Chapter 63 – Art of Weaving
An enormous figure entered Nie Yan’s sight after ten or so seconds. It stood at an evident twofold the height of an ordinary Ogre while it spanned a much greater width; this was the Ogre Devourer.
Nie Yan hid behind a tree with one of his knees on the ground. He retrieved his crossbow, holding it up with his left hand while his right gripped the trigger. He gazed forward and aligned the crossbow sight with his target.
A Level 5 Thief had killed the Ogre Devourer with a crossbow by chipping away its health. Nie Yan had to admit… that person must have been quite courageous. Nonetheless, if they were to compare, Nie Yan wouldn’t lose to this Thief in any aspect; there was absolutely no doubt he too could accomplish this feat. After all, he was one of the few players who received the title of Shadow Dancer. He reckoned the other Shadow Dancers in his era could do the same.
Nie Yan had a thorough understanding of the process used to whittle the Ogre Devourer to its death. Nevertheless, the execution was still going to be a challenge. In his past life, that Thief had killed the boss without a hitch, but his success was partially attributed to luck.
Through the sight, the figure of the Ogre Devourer drew increasingly near. Nie Yan redirected his aim to a certain area on the boss’ chest—its weak point, the heart.
He held his finger on the trigger and prepared to launch a few bolts. However, out of nowhere, two common Ogres entered his line of sight. They were roaming in the vicinity of the boss.
Nie Yan stopped himself from pulling his trigger finger and paused for a moment. Though there was a sudden introduction of two unknown variables, whether they could influence the success of his plan remained to be seen. The Ogres are big and clumsy. I should be fine as long as I don’t get hit…
That said, it’s still isn’t an easy task to shave their health down without receiving any damage.
Raising his crossbow once more, Nie Yan took aim at the Ogre Devourer.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」With the pull of the trigger, three bolts shot out, aimed directly at the Devourer’s heart.
The three bolts whistled in the air.
「Put! Put! Put!」As if the bolts had struck thick bark, hard muffled sounds rang out.
Ogre Devourer (Elite): Level 8
Health: 6,000/6,000
Although this boss didn’t deal as much damage as the others, it made up for it with high health and thick skin. Either way, the Ogre Devourer certainly wasn’t easy pickings.
Due to its strong defense, normal crossbow bolts dealt limited damage. Nie Yan’s current attack only enabled him to deal two to three points of damage at most using normal bolts. Fortunately, he had bought those special bolts which dealt on-hit true damage. One of those bolts would take out at least fifteen health which was quite impressive.
The Ogre Devourer turned around in the direction of its assailant. It lumbered forward and moved towards Nie Yan while brandishing its large wooden club. The Devourer’s heavy five-ton body resembled a humanoid fortress as each of its steps caused tremors in the earth.
Seeing that he had successfully aggroed the boss, Nie Yan dashed towards a nearby tree and chose a path with denser vegetation. The Ogre Devourer was awkward and clumsy, and it seemed as if it were running slowly due to its large build. However, its large strides covered quite a bit of distance, and it was actually closing the gap as it chased Nie Yan. The other two Ogres could also be seen following the Ogre Devourer from the rear, though it soon became apparent that they weren’t going to catch up. They continued trailing further and further behind.
After running for about fifty meters, Nie Yan deaggroed the Ogre Devourer because it wasn’t able to catch him. It turned around and looked as if it wanted to depart.
However, Nie Yan turned around and shot three more bolts at it before dashing off again. After being attacked again, the Ogre Devourer reaggroed onto Nie Yan and chased him with renewed zeal.
While running, Nie Yan noticed only the Devourer was chasing him. The other two Ogres had long stopped chasing and were now wandering around in a distant area.
Eh? I guess my luck isn’t bad. It’ll be much easier dealing with the Ogre Devourer alone.
The boss gradually closed the distance, and only twenty meters separated them.
As it chased Nie Yan, the Ogre Devourer began emanating a dangerous aura. Its four eyes suddenly turned red, and its body radiated a scorching light like a cartoon bomb on the verge of exploding.
The two pairs of eyes locked onto Nie Yan.
Petrifying Gaze!
Nie Yan felt his chest tighten when he noticed the Ogre Devourer’s abnormal behavior. These types of monsters that could lock the player down were especially terrifying. If one were careless for just a moment, that player would find themselves unable to even budge an inch.
In the same moment the Ogre Devourer used Petrifying Gaze, Nie Yan rolled out of the way and ducked behind a tree.
MISS!
The Ogre Devourer roared in anger when it failed to hit its target. It strode forward and covered a large distance with each step while it charged at Nie Yan. The two Ogres behind it were also alerted. However, after only a few meters, they turned around and began wandering around again.
Nie Yan sucked in a deep breath of air while he hid behind the tree. The information he previously read in a guide was correct! After attacking the Ogre Devourer twice, it would use Petrifying Gaze six seconds later. If a player was struck, they would become frozen for six seconds, incapable of any movement. At present, the only method of dodging Petrifying Gaze was to get behind cover before the skill activated. Furthermore, the player couldn’t be a second late.
In the event that the skill hit Nie Yan, the Ogre Devourer would have caught up and smashed him to death with its giant wooden club.
This was the reason why it was considered extremely difficult soloing the Ogre Devourer. Not just anyone could accomplish this task. Even long after the video of it being killed had been published, it still remained as one of the toughest early game bosses to contend against.
「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Nie Yan fired another round of bolts. He nimbly traversed between the trees and fired the crossbow from time to time.
「Crash! … Crash! … Crash!」The Ogre Devourer continued brandishing its club. Each swing proved fruitless since trees were all they struck.
The key point in killing this boss revolved around making sporadic movements while traversing past obstacles. Although its running speed wasn’t slow in spite of its immense size, it was rather lacking in agility. An excellent Thief could take advantage of this weakness by circling around several large trees, making it so that the Ogre Devourer would miss its attacks.
However, this strategy was not one that could be pulled off well by anyone. If the player lacked spatial awareness, couldn’t properly judge the Ogre Devourer’s movements, or carelessly got hit by Petrifying Gaze, they’d likely be sending their lives to the boss.
In order to avoid being caught, the player had to always run in a curve and never in a straight line. They also couldn’t stop moving for more than three seconds.
With so many years of combat experience supporting him, many actions became instinctive and ingrained on the deepest level, enabling him to easily fire the crossbow while smoothly navigating the terrain.
Seeing as the Ogre Devourer wasn’t too difficult to deal with, Nie Yan felt much more relaxed. His nimble body weaved between the large trees while he fired the crossbow between the gaps. The boss had no way of dealing with Nie Yan. Unable to figure out how to catch him, its two heads turned in every direction, eventually getting dizzy and confused.
With top-quality gear and ten years of experience, if he couldn’t even match that Level 5 Thief in his past life, he shouldn’t have even bothered playing this game.
「Put! Put! Put!」
The bolts nailed themselves into the Ogre Devourer’s skin. Its health was gradually being chipped away as it repeatedly roared and brandished its club, smashing it at Nie Yan.
「Crash!」The club smacked the large tree. Nie Yan had leapt backwards and avoided the attack. It was unable to harm even a single hair on his body.