We had breakfast and went over the strategy for our battle against Ifrit—we were ready. After one deep breath to calm my nerves, I asked the party, “Shall we?”
“Yeah! Ifrit is on the opposite shore of the oasis, right?” Kent asked.
“Mm-hmm. We just need to walk along the shore and we’ll get there.”
“Got it,” Kent said, a little stiff.
We’d beaten our fair share of dungeons and bosses, but it was always a little nerve-racking facing a challenge for the first time. Despite us walking toward what was sure to be a brutal showdown against Ifrit, the view of the oasis could not have been more peaceful. Will our boss fight destroy the oasis? I wondered. Fighting Ifrit was unavoidable—in fact, I was planning to fight and defeat Ifrit many times over—but I didn’t want to level this gorgeous oasis in the process. Maybe the place will restore itself every time we defeat Ifrit, I hoped against hope.
In no time, we’d come to the other side of the oasis where Ifrit awaited.
“Oh,” Kent blurted, the sight of a figure ahead stopping him in his tracks. “Is that Ifrit?”
I peeked around Kent to see...Ifrit leaning against a tree by the spring and playing with some small animals. I understood Kent’s hesitation perfectly. As difficult as it was to register this person as a monster, our quest wouldn’t progress until we defeated her. After all, wasn’t it another video game trope for a monster to take the form of a beautiful woman?
Ifrit took the form of a sexy lady in her early twenties with hair as red as hot flames tied into two bunches at the back of her head. She wore a black and turquoise dress in the style of Bahal’s traditional garment, except it showed off her cleavage from both the front and along the sides. Little of her supple tan skin was left to the imagination. Her forceful red eyes glowed like fire, her lower eyelids punctuated by painted-on white teardrops. When it came to battle, Ifrit used the rings tying her hair back—called Universe Rings—as melee weapons. Back in the game, Ifrit had also been known as the Smoking Bombshell.
Is she too much for Kent? I could see that Tarte and Cocoa were blushing at the sight of the boss’s scanty clothing. “Kent, like we talked about, Ifrit’s physical attacks can be devastating. Be careful.”
“With a melee weapon, right? Universe Rings?” Kent confirmed.
“Right. I’ll make sure you’re never without a barrier, but don’t let your guard down,” I said.
“Got it,” Kent agreed.
Ifrit seemed to have heard our conversation and realized we were here. She slowly rose to her feet...and smiled at us.
“Holy Maiden’s Boon, Protective Light, Smiting Light.”
Just as I began applying my buffs, Kent leaped forward, sword raised, and rushed Ifrit. “Taunt!”
Ifrit watched Kent approach while she flung her arms wide and took off her hairpins, which turned into enormous circular blades in her hands. She leaped into the air, easily gaining three meters of height.
“She’s nimble!” I exclaimed as I watched Ifrit, still in the air, bring down the Universe Rings toward Kent. With the help of gravity, it threatened to be a really heavy blow. “Starlight!” I shouted, casting a passive HP recovery Skill on Kent, just in case he took damage at some point. “Let’s stay aggressive,” I urged the group.
“Yeah!” Cocoa, L’lyeh, and Tarte answered, jumping to the attack. Ifrit was a powerful boss and an elemental spirit, but her stats were maxed out on physical attack. Once her HP was lowered, she’d lace the Universe Rings with fire—that was her only use of magic. As long as we stuck to the right strategy, this wouldn’t be a difficult fight. The dangerous part was that her all-out physical attacks were powerful enough to push through the defenses of most tanks.
Cocoa sang an Ice spell to try and slow down Ifrit—only for the ice to melt with a sizzle as soon as it touched the spirit’s leg. The flames coating her body were too hot for the ice to stick.
“No way! I didn’t think her flames were that hot,” Cocoa breathed.
“It melted... I can’t believe it,” Tarte moaned.
“We’re okay!” I shouted, bringing Cocoa and Tarte back into the fight. Casting Smiting Light, I waited for Ifrit’s next move. The Fire Spirit did a high backflip, the smirk on her face showing us that she was neither damaged nor threatened.
“Dammit! If Cocoa’s spell can’t even hurt her, what are we supposed to do?!” Kent began mumbling his thoughts out loud as he watched Ifrit closely. Staring her down and making sure to cast Taunt every now and then, he ensured that the boss’s attention never shifted to us.
