The team became disgruntled due to the abhorrent appearance of this boss. Not only was the boss huge but it looked as if someone took a massive amount of Ghouls and mashed them together creating a ridiculous amalgamation. Moreover, the skin of the boss was extremely rough with bulbous boils randomly placed on its body.
As the team stood in front of the boss, one of the boils popped as a repulsive liquid oozed onto the ground. The spot in which the "puss" landed began corroding at a rapid pace. This served to further enhance the repulsive feelings the team felt for the boss.
「Lv.51 [Charles, Abhorrent Ghoul Amalgamation] (Imperial Rank Boss)
Health: 26,984,000/26,984,000 (100%)」
"WAIT! How can such an ugly fuck have a normal name?" exclaimed MagicsSlave as he clawed at his hair.
However, Hollow Stance added to his thoughts "No, no that health should be illegal. We're in for a hell of a battle."
'Hun, that thing is disgusting—no it's repulsive! Can we get rid of it?' complained Latahhya as she pursed her lips and pleaded.
'Yeah, we'll get rid of it ASAP. Even I am experiencing an unsettling feeling.'
'My Lord this thing is uh...what is it?! It's not a normal creation.'
"Ahem… if we want to leave we will have to get rid of this thing. With that being said, this thing looks like it hits like a truck. Any takers on the first hit?" offered Kaiden.
The atmosphere remained silent as the team shot Kaiden funny looks as well some provoking glances that said 'Uh you know you're the strongest of us right? TAKE THE LEAD DAMMIT!'
Baffled, Kaiden could only sigh as his shoulders drooped in defeat. "I guess I will be the one, but when we return to the Guild Residence…
That devilish smirk appeared once again, "training will be increased twofold. Bahahaha! That'll show you to lack heart."
Numerous groans resounded throughout the dungeon as the voiced their dissatisfaction through various pitches.
Examining the boss, Kaiden noted some key differences in an Imperial Rank Boss. One, the aura it exuded felt dangerous albeit nowhere near what Kriishna had presented—however, dangerous nonetheless.
Two, the moment they entered the room the boss was alerted. however. it made no movements. With this, Kaiden realized that this boss although clumsy looking may have remarkably high sentience. In fact, beside NPCs, Kaiden felt this was one of the smartest bosses if not the smartest boss he faced.
Charles' green turbid eyes carried signs of inspection the way it shifted back and forth between Kaiden, Latahhya, and Kriishna.
Tilting his head, Kaiden inspected the actions of the boss himself as his thumb and index finger found its way under his chin, 'Does it have an analyzation ability? If so, that would explain why it is inspecting us rather than attacking.'
"Prepare for battle. Gentle Whisper buff us. This boss may prove to be overly difficult."
Waving her Stave, Gentle Whisper casted an Lv.3 Chantar Blessing which increased the party's Attack Damage by 30% for 1 minute and 20 seconds. When it came to boss fights, the player would soon learn as the game progressed, it was essential to bring along a support capable of buffing the party.
Stepping with the boss's range of action, Kaiden grabbed the hilts of his swords. However, the moment Kaiden stepped inside the range of action—Charles disappeared. When Kaiden fully brandished his swords, Charles was already in front of him downwardly smashing his reinforced arm.
Hard-pressed for time, Kaiden instinctually raised his sword to block the smash. Despite his efforts, Kaiden still gritted his teeth as a faintly familiar sensation birthed in his wrists.
'WHAM!'
'...Fucking fast! And strong! So this is an Imperial rank boss?'
(-1,359)
'Even with my defense, I've lost over 10% of my health. Hmm...with Kribash, Hollow should be able to attempt tanking this but that's not optimal.'
Instead, Kaiden had Kriishna tank the boss as Hollow subtanked. As Kriishna's level grew to match Kaiden's health and defense were becoming especially obscene.
Running up at a speed that defied his size, Kriishna waved his broadsword at the boss.
'BANG!'
Charles wasn't sent flying, however, a loud echoing noise ensued as Kriishna again waved his sword at the wrist Charles was smashing with.
The team became embroiled in a difficult battle as some of the member's healths dropped to dangerous levels. Charles had skills that cause party-wide damage and map-wide damage. These were two types of skills that were unavoidable at this moment.
