"Roar!!!"
The crippled earth dragon let out a massive roar that shook the ground and mountains.
Once again, a wave of dragon flame surged toward Sterl's position. Its range so vast that it nearly encircled all possible escape routes Sterl had.
Yet Sterl remained calm.
Although all three of the boss's abilities were marked with question marks, he had already deduced based on his prior observations—
The crippled earth dragon had three capabilities:
A roar with a fear effect, serving as a control ability. A high-damage lava spew that had wiped out the group of players. And now, the last skill remained unknown.
Sterl has a solution for both the first two moves of the boss.
For instance, facing the raging flames, he unleashed [Bloody Charge], transforming into a blood-red afterimage as he charged into the flames, seemingly courting death.
But in the next second, a figure burst forth from the sea of molten lava.
The invincibility frame of the Bloody Charge skill allowed Sterl to dodge all damage from the dragon flame!
With the acceleration, Sterl moved out of the lava zone, ignoring the subsequent damage and flew atop the enemy's head with a teleportation-like maneuver.
Strictly speaking, it's not teleportation, but rather Sterl leveraging a powerful leap from the high platform!
Mid-air, he activated Divine Descent, with golden light swirling around him, and terrifying flames burning in his palms.
[Flame Storm]!
Boom!!
A massive explosion of high-energy flames sent Sterl flying back, allowing him to dodge any follow-up attacks from the crippled earth dragon while on the offensive.
The plan was executed perfectly. Sterl landed gracefully, without even a single corner of his clothes damaged.
"Roar!!!"
However, facing the full-powered Flame Storm, the crippled earth dragon's head caught fire... but its thick skin and flesh seemed to make this injury insignificant.
Sterl's expression darkened considerably.
His Flame Storm, unleashed with all his might, was equivalent to the full burst of a level thirty or forty professional.
But that was it. After all, Sterl didn't have the bonus of a profession. Normally, most monsters could be easily killed, and even elite monsters couldn't withstand it.
However, bosses always have an extra health boost. According to the general education classes Sterl attended at the base, dragon-type monsters inherently have an additional layer of health property amplification.
Moreover, bosses within instances are inherently stronger than those in the wild.
With these three factors combined, this crippled earth dragon was indeed an insurmountable foe for a level thirty or forty professional on their own.
Thus, Sterl's Flame Storm could only inflict minor damage… far from enough to defeat the boss.
Although, with the boost from Bloody Charge, the boss couldn't kill Sterl either, he could keep using Flame Storm to whittle down its health.
But the problem was… Sterl's base attributes were limited. He simply didn't have enough energy to use the two skills frenziedly!
He couldn't deplete the boss's health.
Reluctantly, he decided to abandon the challenge and flee… Sterl was quite calm, not feeling anything was amiss with his decision.
After all, the general education classes he had attended at the base made it clear: history had never seen an unclassed player successfully challenge a boss.
This wasn't him being cowardly!
Sterl even thought that the only thing he lacked was energy. Otherwise, he could have whittled the boss down to death, which was quite an achievement in itself.
Without hesitation, he activated Bloody Charge, instantly moving out of the crippled earth dragon's attack range.
However, after running some distance, Sterl noticed that the boss showed no signs of following him...
"Wait a second. Where is the crippled earth dragon?"
"Could it be..." Sterl took a closer look at the boss within the mine. Although this dragon-type monster was massive, its lower body was completely twisted. Its attack range was terrifying, and its movements were incredibly swift.
But it was precisely because of this that a significant flaw of the monster itself was obscured—
It had no mobility!
At the position where Sterl's Bloody Charge had taken him, he was already beyond the boss's attack range. The boss could only roar and bellow in fury, watching helplessly as the incredibly precious Star Egg was taken, unable to do anything.
And Sterl seemed to realize something...
The energy cost of using Bloody Charge consecutively would double (the energy consumption doubles if used continuously within one minute). At this point, Sterl's energy cap allowed him to use it twice before his energy bar would be depleted.
With 17 free attribute points at hand, investing five points in Spirit would not provide enough energy for a third Bloody Charge, but it would allow him to cast one Flame Storm.
That meant...
Sterl could exploit the monster's lack of mobility, charging in with Bloody Charge to get within the attack range for Flame Storm.
Then, after casting the skill, he could charge out again.
Sterl didn't even have to worry about the crippled earth dragon's furious counterattack. The reason is quite simple: he can finish pronouncing the two syllables required to unleash Flamestorm during the initial 0.5 seconds of the dash, which is the period of invincibility frames.
Then, immediately after the invincibility frame of [Bloody Charge] ended, he could initiate the next charge.
As long as Sterl managed the distance and timing well, it was relatively safe.
Of course, the risk was high. If Sterl wasn't careful, he could be instantly killed by a breath of dragon fire from the boss.
Should he try it?
Sterl hesitated. The operation was theoretically feasible, and adding five attribute points to Spirit wasn't a loss.
In [Transcendence], the game he was playing, few people went for extreme attribute allocation, pouring all points into one or two attributes. Regardless of the profession, adding five points to Spirit was always beneficial.
However, humans are not machines. The boss could be attacked many times, but Sterl could be instantly killed by a single mistake. Combat in [Transcendence] was incredibly realistic.
In the end, it was the dragon's wide-ranging flame breath that was too much of a nuisance!
Not only did it cause damage on its own, but the lava also had a strong binding and blocking effect.
Getting hit by this meant being baked alive under continuous high temperatures, with no chance to escape.
Sterl's Bloody Charge only provided speed, not the ability to phase through walls or teleport!
"I'll stake it all!"
His eyes hardened with resolve, after all, the passive ability of Divine Descent gave him a chance at revival.
Facing a boss-level enemy, one could imagine the bounty of good loot to be had. If he didn't dare to risk it even with a chance to revive, Sterl would feel he was being overly cautious.
Besides, as long as he didn't make a mistake, he wouldn't lose his chance at revival, right?
Sterl made up his mind and also devised a backup plan. Currently, he had five charges of Blood Essence (he had gained three more while hunting for the pet egg by defeating monsters).
He could create a Bloody Shield once. Maybe the ability of the Blood Diamond could also block an attack from the crippled earth dragon, giving him a chance to recover from a mistake without losing his revival armor.
With everything ready, Sterl no longer hesitated.
"Evolution!"
"Spirit enhance!" He felt a clarity in his mind.
The next second—Sterl transformed into a surging crimson shadow.
[Bloody Charge]!
As he rapidly approached the boss, he uttered the two magical syllables of Flame Storm and activated Divine Descent!
The flames, fiercer than before, surged forward!!
Once again, dealing with the crippled earth dragon… well, not very significant damage.
But at least, the boss's vitality was steadfastly and slowly depleting!
"ROAR!!"
The earth dragon roared in fury, unable to believe that the insignificant ant from before dared to come back and seek trouble.
It was even somewhat surprised, perhaps seeing a chance to reclaim the Star Egg!
Then it could fulfill its duty!
The dragon's breath surged forth!
Facing the crippled earth dragon's counterattack, Sterl didn't hesitate and once again transformed into a bloody shadow, dashing out of the boss's attack range!!
With an extremely stylish move, Sterl planted one hand on the ground, catching his breath, perfectly dodging the boss's onslaught!
But his coolness lasted only a few seconds. He looked back with a palpable sense of relief, only to see magma scorching the ground in front of him, partially dissolving the incredibly solid stone terrain of the mine.
Sterl stood in a safe zone, but before him was a veritable inferno!!
He couldn't help but click his tongue.
According to the general education courses in the base, the strength of a crippled earth dragon far exceeds that of a regular level 20 BOSS!!