NOVEL NEXT Chapter 69
Chapter 69: Shape Shifting Tool
Translator: Zenobys Editor: TheRealSeal
Shing! Shing!
A metallic sound could be heard when the red giant scorpion Guranda snapped its claws.
Fuuh! It moved out of the sudden towards Zhang Yang.
Shush!
The sound of the air being ripped apart by the claw as it missed Zhang Yang’s body.
Zhang Yang quickly took a few more steps back and got out of the claw’s attack range. But just when he wanted to take a breather, he could feel a strong sense of killing intent from the boss. His was just about to activate <Block> out of instinct.
Suddenly, he could see a shadow resembling a spear piercing through the air towards him. It was the dark red scorpion’s tail and it was coming for him.
‘<Block>!’
‘-117!’ <Block> reflect damage.
‘-234!’ <Shield Bash>.
The way Zhang Yang used <Block> and <Shield Bash> consecutively and with such fluidity impressed the party. It was not just those two skills that left their jaws hanging. Zhang Yang was able to do all those things alone and under pressure. Everyone else could only inhale in their breath in amazement. They thought if either one of them replaced that position, they would be completely f*cked beyond any recognition. Once they had that thought, and still see Zhang Yang alive and kicking, they had nothing but respect for that man.
After Guranda had changed its appearance into a huge scorpion, its attack turned stronger and fiercer, like a spider tank with claws made from steel. Even though Zhang Yang had been moving around at the speed of light, he could not withstand all 3 consecutive attacks of the boss. 2 claws and 1 tail was just too much. With his <Block> constantly on cooldown, he could only dodge two straight attacks and would have to take on the third attack head on.
“This boss is strong!” Fatty Han cried out.
“Please. All bosses are strong. And this one is a Field boss. It doesn’t have a participation limit. You could have unlimited amount of player trying to land a hit on this thing. Some bosses could be killed off with just a player, while others require up to 10, or 100, even 1000 players. Those bosses are just on a whole other level!” Zhang Yang replied even when he was in the midst of battle.
“If this was in a proper dungeon, how many party members would this roughly take?” Fatty Han asked curiously.
Zhang Yang blocked an attack and dodged the other before he could find some time to reply.
“Approximately 5 to 10, more or less!”
“Tch! Even I could have guessed that.” Drizzler muttered.
In the midst their conversation, an odd red light flashed through the boss’ body.
Before Zhang Yang could even say anything, his instincts kicked in and activated <Block>. The boss suddenly spun its large body as swiftly as a top.
‘Ding! Guranda the Chameleon has used <Blade Dance>, causing 500 physical damage every second to every target in the melee attack range. Last 4 seconds!’
‘-472!’
‘<Block>!’
Pang! Pang! Pang!
Both Zhang Yang and Drizzler suffered around 500 damage from the spinning monster. Luckily the damage type was physical, and could still be reduced by their armor value. Still, even after the reduced damage, it was still too strong!
“Sister! Heal me! I’m dying here! Ah~~” Drizzler lost her control and started calling out to her cousin.
Little Snow did not immediately react on impulse. Instead, she made quick calculations and casted <Holy Shield> on Drizzler followed by <Holy Prayers>, before finally chanting a healing spell. Zhang Yang received <Regeneration> from her and she had been maintaining it ever since to make sure Zhang Yang never lost his focus.
4 seconds later, the boss’ skill stopped and only focused on trying to snap Zhang Yang into two.
Drizzler had received around 1,900 damage from the boss. However, thanks to Little Snow’s various support, such as the <Holy Shield> that absorbed 600 damage while <Holy Prayer> recovered over 400 health. Along with the constant tick from <Regeneration>, Little Snow has basically shielded Drizzler so extensively that she only took a total of 800 damage from the boss. After <Regeneration> ticked a few times, Drizzler would have been fully healed.
