The members of Umbra were grateful for Draco's kindness and slumped over. Most didn't log out because they didn't need to, only requiring a moment or two to regain their bearings and let out some steam.
The Avatar saw this and sighed at the stubbornness. He waved his hand, dragging all of them into a Mirage with ease. A whole field of top players stood there with blank eyes as he let them indulge in pleasures and fantasies that were hidden in their hearts.
By the time the one-hour break came to an end, the various fighters were shocked to have been captured so easily by Draco, ashamed about their darkest fantasies but also significantly less stressed as a result of their experience.
Their gazes towards the Avatar became complex. He was the source of their torment, and also the source of their bliss. He was like a Demon God toying with their mortal hearts and minds freely.
"Enough fooling around. It's time for Stage 2. Here, I will show you the horror of the Mystic Arts." Draco stated as he canceled his relaxed position and glowed with a green light.
The various fighters reassembled into their groups and charged forth. Their eyes were filled with wisdom and determination, having learned a lot during Stage 1 about how to fight and how to create advantages for themselves against a powerful foe.
If the Avatar were a real Raid Boss or World Boss, the performance of the members in Stage 1 would have been at 45% whereas their performance in this one would be at 225%!
They had undergone shocking growth, but the one they were dealing with was an Avatar of their Guildmaster, so his power had endless adaptations.
Especially the elusive Mystic Arts. Many in the guild knew about it thanks to Roma, but they weren't exactly sure of what it could do. However, today they were certainly going to learn it the hard way.
Necrotic Hands!
｢Necrotic Hands – Active skill
Effect: Summon a plethora of arms from the earth that trap an enemy and apply damage over time on the target.
Duration: 2 minutes.
Cooldown: 1 minute.｣
Immediately, green and decaying arms sprung up from beneath the earth. They grabbed the ankles and legs of all the members on the field, their nails digging into the flesh regardless of whatever defenses the players had, and started ripping them apart.
This caused untold agony for those fighters, many dying to this basic skill right away as Draco's Mystic Arts were boosted by his various other passives.
He didn't stop there, but chained the crowd control Mystic Spell with another.
Cruel Beast Summoning!
｢Cruel Beast Summoning – Active skill
Effect: Call forth the apparition of a Cruel Beast, which can attack and defend for the duration of its existence.
Duration: 1 minute.
Cooldown: 5 minutes.｣
The Cruel Beast was an ethereal manticore-like tiger with vicious fangs and elongated claws that were like swords. It immediately roared and dove into the players, lancing them with single hits.
A few tanks managed to attract its aggro in order to give their groups a chance to fight back, but the armor wearers found that it only put them at the front of the line for death.
No matter how skilled they were, the Cruel Beast would slash them apart as if their shields were just there for decoration.
In truth, they were. The nature of the Cruel Beast was intangibility.
It was not exactly a ghost, but it was not exactly fully physical. What it was slashing at wasn't entirely your flesh, but your soul and lifeforce. The Mystic Arts was an insidious branch of magic, and only something similar could ward off its effects.
The Avatar smiled and avoided Uno's Shield Toss. The core members were not like the rest, having intimate knowledge of the Mystic Arts.
Not to mention, that this stage was fundamentally different from Stage 1. Previously, the Avatar had limited himself to using sword techniques and skills to fight, so he had a wide variety of attack patterns that had no cooldown because of his broken class' passives.
However, the Mystic Arts he was using were not techniques, but skills. They had cooldowns and would be unavailable during that time, so Draco had to calculate their utility carefully.
This meant that unlike Stage 1, this stage was more like a traditional fight against a real Raid Boss that had timed skills.
Draco had no Mystic Arts techniques, meaning the Avatar could only avoid. He could not punch, kick or use his swords to fight back as he himself had promised to stick to the rules henceforth.
This put him on the backfoot for the entirety of Stage 2. He had more than enough Mystic Arts moves to give all the members a hard time, but the amount of leeway they had this time was far greater.
The ratio of damage was 10%, 20%, and 70%, between the Advanced, Expert, and core members respectively.
