Just as Shi Feng was slowly circling to another side of the battlefield, Great Lord Noiah's health was plummeting at a terrifying rate.
The health loss was visible to the naked eye — dropping at a speed of one percent per second, dealing far more damage than the First Zone team had managed.
"Did the sky go dark?" The leading elementalist couldn't help but look up at the overcast sky.
The moon had already emerged.
Under the moonlight, Noiah was undergoing a transformation.
His body, towering at the height of a three-story building, began to shrink. His maximum health plummeted from ten million to six million in short order. But as his size decreased, his strength only grew — each successive blow dealt more damage than the last.
What had once dealt only two to three thousand damage per hit to the main tank now climbed straight past four thousand.
The six main tanks rotating to absorb the attacks each had over eight thousand health points. Even if Noiah happened to land a critical hit, they could survive. But now, any critical hit was guaranteed to force an aggro swap.
"Perfect — rotate your survival skills to tank the boss. Healers, focus all healing on the main tank!" The leading elementalist had come prepared and barked out his orders.
The Shield Warrior activated First-Tier Shield Wall, halving incoming damage for twenty seconds.
Noiah's damage instantly dropped from nearly five thousand to just over two thousand.
Behind the front line, the healers cast wave after wave of healing spells on the main tank, instantly restoring the lost two thousand-plus health.
But after only about five seconds, the Shield Warrior running Shield Wall was struggling to hold on.
Noiah's damage had climbed from two thousand back up to nearly four thousand. Without Shield Wall and its defensive boost, the Shield Warrior would have been instantly killed.
"Captain, Noiah is even stronger than we expected! If his damage keeps climbing, the main tanks are done for!" a beautiful female Priest said urgently.
Up to this point, the healers themselves hadn't had any problems.
They had deliberately chosen this time window to challenge Noiah. Based on prior observations, Noiah's health during the daytime was too massive — a full ten million — while at night it dropped to six million. The tradeoff was that his damage output soared. Against ten million health, their team's DPS simply couldn't sustain the Demon-Suppressing Barrier long enough. Six million health, however, was worth attempting.
But with Noiah, the longer the battle dragged on at night, the higher his damage climbed.
That was why they had chosen a time point close to nightfall. Even so, Noiah's damage scaling still exceeded their projections.
"Damn it — his damage is ramping up way too fast!" The leading elementalist checked his remaining mana. He could sustain the Demon-Suppressing Barrier for a few more minutes at most before it collapsed, and in those few minutes there was no way to burn through Noiah's remaining three million-plus health. Gritting his teeth, he shouted, "We're retreating!"
The group began an orderly withdrawal. The main tank backed out of the barrier step by step.
The Demon-Suppressing Barrier not only suppressed demons but also restricted their movement range. However, with no one to hold Noiah's aggro, the barrier took direct hits, drastically accelerating the mana consumption of the twelve elementalists. It was all too easy for them to burn through every last drop of mana.
Once everyone had retreated beyond the barrier, Noiah narrowed his eyes, a cold smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, and then let out a thunderous roar.
In an instant, Noiah split into more than a dozen smaller copies of himself, each about the height of a single person.
But these smaller Noiahs were nothing to scoff at. Though their health was only two hundred thousand each, they were Level 40 Leader-tier monsters. These creatures hammered away at the Demon-Suppressing Barrier relentlessly. In less than five seconds, all twelve elementalists' mana was completely drained, and the barrier shattered.
The Leader-tier Noiahs then spread their wings and gave chase after the retreating players.
Flying monsters hunting down players on foot was practically effortless. In barely any time, the group was overtaken and forced into a running battle.
A single strike from these smaller Noiahs dealt over three thousand damage. Against non-plate-armor classes, it was practically a one-hit kill. Their attack power was on par with a Lord.
"Damn it — how can a mere Leader deal this much damage?!" The Guardian Knight blocking three smaller Noiahs was overwhelmed with frustration as he was beaten to death by the triple assault, the healers unable to keep up with the damage.
In a short span of time, seven players from the hundred-person team had fallen.
And all the while, Great Lord Noiah simply stood before the massive stone gate of the valley, looking down at everything below — guarding the Dark Chapter while watching the First Zone team's members get picked off one by one.