Chapter 87: The Final Beheading
Translator: Zenobys Editor: TheRealSeal
The battle started again.
Everything went smoothly as all the teammates paid more attention to their movements and positioning. Even if Little Snow had not been around to act as a homing beacon, most of them hardly repeated their mistakes in dying pointlessly due to ice ring, lava and spikes.
The crucial fourth stage loomed before them in no time!
When Zhang Yang saw Marzerway starting his scripted dialogue, he immediately selected [Magic Scroll: Rising Morale (Level 1)]; and a golden light surged through all of the party members buffing everyone with an effect.
[Rising Morale]: Increases damage and healing effect by 5%, lasts for 5 minutes.
Marzerway cast three <Summoned Cloud> and the ranged attackers changed their target. The three Hunters followed exactly what Zhang Yang told them just now, which to keep the skills out of cooldown and to Focus point. Abruptly, they nuked a great deal of damage and quickly destroyed the first and second <Summoned Cloud>!
The most dangerous was the third <Summoned Cloud>. When it nearly hit one of the teammates with the distance of 1 meter away, “Pa!” the <Summoned Cloud> was successfully struck and broken.
“Hooray!”
“Ha ha!”
“Made it just in time!”
They cheered repeatedly as this was the first time they destroyed all three <Summoned Cloud> without any loss, and certainly it boosted their morale!
“Well done team, maintain the momentum! Come on melees, show us some strength now as the ranged positions already settled <Summoned Cloud> for us. We depend on you guys now to defeat Marzerway!” Zhang Yang smiled and said.
38%, 36%, 34%, Marzerway cast the second wave of <Summoned Cloud> again. The three Hunters already prepared and kept the Focus point and skill cooldown for it. As long as the <Summoned Cloud> was cast, then they would destroy them directly!
Hundred Shots and Fatty Han’s equipment was definitely considered as top level among the current players, thus, they had absolutely amazing nuking power. As long as both of them did no mistakes, it would be unlikely for unexpected incidents to occur when destroying <Summoned Cloud>!
Marzerway’s HP kept dropping after it cast the fourth wave of <Summoned Cloud>, all the way down to 22%!
But at that moment, the unexpected did happen. Both Fatty Han and Hundred Shots, actually missed with their skills at the same time. It delayed their <Summoned Cloud> extermination duties by a whole 3 seconds!
The third <Summoned Cloud> was not destroyed on time. With about 1000HP remaining, it went on and struck Angel Descend!
“Hurry, kill the Spellcaster!”
Spellcasters with low HP stood no chance against assaults from entire parties and it was no different for this one, who was brought to the ground, dead even before he fell.
“Let’s keep the damage output up. When Marzerway’s HP drops by another 2%, we’ll enter the fifth stage!”
Finally.
“Filthy mortals, to actually force me to this point, now I will let you guys experience my real strength!” Marzerway raised its wand and a huge black hole appeared on its back!
Marzerway transformed into its fifth stage and all of <Air Bomb>s suddenly disappeared!
Zhang Yang immediately shouted loudly: “Everyone, drink the medicine!”
[Beginner Anti-Shadow Potion] (Consumable)
Use: Adds 100 Dark Resistance points, lasts for 2 minutes. Cooldown time: 2 minutes.
Level Requirement: 10
A casting progress bar appeared on top of Marzerway head, 2 seconds later and it cast the skill. “Whoosh”, twenty-two <Shadow Arrows> shot out from the void of that black hole and hit every living player, including the three Hunter’s pets.
“-200!”
“-200!”
…
“-200” number appeared on all of the teammates head. Except for Zhang Yang and Ironhill, their damages were 160 and 170 respectively.
“Two Priests, please cast <Regeneration> on everyone and heal the Warriors as well. Also, try your best to keep everyone’s remaining HP at similar levels! Little Snow, keep the <Holy Shield> for those who unable to recover on time! Everyone, gather near Marzerway and when everyone’s overall HP is getting too low, I will guard everyone using <Vanguard's Aggression>!” Zhang Yang’s tone was shrill with excitement, Marzerway’s defeat was getting close!
“Wow, Leader Zhan Yu, this medicine is very powerful, it directly reduces 100 Damage Point from that ridiculous attack!”
“Ha Ha, we can defeat Marzerway for sure!”
“First Clear Achievement, here we come!”
“Strike, strike with all your might!”
Zhang Yang was feeling a little relieved from his otherwise tensed up nervousness, but this was not the time to celebrate yet. He quickly said: “Do not be conceited, we must defeat Marzerway within 150 seconds. Otherwise, the damage of those attacks will be doubled and it’ll be all over for us then!”
200 damage per hit sounded somewhat minuscule in the case of this Gray-Silver Boss but it became another matter entirely with the volume of <Shadow Arrows> this thing was releasing! Marzerway would produce <Shadow Arrows> to it’s capacity as long as it was not the only being in the area that drew breath, thus, the total damage far exceeded any healing efforts the team could pull off.
Hence, everyone’s collective HP was dropping, slowly, but very surely!
18%, 16%, 14% …
When Marzerway HP dropped to 10%, everyone HP remained at around 300 except for Zhang Yang. He calmly used <Vanguard's Aggression> and contained everyone within its protective barrier.
Although his damage taken increased by a 100%, it was a measly addition of 320, going up from 160. A guardian like him could shrug those blows off like nothing!
Those who stood within the protection barrier, were taking as little as 20 points per <Shadow Arrow>! Little Snow and another three healers hurriedly recovered everyone’s HP. In the span of 10 seconds, they were able to get everyone’s HP above 50%!
