Chapter 710: Darok
After the party was finished with the Crimson Fire Crow King, the was nothing left but to go out of the steamy hot cave. The party circled around the walls of the cave and managed to find a small opening that led to the outside of the cave. After squeezing through the pathway, they were led to another large cave, with a gigantic palace situated in it. The structure of the castle was built in accordance to the shape of the cave itself. There was no other way but to go into the castle.
The castle itself was extremely old. Cracks were here and there, showing signs of severe deterioration. The first chamber of the castle was opened wide, since there were no doors to enclose it. From outside, the party could see countless of Spectre infested monsters that were patrolling around aimlessly. The sounds of their eerie cries, coupled with their extreme numbers was only an early indication that their journey forward will be tough.
Zhang Yang opened the map and examined the size of the palace. It was expectedly huge. Zhang Yang tried to scroll to the far end but was blocked from doing so. Looks like that was the end of the Mythical Dragon Realm. The last boss should be inside.
"Let’s go. We’re about to clear the map!"
The five-man party went into the castle with Zhang Yang taking the lead. According to the official guideline, every Mythical Dragon Realm will have one final boss. Since the realm had spawned in a Level 150 – 180 map, the final boss should be a Holy tier boss. Right then, all Holy tier equipment, weak or not, were extremely rare and precious. Even Zhang Yang himself had two Holy tier equipment, hence, most of his equipment were Ethereal tier.
As they approached the swarm of monsters, the little girl cried with excitement. "Ooooo! I can’t wait to get my hands on a Holy tier two-handed axe!"
"Hm. If there is one, it will be yours, then. I’ll be nice enough to lend it to you!" said Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang had no need for a Holy tier equipment since he had an Ascended tier two-handed axe waiting in his personal warehouse! All he had to do now was to grind his level up to Level 180 to equip it! Naturally, he did not need to fight over the axe.
The party entered the first hall and encountered their first wave of monsters.
[Shrieking Witch] (Elite, Spectre)
Level: 175
HP: 5,250,000
Defense: 7,000
Melee Attack: 40,833 – 60,822 (Physical Shadow Attack)
Skills:
[Terror Shriek]: Let out a terrifying shriek, inflicting {Fear} on a target for 5 seconds.
[Possession]: Possesses a target and controls it. The effect lasts indefinitely until the target’s HP drops below 10%.
Note: The Shrieking Witch is one of the many loyal servants of Darok. She has the ability to inflict fear into the hearts of the enemy. Using that fear, she could use them as their plaything. Many of adventures that had tried to subdue Darok has fallen into the hands of the witches.
"Crap! What a troublesome skill!" Daffodil Daydream grunted. "The shrieking skill is inevitable, but the controlling skill will be a pain in the butt!"
"It would be best to dispel the skill the moment the monster controls you. That, or we might have to fight amongst ourselves."
"Sigh...If only I have the chance to whack the noobie tank."
"What?"
"What?"
However they may complain, they had already reached the bridge and had to cross over it. Zhang Yang took the initiative and started first with a {Spear of Obliteration}. Naturally, since the number of monsters was overwhelming, he had to be careful not to lure too many of them at a time. He tried to clear the monsters one at a time, due to the mind-controlling skill. If he had drawn in three monsters, he might cause the entire team to be killed!
"All that lives shall be ours!" cried the witch as she turned to Zhang Yang. The witch was considered a higher leveled Spectre since she was able to maintain her original human appearance without any signs of decay. Her entire body was cloaked in a thin white fabric that was plastered against her skin. Unlike the other women and female bosses that Zhang Yang have met, the witches were plain normal girls. Average Janes, at that.
The witch attacked Zhang Yang by clawing him with her hands. That was nothing to be afraid of, since her attacks were like using a pair of wooden chopstick to whack a titanium steel wall. However, that was not the main attack pattern. In just a few normal hits, the witch will shriek, causing Zhang Yang to run amok for 5 seconds.
Even though he had {Warrior’s Will} ready to be used, Zhang Yang had chosen to reserve the skill for {Possession} instead. Although he had not the faintest idea of whether the skill could be dispelled, it was still worth a try.
