Chapter 274 - Dark-Gold Treasure Chest
“The presence of a monster doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good thing,” Shi Feng said, a bitter smile on his face as he looked at the three-headed wolf guarding the entrance of the crystal pathway.
[Crystal Warwolf] (Lord Rank)
Level 25
HP 300,000/300,000
Compared to a Dungeon Boss, a Field Boss of the same rank was much more powerful. Moreover, in order to counter zerg tactics[1], God’s Domain had set it so that Field Bosses would have their combat power and HP increased in proportion to the number of players participating in the battle.
Generally, the optimum number of players required to raid a Lord ranked Field Boss was around ten to twenty, unless of course it was a Special Boss.
However, judging from the appearance of the Crystal Warwolf before them, Shi Feng felt that it should not be a Special Boss. In other words, at least ten players were needed to raid this Boss. To make matters worse, the Crystal Warwolf was a Level 25 monster, while nobody in Shi Feng’s group had even reached Level 20; the resulting level suppression would be dire. Of those present, aside from Shi Feng, who had the Abyssal Blade, which allowed him to fully ignore this level suppression, only Aqua Rose possessed a piece of equipment with the Ignore Levels Attribute. Even so, her equipment only allowed her to ignore up to three Levels. Aqua Rose herself was only at Level 17 right now, and a level suppression of five Levels would not be easy for her to deal with. As for Fire Dance, there was nothing to say.
Of course, every cloud had a silver lining. Since the Boss guarding the crystal pathway was very strong, it meant that the things beyond the pathway was equally important. Moreover, Shi Feng also discovered a treasure chest sitting beside the pathway.
This treasure chest was a Dark-Gold Treasure Chest, and Shi Feng’s heart burned with a fiery passion as he looked at it. The loot he could get from this Dark-Gold Treasure Chest would be much better than the loot from the Boss before him.
“We won’t be able to defeat a Level 20 Lord with just the three of us alone; we’ll need to call for reinforcements.” Aqua Rose’s eyes glowed with excitement when she looked at the Crystal Warwolf before her. It was extremely difficult for players to meet with a Field Boss. They would definitely make a huge profit after killing it. Not to mention, there was also the treasure chest the Crystal Warwolf was guarding.
Following which, Aqua Rose temporarily logged off the game to contact Blackie, who was at the Zero Wing Workshop, telling him to bring the main force of Zero Wing to the Purple Sun Mansion and enter the staircase to the basement, in order to meet up with them at the Forgotten Lands.
Meanwhile, Shi Feng ceaselessly observed the Crystal Warwolf and the surrounding terrain, trying to think of a strategy to raid the Boss.
Ten minutes later, Aqua Rose logged back into the game.
“How did it go? When will they be arriving?” Shi Feng asked.
“They’re already at the Purple Sun Mansion. However, no matter what they tried, they can’t seem to find the entrance to this map,” Aqua Rose said, slight disappointment showing on her face.
“If so, the appearance of the entrance should be random,” Shi Feng said, lapsing into silent contemplation. After a while, he shifted his sights to the Crystal Warwolf and added, “It seems we can only depend on ourselves to defeat this Boss.”
Hearing Shi Feng’s conclusion, both Aqua Rose and Fire Dance immediately thought that Shi Feng had gone insane. He was actually suggesting they deal with this Crystal Warwolf before them. They had neither an MT nor a healer in the party right now. With just three damage dealers, how were they supposed to deal with a Level 25 Lord ranked Boss that had a height of over ten meters?
Although both girls knew of Shi Feng’s unrivalled strength, a Lord ranked Boss was still not something that could be defeated with just three players.
“We are only giving it a try. In any case, we can’t just stay stuck in this place forever, right? Moreover, even if we do die, it is a good chance to check whether or not we can actually leave this place after dying. We’ll be killing two birds with one stone,” Shi Feng joked.
“Guild Leader, you decide what we should do, then,” Fire Dance said with high spirits.
Aqua Rose sighed helplessly. “Alright, then. I’ll join in as well.”
“We can’t just fight this Crystal Warwolf head-on; the only choice we have is to kite it. I’ll act as bait. Aqua Rose, you’ll be the main damage-dealer. Fire Dance, you’ll be responsible for restricting its movements as much as possible.” After some consideration, Shi Feng settled on this strategy. Although he could no longer equip the Heavenly Dragon’s Breath, his Agility was still over 200 points. Moreover, his equipment also provided additional Movement Speed. His Movement Speed was definitely faster than a Level 25 Lord. Combining those with his keen reactions, out of the three players in the party, he was definitely the most suited to be the bait.
Following which, Shi Feng gave Fire Dance plenty of Basic Frost Grenades and Intermediate Frost Grenades, letting her use them as she saw fit.
Fire Dance never thought Shi Feng would possess such good items. With the Frost Grenades, Shi Feng would have a much higher chance of success at kiting the Boss.
