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In appearance, the High Fairy looked like an evolved version of a regular fairy. It's about the same size as the Elder Fairy, but its back wings strongly resemble those of a monarch butterfly, and it's almost always airborne. It wields two staff-like wooden branches, each with a blue glowing crystal at its tip.
The High Fairy was one of the pinnacle species of fairies. It could command and utilize various other fairy types. And beyond that, but more important, healing magic was its forte.
"――!"
"«Quad Aegis of Virtue»! »Cover Shield»!"
The servants of «High Fairy»—the Blazing Fairies, Icy Fairies, and Thunder Fairies—unleashed their elemental attacks.
Sierra, as always, tanked them cooly.
"Focus fire one at a time! Blazing Fairy first!"
"Hn, 'kay. «Force Sonic»!"
"――!"
We set our first target on Blazing Fairy.
Karua charged in, slashing the Blazing Fairy from its flank while its focus was on Sierra.
The Blazing Fairies were nothing special, but the leadership of the boss granted them enhanced firepower, so taking them out first was typically the way to go. It immediately retaliated with a vortex of fire attack.
Meanwhile, the «High Fairy» attempted to heal the injured Blazing Fairy with magic.
Now, this was where it gets tricky. The boss itself was the healer, so we couldn't adopt the 'eliminate the healer first' strategy. «High Fairy» boasted enormous HP, and even if tried targeting it first, its servant would immediately swoop at the attacker, ignoring the aggro effect. And most of all, the boss could heal itself. It basically was impossible to take out a healer first.
Hence, the typical tactic was to focus fire on one servant at a time until all were eliminated before setting sight on the boss itself. Without any servant to interfere, «High Fairy» was just a sitting duck with bloated HP. However, timing was important. «High Fairy» would periodically re-summon its servant, so we must settle the battle within that timeframe.
At worst, we could end up in an endless loop, unable to defeat the boss.
Well, if it comes to it, we just had to escape. It was the saving grace of being boss, or returning back to the previous floor. Unfortunately, this would mean we would have to chart all the floor back to return if we wanted to leave the dungeon. As a fact, it was recommended to not fight this boss late in the evening for that very reason.
That's why we had decided to face it with all our strength from the get-go.
"«Full Throttle Drive»! «Long Thrust»!"
"«Sonic Sword»! «Quick Strike»!"
"——!"
Catching to Karua, Ester's «Azure Cogwheel» made a *whirr* noise as she circled to the other side of the Blazing Fairy and delivered her attack. I, too, closed the distance with «Sonic Sword», delivering a slash. It tried to escape, but prepared, I activated my fastest attack, and combo'd two more hits, sealing its fate.
Blazing Fairy fragmented into particles of effect. Alright!
Fortunately, boss didn't have revival skills, or it would have been depressing.
"Finally, it's my turn! «Pillar of Light»!"
"——!"
Lana unleashed her small range, AoE spell.
Servant fairies would often stay in close range while dealing with attackers, so AoE attacks were quite effective.
And, of course, the «High Fairy» waved the staff in its hand to heal them. Now, this was where we'd relief. Boss only had a single-target heal. So, the servant it chose to heal first was... «Thunder Fairy».
"Great! The next target is «Ice Fairy»!"
"Let's go!"
In the meantime «High Fairy» had chosen to heal «Thunder Fairy», we, the three attackers, set our sights on «Ice Fairy»!"
«Ice Fairy», in essence, was just «Blazing Fairy» but with ice attributes. Though we'd set our target on it, Sierra appeared to have drawn so much aggro that «Ice Fairy» didn't even take notice of us.
While Sierra was relentlessly taking hits from ice shards and lightning attacks, we went all out. Karua landed a flurry of slashes with '«32 Star Storm», then Ester took a huge chunk of its HP with «Flash Stab», and finally, I finished it off with «Vanquish Lightning».
With excellent teamwork, we had now reduced the servant count to just one.
After that, we successfully took down the «Thunder Fairy», too, with a concentrated attack, leaving only the boss, the «High Fairy».
"――!"
"Here comes an attack!"
The «High Fairy», with all its servants defeated, roared in anger and unleashed a magical barrage. Aside from healing magic, «High Fairy» wasn't entirely devoid of attacks. However, Sierra remained unshaken.
"«Divine Shield»!"
The four free-floating shields in the air cross-combined, forming a single, sturdy shield. It deployed wherever Sierra pointed her mace, blocking the «High Fairy»'s massive attack.
Now, it's our turn.
"Let's go for a quick kill!"
"Yes!"
"Yah!"
With motivated replies from the vanguard, we danced before the «High Fairy».
"Remember, do not let it escape into the air! «Lightning Slash»!"
"Understood! «Raging Spear War Dance»!"
"From above—«Parallel Slash»!"
The «High Fairy»'s annoying trait was its flight. If it flies away and stalls for time, it'll just heal.
We made sure to consciously strike downwards, always mindful of keeping it from flying higher. It was something we'd learned from all our fights so far; the downward attacks exhibit downward knockback.
"――――!!"
"It hurts?! You brat!!"
Of course, the «High Fairy» took it lying; it retaliated fiercely. Normally, we'd evade or defend, but we're in a race against time right now. We remained steadfast on our steps, accepting some damage, but never gave it a chance to counterattack.
"It healed."
"Then we just need to deal more damage than it can heal! «Legion Thrust»!"
It would often heal itself, but we're also determined, and continue to deliver damage, making sure it never heals fully. It was a pity neither of us landed a critical strike which would've stunned the «High Fairy».
Uh-oh... it appeared our luck was absent right now. Just as «High Fairy» HP hit the 20% mark, it re-summoned its servants! What a disaster!
"Ah! It's going to heal!"
"We're almost there! Ignore the servants, keep attacking «High Fairy»! Sierra, cover us!"
"Immediatey! «Cover Shield»!"
"Right now is the time to empty your arsenal!"
"«Shining Sacred Saber»! «Sword of Light»!"
"«Force Sonic»! «64 Force»! «Starburst Rain Edge»! «Starburst Tornado»!"
"«Attribute Switch - Ice»! Unique Skill «Brave Slash»! «Vanquish Lightning»! «Holy Sword»!"
"Unique Skill «Princess Knight Awakening»! «Long Thrust»! «Triple Shoot»! «Flash Stab» «Long Thrust»! «Precise Thrust»! «Long Thrust»! «Triple Shoot»! «Precise Thrust»! «Flash Stab»1 «Raging Spear War Dance»!"
"——?!?!"
We pushed forward with every ounce of our firepower. With only a silver HP left, we threw caution to the wind!
Just kidding. We wouldn't have been able to go reckless to this degree without Sierra's support. In fact, since the number and variety of servants were random, four servants had appeared this time.
Sierra kept the servant fairies at bay with «Cover Shield», and whenever it would appear the damage was about to surpass its threshold, she would switch to «Induction Cover», keeping the attack from reaching us.
So, really, much of it was credited to her. And with her support, at long last, the «High Fairy»'s HP hit rock bottom.
"——"
Dispersing a wide effect, «High Fairy» vanished into it. A split second later, the servant fairies scampered away as if chased by some sort of demon.
"Finally! Whoa, I really thought we're done for at the end, but we won! It's all due to everyone's effort!"
"Seriously, even I became a target and had a scare too! But we did it!"
"Thank you, Sierra-dono, for protecting us from the attacks."
"I just did my job. Good work to you too, Ester."
"Hn, a gold chest."
" "A gold chest!!" "
The moment Karua's words poured into our ears, Lana and my heads snapped towards it.
There, glittering golden, sat a treasure chest.
"Whoa, it's a gold chest after ages—!!"