Vol. 13 - Ch. 719 - The Wandering Boss is the Ghost of An Apple!
Reincarnated in the game world <Dungeon Activity> ~ A gamer's beginning to [Dungeon job hunting recommendation] <from zero>This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
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"Hohooi, hohohooi, hohohohooi!"
"Sierra, will you be fine?!"
"!! I'm fine. I am starting—«Taunt»! «Quad Shields of Aegis»!"
Sierra emerged out of her pause at my words, and activated her skills.
I was worried about her, since the opponent was a ghost. Well, even for a ghost, it was more of the spirit of an apple, so it wasn't as apparent visually like actual ghosts or so monsters. It should be within the margin of tolerance... hopefully. Besides, I would be following her just in case. Sierra was just not good with them.
Seemingly to assert it was a ghost, the «Ghost Apple» appeared translucent. It was wreathed in a pale, misty aura, which some might mistake for a will-o'-the-wisp. Its slightly eerie appearance only made the impression worse.
As if the floating apple alone wasn't unsettling enough, the ghostly aura exuding from it, as well its huge size, made it quite a frightening spectacle.
However, its somewhat cheerful voice seemed to dampen the influence of this whole terrifying visual.
Anyway, it might be too much for Sierra to jump into action without any resolve or so, so I asked if she could do it. Sierra's response was to put forth her autonomous floating shields forward and observe the situation.
It was a good move. With the floating shields, Sierra would be able to tackle the monster without getting into close proximity.
"Hohoi! Hohohoi!!"
"Hm, it's coming!"
As I spoke, laughter erupted from the Ghost Apple's torn, mouth-like cavity, and
a pitch-black aura enveloped the surroundings.
"Kyaa! What is this!?"
"I can't see anything!"
"Stay calm. Karua, pin down the boss! Lana, «Blessing of Purification»!"
"Haa! «64 Force»!"
"! «Blessing of Purification»! I can see now!"
"Hohooi!?"
It was «Beckoning to Darkness», a skill that enveloped the entire party in veil of darkness. Unlike the inside internal body affliction, like «Blind», this was more of crowd control debuff that directly interacted physically. Physical interference like this was a headache, and was closer to environmental effect.
Due to such, they're indefendable by «Debuff Resistant». It would be like expecting the body's immune system to do something against summer's heat.
And that's where Karua with «Nature Adapt Pendant» came into play. Due to the effect of the pendant, it should be bright as day for Karua. I promptly instructed her to stall our opponent while working on to dispel the darkness.
Lana's «Blessing of Purification» was a party-wide debuff recovery skill, and at once, she cast away the darkness. Recovery successful~.
«Beckoning to Darkness» was invulnerable against party-wide debuff recovery skills.
"Sierra, get ready to cover with defensive formation! Lana, cast buff after dispelling magic! Our wandering boss can use magic! «Lightning Burst»!"
"«Art of War - Cross Defense»! «Aura Point»!"
"«Ailment Greater Protection»! «Anti-Magic Greater Blessing»!"
"Hohohohoi!"
"«Cover Shield»!"
I had barely passed my command when the «Ghost Apple» launched a burst of «24-hit Fireball». The target was... Sierra, but it casted the skill without a focused aim, so it also put us into the range of fireball rain. Sierra masterfully operated her shields and protected us.
"Hmm... it appears you're more or less fine against «Apple Ghost», Sierra. Karua, use Ice element attack! I will follow after you. You, too, use ice element attacks, Ester!"
"Hiya, «Mega Ice Slash»!"
"Understood! «Full-Throttle Drive»! «Precision Thrust»!"
"«Thunderbolt»!"
"Gashasha!"
"Tch, it dodge with «Phasing». Everyone, remember what just happened now. This boss can turn transparent, which in turn causes our attacks to pass without connecting, when we all attack so be careful!"
"What? Then how were we supposed to defeat it?!"
"«Phasing» duration isn't unlimited. Keep an eye on the boss, and wait for its existence to become more solid, and then launch your attack!"
"That's so ridiculous! It's hard to attack on time from a distance!"
Of course, as a ghost, the wandering boss had access to one of the forte of ghosts, phasing. It would turn from a deep blue appearance to pale blue when going through it, making it impossible to land an attack. Though, on the bright side, it also couldn't use any skill or magic while in «Phasing». We just had to keep an eye on opening.
Unfortunately, ascertaining the timing to hold the attack or blast off was a bit difficult from a distance. By the time an attack even made it to the wandering boss, launched when it came out of phasing, it's quite a frequent occurrence that the boss would enter phasing within the timeframe once again.
That said, there were countermeasures, of course.
"Lana, count to five when «Apple Ghost» enters «Phasing» and then try attacking."
"Are you sure that will do?! But, fine—it's now! «Sacred Shining Saber»!"
"Hoho!?"
"Yay! It was a direct hit!"
There was a surefire way to bring down the «Apple Ghost». There was a 10 second cooldown between the activation of «Phasing». Though how long he would stay in intangible state was random, it was generally between 2~7 second. Hence, I told Lana to wait for 5 seconds and unleashed her attack. The entire Invoking»Firing»Hit procedure consumes at least 3 seconds so launching an attack 5 seconds after meant the attack would undoubtedly connect to the «Ghost Apple».
