It is the second phase of the raid against the Umbra Lord of Marionettes.

  While the rest of my party are dealing with the mobs that were summoned by the boss, I, on the other hand, am keeping the boss himself busy by facing him one-on-one.

  Our weapons cshed. As the boss pushed me back due to the difference in strength, staggering me for a second.

  Then, he follows up with another ssh aimed at my neck.

  "Moon Walk."

  I teleported behind him, evading his saw and countering with a blow to his head. Knocking the boss forward.

  "Thorn Bind!"

  As the boss staggered forward, I immobilised him. Following up with my favourite attack, along with my clones.

  """Multi-Explosion!"""

  Multiple Multi-Explosions were unched at the boss from the front. Much damage was dealt to him. Or... it should have. As the Thorn Bind I pced on him was hacked away in an instant, allowing the boss to, surprisingly, counterattack by reflecting all of those Multi-Explosion spells back at me and my clones.

  "What!?"

  He can do that!? Not fair!

  "Multi-Magic Shield!"

  In a panic, I casted Magic Shields all around me in the shape of a dome and took my own spell in the face as Moon Walk was still on cooldown.

  "Ahhhh!"

  Unfortunately, the Magic Shields couldn't fully defend me from my own attack, as I suffered great amounts of loss to my HP and my Mirror Make clones were destroyed in an instant.

  But, that wasn't the end of it. Immediately after reflecting my Explosions back at me, the boss came at me. Swinging his hand saw down at me when I least expected it.

  "Crap!"

  I quickly stepped to the side, barely evading the bde. However, the boss followed it up with an upward swing to my chest which I could not evade.

  "Ghhh...!"

  I took a step back.

  It hurts. And unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it as I noticed my HP gradually going down even though the boss isn't touching me.

  Bleed damage was the first thing that came to mind when I saw that icon below my HP bar. And immediately I became wary of his weapon when the boss came at me with a flurry of sshes.

  Carefully evading his attacks, I used Moon Walk the moment its cooldown was over and bsted his back out with a Multi-Aqua Laser directly behind him. Sending the boss flying towards the wall and pressing him against it with high pressure of water.

  Great. Now... "Thorn Bind!"

  Following up after that, I immobilised him and wasted no time attempting to blow his back out again with another Multi-Aqua Laser before he could break free of his bind and reflect my magic back at me.

  "Gaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

  The boss was hurt badly. His HP decreased greatly. However, he still has more than half of his health remaining.

  By the time the others are done dealing with the corpse golem mobs behind me, I need to at least bring his health down to the halfway point if we want to win.

  Because just from this duel against him, I am certain that he has more gimmicks up his puppet sleeves.

  In other words, I need more firepower.

  "Multi-Mirror Make!"

  I re-casted the spell on myself. Immediately chugging two MP potions and a HP potion right after. Just in time before the boss came sprinting at me.

  """Now... reflect this! Multi-Aqua Laser!!"""

  With my clones surrounding him, a barrage of attacks was fired at the boss from all directions. There was no way the boss could reflect all of them back at us when it's like this, right?

  Fortunately, I was right. Because he only reflected one of the attacks back. Receiving the rest, which decreased his HP tremendously.

  Unfortunately, the one Multi-Aqua Laser he had reflected was from the real me, which I could barely dodge in the nick of time. Causing me to lose a greater amount of my HP.

  This is bad... I'm doing more damage to myself than the boss had done to me.

  I tried to get another HP potion out to drink. But the boss proceeded to rush at me, ignoring my clones.

  In that moment, I moved one of the closest clones in between us, using it as a meat shield to tank his hand saw and hold his arm in pce while I, the main me, teleported behind him with Moon Walk. Attempting to give him the rgest Multi-Explosion bst that I and my clones can do to his back.

  At least that was the pn.

  Because before I could do that, the boss switched gears, literally. Detaching his arm that my meat shield clone was holding onto, leaving the hand saw behind as he turned around to the real me and revealing a hidden bde attached to his arm, sshing me with it. Causing my health bar to drop along with some poison damage over time.

  "****!"

  The boss's relentless assault continued. Attempting to ssh me again with his arm-bde.

  I sent four of my Mirror Make clones to hold him from reaching me while I jumped back. Only for his face to suddenly transform with his mouth wide open, revealing a nozzle hidden inside.

  Suddenly, this boss isn't hot anymore.

  "Magic Shield!"

