The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 2013 Well Roasted

Hawk's dinner was ready right on time, and the bird came out just as they were ready to face the boss.

Not that they had a lot of planning to do, they had all faced one of these in the dungeon before and knew the basic strategy of it. But changing equipment to reduce the number of additional spawns would only take them so far, and the group needed to make a plan for the fight.

Karl was somewhat involved, as he had the summoned Demons with him, who were guaranteed to make a mess, but he was the healer, his primary duty for the run was to warn them if they were going to do something that would get them killed.

As Hawk appeared in crow form on his shoulder, Karl addressed the group.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Hawk. Despite his current form, he is a Dark Flame Phoenix, and his fire magic will burn away the small plague demon spawn as they appear from the boss's blood.

He's one of my bonded beasts.

With him in the fight, you won't have to dedicate someone to dealing with the blood spawn, and his cauterizing flames will reduce the amount that spills from Carnage's attacks."

Hawk nodded happily, always eager to show off the might of his flames.

The team leader nodded to Carnage, who led the way into combat against the now enraged Plague Demon.

Sure, Demons fought each other all the time, and Wrath Demons fought just for the sport. But these humans had brought Wrath Demons to his territory to attack him? They would pay dearly for that.

The massive Demon spewed a wave of green sticky fluid on the floor, which Carnage simply leapt over, before the slime began to condense into smaller plague demons.

That was a new attack that none of them had seen before, and Karl wondered if it was brought on by the difficulty settings, or simply by rage.

Either way, it wouldn't last.

Hawk took to the sky, shifting into Phoenix form before dousing the slime puddle in dark blue flames that scorched the small demons to ash within seconds.

However, those seconds forced the rest of the team to spread out to avoid the threat, and Carnage made it to the boss alone.

That meant massive axes against corpulent flesh, and more waves of blood spawn plague demons for Hawk to scorch while the majority of the group got in position behind the boss.

They circled left, while Karl went right, and stopped to the left of the boss where he could clearly see the whole fight, with nobody out of range of his healing skills. Then, he let the Dryads do their work, and try to restrain the boss with their vines.

That would be easier said than done, as the creature was massively strong on a level that not even Carnage could compete with.

It simply tore the vines up, then ripped them apart with one hand, while still attempting to fend off the pair of wrath demons with its long bone whip.

Carnage parried, and the whip went flying upward, giving the pair an opening.

But the boss simply turned its back on them, and brought the whip down on the rest of the group. If the Wrath Demons were summoned, the culprit had to be in this group, and he could simply smash them to solve the problem.

The bone whip tore apart the [Eternal Light] barrier, causing three of the nine barriers to fail entirely, and a paralyzing necrotic effect to spread through the entire team.

The Dryads cleansed it instantly, but the damage lingered for a few seconds, and the team staggered, taking a second hit from the boss who shattered the rest of the barriers and sent them flying.

Carnage roared at the insult. How dare this bastard try to trick him into attacking from behind? Did that plague lord think he was some dishonourable Assassin?

Two massive axes hooked the boss's body and spun him back around to face the demons, and away from the humans, who were back under a fresh barrier, healing from the toxins that just didn't seem to want to cleanse.

The cleansing effect had clearly been cast, but the toxins left a lingering debuff with nearly the same effect, which would not be dispelled by a simple cleansing magic.

Karl knew that he could use [Nullify] to deal with it.

But if he did that, it would only make people reckless. Not a single one of them managed to dodge the whip attacks, and that was simply unacceptable.

Hawk was doing a wonderful job of the blood spawn plague demons, and half the area's floor was now on fire, where he was scorching away the after effects of Carnage's attacks, leaving the pair of Demons standing in knee-high flames.

Carnage thought that it was quite pleasant.

He had always liked the warm weather, and Hawk's fire wouldn't hurt him, they were on the same team. All that he had to watch out for was secondary burning. The flames from Hawk's spell would not affect him. The flames from a burning plague demon were not a magical effect, and would cause some damage.

With most of the blood settled, Hawk doused the boss in fire, and Karl took the opportunity to hit the boss with a string of [Spatial Quake] attacks, which would shatter bone and spirit, without tearing the skin.

Much.

The team was slow to recover from the mental trauma of the attacks, though the effect had only lasted a few seconds. They were back into their rhythm now, but Karl could see that they were more cautious, and that was reducing their damage output.

A situation that they could not afford, when fighting a boss with this much health and regeneration.

So, he let the Dryads do all the healing for a while as he supplemented the damage. The team was at a disadvantage from the start of this fight, anyhow. They couldn't use their blades without making things worse, and all their best skills were designed for use with a sword, not a blunt weapon or from a distance.