Cyberdemon

“Oh my god, we’re fighting a Cyberdemon! It even has shadow armour on the loot table!” I exclaim. Did not expect to be able to find better armour for Skylar here but it’s a welcome surprise. I call out what I remember from the game. “Watch out for the melee attacks, it’s really strong! It has two phases, a dash attack, a laser and a lot of missiles!”

Mia flies upwards immediately while I tense up, ready to dodge to the side to avoid the first attack. The Cyberdemon roars and extends its arm, letting loose the first barrage of missiles. Running to the side, Skylar and Ivy close behind me, I fire mana bolts and an ice bolt at the demon, trying to see what type of damage is most effective against it.

It’s pretty resistant to fire damage, somewhat resistant against ice damage, and arcane damage seems to work best against it. However, it isn’t resistant against the freezing effect of my spells, so I throw wave after wave of freezing blast at it. Managing to avoid the missiles, I slow down the demon enough for Skylar to be able to dodge the missiles easily. It can’t move its arm quick enough to track us.

Mia slams down on the demon with a wall of solid air, slashing with her swords as she retreats, blood spurting grossly out from the cuts she opens up. The demon turns and punches at her, but way too slow to be able to hit her. Skylar takes the opportunity and unleashes spears of shadow, each penetrating through the skin of the demon and creating more wounds.

The Cyberdemon seems completely unaffected and simply turns back to us, hunching over slightly to reveal more launchers on its back. It fires a volley of missiles up in the air, and I react quickly. “Watch for the spots on the ground!” I yell, already searching for the markers of where the attacks are going to hit.

A second after my warning, orange circles light up ground beneath us. It’s very clearly indicators of where the missiles are going to hit, and Skylar, Ivy and I swiftly move to areas without any colour. Another second later, the missiles impact the ground and the three of us are unharmed. I look up to see Mia tumbling out of the sky, having been struck by a missile on its way down.

“That’s unfair!” She shouts, in pain from the explosion. Ivy rushes over to heal her, while Skylar and I re-engage the boss. “Land for that attack!” I call out to her, as I fire more freezing waves of magic at the boss. “Got it love!” Mia calls back, moving out of range of the Cyberdemon.

The demon is rapidly shaking off my frost magic, and it appears that while I can slow it, it doesn’t last for too long. I redouble the barrage of spells, doing my best to keep the slowing effect active. I succeed for the moment, and Skylar and I bombard the boss with attack spells, keeping our distance for the moment.

I spot an opportunity and decide to get in close for a possible melee attack. Drawing my axe, I run towards it to hack away at its slowed body. It raises its foot into the air, and I prepare to dodge wherever it stomps down. I swing my axe at one leg as its other leg comes down, missing me entirely. My axe opens up a cut on its leg, and then I’m blasted backwards.

Apparently the stomp isn’t just a stomp, but also a melee shockwave attack. Ivy finishes healing Mia as I crash to the ground, a fair distance away from the fight. Mia takes flight once more to rejoin the battle as Ivy runs to my side to begin healing me. Skylar and Mia work in tandem to keep whittling down the boss’ health as I wait for Ivy to heal me, occasionally firing off a spell myself.

Their fight becomes a little more difficult as my frost magic starts to wear off and the boss becomes faster in its attacks. I start firing ice bolts to keep up the effect, so Skylar and Mia can continue to dodge the near constant barrage of missiles. Suddenly the boss stops firing and turns to us.

The Cyberdemon dashes towards Ivy and I, propelled by thrusters on its back and we dive out of the way, only just managing to move in time. Immediately, the demon swivels and charges up a laser attack, indicated clearly by the coalescing orange light at the end of the demon’s arm, and the red targeting light that angles towards us.

“Laser! Move!” I yell, ducking and weaving, doing my best to stay out of the targeting laser. The Cyberdemon unleashes the attack a second later, a piece of hell sizzling through the air as we desperately avoid the sinister looking attack. Mia, Ivy and I manage to avoid it, but Skylar is too slow and the laser burns against her armour.

The demon’s attack ends a moment later, and it gives us a small window to attack. I throw more attack spells at it, glancing to check on the umbramancer’s condition. Despite the power of the attack, her armour held and her health bar is in a better condition than I expected it to be. Her left gauntlet is damaged though and I’ll need to repair it after the fight.

Ivy is on top of things easily and runs over to heal Skylar, while Mia and I guide the Cyberdemon’s attention away from our injured girlfriend. Mia swoops down once more from her aerial position and slashes with her swords, bringing a wave of sharp cutting air along with her. Another cut is opened up by the devastating technique, and widened by her sword.

The boss staggers off balance, and I take the opportunity to fire a hail of mana bolts right into the wound that Mia opened up. The demon roars and then stops in its tracks, clearly pretty hurt by this point. Ivy finishes up healing Skylar and they both ready themselves for the phase 2 that I warned them about.

As expected, the transition to phase 2 begins. The Cyberdemon raises one arm and a blinding flash of red light makes me close my eyes for a moment. When I open them again, the area around us has been transformed slightly. From a volcanic area to an arena much more reminiscent of what one might imagine hell to look like. Large pillars with satanic runes on them surround the arena, fire and brimstone in the background.

The Cyberdemon roars again and rushes forward, slashing at me. I dive under it, back-pedalling rapidly. If I couldn’t face it in a melee in phase 1, I sure as hell won’t be able to in phase 2, with its faster attacks, more unpredictable attack patterns and any extra attacks that I’ve forgotten.

Not a second passes after that thought, when the boss extends its arm out and traps me in a tunnel made of conjured stone. It swipes the bladed arm through the air, creating fiery horizontal waves that hiss through the air towards me. Reacting immediately, I jump over the first wave, duck under the second, and retaliate with more mana bolts.

The walls around me dissolve and Mia comes out of nowhere, slamming once again down onto its head. She slashes with her swords, the same as before, when she retreats. This time the demon’s punch misses her by a hair, as its already off balance. I send forth more waves of frost to slow it down as Skylar takes the opportunity.

She unleashes a barrage of shadow spears, each one impacting and penetrating with a slightly sickening thck thck thck sound. Icicles form on the Cyberdemon’s body as my onslaught of freezing magic starts to take effect. The boss slows down visibly, aiming its arm and beginning another bombardment of missiles.

We know the drill by now and keep running to the side to stay out of the way of the demon’s aim, throwing more attack spells at it and slowly but surely whittling down its health. The attack stops and it charges up another laser. We scramble out of the way but the boss isn’t fast enough this time and we all manage to dodge the attack.

Raising its arm, the demon slashes along the ground and conjures up a tunnel of rock, this time trapping Skylar. I have no idea if she can hear me, but I yell out advice anyway. “Jump and duck!” I yell, unable to attack the boss due to the conjured wall. A few seconds pass and I get more and more worried about Skylar, before the walls come down to reveal the umbramancer unharmed.

I breathe a sigh of relief, one that’s short lived as the Cyberdemon hunches forward, launching missiles into the air once more. Mia, having learnt from last time, lands on the ground and moves with the three of us into uncoloured spots on the ground. The missiles impact harmlessly around the arena and the boss straightens up, turning to us again.