  Without time to step away and with Moon Walk still on cooldown, I deployed a single Magic Shield in front of me in a panic, which broke almost immediately as I proceeded to get bsted with a rge ball of fire in the face, emitted from the boss's mouth. Dropping the remaining of my HP down to one.

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  [Notice! Skill: Knight's Valour has been activated.]

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Oh crap.

  It's now or never, I guess.

  As soon as I saw the notice for Knight's Valour's activation, I forsook all thoughts of evasion and defense and went all in on the offensive. Smacking the boss's head hard with Assault Charges, which apparently dropped his HP to the halfway point.

  "I won't die here!!!"

  The Umbra Lord of Marionettes completes his transformation as he screams out loud. Revealing spider-like puppet appendages from his back and a scopion-like puppet tail from his spine. Smashing and destroying the Mirror Make clones that were holding him, as well as the others surrounding him before he butt heads with me.

  "Magic Amplification! Magic Booster! Hex! Multi-Explosion!"

  Our weapons cshed against one another. I applied the Hex debuff and repeatedly casted Multi-Explosions to his face while he continuously reflected some of them back at me, along with sshing, piercing and cooking me with his array of arsenals.

  However, as I am invincible and have zero MP consumption for the next 16 seconds and counting. I cared not for the damage I had received and pressed on with the onsught to bring his HP down as much as I could before the effects of Knight's Valour ran out.

  "Multi-Explosion!"

  "Multi-Explosion!"

  "Multi-Explosion!"

  "Multi-Explosion!"

  "Multi-Explosion!"

  "Multi-Explosion!"

  "Multi-Explosion!"

  I was no longer looking at the boss's HP. Just focused on him personally.

  As I continued the attack without stopping, the boss started to evade my spells with a sign of fear in his eyes.

  I wasn't about to let him get away, however, and pursued him. Holding him in pce with Thorn Bind, even for just a second, before stuffing his face full of my Multi-Explosion.

  "No! Nooo! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

  Our csh became fiercer as the boss screeched in distress.

  I continued whacking him with Assault Charges and Multi-Explosions. While the boss hacked, sshed, pierced and burned me with his hand saw, appendages and fmethrower mouth.

  Our exchange continued fiercely, with me having the upper hand even though the boss still has more HP than me.

  But eventually, the effects of Knight's Valour were reaching its end and it would be over for me when that time comes.

  Except... it won't.

  "Final Push!"

  With Knight's Valour gone and Final Push in its pce, I gained another twenty seconds of invincibility but without the zero MP consumption.

  But, that is enough for me.

  With a MP potion in my left hand and Assault Charges in my right hand, I continuously meleed Multi-Explosions at the boss and chugged a MP potion right after. Repeating the process as much as I could until the effects of Final Push runs out.

  Because after that, then it would truly be over for me.

  And so, I swung and I drank. I swung again and I drank.

  I even casted Multi-Explosion twice before drinking another MP potion.

  I did not care to look at how much MP I have. Just the boss.

  I did not care to check how many seconds I have left before Final Push ends. Just the boss.

  I did not care about whether Mom, Hikari, Sanae, Himeji and Sindri were done dealing with the corpse golem mobs. Just the boss.

  Just the boss. I was focused only on the boss.

  I did not blink. I did not catch my breath. I did not stop.

  Just the boss. Just the boss. Just the boss!

  If there was anything I cared about in this moment, it would be screwing you up as much as I can before I go out, Pinocchio!

  "Go back to the dead! Multi-Explosion!"

  "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

  That was the final explosion before Final Push ends.

  And now... I am vincible.

  Which means this is where I—

  "Huh?"

  As the smoke from my Multi-Explosion fades, I notice the boss's puppet body crumbling to pieces.

  "No! Nooo! I can't—! This can't be the end of me!"

  "Wait... what?"

  "Mavis... Mavis!!!"

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  [Congratutions! You have defeated the Raid Boss: The Umbra Lord of Marionettes, Pinocchio.]

  Rewards are being distributed among party members...

  EXP gained: 104,200

  [You have levelled up to LV 46!]

  [You have levelled up to LV 47!]

  Reward(s) received: [20,000,000 gold], [Soul of an Umbra Lord ×1], [The Marionette's Sin], [Umbra Crystal ×15]

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "...What?"

  The victory window popped up. But I could only stare at it in disbelief.

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  Skill: [Liberator of Arialight] identified.

  Additional Reward(s) received: [Umbra Warrior Bracelet]

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  ChocoteLover030