CHAPTER 163: THE FIFTH BOSS

The healing process started as a warm sensation in his stomach, then spread outward like liquid fire. His injuries began to heal, but the strong wine healed it far too quickly, causing pain to coarse through his body as he did so.

"What’s happening?" Melayne asked, noticing the bottle in his hand. "Healing wine?"

"Healing wine," Jax managed to say through clenched teeth. "Can you guys give me a moment? Take care of this round please, but as slowly as you can."

The others nodded.

Jax struggled through the pain, and mostly itchiness that covered his entire body. He kept an eye on the 41st round, watching his team beat the monsters one after another. They took their time with the battles, so Jax got the time he needed.

By the time they were done, he was ready to move.

"If you guys are injured, drink this. I think the system demands that this whole bottle be finished before it’s considered as an entire potion. I didn’t get any notifications at all."

Lucille refused to drink it since she was not injured, but the others decided to drink it.

"Pass it around," Lucille said. "Small sips only. This thing is strong. I don’t want us out of rounds when we may be needed."

"Let’s do it once per round then," Ning suggested. "I’ll drink last."

Roman was the first to drink. The wine burned going down, and within seconds he was dealing with the intense discomfort of accelerated healing.

Roman’s various cuts and bruises faded away, though he had to sit down as dizziness overwhelmed him. The quick healing was far too quick for him, especially since the restoration wasn’t instant like with the heal spell.

The others fought while he healed, and when he was ready, Lucille drank a swig.

Her octopus was still active, so she sent it to fight while watching from the mound. At the same time, she brought out an Emerald stone and began absorbing its energy. She needed it should she need to continue to fight.

Melayne was next, who drank the healing potion, sitting next to Lucille. Her body squirmed with discomfort as the aching bits of her body was slowly healed. Her stamina had returned already, but now she felt she could make the most of it.

Finally, it was Ning’s turn.

Ning was the most battered out of the most at the moment, having done the most during the regular rounds. He wasn’t as useful overall during a boss fight, but other times, he was more useful than anyone else.

The rest fought while he healed. He sat by Lucille and turned toward her as the healing came to an end. "How much longer do you think we can go on?" he asked.

"If a party of 3 Ascendants fails to pass, then it will be a disappointment, will it not?" Lucille asked.

"I’m worried he’s not going to last long," Ning said, gesturing toward Roman. "He’s already shown that he wants to leave."

"He won’t. Let us get past the 50th round, and the mere possibility of the 3-star Ticket will keep him here," Lucille said. "The Spell or Skill you get from a 3-Star ticket is unbelievable."

Ning shrugged. He looked toward the fights, gesturing toward Jax next. "What is he doing? I’m trying to make sense of what is happening, but I keep failing."

Lucille turned toward Jax.

At some point, Jax had begun absorbing Navi stones while he was fighting. It was supposed to be something impossible to do under normal circumstances, but Jax had definitely learned something.

"He’s absorbing Navi while using his Spell," she said with a soft hint of surprise. "I will need to ask him how he’s doing that."

When Ning was fully healed, he went to fight.

The rounds blurred together after the Tempest Roc. Monster after monster emerged. Shadow wolves, crystal spiders, flame salamanders. But they were ready now, cutting through each wave with little effort.

The number of monsters also became common. No more than 3 had appeared at the same time for now, but they were fully expecting to see a fourth on any other round. They couldn’t be surprised if it did.

By the time the 49th round came to an end, they had accumulated 45 Opal stones and four Emerald Navi stones each. That was most definitely a fortune for many. A haul like this would have taken them multiple days of hunting on a field, and even then they would likely not receive the Emerald Stones.

"I’m feeling good about this next fight," Jax said, flexing his fingers. He felt no exhaustion at all. His Navi reserves were also quite full now that he had absorbed an Emerald stone in its entirety. His Sea of Navi was bubbling with anticipation.

They began preparing for the boss, taking out all weapons and armor they would need, using spells in advance should they need to be used.

"Boss incoming!" Jax said.

