159. The Eternal Furnace (Part 2)

[Designation: RATHOR TYRSEN—The Eternal Furnace]

[Aberrant Race: Yaksha-Rakshasa (Mixed)]

[Aberrant Class: Realm Immortal]

[INFERNAL-ZEALOUS Instrument: GUNGNIR]

***

Clear moonlight in the midst of a steam-storm. At its end, an Immortal Prince sat upon his throne of fire and life—an impossible enmeshment of roiling flame and nourishing roots. His head—with its burning mane of ash-gray—had been downcast, leaning against the shaft of his bejeweled trident. But he lifted his face and flaunted a bright vermilion smile as the challengers arrived.

No words were needed. With initiative on their side, Team Serac immediately launched the battle's opening salvo—a two-pronged assault from a trusted partnership:

[Chamber One: CATHARSIS]

[Dreamer Aspect: THE FIRST DAO—STEEL OF REFINEMENT]

[235!]

A Penitent's black flames cut through the pale-jade moonlight, simultaneously with a NINEFOLD [Dreamer]'s three-slash combo. The duo's ranged opener caught the boss before he could rise to his feet, landing every tick of intended damage.

[129!], [158!], [316!] -> [603!]

[205!], [218!], [244!] -> [667!]

-> [1,270!]

Just like that, Rathor's supersized Health bar was already down by a quarter. Not bad as far as openers went!

But Serac also took note of her enemy's mitigation profile, as evidenced by the numbers. [Catharsis]'s Infernal damage had taken a noticeable deduction, whereas every bit of Zacko's three-slash combo had gone through unmitigated.

Would make sense for the child of a Yaksha king and a Rakshasa queen to have some resistance against both Infernal and Zealous. Guess there's only one way to find out for sure…

Luckily, the one way to find out was already seated in the very next chamber:

[Chamber Two: APPETIZER]

[149!]

Exactly 26 points fewer than the BAV of 175, but it was still superior to an unimbued bullet. Interestingly, the damage was higher than what the same attack had produced against Hilde, which meant this Rathor's Zealous mitigation was lower than that of his manta-ray subordinate's. It seemed, in turning Immortal, the once Wayfaring prince had also become more susceptible to the means of causing him harm.

Doesn't mean he's become squishier though. Not by a long shot. Especially if his beefy max HP is any indication. If he were still a Wayfarer, he'd need something like 300 [Ambition] to get his HP up to 5,000. Guess he traded in mitigation for sheer volume.

It all added up to the need for Serac to optimize her damage where possible. To that end, she decided to keep channeling [Appetizer], but by tapping into Mana instead of [Satiety]. Losing 3 MP per second—even with a dose of [Wisdom] for backup—didn't leave her much time to play with. And of course, Mana expenditure wasn't the only thing applying time pressure.

[14!], [10!], [13!], …

The moonlight was once again shrouded by a persistent DoT effect. And if Serac weren't mistaken, the steam-storm's base damage had already gone up by a point or two. Zacko's hypothesis about the Sanzu eventually losing out to [Avici] might well be proven correct. Team Serac needed to be quick and efficient—and for more reasons than one.

First things first. Renna DREDGED up a [Flux] pocket in the center of the arena, thereby generating the battle's first safety zone. She and Zacko then peeled off from Serac, spinning away at speed inside a second pocket.

This left Serac in something of a familiar territory. It wouldn't be the first time she'd acted as a stationary 'turret', and she took to the task with gusto—a no-nonsense triple burst with Zealous-imbued bullets.

[149!], [149!], [149!] -> [447!]

For all his tankiness, Rathor certainly seemed happy to, well, tank the attacks flying his way. That in itself wasn't all that strange, given the lack of a true 'defensive' tool in his arsenal. But it also meant that offense was his best form of defense.

[TRUEFLIGHT—SAMGHATA]

The ever-smiling prince finally took [Flight], GUNGNIR pointed straight at the Rakshasa turret. Serac was rushed out of her sixth shot of the cylinder, as she dove out of the way. The shot missed—wildly off-mark. At the same time, her pocket of safety 'popped' under [Samghata]'s immense momentum.

