Chapter 478: The Unkillable Cockroach
Streams of lightning rained down upon Zhang Yang as high damage values, ranging between 11,000 points and 12,000 points were inflicted upon him, one after another. After just a brief period of time, Zhang Yang was already forced to activate his {Berserker’s Heal} and {Shield Wall} to keep himself alive for a little longer, followed by the activation of his {Last Vigor} and {Blood of Life}. While he was at it, he also consumed [Potions] every time the global cool down period for using [Potions] was over.
Meanwhile, the aggro value on Messick was increasing drastically. Zhang Yang was now certain that he would not even have to activate his {Shadow of the Void} to disengage from the battle. All he had to do now was to stop attacking for a moment, and Messick would definitely gain the aggro of the boss!
"That’s right, b*tch! Your tits are fake, I know! And that’s not it! The doctor who did that was crappy. He actually made them lopsided, look at that! One’s like a huge melon, the other is a wrinkled-up raisin! Haha!" Messick was blabbering out more nonsense with his mouth, trying his very best to provoke the Duchess, "Hey, don’t look at me like that! I’m just being honest. Hey, let’s not forget that I was your tailor. So, which part of your body haven’t I touched?"
Zhang Yang frowned, sweat dripping down his brow. This wretched fellow was good. The best of the best in his art!
The Duchess was enraged to the point that her chest was about to explode. Without any hesitation, she left Zhang Yang alone and started to point her staff at Messick. Bam! She gave Messick a {Radiant Punishment} to release her anger.
‘-15,973!’
Messick did not have any damage absorption abilities like Zhang Yang had. So, he had no choice but to take on the full damage of the {Radiant Punishment}.
"Wow! You really are a b*tch after all! So mean and ferocious! You should get yourself abducted by bandits and get banging together all night long! That should be plenty of fun for them, and you!" Messick continued spouting out more nonsense, even as the boss mercilessly bombarded him.
It was a certainty now, that this fellow really had a foul mouth!
Zhang Yang had also activated his {Shadow of the Void} to disengage from the battle. At a safe cover, he started to consume the [Snacks] that he had prepared to replenish himself. Although the aggro value of the boss on Messick was already a lot higher than the aggro value on Zhang Yang, he was still dangerously close to the boss. If the boss ever decides to activate her {Light of the Stars} all of a sudden, then Zhang Yang would be as good as dead!
After a brief moment, Zhang Yang had recovered his HP back to its full state. He let out a battle cry and charged back to the boss. Zhang Yang flung a {Spear of Obliteration} at the boss, and clashed into the boss with {Charge} at the same instant.
"You low-life traitors!" the Duchess screamed through her teeth. Although her face had not yet been touched by Zhang Yang, but the color of her face was changing rapidly! Obviously, Messick’s {Foul Chattering} was driving her crazy!
Voom!
A translucent barrier appeared around the Duchess all of a sudden, shielding her from harm. At the same time, a progress bar appeared right above her head, as she began to chant.
{Light of the Stars}!
"Felice! Attack her! Quickly!" Zhang Yang cried out in panic. This skill could inflict damage to all targets within the area of 100-meter radius, and the damage of this skill went up to 100,000 Holy Damage! Although Zhang Yang would not be instantly-killed because of his high amount of damage absorption, that skill would definitely put him close to death!
Furthermore, the cooldown of the skill was really short! Even Zhang Yang and Felice would be killed if the Duchess activates {Light of the Stars} again!
Based on the description of the skill, the {Light of the Stars} could be interrupted, provided that the {Magic Barrier} of the boss is destroyed!
Fortunately for Zhang Yang, the amount of damage this {Magic Barrier} absorbs would be based on the number of players present! Although there were 3 persons and a pet launching their assaults towards the boss at the moment, Zhang Yang was the only player around! So, the {Magic Barrier} could only absorb a total of 10,000 points of damage!
However, all skills shared a global cooldown period, and Magic Skills required cast times. A mere 2 seconds was what they had to destroy the {Magic Barrier}. If they could not get their skills ready at the right moment, it would be all over!
