"Get ready, the barrier is coming down soon!" Calli shouted. "Targets coming up next!"

The large boar, and even the matriarch and the rest of the boar family rushing over to their patriarch went grayscale under the influence of Calli's granted [Strategist View] skill, which worked directly with all of their UIs through the System itself.

Oh, that one's my target, he noticed, eyeing the smallest of the young beasts, who had kept its color. And rather than wondering why Calli had assigned him the easiest of the marks, Nar lowered further into his stance, readying himself to pounce.

I'll down it quickly! Then help the others, he thought. That's probably her plan, anyways.

He shook his head. They had all agreed to let the aethermancers join them, and now, they needed to trust them and see how it all turned out.

The matriarch boar slowed down as she approached combat, cautiously eyeing her downed mate that was still struggling to get back up on its feet. Meanwhile, the sphere of light went down, and its place stood Leon, wreathed in bright, vividly detailed, golden rainbow plumage.

"Another defensive skill, [Feathers of the Protector]." Calli explained, as their mouths dropped open again. "[Toughness], [Ego] and [Steadfastness] boosted."

"Holy fuck," Lim whispered.

"Aggro secured!" Leon shouted, his voice sounding deeper than usual.

"Go! Focus on your targets. Trust each other and stay away from Leon!" Calli shouted.

Nar sprung forth, dashing past Leon, and the boars that he had under his complete aggro control.

Crystal… This paladin class is insane!

He triggered an [Aura Quickening] to quickly close his distance towards his tagged target, and flooded his blade with aura once again.

[Sword Aura]! 200 points!

According to the Master of Blades, as well as Nar's own experimenting and experience, the amount of aura that he used in his skills did not covert to damage on a 1:1 ration. Far from it, the more he used, the more the damage gained seemed to increase. The Master of Blades had told him not to worry too much about it in combat, as he would eventually develop a sense of how much he needed in order to fulfil his intentions, and in that moment, a part of Nar actually wondered if he had used too much.

The small 6-feet boar didn't even see him coming, and had no way to react when Nar plunged his bright glowing blade straight into its body, right behind its front right leg. This had been one of the critical spots for the Boar beast family that they had learned about in Slaying, and Nar knew that had stabs here had a good chance of piercing lungs or even the heart of the beast.

Not even 700 plus HP was strong enough to fully absorb all of that damage, and after a moment's resistance, Nar felt the creature go still, and drop to the mud.

One moment it was unhappily chasing after its mother, into a fight it didn't want to participate in, and the next it was gone from the dungeon, its soul sent back to the guardian for respawning once more.

"Sorry," Nar muttered. Even if the hog's 10-inch tusks could have easily skewered him from side to side, he still felt a little bad at ending the young beast's life. However, that was what a delver was… And so, pushing the thought aside, he skidded in the mud, and pushed himself back towards where the main fight was now raging.

In a testament to Calli's skill as a strategist, Nar's next target was already waiting for him.

The other small boar? He thought, grimacing. Alright.

Nar repeated the same attack, coming up from behind the creature to target the same critical area. Either Sarke had misjudged the HP of the first board he'd downed, or of this one, but unfortunately the beast required two stabs with his 200 point [Sword Aura] skill to fully go down, and even then, it took a few moments longer for the beast to die out.

Keeping his breathing composed, even as his heart beat heavy and steady, Nar searched for the last, and biggest of the young boars. The beast had been smarter than its younger sibling, and had gone around one of the trees, aiming at catching Leon from behind. Instead, Lim and Cen had quickly put an end to his plans, which left only the actual threats, the adult boars.

The female matriarch suddenly raised her snout, unleashing a piercing cry as it realized the fate of its children, and a purple-brown miasma spewed from her open mouth.

"Back!" Calli shouted. "Don't let that touch you! Nar, stop her! You can use your [Aura Blade]!"

Nar didn't wait to be told twice. He charged a quick blade and sent it flying against the poison gathering boar, allowing it to explode and engulf the creature's back. The matriarch cried in fear when the attack connected against her rear, and she slowly turned about to face him. However, there was a bright flash of gold, and the matriarch turned back around, focusing on Leon once again.

And here I doubted him, Nar thought, making a face and clearing a chunk of mud from above his eyebrow. He had no idea how Leon was faring against the two huge beasts on his own, but the paladin seemed to be breezing through it.

"Cen, come over here! I'll clear the poison from you!" Jasphaer shouted.

"Y-Yes! Sorry, I was too slow!" the caster lamented.

"Don't worry. That's what I'm here for!"