Zhang Yang on the other hand was much stronger and less dependent on her. Zhang Yang already had a solid defense to begin with. He had a 20% damage reduction passive, coupled with his 70 points of Defense value, which meant that he only received 330 damage from the original damage of 500. He had successfully blocked the first attack and even he did not need to receive healing since he had only taken 3 direct hits which totaled up to 1,000 damage. In contrast to the barrage of blows he had defended himself from, this was akin to a graze. Out of his tanky 1,900 HP, it was pretty severe, but not to the point where he would need immediate healing.
If they had another healer instead of Little Snow, then he or she would panic and the first thing that came to mind would be to blindly heal the main tank instead of carrying out a longer termed, sustained prevention for the main tank which would subsequently have led to the entire party’s death. However, in this situation, if the healer had done otherwise and only prioritized the main tank, it would inevitably have led Drizzler to certain death!
The boss’s <Blade Dance> was quite frequent. It was activated once roughly every 20 seconds. Drizzler was smart enough to evade the attack once it was activated. Still, she would receive a hit or two, though it will not place her in a dangerous position. Little Snow would only need to cast one <Regeneration> to settle the problem.
On the other hand, the Hunter’s pets were completely killed off since they could not recall their pets in time.
25%, 20%, 15%…
The team’s firepower was so overpowering that the boss’ HP bar was dropping down like an avalanche.
“Hmph! Stupid boss! This little girl will smash you into tiny little pieces!” cried Drizzler. Her attacks were quite eye-catching. She jumped up and down, wielding the long spear in her hands, locked in an elaborate, elegant dance, dealing damage continuously.
5%, 4%, 3%, 2%, 1%!
“ARGH…” As the HP bar dropped down the last drop but not completely drained, Guranda’s body flashed back into his original dwarf form. Before it ran away it screamed pathetically, “M-Mortal! I-I’ll return s-someday!”
As the last syllable died out, it ran back into the magic circle and disappeared in a flash of black light. It dropped a Stone box at the spot of its disappearance.
“Crap! We didn’t manage to kill it!” Fatty Han ran to the altar and observed the magic circle again.
“Can we summon him again and beat him to a pulp?” Fatty Han turned around and asked the party.
“Okay! Okay! Fine by me! We can get another treasure chest!” The mere thought of money in her mind was enough to give Drizzler the motivation to fight the boss again.
Fatty Han then proceeded to bite his fingers again and dripped the flowing blood into the bowl.
1…2…3 seconds ticked past.
Fatty Han waited for another 30 seconds but nothing happened. Not even a slight breeze.
“What the…” Fatty Han bewildered. He quickly turned around only to see Zhang Yang was holding his laughter. Fatty Han immediately knew that he was being fooled. He growl, “Little Yang!”
Zhang Yang’s laughter became more apparent. “The boss isn’t dead, but according to the story setting, it was successfully killed. Why else would it drop a treasure chest here!?” The chest here is equal to its dead body! If you still insist in summoning him back here to fight, according to the regular system refresh rate for a Green-Copper boss, you’d have to wait for two days!”
“F*CK!” Fatty Han was furious. “Then, why didn’t you stop me just now!?”
“It’s just for the fun of it. You’ll be fine with losing a couple drops of blood, right? Think of it as losing weight!”
“F*ck you!”
“Alright guys. Open the chest, we still have 3 more floors of bosses to fight!” Hundred Shots quickly tried to calm Fatty Han.
Little Snow and Drizzler were reluctant but were eventually persuaded to open the chest.
[Chameleon’s Headdress] (Green-Copper, Cloth Armor)
Defense: +1
Use: Allows you to disguise yourself to be one of the following character. 1, Dwarf. 2, Bone Tiger. 3, Scorpion. Last for 5 minutes. Cooldown time: 10 minutes.
Level requirement: 20
“Ha! This is fun! This is fun! I want it! Gimme!” Drizzle quickly cried out like a little girl.
“F*ck! This is quite an interesting item! I want it as well!” Fatty Han too cried out.
“Pervy bro, you’re already such an old man, why would you take away a children’s toy? Don’t you know shame?” Drizzler scolded him.
Fatty Han on the other had was so infuriated that his face was completely red.
“I AM ONLY 5 YEARS OLDER THAN YOU!”
