NOVEL NEXT Vol. 2 – Chapter 12 – Fighting the Field Boss
Vol. 2 - Chapter 12 - Fighting the Field Boss
Mathias to fill his waiting time started to write on his novel, and in such a way those 15 minutes flew by without even noticing, being woken from his stupor by the blacksmith having a green nameplate 'Modou' who finished his work.
"Young man, you can show me what you want to be repaired."
"Ahh, are you already done? Time sure flies fast when you focus on something. Here, can you repair this spear of mine?" asked Mathias while bringing Ragnius from his inventory and giving it to the blacksmith whose eyes turned big when being graced with Ragnius craftsmanship.
"Good spear, it is a shame it has rust on its blade. I can try to remove the rust on your spear if you allow me, but it will cost extra money."
"Sure, please do so." replied Mathias seeing how the blacksmith wasn't feeling discomfort from holding onto Ragnius's shaft.
The blacksmith didn't linger idly around and placing Ragnius down on the worktable, he went to pick up his sharpening tools. Starting his work on Ragnius, he began using delicate movements on the blade trying to remove first the rust on the blade.
Swipe after swipe with the sharpening tool, the middle-aged man looked confused at the spear before turning to ask Mathias watching close-by.
"I can't remove the rust. You saw it too, even after 10 minutes there's absolutely no change into it."
"Don't worry, I saw it. Please move on with the rest of the process of the repair if rust removal doesn't work." mentioned Mathias in a calm voice, while he started to ponder why the blacksmith couldn't get the rust away.
'Could it be that rust is linked to Ragnius's Grade? The higher the grade the better its quality would be?'
The blacksmith moved on with the rest of the process which didn't oppose any resistance, such as sharpening the blade and cool tempering the blade, a process that took the blacksmith about 25 minutes to finish, but the result was satisfying.
"The work done on the spear costs 250 silver coins." added the blacksmith after finishing his repair on Ragnius.
Taking out the money from his inventory, giving it to the blacksmith for his work, he opened the information on Ragnius and nodded seeing that his durability was refilled, with one additional small bonus added by the sharpening of the blacksmith.
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[Weakened Ragnius]
Rating: Poor (Growth) (43%)
Durability: 90/90
Attack Power: 75-185 | Critical Chance: +1% Attack Speed: +1%
* 2% increase in your attack power
* 5% increase in maximum health.
* Sharpened Blade - Ragnius gains 2% attack power (30 days)
A spear forgotten from the annals of history, yet it still gives off small fragments of its splendor and glory.
A spear that was once thought to be the sole weapon of a saint brought to the status of a scrap weapon ignored by everyone and looked down upon, however without the rightful master, the spear will never break off from its past.
It will be the symbol of fear to the enemy and a symbol of protection to its master.
Conditions of Use: Chosen by Ragnius' slumbering ego.
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Finishing his stay with the blacksmith, leaving from his shop with about 250 silver coins remaining in his bag, only after settling down his potion acquisition and repairing his weapon, did he adventure toward the forest.
Getting himself deeper inside the forest, while encountering a small number of monsters on his way to the center where he remembered seeing the Hillsbars Gragger Boar, the field boss who has marked that central region of the forest as its territory.
Monster after monster, with his newly acquired arcane power, clearing his way in the monsters that were off level 10 was a matter of 30 seconds. Nonetheless, as he approached the region the field boss was supposed to be, the voices of two guys were picked up by his keen senses, with one specific thing being taken by him, they were flustered and cursed a lot.
"Brother, stop fucking up the rotation. We have to tank it in rotation otherwise we are fucked. This is a level 17 Field Boss, we have to do this to perfection."
Mathias continued approaching this hunting ground where he finally saw one big hog, looking slightly bigger than when he last saw him, full of scar wounds with tusks that had a metallic luster containing some blood on them, fighting two guys containing familiar faces, [Orpheus] and [Ape Wine].
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[<Boss> Hillsbars Gragger Boar - Level 17] [14.530/18.000 HP]
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His presence was noticed by the 'Hillsbars Gragger Boar' elites who moved away from the two players choosing to attack him instead.
"What? Someone's here?"
"Focus on the boss, don't concern yourself with the elite monsters. This is actually good for our fight." said Orpheus who slashed with his sword the giant boar, making some small wounds on its flesh, taking away [145] and [278] damage from using his skill.
