From rank one to nine, monsters of all kinds appeared on this island thanks to the «rainy season» event, and the boss had spent practically an eternity here. In other words, he had been able to cultivate essences as much and as often as he had wanted.
But the chances of all of his essences being high-ranking were extremely low.
That was the kind of game Dungeon and Stone was. You could only gain high-ranking essences if you developed your character slowly and steadily and absorbed low-ranking essences first.
He probably had an essence of each rank, since this island did not have a temple to get rid of them.
The problem is that having a rank one essence as your best essence gives you a huge advantage over us.
From here on, the outcome of this fight depended on how smart the boss would have been. If he consumed a bunch of random essences at the beginning of the game without planning ahead and then tried to give himself a push at the end of the game with a single high-ranking essence, then he was nothing more than a mutt without pedigree.
And its weaknesses would be obvious.
Of course, there was also a chance that he would have done the opposite. If he filled his first slots with relatively low-rank essences but with useful abilities later in the game, as I did with gigantization...
I guess it wouldn't make that much difference.
All it would do is make it a little harder for me to find its weak point. No matter how he looked at it, that was it. There was no invincible character in Dungeon and Stone.
Well, except for my Shield Barbarian, of course.
In any case, the question was: which of the two strategies did this guy stick with? I carefully analyzed each of his movements. The only ability I could confirm that I had so far was Tol-Lapupa Cosmic Protection.
Along with some type of movement-related skill.
The split second before we crossed weapons and collided, it seemed almost as if the boss's body split in two, as if it was moving in different directions. It was like when a game suddenly slows down and the frames have glitches.
¡Run!
However, because I was studying it so carefully, I was able to pick up some details that helped me figure out what was going on.
Steam seemed to come out of the places where his feet touched the ground.
Lightning covered his body.
¡Crujir!
And there were bursts of yellow light every time it made landfall.
They are the Steps of the Storm Lord.
It was a rank two skill and was difficult to consider a pure movement type. Like Blink, it was characterized by the rapid and abrupt movements of its users, but also inflicted the Paralysis effect on anyone in the surrounding area when it landed.
¡Bzzzt!
¡Vwoong!
Additionally, it significantly increased the user's speed.
«¡Ugh…!»
«Detenlo… ¿Eh?»
In addition to granting it temporary invulnerability, of course.
¡Vwoosh!
One of the nearby hand-to-hand fighters tried to brandish his weapon at the boss, panicking, but the weapon pierced him as he walked away.
¿Va a por Erwen?
Hah, that vile little one...
He was really determined to keep us in this village. But I didn't mean to let him do whatever he wanted.
There are two ways to avoid Step invulnerability.
The first was to make him attack. That was probably why the boss ignored the rest of us and only charged towards Erwen. As for the second way...
Three seconds.
It was not so much a form as a natural limitation of Paso: its invulnerability effect only lasted three seconds. Of course, three seconds was more than enough time to stab a sword into Erwen's neck and end it all.
Well, I wouldn't have the chance.
Even as the boss charged towards Erwen, his eyes half-closed, my heart rate was slow and steady. Erwen was now in what I liked to call her Focus state.
[While active, all damage you receive will be evaded by consuming Soul Power].
In this state, Erwen was also invulnerable.
But considering you should know that we are analyzing it at the moment...
There was probably a reason why he was showing this ability now when he could have brought it out at a more opportune time later.
[You have cast Eye of the Storm. By the authority of the transcendental body, the potential inherent in this ability is now unlocked].
I chained Transcendence and Eye of the Storm. Fortunately, this combination of skills could counteract his.
It is only immune to damage, not being grabbed.
Eye of the Storm did no damage, so it would not activate its defenses.
¡Whoosh!
Mighty winds swirled around me, and the chief, who had been charging towards Erwen, backed away and was dragged in my direction.
¡Crack!
His three seconds seemed to have run out, as a wave of electricity erupted around the boss. That also meant that he was no longer immune to damage.
Since I was already using Transcendence, I decided to launch Oscillation.
[The range of all your attacks triples.]
My hammer grew like the Monkey King's staff and slammed into the boss's side.
However, the chief's body defied the laws of physics. Instead of being thrown away, he ended up crushed against the end of my hammer as the winds continued to pull him in my direction.
I haven't used this combo in a while.
I gently adjusted the trajectory of my hammer. Like in an amusement park, I swayed slowly, lifted the boss above my head...
¡Boom!
And then I hit him to the ground on my other side.
After being grabbed, he was now even further away from Erwen than when he started running towards her.
The boss coughed up blood from his place on the ground. Of course, with his incredible healing factor, he would probably make a full recovery very soon, but I must have given him a good hit, considering the way he staggered a little on his feet.
«True. You had that».
«Oh, did you hear that from anyone? I don't think I've ever mentioned it to you».
The boss did not answer, but looked at Erwen.
I grimaced. It seemed like he hadn't caught up yet.
«Be realistic», I said firmly. «You will never be able to reach it».
«Unless I take care of you first?»
«¡Exacto!»
The boss disappeared before my eyes.
By the time I was able to find him again with my poor Agility, he was already on my flank, sword at the ready.
¡Clang!
I could barely lift the shield in time to block his thrust.
As someone who fought daily with a shield, I immediately noticed the impact. While before it only left splinters or small dents, this time it has done considerable damage to my shield.
I think it almost went through him.
Of course, I didn't have to work hard to figure out what was going on. It wasn't that the boss had used a new ability not identified with me, it was just that he was weaker than before.
[You have one minute left before Transcendence can activate again].
The resistance to blade weapons provided by my passive Evolutionary Shell was 50%. If I wanted to increase it to 75%, I could do it with Iron Fortress. If he also used Transcendence, which multiplied passive abilities by 1.5, he would be practically immune to edged weapons.
