Screech!
“Phew.”
After entering the fortress and hunting the sparsely visible chimeras, I was quickly able to notice a difference from other elite dungeons.
“All the monsters are chimeras.”
An elite dungeon named ‘Aspero’s Fortress’.
As expected, this dungeon is likely a demon stronghold like the outpost. The demon who is the master of this place must be named Aspero.
However, no ordinary demons are visible. Everything roaming inside the fortress are just chimeras.
Starting from the dog-shaped chimeras seen in the outpost, there were also flying chimeras and bipedal chimeras. Rather than a demon fortress, a chimera fortress?
Chimeras without intelligence couldn’t have a system in place. There’s no particular set route, and they don’t call for comrades. Thanks to that, the path to the first tower wasn’t difficult.
Before long, I arrived at the lowest of the three towers I had seen from the outside.
The space inside the tower was quite wide. Just looking at it, it seemed like a suitable space for a named boss battle.
“It seems the 1st named battle will take place here.”
I gripped my sword tightly and tensed my body.
The first tower wasn’t that tall. In terms of real buildings, it was about 3-4 stories high. But the tower ceiling was relatively high from the first floor. It seems they use wide spaces on each floor.
Finally, as I fully entered the tower, an unexpected sight unfolded before my eyes.
“Ooh.”
Wriggle wriggle. That would be a good way to describe it.
From floor to walls, tightly packed, hundreds and thousands of eggs filling the entire floor. No, are they even eggs to begin with? Cocoons?
Some looked like real eggs, and there were also meat lumps in the shape of eggs.
They were connected to a huge meat lump thinly spread on the floor, wriggling together as if they were one body.
The entire space was damp and moist.
I carefully approached them while organizing my thoughts.
Numerous eggs and cocoons. The damp space inside the tower. A fortress full of chimeras.
Synthesizing all of this, it wasn’t difficult to infer what the sight before me meant.
“A chimera hatchery.”
Indeed, is this where chimeras are mass-produced?
A similar sight would be spread out on the lower floors of the other two towers too.
But I couldn’t find entrances in the middle-height and tallest towers. It’s made so that you can only move to the next tower through the bridge connected to the top of the lowest tower.
Opposite the entrance I came through, stairs leading to the upper floor of this tower were visible. To head there, I have to pass through the space full of chimera eggs.
With this layered structure, there’s one expected pattern. A pattern where all connected chimeras wake up when you approach a cocoon on the verge of hatching.
If so, this section is more dangerous than the named boss. No matter how much stronger I’ve become, it’s uncertain how long I could hold out against the sheer numbers of many chimeras.
How should I get to the stairs?
Poke poke.
I touched a small egg isolated near the entrance. Judging by its light color and small size, this egg didn’t seem like it would hatch immediately.
“Oh.”
As expected, the small egg doesn’t hatch when touched.
Then, what about a cocoon?
I carefully approached a large cocoon slightly separated from other cocoons.
Beep.
Screech!
When the distance to the cocoon became about 3 meters, a chimera woke up. A flying chimera that also looked like a bat quickly flew towards me.
Thwack thwack thwack!
I lured that chimera towards the entrance to deal with it and then wiped my chest.
“Whoa, that surprised me.”
It has more HP than I thought. It was even tougher than the chimeras outside.
Indeed, they didn’t make this for us to wake up and kill all of them.
Only then could I grasp the overall structure of the floor at a glance.
Clearly, these eggs and cocoons were densely packed, with no room to step, but there were also sections where relatively small eggs were gathered.
Those sections of small egg clusters were conspicuously connected all the way to the stairs leading to the next floor.
“Aha.”
Draw the recognition range of cocoons on the verge of hatching in my head, and move to the upper floor following the path connected by small eggs without touching it.
Although it looks very bizarre and dangerous, looking at it like this, it’s not a difficult section at all. Rather, avoiding the scouts in the outpost was more difficult.
It might change when I come in later, but judging by the current arrangement of cocoons, I should be able to easily get to the stairs.
I moved my steps vigorously.
Thump thump, I walked proudly.
No, I should still be careful just in case.
Tiptoe tiptoe.
“Arrived.”
I safely passed the stairs and came up to the upper floor of the tower.
As expected, the lowest tower was structured with upper and lower floors.
If all the other towers are like this, too, I should easily be able to pass through the trash mob sections.
The numerous eggs and cocoons from the lower floor weren’t visible on the upper floor of the tower.
A clean space. But the damp air still remained.
This must surely be the 1st named’s dwelling.
Judging by the structure of the dungeon full of chimeras, it wasn’t difficult to predict the form of the named boss.
“Something like that.”
I stared up at the high ceiling.
There, the shape of a strange life form hiding in the darkness was briefly visible.
