The fight has been going on for 30 minutes now; both the wolf and the party are exhausted; their bodies don't seem to regenerate like it used to back in the game, and they didn't have any potions. Rage jumped in for another slash only to get knocked away by the wolf.
"This isn't fun anymore" Madeen said gasping for breath.
"It's a battle of attrition, and it doesn't look in our favor" Sensei replied.
'This doesn't make sense; our equipment should be more than enough to deal with an early world boss; he should be level 40 max; why is this bastard so tough?" Rage questioned as he picked himself up, getting back into formation.
This battle wasn't as easy as they expected; the wolf seemed to be immune to crowd control and had very high resistance to physical attacks; all they were doing was chunking its health bit by bit.
"Where is Jimmy when you need him!" Sensei yelled, bashing the wolf on the head with his shield one more time as it tried to go for a bite.
"We were supposed to link up like 20 minutes ago; they are most likely back at the meeting spot; we aren't late enough for them to go searching for us" Rage replied.
Rage looked at the wolf again, trying to scan its body one more time. There were no crystals nor a core and no visible weak spots; the only solution he had earlier was to just beat it to death, but that strategy wasn't working as well as he expected.
He concentrated, trying to recall the information he had on the monsters; as Madeen went in for another strike, Rage noticed that the wolf tucked its tail to protect its belly; he never noticed this due to the heat of the battle since he wasn't paying much attention to the wolf's body movement.
He remembered reading a bestiary that a player made on the forums back in phase 1; it said that a wolf's belly is extremely soft, making it an indirect vital spot.
"Madeen, go in for another strike; try to aim for the belly. I have to confirm something" Rage called out to Madeen as he moved closer to the wolf.
Madeen nodded, jumping in for one more strike; the wolf tucked its tail again towards its belly while lowering its chest.
"The belly! Its vital point is the belly!" Rage yelled.
"And how the hell do you suggest we reach his belly?" Madeen replied.
"Remember how Phoenix held Gorthak's head during the raid?" Sensei said, "It's exhausted. I'll try to hold it, but I don't know how long I'll last" he added.
Sensei threw his shield and sword, dashing towards the wolf, he leaped on top of its head, narrowly dodging its claws.
He held its neck and pulled back so hard the wolf fell on its back.
"Go!".
Rage and Madeen swiftly dashed towards the wolf, simultaneously aiming their blades at its belly; the wolf tucked its tail again. the tail was so tough as if it was made out of metal, but Rage pushed his daggers harder, piercing through the wolf's tail and into the belly.
The wolf screamed, a scream so loud it could be heard from the gate's entrance; Sensei felt its resistance fading as he loosened his grip, his body still shaking from the adrenaline but letting out a sigh of relief.
CONGRATULATIONS PLAYERS: SENSEI, RAGE, AND MADEEN, FOR BEING THE FIRST PLAYERS TO DEFEAT THE GOLD-TIER WORLD BOSS FANGMAW.
The players started to mumble among themselves; defeating a world boss a couple of hours after the gate opened was no easy feat even for Highthorn members, but more shockingly, a gold-tier world boss.
Bosses and monsters in Swordmasters were divided into tiers, the lowest being iron, followed by bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and diamond, then the final tier being Mithril; the gold tier was a mid-tier boss that shouldn't appear before mid-game.
"Gold tier? Gah damn, no wonder this son of a bitch was tough" Sensei said, sitting down as he leaned his back on a tree, breathing heavily.
"I was wondering why we were having such a hard time despite our gear, and more importantly why would a gold-tier world boss appear in a starter area?" Rage said, sitting down by Sensei.
"No clue, man" Sensei replied catching his breath, still very exhausted from the battle.
Rage's status window suddenly appeared into his view as he stood up and got closer to examine the corpse for loot.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO LINK FANGMAW AS ONE OF YOUR COMPANIONS?
Rage was confused for a second; then he remembered his unique ability, Demonic Authority.
He stood up, approaching Fangmaw's corpse.
"Link"
SUCCESSFULLY LINKED WITH FANGMAW
THE PLAYER'S LEVEL IS TOO LOW, ADJUSTING COMPANION'S LEVEL
Fangmaw's corpse dematerialized, leaving an empty spot where it once was.
"Summon Fangmaw"
In front of him, Fangmaw appeared; it wasn't the same huge wolf they spent almost an hour fighting, but rather a small puppy.
WOOF!
Fangmaw barked, wagging his tail as he reached up to Rage's knee. Rage knelt down to pick him up, inspecting his face.
FANGMAW
LEVEL: 1
SKILLS: NONE
STR: 10 | AGI: 12 | STA: 8 | WIS: 2
Rage locked eyes with the pup, with Fangmaw visibly confused, tilting his head before he reached in to lick his face.
