91 Firstblood is within Reach!

"How the hell did Vulcan move?"

"Look! The minions are gone!" Alecia pointed at the area where the little Vulcans were flying just a moment ago.

"Could they have died because of the Lava Beam?" Rafaela said with a worried face though the corner of her lips were twitching into a smile. "Is that even possible that it could kill its children?"

Ruru shook her head in dismay. "The horror."

"Never mind that! Cast Cure at Evie now!" Silvia woke the girls from their daze while Ren helped Evie out of the Lava Pool.

"Sorry," Evie muttered under her breath, face downcast before she drank two [Health Potion] to recover her health.

Ren didn't know why she was apologizing, though.

"It's not your fault." They could still win this even with the unexpected turn of events.

"Let's attack it! Its HP is low!" Alecia shouted.

"No! Don't!" Ren's warning was a second late when Alecia already threw her last [Aqua Dud] at Vulcan, but it didn't hit when Vulcan hastily moved to the side. Its AGI was high, so it was nimble despite its gigantic and heavy appearance.

And because Alecia didn't hit Vulcan, its passive [Double Attack] was activated.

Vulcan immediately [Blink] behind Rosie and rammed its heavy self against the woman. Rosie was sent flying from the impact before she crashed against the rocky wall and fell into the Lava Pool.

It goes without saying that Rosie's DEF was low, and with Vulcan's critical attack from behind and the injury from the wall, and the continuous damage from the Lava Pool, she died and burst into particles. But not without cursing Alecia at the top of her lungs – though her voice remained seductive, raspy and slow.

"Alecia, dear, you owe me a whole day salon!"

Alecia cringed, covered her eyes, and shook her head. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

The moment that Vulcan could move, two of their Healers died, and only Rafaela was left.

"Nikolai cast [Taunt]!" Ren said in urgency. Vulcan would surely target Rafaela next, and he needed to save their last remaining healer, or the [Burn] status would end most of them.

"R-right!" Nikolai stuttered. "I-I'll be the man and take all the damage!"

Ren sighed over the ceiling. "Just do it."

Nikolai cast [Taunt], and Vulcan's attention shifted on him.

"Don't move, and keep it locked in combat!" Ren said before he started casting [Multiattack]. He wanted to end this fight as soon as possible while Nikolai still had the Boss's aggro.

At the same time, Vulcan was glowing red like it was about to burst, and Nikolai didn't know what to do. He wanted to move from his spot since his senses were tingling in alarm at the impending danger.

And just as four [Water] spell shoot simultaneously at the levitating giant ball of magma, Vulcan charged at Nikolai in full power, hitting him in a straight line while only two [Water] spells managed to land on Vulcan, decreasing his HP some more but still not enough for it to enter [Berserk] mode.

Nikolai suffered huge damage since he didn't level his DEF. He didn't even get the chance to land on the Lava pool when his body burst into white particles in midair.

"I'm sooorryy!" Nikolai cried before he disappeared on the battlefield.

"Nikolai!" the others bellowed while Ren clicked his tongue in disappointment.

Vulcan still didn't enter [Berserk] mode. The good news was, Ren stole the aggro, and Vulcan was going to went for him next. Rafaela was saved . . . for the meantime.

The disadvantage was that it would be a little difficult for him to time his attack with Vulcan since the big ball was now after him, unlike when the Boss had another target to focus on.

Ren wasn't really the best attacker, and he admitted that he wasn't the best player either. He purely relied on his knowledge of the past. But in terms of fighting, he was still lacking.

Ren leaped to an island far from the ladies. At least if Vulcan used another AoE, the others would be spared. He was confident at his DEF, and it looked like he had to suffer a bit of damage to inflict damage, just like what he did with the Mother of Spiders.

He only prayed that Vulcan wouldn't use [Vulcan Charge] or [Blink] again since the probability of him hitting it would be down to ten percent.

If only they had a tank, then Ren would know where to aim. It was different if he was the target since he didn't know where Vulcan would attack next.

It could be anywhere!

"Everyone, stay where you are. I'll face the Boss myself," announced Ren to others.

The [Aqua Dud] were all used, while the women didn't have any more MP except Rafaela. But the amount she had was only enough to cast [Cure] two times.

