Chapter 95
Chapter 95
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: The Thunderbolt Spearman and the Earthen Shield Bearer (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Kekeke! It was a good idea to split into two teams at the fork!"
The guild master of Plan B, Gyuam Jo Hyeon-su, was in a good mood.
In the race for the first clear of the Elite Dungeon, the speed of defeating named bosses was important, but so was how efficiently one cleared the trash mob sections.
"But, you have the stream on, right? Aren't we just doing all the work for someone else's benefit?"
"Kekeke, it won't be a big problem even if a few parties behind us follow along while watching the stream. What's important is what we show the users."
At the question from a Warrior guild member of Plan B, Jo Hyeon-su thought of We Got Married, the guild master of the GG Clan, and ground his teeth.
"It's fine if we can't beat the Red and White guild. We just need to provide more strategy information than the GG Clan to attract new players to the Betarion Empire."
"Oho, so it's like we're promoting our faction while broadcasting our Elite Dungeon run."
Jo Hyeon-su smiled and looked at the streaming window. Two to three times more viewers than usual were watching the broadcast. It seemed all the floating viewers who watched 'Astria Online' streams had gathered.
"It seems Plan B's party is the fastest among those streaming right now? Kekeke!"
[LMAO kekeke]
[Came here cuz your laugh is funny lol]
[Oh~ Player Jo Hyeon-su~ gonna clear it fast this time~?]
[Might fail like with the Green Dragon ㄷㄷ]
[Kekeke lol]
[Guys why does he laugh like that?]
[That's the streamer's charm]
A vein slightly popped on Jo Hyeon-su's forehead at the reactions of his regular viewers teasing him, but he forced a smile.
"Please understand that I won't be able to interact with the chat during our attempt. Today, I must focus on the raid not as a streamer, but as the party leader of an Elite Dungeon vanguard team."
Lowering the streaming window, Jo Hyeon-su began to give orders to his party members.
"Alright, our side is a Swordsman and Warrior combo, and the other side is a Fighter and Mage combo, so..."
"There are two of them right from the first named boss. I think we can proceed with the Swordsman and the Fighter tanking each one."
Jo Hyeon-su nodded and surveyed the first named boss's combat area.
In the center of the long, rectangular combat area was a cliff that looked to be over thirty meters wide. The cliff prevented movement between the two sides.
And, there were two square, ring-shaped combat areas on either side. This was the ground Plan B's raid team was standing on.
"It's a peculiar structure. Does it want us to fight in pairs, with each pair taking on one of them?"
"Hmm..."
Jo Hyeon-su glanced at the Fighter and Mage on the other side of the cliff, then stared at the named boss standing firmly in the center of their own area.
A colossal soldier, kneeling with a spear in one hand. The named boss's information was...
[1st Named Boss]
[Level 48 Thunderbolt Spearman]
[HP 15,000,000 / 15,000,000 (100%)]
[1st Named Boss]
[Level 48 Earthen Shield Bearer]
[HP 15,000,000 / 15,000,000 (100%)]
"This side is the Shield Bearer!"
The Fighter on the other side relayed the information to Jo Hyeon-su from across the cliff.
"Two paths from the entrance of the trash mob section, splitting up and leading to two separate named boss combat areas."
"It's called a 4-man dungeon, but if the two sides can't interact, isn't it effectively the same as running two 2-man dungeons simultaneously?"
Jo Hyeon-su shook his head at the Warrior's words.
"It's true that from the players' perspective, it's a fight that must be handled by two people. We won't be able to receive party protection skills from the other side. However, the named bosses are different. Remember in the Ancient Temple, there was a pattern where swords of light would drop on the tank on the opposite side, right?"
"Ah, I see."
"Well, no need to overthink it. Let's just proceed by observing the patterns one by one."
*Clang.*
As Jo Hyeon-su drew his sword toward the Spearman, the Fighter on the other side also finished preparing to engage the Shield Bearer.
The battle against the first named bosses, the Spearman and the Shield Bearer, began.
