‘About time!’ Salamander enthusiastically declared, as several thousand points of John’s mana poured into her. None of that energy pooled inside her; instead, all was channelled through her raised arms. Just past her palm, the energy was still invisible, then it rapidly developed into the grey and gold fire that was unique to her status as an endflame elemental. A ball of fire swelled from a little flicker to several metres across. “Bigger!” she gleefully exclaimed. “BIGGER!” The fire ball went to over ten metres across, then the mana source ebbed away. “It’ll do!” she shouted and launched the attack at the Titanturtle’s back.

She flew right after it, indulging in the inferno that consumed a vast bit of symbiotic forest. Cackling, her pyromania itch scratched, Salamander stomped the floor with her armoured boots a few times. The giant creature she was standing on wouldn’t feel the red-skinned menace on its back, but it gave its attention anyway, for the predictable reason that part of its friendly flora had just been annihilated.

Flying ever closer, John watched as the turtle first aimed at its back and then followed Salamander up into the air. While the Titanturtle would only start preparing its laser once something threatened its back, it wouldn’t stop preparing it unless they sought cover in the foliage. Two very important mechanical notes to have, when wanting the two bosses to attack each other.

Salamander flew as quick as she could, both to angle the shot correctly and to dodge it herself. Light intensified in the depths of the granite maw of the boss, focused inside a crystal where the back of the throat normally would be, and was then unleashed as a powerful laser. Just barely, it missed the flying elemental, continued to cut through the space between the other party members and finally hit the Ravenstorm directly in the chest.

‘Perfect shot!’ John complimented through their mental connection. Even a grazing hit would have done, but a perfect hit was more damage and more damage was better.

The first few attempts, they had relied on one of the many area attacks of the Ravenstorm to hit the turtle. Until either one hit the other, the bosses had no interests in one another. This had caused a large variation of encounter successes, based on how quickly they succeeded. By having the Titanturtle ‘accidentally’ hit the Ravenstorm, they bridged this issue entirely.

Being hit by its supposed ally had the Ravenstorm angry. John wasn’t sure if these bosses retained memories between encounters like Lady Presta had. Even if they did, they were bound to their programming, just like she had been, and behaved the same now as they had in every past encounter.

Choosing his new priority target, the Ravenstorm dived down on the Titanturtle’s neck. Its feathers had long since recharged their former glow, part of which was unloaded in a retaliatory energy wave that burst out along with the impact of its talons. Massive arcs of lightning rolled over the back of the turtle, cutting trenches into the forest and obliterating one of the spires outright.

Vast amounts of greenery were already destroyed when the group landed on the Titanturtle’s back. This led to less wolves, penguins and parrots coming their way than usual, all while going ignored by the turtle’s laser attacks, now aimed at the Ravenstorm. It wasn’t all sunshine though.

“Central spire first!” John announced and led the way, as they cut their way through the unbuffed adds. They had to hurry. Although the destruction of the forest was useful in the moment, once all of it was gone, the Titanturtle would start to sink. Much like it wouldn’t use the laser unless it wouldn’t harm its symbionts, it also wouldn’t drown them. When there was nothing left to drown except its enemies, the boss would stop caring and effectively despawn. They lacked the tools to defeat it under the waves.

Aside from that, there were other issues.

There were distant quakes. One source was the fighting of the two giants, but that ceased when the Ravenstorm took off to once more use distant lightning over melee attacks. The second was quickly closing in, each rumbling step stronger than the last.

Practically sprinting, the golem created by the annihilation of the first pillar chased after them. Blue electricity crackled between its crystallized surfaces. While the Ravenstorm took care of some of the spires for them, every time it did so the resulting golem was charged. It increased the damage they did but, more crucially, they were faster. Fast enough to catch up to the group.

“Tagged,” Beatrice announced, passive in tone, when the golem tried to grab her. Separating from the group, she kited the golem back towards the destroyed area close to the neck.