Kaaak.
A low resounding roar.
Chimeras had various forms and cries depending on what life form they were based on. But, the cry just heard was exactly like-
“It sounds like something I heard in a monster movie or dinosaur movie.”
Hmm, I nodded in understanding.
As I reached the center of the tower’s upper floor, the shape in the darkness moved.
Thud.
A huge red meat lump instantly appeared before my eyes.
“Oh.”
I thought it sounded like a dinosaur cry I had heard in a movie, but does it really look like a dinosaur?
The huge two legs firmly planted on the ground, and the long powerful tail supported the body while maintaining balance.
The only difference from a dinosaur was that the front legs weren’t visible. Did they atrophy? Since it’s a chimera, we can’t assume it was necessarily modeled after a dinosaur.
While the body was dinosaur-like, the head part was reminiscent of an anglerfish. The jaw full of sharp teeth would surely crush and tear apart anything that enters it.
It looks bizarrely ugly. Anyway, since the head is like an anglerfish, should I call it an anglerfish?
Soon, I was able to confirm that my thoughts were correct through the named boss status interface that popped up.
The huge anglerfish that fully revealed itself let out a roar once.
Kaaaaaaak!
[1st Named]
[Level 40 Bloodfang]
[HP 4,000,000 / 4,000,000]
* * *
Thwack thwack thwack!
I excitedly launched Starlight Slashes towards the huge anglerfish’s body. As expected of a giant named boss, unlike human-type named bosses like Zarkan who are quick, it served as an excellent sandbag.
Kaaak!
The anglerfish roared and opened its huge mouth towards me, stabbing it into the floor.
Boom, boom!
My body, moving quickly, could easily avoid the shower of the anglerfish’s jaws.
It’s trying to swallow my tiny body in one bite. The sharp teeth looked good for thoroughly chewing too.
Judging by the attack form, it can’t be blocked. And the speed is quite fast. But it wasn’t to the extent that I couldn’t avoid it.
For the next stabbing pattern, I tried using counterattack to move behind the opponent.
Clang!
I barely blocked the anglerfish’s tail that was swung instantly as soon as I used counterattack, and broke out in cold sweat.
It’s a similar attack method to the 1st named wyvern from the Demon’s Tomb before. But unlike the wyvern that swung its tail forward after turning its body greatly, this one swung its tail towards me who had taken its rear without even looking back.
Is it a rear attack pattern? This is similar to demons.
Anyway, it’s not threatening if you just know about it.
The early stage is exploration. I check the normal patterns one by one.
The anglerfish that spotted me again suddenly curled its body greatly.
Body rotation pattern.
Clang clang!
Strong impacts were transmitted to my sword using guard twice in short intervals.
A total of 2 rotations. It’s a pattern perfect for activating Just Guard.
Kaaaaaaak!
The anglerfish opened its huge mouth again and stabbed down towards me.
Boom, boom!
I must not allow the attack to hit. In this game, HP doesn’t mean much once you enter elite dungeons. It’s just the difference between dying in one hit or being in a near-death state.
I inflict damage while avoiding normal patterns, and for now, I don’t use counterattack.
The anglerfish curled its body greatly again. It’s the preparation motion for the 2-rotation pattern.
Clang!
I block the first rotation by raising my sword at the exact timing and-
Swish.
I avoided the second rotation by using counterattack.
A soft light swirled around my body that obtained the Just Guard judgment. At the same time, I slashed the anglerfish’s body with starlight accompanied by the Vigor buff.
Thwack thwack thwack thwack!
Kaaaaaaak!
Scars engraved on the blood-red body, the named boss’s HP decreasing at a fast rate. The anglerfish screamed as if in pain.
[1st Named]
[Level 40 Bloodfang]
[HP 3,054,516 / 4,000,000]
The normal patterns are easy. It’s not even comparable to someone like Zarkan who had diverse patterns.
But it’s about time to prepare for special patterns. I temporarily stopped the continuous offensive and tensed my body while calmly slashing the anglerfish’s body.
The moment the named boss’s HP dropped to 75%, as expected, the anglerfish’s movement changed.
Kaaaaaaak!
“Huh.”
The anglerfish suddenly showed its back.
Thud thud thud.
The anglerfish, which instantly moved away from me, started climbing the wall easily despite its huge body.
Before long, the anglerfish’s body stuck to the ceiling.
I watched that sight with my mouth blankly open.
Aha, so that’s how it climbed up and stuck to the ceiling.
No, more than that, if it sticks to the ceiling, I can’t attack it?
It’s that pattern again—a nasty pattern in which, during the special phase, the boss attacks freely, and I alone have to run around as if my feet are on fire.
“Ee… eek!”
I stamped my feet.