Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: The Second Named, Lion Valgar
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The Named’s HP was beyond comprehension.
There were no special gimmick structures in the combat area.
Chris's Attack Squad had no choice but to charge in and see.
“The Named’s patterns are faster than expected!”
Death of Death was scrambling to counter Valgar’s swift attacks. The ranged DPS held back, afraid to pull aggro.
Valgar charged, ramming with his massive body and swinging his heavy fists in succession. His legs, firmly rooted to the spot, did not move.
“For now, we need to watch the situation until Death gets used to the patterns!”
Chris moved quickly, her sharp eyes scanning the entire combat area. With that much HP, it would likely take a while to even reach a special pattern.
A timed pattern? An HP-based pattern? Whatever it was, they could only figure it out once the fight was underway.
*Fwoosh!*
Valgar extended his fists to either side and spun his body in a wide arc.
His rock-like, heavy fists gained momentum from the rapid rotation and swept through the surrounding area.
“Hup!”
Death of Death’s eyes flashed fiercely.
As Valgar’s fist closed in, his hands moved like flowing water, positioning themselves above and below as he assumed a solid counter stance.
[Counter (B)]
[Counters an enemy's attack.]
[(B-Rank) Successfully countering within 0.5 seconds grants 1 second of invincibility.]
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!*
Death of Death countered Valgar’s first rotation with perfect timing. Valgar spun twice more, but he couldn’t break through the counter’s invincibility.
Immediately after, Death of Death exploited the opening in the large motion, his Power Fist slamming into Valgar’s body. *Boom! Boom!*
Chris let out a gasp of admiration.
“A Just Guard!”
An advantage granted for blocking or countering an enemy attack with precise timing.
Despite the penalty of his Synchronization Rate, Death of Death had brilliantly succeeded in gaining invincibility.
“It’s just like real boxing. You have to gauge the slightest distance and have perfect timing.”
*Boom! Boom!*
Death of Death’s body weaved left and right, continuously striking Valgar.
The reliable tank of Chris's Attack Squad, the Fighter Death of Death, was making excellent use of the Just Guard mechanic.
“So, the special training paid off, huh?”
Chris smirked, recalling his reckless training methods.
Now that Death of Death had switched from defense to offense, the other damage dealers could attack freely. Cherni and Beimerung began to unleash their skills without reservation.
*Boom! Pow! Crash!*
[Second Named]
[Lion Valgar]
[HP 19,000,541 / 20,000,000]
The combined assault of the four, fresh from farming the forward base, was concentrated on the boss. Valgar’s HP began to decrease rapidly.
And when Valgar’s HP dropped by 5%, the first change occurred in the combat area.
*Click.*
Chris whipped her head toward the sound.
The tower wall. What emerged from it was… a giant saw blade?
*Whirrrrr!*
The saw blade soon began to spin violently.
*Boom!*
Just then, one of Beimerung’s fireballs exploded against the saw. Chris gave Beimerung a thumbs-up.
“Nice one, Beimerung!”
“It’s for kiting, right? I could tell right away!”
Hardened by kiting Galloban's orbs at the forward base, she reacted without hesitation here as well. If the saw blade went toward the tank, Death of Death would have a very hard time.
*Whirrrrr!*
The saw blade began to move toward Beimerung. She kited the giant blade, careful not to cross paths with her party members, all while not forgetting to deal damage to Valgar.
Then, when Valgar’s HP hit 90%, a second saw blade emerged from the wall.
“My turn next!”
*Kaboom!*
Cherni also reacted instantly and began kiting the saw.
A short while later, a third saw blade appeared, which Chris took on.
The three ranged DPS of Chris's Attack Squad, seasoned by countless dungeon clears, maintained their relentless assault on Valgar even while kiting the saw blades.
Valgar’s HP was now at 80%.
*Crack!*
Around the time the fourth saw blade was about to appear, the first one that had been on Beimerung shattered. The saw, which had been chasing her while hitting the wall, had run out of durability.
Beimerung quickly moved toward the fourth saw and began kiting it anew.
If the saw blade pattern was the only threat, then this Named wasn’t difficult to beat, even if it took some time.
“Alright! His HP is insane, but we just need to stay focused! Let’s keep kiting the saws and chipping away at him!”
Chris encouraged her party members.
[Second Named]
[Lion Valgar]
[HP 8,216,331 / 20,000,000]
Valgar’s HP dropped below half. The battle continued in the same vein.
The ranged DPS kited the saws while consistently chipping away at his health. It was a simple but concentration-intensive task, yet Chris's Attack Squad carried on without a single mistake.
The fight against the second Named had passed the halfway point.
Valgar certainly had threatening normal and special patterns, but they weren't enough to stop the swift advance of Chris's Attack Squad.
If they kept this up, they would clear it without any problems.
A hint of relief began to appear on the party members' faces.
Just then.
*Thud!*
An unexpected change occurred.
Valgar suddenly made a bizarre movement.
“Graaaaargh!”
*Thump!*
After letting out a roar, Valgar beat his chest with both fists.
“What?!”
“A special phase? The saws weren’t everything?”
The party members tensed up, watching Valgar’s movements. But after beating his chest twice, Valgar simply resumed his attack on Death of Death.
The first to notice something was wrong was Death of Death, who was facing the patterns on the front line.
“Ugh! Something’s off!”
Chris urgently checked the party status window. Death of Death’s HP was dropping rapidly.
Did he get hit? No, that wasn't it. Death of Death was still reacting to the patterns with perfect timing.
If so, the current situation could only mean one thing.
“A massive attack power increase?!”
