BXBX NOVEL Chapter 97 - Episode 97: Maelstrom Of Abyss. (1)
I'm standing near the cliff and I see hundreds of thousands of players are entering the dungeon. Even though the first phase is easy to clear, the rewards from clearing the dungeon are quite nice. Not just that, the loots are also valuable. I'm watching them diving into the whirlpool while waiting for Ivonna and the others to clear the dungeon. Based on the information I got from my friend list status, they're currently inside the strong phase dungeon. Emma said to me that they just entered the dungeon 10 minutes ago, so it will take them quite a long time to clear it.
I'm laying on the ground while enjoying the breeze and listening to nature. Slowly the breeze is getting stronger and it really feels nice. But then the players near me suddenly become noisy. I open my eyes and the weather is changing. The dark cloud is forming above the whirlpool, and the water current is getting fierce. I sit up and look at the whirlpool. The phase is changing, the strong phase has now become the thunderstorm phase. Lightning and the sound of thunders are coming. There are still a lot of players diving into the whirlpool to test their luck.
I stand up approach the crowds. I see Diamond, Lothair, Ken, and Boschwell in there. I think they're trying to attempt to clear the thunderstorm phase together. Then they all are equipping their equipment and jump off the cliff and dive into the whirlpool with thousands of players following them.
I'm crossing my arms and think. Back then, I solo-ed the thunderstorm phase when I was level 700 out of curiosity and I cleared it in 30 minutes. Right now, I'm still level 250, but my equipment and my stats are way ahead compared to the level 700 old me. I guess I will give it a try now since I'm getting bored.
I walk toward the cliff, and one of the players looks at me.
"Oh sh*t... It's Trevor!"
Everyone is staring at me and whispering with each other as I walk past them. I keep walking toward the edge of the cliff and ignore the attention. I look down at the whirlpool for quite a while to check if there's another player who wants to join them in the dungeon. But then one of the players approaches me, yet he's too scared to say anything. I then jump off the cliff and enter the dungeon.
[Player [Trevor] has entered the Maelstorm of Abyss [Thunderstorm]!]
[Maelstrom of Abyss [Thunderstorm] gate will be closed in: 2mins 14secs]
[Maelstrom of Abyss [Thunderstorm] will begin in: 2mins 44sec]
Diamond and the others are shocked when they see the notification. They all are looking back and they see me standing at the entrance. Boschwell is looking at me and then looks at Diamond and the others. Ken then walks past them and approaches me, he waves at me with his smile.
"We meet again, Trevor."
I smile and nod.
"Yes, we meet again."
Ken is crossing his arms while looking at my costume.
"That's a nice costume. Anyway, are you going to join us in this raid attempt?"
I shake my head.
"No, I'm here to watch. I'm not going to join you all."
Ken is humming with understanding.
A notification appears.
[Maelstrom of Abyss [Thunderstorm] gate is closed]
[Maelstrom of Abyss [Thunderstorm] will begin in: 30secs]
[73.299 Players are currently inside the dungeon with the average level is 231]
[Maelstrom of Abyss [Thunderstorm] is generating...]
[Each player has 3 lives and will be teleported outside the dungeon and to their spawn point after their 4th death]
[Maelstrom of Abyss [Thunderstorm] is generated!]
[Boss monster Sulrk is awake and enraged!]
[Maelstrom of Abyss [Thunderstorm] now begins. May the Betelgeuse bless you!]
Ken looks at the notification and then nods.
"We are going in now."
I nod and wish him good luck.
Ken approaches Diamond and the others. They're looking at him with curiosity but then Ken shakes his head. It seems that they're hoping for me to join their raid teams. Then they all walk forward into the depth while I'm following them from far behind. I look at the surrounding of the dungeon, and as far as I know, Kingstar's raid team is the only one who managed to reach the boss stage in the thunderstorm phase even though the tricks are already leaked in the forum.
We are entering the first stage where we have to survive the waves of monsters or destroy that pumping thingy that looks like a heart called Ocean Heart in the middle of the map that is guarded by some kind of tower that throws bubbles that do splash damage. The towers can be destroyed but it's a waste of time if the team has strong DPS-es. This dungeon has a mechanic that the corals will produce the same bubbles as the towers do and will chase at a single target randomly. So those who think that they're targeted by the bubble must get away from the other players and lure that bubble away, then at the last second before the bubble growing to pop, the player has the time to run and avoid the splash. Theoretically, it sounds easy but practically, is very hard.
