Chapter 773: Aluonu the Gargoyle
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After restoring themselves, Zhang Yang began to distribute the loot among the party.
The boss had dropped two Holy Tier equipment and three Ethereal Tier equipment. They were all Level 170 equipment. Of course, equipment acquired from dungeons would not have the Special that could reduce Required Level by 20 levels. Also, they would not have both offensive and defensive attributes. It would be very obvious if one equipment is a defensive type or an offensive type.
However, the advantage of acquiring equipment in a dungeon would be, if you can take down the boss, then you can surely wear the equipment you obtained. Unlike Open World bosses, you will not have to wait for quite some time before you can wear the equipment you acquired. Well, sometimes, you might need to wait for a very long time before you can equip the equipment you obtained from Open World bosses!
Naturally, the three Ethereal Tier equipment were auctioned among the members of the Lone Desert Smoke by trading in their guild points. Although those were just some Ethereal Tier equipment, they would still be quite powerful at the current stage of the game. Well, it would stay that way at least until the Hardcore Mode of the Spectre’s Cavern was completely cleared. After all, Holy Tier equipment was still extremely rare in the game.
Then, it was time to look at the main event of the day. It was time to auction out the two Holy Tier equipment!
[Gaunlets of Impenetrable Dignity] (Holy, Heavy Armor)
Defence: +640
Vitality: +7,935
Strength: +1,957
Agility: +826
{Level 6 Socket}
Equip: Increases Maximum HP by 15,870 points.
Equip: Absorbs 1,697 damage when being hit.
Required Level: 170
Although it was an equipment for the Guardians, Zhang Yang already had a Level 180 Holy Tier [Crimson Goblin Gaunlets]. Furthermore, that [Crimson Goblin Gaunlets] he had on him got both offensive and defensive attributes. It was definitely much more powerful than these gauntlets he found here. So he did not show any interest at all in joining the auction.
Even though Endless Starlight’s Gauntlets were Ethereal Tier, he was also part of the gang now, so it would be natural for him to have the desire to improve his equipment to the max. Well, he had the desire to get some defensive type equipment with higher Intelligence attributes. Therefore, Ten Dusk and the other Guardians in the current party had to ‘battle’ against each other by auctioning to see who could claim the equipment to themselves.
Although everyone had the difference between being part of the main guild or sub guild, the guild points were usable by everyone in such regard. Even though Ten Dusk had only joined the guild not long ago, however, he was able to perform outstandingly by using his skills and controls in the game. His reflexes were very impressive as well. So he managed to earn quite an amount of guild points in so little time. He actually earned so much guild points that the other two Tankers lost. So Ten Dusk became the one who claimed the gauntlets by the end of the auction.
Well, since they’ve decided to take on the second boss as well, Zhang Yang had used [Identifying Scrolls] to identify the equipment. By doing so, everyone could equip their equipment immediately right after they acquire them. Although the equipment had no gemstones in them yet, well, that won’t affect the attributes of the equipment too much at the moment.
The second piece of Holy Tier equipment was a pair of Cloth Armor boots. It was claimed by a Spellcaster from the sub-guild of Lone Desert Smoke though. Well, that was because Han Ying Xue, Daffodil Daydream and Fantasy Sweetheart had already acquired higher Tier boots for themselves earlier on. Naturally, they did not take part in claiming the boots.
After distributing everything out, everyone continued to push on. Upon exiting the mausoleum, they went into a set of stone stairs which led them to the second floor of the place.
This floor looked like a gigantic square. Only the walls had torches on them. So, the brightness of the floor was quite ‘limited’. Meanwhile, the middle region of the floor was completely dark. However, under the illumination of the flames on the torches, Zhang Yang and the gang could still vaguely see countless stone statues standing right in the middle regions. They were very packed together.
All of these stone statues had rather scary and wretched faces. There were two wings protruding from right below the neck part of their back. The two wings were wrapping their entire bodies, leaving only their heads and their bird-claw-liked feet in the open --- Gargoyles!
[Snoozing Gargoyle] (Elite, Spectre)
Level: 175
HP: 100,000,000
Defence: 11,030
Melee Attack: 75,903 – 115,903
Skills:
[Gargoyle's Shriek]: Weakens the defense of the target, causing the target to receive additional 10% damage when the target is being hit. Last for 12 seconds.
[Gargoyle's Smash]: Causes 100% Melee Attack of Physical Damage to all targets within the range of 10 meters. There is a 20% rate to stun the target.