Felice charged at the boss down from the sky. Although her {Fire Missile} could have destroyed the boss’s {Magic Barrier} in a single hit, but she too required 2 seconds to cast the spell. Furthermore, the {Fire Missile} was a ranged attack. It would require more time to travel through the air! By the time the {Fire Missile} strikes the boss, it would already have taken about 2.2 seconds to 2.5 seconds!
So, she immediately transformed into her Human Form and raised her lance straight at the boss, and stabbed forward!
‘-7,825!’
‘-16,175!’
A {Spear of Blazing Dragon}, followed by a normal attack managed to destroy the {Magic Barrier}, while also inflicting a damage of 24,000 points!
As the barrier was now down, Zhang Yang quickly raised his shield up and smashed it into the boss. Activating {Crash Magic}!
Pak!
Right before the progress bar was about to complete, the Duchess was interrupted. She let out a scream of frustration and raised her staff up again. A stream of lightning flew at the head of Messick.
Messick was zapped to the point that he was screaming in weird, falsettos and acciaccaturas, but his vulgar tongue forever remained in his mouth. He continued to provoke the Duchess by criticizing her body, her face, and her temper. With his tongue alone, he had made the Duchess sound like a tasteless, ugly b*tch. The Duchess was so furious that her blood veins were about to pop!
No wonder Zhuge Liang1 could really mess Zhou Yu2 up with his so-called ‘wisdom’. Zhang Yang could not help but to feel a chill down his spine as he listened to Messick’s foul words! Still to deal with the killer of your parents in such a light-hearted manner was already an act of mercy!
After a brief moment, the Duchess shielded herself with another {Magic Barrier} again, and started to chant the spell for the {Light of the Stars}.
This time however, she had picked the wrong time to do so. Even before her {Magic Barrier} was erected, Felice was already launching a {Fire Missile} at the boss! The barrier was almost immediately destroyed half a second later! Zhang Yang laughed out loud as he continued to gave the boss a {Crash Magic} and interrupted the boss’s chanting progress.
So there were benefits in having lesser people in a boss battle, after all. If hundreds of players were to battle this boss at the same time, even if they had the necessary DPS to carry their weight (Each additional players increases the amount of damage that the {Magic Barrier} can absorb by 10,000 points, and the chanting of the spell must be interrupted within 2 seconds, so each player would have to have a DpS of about 5,000 damage.), the limited space would make it impossible for them to efficiently dish out that amount all the time. They were free gifts for the boss.
If the {Magic Barrier} could not be destroyed in time, the {Light of the Stars} would rain hell upon the players, doing 100,000 Holy Damage. So, other than an insanely powerful tanker like Zhang Yang, who has an insanely powerful set of equipment, with an insanely long HP bar, and a 20% passive damage absorption, other players would never survive this without activating their life-saving skills!
"Guards! Guards!" The Duchess was having trouble taking down Zhang Yang, and it was starting to annoy her, and she had been listening the foul words coming out from the foul mouth of Messick the whole while! Of course, she was already at the verge of losing herself to her own anger! In frustration, she began shouting for reinforcements.
Zhang Yang was shocked for a moment, as he had not expected the boss to call for back up! If the boss really summons a few elite monsters like the Palace Guards at a crucial time like this, then victory would seem unlikely! Yet, this had not been mentioned in her description!
After waiting for awhile with bated breath, there were no signs of any new monsters coming in. Zhang Yang let out a breath of relief. Apparently, the boss was just rambling in fury.
Although there were not many people in the boss battle, the damage output of Zhang Yang and Felice was more than sufficient. Felice’s DPS had exceeded 10,000 damage, putting every single player in the world to shame! Although the HP of the Duchess was massive, it was still being drained at a rapid pace!
However, the assaults of the boss were not weak at all. Messick was forced to activate his {Light of Life} repeatedly just to stay alive! But, he could only hold on for another 6 minutes before he runs out of MP to activate his life-saving skill. Now, he could only stare at his own HP reducing down rapidly!
At the same time, the boss was still left with about 2,500,000 HP!
"Brother, promise me that you will kill this b*tch, and avenge my parents for me!" Messick turned his head towards Zhang Yang and revealed the sad, resolute expression of a warrior about to meet his end.
Zhang Yang nodded and said, "You can go peacefully now. I will avenge you and your parents!"