Ken, Diamond, Lothair, and Boschwell are running toward the Ocean Heart with the DPS players and start attacking it. Thousands of players are attacking the tower and hoping that one of them take the aggro of the tower while the rest of the players are fighting the monsters and destroying the corals. It looks organized and seems clean. Everything is going well until the monsters' waves are overwhelming the players and can't hold them off any longer. I can see the health bar of the Ocean Heart and it's still around 80%.
In just 3 minutes, a quarter of the players are already dead and on their second life. There are 2 downsides to having so many players in the dungeon. First, the more player in the dungeon the more bubbles that the corals produced. 10 players in the dungeon are equal to 1 bubble every 1 minute, so if there are 74.000 players, then there will be 7.400 bubbles spawn in a minute. Second, the more player in the dungeon, the larger the dungeon map is and the more monsters that spawn in each wave. Imagine having to run a kilometer just to go to the middle of the map. That's why the dungeon needs to generate the map first to make an adjustment with how many players inside.
The Ocean Heart is at 20%, but the raid team is already reduced to half even though they managed to destroy most of the corals. There are 34.826 players left.
[You successfully survived the first stage!]
[1 Extra life is given to the players!]
[The first stage will be closed in: 5mins]
[Please enter the entrance to the second stage before the first stage is closed or you will be teleported outside the dungeon]
In the end, they can't destroy the Ocean Heart and survived the first stage instead. They just wasted half of their resources just for trying to destroy the Ocean Heart. I understand that if they managed to destroy the Ocean Heart, the boss and monsters' stats will be reduced by 10% for 3 hours, but seeing them struggle so much in the first stage and had to survive the wave for an hour seems useless even if the system debuffed the monsters.
I'm walking behind them toward the second stage entrance. Ken is looking back at me. I raise my eyebrows while tilting my head while looking back at him. He just shakes his head and turns his head back to the front.
We enter the second stage. This time they need to defeat all the elite monsters that way harder than the normal monsters under an hour before the map is flooded with water and wiped the players. Of course, there will be corals and now two towers that produced bubbles. Even if they still have 2, 3, or 4 lives left, it will count as a fail and will be teleported outside the dungeon. This stage is basically a time attack mode.
They all immediately charge at the elite monsters after they consumed the buff items. With only half of their full force, it will be impossible for them to clear this stage. The truth is, this stage is actually not necessary to be cleared at all. There's a huge coral that can be destroyed and there's a giant path behind that coral that leads them all the way up to a hidden stage. In there, the monster will be easier to kill since all the coral in that stage is buffing the players instead of buffing the monsters. But, the coral is very hard to destroy. It has the same HP as the Ocean Heart. This is basically the end for them.
I grab my chained sickles and start to help them killing the normal monsters. They all are surprised and excited at the same time when they see me killing dozens of monsters.
We only have 15 minutes left before the flood is going to wipe us. There are only a few hundred players left and the elite monsters are still a lot. Diamond, Lothair, Ken, and Boschwell are on their last life, and their HP is so low. They can't handle the monsters anymore and just wasting the time before the flood is going to hit the map or die by the monsters. I keep myself busy increasing my [Bloodthirst] stacks and will destroy the coral. I'm not sure if I can destroy it if I have less than 5 minutes.
They all finally get wiped by the monsters and already teleported outside the dungeon. I still have 2 minutes before the flood is coming. It's definitely impossible for me to destroy the coral, and so I run toward the elite monsters while eating and drinking the celebration event buff items. I look at my stats and it's stupidly high. I use [Divine Aura] and [Frenzy]. Thanks to the buffs I consumed, my status resistance is 100%, so I will no longer in a frenzied status. I run toward the strongest elite monster and use [Tempation] at him and take 25% of its stats value, then use [Dominion].
[You successfully cleared the second stage!]
[1 Extra life is given to the players!]
[Sulrk's status values are reduced by 10%!]
[The second stage will be closed in: 5mins]
I'm swinging my chained sickles and looting all the drops from the elite monsters for Grisell. I look at the entrance to the third and final stage.
"It's been a while, fatty..."
[Reawakening activated]
[Cooldown: 23hrs 59mins 59secs]
[All the debuffs have been removed. All the skill cooldowns have been reset.]