At the command, everyone jumped into the river.
Sinking continuously through the icy water, they soon spotted the entrance to a cave.
They swam quickly toward the opening, gripped the edge, and entered, venturing deeper into the cavern.
After swimming for a distance, an open space appeared above them.
The group quickly surfaced, finally discovering a cavernous area with a rocky floor ahead.
They climbed onto the dry ground.
The group efficiently formed a formation while Rhine carefully chanted a spell to dry everyone's clothes.
Wet armor would severely hinder their movements.
Although the environment made it highly likely they would get wet again in the coming battle, it was still better than being completely soaked.
Without a word, the team continued forward following Manfred's hand signals.
Eventually, they reached the end of the cave, where they found a hemispherical stone structure.
Directly in front of the stone building stood a massive gate nearly twenty meters high.
Exquisite patterns were carved into the surface of the doors.
[Wellmouth Sentry of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment]
'Wellmouth Sentry.'
Everyone silently recited the boss's name in their hearts before taking their positions near the gate.
Weiss, the heavy warrior, stood at the front of the team in a defensive stance, while the mage Rhine completed half of her chant.
As Manfred gripped his sword, he pulled a copper magic item resembling a whistle from his robe.
With all preparations complete, the gate slowly ground open.
Mana pressed out through the gap in the doors, accompanied by a visible, ink-colored mist.
As a mage, Rhine was the most sensitive to mana and held her breath.
The six of them looked up at the stone gate, which slammed shut heavily behind them.
They looked around.
It was a vast, wide stone space; the ground was covered in a layer of standing water, and water dripped from the stalactite-covered ceiling.
The surrounding rock walls were covered in twisted branches that looked like hideous, overgrown blood vessels.
And straight ahead, at the very end of the chamber.
A massive figure stood.
It wore wooden armor inlaid with copper, looking both hideous and powerful.
It held a red copper greatshield in one hand and a steel greatsword in the other.
Wooden antlers like gnarled branches grew from both sides of its head.
Root-like branches sprouted from the armor on its body, covered in needle-shaped leaves.
In the gaps of the armor, twisted and entangled vines and branches could be seen, rippling with a sense of power like muscles.
It moved slowly, rising from a massive stone throne connected to the rock wall.
The space seemed to compress as it stood, and the pressure created ripples in the water at its feet that spread across the entire room.
As it raised its sword, the air in the chamber seemed to churn.
"The sentry follows the master's command."
"No entry for the living."
With a raspy voice, the Wellmouth Sentry moved.
Its massive body pounced like a beast, and the wind pressure from its greatsword crushed the flowing water on the ground.
"Hah!"
Weiss let out a roar, raising his greatshield to meet the Wellmouth Sentry.
Rhine quickly finished the second half of her chant; fire exploded and compressed at the tip of her staff, turning into a fireball.
Thud!
As the massive steel sword collided with the shield, the impact tore through the standing water on the ground.
Weiss took a step back, his greatshield pressing back and grinding against his armguards with a piercing screech.
"First-rank magic, Fireball!"
The fireball shot out instantly, grazing the top of Weiss's head and smashing into the Wellmouth Sentry.
The Wellmouth Sentry raised its sword and shield; the red copper surface of the shield collided with the fireball.
Flames surged, appearing as if they would submerge the shield entirely.
The Wellmouth Sentry quickly swung its arm, and the red copper shield glowed with a dazzling light.
To everyone's astonishment, the Wellmouth Sentry actually used its shield to deflect the fireball.
The massive fireball smashed into the ceiling, bringing down a large cluster of stalactites toward the group.
The attendants quickly swung their swords, parrying the falling stones.
Meanwhile, Manfred on the right wing launched a charge, leaping into the air and swinging his longsword.
Sword Qi wrapped around the blade, carrying thousands of pounds of force as it slashed toward the Wellmouth Sentry.
But the Wellmouth Sentry swung its own greatsword.
A similar Sword Qi wrapped around its blade, clashing against Manfred's.
Blade ground against blade as sparks and sword light sprayed together; Manfred took a deep breath, and the strength in both his hands suddenly exploded.
The Wellmouth Sentry's attack was parried, and it was forced back several paces.
Manfred bounced back and landed steadily on the ground, his brow furrowed.
What was going on?
This boss acted as if it had a complete understanding of their abilities.
The Wellmouth Sentry steadied itself and swung its parried greatsword forward in a fierce slash.
A crescent-shaped Sword Qi parted the standing water, hurtling straight toward them.
Weiss raised his shield and moved forward to meet the Sword Qi; at the moment of collision, the shield glowed brightly.
Reprisal!
The Sword Qi was reflected back in its entirety!
The Wellmouth Sentry flickered to one side, pulling away from Manfred while accelerating into a charge toward the core of the team.
Rhine watched the charging Wellmouth Sentry and accelerated her chanting.
Weiss moved sideways to block the frontal impact; a loud bang tore through the standing water.
However, on the charging Wellmouth Sentry, those needle-shaped leaves bypassed Weiss and shot toward Rhine like arrows.
Rhine's pupils shrank, and she pulled her body in.
An attendant nearby swung a sword to intercept them, blocking a large portion of the needles.
Yet some needles still slipped through like fish through a net, stabbing into Rhine and interrupting her magic chant.
"Hah!"