Suddenly, Ifrit charged Kent, overwhelming him with a barrage of attacks from her Universe Rings—each hit was so powerful that Kent was struggling to block them all and still stand his ground. Ifrit’s ability to move so quickly and fluidly while wielding the Universe Rings, which were nearly as tall as her own body, all came down to her physical strength and flexibility. They would also allow her to finesse any attack we threw at her.
“Tarte, I’ll try to stop her with magic,” L’lyeh announced and leaped high into the air.
“Got it,” Tarte answered.
L’lyeh reached out with her hands, and her staff materialized in them. At the same time, a black blindfold—the same one she’d worn when we’d first fought her—appeared over her eyes. “Come,” said the Goddess of Darkness, and two bats—L’lyeh’s familiars—appeared. “Go,” she commanded, and the bats flew toward Ifrit. “Mist of Darkness.” Her familiars turned into mist that whirled around and constricted Ifrit. “Now!” L’lyeh shouted.
“Smiting Light!”
“Purrtion Throw!”
My Skill landed a moment before Tarte used hers, tripling her Attack. In the same breath, I reapplied buffs to Kent and then watched Ifrit. If this doesn’t damage her, we’re going to have an uphill battle. The Molotov found its mark—Ifrit’s scream echoed through the oasis. Good. All we have to do is keep this up. The thought made me glance at L’lyeh. Does that blindfold bring out her full power? She’d never once worn that blindfold since joining our party. While I wondered what significance it carried for L’lyeh, the sight of it told me that she cared for us and was willing to give this battle her all. It feels like we’re really friends now.
“Great job, Lulu. I have to keep up.” Cocoa unleashed another powerful Skill, piling more damage on Ifrit.
And so, we had a strategy—Lulu bound Ifrit while Tarte and Cocoa attacked. It was Kent’s job to somehow field all of Ifrit’s attacks, and mine to use Smiting Light at the right times and to make sure our buffs didn’t run out. “Okay. As long as we keep this up, we got this,” I reassured the party.
“Let’s keep up the purressure!”
After chaining this strategy for a while, we heard a roar from Ifrit. A red aura rose from her, along with tendrils of steam—Ifrit’s HP was low, and she had unleashed her full power. Gripping her now-flaming Universe Rings, she charged. Dodging the charge didn’t slow her down either. The Fire Spirit kicked off tree trunks to turn and accelerate herself even faster, like a ricocheting bullet.
We can’t avoid her forever. For this part of the battle, we had to accept that we would take some hits. The correct strategy was to make sure a barrier was up when the attack hit, and then launch our assault in the brief window when the collision would immobilize Ifrit. I’d never batted an eye at using this strategy in the game, but pulling it off in real life was pretty scary. Ignoring the thundering of my heart, I watched for the right moment to use Protective Light. One mistake from my end could easily result in our party getting wiped.
Seeing Kent get thrown back by a direct hit from Ifrit, I immediately cast Heal with Light and reapplied his Protective Light. I repeated the process, protecting everyone in the party from Ifrit as she bounded through our group, attacking each of us in turn.
“When she stops, I’ll hold her down,” L’lyeh called.
“Got it!” Tarte called back.
“Leave the attacking to me!” Cocoa added.
All three girls followed Ifrit’s movement with their eyes, determined not to miss the opportunity for attack.
Ifrit continued to ricochet. After bouncing off of ten or so trees, she landed on the ground—and sank into a quagmire of darkness. Caught in what must have been L’lyeh’s Skill, the Fire Spirit couldn’t move.
“Smiting Light!” I shouted.
“Winter’s blessing, turn rain of sorrow into trusty blades!”
“Purrtion Throw!”
Cocoa made blades of ice rain down on Ifrit, pinning her in the quagmire. It didn’t matter how fast she could move when she had no means to dodge our attacks. Tarte’s Molotov finished off Ifrit—or so I thought. With a poof, a tiny girl appeared from where Ifrit had been.
“What?!” we all exclaimed in surprise.
Ifrit had turned from a bombshell into a little girl who looked younger than Tarte—maybe five or six years old. Her arrogant smirk had been replaced by a sleepy expression. As far as I could remember, there had never been an event like this in the game.