Knights Balder And Berenike

It’s taken us almost two days to even get close to beating the next part of the Raid. We’re facing different enemies this time, and while they’re about the same strength as before, the fact that there’s 4 of them makes it much more challenging.

An unpleasant surprise that we discovered during the two days of smacking our head against the wall of this dungeon is that while our progress does save between attempts, that only extends to areas that have been beaten, not the enemies killed.

We didn’t realise on going through the first part, because the first time we killed the Black Knight, our remaining combatants piled onto and defeated the Fang Boar.

In this segment, we’re facing 3 Balder Knights, who are much faster than the Black Knight was, but they’re less resistant to damage, and they also don’t hit as hard. Their power comes from their speed and numbers. I can counter their speed with my frost magic, but their numbers are harder, especially since they respawn every attempt.

The other enemy is a Berenike Knight, and is similar to the Black Knight, although much slower and somehow even stronger and more durable. He’s less immediately threatening because he never moves at more than a walking pace, but when he hits, he hits like a truck.

It’s a good thing that whatever was going on between them, Belle and Olivia seem to have sorted it out. Mostly.

I sometimes catch them stealing glances at each other during fights. Skylar is deliberately evasive every time I ask her about it, and Mia and I are both convinced that they’ve hooked up. Ivy and Paige are just glad they’re okay.

I’m especially glad about it because Olivia’s help during this segment is proving to be invaluable. Combined with the power boost we got from beating the first area, and the experience we’ve gained from nearly two days worth of attempts, and I think we stand a decent chance at finishing it before the day is done.

“Everybody ready?” I ask, to nods all round. With no other words necessary, I lead the party into the raid, and we spring into action immediately, the Balder Knights running forward as soon as they see us, brandishing their rapiers.

After all the time of trial and error, we finally managed to figure out a strategy that worked for us.

Mia flies off ahead of us, while Olivia, Belle and I run forward as one.

A burst of green power, and Olivia is left standing in her Tetramand form, the monster best suited to counter the Balder Knights, who are quick, but not the most durable and don’t hit as hard as the Berenike Knight does.

The three of us step forward and engage our knights, separating into designated sections of the arena, luring our enemies away from each other. Skylar and Paige stay with Ivy, and begin to combine their magic to blast Olivia’s knight first.

Mia meanwhile, is in charge of kiting the Berenike Knight away. For all their power, the knights are none too smart, which is the reason why this strategy is even viable in the first place.

Mia’s massive gain in agility from the last segment is also the reason why she’s capable of this. We’ve found a few times that one good hit from the Berenike Knight deals about 90% of her health, and mostly leaves her out of the fight for good.

The idea behind this strategy is a stacking numbers advantage. All Belle and I have to do is hold off our knights before the others come to help us.

Focusing on my part, I lure my knight over to the left, immediately blasting him with ice magic. As much as the Balder Knights aren’t as durable as the other types of knights, it still takes a hell of a lot to kill one of them.

My ice magic slows it down somewhat, enough for me to vaguely keep up. If I hadn’t increased my agility from the levels I got from the first segment of the raid, I’d be screwed. I wouldn’t be able to keep up, even with the slowing effects of my magic.

Quick as a flash, the Balder Knight thrusts with his rapier, a storm of attacks that I can barely keep up with, deflecting and dodging the best I can with a pair of conjured small shields.

I don’t even bother trying to hit back. The Balder Knights are too quick for that. I just focus on dodging and surviving.

The barrage of thrusts finally comes to an end as the knight steps back for a moment, bringing up its sword and shield in a ready stance.

I learnt a while ago that the best way to fight these things is with magic. When it jumps backwards and holds up its sword and shield like this, if I try to slash at it with a sword, I’ll get parried, which is not a fun thing to have happen. It would leave me wide open for a counter attack.

Instead, I unleash a powerful wave of ice magic, covering the area immediately in front of me with blue and white frost. The Balder Knight tries to sprint forward and out of the cloud, but the damage is already done. The ice builds up on its armour.

That barely phases it though, as it begins another relentless cycle of attacks, thrusting again and again, and all I can do is deflect, parry, block and otherwise survive.

Between thrusts, I use short blasts of magic to try to increase the ice buildup, but the Balder Knight just keeps coming, the delays between attacks only marginally increasing from the effects of my magic.

The sounds of battle ring out around me, the rhythmic slams of Paige’s earth magic, the sharp scratches of Skylar’s shadow magic, the whispers of wind from Mia kiting around the Berenike Knight.

Plants sprout around where Olivia is fighting her knight to heal her. She’s taking the most damage out of all of us, due to her engaging the knight hand to hand to take advantage of its low durability.

I settle into a slightly comfortable rhythm, quieting all conscious thought and focusing purely on the fight, dodging and weaving through the Balder Knight’s attacks, retaliating with magic where I can, making liberal use of my extensive mana bar and catching him with clouds of frost when I can.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Belle using a similar strategy, focusing simply on dodging and weaving between her knight’s thrusts, and hitting it with blasts from her magic when she can.

An almighty crash thunders through the arena, and I risk taking the time to look at what made the noise. It seems Paige, Skylar, and Olivia coordinated an attack at the same time, and it was enough to finish off the first Balder Knight, as the golden dust can attest to.

I focus back on the knight I’m engaging, smiling as I do. This is the best that this strategy has worked so far.

They all move to engage Belle’s knight, the closest available enemy. Belle makes space for them, having learnt how to work as part of a larger team, and for a moment, things are going well.

