A single Mawflower that could cast dual-element magic.
And these weren't your run-of-the-mill Frostbolts and Fireballs, either. This was [Field of Frost] and [Starfall]—two high-tier AoE abilities that could wipe an entire party.
All five of them were crowd-controlled simultaneously. With no one to rely on but themselves, each player had to dig into their own bag of tricks to survive.
Of the five, Hazel was the most relaxed. So what if it was Starfall? It wasn't like it could one-shot her. Her magic resistance was low, but her health pool was colossal.
BOOM!
A flaming meteor slammed squarely into her.
-17985
Even after taking the hit, she still had ten thousand health left. Easy.
Rena was squishy, but as an Intelligence and Spirit-based caster, her innate magic resistance was high. She threw up a [Power Word: Shield] and braced for impact. The meteor struck, and she weathered the storm.
-5510 (Shield Absorption)
-337 (Health)
-5828 (Mana)
Lila, fresh off her legendary upgrade, had just broken the twenty-thousand HP mark, but she had zero confidence in her magic resistance. Instead, she gripped her greatsword and launched into a defensive maneuver.
[Flurry Strikes]!
The move instantly triggered her passive, [Edge Guard], boosting her resistance by 200%. In a flash, the ice shattered around her feet, and she dashed out of the meteor’s impact zone.
.....
Orion’s method was, characteristically, the weirdest. He had no health, no magic resist, and no escape abilities to speak of. What he did have was a collection of bizarre survival tricks. He quickly produced a glyph and slapped it onto his own forehead.
[Glyph of Corpse Rigor]: Puts a target in a state of undeath for 5 seconds.
The moment the glyph activated, Orion collapsed to the ground, his body stiffening like a corpse. As the meteor crashed down on his position, two bold words appeared above his unmoving form:
Immune!
The effect highlighted the crucial difference between his ability and a typical Feign Death. Feigning Death would drop aggro, but you could still be killed by stray AoE. Corpse Rigor, however, made the system register you as an actual dead body. And dead bodies couldn't take any more damage.
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Kael’s 17,000 HP wouldn't be enough to survive a 20,000-damage magic hit, even with his resistance. His escape, however, was the cleanest. A simple activation of his Medallion teleported him twenty yards away, well clear of the blast.
Having survived the deadly opening salvo, the team finally got a good look at the rainbow-colored monstrosity.
[Elite Mawflower] - Level 32
HP: 10,000,000
Physical Attack: 9200
Magical Attack: 10,500
Physical Defense: 0
Magical Defense: 0
An Elite!
Staring at its stats, Orion couldn't help but complain. “Since when can a flower cast spells? And with that much magic damage? That’s just broken.”
No one was in the mood for his commentary. They just wanted this thing dead. The good news was its zero-defense rating. The bad news: who could possibly tank it?
Hazel would be melted by its 10,500 magic attack; her resistance was too low, and Rena’s healing wouldn't keep up. But Rena couldn't tank it either; she’d be shredded by its 9,200 physical attack. They were stuck.
The boss, however, wasn’t about to give them time to strategize. The moment they recovered from the Starfall, the Elite Mawflower summoned a bolt of lightning.
CRACK!
A number popped over Hazel's head.
-8232
She had just used a potion to get her health back to 15,000, and a single strike had already knocked her back below ten thousand. Rena immediately hit her with a [Greater Heal] and [Power Word: Radiance], followed by another buff.
[Spirit Boon]: Target’s Magic Resistance +1000.
Even with the buffs, Hazel’s health bar was still dropping at an alarming rate. Seeing this, Orion tossed an [Effigy of Substitution] to the ground, buying Hazel a precious three seconds. He then produced a [Verdant Skull] and crushed it in his palm, the bone turning instantly to a fine powder.
Next, he pulled a blank glyph from his robes and tossed it gently into the air. It stopped, hovering in space as if snagged on an invisible hook. Dipping his fingers into the Ghostskull ashes, Orion began to paint a flurry of bizarre, intricate symbols onto the floating parchment.
When he was finished, he took a deep breath and blew softly on the glyph. It detached from its spot and drifted slowly toward Hazel, slapping neatly onto her back.
In the same instant, a jolt went through Orion’s body. He collapsed to the ground, completely still, as if his life had been snuffed out.
From a distance, Kael watched, stunned, but there was no time to ask what had just happened. Hazel was on her last legs. Her health was below 4,000, her potions were on cooldown, and Rena’s heals were too. One more spell and she was dead.
Suddenly, a shudder ran through Hazel’s body. A wave of warmth spread through her, and her maximum health surged by ten thousand points.
Right on cue, the Mawflower’s next lightning bolt struck.
BOOM!
-2421
Hazel blinked. Why did that hit so weakly?
The others saw it too, but no one could figure out what had happened. Kael glanced back at Orion’s body, about to ask, but an explanation popped up in the party chat.
Orion: Don't worry. I'm possessing Hazel. All my stats just transferred to her.
[Guardian Possession]: The caster sacrifices themself to transfer all their personal stats to a friendly target. Lasts 3 minutes. Cooldown: 30 minutes.
A god-tier ability like that actually existed?!
The team was floored. As a Diviner, Orion was also an Intelligence and Spirit-based caster. But unlike priests or mages, his primary stat was Spirit, with Intelligence as a secondary. Since Spirit governed magic defense, his was the highest in the party.
Now, with Orion’s stats stacked on top of her own, Hazel’s magic defense was over 8,000. Against that, the Elite Mawflower’s attacks felt like a tickle.
There was only one downside.
Orion was dead.
