"Let"s test its attack and defense first."
Li Huailin thought as such while slashing the boss. Immediately, a "-491" popped out. Looking at the boss"s HP bar, only around 2% was deducted. Looks like the boss"s defense is average, but his HP is not average at all. It was at least 20,000.
G.o.d of Snakes Decimas"s Shadow also retaliated, unexpectedly, with a physical attack. It just swung its staff towards Li Huailin.
-89
The damage is way higher than the mobs back there, but it was within acceptable range for Li Huailin. At least he didn"t need to worry about the boss instant killing him with a normal attack. Now, the skills…
"This is my wrath!"
After finishing one normal attack, Decimas"s Shadow immediately used its first skill. Opening its left hand which wasn"t holding the staff, Decimas"s Shadow then waved it casually, shooting three green b.a.l.l.s at Li Huailin, ScarletMoon, and ScarletSash.
-288
This was the number on top of Li Huailin"s head.
-291, -466 (Critical)
This was the number on top of the two girls respectively.
Not only was there direct damage, a buff immediately appeared in Li Huailin"s buff column.
Poisoned: Increase HP by 75 every 5 seconds for 15 seconds.
The girls who did not even have 1000 HP yet must not be feeling good now after this one attack.
"Drink, heal them first. Don"t care about me."
Li Huailin shouted to the party. His HP may be recovering due to the boss, but the other two were really poisoned. Furthermore, ScarletSash, a fragile hunter, got critically hit. She may even die due to the DoT.
"Okay."
Looking at the serious Li Huailin, ScarletDrink got serious too. She instantly cast recovery skills at the two, casting Heal on ScarletSash who was dangerously low on HP too.
"In conclusion, the first skill doesn"t pose much of a threat to me."
Li Huailin thought as such. Though the recovery from the poison couldn"t fully make up for the direct damage, their difference was only a few tens. Overall, there wouldn"t be much damage.
Li Huailin quickly slashed the boss a few more times, and thinking that he has attracted enough aggro already, he shouted back at the party, "Moon, Rain, Sash, come up and attack. Let"s quickly finish him."
"Everybody, full-out attack! Don"t worry about OT."
Hearing Li Huailin"s words, ScarletMoon immediately commanded an all-out a.s.sault. This was because the experienced ScarletMoon knew that no matter how they attacked, they wouldn"t be able to outdo Li Huailin. How she knew? Just look at those nonsensical numbers appearing above the boss"s head. And this was exactly the most apt command.
ScarletMoon immediately started chanting her fireball spell and ScarletSash also took out her bow. ScarletMoon also approached the boss and attacked it. Though the output of these three wasn"t as high as Li Huailin"s, it still helped. After just 30 seconds, the boss already had 25% of his HP shaved off.
"Feel my wrath, mortals!"
Decimas"s Shadow suddenly roared loudly, and with a wave of his hands, the two poison snake statues on the altar suddenly came to live. The two statues then proceeded to attack Li Huailin.
"What a good skill!"
Li Huailin was elated. Looks like the boss is digging his own grave again with this minion summon skill. Facing the two elite snakes, Li Huailin immediately slashed each of them once to draw their aggro.
"Don"t hit the minions. Focus on the boss."
"En."
ScarletMoon nodded her head.
After being attacked by the minions, Li Huailin looked at his buff column and as expected, two more buffs. Each recovered 35 HP every 5 seconds, and could be stacked up to 5 times. With two of it, Li Huailin had no more fear.
While tanking the minions, Li Huailin continued to attack the boss only. The boss also focused all its attacks on Li Huailin. Only the occasional green ball skill will cause the others to get damaged. Though the attack was high and the danger was real, n.o.body died in the end.
"My subjects will tear you to pieces!"
The boss with 50% of his HP left summoned more minions again. Yet another two elite mobs were summoned, making Li Huailin even happier. These mobs" attack could deal around 40 damage to him, but gave 175 HP to him. How can he possibly die?
"Continue just like this! We should be able to clear it!"
The boss"s HP spiraled downwards fast, and soon only had 25% of its HP left. Just as Li Huailin thought the boss will summon two more healers for him, the boss"s skill changed.
"Feel my power!"
Decimas"s Shadow roared, and purple light flashed in his hands. Then, Decimas"s Shadow"s black snake eyes turned red. Not only Decimas"s Shadow, even the summoned minions"s eyes turned red.
Li Huailin could immediately feel the difference. Decimas"s Shadow"s attack suddenly got higher, dealing around 100 damage with every hit. Its attack speed increased a little too. The same goes for the for elite snakes. It was literally the berserk skill of the first boss Dursula. However, its a full party berserk this time.
As the poison skill didn"t get upgraded, the increase in attack power and speed of all five enemies let Li Huailin feel pressure for the first time. His HP bar started dwindling. Though not at a high speed, it let Li Huailin feel nervous for the first time in this game. However, this nervousness made him excited. This is the feeling of playing a game!
"Shui"er, take care of Huailin"s HP."
ScarletMoon who noticed Li Huailin"s dwindling HP the fastest immediately gave a command to ScarletDrink.
"No problem!"
As she didn"t have to do much healing throughout, ScarletDrink had quite a lot of MP left. Additionally, she could take the intervals between the boss"s skill to drink MP recovery potions. Thus, there wasn"t much pressure on the her now.
"All of you will die!"