"Auramancers, target the matriarch!" Calli shouted in their minds, to be heard above the sudden loud grunting of the two massive beasts, their feet stomping about and still causing the jungle to tremble around them.

Nar eyed the back of the matriarch and a decision came to him immediately.

Time to get some training into that [Aura Blade Control], he thought. He charged another [Aura Blade], but this time he held onto it until he had reached the full capacity of his now allowed 560 points of aura. Pity this isn't one of those easy dungeons… I would've loved some live combat training for what I tried this morning.

As it was, his current [Aura Blade] would have to suffice, even if most of it went to waste. And so, his blade glowed brightly, and such was the aura concentrated within it, that it started humming in his hands.

Here it goes!

He unleashed his skill in a vertical slash towards the back of the matriarch, and the customary part of his consciousness flew outwards with it. A line of blazing gray cut through the forest, its distorted growling rushing towards the female boar, and the beast screeched as that line of aura impacted against it and held, pushing ever deeper as it sought to slice cleanly through the beast.

The smell of burned hide and flesh filled the air alongside its panicked, painfilled screams, and Nar drove the line further in, gritting his teeth to block out the sound. He had been very right when he had called his [Aura Blade] skill a nasty one…

It's no different that Cen's skills in that regard, he realized. Though skills that aim to kill… Aren't they just nasty by their nature and purpose?

The boar's hide suddenly took on a sickly yellow-green, and all of sudden, there was a resistance pushing back against his blade, forcing it out of the beast's flesh.

"[Absorbent Hide]!" Calli shouted. "Hang in there, don't let up! And Jul, you're almost there!"

That's some defensive skill! Nar thought, gritting his teeth to keep control over his [Aura Blade Control] and to keep it from being expelled backwards by the matriarch.

His entire being shook with the effort to hold onto his [Aura Blade Control], and he felt a familiar thick drop falling slowly down his right nostril, his pathways blazing within him. This was probably the first time he had tried doing this since killing the illatrian, and he was using a whole lot more [Mastery] this time, instead of the aura that his sword's core had held onto for him back then.

Damn it! If I could focus this edge into something smaller, maybe I could've cut right though this! He thought, as he eyed the lower edge of the skill disappear into the mud, and the other edge of aura extending far out and high above the beast he was trying to down.

He had no choice now but to hold onto the skill for as long as possible, hope that his [Lingering Aura] triggered and ravaged the beast from inside with its DOT effect, and that maybe Jul managed to trigger her…

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A wave of darkness erupted from the matriarch, and it squealed in utter horror.

[Insidious Terror]! You go, Jul!

Suddenly, the resistance holding his blade back was gone, and Nar's intent surged forth. It was so unexpected, and such was the will he had thrown behind the skill, that the line of light just cut straight forward until it reached the thick bone of beat's hind pelvis.

"Jul, get away from it!" he shouted into his party chat.

"Already clear! Let it go!" the quam shouted.

With a groan of relief, Nar let go of his skill, and a deafening roar of aura exploded backwards, and out through the cut he had just formed. At the same time, a loud BANG resounded from the front of the battle, and Nar saw the matriarch's head recoil backwards.

Lim!

Between Nar's ravaging [Lingering Aura], and the cut and subsequent explosion of his [Aura Blade], the matriarch's had lost her rear left leg, and Jul's [Insidious Terror], the boar's HP had taken an absolute hammering, giving Lim enough wiggle space to put one of his [Empowered Shouts] into the beast, likely through one of its eyes.

"Nice shot!" Nar said as much.

"It was thanks to you!" Lim replied.

"Finish her, she's barely hanging on!" Calli said.

And that was true. Shaking on her remaining three legs, with Jul's fear aura and his [Lingering Aura] coursing through her, and Cen and Lim taking turns shooting aura enhanced bullets and [Aura Projectiles] straight at its snout, the beast was just about to breath it's last.

Still… 5000 HP is not for nothing. It even managed to absorb a good chunk of my aura explosion, Nar thought, impressed to find that even after everything they had thrown at that boar, that matriarch was still standing and, from the sounds of it, still trying to swat at Leon with its tusks! She's gotta have some crazy [Toughness] as well! These beasts are something else, but it had to be almost empty! [Sword Aura], 300 points!

He rushed at the matriarch, running alongside its body, and leaped straight for the same weak spot that he had used to down the hogs, and his weapon sliced in easily. Up ahead, he caught a glimpse of Jul, her weapons trailing smoky, dark aura, running in to target the beast's neck from below.

That Slaying class really is something, he thought, as he drove his blade further in, almost leaning his face against the beast's muddied flank.