[11!], [10!], [12!], …

Back into the storm, but Serac paid it no mind. Her job was simple: to deal more damage than she took. To that end, she speedloaded a fresh cylinder and kept firing, even as Rathor stood languidly from a crouching position.

[149!], [149!], [149!] -> [447!]

I gotta say, this Immortal version of Rathor has a ton of Poise! We've been laying into him non-stop and his HP's nearly down to half. Yet he still looks nowhere close to staggering!

She had every intention to keep laying into the boss… were it not for his readying GUNGNIR for a second [Flight]. It was time for Serac to defend herself again, but at this point-blank distance, a clean dodge would be a tall order. Perhaps it'd be safer to put up PULVERIZER and live with a bit of extra damage…

… Unless a far better option presented itself, in the form of a pink frog and her giant shovel.

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Renna—with Zacko hitching a ride inside her fast-moving pocket—rounded back into view. She now gave DREDGER a good swing, with the reverse of its blade facing the barbed ends of GUNGNIR. Wrong way! Serac wanted to shout, but she could only watch.

[TRUEFLIGHT—SAMGHATA]

[Auxiliary Technique: ELEMENTAL PRESS]

One Ksana, Rathor's trident and indeed his whole person blazed anew with towering flames. But the next, the flames died down completely—erased by the 'tamping' effects of DREDGER-in-reverse.

Not only was Serac spared from eating Rathor's attack, she also got a front-row seat to her companions' impeccable teamwork. For Zacko in his laughing Buddha mask had been 'charging up' a [Dreamer] technique all this time. He now used Renna as a Yaksha springboard and leapt into the air—a move that could only end one way:

[Dreamer Aspect: THE SIXTH DAO—HAMMER OF JUDGMENT]

[TRUEFLIGHT—KALASUTRA]

An Erudite-imbued headbutt to strip away what remained of Rathor's Poise. And it surely would've worked, had it not been for the latter parrying the attack with a rapid spin, before dashing out of melee range altogether.

[Kalasutra]—Rathor's handy mobility tool—was also the closest thing he had to a 'defensive' option. The fact he'd pulled it out now despite being blasé toward all previous attacks meant that he could be Poise-broken and was wary of it.

Damn! Serac put two and two together. If Zacko had landed [Hammer], I'll bet that would've been it right there. With all three of us wailing on a defenseless Rathor, we would've melted the rest of his HP in no time.

A missed opportunity—but it also showed the way forward. The boss himself had inadvertently acknowledged the possibility of his defeat, which was all the encouragement Serac needed to call an urgent audible:

"Split up! Ranged attacks only, and from three different angles. He can't track all of us together!"

Perhaps the best part of working with Zacko (and now Renna) was how quick they were to listen. Serac had barely strung together two words before Renna spun up a new pocket for the former's benefit. The Yaksha then [Fluxed] her way to a second location with Zacko in tow, before peeling off to a third on her own.

Just like that, Team Serac had formed a triangle around the boss. They then began to wail on him from the safety of their [Flux] pockets.

[149!], [149!], [149!] -> [447!]

[205!], [218!], [244!] -> [667!]

[26!], [24!], [25!], [23!], [25!], [23!], [22!] -> [168!]

-> [1,312]

Serac with [Appetizer], Zacko with [Steel], and Renna with [Surge]. As far as ranged combat went, the frog woman was at a clear disadvantage, owing to her reliance on the elements around her. In this case, she was limited to converting the steam-storm into Primal damage and flinging it at Rathor (in what had to be Pretjord's strangest sibling fight).

But it's working! Serac enthused inwardly. He's already down to his last quarter of Health and change. And he can't even fight back! Man, why didn't we just do this from the begin—

[TRUEFLIGHT—RAURAVA-TAPANA]

Rathor's towering flames cut through the steam-storm, calling down a ray of moonlight to shine on him alone. He aimed GUNGNIR into the ground, where it split into two triplets of burning apparitions—one triplet to pop a triangle of [Flux] pockets, and the other to:

[Wayfarer Status Effect: HELLFIRE]

[253!], [262!], [257!], …

[ZACARIAS BORGES-JUVENTUS Status Effect: HELLFIRE]

[261!], [259!], [249!], …

[RENATE SANDVIK Status Effect: HELLFIRE]

[235!], [252!], [232!], …

What?

