Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Breaking the Horns
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[First Named Boss]
[Level 45 Ancient Golem Minotaur]
[HP 4,290,056 / 8,600,000]
Ruuuumble!
The entire cube-shaped boss room began to vibrate violently.
Chris lowered her stance and shouted.
"Special phase! We can't lose track of the red wall this time!"
Clank.
Whirr, whirr, whirr!
The walls on all four sides separated and began to rotate to the right. The wall that had flashed red as the special phase began was the one at the twelve o'clock position, where Beimerung had been standing.
Ruuuumble!
However, the intense vibrations of the boss room made it impossible for the party members to focus on the walls' movement.
"Aargh! It's shaking too much!"
"I-I lost it!"
"Ugh! No matter how you look at it, it's impossible to track it with the naked eye in this situation!"
Though everyone struggled to stay balanced, their eyes were wide open, but trying to discern where the original twelve o'clock wall had moved amidst the shaking view was no easy task.
Chris bit her lip. She, too, had lost track of the wall that had flashed red.
Thud, clank.
Soon, the vibrations in the boss room ceased, and the walls stopped rotating. Inside the room, which had returned to its cube shape, Chris gave an order to Death of Death.
"J-Just ram it into the twelve o'clock wall for now!"
"Got it!"
Tap-tap!
Having used a quick backstep to position himself with his back to the twelve o'clock wall, Death of Death watched as the golem bull lowered its stance and began to charge.
Thump, thump, thump!
Craaash!
The golem bull's massive horns slammed into the wall, and a powerful shockwave swept through the boss room.
Fwoosh!
A red light burst from the wall.
Not from the twelve o'clock wall where the bull had rammed its horns, but from the six o'clock wall where Chris was standing.
"D-Damn it!"
Rooooar—!
The golem bull shook its head a few times and began to attack Death of Death, who held its aggro.
Cherni's cry echoed through the boss room.
"No damage is getting through! This barrier is definitely stronger than the one in the first phase!"
"It's taking only a fifth of the usual damage. Can we continue the fight?"
"Let's keep going this time! With our party's firepower, it might be possible!"
Even if they failed to hit the correct wall that had flashed red, it wasn't that the boss took zero damage. A berserk mode would trigger after a certain amount of time, but if they succeeded at the 25% special phase gimmick, there was still a chance to defeat it.
The damage the golem took was drastically reduced, and the normal phase dragged on. Death of Death was starting to struggle.
But Chris's Attack Squad's firepower was certainly impressive. Pounding away with damage reduced to a fifth of its normal value, they finally managed to push the boss into its 25% special phase.
Rooooar—!
Kwakwakwa!
A blue light erupted from the golem bull, and the six o'clock wall flashed.
"Six o'clock this time. I won't lose it!"
After using Ice Prison to negate the AoE attack, Chris's entire party immediately began to watch the walls.
Ruuuumble!
The floor vibrated, the walls rotated, and then, soon, the boss room's movement stopped.
"Did you see it?!"
"I lost it!"
"Is it even possible to see it?"
This time, too, no one could track the wall's movement. If even Death of Death's sharp eyes had failed, it was a lost cause.
"Ah, screw it, it's a one-in-four guess! Death, go for three o'clock!"
Death of Death reacted instantly to Chris's shout, and the bull's charge was directed toward the three o'clock wall.
Craaaash! Rummble!
Vwoooom—!
A red light burst from the three o'clock wall where the golem bull had rammed its horns. The golem's barrier shattered, and it fell into a groggy state.
The faces of the entire party lit up.
"We did it!"
"No time to waste! Start the DPS phase now!"
All of Chris's Attack Squad's firepower was focused on the immobilized golem.
[First Named Boss]
[Level 45 Ancient Golem Minotaur]
[HP 1,409,581 / 8,600,000]
Rooooar—!
Just as Chris's Attack Squad was smoothly chipping away at the final stretch of HP, the bull roared and a barrier formed around it.
Chris couldn't hide her bewilderment.
"A barrier!? Wasn't the special pattern over?"
"Almost no damage is getting through! T-This is...!"
"The barrier is three layers thick!"
Whoosh, thwack!
"Keuk!"
Struck by the bull's horn uppercut, Death of Death's body flew so high it nearly touched the ceiling. It was truly a terrifying amount of power.
Chris's face went pale.
"Berserk!"
The golem's attack power, defense, and speed increased exponentially. They had hit the enrage timer.
In the end, with their current firepower, clearing the boss was impossible without perfectly executing every gimmick.
Thump-thump-thump-thump!