‘Another stroke of good luck,’ John thought and smirked. Beatrice was one of the quickest members of the group and she had emergency escape tools. For her to be chased by the first golem was quite good. Whenever the Ravenstorm destroyed the second spire close to the neck, it always happened at some point, her being the only one close to that area would guarantee that golem would also chase her. Upon first landing, it was entirely random who the golem had picked while they were still up in the air.

They rushed to the middle spire and brought it down with little difficulty. Aclysia, Gnome and Metra continued to batter the crystal-stone obelisk while the rest of the group fended off the adds. They then moved to the pillar on the middle-left of the Titanturtle. Their intent was to go a U-shaped route.

At least that was the intent for most of them. “We’ll take off here,” John announced, always having an eye on the flight buff. It was still active, so they could bridge the distance between those two spires quickly. For the majority of the group, they wouldn’t get another refresher.

“Alright, ya do your best!” Rave shouted back. Together with the bulk of the group, she moved to assault that second pillar and handle the second golem. A third was rising in the distance, a thunderbolt having just destroyed the second spire at the Titanturtle’s neck.

Only Lydia, Nia and Sylph were with him. Their tiny formation went up into the sky and watched the fight between the Titanturtle and the Ravenstorm in more detail. Three neck segments down, the reach of the turtle was greatly diminished, but the laser was as threatening as ever. It cut through the air and the Ravenstorm. The body of the thunderbird melded within a second, as the boss rose to the sky. Bulges had already formed in the clouds. This time, they couldn’t angle the lightning strikes at an advantageous angle.

Following Sylph’s lead, the four of them wove through the rapid succession of lightning strikes that hit turtle and water alike. While John was concentrating on dodging, he caught a feeling of panic, then part of his mental connections went dark. Gnome had just gotten killed, hit by a lightning strike and consequently grabbed by a spire golem that had been focused on her. The first death of this attempt. A semi-vital death, Gnome was a safety line John would have liked to have around, but she was not required for the attempt to be deemed a failure. Only himself, Nia and Sylph were absolutely vital to win, at the stage they were at.

More importantly, there were fresh feathers falling from the Ravenstorm. “Forty, thirty,” he told Nia and Lydia. They wouldn’t need all of the duration increases that were dropped. Everything they got extra was pure insurance. They were still busy with that when the forces on the ground destroyed the fifth pillar. Only two remained standing, three had been destroyed by the Ravenstorm and two by the party. Only the ones in the bottom right and right centre now remained. John didn’t stay there to see them fall; together with Nia and Lydia, he made his way south-east. He had somewhere else to be.

Jack dodged the swipe of a golem, kiting it away from the group and the remaining greenery. Between the attacks of the Ravenstorm and the area wilting that followed after a spire was destroyed, most of the trees were gone. What little there still was only spawned a new, weak add every minute or so, but they needed it or the encounter would sink under the waves of the lake.

Because Gnome was dead, they couldn’t replant the trees. All they could do was pray the Ravenstorm didn’t hit the last few strips of land between now and the next step of the plan. Although they were playing their best, any raid encounter faced under the recommended power was always coming along a fair bit of luck. They were having quite a bit of good luck this attempt.

The second to last spire was destroyed according to plan. Some fended off the few beasts still spawning, some damaged the pillar and some occupied the golems.

The now six spire golems, three of which were supercharged, were currently chasing after Beatrice, Jack and Undine, with three going to the passive maid, one to him and two to Undine, one of which was the one that had killed Gnome. That there were some after their healer was somewhat unfortunate, but at this stage there was little damage taken, and Aclysia and Metra being left to their own devices was pretty good.

Being able to fly, Jack had an easy time to continue evading the golem even now. He had to carefully stay within its range, just flying away would have caused it to acquire a new target. All he had to do was flee and keep analysing the situation. He saw that the Ravenstorm was getting ready for another dive attack. The Titanturtle was waiting with an open jaw.

‘WAIT!’ he mentally shouted at Aclysia and Metra. The two were about to destroy the last spire and were now staying their hand. The Gamer had spied an opportunity for some shenanigans. ‘Cut it down when I give the signal.’

