Everyone's confidence plummeted when they saw Volenka and the purple-blue trident it wielded.
Players' tiers were reduced to zero while inside the Thunder G.o.d's Secret Land, and Grand Lords were nearly invincible against Tier 0 beings. The only reason they even dared to challenge the Naga General, which they had a.s.sumed would only be a Grand Lord ranked Boss, was because they had the Thunderbolt Gemstones and Thunder G.o.d's Pearl. Including their Epic Weapons and Equipment, they had thought that they had a high chance of defeating the side temple's first Boss.
Now, however, they learned that the first Boss was a Grand Lord ranked Archaic Species.
Even outside of the Thunder G.o.d's Secret Land, Grand Lord ranked Archaic Species were troublesome to deal with. Trying to raid one with the Thunder G.o.d's Secret Land was simply a joke.
Could the pioneer Boss be different? Even s.h.i.+ Feng frowned when he saw Volenka.
The current Naga General was not the same Boss he had encountered during his previous life. In the past, Volenka had only been an ordinary Grand Lord. Moreover, it had wielded a two-handed axe, not a trident.
Monsters' combat standards in G.o.d's Domain largely differed depending on what weapon they used. For example, monsters that used a two-handed axe would rely on simple combat methods and great destructive power. Every one of Volenka's attacks with a two-handed axe had been akin to AOE Spells. Even for MTs of the same level, receiving one of this monster's attacks head-on was suicidal.
Yet, in this life, Volenka held a trident. Unlike the clumsy but powerful two-handed axe, a trident was a type of spear. Not only did it have a much longer attack range that a two-handed axe, but it was more flexible in its attack patterns as well. With a trident, Volenka would not have to worry about numerous attacks at the same time.
Moreover, as an Archaic Species, Volenka's Basic Attributes was much higher than ordinary Grand Lords'. Hence, this Boss could likely command as much raw power with its trident as it had in s.h.i.+ Feng's past.
This Volenka was both powerful and agile. This raid would definitely be twice as difficult as s.h.i.+ Feng had expected.
More importantly, Bosses had a natural advantage. The normal Volenka, the one s.h.i.+ Feng remembered, had only had 180,000,000 HP, but this Naga General had 320,000,000 HP. With its battle recovery, it could recover 3,200,000 HP every five seconds. If the team couldn't deal more than 640,000 DPS, raiding this Boss would be impossible.
"This Boss is too powerful. Even if it just stands there and lets us. .h.i.t it, I doubt we could put a dent in its HP," Happy Art said as she watched Volenka with a bitter smile. "Even if our DPS can surpa.s.s his battle recovery, it can kill us several times over by the time we've whittled it down to zero."
Their team was already severely undermanned for this Dungeon. Slaying an ordinary Grand Lord would be an extreme challenge, and now that they discovered that their opponent was a Grand Lord ranked Archaic Species, they had no hope of success.
"Are you sure we can defeat this thing?" Endless Scars quietly asked s.h.i.+ Feng.
Every member of the team was either a peak expert or an apex expert in G.o.d's Domain. They had all slain many Bosses, and could easily gauge their team's limits. In Endless Scars' opinion, their team wasn't capable of defeating Volenka.
She couldn't figure out how they could raid this Boss.
s.h.i.+ Feng's prowess might be astonis.h.i.+ng, but raiding a Dungeon Boss wasn't a one-man job.
"I think we have roughly a 20% to 30% chance of defeating the Naga General depending on how effective six Thunder G.o.d's Pearls are," s.h.i.+ Feng said after giving the matter some thought.
He hadn't expected this Boss to be different from the one in the past, but their team had also collected crucial items needed to raid the Dungeon. Fortunately, the Naga General was the easiest of the side temple's Bosses to raid since it had very simple Skills. Players just needed high enough Basic Attributes and the ability to dodge incoming attacks.
"Twenty to thirty percent?" Endless Scars gave the Swordsman an astonished look.
As far as she was concerned, a 5% chance of raiding this boss would be heaven-defying, yet s.h.i.+ Feng was almost confident of a 30% chance of success. He had to be joking!
The rest of the team members stared at s.h.i.+ Feng in shock as well.
"Let's give it a try. Gem, stay close to the entrance. If the raid seems impossible, run. The Boss shouldn't chase you beyond the hall," s.h.i.+ Feng said.
"Alright," Frozen Gem nodded as she walked toward the hall's entrance.
Even if s.h.i.+ Feng and the others died, she would be able to resurrect them. The death penalty inside the Dungeon was quite light, and her Resurrection Spell could reduce it further.
s.h.i.+ Feng then instructed Happy Art to tank the Boss while Samsara tanked the two Level 88 Great Lord ranked Naga Bodyguards. Meanwhile, s.h.i.+ Feng would stay close to Happy Art.
s.h.i.+ Feng's arrangement confused his teammates. Samsara was clearly stronger than Happy Art, yet s.h.i.+ Feng instructed him to manage the side mobs.
However, none of them objected to their team leader's plan.
"Let's get started!" s.h.i.+ Feng commanded once everyone was in position.
Six team members immediately activated the Thunder G.o.d's Pearls they had received from completing the Thunder G.o.d's Trial. The six-pearl Thunderbolt Barrier covered a 400-yard radius, enveloping the entire hall.
Volenka and its bodyguards' Basic Attributes immediately plummeted. In the blink of an eye, the Naga General had lost 30% of its Basic Attributes while the two Naga Bodyguards had lost 45%.
"Amazing!" s.h.i.+ Feng could not help but exclaim when he saw how effective the barrier was.
