Chapter 29: All Clear
Translator: Zenobys Editor: TheRealSeal
“Ranged classes including healers, be aware of your surroundings! Make sure that there’s at least 5 meters of distance between each other!” Zhang Yang commanded as he pulled aggro, “The 3 melee attackers! Snowy Death, you stand on boss’ left and Phantom Day on its right. Crimson Fire, you’ll attack from behind it! F*ck, Snowy Death, can’t you differentiate left from right? Go to the other side!”
“Alright! All out, ramp up the DPS! The aura effect might seem to cause only a little DoT but every 3 seconds drains away 30 HP per character which would lead to 300 HP in total. Healers might not be able to handle that much healing once it’s dragged on!” said Zhang Yang.
The party nodded in agreement. Everyone performed at their best and attacked the boss with all their might.
All 6 bosses from Hard and Hardcore Mode had given Zhang Yang and the party a total of 18 equipment, which was about 2 equipment per player on average. Compared to when they had first started the dungeon raid, it was a huge improvement! Especially those who had obtained new weapons, their damage dealing capabilities had increased by leaps and bounds.
With both Phantom Day and Fatty Han already in possession of strong damaging power, their attack power had risen to a whole new level after swapping in new weapons, enough to allow them to be on par with Zhang Yang!
“Zhan Yu, check out the stats, I’ve already caught up to you!” said Phantom Day delightedly.
It was true. According to the damage statistics, Zhang Yang, Phantom Day and Fatty Han were in a rat race for the top 3 places in the list. With their miniscule difference in damage output, any first strike would have allowed that player to place first.
Zhang Yang laughed, “Aren’t you a little shameless to be competing damage output with a Guardian?”
“F*ck! Are you really a Guardian?” Phantom Day bemoaned.
‘Ding! Demonized Momorermo has demonized player Defiant Monk!’
During the intense fight, the boss had suddenly turned its head around as he directed a blood-red mist towards Defiant Monk! The mist flew at such an incredible speed that Defiant Monk was not able to react in time. His entire body suddenly shone with a crimson glow, expanding to at least double of his original size while his HP increased to 3,000 points!
“Ranged players including healers, quickly get away from Defiant Monk and nuke his HP!” commanded Zhang Yang.
Hundred Shots and the rest of the ranged players switched their targets immediately and fired towards Defiant Monk.
Being controlled by the boss, Defiant Monk had lost control over his own character and could only watch helplessly as his character proceeded slowly towards Silky Snow who was the closest to him.
‘-52!’
‘-47!’
A chain of damage figures landed on Defiant Monk and his HP was briskly reduced to 0. His body then returned to its normal size and his HP rewound to its original value.
“Stop! Resume attacking the boss!” Zhang Yang multitasked while maintaining his watch on the situation with Defiant Monk all along.
Still, Hundred Shots and the rest of the ranged attackers were a little slow in reacting, allowing their fireballs and arrows free rein and damaging half of Defiant Monk’s 300+ HP!
“You beasts! Couldn’t you guys be a little gentler?” Defiant Monk hurriedly consumed a red pot to reduce the healer’s load.
Another 10 seconds or so had passed.
‘Ding! Demonized Momorermo has demonized player Phantom Day!’
Zhang Yang swiftly took off and pulled the boss away. “Ranged, attack Phantom Day. Melees, don’t even try. You’d be wiped out instantly!”
“Shitty boss, why the hell would you pick me?! Did I ever offend you?” Phantom Day was pissed, as his damage output was a close tie against Zhang Yang’s and Fatty Han’s but now that he was demonized, he could only watch as his name plummeted down the damage statistics.
“My fellow comrades, fire upon me!” Phantom Day shouted, “Kill me! Hurry!”
With their initial experience, the ranged attackers became quicker in halting their attacks after depleting Phantom Day’s HP. It was fortunate that they did it in time as he would have been killed by his own teammates with his measly HP that was less than 300.
“Fatty, have you seen the crystal yet?” Zhang Yang asked Fatty Han just as he saw the boss’ HP drop to 80%.
“Mm, I saw it!” Fatty Han replied just as quickly.
