NOVEL NEXT Chapter 66
Kuruluru!
The entire boss room trembled.
At first, I hardly felt any movement. But soon, a strange sensation began to envelop my body, as if I was floating in the air. It felt like gravity had suddenly disappeared, and my body was rising upwards.
Thud.
Kiiing.
As soon as the vibrations in the boss room subsided, the wall that I had entered through opened up, revealing a landscape completely different from Area 1.
The colors flowing out of the corridor beyond the door had a soft green hue. It wasn’t that the magic stone was emitting a different color; it was a whole new area.
The boss room had moved down like an elevator, entering Area 2.
I had sensed it from when the walls of the boss room began to rotate, but the ancient Dwarven technology was on the level of lost technology. Or perhaps the game developers had tinkered with the structure of ancient temples to make it into an instance dungeon.
Either way, this instance dungeon structure was quite fun.
Wooooom.
Upon entering the first cube-shaped room of Area 2, I encountered the platform puzzle I had seen in Area 1 again, but this time, it was way more complicated.
“Hee.”
I frowned.
This isn’t very fun.
Area 2 was more complex than Area 1. There were many cube-shaped, six-cornered rooms. Of course, there were also gimmicks inside the rooms that required you to eliminate the monsters within a short time.
The problem was that all rooms in Area 2 had doors in all four directions. Even excluding the door I entered from, there were three other ways to go. Moreover, this dungeon could move its cube rooms at will.
Such a maze does not follow the right-hand rule. Since the positions of the rooms can change, map reading is impossible. But with this structure, there was a high possibility that the boss room would be located in the center.
As long as I didn’t just spin around in circles, I would find my way through the maze with a clear direction. Occasionally appearing corridor rooms reassured me that I was on the right path. After all, if the overall structure was cube-shaped, the path to the boss room wouldn’t be just one.
As long as I didn’t spin around aimlessly, I would get there.
“Right here.”
Finally arrived at the boss room of Area 2.
Facing the soft green light emitted by the walls made of magic stones, I looked toward the center.
There it was. A golem that seemed to be named.
A wooden figure, or should I say, a tin doll? Since it’s a golem made of magic stones, perhaps it’s better to call it a magic stone doll.
The adult-sized doll golem had a head with no facial features.
Come to think of it, there were characters in classic fighting games where you could choose a wooden doll or a tin doll form. That’s exactly what it reminds me of.
The problem was, there wasn’t just one golem.
In the center, there was the named golem, with similar golems arranged at the three vertices of a triangle surrounding it. The minion monsters were positioned in a triangular formation as if to protect the named one.
In the center, there was one golem, and at each vertex of the equilateral triangle surrounding it, there was a slightly smaller golem.
“What a nasty layout.”
I’ve faced named monsters with minions multiple times. These golems looked like they would definitely use ranged attacks.
If I fought while facing the named golem head-on, I could keep two minion golems in my sight. However, I would have to deal with one behind me.
Is there a gimmick to move the minion golem’s position?
Or maybe, if I just focus on the named and two of its attacks, I might be able to handle the attack from the golem behind me by timing my invincibility skill right.
I sat on the floor, cradling my head, and simulated multiple combat scenarios in my mind.
Charging in blindly would be tricky. I needed to plan carefully before entering the fight.
But.
“Huh?”
It wasn’t unreasonable for me to voice my confusion. A rather bizarre piece of information appeared before my eyes in the named status interface.
[2 Named Enemy]
[Level 45 Magic Golem Akan]
[HP 2,000,000/2,000,000]
[Level 45 Magic Golem]
[HP 2,000,000/2,000,000]
It had lower HP than the named enemies from the prior elite dungeon, the forward base.
That aside, the strangest thing was that the HP of the minion golems matched that of the named enemy’s HP.
Like a bizarrely tangled dungeon structure, my head was getting lost in a maze.
What is this? What does it imply? Does it mean I need to handle everything, including the minions?
Two million HP seems low, but considering they’re not named monsters, that’s definitely not an easy figure to deal with.
The magic golem Akan must also have a frenzy pattern. If I take out the minions first, I’ll definitely get caught up in the frenzy time.
While the frenzy of the Minotaurs boosted attack and speed while generating a barrier, if this golem has a type of frenzy that restricts the combat area or unleashes a wipe move, I won’t be able to handle it.
Will I have to tackle them one by one?
I quickly drew my sword and dove into the fray.