Unfortunately for me, immunity had a limit.
The maximum resistance to edged weapons was 85%. And in the next minute, my maximum resistance of 85% had dropped to 75%.
In other words, the 15% damage he received earlier had risen to 25%.
The simple math said that the damage had only increased by 10 percent of the total damage he was dealing, but in practice, that meant he was experiencing almost double the damage he was receiving before.
¡Bang!
As I continued to block the boss's burst of stabs, reinforcements arrived to back me up.
«I will help you now».
«Ah! Ah! Me too...!»
«Me too! «Me too!»
They were Amelia, Missha and Ainar, the hand-to-hand fighters of our clan.
«Be careful. Don't underestimate it». I was a little worried about the result, but I decided to try and fight side by side with them.
After all, he could learn a thing or two by taking a few hits.
[Amelia Rainwales has released Power of the Abyss.]
[Missha Karlstein ha lanzado Alma Glacial.]
[Ainar Fenelin has launched Control of Savagery.]
I took on the role of main tank, and the three hand-to-hand fighters used me as a wall and brandished their weapons in a close formation.
In the process, we were able to identify another of the boss's skills.
¡Rumble!
A black and gray mist spread around the boss and lightning pierced it.
Thunder cloud.
A rank two skill. It dealt lightning damage in a certain radius around the caster, and depending on how many targets it managed to hit, the ability's cooldown decreased.
«...¡U-Ugh!»
Even so, since the only ones who received the lightning strike were the four of us, the cooling did not decrease as much.
Step's cooldown is probably over, though.
«Stay away as much as you can!»
The moment I realized it, I ordered the other three to come back as quickly as possible.
¡Run!
As expected, the boss charged, his body becoming invulnerable again as lightning danced around him.
It took me a second longer to realize that the bastard had changed his target.
«Ainar!»
With how close I was to her, it was too late to try to use my grappling attack to stop him.
[Ainar Fenelin has released Curl Up.]
Yeah, at least he had that going for him.
[For three minutes, all your resistances increase by 20x.]
The shining sword hit Ainar's body and made a wound deep enough to expose the bone. However, as long as he didn't die in one fell swoop, it shouldn't be a problem.
[For three minutes, its Natural Regeneration increases 20 times].
The true strength of Curl Up lies in its healing drive.
But that means that one person on our side is already out of action...
Although we had only been fighting for a few seconds, Ainar was already out of action. Still, that didn't mean we hadn't gotten anything out of this exchange.
Now I have a general idea of its constitution.
The boss was a Lightning Warrior.
The Storm Lord's Steps were not a great indicator on their own, but he was now confident after seeing him use Thunder Cloud. Although Thunder Cloud could pass for any ability, the passive he used along with it was not.
Lightning affinity.
It was a passive that stacked every time he used a lightning-type ability and boosted all other lightning-type abilities based on the number of stacks he had.
In any case, figuring this out was a big deal. If the boss was a Lightning Warrior, then he could guess what that shining sword of his was.
It's probably Supercharge.
Like the Abyss Power, it was a transformation ability; more specifically, a weapon upgrade ability. His main characteristic was that in addition to dealing physical damage, he received a boost from any other lightning-type abilities you had.
As if following a trail of breadcrumbs, this also gave me new information.
If you have Supercharge, you probably have that passive too...
He had identified four of his essences in one fell swoop.
But how come it has four essences of rank two or higher?
Did you come up with any way to erase your other essences? His midrange was higher than he expected.
However, if I had to give it an overall rating...
«Five points».
Of ten possible, of course.
Although he had bet everything on the theme of lightning, the compatibility of his essences was not so impressive.
Yeah, does he know how many super powerful combos you can get with Thunder Cloud?
Still, thanks to his high-ranking essences, his raw power was quite high. Still, he hoped the rest of his essences were too.
Characters without decent balance always have many weaknesses to exploit.
Alright, then let's finish for today...
You have.
I reached the last second of my silent countdown and...
¡Fwoong!
The entire world was bathed in a bright white light as something cut through the air.
At this moment, Versyl, who had been standing to the side, let out a scream for everyone to hear. «...He has achieved it! The door is open».
There is a difference in the slope of the salir de esta.
***
A burning village, a shattered gate, and an empty field that lay abandoned now that the adventurers had fled in droves. As the chief watched the destruction, one of his village's warriors approached from behind.
«Boss, the village fire has been brought under control».
The warriors began to talk about the damage caused to the village and the number of victims, but the chief ignored them. Of course not. It didn't matter that some of those monsters had died. At that moment, there was only one thing that required the boss's full attention.
«I don't know how he realized it.»
Bjorn Yandel. The most prolific adventurer of this era and the chief of the barbarians, one of the six great races. Together with a baron of the kingdom.
«...Just a little longer and we would have been safe.»
Like the face of a mountain slowly worn by the wind, the chief's emotions, which had become dull over the years, began to show signs of peeking out of the cracks.
And what I felt now was regret.
However, he easily let go of that human emotion, the first in a long time.
«(Boss, we'll form a search party to chase you.)»
«(Okay.)»
«(...Sorry? But-)»
«(Securing the village is a higher priority. And... is that thing still okay?)»
«(Yes. He is safe, as you confirmed before)»
Okay, so everything was fine. Nothing had changed.
Things had gotten a little complicated, that was all.
The chief closed his eyes and thought of the barbarian with whom he had engaged in intense combat just a moment ago.
«Bjorn Yandel...» He was a beastly man in many ways. In a sense, even more than the monsters in this village. «It will be even louder when we meet again», he murmured, almost to himself.
And as he did so, another faint emotion flickered in his eyes.
It was joy.