*Swish-swish-swish!*
Jo Hyeon-su unleashed a series of sword strikes at the Spearman, carefully responding to its normal attack patterns.
*Clang!*
The 'Thunderbolt Spearman' had linear and simple patterns like spear swings, thrusts, and slams. The damage seemed immense, but since the movements were large, blocking them wasn't difficult.
After observing two cycles of its normal patterns for about 30 seconds, Jo Hyeon-su took advantage of a brief opening to check the state of the battle with the Shield Bearer across the cliff.
A 180-degree frontal shield swing, a shield slam, hiding behind the shield before throwing a punch, and so on. Its massive shield blocked a significant portion of frontal attacks, but its turning motion was slow. It seemed possible to easily get behind it and continue attacking by using a Swordsman's 'Counterattack' or a Fighter's 'Flowing Step'.
*Whoosh, boom, boom!*
The Shield Bearer faced the Fighter, showing its back to the Mage. The Mage's powerful skills exploded against its back, rapidly depleting the Shield Bearer's HP.
"Its defense isn't high, and its attacks aren't fast. And..."
*Thud, thud!*
The Warrior on Jo Hyeon-su's side slammed his axe down on the Spearman from mid-air and then shoulder-charged it forcefully. Immediately after, the Warrior sealed the stunned Spearman's movements with the 'Grapple' skill. As the Spearman was held in place, Jo Hyeon-su's rapid sword strikes rained down upon it.
"Status effect chain stuns and grapples work!"
Jo Hyeon-su smiled with a satisfied expression at the Warrior's excellent skill combo, following up a stun with a grapple.
"Good. We might take down this first named boss more easily than I thought."
The smooth-sailing attempt on the first named boss took an unexpected turn about one minute into the fight.
*Thud, thud!*
*Vwoom. Crackle.*
"Huh!?"
*Tap-tap!*
The 'Thunderbolt Spearman' stomped its feet twice and began to gather power. The moment the energy of thunder and lightning radiated from its body, Jo Hyeon-su hastily used 'Backward Evasion'.
*Flash!*
Having used an invincibility skill, Jo Hyeon-su took no damage. However, the Warrior failed to dodge in time and was engulfed by the electric current.
"Huh?"
The Warrior had a dumbfounded expression. His HP hadn't decreased either, even though he hadn't used an invincibility skill.
"Guild Master, there's a current running through my body! I didn't take any damage!"
"A wide-area attack with no damage?"
Jo Hyeon-su checked the current enveloping the Warrior's body. Soon, he could see sparks flying from his own body as well.
On Jo Hyeon-su's status window, a status effect he had never seen before appeared.
[Current Stack 1 (1m 30s)]
Jo Hyeon-su was puzzled.
The Warrior was hit by the area-of-effect attack, but he had resisted it. So why did he also have a Current Stack?
"My attack power went up?"
"A buff?"
His attack power had increased by 10%.
Of course, the buff is applied even if you use an invincibility skill.
Current Stack wasn't a 'status ailment' but a type of 'buff'.
Jo Hyeon-su immediately checked the status of the party members on the other side of the cliff.
"How is it over there!"
"We got a Rock Stack 1 buff! It's a 10% defense increase!"
Jo Hyeon-su could only become more bewildered.
A named boss that gives buffs?
The buff-applying pattern occurred every minute into the fight. Strong sparks were now flying from Jo Hyeon-su and the Warrior's bodies.
[Current Stack 3 (50s)]
Through the 3-stack buff, his attack power had already increased by 30%.
His puzzlement over a buff-giving named boss was brief; receiving the attack power buff, Jo Hyeon-su enthusiastically attacked the 'Thunderbolt Spearman'.
Currently, the Thunderbolt Spearman's HP was at 71%, and the Earthen Shield Bearer's HP was at 80%.
Two-man cells.
Jo Hyeon-su and the Warrior handled the Spearman, while the Fighter and the Mage took on the Shield Bearer.
