Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

In quick succession, a strong gale blew around their clothes before a flame shield enveloped the party. Lyxiss had reacted in time to prevent further harm. The stream of spores leaving the hound's throat met the fire shield in a bloom of glowing ember, as the spore cloud burned up

They were still not in the green, as the flame shield shook under the pressure of the breath. Still looking up, they were distracted by a sudden fit of coughing and choking. The half-elf paid a heavy price for forcefully chanting her magic despite breathing in the spores.

She had fallen to her knees, vomiting blood and mushrooms. Her whole body shook in pain and disgust as the threw up quickly growing pieces of hypha. Bulko quickly went to her, putting his massive hands on her shoulders.

With direct contact, he was able to share most of his stats with her, as his and Fin's healing magic kept her alive. Their healing magic could only heal the injuries, but could not get out the invasive growths. The Mirror Priest could only share his and buff her basic stats to resist the invasion like it was an ordinary disease.

These spores could be deemed an absolute mage killer. One could only resist it with strong physical attributes, a specialized caster's worst trait. Especially endurance played a huge role, because of the basic defense, which also counted for the body's innards.

The spores were not very strong, so they wouldn't be able to do much to someone with a strong body. The less damage the spores could do, the less they could grow. By sharing his stats, he enabled the half-elf to resist the invasion. What Lyxiss then had to do was cough it all out.

In the meantime, the fire shield broke, but the party was still safe since Fin had erected a second shield within the fire shield to block the breath. This was when things started becoming tricky. The moment the Hyphen Hound finished his howl, he vanished from the clearing they had first spotted him.

"Be careful, it's in the trees," Mina warned them.

Like the Mushroom Fiddlers, the boss used the reefs of mushrooms to travel and hide with high agility. In the next moments, a pair of claws attacked the fairy's shield from the darkness, leaving several marks on the golden shield.

"We won't be able to freeze it like this. It's too big and too fast," Mike commented.

The boss was built differently from the Mushroom Fiddlers. It was bigger and more massive, freezing it would be hard if it was moving like that. It could easily escape the range of <Hailstorm> or other attacks when it noticed what they tried to do.

"Can't we just fight it normally? We don't know if it can also suicide bomb," Fin suggested, but Mike denied it. Taking into account the power of its breath, they couldn't risk it to self-destruct. It might have very well meant their end.

Even if they were currently fighting in a dungeon and wouldn't die in theory, the loss of experience at their current level would mean a huge loss. Not to mention that none of them wanted to risk dying such a grotesque death. Being eaten alive from the inside out by mushrooms? No, fuck that.

"I have an Idea," the wheezing Lyxiss entered the conversation. "If you can make it stand still for a second n the ground, I'm sure I can do something about its movements."

While the boss chipped away at Fin's barrier, the party came up with a plan. By the time the barrier broke, the Hyphae Hound face a flurry of flaming sword strikes. Mike, looking like an anthropomorphic lion was pushing back the boss, while the party spread out.

Physically, the transformed Mike was able to rival the beast and from the beast's reaction, his attacks were also effective, but the team leader quickly noticed something disheartening. He was currently swinging the improved Flaming Fury, which not only had a higher physical damage and mental resistance but also added 50%, instead of 20% additional fire damage.

However, his fire damage was almost negligible! His powerful sword strike could cut the bizarre mushroom cap armor of the creature, but the fire only blackened the growths. His attacks were unable to set the opponent on fire. This meant unlike the Mushroom Fiddler, the boss had a great resistance to fire attacks.

"Be careful, It seems like the boss had a good resistance to fire," Mike was letting the others know. This was most important to Lyxiss, so she would not waste mana on fire spells.

While the others got into position, the lion had a grim duel with the hound as claws and sword kept clashing, the sword demon showed the superior skill as the sword time and time again, cut away at the mushroom armor of the overgrown skeleton.

Suddenly, as the sword bit deep into the bones of the boss' front limb, the grotesque creature came to a halt. This was the moment they had waited for. Flaming Fury's Mind Disruption had a 40% chance to trigger stun or confusion. Even when the chance was lowered against a boss, it had finally activated.

The party didn't need any additional signal. Mike hurriedly stepped back, as the earth under their feet came to life and the boss was bound in place by earthen shackles that covered all of its four limbs all the way up to the elbows in the front and the heels in the back.

Now that its mobility was taken away, the party enacted its former strategy. Lyxiss covered the ground and soaked the boss in water. Mike froze the ground with his boots and summoned a hailstorm with his brigandine. Fin rushed close to the beast punching it to spawn dozens of frost moths that helped further freeze it.

When it was covered in a thick layer of ice, they got ready to deliver the final attack, however, before they had the chance it recovered from the stun and everything went against their expectations.

Ice easily broke away. Their combo of ice and water skills had enveloped the hound in a carapace of ice, but the boss was not at all impressed by this. The moment it moved, it shook its body like a wet dog, spraying the party with massive chunks of ice.

Frost had little to no effect on the boss of the first floor. The strategy Yulecat's Fur had come up with had become useless. Released from the ice, the hound got free from the earthen binds Lyxiss had used to bind the boss in place as they executed their combo attack.

"It got out! Hurry and get back!" Mike shouted for the party to reassemble around Bulko who was prepared to raise another barrier.

The creature's vision was interrupted as a swarm of frost moths surrounded its head to cover their retreat. Despite their numbers, the frost moths didn't withstand even a single howl, as they were disintegrated and their remnants turned into mushrooms by the cloud of spores.

With quick and agile movement, the boss took to the air and traveled between the mushroom reefs to fire its spore breath at them. Its target was the small golden frost moth that had given it trouble earlier. Fin's <Protection of Bes> was still on cooldown, same for her barrier magic, she faced the sudden attack defenseless.

"I will cover you!" Mike called out, using the Flaming Fury and the powers of Maahes to stop the cloud of spore with a wave of fire.

However, emerging from the cover of the burning cloud of spores was the Hyphae Hound. The boss crashed into Mike, intent on ripping him apart when it suddenly winced.

<Cursed Frost>

A dark figure had appeared on the Hound's back. Mina had used the chance for a backstabbing attack, using the Shard of Biting Ice. Ramming the dagger deep between the hound's shoulder blades, she cast the item's special skill.

The bizarre beast was covered in a carapace of cursed ice, that would absorb its life force for five minutes, or until it was broken. Mike quickly got up and the sibling rejoined their party. The boss obviously had a good resistance to ice, too. It was uncertain for how long the cursed ice would hold.

Watching the health of the boss get drained, it was clear, that even if the ice held for five minutes, it was not enough for it.

"Anybody any other ideas?"