Bang, Kwa-kwa-bang!
Amidst the sparks flying around from my sword clashing, the named golem ‘Akan’ swinging its magical blade entered my line of sight.
Fwoosh!
I ducked lightly to evade Akan’s sword, and an icy aura suddenly crept up behind me. In that instant, I chained two skills together.
Tat!
Using backward evasion followed by a rush attack, my body blurred in place as I slid past the frozen chunk shot from behind me.
Sure enough, the golems had straightforward attacks. When approached, they clumsily swung their magical blades, and from afar, they shot fireballs or ice chunks.
But despite the mundane attacks, the difficulty of the battle was exceptionally high. A 1:1 battle where I only had to focus on one named enemy is much easier.
Right now, it felt like I was facing four bosses simultaneously.
Fortunately, even amidst the chaos, I could streamline the combat patterns.
First, I would evade the named’s close attacks while maintaining pressure.
I aligned my sight at the two faraway magic golems and made sure to block their attacks simultaneously. Because both golems were at the same distance, the projectile speeds wouldn’t differ. The firing intervals for the projectiles were also quite lengthy.
And inevitably, the golem behind me, whose attack I couldn’t keep in sight, I would deflect with my invincibility skill.
With all my senses and skills combined, I blocked and deflected attacks, continuously assaulting the named enemy.
Even in a situation where I couldn’t land satisfying hits, Akan’s HP was decreasing rapidly.
After all, it was a named enemy with relatively low HP. If I maintained this state, I felt I could defeat it much faster than other named enemies.
[2 Named Enemy]
[Level 45 Magic Golem Akan]
[HP 1,799,105/2,000,000]
Wooooom.
When Akan’s HP dropped below 90%, a strange resonance sound echoed, changing the battlefield dynamics.
Crack!
The feeling transmitted through my sword shifted to a counter-elasticity. It felt similar to when I hit the Minotaurs’ barriers.
Before I knew it, a red barrier had formed around Akan’s body. The damage reduction rate was at a level of 1/10. It was utterly impossible to keep sustaining an attack.
I calmly surveyed the battlefield.
Just like with the Minotaurs, there had to be a way to strip off that barrier.
How about the minion golems’ conditions?
Both of the ones in front of me had the same red barrier.
Whoosh. KWAANG!
As I spun my body and sword, deflecting two fireballs in front of me, my gaze momentarily scanned back.
The minion golem behind me.
The color of the barrier was blue.
Shwaaa!
My new ability shot through towards the blue barrier golem at lightning speed.
In an instant, I realized everything.
I must utilize that golem with a blue barrier.
Approaching the minion golem, I quickly executed a counterattack, placing all four golems in my forwards view.
The minion golem with a blue barrier shifted its pattern to a close attack, swinging its blue magical blade at me.
Clang! Kwa-kwa-bang!
I maintained my defense with my sword raised, scanning the battlefield once more.
This position was far more manageable than having to consider attacks from behind. However, in this state, I couldn’t land attacks on the boss.
Crack!
I tried to swing my sword at the blue golem before me, but the same counter-elasticity was transmitted to my sword as when I struck the named.
Indeed, the minion golem’s barrier shared the same specification as the named enemy. I couldn’t deal with the minion under this damage reduction rate.
So, what changed? What pattern should I use?
Clang! Wooooom!
As I blocked the second blue magical blade from the minion golem, a strange resonance and a faint blue aura began to gather around my sword.
Clang!
On the third attack, the aura became stronger.
This confirmed everything.
“Aha.”
I was to block the close attacks of the blue barrier golem with my sword, charging it with blue energy. Then, I would strike the boss’s red barrier with my fully charged sword.
So it’s a charging gimmick.
I endured through the barrage of magical attacks, blocking them while waiting for my weapon to charge.
Paaaat!
Finally, my sword began to glow with a vibrant blue light as it became fully charged.
Shwaaa!
Seizing the opportunity when magical attacks subsided, I swiftly rushed toward Akan, the central figure of the battlefield.
Pah-CAH!
Swinging my sword imbued with blue light, Akan’s barrier was easily shattered.
Krzzk!
With a loud spark reminiscent of a broken machine, Akan soon fell to its knees.
KWAANG!
I effortlessly deflected the magical attacks from the ranged minion golems with my sword, lowering my stance and readjusting my grip on the sword.
“Good.”
Gimmick dismantled.
From now on, it’s burst damage time.