Chapter 168: The Third Boss, Demison
"Look what the cat dragged in! Who are these worms that would intrude my brother's castle!" said Demison loudly as he stood up. He glanced the party and threw the glass on the floor furiously. "Too bad you're all just too weak! I would have sent you all to kill my brother! Then I could rule this castle! Oh my! I have slipped it out my little secret! Ho ho ho! Looks like I'll have to silence you my own way!"
While the boss was giving his opening speech, everyone was stuck in place, unable to do anything until Demison's speech had ended.
"DIE!" cried Demison as he charged towards the party.
When Zhang Yang regained control of his character, he immediately used <Charge> and met Demison's attack head on.
"-613!" Normal attack.
<Cripple Defense>
"-161!" <Cripple Defense> damage.
Even though the damage Zhang Yang had just caused wasn't much, it still angered Demison. As a noble race, how could he let anything land an attack on him! The higher a boss level, the better the A.I system control it would be. Demison growled and threw a punch to retaliate.
"-2135!"
Zhang Yang had <Block>, but he did not use it to negate the boss' attack! He took the attack head on. This was because he knew that the boss would use a skill that was similar to his own <Destructive Smash>. Not only would the attack be stronger, it also carried a 50% healing reduction with it. The cool down of the boss' skill is 8 seconds! He must reserve <Block> just for that skill alone! If he mistakenly uses <Block> for other attacks instead, he would eventually be inflicted with the healing reduction debuff and Han Ying Xue would not be able to heal him in time!
"Weaklings! Give up already! Surrender to my ultimate power!" Demison's right hand glowed bloody-red and he tackled Zhang Yang.
'Ding! Demison used <Destructive Claw>!'
<Block>!
Within a span of a millisecond, Zhang Yang had spontaneously activated <Block> and negated the skill. Still, Zhang Yang possessed many other life preserving skills, so in the case where he really took a direct hit or two from the <Destructive Claw> he would have survived. However, prevention is always better than cure.
Once Zhang Yang had attacked the monster, the party began to lay down hell from above. None of them were worried about getting OT! As long as Zhang Yang was the main tank, all would be well.
Before Demison unleashes the explosive bugs, he was but a sitting rock. Besides hurling "stones" at the tank, the rest of the party members was not majorly affected by the boss. Even Han Ying Xue had a relatively leisure role to play. She only needed to make sure that <Regeneration> was always ticking on and throw in the occasional <Brilliant Light>, <Higher Healing>, and other healing spells. She did not even need to use <Holy Shield> once!
95%, 93%, 90%...
Demison suddenly stopped attacking and raised his left and right hands to point at Hundred Shots and Wei Yan Er. "Ah! My children! Explosive Bugs! Time for your meal!"
Shush! Shush!
Two bloody-red hues beamed towards them and entered their bodies.
'Ding! Player Drizzler had received the effect <Explosive Bug>!'
'Ding! Player Hundred Shots had received the effect <Explosive Bug>!'
To the other players, Hundred Shots and Wei Yan Er had not experienced any changes. But in their own eyes, they could see a red bug growing from their body! The bug had a tag reading <Incubating> and a 20 second countdown timer.
[Explosive Bug] (Normal, Summon)
Level: 46
HP: 10,000
Hundred Shots immediately switched his aim to the bug on Wei Yan Er. He took a [Beginner Power Potion] and activated <Beast Link>, gaining a massive surge of damage power for just a short duration. He shot an arrow and commanded his pet, Storm Wolf to attack together with him. Both the Hunter and his pet shared the same field of vision.
Hundred Shots had completed the level 30 class quest at A level difficulty. The rewards for the class quest was the skill <Beast Link>, which added 75% ranged damage. [Beginner Fire Potion] had provide an extra 20% damage. Both of the bonus damage buffs had turned Hundred Shots into a God Killer for the moment. In just a mere 4 seconds while Wei Yan Er had ran towards him, Hundred Shots had taken away close to 6400 HP of the bug! However, when Wei Yan Er entered beyond his minimum range, he was unable to attack anymore and switched his target back to the boss instead. He let the pet finish the job for him.
These were the perks of a Hunter, or rather, a Beastmaster class! Compared to the other sub class, the Sniper, a Beastmaster had the advantage of having a pet that added DPS. Its attacks were at least 40% of the original attack power of its master! With 16 seconds more for the bug to hatch and explode, Hundred Shots pet had around 400 DPS which was more than enough time to destroy the bug!
Wei Yan Er wielded her axe and continuously slashed at Hundred Shots' chest, dealing a continuous chain of attacks at 1,300+ each. She managed to kill the bug in just 11 seconds! Within that time, Hundred Shots pet had also managed to kill off the bug on Wei Yan Er.
First round's bug removal success.
Half a minute later, Demison HP had dropped by another 10% and triggered the second round of the explosive bugs.
'Ding! Player Endless Starlight had received the effect <Explosive Bug>!'
'Ding! Player Little Snow had received the effect <Explosive Bug>!'