"Brother, never ever put me to tank bosses. It is too strenuous for my mind."
"Shut up, here comes another attack from its arsenal."
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Meanwhile, Mathias who was attached head-on by the elite boars numbering a total of 5, who were of level 13 with 6500 HP each, made him start charging up his mana for his spells.
"[Arcane Barrier]"
Surrounding himself by the dark-purple barrier he followed by activating 'Raven's Movements' and sidestepping in a lateral direction, creating a weakness in the charge of the boars who had to switch directions.
Quickly grabbing a potion from his inventory, the 'Strength Potion' that he downed, gaining 50 STR points for 10 minutes of the fight, he grabbed the end part of the shaft extending his range to the maximum, and beginning to jab three times at the boars who had to stop.
"[Treachery]"
[You have dealt 215 damage to the target.]
[You have dealt 246 damage to the target.]
[You have dealt 128 damage to the target.]
With three boars hit directly by Mathias first sequence of 'Treachery' he advanced while shifting the manner he held Ragnius getting a middle hold of the shaft and with two spins that wounded all of the 5 boars, dealing an AoE damage of [342] which enraged the elite boars more than the two [Orpheus] and [Ape Wine] could do by attacking their ruler.
[You have suffered 32 damage.]
[You have suffered 39 damage.]
[☆ Arcane Barrier effect 'Reflect' has been triggered, dealing the target 21 damage.]
Quickly evading the rest of the attacks the enraged boars had in store for him, as he retreated, he unleashed an [Sweep Thrust] while retreating, which managed to put down two of the boars whilst the rest had flesh wounds on their fatty legs, but the main assault was when 'Thrust' penetrated the eye of one boar.
[Critical!]
[You have dealt 530 damage to the target.]
Drawing Ragnius back from his jab attack, he kept the tempo going strong, unleashing three 'Piercing Rain' attacks that flooded in the vision of the boar monsters who shrieked in pain. They simply weren't fast enough to evade the lightfast strikes, moving on and striking at the boars while they were struggling to keep up with the pain, he used Ragnius to launch himself in the air, and bring the spear along with himself striking the monsters in an AoE radius.
"[Bloodfall]"
[You have dealt 468 AoE damage to the targets.]
Creating a small shockwave from all the dirt and blood-filled ground which was pushed away from the range of the impact, Mathias continued on using basic attacks to harass the boar monsters with attacks that could make an outlooker think they were generated by activable skills.
Such a case was for Orpheus and Ape Wine who noticed Mathias fight the five boars without even struggling.
"Brother, isn't that person the one who helped us when those bastards betrayed us?"
"Indeed, but don't get distracted. I'll try to talk with him through the fight, maybe we can strike a deal to share the spoils with the field boss."
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As Mathias continued fighting with the five elite boars, managing his mana without even activating one skill, but opting to activate 'Raven's Movement' whenever he was trapped by the boars. Arcane Barrier also started proccing the 'Reflects', but the amount was barely noticeable compared to the basic attacks he did.
The fight proceeded with a low difficulty for Mathias, compared to the Lurker Spiders who were truly difficult to manage, the attack patterns of the boars were limited and basic at best, yet, there were also times he got careless, resulting in him being hit. When he was dodging the attacks of 3 boars and preparing to counter a new notification to his chat interface appeared.
@Orpheus: Do you want to team up, and fight the field boss together? We will be fair with the gear if something drops.
Ignoring that message taking enough space from the boars while doing a feint that pushed them back, he responded to the player fighting the field boss in a casual manner.
@Mathias: I guess you can invite me, I'll be soon done with those elite boars.
@Orpheus: Already that fast?
Seeing the last message which felt more like the person asking himself that, he later received another notification
[Player Orpheus is inviting you to his party]
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[You have accepted the invitation to the party. Bringing up the information to the rest of the party members.]
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[Orpheus - Lv. 13 (650/1030 HP) (65/130 MP)
[Ape Wine - Lv. 13 (710/1120 HP) (55/115 MP)
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"Brother, look at that guy's HP and MP amount and he is only level 10."
"Focus on the fight. Hmm, let me check it for a brief moment. Don't lose the aggro."
Saying that, Orpheus watched with amazement Mathias's HP and MP which could be said that was equivalent to both of them combined.