[Harden State]: Reduces 80% damage received when being hit. However, cannot move at all.
Upon seeing the countless closely packed Gargoyles, everyone began to feel a headache now. If they are not careful enough, they might just wake all the Gargoyles up and get wiped out entirely. Well, they might have to activate all their Inheritance Transformations in order to stay alive by then.
Zhang Yang threw his {Spear of Obliteration} at one of the Gargoyles which was the nearest to him. The moment when his attack landed on the Gargoyle, a damage value that was nerfed many times over popped right on top of the Gargoyle. Because of that, the Gargoyle began to open its eyes. Two ignited green ghastly flames were radiating within the eye sockets of the Gargoyle.
"Screech ---" the Gargoyle let out a screeching cry. The pebbles and dust that were resting on top of its body began to shudder and fell to the ground. The Gargoyle then fluttered its wings and flew towards Zhang Yang like a bat. At the same time, the other four Gargoyles were beginning to tremble as dust and pebbles were falling from them too. There came another 4 Gargoyles, following just behind the first Gargoyle that was charging towards Zhang Yang.
Endless Starlight and the remaining Tankers immediately went up to engage the Gargoyles. Each of them took over the aggro of one Gargoyle. These monsters’ {Gargoyle's Shriek} could be endlessly stacked together. Well, allowing five {Gargoyle's Shriek} to stack together would be a grave mistake. So, they should be separated away from each other as soon as possible.
--- Although the party reached that point of the dungeon in Hardcore Mode for the first time, however, they have done this more than a couple of times when they were clearing the Hard Mode and the Normal Mode of this dungeon. Well, the Skills of the monsters were the same. The only difference was the difficulty in killing the monsters, in other words, their toughness had been upgraded. Therefore, everyone knew how to react and what to do with the monsters.
The Gargoyles would use their {Gargoyle's Shriek} once every 10 seconds. Well, that still proved to be quite threatening, actually. However, the negative effect of the Skill could be canceled with {Warrior’s Will} and {Sacred Protection}. Meanwhile, the firepower of the party was insanely high. Basically, they could take out one Gargoyle every 30 seconds, leaving no chance for the Gargoyles to stack up their {Gargoyle's Shriek} too many times over.
The boss was located just right in the middle of the square. The players would need to clear out the monsters in the surroundings. Or else if the boss was triggered to join into battle, the remaining monsters that were not cleared would wake up together with the boss and join the battle. They would also launch their most ferocious attacks at the players together with the boss!
It took approximately 2 hours for the party to clear out the monsters in the surroundings. After that, the boss was the only stone statue that was standing right in the middle of the entire floor.
The stone statue of the boss was huge. It was approximately 30-meters tall. Unlike the other Gargoyles which had grey skin all over their entire body, this one was completely black, pitch black, to be exact!
[Aluonu the Gargoyle] (Holy, Spectre)
Level: 175
HP: 1,750,000,000
Defence: 17,660
Melee Attack: 140,153 – 200,153
Skills:
[Gargoyle's Shriek]: Weakens the defense of the target, causing the target to receive additional 20% damage when the target is being hit. Last for 10 minutes. Can be stacked. Cooldown: 10 seconds. Cannot be canceled.
[Gargoyle's Smash]: Causes 150% Melee Attack of Physical Damage to all targets within the range of 10 meters. Cooldown: 10 seconds.
[Gargoyle's Bombs]: Place 50 bombs randomly on the ground. The bombs will explode after 3 seconds, causing 500,000 Fire Damage to all targets within the range of 5-meter radius of the explosion. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
[Gargoyle's Dimension]: When players went beyond 50 meters away from Aluonu, the targets will receive a destructive hit, ignoring the remaining HP of the targets. The targets will die on the spot.
[Spectre's Fury]: If the battle lasts longer than 10 minutes, Aluonu will enter a state of Berserk and causes 10,000,000 Chaos Damage to all targets in the dungeon.
So this would still be a battle of time! God damn it!