The Spearman's side, which received the attack power buff, had its HP reduced more, but for now, they just needed to deal damage. They could think about any potential desperation patterns that might appear after killing one of them later.
And then.
*Vwoooom!*
The prelude to the fourth Current Stack pattern.
Now, Jo Hyeon-su didn't even think about using an invincibility skill.
'Current Stack' was a buff, so it would apply even if he used an invincibility skill. There was no damage anyway.
However, the fourth Current Stack pattern overturned the party in an unexpected way.
*Crackle!*
"Huh!?"
"M-my body!"
In an instant, Jo Hyeon-su and the Warrior's bodies stiffened.
Strong sparks had paralyzed their bodies.
They still took no damage, but with all their muscles locked up, they couldn't make a single move.
Jo Hyeon-su struggled to turn his head and look toward the Shield Bearer's side across the cliff.
"K-kugh!"
"Why!?"
The Fighter and the Mage were also frozen, partially covered in stone.
The entire Plan B party, frozen solid.
Upon them, the weapons of the 'Thunderbolt Spearman' and the 'Earthen Shield Bearer' came crashing down without mercy.
*Thwack! Crack!*
[Kekeke LMAO]
[Ah~ Player Jo down~]
[I'm the only unlucky one~ guys~]
[LMAO]
"Guys! Stop laughing! This is only our first attempt!"
After reviving, Jo Hyeon-su, who had been complaining to the chat about the injustice, clutched his head and began to ponder.
"We freeze at the fourth stack? And since it's a buff, we can't even resist it?"
"Should we try to interrupt the fourth Current Stack pattern with a stun?"
"I tried to knock it down during the first Current Stack pattern, but an immunity message popped up and it didn't work. We can interrupt its normal patterns with status effects, but the 'Current Stack' pattern can't be interrupted."
"Hmm. We'll have to try various methods."
Just before lowering the streaming window for their second attempt, Jo Hyeon-su glanced at the chat and noticed a commotion.
[FR a solo run? Live streaming?]
[Yeah she's clearing the trash mobs now]
[LMAO what a moth to a flame]
[But looks like she just has it on to broadcast?]
[OMG look at the back of her head! White hair!]
[It's the white-haired girl! The white-haired girl!]
[OMG lol going to watch lol]
[WTF wasn't the white-haired girl the tank for the No Name party?]
[She's doing the first attempt of a 4-man Elite Dungeon solo?]
"Wh-what? The white-haired girl? Solo?"
"Rain, it must be that kid, right?"
In Jo Hyeon-su's mind, the image of a white-haired girl he had once encountered on the faction battlefield surfaced.
In the streaming window he hastily searched for and brought up, a distinct silvery-white flash was weaving through the trash mob section of the 'Frozen Palace of the Tundra'.
She was attempting a first clear of the Elite Dungeon, solo?
The Warrior from Plan B's party voiced his opinion.
"Guild Master, can't we watch her named boss attempt just once before we continue?"
Jo Hyeon-su checked the mood in the chat.
[Booo Jo Hyeon-su is about to watch another stream]
[But aren't you curious how it'll turn out?]
[The official spokesmodel for Astria Online is soloing an Elite Dungeon? Can't miss this LMAO]
[Regardless of whether it's possible, I really wanna see it]
[She didn't even promote it but her viewer count is already rising]
[Lots of people are hopping between streams for the new dungeon attempts today, so she probably got discovered quickly]
[Word is already spreading to other streamers' chats.]
[Yeah the rumor's spreading and everyone's flocking over lol]
Jo Hyeon-su's own stream chat was already in an uproar.
Jo Hyeon-su had a hunch that he wouldn't be able to continue his stream properly.
More than that, his curiosity as a user of Astria Online was unbearably stimulated by the prospect of Rain's solo play.
"Alright, that's it for the stream today! Let's go watch that first!"
The Plan B party, which had been attempting the first named boss, had all turned into viewers.
Every one of them pulled up the streaming window and began to focus on Rain's gameplay.