Chapter 116: Powerful Servant
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor:
Logically, Silver-tiered Servants were not as rare as Gold-tier Servant, but it was still not supposed to be dropped by Clear Lotus - The Ice Whisperer, a small-fry of a gatekeeper boss! Rather, it should have been dropped by the final boss which was that Evil Sorcerer!
Probably this was due to the first kill of Clear Lotus - The Ice Whisperer, so it was a bonus loot!
Yes! Great fortune indeed!
Zhang Yang felt euphoric, and continued to the staircase, step by step to the entrance of fifth floor.
He followed the steps and walked down, turning 7 to 8 rounds before entering the tower's fifth floor.
This floor was different again. It was full of stelae which were at least as tall as seven or eight people and as wide as about three people. Untamed flora grew across the ground. Zhang Yang was felt like he had just stepped into ancient historical remains, fit to be an archaeological excavation!
Zhang Yang raised his head and gazed into the distance. It was dead silent, and the only thing that caught his eyes were some unknown grade of gemstones glimmering on the top of stelae.
"Stealth monsters again?" Zhang Yang grumbled in his heart.
He gingerly stepped forward, sword and shield drawn and raised.
Shwoop!
A number of projectiles suddenly shot rapidly toward Zhang Yang from all directions!
"I am not able to dodge them all!" Zhang Yang calmly said to himself. He still had <Block>!
'-562!'
'-534!'
'-571!'
'-557!'
<Block> was completely ineffective! Zhang Yang caught sight of four skeletal archers stepping out from the back of a stela in front of him. The skeletal archers were holding bows, each as long as half a person, gazing at him with strong killing intent.
[Underground Tower's Archer] (Elite)
Level: 36
HP: 40,000
<Block> was definitely an overpowered skill but it was invalid for ranged attacks!
Zhang calculated that the distance between the skeletal archers and himself was at least 20 meters. Their effective range was 2 to 10 meters so Zhang Yang had to take some shots from them if he tried to close the distance. The skeletal archers would always pull away to maintain the distance between themselves and their targets, while unleashing their attack continuously. However, they would only use melee attacks when they fail to shake their targets off. However, Zhang Yang did not have any AoE immobilizing skill so whenever the skeletal archers spread out, Zhang Yang could only chase after them one at a time and swing at it with all his might!
In a moment. Zhang Yang already thought up numerous strategies, and decided not to rush towards the skeletal archers but instead retreated to take cover behind a huge stela.
In 'God's Miracle', be it by players or monsters, ranged attacks would never penetrate the obstacles unless they broke the obstacles themselves. The four skeletal archers clattered noisily, approaching the stela to attack Zhang Yang.
As the skeletal archers drew closer to the stela, Zhang Yang immediately used <Horizontal Sweep> and four '-1400' damage texts appeared above their heads.
The four skeletal archers punched at Zhang Yang pathetically. Ranged attack monsters' had naturally low melee damage, and the most they could deal was just 100 points of base damage, which was completely nullified by Zhang Yang's defense. They each only inflicted 1 point of damage to him. Additionally, as if things weren't bad enough for them, their valid strikes had also activated Zhang Yang's set equipment's HP recovery effect, and three '+100' green text floated above his head.
Still, things won't be so simple. The four skeletal archers jumped backwards after that attack, and gained about 10 meters of distance!
<Tumble>, this was the unique skill for Hunters as an evasive maneuver whenever danger came too close!
Zhang Yang only curled his lips knowingly, before slipping back behind the huge stela.
If those skeletal archers coordinated like actual players, they could actually occupy each corner and surround the stela so that Zhang Yang would be within one of their line of fire no matter where he hid! Unfortunately, this was not the case; as soon they saw Zhang Yang hiding behind the stela, and as per scripted response, they roared, and approached Zhang Yang's position again.
Zhang Yang jumped out again when the skeletal archers approached the stela. Ten seconds of cooldown was up, and Zhang Yang used <Horizontal Sweep> again, with four damage texts carrying high numbers appearing above their heads.
Once again, the skeletal archers tried to retreat from Zhang Yang!
This was the programmed combat tactic for a ranged attack monster. Although <Tumble> was still in cooldown and unavailable, the four skeletal archers spread out, retreating after throwing punches in retaliation!
Luckily, Zhang Yang was well prepared, he used <Thunder Strike> and the speed of those skeletal archers were immediately reduced. In the meantime, Zhang Yang zoned in on one of them, forcing the skeletal archer to run towards the direction of another skeletal archer, bunching them up together.
With excellent situational and combat awareness, Zhang Yang herded them like sheep, able to force four skeletal archers to the same direction, with none of them being able to keep their distance away from Zhang Yang in order to perform ranged attacks.
30 seconds later after receiving a lot of harassment from Zhang Yang's sword, <Tumble> was ready once again, and skeletal archers fled as one.
<Charge>!
Zhang Yang dashed towards them, keeping close.
<Tumble> and <Charge> had the exact same 30 seconds of cooldown period, so the monsters would never be able to disengage from Zhang Yang!
Three minutes later, those four skeletal archers died miserably while Zhang Yang's HP had recovered, instead of dropping. He was just 2,000 HP short of his full HP! Those skeletal archers' melee attacks activated his set equipment's healing effect so frequently that it was laughable.
This combat seemed easy but it was actually very difficult to fully execute! To herd four monsters into the same direction, while keeping an attentive eye on the monsters' movement patterns, along with further judgment of when to intercept were required to work concurrently. A lesser fighter would have already been turned into a pin-cushion when the archers had spread out.
Zhang Yang managed the entire fight using his experience and excellent senses.
