“Ee… eek…!”
I stamped my feet after escaping from the named boss battle area.
What on earth are those demonic energy spheres filling the battle area!?
In my hero days, attacks like that could be blown away with a sword aura. But now my body is under the control of the game system.
Although my stats have increased a lot through leveling up and farming so far, it’s still pitiful compared to my power in my prime.
Galovan is also a being subordinate to the game system. He didn’t chase after me out of the kitchen building.
“Haah.”
There’s no point in longing for power I don’t have now.
Although it has the background of the Astria continent, as long as this world is a game, I have no choice but to clear it accordingly.
Galovan’s demonic energy spheres severely restrict the user’s movement depending on their position, and eventually end up covering the entire battle area.
A sphere pattern like mines that explode when approached.
Simply put, it’s a time attack pattern.
I should recall the level 25 elite dungeon 2nd named, ‘Statue of the Family Head’.
A structure that gets progressively harder if you don’t take down the named boss within a certain time, like the battle area getting smaller or add monsters piling up.
It was an even more difficult pattern for me doing solo play.
The structure of the named boss battle area is square.
The demonic energy sphere rising from Galovan’s hand chases me, and stops moving after about 5 seconds.
In the first battle, I didn’t know how Galovan would attack, so I made the spheres position in the center.
“First of all, the initial sphere positions are important.”
Woong.
A purple sphere rose from Galovan’s hand, and it soon started chasing me.
I moved quickly while luring the sphere.
5 seconds later, where I stopped was at the edge of the battle area.
Woong!
The sphere that finished 5 seconds of chase flashed brightly and stopped in place.
Clang!
I approached Galovan and crossed swords.
There’s no time to take care of my body from now on.
I succeeded in moving the first sphere to the desired position.
I immediately started throwing my body into Galovan’s combo attacks.
There’s no time to block all attacks. I don’t cancel Sword Drawing Stance.
I minimize the damage taken only with the increased agility from Sword Drawing Stance and some reflexive movements.
Thwack thwack thwack!
Galovan’s dagger kept brushing past my body, leaving wounds. But I still didn’t release Sword Drawing Stance.
Like swordsmen who don’t care for their bodies inflicting wounds on each other, I launched sword strikes against his attacks.
I can handle this level of damage.
What I need to block is only the last attack of the combo that deals powerful damage.
Clang!
I raised my sword at the exact timing to block Galovan’s last attack.
[Block (A)]
-Blocks attacks from the front 180 degrees.
-(A rank) On successful block within 0.2 seconds of skill use, gain a ‘Vigor’ buff that increases all damage for 10 seconds.
The ‘Just Guard’ judgment that activates when blocking an enemy’s attack at the exact timing.
A soft light swirled around my body that blocked Galovan’s attack.
In this state, I can chip away at Galovan’s HP quickly for 10 seconds.
The demonic energy spheres piling up gradually. Even if I lay them out from the edges, they will fill the battle area before long.
The initial sphere placement is just an act of creating space to use Counterattack freely during the battle time.
I only block fatal attacks. I endure with my body attacks that deal damage just barely recoverable with potions.
Ignoring the pain.
Before the purple spheres fill up completely.
I take down Galovan.
[2nd Named]
[Level 33 Quartermaster Galovan]
[HP 224,120/2,610,000]
“Kaaah! Y-you mere ingredient!”
Galovan’s HP fell below 10%.
Woong, woong.
Without even wiping the blood flowing from his mouth, he created spheres in both hands.
The Milky Way of purple spheres that started from the edges was already filling most of the battle area.
The sphere that chased me for 5 seconds stopped in place, and soon the sphere that followed also stopped moving.
After checking the state of the spheres, I approached Galovan again.
It’s small, but there’s still some space left.
Attacking without regard for my body was worth it.
My body with 100% synchronization rate cried out in pain every time it was cut by a blade, but this much was bearable.
“Hehe.”
For some reason, I laughed.
Laughing even though my body hurts, have I finally gone crazy?
But I think I was like this in the past too.
Beyond the past year I lived unable to die in a dazed state, I felt my blood boiling.
The hero’s blood that was usually timid but brave in battle.
“Kaaaah!”
Galovan, his whole body dyed in blood, let out an enraged scream and created the final sphere.
This time, as many as four.
But at the same time, Galovan’s HP was also flashing at the bottom.
I don’t avoid.
As the spheres rush towards me, Counterattack.
And I cut Galovan’s body in one stroke.
Slash!
Despite the body that had endured numerous attacks, Galovan was helplessly cut in half.
“Oh.”
So you can die split in half when finishing with a slash-type skill.
It’s certainly brutal, must be because it’s a 19+ game.
I squatted in front of Galovan’s body cut in half and poked it.
