Chapter 104: Defense Army Captain Lothar
The party continued circling the garden in counter-clockwise. As they moved on, the minions they encountered were slowly transitioning from simple gardeners to full-on werewolves.
[Werewolf Guard] (Elite)
Level: 34
HP: 50,000
These type of monsters were technically stronger, as they had healing abilities which could heal them by 20,000 HP in one spell. However, Zhang Yang countered their healing with his <Destructive Smash>, reducing their healing amount down to 5,000 HP.
As they cleared all the monsters along the way, they obtained 4 Black-Steel equipment, and a bunch of [Cotton Cloth].
They arrived at the third boss after 10 minutes.
[Defense Army Captain Lothar]
Level: 34
HP: 800k
"Little Yang, are we doing this fast enough? Or are we falling behind?" Fatty Han was worried that they could not obtain the First Clear Achievement as they had been fighting for at least an hour.
Zhang Yang smiled and said, "Don't worry about us. I'm sure by now the other parties are still getting themselves killed over and over again at the entrance where the butler is. They do not know that they are supposed to kill the other bosses first.
This was one of Zhang Yang's best perks in being reborn. In his previous life, Mark the Butler had killed every single exploration team that had entered, continuously, for two days! So, in protest, those "victims" complained on the official forums, claiming that the developers had placed an undefeatable boss to stop players from advancing! However, the officials only responded by saying that everything has gone as planned and asked them to carefully think outside the box. After that, players returned to the dungeon to fight and when they could not endure it anymore, they tried skipping the first boss to fight the other bosses first. In the end, they had found out that every boss taken out reduced the butler's HP and attack. They had unintentionally found the secret to defeating the boss, swiftly claiming the First Clear Achievement.
You could say that the hardest part of the dungeon was to find out which boss to fight first!
When everyone heard Zhang Yang's explanation, everyone grinned evilly. Even Sun Xin Yu the Ice Queen curled the edges of her lips. It was a pity that no one could see her completely covered face.
"Alright! Now, it is time for me to explain the attack plan!" Zhang Yang clapped his hands together for everyone's attention.
"This boss has a hidden ability, to transform into a "Grandmother Wolf"!"
"Grandmother... wolf? As in, the story of the little red riding hood?"
"Exactly! During the period of that form, he will ignore whoever that's holding aggro, and start chasing after a random player! This goes on until the skill's effects end, or when the unfortunate player gets killed. The selected player will turn into 'little red riding hood'. You will not be able to use any skills at all! The only option is to run for your life!"
Han Yin Xue raised an eye brow and asked. "I'm guessing that the player's movement speed will be slower than the boss."
"Correct!" Zhang Yang nodded. "That is why everyone needs to attack the boss, and stand in his path at the same time. We must try our best to slow the boss down by blocking his way! In that form, the boss will have a fixed 3,000 attack damage which will not be effected by defense value. That attack comes once every 2 seconds. There's no chance for us to heal or to tank the damage head on. Not even two healers could heal that amount in time!"
"Other than that 'red riding hood' transfiguration, the other skills in his arsenal are mostly meant for the tank. You guys need not worry when it comes to that!"
"Now that everyone knows how easy this is..." Zhang Yang unsheathed his sword and prepared to charge, but before he could finish his hanging sentence, Wei Yan Er screamed "Haha! Go! Go! Let's go!"
Zhang Yang sighed. He ignored Wei Yan Er and dashed forward.
"Guards! Guards! Intruder alert!" Lothar looked around. When he could not find any other backup coming to him, he got angry and shouted as he dashed to greet Zhang Yang. "A bunch of lazy bastards! I'll come back later to flay your skin!"
The battle started.
Lothar was a dual wielding, physical attack monster. He wielded shiny white axes in each of his hands. His attack rate was rather fast, causing Zhang Yang's <Block> effectiveness to drop tremendously, as he could only block half of the attacks. However with that speed, the attack power was also lowered. His attacks could inflict about 1,000 damage to Zhang Yang, which was nothing more than 1 healing spell for Han Yin Xue.
97%, 96%, 95%...
"Frost Night! I'll sink my teeth into your lovely neck!" Lothar roared to the sky and immediately turned into a gray colored werewolf.
Poof!
Sun Xin Yu turned into a little girl with a red cape, a red hood, and a little bamboo basket in her hands.
'Ding! Defense Army Captain Lothar had used <Run! Little Red Riding Hood>!'
'Ding! Player Frost Night had received <Little Red Riding Hood Transformation>. Last for 30 seconds!'
"Run! Run now!"
Sun Xin Yu turned around and ran away as fast as she could.
Lothar's werewolf transformation only took about 1 second. He jumped off his hind paws and started to chase after Sun Xin Yu. However, the moment the boss took his first step, Zhang Yang quickly shifted and blocked off his route. When the skill <Run! Little Red Riding Hood> was in effect, the boss would only be fixed on chasing after the targeted "Little Red Riding Hood". If anyone were to stand in front of him, blocking his path, the boss would have to move around the player to proceed, delaying his time in reaching the target.
"Could we just stand around the boss to block him completely?" Han Yin Xue thought that it would be a better idea.
"No, we can't do that. If the boss could not track any paths to move on, he will jump and close the distance to his target instantly!"
Zhang Yang tried his best to block the boss path while trying to maintain his DPS on the boss.