Rage let out a laugh holding Fangmaw further away from his face, "Alright, little buddy, calm down." he continued, putting Fangmaw down.
"Let's meet back with the others" Sensei said as he groaned standing up.
The group made their way back through the forest; after a little walk, the rest of the group, including Varon, came into view.
"You look kinda different. Lost a couple teeth?" said Phoenix sarcastically before letting out a little chuckle.
"Give me a break" replied Sensei, looking a bit annoyed.
"Didn't know there was an adoption center nearby" Jimmy said to Rage, pointing at Fangmaw who was playing around his legs.
"Uh.. that's.. Fangmaw.." Rage replied, rubbing his head with an awkward smile.
The entire group looked shocked; there was no way that little puppy was the Gold-Tier boss who give them a beating a short while ago.
"This.. is Fangmaw?" Jimmy questioned, trying to find the words.
"Basically" Rage replied.
Jimmy tried approaching the pup; Fangmaw looked at him curiously at first, tilting his head and following his movement. Suddenly, Jimmy raised his staff, and in an instant, Fangmaw transformed into a bigger, scarier version; it flashed its fangs, posing aggressively in front of Jimmy, positioning himself between him and Rage.
GRRRR-
Fangmaw growled.
Rage reached out to pet Fangmaw, trying to calm him down; Fangmaw turned around, almost biting Rage's hand off before he realized it was his master.
Rage approached him again, slowly placing his hand on Fangmaw's head and rubbing it gently; after a second, Fangmaw transformed back into his pup form, wagging his tail and reaching up to Rage's knees like before.
"How interesting" Jimmy said curiously.
"So what's the situation, Varon?" Rage questioned.
"Uh y-yes, my lord, I scouted the nearby area in a 4-mile radius. There is one small human village a little bit up the main road" he answered hesitantly.
"Good, we can sell the loot we got from the hunt and probably get some missions there" Jimmy pointed out before looking at Rage, "Speaking of loot, what did you get from Fangmaw?" he questioned.
Rage took a look at his inventory; he didn't get the chance to look at the drops after the fight since they had to get back quickly before anything else appeared.
Fury Ring: Can be activated, putting the wearer in a state of berserk, doubling physical damage | Cooldown: 6H.
Twilight Talisman: grants temporary invisibility under moonlight, perfect for stealth and surprise attacks | Cooldown: 24H.
Shadowpelt Armor: A dark, resilient armor crafted from the enchanted pelts of the wolf pack, offering increased evasion and resistance against shadow-based attacks.
Fangmaw's Pelt X7
"The armor is around level 60; our current gear is better, so we can put it up for auction; the Ring works well for Madeen since he's always kinda Oooga Booga going head first in every fight" said Jimmy.
"Ey, wha' do ya mean!" Madeen yelled while munching something.
"Madeen, dare I ask what are you eating, mate?" Sensei questioned, disappointedly.
"Ion know it's some wandom bewwy I found in dat buff" Madeen answered, still chewing.
(I don't know. It's some random berry I found in that bush*)
"WHY ARE YOU EATING RANDOM BERRIES, YOU IDIOT?" Sensei yelled.
"Chill, I haven't died, have I?" Madeen answered after swallowing the berry.
Jimmy snatched a berry off of Madeen's hand, inspecting it.
Summer-rose berries: an ingredient used in healing potions.
"Looks like the recipes changed" Jimmy said, not looking up from his status window, "I'll gather some of these for later".
As Jimmy started collecting the berries, Rage went to speak with Varon.
"Varon, I know you are confused, so let's have a little talk."
"Yes, my lord."
"After our clan advanced to the fifth stage, a portal opened to this place called the eastern continent; it looks like our gear was lost, and our levels were reset. That's why you see us in this rough shape".
"My lord, it is my duty to help and protect you. Please give me the order, and I'll call forth our sentinels to clear this entire forest" Varon said, kneeling in front of Rage, a sense of duty and seriousness in his voice.
"No need; all we need right now is info; it would be nice if we could get our heirlooms from the clan house" Rage said, looking past Varon to Jimmy, who was still collecting berries.
"There is a way" Jimmy called out, still collecting berries.
Rage looked at him with curiosity.
"We had a vault, which is shared between all clan houses of the same clan; if we manage to build a new clan house, we should get access to our vault" Jimmy continued, "Most guilds had chests for storage since they didn't have enough for a vault, but we were rich enough so that's that"
"How the hell didn't we think of that?" Sensei questioned, feeling kind of stupid.
"Because you're stupid" Jimmy answered.
"Well, for now, let's move to the village Varon talked about."
"You heard the boss. Let's roll out."