The last had naturally done the most work because those skills had the least effect on them. They had finally been allowed to display that their Legendary Classes included OP skills and passives of their own after all, ones the Mystic Arts skills fell flat against.
Stage 2 lasted 30 minutes and the 1000 or so combatants suffered 32 wipes before they managed to vanquish the Avatar.
"Good job! If your score during the previous stage was a C-, then you get an S+ for this one! Knowing how to deal with my skills is one thing, but actually managing to get rid of me so quickly despite my passive regeneration and superior abilities/senses is simply top-tier!" Draco commented as he clapped slowly.
He then sat in the air and waved his hand lazily. "You should go for your break now. You may not feel it's necessary after such a short bout, but trust me, the next stage won't be as easy."
When the Avatar pointed this out, their faces became ugly. They remembered that Stage 3 would be him acting like a Mage God, giving him access to his Subjective Magic, and that one counted as a technique.
Draco could cast infinitely and endlessly since he had the Devil's Guile skill.
Unlike the real Draco who would tire himself out due to the connection with the pod, the Avatar was generated and maintained by the AI. As an existence that could easily handle this world, no amount of power it used would put a strain on it.
The next stage would be tough, but it was not like there was no way out. The core members banded together and strategized furiously, coming up with ways to handle the next stage based on Draco's weaknesses.
For once, they were pleased to discover more than a few.
Firstly, Draco could only use the basic spells of the pinnacle elements at Rank 3, and this Avatar had them at half power.
These basic spells were; Gravity Crush, Spatial Slash, Time Skip, Reality Crush, Chaos Blast, Destruction Blow, and Creation Blast.
Of all of these, they were deadly to them. They had to find a way to limit his casting of the pinnacle elements, whether it was interrupting his casting or some other means.
Secondly, Draco was limited to using only the Cause and Effect Theory to power his spells. This significantly reduced the power they had and the speed at which they could be fired from milliseconds to whole seconds.
This would be crucial to their success!
Thirdly and finally, most of the core members were immune to all spells below the pinnacle tier. Warm Spring, Kiran, Essence, Uno, and others could utterly ignore anything below the pinnacle tier, so they had a chance to win without suffering a single wipe!
Well, that was what they thought. The reality of the situation would usually differ greatly from fantasies or human planning.
When Stage 3 began, Uno started off by charging at the Avatar. Never before had he felt confident in tanking Draco's attacks, and his confidence showed in his movements.
The Avatar spent a millisecond creating hundred of basic Fireballs and dropping them on the stage like rain, tearing away the HP of almost all the fighters slowly with each attack.
He then closed his eyes and pointed at Uno, charging up a Lightning Bolt spell. This took about 0.2 seconds, and Uno was close by the time he fired it out.
The bolt struck his shield, but Uno ignored its minuscule damage as he grinned fiercely. He couldn't wait to bash the Raid Target's skull with his shield as vengeance for all the humiliation he had suffered, consequences be damned!
Draco hummed and shook his head, sidestepping the attack with ease. The Vanguard had expected this, and twisted his body to follow, striking out with his bell hammer.
However, he was shocked to see a bright blue carapace-like shield form around the Avatar that deflected his strike with ease. Draco then pushed a palm out, which created a wave of magical force that knocked Uno backward.
All the while, the Fireballs were still raining, and many of the weaker fighters had already been culled.
Draco tsked as he began to float in mid-air using the wind element, his mana shield turning from a round barrier to a small carrier with a throne.
(Author's Note: Similar design to Gilgamesh's Vimana from Fate/Zero.)
A dome formed around the entire carried that was of a different color, or a myriad of them. The Avatar had overlaid mana barriers of all elements whole his aircraft was made of an attributeless one.
"You all discussed my power for this stage and came up with countermeasures, but you appear to have totally forgotten to take into account the wealth of adaptations I have at my disposal. You were only watching for my offensive power, forgetting I have defensive abilities and even supportive ones."
Draco raised a hand with glowed with darkness.. "Here, let me show you the true meaning of despair."