'This person, how could he have such HP gauge and MP gauge when he is only level 10? Wait, his gear seems too fancy and extravagant for a starting player, so this must be his secret. A whale enjoying the benefits of gear.'
Returning his thoughts back on the fight, in order to not get wiped by the Boar Field Boss where their progress was minuscule even after they had consumed most of their consumables to restore HP and MP. But, one minute later, they got the notification of the elite boars being killed, and after a suspense where their resources barely kept up with the enraged boar.
"Isn't that guy coming to help us?"
"Keep resisting, he probably is recovering his MP and HP."
One minute has passed since Mathias killed the boars, and just as they wanted to ask for Mathias to help directly, they heard his voice call with a cold tone.
"[Nephthys Lament]"
[Player 'Mathias' has dealt 1758 to Hillsbars Gragger Boar. Hillsbars Gragger Boar has been afflicted by the 'Weakened' debuff turning his defense 20% weaker.]
'This fucker hits like a monster! What skill is that? Ahh, back to the fight, I need to focus on the fight and contribute.'
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Back to Mathias who entered the fight starting with his finisher attack, trying a new approach to boss fights with the skills who had a chance of causing debuffs. Thus, managing to hit a 'Weakened' debuff on the field boss.
*SHRIEK*
"Move back and recover your HP, before tagging in. It seems this monster has entered his second phase if you could call it that."
From where he was, Mathias still under 'Raven's Movement' he circled the giant boar jabbing continuously using 'Piercing Rain' until his mana got to [690/1560] to which he stopped in place gazing coldly at the monster.
*SHRIEK*
The field boss charged madly at Mathias using a faster speed than ever which surprised Orpheus and Ape Wine who lost all their info on the boss with this new transition. This outbreak and speed even got Mathias to pull his guard up, blocking the metallic tusk from impaling him.
[You suffered 169 damage.]
His block wasn't enough as the tusk pierced his 'Arcane Barrier' touching his middle section. However, the barrier still held strong, not breaking entirely.
Gazing with his eyes that started to shine with dark purple light, he extended his hand to the boars head, as he sent out an 'Arcane Missile' blasting the head, pushing the monster away from him.
[Critical!]
[You have dealt 1708 to Hillsbars Gragger Boar.]
In that moment both Orpheus and Ape Wine returned, striking the boar with their skills, dealing in total [634] damage, followed by another 'Arcane Missile' from Mathias that pushed the boar until it hit a tree, collapsing it in half.
[You have dealt 537 damage to Hillsbrad Gragger Boar]
Orpheus and Ape Wine followed where the boar was pushed and started striking him using basic attacks, dealing strikes of [97], [167], [159], with a critical from Orpheus of [351] who give a wicked smile when hearing the boar cry in pain.
*ROAR*
"Get away from him, he entered the last transition for the boss fight."
Drinking a mana potion, he used his arcane magic freely to push away Ape Wine from the proximity of the boar, but when he was about to pull Orpheus, the boar stomped his feet, and dashing with a speed akin to him, he sent a strike using his back legs, dealing catastrophic damage to the player.
[Player 'Orpheus' suffered 730 damage.]
"Arghhhh, this hurts so badly! It feels as if I broke my ribs. Are those developers crazy to implement such a concept?"
"Stay quiet if you still want to be alive after this fight. So you know newbie, once you die after reaching level 10 and above you lose experience and have a chance at dropping your gear."
"I know that too, from that tone you sound like a Beta Player. Arghh, one more hit, and I am dead." commented Orpheus from where he was blasted, trying to get up from where he was, but failing because of his fractures.
[Orpheus (125/1030 HP)]
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Mathias shook his head, dashing toward the boar, drawing the aggro back from what turned out to be a strong adversary to himself and Ragnius. Appearing close to his large body, he activated 'Treachery', beginning to attack the boar monster with the first attacks of the sequence.
[Target has dodged your attack.]
[Target has dodged your attack.]
[You have dealt 193 damage to the target.]
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To his surprise the boar's agility skyrocketed even with his large size, managing to dodge his piercing jabs, but the first spin connected with his large body, unable to dodge the long-range of Ragnius, dealing [320].
Reaching the momentum for the second spin, he found himself in a sea of pain with the boar's tusk impaling his stomach.