This was just the worst of luck; the boss would actually pick the lowest DPS among the entire party!
Han Ying Xue quickly consumed a bottle of [Beginner Power Potion].
[Punishment Ray]: Deals 150% Holy damage to a target.
Casting time: 2 seconds.
"-1815!"
Han Ying Xue originally had over then 1000 damage, but with a 20% damage boost from the potion, and the high attack damage from <Punishment Ray>, she could easily destroy the bug under 20 seconds.
After just two shots of <Punishment Ray>, Endless Starlight had reached Han Ying Xue. He knew that he had low damaging power, which was why he had reserved his long cooldown skills for situations like these, since his attacks would not cause any considerate damage to the boss.
"-223!" <Shield Toss>
"-721!" <Strong Hammer>.
"-216!" <Commanding Seal>.
"-725!" Normal attack.
"-216!" <Commanding Seal>.
"-446!" <Justice Bash>.
"-1081!" <Judgement>.
The defender's strongest advantage over the guardian was that all skills depended on MP; meaning that a Defender would be able to unleash all his skills as long as he had enough MP! However, once he has used up all his skills, there is the matter of the skill's cooldown! Just like any main character in any anime out there, once all skills have been thrown out, he would be in a weakened state soon after. A Defender would have to wait for his skill to finish its cool down!
Luckily, the Explosive Bug had 0 Defense and Magic Defense, which was why any job could deal damage at their maximum potential!
The most awkward situation for a Defender was MP problem. A Defender's equipment was mostly just had a little Intelligence bonus, causing their MP to be only just a little. Once all their skills were used, only just one round, all their MP would be drained completely!
This class could recover MP by depending on their skill <Divine Shield>. <Divine Shield> works by absorbing damage and recovers 10% MP. Defender had another skill called <Grace> to recover MP based on HP healed. This allows Defenders to continue their fight in a battle.
However, since Explosive Bugs are just a sitting duck, it would only take attack without returning any damage! When facing an enemy that would not return attack Defender would not be able to recover their MP! Since the monster would not attack him, <Divine Shield> would not be in effect. And since he had not lost any HP, <Grace> would not be in effect since he would not be receiving any heals!
Once Endless Starlight had used all his skills, he was then faced with a huge problem. He had only left 1/3 of his MP left!
Luckily, he wielded a Level 40 Gray-Silver weapon, dishing out rather high normal attacks. Every time he attacked, he would inflict an additional 30% Holy damage! His DPS was at least around 340. However, to be able to kill of 10,000 HP in 16 seconds was another question!
In just 12 seconds, Han Ying Xue was able destroy the Explosive bug on Endless Starlight! However, the Explosive Bug on her own body was still alive! It had 3,500 HP left!
"Starlight! What are you doing! Kill it already!" Han Ying Xue cried out in concern.
"What's the situation?! Have you managed to kill the bugs?" asked Zhang Yang. While Han Ying Xue was preoccupied with killing the bugs, Zhang Yang had summoned <Merlinda's Shadow> to heal him instead.
"The bug on Endless Starlight has been destroyed! But the one on me is still here!" Han Ying Xue knew that it would not help if she got all worked up about it. In the meantime, she turned around and healed Zhang Yang, if Endless Starlight failed to destroy the bug on her, she could still contribute a little more to the party before she dies.
Endless Starlight was even more nervous than she was! The effect of the [Beginner Power Potion] was ending soon, by then, his attacks would be reduced drastically, which would make things even harder to kill!
Zhang Yang immediately noticed Endless Starlight's MP status and barked out orders. "Hundred Shots, hit Starlight! Bitchy Snow, heal him as he goes!"
Hundred Shots had no idea what Zhang Yang was planning, but his faith towards him was enough to make him obey the order without hesitation. He immediately enabled "friendly fire" and attacked Endless Starlight.
Shiiing!
Han Ying Xue healed Endless Starlight back to full health after he was damaged by Hundred Shots. With <Grace> finally in effect, Endless Starlight had recovered more than 80 MP!
Just like a famished man who was given a warm meal, Endless Starlight smiled widely and cried, "Thanks guys! I really needed the help!"
Wham!
He cast more skills on the bug. Hundred Shots continued to attack Endless Starlight while Han Ying Xue continued to heal him, giving him the opportunity to recover as much MP as he needed.
Wham! Bam!
Endless Starlight spent all his freshly regained MP into attacking the Explosive Bug!
16 seconds, 17 seconds, 18 seconds, 19 seconds!
3000! 2000! 1000! 0!
Endless Starlight managed to kill the bug in the nick of time!
"Oh yeah! Oh yeah! I did it! Did you see that! I did it!" Jumping with immense excitement, Endless Starlight was screaming in celebration as he had "survived" the mental ordeal. The excitement was perhaps even more than actually defeating a boss!
"Haha! Good job!" Zhang Yang laughed. "Since the two lowest damage-dealers in our party could defeat the bugs, I would safely say that this boss is going to be a piece of cake!"