Well, it was a simple, straight-forward strategy for the vanguards. Attack when it materialises, and then wait until it re materalise. On the side note, being able to phase between dungeon floors was neither skill, nor magic.
"Hohohoi!"
"Tch, it's behind the tree!"
"Argh!"
"Ester, Karua, don't try to chase after it much!"
We're in an orchard. In other words, we'd trees all around. Needless to say, «Ghost Apple» was stopped by no one to phase through them. But that couldn't be said for Ester's pear, so in her attempt to chase after «Ghost Apple», her spear ended up clashing against a tree.
Meanwhile, Karua was chasing after it in dash, and slammed into a tree face-first. I winced just from watching. Dagger's reach was short so she had to be in close-range of the monster, albeit caution couldn't be forgotten.
"«Healing Prayer»! Are you alright, Karua?!"
"It hurts... but somehow. —This apple is too audacious, even though it's uneatable!"
Woah, Karua's temper was flaring up, a rare sight.
"Hohohohoi!"
"«Cover Shield»!"
"If you try to chase it, it uses trees as cover. If you give up, it would hurl magic. And if at close-range, it uses phasing! This is one hell of an annoying opponent!"
Oh, you're so right, Ester. It's no wonder why it was the wandering boss.
If only there was Katalina or Sharon among our lineup, we could have cut off its escape route and promptly beat it down, but alas, it's no use musing over what we haven't.
We'd managed to inflict some damage on it, but I only felt dread instead of relief since our rhythm was completely shattered.
I explained the offense window to Ester.
"«Ghost Apple» can't phase while attacking. We need to draw its attack on someone, and then blast with our own attacks."
"A trap, huh? Sierra-dono, would it be possible for you to approach it?"
"Alright, I will give this a try. —«Shield Bash»!"
If we needed someone to draw the attack, it was undoubtedly the role of the tank, which meant Sierra's turn.
With resolve, Sierra brought her shield forward and charged toward it.
"Hohohi!"
To no one's surprise, «Apple Ghost» faced the tackle with a burst of magic. From its eye-shaped cavity, it fired a dark beam, «Apple Eye's Destruction Beam», but Sierra's shield in front of her easily blocked it, though the damage wasn't completely offset, and used her «Shield Arts» to push through.
"It's our chance!"
"Roger! «Precision Thrust»! «Flash Stab»!"
"«Ice Slash»! «Mega Ice Slash»!"
"«Holy Sword»!"
"Hohohoi?!"
With its attention taken by Sierra, the boss was in a tangible state.
With the spear gripped on her hand for this very opening, Ester charged in a breath, unleashing her attacks. Karua, too, launched her weapon's ice-attribute skill, delivering combo attacks.
Being a ghost meant it had no physical body, so it had no resistance to the ice element. «Ghostly Nature» while had enhanced resistance against normal or physical attacks, they'd weakness to elemental attacks.
Furthermore—
"Go forth, «Sacred Shining Saber»! «Rise of Sacred Tree»!"
«Light» and «Holy» elements were its critical weakness.
"Hoho?! Hohohohoi?!"
This barrage of attacks chipped away a huge chunk of «Apple Ghost»'s HP.
"Hoho... Hohohoi......"
"No, it's trying to escape!"
One of the features wandering bosses had was their attempt to flee when their HP was in a critical zone.
But he's not escaping in our watch!
"We need to stop him!"
"Lana, cast «Sacred Protection Barrier» at its feet, at the ground!"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"The boss switches to phasing when its HP bar is red and will try to escape to the 49th floor for recovery. The barrier would prevent it from escaping through the floor!"
"! So that's how it works?! «Sacred Protection Barrier»!|
"......Ho?"
So what I used to say—There was no escaping from Brave!
Lana's exquisite barrier sticks to the ground like a spread-out picnic blanket.
The «Apple Ghost», who was about to sink into the ground, stopped, confused from being unable to escape.
That's right. «Phasing» wasn't omnipotent, and stuff like barriers from holy or light attributes were un-phasable. If only it'd work the same way for holy and light elemental attacks!
It was often normal to have a barrier user among the line-up to prevent wandering bosses from escaping. Since Lana also had barrier skill, I guessed it wouldn't hurt to give it a try, but lo and behold, it worked splendidly!
"Your time is over. «Element Shift - Light»! and... «Lightning Vanquish»!"
"Hohohoi?!"
I was prepared for it to attempt escape, and charged straightforwardly, delivering an impactful present. I felt it went quite well, and sure enough, it was a critical hit.
The «Apple Ghost» was in a daze from critical hit!
"Come on, everyone, it's our time! All-out!"
"Finally!"
"Time to settle it once and for all!"
"This is trouble enough, you uneatable apple. Go down!"
Thinking it could make it escape, only for it to shut off from it, and later put into critical down state, our all-out assault reaped away the remaining HP of «Apple Ghost». Promptly, its body vanished among the swirling effect, and in the place it was—
There was a treasure chest, shining sparkling gold.
T/N - Hello, everyone. Due to occasional api issue, which leads to readers unable to read until the access is manually granted, we have begun to update the series on Patreon as well. It's simply to save readers the hassle if anyone is experiencing. Of course, the site will be getting update too.