[You have suffered 340 damage.]
[You have suffered 210 damage.]
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[Health:369/1088] [Mana:140/1560]
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Checking his stats, as he watched the boar with a cold gaze as it most likely wished to kill him first, where he closed his eyes calling out in a whispering tone.
"[Evocation]"
The changes around Mathias who was impaled by the boar were evident with the blue mist gathering around him, which kickstarted his mana recovery that it dumbfounded Orpheus who watched the mana gauges of Mathias refilling with 297 MP the first second.
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"Bandar, jump to help this guy, don't look like a dumbfuck from the sideline. I am still unable to move because of a broken bones affliction." shouted Orpheus from where he was, returning his focus on the fight, having his brother jump in to distract the monster.
"I am right there, brother."
Ape Wine arrived behind the boar, sending out two sword slashes at his lower body, making it growl in pain.
"Ahh, shit, I am in his range for the hind leg attack."
Nevertheless, Ape Wine heard Mathias' cold voice, mentioning to him.
"Don't worry you'll be fine. But first, let me get this monster off me since it irks of death just staying so close with me."
Having his right hand extended toward the head of the boar, beginning to giving off a dark-purple light, which intensified along with the blue mist which entered his body, before both Orpheus and Ape Wine saw something never seen before, in the entire videos they watched on the 'Satisfy' Beta Phase.
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"[Arcane Missile]"
The dark-purple shaped missile was propelled from Mathias right hand blowing with the head of the large boar making it shriek in pain, unlike any other attack. Yet, this wasn't the end of the attack, because from behind Mathias a dark purple light blade was summoned dashing toward the boar, and cutting at his throat.
[You have dealt 856 damage to the target.]
[☆ Chaos Blessed has been triggered. Spell: 'Chaos Blade' has been casted, dealing 2140 damage to the target.]
"GO, GO, Bandar, take those herbs that are good for mana recovery and cast all your spells. The boss is about to drop. I will be off in 25 seconds, just you wait."
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Mathias was still in a serene state of mind, not being marked by the effect of 'Chaos Blessed' instead, with a new second which brought about a new intake of Mana, like a transfusion of blood, he took a health potion, which refilled 650 of his HP, before casting 'Bloodfall' cutting straight at the chest of the beast when landing on the ground.
[You have dealt 467 damage to the target.]
[Player 'Ape Mist' cast 'Sword Blight' dealing a strike of 540 damage]
"Hah, this beast is not dead yet. Ahhh, it started recovering his HP." remarked Ape Wine watching the field boss start to recover his HP, starting with a 1000 HP recovery."
Seeing that for himself too, it made Mathias frown, starting to hit the boar whose body was shining with a green color, with 'Piercing Rain' and with the first hit of the skill, he got notified about the increase in level of two skills, [Basic Spear Mastery] and [Piercing Rain] that leveled up.
One [Piercing Rain] wasn't enough, as he started raining down the skill until his mana dropped to 0, but in such a crazed mannered attack, the boar who roared in pain giving off a stronger green light, trying to recover his HP, failed to achieve such goal because of the storm of spear attacks.
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[Congratulations, you killed 'Hillsbars Gragger Boar' for the first time ever. You overshadowed your party members' contribution, earning the possibility of announcing to the world your achievement.]
[Do you wish to announce to the world your achievement?]
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[Decline]
It was something Mathias immediately pressed, not wishing to become a public figure and also someone that might reach the hate of the players for what he managed to achieve.
[Your choice has been registered.]
[Your following rewards are: 10.000 EXP, 10 Gold, Title: Dominance over Hillbars, Boss Level Trophy]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
Skeptical about not seeing any items on his loot, he heard Orpheus who rose on his feet after leveling up, clearly having his debuffs removed from the fight with the boar field boss, he heard the latter say in excitement.
"Never ever would I have imagined there would be an Epic Drop on this low level. A boss monster is bound to be a walking treasure trove. Here, I will link all the items dropped beside the rewards."
<Shield of the Resilient>, <Cloak of the Pride>, <Hillsbar Gragger Chainmail>, <Gragger Boar Hat>,
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"Guys, I just want the Cloak, leaving the rest to you. How does it sound?" asked Mathias as he checked each item's stats, but only being interested in one item from the dropped loot.