However, because there were no monsters with outrageously powerful Skill attacks interrupting the party, the party only had to focus their attacks on the boss. Well, the {Gargoyle’s Bombs} would be a little more troublesome to handle. Because of the {Gargoyle's Dimension}, Zhang Yang, and the party could not too far from the boss. Because of that insanely outrageous Skill, Zhang Yang and the party could only move around within the range of 50-meter radius from the boss. Well, the area space was quite limited for 50 players and one gigantic boss though. However, everyone’s equipment was quite powerful and high Tier as well. Furthermore, Zhang Yang also boosted everyone with 40% additional Vitality as well. So each of the members of the party would have at least 500,000 HP. Even if they accidentally stepped on the bomb, they won’t die on the spot. However, if they ever get caught in the middle of the explosion twice in a roll… then…
Because the boss’s {Gargoyle's Shriek} could not be canceled off once it has been cast on the players. Theoretically speaking, the {Gargoyle’s Shriek} could stack up to a total of 1200% additional damage received on the players within the period of 10 minutes.
If that becomes true, the boss could deal a basic damage ranging from 1,960,000 to 2,800,000 damage. One hit could take out a Tanker without having an Inheritance Transformation! That would be outrageous!
Back then when they were clearing the Normal Mode and the Hard Mode of the dungeon, the players had tried it out. If the description of the Skill stated that the effect could not be canceled out, then it would be real that the effect could not be canceled out once being cast upon the players. It would still be pointless even if the players activated their Invincible Skills or effects. The only way to deal with this Skill is to let Tankers switch among each other. In other words, when a Tanker had been stacked with too many layers of the {Gargoyle's Shriek}’s effects, that Tanker should stop creating aggro and back off for the moment to let another Tanker to take over his or her place. After the next Tanker managed to get to the first on the aggro list of the boss, the Tanker that retreated could deal damage to the boss (Or get smacked to the death by the boss).
Because the bosses in the Normal and Hard Mode did not have the Skill {Spectre’s Fury}, the boss battles could be prolonged to 20 to 30 minutes. The DPS players could even afford to lower down their damage output for the moment. The party could even torture the boss to its death by witching Tankers to take against the boss.
However, the Hardcore Mode had given the boss battle a timeframe by introducing the boss’s {Spectre’s Fury}. When the players take more time than the timeframe, the boss would immediately go into its Berserk mode and wipe out the entire party.
Because of that, the Tankers would have to perform better than they normally do, better than the others were. Even if there are two, three or even four Tankers around, every Tanker would need to focus on creating high aggro values on the boss, maintaining the aggro of the boss at a very high level. By doing so, any of the Tankers would be able to take over the boss when their main Tanker dies or retreats. That would prevent the DPS players from snatching the aggro value of the boss instead.
Just look at Sun Xin Yu, Wei Yan Er, and Daffodil Daydream. These players could really deal insanely high damage. Meanwhile, Endless Starlight, Ten Dusks, and the other Tankers were expressing themselves, saying that it was just too much for them to achieve that.
"Don’t worry, they all have their own Skills to clear out the aggro values build up on them!" Zhang Yang tried to comfort the Tankers.
"But {Vanish} will require 5 minutes!" Endless Starlight was showing his weak side.
Zhang Yang laughed out loud and said, "Then I’ll activate my Inheritance Transformation and tank the boss until the very end of the battle!"
"Oh, yea! Boss! You’re the best!" Endless Starlight immediately cheered in joy.
Because Sun Xin Yu and the other gang could deal insanely high damage. So Endless Starlight, Ten Dusks, and the other Tankers had no confidence to get enough aggro on the boss. Well, it was natural to think that Zhang Yang was the only one who could deal insanely high damage and tank at the same time --- only the insane one could match the insane ones!
"Alright, time to activate our Inheritance Transformation now. After this battle, we shall take a rest!" Zhang Yang said.
The party had spent too much time dealing with the first boss. Meanwhile, even though playing in ‘God’s Miracle’ won’t affect the body of the players, but repeating the same thing over and over again is some sort of a mental torture. So sooner or later, the players would not be able to take it mentally. Furthermore, Zhang Yang did not intend to focus on clearing the dungeon in the first place. His main aim for coming here was to boost the morale of his guild. His main target was to achieve Level 180 as soon as possible so that he could be the first to kill an Ascended Tier boss!
Well, Ascended Tier bosses in the Open World map tend to drop Level 200 – 210 Ascended Tier equipment. Speaking of which, players would be able to equip the equipment when they reach Level 180 – 190. That would be much better than farming for Holy Tier equipment in the dungeons by a thousand times! From Zhang Yang’s perspective, those equipment acquired from the dungeons were suitable for middle-tier members of the guild to obtain. Meanwhile, the core players and the main gang players of his should just fix their focus on hunting down the Open World bosses.