He had thought they'd be lucky if the barrier could reduce the Naga General's Basic Attributes by 20%, but Volenka had lost 10% more than that. This Thunderbolt Barrier could rival the strength of an Advanced Magic Array.
s.h.i.+ Feng then had Frozen Gem rejoin the team's formation, and Happy Art and Samsara bolted forward to tank the Boss and its minions.
Volenka paid no heed as its two bodyguards were lured away. Rather, it raised its trident and thrust it at the female s.h.i.+eld Warrior. The trident could reach up to 25 yards away and contained enough power that s.p.a.ce around it trembled.
In the blink of an eye, Volenka had sent four stabs at Happy Art.
Despite being a peak expert, Happy Art had a hard time dodging the four consecutive attacks. The fourth attack lightly grazed Happy Art's s.h.i.+eld, and the resulting impact caused her to stumble a step back and lose more than 40,000 HP. Volenka's power with the trident was horrific.
Moreover, this was the result after the Boss had been suppressed by the Thunderbolt Barrier. If Volenka were at its peak, the consequences for daring to challenge it would've been dire.
Fortunately, Happy Art was no weakling. With the boost provided from the three Thunderbolt Gemstones, she had more than 170,000 HP at her maximum even after her tier had been reduced to zero. Losing 40,000 HP was just barely tolerable.
However, Volenka wasn't done as it thrust its tail into the ground to resurface behind the s.h.i.+eld Warrior. Although Happy Art had sensed the attack, she couldn't turn around in time to defend herself due to the prior impact.
Just before the tail slammed into Happy Art, s.h.i.+ Feng grabbed her arm and dragged her out of harm's way. Wielding Killing Ray in his other hand, he sliced at the Naga General's tail, sending it smas.h.i.+ng into the Boss with more speed than before.
-2,213,796!
An eye-catching amount of damage appeared above Volenka's head, stunning the team members. Thus far, these players had only dealt around -20,000 damage with each attack, so it was hard not to notice a damage of over -2,000,000.
"Even that is possible?" Burning Sea gaped in shock when he saw s.h.i.+ Feng turn the Boss's attack against itself.
He had never thought that it was even possible for a Boss to damage itself. Boss monsters generally had above-average combat standards, and trying to force a Boss to damage itself was like getting a player to turn their own attacks against themselves. It should be utterly impossible.
Yet, s.h.i.+ Feng had done just that...
Over two million damage? We should be able to defeat him within 20 minutes! When s.h.i.+ Feng saw how much damage Volenka had dealt to itself and took into account the team's overall DPS, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Throughout the side temple, Volenka was the only Boss capable of harming itself. This was due to its Tail Puncture Skill.
This Skill had sent countless MTs to their graves in the past, but it had also given players a more efficient way to defeat the Naga General. Of course, players needed very high Strength and an almost-perfect grasp of timing to use this method. Their efforts would fail with the slightest mistake, and MTs couldn't dodge Volenka's Tail Puncture too early.
If they did, the Naga General would retract its tail.
This was why s.h.i.+ Feng had a.s.signed Happy Art to Volenka. Samsara would have no issues dodging Tail Puncture if he tanked the Boss, which would disrupt s.h.i.+ Feng's timing.
Happy Art's combat standards were perfect for the job. She could defend herself against Volenka's frontal attacks but wouldn't be able to evade Tail Puncture.
After seeing what s.h.i.+ Feng had done, the team's confidence rose substantially. Volenka would use Tail Puncture almost every two seconds, which meant they could cause over -2,000,000 damage every two seconds. It was certainly enough to overcome the Naga General's battle recovery.
Now that they had eliminated the greatest challenge in this raid, defeating this Boss would be much simpler.
Following which, Volenka's HP rapidly decreased. However, every time Volenka's HP fell by 20%, it would summon two new bodyguards. Fortunately, with the Thunderbolt Barrier's suppression and Samsara's combat standards, keeping a couple of Level 88 Great Lords busy was not a problem.
Eventually, when Volenka's HP fell to 20%, the Naga General went berserk, and its speed and Strength skyrocketed. Seeing this, Happy Art immediately activated s.h.i.+eld Wall, while s.h.i.+ Feng activated Chilling Field, reserving one icicle to shove Happy Art out of harm's way when necessary. He also reserved two icicles for redirecting Volenka's tail. He used the remaining three to bombard the Naga General.
However, Volenka's attacks were simply too fast. Even though Happy Art did her best to defend herself, her tier wasn't high enough for this fight, and she couldn't keep up. In the end, Happy Art had died after enduring the berserk Naga General's attacks for around 40 seconds. At this point, Volenka still had 8% of its HP remaining.
When their s.h.i.+eld Warrior fell, Maple Locust and Burning Sea moved to the forefront and took her place.
However, they had both died after less than ten seconds. Heartless Sword then stepped in and activated his Lifesaving Skill to tank the Boss. Unfortunately, he had only lasted seven seconds, only withstanding two of the Naga General's attacks.
"Quick! Attack!"
The players' eyes were bloodshot as they watched Volenka's HP drop to 4%.
With their expendable members dead, Samsara activated his Lifesaving Skill and took over as the tank, but against both the Naga General and its two bodyguards, he didn't last more than six seconds.
Volenka had 1% of its HP remaining...
"Die!"
With no other melee players remaining, s.h.i.+ Feng activated Instant Strike and appeared before the Boss.
Sword's Transmigration!
Although Instant Strike had also been reduced to Tier 0, the Skill still increased his Attack Speed by 300% and damage by 240% for three seconds. As he struck, damages of over -120,000 flashed above Volenka's head, one after another.
As a finis.h.i.+ng touch, s.h.i.+ Feng redirected Volenka's Tail Puncture and caused the Naga General to take over two million damage, obliterating the last of its HP.