Staying some seconds to think, while his younger brother was telling him to be a jerk and not give that item, he responded favorably to Mathias's request.
"You want only the cloak? I guess it is fair to give it to you since you carried the rest of the fight after the monster got to its second phase."
[Player 'Orpheus' wants to open trade with you.]
[You have accepted the trade invitation.]
Quickly enough, Mathias found himself in the possession of the cloak, which was the only Epic Item dropped from the boss.
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[Cloak of the Pride]
Rating: Epic
Durability: 120/120 Defense: 50
* Strength: +25
* Stamina: +25
☆ Activable Buff: Prideful - Gain 5% attack power buff while your defense is lowered by 25% for 60 seconds. Cooldown: 60 minutes
User Restriction: Level 35
Weight: 10
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@Ape Wine: Big brother, are you crazy? Why have you given the only Epic drop from the boss to this guy? We could have used it in the future.
@Orpheus: Calm down and don't be narrow-minded. Do you see the guild name of this guy? Leviathan. Go see in what guild Red is, and after that maybe you will understand why I did what I did."
@Ape Wine: So what if that Red guy is top 5 in the world, being level 19.
@Orpheus: You still don't understand. We aren't that far from the top players, but compared to this guy whose items clearly don't belong to a beginner, it means he is an elite Beta Player just like Red. This Leviathan guild was most likely made by the elites of the Beta Phase.
@Ape Wine: What are you talking about, big brother? Isn't the strongest guild from the Beta Phase, 2Stoned2Care, led by Cain.
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Mathias, who recovered all his resources, looked at the two brothers, saying to them calmly.
"Thanks a lot for the fairness, and I hope we will meet again in the future."
"Wait, are you moving to another hunting ground? Why not continue teaming up with us?"
"I see. But it isn't my style of playing in a team, since I am constrained by what others might do in the fight, but you two don't seem that bad. Follow me, I have a quest which requires me to kill the mountain bandits lingering at the base of Gravelmark Heights. Don't worry about the quest, I will link it to you after I find them."
"Sure, no problem. A question, how do you prefer the party setting to be? All loot be picked by the party leader or random looting?"
"Set it as random, it will be more fun in such a manner." replied Mathias with a chuckle, as his expression turned serious when he noticed that the body of the boar still was visible for him.
'Should I try 'Mana Devour' for the first time now that I have the available mana?'
"Hey, are you alright?" asked Orpheus, who watched Mathias walk toward where the boar used to be, lowering himself with the hand touching the dirty ground.
After one minute as Mathias still hasn't shifted his position, he heard him murmur something he couldn't understand, something that even the general translator of the game couldn't understand to translate.
'What the fuck? Is that some spell that is using the language those NPC uses?'
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On another hand, Mathias who could see the corpse of the monster, placed his hand right where his heart was still existing, contemplating about one minute what was happening for him to see the corpse of this monster when everytime he would slay the monsters they would turn to gray light.
'Maybe it is linked to 'Mana Devourer'? I have to experiment a lot more to have a decent understanding of what's going on. Anyway, let's see if the spell works as the Archmage proposed.'
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[Mana Devourer]
Rating: Legendary
A dangerous spell created by a lost Archmage to give a window for the ones desiring power, fully knowing the risks they would take in partaking in this route.
* Strip the dead you have slain of a portion of their accumulated mana. You have 1% of stripping the enemy of a small part of their mana that will be converted in INT stat and [Mana Core] experience, up to the amount of mana stripped.
* If the ability is overused, there is a 50% chance of your [Mana Core] shattering, which would lead to you losing the 'Arcane Energy' and losing all your gained INT in the process of mana devouring.
Mana Consumption: 1500 MP (Will change according to the user Mana Core and resources)
Skill Cooldown Time: No Cooldowns
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<My Desire for Power is Unmatched for that I am willing to even devour the remaining power of the lost souls.>
<The order and chaos who have been judged me, conferring me with this ability, shall be witnesses to my act of stripping the power of the mortal being's shell creators.>
While telling the incantation in the ancient language exactly as the Archmage instructed, his body gave off a dark aura that had a vibrant purple light which enveloped the corpse of the boar monster, slowly turning it into dark-purple light fragments which scattered in the wind, before a new notification entered Mathias's attention.
[Mana Devourer has been cast successfully with the result being: Failure]