And then disaster strikes. I hear a pained shout from Mia as a chance blow from the Berenike Knight catches her, sending her careening into a wall. Olivia switches targets instantly, being the person who has the best chance of standing up to the hulking Berenike Knight.

Plants sprout up around where Mia impacted, with Ivy doing her best to heal the damage caused. Olivia sprints to intercept the advancing knight, with Paige providing backup to her, as has previously been discussed.

We all know that if the Berenike Knight gets to any of our weaker fighters unimpeded, it’s over for them.

Skylar continues to focus on aiding Belle in fighting her knight, doing her best to make sure Belle doesn’t get overwhelmed.

The giant Berenike Knight advances at a slow pace, singularly focusing on Mia, bearing down on her. It raises its mace, getting ready to strike the final blow that would take Mia out of the fight for this attempt. She looks up at it, calm, and defiant.

Olivia slams into its side a moment later, using her size, speed and strength all at once to smash into the knight, knocking it off course and sending it stumbling back a few steps.

Ivy keeps healing Mia as Olivia engages the huge knight, punching it in the side of the head before it can recover from the initial powerful impact. The savage punch rocks the knight, and with the immense amount of strength Olivia possesses in her Tetramand form, I’d expect nothing less.

The knight recovers fairly quickly and lifts up its mace, choosing Olivia as its new singular target. The swing is too quick for Olivia to dodge in her current form, so all she can do is brace, holding her arms out in front of her to limit the damage the rest of her body sustains.

The thundering blow catapults her away, smashing right through her ready stance and knocking even Olivia off her feet with the sheer **** of the blow.

Paige makes to rush forward to help her, but Skylar stops her. “They’re doing their job. Let’s focus on ours.” She says, and Paige nods, refocusing her magic on taking out Belle’s Balder Knight, while the Berenike Knight is still distracted.

There’s no nothing to stop the hulking knight from advancing towards Mia. Ivy still hasn’t healed her enough to be able to tank another blow. A massive tree sprouts behind the knight, attempting to grip onto the knight and slow it down, but the knight just rips itself free from the branches with seemingly little effort.

Out of options, Mia tries to fly away, but is too hurt to be able to use her magic properly, and she’s slower than usual. Another massive blow from the knight clips her and she falls to the ground, just barely surviving.

Olivia gets back up and charges at the knight, but is too late as the knight deals the final blow to Mia, triggering the Fateweaving and sending her out of the fight for this attempt.

Olivia smashes into the Berenike Knight a second later, relying on Ivy’s healing magic flowing through her to tank the damage that the knight could deal to her.

We’re now running on borrowed time. We need to finish off the Balder Knights quickly, otherwise there’ll be none of us left to distract the juggernaut from taking us all out with its sheer strength and power.

Olivia trades blows with the huge knight, dodging where she can, tanking where she can’t. As she’s the only one who’s attacking it, the Berenike Knight focuses solely on her, even when its mighty blows knock her backwards several meters.

Ivy focuses almost entirely on healing Olivia, as keeping her alive and distracting the knight is paramount to our success.

But even Olivia has limits, and though Ivy can heal her, she can’t stop the exhaustion from settling in as the minutes tick by and Olivia trades blow after blow with the powerful creature.

Her movements become more sluggish as Olivia nears the limits of her stamina from spending an entire day fighting, and a prolonged period trading powerful blows with a far more powerful enemy.

And just as it looks like the Berenike Knight is finally going to overpower Olivia, the barrage of magic the rest of us have been throwing at the Balder Knights finally starts to overwhelm them, my ice magic finally slowing down the ridiculously quick thing I’m fighting, and the other Balder Knight appearing battered from the onslaught of magic from Belle, Paige, and Skylar.

Without wasting a second, Belle dismantles the remaining defences of her Balder Knight while Skylar and Paige turn to reinforce Olivia.

I can finally start to land more solid blows on my knight as the buildup of frost slows it down to a level where even it, as quick as it is, cannot dodge my attacks.

As Belle and I work to finish off the Balder Knights, the Berenike Knight moves to finish off Olivia, who lays on the ground, battered, bruised and nearly overcome. Ivy’s healing magic props up Olivia’s vitality, and Skylar and Paige hurl magic at the hulking thing, but still, the knight advances.

Raising its mace high above its head and bringing it down in a decisive blow, Olivia is teleported out of the dungeon as the Fateweaving activates, saving her from ****.

Within moments, I deal the final blow to my Balder Knight. It fades away into golden dust as the Berenike Knight turns to face Skylar and Paige.

I sprint forwards, preparing powerful blasts of magic to turn the knight’s attention to me, as Belle finishes off her knight too, mere moments behind me.

Skylar and Paige don’t stop pelting the last remaining knight with their magic as I charge in, unleashing the prepared arcane magic, starting to build up stacks of Torrent on the creature. With it’s relatively slow movement speed, I have no worry of it dodging the blasts, and I can safely attack it without wasting mana.

Immediately it locks onto me as Belle charges with me. Together we advance, protecting Skylar and Paige by drawing the enemy’s aggression.

Thankfully, with so many of us focusing simultaneously on damaging it, and with the knight worn down already from Mia and Olivia’s combined earlier efforts, the knight can’t take much more punishment.

Our barrage of magic fells it quickly, and as the Berenike Knight disintegrates into golden dust, we let out a collective cheer, for having finally conquered this section of the Raid, without the Berenike Knight wrecking our careful enemy management.