The two obeyed and waited. Jack looked at the Ravenstorm. The boss gained height through a couple of flaps, then tilted forwards. When it pulled in its wings and started to drop, the Gamer gave the signal. The spire fell moments thereafter.

Aiming at the TItanturtle’s neck, the Ravenstorm had to find out that there suddenly was no more neck. The last segment crumbled away, the head of the seaborne boss was magically joined with the shell and the open jaw was now the direct destination of the Ravenstorm’s movements. Already committed to the attack, the electricity raven only managed to slow its descent, but not stop it before it was caught in the titanic turtle jaws.

Jack imagined he heard massive bones crunching, but it was probably just the massive force of the snapping causing stone to grind against stone as the lighting creature was chomped in half. Even the energy creature wasn’t immune to being grabbed and stuck between the massive jaw; it was subsequently slammed into the water. The entire island shook one, two, three times as the pissed off Titanturtle thrashed around. Golems and party alike found it impossible to move as the ground kept quaking.

Likely thinking it had stunned its enemy, the Titanturtle opened its jaw to finish it with one more laser attack. At that moment, the Ravenstorm was suddenly reinvigorated. A cry echoed through the air and a massive shockwave forced the entire sentient island to drift a hundred metres back. Hovering upwards, wings and talons stretched out, the Ravenstorm was incandescent white, blinding lightning crackling around it. A second shockwave burst out when a second pair of wings appeared on the creature’s body, stronger even than the last one. The white was consumed in the process, leaving the boss with the previous blue and yellow colouration.

The first shockwave had already swept their footing away. This second one had them tumble around like helpless seeds in the wind. Most of them managed to hold onto something. Jack worriedly looked at the bending trees. A mistake on his part. Whether or not the trees fell over was out of his hands and him knowing it would change nothing. Had he looked at Beatrice, however, he would have been able to warn her.

The three golems that were after her, particularly the two charged ones, were practically unfazed by the shockwave. Lean design and high weight combined to allow them to continue in their charging once the ground was stable again. Not yet recovered, Beatrice wasn’t able to regain her awareness of all three golems’ positions before they were upon her. She dodged the swipe of one by jumping backwards, only to dodge into the kick of another one. In a display of absolutely cruel combo ability, the kick delivered her into a downwards slam that made her crack the granite floor. One more stomp and she was out for the count.

The trees remained standing, but the lack of additional eyes on her situation had caused Beatrice to be unable to react. A small mistake with big consequences.

Jack couldn’t dwell on it. Both bosses were now in phase two. All of the golems around were only important because they could be in the way of their next objective. Analysing the current position of the golems and his party members, he made the call. “We use the neck entrance!” ‘Sylph, start kiting the Ravenstorm towards the Sicklebrood. Do it at a medium pace.’

‘Roger, roger!’ the thunderstorm elemental responded and darted off.

The second phase of the Ravenstorm wouldn’t be an issue for the ultra-fast air spirit to handle. That was to say, much like Salamander with the Granite Titanturtle, she could dance around it for a long while, but also never be able to deliver threatening damage to it. As impressive as the transition scene had been, the four-winged Ravenstorm was essentially the same as the two-winged one. Magical attacks got more powerful and more frequent, with recharge times shortened. Those were the differences. It was difficult, yes, John was quite certain they couldn’t have dealt with it in under 150 tries, if at all at their current level, but it didn’t require any new learning. Sylph was still the ideal candidate for kiting, and it was urgent the Ravenstorm to now be removed from the area.

Not only did they need it at the location of the third boss for the last bit of the plan, but they couldn’t have the stronger lightning attacks threaten the last few trees. Not while they headed into the second (or third, if the skipped approach phase could be counted) phase of the Titanturtle boss.

When all spires were destroyed, a series of caves became accessible all over the boss’ back, all of them connected to the same system. Those caves allowed them to completely ignore the golems, as they were too large to follow inside. The Granite Titanturtle was undefeatable from the outside, at least at their current power level, but from the inside was very much possible.