As the timer to Round 50 dropped to 0, coldness filled the arena immediately.

The temperature began to drop before the boss even appeared. Ice crystals spread across the arena slowly turning into snow flakes that drifted down onto the ground.

The hard-packed dirt was buried beneath a layer of snow. Their breath misted in the frigid air.

Then came a notifications none of them were expecting.

Environmental Hazard: Glacial Aura detected. Remaining stationary for more than 3 seconds will result in minor Ice damage. Keep moving to avoid frostbite.

"Shit!" Lucille shouted. "Don’t stop moving or you’ll likely die!"

The boss emerged from one of the gates.

It was a ten-foot-tall polar bear, covered in jagged ice armor. Its claws and teeth were pure crystalline ice, sharp as razors. Its eyes glowed electric blue, cold and calculating.

It reached down to its elbow, plucked free an ice crystal, and hurled it at Ning who was the closest.

Ning struck the ice aside, watching it shatter into many pieces next to him. "It’s strong," he said with an unamused face.

"Prepare to fight," Lucille said. "And keep a watch on the–"

The boss ripped off another ice chunk from its other arm and threw it at Lucille. Lucille barely dodged in time..

"I need to get close!" Ning shouted, zigzagging toward the beast.

He made it within fifteen feet before the boss roared. A cone of razor-sharp icicles erupted from its throat. Ning threw himself backward and to the side, one icicle grazing his leg and leaving a line of numbing cold.

The monster wasn’t done. It continued peeling off its own armor and throwing it at the party members. Each piece spun through the air with enough force to shatter stone.

"Lucille!" Melayne called out. "We need information!"

Lucille nodded and waited for the spell to activate. When it did, she read it immediately. "It’s called a Glacial Frost Devourer," she told them. "It has apparently complete immunity to Ice magic."

She was surprised at her own words.

Full immunity.

Meaning, no damage related to Ice could harm the bear.

"Its armor gains additional defense while in contact with snow. It cannot be stunned, cannot be feared. But, it is weak to fire and blunt damage. The sides are less armored too, so it will be better to exploit that."

Jax arrived next to the boss and used his threads. They made contact with the ice armor and immediately froze, turning brittle before shattering like glass.

"My threads are useless," he reported grimly. "The cold destroys them on contact."

"Then we do this the hard way," Melayne said, engaging with her runic sword. The enchantments flared with each impact, chipping away at the armor’s surface.

Ning circled to the beast’s less-armored side while Jax joined with his black sword. The three worked in perfect synchronization, dodging the monster’s attacks and fighting back when they could.

Then Lucille’s fire blast hit the monster. The ice armor cracked and hissed, sending up clouds of steam. The pool of ice beneath the boss’ feet turned to water, pooling there.

The bear roared.

Its large and impressive armor now had cracks forming throughout its body.

"Now!" Lucille shouted. "While it’s weakened!"

They used the bear’s failure to their advantage. Both Melayne and Jax carved through its body with their swords.

Ning also found the first Critical Spot and hit it.

The heat from Lucille’s attack was slowly going away by the second, the water below freezing over. As it froze, the armor on its body that was cracked lost all of its cracks. It was as good as it was before.

"The snow!" Lucille said, pointing below. "Don’t let it stay on ice or snow. It will use it to heal."

"We need to get it away from the ice?" Melayne asked as understanding dawned on her.

"How?" Jax asked, frustrated. "The whole place is covered in snow!"

There was nothing they could do at all, so they resumed fighting as they were.

Jax was in the middle of another swing when suddenly the bear turned toward him, its eyes meeting his eyes, and then it did something. Jax felt the coldness in his body, realizing that he was getting frostbitten.

He tried to dodge, but it wasn’t difficult. The spell had already landed on him. Just then, he saw another notification.

Spell Nullification: Frostbite has been negated by Gorgon Necklace.

Jax took a step back in a sigh. He really thought was going to get the worst out of it. Thankfully, his necklace stopped it.

"Damn, it finally did something," Jax said. But after this, it wouldn’t do anything else actively. "Well, at least I was saved."