<Vanguard's Aggression> skill was an unexpected, but pleasant surprise as Zhang Yang had previously planned a strategy that would result in most of the party save for a few key DPS members dead by the end of the fight. It was a necessary sacrifice, and it wouldn’t have been too difficult to take off the remaining 20000 HP within 150 seconds!
However due to the existence of <Vanguard's Aggression>, all that planning and strategy was for naught (and a good thing too it was)! The final stage of Mazerway’s boss subjugation became a walk in the park!
10 seconds later, all of the teammates HP had recovered up to at least 700!
8%, 6%, 4%!
Victory was already in sight!
3%!
2%!
1%!
0%!
“No, No, I will not be defeated, I will not be defeated!” Marzerway roared angrily but it could only helplessly fall to the ground as its body gave way!
Bosses only existed in the game to be killed by the players no matter the grade, be it Celestial or Black-Steel, they were fated to be destroyed!
‘Ding! The party you are in has killed Marzerway! Obtained 52682 EXP (50 points Party Bonus)!’
‘Ding! The party you are in obtained the Marzerway’s Lair: First Clearance of Main Wing (Hardcore Mode)! This result will be recorded in the First Clearance Hardcore Mode Achievement Board! As the party leader, please key in your team name!’
Zhang Yang calmly key in the words “Lone Desert Smoke”, suddenly, the server rapidly made the announcements on the screen with red words!
‘Server Announcement: Party Lone Desert Smoke has successfully obtained First Clearance of Marzerway’s Lair Main Wing (Hardcore Mode)! This result will be recorded in the First Clearance Hardcore Mode Achievement Board (China Server)! Please express our respect to them!’
‘Server Announcement: Player Zhan Yu (Party Leader) has successfully obtained First Clearance of Marzerway’s Lair Main Wing (Hardcore Mode! Obtained 10 Gold Coins, 1 Skill Point, 500 Reputation Points across all races in the league and “Hero of White Jade Castle” title!’
‘Server Announcement: Player Ironhill (Party Member) obtained …’
Since after Zhang Yang and his people got the First Clear Achievement of Front and Middle Wings Hardcore mode and the China server global channel was cheerless. But in this moment, the server kept on announced the First Clear Achievement of Main Wing (Hardcore Mode) and suddenly surprised all the players!
“It is the Lone Desert Smoke gang again!”
“So strong, that is a 20-man dungeon which is much tougher compared to the the previous dungeons!”
“Wow, brother Zhan Yu, be my lover!”
“Is Lone Desert Smoke still recruiting?”
“Damn it, these are the people from the guild in White Jade Castle. Why are you shouting in Tranquil Wind City, they can’t even hear you!”
“…”
The chat channel of Lone Desert Smoke was full of cheers and laughter. The members were ecstatic with joy, as the already great reputation and track record of the guild, attained even greater heights.
Everyone in the dungeon was extremely happy, especially after so many failures in the mission, it only made the taste of victory all the more sweeter!
Zhang Yang sent a private message to Frost Night and said, “Babe, come to our guild!”
“…why should I?!”
“Uh, not many tanks can keep up with your aggro other than myself! It will be agonizing to hold back on your damage output when attacking monsters every single time!” Zhang Yang had to reel her in with another method as she was too rational to fall for the ‘hey we make a great team, we should keep working together’ trick.
“On the other hand, it is impossible for you to defeat me with your current equipment! Your equipment level will never get up to mine if you do not join a regular, strong team for dungeon runs!” Zhang Yang tried to trick her in terms numbers, of statistics based on equipment, “Do you still want to defeat me?”
“Humph! Of course I will!” Frost Night coldly replied.
“Then what are you hesitating about?”
“Hmph, do not think I don’t see what you’re up to! I will join your guild but only until I finally defeat you!”
Zhang Yang was elated beyond words. Guardians naturally held an advantage over thieves - if you knew how to use them. When it comes to both equipment and capabilities we’re almost at the same level! It will be impossible for you to defeat me, you will obediently stay in the guild and join my crusade for Team League!
He sent a guild invitation to Frost Night. Without a blink, she “Accept”ed immediately.
“Welcome!”
“Welcome!”
“Hello, pretty Frost Night!”
Many people in the guild channel started to greet Frost Night.
“Noob tank, ask them to get out of the way, I want to touch the corpse for the loot!” A group of people had surrounded Marzerway’s corpse and Drizzler could hardly find her way to squeeze through.
Zhang Yang laughed and said, “All right, everyone steps backwards first and let our “Great Lucky Hands” get our loot!”
Drizzler triumphantly accepted the “Great Lucky Hands” title, unabashed. She started to distribute loots after everyone had stepped backwards. Zhang Yang used Leader’s Distribution for this time so she had to send the equipment one by one to the team channel first. Thus, the equipment would not appear on the teammates’ Control interface and the Dice Roll window would not pop up either.
Unlike the other bosses out in the field, bosses in the dungeon do not drop a jumbo loot at first kills. That was why Marzerway only dropped seven equipment and six of them were Set-equipment, which were the Warrior’s boots, knight’s helmet, Thief’s breastplate and glove, Hunter’s breastplate and Spellcaster’s boots.
The other equipment was a shield.
Six equipment were distributed according to the guild’s contribution points. Zhang Yang did not compete for the boots with Drizzler but he took the shield.
[Combined Elemental Shield] (Gray-Silver, Shield)
Defense: +200
Vitality: +80
Equipment: <Block> skill level +1.
Level Requirement: 20
Awesome!