"Ren, I'll go there and help you!" Silvia was about to jump boulders to boulders when Ren stopped her.

"Stay where you are."

"But I can help!"

"Unless you can steal the aggro from me, you'll only going to be a hindrance."

Silvia caught her tongue, and she gritted her teeth. As much as she wanted to argue with Ren, he was right. Without the duds, her attacks were useless. Physical damage won't even scratch Vulcan's tough hide.

However, Silvia still wanted to be useful. She couldn't just stand still at the side while an outsider was fighting the Boss for their guild.

"Ren is right, Silvia. We can't do anything now but leave it up to him," Rafaela whispered consolingly. Though what she said only went from Silvia's ear and out to the next.

There's got to be a way to distract Vulcan while Ren finished it off. Silvia bit her nail. Her head was pounding hard, and she was getting dizzy from all the thinking and heat.

"Argh!" Silvia released a frustrated groan as she clutched her hair. Why was Ren's damage so high anyway that it was impossible to OT.

At the far end, Ren and Vulcan stared at each other, gauging who would attack first. Ren began to cast [Multiattack] while secretly hoping that Vulcan's skills were still in cooldown and that he wouldn't use [Blink].

But the Goddess of Luck wasn't in his favor today when Vulcan exactly did just that.

Ren took a turn when he noticed a slight change in the air beside him. But he was still a second late, and Vulcan rammed its giant body against him, disrupting his casting while he flew to the opposite side of the wall.

His back cracked against the dried rocks before he fell onto the ground. Lucky for him, he fell on a small bed of rocks, not in the Lava Pool. He didn't suffer continuous damage and [Burn] status didn't appear on his screen. So Rafaela's two [Cure] was still saved.

Pii immediately attacked Vulcan upon seeing Ren got injured. However, the little creature only managed a –1 from pecking Vulcan's broad head. In contrast, Vulcan didn't even put Pii into its eyes.

"W-we have to help him," Ruru meekly said while covering her eyes. She was still not used to violence. And seeing Ren pounded into a wall caused her heart to accelerate, and she felt like crying.

"What can we do?" Rafaela said bitterly. "Ren is right. We're just going to be a hindrance."

". . ." Seeing that they were powerless against the Boss without Ren, Silvia's confidence took a hit, and this got her thinking about the future of their guild.

The battle was raging on, but it might as well be dead, for Silvia couldn't see or hear anything. She was focused on her own thoughts.

Meanwhile, Ren cursed under his breath as he got to his feet, glaring at Vulcan. Now he had to start casting [Multiattack] from the beginning again.

Vulcan's attack had knockback and a [Stun] effect for two seconds. It could also cancel any casting of spells and skills.

The good news was since his [Multiattack] was canceled mid-cast, it wasn't in cooldown, and he could cast four [Water] spells again. Though from their distance, Ren wasn't confident that all his spells would hit Vulcan. Even more so that it could move. It would surely avoid all his incoming attacks.

This had gotten troublesome. Ren thought. If this kept going, he might have to use the [Paralyzing Dud] that Hubert gave him. Those Duds dealt AoE damage in a wide range, so even if Vulcan moved, he was confident that it would still be affected by the area explosion.

Ren got depressed at the thought, though. He was reserving those. But it looked like he got no choice. Vulcan wasn't entering Berserk Mode still, and the only solution he had was to deploy those Duds.

Firstblood was within their reach. He could not give that up now, all because he was stingy.

A small yellow bomb appeared in Ren's hand, the size of a tennis ball, while a spark of static enveloped its smooth metal frame.

Ren briefly closed his eyes and gnashed his teeth. He raised his hand to throw the [Paralyzing Dud] when his arm stopped halfway at the sudden number that appeared on Vulcan's Head.

–270 Critical Hit!

[ Vulcan suffered from SLOW ]

----

A/N

I put this after I publish so the coin price is still fix.

Just wanted to thank you

MiguelWN for gifting a Gachapon! 🤗 🙏

Because of that 3 BONUS Chapters within this week, plus 1 BONUS Chapter for reaching 200 GT.

I guess there's no weekend for me. No rest for the wicked 🤣

Also, thank you to

Serph21

ArcticRooibos