Unable to right himself in mid-air, Death of Death became a horn ornament for the bull. With him dangling from its horn, the bull charged swiftly toward Cherni.
"W-Waaah!"
Cherni screamed and used his invincibility skill, but he was torn to shreds by the horns as they swung wildly from side to side.
The bull's rampage didn't stop until the entire party was wiped out.
"This is no joke for a first boss. If we adjust the aggro and switch from Death's tanking to a ranged tank momentarily, couldn't we reduce the time it takes to bait the charge?"
"Hmm, that's worth considering. But it won't be easy. It means we'd have to delicately control our DPS. And if we can't guess the correct wall that glowed red, we'll have to retry anyway. Nothing changes there."
"By simple calculation, couldn't we clear it once in sixteen tries? The probability would be 6.25%. We just need to guess the one-in-four chance correctly twice."
"If the charge angle is even slightly off, the red light won't appear. The pattern is difficult to handle, and the enrage timer is tight. Even if we rely purely on luck, the chance of clearing is probably less than 6%."
"We can't just rely on luck and grind away time from the very first boss. There must be some gimmick we're missing."
Chris fell into thought, gazing at the walls of the boss room.
No matter how much she focused, it was impossible to track the movement of the walls amidst the violently shaking view.
Could Rain do it? Has Rain already cleared the first boss?
Chris briefly opened her messenger window.
[Swordsman 'Drizzle Rain' (Online, Do Not Disturb)]
"Should I go visit her room?"
Muttering quietly, Chris soon closed the messenger window and shook her head.
What are you thinking, Chris.
Just because you're stuck on a boss, you were thinking of asking Rain for help? You called it a friendly competition.
Contacting Rain's capsule from the outside could interfere with her progress.
Besides, if Rain is really soloing this, it would just make me feel even more pathetic.
"......?"
As Chris stared blankly at the wall, wallowing in self-pity, her feelings soon changed to a sense of unease.
The patterns engraved on the wall, glowing with a faint blue light.
But, did the wall patterns always look like this?
Chris hurriedly turned her head, looking at the walls in all four cardinal directions.
They were different.
The patterns engraved on the four walls were all different.
They looked similar at a glance, but when viewed in a stable state like this, the difference was clear.
"Aha."
Confidence returned to Chris's face.
*
[First Named Boss]
[Level 45 Ancient Golem Minotaur]
[HP 316,819 / 8,600,000]
At some point, Mr. Minotaur's attacks became faster and stronger. The barrier I'd stripped away had reformed. His remaining sliver of HP was barely decreasing.
This was an inevitable process for a solo player like me, depending on the boss: the berserk pattern. As time passed, the boss had grown so strong that it was impossible to fight it normally.
However, this wasn't the kind of berserk mode that posed a huge problem for me. Even with the significantly reduced damage, he would eventually fall if I kept hitting him over time. Quartermaster Galloban, the second named boss at the forward base who directly restricted the combat area, was far more threatening.
Stronger attacks? I just have to not get hit. I'll only use patterns I can block.
Increased speed? Compared to the Ancient Hero, it's not even that fast.
Whoosh!
Klaang!
I blocked the horn uppercut with perfect timing, but my light body was launched high into the air.
He raised his sharp horns, ready to impale my airborne body.
Swoosh.
I twisted my body in mid-air, glaring down at Mr. Minotaur as I moved my sword to my hip.
My target was a single spot. My persistent attacks had paid off.
The bull's sharp horns were covered in cracks.
Using the force of my descent, I thrust my Flash Strike into the cracked horn.
Flash!
Craack!
My body, one with the sword, shot down like a beam of light and shattered Mr. Minotaur's weakened left horn.
Rooooar—!
Mr. Minotaur writhed in agony.
Even with his barrier, he couldn't completely block my Flash Strike, which was empowered by the force of my descent.
That's a part break, you punk!
But his right horn was still intact. Mr. Minotaur twisted his body and uppercut me again.
Whoosh!
Klaang!
Launched into the air again, I readjusted my posture.
Fwaah!
In that moment, a light burst from my body, and the cooldowns of all my skills were reset.
[Bracelet of Hammer and Anvil]
[Elite]
[Strength +35, Agility +35, Intelligence +35]
[Unique Ability: Reset all skill cooldowns (10-minute cooldown)]
The bracelet's unique ability had activated. I could use Flash Strike again.
I might as well take that other annoying horn too.
What do you call a bull with no horns?
Anyway, this is going to hurt.
"Brace yourself, Mr. Minotaur."
Flash