Needless to say, he didn’t get up again.
* * *
Rumble rumble rumble.
A sphere containing powerful energy was created above Kraxas’s hand.
“We must succeed this time!”
With Chris’s shout, all party members started timing their individual backward evasion skills.
Boom!
The purple sphere, containing powerful energy, rushed towards the ‘Chris’s Raid Party’ members.
Thud.
Boom boom boom boom!
“Whoa!”
“Kyaah!?”
Chris and Deathly Death succeeded in evading. But Cherni and Bae Merong were caught in the aftermath of the explosion.
Both didn’t die, but their HP figures were pointing to the bottom.
“Oh no.”
Chris gritted her teeth.
Kraxas’s merciless second attack flew towards Cherni and Bae Merong, who hadn’t regained their senses yet.
Boom boom boom boom!
“Isn’t this difficulty too high!?”
Thwack, thwack!
Chris kicked the tent canvas furiously.
Bae Merong patted the furious Chris and spoke.
“Does this mean we need to actively utilize the ‘Invincible during casting’ judgment from now on?”
“Seems so. It’s very difficult due to the synchronization rate and the invincibility time is extremely short, but it’s not impossible if we practice repeatedly.”
In fact, Deathly Death was hardly hit by the first area-of-effect attack at some point. He had become able to utilize the invincible during casting judgment excellently.
“I-I’m sorry.”
Bae Merong crouched down. She felt responsible for her evasion failure that caused the party’s wipe.
“It’s very difficult because the damage timing isn’t intuitive. But you can avoid it if you get used to it physically through multiple tries. Still, if only the invincibility time was a little longer.”
“Th-that’s right! The Mage’s backward evasion invincibility time is too short too!”
Bae Merong strongly agreed with Cherni’s words that followed like an excuse.
Chris stroked her chin and fell into thought.
A strategy to individually avoid the first attack and endure the damage from the second burst with the body.
It was possible to get past the first special pattern through this method.
Although HP falls to the bottom if caught in the second attack, it doesn’t kill.
After that, you just need to recover slowly with potions while being careful.
Although unstable, this was the only method for now.
Chris sighed.
“To think we only had three tries where all four succeeded in evading.”
“Moreover, elite soldiers are refilled after passing the pattern, and the next special phase is waiting. It’s out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
Cherni, who had been thinking deeply about something, spoke up.
“But isn’t it strange? Astria Online hasn’t given impossible-to-deal-with patterns so far, right? Even Black Wyvern had a straightforward method using surrounding objects.”
“You’re right. But this 1st named has no surrounding objects. It blows away the tents as soon as it starts, and the battle area is just an empty space. Maybe we could find an answer if we carefully examine the skills.”
“Huh?”
Bae Merong made a sound of question.
“What’s wrong, Bae Merong?”
“Um, just now while dealing with the elite soldiers, the Mage’s ‘Ice Wall’ skill rank went up, and… Would you like to see this?”
Chris looked at the skill interface window that Bae Merong shared.
[Ice Prison]
[Target: Party members within 30m]
[Freezes party members’ bodies, granting ‘Invincibility’ judgment once against all attacks]
[Cooldown 1 minute]
“You see? A derivative skill of Ice Wall was created.”
“Party protection skill…!”
Chris let out a groan seeing that.
“Certainly, until Astria Online skills rank up, we can’t know what derivative skills or additional effects will be created.”
“Currently, almost all Mage users use the Fire tree with strong firepower. It’s become the standard. I often used Ice Wall that blocks melee attacks too, because I was always in charge of adds in the party.”
“So you naturally acquire it around level 30 if you use skills evenly!”
The party members’ faces brightened.
They now had a way to withstand the area-of-effect attack once with Bae Merong’s ‘Ice Prison’.
“Given gamers’ characteristics of prioritizing efficiency, most probably won’t know about it.”
“No. Even so, if they’re level 30 advance party users, there must be people with information about party protection skills.”
“Elementalists also have attribute trees that were abandoned as inefficient. Probably, in those trees too…”
Chris nodded. She didn’t know about melee classes, but magic classes were likely to have it.
Parties knowing this information might have gone ahead of Chris’s Raid Party.
“But we can’t try various skill trainings at this point, right? We definitely need to use backward evasion once. The method of taking it with our bodies is very unstable. Even if we avoid a direct hit, HP falls to the bottom, and in that state, we’d fall if just brushed by the elite soldiers’ attacks.”
Utilizing the ‘Invincible during casting’ judgment attached to backward evasion.
Chris’s Raid Party is certainly at the forefront in this aspect.
Chris rolled up her sleeves and smiled confidently.
“Alright! I feel energized! Now that we have a method, let’s crush it!”