"%#^&[email protected]%$!" Zhang Yang could only see the mouth of Messick moving rapidly, as his voice was muted. As for the words were coming out from his mouth, Zhang Yang could actually guess them. Those words were not decent words, not even close! Zhang Yang managed to lip read stuff like ‘your mum’ and ‘c*nt’!
Without the {Light of Life} supporting him, the HP bar of Messick was traveling down a one-way track. In just a brief moment, his HP had been reduced from 500,000 points, down to only 300,000 points, and then further down to 100,000 points. By the end of it, his HP bar was emptied out, and he finally collapsed onto the ground and died. It was a valiant effort. He had actually tanked against the boss for close to seven minutes! It was something that not even Zhang Yang could do!
"Haha! Now, it’s your turn!" the Duchess turned towards Zhang Yang and Felice, and she began to charge towards Zhang Yang. She started to bombard Zhang Yang aggressively. All this while, Zhang Yang was trying to hook the aggro of the boss as well as he could, and Felice had been holding back to make his job easier. So, currently on the aggro list, Zhang Yang had managed to get a little more aggro value than Felice could.
But, the boss was left with about 1,000,000 HP at the moment. All the skills Zhang Yang had were on standby. Victory was now a certainty!
He quickly gulped down his [Power Potion] and activated his {Chaotic Dance of Electric Current}!
Without the need to hold back anymore, Zhang Yang began to unleash all of his potential.
The HP of the boss began to drop even more rapidly, starting from 1,000,000 HP, down to 800,000 HP, then further down to 500,000 HP! The Duchess was getting angrier and angrier by the second. She shouted and screamed repeatedly as the rate of her activating the {Magic Barrier} and the {Light of the Stars} grew in frequency! Although there was no indication, or description saying that the boss would go into a Berserk Mode, she was definitely acting like it now! Her {Magic Shield} would be activated once every 10 seconds! Each time however, she was quickly interrupted!
The {Crash Magic} of Zhang Yang had a cool down period of 10 seconds. Soon, it would no longer keep up with the constantly increasing rate of the {Light of the Stars}, so Zhang Yang would no longer be able to interrupt the boss with this skill!
The boss was still left with about 230,000 HP at the current situation. Suddenly, she began to chant another fresh round of {Light of the Stars}! But, Zhang Yang had just only interrupted her 5 seconds ago! So, he could only stare at the boss as she continued chanting!
{Dragon Lance of War}!
Felice flew right towards the boss at a high speed, lance-first! Not only did she damage the boss tremendously, she had also stunned the Duchess for 2 seconds long!
The {Light of the Stars} was interrupted once again!
"Nicely done!" Zhang Yang praised Felice and took the opportunity to channel as much damage as possible onto the boss.
2 seconds had passed and the Duchess had recovered from the stun effect. She once again began to chant the spell for the {Light of the Stars}. She seemed to go all out, as she knew that she was about to die! Going out with a bang, perhaps?
Zhang Yang had also activated his {Sacrifice} and {Shield Wall}. He started the final sprint to the finish!
Pak!
The boss had finally succeeded in chanting the spell for the {Light of the Stars}! Instantly, the entire secret chamber was lit up with the beaming stars all around. It was like countless lasers shooting across the area!
‘-37,772!’
‘-10,000!’
Both Zhang Yang and Felice suffered heavy damage. That was the final chance for the boss!
150,000! 100,000!, 50,000!
"Argh ---" the Duchess finally let out a miserable scream as her graceful body slid to the ground slowly. Her body fell right on top of Messick’s dead body, and she dropped a bunch of loot.
It was not easy at all! Battling a Magic type boss was really tiring! If it weren’t for Messick, the super strong human shield and his {Foul Chatters}, Zhang Yang would not have been able to take down the boss by himself! He would not even know how to battle the boss in the first place!
The Duchess had dropped one piece of Violet-Platinum equipment and two pieces of Yellow-Gold equipment. Other than that, there was a shiny, silver key. This key was initially hung around her neck. Felice had spotted it with her sharp eyes and had held it up to Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang was very sure that this key would unlock the dark-red chest that he had found earlier on! He patted Felice on the head and praised her.
Zhang Yang kept the two Yellow-Gold equipment in his inventory without even taking a look at their attributes. Then, he moved his hands toward the Violet-Platinum shield that radiated in a purplish light.