After the three of them were in position, Shi Feng retrieved the Blazing Meteor from his waist. Standing at a distance of 40 yards from the Crystal Warwolf, Shi Feng aimed the throwing weapon at the Boss and threw it.
Xiu!
The Blazing Meteor streaked through the air and pierced the Crystal Warwolf’s eye, causing -651 damage to it. Compared to a one-handed sword, Shi Feng’s damage with the throwing weapon was much higher.
“Ao!” The Crystal Warwolf let out an agonized wail.
With bloodshot eyes, the Crystal Warwolf glared at the direction where the throwing weapon came from. As a result of its actions, however, the Blazing Meteor, which was still lodged in its eye, damaged the visual organ even further, causing an additional burst of -1,300 damage. The Crystal Warwolf was utterly angered now, and using its powerful hind legs, it leaped and charged at Shi Feng.
Immediately, Shi Feng turned around and ran.
Everything was just like Shi Feng had guessed: his speed was just a tad faster than the Crystal Warwolf’s. However, in order to avoid having Aqua Rose’s and Fire Dance’s aggro on the Boss exceed his, which would in turn lead to the Crystal Warwolf attacking the two girls, Shi Feng needed to constantly send attacks at the Boss to strengthen his aggro on it. As a result, the Crystal Warwolf would oftentimes catch up and attack him.
The Crystal Warwolf’s attacks were extremely powerful. A single swipe from its paws could easily shatter the floor, resulting in fist-sized rubble flying everywhere.
Fortunately, Shi Feng always managed to nimbly evade the Crystal Warwolf’s razor-sharp claws at the very last second, before pulling away from the Boss and attacking it once more.
Shi Feng’s attacks were only meant as a provocation; Aqua Rose was the true damage dealer this time around. After the Demon’s Castle raid, Aqua Rose had two Dark-Gold ranked items on her person. Of the two, one was even a Dark-Gold ranked staff of the finest quality; Aqua Rose’s damage right now was already considerably high. If not for Blackie outshining her with the Epic ranked Mavis’s Guard, Aqua Rose would definitely have the highest single-output damage in the Guild.
As Shi Feng ran around the perimeter with the Crystal Warwolf chasing after him, Aqua Rose stood in the center and blasted Frost Arrows and Frost Spears on the Crystal Warwolf’s body.
Not only could these spells reduce Movement Speed, each of these spells also dealt over -500 damage to the Boss. If not due to the level suppression of five Levels, her spells would definitely deal over -800 damage. Fortunately, unlike Shi Feng who could only attack intermittently, Aqua Rose could attack continuously and deal a constant stream of damage to the Boss.
On the other side, Fire Dance kept inflicting the Bleeding debuff and using poisons that reduced Movement Speed on the Boss.
With the two Movement Speed Reduction effects stacked together, the Crystal Warwolf slowed down significantly.
Also, whenever the Crystal Warwolf got too close to Shi Feng, Fire Dance would immediately throw a Frost Grenade at the Boss, freezing it. However, as the Crystal Warwolf was a Lord ranked Boss, the freezing effect of the Frost Grenades was greatly diminished, lasting no more than 3 seconds; sometimes it lasted for only one short second.
However, when experts exchanged moves, it took only an instant to reach a conclusion, so one second was more than enough for Shi Feng to pull a great distance away from the Boss.
Although the three of them dealt only a small amount of damage, the HP of the Crystal Warwolf continuously rose and fell. After more than a dozen minutes passed, the Crystal Warwolf had only 30% of its 300,000 HP remaining. By simple estimates, the Boss would die in less than 10 minutes.
“Aooo!” The Crystal Warwolf went berserk. Just like a deflated balloon, its towering body, which was over ten meters in height, suddenly shrank. Within moments, the Boss became much smaller than it was before.
“Not good! This is the type of berserk that discards power for speed!” Shi Feng had encountered plenty of such Bosses in the past. Hence, the moment he witnessed the Crystal Warwolf’s transformation, he immediately recognized the Boss for what it was. “Fire Dance, keep on using the Frost Grenades to slow it down!”
“Understood!” Fire Dance knew that this was a crucial period. Hence, she tossed out the Frost Grenades in her hands one after another without pause.
However, something unexpected happened.
Aside from the Frost Grenades dealing much less damage than before, both their Movement Speed Reduction and freezing effects were completely useless against the Boss.
In the blink of an eye, the shrunken Crystal Warwolf appeared before Shi Feng. It brandished its claws. Its three heads bared the fangs in its mouths, and it bit down at him. Although Shi Feng managed to deftly evade the three jaws clamping down on him, he failed to evade one of the paws that quickly followed. Suddenly, Shi Feng’s entire person was sent flying for more than ten yards, and a frightening damage of more than -2,100 appeared above his head. Shi Feng felt as if his chest had caved in when he received the attack.
Shi Feng’s HP instantly fell to a dangerous level, his previously green HP bar turning into a bright red.
TL Notes:
[1]zerg tactics: a strategy that uses numbers rather then strategy to defeat the enemy.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=zerg