Luckily, the team had Gentle Whisper who Kaiden paid extra special attention to providing all the healing skills he picked up priorly to her. Waving her stave, Gentle Whisper casted Genesis Breath as a light radiance engulfed the entire party.
While surrounded by this radiance, Gentle Whisper casted another healing spell [Saria's Presence], but this one was an over time spell that continuously ticked. Generally, over time spelled consumed more Mana and had slightly longer cooldowns. But, as a result, they had replenished greater amounts of Health.
Multiple green font values appeared over the party's head as they were healed by over 3,000 Health. For a majority of the party, this brought their health out of the red. Moreover, the team member also ingested copious amounts of Intermediate Health Recovery Potions courtesy of Wine Soul and her team.
[Intermediate Health Recovery Potion]
Recovers 1,000 Health instantly as well as an additional 3,000 Health over 30 seconds.
Cooldown: 45 seconds.
'Thank god, I began nurturing Lifestyle players at a time fashion. Everyone depends on each other to prosper.' nodded Kaiden.
After 2 hours, although no one died—the team was beginning to feel waves of exhaustion from the high strung battle. Unfortunately, the boss still had 31% of its Health.
'Damn...it's more tedious than I thought to deal with so much Health.'
Even with Kaiden's overpowered damage, he was burdened with insufficient DPS to single-handedly deal with Charles—that is...in his current state.
'Eh...Can I deal with him in 30 seconds though? No, I will simply have to.'
Pointing his sword toward Charles, Kaiden closed his eyes for a moment as he calmed his thoughts. Suddenly opening his Kaiden's aura spiked akin to an unsealed beast as he activated Spiritual Outburst.
Instantly, Kaiden's Strength, Agility, and Dexterity all broke the 1,000 point threshold. His Attack surpassed 6,500.
Gawking at Kaiden's change, the team became curious about exactly what change just occurred but Kaiden disappeared at a speed faster than Charles.
Slashing his sword, Kaiden delivered 12 quick slashes shaving off 75,000 Health. Taking a step, Kaiden arrived behind Charles a moment later. Lifting his swords, he performed 'Double Slash' while fluidly following up with a 'Revolving Phantom'.
-11,851 [-2,962], -11,900 [-2,975]
-12,345 [-3,086], -30,245 [-7,561]
'NOT ENOUGH...FASTER!'
Kaiden's pale golden eyes began glinting with a slight madness as his actions further intensified amid the party continuously dealing damage to the boss
Dashing across the floor between Charles' legs, Kaiden delivered 20 attacks in 1 second, depleting over 170,000 Health from the boss. One by one, Kaiden unleashed the Tempest Style swordplay,
31%...24%..12%...
In 17 seconds, the team caused Charles to berserk, increasing its Strength and Agility to the level of Kaiden. However, for some reason, Kaiden's expression stilled as his eyes became calm.
'Hmm? My Lord seems different…'
'ROOOOOOAAAAAR!'
While Charles' roared, Kaiden disappeared and reappeared in the air before Charles' face. Rotating, Kaiden delivered a powerful kick to the boss's jaw while activating Sword Wind when mixed with Sword Force it created a low humming noise.
[System: The combined usage Sword Wind and Sword Force is harmonizing. The next 10 attacks will deal 50% more damage.]
「Lv.51 [Charles, Abhorrent Ghoul Amalgamation] (Imperial Rank Boss)
Health: 2,968,240/26,984,000 (11%)」
'10 attacks huh.'
Kaiden launched Illusive Sword Torrent at point-blank range.
-505,528! (Critical) [-126,382]
The only problem Kaiden faced now was that every skill was on cooldown. Nothing in his arsenal was active to deal damage.
'No problem...I will just create damage.'
Landing, Kaiden 8 quick successive basic slashes. However, these ones a lot stronger than the previous ones—devouring a total of over 154,000 Health.
Backstepping a couple of times, as Kaiden watched the team deal damage. Closing his eyes, the aura around Kaiden began to become fainter. However, that didn't take away from his presence—rather it made him feel many times more dangerous—like a slumbering beast.
[System: Inner Energy is drastically dropping to insufficient levels—68/2,725.]