“Okay, don’t hit it yet! Wait for a little longer!” Zhang Yang said as his eye locked onto the boss’ HP bar.
79%, 78%, 77%...
“Fatty! Unleash your attacks upon the crystal!”
“Alright!” Fatty Han changed his target immediately, firing his arrows toward the crystal that was half a person in height.
76%!
‘Crack!’
The crystal broke and a blue, translucent, hemispheric light shield about 3 meters long in diameter appeared in its place.
75%!
“Momorermo is going to show you the real demon!” Momorermo had suddenly stopped attacking to chant something in an odd language, a progress bar appearing on its head.
“Everyone stop and follow me!” Zhang Yang turned and dashed towards the light shield. “This boss’ skill has a 3-second cast time! Make haste, everyone!”
The party members had formed some sort of spontaneous reaction to Zhang Yang’s order and had ran with him into the light shield.
“Flame Emperor! Snowy Death! The both of you are too slow! Hurry up and run!” As he got into the shield, Zhang Yang turned and saw both Flame Emperor and Snowy Death being left behind. Even with Zhang Yang leading the party, each player’s response speed still varied.
‘Ding! Momorermo has casted <Shadow Blast>!’
A dark light with Momorermo as its core blasted out, its range reaching more than 200 meters!
‘Ding! Player Flame Emperor has died!’
‘Ding! Player Snowy Death has died!’
Two enormous ‘-1,000’ damage text appeared on their heads as both Flame Emperor and Snowy Death succumbed to the blast.
“Get out of this shield and go back to your original positions! Continue the attack!” Zhang Yang rushed out of the shield and used <Charge> on the boss, stunning it.
The shield then faded after a few seconds.
Everyone spread back out to their positions and resumed the original attacking momentum but the loss of two members had greatly reduced their attacking power. Luckily the two who died were not the main damage outputs so the impact was not as disastrous. Since two of the players died, the healers also had a lighter load in healing the remaining team members.
“Hundred Shots, be my slave!” Demonized Momorermo let out a deafening growl and flung a blood-red mist towards Hundred Shots.
‘Ding! Demonized Momorermo has demonized player Hundred Shots!’
“Ranged attackers, fire towards Hundred Shots!” Zhang Yang instantly commanded.
Under Zhang Yang’s instructions, the battle progressed smoothly.
‘Ding! Demonized Momorermo has demonized player Slim and Handsome!’
Less than a minute later, the boss had turned and threw the mist towards Fatty Han.
“Melees stop what you’re doing! Ranged, nuke Fatty Han back to our side!” Zhang Yang commanded swiftly. The boss had 53% HP currently. If they had dropped it to 50%, <Shadow Blast> would be triggered and with the demonized players still on the field, it would have been extremely chaotic, resulting in more deaths!
Once Fatty Han was released from demonization, Zhang Yang said quickly, “Fatty, quickly break the crystal!”
“Got it!” Fatty Han hurriedly fired at the crystal.
52%!
51%!
‘Crack!’ With the crystal broken, the blue, translucent shield reappeared.
50%!
“Haha, Momorermo will show you the real demon once more!” Momorermo stopped its attacks and began casting <Shadow Blast>.
“Sprint your way to the shield! Don’t insist on attacking! Only living players can deal damage!” said Zhang Yang as he sprinted towards the light shield.
‘Ding! Momorermo has used <Shadow Blast>!’
A wave of dark light pulsated through the entire field.
“Carry on the attack!” Zhang Yang dashed towards the boss and brandished his sword, dealing significant damage.
“Silky! Ocean! How’s your MP?” Zhang Yang’s main concern was still the healers’ healing endurance due to <Dark Halo>’s existence which would drop everyone’s HP to their deaths once the healers ran out of MP.
“I still have 40% MP but my blue pot cooldown is almost done!” said Ocean Despair.
“I only have 30%. I just consumed one MP pot!” Silky Snow had also hurriedly replied.
Silky Snow had expended her MP much faster than Ocean Despair as she had to make sure everyone had <Regeneration> on them.
[Regeneration]: Restores target’s HP to the equivalent of 200% Magic Attack every 3 seconds over 15 seconds.
