It didn't take long for Bacarra to make her way to the boss room. With a quick teleport to Kansas followed by a speedy warp up to Dovren . Following the flow of players coming with the same goal, it wasn't long before Bacarra realized she was in the boss chamber facing the boss in person.
Salathar: the unholy fusion of a snake and a woman. What was once a great beauty has been corroded and changed into this ugly creature. Hunchback and grotesque she had the torso of a woman, but the waist of a snake. Her hair had transformed into a multitude of snakes, all seemingly sentient in their own right. There was a great sense of anger flowing from the unfortunate beast, an anger that in a way was completely warranted, however no matter how warranted this creatures feelings were, it wasn't going to stop this group from trying to reach their goal. They all had their reason to fight as well.
It had been a while since the last time since she had fought in the front lines. Her first attempt was back on the 5th floor against Karack, something she decided to attempt due to the then recent promise she made for her guild. The floors since then managed to escape her grasp, but the end to this one was here and she was ready to fight.
The group circled around the beast and began their attack. Relentless, the players used all their skills to attack the beast, slowly dwindling its health down, however as the fight went on, Salathar showed newer tricks. She had created a space for herself by either sweeping players away with her tail or battering them into retreat by using the many snakes that had functioned as her hair. The rate that the group dwindled down the boss's health slowed immensely as she showed off her new strategies.
The fight truly changed when Salathar showed off her deadliest of skills. The entirety of the group paused as Salathar locked eyes with a player. Entranced with the Lamia's crimson eyes, the player drew his sword and with quick action, he began to stab himself, over and over again. Those close to the player tried to futile help him but were only rewarded the gift to watch as the man finished himself off with one final stab to the chest. Disappearing from existence, the player left a final reminder of his life, the a blood curling scream and a sense of complete helplessness for his friends and allies.
Bacarra stepped back at the sight. It was a first time in a long time that she has seen a player die. It was a very sad sight and brought sordid memories back into her head. She turned her head over to the ugly beast that caused this tragedy.
"I'm going to kill you. In the name of Azure, I will make sure you die. I don't care if you're virtual and don't understand what I mean, why what you did was terrible or whatever else there is to say on the matter. What's going to happen today is that you're going to die and I'm going to make sure that happens. "
The young girl growled at the creature, the flame inside her, the reason for her to fight flared brightly. She charged at the creature, her greatsword in hand. Azure followed at her side, with a quick glance at each other, Azure left a flash of light for the girl before soaring into the air, taking a stationary position in the airspace of the room. Bacarra speed doubled, easily avoiding attacks from the creature. Reaching Salathar, the girl attacked with an upward diagonal strike, cutting two of the snakes that adored the creatures head. She readied for an attack towards her head, but was easily swept away by the creatures tail.
The girl falls back and watched as others took their turn to try and attack the snake. It all ended similarly, pulling off small attacks, the players were pushed away before they could get a critical hit in. The current situation was hopeless. If things continued at the current pace the group will definitely lose. There had to be a means of pulling off a good hit on the creature. She thought for a moment, taking the time to restore the bit of health she lost through her passive regeneration. Then it finally hit her.
She called over Azure, with few words she requested for a buff for her bird. With a flash of light, she turned to the group and yelled out,
"EVERYONE GET READY TO ATTACK!"
Her words were vague and left many players confused, however her next actions made everything very clear. Bacarra stared courageously into Salathar's eyes, immediately falling under her spell. She pulled up her blade in a familiar fashion and began to stab herself in the chest. A curling scream comes from the girl's thought as her health quickly dwindled.
While channeling its spell, Salathar was completely focused on Bacarra and this gave the other players an opportunity to attack. Picking up on her calls, players put all their strength into attacks on the creatures, pulling off powerful swords art and quickly depleting the monster's health. Through the assault, the creature lost its focus on Bacarra, allowing her to gain control of herself, before one final stab.
Taking a large gasp, the girl fell to the ground and watched as her bar dwindled through colors. Green, to yellow, to the last little bit of red. She managed to survive. She let out a heavy sight as her second regeneration passive kicked in, bringing her back to yellow range within a few seconds and slowing down to its ordinary rate from there.
"What doesn't kill me makes me stronger. This skill sure has come in handy."
She sighed as she forced herself up.
"That was really scary. I don't think I can do that again."
He body trembled as she looked at her arms. She looked over to Azure, which was sitting near her. It was waiting for its cooldown to finish so it could use a heal on its master. It glared at her master as though to say that what she just did was really stupid. She could only respond with a grin. Her plan worked and Salathar took a good chunk from the assault and ultimately Bacarra was still alive. She caresses the birds head as though to show that.
She watched the battle before her. People were quick to catch on, whenever Salathar would try to take control of a player, the group would quickly come in to burst down the snake, preventing most of the damage from being done. What was once the creature's greatest strength quickly became its greatest weakness.
The girl got on her feet and readied her sword. She's restored enough HP at this point to continue fighting. She jumped back into the fray.