That's right, the cause of his thinning aura was the fact he was channeling obscene amounts of sword force into his sword—so much so—that they began to shine even more radiantly while emitting a low howling noise.
[System: Sword Force is deteriorating the condition of the Nightfall Blade, durability continuously dropping.]
At this point, Kaiden had already channeled 650 points worth of Sword Force into the swords. But, Kaiden didn't stop until the counter reached 700.
Theoretically, Kaiden could keep Sword Force activated forever in a passive state because the cost of this was equal or slightly inferior to the recovery of his inner energy. Of course, that was for now as this skill was currently in a very weak state.
Opening his eyes with a cool glint, Kaiden took a strong step with both swords tucked by his ribs. With the first step, Kaiden incorporated Second Drive. After, the second step Kaiden's figure left an afterimage. The third step, Kaiden incorporated an acceleration above Second Drive.
However, the fourth step Kaiden's body convulsed before a sonic explosion happened and what followed was the boss's death.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!.... System notifications continuously rang.
[System: Congratulations you have cleared the Elite Mode of 'Eerie Lunar Crypt'. Rewarding 10 Gold, 2,000,000 Experience, and 1,000 Reputation.]
As the boss burst with loot, the team released sighs of relief and Kaiden was afflicted with the backlash of using his skill. Stumbling, Kaiden fell on his bottom as his chest heaved. Exhausted Kaiden ignored his system alerts for the moment as it was unimportant to him. However, he and the rest of the team bathed in golden radiance as their level increased from the generous boss and reward experience—raising Kaiden to Lv.39
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT YOU JUST USED?!" blurted Practice as he ran over to Kaiden, but when he saw Kaiden's state he stumbled.
"Uh...Guild Leader you ok?"
"Yea." Kaiden nodded slowly.
'Hun…Moe! You used that skill again didn't you?'
'I...had to.' answered Kaiden.
'Hmph, what how I talk your ear off later.'
Trembling, Kaiden smiled wryly as much of the others also sat recovering themselves. Once again, a system notification appeared before Kaiden as he ignored it.
[System: Announce your feat to the world? (Y/N)]
"Yes." said Kaiden feebly.
[System: 'Momentous Pioneer' Title effect activated.]
[Pendragon Kingdom System Announcement-
Congratulations to the team "Ethereal Conviction" for obtaining the first clear of "Elite Mode' of the Eerie Lunar Crypt. All members rewarded: 50 Free Attribute Points, 5 Gold, 2 Skill Points, and 500 Reputation.
[Fraust Empire System Announcement-
Congratulations to the team"Ethereal Conviction" for obtaining the first clear of "Elite Mode' of the Eerie Lunar Crypt. All members rewarded: 50 Mastery Points, 10 Gold, 3 Class Points, and 1,000 Reputation.
[Sanctoria World System Announcement-
Congratulations to the team "Ethereal Conviction" for obtaining the first clear of "Elite Mode' of the Eerie Lunar Crypt. All members rewarded: 1 Platinum Treasure Chest, 25 Gold, Level +1, and 2,000 Reputation.
"Wooohooo!!! These awards are amazing. I love you Guild Leader!" screamed MagicsSlave as he jumped for joy without restraint.
"We don't have much on our to-do list...take a short break and wait for the default 30-minute dungeon transportation." said Kaiden as he sat up.
Organizing the loot, Kaiden was overjoyed as he saw a shimmering piece of equipment that was a delicacy to his eyes. It was like the finest piece of loins being placed before his eyes.
[Death Wind Top Piece] (Gold)
Lv.40 Light Armor Equipment Set
Defense +241
Strength +61, Agility +52, Dexterity +49, Endurance +28
Set Effect:
3/5 – Increases Sword skills Special Rank and below by 1 Level.
4/5 – Increases Strength, Agility, and Dexterity by 100.
5/5 – Increases Health by 7%, Strength, Agility, Dexterity by 10%. Activates skill [Reaper's Strike].
Durability 140/140, Requirement: Lv.40, 300 Strength
'It's complete! Yes! Oh come to think of it, I still have those other notification alerts to attend to.'
Now that Kaiden was Lv.40, it was time to completely change his equipment set up.