Zhang Yang looted from the monsters' corpses and continued to move forward.
Zhang Yang only moved another few steps forward when he immediately came under attack again. This time, six skeletal archers jumped out. If it had been more than six monsters, Zhang Yang would have really been in trouble!
Zhang Yang repeated his tactic, using the huge stela to take cover from their arrows, while luring them towards him! However, it was much harder to keep six monsters in a group compared to four, so Zhang Yang simply summoned the servant, taking the opportunity to gauge the strength of this Silver-tier servant.
[Spectre Assassin Clear Lotus - The Ice Whisperer] (Silver-tier Servant)
Level: 36
HP: 3,600
Melee Damage: Main Attack: 256-316 (Attack Interval: 1.8 seconds), Secondary Attack: 84-124 (Attack Interval: 1.3 seconds)
Skill: <Steath>, <Shadow Walk>, <Backstab> and <Substitute>.
<Steath>: Blends into the shadow and reduces the chance of being detected but receives a penalty of 50% movement speed reduction. Cooldown time: 10 seconds.
<Shadow Walk>: Walks in the dark, immediately flickers to the back of the target to deal an increased 20% skill damage. Range: 10 meters. Cooldown time: 30 seconds.
<Backstab>: Immediately attacks the target's back, dealing 150% damage as main servant. Can only be activated at the back of target. Cost: 50 Energy. Requirement: Dagger.
<Substitute>: Transfer master's debuff to the servant and renders the master immune to all damage for the next 5 seconds. If the servant dies before that, the master's immune effect will be ended immediately. Cooldown time: 5 minutes.
It was amazing! It was deserving to be called a Silver-tier Servant, its damage was comparable to a Level 36 player equipped with Level 30 Green-Copper equipment!
The most awesome thing was <Substitute> as it could transfer all of the master's debuff! It was an excellent anti-control trick, even with 5 seconds of invincible status. It was absolutely the most divine skill up to current phase.
Besides that, this Spectre Assassin was a carbon copy of Clear Lotus - The Ice Whisperer. The servant was a bombshell, her top tightly bound with leather and leopard-patterned strips which exposed her plump and firm bosom. Her bottom was wrapped in a leather miniskirt with similar leopard-themed patterning, accenting her curvy and firm booty. Her exposed legs were long and fair!
Such a glamorous appearance added a lot of marks to her! If Fatty Han saw her, he would definitely fall unconscious from a massive nosebleed!
How would it feel like if I touched her? Such an idea popped up in Zhang Yang's mind and he quickly shook it off. This was definitely due to Fatty Han's dirty-minded influence!
Unfortunately, she could only materialize for 5 minutes!
Zhang Yang sighed in dissatisfaction as he quickly dispatched the six monsters and proceeded on.
For the next 5 minutes, with the help of the servant, he wiped the floor with the monsters. As the servant's duration was up, it suddenly turned into a ray of white light and disappeared into thin air.
There were several more monsters along the way, and he had to deal with several more groups of these pesky ranged attackers. Half an hour later, and only with one-fifth of the entire passaged covered, the servant was once again ready.
He summoned it immediately, even if it was not due to the increase in the speed of his kills, Zhang Yang felt good only from looking at her! After all, killing monsters alone was pretty boring and at least having a pretty girl to accompany him was pleasing to the eyes.
Zhang Yang finally came to the end of this floor after three hours. In front of him was a hall, designed not unlike a Roman-architecture, supported by twelve huge pillars. The hall had undergone significant damage, with most of the rooftop being completely missing, and the rest of it in powdery decay.
There was a throne carved out from a large boulder at the bottom of the hall, it's back about three persons tall, towering in dominance despite its neglected state! There was a closed door to the left side of the throne. Zhang Yang believed that it was the entrance to the sixth floor! That also meant...
There was also a stout, chunky figure atop the throne, dressed in thin armor which seemed to glow silver-white under the weak lighting. There was a huge bow, at least twice his height, resting against the left armrest of the throne!
He was a Dwarven hunter!
[Supreme Archer Barga - The Mead] (Gray-Silver Boss)
Level: 36
HP: 400,000
Note: Supreme Archer, chief of Flame Wolves Army's archery division. He was the pride of Dwarves but he became a spectre due to Evil Sorcerer Terpot Ryhar.
Looks like the bosses on the earlier floors were the key people of Flame Wolves Army. Unfortunately, all of them had fallen victim to the Evil Sorcerer.
Drawing in a deep breath, Zhang Yang drew his sword and sprinted explosively towards the throne, taking note of the boss' ranged nature.
"Bold intruder, how dare you step into the domain of Lord Terpot Ryhar! Just die!" Barga immediately grabbed his long bow and unleashed a lethal arrow with deadly speed and precision!
Zhang Yang raised his shield and ducked. Although <Block> was invalid, but as a tank, raising the shield whenever encountering an attack has become second nature to him.
'-1,324!'
A huge amount of damage text floated above Zhang Yang's head, at the same time, his speed was reduced as well.
'Ding! You are affected by <Concussion Shot>. Movement speed reduced by 50% and lasts for 4 seconds!'
The distance between him and Barga was 20 meters which was out of the range of <Charge>. Even if he was within <Charge> range, he did not intend to use it! The hall may be supported by twelve huge pillars, but the base of the hall was so destroyed it could only cover half a person's height, therefore taking cover was not an option either!
<Shield Wall>!
Zhang Yang decided to use this long cooldown duration skill and continued dashing towards the Barga.
'-134!'
Barga unleashed another shot but the damage was greatly reduced.
4 Seconds later, the speed reduction effect ended and Zhang Yang closed the distance.