The boss still had 50% HP, this would be a little difficult!
“Keep up the effort! We can do this!” said Zhang Yang.
40%, 35%, 30%… the boss’ HP continuously dropped.
“Stand strong! Just one more <Shadow Blast> and there’ll be hope for us to clear this!” Zhang Yang encouraged the entire party. “Fatty! You can break the crystal now!”
“Roger that!” Fatty Han immediately drew his bow to shoot the crystal. After a chain of attacks, the crystal shattered and the blue, translucent light shield appeared once again.
‘Ding! Momorermo has used <Shadow Blast>!’
“Zhan Yu! My blue pots are out!” declared Silky Snow.
“I can do a few more!” Ocean Despair reported.
“Mm, got it!” Zhang Yang used <Charge> on the boss and said, “Fatty! When the next crystal spawns, break it right away!”
“Okay!”
22%, 19%, 16%…
Without Silky Snow’s <Regeneration>, the entire team’s HP began to drop significantly, leading Ocean Despair to frantically spam <Holy Light>. His MP bar that did not have much to begin with flashed in alert.
“Little Yang! The crystal has spawned!” Fatty Han yelled and immediately fired.
Zhang Yang scanned the area and located the crystal’s location, hastily making his way towards it while pulling the boss. “Everyone gather at the shield!”
“What about the boss’ random demonization?”
“The shield makes us immune to it, no fear!”
‘Crack!’ Again, the crystal broke and the hemisphere appeared.
Zhang Yang withdrew himself to the very border of the shield and had the boss blocked outside of it. This way, he was immune to damage yet it allowed him to continue dealing damage to the boss.
“Ocean! Silky! How long till you can consume another blue pot?”
“24 seconds.”
“14 seconds.”
“Alright, after you consume the blue pots, focus your healings only on Fatty, Phantom Day and me. Ignore the rest of the team!” [Beginner Mana Potion] could only restore 100 MP, forcing Zhang Yang to make sacrifices.
15%, 14%, 13%, 12%. Just as quickly as it appeared, the shield vanished and everyone began to lose 30 HP every 3 seconds once again.
“Ocean Despair, become my slave!” With the boss’ demonization, Ocean Despair’s body expanded and he became the boss’ underling.
“Don’t mind him! Focus on the boss! Just half a minute more and we’re through!”
Zhang Yang dragged Momorermo away from Ocean Despair.
“What a waste! If only he could consume one more blue pot to heal us for a little longer before being demonized!” Fatty Han murmured.
11%, 10%, 9%, 8%!
Silky Snow kept her eyes on the blue pot’s cooldown time. Once the time was up, she quickly consumed one and her MP went up by 100 points.
Immediately, she casted <Regeneration> on Zhang Yang, Fatty Han, and Phantom Day, expending her MP. A ‘-30’ red damage text floated across her head, depleting her last drop of HP and killing her.
‘Ding! Player Silky Snow has died!’
7%!
‘Ding! Player Crimson Fire has died!’
6%!
‘Ding! Player Hundred Shots has died!’
‘Ding! Player Defiant Monk has died!’
5%!
4%!
3%!
‘Ding! Player Phantom Day has died!’
2%!
‘Ding! Player Slim and Handsome has died!’
Momorermo still had 1,747 HP left but Zhang Yang only had 124!
“You can do it!” everyone cheered.
Just in the nick of time, a crystal spawned!
Zhang Yang was thrilled, using <Charge> towards it and slashed his sword repeatedly against it.
Even though the crystal pillar had 1,000 HP but since it had 0 defense value, its HP had dropped rapidly.
The boss came up to him!
“<Block>!”
Zhang Yang swiftly activated <Shield Bash> on the pillar, depleting its remaining HP. He jumped right into the shield as soon as it had appeared, stopping his HP from dropping further at a worrying 4 points remaining. He then immediately turned and attacked the boss!
1%!
0%!
With a loud, enraged growl, the red-skinned monster had finally fallen.
‘Ding! The party you are in has killed Demonized Momorermo. Obtained 45,050 EXP (50 points Party Bonus)!’
“We did it!” everyone shouted in celebration.