Dark, brown blood cascaded down on him from the wound, and it cried once more, before a particularly bright barrage of [Aura Projectiles] to the snout silenced it at last.

"Ugh!" Nar muttered, spitting and stepping away from the spasming boar.

Its blood burned his face, forcing him to close his right eye, and his throat was raw and crying in pain, his stomach and insides churned painfully from the little bit of blood that he had swallowed.

Alright, alright… Let's get healed up, he thought, clenching his jaw to keep any of the burning pain from escaping him.

"Nar, you got poisoned!" Calli gasped. "Come get healed!"

"No need!" Jasphaer shouted, before Nar could. "He can heal that!"

"What? But…"

"I'll explain later. Nar, you good?" their healer asked.

"Perfect. Just a mouthful of poisonous blood, that's all!" he said, sarcasm heavy on his voice.

Lim's laughter echoed from the other side of the downed matriarch, and he could just about imagine how confused Calli must be looking under her helmet.

He shoved the nauseating, burning feeling inside him to a distant corner of his mind and ignored it, keeping his by now second nature on and off cycling to heal himself.

"How do you want to take down the last one?" Cen asked Calli.

"Uh? Oh… It should be almost dead between me and Leon, and those two blows to the head from its charge skill. I'll hold back and you guys hit it from the sides, away from Leon," she shouted. "Jul, keep your [Hearing] around us. If anything's coming, let me know and Leon will taunt it!"

"Got it!" Jul shouted, just as Nar heard Cen and Lim shuffling around the tree trunk to his right, as they came around to join him behind the last boar.

"You're free to engage!" Calli shouted.

Nar nodded to himself and leaped forward, with Jul diving in at his side. She seemed to have skewed her wakizashi for the war picks, in order to bypass the boar's armor, and she worked them with deadly determination, their tips darkened with smoking, almost black fear aether stabbing in and out repeatedly.

That's a powerful skill, Nar thought, even as his own [Sword Aura] thrust only managed to pierce a few inches before it was held back by the patriarch's armored hide and [Toughness]. It doesn't do a lot of damage, but the debuff and the payoff are huge!

He yanked the tip of his blade out, but the massive creature didn't even acknowledge the wound.

10,000 HP on a common beast, Nar thought to himself, attacking again. The Brightnight's crazy… We're only at the starter area!

Hitting the uninjured flank of the creatures wielded him almost no effect, his blade bouncing off harmlessly across the thick fur and the corded flesh beneath, and he didn't dare use his [Aura Blade] again for fear of friendly fire.

Cen's projectiles and Lim's bullets impacted further down the length of the enormous beast, and the creature grunted and squirmed sideways, but it was hard to tell if their attacks were having any effect.

This might just be Jul's fight, Nar realized. Once her [Insidious Terror] paralyzes it, I'll run towards his heart and lungs!

"Watch out!" Jul shouted, when the beast moved sideways in an effort to hit him with its flank, but Nar had already leaped backwards, warned by his [Instinct] and avoided getting crushed under the best.

"Sorry! It moved!" Leon shouted from up ahead.

"All good!" Nar shouted.

He glanced towards the front, and caught a glimpse of red shining, enormous tusks going wham against Leon's shield.

[Goring Tusk], Nar realized.

And even with its tusks red, the beast's fur began to glow yellow, signaling that the patriarch was channeling its [Absorbent Hide] skill at the same time.

Damn… Two skills at once?

"Jul?" Nar asked.

"I'm trying!" Jul said, gritting her teeth. "It keeps resisting my procs!"

"It's okay, just hang in there," Nar said, eying the glowing bulk of the patriarch.

Golden explosions rang out from the beast's snout, and Nar looked over. Calli had her golden and white handguns trailed on the beasts, and was firing non-stop, having obviously decided that it was safe to use her weapons after all.

More golden aether… Must be holy aspected as well? He thought, even as he realized that in that case, he shouldn't move up closer to the aethermancers.

"Focus on the legs!" Calli shouted. "We'll damage its head!"

Fair enough, Nar thought.

"Jul, you and I hit the left rear one!" he said. "Lim and Cen, you guys handle the right one!"

"Leave it to us!" Lim shouted.

"Let's work together!" Nar told Jul. "You hit it first, then I'll open the wounds up, and you hit them again. Maybe the debuff will trigger then!"

"Okay!" Jul said.

Nar charged his blade, and after Jul had repeatedly pierced an area of flank with her war picks, he moved in to deliver a [Sword Aura] that was humming with a staggering 400 points of aura.