This round, it all depended on the capability of the targeted player. Fatty Han would most definitely fail this. He could not keep up with Sun Xin Yu's pattern of running. Her path was mostly based on the boss's own movement she managed to stay behind the boss, keeping him circling endlessly. Hundred Shots and Han Yin Xue performed quite well while Wei Yan Er was even better than the both of them. She was almost on the same level as Zhang Yang!
"Not bad little brat!" Zhang Yang complimented.
"Hehe! When I was a kid, I was always good at playing the game 'Eagle catching the chicken'!" said Wei Yan Er happily.
"When you were a kid? That must have only been a few days back!" Zhang Yang laughed wildly.
"Stupid! Idiot! GYAA!" Wei Yan Er cried out in anger. "Ask my cousin if you don't believe me!"
"Oh. That's right, she had not been playing this game for a while now!" Han Yin Xue suddenly giggled. "For at least 10 days I think!"
At first Wei Yan Er nodded her head in agreement with her cousin's statement before her could hear the other half of it. But when the other half followed, she cried out and scolded, "Han Yin Xue! What are you blabbering about! I'll poke your tits later!"
"..."
30 seconds later, Lothar regained his human form and resumed the initial state of aggro prior to his transformation, attacking Zhang Yang first.
After a short fight; the boss only lost 4% HP before he used <Run! Little Red Riding Hood> for another 30 seconds. This time, the selected player was Han Yin Xue. She froze, like a deer caught between headlights, before stiffly turning around to run, her quarrel with Wei Yan Er completely forgotten.
Wei Yan Er was ecstatic! She did not even bother to block the boss. She only ran after the boss excitedly, hacking at its rear end like a slavedriver. "Haha! HIAH! Go! Wolf! Faster! Bite her! Hahaha! Bite her head off!"
Han Yin Xue ran like a madwoman, shrilly screaming at Wei Yan Er. "Stupid little brat! The next time you get turned into the red riding hood, don't expect me to heal you!"
"BLEH~~" Wei Yan Er stuck her tongue out, pulling down one of her lower eye lids to Han Yin Xue.
The boss would use this skill every 30 seconds or so. This battle had turned from a trading of blows into a game of tag.
80%, 70%, 60%... the boss HP dropped gradually and when the skill was activated for the fifth time, the unlucky player was Fatty Han!
Transforming into a little girl, Fatty Han ran haphazardly like a wild chicken, without looking out for the boss. It wasn't long before his random running sent him smacking into the boss!
Bang! Bang! Boom!
Since Hunters did not have any attack reduction skill, and even if they did, Fatty Han was locked out from activating it! Han Yin Xue could not heal him in time and Fatty Han was killed off instantly.
'Ding! Player Slim and Handsome had died!'
"Stupid Fatty! It's time for you to lose some weight!"
"Haha! It's useless for him to lose weight! He actually bumped into the boss! GAHAHAHAHA! It's so funny!"
Everyone laughed.
However, Zhang Yang was the only one who sighed quietly. Fatty Han's skills and capabilities were not as good as the real professionals. As the difficulty of dungeons went higher, his performance would suffer even further. He had been performing well in the past dungeon since it was only a race of attacking. But now that dungeons involved moving strategically or other dungeon gimmicks, he would not be able to keep up with the difficulty!
Furthermore, his incompetence was becoming more prevalent. So far, the party consisted of people like Hundred Shots and Sun Xin Yu. These were future superstars. Han Yin Xue had already easily beaten the S-level difficulty quest while Wei Yan Er's performance was not as consistent. However, she could easily be among the professionals with a little bit of training. While everyone else was improving, Fatty Han was the only one who was lagging behind. If this continued, Fatty Han alone could single-handedly drag the entire team down with him!
Zhang Yang recalled his earlier epiphany today: "One must not fear the godly strength of the enemy, but the useless imbeciles and incompetent partners in battle!" Even if everyone was happily laughing and playing along with each other now, the moment Fatty Han showed signs of being the weak link of the party, people would inevitably start to have negative thoughts of him! Once it would drag on longer, the team would literally be split apart! Since Fatty Han was a prideful man, he could make a mess out of it!
What can I do about it?
Zhang Yang cracked his head to think of a solution and had finally found one. He would find a perfect opportunity to have Fatty Han lead another team!
40%, 30%, 20%!
With Fatty Han dead, the boss HP reduced slower but it was still steady. Technically, there was no time limit to kill a boss. The party could merely consist of a tank and a healer to clear this boss.
After 3 minutes, the boss fell lifeless.
After being revived by Han Yin Xue, Fatty Han walked over to the boss and kicked it furiously.
The boss had been picking out players randomly but why he was the only person who died when he was picked!? This infuriated him so.
"Pervy Fatty! You are such a noob!" Wei Yan Er spoke out directly.
Zhang Yang noted her statement, and attempted to divert the topic, "Little brat, if you're not opening the corpse, I'm moving on now!"
"Ah! Wait! I'll open it now!" Distracted, Wei Yan Er ignored Fatty Han and quickly headed to the boss.
[Waverly Heart] (Gray-Silver, Necklace)
Vitality: +15
Dexterity: +15
Equip effect: Increase <Take Aim> damage by 50%
Level requirement: 30
Note: "Lothar, my love to you is as deep as the ocean!" by Chief Butler Mark!
"WHAT THE F*CK! WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST READ?!" Fatty Han screamed at the top of his lungs.