“Hmph! Noob tank! What say you!? Who should keep this toy?” Drizzler looked at Zhang Yang with her teeth exposed in a snarl, ready to bite his face off.
Zhang Yang only laughed weakly and said, “You know, I was thinking that we should just sell this toy. I think this item could be sold with ease for a few ten thousand gold coins! Since there are rich players in this game, I think they would buy this to show off!”
According to his previous experience in the game, this little shape shifting tool was actually sold up to 500,000 gold pieces. This was one of the few valuable non-combat item in Cave of Bones. This was also the reason why huge guilds would occupy this place. A mountain of gold coins meant a stack of money!
Drizzler’s eye glinted with the yellow metallic color of gold when she heard its value.
“Y-YYeah! Let’s sell it!”
In the end, Little Snow got hold of the item to be sold off in the auction house. However, before that Little Snow wanted to have a little fun. She then put on the hat and activated its effect.
Poof!
Little Snow turned from a sexy woman to a huge Boney Tiger in a puff of smoke.
“Wuuu…” Drizzler watched in utmost jealousy. “Cousin… I don’t think we should sell this amazing toy!”
Eventually, Drizzler thought it out and the party decided to keep the item instead of selling it. Since the item is not a bound-type item, anyone could use it whenever they feel like it.
“Little Yang, I think next time when the boss respawns, we should come over and kill it! Each of us should have at least one hat to play with!” Fatty Han said with full of passion.
“Hah! Alright then!” Zhang Yang nodded. This kind of non-combat item was quite marketable in the future. Its value would always remain high since it can never be discarded for being over-leveled. Player could use this item regardless of their level since it was an item for fun. The boss would spawn once every 2 day which meant that it would be a few hundred thousand pieces of gold every 2 days. Even in the late stages of the game, it would mean a few hundred thousand gold coins worth of money.
[Skill book: Chain Slash] (Skill Book)
Use: Teaches you <Chain Slash>.
Class requirement: Warrior, Knight, Bandit.
“Eh…noob tank! What’s with this skill? Is it good?” Drizzler asked Zhang Yang. He is a “beta-player”, he must know about this skill!
Zhang Yang laughed and casually passed the skill book to her. “You’ll know it once you’ve learn it!”
Drizzler stuck out her tongue and said, “Hmph! This skill must be pretty useless since you’re so generous with it!”
“Huh!?” Zhang Yang laughed. “Why would you say that?”
“Hm. Previously, when the skill book <Eagle Eye> dropped out, you were so desperate to have it!” Drizzler explained as she just accepted the skill book and learned it immediately.
[Chain Slash]: Deliver two straight attacks with 75% melee damage with each strike. This attack ignores 100% defense and cannot be blocked nor evaded. Cost: 20 Rage, Requirement: Melee weapon. Cool down time: 10 seconds.
“Eh?! This skill is great!” Drizzler posted the skill description after learning it. This skill was perfect for her since her attack interval was very low yet very strong. Now that this skill increased the attack count by 1, it helped in significantly increasing the overall damage output, especially since the skill ignored 100% defense, and was unblockable and unavoidable. This skill would be extra useful when she would face a strong defense class like Guardians or Defenders.
Zhang Yang had no problem handing over the skill since he already had <Eagle Eye>. Even though it was advisable to have an extra skill, he would be gaining a number of extra skills when he reached a certain level in the future anyway. And once that was to happen, all that he would gain were headaches with that many skills to level up.
After picking up several silver coins, the chest disappeared. The party then walked again towards the end of the second floor and found themselves at an entrance to the next floor where a huge rock was supposed to be.
“Will the entrance close again after all of us go inside?” Fatty Han asked a peculiar question.
“No! Unless the second boss respawns, this entrance will always be here!” said Zhang Yang with utmost confidence.
“Oh!” Fatty Han finally relaxed.
Zhang Yang walked in slowly and carefully as he was almost killed the previous floor. He peeked in carefully from the third floor entrance and scanned the area before stepping through. The third floor was completely empty, there was nothing. Not a single monster was present.