Blood went flying, but from the beast's lack of reaction, he knew that the cut had been shallow.

Damn this skill! He grunted, eyeing the yellow glowing fur.

"Hold on!" he told Jul.

Rather than waste his aura on [Sword Aura] again, he simply concentrated it within his blade and just allowed his hits to flow and crash against the creature's wounded side. Surely, there was no HP that could take that fury of blurry hits, right?

The boar, seemingly unbothered, bellowed and spewed a wave of poisonous breath at Leon, which was even darker and denser than the matriarch's [Poison Breath] had been, and the whole jungle in front of the boar disappeared under a miasma of purple so dark and deep, it almost looked black.

"Are you guys alright?" Jul asked

"We're fine!" Jasphaer said, coughing lightly. "Calli?"

"We've got potions, and passives to resist things like poison, so don't worry about us!" Calli shouted, her guns never faltering. "Keep going!"

Crystal! Passives too? What don't they have? Nar thought, continuing to land blows on the tough muscle.

He had gone over thirty blows already, all of them heavy and measured despite the speed with which he was moving at.

Just how much [Toughness] does this thing have?

He clenched his jaw and his blade sang diagonally once again, but this time, the beast cried out in outrage as a large slash of dark brown rose in the rain, and suddenly, the boar shied away from Nar.

Finally! Nar thought, eyeing the gaping, bleeding wound.

"Jul!" he shouted.

The fear warrior was already on her way, and her war picks landed with meaty thuds into the injuries that Nar had widened into a single, diagonal gaping fountain of dark brown. Then, with a groan, she ripped them out from the flesh and brought the weapons down again and again.

Come on! Come on! Nar thought, following after her as the patriarch shied away from Jul and she gave chase. Yes!

Dark aura spread from the wound, darkening the beast's already dark blood, and Jul, coated in mud and debris, chased after the patriarch with a determined, grim expression on her green-gray features.

Explosions continued to ring from the back and from the front of the beast, and Nar wondered where best he could make himself useful as the monstrous boar's final moments approached.

His blade glowing, he jumped back into the fray, cutting and slashing at that same leg, looking to fully sever its use from the boar and hinder its mobility, but it now felt like it was only a matter of time before they finally downed the enemy.

A few moments later, darkness engulfed the massive beast as Jul's [Insidious Terror] finally triggered, and sparks and bangs sounded from the front of the beast, but given that Calli continued firing at it, the clashing aether and aura didn't seem dangerous enough. Not to them at least… Crystal knew what sort of damage it did to the boar.

More importantly, however, the boss fur lost its yellow protection at last, and the beast went rigid with terror.

"Finish it!" Calli shouted. "Throw your skills at it!"

And with a final round of aura skills, the beast toppled sideways at last, forcing Nar and Jul to run from under its growing shadow. And suddenly, the deafening sound of the rain was back, pounding down hard on their gasping figures.

DING!

"So, is it doable or not?" Leon asked, breathing heavily.

Nar pushed away the notification and looked up from the dead hulk in front of him to consider the blood-soaked paladin panting by the beast's snout. It was clear that Leon had been doing much more than just taking hits on his shield.

"That… Was amazing," Nar said.

"You had your doubts, didn't you?" Leon asked.

"Yes," Jul said before Nar could, her big green-blue eyes even wider than usual. "But not anymore... You are very strong."

Leon burst out laughing, then he coughed and grimaced.

"That doesn't feel good…" he said, storing his sword and holding onto his stomach.

"Drink an antidote you dumb shit!" Calli threw at him. "Jasphaer?"

"On it! Gather round, everyone. Let me have a look at you all!" the healer shouted, stepping forward from where he and Sarke had been waiting out the fight. "Let's get you guys patched up!"

Nar scanned the dead beast again as he walked around it, and winced at its disfigured snout. Yes, Leon and his paladin class were strong indeed… And that reminded him of his first skill, the [Divinity of the Faithful Protector].

That massive board had charged right into one of those giant trees with its [Vicious Charge], and the tree had suffered nothing more than a violent shake. But with Leon's barrier skill…

Cut clean through, Nar though eyeing the spherical scar cut through the tree trunk. Or is it that anything caught by the barrier just gets erased, no matter what it is?

He hadn't even seen Leon fight, given how he had been hitting the boars from behind, but of the little he had glimpsed, it seemed that his paladin class might just leave up to its apparent title of strongest class in the Nexus.

And one thing's for sure, Nar thought, eyeing the paladin as he downed an antidote. These people are not weak. Not at all…

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