Weiss gave a furious shout, swinging the heavy hammer in his other hand toward the Wellmouth Sentry at close range.
At the same time, he pushed his shield forward, using Reprisal again.
The Wellmouth Sentry staggered slightly; Manfred seized the opportunity to dash out again, his longsword swinging like a shadow, like light.
The staggering Wellmouth Sentry hurriedly raised its shield.
Manfred gripped the hilt tightly; a deep crack was torn into the copper shield.
This time Manfred did not retreat after one strike but instead swung his sword in continuous suppression.
Seeing this, Weiss hurried to adjust his position, providing support from the side.
Rhine pulled a needle from her wound, wanting to raise her staff to chant again, but a wave of numbness spread from the injury.
"Poison!"
Her expression changed, and she quickly took an alchemical potion from her waist and downed it.
Feeling the paralyzing toxin suppressed, she quickly began chanting again.
"First-rank magic, Grass-Tracing Wind!"
A light breeze swept in; the Wellmouth Sentry was prepared and raised its copper shield to block the wind.
The defense reduction of Grass-Tracing Wind was only effective against plants.
And red copper was a metal.
At this moment, most of the Grass-Tracing Wind was blocked by the red copper; only a small amount bypassed the shield to blow on the Wellmouth Sentry's body, greatly reducing the weakening effect.
Rhine was not discouraged and chanted again.
Fire gathered around her raised staff like fireflies as she chanted.
The Wellmouth Sentry wanted to interrupt again, but the three attendants guarded Rhine firmly.
The frontal suppression from Manfred and Weiss also left the Wellmouth Sentry with no opening for a sneak attack.
"First-rank magic, Summer Night Fireflies."
As the chant ended, she waved her staff.
Countless fireflies swept toward the Wellmouth Sentry from all directions.
The Wellmouth Sentry leaped back, raising its copper shield to block some of the fireflies.
But more fireflies bypassed the shield and swarmed onto the Wellmouth Sentry's body.
The fireflies clung to its body like maggots on a bone, burning rapidly.
The Wellmouth Sentry tried to use the standing water on the ground to extinguish the flames, but Manfred hurried to close range, swinging his sword with one hand and blowing the copper whistle with the other.
As the sharp sound of the copper whistle rang out, the copper parts of the Wellmouth Sentry's body began to turn brown and green rapidly.
The massive copper shield turned green in an instant.
The magic item, Rusted Copper Whistle; the whistle's sound could cause copper objects within a three-meter radius to rust and decay rapidly.
Manfred held the Rusted Copper Whistle in his mouth, blowing continuously.
His attacks did not stop; his sword light grew faster and faster, maintaining continuous suppression.
The copper shield kept shattering and peeling away.
The same was happening to all the copper parts of the Wellmouth Sentry.
A magic item was not a magical artifact after all; as the whistle continued, cracks spread across the Rusted Copper Whistle.
Until with a snap, the copper whistle shattered and disappeared.
During this entire process, Weiss had been forced to pull away.
This was because his own greatshield also had copper parts.
Now that the whistling had ended, he quickly moved back in to suppress, preventing the Wellmouth Sentry from using the standing water to extinguish the fire.
Rhine cast the magic again from a distance: Summer Night Fireflies.
Continuous spellcasting had already consumed more than half of her mana.
The mana consumed by Grass-Tracing Wind and Summer Night Fireflies was much higher than that of Fireball.
The incoming fireflies clung to the Wellmouth Sentry again; now most of the sentry's body was engulfed in flames.
Yet its attacks still did not stop.
What was burning was only the wooden armor; the Wellmouth Sentry contained a large amount of moisture, allowing it to resist flames to a certain degree!
However, it only changed from a major weakness to fire to a minor one; it could not withstand the flames forever.
The Wellmouth Sentry smashed its sword down, sending Sword Qi flying in all directions.
At the same time, the leaf needles on its entire body shot out in a chaotic pattern.
Manfred dropped to the ground, and Weiss slammed his shield forward.
Immovable Fortress!
The scattered Sword Qi and leaf needles were all blocked; the Wellmouth Sentry staggered and rolled onto the ground, a large portion of the flames being extinguished by the standing water.
However, this movement exposed a massive opening.
Weiss stepped aside, Manfred charged out, and Rhine raised her staff high, whipping up a Grass-Tracing Wind.
All three of them had been waiting for this one opportunity.
Sword Qi wrapped around the blade, making the longsword look like a giant sword as it slashed down fiercely toward the Wellmouth Sentry on the ground.
The sentry lay on its back and raised its shield.
The rusted shield surface was instantly split in two by the Sword Qi greatsword.
The greatsword that shattered the copper shield continued downward, parting the hard wooden armor and biting deep into the body.
The Wellmouth Sentry raised its greatsword, Sword Qi surging and wrapping around it to block the downward slash.
But at this moment, the Grass-Tracing Wind blew in softly, brushing over the Wellmouth Sentry's entire body.
Layers of charred wood chips were quickly scraped off the carbonized wooden armor.
The Sword Qi greatsword slashed straight down; the steel sword was snapped in half, and the Sword Qi greatsword plunged straight into the Wellmouth Sentry's chest.
With the sound of wood splintering, the Wellmouth Sentry's chest was completely pierced, and it fell to the ground.
"My... Master."
Its body dissipated with its final words, leaving only a piece of monster material, a mix of copper and wood, on the ground.
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