercing through the other side of Nak's skull as all of the vitality contained in his body disappeared within seconds.
"Definitely far easier than facing Nak from earlier…" While commenting on how easier it was to kill Nak with the mechanic from earlier non-existent, Valyr shifted his gaze to see if Riekan's fury towards him had reached greater heights.
However, what he saw instead only served to make the flames of battle within him burn even brighter.
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