[Mark of the Winst] (Violet-Platinum, Shield)
Defense: +2,016
Vitality: +1,411
Equip: Absorbs 688 damage when being hit.
Equip: Increases Maximum HP by 5,600 points.
{Unidentified}
Required Level: 120
This shield was truly worthy of being a Violet-Platinum Tier equipment. To compare with Zhang Yang’s current shield, his [Titan Wall] only adds an additional 1,344 vitality points, after identification! After all, the levels of the two equipment had a 50% difference, so their attributes would also have a 50% difference!
However, when Zhang Yang reaches Level 120, he would already be focusing on Mythical Tier equipment! Although this shield seemed promising, but players would only get to equip it when they reach Level 120. As it was not really that practical to use, Zhang Yang decided to put it up for sale. No matter what, a Violet-Platinum Tier equipment should be worth at least a couple of millions, and the money would cover some of his own expenses.
Just as he was about to use the key on the lock of the Treasure Chest, the dead body of the boss suddenly twitched! It was an unexpected twist of events!
Zhang Yang was so terrified that he had let out a very high pitched scream! How could the dead body of the boss still move after dropping the loot! Is she zombified or what?
Then, a hand came right up from beneath the dead body and pushed the dead body of the Duchess aside. It was Messick! He crawled right back on his feet and started to whine as usual, "Pui! Pui! Pui! This stinky b*tch really goes heavy on the perfume! I was about to suffocate!"
... holy sh*t, this fellow really is an unkillable cockroach!
Zhang Yang walked up to him, pulled out his sword and jabbed it into Messick’s butt.
"Argh ---" Messick grabbed on his butt as he screamed in pain and jumped. Then, he tightened his teeth and stared at Zhang Yang, "What was that about!?"
"I couldn’t tell if you were a person or a ghost!" Zhang Yang teased.
Messick: "..."
"How can you be not dead?" Zhang Yang was very curious, as he witnessed Messick being struck to the ground with his own eyes.
"What the f*ck! Were you really wishing for my death that badly?" Messick rolled his eyes at Zhang Yang.
Playing dead?
Zhang Yang could not help but frowned. There had been no mention of this ‘playing dead’ skill, not in the description of the NPC, and not in the skill lists as well. Well, whatever, he’s alive and well now! Zhang Yang walked up to the Treasure Chest, and he bent down to unlock the chest.
After using the key on the lock, the lock fell off. Zhang Yang reached out and opened up the chest. The next thing Zhang Yang saw was beautiful, bright light, shining out of the chest.
There was a pale-yellowish necklace that looked ancient, a piece of bronze armor plating, a yellow-gold scale, a piece of green jade-like [Order], and a scroll.
"Treasure!" Messick immediately regained his bubbly demeanor. He charged up to the chest and tried to snatch it from Zhang Yang!
Zhang Yang furiously kicked him aside, "Everything outside this Treasure Chest is yours, I only want these few pieces!"
"Pui! Those are all junk! How can you compare them to these fine babes here! Don’t mistake me as a tasteless hillbilly!" Messick cupped his hands over his butt as he charged back at the Treasure Chest.
This time, Felice ran up and blocked his path. With her lance pointed between his eyes, she stared at Messick coldly and said, "Don’t get any funny ideas!".
"Hehe, aren’t we ‘brothers-in-arms’? I say you, my brother. People say that there are three things that determine the ‘brotherhood’ of men! One, to battle side by side with each other! Second, drinking booze and the third, picking up women together! We may have not yet fulfilled the latter two, but we have definitely fought side by side, together! I don’t mind having a toast with you at the bar and introducing you to some women later! So, don’t you pretend like nothing ever happened between us..."
And the NPC went on with his own ‘speech’.
Zhang Yang shook his head as he commanded Felice to block that annoying NPC from touching the chest. Now, Zhang Yang could finally pick at the chest in peace.
TL Notes:
1. Zhuge Liang: military leader and prime minister of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He constantly defeated Zhou Yu when it came to war tactics, the main hero of the fictional Romance of Three Kingdoms
2. Zhou Yu: a military general and strategist serving under the warlord Sun Ce in the late Eastern Han dynasty. Always gets outsmarted by Zhuge Liang when it comes to war tactics.