Sun Xin Yu and the rest of the team started their attack on the witch once Zhang Yang gave them the green light. Although the other members of the party might occasionally OT Zhang Yang, it was not a problem since the witch’s attack was too low to be threatening, even without Han Ying Xue healing them.
When {Fear} on Zhang Yang wore off, the witch then proceeded to cast the most troublesome skill, that was {Possession}.
A large white cross made of skeletal formed behind Daffodil Daydream. Her eyes were shrouded in a thick white layer of cloud and her hands were stretched to be crucified. After one second, her expression turned blank and emotionless while she pointed her staff at Han Ying Xue and blasted off a fire missile towards her, dealing over 60,000 damage.
"I cannot dispel the skill! I cannot even use any items or accessories! I’m completely locked out!" said Daffodil Daydream in the party channel.
"Time to kill sister Daffy!" Wei Yan Er was the first to jump in action and hurled her gigantic axe at Daffodil Daydream.
Sun Xin Yu blinked step behind Daffodil Daydream and started her attack combo.
"Careful! Be careful! Look at the HP bar! Stop at 10%!" said Zhang Yang. Although Sun Xin Yu had higher attack damage than Wei Yan Er, Zhang Yang was extremely worried for Wei Yan Er instead, since the girl was a maniac with the axe. She might accidentally slip up and kill Daffodil Daydream!. That was the main reason why the skill {Possession} was the most troublesome skill ever. It required one to attack one’s own teammate in order to save them!
Within a few seconds, Daffodil Daydream was freed of the curse at 8% HP. Sun Xin Yu had sharp eyes. Her final attack had dealt enough damage to knock down 11% HP to 8% at the right amount. Right then, her blade stopped and she withdrew from her. On the other hand, Wei Yan Er was a ruffian. Before she could see Daffodil Daydream was already freed of the skill, she was already too late.
{Apparate}!
Daffodil Daydream had anticipated Wei Yan Er’s carelessness and teleported her way out of danger the moment she regained control.
"Stupid! Are you really trying to kill Daffy?!" Zhang Yang scolded.
"Sorry! My bad! My hand slipped! Nishishishi!"
Han Ying Xue had immediately healed Daffodil Daydream the instant she was within range. Thankfully, the skill {Possession} had an extremely long cooldown time. Before the witch could use the skill again, the party had already ended her 5 million HP.
After the first battle, even Wei Yan Er had insisted that Zhang Yang be careful with kiting the monsters. One was enough to send them into a huge disarray. If Zhang Yang accidentally lures in a huge swarm, they might be seriously looking at death’s door.
Fortunately, the monsters present in the first hall was mostly skeletal soldiers. The ratio of the witch and the skeletal soldiers were almost 1:9. Even though it was extremely dangerous, where Wei Yan Er had even nearly killed Han Ying Xue that one time, the team was able to thread through the needle hole.
Three hours of fighting later, they had cleared the entire palace of monsters and confronted the final boss.
The final boss was a Spectre wizard with a typical black magician robe and a long crimson-violet staff. Molded on top of the staff was a white human skull that was glowing in an emerald-green hue. Although the robes covered his entire body, the hands that held the staff were visible. It was dried up, shriveled, like a corpse. Shrouded in darkness, only the glow of the Spectre’s green fire was visible underneath the robes.
[Spectre Evil Wizard, Dorak] (Holy, Spectre)
Level: 180
HP: 1,800,000,000
Defense: 18,470
Magic Attack: 85,228 – 125,228
Skills:
[Possession]: Possesses a target and controls it. Effect lasts indefinitely until the target’s HP drops below 10%.
[Shadow Arrow]: Deals 200% magic Shadow attack on a target. Channeling: 2 seconds.
[Shadow Trap]: Randomly casts 40 Shadow Traps around the field. Triggers when players step into the trap, dealing 400,000 Shadow damage.
[Ring of Shadow]: Summons 9 gigantic rings of shadow. The Rings will roll around the battlefield and deals 300,000 Shadow damage on impact.