Decimas"s Shadow used its poison ball skills again, hitting Li Huailin, ScarletSash and ScarletRain. Li Huailin noticed that though the skill itself didn"t change, it was being fired more frequently. This must be due to the boss going berserk.
"Why does the boss"s skill keep hitting Sash? Did you offend the boss in any way, Sash?
ScarletDrink suddenly said.
True enough, all the skill the boss has fired so far has Sash as one of its target. Even Li Huailin didn"t get hit everytime. ScarletSash was truly "lucky".
"I-I don"t want to be hit all the time too…!"
ScarletSash immediately tried to defend herself.
"Don"t talk anymore. Kill the boss first."
This was ScarletMoon who couldn"t bear seeing her members getting distracted in front of such a strong boss.
Decimas"s Shadow now had only 10% of its HP left. This was the final phase and Li Huailin"s HP has been hovering around 50% this whole time. ScarletMoon felt that they could clear it.
Pa! Pa! Pa!
Yet another three poison b.a.l.l.s. .h.i.t ScarletSash, Moon, and Rain. Currently, Decimas"s Shadow had only 6% of its HP left.
Sash, Shui"er, drink potions! Shui"er, focus all healing on Li Huailin now. Don"t care about the others. Keep going! Its going down!"
While giving this command, ScarletMoon also drunk a potion.
"Understood!"
ScarletDrink nodded her head and drunk a potion before healing Li Huailin,
"Detestable mortals! You will pay for your insolence!"
The boss roared once again, but this time, it was its death throes. Its HP was finally empty, and purple light appeared once again. Soon, Decimas"s Shadow"s body slowly faded into purple lights, before dissipating in the air.
"Clear!"
ScarletMoon smiled happily.
"Yay!"
ScarletDrink cheered loudly and immediately hugged Li Huailin"s arms in excitement.
"Brother-in-law, we cleared an Abyss dungeon!"
"I told you we will be able to clear it."
Li Huailin was actually quite excited too. The accomplishment you get from games, Li Huailin finally felt it!
[System Notice]: You have killed Venom Snake Cave"s hidden boss, G.o.d of Snake Decimas"s Shadow. You have lost 1550 EXP.
The system notice immediately ruined Li Huailin"s good mood. He forgot that he was going to face EXP deduction now.
[System Notice]: You have cleared the dungeon. Calculating the results.
[System Notice]:
Dungeon clear time: 17min 42s
Completion level: 95%
Final evaluation: S
You have lost 3000 EXP
Then, the party leader ScarletMoon received a system notification.
[System Notice]: Your party is the first to clear "Venom Snake Cave""s Abyss mode. Please give a name to the party.
ScarletMoon thought about it, and pa.s.sed the leader position to Li Huailin.
Li Huailin was still having a heartache over his lost EXP when he received a system notification telling him he was the party leader now. Then, the notification which appeared for ScarletMoon appeared in front of him. Li Huailin look at ScarletMoon in confusion.
"Hmm? What it it?"
"En. After thinking about it, I feel that our guild doesn"t need to become that famous. Our guild"s member are mostly girls, and didn"t join to strive to become the best guild. Furthermore, even if we really wanted to do that, our current abilities are way too weak. We just don"t have enough funds. I think that our guild should go for the elite route and quietly strengthen ourselves. To the point other guilds won"t easily anger us. If we become the first guild to clear Abyss mode now, we will become the taller tree in a forest with strong winds. With our foundation, we will definitely break. That won"t be ideal."
ScarletMoon declared the guild"s expansion path.
"Hmm…"
Li Huailin thought that ScarletMoon made sense, but didn"t think much about it. He wasn"t talented in management anyways. Now that he got the naming rights… of course he must give an impactful name!
After thinking hard about it, Li Huailin entered the name and pressed "Confirm". A huge, red, server announcement appeared in every player"s chat log.
Server announcement:
Party "Your Grandfather, I, is just so great" has successfully cleared Abyss mode instance dungeon Venom Snake Cave.
Overall evaluation: S
Clear time: 17min 42s
Party member: Forest (Leader), ScarletMoon, ScarletSash, ScarletDrink, ScarletRain
Rewards: 10,000 EXP, 2 gold, and commission into the continent"s Glory Records
Party "Your Grandfather, I, is just so great" has successfully cleared Abyss mode instance dungeon Venom Snake Cave.
Overall evaluation: S
Clear time: 17min 42s
Party member: Forest (Leader), ScarletMoon, ScarletSash, ScarletDrink, ScarletRain
Rewards: 10,000 EXP, 2 gold, and commission into the continent"s Glory Records
Party "Your Grandfather, I, is just so great" has successfully cleared Abyss mode instance dungeon Venom Snake Cave.
Overall evaluation: S
Clear time: 17min 42s
Party member: Forest (Leader), ScarletMoon, ScarletSash, ScarletDrink, ScarletRain
Rewards: 10,000 EXP, 2 gold, and commission into the continent"s Glory Records
The huge announcement repeated three times, initiating a great commotion.
However, Li Huailin didn"t care about that. That is because, a miracle happened! Following the system announcement, all five of them emitted the golden level up light. Li Huailin was dazed. The four of them levelled up? No problems there. But himself? Shouldn"t he have lost 10,000 EXP? Could it be that the s.a.d.i.s.tic system introduced this light for delevelling just to rub salt into his wound?
Saquacon (Translator)
Saquacon (PR)