Serac had of course known about [Raurava]'s multi-target capabilities. But never in a million Kalpas would she have guessed it could also be combined with [Tapana]'s crazy status effect! Was it something Rathor always had in his kit, or did his Immortalization grant him new powers?

But there wasn't even time for Serac to have her mind blown, for it was her Health pool that had been nearly blown to bits. [Pearl of Immersion]—downing its contents in one panicked gulp. It got rid of [Hellfire], just as Renna had promised, but that still left Serac with a literal hair of HP left!

[Pearl of Courage]. No time to think; it was now or never. Serac had drunk too much liquid too quickly, and felt like throwing up, but at least she'd gotten back a full HP bar! … Which, in the absence of a safety zone, immediately took a dent from the ongoing DoT.

[13!], [13!], [16!], …

At least she was alive—and what a close shave it'd been! Serac breathed hard, keeping her wide eyes trained on Rathor and the unfathomable threat of his fishing trident. From the peripheries of her vision, she was able to confirm that both Zacko and Renna had survived the ordeal.

"Okay, that definitely could've been hairy!" Serac yelled at the top of her lungs, hoping to cheer up her teammates as much as herself. "But we know now. As long as we look out for it, we can still get through this. After all, Rathor's on the ropes as much as we—"

[IMMOLATION—SANJIVA]

Rathor Tyrsen—ever smiling—turned the fishing trident on himself, striking its barbed ends against the patch of polished basalt upon his chest. In an instant, his whole figure was engulfed in black-green flames. It was a swirling sphere—much like his sister's [Flux]—but of an 'element' hyper-focused on one purpose and one purpose alone.

[710!], [672!], [826!], [879!], [828!] -> [3,915!]

WHAT?

[Sanjiva] was a spell Serac had learned of only recently, in the form of spheres that had healed and activated Rathor's two most loyal followers. Yet, she shouldn't have been surprised. It only made sense that the caster could heal himself—and at a rate double or nearly triple that for his minions.

And yet… as Serac stared at Rathor's full HP bar—all 5,000 points of it—it was all she could do not to drop her head.

All that work to whittle it down… only for the boss to heal himself back up in a matter of seconds. It wasn't quite the instant heal of Mulaharta, but that giant Flesh-fiend had been a stationary target—and one with a clear gimmick to remove its healing ability.

What were the Wayfarers to do with Rathor Tyrsen? Try to destroy his GUNGNIR? Fat chance. Not with its wielder [Flying] all over the place and leaving [Hellfire] in his wake.

Wear him down then? As with all things governed by Pathsight, even Rathor's magic must have a resource to fuel it. Perhaps, if Team Serac were efficient, careful, and resilient enough, they could beat the Immortal prince in a war of attrition…

The notion felt ridiculous even as Serac entertained it. She then saw and heard the evidence of her own naive folly… as Rathor suddenly threw his head back and laughed.

Clear, sonorous, and musical. It was perhaps the sweetest and cruelest sound Serac had ever heard. For Rathor's laughter was in perfect harmony with the screams that filled the night sky.

Serac understood perfectly then.

There was no 'wearing down' this Rathor Tyrsen. For here was a being who fed upon the [Love] of his people in its basest, purest, and most twisted form. And as long as Pretjordian souls burned in the perpetual hell that was [Avici], there would be enough kindling to fuel Rathor's magic forever more.

An Immortal prince powered by an Eternal Furnace. A truly invincible combination if ever there was one.

And yet… would an invincible being ever need to parry an incoming attack or dash out of immediate danger?

It was a rhetorical question. For Serac knew full well there was a way to defeat Rathor Tyrsen. And it was a Path she couldn't tread alone.

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