Note: The King, the Rule, The Lord of the Spectre Kingdom! Dorak was born with an innate talent for the Dark Side. His ambition was to rule over the powers of Shadow, and he had completely abandoned his human self and became a Spectre Wizard. Now, his mastery of the powers over Shadow had even received recognition from the Witch King of the Undead, Mardevich.
"Hey, dummy! Look, there’s no Constitution skill! The boss does not have any recovery skills!"
"Hm. That’s good then. Since the entry limit was only 5 men. The system has designed this boss fight to be that of a dungeon. Do not underestimate the boss, for each of its move is designed to fight 5 players. He would never be as stupid as the other bosses we fought before. Look at the boss’ skills. All of them requires us to be on our toes at all times."
"But, don’t we have Inheritance Transformations? Since the boss does not have a recovery skill, this should be a cakewalk!"
"Please. It’s not like the developers had anticipated that players would be as strong as us. Do you think the developers would have the time to design the map solely for our level?"
"Enough of your explanation! I’m sick of it, noob tank! Let’s get this over with and get my axe!"
Zhang Yang pinched his brow and shook his head. "It’s not like you could equip it as soon as it drops! The boss is Level 180. This means that the equipment he drops would be Level 180 as well! The only thing you could do if you pick up a two-handed axe is to place it in your inventory to gather dust!"
"Hmph! Level...Level...Level!" Wei Yan Er mumbled. "Everything is about levels, isn’t it! Fine! I’ll work hard! It’s not like Level 180 is going to run away or anything! Equipment is more important!" Wei Yan Er snorted.
Zhang Yang laughed at her and rapped the top of her head hard.
"Alright. If everyone’s ready to fight, follow me and attack after I have pricked the boss! Use your Transformations, now. Together. The faster we fight, the quicker we can leave this God-forsaken place! I’m starting to get bored of this wretched place, anyway!"
Daffodil Daydream raised her timid little hand, asking for permission to say something. "Erhm...wouldn’t it be extremely dangerous if one of us is controlled while transformed? 10% would be a tough target to reach."
Han Ying Xue butted in. "If I may, our HP would be greatly increased after Transformation, who on earth has the time to fight you if you are controlled?"
Zhang Yang thought about it for a while and said, "I think it would be fine. Since we would be attacking at our strongest during our Transformation states." Zhang Yang explained it carefully. He wanted Han Ying Xue to maintain everyone’s HP at around 10% and above. It would be easier to counter the mind controlling skill. It may seem dangerous, however, even the weakest one, Daffodil Daydream would have 12,000,000 HP, with Zhang Yang’s {Vitality Aura}. 10% of that would be 1,200,000! It had exceeded her own basic HP of only 320,000 HP. Even if they were to accidentally take a hit from the boss, their HP would not be in real danger.
"True..."
"But, we still have to be careful!"
Everyone nodded and Zhang Yang gave the signal. Everyone activated their Transformation skill, including Felice and the Phoenix as well. A total of 7 Transformed characters the battle. At that moment, their party consisted of three S class Inheritance and two A class Inheritance players. With the Transformed battle mount and Battle Companion, the entire server could not possibly replicate such a party!
Zhang Yang soared to the sky and shot down at the boss. With the standard {Spear of Obliteration} hitting the boss, the battle was started.
"Ho ho...It’s been a while since living beings have walked into this realm!" Dorak took the attack and floated towards Zhang Yang slowly. "Perhaps I should welcome you with open arms, especially when you are here to be my slaves!"
Zhang Yang chained his attack with several skills, followed by the attacks of the entire team behind him. Since Zhang Yang had already decreed that everyone only retain 10% of their HP, Han Ying Xue did not heal, but switched to offensive spells. Having more HP would only be troublesome for the party when the boss uses {Possession}.
Without recovery skills, the party did not face any trouble. Hence, even if they had extremely low DPS, the main issue in defeating the boss would be time! At that moment, Zhang Yang’s party cumulative DPS was around 1,450,000! Technically, if everything goes smoothly as planned, they would only need 20 minutes to kill the boss! That is, if they are able to successfully endure the shadow traps, and the Ring of Shadow!