His attack had become so strong that it was breaking through the damage reduction of the counter.
“My damage isn’t going through!”
“What is this?! Did his defense go way up?!”
The second to notice were the ranged DPS.
The rate at which Valgar’s HP was decreasing had slowed dramatically.
The ranged DPS continued to pour on their skills, but Valgar’s HP bar seemed frozen in place, not budging at all.
Then, at some point, Valgar spread his arms to both sides.
*Ch-ch-ch-chain!*
Chains shot out from the shackles on Valgar’s wrists, instantly binding all the members of Chris's Attack Squad.
“Aah!?”
“Ugh!”
“N-No!”
With the panicked cries of the party members, everyone was dragged toward Valgar.
At the same time, Valgar slammed his fists into the ground.
*Thud!*
Chris was dumbstruck.
The prelude to an area-of-effect pattern.
But everyone was immobilized.
They couldn't react.
*BOOOOOOM!*
A massive explosion erupted from Valgar, sweeping across the entire combat area.
“What was that?!”
Chris was in turmoil. The fight against the second Named, which had been going so well, had been shattered in an instant.
“We can deal with the chains once we know about them, but his attack and defense increased exponentially. His HP is already huge; there’s no way we can continue the fight like this.”
Death of Death was right. Chris bit her nails, unable to hide her unease.
“The fight was going smoothly. We weren’t at an HP threshold for a special pattern, either.”
“If there were other special patterns, they would have appeared by now. The saws that appear every 5% must be it.”
Cherni, who had been thinking for a moment, joined the conversation.
“Remember that guest from the bus run? The one who said he played a popular raid game decades ago. He told me that some old-school raid bosses had a pattern called ‘Enrage.’”
“Enrage?”
“It’s something that makes the boss impossible to defeat if you don’t kill it within a certain time.”
“A kind of time attack, then.”
Death of Death nodded. Beimerung asked, unconvinced.
“None of the Named monsters we’ve faced so far had a pattern like that, did they?”
Chris shook her head.
“No. Thinking about the Householder’s Statues, the second Named in the Tomb of the Demon, and Galloban, the second Named at the forward base, it’s definitely plausible.”
“Hmm. The longer the fight went on, the harder it got.”
The knight statues rising one by one, Galloban’s demonic mines gradually filling the combat area.
The longer the fight, the more restricted the area became, the more monsters piled up, and eventually, the fight would become impossible.
“Of course, with the firepower of a four-person party, it wasn’t a problem, but you could see those as a type of enrage mechanic.”
Beimerung stamped her feet.
“S-So what do we do?”
“It’s one of two things. Either we missed something, or our absolute DPS is just not enough.”
“Considering the time we lost getting used to the initial patterns, we might be able to pass it if we just focus on damage.”
But the Named still had over 40% of its HP left when it enraged. Could they really burn through an additional 40% just by trying harder?
Chris shook her head.
If even their damage wasn't enough, no other party would be able to clear it.
“There must be a way to reduce its HP with a gimmick. I have a hunch about something. Anyway, we’ll have to experiment.”
***
[Second Named]
[Lion Valgar]
[HP 3,553,007 / 20,000,000]
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!*
I got a Just Guard on the first rotation, blocked the second one as is, and used Counterattack on the third.
*Whirrrrr!*
I glanced toward the sound. A giant saw blade was approaching. I shifted my body slightly to narrowly avoid it.
“Graaaargh!”
The saw blade that brushed past me tore into Valgar’s body.
Valgar’s entire body was already covered in blood-red wounds.
The sight of Valgar spewing blood from the gashes carved out by the saw was grotesque.
He looked somewhat human at first, but now, covered in blood, he was no different from a blood-crazed demon.
Seeing this, I let a small smile grace my lips.
“A time-attack pattern. A gimmick-based boss.”
I had cleared every dungeon by myself up to this point.
Inevitably, I had faced many time-attack patterns.
The moment I saw the second Named’s HP, I knew it was a boss that would enrage if you failed to perform the gimmick.
After seeing the first saw blade ricochet, I understood how to use them.
Normally, the game’s system prevents a Named’s attacks from damaging its minions, but as with Kraksas, there were exceptions.
If so, I figured the reverse was also possible, and my guess had hit the mark.
*Crack.*
One of the saw blades chasing me shattered. As I dodged Valgar’s descending fist, I threw my sword at the newly appeared saw.
[Flying Sword Technique]
[Throws the sword at an enemy within a 15m range to attack, then retrieves it.]
*Swoosh! Clang!*
The damage of Flying Sword Technique was pathetic, but it was useful for grabbing aggro.
The saw blade, now targeting me, began to fly in a straight line connecting me and Valgar.
When a saw blade grazed Valgar’s body, the wounds stacked up.
I couldn't directly check the enemy's status effects, but as the visible wounds piled up, Valgar’s HP decreased at a drastically faster rate.
*Whirrrrr!*
Three violently spinning saw blades flew at me at once.
I dodged the first by twisting my body, used Counterattack on the second, and as the third saw passed, I used the power of Flash to quickly move to the opposite side. I also managed to slash Valgar’s body once in the process.
“Graaaaargh!”
With Valgar’s pained roar, another three-rotation spin came flying at me.
*Clang, clang, clang!* This time, I blocked it on the spot.
From this point on, I didn't even need to use my own damage to kill him.
There was no need to get a Just Guard, and Counterattack was only needed to dodge the saws.
Valgar’s HP was already dropping by hundreds of thousands per second.
I gave Valgar’s wretched form a soft smile.
“I’m not hitting you anymore, you know?”