chapter 1284  showing one''s true colors

    "[taunt]!"

    whoosh!

    seeing that valyr''s attack to initiate the fight was a critical hit, seventhshield felt a burst of motivation and drive fill his body. at that moment, he felt like he needed to do his utmost as the main tank and leader of their party.

    confident that they''d eventually beat the boss in front of them, the man did not hesitate to slam his shield onto the ground, making sure that the hobgoblin mage targeting valyr at first would now target him.

    whoosh! whoosh! whoosh!

    watching the hobgoblin mage send out bolts of energy to valyr, only for the remainder of it to head towards him, seventhshield felt more than confident that the young man would be able to handle his barrage of bolts on his own.

    after all, if not for him, they wouldn''t have even been able to get to the end of the dungeon. if not for the fact that valyr out of all of them took the initiative to fight against the mini-boss, he and the other members of the party would''ve given up then and there just from the sheer difference in stats.

    aside from that, the young man was able to stand his ground such a formidable foe.

    even though he was still ten levels below it.

    ''as long as darklight, valyr, and uzume work together to deal damage to the boss, zack and i won''t have much problems defending against all of its attacks until it dies.''

    with such a thought in mind, seventhshield steeled himself for the bolts of energy that would soon greet him, gripping tighter onto his shield as he prepared for the repercussions.

    yet, before any of the energy bolts could even hit his shield...

    psh!

    ''ngh..!'' feeling an immense pain radiate from his right shoulder all of a sudden, the man slightly delayed in blocking the first set of bolts that were aimed at him.

    fortunately, with him already anticipating the energy bolts, he was still able to deflect most of them with the shield. as for those that went past his shield, he made use of his newly obtained longsword to deal with them.

    ''is an enemy ranger accompanying the boss?'' thought seventhshield the moment he''d blocked the hobgoblin''s attack.

    taking in a deep breath to calm his slightly erratic thoughts, the man pushed his senses even further than before as he turned to look at their surroundings.

    in the end, he was able to obtain his answer.

    however, the one who lodged an arrow into his shoulder was not a lackey of the hobgoblin mage.

    instead, it was a fellow player.

    "what...?" though he had his suspicions at first, seventhshield was eventually forced to accept that his thoughts had become a reality the moment he noticed the man looking at him with malicious intent.

    "hehehe..."

    hearing the chuckle that left darklight''s mouth, a various assortment of thoughts began to surface in seventhshield''s mind, all of them eventually coming together to form a greater image.

    a greater image... that he only realized when it was already far too late.

    "i was waiting for this very moment..."

    ding!

    as those words left the man''s mouth, a notification sound soon resounded within the party''s minds. with the train of thought currently running in his mind, seventhshield already knew that the notification was darklight''s doing.

    thankfully, the other members were also quick to realize what was going on, with all of them shifting their gazes between darklight and the hobgoblin mage with a grim expression.

    feeling both guilt and anger as he took the arrow out of his shoulder, seventhshield continued to block the hobgoblin''s attacks as he asked him, "is this how it''s gonna be, darklight?" "is this what you were planning to do all along?"

    "hahaha..." though, it only took a few seconds for the image to become clear in darklight''s mind, causing him to cackle once more as he looked at valyr in ridicule. "do you really think some measly barrier would keep me here?"

    "do you really think that a barrier cast by some puny level 10 like you would be able to stop me from having my way?"

    "try it if you can," replied valyr with a shrug, taking out his magic staff from his spatial bracelet before facing the hobgoblin.

    "i''m certain you wouldn''t be able to break it anyway."

    "you dare...?!" feeling like his pride was being stepped on by valyr''s words, darklight forced the expanding shadows under his feet to coalesce, transforming into a dark bolt that resembled an arrow.

    "you''re going to regret this...!"

    "[piercing dark shot]!"

    bang!

    hearing a loud explosion erupt from the barrier, seventhshield and the others immediately thought that the current situation had only returned to the way it was before.

    after all, there was no way a barrier conjured by a level 10 player would be sturdy enough to withstand such an attack, right?

    however...

    "...what?!"

    valyr was no ordinary level 10 player.

    "this can''t be!" feeling greater fury from the fact that one of his stronger attacks was unable to break through the barrier, darklight decided to attack once more.

    though, this time, he wasn''t going to pull any punches.

    "[extreme dark bolt]!"

    bang!

    coalescing the shadows underneath his feet into a massive bolt of darkness, darklight infused all of his strength and energy into it as he aimed at the barrier. because of that, he was confident that he''d be able to break through the barrier this time around.

    yet, against all his expectations...

    "what?!"

    the barrier valyr conjured around him remained mostly unscathed, with only a few nicks on its surface being the telltale signs of darklight''s attempts at breaking his barrier.

    "i told you, but you didn''t believe me," said the young man as he faintly shook his head. "you wouldn''t be able to break it no matter what kind of attack you unleash."

    "and so what?" finally realizing that he''d only end up wasting his energy in futility if he were to try breaking the barrier again, darklight instead sat on the ground as he looked at valyr and the others in ridicule. "all of you would still die from the boss anyway."

    "is that so?" hearing those words, valyr let out an amused chuckle as he began to cast a spell.

    "watch this, then."

    "..."

    "may the power of flames hear my plea."

    "as the conductor of flames, blaze my foe into ashes."

    "...[fireball]."

    bang!

    ''-8,245!!!''